The World and Everything in It: April 23, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is brought to you by listeners like us. My name is Melvyn Michaelian, and my wife Sue and I live in Fallbrook, California. I know that you are going to enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! The Biden Administration tampers with Title IX and puts LGBT protections ahead of the safety of women and the due process rights of men.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, the Supreme Court handed down four opinions, including a win for property owners. We’ll hear from the lead plaintiff.

Later on, Christians use radio to bring hope amid chaos in Haiti.

MICHEL: We are sharing the good news of Jesus in spite of and in the midst of the circumstances that people are living through.

And WORLD Opinions commentator Daniel Darling on free speech under attack in Europe.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, April 23rd. 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 with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump trial » In a Manhattan courtroom, it is day-two of the first ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president in Donald Trump’s so-called hush money case.

Both sides made their opening pitch to jurors on Monday.

Arthur Aidala is a defense attorney not affiliated with this case. He explains what both sides were trying to accomplish.

AIDALA:  As the prosecutor, you need to talk about how powerful your case is, and when I'm done presenting all my evidence, you will have no choice, but to say this man is guilty because I have proven my case to you beyond a reasonable doubt. 

The defense, he says, will look to discredit the prosecution’s witnesses. And that’s a job that may be made easier with the prosecution expected to lean heavily on former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. Cohen served prison time for tax fraud and lying to authorities.

Current Trump attorney Will Scharf:

SCHARF: This is a show trial. Trump did absolutely nothing wrong, and we firmly believe that the evidence is going to bear that out in court in the coming weeks.

Prosecutors claim Donald Trump gave money to Cohen to, in turn, pay off a woman to keep quiet about an extramarital affair, and then illegally passed it off as a legitimate business expense.

UNRWA review » Israel is blasting a new report about the credibility of the UN’s Palestinian relief agency, known as UNRWA which Israel said had terrorists on its staff. WORLD’s Mark Mellinger has more.

MARK MELLINGER: The report details the findings of an independent review commissioned by the U.N. after Israel claimed 12 UNRWA staff members took part in the October 7th Hamas attack in Israel.

The report said Israel had a list of everyone on the agency’s staff and expressed no concerns about any of them until after the attack.

Israel countered that the staff lists didn’t include Palestinian ID numbers.

The review panel’s role was to assess the agency’s neutrality not Israel’s claims about its staff. And to that end, the panel found that UNRWA has robust safeguards.

Israel says the report glosses over serious concerns.

The U.N.’s internal watchdog is currently investigating possible UNRWA staff involvement in the October attack.

For WORLD, I’m Mark Mellinger.

Senate foreign aid » The Senate could vote as early as today on a $95 billion dollar foreign aid package that the House passed over the weekend.

Republican Senator Rick Scott says he’s likely to vote “no.”

SCOTT: The biggest issue in the country is we have terrorists, drugs, criminals flocking across our southern border. There is nothing in this bill, but we're going to help Ukraine, you know, protect their border. Look, I want Ukraine to win. I want Russia to lose, but I want a secure southern border.

But GOP Sen. Joni Ernst says securing the border is critically important, but so too is stopping Vladimir Putin in his tracks.

ERNST:  It's not our sons and daughters that are involved in this war. And if they move further, if they advance on the Baltics, if they advance on Poland, it will be our sons and daughters, and that is a risk I am not willing to take.

About $60 billion dollars of that aid would go to weapons and ammunition in Ukraine.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Ivy League schools » Police in Connecticut arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the campus of Yale University Monday just hours before the start of the Jewish Passover holiday.

SOUND: [Protest]

That as protests over the war in Gaza sweep across U.S. college campuses. Some of the protests have taken a darker turn not just pro-Palestinian, but anti-Semitic.

President Biden told reporters:

BIDEN:  I condemn the anti Semitic protests. That's why I've set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians.

New York City’s Columbia University has canceled in-person classes Monday after the NYPD arrested dozens of demonstrators on that campus.

FOX: Housing is a human right. Housing is a human right. Housing is a human right.

SCOTUS homeless camps case » Protesters outside the Supreme Court Monday, where the justices are deciding whether a city can ban homeless people from sleeping outside in certain public places.

