The World and Everything in It: August 1, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Dave Bauer and I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I'm a husband, a dad of five and a software engineer for Microsoft. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Vice President Kamala Harris steps up on foreign policy issues…as conflict in the Middle East goes up a notch. Does Harris have what it takes to become commander in chief?

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: We’ll talk about it with a foreign policy expert.

Also, combatting homelessness in California

Plus a camp designed to help children with their speech.

COALSON: We don’t even attempt to fix the stuttering. We want you to speak how you speak because that’s how you speak.

MAST: And Cal Thomas on the White House’s relationship with “coalition media.”

BROWN:  It’s Thursday, August 1st. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MAST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Iran response to death of Hamas leader » Iran is promising payback against Israel … after a missile strike in Tehran this week that killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The Biden administration says it’s concerned about escalating conflict in the Middle East in the wake of that strike.

State Dept. Deputy spokesman Vedant Patel.

PATEL:  We are continuing to urge restraint to all parties to avoid an escalation into a wider regional conflict.

And some governments involved in trying to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, including the U.S. … are concerned that this will greatly set back those efforts.

But GOP Sen. Tom Cotton says he believes the administration’s priorities are out of whack.

COTTON:  The most important thing is not getting to a ceasefire or managing escalation. The most important thing is helping Israel defeat its terrorist enemies, who are our enemies as well. 

The Hamas official had been at the inauguration of the new Iranian president.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed plea bargain » The man accused of being the primary mastermind behind al-Qaida’s 9-11 attacks against the United States … has agreed to plead guilty as part of a new plea deal.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two accomplices in the attack are expected to enter the pleas at the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as soon as next week.

Pentagon officials declined to immediately release the full terms of the plea bargains … but it is believed that Mohammed will avoid the death penalty as part of his deal.

Venezuela election » 

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Wednesday underscored the White House’s position on the highly suspect presidential election results in Venezuela.

KIRBY:  The United States joins other democracies in the region and actually around the world in expressing serious concerns about these subversions of democratic norms. Now, as you all know, the Venezuelan people have taken to the streets to demand that their votes be counted. You can't very well blame them for that.

The U.S. and many other governments believe disputed President Nicolás Maduro rigged the election … and that it’s not the first time he’s done so.

Maduro says he has asked the country’s Supreme Court to conduct an audit of the presidential election.

But that’s unlikely to convince many skeptics … given that Maduro has packed the courts at every level … with his political allies.

Federal Reserve » Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the central bank is encouraged by progress toward curbing inflation … but they want to remain careful not to jump the gun.

POWELL: The broad sense of the committee is that we’re getting closer to the point at which it will be appropriate to reduce our policy rate, but that we’re not quite at that point yet.

Powell said the Fed’s key interest rate will stay at 5.3 percent for now. But he added that conditions, such as a cooling labor market … bring the U.S. closer to the first rate cut in four years.

Biden fentanyl proposal » President Biden is pushing federal agencies to do more to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

PIERRE: A new national security memorandum directing every federal agency and department to do even more to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States.

He’s also calling on Congress to pass legislation to, among other things … strengthen penalties against convicted drug smugglers and traffickers.

This comes just as Donald Trump steps up attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris over the border crisis.
Republicans say the president is trying to shift responsibility for the border away from the Biden-Harris administration.

Republicans on Secret Service accountability » The fallout continues over the Secret Service failure that almost led to the assassination of Donald Trump. GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley said at least one thing is clear after this week’s testimony from the acting director of the agency.

GRASSLEY: The Secret Service was not keeping in touch with local law enforcement, and they’re leaving some assumptions that they were leaving some responsibilities to local law enforcement without even communicating.

Local law enforcement in Butler, Pennsylvania is pushing back against testimony from Acting Director Richard Rowe. He suggested that local authorities had failed to place a police sniper on the roof that the would-be assassin used to take aim at Trump.

But local officials say that is absolutely wrong, and if the Secret Service had asked them to place a sniper on that roof, they would have.

Microsoft outage  » Microsoft is providing more information about why its cloud platform Azure crashed for nearly 10 hours on Tuesday, wreaking havoc for many customers. WORLD’s Christina Grube has more.

