Waching daily Nov 2 2017

Former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho has called on the United States to meet with

Kim Jong-un at least once before considering any military options against North Korea.

The high-level defector told U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, that Kim underestimates

America's military strength.

He said Kim believes that, by completing the regime's nuclear weapons program, North Korea

will be able to compel Washington to accept it as a nuclear state, and therefore free

itself of crushing sanctions.

He added that Washington needs to make Kim Jong-un understand that the U.S. has the capability

to destroy the regime.

The former diplomat, who defected to South Korea last year, also stressed that more needs

to be done to feed outside information to the North Korean people, and that it was "increasingly

possible" a civilian uprising could occur.

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News Brief Oct 30, 2017 - Duration: 10:23.

Rachel, if you go on Twitter, it looks like the hashtag #MuellerMonday is trending right

now.

Yeah.

The Mueller referring there to special counsel Robert Mueller, who for months now has been

investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

And so there is news today of possible news.

CNN and several other media outlets report that a federal grand jury has approved the

first charges related to this whole investigation and that we could learn details as soon as

today.

We should add NPR has not independently confirmed these reports.

But all this comes on what could be a really big week for the Trump administration.

President Trump is set to reveal a new Fed chair.

And House Republicans plan to reveal their tax bill.

Then on Friday, the president is leaving for Asia.

Big week - will any of it - all of it - be overshadowed by what comes out of the investigation?

Well, let's ask Tamara Keith, who is on the line.

She covers the White House and hosts the NPR Politics podcast.

Hey, Tam.

Good morning.

Love covering news of possible news.

So there's all this anticipation after these reports that Robert Mueller's investigation

might have led to some kind of indictment.

At least that's what the reports are suggesting.

What do we actually know this morning?

Well, in terms of those reports, there isn't a lot of specificity.

So we - what they're saying is we don't know what the charges are, who might be charged,

whether it would be one person or multiple people.

And it could be that nothing happens.

It could be someone we've never heard of before.

What's important to remember is that while Mueller was appointed to investigate potential

collusion between Russia and Trump associates, he was also authorized to investigate other

matters that could arise during the course of this investigation.

So if this indictment is unsealed, and we do learn about it today, it could be that

it's something like money laundering.

Or it could be something that happened in 2013 or 2012, long before the election.

Also, we've heard lots of reports in reality that people in President Trump's orbit during

the campaign in previous lives did work on behalf of foreign clients.

So it's possible that it could be related to that and not even related to Russia.

Oh, interesting - something big, something obscure or nothing.

We just don't know.

But is - nevertheless, is the White House saying anything to try and get ahead of this?

Well, the president has certainly been tweeting over the weekend, especially during a rainy

Sunday.

He was tweeting up a storm, trying to move focus to Hillary Clinton, her 33,000 deleted

emails, you know, saying that the Trump-Russia collusion is phony, calling the investigation

a witch hunt.

Then his lawyer at the White House who is tasked with dealing with these things said

to me in a statement - this lawyer is Ty Cobb - he said, quote, "Contrary to what many have

suggested, the president's comments today are unrelated to the activities of the special

counsel with whom he continues to cooperate."

He is just tweeting on a rainy Sunday is what this lawyer is telling you.

That's what he's saying.

Well, I mean - and we should say this could - I mean, this is supposed to be a really

big week in Washington not because of all that but because of the Republican tax bill

that's coming together.

Right.

The first details should be coming Wednesday not just about what those tax rates are and

some of the things that we've known before but the nitty-gritty details that will determine

whether this legislation gets support from enough Republicans to become the law of the

land.

Tamara Keith covers the White House, and she also hosts NPR's Politics podcast.

Tam, thanks.

Thank you so much.

All right.

It's just hard to describe the shape that Puerto Rico's power grid is still in right

now after all those weeks since the hurricane.

When the sun goes down, the majority of the island still goes dark.

Right.

