The World and Everything in It — February 10, 2020

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Legal Docket, we take time to appreciate how Chief Justice John Roberts handled the impeachment trial that ended last week.

ROBERTS: I think that it would be inappropriate for me, an unelected official from a different branch of government to assert the power to change that result.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also on the Monday Moneybeat, the jobs boom just keeps booming and Wall Street rebounds and recoups losses due to the initial coronavirus scare.

Plus the WORLD Radio History Book. Today, a profile of a tall second baseman who played for the Kansas City Monarchs…

REICHARD: It’s Monday, February 10th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Democrats stump in New Hampshire ahead of Tuesday primary » White House hopefuls are out in force in New Hampshire ahead of tomorrow’s first-in-the-nation primary. 

BUTTIGIEG: Are you ready to make history on Tuesday and then go win in November?! 

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg heard there campaigning in Manchester. Following last week’s Iowa caucuses, he rode into the Granite State in a dead heat with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Thirteen delegates went to Buttegieg—and 12 to Sanders—who told Fox News, he is a proud socialist. And he charged President Trump with practicing a different brand of socialism. 

SANDERS: The difference between my socialism and Trump’s socialism is I believe the government should help working families, not billionaires. 

Meantime, former Vice President Joe Biden, speaking to ABC’s This Week, warned that if Sanders is the nominee, his embrace of socialism will drag down the entire party. 

BIDEN: It’s a bigger uphill climb, running as a senator or a congressperson or as a governor on a ticket that calls itself a Democratic Socialist ticket. 

Biden has called his fourth place finish in Iowa a “gut punch.” He’s still leading all candidates in national polls. But the latest average of New Hampshire polls show him narrowly trailing Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren for third place.

Man arrested after driving van into voter registration tent » Police in Jacksonville, Florida, have arrested a man after he allegedly drove into a voter registration tent at a shopping center. 

Mark Alfieri was volunteering in the tent. He told WFOX news that the suspect drove up in a minivan.

ALFIERI: Was waving at us, kind of friendly demeanor. We thought he was coming up to talk to us. Instead, he accelerated his his vehicle and plowed right into our tent, our tables. 

Nobody was hurt, but Alfieri said the van came within inches of striking people inside the tent. He said there was no question that the driver intentionally plowed into the tent. 

ALFIERI: After he ran over everything, he backed up, kind of recorded the damage, made some obscene gestures at us. 

Jacksonville Sheriff’s deputies arrested 27-year-old Gregory Timm. He faces multiple charges, including aggravated assault. 

Police have not indicated a motive for the attack. But the Republican party of Duval County set up the tent on Saturday. And on Twitter, the county GOP said six volunteers for President Trump’s campaign “were intentionally targeted while registering voters.”

Families mourn victims of Thailand’s deadliest mass shooting » Many families in Thailand are mourning today after a mass shooting that killed at least 28 people at several locations.  

AUDIO: [Sound of vigil]

Sounds there from a vigil honoring the victims yesterday. 

Officials say a soldier angry about a land dispute went on a 16-hour shooting rampage that started Saturday in northeastern Thailand. The soldier first shot and killed his commanding officer and his mother-in-law at their home. 

He then went to an army facility, where he grabbed several assault weapons and ammunition, and stole an army vehicle. He later opened fire at a Buddhist temple and a shopping mall in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. Outside the mall, he fired into traffic, hitting pedestrians, cars and motorcyclists. 

AUDIO: [Sound from Thailand] 

He then walked into the mall and continued shooting. 

Police and military personnel hunted the gunman overnight inside the mall and fatally shot him Sunday morning. 

The attack was Thailand’s biggest mass shooting carried out by a single gunman.

Coronavirus has now infected more than 38,000 globally » The latest numbers from global health officials show the coronavirus has now infected about 38,000 people globally and killed more than 800. 

The vast majority of those cases are in China. 

Fourteen American citizens are infected with the virus in Japan. They are among 69 people who tested positive aboard a cruise ship quarantined off Yokohama. Officials transferred them to a hospital for treatment. 

But nearly 4,000 passengers are stuck in their cabins—including Milena Basso and her husband, who were on their honeymoon.

