The World and Everything in It: February 2, 2023

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Should pregnant mothers face penalties for using abortion pills where abortion is illegal?

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also what’s at stake with the debt ceiling debate.

Plus bringing harps into hospitals.

And commentator Cal Thomas on police brutality and politics.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, February 2nd. 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: Time for the news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Border hearing » On Capitol Hill, members of the House Judiciary Committee tackled the border crisis on Wednesday.

Lawmakers heard from Brandon Dunn, whose teenage son died of fentanyl poisoning.

DUNN: Illicit fentanyl is primary manufactured in Mexico by the drug cartels and smuggled through our southern border.

He has since founded a nonprofit group to bring awareness to the issue.

Arizona Republican Congressman Andy Biggs said the border has spiraled out of control.

BIGGS: We don’t control our southern border. It is controlled by the criminal drug cartels of Mexico.

Biggs is unveiling articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayokas.

But the top Democrat on the panel, Jarrold Nadler, fired back.

NADLER: Sadly, at every turn, this extreme Republican majority fails to offer genuine solutions and resorts to political theater.

The Border Patrol has reported record numbers of migrant encounters at the southern border, including more than a quarter of million in December alone.

McCarthy » Meantime, at the White House, Speaker Kevin McCarthy emerged from an Oval Office meeting with President Biden.

The two leaders met to talk over their differences about raising the debt ceiling.

McCarthy called it a positive first step.

McCARTHY: I shared my perspective with him. He shared his. And we can. We agreed to continue the conversation. We want to make sure we do this in a responsible, reasonable way. And we'll be talking again.

Republicans note that Uncle Sam set to possibly add another trillion dollars or more this year to the national debt. They say Congress must curb its overspending before agreeing to borrow even more.

Democrats say the GOP is threatening the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

The two sides have until sometime this summer to reach a deal and ensure the U.S. does not default on its debt.

Ilhan Omar » House Republicans are also preparing to remove Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

SCALISE: Speaker McCarthy has made it very clear and the whole conference has been very vocal about the concerns to national security both the Intelligence Committee and the foreign affairs committee.

In a procedural vote on Wednesday, Republicans were unified on the matter. Speaker McCarthy plans another vote this morning to formally remove her.

Republicans say she’s not fit to serve on the Foreign Affairs committee due to past remarks criticized from both sides of the aisle as antisemetic.

The speaker says she can serve on other committees.

He has also barred Democratic Congressmen Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee.

FBI search » FBI agents say they found no classified documents during a three-and-a-half-hour search of President Biden’s Delaware vacation home on Wednesday.

Ian Sams is a spokesman for the White House Counsel’s office:

SAMS: The president’s been fully cooperative, and he’s directed his team to be fully cooperative. And that’s because he believes in the independence of the Justice Department. He believes in giving them the space to conduct a thorough review.

Wednesday was the third time investigators have searched for classified material in Biden’s possession.

Nicholas funeral » Mourners gathered at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis Wednesday for the funeral of Tyre Nichols.

Nichols died last month after he was beaten by police during a traffic stop.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke during the ceremony.

HARRIS: This is a family that lost their son and their brother through an act of violence at the hands and the feet of people who had been charged with keeping them safe.

Five Memphis Police officers have been fired and charged with second-degree murder

College Board » The College Board is making changes to a controversial Advanced Placement course for high schoolers. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: After a trial run in 60 schools, the College Board is finalizing a new AP African American History class.

Last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would ban the curriculum from classrooms over concerning content on critical race theory and intersectionality.

The updated curriculum removed some references to black feminists and queer authors.

It also made optional a lesson about the Black Lives Matter movement.

The College Board said curriculum outlines often change during the pilot process.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Fed raises interest rate » The Federal Reserve has bumped up its key interest rate again by a quarter of a percentage point. That’s half the size of its previous half-point hike.

But while the pace of inflation has slowed in recent months, the Fed says it will need to see further decline before it considers halting rate hikes altogether.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: a debate over whether mothers who choose abortion should face penalties.

