The World and Everything in It: June 12, 2024

NICK EICHER, HOST: The World and Everything in It is made possible by people like us—

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Right! We’re WORLD Movers, too!

EICHER: In fact, I’m making my contribution today to the June Giving Drive.

REICHARD: wng.org/donate

EICHER: I hope you’ll join me and support the work. And that reminds me, it’s time to get to work.

REICHARD: Hope you enjoy!

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! House Republicans get to work on Appropriations, but can they get around the obstacles that tripped them up last time?

GREENE: Biden already said he’s going to veto this one. So what a waste of time!

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead today on Washington Wednesday. Also, WORLD Tour. And later, a beauty salon whose clients are women losing their hair.

COWAN: I cried so many times over my hair. But now I look at what God gave me …

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, June 12th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

REICHARD: Here’s Kent Covington now with the news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Hunter convicted » Hunter Biden’s legal team says it will pursue all avenues for an appeal after a federal jury found him guilty on three felony firearms charges.

He left the Wilmington, Delaware courthouse without comment.

But Special counsel David Weiss, who prosecuted the case, told reporters …

WEISS:  This case was about the illegal choices defendant made while in the throes of addiction, his choice to lie on a government form when he bought a gun, and the choice to then possess that gun.

Weiss added that no one is above the law and everyone must be accountable for their actions …

WEISS: Even this defendant. However, Hunter Biden should be no more accountable than any other citizen convicted of this same conduct.

A sentencing date has not yet been set. Mr. Biden faces up to 25 years behind bars. However, courts rarely throw the book at first-time offenders. And it’s unclear if the prosecution will seek prison time.

He still faces separate charges, though, in California for alleged tax crimes.

AUDIO: [Biden speech]

2. Biden campaigns on gun control » Meantime, President Biden addressed gun control advocates in Washington.

AUDIO: [Biden speech]

He again called for a ban on so-called assault-style weapons and universal background checks for gun purchases.

The president made no mention of his son’s legal woes …

But in a statement, he said “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today” … adding that they are—quote … proud of his strong and resilient recovery.

President Biden later left Washington for his Delaware home where he planned to spend time with Hunter Biden and his family.

Israel/Gaza/cease-fire latest » The Biden administration continues to press Middle Eastern governments to put pressure on Hamas to accept a new cease-fire proposal. Secretary of State Tony Blinken:

BLINKEN: We have the prospect of an immediate ceasefire, building toward an enduring one and tremendous relief for people in Gaza. But also opening prospects for Israel to build enduring security.

Blinken heard there after meetings in Tel Aviv on Tuesday where he said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his support for that proposal.

He later met with the king of Jordan on the matter.

The UN Security Council voted 14 to 0 to approve the cease-fire plan put forward by the White House. Blinken said the international community has spoken with one voice.

BLINKEN: Everyone has said yes, except for Hamas and if Hamas doesn’t say yes, then this is clearly on them.

And a top official with the Palestinian Authority, Sabri Saidam, agreed that the world is largely united behind this proposal.

SAIDAM: We are here to tell the world that enough is enough, and I think the Security Council decision, the consensus to resolve the Arab Israeli conflict, was evident that enough is enough.

The proposal would roll out in three phases, with the first phase calling for a full and immediate cease-fire, with Hamas releasing some of the Israeli hostages it’s still holding.

German Ukraine recovery conference » Meantime, leaders from about a hundred countries will gather this weekend in Switzerland in hopes of charting a course to peace in Ukraine.

ZELENSKYY: [Speaking Ukrainian]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the German Parliament Tuesday. He said while we have a duty to protect our peoples, we have no aim or dream other than a peaceful Europe.

ZELENSKYY: [Speaking Ukrainian]

Zelenskyy spoke ahead of the peace summit at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin … where the focus was largely on the post-war future of Ukraine.

UN Development Program chief Achim Steiner:

STEINER:  And as you can imagine, with millions of people displaced and millions of people being refugees, the importance of helping Ukraine and its economy to continue to function, remains a top priority.

Russia has continued attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and power grid adding daily to the cost of rebuilding in Ukraine.

New U.S. sanctions against Russia » And U.S. National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby says Washington wants to keep driving up costs for the Russian war machine.