A city in Oregon started fining people for sleeping outside as tents sprung up in the city’s parks.

But a federal appeals court struck that policy down, calling it ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ to ban camping in places without enough shelter.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor:

SOTOMAYOR: Where do we put them if every city, every village, every town lacks compassion and passes a law identical to this?

Conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch raised similar questions, but Kavanaugh also expressed concerns about federal courts micromanaging policy.

A ruling is expected by the end of June.

Human Rights Practices report » Secretary of State Tony Blinken says human rights are under fire in more ways and in more places across the globe.

He addressed reporters Monday as the State Department presented its annual Human Rights Practices report.

BLINKEN: The report that we’re putting out today presents the factual, systematic account of human rights records across nearly 200 countries.

Blinken called out violations in places like Afghanistan, Russia, Venezuela, and Sudan.

BLINKEN:  Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have committed war crimes. Rohingya in Burma, Uyghurs in Xinjiang, each victims of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Blinken is traveling to Beijing this week. And while there, the State Dept. says he will directly raise concerns about human rights abuses in China.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: New rules that put protections for women at risk. Plus, hope on the airwaves in Haiti.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 23rd of April, 2024.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

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

First up: Big changes to Title IX protections for women.

On Friday, the Department of Education released new rules expanding the scope of Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in higher education.

EICHER: Last year, the Biden Administration proposed redefining sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity. How this affects women’s athletics is still in question. But these changes also affect men, and they are set to take effect in August.

Joining us now to talk about it is Ilya Shapiro…he’s a legal scholar and is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute.

REICHARD: Ilya, good morning.

ILYA SHAPIRO: Good to be back with you, Mary.

REICHARD: Well let’s get back to basics. What is Title IX, and what was its original purpose?

SHAPIRO: Title IX was enacted in 1972, and it was explicitly about providing educational opportunities for women. It’s most famously known now for athletic opportunities. And there were controversies in the 80s and 90s about men’s teams being cut so that there’ll be an equal number of women’s teams and all of that. That’s not what the current controversy is about. As you said, this is about adding and expanding the definition of sex to include gender identity. And as you said, the Biden administration has not gone so far as to require or mandate that bathrooms, locker rooms, athletic teams, be open to people of their gender identity, but they said that if that if a given state or school district or institution wants to make that kind of rule, there is not a federal protection under Title IX for any woman or girl who doesn’t like that. 

And so, that is a big change, and as bad as that might be for equal opportunity for women and girls, it’s arguably, this rule at least, even worse for due process and free speech, in the sense that it rolls back the Trump-era protections for those who are accused of sexual harassment or misconduct, in this context, expanding the definition of what sexual harassment might be. So if you use the wrong pronouns, all of a sudden, you might be investigated under these rules, in kind of a Kafka-esque way where you’re denied a lawyer, you can’t confront whoever is accusing you or even see the full evidence against you. This obviously would have the effect of chilling speech and discussion of students, faculty, all the way from kindergarten through higher education.

REICHARD: So this rule expands the definition of sex discrimination to cover people who identify as LGBTQ. What legal basis does the education department have to redefine sex like this?

SHAPIRO: They largely cite the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock versus Clayton County, which is a decision from a few years ago, that under Title VII, which is employment and discrimination law, read in protections for sexual orientation and gender identity into other civil rights protections, into provisions against discrimination on the basis of sex, for example. But even on the face of that decision, the Supreme Court said this does not apply in the educational setting to bathrooms, locker rooms, etc. So I think it’s a thin reed, and of course, the purpose of Title IX—again, expanding women’s opportunities in education—is very different than the purpose of Title VII, which is an anti-discrimination provision for employment.

REICHARD: In Justice Samuel Alito’s dissent to Bostock, if I remember, he foresaw the threat to Title IX protections for women’s sports and bathrooms. Do you see other consequences on the horizon?

