The World and Everything in It: December 19, 2024

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Families in Madison, Wisconsin deal with heartbreak as they gather together following another shooting at a Christian school.

SMITH: How do we not live in fear, and how do we address when evil comes knocking at your door?

MYRNA BROWN: Also we talk to the mother arrested after her child went for a walk on his own. What’s it mean for the rights of parents?

And a church exhibits unique nativity scenes from around the world.

JOHNSON: It’s beautiful just to see the other nations. All the nations, we all look to Jesus.

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says we may be witnessing the most vindictive transition of presidential power yet.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, December 19th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

REICHARD: It’s time for the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Government funding » A 1,500-page spending bill that would fund the federal government into March and avert a partial shutdown may have just gone up in flames.

President-elect Trump came out against the bill Wednesday, with many Republicans already wary of it.

Vice president-elect JD Vance said Trump could support a continuing resolution — or C-R for short — which would keep spending at current levels.

VANCE:  Well, what the president believes is we should support a clean CR so long as it contains a debt limit increase.

A clean C-R would mean not adding any additional spending to the bill right now, beyond what the government’s already spending.

But the existing spending bill includes more money for pet projects at the local level and a pay raise for members of Congress.

GOP Congressman Chip Roy of Texas said yesterday:

ROY:  If we pass this bill, which we should not, then we will have passed at least three hundred and something like ten to thirty billion dollars of literal just increase in deficit spending, printing money. None of it paid for.

Democrats accused President-elect Trump and other Republicans of “last-minute grandstanding” that risks a partial government shutdown right before Christmas. The deadline to pass a new funding bill is Friday night.

Syria latest » One week after the fall of the Assad regime, the U.S. government continues to monitor rising tensions in Syria between Israel and Turkey.

State Dept Spokesperson Vedant Patel says that the United States is focused on preventing the conflict from escalating.

PATEL: I think we are not alone when we say we want to see stability across the region. We want to make sure that nothing we see is consistent with escalation.

This comes as President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump continue efforts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Fed interest rate cut » The Federal Reserve is cutting its key interest rate by another quarter-point — its third cut this year. But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the decision wasn't as easy this time as with those prior cuts.

POWELL: I would say today was a closer call, but we decided it was the right call.

That’s because consumer prices are still elevated and inflation is not moving toward the Fed’s 2 percent target as quickly as hoped.

And Powell said the Central Bank is trying to strike a balance.

POWELL: We see the risks as two-sided. Moving too slowly can needlessly undermine economic activity in the labor market, or move too quickly and needlessly undermine our progress on inflation.

He also signaled that the Fed now expects to reduce rates more slowly next year than it previously envisioned.

Trump FL would-be assassin » The state of Florida is charging Ryan Routh with felony attempted murder. He’s the man the FBI said hid in the bushes at Donald Trump’s south Florida golf resort in a failed attempt to assassinate him.

But the new charge is not directly tied to that alleged plot. Rather, it’s related to a car crash that authorities say was caused by Routh’s attempt to flee from law enforcement.

Florida  Attorney General Ashley Moody says the feds tried to impede the state’s ability to bring charges over the alleged assassination attempt itself.

MOODY:  We immediately were confronted with a lack of willingness to investigate. to allow us access to the crime scene.

The state even sued the Justice Department for not cooperating.

SCOTUS will take up TikTok case » The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments next month over the constitutionality of a new law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it.

The justices said Wednesday they will hear arguments Jan. 10th

The law, enacted in April, set a Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold or else face a ban in the United States. That was in response to security concerns related to the app.

Disney/Pixar cuts trans messaging from show » Something will be missing from a new animated Pixar series on Disney Plus, and many parents will be glad to hear it.

SOUND (Win or Lose clip):

The new series is called Win or Lose, which follows a co-ed middle school softball team and the off-the-field lives of its characters.

And Disney has removed a planned transgender storyline from the series.

In a statement, the company said it made the decision because—quote—“many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”

Disney and Pixar reportedly also intentionally steered away from a lesbian story arc in the summer release of Inside Out 2, which went on to become a record-setting blockbuster. That came after a string of Disney movies with LGBT messaging bombed at the box office.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: The aftermath of a deadly shooting at a Christian school in Wisconsin.

Plus, unique nativity scenes from around the world.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday the 19th of December.

We’re so glad you’ve joined us for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

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

First up: grieving in Madison, Wisconsin.

