The World and Everything in It: January 28, 2026

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning!

The battle of Minnesota moves to Capitol Hill.

KLOBUCHAR: We, as a congressional group up here, strongly opposed the ICE funding this week.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead today on Washington Wednesday. Hunter Baker is standing by.

Also today, WORLD Tour.

And later, balancing nutrition and budget. We try out the government’s $3 meal.

ROLLINS: There is a way to do this that actually will save the average American consumer money.

And WORLD Opinions’ Daniel Darling celebrates the elder-statesman Founding Father on America’s 250th.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, January 28th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

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

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Minnesota - Homan » Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke with "Border Czar" Tom Homan Tuesday.

President Trump has asked Homan to oversee ICE operations after Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and other agents were pulled from Operation Metro Surge.

Amid heightened tensions in the Twin Cities area, President Trump said Tuesday:

TRUMP:  We're gonna deescalate a little bit, but I will tell you, uh, you look at the numbers, they're doing better than they've done in many years.

Two people were killed in separate incidents with federal agents during protests.

Gov. Walz office  said the governor reiterated to Tom Homan that he wants impartial investigations into both shootings and a swift significant reduction in the number of federal forces in Minnesota.

Winter storm aftermath » A powerful winter storm is easing, but the impact is still being felt across much of the country. About half a million Americans remain without power, many of them in the South, where thick ice snapped trees and power lines.

Crews are working in freezing conditions, and some communities warn it could take days, or even more than a week, to fully restore electricity.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves:

REEVES:  It's somewhat like whack-a-mole. Every time one of the utility companies and power companies gets a large group back online, we have another tree fall or we have another limb fall.

Ice has turned neighborhoods in Mississippi and other southern states into obstacle courses.

Officials say at least 30 people were killed in storm-related incidents, including exposure to the cold and accidents on icy roads. Temperatures are expected to drop again overnight, even as many are still without heat.

Ukraine latest » Russian drone attacks killed at least three people in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa and injured more than 20 others, including children, according to Ukrainian officials. More than 50 drones slammed into the city on Tuesday, hitting apartment buildings and knocking out parts of the power grid during bitter winter weather.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strikes and urged faster diplomatic efforts to end the war. He said continued attacks undermine talks aimed at stopping the fighting:

ZELENSKYY: [Speaking Ukrainian]

He also added, though, that trilateral talks with the U.S. and Russia are moving forward, with teams focused on security guarantees and Ukraine’s reconstruction.

And President Trump remarked:

TRUMP: We’re looking at some very good things happening on Ukraine and Russia.

Another round of talks between US, Ukrainian, and Russian diplomats is slated for this weekend in Abu Dhabi.

Gaza latest » At the United Nation:

AUDIO: [Memorial prayers]

Jewish prayers were offered Tuesday as the world recognized International Holocaust Remembrance Day. That's the day Soviet forces liberated the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz 81 years ago.

Ninety-one-year-old survivor Marion Blumenthal-Lazan told the assembly:

BLUMENTHAL-LAZAN: Each and every one of us must do everything in our power to prevent such hatred, such destruction, and such terror from recurring. And we can begin by having love, respect, and compassion towards one another, regardless of their religious beliefs, color of skin, or national origin.

Meanwhile in Israel:

SOUND: [Countdown and cheers]

...a crowd cheered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, The celebration came as a clock ticking off the time Israeli hostages have been held in Gaza since the October 7th attacks...was finally stopped...and switched off.

The clock was stopped at 843 days, 12 hours, and 5 minutes … after the remains of the last hostage… Ran Gvili … were returned on Monday.

India - EU trade deal » India and the European Union have reached a sweeping free trade deal, representing roughly a third of global trade. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher reports:

BENJAMIN EICHER: Leaders say the agreement will open markets between two of the world’s largest economies, covering trade that touches nearly two billion people.

The pact cuts tariffs on most goods, including cars, wine, textiles, and medicines.

Officials say it will lower costs for businesses, strengthen supply chains, and boost jobs on both sides.

Some sensitive products, such as dairy, sugar, and certain meats, are excluded.

The agreement also goes beyond trade. India and the EU plan closer cooperation on security and defense … along with easier movement for skilled workers and students.

The deal still needs legal review and approval in Europe.

If that process stays on track, officials expect it to take effect later this year or early next year.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

D.C. midair collision hearing » Federal investigators say a deadly midair collision last year near Washington, D.C. was an unnecessary tragedy.

