The World and Everything in It — August 27, 2020

MEGAN BASHAM, HOST: Good morning!

The U.S. Postal Service faces criticism over delivery delays and massive budget deficits. We’ll tell you the latest on the agency’s struggles.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also Jerry Falwell Jr. is out as head of the nation’s most prominent Christian university. We’ll review the long list of controversies that led to his downfall.

Plus we’ll learn first-hand what it takes to get a Christian school ready to meet again in person.

And Cal Thomas on pessimistic and optimistic political messaging.

BASHAM: It’s Thursday, August 27th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Megan Basham.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Good morning!

BASHAM: Up next, news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Pence accepts renomination for VP » Vice President Mike Pence accepted his renomination on day three of the Republican National Convention last night. 

PENCE: I humbly accept your nomination to run and serve as Vice President of the United States. 

The vice president addressed a small socially distanced crowd at the historic battlements of Baltimore’s Ft. McHenry, making a forceful case for President Trump’s reelection. 

Pence defended and touted the president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and his trade and foreign policy decisions. He also highlighted the military operations that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi while throwing an elbow in Joe Biden’s direction. 

PENCE: History records that Joe Biden even opposed the operation that took down Osama bin Laden. 

And in light of national unrest and police protests, Pence said the Trump White House rejects a false choice between supporting police and standing with minority communities. He said the White House does and will continue to do both and he declared once more that Trump is the president of law and order. 

But in the end Pence said this is the question voters must ask themselves on November 3rd… 

PENCE: Who do you trust to rebuild this economy? A career politician who presided over the slowest recovery since the Great Depression? Or a proven leader who created the greatest economy in the world? The choice is clear. To bring America all the way back, we need four more years of President Donald Trump. 

Also among the speakers Wednesday night were Senators Marsha Blackburn and Joni Ernst, as well as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.

Tonight, Rev. Franklin Graham, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and first daughter Ivanka Trump will speak before President Trump formally accepts his renomination.

Laura slams Gulf Coast as Category 4 hurricane » AUDIO: [Sound of storm]

Hurricane Laura slammed the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas early this morning as a Category 4 hurricane. It packed sustained winds of about 150 miles per hour. 

And Laura pushed ocean water miles inland. As the storm roared ashore, the National Hurricane Center’s Michael Brennan said storm surge in low lying areas appeared to be historic and catastrophic. 

BRENNAN: Somewhere in that area could see inundation of 15 to 20 feet above ground level. So that’s really just not survivable to be in that type of area. So hopefully everybody in those areas that are prone to storm surge are out of there by now. 

Laura made landfall in southwestern Louisiana near Lake Charles at 1 a.m. Central Time—ripping apart buildings and uprooting trees. 

Hundreds of thousands remain without power this morning as officials launch rescue operations in coastal areas, looking for anyone who might have ignored evacuation warnings. 

As Laura pushes north, forecasters say Louisiana residents could see hurricane force winds today as far inland as Shreveport—some 500 miles north of Gulf waters.

U.S. citizenship agency drops plan to furlough 70 percent of workers » U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has canceled a plan to furlough more than 13,000 employees—averting a catastrophe for the agency that oversees the nation’s immigration system. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Immigration officials said Tuesday that “unprecedented spending cuts” and a revenue increase allowed the agency to drop the furloughs—at least though next month when the fiscal year ends. 

But the agency’s deputy director for policy, Joseph Edlow, said averting the furloughs—quote—“comes at a severe operational cost.”  

He said wait times will increase “across the board, with no guarantee we can avoid future furloughs.” And he added that for operations to return to normal, Congress will have to step in.

The agency had warned that without $1.2 billion in emergency funding, it would have been forced to furlough roughly 70 percent of its workforce starting Sunday.

The agency’s budget comes mostly from application fees and a two-month shutdown during the pandemic cut its revenue in half. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin. 

Police arrest teenage suspect in fatal shooting in Kenosha, Wis. » Police arrested a white teenager Wednesday in the fatal shooting of two people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

Officers arrested 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. 