On Monday, a fifteen year-old female student shot and killed two classmates and a teacher at Abundant Life Christian School. Police have offered few details so far.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Last night City Church hosted a prayer service for the community as parents and students come to terms with the tragic shooting. WORLD’s Paul Butler has our story.

MUSIC: SYNTH PAD MUSIC FROM BEGINNING OF VIDEO STREAM

PAUL BUTLER: Madison’s City Church is just a stone’s throw away from the scene of Monday’s shooting at Abundant Life Christian School. A large parking lot connects the partner ministries. While the community awaits answers, the church family finds solace together.

WORSHIP LEADER: You know I have a personal relationship with Jesus but God never called us to walk out our faith alone, and so we are tonight. We need each other.

On Tuesday evening the church streamed its regular prayer service as hundreds of people gathered for a time of worship and prayer inside.

Lead pastor Tom Flaherty:

TOM FLAHERTY: Father as we are gathered together tonight to mourn loss…(phew) would you fill this house with your presence? With that peace that surpasses all understanding. Knit each one to your heart and then knit us to each other as well.

Abundant Life Christian School has about 300 students. Many of them were in attendance with their families. Pastor Flaherty began his comments by thanking first responders:

TOM FLAHERTY: They were absolutely all over this place, making kids feel safe, bringing them out. Going into harm's way. Just amazing, the kindness and steadiness. Amazing.

Pastor Flaherty’s warmest words were for the Church across Madison.

FLAHERTY: And we are so grateful for all of the help that’s been extended. Churches and pastors, and everybody who said they’d do whatever. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Flaherty then opened the word of God to the Psalms:

FLAHERTY: So it turns out that no less than a third of the Psalms are psalms of lament. About the human situation in a world of grief, confusion and loss. And the questions there are, “God, where are You? God? Help me through this…”

Flaherty read words of lament for about 10 minutes. Then everyone sat in silence…pouring out their hearts to God privately.

For the next hour, the Psalms and other scriptures continued to provide the words as pastors and teachers led in prayer. Rob Warren is pastor of DOXA church.

WARREN: And Lord, I know that you are faithful over everything, and that you're always good, even in this dark time…And Father, I pray that Your glory would burst forth in this darkness, God, that You would give us all a fresh revelation of who you are and your character and your goodness and your glory and your strength and God that our city would see you for who you are, that your glory would shine forward…

Middle school teacher Lisa Haney.

LISA HANEY: God, we just come before you, and while in the depths of our spirit, we know that you are good, our hearts are so confused and our hearts waffle between being angry and being afraid and being filled with memories and trauma and God, we just don't know how to manage all of that, so we're just coming to you and acknowledging that we need you just like we sang. God, I don't know how to still and quiet my own soul because it's going crazy right now on the inside of me. And Lord, for those of us that need you to just help us, take a deep breath and fall on your grace and trust in You, God, we're just going to look to you for that. Lord, would You cover each one of us by that grace tonight, in Jesus name.

One man in attendance was Jim Smith. He’s been an active parent at Abundant Life since first enrolling his now 11th-grade daughter as an elementary schooler. He spoke with WORLD on Monday after spending six hours at the reunification center…

JIM SMITH: So I saw a lot of people that were grieving deeply, but there were people coming alongside. Nobody was leaving anybody alone. People were banding around…people were praying together.

Closer to home, Smith is prayerfully helping his daughter come to terms with the shooting…and why a good God allowed it.

JIM SMITH: We trust that there is a caring, personal Lord in heaven that wants to reach out to us and draw us close, especially when tragedy happens. How do we band together as a community, and how do we not live in fear, and how do we address when evil comes knocking at your door? 

Back at the Tuesday evening prayer service, Abundant Life athletic director Mike Theis ended the evening with a handful of scripture readings…just allowing God’s word to comfort the suffering.

MIKE THEIS: Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help and trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give away and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whom streams make glad, the City of God, the holy place where the most high dwells. God is within her. She will not fall. God will help her. At break of day, nations are an uproar. Kingdoms fall. He lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

MARY REICHARD, HOST:Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Parental rights and letting kids be kids.

A woman in North Georgia called police back in October after seeing a 10-year-old boy walking alone. Later that day, sheriff’s deputies went to his home and arrested his mother.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: The bodycam video went viral and left many people wondering the same thing the mother wanted to know: since when is it illegal for a kid to go on a walk?

WORLD’s Lindsay Mast talked to the mother about the arrest and its implications for parental rights.

LINDSAY MAST: Brittany Patterson and her husband and kids live a busy life in the mountains near Mineral Bluff, Georgia.