The United States is set to announce new sanctions against Russia at this week’s G7 summit in Italy.

KIRBY: We will take bold steps to show Mr. Putin that time is not on his side and that he cannot outlast us as we support Ukraine’s fight for freedom.

This latest round of sanctions will target entities helping Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Southern Baptist Convention » The Southern Baptist Convention has expelled a prominent church from the denomination over its installment of a female pastor. The move came ahead of a vote at this week’s annual convention on the role of women in church leadership. WORLD’s Mark Mellinger has more

MARK MELLINGER: Voting representatives at the convention -known as Messengers- voted overwhelmingly to remove First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia from SBC fellowship.

A woman serves as pastor for women and children, and the church’s doctrine holds that women may serve in any pastoral role.

As the convention meets in Indianapolis this week, messengers will consider adding a formal ban on women pastors to the SBC Constitution. They approved the amendment on a first vote last year, and will vote again soon on whether to finalize that.

The convention’s official statement of doctrine already states that only men should serve as pastors. But some say that should be more clearly defined.

For example, some churches may hire women as ministers of children or music, leading to confusion on whether they’re serving as pastors.

For WORLD, I’m Mark Mellinger.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Getting to work on government funding…on Washington Wednesday. Plus, World Tour.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 12th of June, 2024. This is WORLD Radio and we’re so glad to have you along with us today. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

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

Around this time last year, Congress raised the debt ceiling in exchange for an agreement that’s supposed to limit how much the government spends in 2025. How is that shaping up so far as the Congress starts rolling out appropriations bills?

EICHER: World’s Washington Bureau reporter Leo Briceno has the story.

LEO BRICENO: Last week, the House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill known as MILCON-VA—the first of 12 spending bills needed to fund the government in 2025. This one funds military construction and the department of veteran’s affairs.

Its passage is step one toward what Republicans like Texas Representative Chip Roy hope is a new normal. He told me he doesn’t like the bill’s $378 billion price tag, but he supported it anyway.

ROY: What I do want is regular order. I want to be able to move bills, I’ve always wanted that. So long as we’re doing that and offering amendments on it, I’m for it, even if I don’t love the bill. So long as we’re doing it through the kind of normal processes—let’s move it and see what happens.

The “normal process,” as Roy called it, hasn’t been used for almost half a century. Instead, Congress has paid for all federal expenses each year in a single omnibus package—usually thousands of pages long. Republicans say the rushed procedure leads Congress to increase spending without understanding exactly where tax dollars are going.

Roy and other Republicans say returning to the 12-bill process is central to getting spending under control.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson promised to do just that during the funding battle for 2024. Here’s Johnson at a press conference in January.

MIKE JOHNSON: And it brings Congress much closer to regular order which is our big commitment here. In keeping with my commitment to bring members into the legislative process, I’ve spoken and received feedback from many members all across the Republican conference.

He ultimately fell short of passing the 12 bills this Spring. Now Johnson is trying to make good on that promise for 2025. But already, just one-twelfth of the way there, Johnson faces roadblocks from within the party and without.

Johnson must negotiate to produce legislation that will make it past the Senate—where Democrats hold a majority—and the White House.

He hopes to do that by working within the parameters of an agreement negotiated by his predecessor, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

KEVIN MCCARTHY: We decided that that you had to spend less. And we achieved that goal. Is it everything I wanted? No. But sitting with one House, a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president who didn’t want to meet with us? I think we did pretty good for the American public.

McCarthy heard there shortly after negotiating the Fiscal Responsibility Act in May 2023. At the time, Congress was locked in a battle over whether to raise the amount the government was allowed to borrow. In exchange for lifting that limit, McCarthy secured an agreement from President Joe Biden to limit government funding increases to just one percent in 2025.

Johnson is counting on Democrats honoring that agreement. But many Democrats feel that Republicans are trying to cut more than they promised. Here’s congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida, the ranking member on the Appropriations subcommittee on military constructions, veterans’ affairs, and related agencies. I asked her about the bill outside the House of Representatives.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: The bill’s allocation doesn’t align with the Fiscal Responsibility Act where we agreed—and it’s law—that we’re going to increase defense discretionary and non-defense discretionary by 1%, which we don’t do here. So, this Republican bill, for the first time in all the years that I’ve been on the committee, actually cuts funding for the VA from the previous fiscal year and funding for military construction.

