The World and Everything in It: August 11, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

A Christian university fights back against an intrusive government investigation into its Biblical beliefs on marriage and sexuality.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: WORLD’s Steve West stops by to bring us the latest.

Also today, paid family leave.

Plus how moms have stepped up to help others in the midst of the formula shortage.

And Cal Thomas remembers historian David McCullough.

BROWN: It’s Thursday, August 11th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

BUTLER: And I’m Paul Butler. Good morning!

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

PACT Act » President Biden signed another bill into law at the White House on Wednesday, delivering this message to military veterans …

BIDEN: You are the backbone, the very spine of this country. May God protect our troops. Now I’m going to walk over here and sign this legislation.

The PACT Act will expand health benefits for veterans exposed to burning waste.

He said when troops exposed to toxic burn pits returned home, many were never the same,

BIDEN: Headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer. My son Beau was one of them.

Beau Biden died of cancer in 2015.

Burn pits were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste near US bases overseas. The Pentagon estimates that millions of servicemembers were exposed.

But Veterans Affairs has denied 70% of disability claims involving exposure to the pits.

The PACT Act will direct the VA to assume that certain illnesses are related to burn pit exposure rather than veterans having to prove causation.

Trump pleads Fifth » Former President Trump pleaded the Fifth on Wednesday when he was called in to testify about his business in New York. WORLD’s Mary Muncy has more.

MARY MUNCY, REPORTER: President Trump said he declined to answer questions during closed-door testimony Wednesday.

New York Attorney Letitia James has been conducting a civil investigation, not a criminal probe, into Trump’s business for months. She alleges that Trump’s company misled lenders and tax authorities about the value of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers.

The former president says the accusations are false and he’s done nothing wrong.

Trump said he pleaded the Fifth to help protect his family and others around him from what he called a politically motivated witch hunt.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

Iranian operative charged in plot to murder John Bolton » The Justice Department has charged an Iranian operative in a plot to murder a former Trump administration official.

The man identified as Shahram Poursafi is wanted by the FBI in a murder for hire plot.

Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen said the department has unsealed a complaint.

OLSEN: Exposing a brazen attempt by a member of the Islamic Revolutional Guard Corp to carry out the murder of a former US national security adviser.

A US airstrike killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020. John Bolton was national security adviser at the time. Olsen said the murder plot was apparently in retaliation for Soleimani’s death.

US officials say Soleimani was an architect of terrorist operations and Tehran’s proxy wars in the Middle East.

John Bolton reacted to the news on Wednesday.

BOLTON: This is a murderous, lying regime. It’s an enemy of the United States and we need to treat it that way.

And he said while he can’t get into details, he’s not the only US official that Iran is trying to assassinate.

Inflation » Filling up your gas tank was a little less painful last month, and that helped to curb the growth of inflation in the month of July, at least a bit.

According to the Consumer Price Index, inflation dipped from 9.1 percent to 8.5 percent.

But White House economic adviser Gene Sperling conceded …

SPERLING: Some things went up, food for example, which is unfortunate. And other things went down. But of course, one month is encouraging, but we still think prices are too high.

Some economists exclude those energy and food costs in what they call the “core inflation” level. That marker stayed the same … instead of rising like many thought it would.

Ukraine update » Explosions at the Saki airbase in Crimea killed one person, wounded several others, and sent numerous tourists fleeing in panic as plumes of smoke rose over a nearby beach.

The Ukrainian air force says the explosions destroyed nine Russian warplanes.

Kyiv says Ukrainian forces were not behind the attack. If they were, it would be Ukraine’s first attack on Russian forces in Crimea.

Russia also denies a successful enemy attack, claiming a cigarette from a careless smoker ignited some ammunition.

Zaporizhzhia G7 warning » Global leaders are urging Russia to give control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant back to Ukraine before it’s too late. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Leaders from the Group of Seven nations, representing most of the world’s top economies, sounded alarms on Wednesday.

They said they are “profoundly concerned” about the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

The G7’s demand comes after UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi said the nuclear plant was “out of control.”