BASSO: Apparently, our release date is February 19. That’s like, quote-unquote, when we’ll be released without restriction, and we can board a commercial flight, and once we enter the U.S. we will have to go through quarantine again. 

That quarantine protocol in the United States is one of the measures officials say is helping to protect the public. Homeland Security Acting Deputy Director Ken Cuccinelli said most people traveling into the country, even from China, have not required a quarantine. 

CUCCINELLI: They have been working effectively. We’ve screened over 20,000 people coming straight from China, and of those only 10 have required quarantining or secondary care.

There are currently 12 confirmed cases of the virus in the United States.

Parasite wins Best Picture at Oscars » The biggest stars in Hollywood gathered at the Dolby Theater in LA last night for the 92nd Academy Awards. 

Oscar for Best Picture went to Parasite—making it the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture. Bong Joon Ho also won the Oscar for Directing Parasite. 

The award Best for Best Actor went to Joaquin Phoenix for his performance in Joker. 

JOKER TRAILER: Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there? 

Best Actress went to Renee Zellweger for Judy.

JUDY TRAILER: I want what everybody wants. I think I just have a harder time getting it. 

Brad Pitt won his second Oscar—his first for acting—winning best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. 

And Laura Dern won best Supporting Actress for Marriage Story.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: a patent infringement case involving snaps.

Plus, a homework assignment for Black History Month.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER: It’s Monday morning and another work week for The World and Everything in It. Today is the 10th of February, 2020. Good morning to you, I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD: And good morning to you. I’m Mary Reichard. It’s time for Legal Docket.

Now that the impeachment trial is over and President Trump has been acquitted, it seems the appropriate moment for an appreciation of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts.

He said at the close of that trying and I would say tedious time that his role was “ill-defined” as presiding officer. Even more so, given the many attempts to draw him into a magnified role and embroil him in political maneuvers. 

He wasn’t taking the bait, and as an observer of the judicial branch of government, I really appreciated that.

EICHER: Yes, I noticed he worked hard even to keep his facial expressions neutral for the most part. As in this exchange with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who seemed to be laying the groundwork in case the Senate deadlocked 50-50 on impeaching the president.

SCHUMER: Is the Chief Justice aware that in the impeachment trial of President Johnson, Chief Justice Chase, as presiding officer, cast tie-breaking votes on both March 31st and April 2nd, 1868?

ROBERTS: I am, Mr. Leader. The one concerned a motion to adjourn. The other concerned a motion to close deliberations. I do not regard those isolated episodes, 150 years ago, as sufficient to support a general authority to break ties. If the members of this body, elected by the people and accountable to them, divide equally on a motion, the normal rule is that the motion fails. I think that it would be inappropriate for me, an unelected official from a different branch of government to assert the power to change that result so that the motion would succeed.

REICHARD: So much to appreciate about this! 

Good judging skills on display. 

First, the question leaves out a lot of context. Someone just hearing that history could assume the chief justice in 1868 broke ties for any and all matters. But Roberts is clearly prepared and he doesn’t fall for it. 

He directly states the facts of that time, distinguishes them from the present, and then explains the principle of separation of powers—all in 38 seconds.

EICHER: That was a poignant moment.

Another moment that caught my attention was when Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent up a written question for the Chief Justice to read out loud:

ROBERTS: Question from Senator Warren is for the House Managers. At a time when large majorities of Americans have lost faith in government, does the fact that the Chief Justice is presiding over an impeachment trial, in which Republican Senators have thus far refused to allow witnesses or evidence, contribute to the loss of legitimacy of the Chief Justice, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution?

REICHARD: I confess my mouth fell open when I heard that. He read it without flinching even though many heard it as an undisguised attempt to goad the chief.

EICHER: I went back to watch that moment again, and you mentioned the 38 second summary, I counted a full five seconds where he lifted his head and just stared.

REICHARD: Here’s what struck me about all this: here we had the three branches of our federal government represented in one room. The legislative branch, a political branch, at times seeking to politicize the one branch, the judiciary, that’s designed to be insulated from politics. Then you had the executive branch asserting its privileges and powers, and the legislative, despite the faults I pointed out, working as designed. 

It struck me anew how brilliant the founders were in structuring our government with separation of powers as the central feature.

