The World and Everything in It - April 22, 2022

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Some people pushing back on social engineering in schools are seeing success.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Culture Friday.

Also a new kids movie about what makes us good—or bad.

And your listener feedback.

REICHARD: It’s Friday, April 22nd. 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 news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden announces heavy artillery, other weapons for Ukraine » President Biden on Thursday pledged an additional $1.3 billion in aid to Ukraine.

$800 million of that will go to Ukraine’s military.

BIDEN: This package includes heavy artillery weapons, dozens of howitzers, and 144,000 rounds of ammunition.

U.S. soldiers will be training Ukrainian troops on those weapons.

Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said what they’re sending is exactly what’s needed for the new battle in Ukraine’s east.

KIRBY: We believed, but more critically, the Ukrainians believed that they needed additional artillery firepower.

President Biden said the weapons will be sent—quote—“directly to the front lines of freedom.”

As part of that package, the United States will also provide another $500 million in direct economic assistance. That will go to help pay government salaries, pensions and other programs.

That raises the total U.S. economic support to $1 billion since Russia’s invasion began.

Putin declares victory in Mariupol » Meantime, Vladimir Putin is declaring victory in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the violent siege a liberation.

PESKOV: Mariupol has been liberated. Today, the minister of defense reported that there is an opportunity to start restoring peaceful life, to bring back the residents.

But many residents never left. Instead, thousands have been trapped inside the shattered city without power … and with limited access to food, water and medicine.

As for the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in the city, a few thousand are estimated to be holed up at a sprawling steel plant. Putin says the plan now is to simply starve them out.

He has ordered his forces to seal off the area—quote— “so that not even a fly comes through.”

Ukraine says Moscow is falsely claiming victory and it is not giving up on defending Mariupol.

DHS extends vaccine requirements for entry at Mexico, Canada borders » The Department of Health and Human Services has again extended a vaccine mandate for those crossing U.S. borders. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The United States will maintain its stance that people crossing into the country from Mexico or Canada must be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The agency did not give an expiration date for the mandate. Migrants must provide documentation to show they’ve received a U.S.-approved vaccine.

President Biden today announced a Ukrainian sponsorship program designed to discourage refugees from entering the country through the Mexican border. Under the program, refugees must have a sponsor in the states, be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and pass background checks. Then they can apply for a two-year temporary protected status.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Justice Dept. to appeal order voiding travel mask mandate (anytime) » The Biden administration is appealing a judge’s order that voided the federal mask mandate on planes and other transportation earlier this week.

After the ruling, most airlines and airports, many public transit systems, and even ride-sharing companies dropped their mask requirements.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said he doesn’t think masks are necessary on flights with heavily filtered air.

KIRBY: An airplane, particularly because of the airflow on an airplane, is literally the safest place you can be indoors and be around other people.

But the CDC said it believes a transportation mask order “remains necessary for public health.”

WHO reports big drop in global COVID cases » The World Health Organization is reporting a big drop in the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The WHO says global cases fell by nearly a quarter last week. That continues a downward trend that started late last month.

The UN agency reported just over 5.5 million cases for the week. That was down 24 percent from the week before.

Cases dipped in every region but not in every country. The United States has seen a slight uptick in recent weeks.

After dipping below 30,000 daily cases in late March, new U.S. cases have crept up to just under 40,000 per day.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

CNN’s streaming service shutting down a month after launch » CNN is shutting down its new streaming service less than a month after launching it.

AUDIO: I’m Anderson Cooper, and we have a new show on CNN+ That’s a little more relaxed.

The shutdown is a spectacular flameout for a venture that had attracted media stars like Chris Wallace and Alison Roman and was seen as a way to attract a new generation of news consumers.

It launched March 29th, shortly before the network’s new corporate parents took over. The new leaders of Warner Bros. Discovery considered CNN+ an ill-conceived idea. The subscription-based service will stop streaming at the end of this month.

Some CNN+ employees will be shifted within the network. Others will be laid off.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: Some people pushing back on social engineering in schools are seeing success.

Plus, your listener feedback.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Friday, April 22nd, 2022.

Glad to have you 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.

AUDIO: The Biden administration announced that the Transportation Security Administration will no longer enforce the federal mandate requiring masks in all US airports, and all non-foreign aircraft. // “Throw awaaaaaaay / your maaaaaaasks!”