So fixing that power grid is going to take a lot of people, a lot of manpower and a whole

lot of money.

And any contractor who's chosen to do this is going to make a lot of money.

So it raised some eyebrows when this company called Whitefish Energy, small company in

Montana - it won this $300 million deal.

So the company's only a couple of years old.

Until recently, it only had two full-time employees.

It also has links to the Trump administration.

So with all these questions swirling, Puerto Rico has decided to just cancel the whole

thing, cancel this contract with Whitefish.

Here's the governor.

The decision that I have taken restates our commitment with transparency in contracting

in the government of Puerto Rico and to uphold the highest levels of standards of efficiency

in restoring our electrical system.

That was the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello.

So Whitefish, the company, says it's disappointed in the decision.

All right.

NPR's Jason Beaubien is in San Juan, following all of this.

Good morning, Jason.

Hey.

Good morning.

This is such a strange story...

Yeah, it is.

...Because this Montana company is so tiny.

I mean, when the governor canceled this, did he explain at all how we even got here?

You know, he didn't give that little key detail of what exactly it was.

But he had several different agencies looking into this.

And, clearly, what he was finding out he was not happy about.

I mean, the best-case scenario was that Puerto Rico's utility, in this act of desperation,

as this hurricane is bearing down on it, pays way too much to secure this little, tiny,

two-man firm in Montana to rebuild what is expected to be this huge disaster.

The worst-case scenario is that there was some vast conspiracy stretching from over

here in San Juan to the White House to Whitefish to rip off FEMA.

You know, whatever happened, this had become just a huge distraction to this massive effort

to rebuild the entire electric grid here.

So the governor just decided that he had to cancel it and move on.

And you don't really want a distraction when people's lives are sort of hanging in the

balance and dealing with darkness and being without power.

I mean, what about the company?

Is Whitefish saying anything at this point about how this all went down?

Well, you know, obviously, they're saying they're very disappointed.

And, you know, to give them their due, they did get in here and brought in hundreds of

utility crews.

And they were expecting to bring in hundreds more, starting today - this week.

They really stepped up to the plate and were out there doing the work.

So they are quite disappointed about this, obviously.

And there was a lot of money on the line, as well.

So they're disappointed about that.

Well, disappointed.

And, also, the company saying that this could actually set back efforts - this cancellation

- to get the grid back up and running.

Is that true?

Is that a fear?

Absolutely, it's a fear.

It's been very hard in the past.

It's taken months at times after other hurricanes have hit Puerto Rico to get the grid up and

running.

There's great fear that it could again take months.

And the damage in this time was really intense.

And, you know, across Puerto Rico, most people right now do not have electricity.

So this is the dominant issue here on the island.

You know, it's really interesting just to note the whole reason this came up is because

Whitefish is in Ryan Zinke's hometown.

He's the secretary of the Department of the Interior.

He issued this statement saying, only in Washington would being from a small town be a criminal

offense.

That's a paraphrase.

But interesting to see how this has all been politicized.

Yeah.

Yeah.

NPR's Jason Beaubien covering this story in San Juan.

Jason, thanks.

You're welcome.

Here's a question that very few people seem to be able to answer right now - who is actually

in charge of Catalonia?

A big question - an open question this morning in Barcelona.

Let's remember this region held this independence vote earlier this month.

It was a violent day.

Protesters and riot police clashed at the polls.

Hundreds of people were injured that day.

Spain's central government did not recognize that vote.

And now Madrid has officially taken control of Catalonia and dissolved the local government.

The region's president then turned around and urged his colleagues to keep working.

So who really has the power?

Well, let's ask Lucia Benavides, who has been covering this on the ground there.

Lucia, good morning.

Good morning.

So let me get this straight.

Madrid dissolves the government of Catalonia, but the Catalan president, who has, I guess,

officially been fired, wants to keep working.

This sounds totally confusing.

Yeah, that's right.