And, again, I so appreciated the chief justice as a model of separation of powers. He stayed cool. As he put it at the end of proceedings last week, he “attempted to carry out ill-defined responsibilities.”

EICHER: All right, well, let’s move on to the better-defined responsibilities of the chief: oral arguments in two of the high court’s cases.

REICHARD: Right, our first case involves Fossil, Inc, a company that makes accessories: things like watches, jewelry, and handbags.

Fossil, Inc has been in litigation with another company called Romag. It makes all sorts of fasteners: things like magnetic snaps, clasps, and closures you see in lots of purses.

Romag says Fossil used counterfeit snaps that look like Romag snaps, but aren’t. Like any responsible company, Romag had patent protection for its products. So Romag sued for patent infringement and won.

EICHER: A jury awarded money damages to Romag in two parts. Fossil doesn’t contest one part, but another part it does contest. And it’s for a lot of money: more than $6.5 million. The size of the award is calculated to deter Fossil from ever doing that again.

And here’s the hitch. The jury found Fossil acted with reckless disregard in its counterfeiting operation. But to get that big damage award in the court jurisdiction where this case arose, that’s not good enough. The jury had to find that Fossil acted willfully, and that’s a higher bar than reckless disregard.

So, the judge tossed out that big dollar award, and Romag appealed.

REICHARD: You can hear which way the justices leaned in this comment from Justice Brett Kavanaugh to Fossil’s lawyer, Neal Katyal:

KAVANAUGH: What would be the policy objective achieved by excluding reckless infringement? 

KATYAL: So we do think they are there, but we think Congress used this phrase and your job is to interpret the phrase.

KAVANAUGH: I agree.

KATYAL: But the policy objectives I think are incredibly strong.

Justice Kavanaugh wanted a rationale for such a policy to help him interpret the phrase, but no convincing rationale came.

And Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who seems to have a respiratory illness here, pointed out something else to Katyal.

SOTOMAYOR: …the term “willfulness” over the centuries has been differently defined by different people. Some people have included recklessness. 
Others haven’t. …Given the uncertainty of what willfulness means, the fact that there were exceptions to the common law rule…how do we write an opinion that says you need willfulness—willfulness being just conscious avoidance, not recklessness, not callous disregard, not this, not that?

An important side note here is that the bulk of Fossil’s manufacturing happens in China. Romag’s brief points out the huge problem of Chinese counterfeiting of American goods. 

So Romag’s lawyer Lisa Blatt argued that a judgment against her client will set a bad precedent for many American businesses. If Romag and others have to prove willful infringement instead of just the fact of infringement, the costs could be prohibitive. It’s expensive to monitor this sort of cheating and to build up a case that it is willful and not some easier-to-prove standard, like negligent or reckless.

Justice Elena Kagan looked for some middle path:

KAGAN: Do you think it’s open to us, Ms. Blatt, to pick a position some place between you and Mr. Katyal? In other words, Mr. Katyal says, never under any circumstances can you get profits without willfulness and you say, well, willfulness is just one factor among the 
things that you think about. 


Now, this gets a little bit into the weeds of patent law, but one wrinkle is that Fossil and Romag aren’t direct competitors. One makes purses, the other makes a component of purses. 

This case would be easier if they were direct competitors, because the law is clear and the circuits aren’t split on the issue. 

The justices seemed to favor Romag in their questions. My guess is Fossil, Inc will have to pay up and more closely monitor its own operations.

The last case today does involve direct competitors. 

One is Lucky Brand Dungarees, Inc., maker of denim jeans and other wearables.

The other side is Marcel Fashions Group, Inc. It also makes apparel and holds a registered trademark on the slogan, “Get Lucky.”

And that’s the crux of a 20-year dispute with three separate lawsuits. Lucky Brand admitted to infringing Marcel’s trademark along the way, using “Get Lucky” in its advertisements. Eventually the two parties settled, Lucky Brand paid Marcel some damages, and promised to stop using  the “Get Lucky” slogan. Marcel agreed to release other claims to end the dispute.

The problem is that settlement didn’t anticipate problems to come. So the legal question now is over the scope of the claims Marcel released. Lucky Brand argues those claims are over and done with and Marcel says they aren’t.

