The World and Everything In It — April 13, 2021

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good Morning!Christians are worried about Amazon’s power to cancel books it doesn’t like. But authors are finding new ways to get around the retail giant.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also, conservative Poland is an outlier in the far more liberal European Union. We’ll talk about it.

Plus, the joy of baking.

And the pleasures of snail mail.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, April 13th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Time now for the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden huddles with lawmakers about new spending proposal » President Biden met with a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House on Monday, as he steps up his push for a new multi-trillion-dollar spending bill.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president is sincerely listening to Republican ideas about the plan.

PSAKI: You don’t use the president’s time multiple times over, including two bipartisan infrastructure meetings he’s already had or the meeting today if he did now want to authentically hear from the members attending about their ideas … 

But many Republicans say they’re concerned that White House meetings with GOP lawmakers are purely “window dressing.” Democrats have already signaled a willingness to again use the reconciliation process to pass a bill without any bipartisan votes.

Republicans continue to raise concerns that the proposal spends too much and strays widely from its purported purpose as a infrastructure plan. And Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy says President Biden’s plans to raise corporate taxes to partially pay for it is a nonstarter for Republicans.

KENNEDY: Any person who has even a casual relationship with the discipline of economics knows that corporations don’t pay taxes. People do. Workers pay them in lower wages. Investors pay them in lower returns. We pay them in higher prices. 

Monday’s meeting did not include and Republican leaders or moderate senators like Republicans Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski or Democrat Joe Manchin, who has also voiced concerns about the bill.

Police: Minnesota officer meant to draw Taser, not handgun » The police chief of a Minneapolis suburb said Monday that a police officer who fatally shot a black man during a traffic stop may have unintentionally used lethal force.

Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon told reporters,

GANNON: As I watched the video and listen to the officer’s commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser, but instead  shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet. This appears to me, from what I viewed and the officer’s reaction in distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in a tragic death of Mr. Wright.

The shooting occurred as police were trying to arrest 20-year-old Daunte Wright on an outstanding warrant on Sunday.

The officer who fired the fatal round was heard on her body cam footage repeatedly shouting “I’ll Tase you!”

AUDIO: I’ll tase you!

Footage showed her drawing her weapon after the man broke free from police and got back behind the wheel of his car.

The shooting sparked violent protests in a metro area already on edge because of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in George Floyd’s death.

Judge denies defense request to sequester jury in Chauvin trial » Meantime, the judge presiding over the Chauvin trial refused a defense request on Monday to immediately sequester the jury.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson made his case for the sequestration in the wake of the Daunte Wright incident.

NELSON: The problem is that the emotional response that that case creates sets the stage for a jury to say I’m not going to vote not guilty because I’m concerned about the outcome. 

But Judge Peter Cahill said he will not sequester the jury until next Monday, when he anticipates closing arguments will begin. He also denied a defense request to question jurors about what they might have seen about the Daunte Wright case.

In the wake of Sunday’s shooting, hundreds of protesters broke into about 20 businesses, jumped on police cars and hurled rocks and other objects at officers in Brooklyn Center. The town is located just 10 miles from the Minneapolis courthouse.

Ukraine’s outreach unanswered as Russia masses troops along border » Ukraine’s leader has asked for a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Russian troop buildup along the Ukrainian border as tensions rise. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown reports.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The Ukrainian government says President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is trying to open a dialogue with Putin. But so far, no response.

The concentration of Russian troops along the frontier comes amid a surge of cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine. Russia-baсked separatists and Ukrainian forces have been locked in a conflict in the region since Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 20-14.

More than 14,000 people have died in fighting in eastern Ukraine and efforts to broker a political settlement have stalled.

Western officials are sounding alarms about an increasing number of cease-fire violations in the area. Ukraine has reported military casualties daily over the past week.

Russia has reportedly amassed more than 40,000 troops at its border with eastern Ukraine and 42,000 more in Crimea.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Iran blames Israel for sabotage at Natanz nuclear site » Iran blamed Israel on Monday for an attack on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged its centrifuges.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israeli media widely reported that the country had orchestrated a devastating cyberattack on the nuclear facility.

The nature of the attack and the extent of the damage at Natanz remains unclear. But a former Iranian official said the assault set off a fire.

The attack came as the Biden administration steps up efforts to negotiate reentry into the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: breaking the power of cancel culture in publishing.

Plus, Steve West waits on the mail.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 13th of April, 2021.

So glad you’re along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

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

First up: alternatives to Amazon.

