The World and Everything in It — February 20, 2020

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Government regulations are creating barriers to international adoption. And now the biggest evangelical adoption agency announces it will stop doing them.

MEGAN BASHAM, HOST: Also a judge throws out the convictions of four border activists who left food and water for migrants in the desert. 

Plus passing on cowboy traditions to the next generation:

SMITH: Being able to rope and handle a horse and handle cattle in their natural environment. 

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, February 20th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

BASHAM: And I’m Megan Basham. Good morning!

REICHARD: Now news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Candidates take aim at Bloomberg, Sanders in Vegas debate » AUDIO: The Democratic presidential debate, live from Las Vegas, Nevada 

Six White House hopefuls once again squared off in last night’s debate, hosted by NBC News. It was easily the feistiest debate so far and the fireworks started early. 

Candidates did not roll out the welcome mat for newcomer—former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Amid his recent surge in national polls, his rivals, like Senator Elizabeth Warren, looked to turn his deep pockets into a liability…

WARREN: Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another. 

Senator Amy Klobuchar did the same. 

KLOBUCHAR: I don’t think you look at Donald Trump and say we need someone richer in the White House. 

But after Senator Bernie Sanders took another shot at his wealth, Bloomberg shot back. 

BLOOMBERG: What a wonderful country we have. The best known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?

Senator Sanders, who now leads an average of national polls, also had a target on his back … as more moderate Democrats warned against his extreme spending proposals. Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg…

BUTTIGIEG: If you add up his policies all together, they come to $50 trillion. He’s only explained $25 trillion worth of revenue, which means that the hole in there is bigger than the size of the entire economy. 

Democrats in Nevada will have their say in the Democratic caucus on Saturday. The candidates will meet again on the debate stage in South Carolina next Tuesday.

DOJ: Barr has no plans to resign » The Department of Justice is pushing back on media reports that Attorney General William Barr is thinking about quitting over President Trump’s tweets. WORLD Radio’s Kristen Flavin has more. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said on her Twitter account Wednesday—quote—“Addressing Beltway rumors: The Attorney General has no plans to resign.”

Media reports claimed Barr told people close to him that he was considering stepping down over Trump’s public interference in Justice Department matters. 

Last week, Barr said the president’s tweets make it—quote—“impossible for me to do my job.” 

President Trump says he will not stop speaking his mind about Justice Department cases. But he is also defending Barr amid calls for him to step down.

This week, some 2,000 former DOJ employees signed a letter calling on Barr to resign over his intervention in the Roger Stone case.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Kristen Flavin. 

COVINGTON: 500 passengers leave virus-stricken cruise ship » About 500 passengers left the cruise ship Diamond Princess on Wednesday at the end of a two-week quarantine aboard the vessel, docked in Japan. 

Japanese soldiers helped escort some passengers—including an elderly man in a wheelchair who wore a mask and held a cane. Some passengers got on buses to be transported to train stations. Others still in their cabins waved farewell from their balconies to those who had already been processed.

Japan’s government has been questioned over its decision to keep people on the ship. Some experts have called it a perfect virus incubator. Despite passengers being confined to their cabins, the COVID-19 coronavirus continued to spread aboard the ship. 

Earlier this week, some 300 Americans evacuated from the ship arrived on U.S. soil. Dr. Anthony Fauci with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told Fox Business…

FAUCI: Well, it was the right call to bring them back, because the situation on the vessel itself—there was a considerable amount of infection there. 

Authorities recently announced 79 more cases, bringing the total on the ship to 621. Results were still pending Wednesday for some other passengers and crew among the original 3,700 on board. 

COVID-19 has sickened more than 75,000 people and more than 2,000 people have died from the virus.

Ghani’s top rival disputes results of Afghan election » Ashraf Ghani won a second term as president of Afghanistan this week. But his closest opponent is refusing to recognize the results, declaring himself winner. WORLD Radio’s Leigh Jones has that story. 

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: The country’s election commission said Ghani won just over 920,000 votes, about 51 percent—while the country’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah received roughly 40 percent. But Abdullah disputes those results. 

The Taliban also rejected Ghani’s win and that could further jeopardize peace talks. The Taliban has been expected to sign onto a U.S. peace plan next month, calling for a reduction in violence followed by a more permanent agreement. 