This is a highly technical case that will govern legal procedure. What the parties are arguing over is the scope of res judicata, the Latin term for “a matter already judged.” You also hear the concept referred to as preclusion, meaning that a party is precluded from pursuing an issue or claim again. And the question will get to whether res judicata includes not just claims but defenses.

But let’s close with a peek into Justice Stephen Breyer’s thought process in sorting out what this case is about. He mentions his civil procedure professor at Harvard Law School, the late Albert Sacks.

BREYER: I don’t understand what our—we’re supposed to decide. I thought that we took this case because, assuming that the law is what it seems to have always been, that, where A sues B, and the suit’s over. Then A sues B again for identical conduct which took place after the suit was over. I thought in 1961, in Al Sacks’ procedure class—and things may have changed—(Laughter)—that I learned that the second suit is a new suit and therefore people can raise claims.

GINSBURG: There’s no issue preclusion.

BREYER: Is that right? What? I mean, I thought Justice Ginsburg said exactly that. And she said that and it took her about a minute and it took Al Sacks, I think, about an hour, because—(Laughter). 
But—but there we are. 
And you started by saying that, so I thought, well, I agree with that. But I thought the case was about the Second Circuit trying to have a new rule.

This made me smile, because first-year civil procedure is, shall I say, memorable, and it seems that no lawyer forgets who taught it in law school! Justice Breyer didn’t forget, either, and that was 59 years ago.

While I’m appreciating the justices today, I’ll say that one thing I appreciate about Justice Breyer is his frankness and willingness to clarify what is confusing to him to achieve clarity in the end. And that’s what the justices are tasked with in both of these cases: resolve the disagreements about the law among the various judicial circuits. 

The lesson in this case for the rest of us is to be meticulous when writing up releases for future claims.

And that’s this week’s Legal Docket!

MARY REICHARD: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: The Monday Moneybeat.

NICK EICHER: The January jobs report looked more like the big jobs boom of 2018: American employers added 225,000 new jobs last month, and that’s actually better than the 2018 average of 223,000 per month. It’s a 29 percent improvement over last year. And so now for the past four months, we’ve been averaging jobs growth in excess of 200,000.

The headline unemployment rate actually ticked up one tenth to 3.6 percent. But that’s one of those statistical anomalies in economics where a rise in the unemployment rate can be a good thing. The reason for that is that about half a million Americans, who’d not been counted previously, re-entered the job market. Many of them found work and some haven’t yet, but because the overall labor force went up, so, too, did the unemployment rate. 

All that to say, the employment-to-population ratio is now greater than 61 percent for the first time in 11 years. Average hourly pay is up year-on-year 3.1 percent. And a leading indicator on the future health of the job market, new applications for unemployment benefits, achieved the lowest level in 50 years.

REICHARD: On Wall Street, all three of the major stock indexes posted new all-time record highs, and finished the week between 3 and 4 percent higher than the previous week’s close. 

It was the best week for the markets in eight months. 

Last week’s rally put stocks back where they were before the coronavirus outbreak prompted several sessions of panic selling.

But the uncertainty is far from over: In a sign that the market remains uncomfortable, many investors drove stocks down with a big selloff on Friday in order to lock in gains from Thursday’s record-high market, just in case of bad news over the weekend.

EICHER: Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell testifies to Congress tomorrow and Wednesday. He’ll give his legally required, semi-annual report on monetary policy. And he’s expected to explain the central bank’s view that the downside risks to the economy have lessened, because trade conflicts are better resolved and decreasing global growth has for the most part bottomed out.

The one caveat will be the big unknown in China, and that is the scope and duration of the coronavirus outbreak and, specifically, its economic impact.

REICHARD: The Labor Department last week also reported that worker productivity increased overall 1.7 percent in 2019. That represents a 30 percent jump over the previous year, and it’s the healthiest gain in nine years. In 2017 and ’18, the number was 1.3 percent.

Between the years 2000 and 2007, productivity was twice that, almost 3 percent a year. That was around the time the digital revolution had taken hold and the internet had come into common use in the workplace.