SHAPIRO: Well, I think Alito’s concern is being borne out, just as the concern of some with regard to Obergefell, the same-sex marriage issue that that case, despite, again, Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion saying that dissenters should be respected. But that’s being observed in the breach in so many states that are gung ho about expanding protections without new legislation – just doing it administratively. And so it’s become a brave new world. And just as the Biden administration has taken DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion programs as a whole of government initiative, sort of embedding political commissars into every federal agency, I think you have the expansion of this kind of gender theory across the educational dimension, and again, from K to 12 through higher ed, public, private anybody who receives federal funds. It’s, I think they waited on the sports and bathroom rule until a potential second Biden term, but the writing is on the wall for that.

REICHARD: Ilya, I noticed the Biden administration’s new rule aims to crack down on what it calls “sex-based harassment and discrimination.” How is that different from just plain old sexual harassment, as we used to call it?

SHAPIRO: Mary, the honest answer is I don’t know. And that is because it’s not defined. Nor is gender identity defined, by the way. This new rule is, these new sets of regulations are 1,577 pages, if you’re counting, and there’s not a definition for terms like that. So it’s a lawyer Full Employment Act. And you know, anytime somebody gets crosswise, somebody says something politically incorrect that hurt somebody’s feelings, and you you make out a case that’s sex-based or gender identity-based or something, and away we go.

REICHARD: Any other aspect of this story you want to bring more attention to?

SHAPIRO: Now, as I said, the the, you know, people are all concerned about the bathrooms in the locker rooms and the sports teams that is very much a local and state issue at this point. The regulation doesn’t change that all, it says make explicit that you’re not going to get federal protection if you disagree with what your locality or state or school district is doing in that regard. But for this regulation, not the one that might be coming down the pike later, the due process concerns and the free speech concerns are much greater.

REICHARD: Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute. Ilya, thanks so much for joining us!

SHAPIRO: Thank you.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: the four opinions handed down by the US Supreme Court last week.

First, a unanimous win for property owners.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Lead plaintiff Richie DeVillier along with several others sued the state of Texas. They accused Texas of flooding their properties … after the state built a median barrier on the highway. In DeVillier’s case … the barrier diverted water right onto his land. He lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in drowned livestock, damaged buildings, furniture, and equipment.

He sued under the Fifth Amendment, in particular the Takings Clause that would entitle him to just compensation.

Texas argued he couldn’t sue the state directly under the Fifth Amendment.

But the justices agreed with DeVillier, writing that the Fifth Amendment is self-executing the moment the taking occurs.

REICHARD: I called Devillier up to get his reaction after his lawyer called him up with the good news: 

DeVILLIER:I had just gone for my morning exercise, and I was sittin’ outside drinking coffee when he called. And he told me the news, and it was again that’s a glorious thing. Glory of this goes to God. But our most heartfelt thanks goes to our attorneys. I probably waited until I got inside and told my wife about it and then I might have done the happy dance a little bit at that point in time.

I didn’t want to do it. I don’t want to do it. I’m ready to be through with it all. I’d rather keep my head down. But you can’t just lay down and bury your head in the sand and live your life anymore. We have to pay attention to these incremental bites that they’re taking out of our liberties and our freedoms. You don’t notice it everyday, but man you look back over 10 or 15 years and you can sure see the creep. And every now and then it’s more than just a small bite. Every now and then they jump up and take a big bite out of you. And that’s what they’ve tried to do here, and we’re not havin’ it.

Devillier and the other property owners now go back to lower court where they can use state law based on the Takings Clause to seek compensation from Texas.

EICHER: Alright, on to the other three opinions handed down last week.

First: Muldrow v City of St. Louis. There, the court found the city violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Officer Jatonya Muldrow had worked in the intelligence division of the police department for years. Her new supervisor moved her to a different job with the same rank and pay, but with different responsibilities, perks, and schedule. And crucially, the supervisor had hired a man to fill her position.

So Muldrow sued for sex discrimination, but the lower courts found that she hadn’t shown any “material harm” such as lower pay or demotion. But she appealed to the Supreme Court and won.

A unanimous Supreme Court says she need not show “significant” harm to pursue her claim; she need only show “some harm” that involves a term or condition of employment. So the case goes back to the lower courts with this in mind: a showing of discrimination by itself is enough.

REICHARD: Next is McIntosh v US, another 9-0 opinion.

