The World and Everything in It: January 23, 2025

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The House has passed a bill that takes males out of female sports and private spaces.

ALFORD: It’s an insult and utter disgrace to have them robbed of the triumph by a biological male!

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also, humanitarian aid in Gaza.
And one man’s journey from addiction to redemption.

BURRELL: I remember thinking inside, going, I can't be one of those people. You know, it can't be me. I was thinking that up to the day that I finally went to ask for help.

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on the optimistic tone of this week’s inauguration.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, January 23rd. 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: Now the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR:  Pentagon deploys troops to border » The Pentagon has begun deploying about 1,500 active duty troops to the U.S. southern border.

Thad Cleveland is sheriff of Terrell County, Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border. He notes that the military cannot make arrests on US soil …

CLEVELAND:   But what we will see is we will see military helping us, um, in, in support roles, not actually getting out there and enforcing the law.

Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said the troops will fly helicopters to assist Border Patrol agents and help in the construction of barriers.

Defense officials say the department is prepared to provide many more troops if asked,

National Guard troops from Texas and other states have been supporting the Border Patrol for several years.

ICE arrests, deportations » Meantime, President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan says Immigration and Customs Enforcement — or ICE, for short, is wasting no time executing what the president has called a mass deportation effort. Homan said on Wednesday …

HOMAN: We're concentrating on the worst first. The public safety threats, the national security, uh, threats. And just yesterday, in the last 24 hours, ICE arrested over 308, 308 serious criminals. Some of them were murderers, some of them were rapists.

And the Justice Department is directing its federal prosecutors to investigate potential criminal charges against any state or local officials who stand in the way of immigration enforcement.

The Trump administration is also doing away with policies that limit migrant arrests at sensitive places like churches.

Democrats are blasting the move. Congressman Pete Aguilar:

AGUILAR:  Many states have taken positions on immigration in order to protect their communities. And one of the first steps Donald Trump does is allow raids in churches, workplaces, community centers.

The Department of Homeland Security said the change is designed to stop criminals from hiding in churches to avoid arrest.

Laken Riley Act » On Capitol Hill Wednesday … 

AUDIO (Laken Riley vote): On this vote, the yeas are 263 and the nays are 156. The bill passed!

With that vote, the House sent the Laken Riley Act to President Trump’s desk. The bipartisan bill had already cleared the Senate.

The bill was named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan man in the country illegally. After being arrested for theft in New York, the man was released and later given a taxpayer-funded airline ticket to Atlanta.

GOP Congressman Brandon Gill:

GILL:  The Laken Riley Act would have saved Laken Riley's life. It merely directs DHS to detain illegal aliens who are burglarizing American citizens on American territory.

This will almost certainly be the first bill President Trump signs into law in the coming days, potentially as soon as today.

Refugee resettlement program suspension moved up » The Trump administration has moved up the suspension of the refugee resettlement program. Refugees who had been approved to come to the United States before its scheduled suspension next week just found out their travel plans were canceled.

Some Christian aid groups had urged President Trump to reconsider the suspension.

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters:

 JOHNSON: What the president is trying to do right now is a reset and uh, I don't second guess his decisions on that. He's using his executive authority because desperate times call for desperate measures.

Refugees stranded, at least for now include more than 1,600 Afghans who assisted America’s war effort.

Trump DEIs » In another executive order,  President Trump has directed all federal agencies to shut down divisions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion — DEI for short.

They're also putting all DEI staff on paid leave and shutting down websites associated with DEI initiatives.

His administration says DEI programs have “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.”

Trump’s order declares that from now on, jobs and promotions will be awarded based on hard work and results.

Winter storms » Snow-covered palm trees have been swaying in some southern states with a winter front shattering snowfall records.

An Australian tourist in New Orleans said he certainly wasn’t expecting snow.

TOURIST:  In Australia, we don't get much snow at all, uh, and just to see this much snow is quite a treat.

In Destin, Florida, the weather created the rare spectacle of snow-covered beaches against almost Caribbean-clear turquoise waters.

Students at Florida State University in Tallahassee were among those enjoying the view.