CG: The tech giant says Azure [AA-zhure] was hit with a cyber attack … that overloaded the cloud platform with traffic and caused it to crash.

Microsoft said that protective cybersecurity measures were in place … but deployed improperly… and ultimately made the problem worse.

Azure crashed around 8 am eastern time and wasn’t back up until around 3 in the afternoon.

Microsoft says 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies use the cloud service… and that the company invests a billion dollars every year into its security.

Tuesday’s attack marks the second mass Microsoft outage in less than two weeks.

For WORLD, I’m Christina Grube.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Kamala Harris’s foreign policy chops.

Plus, cleaning the streets in California.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Thursday, the first day of August, 2024.

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

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Up first…Kamala Harris and the Middle East.

Last week, the vice president declined to preside over a joint session of Congress where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking. In that speech, he laid out the challenges facing Israel…and the United States.

NETANYAHU: So when Israel fights Hamas, we're fighting Iran. When we fight Hezbollah, we're fighting Iran. When we fight the Houthis, we're fighting Iran, and when we fight Iran, we're fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the United States of America

MAST: In the days since then, the terror group Hezbollah launched a rocket attack that killed young people on a soccer field in Israel’s Golan Heights.

And then yesterday (Wednesday), a targeted strike attributed to Israel killed Ismail Haniyeh [ISS-mail Ah-kneel], a key political leader of Hamas. Not in Gaza, but in Tehran, the heart of Iran.

BROWN: So as conflict in the Middle East escalates, how do we assess the vice president’s foreign policy …should she become commander in chief?

To find out, our colleague Mary Reichard interviewed Will Inboden. He’s a former member of the National Security Council staff, and now teaches at the University of Florida.

Here’s their conversation.

MARY REICHARD, INTERVIEWER: Will, good morning.

WILL INBODEN, GUEST: Good morning, Mary. Good to be with you.

REICHARD: Well let’s start with Harris’s record…what foreign policy assignments has she handled during the last four years?

INBODEN: Not many. You know, the most visible one was when she was tapped as the so-called "border czar," and that included traveling to some of the Central American countries, which were, at the time, the source of most of the migrant flows north, you know, coming across the the southern border illegally. So she's done a couple of speeches in Asia. She did a trip or two to Africa as kind of a goodwill emissary there. But there's not a, certainly not a very substantial foreign policy record that we could point to.

One thing we'll be wanting to watch for is, traditionally, you know, every presidential nominee will try to give a major foreign policy speech during the campaign. I don't know if hers has been scheduled yet, but in the next few months, we should, you know, watch that, and that'll be her first chance to kind of lay out what she actually believes. Thus far from what we've seen, she seems to look at most policy questions through the lens of politics, right? How will this play with with her progressive political base, or with her election prospects. And again, you know, you always have to pay some attention to that, but I would like to see some evidence of her given some more thought and care to this and actually laying out, you know, what she actually believes and would plan, would plan to do. So it just remains an open question.

REICHARD: Back to Israel. Now, Harris skipped Netanyahu speech in favor of delivering a speech before a college sorority. But shortly after that, she joined President Biden in a meeting with the Prime Minister, and then she took the lead in speaking with reporters about it after and we have a clip from her. Let's listen:

HARRIS: So I just had a frank and constructive meeting with prime minister Netanyahu. I told him that I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself including from Iran and Iran-backed militias such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Well, what does that say about how the White House is going to handle foreign policy between now and the election?

INBODEN: Yeah, the White House is in a tough spot on that, because it's now visible to all the country and all the world what poor shape President Biden is in right, his his diminished mental faculties, his diminished energy, his memory issues, and yet he still is the Commander in Chief and the president United States certainly, certainly on paper. So now he's got the complicated situation of his vice president, who's also running to succeed him, and she is going to be looking at every foreign policy question over the next few months through the lens of her campaign, through through politics, and that's you can never completely escape from that. But this is much more pronounced that she's going to be looking at it politically. And so it wouldn't surprise me if there's a little bit of confusion in the West Wing among the senior team over who exactly is in charge and who, who should they be listening to. And that comes at a perilous time. The world's a very dangerous place right now.

