The World and Everything in It: February 20, 2025

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The FAA faces intense scrutiny after several recent airplane accidents. We’ll ask an expert about that.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also, President Trump gives the White House Faith Office a new mission, safeguarding religious freedoms.

TRUMP: If we don’t have religious liberty, we don’t have a free country. We probably don’t even have a free country.

REICHARD: And we follow up with a Russian family seeking asylum in the U-S:

ZHANNA: Very often I feel like I'm dreaming all the time.

BROWN: Plus WORLD commentator Cal Thomas warns: it’s crucial to watch how our leaders handle financial housecleaning.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, February 20th. 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: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump Ukraine-Zelenskyy rift » President Donald Trump is facing criticism for remarks he made this week about the war in Ukraine … and about Ukraine’s president.

On Wednesday, Trump referred to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator” … and said he must move quickly to strike a deal with Russia to end the war … and criticized Kyiv for not holding recent elections.

TRUMP:  A dictator without elections. Zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. Gotta move. Gotta move fast. Cuz that war is going in the wrong direction.

Ukraine’s constitution prevents the country from holding elections while under martial law … which the government declared after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Trump’s latest comments came one day after he seemingly blamed Kyiv — not Moscow — for Russia's invasion.

TRUMP: You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.

That drew condemnation from Democrats… and pushback from some Republicans … like Sen. John Kennedy.

KENNEDY: To the extent that the White House said that Ukraine started the war, I disagree. I think Vladimir Putin started the war.

Meanwhile, in Kyiv President Zelenskyy said he’s talking with European leaders about continuing to back Ukraine's defense … if the U.S. pulls funding for Ukraine’s military.

Republican budget » Republican leaders in the Senate are planning a vote today on a budget reconciliation bill that would allocate $300 billion for border and national security.

This despite President Trump saying he prefers the House version that includes nearly $5 trillion dollars in tax cuts.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that's not a problem.

THUNE: We're prepared to work with them to get that across the finish line. But we believe that the president also likes optionality.

There's no guarantee the House bill can pass with Republicans only able to lose a few votes.

Some members are worried about potential cuts to benefits, while others are worried about the impact on the deficit.

Burgum on energy pipeline » Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says the Trump administration is working to lower energy prices in America. One key to that, he says, is cutting red tape and regulation that makes oil more expensive.

And he said the administration also wants to bring more energy revenue into the U.S.

BURGUM: I think the key infrastructure that President Trump is focused on right now, and he's spoken about these, uh, is that  … in Alaska, an 800 mile pipeline that would help deliver LNG for export to South Korea, the Philippines, and Japan … 

Burgum says those countries right now buy oil from the Middle East, but a pipeline from the United States could largely change that.

President Trump has signed an executive order directing Burgum to undo former President Biden's offshore oil ban.

Small Business Administration chief confirmed » The Senate just confirmed another new member of the Trump administration.

Former U.S. Senator  Kelly Loeffler will return to public service as the next head of the Small Business Administration.  

LOEFFLER VOTE: On this vote, the ayes are 52. The nays are 46. The nomination is confirmed.

Loeffler was a Republican senator from Georgia between 2020 and 2021 before losing reelection to current Democratic senator Raphael Warnock.

She had an extensive business career including serving as the CEO of a software service company.

California fire recovery in process » In the Los Angeles area … officials and local residents have embarked on the long road to recovery … after last month’s devastating wildfires.

The first step is to clean up hazardous debris. EPA spokesman Bill Dunbar:

DUNBAR:  Of the 13,000 plus properties, uh, impacted by the fires, EPA has completed over 80 percent of our work to conduct, uh, uh, our portion of the recovery process.

The flames scorched tens of thousands of acres and killed at least 29 people.

Hamas to return remains of Israeli hostages » Hamas today is turning over the remains of four Israelis who died while being held hostage by the terror group.

And an Israeli official confirmed yesterday that among them … would be the bodies of a young mother, Shir Bibas … and her two small children … Ariel and Kfir, who were 4 years old and 9 months old when they were captured.