Fighting has plagued the area around the facility for weeks.

Grossi warned that “every principle of nuclear safety has been violated.”

Both Russia and Ukraine have signaled a willingness to allow UN inspectors to visit the plant. But there’s no sign yet Russia intends to turn over control.

Grossi has called on both sides to turn over control of the facility to an independent third party.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

And I'm Kent Covington.

Still ahead: A First Amendment battle in Washington state.

Plus: how moms have stepped up to help others in the midst of the formula shortage.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday the 11th of August, 2022.

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

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler.

First up on The World and Everything in It: religious liberty on college campuses in Washington state.

A historic Christian university in the middle of a progressive-leaning city and state hit back last month, suing to stop an investigation by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

The state started the probe after some students and faculty complained about the school’s adherence to Biblical views of marriage and sexuality.

BROWN: Steve West recently wrote about this case, and he joins us now to fill us in on the details. He is an attorney and writes about religious liberty issues for WORLD Digital. Good morning, Steve!

Well, take us back to the beginning of this case. Some students and faculty complained about the school’s biblical views. What happened there?

WEST: It’s no secret, Myrna, that there’s a mismatch between some faculty and students and the university’s trustees over views on marriage and sexuality. In January 2021 an adjunct nursing professor filed a lawsuit claiming he wasn’t offered a full-time, tenured position because of his sexual orientation. University officials disputed that but pointed to the school’s “religious-based conduct expectations”—referring to standards of conduct for faculty limiting sexual relationships to marriages of one man and one woman. Nothing surprising in that Biblical position.

BROWN: Okay, so how did that turn out?

WEST: By May 2021, the lawsuit was settled, the terms undisclosed, and the university made no further statement on the matter. Yet that was just the tip of the iceberg. Some students and faculty members weren’t willing to let it go, and they filed complaints with Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. On that note, Ferguson opened an investigation of the school and requested a load of internal records about the school’s hiring practices and governance, going back five years.

BROWN: Okay, and when did this matter land in the courts?

WEST: Some context is helpful. We have to remember: This is the same state that basically put Baronelle Stutzman, a grandmother in her seventies, out of her florist shop business because she would not design a floral arrangement for a same sex wedding. It’s also the same state that’s in litigation with Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission over the mission’s requirement that employees abide by a similar standard of conduct. So school trustees no doubt sensed where this was heading and wanted to get out in front of it, suing before they were sued, seeking to shut down an investigation that is nothing more than an attempt to press nonBiblical views on marriage and sexuality on the school.

BROWN: We know that the First Amendment protects religious exercise, but what specific legal argument is the school making on its own behalf?

WEST: The lawsuit is rooted in constitutional guarantees of free speech, religious exercise, and religious assembly that arguably protect the school. But at heart, the school is pleading a First Amendment-derived doctrine of religious autonomy: Religious groups have a right to decide what they believe and who should lead them, and this is something the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed.

BROWN: I understand that the school has been under pressure to change its standards, but so far, it’s holding firm, correct?

WEST: That’s right. They’re only two weeks into this lawsuit, so not much has happened yet, but surely they face enormous pressure to cave. Back in May, there were student protests, a sit in, and calls in the student-run newspaper for a progressive, affirming Christianity, one that embraces the LGBTQ community. In some students—and faculty’s—minds, conduct is inseparable from status. So if you can’t accept the lifestyle, you can’t accept the person. And then the school is embedded in a local culture that at best doesn’t understand the trustee’s position and, more likely, is hostile to it. This won’t end soon.

BROWN: Steve, have decisions in other cases at the Supreme Court or elsewhere given us any indication of how this case might ultimately play out?

WEST: Legally, I think the school is on good grounds in the lawsuit, as the Supreme Court has been strong in its support of religious liberty. More on point, the court said as recently as 2000 that at very least school decisions in regard to employees who perform vital religious functions are their own to make, free of governmental interference. Time will tell how broad that goes—particularly in a country that is less and less Biblically literate, has less and less belief that religion matters. But then, God majors in great reversals, so we do not lose hope.