PATTERSON: The kids are active. We're involved in a lot of, you know, sports activities, community events, church, all kinds of stuff.”

Patterson’s a realtor. She homeschools two of her children; the other two go to public school. The children’s grandfather lives in the house, too. On a warm fall day this past October, they were living life as usual. Patterson left home to take her 16-year-old to a doctor’s appointment. She left her son Soren, who was almost 11 at the time, at the house.

PATTERSON: I knew I'd be back in an hour and a half or so I knew Soren was either in the house or on the property so I just … the way we live our normal daily lives, that was not even a second thought in my mind

But at the doctor’s office, she got a call from a sheriff’s deputy. Patterson didn’t know it, but Soren had gone for a walk toward a dollar store less than a mile from their home. Part of the route is on a two-line highway with no sidewalk. A woman had called law enforcement when she had seen him walking alone. They found Soren, and called Brittany.

PATTERSON: She asked me if he knew he was there, and I said no, I obviously hadn't been looking for him. I didn't, you know, think he was missing.

The deputy took Soren home and left him. Patterson got home a few minutes later.

That evening, two deputies knocked on her door. Audio here from the bodycam worn by one of them:

[BODYCAM SOUND]

Female Deputy: is there somebody up here with the kids besides your grandpa?

Brittany: No, okay, huh? No, there's nobody here, but Pop.

Female Deputy: okay, turn around for me.

Brittany: Why

Female Deputy: Cause you’re under arrest

Brittany: for what

Female Deputy: for the incident we talked about earlier today.

Brittany: What am I under arrest for?

Female Deputy: For reckless endangerment,

Brittany: And how was I recklessly endangering?

Male Cop: Turn around. We’re not talking about it.

Brittany: Soren, call Marmee and tell them they're taking you to jail because you

decided to walk down the street.

Female Deputy: That's not his fault. Yeah, you're the mother. That's your responsibility.

Brittany: I need you to not talk to me, please. Okay, give her a call. Okay. Last time I checked it wasn't illegal for a kid to walk to the store.

Female Deputy: It is when they're 10 years old.

Brittany: It is?

Female Deputy: Yes.

Brittany: Okay, I'd like to see that on the books.

Female Deputy: Okay, well, you'll see it on your warrant. I need somebody here to stay with the kids.

But the charge on the arrest warrant isn’t Reckless Endangerment like the deputy said. It’s Reckless Conduct. It alleges that Brittany Patterson endangered the bodily safety of her son. It’s a law the Georgia Supreme Court in 1997 said was unconstitutional as applied to a similar situation.

Further, Georgia has no law about when children can be left alone. Guidance from the state’s Division of Family and Children Services suggests children eight through 11 can stay home for up to two hours unsupervised.

BODY CAM FOOTAGE: Can I tell my other two kids goodbye so they don't freak out?

The arrest video spread quickly, and left many–including Patterson– wondering about its implications on parental rights.

PATTERSON: But especially as parents, you know...with your property and with your kids. Those are your two sacred things, right? That you should be able to have, you know, pretty much ultimate control over. And so for them to be able to come to my home on my property, arrest me in front of my children and not even be able to tell me really why I'm being arrested. That's too much.

Patterson says the DA’s office offered to drop charges if she signed what they called a safety plan. It would require another adult to be home when she’s not… and the use of a GPS tracking device to know where Soren is. She says she refused to sign it in part, because knowing a child’s location doesn’t prevent bad things from happening. It also doesn’t prevent a child from deciding to walk to the store. And:

PATTERSON: My kids were not unsafe to begin with. Nothing in that plan was going to make them more safe. And even if it was, I might still not have signed it, because I don't need the government telling me how to keep my kids safe.

One organization helping states pass reasonable childhood independence laws is Let Grow. So far, it's helped eight states protect parental rights in this way. Lenore Skenazy is Let Grow president:

LENORE SKENAZY: You can always come up with a terrible worst case scenario, but we can't judge parents for allowing their kids to have a regular day in the regular world that is not filled with these worst case scenarios.

She says cases like Brittany Patterson’s are rare, but unnerving. The laws she promotes serve to help parents feel more comfortable letting their kids stretch their wings when they decide it's appropriate.

SKENAZY: It really just reassures parents that it is up to them to decide when their kid is ready for some independence, some unsupervised time, not up to some government caseworker or cop with a pair of handcuffs because they don't know you, they don't know your kid.