A young man matching his description was caught on cellphone video Tuesday night opening fire in the middle of the street with a semi-automatic rifle.

Unrest in the city began on Sunday after police officers shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake multiple times. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency and deployed more National Guard troops to the city’s streets.

Blake’s lawyers say he is conscious but partially paralyzed as the bullets severed his spinal cord. 

And the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks made a statement Wednesday on the shooting—but not with words. 

AUDIO: The Milwaukee Bucks did not come out for warmups before tonight’s tipoff that was supposed to be just moments for now. 

Audio courtesy of NBA tv. The Bucks never took the floor, boycotting game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic in protest of the Blake shooting.

Shortly thereafter, several teams in other leagues, including the WNBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer also cancelled games in solidarity.

Flooding kills at least 100 people in Afghanistan » Heavy flooding has killed at least 100 people and injured many others in Afghanistan. WORLD’s Anna Johansen has more. 

ANNA JOHANSEN, REPORTER: Officials said Wednesday that heavy seasonal rains drenched northern and eastern Afghanistan.

Annual downpours, compounded by mudslides, often threaten remote areas of the country, where infrastructure is poor. Hundreds of people die every summer due to flooding.

The state minister for disaster management said in the northern province of Parwan, floodwaters inundated the city of Charikar and partially destroyed a hospital. 

Flooding destroyed more than 2,000 homes in Parwan and displaced more than a thousand people. 

Officials warn that the number of casualties may rise as rescue teams search the rubble of collapsed buildings. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: problems at the post office.

Plus, Cal Thomas calls for more positivity in politics.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MEGAN BASHAM: It’s Thursday the 27th of August, 2020.Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Megan Basham.

MYRNA BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. First up: the fight over America’s mailboxes.

Last weekend, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi brought Congress back from vacation early. She wanted lawmakers to approve a bill blocking changes at the U.S. Postal Service. Democrats think President Donald Trump is trying to prevent mail-in voting by sabotaging the system.

BASHAM: But new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy says recent changes to the agency’s services have nothing to do with the election. He’s trying to keep the service solvent. Earlier this month, the agency reported a quarterly deficit of over $2 billion. What’s behind those financial challenges? WORLD Reporter Kyle Ziemnick explains.

TRUMP: This isn’t a Trump thing. This has been one of the disasters of the world – the way it’s been run. It’s been run horribly. We’re gonna make it good.

KYLE ZIEMNICK, REPORTER: That’s how President Trump described the U.S. Postal Service earlier this month. He’s repeatedly called the agency out for being a fiscal failure. Criticizing a government agency for mismanagement is nothing new.

But the situation facing the Postal Service is unique.

The USPS is part of the executive branch. It performs a public service. But it doesn’t get any tax dollars. It accepted its last public subsidy in 1982. Since then, postage has funded all of its operating budget.

David Woods is a former postmaster from the Baltimore area.

WOODS: And often people, customers, would have this perception that the post office is operated with tax dollars. And it is with a sense of pride that I was able to say, “Oh no, no, this is something that we, we have to raise the money that we use in order to deliver the mail.” 

And guaranteeing that delivery isn’t easy. Woods says it was always a battle to make sure the mail was delivered on time to every location.

That’s partly because the U.S. Postal Service has what’s called a universal service obligation. That means all Americans get a basic level of service—regardless of the cost.

Companies like Amazon, UPS, and FedEx don’t have a delivery mandate. They can refuse to serve unprofitable customers. The Postal Service can’t. On top of that, it can’t freely adjust its own prices.

WOODS: The post office has some restrictions on what we can charge, which is something the president has been encouraging them to change, but we’ve got a board of governors that determines that. So we can’t necessarily change prices in every single area.

These financial handcuffs put the USPS at a big disadvantage. But at first, that didn’t seem to be a problem. Between 1980 and 2000, the Postal Service enjoyed decent profits or made very small losses. The no-taxpayer-money model appeared to work.