BROWN: Steve West writes about religious liberties for WORLD Digital. You can read his work at wng.org. You can also subscribe to his free weekly newsletter on First Amendment issues, called Liberties. Steve, always good to have you on. Thank you!

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Giving paid family leave policies a boost. In light of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision, major U.S. businesses are offering to pay for employees to travel out of state to get an abortion. But they often don’t pay for employees who have babies to take extra time off work to care for them.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Supporters of paid family leave programs argue they improve the well-being of families and help women stay in the workforce. The idea is gaining traction with Republicans in Congress.

Joining us now to talk about it is Rachel Greszler. She is an economist at The Heritage Foundation whose work focuses on policies that promote economic growth, individual freedom, and well-being.

BROWN: Rachel, good morning!

RACHEL GRESZLER, GUEST: Good morning and thanks for having me, Myrna.

BROWN: Let’s start with the basics. What is paid family leave, and how widely available is it to American workers?

GRESZLER:

Paid family leave is the ability, the right to take time off from work without losing your job and also to be paid for that time that you take off. And so paid family leave is actually widely utilized by American workers. About 15% of workers have a need to take leave in any given year. Something that's a little misunderstood, I think about this is that actually most of the leaves that are taken are for an individual's own medical condition, that's more than half of the leaves that are taken. And actually only one in five leaves are to care for a new child that was born or to recover from that birth. On the access side, who has access to paid family leave, there is great news happening there. Access has increased 64% over just the past five years.

BROWN: Some conservative lawmakers are pushing for universal paid family leave since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision on abortion. What makes this a pro-life issue?

GRESZLER: Well, this is a pro-life issue because caring for a new child is absolutely important. And having that access to paid family leave has undeniable value to all workers, but especially to pregnant women and the certainty of being able to take that time off for prenatal visits to recover from the birth and to bond with a new child that can play a major role in a woman's decision whether or not to carry her child to term.

BROWN: Let’s say the government instituted a program or policy to mandate paid family leave. How might that affect U.S. businesses and families?

GRESZLER: Yes, and so I think this is a really important question now is if we all want people to have access to paid family leave, especially mothers, what is the best way to actually increase access, and also for that access to be really valuable? And I measure that value in terms of a flexible and an accommodating policy.

Can the government actually provide an accessible program is the first question that really needs to be answered. And there we can look to a lot of government programs abroad. And also within the US within states. There's about 10 of them now that have these programs. They disproportionately benefit high income women, you know, in California, the first state to have a program, fewer than 4% of workers in the bottom quintile income quintile use paid family leave from the state compared to 21% of workers in the highest income quintile. And so you have a case there where the highest income mother is five times as likely to benefit from this government paid family leave program, than the lowest income mother.

And when we look at who are the women who are seeking abortions, half of them are living below the poverty level. And another 25% of them are between 100% and 200% of the poverty level. So will these programs actually be accessible to them? They're unlikely to be. A lot of those women, if you are below the poverty level, it's very unlikely that you have a job or that you have a stable job. And those are the qualifications to get these benefits, you have to have been working for a certain amount of time, you have to have a certain number of hours in earnings. And so by and large, unfortunately, these government programs just haven't been able to reach down to the people that need them.

My concern here is that we would have a government program and it would then display these more flexible and accommodating policies that are offered by employers and that we're seeing grow and expand rapidly. And instead, people would be pushed on to the more bureaucratic program.

BROWN: My kids are adults now, but I remember those days. What do parents say they want from the government and from their employers when it comes to time off to care for their children?