Let’s bring in John Stonestreet. He’s the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast and he joins us now. Good morning, John.

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning. 

EICHER: So, John, I travel a lot, but not nearly as much as you do. Did you shoot any of this video or were you the guy dancing down the aisle about the news on the mask mandate on planes?

STONESTREET: I was dancing. It was at my house, though, because I was flying the next morning. So I gotta admit, I was walking into the airport, it felt a little strange. And I kind of wondered, can this be real? I kept looking around for a TSA agent that was going to tackle me and it was all going to be, you know, a big fake and, and all that sort of thing. But no, it was very exciting. You gotta love all of those Fed Soc judges, first of all, and that was, that was encouraging. I gotta say, I was also grateful for this one, you know, flight attendants musical theater performance, because I know enough flight attendants and people who work in the airlines that, although they hated the way that masks made everyone grumpy, they're a little bit germaphobic like I am. And we're just hoping, you know, on the other side of the mask that grown adults do remember to cover their mouth when they sneeze, because they were kind of like, you know, when flu season happens, they wish there was a mask mandate every year. So for this one to really come on the side of human freedom here, I was grateful for her performance. But yeah, it's big news. And you know, it was interesting. I flew the morning after I would have guessed out of the Denver Airport through Minneapolis. 70% of people were maskless. And returning the next day, it was 95%.

EICHER: What you said “Fed-soc judges” and I know what you meant, Mary knows what you meant. There may be a listener who does not know that acronym, Federalist Society, which you meant. And I want to tell you this, I am in the Presbyterian Church in America. And so pretty proud to say that the Fed-soc judge in this case was a Covenant College grad. 

STONESTREET: Well as an alum of their rivals down the mountain, I'm not allowed to celebrate their success at all. It's actually in my contract with my diploma, but good for them!

REICHARD: Well, I want to segue to another serious topic. John, I want to ask you about textbooks used in public schools.

Last week, Florida’s education commission rejected math textbooks submitted by publishers for use in grades K-5.

The commission found that 41% of math textbooks concerned themselves with “Social Emotional Learning” and critical race theory among other things. The texts just didn’t meet state education standards. Yet I read news accounts saying this is right wing censorship.

I’m old enough to remember shenanigans with textbooks a generation ago, so it’s not new. What lessons ought we take from this?

STONESTREET: Well, yeah, and this was the same week that the Libs of TikTok founder was essentially doxxed by a Washington Post reporter who, in tears just recently, on a podcast talked about how awful it was to dox someone.

So this is why worldview matters. You need to know that what CRT deals with is not just a theory of race, I've said this a number of times the problem isn't the R in the acronym. It's the CT. And the CT actually offers a competing cosmology, a competing anthropology, a competing soteriology, a competing ecclesiology and a competing eschatology. Now for those keeping track at home, that's a different vision of creation, a different vision of man, a different vision of the fall, a different vision of the church, and a different vision of salvation and a different vision of the end times are where his, you know, the combination of history. So this is what you're seeing, particularly an anthropological distinction, that we are what we are based on what other tribe, tribal group we belong to, and that that makes us either guilty or innocent, you know, per se. You know, that's an establishment of religion. There's no way around that. And that's why education is always a big battle.

And you know, and then really that's the second point about why worldview needs to matter is that it does go to the hearts and minds, particularly of the younger generation. And we certainly have seen that with the Disney crazy this week and over the last couple of weeks, having to do with the sphere, cultural sphere of entertainment and the arts. Well, certainly the much more important battleground is the cultural sphere of education. Ideas change culture, but not all ideas. Ideas that are really embedded in education and the arts are the most powerful ideas. And CS Lewis was credited often as saying that the most dangerous ideas in a society are not the ones that are argued, but the ones that are assumed. You just teach math and embed this stuff in there. Suddenly, there's an assumed idea that never gets argued for. It's just assumed. And it's an idea with big consequences. And if it's a bad idea, it has victims. And so this stuff really matters - really, really matters.

EICHER: Here’s an interesting one. A professor at a public university in Ohio, small school called Shawnee State, stood up to school officials and won. The school reversed course after initially ordering the professor there to comply with the school’s new pronoun policy. The professor is a Christian—Nicholas Meriwether—and he sought but was at first denied a religious exemption from the policy. He hung in there, got some help from Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, and ended up forcing a settlement.

So do we file this under your idea of having a theology of getting fired, in the sense that you fight for your principles, take the risk, and sometimes you don’t get fired but you win?