EICHER: Another good sign for the recovering housing market: Mortgage interest has hit its lowest level in three years. The benchmark 30-year-fixed loan fell to 3.45 percent, down almost a full percentage point from a year ago. At the median home price, the difference in mortgage interest makes home buying more affordable by more than $1,300 a year.

And that is today’s Monday Moneybeat.

NICK EICHER: A tornado recently struck the town of Ingham, near the coast of north-eastern Australia. In fact, it’s still there! 

Now this is not the kind of tornado that topples trees and lasts about 10 minutes, but Ingham residents are still calling it a natural disaster. 

It is a tornado of bats—you know, the flying mammals.

Someone posted a video to social media showing swarms of thousands of fruit bats.

AUDIO: Welcome to Ingham, bat city. Look at these bats.

Ramon Jayo is a local politician. He told the BBC the situation is near a crisis point.

JAYO: Our community is fed up with it. The stench is just horrific. When you’re under the bats, you have little spiders and mites and, you know, people should not have to put up with that.

And Jayo said the local government is taking action. They plan to use non-lethal tactics like loud sounds and water hoses to drive the bats away before the entire town is driven batty!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER: Today is Monday, February 10th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It:  the WORLD Radio History Book.

One hundred years ago this week, the beginning of the Negro National Baseball League. In honor of that anniversary, and Black History Month, Paul Butler brings us this profile of one of the league’s gentle giants.

PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: Before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the 1940s, major league baseball was segregated. Now black baseball teams had been around since the 1880’s, but the most successful played primarily in exhibition games—known as “barnstormers.” Audiences treated them more as an oddity than a professional sports team. Over the years, many players and owners tried to organize black leagues, but they rarely lasted more than a season or two. 

All that changed on February 13th, 1920, when Rube Foster started the Negro National League. Over the next 11 years, it grew from eight teams to more than 20. While it didn’t survive the Great Depression, it opened the doors for other successful African-American leagues, including the longest lasting: the Negro American League. It operated from 1937 to 1960. 

One of the league’s greatest promoters was a tall first-baseman named John “Buck” O’Neil. Twenty years ago during presentation at a Pikes Peak Library District event, he remembered how as a boy, the Negro League changed the way African Americans looked at baseball. 

JOHN BUCK O’NEIL: We would always get the Tampa Tribune—great sports section. The kids would come to my house before we’d go out to practice. I’d spread it out in the backyard on the grass and, and I would read about what happened in the major leagues.

O’Neil described how the neighborhood kids would pretend to be outfielder Babe Ruth, or catcher Connie Mack, or second baseman Miller Huggins. 

O’NEIL: When we’d go out to practice, we would emulate those ballplayers. 

John O’Neil lived in Sarasota, Florida. Many Major League baseball teams hosted Spring Training nearby. He watched some of baseball’s greatest stars in person. 

O’NEIL: My uncle came to town, my uncle was a railroad man. He lived in New York City. And he came and I was telling him about the great baseball players that I’ve ever seen, the greatest baseball players in the world. 

And he’d say, how do you know they’re the greatest baseball players in the world? I ‘d say “they’re in the major league!” He said, “Well, I tell you what, I’m coming down here and this fall, I’m gonna take you and your daddy down to West Palm beach. I want you to see some other ball players.  

Buck’s uncle kept his word, and later that season, he took his nephew to West Palm Beach for a Negro League game. 

O’NEIL: I tell you what, Major League baseball, you’d go to the ballgame. You might go get some peanuts or popcorn or something until Ruth come up or Jimmy Fox or one of those big hitters come up. 

But down there when I saw this ball club, Rube Foster had eight guys on his ball club and C.I Taylor had eight on his ball club could steal a hundred bases. Could hit you 20, 30 home runs. Hmm, hmm. Could hit you 350 or 400 yeah, and actually you couldn’t go out to get nothing. You just had to stay there because they might show you something you’d never seen before. You’d walk the guy, he’d steal second, steal third, steal home, yet you just couldn’t go. You’d see some catches you’d never seen in your life. 

When Buck O’Neil returned home, his father subscribed to the Pittsburgh Courier, and Chicago Defender newspapers—so that Buck could follow the Negro League games. 