Last month, the online retail giant removed from its shelves several books critical of the politics of transgenderism. Christians pointed to the trend of delisting books as another sign of cancel culture run amok. And they warned Amazon’s dominance in the marketplace gives it too much power to decide what books people can access.

Christians aren’t the only ones worried about Amazon’s  control. Independent authors have sought ways to break the company’s grip on their business.

What lessons have those authors learned that could help Christians avoid censorship? WORLD’s Leigh Jones talked to a couple of them to find out.

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: Amazon revolutionized the publishing industry in 2007 when it launched the Kindle. Here’s founder Jeff Bezos talking to Charlie Rose about his hopes for the new e-reading device.

BEZOS: Our vision is that you should be able to read any book in any language that has ever been printed, whether it’s in print or out of print, and you should be able to buy and get that book downloaded to your Kindle in less than 60 seconds.

CHARLIE ROSE: Any book–

BEZOS: Ever in print.

Even Bezos seemed skeptical then. But nearly 14 years later, that’s the standard readers have come to expect.

And Amazon delivers. The online retailer is the place most people buy books of all kinds, at least in America. Industry analysts estimate the company accounts for at least two-thirds of U.S. ebook sales and about half of print book sales. It’s also the primary place readers get audio books, through its Audible platform.

But that doesn’t mean authors have to be dependent on Amazon.

SMITH: It’s been, it’s been an interesting journey for us. We started very small in West Virginia, you know, the media capital of the world.

Author S.D. Smith launched his popular Green Ember children’s book series in 2014. He might have started small in rural Appalachia, but he didn’t stay small for long.

SMITH: So I think we printed 1,500 books, and we were just like, oh, my goodness, if we can just sell these in 18 months, and maybe we can break even. And we were really nervous about it. And it kind of just took off like right from the beginning.

Smith is an independent author, meaning he’s not tied to any traditional publisher. So he relied heavily on friends and family to spread the word about his first book.

SMITH: And we had a unique experience of being able to go like directly to our audience, right from the very beginning. Amazon was a part of that from the beginning, but it was never the whole story.

Someone invited him to sell his books at a homeschool conference. That led to another, and another.

SMITH: And we have a great connection with audiences there. And then that led to more and more tours and we end up really traveling the country and meeting lots of lots of lots of readers.

Thomas Umstattd is an author and book marketing coach. He says connecting with readers in person is one of the best ways to break Amazon’s stranglehold.

UMSTATTD: Just because Amazon has this new thing doesn’t mean that it’s broken the old ways of doing it. You can still receive cash in exchange for a book just like they did 100 years ago. 

Although Amazon’s big market share has Christians worried now, Umstattd says it’s nothing new for independent authors.

UMSTATTD: The number one fear for indie authors, right, it’s not being cancelled, it’s for Amazon to reduce the royalty. Because right now Amazon gives a 70 percent royalty. But there’s no reason why they couldn’t lower that to 60 percent or 50 percent.

To ensure Amazon can’t suddenly cut off their main source of revenue with one policy change, many authors diversify by selling their books on all available platforms—print, electronic, and audio.

UMSTATTD: Amazon’s the strongest player in terms of book production. They’re the biggest player in terms of fulfillment. And they’re the biggest player in terms of retail. But just because they’re the biggest player doesn’t mean they’re the only player and there are strong competitors to Amazon at every one of those levels.

And in some cases, the author’s own website is Amazon’s strongest competitor. S.D. Smith’s readers know that’s where to go to get his latest books.

SMITH: We’ve had nine books come out in the last seven years—and our last few releases we have sold exclusively at our store for the first several months. And then we give Amazon a bite at the apple. And that’s always been good, but our core audience, we found it very important to connect with them directly.

And that strategy hasn’t hurt sales. The Green Ember books are consistently on Amazon’s bestseller list for children’s Christian action and adventure fiction.

Smith does sell his ebooks exclusively on Amazon but that might not always be the case. Technology is constantly changing, but Smith says the most important thing about books will never change.

SMITH: Can I tell a story that is generous, that is beautiful, that is good? And so I’m trying to focus on that. I’m trying to stay there, and whatever technologies, whatever things change, that won’t change, that people will be hungry for stories. And the mediums for sharing those stories are proliferating.

Thomas Umstattd says that proliferation of new mediums is the best defense against cancel culture.

UMSTATTD: I’m optimistic that they’re not going to be able to control culture like they’re wanting to because there are competitors who are very happy to take that money and help to sell those books.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leigh Jones.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Poland.