FLORIDA STATE STUDENTS: So excited! I’m so excited. I didn’t think it was actually going to happen. I mean everyone was saying it, but … the fact that it’s actually snowing right now in

In Florida’s Panhandle near Pensacola almost 10 inches of snow fell, shattering the state’s all-time record from snowfall dating back to 1954. Ten inches also fell in the New Orleans area.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: changes to Title IX and protections for both Christian schools and women’s sports. Plus, relief efforts in Gaza, as a United Nations relief agency prepares to leave.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 23rd of January.

This is WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

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

First up on The World and Everything in It a win for women’s sports.

Last week, the House passed a bill to protect women’s sports. We’ll have more on that story in a few minutes. But first, a look at what’s happening on the state level.

REICHARD: That’s right. A federal court in Kentucky this month struck down the changes the Biden administration made to Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.

That’s a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive financial aid. Last year, the Biden administration interpreted Title IX to include protections for so-called “gender identity.” Now that the regulations have been reset, how will schools be affected?

BROWN: When Title IX was reinterpreted by the Biden administration last year, it raised questions about how schools should address privacy, restroom use, athletic programs, and even what teachers can say.

YEATS: The big issue for Christian schools who have a traditional understanding of marriage is, if that is redone, then that opens up Pandora’s box to gender and sex being something that is self-interpreted, and it becomes a whole different category.

John Mark Yeats is the president of Corban University, a private Christian school in Salem, Oregon. Corban challenged the rules. Meanwhile, twenty-six states have blocked the ruling with court injunctions. One of eight lawsuits went all the way to the federal district court in Kentucky. Conservative legal defense group Alliance Defending Freedom represented the plaintiffs. Here is ADF attorney Matt Sharp.

SHARP: In this specific case, the client we’re representing, this is a middle school girl. Not only did she lose a spot on the team to a male, but that male was allowed into the restrooms and locker rooms where this young girl faced sexual harassment by this male individual in there.

REICHARD: Christian Educators is an association of teachers with some 15,000 members. It also joined the lawsuit. Its director David Schmus says changing Title IX to include gender identity violated the rights of educators.

SCHMUS: These rules would have said that K to 12 teachers in schools across the nation would have to use preferred pronouns. They would have to oversee locker rooms and bathrooms that would be able to be used by students inconsistent with their biological sex. They would have to potentially oversee overnight field trips in which accommodations would be reserved and assigned not according to biological sex.

In his court opinion, Chief U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves clearly defined sex as referring to biology. Attorney Sharp says that’s good news for schools.

SHARP: They don’t have to worry about the federal government knocking on their door and telling them that they have to embrace radical gender ideology or to contradict clear Scriptural teachings on what it means to be male and female and other core teachings.

BROWN: Between court rulings like this and the Trump administration’s commitment to interpreting statutes regarding sex according to biology, gender ideology will not be enforced via Title IX…but the battle isn’t over in many states.

SHARP: We’re still going to have places where they’re going to pass bad local laws and policies.

For example, as of January 1, California school districts can no longer require staff to inform parents if a child wants to be called by a different name or pronoun. Twenty states and Washington, D.C., have laws listing gender identity and sexual orientation as protected from discrimination. And state laws will likely continue to vary.

REICHARD: Corban University president Yeats says the confusing legal environment will require Christian leaders to exercise a lot of wisdom.

YEATS: We cannot in our Christian universities, operate in a spirit of fear. We operate in a spirit of wisdom. We operate in a spirit of understanding that that our God is sovereign, and he’s called us to serve our communities of faith at for such time as this.

While states consider their options to protect women’s spaces and sports in the future, lawmakers in Washington are taking action.

WORLD’s Travis Kircher has that story.

SOUND: House gaveled into session

TRAVIS KIRCHER: The House gaveled into session last Tuesday with GOP Congressman Tim Walberg bringing up the next piece of legislation for debate

WALBERG: Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 5, I call up the bill H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025...