That changed in the mid-2000s. Two separate, but very important developments began to push the postal service over the fiscal cliff. In 2006, Congress passed an act reforming the agency.

One reform in particular hit the postal budget hard. The agency had to pre-pay its retirees decades in advance. That means part of their current budget goes to a fund for future workers’ retirement benefits. And it costs billions of extra dollars per year in expenses.

WOODS: I didn’t think it was fair, no other agency or company or business had ever been asked to do that type of thing.

Sandra Wells is a retired postmaster who lives in Florida.

WELLS: That’s when they made us start funding those, um, future retiree benefits. But if you think about it funding somebody 75 years in advance, those people aren’t even born yet. In 75 years, do you honestly think there’s going to be companies that are paying retirement to people? I doubt it.

To stay afloat, the Postal Service stopped setting up these benefits in advance. But they still count as negatives on the monthly budget. The agency has had a cumulative $120 billion deficit since 2008. But it’s kept a positive cash flow despite the deficit.

The second issue affecting the agency is more fundamental. The way Americans communicate has changed dramatically. Since the early 2000s, the amount of first-class mail has fallen dramatically. People just don’t send letters or cards as much as they used to. At the same time, package volume has skyrocketed.

WELLS: It’s a lot easier to shop from home. We all do it now.

But the Postal Service makes the most money off first class mail, for one simple reason.

WELLS: First-class – that is not, that’s not competitive. Cause there’s, there’s no competitors out there. We have the right to the mailbox and we universally deliver.

On the other hand, the world of packages has many competitors. UPS, Amazon, and FedEx trucks cover American streets. That makes profits and margins lower for the postal service.

These changes have brought the agency to its knees. And now it faces another challenge this fall.

TRUMP: What they want to do is send millions of ballots out—just indiscriminately, all over. They want to send millions and millions of ballots out, and you can’t do that—you can’t do that.

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted many states to rely more heavily on mail-in ballots. Some states sent primary ballots to their voters several weeks in advance. But that didn’t prevent problems.

State election officials have rejected more than half a million ballots so far this year. Late submissions and missing signatures are the main culprits. And that has many Americans—including the president—worried about what will happen on Election Day.

MALONEY: OK. Welcome everybody, to today’s hybrid hearing…

On Monday, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testified before the House Oversight Committee. He reminded lawmakers that the Postal Service handles more than a billion pieces of mail every month. Ballots would only amount to a fraction of that.

So DeJoy is confident in his department’s ability to get the job done, as he assured Congressman Chip Roy on Monday.

ROY: In other words, is the USPS perfectly capable of handling any amount of mail that would be attached to our election in November?

DeJOY: We are very ready to handle the election mail, sir.

Despite DeJoy’s assurances, former postmaster Sandra Wells worries if something goes wrong on November 3rd, the Postal Service will end up as the scapegoat.

WELLS: I’m afraid they are going to be blamed for whatever goes down.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kyle Ziemnick.

MEGAN BASHAM: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: the precipitous fall of Jerry Falwell Jr.

And before we go any further, we should note that parts of this story are not suitable for younger listeners. If you have the kids around this morning, you might want to hit pause and come back later.

MYRNA BROWN: Earlier this month, the Liberty University board of trustees put the school’s well-known president on indefinite leave. The social media post that seemed to prompt the board’s action was relatively mild compared to some of Falwell’s other controversies. But it came at the end of a long list of behavior deemed unseemly for the head of a prominent Christian university. Facing the prospect of being fired, Falwell resigned on Monday. He’s leaving with a $10 million dollar severance package.

BASHAM: So what led to Falwell’s downfall? WORLD deputy editor Michael Reneau has followed the Falwell saga for quite a while and joins us now to talk about it. Good morning, Michael!

MICHAEL RENEAU, REPORTER: Good morning, Megan.

BASHAM: Let’s quickly recap what’s happened in the three weeks after Liberty’s board put Jerry Falwell Jr. on leave.