This case asked whether the government when dealing with forfeiture can miss a deadline under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. A man sentenced to nearly 60 years in prison for robbery and gun offenses objected when he was also ordered to give up $75,000 in cash and a car he’d used in the crimes.

His lawyers pointed to the rules that say the government has to seek forfeiture before sentencing. It didn’t. But the justices say the government didn’t have to, despite the rule, because it’s not the kind of deadline that is hard and fast. So the inmate loses and has to fork over his ill-gotten gains, which he can’t really enjoy right now.

EICHER: Okay, final opinion today is in Rudisill v McDonough. It’s a win for a U.S. Army veteran. The question was whether James Rudisill could access education benefits under two different programs for veterans, the Montgomery GI Bill of 1984, and the Post 9-11 GI Bill.

The VA said he had to use one or the other, but not both at the same time.

But seven justices agreed with Rudisill, saying he can use the benefits in any order he wishes and can use both for a total of four years of schooling.

REICHARD: The two dissenters were Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who thought the majority ignored the law to favor an interpretation to reach a desired outcome.

Regardless, nearly two million veterans can now access more taxpayer-provided tuition money for college.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Sheep stink. Livestock are like that.

So it should come as no surprise that some shepherds stock up on deodorant. But the Lynx Africa body spray isn’t for the shepherds.

U.K. sheepherder Sam Bryce tells News Hub it’s for the rams.

SAM BRYCE: It's like an off switch.

Turns ’em off. Because, you know, male sheep can get a little feisty during mating season, and rams’ll get hurt if left to their own devices trying to impress the ladies.

So Bryce sprays them down using a U.K.-version of Axe Body Spray.

It masks the scent hormones that get rams riled up.

But sheep herder Toby Williams says even with deodorant, cooler heads don’t always prevail.

TOBY WILLIAMS: You know, the rams are built for testosterone, you know, they're built to fight.

In other words, rams will be pigs, I guess. It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, April 23rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: broadcasting hope in times of chaos.

Last fall, Haiti's most powerful gang leader—a former police officer—called for the armed overthrow of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Gang violence and kidnappings became nearly routine.

EICHER: Then in February, Henry left the island for Kenya … in hopes of forming an international security force to bring order. Instead, a wave of panic swept through Haiti's capital as rival gangs rioted.

REICHARD: In the months since, many have fled the nation…but a growing number of Christians—both in Haiti and around the world are praying together that God will intervene. WORLD’s Paul Butler has the story:

AUDIO: [RADIO STATION ID]

PAUL BUTLER: Sometimes, the only thing you can do is pray. For many people already living in incredible poverty, the gang violence and political uncertainty has driven many Haitians to their knees.

MICHEL: Every day there is a prayer program that starts the day. There's a prayer program that ends the day and there's a prayer program at midday.

Kate Michel is communications director of Christian radio and television station 4VEH. The live midday prayer program is an audience favorite.

MICHEL: And that means people can call in with prayer requests. They can leave a comment on YouTube as they're watching. And so what we see always during these times of real extra stress and hardship is that the number of people who join those programs increases.

And the program is reaching Haitians—not only on the island, but around the world.

MICHEL: They're praying for Haiti, for their country, that God will intervene, that God will do what only God can do. And that's what we're seeing at the moment. And just, we're just really thankful that we're still on the air and able to do that because it's a real need and really ministering to Haiti's people.

AUDIO: [RADIO STATION ID]

Radio station 4VEH has been on the air in Haiti since 1950. It’s seen some pretty dark days over the last 74 years.

MICHEL: If you look back at Haiti's history through all of that time, there have been lots of turbulent moments. There've been dictatorships, there've been coups and counter coups. There have been major natural disasters. And 4VEH has been on the air, reaching, teaching and serving the people of Haiti every day through all of those events.

But Michel says that things are noticeably different this time. The gangs are better armed, more powerful, and well connected to drug operations.

MICHEL: We are sharing the good news of Jesus in spite of and in the midst of the circumstances that people are living through.

Kate is the only staff member that isn’t Haitian. She and her family currently live stateside…about an hour south of Indianapolis.

AUDIO: [FACEBOOK VIDEO]

Her husband Storly is the station director. He was born and raised on the island. He grew up listening to the station. In fact, he always knew when it was time to go to school when one particular program ended and another began.