REICHARD: I want to return to that in just a moment, that idea about incapacity. But what do you make of what's happening right now between Israel and Iran?

INBODEN: Yeah, I mean, the Middle East really is a powder keg, right? Obviously, you know, Israel has been in war with Hamas in Gaza since October 7, but behind that all along has been Iran, and Iran really is Israel's most mortal, most serious, most menacing enemy in the region. And now that Iran has been trying to have either itself or its proxies step up their attacks, their pressure on Israel, I wrote a World Opinions article earlier this week, picking up on the "ring of fire," as another scholar has put it, surrounding Israel, of Iran and six of Iran's proxies all surrounding Israel, whether it's the Houthis in Yemen or in Syria or in Iraq or Hezbollah and Hamas.

So Israel is is in a really tough spot right now, and Tehran is behind all of that. And as Tehran, as Ayatollah Khamenei sees President Biden's weakness and vice president Harris being focused with the campaign and trying to cater to her left-wing base, which is much more hostile towards Israel, Israel, I think, is really feeling alone right now, not being able to rely on the support from the United States that they historically have enjoyed, and they need it more more than ever right now.

So that's why I think we see them taking some more assertive actions. They haven't acknowledged it, but they almost certainly were behind the assassination in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, as well as the recent Hezbollah leader. So Israel is going to need to be taking some stronger actions, precisely because they're feeling a little more insecure without American support.

REICHARD: Well, returning now to your earlier comment, the US does seem to be in a precarious position now until the election, because if Trump regains the White House, Iran, it seems would want to do what they want to do while President Biden is still in office. Any thoughts about that?

INBODEN: Yeah, the next few months before the election, but also the, you know, the two months or so after between the election and whichever next president is sworn in, that transition time is going to be very dangerous. And, you know, historically, our adversaries have, at times, during presidential transitions, taken aggressive actions against us. I mean, it's back in December of 1988 for example, that Libyan terrorists blew up the Pan Am plight over Lockerbie, Scotland. That was when President Reagan was on his way out. And of course, Vice President Bush was the president elect. We could point to other other examples as well. And so yes, I'm not trying to be a fearmonger by any means, but the next few months, up until whichever next president is sworn in, are moments when our adversaries may try to press their advantage and be even more menacing towards the United States.

REICHARD: Will Inboden is a professor at the University of Florida, and former member of the National Security Council staff. Will, thank you for your time.

INBODEN: Thank you, Mary, great to be with you.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Homelessness in California

The Golden State is home to roughly one-third of the nation's unsheltered population—more than 180,000 people.

The mounting crisis has hounded California Governor Gavin Newsom since he took the helm in 2019. So, last week, the governor said enough is enough, and ordered officials to clear the homeless encampments clogging sidewalks and lining riverbeds.

But will Newsom’s order really change anything?

WORLD’s Addie Offereins did some digging into how local officials and ministries serving the homeless are responding to Newsom’s directive…and features reporter Grace Snell brings us the story:

NEWSOM: I don’t think there’s anything more urgent or more frustrating than addressing encampments in the state of California.

GRACE SNELL, REPORTER: On Thursday, Gov. Newsom recorded a video in front of the remains of a homeless encampment to announce a new executive action. State employees cleaned up crude dwellings and scattered trash from beneath the underpass in the background of the video.

NEWSOM: It is time to move with urgency at the local level, to focus on public health, to focus on public safety. There are no longer any excuses.

His order directs state agencies to clean up encampments on state property…and urges cities to do the same. Newsom can’t force local governments to comply. But he could withhold some state funding if they don’t cooperate.

NEWSOM: One of the big issues though, that has been an impediment, was the courts.

Newsom’s announcement follows a June Supreme Court decision that gave West Coast governments the green light to tear down encampments. That decision overturned a lower court ruling prohibiting cities from punishing people for sleeping outside if they had nowhere else to go.

NEWSOM: We have now no excuse with the Supreme Court decision. This executive action is about pushing that paradigm further and getting the sense of urgency that’s required of local governments to do their job.