The Fannin County DA’s office didn’t return our call asking for comment on the case. Patterson’s lawyer says they have up to two years to decide whether to press charges. In the meantime, Patterson encourages parents to know what their rights are under the law.

PATTERSON: It's not right for law enforcement to be able to upend people's lives for really no reason at all. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lindsay Mast.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: The U-K’s spy agency is known as the GCHQ, the Government Communications Headquarters. It’s not just a bunch of cool nerds over there. They like to have some fun!

For 9 years running, GCHQ’s put out a Christmas greeting card with tough puzzles to solve, aimed at kids 11-18. The ulterior motive is to pique interest in STEM careers. (science, technology, engineering and math.)

Listen to YouTuber Mr. Pashler deciphering this year’s puzzle:

PASHLER: You’ll notice that the dots all around the map, uh, map onto Morse Code. If I decode the Morse Code, it says…

(interrupt him) Uh-uh! Oh no no…you’ll have to decode that for yourself! You can download the challenge and solve it for yourself at GCHQ.gov.UK.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: As always, should you or any of your IM force be caught, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds…

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, December 19th.

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

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: The Nativity! Where I live here in the Midwest this time of year, you can count on seeing images of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus lying in a manger, with farm animals all around.

BROWN: Same here in the South where I live, Mary. But an exhibit I visited recently invites us to consider what happened that morning in Judea, through a different lens.

AUDIO: Here’s the baby Jesus!

It’s the most important discovery of the day. Drop-off day, when dozens of artists, designers and collectors unpack…

AUDIO: Ok…Allison is going to get some wooden risers for you…

Uncover…

AUDIO: This is it…we found the garland…

…and unveil their most precious Christmas keepsakes.

AUDIO: Where’s Joseph? Oh, here’s Joseph

Their nativity scenes.

SWAIN BYRD: My story is, my mother started every grandchild with baby Jesus. So everyone receives the baby Jesus the year they’re born. She’s 84 now and she hopes one day they’ll go in each other’s homes and say, that’s what Mat Mat gave you because I have it, too.

Volunteers like Swain Byrd are helping to transform this 20,000 square foot basketball court at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church into an elegant exhibit hall. About 20 round tables are draped with white table cloths and decorated with fresh greens. Nativity scenes, both homespun and store-bought will be the centerpieces.

AUDIO: [How are you doing…]

Rebecca Dyson is the pastor’s wife at St. Paul’s. She’s also a nativity collector. Nine years ago, she met a woman who fashioned a nativity scene from driftwood. She wondered how many other creative expressions of the birth of Christ were out there?

DYSON: That was when I went to the church, to my husband. And they said we could do it as long as it didn’t cost the church any money.

Dyson and this small army of volunteers began hosting the Come and Behold Him Festival of Nativities. It’s their gift to the community.

DYSON: That’s the thing that makes it great because they’re different nativities every year. It’s not the same set…

Or the same backstory. Margaret Cummins is a first-time exhibitor.

CUMMINS: I was cleaning out my brother’s house after his death and I found this stained glass set that I never knew he had.

Eileen Head grew up in Ireland, but found one of her nativity scenes in France.

HEAD: It almost looks like a cave.

It’s tiny and looks like one half of a boiled egg, with baby Jesus tucked away in the back.

HEAD: And I love that feeling….like everyone is leaning into Him. Feel it. BROWN: What does it feel like to you? HEAD: Satin. BROWN: But it’s made out of…? HEAD: Salt. In the salt flats of the South of France.

And Debbie Quinn has a nativity set from every city and country she’s visited over the last 20 years.

QUINN: The very first one I got was Mexico City. And it’s got Terra Cotta people sitting on an elephant’s back. This one’s from Russia and Joseph has a lantern in his hand and then mama is in the traditional Russian attire, the headdress. Argentina is known for more cattle and so this one is made of leather. This one is from Africa and it’s just made of simple…I don’t know if you can hear that… [Thump] but simple plant material. Every country has their own idea of what the nativity not only should look like but the materials that they can use.

But what happens when we rely solely on our cultural lens to understand the Bible?

I called up someone who’s spent time thinking about that. Mike McGarry was a youth pastor for 20 years. Now he leads a ministry that helps equip leaders serving the next generation. He says interpreting the nativity from a cultural lens is natural but not always accurate.

MCGARRY: And when we hear about the manager and realize the manager was a feeding trough for cattle, we think oh, ok, Jesus was born in an American barn. And that’s just not what Middle Eastern cattle manger scenes look like.