Today the Michels have a studio in their U.S. office and continue their daily work from there, at least for now. But 4VEH has more than 50 staff members who are still on the island. Michel calls them a lifeline to Haiti’s people.

MICHEL: They are speaking and preaching and praying and doing devotions and sharing sports updates and family counseling, all within the context of what's going on in Haiti right now.

Most of the unrest is centered in Port-au-Prince. 4VEH broadcasts from Cap-Haitian, a city about a 4 hour drive inland. But their broadcasts and prayer services reach the whole nation. While many of their staff are safe, they all have been touched in some way by the violence. The station is not currently at risk, but gangs in the capital make getting diesel for their generators challenging. The staff also make regular evangelistic trips into the surrounding villages and towns. Just a few more things to pray about.

AUDIO: [PRAYER BROADCAST]

Michel says only God knows how this particular season of immense difficulty will end. But three times a day, the station staff, its audience, and friends around the world stop what they’re doing and pray for the nation, something anyone can do no matter where they are:

MICHEL: Now is the time for the global body of Christ to press in, in praying for Haiti, praying for brothers and sisters there…for God to protect and provide and help people persevere. This is a challenge for Haiti's believers like they have not seen before.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday April 23rd. 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. Up next: canceling conservatives in Belgium. WORLD Opinions commentator Daniel Darling on the fragile state of freedom in Europe–and in our own backyard.

DANIEL DARLING: Last Tuesday in Brussels, Belgium, the National Conservatism Conference known as NatCon found itself being confronted by police who refused to let any more guests enter the building and also stopped food and beverage deliveries. They were enforcing an order by the socialist mayor of the district where the event was to take place. The police later retreated.

The mayor’s justification was that this gathering consisted of European thinkers and politicians of a variety he didn’t like. He objected to their ethically conservative views, such as hostility to legalized abortion and same-sex unions. He also criticized their defense of “national sovereignty” and their “Euro Scepticism” or their opposition toward a stronger European Union.

To put it in the clearest terms possible, a bureaucrat in Belgium tried to shut down an event promoting reasonable viewpoints he did not like.

The conflict in Brussels illustrates the fragile nature of free speech in many European countries. Belgium, like other countries, says it guarantees the right of assembly and speech, but the protections are much flimsier than America’s Bill of Rights and Constitution.

Thankfully, NatCon has had its day in court, quite literally, and the conference was allowed to resume. The highest court in Belgium, the Conseil d’État, declared last Wednesday, “Article 26 of the Constitution [of Belgium] grants everyone the right to assemble peacefully.”

There is much here to learn for American Christians. We should first be grateful to live in a nation with robust First Amendment protections. Europe’s version of classical liberalism features a hollowed out public square, filled by the false promises of secularism and modernity. And thus, you get a democracy that tries to stifle free speech in the name of freedom.

We can also note the ironies that abound in Belgium. On the one hand, the legal arguments being made in defense of the National Conservative Conference are made on a basis of classical liberalism that National Conservatives often loudly critique. As Winston Churchill once said, democracy is “the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” In a fallen world, it dilutes power and thus best advances freedom and human flourishing.

America should learn this lesson. We enjoy perhaps history’s greatest experiment in human government, but it will not endure simply on procedural arguments and appeals to fairness. The American experiment is premised on finding the proper relationship between liberty and virtue. As John Adams rightly said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

As a Baptist Christian, I’m unwilling to entertain ideas of an established state church, which usually ends poorly for both the church and the state. At the same time, we must see the necessity of a robust church as a bulwark against the excesses of liberalism and as the proclaimer of gospel truth.

Let’s pray, then, that democracy flourishes in our own country and among our allies in Europe. But let’s pray just as urgently for a spiritual renewal essential to the survival of liberty.

I’m Daniel Darling.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Washington Wednesday. Foreign aid in Congress advances while bipartisan AI regulations are stuck. We’ll have a report.

And few things are worse for home-owners than mold. We’ll meet a man helping people get rid of 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.

The Bible says: “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.”  —Romans 4:13, 14

Go now in grace and peace.

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