Critics of the order argue forcing people out of their makeshift dwellings when shelter space is limited means most individuals will simply relocate.

They say California’s commitment to the Housing First approach to solving homelessness doesn’t provide homeless men and women with the treatment and support they need.

WELLS: He gave the thumbs up to go ahead and move people around, which I think is pointless and meaningless, but he didn't, he didn't give us the tools we really needed.

Bill Wells is the Mayor of El Cajon, a southern California city east of San Diego.

WELLS: We have been breaking up encampments for the last five years. We don't allow camping on the streets, which sounds good, but it's still kind of a major problem, because even though we break up the encampments, we're not allowed to book people or arrest people even for crimes they're committing.

The Republican mayor says state laws that give drug possession and other low-level crimes a free pass turn citations and encampment sweeps into empty threats.

WELLS: And so they're right back on the streets an hour later on another corner setting up their encampments all over again.

That applies to bigger cities like Los Angeles as well…where more than 75,000 individuals live out in public spaces.

WEBSTER: I feel that the governor is going to exacerbate pushing people around.

Paul Webster is the executive director for the LA Alliance for Human Rights. He understands the city’s frustration.

He worries that if the governor’s order encourages smaller cities to take a more aggressive approach towards encampments…the individuals who are pushed out will flock to Los Angeles where they can receive more services.

WEBSTER: It's a nice thought, to think that if you create housing, you'll see fewer people living on the street. But that just doesn't bear itself out in terms of the data.

Webster used to serve as a Senior Policy Advisor in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He said things are unlikely to change unless the government abandons its Housing First model—an approach focused on rapidly moving people into housing straight from the streets…often without addressing the issues that landed them on the streets in the first place.

WEBSTER: In 2009, Congress changed the way that they funded communities…[5:55] Instead of programs that are focused on outcomes with respect to sobriety, earnings, family unification, you know, they started really focusing on housing, making sure that people are in lease arrangements.

California became the first and only state to enshrine Housing First into law in 2016. Despite the state spending more than $24 billion to address the issue since Newsom took office in 2019, homelessness has increased 20 percent.

WEBSTER: So money has gone up, capacity has gone up and the other thing that's gone up is more people experiencing homelessness has gone up.

Back in El Cajon, Mayor Wells, who used to work as clinical psychologist, says what’s really needed in his city is treatment for underlying mental health issues and drug addiction.

WELLS: I would challenge the idea that letting people die on the side of the road in their addiction is compassionate.

WELLS: We have to change the laws to give the cities the ability to work with people to get treatment and force them to treatment if they won't, if they won't accept it, and then if they won't accept treatment, then you incarcerate them. You have to have the ability to do that.

For those seeking shelter or rehab in El Cajon, the East County Transitional Living Center keeps its doors wide open.

Dr. Julie Hayden is a licensed psychologist and the ministry’s CEO.

HAYDEN: So if we know that they're going to be tearing down an encampment we go a couple of weeks before, a week before, two days before, so we really give notice, and that's in collaboration with Caltrans, and in the cities, and so you know, they have a chance to get into a program.

She said the organization will continue to collaborate with city and state agencies if and when Newsom ramps up encampment sweeps.

At the center, formerly homeless men, women, and families participate in drug addiction rehab and life-skill classes. They receive employment training and find jobs.

HAYDEN: So when they do have that housing, they're gonna be able to keep it and they have us you know, there as a support system

For WORLD, I’m Grace Snell…with reporting from Addie Offereins.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Fishing is supposed to be a peaceful, relaxing activity. But out in open water, that can change in an instant.

Especially when a whale shows up

PACQUETTE: “I saw it come up and I was just like “Oh it’s gonna hit the boat.”

BROWN: Brothers Colin and Wyatt Yager were out fishing near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, when they saw the whale breach the water a couple of times. Colin whipped out his phone and caught the moment it came up out of the water again.

This time the huge humpback crashed into a nearby fishing boat…flipping it over.

Greg Pacquette, one of the two men on that boat told WMUR-TV about it.

PACQUETTE: “He disappeared for a few minutes and the next thing you know he just popped right up on our transom. You know his mouth was open, he was just looking to feed.”