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy:

HOMENDY:  We should be angry because for years, no one listened. This was preventable. This was 100% preventable.

All 67 people aboard an American Airlines jet were killed when an Army Black Hawk helicopter flew into its flight path.

At a public hearing in Washington Tuesday, investigators said warnings about dangerous helicopter routes around Reagan National Airport went unaddressed for more than a decade.

HOMENDY:  There were 15,214 close proximity events, 85 of which were serious over a number of years.

The crash remains the deadliest aviation disaster in the U.S. since 2001. Since then, the FAA has moved to separate helicopter and airplane traffic and reduce congestion near the airport.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Hunter Baker is standing by with Washington Wednesday. Plus, balancing nutrition and budget.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Wednesday, the 28th of January. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Washington Wednesday!

Well, now that a second person has died at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota, Democrats on Capitol Hill are holding up the government funding process just days ahead of another deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown. World's Carolina Lumetta has more from the Capitol.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: Just five days ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican appropriators celebrated the passage of the final batch of government funding bills for this fiscal year.

JOHNSON: This is a monumental achievement and I think everyone in this room understands what has just been done here.

In the past 30 years, Congress has funded the government with massive omnibus bills that bundle appropriations and other measures together. Speaker Johnson has largely made good on his promise to get back to single issue funding bills, if several months late. Six of the 12 appropriations bills have already passed both chambers and been signed into law. The remaining six were sent to the Senate as a “minibus” last week.

JOHNSON: The House has now passed all 12 appropriations bills and the Senate will soon do the same and the president is going to sign them into law. What a concept, gentlemen.

But now one of the bills in that package has become a sticking point. Democratic senators are threatening to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security in response to the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota. Here’s Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar on Sunday.

KLOBUCHAR: As members of Congress, we are calling on this administration to get ICE out of our towns, off of our streets. It will make us more safe. We, as a congressional group up here, strongly opposed the ICE funding this week.

Denying that funding would affect other DHS agencies, including FEMA and TSA. Back in the House, lawmakers from both parties rejected the White House’s request to increase DHS funding from $64 billion to $175 billion. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on social media over the weekend that Senate Democrats have enough votes to block the entire bill.

But that would not necessarily freeze ICE out of funding. The Big Beautiful Bill passed last year already gave ICE nearly $20 billion per year for the next 4 years.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the president wants to see all the bills pass this week, including the DHS compromise.

LEAVITT: Look, at this point, the White House supports the bipartisan work that was done to advance the bipartisan appropriations package. Uh, and we want to see that passed. Um, policy discussions on immigration in Minnesota are happening.

For their part, Republicans are also expressing concern. The chairs of both the House and Senate Homeland Security committees have demanded immediate hearings with officials from DHS, ICE, Citizen and Immigration Services, and Customs and Border Protection. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March.

If the Senate changes anything in the appropriations bills this week, the House will have to vote again on the revised text, and it is out of session until Monday. If Senate Majority Leader John Thune agrees to split the minibus into 6 pieces, Democrats have said they will vote to pass everything but DHS funding.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta.

MAST: Joining us now to talk about it is political scientist Hunter Baker. He is a WORLD Opinions Contributor. Good morning Hunter!

HUNTER BAKER: Good morning!

MAST: Hunter, the fight over DHS funding is clearly not settled. How do you see this shaking out? And does it even matter, given that ICE has money from the Big Beautiful Bill from last year?

BAKER: I think it's less about having the money to operate than it is about the opportunity for sort of a showdown in the Senate. I think the Democrats were deeply unsatisfied, especially the base with the way the last shutdown ended, not really extracting any concessions. And now here's the here is a real opportunity. Now, in the normal course of events, I would have guessed that this might go through more smoothly, but now you've had real political theater with devastating consequences in Minneapolis and with two people dying, it's a perfect opportunity for Democrats in the Senate to say we're not going to pass the DHS budget unless we have some sort of clear oversight. We rewrite the law, we change the operating procedures, something. So they've got a lot of political wind behind them, and I'm not sure the Republicans will be able to just say no, we're going through with the whole package or nothing.

EICHER: We also heard in Carolina’s report that what the House accomplished is pretty significant, or maybe just a sign of the dysfunction. But the fact is the House actually passed every appropriations bill for the first time in three decades. We’re talking the Bill Clinton administration and Newt Gingrich. How significant is this, you think?