Spending isn’t the only issue. Republicans also want to use the appropriations bills to pass some long-standing policy priorities. The MILCON-VA bill, for instance, carries prohibitions on funding for abortion; eliminates funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion measures; and more. Wasserman-Schultz argues that a bill she proposed adheres more closely to the agreement Biden struck with McCarthy.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: The bill, but for these poison-pill riders and the decision by the leadership on their side not to adhere to the Fiscal Responsibility Act you wouldn’t really be able to tell the difference between the bill he brought to the congress and the one that I did.

President Biden has said he will veto the Republican version of the MILCON-VA bill if it reaches his desk. To do that, it would first need to pass the Senate, where Democrats hold the Majority. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not said whether he intends to take up the measure.

Meanwhile, Johnson faces pushback within the GOP as members push him to advance conservative policy aims. Some Republicans are already calling for Johnson’s job.

His most vocal critic, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, doesn’t think the speaker’s efforts are going anywhere.

GREENE: It’s absurd, and Republicans want to be up like, ‘oh we’re going to be up here passing our 12 separate appropriations bills’ that are going nowhere by the way. They’re not going nowhere. Biden already said he’s going to veto this one, MILCON, so what a waste of time! It’s an absolute waste of time. We should be actually doing something. Because everyone that voted to send us here wants us to do something.

Greene’s pessimism isn’t just theoretical. In the past, Republicans have shied away from funding fights on the eve of an election. Government funding runs out in October, and a government shutdown could hurt Republicans at the polls in November.

Republicans could pass a funding extension known as a continuing resolution, or CR, before the Fall, then come back in January, after the election, and press the attack on funding.

It’s risky, though, because if Republicans don’t retain the House, spending could be completely out of their hands.

I asked Roy if he would stand behind the plan.

ROY: Yeah, I’ve been pretty public in saying that we ought to consider doing a CR, but only if that CR extends into ‘25. I have no interest in a lame duck CR. I think if you do that and you do it before August, you can continue to have a full and unfettered debate on appropriations and see what we can get done. But yeah, do a CR before August, get it out, send it into 2025, and then move forward.

For now, Republicans will attempt to use the rest of the summer to continue passing their appropriations packages. And next up on that list later this month is Defense funding.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leo Briceno.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

DRC trial — We start today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where three Americans have appeared before a military court.

In May, authorities killed Christian Malanga—a Congo-born American citizen—as he led a coup attempt. They also detained three Americans: Malanga’s son, Marcel, Tyler Thompson, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun.

Lawyer David Kalanga represents some of the accused.

KALANGA: [Speaking French]

He called for the suspects’ right of defense to be protected, saying that some of them are innocent.

The American Embassy in the country said Congolese authorities have not shared information or provided access to the detained Americans.

The case will resume on Friday.

AUDIO: [Yelling crowd]

Kashmir attack — Over in Asia, at least nine people died in the Indian-controlled Kashmir region after gunmen targeted a bus of Hindu pilgrims. At least 33 other people were injured.

Here’s police officer Mohita Sharma.

SHARMA: [Speaking Hindi]

She says here that the militants hid and waited, before ambushing the bus and opening fire on it. The driver then lost control of the bus and crashed into a gorge.

India and neighboring Pakistan have both battled for control of Kashmir since 1947. Authorities blamed the latest attack on Muslim militants who oppose Indian rule.

The incident occurred an hour before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office for his third term after an extensive electoral process.

Swiss summit for Ukraine — Over in Switzerland, authorities on Monday confirmed that 90 nations and groups will take part in a summit this month to chart the way forward for Ukraine.

Switzerland agreed in January to host the summit after a request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Swiss President Viola Amherd:

AMHERD: [Speaking German]

She says here that the talks will focus on drafting a possible framework and schedule for peace between the warring countries.

Swiss authorities said Russia was not invited since it showed no interest in participating.

China and Brazil have said they will be absent unless both Russia and Ukraine are present.

The two-day summit is scheduled to begin on Saturday.