The conservative country is an outlier in the more liberal European Union. That’s especially true when it comes to laws protecting the unborn.

WORLD European correspondent Jenny Lind Schmitt reports now on how pro-life activists turned recent protests to their advantage.

AUDIO: [crowd noises]

JENNY LIND SCHMITT, CORRESPONDENT: In January, pro-abortion demonstrations in Poland made international headlines when new protections for unborn babies took effect. Three months earlier, the country’s constitutional court had ruled that allowing abortion in the case of fetal abnormalities was unconstitutional and undermined human dignity. The court took the case after a group of lawmakers petitioned for a ruling on the question.

The international press portrayed the court’s decision as overreach by the conservative government. But in reality, Poland has had some of Europe’s most pro-life laws for years.

AUDIO: [music from communist Poland]

Under Poland’s era of communist rule, leaders encouraged abortion as a form of birth control. When Poles threw communists out of power in the 1990s, pro-life activists in the majority Catholic country worked to change that attitude. In 1993, a conservative government passed a law banning abortion.

Since then, Poland has allowed abortion in only three circumstances: rape or incest, when the mother’s life is at risk, or when a doctor has diagnosed fetal abnormalities.

Filip Mazurczak is a journalist and historian pursuing his doctorate at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

MAZURCZAK: Up until now the overwhelming majority of legal abortions in Poland—well over 90 percent—were related to this fetal abnormality exception. 

The law had never explicitly defined fetal abnormality. In recent years, a growing number of doctors used the fetal abnormality exception to perform abortions, sometimes in cases when the abnormality was not at all fatal. But public perception after the ruling was that the government was forcing women to continue difficult pregnancies.

MAZURCZAK: This court ruling would have been much much less controversial if it only would have said that abortion in the case of Down syndrome is illegal. Then the protest would be tiny. The thing that really irked a lot of people was the ban of abortion in the case of so called fatal lethal flaws. Different genetic illnesses in which the chances a child will survive are very slim. Because people were saying, the law can’t force people to be heroes, to be martyrs, to be saints. They said it’s cruel to force women to witness the death of their own child.

In response, the government pledged to step up support of perinatal hospice centers. These provide medical and psychological care to parents when their baby has received an in utero diagnosis of terminal illness. Poland is already a leader in the area of perinatal hospice with four times the number of care centers than Germany, a country with twice its population. But advocates have called for an expansion. Poland’s minister of family and social policy recently said the government wants centers in each of the nation’s 16 provinces.

AUDIO: [music voiceover in Polish]

Another issue highlighted by the court ruling is the need to provide support for disabled persons already in society. Magdalena Guziak-Nowak is with the Polish Association of Human Life Defenders. The pro-life organization also advocates for improved support for the disabled and their families.

GUZIAK-NOWAK: [woman speaking Polish]

JOHNSON, TRANSLATOR: People with disabilities receive financial support from the state, but it is very little and insufficient. Many parents cannot afford to buy better rehabilitation equipment for their children, go on private visits to the doctor, buy specialized dietary supplements, and so on. Five percent of seriously ill children live in extreme poverty.

The monthly government nursing allowance is $55 dollars, when the actual average cost of care for a sick child is $13-00 dollars. And government assistance ends when the child turns 18. Currently, a parent who cares for a disabled child receiving funds from the government is not legally allowed to work, compounding financial hardship.

JOHNSON: There is a lot of talk about removing architectural barriers, about inclusive education, and about equal opportunities in the labor market for people with disabilities. It is important. However, without financial support that enables treatment and rehabilitation, sick people will never be able to enter any labor market. 

Ninety-two percent of Poles favor increasing state aid for disabled persons. The government has been sluggish to update disability laws, but the recent abortion debate has pulled the issue back to the forefront.

Mazurczak says that while the court’s decision is a win for the pro-life community, he’s encouraged to see organizations continuing their commitment to public education. The Our Children Foundation began a massive publicity campaign soon after the ruling.

MAZURCZAK: These billboards are everywhere. First they showed a womb in the shape of a heart, and showing a fetus in it. And so it’s just a positive message. Instead of showing aborted fetuses, it’s a positive message. The same billboards have also had the word ‘Life’ written in different languages. 

Guziak-Nowak is grateful for the prayers for Poland from all over the world during the debate. She says pro-life law needs to protect children, but also their mothers.