BAKER: It's a very impressive achievement by the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, especially given the ultra slender majority with which he is operating. I mean, there's just just tremendous discipline. It's really good work to some extent. It's a shame that it's going to prove to be a lot rockier ground in the Senate, but I do want to say, I think that the house should be congratulated for this good work, and I hope it's a sign of returning to the more traditional kind of budgetary order that we've had in the past.

MAST: A federal judge in Minnesota has ordered the acting head of ICE to appear in court—personally, this week—to explain why he should not be held in contempt.

Judge Patrick Schiltz says ICE has repeatedly violated court orders tied to the administration’s immigration surge in Minnesota. He’s called the extent of those violations “extraordinary” … and he’s warning that the court’s patience has run out.

The order comes amid a flood of cases tied to federal immigration enforcement. That includes challenges over detainee transfers, evidence preservation, and whether the federal presence itself has crossed constitutional lines.

So just one more major development in this incredibly tense standoff between the Trump administration and state and local officials in Minnesota.

Where do you see things standing at this moment, Hunter?

BAKER: Hunter, I'm not on the inside of ice, so I have to try to look at the situation and figure out what's going on. Now, the word that you use, that I would focus on, is flood, a flood of cases. I think that when you're dealing with the incredibly huge number of people who have come over the border, and the number who may appeal to the right of due process in the course of resisting deportation is very large, and so I would not be surprised if the agency and its leadership is overwhelmed with all that they're trying to manage and deal with, not only on the sort of legal court side of things, but also with regard to these large scale actions in places like Minneapolis. So I suspect that they're not just being recalcitrant, but they may actually, to some degree, be overwhelmed.

EICHER: I do want to pick up on that word overwhelmed, though Hunter, because I think that's what we're seeing at the White House, certainly a rattled White House making dramatic personnel changes.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been pulled off day-to-day oversight of the operation. Border czar and former ICE director Tom Homan is now effectively in charge on the ground. Homan reporting directly the president, even though Noem is his boss. That is pretty significant.

But you could feel the ground shifting ... after days of clashes between federal agents and protesters, and that second fatal shooting, not to mention what we just talked about with the federal judge.

So how much trouble is Kristi Noem in at Homeland Security and to be fair, is she going to be the administration’s fall guy or fall girl here?

BAKER: Well, there's political theater and there's governmental effectiveness, and I think that both of those things are coming together with regard to this situation. So on the one hand, when things go badly, the public expects accountability. They expect, you know, somebody to pay a price, and in this case, I think it's Christy Nome and maybe those who are tightly tied to her, and at the same time showing that he's doing something about it, Trump is not is putting Tom Homan in charge. And I think that not only is that kind of a good symbolic move for the public, but I think it's actually a good move in terms of just operating effectiveness, Homan has a long record of doing really well with the border and immigration. Did well in the Obama Administration, has done well with Trump and has ascended to this role, and I think it's good that he's in charge. And the other thing I want to say is we've seen a report in The Wall Street Journal that there's been a divide between Homan and Nome and maybe Stephen Miller over what's the right approach. Homan has favored going after those with criminal records, whereas Miller and Nome have been more interested in these kind of large scale actions. Well, now that. Things have gone badly in Minneapolis. It strengthened homan's hand, and I think we're going to move more in that direction of going after criminals, which I think is going to be more popular with the public at large.

MAST: Hunter, the president had suggested recently he could use the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, allowing him to use the military or National Guard in law enforcement. Now I know you don’t favor that, we’ve talked about it before, because it would likely only increase tensions. But go with me here for a second … Minnesota stands out for how vehemently protestors have interacted with federal law enforcement. Still, I still can’t help but wonder… if the federal officers move out, doesn’t that reward a violent resistance?

BAKER: Yeah, and I think that's something that's worth worrying about. I think that a lot of people in Minneapolis, people in responsible positions, have acted quite badly. I think that the governor has acted badly. I think that a number of other elected officials have acted badly. I think that the governor, referring to the Gestapo and comparing this situation to the case of Anne Frank, who died in the Holocaust, is completely out of bounds and in poor taste and inflaming people. So I think that all of that is bad. And then on top of that, yeah, let's talk about the Insurrection Act. You, if you go back and you look at it, one of the clear elements within law has to do with combinations of people who are acting to prevent the enforcement of federal law that's happening. We've seen that. We've heard about kind of the Signal chats and the coordination, and this is not just simple protest. There has been intimidation and confrontation. So legally, I think that the definition is there. I think that somebody could act on that, but you you have to have the support of the public when it comes to carrying out your agenda, and I am worried that if the Trump administration sort of invoked the insurrection act and started prosecuting people, that things would actually get worse rather than better. You want to keep your base, but you always have to worry about the people in the middle as well. And the people in the middle are the people who are alarmed by actions that they think are too extreme, or if the tone is wrong, or things like that. That's not just squishiness when we talk about things like that. That's where we start talking about winning or losing, and we need to always remember that politics has to do with winning, not losing.