STONESTREET: Yes, absolutely. I file this under two categories of thought, actually. One is the theology of getting fired that you've got to decide right now, when you're in the middle of the challenge, or if you think this particular cultural issue won't come for me, you're probably naive, you're probably not going to be prepared when the challenge comes. So decide now where that line is. Again, I don't think the theology of getting fired as we see it in Scripture, which tells us to seek in every opportunity to live at peace with everyone means that you go and you know, fight on every battle front and call everything you know an issue of vital or life or death significance, like like some do. It means you aren't you think ahead, you think ahead about the issues and whether or not these issues really matter. What I appreciate about this particular case, and I want to give a shout out to Dr. Merriweather and a shout out to our friends at ADF, because they did it this way. This was a wonderful example of someone who sought to live at peace with the policy. He sought to live at peace with his superiors and his students in his classroom. But he knew where his line was, and he was not going to, to quote Alexander Solzhenitsyn, “live not by lies.” He was going to not be forced to say something that wasn't true. The other category of thought is the category we use around the Colson center amongst our editorial team is the inevitability thesis. The inevitability thesis is this idea that culture is getting worse and worse, and you're not going to win. You know, it's this kind of impending series of doom, over your head, either the loss of rights, the loss of freedom, you know, or, you know, a more and more beleaguered position. At the same time, never underestimate the tendency of the perpetrators of the sexual revolution to overplay their hand. And the gender issue is just an overplayed hand. It's something that just so violates gravity, so violates the laws of nature, so violates the realities that we see that when you start applying it, it just crosses lines. And I think that's what we're seeing here. I think Providence is moving. God is at work despite the forces of wrong and the forces of evil. I think we got to hold on to that. And I think we also got to say, there's still a law written on our hearts, there's still an access we have to what's true and what's real. And so this idea that you got to get along with it or you'll be on the wrong side of history is something that Christians can't believe, both because of the theology of getting fired, you know, this is worth losing my position or losing my well being. I'm not going to be forced to say what's true over when you put these two things together, that the analogy of getting fired in the inevitability thesis. I think what you get is this wonderful line from TS Eliot, where he says for us, there's only the trying and the rest is none of our business.

REICHARD: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks, John.

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Anyone living near the flight path of a major airport knows the annoying interruptions of air travel for those on the ground. 

AUDIO: [SOUND OF PLANE FLYING OVERHEAD]

Well last year, the Dublin Airport Authority received more than 13-thousand noise complaints from local residents.

When you consider the number of flights in and out of the airport, maybe it doesn’t sound too shocking.

What is surprising is that 90% of those complaints were made by one person.

Doing some quick math, that means on average, this persistent complainer contacted the airport more than 33 times a day, every day, last year.

This unnamed person is currently on track to exceed 20,000 complaints this year.

An airport spokesperson said the airport is committed to minimizing noise and promises to respond “to each complainant regarding [his] complaint.”

Sounds like someone’s writing career at the airport is about to take off.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Friday, April 22nd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: DreamWorks’ latest animated film.

It hits theaters today. And reviewer Collin Garbarino says The Bad Guys might be a good choice for the whole family.

Wolf: We’re the Bad Guys, and this is the crew. Mr. Snake—Serpentine safe-cracking machine. Imagine Houdini, but with no arms.

Snake: Jackpot!

Wolf: Ms. Tarantula—In house tech wizard.

Fox: Where’d you learn to do that?

Tarantula: Mostly YouTube.

Wolf: Mr. Piranha—He’s brave, crazy.

Piranha: What’s up, papa?

Wolf: And Mr. Shark—Master of disguise. His greatest trick: Stealing the Mona Lisa disguised as the Mona Lisa.

Shark: Whoo!

Wolf: And rounding out the crew is me, the big bad wolf! We may be bad, but we’re so good at it.

COLLIN GARBARINO, REVIEWER: What would it be like if nature’s most fearsome creatures formed a criminal gang? That’s the premise behind The Bad Guys, directed by Pierre Perifel. The heartfelt action comedy feels like Looney Tunes meets Oceans 11 meets Fast and Furious. The movie is based on a series of children’s books by Aaron Blabey, but it has enough substance to make it entertaining for the whole family.

CLIP: It’s the bad guys! Arrest them!

