Shumita Basu, Narrating: Hey there. It's Shumita here.
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Every so often, we're gonna recommend a show that we think is worth you checking out. This week, it's "The Outlaw Ocean," an immersive true crime podcast from the "L.A. Times" and CBC Podcasts. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Urbina uncovers the lawlessness and exploitation that takes place on the high seas.
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Kevin Thompson: If they got within 800 meters of you, that is when we would fire warning shots. Most of the time, that's when the pirates do leave.
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Listen and subscribe at theoutlawocean.com/podcast or on Apple Podcasts.
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Good morning! It's Monday, November 7th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, what to watch in the final days of midterm campaigning, how some churches may have crossed a political line and why there's new global attention on Egypt's most famous political prisoner.
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But first, closing messages to voters in the final weekend before election day. With the races coming down to these last hours, candidates are doing all they can to convince political stragglers to out and vote for them. "The Washington Post" reports how Republican rallies last weekend featured some polarizing figures and language. Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley made a stop in Georgia to campaign for Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker. She suggested deporting his opponent, Senator Raphael Warnock, even though he is a U.S. citizen. Former President Trump campaigned in Florida for Senator Marco Rubio. And today, Trump will be in Ohio, which has a tight Senate race.
Meanwhile, Democrats sent three presidents across the country. Bill Clinton made an appearance in Brooklyn to campaign for New York Governor Kathy Hochul, in a race that's become surprisingly tight. President Biden stopped in New York too. And President Obama held two rallies in Pennsylvania, where Democrat John Fetterman is running in a race that could determine control of the Senate.
The "Post" says that these final messages coming from each party show their contrasting strategies. Republicans are trying to fire up their base. Democrats, according to the "Post's" analysis, are trying to highlight more moderate themes in the hopes that they can appeal to voters in the middle.
The closing arguments come in a climate of growing concerns about political violence, especially after the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul.
Law enforcement and election officials are working hard to keep things safe for politicians, voters, and poll workers. So far, federal law enforcement hasn't identified any specific threats, according to an alert sent a few days ago. But there are some warning signs.
New Reuters reporting uncovers more than 100 violent threats and intimidating communications against election workers in one Arizona county. And during early voting, there have been several accusations of voter intimidation. In Phoenix last week, a federal judge ordered a far-right group to keep its distance from ballot drop boxes. In some states, people have been seen wearing body armor and carrying weapons near drop boxes.
Still, one expert tells NPR that she's confident that voters will be safe. Shannon Hiller is the head of a Princeton University program that tracks and mitigates political violence.
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Shannon Hiller: Even if we look back to 2020, we saw very little violence around election day itself. There was lots of preparation and has been even more preparation by government, non-government groups to ensure that that's the case this year again.
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A lot of safeguards are in place to make sure that Americans can have their say in this election. If you haven't voted yet, check out the Apple News app. We've got state-by-state information there on how to cast your ballot.
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If you're hoping for some certainty about whether Republicans or Democrats will win tomorrow, you'll be disappointed. Any political analyst worth their salt will tell you there's no use making hard and fast predictions about the results of the midterms.
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Mike Madrid: There's enough data at this point, noise as we call it, to show evidence in both directions.
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That's Mike Madrid, a GOP consultant and one of the hosts of the "Latino Vote" podcast.
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Mike Madrid: Literally this same week, you have headlines in half the major papers in the country saying, "Republicans are surging. They're coming back." The other half saying, "No, there's a Democratic wave swelling." It really depends on how you read the tea leaves.
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Madrid is one of several election-watchers that we got together for our latest special episode on the midterms. Amy Walter was on the panel too. She is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the "Cook Political Report." She says don't expect to know all the key results tomorrow night. But there could be some early indicators worth paying attention to.
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Amy Walter: I think the most surprising thing would be to see that, you know, we get some of these races called early. Like if Pennsylvania gets called early for the Democrat, to me, that would suggest, "Wow, this is gonna be a much better night for Democrats than we had been expecting." The other thing that would surprise me is if in New Hampshire, a place where right now it looks as if the Democrat, at least in polling, is ahead by enough to… It's not that she's safe, but safer than many of the other Democratic incumbents. I would say that if she either loses or it's really, really close, like it takes a long time to call that race, that's a sign early on that this is gonna be a much worse night, even in the Senate, for Democrats. Good night for Republicans.
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Madrid said while Republicans still a significant advantage going into tomorrow, he isn't ruling out that Democrats could have a better night than most are predicting.
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Mike Madrid: If the Democrats were able to capitalize on this environment and actually hold onto the House or pick up seats in the House and the Senate, I'm not gonna say it's not a possibility. I think it's remote. I'd say it's probably a 15, 20% chance, but I wouldn't be, you know, it wouldn't be the strangest thing that I've seen in politics.
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You can hear much more in our special midterm elections episode, out now. If you're listening in the Apple News app, we've queued it up to play next.
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Churches in America get special tax-exempt status. But to keep it, they have to limit their political activity. Church leaders can talk about political issues. But for decades, federal law has required them to stop short of participating in political campaigns, or else they risk losing their tax exemptions.
A new investigation from ProPublica and "The Texas Tribune" found that 18 churches over the past two years appear to have violated this law. President Trump opposed the law, and investigative reporter Jeremy Schwartz says some religious leaders saw that as a green light to go further with politics.
Jeremy Schwartz: The uptick and sort of the energy and focus behind it really ramped up with the Trump administration and sort of the post-Trump years especially has fed a lot of the energy that you see inside church pulpits.
One Texas pastor told his congregation that demonic spirits were affecting certain city council members. In New Mexico, a pastor took aim at the Democratic governor.
Schwartz: Who is pro-abortion access and is one of the few states in the southwest to do so. And so, he attacked her quite harshly, basically calling her evil and demonic for her support of abortion access, and in no uncertain terms, urged his parishioners to vote for her opponent.
Schwartz says one problem with churches getting political involves donations. Because tax-exempt churches don't have to file financial disclosures with the IRS, donors seeking to influence campaigns could quietly give to politically involved churches.
Schwartz: When you have churches becoming, in some ways, arms of a specific candidate, wings of a specific candidate, you run into this concern that donations and money that does not wish to be identified can flow into these churches and then make their way to help the campaigns of the chosen candidates. And so, sort of this dark money funnel is set up.
There are questions as to how much the IRS is doing to enforce the rules. Government documents show only 16 inquiries to churches since 2011. The IRS wouldn't answer specific questions from ProPublica and "The Texas Tribune."
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We have one last story for you today, this one about international politics.
World leaders are now in Egypt for the U.N. Climate Change Conference. "The Washington Post" reports on how that's intensifying focus on the man that some call Egypt's most famous political prisoner. Alaa Abd El-Fattah has been on a hunger strike for days and just stopped drinking water. In December, he was sentenced to five years in prison, convicted of spreading false news undermining national security. Human rights groups say that the charges are false, an attempt to silence a government critic.
As his health gets worse, the family hopes that international attention to the climate conference could pressure Egypt to let him and other political prisoners go. The country's Foreign Ministry did not reply to the "Post" about Abd El-Fattah's case.
President Biden is expected at the summit on Friday. As a candidate, Biden promised to hold Egypt accountable for human rights abuses. Abd El-Fattah's family tells the "Post" that they want the U.S. President to follow through.
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You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app, as I mentioned, stick around to hear the final episode of our special midterm series. I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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