MAST: Hunter Baker is a WORLD Opinions contributor and provost at North Greenville University. Thank you, Hunter.

BAKER: Thank you.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

World Tour, with our reporter in Africa, Onize Oduah.

Nigeria

We start today in Nigeria, where U-S officials are sending equipment and intelligence support to back the battle against an ongoing Islamist insurgency.

Lieutenant General John Brennan is the deputy commander of the United States Africa Command.

JOHN BRENNAN: It's the whole gamut of intel sharing, sharing TTPs -- tactics, techniques, and procedures -- as well as enabling them to procure more equipment, the right equipment that will be the most effective against ISIS and other VEOs.

Brennan’s comments come after U.S. and Nigerian officials last week held the first meeting of their Joint Working Group in the capital city of Abuja.

He said the U.S. cooperation with Nigeria is part of a larger effort to squash operations of insurgents affiliated with the Islamic State.

BRENNAN: From Somalia to Nigeria, the problem set is connected. So we're trying to take it apart and then provide partners with the information they need to go do counterterrorism operations. It’s been about more enabling partners and then providing them equipment and capabilities with less restrictions so that they can be more successful.

The U.S. launched airstrikes in northwest Nigeria on Christmas Day. Brennan said the strikes targeted operations of the Islamic State in the region.

Iran unrest

Next, to Iran, where a government crackdown on protests is still playing out.

On Sunday, Iranian authorities unveiled a mural in a Tehran square as a direct warning against any U.S. intervention. The image of a bloodied deck of an aircraft carrier comes as U.S. warships head to the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Iran that he will resort to military force if Iran continues to kill protesters or executes those arrested.

Esmail Baghaei is Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman.

ESMAIL BAGHAEI: [FARSI] The arrival of a certain warship (USS Abraham Lincoln) is not going to shake Iran’s will or determination to defend the country with full force. We have both the will and the full capability to defend Iran, backed by our people and by the experience we have built up over the past decades.

He says here that the warship’s arrival will not shake Iran’s will and capability to defend itself.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah insurgent group has said it is preparing for a possible U.S. attack on Iran, but shied away from saying if it planned to intervene.

Iranian authorities have said more than 3,000 people have died since anti-government protests began in December, but a U.S. rights group has said the actual toll is more than double that number. More than 41,000 others have been arrested.

Israel protests

SOUND: [Protesters]

Over in Israel, protesters crowded the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday for a weekly rally against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration.

Demonstrators voiced concern over the protracted Gaza war that began more than two years ago.

Eran Kamin is a former head of the police investigation division.

ERAN KAMIN: [HEBREW] When you deceive so many people for so long, you are no longer able to speak the truth, you are unable to take responsibility, you cannot bow your head.

He accuses Netanyahu of failing to take responsibility for the country’s situation.

The protests came after Netanyahu met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner earlier on Saturday.

On Monday, Israel received the remains of an Israeli police sergeant. He was the last of the Israeli hostages still in Gaza. Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel will reopen Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt after nearly two years of closure.

Panda diplomacy

SOUND: [Parkgoers in Ueno Zoo]

We wrap up in Japan, where families paid their final visits to twin pandas at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo before they returned to China yesterday.

China sent pandas to Japan for the first time in 1972 as a sign of warming diplomatic relations. The end of the latest lease comes as current relations between the two countries have grown increasingly tense.

China has limited tourism to Japan since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in November said the military could intervene if China acts against Taiwan.

Tokyo resident Sachiko Ishizaki visited the pandas on Sunday.

SACHIKO ISHIZAKI: [JAPANESE] I hope they come back again soon. Ueno zoo without pandas is too sad, if anything, it feels strange to be without them.

She says the zoo will feel strange without the pandas present.

China has continued to lease out pandas to other countries, but retains ownership over them and any of their cubs. This marks the first time in half a century that Japan has no panda.

That’s this week’s World Tour. I’m Onize Oduah in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Rhode Island is debating whether it’s time to mash Mr. Potato Head.

Parent company Hasbro is moving its headquarters out to Boston.

Now state lawmakers are looking at getting rid of the Mr. Potato Head specialty license plate.