And I know it's very confusing.

So, basically, what the Catalan president said on Saturday was that - well, he called

for Democratic opposition to the Spanish government's takeover of the region.

And he vowed to continue working towards a free country.

And he stressed peaceful conduct from the people, from the Catalan government.

He was a little vague about what the precise steps would be going forward as Spanish authorities

move into Barcelona to enforce control.

He also suggested that he wouldn't show up to work today, despite him saying that he's

still the president of Catalonia.

So if he and other officials do show up today, there could be protests.

And there's worry that there could be some potential pushback from police.

So far this morning - it's about 10:15 a.m. right now - so far, only one politician has

shown up today that we know about.

He's being clapped by people waiting outside the government building.

There's many journalists outside, you know, waiting to see who's going to show up today.

Did you say clap?

People were applauding this this person for showing up to work?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So pro-independence people have - I think about a dozen, two dozen people have shown

up outside this government building.

And they were clapping whenever they saw that he showed up.

But there are people on the other side of this, right?

I mean, it's - there are people who actually want - who were in favor of staying part of

Spain and not in favor of independence.

Yeah.

And we saw that this weekend.

There was a big protest on Sunday.

About 300,000 supporters of a united Spain filled Barcelona streets.

It was one of the biggest shows of force by the so-called silent majority.

And they said that they came out to defend the unity of Spain and to defend the law of

Spain.

But there were some altercations, as well, because there were some ultra-right groups

that came out with these peaceful protests.

And there were two people that were injured by some ultra-right people that, you know,

come out when these protests are taking place.

So there is tension.

There's definitely tension going on right now.

Tension and...

And people aren't sure what's happening.

Tension and a lot of uncertainly, it sounds like, in Catalonia.

That's journalist Lucy Benavides.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you.

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News Brief Oct 27, 2017 - Duration: 10:23.

The U.S. defense secretary stood at the border between North and South Korea today.

Yeah, James Mattis visited the demilitarized zone with his South Korean counterpart.

Here is some of what Mattis had to say.

Behind me to the north, an oppressive regime that shackles its people, denying their freedom,

their welfare and their human dignity in pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means of delivery

in order to threaten others with catastrophe.

OK, tough talk.

So what is the message that Mattis is hoping to send ahead of President Trump's own visit

to South Korea next month?

Let's ask David Welna.

He's been traveling with the defense secretary.

Hi, David.

Hi, Rachel.

This is a rather poignant time for the U.S. secretary of defense to pay a visit to the

DMZ.

What did it feel like?

Did it feel like a significant moment?

Well, you know, these trips to the DMZ by top U.S. officials, including most recent

presidents, have become fairly routine over the years.

But, you know, this time, it's different.

And it's because North Korea has now demonstrated it has missiles that could reach the U.S.

mainland and that it's developed what appears to be a hydrogen bomb capable of hugely massive

destruction.

So this Mattis trip to the DMZ took place under some pretty tense circumstances.

And while there were not any big incidents, his appearance there alongside South Korea's

defense minister, I think, was clearly meant to send a message to North Korea - namely,

don't you dare use your nuclear weapons or you'll be sorry you did.

Most of us in the audience will never have been to the DMZ.

So can you just give us a sense of what it is like going right up to that line separating

North and South?

Right, well, I had not been there myself before.

It was a bit unreal.

Here we had the defense chiefs of the U.S. and South Korea standing just a few feet away

from a line of cement going across the pavement that looked like a street curb.

It's actually the line that separates the North from the South.

And they both stood with their backs to North Korea as Mattis compared the North to what

he called the peace-loving and free society of South Korea.

Did the North have anything to say about Mattis's visit?

Well, Pyongyang had already denounced Mattis's visit as a rehearsal for a nuclear war.

But even though this trip to the DMZ had not been announced beforehand, there were maybe

a dozen stone-faced North Korean soldiers just across the line who seemed to know he

was coming.