McGarry says Jesus was more likely born in the bottom floor of a house and the trough was probably made of stone. But, he adds, that doesn’t mean we have to throw away our straw manger scenes or images of wise men on the backs of giraffes and elephants, rather than camels.

MCGARRY: If you lose it over putting cats and moose and elephants and giraffes around the nativity, then you’ve kind of lost the plot. Jesus is the plot. Jesus is the big idea. He is the one who we are celebrating.

AUDIO: [Ok, the forms are right over here…]

Back at the church, the last nativity scene is registered. 203 in all, ready to behold.

AUDIO: [O Come All Ye Faithful]

AUDIO: Mama…come look at these ones…

When the exhibit opens the next day, moms and dads like Eric and Audra Naquin remind their little ones to look but not touch.

MYRNA TO MOM: Who did you bring? Who’s here?

NAQUIN: Our sons Alex and Judson. And so I thought it would be cool to come and it’s really amazing, like I like all the different nativities from everywhere around the world. Like it’s just really cool.

Seth Stantons and his teenagers are taking time to learn about the origins of each nativity on display.

STANTONS: What’s fascinating to you about what you see here? All the different ways that they tell the same story. And then all the stories that go with them.

And Sharon Johnson, who grew up in Zimbabwe, says she’s grateful her three girls get to experience the greatest story ever told from the culture she grew up in.

JOHNSON: It’s beautiful just to see the other nations. All the nations, we all look to Jesus.

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

AUDIO: [I want to look over here one last time and then we can go…mama… It’s a mouse family…. I think this is my second favorite nativity…un-huh]

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, December 19th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says the waning Biden administration acts as though a foreign invader is about to take over.

CAL THOMAS: In the past few weeks, the cynicism meter has ticked up several notches because of the decisions made by the outgoing president and others in his administration. First came the pardons of Hunter Biden, and then roughly 1,500 others, including a former Pennsylvania judge who used his private jail system to incarcerate juveniles, pocketing the profits. Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro ripped the pardon, saying Biden got it "absolutely wrong" in what has been called a "kids for cash" scandal.

Among the other questionable pardons and clemencies was one Biden issued for Rita Crundwell, the former comptroller of Dixon, Illinois. Crundwell was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for stealing almost $54 million over two decades from the town of 15,000 people. It is said to have been the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history. Crundwell, now 71, admitted to embezzling from the city, and using the stolen funds to support a lavish lifestyle. According to WTTW: “Officials recovered only $40 million of the stolen city money from court settlements, the work of auditors and proceeds from the liquidation of Crundwell's assets.”

Biden has been engaging in a fire sale of steel barriers ordered during the previous Trump administration to build a wall and secure the southern border. These were materials paid for with taxpayer money. It is part of what appears to be a cynical plan to frustrate the incoming Trump team and make their border-control job more difficult. I don't recall a transition like this in our history.

Then came the drones. The administration claims they are not from U.S. adversaries and pose no threat to public safety. They have also claimed to know nothing about them. If they know nothing, how can they assert they are not from foreign entities and will not harm people? The drones have been seen for weeks over New Jersey and New York and have lately been spotted over California and Nevada. A woman called into a D.C. talk show and said she and her daughter had seen 30 drones flying over Southern Maryland. Ex-Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan has posted pictures of what he says are drones flying over his home in the D.C. suburbs. With no credible information coming from the Biden administration, conspiracy theorists are in full swing, along with accusations of a cover-up.

While Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he will cooperate with the incoming Trump administration in removing migrants in the country illegally, even from his so-called "sanctuary city." Other Democrat mayors and governors are promising to resist deporting even those who have committed crimes. Going further to "Trump-proof" their cities and states. Incoming "border czar" Tom Homan has promised to send teams of agents into resisting cities and states and remove migrants. An October Fox News poll indicates they have the support of an overwhelming majority of Americans.

According to the poll of registered voters, support for deportation has increased dramatically since 2015…anywhere from 15 to 20 percentage points. Even among liberals.

It doesn't appear to matter to the Biden administration, which has five weeks to go. They are behaving as if Vice President Kamala Harris, not Trump, won the election and voters can be ignored.

The second Trump administration will have a lot of cleaning up to do. If their promised policies work, public approval will likely remain high as they and a GOP congressional majority seek to reverse the damage caused by the current administration.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Tomorrow: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet.

And, more family films will dominate theaters this weekend…Collin Garbarino will review a few of the latest.

Plus Word Play with George Grant, and more music of Advent.

All 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.

The Bible says: …make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with as, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 2nd Peter chapter 15-7.

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.