After the election commission released the official results, Ghani appeared among supporters in Kabul, where he emphasized the importance of peace talks. He said “Its time to make Afghanistan united” and he urged the Taliban to participate in the democratic process.

Election results were repeatedly delayed amid accusations of misconduct, fraud, and technical problems with counting ballots. The final vote tally was originally set to be announced back in November. 

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Leigh Jones. 

COVINGTON: Utah state Senate moves to ease penalties for polygamy » The Utah state Senate has voted unanimously to ease the penalties for polygamy. The bill would treat the practice as a minor infraction—similar to a parking ticket. 

That would limit the penalty to a maximum $750 fine and community service hours. The bill now moves to Utah’s House of Representatives.

Supporters of the bill say it would permit people in plural marriages to report abuse without fear of punishment. Opponents say it would normalize the practice and won’t help underage victims. Current law considers polygamy a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: the drop in international adoption.

Plus, a visit to cowboy country.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD: It’s Thursday, the 20th of February, 2020. You’re listening to The World and Everything in It and we are so glad you are.  Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MEGAN BASHAM: And I’m Megan Basham. First up: international adoption.

Fifteen years ago, Americans adopted nearly 23-thousand children from other countries. By last year, that number had dropped to just over 4,000. Adoption advocates say it’s not because families lost interest. Government regulations—both at home and abroad—are making it much harder to place children from other countries into American homes.

REICHARD: Bethany Christian Services is the largest evangelical adoption agency in the United States. Last month, it announced it would end its international adoption program. WORLD Radio’s Anna Johansen reports now on what led to that decision.

ANNA JOHANSEN, REPORTER: Fifteen years ago, Scott and Leslie Willis knew they wanted to adopt. 

LESLIE WILLIS: I don’t even remember talking about domestic adoptions. I think we just knew our daughter was in China. 

They met their daughter Darcy in 2005. Ten years later, they headed back to China to meet their second daughter, Emma.

WILLIS: Emma was three and a half, almost four years old and she has down syndrome. But Emma came out and she was just loving it. She’s looking at the crowd and waving to everybody and she came right to us and never looked back.

Many adoptive parents have similar experiences. They feel a specific call to welcome a child from another country. But that call is getting harder to follow.

Kristi Gleason works for Bethany Christian Services. She oversees its international programs. 

GLEASON: We’ve seen the decline just like every other adoption agency. Quite significant, um, decrease in numbers in the last probably five, seven, um, nine years. 

Changes in regulations around the world have led to that steep decline. Over the past decade, many countries have tightened their adoption regulations. Others have stopped taking applications from foreign families altogether.

GLEASON: Ethiopia is a great example of this. They, um, closed the door to inter-country adoption about two years ago, two and a half years ago. The government really wanted to be able to say, Hey, these are our children and we’re going to care for them in our country.

Gleason says Bethany’s decision is based on a changing international adoption landscape. But other adoption agencies say there’s another factor at play here: U.S. government fees and red tape.

In 2018, the State Department established a new accrediting entity. It’s called IAAME: The Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity. IAAME’s job is to hold adoption agencies to certain fiscal and ethical standards. And many agencies are struggling to meet its requirements.

NEHRBASS: No matter what size the agency is, there is a difficulty with maintaining accreditation without some sort of adverse action or suspension.

Daniel Nehrbass is president of Nightlight Christian Adoptions. He says at least 35 adoption agencies have canceled or relinquished their licenses since IAAME launched. Eleven others have had their licenses suspended. 

NEHRBASS: There was only 150 to begin with. So about one-third of them in the last two years have either been canceled, suspended, or relinquished.

Nehrbass says his agency’s fees have skyrocketed since IAAME took over. Nightlight used to pay $14,000 in fees every four years. With IAAME, it’s over $300,000.

Robin Sizemore is the executive director of Hopscotch Adoptions. She says regulation is, of course, necessary.

SIZEMORE: Especially if it’s rooted in the protection of the child and the family and frankly protection of the agency as well.

But she says this level of regulation is over the top.

SIZEMORE: The amount of self reporting is tremendous increase. It’s truly a full-time position. There’s continuous self reporting, and adverse actions attached to the timelines of these reports.