O’NEIL: And now the kids would come to my house, and I’d spread these papers out and now maybe I would be Rube Foster. Another would be C.I. Taylor. Another kid would be Boojum Wilson. Another kid would be Satchel Paige or another kid would be Cool Papa Bell. You understand what I mean? It gave me hope that I’d never had before because these men were making their living playing baseball. Here it was. Now I can do it. Then I really started. I really put my heart into it then.

Not many years later, Buck O’Neal joined the American Negro League as a first-baseman for the Kansas City Monarchs. Not a superstar, but a consistent player. He left baseball in 1944 to join the Navy during World War II. After the war, he returned to the Monarchs—becoming the team’s manager in 1948, and still played off and on till 1955. 

O’Neil left the Negro League to become a scout for the Chicago Cubs. Seven years later he joined the coaching staff, becoming the first African-American coach in the major leagues.

John O’Neil died at age 94 in 2006. A couple months later, President George W. Bush posthumously awarded O’Neil the Presidential Award of Freedom:

BUSH: He was a driving force behind the Negro League’s Baseball  Museum. He was proud to be its chairman. But he once said there never should have been a Negro League. Buck O’Neil lived long enough to see the game of baseball in America change for the better. He’s one of the people we can thank for that. Buck O’Neil was a legend. And he was a beautiful human being. And we honor the memory of Buck O’Neil. (APPLAUSE)

That’s this week’s WORLD Radio History Book, I’m Paul Butler.

MARY REICHARD: Today is Monday, February 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. As we’ve noted, this is Black History Month, and WORLD commentator Trillia Newbell wants you to read up for yourself on why that’s important.

TRILLIA NEWBELL, COMMENTATOR: Over the past few months I’ve been asked by various organizations to write about Black History Month. I’ve said no to each one. I’m an African American who is asked to write and speak often about topics related to race and ethnicity. I wrote a book about the race-transcending gospel. But I found myself saying no this year.

Was it race-fatigue? Am I weary of speaking and writing about race and ethnicity? Am I afraid I’ll be pigeonholed into focusing only on this topic?

No, I don’t believe that’s it. 

For example, this month my family will be cooking through the book Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries of African American Cooking and discussing various aspects of black history. Each week I briefly share about what we discussed on social media and my website. My family is consistently engaged in these conversations. 

So, my hesitation is definitely not about race-fatigue or fear of people pigeon-holing me. I love talking about race and the Bible and what I continue to learn through study. It’s a thrill to imagine the next life when every tribe, tongue, and nation will be gathered together around the throne of grace. Together. United. 

As I dissected my heart, I realized the source of my hesitation: I simply don’t want to make it too easy for people. In other words, I want to inspire and encourage others to do their own homework—learning both American history and what God’s Word says about race and ethnicity. 

I’ve spent a majority of my ministry giving away this information. And it’s a joy to do so. But now I want to encourage those interested in hearing more to pull up a chair, a computer, or a library card. Read books, find resources, and develop a muscle for engaging the topic. 

This month is a great time to learn about the many achievements of African Americans in this country. Maybe you’ve wondered why we ever needed a Black History Month. Well, I’m not going to give the answer. Let’s research and discover it together—apart. 

Maybe there is an aspect of our shared history that you’ve never considered. For example, did you know there was a slave revolt in Louisiana? There’s a world of information at our fingertips.

But here’s what I will say: Gaining knowledge about our shared history increases our understanding and helps us love our neighbor. As we understand our past, we can better understand our present and look toward the future with greater awareness. We cannot rejoice with those who rejoice, or weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15), if we do not know their stories. Learning about them helps us guard against self-centeredness. 

Ultimately, our aim as followers of Jesus is to love God and love our neighbor. Black History Month is a great means to that end. Our hope is for the gospel to move in the hearts of those who do not know Him and for our light to shine in the darkness. 

For WORLD Radio, I’m Trillia Newbell.

NICK EICHER: Tomorrow: President Trump has enjoyed strong support from American farmers. But a recent decision from the administration on ethanol may put a strain on it. We’ll explain why.

And, we’ll tell you the story of a man who underwent gender reassignment surgery and came to regret it. He now helps others with a similar story. 

That and more tomorrow. 

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard.

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

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

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

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.