JOHNSON: The child deserves to be treated with the greatest delicacy, and if he is sick, to see him as a patient and not a problem, to accept and love him. But good law is not only needed to protect children. We need good laws to protect women, mothers. They deserve support, loving care, and the highest medical standards.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Jenny Lind Schmitt.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s not easy to get into the University of Kentucky’s Clinical Leadership and Management program. Really, it’s not. As the college says on its website, admission to the program “is a selective process.”

So imagine the surprise when a program that takes only about 40 students a year emailed admission acceptances to 500-thousand students!

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Whoops.

Yeah, whoops. One recipient is Mary Dougherty of Texas. She told television station L-E-X-18  this was a head-scratcher.

DOUGHERTY: I had never been on the website. I’ve never been to Kentucky, let alone University of Kentucky.

Yeah, and I think it’s going to stay that way.

Turns out, it was a technical glitch behind the mass email.

So the university had to send another email within 24 hours to say sorry ’bout that. You have not been accepted. Except for the exclusive 40.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, April 13th.

You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today!

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Caring for children with critical health needs takes an exhausting toll on a family. It makes the kindness of others especially meaningful.

And when that kindness comes topped with 18 pounds of buttercream icing? Well, it provides an especially sweet reminder of the Psalmist’s exhortation to “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

WORLD correspondent Bonnie Pritchett has the story.

MATT WOLFE: Oh! There she goes! [laughs] Oh, yeh. It’s a good day now.
STEPHANIE WOLFE: Frosting is her favorite.

BONNIE PRITCHETT, CORRESPONDENT: It’s the last Saturday in March outside a Waco, Texas bookstore. Grey skies hide the sun but Matthew and Stephanie Wolfe beam as their 6-year-old daughter Addie savors a taste of icing from a cake made specially for her.

Addie grins her approval.

The cake’s creator, Lyndi Garwood, is almost in tears as she watches. It’s a moment she wasn’t sure would happen.

GARWOOD: Do you like the cake? Is that good? You made my whole week, Lady! This is the best….

Garwood spent at least 40 hours the past week, including one vacation day, creating the giant two-tiered vanilla cake. It’s slathered in a thick, fluffy layer of two-tone green buttercream icing—the same color as Addie’s tongue. Edible embellishments include a menagerie of zoo animals.

Crowning the 30-pound confection is a three-dimensional figurine of Addie dressed in pink and seated in her wheelchair.

Garwood’s attention to detail includes Addie’s trache and feeding tubes. While Addie’s medical needs are inescapable, her mom, Stephanie, says they do not define her daughter.

STEPHANIE: Addie was born with a sacrococcygeal teratoma, and that’s a mouthful. And, that was found when we were having an anatomy scan at 20 weeks pregnant….

In February Stephanie sat at her kitchen table in the family’s Waco home as her husband, Matthew worked in the bedroom-turned-office, and 3-year-old Lawson played near his big sister’s ventilator and brilliant pink wheelchair.

STEPHANIE: When I was pregnant with Addie and we found out that, you know, quote, unquote something’s wrong with my baby, you know, we decided to choose life. We were asked so many times and we just said no, ‘God has plans for this kid’. And there was one day that I prayed, like, let Addie’s story help with, like, your glory. Just, whatever that is. Whatever that means.

“Whatever” meant more than they could imagine: Hydrocephalus. Epilepsy. Low muscle tone. Bronchomalacia. Medical technology keeps Addie alive.

The loving kindness of family, friends, and strangers like Lyndi Garwood with a mixer named “Bess” enables Addie to thrive.

GARWOOD: Bess is a little bit of an old girl….

Bess is Garwood’s bright red, 12-year-old KitchenAid mixer. And it’s getting quite the workout creaming pounds and pounds of butter in Garwood’s Austin kitchen.

GARWOOD: I’ve always been a big foodie. My grandma was always one of those people who, like, you show love through food. It’s probably my love language even though it’s not an officially recognized love language. It’s definitely my love language.

An urban planner with the City of Austin by trade, Garwood volunteers as a baker and state coordinator for Icing Smiles. The non-profit organization matches children experiencing critical illnesses with talented bakers who provide free specialty cakes for birthdays and other occasions.

A week before she meets Addie and her family in Waco, Garwood begins work on the cake.

GARWOOD: These cakes, they’re so special. These kids deserve the best. And it brings me joy to give them these cakes and provide them that love and a day of just normal happiness….

She draws inspiration for the cake’s design from illustrations in Stephanie’s recently published children’s book called Authentically Addie. The book is propped up on the kitchen counter for reference as she molds black and grey-streaked fondant into rocks.

Garwood’s concerted attention to the visual details on this cake is intentional.