GRESZLER: Yeah, and this is something that's really close to my heart. Actually, I have six young children at home. And you know, just recognizing what is it that you need to actually be able to make the work and the family life balance? In it is absolutely that flexibility. And you know, that's my personal anecdote. But there are studies and there are surveys that are out there, including one from 2018 and it asks parents, what do you most want? And of six items that were listed, more paid parental leave was actually the fifth on the list. And only 6% of parents said that was what they wanted. 60% of parents said that they either wanted more flexible work schedules or the ability to work remotely. And then there were other things like more part-time options, or daycare, but really more paid family leave was at the bottom of the list. And I think that gets to the fact that that's only the first 12 weeks of having a child when you have 18 years with them, you know, being in your life, and the nine months in the womb.

And so I think that we need to be thinking more comprehensively like, yes, absolutely paid family leave is a great thing. I'm 100% Pro paid family leave, you know. 100% against a government program, because I see it as taking away the policies that will actually help people. But I think we need to be looking towards things that provide more flexibility for parents across the child's entire life.

BROWN: Are there any other ideas floating around for how to address those needs? One being flexibility?

GRESZLER: We're seeing great growth. And I actually think that this is one of the silver linings of COVID-19 is just kind of a giant leap forward in workers ability to be getting these things and to have more family friendly workplaces. But talking about what is actually going on in Congress and the policies that the government is setting, there are some proposals out there, there's something called The Working Families Flexibility Act. What this would do is just allow private sector workers to have the same right that public sector workers do. If they work overtime to choose between either accumulating time and a half, time off, or time and a half pay.

And then also, there'sthings like considering a payroll tax credit if an employer offers private disability insurance, which is something that actually covers all of workers own medical leaves, and also maternity leave. So it gets out about three quarters of the leaves that are actually taken. And finally, I would just say, you know, policy wise, not raising taxes on businesses. And that's why we saw this giant leap in the number of employers offering paid family leave after the tax cuts and Jobs Act because a lot of them surveyed the workers and said, What do you want? You know, we have revenues that we're not having to give to the government anymore. What do you want us to do with them? And a lot of them said we want paid family leave and that's why we saw such an expansion there.

BROWN: Rachel Greszler is a working mom and senior director at The Heritage Foundation. Rachel, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

GRESZLER: Thank you, Myrna.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Your friendly neighborhood spider just might be a dreamer, according to a new study.

Researchers observed baby jumping spiders twitching their legs and flicking their eyes around at regular intervals… all while they seemed to be asleep.

That according to a study published Monday in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

Scientists still aren’t entirely sure that the spiders are sleeping, though it certainly seems they are.

The episodes appear similar to dogs’ and humans’ “REM” sleep cycles, which are often associated with dreaming.

That leads us to a question we may never know the answer to. What do spiders dream about?

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: I’m not sure I even want to know.

BUTLER: Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s a tangled web.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Thursday, August 11th.

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

Good morning. I’m Paul Butler.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: milk for babies.

For months, infant formula has been hard to come by. After a major plant shut down in February, many parents started getting desperate. And although the shortage has been easing up, about 20% of formulas are still unavailable. That’s why some moms have been turning to another option: donor milk.

BUTLER: It’s not a new concept. Moms with extra breast milk have helped parents in need for millenia. It’s especially important today for babies with serious medical issues or who are allergic to formula. And in the midst of the formula shortage, more parents are giving it a try. WORLD associate correspondent Leah Johansen visited a milk bank in northern Illinois, and brings our story.

MILK BANK OUTSIDE AMBI [TK]

LEAH JOHANSEN, REPORTER: If you’re looking for donor milk, the industrial park next to O’Hare airport might be the last place you’d think to check. But that’s where the Mothers’ Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes makes its home.

GRETCHEN SPRINKLE: I probably drop off at the milk depot every other month, usually about 300 ounces. You know, I feel like I’ve been given so much that it just makes sense to give back.

Gretchen Sprinkle is a donor mom. She’s had three kids, and she’s donated milk with each one.

GRETCHEN SPRINKLE: With my middle, my daughter alone, it was over 12 gallons. Like I wasn't given all of this milk for no reason. So it just feels like something I was called to do. And it's so little of my time, and it benefits those babies and those families so much. At this point, I couldn't not do it.