Daniel Nehrbass says many agencies are deciding that international adoption just isn’t worth the hassle.

NEHRBASS: And so I think there will continue to be a shrinking number of agencies who are willing to invest the resources and time and people that it takes to be involved in this work.

Though other agencies blame IAAME for reducing international adoptions, Kristi Gleason says it had nothing to do with Bethany’s decision. 

GLEASON: It has not been our experience that we’ve had difficult times or relationships with accrediting entities.

Gleason says Bethany’s decision is a strategic move. Instead of focusing on bringing children to the United States, the agency will focus on finding families for children in their home countries. That’s more cost effective and it means building partnerships with local governments and local churches. Gleason again uses Ethiopia as an example.

GLEASON: How can we help build the capacity of local Ethiopians to care for children. What does it look like to recruit a foster family? How do we train foster families? How do we support foster families?

Daniel Nehrbass says in-country strategies like this one aren’t actually new.

NEHRBASS: The director of our Ugandan orphanage, I asked him about in-country solutions and he said there’s not a family in Uganda who isn’t already caring for multiple family members.

Taking care of extended family members and children is part of Ugandan culture, so Nehrbass says it is a realistic in-country alternative to adoption.

NEHRBASS: But it’s also over taxed. I mean that’s why international adoption emerged in the first place. Certain stresses come on that country that overtax the ability to do what is already in their culture to do.

Nehrbass says there’s room for many different strategies in many different places. Kristi Gleason agrees with that.

GLEASON: There’s children to be served around the world and they’re going to be served in different ways. And I think that’s, that’s okay.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Anna Johansen.

MEGAN BASHAM: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: religious liberty at the border.

A federal court in Arizona recently tossed out convictions against four people who are immigration activists. Their crime? Leaving food and water for migrants crossing the border in the desert.

MARY REICHARD: Pro-immigration groups cheered the ruling. So did religious liberty advocates. They say this decision affirms  First Amendment protections for people of all faiths.

Joining us now to explain why is Steve West. He covers religious liberty for WORLD Digital and recently wrote about this case. Good morning, Steve!

STEVE WEST, GUEST: Good morning, Mary!

REICHARD: Well, start out by giving us a rundown of the case.

WEST: Well, sure. We’re used to hearing about cases that have to do with the rights of Christian groups to meet on high school or college campuses or with the rights of Christian adoption agencies to adhere to their beliefs about biblical marriage. Things like that. But this case is really different. Here, four members of an Arizona humanitarian organization were charged with violating federal law when they entered a wildlife refuge on the Arizona-Mexico border. They went in to leave food and water for migrants who illegally crossed the border to enter the United States.

REICHARD: May be an obvious question, but why did they need to do this?

WEST: This refuge—called Cabeza Prieta —has a long, largely unprotected border with Mexico. Because of its remote nature, it’s easy to cross the border there unapprehended. Just not so easy to make it through. It’s a beautiful desert. I’ve hiked in an area near there. But it’s also hot, waterless, and unforgiving. And many migrants have died on the over 50 mile crossing—32 in 2017 alone. Temperatures can reach 120 degrees and then there’s the rattlesnakes, scorpions, and cactus to navigate. So, food and especially water are essential.

REICHARD: Well, what did these helpers claim as their defense?

WEST: All four took refuge in a 1993 federal law—the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA for short. And they said it was a complete defense to their illegal acts. 

REICHARD: And I take it the judge agreed?

WEST: She did. They were initially convicted by the magistrate judge hearing the case, but then on appeal to the district court they were acquitted. The judge just didn’t buy the government’s assertion that allowing people to leave clean water and food in the refuge increased the risk of death or extreme illness by encouraging illegal crossings. The reason just wasn’t compelling enough to overcome what she deemed their sincere religious convictions. 

REICHARD: Steve, you mentioned RFRA, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Remind us what that law says and does.

WEST: It’s a 1993 law passed by congress to protect religious expression from criminal or civil laws that appear at least on their face as neutral toward faith. The law has protected Christian child-placing agencies and wedding service professionals—think of Jack Phillips and his Masterpiece bake shop. Protected them from SOGI laws—sexual orientation and gender identity non-discrimination laws. Christian employers also used it as a shield from federal requirements to cover contraception and abortion in their health insurance plans. But just as often or even more it’s protected other faiths—like a religious order that worshipped using an illegal, hallucinogenic drug. Or a seikh woman who violated regulations by wearing a ceremonial sword into a federal building.