It’s the first Israeli confirmation that the bodies of the family are being returned to Israel.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: rethinking how U.S. air traffic control operates. Plus, seeking safety and finding a new home.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 20th of February.

This is WORLD Radio and we thank you for listening. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. First up on The World and Everything in It, re-thinking how the Federal Aviation Administration operates.

REICHARD: Right, this week, the family of a passenger killed in the recent Blackhawk helicopter and jet crash filed claims against both the Army and the F.A.A. WORLD’s Lindsay Mast talked to an aviation expert who says it’s time to re-think how the agency is run.

LINDSAY MAST: Thanks, Mary and Myrna . Of course, the investigation into that crash in D.C. last month is ongoing. This week the National Transportation Safety Board chairperson said there may have been missed communication from Air Traffic Control to the Blackhawk.

Robert Poole is the Director of Transportation Policy at the Reason Foundation. He has testified before Congressional subcommittees about privatizing air traffic control and he joins us now. Robert, good morning.

ROBERT POOLE: Good morning. Glad to be with you today.

LINDSAY MAST: I'd like to talk first about some of the historical problems with the FAA and air traffic control, particularly in terms of technology. Can you talk about that and maybe give us some specific examples of problems and mishaps?

POOLE: Well, there are all sorts of technologies that are needed. They're used in other countries, and are slowly being rolled out by FAA, but their procurement process is very flawed. Because FAA gets annual budget appropriations from Congress if they need to equip several 100 facilities with this new device.

They only get a certain amount every year in the budget for new stuff, so they have to roll it out over 15-20 years, you know, in dribs and drabs, the last facility to get them, it may be obsolete technologically, by the time they get it. This stuff isn't static.

MAST: What challenges to improving air traffic control systems do you see, particularly financially and politically?

POOLE: ​​First of all, there's there's also a “not invented here” approach within FAA, they're very traditional. The FAA Research Center of Atlantic City, more than about 15 years ago, invented something called a remote digital tower, where, instead of having a tall structure with windows at the top, you put cameras on masts all around the airport, with some of them infrared, so they could see in the dark. They could see through fog and so forth, things that the controller in a tall building looking out a window cannot even see.

So they published a couple of papers on this, and they did the FAA as an organization, did nothing with this idea. Saab, in Switzerland, which is a big aerospace defense company, pioneered it. And they and other Scandinavian countries and Germany and more and more countries in Europe are implementing these as a big improvement. They cost less to build and they cost less to operate. Those digital towers have little tags that go on the screen, tracking every single plane that in the sky and on the ground, so they can follow, in real time, exactly where each one is.

MAST: You think the answer is privatization. What would, what would it look like if we went from the current system to privatization?

POOLE: One of the major differences would be that it would operate like a public utility, like your electric company, or like a toll road, and with that revenue stream, they can issue revenue bonds, just like airports do for large for they need to expand a terminal and build a new run. They issue bonds. And so it's easy to finance large scale facility replacements, to get equipment, new equipment, like the electronic flight strips, buy the whole batch for all the facilities at once in one procurement, and then roll it out in the first year or two.

Nav Canada is the largest of these private non-profits and it's been in operation, I think it's 15 or 20 years now, and it's very highly rated. It pioneers new technology. The point is to get it out of tax funding. The FAA would still be there, but in its original role as the FAA the aviation safety regulator.

Today, with both of the aircraft control and the safety regulation in the same house, it's a conflict of interest. FAA regulates every other part of aviation at arm's length, airlines, private pilots, mechanics, airports, every repair station, they're all regulated at arm's length. Most countries around the world, ever since 2001 the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is UN agency for air safety, put out guidelines that said you should have organizational separation between air safety regulation and both airports and Air Traffic Control arm's length, because it's works better, it's more trust trustful, reliable, and avoids this conflict of interest. So that's another aspect of changing the system to make it a high tech service business regulated by the the aviation safety regulator.

MAST: I think part of the obvious question in all of this is, would these types of changes have made a difference in the crash last month in D.C.?