RENEAU: On August 25th, the news agency Reuters reported claims from a former pool boy at a luxury hotel in Miami. His name is Giancarlo Granda, and he says he carried on an affair with Falwell’s wife, Becki, for seven years. He also claimed Falwell knew about the affair and would sometimes watch them have sex. Both Falwells denied Jerry Falwell’s involvement but admitted the affair. (Becki Falwell did not return my phone calls and text message, and Jerry Falwell Jr. told me he couldn’t talk when I reached him.)

Jerry Falwell Jr. actually released a statement acknowledging the affair several hours before Reuters published its story. He said Granda was trying to blackmail the couple and that they had decided the only way to stop him was to go public.

BASHAM: And this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about a connection between the Falwells and Granda, right?

RENEAU: That’s right. Several years ago Politico reported that Falwell and Granda bought a Miami hostel together. That was controversial because the hostel—which I actually visited while doing some reporting last year—had a reputation for being gay-friendly and popular with people visiting Miami to party. This story takes an even weirder turn because Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen helped cover up for racy photos of Jerry and Becki Falwell and Granda may have been involved in obtaining those photos. Disputes over the hostel spilled into Florida courtrooms before the two sides settled in late 2019.

BASHAM: The Falwell name became prominent in evangelical circles in the 1980s. Remind us briefly who Jerry Falwell Sr. was.

RENEAU: Jerry Falwell Sr. became famous as the founder of the Moral Majority. He was a pioneering televangelist with his Old Time Gospel Hour ministry. In 1971 he decided to get into higher education and founded Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where his church was located.

BASHAM: So after his father died, Jerry Falwell Jr. took over as president of Liberty. Since then, he’s really expanded the school, both in size and prominence. But its influence remained mostly limited to evangelical circles until 2016, when Jerry Falwell Jr. became an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The controversies just seemed to multiply after that. Talk us through some of them.

RENEAU: Falwell’s rhetorical style really seemed to match that of President Trump, especially on social media. He repeatedly jabbed at Christian leaders and shunned his role as a spiritual leader. He told pastor David Platt on Twitter to “grow a pair” in 2019. He removed the tweet but in response said he’s not a spiritual leader: “I have never been a minister. UVA-trained lawyer and commercial real estate developer for 20 yrs,” he tweeted. “The faculty, students, and campus pastor … are the ones keeping LU strong spiritually …” 

In May 2020 he faced more backlash when he protested Virginia’s COVID-19 face mask mandate: He tweeted a photo—showing Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in medical school dressed in blackface, standing next to someone in a Ku Klux Klan robe—superimposed over a face mask. Black Liberty alumni responded with a letter asking Falwell to apologize and retract the tweet. He did so more than a week later and after several black employees resigned. Several student-athletes also transferred from Liberty.

BASHAM: What’s been the reaction to Falwell’s resignation?

RENEAU: Well, Falwell himself seems to be relieved. When confirming his resignation on Aug. 25, he said: “The quote that keeps going through my mind this morning is Martin Luther King Jr: ‘Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I’m free at last.’” Falwell told The Washington Post he was bored and ready to move on.

Former faculty members are also relieved. Longtime Liberty English professor Karen Swallow Prior—who this year joined Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s faculty—said Falwell’s behavior didn’t match a Christian university president’s: “It’s a great relief that Liberty no longer has a leader who clearly no longer wants to be in that position. His behavior for a long time has not been that of a spiritual leader.”

BASHAM: So, what’s next for Liberty?

RENEAU: Well, the school’s board of trustees now faces the task of choosing a new leader. But given Falwell’s longtime behavior and the $10.5 million the board allowed him to walk away with, many question whether trustees are up to the challenge.

BASHAM: Well, it certainly will be interesting to see who they pick to follow in the Falwells’ footsteps! Michael Reneau is WORLD’s deputy editor. Thanks so much for joining us today!

RENEAU: You’re welcome, Megan.

MYRNA BROWN: A senior citizen identified only by the name “Sandy” is being credited with rescuing an elderly woman in Glendale, California.