At Mothers’ Milk Bank, there’s an application and screening process for moms who want to donate. Once they’re clear, the moms can drop off milk at a depot.

SUSAN URBANSKI: A milk depot is a site where an approved milk donor can drop off her milk. We have between 65 and 70 milk depots in Wisconsin and Illinois.

That’s Susan Urbanski. She’s the programs manager at the milk bank. Urbanski says that, since the formula shortage started, the bank has seen a 20% increase in milk inquiries. But they’ve also seen an increase in donors.

URBANSKI: Our donors have stepped up in record numbers. And that, to me, has been the biggest long term, noticeable thing that's happened with the formula shortage is it has helped increase awareness of the option of nonprofit milk banking.

Some moms donate because they have a lot of extra milk and their baby doesn’t need it all.

Others donate because of tragedy.

URBANSKI: Whether it was a pregnancy loss, or a NICU loss, or an older baby that died. All of these families echo the sentiment that they don't want their baby to be forgotten. So we do our best to make sure that these babies are remembered every single day.

Walking into the milk bank, the first thing you notice is that one wall is painted a vibrant electric blue. It’s covered in swirling galaxy patterns and hand lettered yellow stars.

URBANSKI: Each star is hand painted with the name and the birthday of a baby who has died, whose mom has chosen to honor that baby's legacy through milk donation.

AMBI: [MILK BANK FREEZER]

The bank has 20 freezers packed with donor milk. After moms drop it off, the bank processes it.

URBANSKI: We do bacteriological screening. And we pool the milk to make sure that there’s at least three to five moms and every single batch. Then we pasteurize after pasteurization, we do in house drug testing.

Then, the milk goes up for purchase. A lot of hospitals buy donor milk to use in the NICU. Many medically fragile babies can’t handle formula. Jinnie Hogarth is a nurse who works with the clinical side of things at the milk bank.

HOGARTH: So families that are either in the NICU for clinical concerns like hypoglycemia, or heart disease, or sepsis, but many, many who are premature. They have a really difficult time with digestion. So donor milk and human milk is gentler on those babies’ tummies.

Other parents can purchase the milk, too. It’s not cheap. But many parents are willing to foot the bill.

COX: This is now my third baby. I had my loss in 2016, had a second incident in 2019 and then almost lost my daughter in 2021.

That’s Portia Cox. She first found donor milk after her premie twins were diagnosed with Necrotizing enterocolitis or NEC for short. It’s a rare condition that causes inflammation in the intestines.

COX: He was five days old when he was diagnosed with NEC, he did not make it that night. So, he passed three hours after we were told.

Cox believes that infant formula played a part in her son’s diagnosis. A lot of formulas contain heavily processed ingredients like corn syrup and palm oil. These can be especially hard on preterm babies’ digestive systems. Because of that, some studies link formula to NEC disease.

Last year, Cox ended up in the NICU again with her third baby, Lilly. Because of her experiences with NEC, Cox wanted to avoid formula this time around.

COX: I was not able to supply milk. They were offering me infant formula. I was like no, okay, I've had NEC. It's a no for me.

But after days in the hospital, Lilly wasn’t gaining enough weight. So, Cox agreed to the formula. Four hours later, that baby was also diagnosed with NEC.

COX: She started to hemorrhage. And when I tell you that there’s nothing that can prepare you for that. It's just really, really hard to process.

After that diagnosis, Cox was desperate to find donor milk. The hospital had some on hand, but Lilly didn’t qualify to receive it. The hospital wouldn’t tell Cox where they got the donor milk from, so she took matters into her own hands.

COX: They wouldn't tell me. And I said, Well, Google will!

That’s how Cox found The Mothers’ Milk Bank. It’s not the only place to get donor milk. Many moms have started Facebook groups to share milk informally. But for serious medical cases like Lilly’s, Cox wasn’t taking any chances.

Once Lilly got some donor milk, things started looking up.

COX: It was a slow and steady process with ups and downs. But once I secured the donor milk, it makes all the difference in the world.