Plus, playing the harp in the hospital.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday the 2nd of February, 2023.

You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re so glad to have you along today. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. First up on The World and Everything in It: the abortion debate.

The question is whether protections for unborn babies should include penalties for their pregnant mothers who seek abortion.

BROWN: WORLD’s life beat reporter Leah Savas is here to talk us through this issue. Welcome, Leah.

LEAH SAVAS, REPORTER: Thanks for having me on.

BROWN: Leah, I’m interested in learning more about what brought this issue to the forefront in recent weeks, particularly because it has roots in my home state.

SAVAS: It all started with a couple articles quoting Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. According to both articles, Marshall said Alabama’s law protecting babies from abortion explicitly exempts mothers from prosecution if they abort their babies. But then he added that the law doesn’t mean pregnant mothers are exempt from the state’s chemical endangerment law. Under that law, people who knowingly expose children to dangerous drugs can face prosecution. Some people interpreted that to mean that Marshall would now be prosecuting women for chemical abortions under the chemical endangerment law. He later clarified that the chemical endangerment law only applies to pregnant mothers in cases where they take other illegal drugs that harm the child. But other outlets picked up the story, and the news blew up that the Alabama Attorney General was targeting women for chemical abortions.

BROWN: What was the reaction in the mainstream media?

SAVAS: A lot of pro-abortion groups were basically saying “I told you so.” Especially around the election, many pro-abortion politicians claimed in campaign materials that their pro-life opponents just wanted to put women behind bars. You might remember that TV ad from the California congressman, Rep. Eric Swalwell. It depicted a woman being arrested in front of her family at gunpoint for an abortion she had. So when this news out of Alabama broke, pro-abortion groups were saying in TV interviews and op-eds, of course! Sending mothers to jail is the next logical step in banning abortion. We knew it all along.

BROWN: How did pro-life groups respond?

SAVAS: Pretty quickly, pro-life groups like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Students for Life came out with statements clarifying that they do not support prosecuting women for abortions. I contacted the National Right to Life affiliate in Alabama, and a staff member there sent me a link to an open letter they signed last May with more than seventy other pro-life organizations. That letter was all about how those groups see the mother of an aborted child as the second victim of the abortion industry and how they oppose laws that would penalize her.

BROWN: Let’s talk about that letter. What sparked that statement from pro-life groups?

SAVAS: So the twist to this story is that there are groups that want to pass laws that would penalize women for having abortions. They call themselves abolitionists. Since 2016, lawmakers in 14 states have filed abolitionist bills, but not until last May did one finally make it out of the committee stage. That was in Louisiana. Now if you look at the language of the bill, it doesn’t even actually mention mothers. It just alters the state’s existing homicide laws so they’ll apply to the killing of unborn children. The day the full Louisiana House of Representatives was going to take up debate of the bill, the 70-plus pro-life groups issued that statement, and the bill’s sponsor pulled it from debate. It didn’t go any farther from there.

BROWN: Now Louisiana is one of 13 states with protections for unborn babies starting at conception. With laws like that in place, what is the purpose of these abolitionist bills?

SAVAS: The main abolitionist argument is that abortion is murder, and the law should treat it as murder. They want to give equal protections to humans, whether born or unborn, which means punishing anyone involved in their deaths. That’s not currently what pro-life state laws do. Almost all of those 13 state laws banning abortion explicitly say that the mother of the aborted child can’t be prosecuted.

BROWN: You mentioned the abortion pill. That’s certainly been a game-changer for post-Roe America. How do abortion pills play into this question of prosecuting women?

SAVAS: Abolitionists say the spread of the abortion pill makes this question of who can be prosecuted more of a concern now than it’s ever been. In a sense, we’re facing a future where many states have few to no abortion facilities but where any woman can easily access abortion pills online, and that's even in pro-life states. International groups are shipping abortion pills into pro-life states more than ever before. There are also abortion websites that advise women in those states how to set up mail forwarding with addresses in states where abortion is legal. That way, abortion pill distributors will be able to send them the pills without anyone knowing it’s going to a state where it’s illegal to give out those pills.