Sudan unrest — We close today in Sudan where worsening fighting is driving up humanitarian needs.

Fighting between the military and a powerful paramilitary force began more than a year ago. About 100 people died after the paramilitary group attacked a village in the eastern Gezira state last week.

Fighting has also worsened in the hard-hit cities of Khartoum and el-Fasher. Doctors at one of the last functional hospitals in el-Fasher said they closed down after paramilitary fighters attacked workers and carted off drugs and medical equipment.

The World Food Program has expanded its emergency food assistance as concerns of famine increase.

Michael Dunford is the East Africa Regional Director of the World Food Program.

DUNFORD: We need an end to the conflict, at a minimum we need a cease-fire. We need to be able to scale our operations and for that we need the humanitarian access. We need long-term political intervention that will allow the peace to hold.

The food agency has now doubled the number of people it planned to support at the beginning of the year.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Alright this one has all the hallmarks of a fish story … minus the bait, the hooks, the fish, and the boat.

Nope, this is about a heavy-duty magnet, a rope ,and a muddy stream. Magnet fishing!

CANE: Whoa, that’s definitely another safe. Oh I see a box. Oh, that’s money. No way. Yea! No way. Stacks of bills, dude! Hundreds! (gasps)

That’s the voice of James Cane and the dude is his girlfriend and fishing buddy Barbi Agostini. They pulled up a big rusty safe filled with sludge-covered Benjamins. 80-grand worth, if you can believe it!

MARY REICHARD, HOST: No wonder you called it a fish story.

EICHER: It’s real. And the police confirmed: finders, keepers — not catch-and-release. Next call: the Bureau of Engraving and Printing about the unusable but valuable bills…

CANE: And they won’t give you the new money. They’re actually just gonna cut you a treasury check, to, you know, direct deposit.

No cutting, no gutting, no scaling, just a prize catch with a lot of zeroes. It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, June 12th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a beauty salon for those who’ve lost their hair.

Sometimes it’s genetics. Sometimes it’s due to illness, or the treatment for an illness.

The American Cancer Society predicts that the U-S will see higher-than-usual cancer diagnoses this year. Around 2 million, it says, and about half the patients—women.

EICHER: For many cancer patients, beating the illness means hair loss and the emotional pain that can come with it. But in a small Georgia town, there is a place of refuge. Mid-career WJI correspondent Jen Curtis paid a visit.

AUDIO: [Talking, hair dryer]

JEN CURTIS: Shirley Cook is sitting in a bubblegum pink salon chair — proud and brave and ready to model a new hairpiece. Her husband is there to compliment her strength and beauty, and throw out an occasional joke. The mood is happy and the decor reflects that—inspiring quotes cover every wall. Many who find themselves in this salon are here because of a diagnosis.

SHIRLEY COOK: Well, they said it’s curable. I’ve got to deal with this.

For Cook, that diagnosis is cancer. During her treatment she will lose her hair. Today she made her way to the Georgia Hair Solutions Salon in Jackson, Georgia.

Diana Cowan owns the salon.

DIANA COWAN: I had big hair in high school and then I started losing my hair after I had kids. It just got thinner and thinner and it's devastating to lose your hair as a woman.

In 2007, she was diagnosed with alopecia.

COWAN: I tried every vitamin, every product, everything that you know, the next and latest and nothing worked. And as a woman, like, it's just, it's hard and then you hear Satan in your head saying your husband can't love you.

She begged God to heal her and make her hair grow back. Instead, a ministry grew. She now helps women feel beautiful inside and out while they deal with hair loss due to medical challenges.

COWAN: I now look at my alopecia as the greatest gift God gave me. It is such a gift that he gave me.

One day an online search led her to discover a topper made of human hair. She tried it on and for the first time in years felt comfortable with the way she looked.

COWAN: And I remember all the way home I felt so clear God say, “You can keep it a secret and nobody's going to know. Or you can use this for my glory.”

She started selling hair toppers and wigs from her bathroom. Her business grew quickly.

COWAN: Ms. Shirley, you’re the queen, so you get the queen chair.

With each new client, Cowan starts by listening to the woman's story of medical details and emotional struggles. Shirley Cook describes what will be a tough few months, but a good prognosis.