Wolf, voiced by Sam Rockwell, leads a gang of thieves that includes Snake, Tarantula, Shark, and Piranha. Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, and Anthony Ramos provide their voice talents to the gang. These five friends tire of robbing banks and decide to steal the unstealable to solidify their reputation as the baddest of the bad guys. Their target? The “Good Samaritan Award.” And they plan to nab it right before it’s handed to Professor Marmalade, a philanthropic guinea pig.

Tarantula: Wolf is in position. Piranha, you all penguin-suited and booted?

Piranha: Affirmative. I’m a clean mean dolphin-stealing machine. What’s going on guys?

But the plan unravels when Wolf impulsively performs an act of kindness, causing him to question whether bad guys can ever be good.

Wolf: Here, let me help you. Are you okay, ma’am?

Old woman: My gracious, yes. I may be dizzy, but I’m alive thanks to you.

Wolf: What are you—

Old woman: Thank you, dear. You’re such a good boy.

We’ve seen many versions of this bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold story, so no one will be shocked when the “bad guys” become the good guys. The plot’s pretty predictable—Wolf actually ends up wearing sheep pajamas. But even if the story isn’t surprising, it’s still fun to watch the gang try to figure out what it means to be good.

Wolf: Hey, look! It’s a cat stuck in a tree.

Marmalade: It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Now, what in this scenario would give you that good tingle?

Snake: Eating it. This is why I always carry two pieces of bread with me.

Marmalade: No. I want you to s—

Wolf: Smack it!

Snake: Skin it!

Shark: Stab it!

Tarantula: Saute it?

Piranha: Sing to it?

Marmalade: Save it. I want you to save—that’s so obvious. I want you to save it.

Bad Guys: Ooooh. Right. HERE, KITTY KITTY!

Snake: Woah. That cat is obviously defective.

The characters are fun, but much of the movie’s fresh feel comes from Perifel’s sleek animation. He combines computer-generated imagery with a 2D style, giving the film a gorgeous texture that’s a welcome relief from the typical Pixar-lookalike. The beauty enriches the action sequences: car chases, heist montages, fight scenes—all technically brilliant.

CLIP: [Chase scene]

The Bad Guys is rated PG for action and rude humor. The humor tends toward slapstick with absurd violence reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. The movie also contains a few flatulence jokes, and one character repeatedly refers to a heart-shaped object as looking like a rearend. But it also includes wry social commentary. Parents will chuckle when the movie mocks wealthy, self-satisfied, do-gooders.

Wolf: I’m sorry. Have we met? I’m the villain of every story. Guilty until proven innocent. Even if by some miracle we did change, who’s going to believe us?

The Bad Guys asks its audience to consider whether we’re too quick to judge others. Are Wolf and his gang bad guys because they’re inherently bad or has society’s antipathy made them that way? Almost everyone besides the main characters is human. That seems odd at first, but these “bad guy” animals are a metaphor. Wolves, snakes, spiders, sharks, and piranhas are rarely dangerous to humans, but we have an outsized fear of them. Are societal prejudices just as unfounded? And what about less scary persons? Are they inherently good?

CLIP: Wait a second, what did you, how did you–? A wolf and a fox are not so different.

We see familiar themes in the movie—the need for love, friendship, and rescue. But we also find less popular but still important themes—the need for repentance and taking responsibility for past actions. The film acknowledges the existence of wickedness, but suggests we can find good in surprising places. Is it coincidence that the entire plot revolves around the Good Samaritan Award, reminding us of Jesus’ parable about help coming from a supposed enemy? The Bad Guys echoes the Bible’s teaching that we can’t judge the heart based on appearance.

I also liked that the movie is willing to wrestle with the meaning of “goodness.”

Marmalade: Being good just feels so good. And when you’re good, you’re loved.

Should we do good merely because it makes us feel good and because it makes people like us? This selfish ethic pervades much children’s programming, but in The Bad Guys it proves to be inadequate for virtuous living. Sin makes people feel good too—at least for a moment. Toward the movie’s end, one of the bad guys gives a more helpful definition of goodness. He realizes doing good requires sacrifice and putting other people’s needs before our own. It’s a great moment parents can use to remind kids about Christ’s love for His people.

MUSIC: [Billie Eilish “Bad Guy”]

I’m Collin Garbarino.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, April 22nd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. It’s time now for Listener Feedback.