BROWN: Do you think these discussions about prosecuting women will continue moving forward?

SAVAS: Yes, I think so. Abolitionist bills have already started popping up in states again this year as legislatures continue working on this abortion issue. They’re not likely to become law at this point because they lack support from mainstream pro-life groups. But the push to pass these bills will definitely put abolitionists in the headlines again in the coming months.

BROWN: Leah Savas is WORLD’s reporter on the life beat. Thanks for joining us today, Leah.

SAVAS: Anytime.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: the debt ceiling.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy visited the White House yesterday to try to hash out a debt ceiling deal with President Joe Biden.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: WORLD’s Leo Briceno reports from Washington on what’s really at stake in the national debt debate.

LEO BRICENO, REPORTER: The United States has borrowed $31.4 trillion dollars to finance its deficit spending. Republicans say enough is enough.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy

MCCARTHY: The first question is if the president wanted to continue reckless spending or find a way that we could be responsible, sit down and find common ground where we put ourselves on a path to budget, make a balanced budget

Earlier this month, the government hit the limit of how much money it is legally allowed to borrow. Without the ability to draw more funds, it is a matter of time before the government defaults on its debt. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

YELLEN: We can't default and we will take every measure possible to work with Congress. I believe members of Congress will understand that this is, would impose a self-imposed calamity on the United States and the world economy …

Before long, lawmakers will have to decide whether to increase, suspend, or completely remove the debt limit, or ceiling. Raising the ceiling doesn’t make room for more expenditures. Instead, it allows the U.S. to cover the costs of spending that has already happened.

Here’s Yellen again:

YELLEN: Congress needs to understand that this is about paying bills that have already been incurred by this and past Congresses, and that it’s not about new spending.

For now, the United States is continuing making the country’s payments through what Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calls “extraordinary measures.”

These can keep the country afloat until June or July. But eventually the country will hit an “X-date”—the date of default.

No one knows concretely when that date is, but Yellen has said that defaulting on the United States’ debt would be disastrous for the economy, and would likely send the U.S. into a recession.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and many of the Republicans in the chamber oppose raising the debt ceiling without first seeing some cuts to the federal budget. Just a month ago, McCarthy promised members of his own party he would fight efforts to hike the ceiling. President Biden calls that a nonstarter.

BIDEN: And the very notion that we would default on the safest most respected debt in the world is mind-boggling! I’m not going to get into their reckless threats to take the economy hostage in order to force an agenda that’s only going to limit American workers and weaken us internationally. I won’t let that happen.

As the nation’s debt goes up, so do the required interest payments. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the U-S will pay $400 billion dollars in interest this fiscal year. That’s roughly $3,000 dollars per household. At this pace, the annual interest payment could reach $1 trillion by 2033. Jared Pincin is an associate professor of economics at The King’s College.

PINCIN: If Congress decides to go down that route, then they have to figure out how we’re going to cut spending or raise revenue or both. So if they just say ‘hey no, we’re not going to raise it’ and do nothing else, that is also a problem. Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, they would raise the debt limit by four trillion dollars. If they do nothing else, that means we’re having this exact same discussion three and a half years from now.

House Republicans argue that the only way to address the United State’s climbing debt in the long term is to reduce the cause: expenditures that exceed revenue. Last year, the government spent $1.2 trillion more than it brought in.

PINCIN: So if there’s not an actual discussion of the trajectory of where debt is going, it’s just a repeated question. I don’t want to use the word ‘crisis,’ but a repeated discussion of how we have to handle it. And politicians like to do that because the next election is, you know, years away versus the decision now. But at some point, you can’t keep doing that.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leo Briceno.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: A crowd gathered this morning at Gobbler's Knob for the 137th annual forecast from Punxsutawney Phil.

Last year Phil cast a shadow—forecasting six more weeks of winter. We looked over the climate stats for Pennsylvania and found his 2022 forecast? Mostly true!

But just how accurate is his Groundhog Day forecast over 120 years?

Turns out...not very.