COOK: But I’m afraid it’s going to fall out and I want to be prepared.

Cowan takes off her own wig and Cook relaxes. The outward beauty Cowan possesses turns to vulnerability to console those in pain. The women’s shared experience of losing their hair bonds them.

COOK: They don’t have to have bangs, but they can have bangs.

COWAN: So I get to play!

Cowan peppers her with questions about length, color and style. Most clients choose to look like they did before treatment, but some want to go with a bold new hairdo they have always dreamt about.

COWAN: They’re just slightly different colors than what you have.

HUSBAND: That makes you look about 30 years younger.

COWAN: Thirty years younger? All right then score! You’ve got to have this one no matter what, don’t ya?

Cowan is most proud of the small room near the front door. It is a place of solace in an otherwise bustling space. Worship music plays softly. A wood cross adorns the main wall. Squares of cardstock cover the cross, each with a name of someone fighting cancer.

COWAN: My husband, he built me this. So people come in and they'll say, “Hey, I've got somebody. Can you add Ms. Shelby up here?” So we go and we write their name or they write their name and we hang it on the wall. And I have people committed to come and pray over this wall all the time.

The salon is a place of refuge for Cook. She has picked out the perfect wig, but before she leaves, Cowan prays for her.

COWAN: I pray to God for Mr. Gene as he is going through this with her, to support her, and love her…

Cowan's own pain gives her compassion for each woman who walks through her door.

COWAN: For me to take my hair off and say listen, I cried so many times over my hair. But now many many more years later I look at what God gave me and I'm happy that this happened. But he's going to use it. Romans 8:28. I promise you as hard as that is, that's my life verse. He's going to use it all for his glory.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Jen Curtis in Jackson, Georgia.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, June 12th, 2024. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

WORLD Commentator Janie B. Cheaney now with a study that shows the limits of technology compared to God’s design.

JANIE B. CHEANEY: I’m addicted to baby videos on YouTube. I could do without the filters, voice-overs and goofy music—just give me those puffy cheeks and adult expressions imitated on little round faces. They’re so unbelievably cute we forget what’s going on in their rapid-fire brains.

I recently read about a study conducted at Stanford involving 25 babies, ages 6 months to 2 ½ years. This is probably the prime age for language learning: at the low end of that age range a baby is starting to connect objects with words, and by the end most toddlers are putting words together in complete sentences.

The study involved the BabyView camera, developed by the Center for Open Science. This is a light device with a small mic mounted on a soft helmet fitted to the baby’s head. Those who could tolerate this apparatus wore it for about two hours per week over a period of 2 years. Visual and audio inputs were recorded and algorithms applied. The purpose was to enter a baby’s world, as much as possible, to get some insight into how she learned her communication skills.

Also, how those natural techniques might be applied to machine learning. Large language models like OpenAI “learn” by exposure to hundreds of billions of words in context, but most babies need to hear a word only once or twice before they know it. They also seem to know how to apply it—how the word “tree,” for example, refers to the whole tree, not just a branch or a leaf.

The debate rages on about whether infant brains are pre-programmed for language learning or whether they arrive in the world with blank, but highly absorbent, minds. Researchers who study them agree on one thing. Brendan Lake, a cognitive scientist at New York University who studies his own daughter through a BabyView camera, puts it this way: “Children are the most impressive learners in the known universe.”

Every parent knows this if they pause to watch. I remember taking my daughter to the laundromat when she was about four months old. I had propped her in her car seat on the table while I was folding clothes, and suddenly I noticed her looking at her hands. Not looking—studying. Her eyes followed them as her fingers flexed and her fists waved, and it was as if I could see her making the connection: These are mine. I can do things with these. Soon she would be grasping and reaching. Soon she would be pointing and asking: What’s this? What’s that? Soon she would be using those hands to repair airplanes, and then changing her own babies’ diapers as they studied their hands.

Baby learning is both natural and miraculous. If you happen to be near a baby, take time to watch it happen, and praise the Lord for this wonderful work.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Illegal immigration isn’t only a problem at the U.S. Southern border. We’ll have a report on what’s happening up north. And a basketball coach whose mentorship shaped some of the top coaches in the NCAA. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

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: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” —Hebrews 10:23-25

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.