88-year-old Gwendola Morgan Johnson fell down next to her house and was unable to get up. 

That’s when Sandy ran to get help. Sandy, we should mention, is almost 80 years old himself—at least in dog years.

Sandy is an 11-year-old. And he’s a rescue dog in more ways than one. Gwendola rescued Sandy as a stray, and last week, Sandy returned the favor. 

He got the attention of sanitation worker Kirk White who was making his rounds near the house. White told KABC, he could tell something was wrong.

WHITE: Just the way he was barking. And then he would bark and look to the left like, hey, I have something to show you.

He followed Sandy around the house where he found Gwendola lying on the ground and helped her inside. 

She’s doing well and said she couldn’t be more grateful for her four-legged friend.

JOHNSON: He certainly came to my rescue!

Kirk White said he doesn’t have a pet, but after this experience—he’s getting a dog.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MEGAN BASHAM: Today is Thursday, August 27th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Megan Basham.

MYRNA BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: back to school.

What is it like for in-person classes to start up again in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic?  Today, WORLD Radio intern Vivian Jones teaches us what it took for one school in Tennessee to reopen safely.

AUDIO: [Kids playing on the playground]

VIVIAN JONES, CORRESPONDENT: Franklin Classical School meets in a brick church building—a few blocks away from the old town square in Franklin, Tennessee. It’s the first week of school, and kids are on the playground together for the first time since school closed in March. 

MAHAND: We started classes this past Tuesday. 

Melinda Mahand is academic dean at Franklin Classical School, and also teaches literature, English, and Bible. 

MAHAND: Seeing the students again has been such a joy. This has been like a giant reunion. We’re having to be careful about not hugging and some of the things that we usually do. We’re having to keep our distance and most students are wearing a mask. But just being together, being able to talk has been wonderful.

It’s been a long road to reopening. The school learned a lot from the successes and challenges at the end of last school year. 

Four weeks ago, Mahand and other administrators were working to prepare the building according to federal guidelines so that students could return.

MAHAND: Excuse the way the building looks, we are cleaning and throwing away and redoing every room. 

In March, the class of 2020 had just landed in Detroit from a senior trip to London when the COVID-19 shutdown began.  

MAHAND: We were sitting in the waiting area to catch our connection back to Nashville when President Trump came on the screen and announced that overseas flights would no longer be allowed into the United States. We felt like we barely made it back into the U.S.

And that’s when everything changed at Franklin Classical School. 

MAHAND: The next morning, I woke up and realized I needed to move the entire school—200 students kindergarten through 12th grade—to distance learning, because we in fact, were not coming back on campus. 

Teachers quickly divided up areas of the Middle Tennessee region, hand delivering materials to students, and moving to an online learning system.

MAHAND: We were all rather exhausted by the end of fourth quarter, as were the families, because this was new to all of us. But it was a very good learning period to prepare us for what we can do better. This new school year, hopefully, we’ll be able to reduce some of the stress for families should we have to go to distance learning again.

When the spring semester ended, administrators started preparing to resume classes in person this fall. Complying with health recommendations required an extraordinary level of planning. 

Administrators installed new touchless hand dryers, hand sanitizers, soap dispensers, and water fountains, and purchased playground equipment for each grade to be sanitized daily. Teachers reoriented classrooms and lecture halls to maintain social distancing. 

MAHAND: So the interesting thing for this summer is I’m doing everything I would always do, plus getting ready for this new approach to sanitizing the school and keeping our children safe.

The school purchased laptop computers for each student to enable virtual learning in case a student becomes ill, or schools are required to close again due to the pandemic.

MAHAND: Another issue was trying to determine how to best care for our children while still protecting our commitment to parental authority in their children’s lives. So what are we going to do about masks for instance, we’re primarily leaving that up to the parents option to decide whether their child will wear a mask. If there’s a government mandate regarding masks, we will obey that mandate…

Parents will be asked to check their child’s temperature each morning. Arrival and departure times are staggered, and students will be kept mostly separate within their own classes. 