House Resolution 28 would prohibit males from participating in female sports at any school that receives federal funding. It would also require that an individual’s sex be determined by their reproductive biology and genetics at birth. Here’s bill sponsor GOP Congressman Greg Steube:

STEUBE: Parents don't want biological men in locker rooms with their daughters. Nor do they believe it's fair that a male can compete with women in female athletics. This is why Title IX protections were implemented in the first place.

Supporters of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act say the legislation is needed after a Title IX rule change the Biden administration announced last year. That change redefined Title IX to prohibit sex discrimination based on so-called gender identity. Earlier this month, a federal court struck down that rule change nationwide but some Republicans say protections are still needed. GOP Congressman Mark Alford said forcing women to play against men is patently unfair.

ALFORD: It’s an insult and utter disgrace to have them robbed of the triumph by a biological male!

But critics of the bill had their own name for it. Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty:

BEATTY: When we think about this bill being proposed, it is really the Child Predator Empowerment Act…

Democrats say the bill doesn’t explain how it will be enforced or how a person’s biological sex will be verified. They say that means it will ultimately lead to invasive physical inspections of children by non-medical school employees.

MCGOVERN: Republicans are passing a bill that allows any adult in a school to inspect the genitals of our kids before they’re allowed to play sports.. What is wrong with you people?

But Congressman Walberg said those claims were nothing short of fear mongering and the bill provides no such mandate.

WALBERG: We, in this bill, offer no requirement for any type of invasive checks on women or men. They simply have to go to the birth certificate. That will give the answer.

After an hour’s worth of intense debate:

CLERK: On this vote, the yays are 218, the nays are 206, the bill is passed…

The House advanced the bill with two Democrats breaking with their party to vote in favor of it.

GAINES: I'm thrilled with the passage of H.R. 28, the Protection of Women in Girls and Sports Act, but truthfully I'm mad. I'm mad that this is something we have to do.

That’s Riley Gaines a former member of the University of Kentucky NCAA swim team. She spoke last Tuesday at a GOP news conference after the bill’s passage. In 2022, Gaines was forced to compete against a man who identified as a transgender female. She also had to share a changing room with him. She now advocates for protecting women’s sports and private spaces from intrusion by male athletes. She hosts a podcast called Gaines for Girls, and is director of the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute.

WORLD spoke with Gaines a few days ago. She says she’s thankful for the two Texas Democrats who voted for the bill: Representatives Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar . She says she tried to talk to others, but:

GAINES: No one on the other side wants to have this conversation in a private setting, or public setting for that matter, because they know it's wrong too. They know that men on average are taller, faster, stronger, can throw further, can jump higher. I mean, they know that.

When Gaines spoke with WORLD in September, she called on women’s and girls sports teams to forfeit any games where they were forced to compete against a male player. Since then there’ve been results. Like the Boise State women’s volleyball team forfeiting in the Mountain West Conference Championship prematurely ending their season.

GAINES: I mean that that is a huge consequence that they faced for doing it. But even still, they said it's worth it. Because number one, we don't want to be hurt. We don't want to have to be on the receiving end of a kill or a spike to the face. And it said some things matter more than victory, and some of those things include the integrity of sport, and in this case, objective reality.

For now, H.R. 28 heads to the Senate. If it passes, it will be sent to President Trump’s desk for signature.

GAINES: The Senate is a lot more so it seems, on these, especially these hot button topics, they seem to be a lot more bipartisan. Do I think it has the 60 votes? That might be a stretch to get 10 or so senators, Democrats, to sign onto this. But I think there's hope.

Hope, she says, that this bill will become law to prevent future presidents from tampering with Title IX in the name of what some call progress.

GAINES: It's not progress, it's regressive, and it's utterly misogynistic to tell women they're not worthy of calling themselves champions, to tell women that we have to essentially beg for privacy in areas of undressing. It's taking us back at least 50 years in time. And I would love to be able to communicate that to anyone who voted “nay” on H.R. 28,

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher.

REICHARD: Earlier this week President Trump signed an executive order reaffirming the legal recognition of only two sexes: male and female, determined solely by biology. We'll be watching in the weeks ahead to determine how this will affect the legislative debate.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Up next, rebuilding after ceasefire.