Several of them marched right up to the line and stared at the two defense chiefs - one

them looking through what seemed to be binoculars even though they were all practically within

spitting distance of one another.

Just before Mattis and South Korea's defense minister left, they turned, in what looked

like a gesture of defiance, and took just one look at the North Korean troops and their

big stone fortress on the other side of the DMZ.

Wow, that's quite a visual.

So this is all to lay the groundwork for a visit by President Trump.

He starts this big trip to Asia at the end of next week, and South Korea is on the itinerary.

Is the president himself going to visit the DMZ?

Well, we don't know.

He was asked about it recently, and he just didn't give a definitive answer.

I think there's a lot of concern here in South Korea about Trump provoking even more trouble

with Pyongyang if he does go to the DMZ.

And I think he may be concerned about his own security there.

He hasn't said, so we still don't know.

In the meantime, there are now three American aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific.

And even though that's not unprecedented, it's being seen here as one more sign that

the Pentagon is taking no chances with what North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might do.

Just this week, his foreign minister said threats of an atmospheric test of a hydrogen

bomb should be taken literally.

I wonder if you can get internet connection - if Twitter works at the DMZ.

That could be a factor.

NPR's David Welna reporting from Seoul.

Thanks so much, David.

You're welcome, Rachel.

All right, here in the U.S., we're starting to see why rewriting the tax code is a bit

messy.

Yeah, maybe there are reasons why Congress has not done this since 1986.

I mean, just look at yesterday's House vote on a budget plan.

The budget passed by a four-vote margin.

This was a big victory for the GOP, since this clears the way to begin the real work

on a tax overhaul.

But this is the thing - 20 Republicans did not vote for this budget blueprint.

And House Speaker Paul Ryan knows that he needs every single vote he can get going forward

if he's going to get this tax overhaul that he wants.

The Ways and Means Committee will be putting out a specific plan very shortly.

And they're going to work with all of our members to look at and consider and address

their concerns.

OK, so what exactly are those concerns among Republicans?

And how will this shape the tax debate in the days to come?

I wish we had someone to answer those questions.

I wish we did.

Oh, we do.

NPR's Scott Detrow is here.

Hi, Scott.

Happy to help.

So who were the nay votes on the Republican side?

So there was lot of blue-state Republicans voting no - particularly Republicans from

New Jersey - because of one idea Republican leaders are embracing, which would be lowering

deductibles for state income tax.

So if you live in a higher tax state - Democratic state like New York, California, New Jersey

- you might end up paying a lot more in taxes.

So a lot of concern from Republicans from those states.

That would be the opposite of the intention of the tax cuts eventually.

Yeah, but we should point out this did have the votes to pass.

And interestingly, California - all of the Republicans from the California delegation

did vote yes on this yesterday.

So what are some of the other sticking points here?

So another one that's gotten a lot of attention is lowering 401(k) limits - lowering the limit

of the amount of money you can put in and save for retirement each year - changing it

around so it's taxed on the front end instead of the back end.

That's something that would affect a lot of Americans.

A lot of people would have to adjust to it, might be unsettled by it.

And that maybe is one reason why President Trump came out recently and said, hey, we're

not going to do this.

Don't worry about it.

I mean, it's still something Republican leaders in Congress are considering.

They are?

Yeah.

And their concern, I think, as they put this together, is this is a lot of tricky negotiations.

It's going to take a lot of time to craft all of this and has taken a lot of time.

They don't know what else President Trump could tweet on any given topic.

What if he comes out and says, hey, don't worry - you know, don't worry about that state

deductible issue because then that throws everything off.

And you have to fit everything together to get just enough people just happy enough to

vote yes.

Right, on any particular day.

Yeah.

So we're talking about all these details to this tax plan.

But as I understand it, there's not a bill yet, right?

That's right.

And the plan is for the bill to be introduced next week and for a vote to come as quickly

as a week after that.