POOLE: Probably not. I see one problem was that the helicopter and the airlines, they were operating on the same on the same kind of radio, VHF signals, but on two different frequencies, so they could not hear each other's conversations with the control tower, which mean they didn't have the full picture of what was going on.

The other thing that troubles me, all Air aircraft in the United States flying in controlled airspace have to have a device called ADA-B, which sends out signals saying exact every three seconds, where they are, what altitude, what direction, what speed, and so forth. The Black Hawk helicopters was not was turned on, or at least it was not sending out signals if that had been on the controller in the tower would have seen exactly where the copter was in real time every three seconds update, and would have said, “Oh, no, you got to move now.”

And so my recommendation is they've got to get those, those helicopter routes out of the Potomac, away from DCA, that Reagan National Airport. That's too dangerous a situation, inherently, even if, even if the ADSB, if the military changed their policy, which they may not because of security reasons, these are many high ranking generals flying to from the Pentagon to meet somebody on the Capitol Hill or something or whatever. So we may be stuck with that.

MAST: So in your opinion, what will it take to improve air traffic control?

Almost all the really meaningful improvements require getting it out of the government budget process and making it self funded, like any other utility. I mean, even if it stayed somehow in government, it's got to get off of the annual budget thing. It's got to be exempt from that and able to raise capital. The high altitude centers are 50 to 65 years old and starting to fall apart, and the billions and billions it would be need to replace them, cannot possibly come from the annual operating budgets of FAA.

MAST: Last question, very quickly, we've talked about a lot of problems. I'm getting on a plane Friday morning, lots of other people still flying. Should we feel safe?

POOLE: I feel safe. I'm a 2 million mile frequent flyer on American Airlines, and I have lifetime platinum status. I don't hesitate to get on board a plane. It's still far safer than driving,

MAST: Robert Poole is Director of Transportation Policy at the Reason Foundation, Robert, thank you so much for your time today.

POOLE: Very glad to do it. Thanks.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

A new faith advisor at the White House.

During the annual National Prayer Breakfast earlier this month, President Trump made this announcement.

TRUMP: This week I'm also creating the White House Faith office led by Pastor Paula White who is so amazing.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: How will the Faith Office work, and what does the televangelist Paula White-Cain bring to the White House?

Washington Bureau reporter Carolina Lumetta has the story.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: For more than two decades, the executive branch of the U.S. government has had an office that works with religious groups.

BUSH: Faith-based organizations should be allowed to receive federal grants when it comes to helping people in need.

In 2001, President George W. Bush established the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The goal was for federal agencies to engage with religious and nonprofit organizations on issues like disaster relief and workforce development.

BUSH: What government can do is to recognize its limitations and more significantly recognize the power of faith in our society and that is what this initiative does, we don’t pick religions. We don’t fund religion. But we welcome the soldiers of the armies of compassion.

Every president since then has had some sort of liaison to religious groups, though President Trump left the office vacant for the first few years of his previous term. This time, he’s making it a priority…with some updates.

Trump shortened the name of the faith-based and neighborhood partnerships office to simply, the White House Faith Office. And for the first time ever, it will get space inside the West Wing. Its leader? The famous televangelist Paula White-Cain.

WHITE-CAIN: If we don't get religious liberty right it is the bedrock which all of our other freedoms fall upon.

White-Cain has been a personal faith adviser to the Trump family for more than 20 years, after Trump discovered her while watching TV. Here they are together at the National Faith Advisory Board summit last fall.

TRUMP: We've had them at the White House a lot of the pastors and respected people I recognize a lot of them just originally by just seeing them on television for so many years right including you.

WHITE: I was going to say people don't realize that that we met literally you were watching television and called me out of the blue and I'll never forget you said um ‘you've got the it factor’ and I said ‘oh sir we call that the anointing’ and that was our hello [applause]

White-Cain led the faith-based partnerships office during Trump’s first term, after he reopened it in 2019. During the fallout from the 2020 election, she claimed demonic forces were stealing the presidency from Trump. She’s been affiliated with the Word of Faith Movement, teaching that Christians can declare things like money, success, or holiness into existence because they have a portion of God’s divinity. She says she teaches a provision gospel, and denies teaching a prosperity or “health and wealth” gospel. Here she is on another televangelism program in 2019:

WHITE: You just seasonally need to be obedient whether it's a hundred thousand whether it's ten thousand dollars… I'm telling you there's a Department of Treasury in heaven that God is watching over everything you do and you are storing up eternal treasures that will go so far beyond I think that we can even begin to imagine.