For the first time in over a year, Palestinians are returning to their homes in Gaza to learn what’s left of them.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: As part of the ceasefire agreement, aid is pouring into Gaza. And Israel has agreed to stop trying to destroy Hamas, though Hamas must not be part of any future government in the area.

What will it take for Gaza to rebuild, and who will do it? WORLD’s Mary Muncy reports.

MARY MUNCY: On Sunday, Palestinians ran after hundreds of aid trucks as they crossed the border and started distributing food, medicine, and other supplies.

SEAN CARROLL: Most of that was backlog trucks that have been waiting and delayed for a long time.

Sean Carroll is the president and CEO of ANERA, American Near East Refugee Aid. They’ve had an office in Gaza for nearly 40 years, and Carroll visited last month.

CARROLL: It's kind of hard to fathom exactly how much work is-is needed.

The UN estimates as much as 90 percent of homes are rubble and that 60 percent of all the structures in the region are damaged or destroyed.

CARROLL: There's a need, first and foremost, for food.

Then medical care and shelter.

CARROLL: and taking care of orphans, there are an estimated somewhere around 20,000 orphans.

Carroll says there’s a lot of catching up to do. Before the war, several hundred trucks of aid crossed the border daily, but after October 7, that number fell to barely 50 trucks a day, many of them only half-full. And then once in, many of the trucks were looted before aid got to the people.

CARROLL: So it's going to take everyone.

But starting next week, they may not have everyone. Last fall, the Israeli Parliament passed a law banning one of the largest aid organizations to Gaza, and the grace period is coming to an end.

BOAZ BISMUTH: We have nothing against international community, against foreigners, against the idea of humanitarian aid.

After the laws passed, Knesset member Boaz Bismuth defended banning UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East.

BISMUTH: It's about the fact that UNRWA participated in the massacre of the 7th of October.

Earlier this year, the Israeli government announced investigations into over 100 UNRWA staff members. They accused those members of participating in the terrorist attack on October 7th.

They said UNRWA did not cooperate with them and never answered their requests for investigations.

BISMUTH: An organisation or an agency that calls itself humanitarian and participates in a massacre will not function in my country.

UNRWA says it took the accusations seriously and investigated them but didn’t find evidence of wrongdoing in most of the cases, and in the ten cases they did, they took action.

FOWLER: We do not know where we stand after the end of this month.

Jonathan Fowler is the spokesperson for UNRWA.

The law may be challenged by human rights agencies before it’s implemented or it could be implemented in a way that doesn’t completely disrupt UNRWA’s work but it’s likely that starting Tuesday, UNRWA will stop operating.

JONATHAN FOWLER: We face potentially massive risks to our work.

UNRWA was set up in 1949 to support Palestinians, and the UN has renewed it every three years since. Right now, the UN officially views what it calls Palestine as an occupied territory, which means it believes Israel should fulfill its duty as an occupier, namely to maintain law and order and uphold public life.

Right now, Fowler believes UNRWA is doing that job for them.

FOWLER: If we're not here, then it falls upon the Israeli authorities.

UNWRA’s charter says they are to provide things like education, job training, and basic health care.

FOWLER: We provide services directly in the absence of a functioning state.

Carroll with ANERA said working in Gaza would be much harder without UNRWA, but not everyone agrees.

MOON: There's a lot of us that are very happy to see this go.

Luke Moon is the executive director of the Philos Project.

MOON: Palestinians need to be treated like every other refugee in the world.

Moon says UNRWA has perpetuated Palestinian’s refugee status instead of allowing them to be taken in by another country or be repatriated.

MOON: The whole point of that special status was to delegitimize Israel and not allow Israel to be free from the obligation to take these people back.

Moon agrees with the Israeli government, which says there are enough neutral aid organizations to fill the gap.

On the other hand, Carroll with ANERA worries that the hole UNRWA would leave would be too hard to fill.

CARROLL: It's not clear who can take up that work, because the only way to really take up the work is is to take over all of the staff and the facilities.

Israel has not announced any specific plans to fill any holes UNRWA might leave. Though the Israeli organization in charge of tracking aid has publicized Israeli aid deliveries in the region on social media.