There's talk of getting this all passed before Thanksgiving.

You might remember we had a similar conversation about repealing Obamacare and that never happened.

But a lot of Republican rank-and-file members are getting frustrated.

Matt Gaetz from Florida had a funny quote.

He said, you know, I was watching "Indiana Jones" the other night.

I feel like this tax bill is like the Ark of the Covenant.

It must be so magnificent if you laid your eyes on it, it would eviscerate you.

So I don't know if there are any ghosts coming out of this tax bill, but we'll see it next

week.

Look at you making the Halloween connection.

That's why you make the big money, Scott Detrow.

NPR's Scott Detrow.

He hosts NPR's Politics podcast, with us this morning to break down the latest on taxes.

Scott, thanks so much.

Thank you.

All right.

Two cities in Tennessee are preparing for rallies by white nationalists that are supposed

to happen tomorrow.

Yeah, Rachel.

OK, these cities are Murfreesboro and Shelbyville, Tenn.

And the white nationalists' rallying cry is white lives matter.

Now, residents are getting pretty nervous.

Some business owners have started boarding up their windows.

And counterprotests are expected.

And so people are worried about a repeat of the violence we saw in Charlottesville.

Let's bring in Julieta Martinelli.

She is with WPLN, our member station in Nashville.

And she's been reporting on this.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thanks for having me.

Julieta, what do we know about the people behind these demonstrations?

Well, this is an umbrella group calling themselves the Nationalist Front.

It's made up of a number of smaller groups like the League of the South, Vanguard America

and the Nationalist Socialist Movement.

And they all have their own individual ideologies.

But the one thread that they share in common is this belief in white supremacy.

So why these towns?

I mean, Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, these are not exactly, you know, big-name, recognizable

cities around America.

Well, you're right.

And I think that's one of the main reasons.

When they announced this rally, they said that they were unhappy with law enforcement

response in Charlottesville and felt that police in these cities would be more supportive

- whatever that means.

But also both of these places have experienced considerable racial tension in the recent

years.

In Murfreesboro, in 2010, they made national headlines after big protests when a mosque

was going to be built.

And people took to the same streets where the nationalists will be rallying this weekend

to say that Islam is not a real religion.

And in Shelbyville, there's been change in demographics.

There's a large poultry plant, so they've seen a big influx of refugees and immigrants

to the area.

And these groups are just trying to tap into the sentiment of people who are unhappy with

seeing things change.

A poultry plant, so presumably they're employing all these new immigrants to the region?

That's right, yes.

So these are places that are diversifying.

They're seeing an influx of people from other cultures and religions, and that's creating

some tensions.

I understand you spent some time in Murfreesboro.

So what are people saying there about these demonstrations that are supposed to happen?

Yeah, so I'll say that overall the mood is hopeful but cautious.

You know, people have been recommended to board up their businesses and shut down - the

schools have canceled events.

People are - believe that nothing will happen, but they're making sure that they're prepared

just in case that something does.

Yeah, boarding up businesses sounds - you know, that's a measure that elicits some concern.

People there are definitely preparing for the worst - hoping for the best, as you point

out.

WPLN's Julieta Martinelli reporting on the white supremacist rallies happening this weekend.

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News brief Oct 26, 2017 - Duration: 10:23.

So this is a question that people have been asking for weeks now - a very long time.

We know that the nation's opioid crisis is deadly serious, but is it officially a national

emergency or not?

President Trump has talked of making it one.

Here he is back in August.

It's a national emergency.

We're going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid

crisis.

OK, now, using the word emergency is one thing, but officially declaring an emergency is another

with a lot of implications.

The president has yet to take that step, although he plans an announcement of some kind on opioids

today.

As he does that, let's recall the scale of this problem.

In 2015 alone, opioids killed more than 33,000 Americans.

So how would an emergency declaration address this?

Well, Noam Levey is here.