Stormfax Almanac analyzed the data. It found that when Phil sees his shadow, the forecast is right less than 40 percent of the time. When Phil doesn't see his shadow, his forecast is slightly better, but still only about 47 percent.

Myrna, you could flip a quarter and be more accurate than that!

AUDIO: [Myrna flipping a coin]

MYRNA: Heads an early spring, tails six more weeks...

AUDIO: [Myrna announces the result]

REICHARD: Okay then! Either way we know spring will come...no matter what.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 2nd.

Thank you for making WORLD Radio part of your day. Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Next up on The World and Everything in It: Hospital ministry. 

You’re probably thinking about chaplains or a volunteer wheeling around a cart full of magazines. Maybe even a visit from a therapy dog. But this hospital ministry involves a harp.

REICHARD: That’s right. H-a-r-p, harp. But as we’ll learn, it takes a team to make a hospital harp ministry really resonate. WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson brings us this report.

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR WRITER: It’s Thursday morning in a tree-lined Atlanta neighborhood. Kevin and Angi Bemiss pull out of their driveway and head toward Northside Hospital’s main campus.

KEVIN: Have you decided where you're going to play today? (ANGI: I think I'm going to play in the Women's Center. I may even start in the atrium where the people are waiting for the babies that are being born.) KEVIN: That’ll be fun. (ANGI: Yeah.)

Angi is a harpist. Well, she’s more than that. She’s a Certified Therapeutic Harp Practitioner. And the hospital music ministry she has going? Well, she says she couldn’t do it without Kevin.

ANGI: Come pick me up the 960 building. I'll come through, just walk through, so I can stay warm. (KEVIN: All right. Sounds like a good idea.) ANGI: Love you.

It’s a team effort in a lot of ways, and not just the driving and dropping off. After Kevin waves goodbye, he heads home. To pray.

KEVIN: That she will serve the Lord, and the Lord will set up a chance for somebody to enjoy the music and also feel it in their heart.

The Bemisses are retired now, but Kevin used to be an ER nurse right here at Northside. Now it’s Angi who walks these halls, offering a different kind of patient care.

AUDIO: [HARP TRAVELS THROUGH HOSPITAL]

Angi owns several harps, and one stays at the hospital. It’s a lever harp. Five octaves. And she rolls it around on a special cart.

ANGI: Kevin built this cart for me. So he studied how carts work and how the wheels need to work . . .

The cart holds her harp, a small stool, and an iPad full of music scores. The wheels allow Angi to move seamlessly from room to room. They also mean she can get her harp out of the way quickly in an emergency.

She’s noticed something happens when she’s using the cart.

ANGI: Men will start circling the harp cart, and I'll be playing while they're doing that. And I'll look up, and I say, “It is the plumbing aisle at Home Depot.” And they always laugh . . . obviously, this is pipe, plumbing pipe...

Angi has played for Northside’s patients and staff for more than 20 years. At least twice a week, the soothing sound of her harp floats through the ICU, oncology floors, the Women’s Center.

ANGI: So I'll start just by playing some arpeggios to make sure it sounds okay. (PLAYING HARP)

Angi was a longtime church pianist, starting in junior high. But she didn’t learn to play the harp until she was 35. Kevin was instrumental in that. One day he overheard Angi talking to her mother.

KEVIN: And she said, “Well, I'm wanting to do two things. I've always wanted to learn Latin, and I want to learn to play the harp.” I went, “Aha!”

He bought Angi a harp and lessons for their 10th anniversary. She took to it with gusto, but the harp is a tough instrument to learn.

ANGI: I often joke that unbeknownst to me, Latin would have been easier… Kevin called it my weekly lesson in humility.

Today Angi and her harp cart are set up in the atrium of Northside’s Women’s Center. It’s obvious her lessons paid off.

Angi’s proficiency is due in part to experience she’s gained playing in other places. Kevin provides the muscle to get her different harps to churches, gallery openings, weddings, funerals.

KEVIN: . . . need to make sure that the harp does not get damaged in any way. They weigh from 15 pounds up to about 75 pounds, and each one is different. And they have to fit in the vehicle you're driving in… you have to get to wherever you're going at least 30 minutes ahead of time, so the harp can sit and adjust, and then be tuned.