REICHARD: So explain why this case matters in the broader religious liberty debate?

WEST: Well, this decision shows the breadth and importance of this law in protecting religious freedom. The defendants’ religious views here were what the judge called idiosyncratic. That is, non-traditional. And yet RFRA protects religious liberty for all religious views, even if we disagree with them. Even if, as here, the actions those views lead to might not be ones that everyone would support. The legal conclusion here is one that bolsters religious freedom. That ought to encourage religious freedom in other contexts that are more familiar to us as well.

REICHARD: Steve West is a reporter for WORLD Digital, where he writes the Liberties roundup. You can read more of his reporting at wng.org/liberties. Steve, thanks for joining us today!

WEST: Always a pleasure, Mary. Thank you.

MARY REICHARD: For decades, Pennsylvania’s Allentown Art Museum has displayed a nearly 400-year-old knockoff of a famous Rembrandt masterpiece—an oil-and-oak panel painting called “Portrait of a Young Woman.” 

Allentown Art Museum’s Elaine Mehalakes told WCAU tv…

MEHALAKES: When it was examined in 1970 it was downgraded to being made in Rembrandt’s studio but not by the artist himself.

A few years ago, the museum sent the painting to New York University for cleaning. For many months, cleaners carefully removed layers of overpainting and thick varnish added over the centuries. 

As the original brushwork was revealed, they began to suspect that there’d been a mistake.  

Modern technology—X-ray, infrared—led them to conclude that Rembrandt himself painted the portrait.

MEHALAKES: They were able to see now the original brush strokes and compare those to other paintings that are known to be Rembrandt. 

Rembrandt paintings have fetched tens of millions of dollars. But the museum has no intention to sell it. 

You can see the newly authenticated Rembrandt at Allentown’s art museum starting in June.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD: Today is Thursday, February 20th. You’re listening to The World and Everything in It! Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MEGAN BASHAM: And I’m Megan Basham. Coming next: an icon of the American West—cowboys. 

Their rough and nomadic lifestyle has long been fodder for pop culture. Today, though, there aren’t so many real cowboys and cowgirls. They’ve been drawn off the range by better-paying jobs in urban areas. And fewer family-owned ranches exist these days.

REICHARD: And yet, there are still places where the skills of horsemanship and working the cattle matter. WORLD Radio’s Sarah Schweinsberg spent a day with a cowboy in Arizona who works to pass those traditions onto his children.

[Sound of wind blowing] 

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: Hear that? That is a 30 mile-an-hour gust of wind blowing across southeastern Arizona’s high desert. 

[Sound of wind blowing] 

Come wind, dust, cold, scorching heat, rain… you’ll find Chance Smith on the back of a horse. 

SMITH: I like to handle cattle horseback. 

Smith is a soft-spoken giant… sporting glasses and a thick goatee. 

On this cold, windy morning, hebridles a white mare, a tall buckskin horse, and a red pony. 

To round up some steers, Chance Smith is taking some small but mighty helpers. His oldest two children: 6-year-old Ella and 5-year-old Gideon. 

Standing next to their horses, Ella and Gideon look especially small. But these two are already mastering a necessary skill: horsemanship. 

SCHWEINSBERG: Ella, Who’s your favorite horse? 

ELLA: Cowgirl. 

SCHWEINSBERG: What is she good at?

ELLA: Backing up. Running. Loping. Stopping. 

Of course, Gideon’s horse out performs Ella’s. 

GIDEON: Ella couldn’t get her horse to go down the hill and I could. 

Ella and Gideon are also learning another fact of life on the range: the cowboy/cowgirl get-up isn’t just for show. They each wear a felt cowboy hat… 

SMITH: A felt hat is tougher and more durable. 

A Silk bandana…. 

SMITH: They are comfortable and warm like that. 

Spurs… 

[Sound of spurs clanking]

And thick leather chaps.. 

SMITH: I like them because if you run into a fence or brush or wind or anything it’s just protection.  