GARWOOD: Yeh. I did know she has a feeding tube and that she might not be able to eat this. But, honestly, like seeing herself in the cake, visually, that’s why I tried so hard to really make it look like the book visually is because I want her to look at it and see all her little animal friends and see herself in the modeling chocolate version I made. I want it to actually look close enough that she can recognize herself because I think that brings a lot of joy to it….

The next day, Garwood delivers the cake to the Waco bookstore for an Authentically Addie book-signing event where Addie takes center stage.

As customers gawk at the cake and greet Addie, her dad, Matthew, recounts how God’s provision for his family has always been sufficient be it a free handicap-accessible van or a cake.

MATTHEW: It’s the love from people–strangers and friends alike–that really has kept us going through all of this.

That allows him and Stephanie to focus on what matters most.

MATTHEW: Our job is to ensure that every single moment of every single day she knows how much she is loved because she is going to be loved long after she’s gone from this world and she’s going to be loved just as fiercely while she’s here. And we just feel incredibly blessed just to hold a child of God like this.

As the book-signing crowd thins out, Matthew and Stephanie finally get a piece of cake.

Matthew gives a big eye roll of taste bud bliss.

GARWOOD: That makes me so happy. [laughs]

MATTHEW: I’m done. Call it a day. This is incredible. It’s one of the most beautiful cakes I’ve ever seen.

GARWOOD: Thank you so much.

Loving kindness never tasted so sweet.

STEPHANIE: That’s your cake, Missy. That was for you.

GRANDMA: Want some more? She’s like, ‘Uh, Yeh.’

STEPHANIE: Yeh. Frosting Queen over here….

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Bonnie Pritchett in Waco and Austin, Texas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, April 13th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Next up, a new voice.

Well, not really a new voice.

Well, that’s true! But not a voice you’re used to hearing at the end of the program. Steve West is a lawyer who writes about religious liberty issues for WORLD Digital. He often joins us to talk about the latest court battles. But today he’s got something else on his mind.

STEVE WEST, COMMENTATOR: The mail came today. In its own way, that’s just short of miraculous considering the paths each piece must follow, all the things that must work right for something mailed in say, Perth Down-Under to make it across oceans and continents to a black metal box on my street. I felt like telling the carrier that he’s wonderful, that mail delivery is amazing, but he might misunderstand.

I’ve been waiting for the mail for a long time. When I was young, say 8, I ordered travel brochures and welcome packets from faraway states like Idaho and Wisconsin, just so I could receive mail with my name on it. I sat on the front porch and watched for the little white truck hiccuping down our street. I joined book and record clubs, waited for the mail truck, did not let the mail settle in the box before pulling it out and rifling its treasures. I pulled advertiser cards from the travel magazines, checked all the boxes indicating I wanted more information, and sent the cards in. I waited. The box filled. The mailman’s smile waned.  Reading the boosters’ travel magazines I dreamed of snow-capped mountains and Wild West prairies, laid the maps out on my bed and traced the meandering lines of my imagination.

The other day I was coming home from work and noticed my neighbor’s small blonde-haired son in their driveway, the door of their mailbox left gaping. He held a single catalog in his hand as he ran to his Mom.

“Where’s the rest of the mail?” she asked. “You forgot to bring the rest of the mail.”

He didn’t hear her.

“This is the best day,” he said. “I got a toy catalog! This is the best day.”

I looked at the thick packet of mail in my hand. I got a bill. That’s the distance between childhood and middle-age.

But today’s delivery brought a few other things. Two fashion catalogs that contain posing people that don’t look like anyone I have seen anywhere. Three banks sent personal letters that make prodigious use of my name throughout. They would like me to secure their credit card, for which they say I qualify, as if I won a prize. I rip them all in half, pleased by the sound, and toss them in the recycling bin, where they can make their noisy claims to the dark.

But not all my mail suffers the same desolate end. One day, not so long ago, I received a letter from my daughter, light and newsy with the buoyancy of prairie air. And then a sequel. I kept them both, tucked them in a nook on my desk where they stand golden among the clutter.  Occasionally they beckon, and I read these little missives from the past, then return them to their post where they go quiet until another day.

That’s why I still love getting mail. Letter carriers don’t realize what they’ve done for my life. Behind their sometimes weary expressions, they transport love.

I’m Steve West.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: studying the Supreme Court. The White House has set up a new commission to look into things like term limits and increasing the number of justices to dilute the conservative majority. We’ll talk about it.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

“Whoever practices righteousness is righteous…No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him.”

Go now in grace and peace.

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