Carroll says that if UNRWA is banned, ANERA will continue doing its work, though some aspects may be harder.

CARROLL: So it's not looking good right now, but I think if we, each of us, look into our own humanity and urge everyone to do the same, then we can get there.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, January 23rd.

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

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Alcohol consumption after the pandemic.

A recent study found that during the height of the pandemic, Americans turned to alcohol in increasing numbers. But even as life returned to normal, the rates of drinking did not return to the previous level. The researchers call it an alarming public health issue.

BROWN: WORLD’s Lindsay Mast has the story of one man who understands the challenges of quitting alcohol.

BURRELL: This was the main entry back in the day. This was the main reception area before they added on the atrium there, it would have been here

LINDSAY MAST: Terry Burrell was an alcoholic for 16 years before he first sought out a recovery group. He came three different times before he actually went all the way into the meeting.

BURRELL: They came over to talk to me and said, ‘Oh, are you interested in Celebrate Recovery?’ And I go, ‘No, no, I'm just looking. I'm just looking.’

Burrell’s heavy drinking happened long before the pandemic, but the challenges he faced apply to many people who struggle with addiction.

Burrell turned to alcohol to cope with his job in law enforcement. He saw some terrible things and started drinking when he was off-duty. At first, he could manage it. But over time, that changed.

His relationship with his parents and brothers eroded even though they didn’t know the extent of his drinking.

BURRELL: I was sick a lot when I wasn't sick, because I didn't show up because I was drinking instead of doing things I should have done instead of being there to help.

He tried to quit, but would relapse. He didn’t want to ask for help.

BURRELL: Being the police officer, which is a man's man kind of thing that you got to look tough, and you got to be sort of hard, and all those things. It was, it took a lot to get me to ask for help.

He wasn’t married at the time. Alcohol filled the holes where close relationships would’ve been.

Isolation often co-exists with addiction, which might be why a recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that both overall and heavy drinking increased during the pandemic.

BRANDT: They were separated from their church groups, they were separated from their social support system…

Andrea Brandt is an addiction counselor with a faith-based counseling group in the Atlanta area.

BRANDT: They didn't know what was happening, they were fearful of getting sick, which– it was all traumatic. And alcohol provides a way to get out of that.

But the study also found that once the pandemic waned, many people kept drinking, sometimes heavily. Research from the Pew Center in 2019 found that Christians tend to drink at rates lower than the general population. Still, Brandt says she’s seen evidence of the uptick in drinking, and believers aren’t immune to addiction.

BRANDT: People experience pain, right? It's a fallen world and there are experiences that are hurtful and traumatic and substance use, alcohol is a very effective substance in helping people to numb pain and to feel better.

Alcohol is big business.

ADVERTISEMENT: Hey, what’s up? Nothing, B. Just watching the game, having a Bud. What’s up with you? Nothin’. Watching the game, having a Bud…

In 2018, the American Beverage Licensees Association reported that the alcohol industry had a total economic impact of more than $350 billion annually. And The Wall Street Journal reported this week that just one-fifth of adults account for 90% of alcohol sales.

But there are costs, too. An article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine estimated that in 2010, binge drinking cost the United States more than 190 billion dollars. That’s due to premature deaths, lost productivity, and other factors.

And it’s not just binge drinking that’s problematic. Brandt says any amount of alcohol changes a person’s brain.

BRANDT: It does brain damage, even just a little bit. And nobody is immune from becoming addicted to a substance if they have access to it.

During the pandemic, alcohol became easier to access. Options for delivery and to-go alcohol increased dramatically.

And as heavy drinking has become more prevalent, more people may find that quitting can be challenging. Doing it too quickly can even be dangerous for someone who’s addicted. For Terry Burrell, overcoming denial was key.

BURRELL: I remember thinking inside, going, I can't be one of those people. You know, it can't be me. In my family, you know, with it can't be me. I was thinking that up to the day that I finally went to ask for help.

Burrell says he went to church growing up. But it was only when he finally walked into his first 12-step group meeting, that he allowed himself to fully rely on Christ.