We don’t have any corrections this month, but we’ll start with a gentle reproof from listener Bill Calwell. He called in from Seneca, South Carolina.

CALDWELL: Since moving to the south some 40 years ago, I’ve found something that bothers me more than fingernails across a chalkboard. I cringe each time I hear or read it. And recently I heard it from a reporter on The World and Everything in It, and I read it in WORLD Magazine. The first person, singular pronoun when used as an object is me. For example, he spoke to me. No one says, he spoke to I. So why do so many people say, He spoke to George Grant and I? I cringe to say it. I am using Mr. Grant in my example because I am confident he would never abuse the king’s English in this way. Thank you for letting me vent this pet peeve. And God’s blessings to you, and all of you at WORLD.

EICHER: Well, Bill. I hate to admit it, but we are guilty as charged. And we apologize! We will do our best to avoid raking our linguistic fingernails down your mental chalkboard in the future!

REICHARD: We do sometimes make grammatical or pronunciation errors, but we do try to get it right. Our next caller phoned in to say how much she appreciates that.

SCHMIDT: Hi, this is Helena Schmidt. I’m calling from Michigan. And I just wanted to commend you for that story about how you get pronunciations and clarifications on how to pronounce foreign-to-us words and names. As somebody who grew up with a very unpronounceable Finnish last name in Canada, I appreciate that you’ve made these efforts. So thank you so much, and I truly appreciate hearing your news every day as I’m driving into work.

EICHER: I fancy myself an aficionado of accents and I picked out your Canadian accent right away. Thanks for sending in your comment.

Next we have a call from Mikaela Skelton, who lives in Hickory, North Carolina.

SKELTON: I wanted to thank you guys for the excellent segment you did on April 13th about the mail carrier. And I have to tell you just how crazy it was. Actually, I was listening to the episode the day before, and I thought to myself, man, I really wish they would do another one of those segments about what people do for their interesting jobs. And particularly I thought, I really wish they would interview a mail carrier because, personally, that’s someone I’ve always wanted to interview because I feel like they would have such an interesting story. And then, lo and behold, the next day you aired a segment about a mailman who delivers mail by boat. And, you know, I never would have known that there was someone out there who did that. So, thank you so much. I really enjoyed it.

REICHARD: Well, Mikaela, you were so right on there, might need to be careful what you ask for. You might just get it again! And speaking of things we’re enjoying—Lawless! Episode 3.5 dropped yesterday on the Lawless feed. 3.5?!

EICHER: Yes, 3.5! A little bonus. “The Point Five,” the episode within the episode, for just a little more context, we have some additional material that helps the story along. So this particular one—3.5—tells the story of the early legal battle in the Terri Schaivo case. Not the one over her life, but the one over her medical care and how much it cost. It’s the case that really helped set the stage for the fight to keep Terri alive.

This is a really good episode, gives some more backstory to the case.

REICHARD: But Lawless isn’t our only podcast dropping new episodes. We have another season of Listening In launching tomorrow! Several of you have written over the last few months to ask about this. And we are happy to report that host Warren Smith is back for Season 10 with fourteen new interviews. And he’s talking to some really interesting people this season. Tony Evans, Andy Stanley, and Jerry Jenkins—just to name a few. You’ll find each new episode on the Listening In feed every Friday.

EICHER: And just like Lawless and all our other podcasts, you can find Listening In wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re a new listener and would like to see a full list of all our other programs, visit wng.org/podcasts.

REICHARD: Alright, we have time for one more call today. We’ll let Susan Sellers from Sun City, Arizona, have the last word.

SELLERS: I just wanted to say, Myrna Brown, I love you. Your heart comes through so beautifully in your stories and the questions you ask, the scriptures you share at the end of the program. And I often turn to my husband and say, I just love Myrna. And I wanted you to know that. Thank you, dear sister.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Time now to thank our team.

Myrna Brown, Kent Covington, Josh Schumacher, David Bahnsen, Kristen Flavin, Anna Johansen Brown, Lauren Dunn, Steve West, Onize Ohikere, Kim Henderson, Joel Belz, Jenny Lind Schmitt, Jenny Rough, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, and Collin Garbarino.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz are the audio engineers who stay up late to get the program to you early! Leigh Jones is managing editor, and Paul Butler is our executive producer.

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

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

From Proverbs: Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. (Proverbs 15:32-33 ESV)

Remember to worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ this weekend, and Lord willing, we’ll meet you back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.