At Northside, Angi often collaborates with the chaplains. Director Amani Legagneur knows and appreciates both of the Bemisses.

AMANI: They together have had, Angie and Kevin, an incredible legacy and life of service in this hospital in particular.

Angi is the only certified therapeutic musician at Northside. Sometimes she talks about that unique role at harp conferences. And guess who she mentions?

ANGI: I call it the double blessing, because what we know as therapeutic musicians is that our listeners are blessed, but also as the musicians, we are blessed. And then in my case, I add a third blessing. And that is that Kevin, as a former nurse, gets the blessing of knowing what this is like and what has happened.

Kevin says it brings him joy to know that Angi is using her gifts. It brings him joy to hear her play.

KEVIN: I've always been a music lover, and music is my way of worshiping. And I always hear the harp and it's goosebumps.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Atlanta, Georgia.

REICHARD: To see photos and read the print story on Angi’s harp ministry, look for the February 11th issue of WORLD Magazine. And we’ll post a link to the story in today’s transcript.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 2nd. 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. Last Friday, authorities in Memphis released video footage of five police officers arresting Tyre Nichols. The police officers can be seen beating and kicking a subdued Nichols, who later died of his injuries.

BROWN: Here’s Commentator Cal Thomas on the inhumanity of these police officers and the political response by some to capitalize on their crime.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: No adjective is sufficient to describe the reaction one gets from watching five Memphis police officers beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols to within an inch of his life. He later died of his injuries in a local hospital.

Inhumane and senseless are as close as it comes. Nichols was accused of “reckless driving,” an insufficient charge to cause such a violent reaction by the five cops. In fact, the 67-minute video shows Nichols posed no threat and tried to calm the officers, who were quickly dismissed from the force and their special Scorpion crime-fighting unit disbanded. In the gut-wrenching video we hear Nichols calling out for his mother. All five officers in the video have been charged with second-degree murder, two counts of official misconduct, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of official oppression, and one count of aggravated assault.

Unfortunately, there are people who use such incidents for political purposes. One example came from CNN commentator Van Jones, who said even though the five officers were black (as was Nichols), the beating could still have been driven by racism. His argument was that even black police officers “internalize” stereotypes about other black people.

Some leftist groups immediately called for protests, which quickly broke out in some major cities. Protesters threw fireworks at a Los Angeles police cruiser and a squad car was smashed in New York. Protesters also turned out in Memphis, Portland, and Seattle.

Several things must be said about this in addition to condemning the cruelty of the beating Nichols sustained. In response to Jones’ suggestion of racism, black people are the majority in Memphis, over 64 percent, according to the latest Census. A majority of the city council are black, as is the police chief. This should quiet claims of racism and the projection of this sin on other police officers who serve with honor, sometimes risking their lives.

A question I have asked on several occasions when demonstrators became rioters: who are these people? Are they all locals? If not, where did they come from? What organization is paying them? Who printed and paid for some of their signs?

During past protests there have been reports of trucks showing up with pre-printed signs. There is a website that offers protesters for virtually any cause in exchange for payment. It’s called “Crowds on Demand.” Reporters should ask the above questions and investigate who is behind some of these demonstrations, who underwrites the costs, and whether any protesters are being paid?

These questions do not diminish the seriousness of what happened in Memphis, or the culpability of the fired police officers to ask these questions. From what the video shows there was no justification for what happened to Tyre Nichols. Neither is there any justification for violent behavior in reaction to it, which changes and improves nothing. The justice system will proceed, and the five men will pay a stiff price if found guilty. Unfortunately, Tyre Nichols has paid the ultimate price. No amount of justice for those now ex-cops will restore his young life.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: John Stonestreet returns for Culture Friday.

Plus, Collin Garbarino reviews comedian Nate Bargatze’s new streaming special.

And, Ask the Editor.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

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 about the transfiguration:
“...After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white... (Mark 9:2-3 ESV)

Go now in grace and peace.

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