[Sound of trailer opening]

After a short drive, Chance Smith unloads the horse trailer and he and his two tots trot off… weaving around mesquite trees and prickly pear cacti.

Together, they herd the cattle along a fenceline for more than a mile… and finally into a new pasture. 

Smith says, as a boy, some of his first memories are also working cattle. 

SMITH: being horseback and taking care of the cows is what I was attracted to and what appealed to me. 

Chance Smith doesn’t remember a time he didn’t want to be a cowboy. After he grew up, he spent years living the traditionally solitary cowboy way. Once he lived in a cabin with no electricity, hours from the nearest town.

SMITH: It’s not hard to function like that. And I enjoyed it, really.

But then Smith met his wife, Iliana… and knew that lifestyle wouldn’t be easy for a family. So he came to work for this much “smaller” ranch… where he still cares for the cattle on 30 square miles of land by himself. But this gig lets him come home for lunch almost everyday. 

[Sound of praying before meal]

Wife and mom Iliana likes this arrangement as well. Even though some days it’s scary to see her children ride off into the unknown, she likes seeing them learn alongside their dad… 

ILIANA: My son, Gideon, when he goes riding, he’s obsessed with the plants. He wants to know what is this? Can the cows eat this? Is it poisonous? And Ella just looks about as natural in a saddle as her father does.

And Smith has the chance to teach his children the traditional cowboy skills he says are being lost to cattle shoots, four-wheelers, and machinery. 

SMITH: Being able to rope and handle a horse and handle cattle in their natural environment. So we get to work like that, and they get to experience working cattle like that. 

Later, Chance puts Ella and Gideon along with his two younger children Sadie and Titus in the pickup truck. They drive around the property to check on wells and water holes. 

At each pasture gate, Ella climbs out to open it. But to get to the gates, she has to wade through poky tumbleweeds taller than she is. It takes her almost five minutes to open each one. But Chance Smith patiently waits. 

SMITH: I like to keep them challenged but not burn out. 

He says this way Ella is developing another cowgirl skill: a can do attitude. 

SMITH: Thanks, Ella. 

ELLA: You’re welcome. 

The next day, Smith saddles the horses for another roundup. His horses don’t just come to him. He has to lasso them.

[Sound of lasso whipping through the air] 

SMITH When you swing it, swing it in a way where when it goes around there you can keep it open and it lands on what you want it to be on.

That’s another skill Smith will teach Ella and Gideon. Accurate lassoing takes years to master. For now, they’re just learning to ride without getting their small coils of rope tangled up. 

The trio race off again chasing pairs of cows and their new calves. But Ella keeps getting too far ahead and turns the cattle the wrong direction. 

[Sound of trotting/wind]

The roundup takes almost two hours. Smith could have done it alone in about 45 minutes. Some days, he decides to just take the time to teach these lessons.

And while these cowboying lessons are important, they aren’t the most important. Chance Smith says he doesn’t pray his children will choose a life on a ranch. He prays they’ll learn to go to work for the Creator of the horses and cattle. That’s a skillset they can put to work anywhere. 

SMITH: Let him reveal what he wants you to be doing and how he wants you to do it and let him lead you and open you to the doors of them skills that are out there to be acquired.

MUSIC: [That’s My Boy Dragging Calves to the Fire]

For WORLD Radio, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg reporting from Portal, Arizona.

MARY REICHARD: Coming up next, an excerpt from Listening In. This week, host Warren Smith visits with pastor and college president Philip Ryken. Over the last 10 years, he’s led Wheaton College through a handful of controversies.

MEGAN BASHAM: In this excerpt of their conversation, Warren asks Ryken how he helps the school stay faithful to its legacy while casting a vision for the future.

PHILIP RYKEN: You know, there aren’t that many schools that were founded in the 19th century which maintain their distinctively Christ-centered mission today. There, there are a handful, but most of the colleges that were started all over the country in the 19th century were denominational schools. They were founded on Christian principles. I mean, if you had to visit Wheaton college and the University of Chicago in the year 1900, you would have said, “yeah, these are very similar schools.” They have a very similar kind of mission.

The trajectory that our two schools have gone in the 20th century is so radically divergent, and that’s just one little example of what we’ve seen in higher education. Generally, I think the more touch points people have with your alumni, with your legacy, it definitely strengthens your ability to attract students. Having said that, you can’t just kind of point to a historical legacy. It’s really about the kind of education that you’re providing today, the kind of spiritual community you have, the academic opportunities. It’s very much about the now, not just the then. 