On top of all of this, Mahand trained new teachers, interviewed new families, and advised students on which classes to take this year. And, of course, she prepared to teach her own classes. 

MAHAND: I like to teach where I’m sitting right now at this place at my table, because I’m close… We won’t be able to do that this year, so one of my challenges is figuring out how I’m going to teach and still reach hearts standing on that little platform at the dry erase board with them distanced all over the room. But in the scope of things that’s minor and Lord willing, it’s temporary.

AUDIO: [Sound of geometry class]

Today, the students are back in the lecture hall learning Geometry, almost like any other year.

MAHAND: Lord willing, it will continue that way, but we’ve been very surprised at how smoothly it’s gone. It’s been a lot of hard work getting ready, but it has really paid off.

A handful of the students were more comfortable learning from home, and started the school year virtually.  

MAHAND: I think our biggest challenge has been getting every teacher up and running somewhat proficiently on our learning management system, which is Google classrooms now. They’ve all worked hard. 

Mahand says through all of the planning and preparing, administrators, teachers, and the school’s seniors showed leadership in dealing with an unprecedented challenge. 

MAHAND: Leadership occurs when you have to face a challenge or a hurdle or a mountain that you didn’t anticipate and that you’ve never had to face before, and even in the face of disappointment or maybe even anger, you stand up and you do what you’ve been taught to do, which is care for others lead well approach the future with hope and confidence.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Vivian Jones in Franklin, Tennessee.

MYRNA BROWN: Today is Thursday, August 27th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MEGAN BASHAM: And I’m Megan Basham. Up next, Cal Thomas on pessimism vs. optimism.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: If you watched last week’s virtual Democratic convention, you heard about an America with which you might not be familiar. Speaker after speaker portrayed America as a failing nation full of misery, poverty and angst that only they can make better.

It’s worth pausing to remember part of President Trump’s inaugural address:

TRUMP: The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs. And while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

Trump brought back those who had been struggling under the slow-growth Obama-Biden administration. Had it not been for the virus, which is in decline, Trump would likely be ahead in the polls thanks to record employment across all demographics. 

And still the economy is making a comeback. Check the rising stock market, which has hit record highs. 

Contrast Trump’s address with the gloom and doom projected by Biden last week:

BIDEN: Here and now I give you my word: If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. I’ll be an ally of the light, not the darkness. It’s time for us — for we, the people — to come together. And make no mistake. United we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America.

Meaningless clichés. 

The irony is that, as vice president, Biden and President Obama had a chance to get out in front of the pandemic. Instead, they did nothing to replenish the stockpile of masks and other needed protective equipment.

The USA Today recently reported—quote—”[A]ccording to NIH, the stockpile’s resources were… used during hurricanes Alex, Irene, Isaac and Sandy. Flooding in 2010 in North Dakota also called for stockpile funds to be deployed. The 2014 outbreaks of the Ebola virus and botulism, as well as the 2016 outbreak of the Zika virus, continued to significantly tax the stockpile with no serious effort from the Obama administration to replenish the fund.” End quote. 

The country Democrats described last week is not the real America. We’ve come through even greater challenges in the past because of the optimism and tenacity of our citizens.

It’s been good to see some of that optimism on display this week at the Republican National Convention, including from Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. He talked about how his family went from “cotton to Congress in one lifetime.” It was an inspiring message that emphasized the importance of hard work and seizing the opportunities America offers.

We need that message today, not more pessimism. As Ronald Reagan used to say, America’s best days are ahead. 

I’m Cal Thomas.

MYRNA BROWN: Tomorrow: A fresh take on an old classic. Megan reviews a very funny—and very family friendly—new movie based on Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield.

And your listener feedback.

That and more tomorrow. 

I’m Myrna Brown.

MEGAN BASHAM: And I’m Megan Basham.

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

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

Psalms tells us those who sow with tears will reap with shouts of joy.

I hope you’ll have a great rest of the day. We’ll talk to you tomorrow!

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.