BROWN: Now, he wasn’t looking to feed on the fishermen–but the impact sent them into the water.

Meanwhile, the two brothers put their phones down and got busy pulling the men out of the water. No one was injured and the boat only had minimal damage.

There’s a lesson here... always wear your life jacket!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, August 1st.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Stuttering!

Most people describe it as your brain generating ideas faster than your mouth can keep up.

It’s estimated, one to three percent of the population worldwide stutters. While it tends to run in families, stuttering is still a medical mystery with no known cause or cure.

But Myrna, as you found out, not everyone is looking for a fix.

BROWN: Very true. And Mary, this story also hits home for me personally. Here's why…

AUDIO: Good afternoon, gentlemen…

MYRNA BROWN: Sitting in our home office, my husband Stanley Brown kicks off his fourth online meeting of the day. He’s 62-year-old. He asks questions and chats fluently with his team members. Skills he struggled with growing up. Stanley stuttered. It began in elementary school and continued throughout his first two years of high school.

STANLEY: I felt a sense of shame and embarrassment really.

And then without any formal therapy, treatment or intervention, his stuttering stopped. Stanley says he can’t recall exactly when or why he stopped stuttering. But he does remember how he felt.

STANLEY: Felt good. Felt really good.

It’s estimated that 75 percent of children who stutter recover. But what about those who don’t?

DANIEL REESE: Something that I…I used to do….

34-year-old Daniel Reese…

GEOFFREY COALSON: Has any…Ha..has..anyone here who stutters ever tried…

…and 44-year-old Geoffrey Coalson have been stuttering since they were toddlers. As adults who stutter, they’re trying to change the narrative.

COALSON: It’s not anxiety. It’s not confusion. It’s not a disorder. It’s just a different way of speaking, much like an accent. If you were left handed and a person asked you why do you write like that. You’d say I’m left-handed and that’s the end of the conversation.

Coalson and Reese are associates at the Arthur Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research. In 2007, the Center, based in Austin, Texas, developed Camp Dream. Speak. Live. It’s a free, intensive treatment program offered to children, teens and adults who stutter.

COALSON: This year we had eight camps in the U.S. and over 25 internationally.

Today, Coalson and Reese lead a team of clinicians in an Alabama classroom made up of eleven students, ages seven to sixteen.

AUDIO: What is the one thing…one word we don’t use when we’re telling other people that we stutter….. Don't apologize. (applause)

These boys and girls are learning to speak confidently and stutter openly.

COALSON: We don’t even attempt to fix the stuttering. We want you to speak how you speak because that’s how you speak.

Traditional treatments for stuttering include a variety of strategies, ranging from electronic devices that help control fluency to speech therapy classes. Reese remembers one from his childhood.

REESE: I would go into the speech room and I would get ten tokens and every time I stuttered, they’d take one away. I got so frustrated with going, I asked my parents to quit. It didn’t make me want to speak.

These students are exploring other tools, like improv. In this exercise, students participate in a mock spelling bee. The clinician first asks them to come up with a nonsensical word.

AUDIO: (laughter) Wingo…I think we’ll do wingo. So, I got my group right here. Remember you are one mind. We’re going to start our spelling bee by spelling wingo. X….Q…Z,minus sign, number,... wingo. That was perfect spelling.

Then, they switch gears and define the word.

AUDIO: Wingo…is…the…bomb (laughter) wingo! Wingo is the bomb… applause.

Coalson says improv forces kids who stutter to get out of their own heads.

COALSON: The number one thing that gets robbed from kids who stutter, who are trying to be fluent, is spontaneity. They are pre-planning. If I was having this conversation with you twenty years ago, I would have scripted it out. You’re planning out words, what you’re going to say and you’re not listening, which is also part of communication.

Another strategy used is role playing.

AUDIO: Hi, my name is Cara, I’ll be your dentist today….

In this skit, two other clinicians play a mother and child who encounter an insensitive healthcare provider.

AUDIO: [Role playing] What’s your name? My name is Ra…ra..Rachel. What’s the matter, cat got your tongue. Oh, so you’re one of those people who’s never met someone who stutters before. Some of the smartest people in the world are people who stutter. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. (applause) What did ya’ll notice that was different this time? (child) She talked about what stuttering is so the dentist could know.