He writes about health care policy for the LA Times.

Noam, good morning.

Good morning.

So Steve mentioned possible implications here.

If the president does speak about this - we don't know what he's going to declare - but

could he change the war against opioids in some fundamental way?

Certainly, I think there's an - there's a hope among people on the front lines that

the president and his administration will do that.

We don't know, as you suggested, what a national emergency technically would mean.

But the president himself sort of alluded, I think, to one of the main issues here, which

is an extraordinary demand for treatment and the huge numbers of people facing addiction,

yet very limited resources in many parts of the country for people who need treatment

for substance abuse disorder.

By one estimate, just 1 in 10 Americans with an opioid addiction are getting the kind of

treatment that the medical community feels works pretty well.

One in 10 - so 9 of 10 people with an addiction are actually getting inadequate or no treatment.

That's incredible.

It is incredible.

And I mean, there are some pretty good reasons for this.

Part of it is money.

Part of it is, there's been a terrible stigma attached to substance abuse for decades.

But one of the, in some ways, encouraging - if there is an encouraging storyline, I

think, in the opioid addiction crisis, it is that the medical community has found some

pretty effective ways to help people who are suffering from a heroin addiction.

There are treatments like methadone and other medication, medications that can allow people

who have suffered in a substance abuse disorder to get back to learn - living normal lives.

But that...

So they know how to treat this.

I mean, it - but the resources are a big problem.

Would a national emergency, in theory, change that, help get the resources to states that

they really need to bump up those numbers and get more people treated?

It really depends.

It could.

It certainly could.

It certainly could.

But one of the big issues here that I think really has to be addressed is that many people

who have a substance abuse disorder don't have health insurance, and that's part of

the big problems that fits into the larger health care debate we're having right now

about getting Medicaid coverage around the country.

That's probably the biggest thing that folks in the medical community say would really

make a difference in confronting the epidemic.

It's a big deal, and as we travel in communities from time to time, just talking with voters,

asking them about their concerns, this is frequently one of the first things that comes

up.

And that 33,000-death figure is, of course, just the beginning - many, many more lives

affected in terrible ways by this.

Yeah, there's no doubt about that.

Noam Levey of the LA Times, thanks for the time this morning.

We appreciate it.

Good to be with you.

OK, Steve, so the House is going to be voting today on a budget plan.

Yeah, it's a key step toward a tax bill.

It would create a framework that would allow for a tax cut, and that's a goal that President

Trump says brings Republicans together.

We're really unified on what we want to do.

We want tax cuts for the middle class.

We want tax cuts for businesses to produce jobs.

There's great unity.

Notice the word choices - unified, unity.

Republicans keep saying that they need to.

They are fractured on many issues from what to do on health care to what to think of President

Trump, but they at least agree on tax cuts.

Or do they?

Some worry about expanding the deficit.

All right, NPR's Mara Liasson is here.

Mara, are Republicans unified?

Is there unity, as the president is talking about?

Well, there's some unity.

I think the budget does have support, but because it's the last vehicle, the last prerequisite

for passing tax cuts with only 51 votes in the Senate - that's what's known as reconciliation

- a vote for the budget is the last point of leverage that members have to make sure

their priorities are protected for tax reform.

And the latest sticking point for the budget was this idea that tax cuts would be paid

for by limiting the deductibility of state and local taxes, or SALT.

And Republicans who come from high local, state and - local-and-state tax states - generally,

bluer states like New York and New Jersey, states that pay a lot more to the federal

government in taxes than they get back in services - they don't like this idea.

And they wanted some assurances before they vote for the budget that their taxpayers won't

be disadvantaged when the Republicans unveil the details of their tax plan next week.

So that's just the latest hang-up.

Republican tax writers are trying to figure out a compromise on that.

So it's so interesting.

Republicans were looking at this issue as the one where maybe they could show unity.

But you're picking tax cuts as the issue to try and show unity.