NEWBERRY: We did them a favor by doing it in the first place. They’ve left. So it’s time to end the favor.

Brian Newberry is a Republican state rep.

But not so fast, supporters of the plate say. That would hurt the Rhode Island Community Food Bank — which gets half the proceeds.

Newberry points out, though, that over the plate’s twenty-four-year run, it’s raised not even $60-thousand dollars total — about twenty-five hundred a year on average.

An impact he says is easily absorbed.

NEWBERRY: They can make donations to the food bank.”

And when you cut out the middleman it’s more for charity—even if the middleman is the beloved Mr. Potato Head.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, January 28th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It:

Shortly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released its new high-protein, whole foods-centric dietary guidelines, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins spoke on News Nation about the guidelines and grocery prices.

ROLLINS: We've run over 1000 simulations. It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken. piece of broccoli, you know, corn tortilla and one other thing. And so there is a way to do this that actually will save the average American consumer money.

EICHER: That set off critics on social media…

FARMER: Please tell me what the something else is. Tell me what it is, Brooke! This is not enough food.

Some questioned the amount of food. Others couldn’t seem to wrap their heads around the per-serving prices.

GREG: Here I've got three chicken breasts, and these are $14.54, so that's well over my $3 so we're already in trouble Brooke. You find these corn tortillas and they're $3.07 so then they're also over my $3. Brooke, I'm having a hard time doing this.

MAST: So what does it take to make a $3 meal these days? We went to the store to find out.

EMMA: Starting car engine.

I shopped for groceries just outside Atlanta, at one of those stores where you rent your cart for a quarter.

Assistant Producer Emma Eicher shopped in Pittsburgh:

EMMA: Corn tortillas…these are just the same size as flour tortillas, and they're cheaper.

In a suburb of Saint Louis, Features Editor Kristen Flavin:

KRISTEN FLAVIN: …We are about to pack up and go to Dierbergs, because they seem to have a better selection of gluten free things.

Washington Producer Harrison Watters took along his wife Naomi:

HARRISON WATTERS: So we're here at the Giant ... So 2.5 pounds times 16 equals 40 ounces.

NAOMI WATTERS: Divide that by three…

Making a $3 dinner meant doing math in the meat aisle.

NAOMI WATTERS: 13 portions.

EMMA: $11.39 for all the groceries. So we'll see how that shakes out into each portion.

Next, cooking it up.

EMMA: I like to roast my broccoli, so I'm gonna go ahead and turn on the oven, chop up the broccoli and get that started first.

FLAVIN: So two ounces is about half a cup of cheese.

WATTERS: We're up to $1.32 in this pan.

FLAVIN: Honestly, I’m going to put a little bit of butter on it.

We met up afterward to talk about it.

MAST: Emma, what did you make?

EMMA: I made a flour tortilla taco with cheese as my dairy and chicken, just pan seared.

Three dollars and seven cents for that plate. Here’s Kristen.

FLAVIN: Okay, so I made a chicken quesadilla with a hefty side of broccoli.

MAST: Okay, so your one extra thing was?

FLAVIN: Mexican style cheese.

She went over the per-meal budget. At $3.71. That’s more than 20%.

FLAVIN: I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants and just getting what I would normally get if I was buying those ingredients.

Harrison Watters got creative with his vegetables to make the math work.

WATTERS: We ended up going for kale instead of broccoli and were able to get an additional onion with that savings and were able to clock it in at under $3.

My Greek-inspired plate–with tzatziki, hummus and cucumber, came out to $2.93.

So it seems like the $3 plate is possible–but shoppers will initially spend more than that at the store. And we’d need to eat the rest of the food purchased to make the math work. Most food isn’t sold in servings as small as Rollins mentioned.

WATTERS: If you want to pay $3 per serving, you're going to have to get a lot more of the ingredient, like…$20, $25 worth of ingredients in order to get a $3 portion.

But you don’t necessarily have to buy in bulk, either. That surprised Emma.

EMMA: I bought two chicken breasts, and then I bought 10 count of tortillas, one thing of cheese, and then two small crowns of broccoli and it still evened out to three dollars.

But we had some questions, too. Like how the budget would work if you wanted to buy, say, steak. Or fish.

Another question: how filling is it? All of us said we could have eaten more. Depending on the “something extra,” the calories on the meals ran anywhere from just under 600 to about 800.

WATTERS: I think I got to about 80% full eating that. But I definitely did do a follow up cheese quesadilla.

A possible budget-blower.