White-Cain’s role in the White House worries some Christians…including Justin Peters, a Montana-based evangelist. Raised Southern Baptist, he’s now a traveling preacher who has created a curriculum to rebut the Word of Faith movement.

PETERS: And she tells people to sow money into her ministry, sow seed so they can reap a harvest. She's using scripture to exploit the poor, the sick, the desperate, and the widows for her own personal financial gain.

Peters voted for Trump in each of the past three presidential elections. He says he aligns with White politically but disputes her theology.

PETERS: My first and foremost concern is the purity of the gospel to a watching world. I would gladly undergo persecution from the government as long as the gospel of Jesus Christ is not distorted.

Others support White-Cain’s return to Washington. Pastor Samuel Rodriguez Jr. worked as a faith liaison for Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump. He’s now president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

RODRIGUEZ: Pastor Paula was the leader. She convenes the troops, she gathers the team, she's the quarterback, we're on the field, and we execute accordingly… and she and she has brought in others outside the evangelical world including rabbis and Catholic bishops.

Rodriguez also credits White-Cain with helping boost President Trump’s support among evangelicals.

RODRIGUEZ: President Trump was able to gain close to 80% his first time around, and now 84% to 87%, according to which exit poll you read, the second time around.

So what will the faith-office focus on this time? During the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump said he directed White-Cain to work with the Justice Department on a new executive order to eradicate anti-Christian bias.

TRUMP: The task force will work to fully prosecute anti-christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move Heaven and Earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.

During the Biden administration, pro-life Christians who prayed in front of abortion centers received multi-year prison sentences for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Some also point to church closures during the pandemic and denial of religious exemptions for federal vaccine mandates as examples of anti-Christian discrimination.

SASSER: The Biden administration, they took great pleasure in sort of putting the screws to religious liberty. But it's a new sheriff in town, right?

That’s Hiram Sasser, the executive general counsel for First Liberty Institute, a conservative group that provides legal representation for religious liberty cases.

SASSER: We're very happy to see some acknowledgement that yes, indeed, even though it's the majority religion, there's still an anti-religious bias to people of the Christian faith, just as there is an anti-religious bias to people of other faiths.

The White House Faith Office is meant to help all religious groups communicate with agencies and receive equal access to federal grants. But most of Trump’s comments on it so far have revolved around Christianity. Michael Wear worked in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during the Obama administration.

WEAR: There are important efforts that can be made to address the stigmatizing of religion broadly and that can be inclusive of Christians. I think the sense that this administration has the authority or the trust to do so in a way that does more good than harm I think is something that I personally question.

But Sasser argues that combating bias against Christianity boosts all religious expression.

SASSER: Here's the great thing about religious liberty is that a win for one of us is a win for all of us. It's a rising tide that floats all ships. And it's just great to have a White House that's fighting for us instead of against us.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s been called a needle in a haystack—but James Howellssays this needle is worth about 755 million U.S. dollars. His Bitcoin fortune was accidentally dumped in a landfill in Wales back in 2013. Now, with the site set to close, Howell wants to buy it.

HOWELL: Given the value of the needle, if you're willing to search every single piece of hay, eventually you will find the needle.

A court blocked his efforts to dig, but Howells isn’t giving up. He’s assembling a team, using AI and proven landfill excavation methods.

HOWELL: My data recovery guys are some of the best in the world. All we need to do is get a tiny fraction of data—a pinpoint of data—from that entire disc.

Skeptics say Bitcoin has no real value. But Howells has a sharp response.

HOWELL: Now you’re poking the bear!

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And this bear isn’t backing down!

REICHARD: It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 20th.

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

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Just in time across the border.