That is always difficult because you have all of these elements in it.

Some people are going to be opposed to something, and this is their moment.

Right.

And on the general concept of cutting taxes, the president is right.

Cutting taxes is like mother's milk for Republicans.

And there's a real sense of political urgency - some would even call it desperation - to

pass the tax bill so they don't go home to voters next year completely empty-handed.

But the details of the tax cuts, Republicans are not unified on.

And the biggest problem is what's called pay-fors - how to pay for the tax cuts so they don't

balloon the deficit.

And this is where there's a lot of disagreement among Republicans.

And even when Republicans come up with ideas for pay-fors, the president's - shoots a hole

in it.

Just an example - this idea of whether there should be big reductions in tax-free contributions

to retirement accounts.

Mara, let me just ask you this.

Speaking of the question of Republican unity, you had Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon

declaring this war on the Republican establishment.

It sounds like there is now a big counterpunch coming from the establishment.

Yes.

And this is where the real civil war in the Republican Party is right now.

You know, no other Republican senators are joining this small band of outspoken Trump

critics, like Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, Ben Sasse and John McCain.

But the establishment is going to go toe-to-toe to defeat Steve Bannon-backed candidates who

the establishment Republicans say, in many cases, can't win general elections.

And we have seen this plan - this play play out before.

In 2010, the Tea Party candidates won a lot of primaries, lost general elections.

Then in 2014, Mitch McConnell fought back and won.

This is not an ideological fight, not even about pro-Trump versus never Trump.

This is about mainstream Republicans versus insurgents.

Steve Bannon says he wants to have a challenger for every single Republican incumbent except

Ted Cruz.

All right, NPR's Mara Liasson.

Mara, thanks, as always.

Thank you.

OK, Steve, here's some news we reported back in August.

Kenyans are going to the polls.

That was true in August.

It's true again today - a redo of a contested election, which is not going smoothly.

Police fired tear gas at protesters in the capital, and some polling stations were closed

because of security concerns.

A candidate challenging the president in Kenya has urged people to boycott this rerun, so

are Kenyans taking his advice?

Well, let's ask NPR's Eyder Peralta, who is in Nairobi.

And Eyder, where exactly are you now?

So I'm in Kibera, which is an opposition stronghold here in the capital, Nairobi.

And, you know, what we're seeing here right now...

What is that sound behind you?

...Is complete chaos.

I'm at a polling station, and it's surrounded by protesters, by rioters who are throwing

rocks at the polling place.

The polling place is officially open.

I spoke to one of the elections officials who says that they haven't had a single voter.

But, you know, you can probably hear the rocks.

Wow.

...Right now coming through.

And police are firing and also firing tear gas.

Right now, what I'm watching right now is, they're throwing rocks at a police officer

who was pointing his weapon at them.

So they are trying desperately to keep protesters out of this place, but they've breached the

wall.

And you'll hear me sniffle here because there's a lot of tear gas in the area.

Yeah, well, be careful.

That - they've breached one of the walls, and they're trying to come into the polling

- I'm in a safe area here.

But basically, stuff is tense here.

And, you know, the government has said that voting will go on.

But protesters have said they will not allow this to continue.

I spoke to one woman who was trying to vote.

And why is that?

Can you just remind us why the opposition - go ahead.

Go ahead.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, the opposition basically says that not enough changes, not

enough reforms have been made to this election systems.

And they say that these elections will be rigged once again.

They said that the first ones were rigged, and the Supreme Court did agree with them

and threw out the case - threw out the results of the first elections.

Of course, the opposition leader lost it - during the first elections.

All right, well, it sounds like an incredibly tense scene.

Again, the opposition does not want people to vote today in Kenya.

And that's our colleague, Eyder Peralta - NPR's Peralta in Nairobi in what sounds like a tense

scene where no one has voted yet.

We'll certainly be following that story.

Eyder, thanks very much, and stay safe.