Listener Feedback: The mailbag answers back

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. 

I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Finally today, we end the week with your Listener Feedback for the month of February.

We begin with a couple of corrections: 

In our February 11th newscast we mispronounced the name for followers of a branch of Islam, the Shiite branch, and in the same program we mispronounced the name of the luxury auction house “Sotheby’s.” 

Now, I need to add, those two things pale in comparison to a mistake I made recording a really great commentary by Hunter Baker on how gambling has taken over professional sports. He was recording remotely and I—I, Nick, did this—I neglected to ensure his external mic was plugged in … so the entire thing was recorded using a decent, but not broadcast quality, laptop microphone. 

So I have already apologized to Hunter for that, and now I do, embarrassingly, come to you and say, "Sorry about that." 

Well, moving on now to feedback from listeners, and speaking of Hunter Baker, listener Sam Arora sent a voice memo noting how the Dobbs decision has changed pro-life conversations for presidential candidates:

SAM ARORA: In his February 18 opinion segment, Hunter Baker said that he could argue that there was a pro-life litmus test among Republicans running for president. While Donald Trump ran for the Republican nomination as pro-life in 2016, when he ran in 2024 he said abortion law should be left to the states, and reshaped his party's platform in that way. 

What Dr. Baker said may once have been true for the Republican Party, but it doesn't seem to be true today.

BROWN: Scott Bahr from Livonia, Michigan, sent a different perspective after our February 12th interview regarding the rollback of climate regulations.

SCOTT BAHR: I appreciated the interview with Philip Rossetti about the rollback of climate regulations, but I disagree with his contention that this is more theoretical than practical because industry had not fully repositioned to it. 

That certainly is not true for the auto industry, which had invested billions of dollars in electric battery plants to meet the former regulations. Those plants are now being abandoned before they hardly got started. I previously worked in product planning for one of the automakers, and I've seen firsthand the unnecessary costs forced into vehicles to meet these regulations. I've also seen entire vehicle lines for products that Americans want shut down simply because they didn't fit the government plan. 

This has caused vehicle prices to skyrocket, and they will stay high as automakers try to recover the dollars they wasted on the government's climate change boondoggle. We're all paying the price for that. 

Paul Gebel from Edmond, Oklahoma, wrote in to express his appreciation for our music reviews.

PAUL GEBEL: I've been a fan of Arsenio Orteza's music reviews in WORLD's print magazine for a long time. His descriptive phrases and encyclopedic knowledge of musicians past and present is more than impressive. 

My only unanswered question after reading Arsenio's reviews was, "But what does it sound like?" That's why I've been more than thrilled that you now feature an occasional audio review by Arsenio. It makes sense that music and music reviews be listened to, so thank you for bringing his work to your podcast. I'll still look forward to Arsenio's articles, which I read and often reread, but please continue his audio contributions as well. Thank you!

John Howeth from Windsor, Colorado, had a small quibble with Arsenio Orteza over his February 12th segment on Christian rock band Petra:

HOWETH: Thank you for the episode on February 12 about the musical legacy of Christian rock group Petra, and the review of Petras new album. Without that, I wouldn't have known that they had come out with a new album. Petra has been one of my favorite groups for years and I feel like Arsenio missed it, skipping the whole 1990s decade, some of Petras best albums, especially Beyond Belief that was released in 1990. 

EICHER: Now a couple of kudos on what we call our "tentpole features," things like Legal Docket, the Monday Moneybeat, Washington Wednesday, Culture Friday, those types of segments.  

First, Abby DeVaughn from Minneapolis had this to say about a Legal Docket on February 16th:

DEVAUGHN: Hi WORLD. My name is Abby Devaughn, I'm a professional actuary in Minnesota, and I wanted to write in and say that I loved the Legal Docket on the actuarial pension problem, and you guys did a really great job talking about the profession and the really complex issues at stake here. And I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your commitment to covering all kinds of Supreme Court cases on Legal Docket, even the more technical ones, or the ones that might not sound as “interesting.” And this was just a really special treat for me to see my profession represented in this way. Thanks again!

BROWN: Victoria Cortina had a word of thanks from Norway for our February 10th report on preventing mass violence:

CORTINA: I wanted to thank you for the report on how to prevent mass violence. I'm a public school teacher in Norway in Europe, and we have at least one to two students in every single classroom who acts in the way that that gentleman described himself. 

And it is so frustrating, it feels hopeless, and I have given up at times. But I feel renewed motivation and encouragement thanks to your report. And I feel capable, I feel like there is something that I can do, and I feel like I have been doing things just by meeting them where they're at and being kind, as we're called to be. And in gratitude to all that Christ has done for us, we can be kind. So thank you for this, what an amazing news podcast that we even get to hear stories like this. Well done.

And here’s Ruth Solow of Highland Village, Texas, on John Stonestreet’s Culture Friday comments last Friday:

SOLOW: I just appreciate John Stonestreet's clear and biblical based comments on the 20th about transgender issues, saying that New York University won't do transition surgeries. 

What really helped me was his simple comment, "Well, the Bible tells Christians not to lie, and that God hates lying," or something to that effect. It was so helpful to me as a parent. 

Your podcast always helps me as a Christian in this twisted culture know how I should think properly. By the way, the verse which he was mentioning that I had my kids memorize that he alluded to is Proverbs 12:22. Besides the 10 Commandments, this verse says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight.” Thank you always for being truthful in your mag and your podcast. You are God's delight.

EICHER: Well, thanks to all who wrote and called this month. 

We’d love to hear from you as well! If you’d like to comment on a story you heard or a commentary you heard, or just anything that you notice about the program, you can send us a recorded message or email to: editor@wng.org. 

And you can also phone it in: 202-709-9595. 

And that is Listener Feedback for the month of February.

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