Coalson says that’s another important component: educating non-stutterers.

COALSON: People who are interacting with people who stutter, 99 percent of the time are trying to help. And we understand that. The things that are done to help, don’t always help. So if I was to give a list of things to not do… don’t interrupt, don’t finish our words and also advocate for your friends who stutter.

Friends, like 16-year-old Leah. She says she’ll use what she’s learned this week, when school returns this Fall.

MYRNA: What are you going to say to your classmates or even your teacher?

LEAH: I would introduce myself saying my name is Leah and tell them that I stu…stutter and I might pause mid sentence or repeat some sounds sometimes.

MYRNA: And you’ve never said that before to anybody?

LEAH: No, I haven’t.

MYRNA: How does it make you feel to say those words to explain that, to teach, really?

LEAH: Well, makes me kind of nervous at first. Because you don’t know what they’re going to say to you.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Mobile, Alabama.

AUDIO: [Role playing] Who wants to represent the left side of the room? Alright me…Leah! (applause)

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, August 1st, 2024. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Commentator Cal Thomas now, on the mainstream media’s relationship with presidential candidate, Kamala Harris.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: In the film “Men in Black,” a pen-like device causes people to forget everything they have seen and heard. Actor Will Smith calls it a “flashy thing.”

It appears the media and Democrats are metaphorically using a similar device, hoping voters will forget everything Vice President Kamala Harris has said and done in the past – even the recent past – and accept that what she is saying today are her true beliefs, even when they contradict previous statements and supposed “convictions.”

Not that the media need any help in following their largely leftist biases, which have usually favored Democrats and progressives, but their already low approval numbers won’t be helped by this story from semafor.com: “(Harris) has invited a parade of prominent television anchors and media executives to dine with her at the Naval Observatory, given personal tours of her garden to journalists from diverse backgrounds, and shaped trips to do media appearances with the outlets serving Democratic-leaning groups the White House refers to as ‘coalition media.”

Coalition media? Sounds Orwellian, as in “group think.”

There is so much the media and Harris’ fellow Democrats want to forget she said and did that the flashy thing might need to be constantly re-charged.

Just a few of many examples: During the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, Harris promoted a bail fund that freed men convicted of murder and sexual assault. While on bail some committed additional crimes. Sounds like what happened to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis when Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who had been sentenced to life without parole, received a weekend furlough and used it to travel out of state, rape a woman, and bind and gag her fiancé. A TV ad about Horton undermined Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign, helping George H.W. Bush to win. Could similar stories come back to haunt the current vice president? Not with the flashy thing.

As a senator, Harris supported what a recent Wall Street Journal editorial called “the spending blowouts that cause inflation.”

Flashy thing.

The Wall Street Journal continues: “As California Attorney General (she launched) an investigation into Exxon Mobil over its carbon omissions … and in 2019 she endorsed a nationwide ban on oil and gas fracking.” That’s a position she has now reversed because she needs those Pennsylvania electoral votes. Flashy.

As a self-styled California “progressive” from San Francisco, perhaps the most liberal city in America, Harris is apparently all-in on the Green New Deal, student loan forgiveness (which the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional); tax increases, which President Biden favors as the Trump tax cuts are to expire next year; a guaranteed income for families making up to $100,000 a year; free college tuition for families making up to $100,000 a year; single-payer health care, which would mean turning our health care over to government which does so many things poorly; and Medicare for all. Flashy.

Let’s not forget that Harris once compared the KKK to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which, along with Border Patrol agents, have been impossibly overburdened by the Biden-Harris open border policy.

There’s much more about her opinions and record, making things more difficult to forget. But the flashy thing, also known as the major media, has the power to make it happen. Will voters make an effort to remember?

I’m Cal Thomas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Tomorrow: John Stonestreet joins us for Culture Friday.

And, the animated show Batman: The Caped Crusader is out on Prime Video…we’ll have a review.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Myrna Brown.

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.

[Jesus] said to the people, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Mark 7.:20-23

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.