Many babies do thrive on infant formula. But there is something different about breast milk. Here’s Jinnie Hogarth again.

JINNIE HOGARTH: Mom's milk has all the immunoreactive cells, it has all the antibodies, lactoferrin, all those growth factors that are helpful for a baby's immune system and growth.

Now, Portia Cox’s daughters are both growing, healthy, and active.

PORTIA COX: And I truly believe it is the benefit of Mother milk. That’s the nutrition it has all the antibodies. We mothers, females, we are made to produce benefactors for our babies. And it’s something you just can't supplement.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Johansen in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday August 11th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler. Last Sunday, America lost one of her greatest historians—author David McCullough. McCullough won innumerable awards for his bestselling books, including two Pulitzer prizes for his biographies of Harry Truman and John Adams. In 2006, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom–one of the highest honors possible for an American civilian.

BROWN: McCullough didn’t always get everything right. For instance, in that biography of John Adams, he portrays Adams as a Christian, while in reality, Adams drifted into some heterodox beliefs by the end of his life. That said, McCullough’s work generally reflects great scholarship and—as Ken Burns put it—"an almost magical command of language and story.”

Here’s McCullough in 2014 at the Library of Congress:

MCCULLOUGH: [23:40] History is about people. History is human. ‘When in the course of human events,’ Jefferson wrote. The operative word is human. You have to get to know the people. You have to get inside their lives. Put yourself in their shoes. And remember, none of them knew how it was going to come out anymore than we know how it’s gonna come out in our time.

BUTLER: Commentator Cal Thomas joins us now with his reflections. He says McCullough revived the study of American history for his generation—and those who follow.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: I hated college history. The textbooks were mostly about dead white men, Abigail Adams excepted. The lectures were boring. I didn’t see how any of it related to my young life and future plans.

Historian David McCullough, who died this week at age 89, helped change my attitude toward history and its contemporary relevance. At a time when some are trying to tear history down by re-naming highways and removing statues of slave owners, McCullough built history up.

He was fond of saying of those he wrote about: “If they’re not forgotten, they’re not gone.”

Whether it was his book 1776, described on Amazon this way, “(It) tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper,” or Truman, which provides “ a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American,” or John Adams, which was made into a film series on HBO, or my personal favorite, The Wright Brothers, an American story if ever there was one about two brothers who owned a bicycle shop, built and were the first to successfully fly an airplane. They had no help from the U.S. government and received financing from France until Washington saw it work and then belatedly came aboard. Some things never change.

McCullough didn’t just recall history. In a sense he revived history and our interest in it.

President George H.W. Bush invited historians to the White House for a series of talks on American presidents. I attended one at which McCullough spoke. His subject was Andrew Jackson. McCullough described the “open house” following Jackson’s Inauguration on March 4, 1829 at which 20,000 people attended. The event became so rowdy, Jackson climbed out a window to escape the mob.

McCullough had the audience laughing as if he were a comedian. In his books, he draws in the reader as if to say, “this is important to you and to your country. Learn from it.” His excellent research and writing style make us feel we are there, witnessing the events he describes, not like some other historians who make one feel they are “looking through a glass darkly.”

Other historians, including Stephen Ambrose, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Douglas Brinkley (among several moderns who also deserve credit for re-writing history in a readable and compelling way) share in the credit for making history relevant again, but for me McCullough, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, is the tops.

As George Santayana famously said, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” Times change, but human nature never does. David McCullough has shown why the lessons of history remain important, especially for those determined not to repeat history’s mistakes and to learn from its successes.

Fortunately, his works are so good they will be read--and should be--by generations yet to come.

I’m Cal Thomas.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Tomorrow: John Stonestreet returns for Culture Friday.

Plus, Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment are re-releasing Steven Spielberg’s classic film: E.T. WORLD Arts and Media Editor Collin Garbarino takes a look back at the movie’s cultural significance.

And a conversation with CCM artist John Martin Keith.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Paul Butler.

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

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, "…all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing." (1 Peter 3:8-9)

Go now in grace and peace.

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