BURRELL: It may have been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it was the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life. No one looked down on me. Everyone accepted me. Everyone just cared about me and loved me and took care of me and wanted to help me.

Burrell says those 16 years he spent as an alcoholic feel like a void. He’s married now, but his kids have an older dad.

BURRELL: For my entire experience with drinking, I can't think of one positive thing that comes from drinking, you know, but I can see a lot of negative things that come from drinking, you know, it's just such a slippery slope.

Andrea Brandt, the counselor, has a number of clients who have had alcoholic family members. She says heavy drinking can have effects beyond the person who’s addicted.

BRANDT: I think that everybody is impacted by alcohol, whether it's through a friend or somebody that they interact with at church or somebody in the community. Addiction impacts entire communities.

But healing can come. Through Christ, and connection, and reaching out for help. Seventeen years after getting sober, Terry Burrell says for all the pain that his drinking caused, he wouldn’t trade it for the relationship he now has with the Lord.

BURRELL: It really made me depend upon him in a way that I never would have come to know Him the way that I know him now.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lindsay Mast in Johns Creek, Georgia.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, January 23rd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. WORLD commentator Cal Thomas assesses the policies and pitfalls from President Trump’s inaugural speech.

CAL THOMAS: According to Frank Sinatra: “Love is lovelier, the second time around.” We'll see how that works out in this second term of Donald. J. Trump—following his four-year “intermission.”

The two terms will be a contrast in policy, personnel, and persistence. This time, the Republican Party is unified…if they can keep it. Trump will also not be constrained by a pandemic.

In his second inaugural address, the old/new president decided to mostly turn from the dark side, displayed and disliked by many in his first address. This time, Trump apparently listened to advisers who encouraged optimism over malaise—saying the “golden years” are ahead of us. He called for a “revolution of common sense” the definition of which is “sound practical judgment.”

He promised “a new era of national success.” He has also spoken of a return to “normalcy.” The problem is that at least two generations have been raised—and educated—to believe what was once called abnormal is now to be considered normal.

Some of Trump's promises, including a promise to “end wars,” smack of hyperbole. But others about enforcing border laws, deporting criminal immigrants, and bringing down costs are what he ran on, and what more than 70 million Americans voted for. His threat to deprive sanctuary cities of federal funds is overdue as too many mayors and governors have ignored our immigration laws enacted by Republican and Democrat politicians. And by doing so have encouraged more migrants to come and receive benefits some Americans don't get.

Will the next four years be a “golden age” or a new “Gilded Age” in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Trump seemed to be suggesting that his economic policies would lift all boats.

Unfortunately, Trump said nothing about our massive debt, possibly leaving that to the now-official Department of Government Efficiency. This will require massive cuts and reforms in spending, something members of both parties in Congress have been reluctant to do.

Trump's pledge to take back the Panama Canal is problematic at best, despite claims that China has operational control of the passageway. Claims Panama's president denies. Didn't we already have this debate in the 1970s about who owns it?

Anti-Trumpers who have boosted their careers opposing the president on his character, will be doubly isolated should he achieve his policy goals. Trump has also pledged to protect women's sports from transgender athletes, declaring “there are only two genders: male and female.” Having to state the obvious tells you a lot about the state of the culture.

A New York Times/Ipsos poll published over the weekend shows a majority have come to terms with Trump's character vs. his policies. The poll concluded that “Many Americans who otherwise dislike (Trump) share his bleak assessment of the country's problems and support some of his most contentious prescriptions to fix them.”

Every new president is welcomed by most Americans with an attitude of optimism about the future. President Trump concluded his address by saying “in America the impossible is what we do best.”

It won't take long to see how that plays out.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Tomorrow: Culture Friday with Katie McCoy. And, WORLD’s Arts and Culture Editor Collin Garbarino previews the likely blockbuster films of 2025. Plus your listener feedback. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Myrna Brown.

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

Our thanks today to WORLD’s Bekah McCallum for writing our first story on Christian schools and Title IX.

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 records that…[So] “when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.” —Genesis 41:56-57.

Go now in grace and peace.

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