Last fall, we introduced you to Sergey and Zhanna Kosiak. They are a Christian couple from Russia and Ukraine. They fled Russia with their two children in early 2024 out of fear for their family’s safety. Zhanna, who is Ukrainian, criticized Russia’s actions in Ukraine online and the couple’s church also vocally opposed the war.

The government targeted them and other members of the congregation for speaking out.

KOSIAK: If they see that you have posted something, you go to prison, they can take your kids to the government house for kids.

REICHARD: When we met them last, the Kosiaks had been waiting for more than seven months in Tijuana, Mexico, for an appointment to ask for asylum in the US.

WORLD’s Compassion reporter Addie Offereins caught up with the couple and WORLD’s Kristen Flavin brings you more of their story.

AUDIO: [Sound of door opening, walking outside]

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The Kosiaks favorite thing about their new home country is simply walking outside without fear. If they see a police officer while on their walk, they're no longer anxious..

ZHANNA: When I see the policeman, I don't have a fear because when we live in Russia, when you see the policeman, you understand that you’re not doing anything bad but you’re afraid.

It’s been a little more than two months since Zhanna, her husband Sergey, and their two children arrived in North Carolina. They talked about their experience in the living room of a small brick house just outside Winston-Salem.

ZHANNA: We ask each other and say, "Sergey, you can imagine that we are already in America. Very often I just feel like I'm dreaming all the time.

The couple used a Customs and Border Protection mobile app called CBP One to request an appointment to begin the asylum process at a port of entry. It took them nine months.

Then one day in early November they were granted an appointment.

ZHANNA: For us it was like a very big miracle because before we go to the border we ask many lawyers about the situation.

The lawyers told them they had a 99 percent chance of ending up in detention. Some immigration lawyers estimate Immigration and Customs Enforcement is detaining between 6,000 and 10,000 Russian citizens because the agency considers them high-risk. The exact number is unknown.

ZHANNA: You're preparing for this to not see each other for many months. To be honest, we pray that God gives us the strength.

The family arrived at the Mexicali port of entry on November 26.

ZHANNA: There are many people, for example, the men with men, women, and women with kids, like this big array, and you are waiting there.

Immigration officers did biometric screenings and asked them about their background. In another room, an officer gave them a brief medical examination. Officials asked why they were asking for protection in the United States.

ZHANNA: We're thinking that they just take us to another place. So we were on the second floor and then when we go to the first floor and they give us the documents and say okay welcome to America

The whole process only took six hours.

ZHANNA: We were shocked just looking at each other and inside we just wanted to cry because of God's mercy.

AUDIO: [Sound of food simmering]

Another thing about America that the Kosiaks love is Mexican food—specifically María González’ cooking. Until the family gets on their feet, they’re staying with Mexican-American Pastor Juvenal Gonzalez and his wife, Maria. González pastors a church in North Carolina and also runs a ministry hosting asylum-seekers in a home he owns in Tijuana, Mexico. The couple stayed there while they waited for their CBP One appointment.

AUDIO: [Sound of Maria cooking, “This is vegetables with sausage and rice”]

For dessert, there’s papaya with lime juice and cheesecake.

AUDIO: [Sound of food simmering]

Sergey Kosiak can’t speak English so he used Google translate to praise María’s cooking.

AUDIO: (Automated voice) I think that any fast food or any cafe here in America will never catch up with her level.

Sergey is working on getting his American driver’s license and hopes to eventually get a job selling building materials like he did in Russia. The couple is also preparing for their first asylum hearing in immigration court scheduled for next summer.

They’re grateful for the support of Pastor González, his wife, and the rest of the church community they’ve found in North Carolina.

ZHANNA: You understand that God is always with you in any place where you can go, there is a family of God.

But they’re also praying for the friends they left behind in Tijuana. President Donald Trump shut down the CBP One app on his first day in office. Another family who attended church with the Kosiaks back in Russia didn’t get their appointment in time.

ZHANNA: They are waiting. They are praying. And we believe sometimes the doors are closed, but when God opens, no one can close.

The administration argues shutting down the asylum process is an essential first step in regaining control of the border. The Kosiaks know the system is often abused.