Cost also isn’t the only factor to consider. Accessibility matters, too. Census data from 2019 shows nearly 19 million Americans live in low-income areas with little to no access to a supermarket. That’s roughly 5 percent of the population.

Rollins again:

ROLLINS: That's what we have to focus on, especially for our again, most vulnerable Americans who don't have a big grocery store a block from their house.

She highlighted the administration’s actions to require convenience stores to stock more groceries in order to keep participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

ROLLINS: So you'll begin to see that that aperture open up with more healthy foods available, especially for those with the least among us, that can serve about $3 a meal for that healthy meal for their kids.

For those with easy access and plenty of money, though, the question can become how much is enough? Kristen:

KRISTEN: My daughter, her line is, “what are you eating? Can I have some?” And it doesn't matter if she's actually hungry. She just wants to eat what's in front of her at that moment. And so there's been a lot of conversations that we've had just in terms of not wasting and being good stewards of the food that we have and the resources that God has given us.

EMMA: I just think that this was a good exercise in that of being really mindful of looking at the price tag and saying, you know, how much am I willing to spend?

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. As the nation looks ahead to its 250th anniversary, one Founder’s voice still echoes across the centuries.

An elder statesman at the birth of the republic, he helped invent modern America—and warned it could not survive on human ingenuity alone.

MAST: WORLD Opinions commentator Daniel Darling looks back at Benjamin Franklin, his unfinished faith, and his enduring belief that God governs in the affairs of men.

DANIEL DARLING: Franklin had just two years of formal schooling. But he became a polymath.

He made his first mark as a writer, publishing under the pseudonym Silence Dogood. He later founded the Pennsylvania Gazette and produced Poor Richard’s Almanac, still read nearly three centuries later.

By his early forties, Franklin had earned enough from printing to retire. Then he got busy.

He invented the lightning rod and bifocals. He helped found America’s first lending library, its first fire department, and the University of Pennsylvania. He improved colonial mail service. And through it all, Franklin showed a relentless curiosity about how the world works—and how societies hold together.

That curiosity shaped his moral outlook, too.

Former Secretary of State Tony Blinken once summed it up this way—quoting Franklin himself:

BLINKEN: No one knew better than Mr. Franklin the power of personal engagement, relationship building, and simply having a good time together—as he said, “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better person.”

But Franklin’s most enduring work was not his inventions.

It was the country he helped bring into being.

Early on, Franklin hoped reconciliation with Britain was possible. But as tensions mounted, he became convinced the American cause was just. He served on the drafting committee for the Declaration of Independence and helped shape its language. And he understood the danger.

In a White House dramatization of the period, Franklin puts it plainly:

FRANKLIN: Nothing compared to the moment when I signed my name to our Declaration of Independence—knowing full well it might be my death warrant. “We must all hang together, or we shall most assuredly hang separately,” I quipped.

That line may be apocryphal—but the risk was not.

Franklin was older than most of the Founders—a steady, seasoned presence. During the Revolution, his diplomacy helped secure vital support from France. And at the Constitutional Convention, he often acted as a mediator when tempers flared and progress stalled.

Franklin grew up in a Christian home, but he never fully embraced the faith of his parents.

He was a friend of evangelist George Whitefield, attended his sermons, and even published them. But Franklin never trusted in Christ’s finished work—the grace that forgives sin and transforms the heart.

Still, Franklin understood something essential.

He understood Providence.

Late in the Constitutional Convention, after days of deadlock, the aging Founder rose and reminded his colleagues that nations do not rise by human effort alone. One dramatization captures his plea:

FRANKLIN: How has it happened that we have forgotten to humbly implore the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding? During the late contest with Great Britan we many times offered prayers for help, in this very room. And our prayers were heard and they were graciously answered. The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall without His notice, is it probable that a great nation can rise without His aid

Franklin was right.

After the Constitution was completed, Franklin was asked what the delegates had created. U.S. Senator Rand Paul later recounted the exchange this way:

RAND PAUL: A woman asked Franklin, ‘What have you brought us—a republic, a democracy, a monarchy?’ And Franklin replied, ‘A republic—if you can keep it.’

We have kept it for two and a half centuries.

Let us pray, by God’s strength, that we keep it for the next 250 years as well.

For WORLD, I’m Daniel Darling.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Tomorrow: Can the Board of Peace stabilize Gaza? We’ll have a report. And, pro-life groups look for ways to serve the online generation. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

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: “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” —Matthew 18:1-4

Go now in grace and peace.

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