WARREN SMITH:  What do you want history’s judgment to be of you as the eighth president of Wheaton [College]? 

PHILIP RYKEN: Yeah, so I don’t think so much about that question. I will circle back to it. From day one, when I came to 10th Church and from day one when I came to Wheaton college, I was thinking about what kind of foundation will be laid for my successor. And my commitment at both places was not to leave one day before I was supposed to leave and not to stay one day longer than I was supposed to stay. And I often challenge my cabinet. We want to be making the decisions now that people 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now, will look back and they won’t just say: “I understand why they had to do that. But they will say, I’m so glad they made that decision.” 

When I think about legacy, frankly, what’s much more important to me is my family connections, what God is doing in the lives of my children, and Lord willing, my grandchildren and whether they have seen lived out a consistent, flawed, and yet faithful Christian testimony and witness.

BASHAM: That’s Philip Ryken talking to Warren Smith. To hear their complete conversation, look for Listening In wherever you get your podcasts.

MEGAN BASHAM: Today is Thursday, February 20th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Megan Basham.

MARY REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. Journalists often throw around political labels as shorthand to describe candidates and their positions. Commentator Cal Thomas says those labels should not go unchallenged. 

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: David Ignatius recently began his Washington Post column this way—quote—“For all the thunder on the Bernie Sanders left, the most interesting trend in the Democratic campaign this year may be the re-emergence of the moderate wing of the party, led by charismatic new voices: former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.” End quote. 

Ignatius goes on to name other members of Congress he considers “moderate.”

The media often use labels to describe politicians and their views. Those labels have included “right-wing,” “extreme right-wing” “far-right,” and when reporting on religion, “fundamentalist.” 

Occasionally a politician will be described as “liberal,” but usually in the context of a policy or personality a media person regards favorably.

The biggest problem with labels is that the terms go undefined. 

For example: Why is someone considered “moderate” when they vote against protecting the unborn? Senator Amy Klobuchar has repeatedly helped Democrats block bills that would protect unborn babies after 20 weeks. Polls consistently show more than 60 percent of Americans back such legislation. Support for third-trimester abortion has hovered around 10 percent for decades. 

That sounds like an extreme policy position to me, not a moderate one. 

At an Iowa town hall meeting self-described pro-life Democrat Kristin Day raised the life issue with Pete Buttigieg. She asked if there was room in the party for people like her, and he basically said no.

The Washington Examiner reported Buttigieg’s response this way—quote— “I respect where you are coming from and I hope to earn your vote, but I’m not going to try to earn your vote by tricking you. I am pro-choice, and I believe that a woman ought to be able to make that decision.”

The crowd applauded, before Buttigieg continued—quote—“I know that the difference in opinion that you and I have is one that we have come by honestly, and the best that I can offer… is that if we can’t agree on where to draw the line, the next best thing we can do is agree on who should draw the line and, in my view, it’s the woman who’s faced with that decision in her own life.”

Moderator Chris Wallace then asked Day whether she was satisfied with Buttigieg’s answer. Day said no and pointed to the Democratic Party platform, which “says abortion should be legal up to nine months, that the government should pay for it, and there’s nothing that says people who have a diversity of views on this issue should be included in the party.”

Day’s position should be considered “moderate,” not Buttigieg and the rest of the Democratic presidential field.

Such scrutiny should be applied to many other issues. Is it moderate to favor same-sex marriage? Is a person moderate who wants to raise your taxes, impose new regulations on your business, undercut the Second Amendment, and control your health care?

I trust the American people to answer those questions—much more than I trust the media to do so. 

For WORLD Radio, I’m Cal Thomas.

MEGAN BASHAM: Tomorrow, John Stonestreet joins us for Culture Friday. We’ll talk about whether the nuclear family is obsolete and HGTV featuring a throuple–a relationship among three adults.

And, I’ll review the new Harrison Ford film, Call of the Wild. 

Plus, Wordplay with George Grant.

That and more tomorrow. 

I’m Megan Basham.

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.

The Lord says, do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. 

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

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