ZHANNA: They just want to go to America. So the American government needs to check if they really have a reason to go.

Asylum is a status granted to individuals fearing persecution on account of their race, religion, or political opinion. But many immigrants use the system for personal gain. They see it as a stepping stone to economic opportunity. But for the Kosiaks, asylum gives them a home.

ZHANNA: For our family, I can even imagine the thought about that we can come back to Russia, makes me scared.

AUDIO: [Sound of silverware clanking]

In the small kitchen, Zhanna is pulling out spoons and coffee cups.

ZHANNA: So most people like to drink coffee, coffee, coffee, only coffee.

AUDIO: [Sound of water heating up]

She’s learned Americans drink more coffee than tea and enjoy putting sugar in everything. 

ZHANNA: We become more American to drink only coffee.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin, with reporting from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 20th. 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. WORLD Commentator Cal Thomas says that we should pay attention to how politicians respond to the on-going search for government waste.

CAL THOMAS: The credit card statement contained an unfamiliar charge. I called the fraud department which canceled the payment and immediately sent me a new card. If only the federal government responded with similar alacrity.

Instead, the reaction from the exposure and rooting out of fraud—mostly from Democrats—has been shouting profanities and demonstrating outside federal government buildings. Some who have ignored the Constitution for years while using federal judges to impose things voters would not tolerate are suddenly appealing to "constitutional order." They’re demanding Congress not do any cutting or elimination of fraud and waste. They rarely address the misspending, or who is responsible for it. That’s true of Democrats and Republicans alike.

Protesters who once promoted and quoted the climate alarmist teenager Greta Thunberg now mock Elon Musk for using technologically gifted young people. Some appear a lot smarter than the Members of Congress who are denouncing them for their youth.

President Trump has directed every government agency to search for misspent money. The latest, but certainly not the last, comes from the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin. He discovered $160 million dollars the Biden administration sent to Canada for electric buses…buses that were never built. Adding to the debacle—the company went bankrupt. Zeldin also canceled a $50 million dollar "environmental justice grant" to an organization that believes "climate justice travels through a free Palestine." Decoded: the elimination of Israel.

An undercover video from after Trump won the election shows an EPA official bragging about, "throwing billions of dollars of gold bars off the Titanic." These "gold bars" are how various government agencies sustain numerous left-wing groups—largely without congressional approval.

This is only the tip of the "melting" iceberg. Life-long politicians are howling about the exposure of such things because, like the con artist, they are being exposed for many years of misspending our money and fear they are losing their grip on government. The last election and recent poll numbers indicate a majority of Americans back the work of Musk and his DOGE squad.

The New York Times is running interference for those who are trying to shift attention from the fraud and waste. A recent editorial claimed there was "no proof" in such allegations. A counter editorial in The Wall Street Journal obliterated that claim: "A Government Accountability Office report last spring estimated the 'federal government could lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud.' The federal auditor said 'a government-wide approach is required to address it,' and recommended that the Treasury 'leverage data-analytics capabilities' to stop questionable payments.' That's what DOGE is trying to do."

Ah, government accountability. If only.

That's a pretty wide fraud gap, but why should Congress and various government agencies care? It's not their money they are spending. Republicans should not be left off the hook. Many are just as guilty as the Democrats they are now deriding because of all the pork they add to various bills without going through hearings that would justify such needless spending.

The Pentagon is next for the DOGE auditors. Democrats have made it a target for years—citing overpriced and unnecessary weapons and equipment. They shouldn't complain now about cuts, but probably will, because complaining, demonstrating and cursing are all they have.

Let the protests continue. Those who oppose the government house cleaning will only watch their favorability numbers continue to decline. The public backs a return to sunlight being the best disinfectant and the old Puritan ethic of "living within your means."

I’m Cal Thomas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Tomorrow: Katie McCoy is back for Culture Friday. And, Collin Garbarino reviews a new faith-based film about a boy with a physical disease but unbreakable spirit. 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: “If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.” —Leviticus 5:1 NIV

Go now in grace and peace.

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