The World and Everything in It: June 13, 2024

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: The World and Everything in It is here only because of the gifts of listeners like you!

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s WORLD’s June Giving Drive and we hope this month you’ll think about the value of this daily program, what it’s worth to you, and then consider your part in helping support this work. wng.org/donate  is where you can make a secure online gift.

BROWN: Now, today’s program. Enjoy!

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! Illegal immigration overwhelms the U.S. Southern border…and it’s creating problems up North, as well.

HUTCHINSON: We have a wide open, vast border with no natural physical barriers and very few man-made ones.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also, France gets ready for snap elections. Plus, a basketball legacy that was shaped by one man.

DEJONG: Every year, I get a note from him every year before the season starts and after the season's over, it's always encouraging. I don’t know how he does it.

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on Europe’s shift to the right.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, June 13th. 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: Time for news. Here’s Kent Covington.

HOUSE VOTE: On this vote, the yeas are 216, the nays are 207. The resolution is adopted.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Garland contempt of Congress » House Republicans have voted to hold  Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress … and refer him for criminal charges.

The historic vote comes after Garland refused to hand over audio recordings of President Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur. The audio reportedly pertains to Biden's handling of classified documents.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise:

SCALISE:  You look at the White House themselves, they've acknowledged that as they've turned over the transcripts, those transcripts have been edited. Well, there's one way you can find out what the edits were, and that is to actually get the source tape, get the audio.

The special counsel’s probe found that Biden wilfully retrained classified documents from his time as vice president after leaving office. But Hur opted not to recommend charges.

Garland declined to comply with a subpoena for the recording after the White House claimed executive privilege.

Democrats accuse House Republicans of playing politics. Congressman Jerry Nadler:

NADLER:  Like most of the bills House Republicans have pushed on purely partisan lines, this contempt resolution will do very little, other than smear the reputation of Merrick Garland.

Merrick Garland responded by accusing House Republicans of using a serious Congressional authority as a political weapon.

Cease-fire latest »  Secretary of State Tony Blinken says Hamas wants numerous changes to a U.S.-backed Gaza cease-fire plan.

BLINKEN:  We discussed those changes last night with Egyptian colleagues and today with the Prime Minister. Some of the changes are workable, some are not.

Blinken did not specify what those changes might be.

The Secretary's in Qatar, pushing a plan that has global support, but Hamas has not agreed.

Some Israeli leaders have not been on board either, even though the White House says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed his support for the U.S. proposal.

Russia sanctions & Ukraine long-term security » As world leaders gather in Italy today for the G-7 summit, President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to sign a new security agreement.

And National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says the Kremlin should take note.

SULLIVAN: By signing this, we'll also be sending Russia a signal of our resolve. If Vladimir Putin thinks that he can outlast the coalition supporting Ukraine, he's wrong. 

The agreement is expected to include more military aid such as Patriot missile systems, financial support, and more.

The U.S. is also widening sanctions, taking aim at both Russia directly, and financial institutions in China and elsewhere that are helping prop up Russia’s economy.

Russian vessels in Cuba » Meantime, just 90 or so miles from South Florida a convoy of Russian Navy ships has arrived in Cuba, including a nuclear-powered submarine.

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh:

SINGH: We’re always constantly going to monitor any foreign vessels operating near U.S. territorial waters. We of course take it seriously, but these exercises don’t pose a threat to the United States.

U.S. officials add the submarine is not carrying nuclear weapons.

Still, this is Russia’s largest show of force in Cuba in years with U.S.-Russia tensions already elevated over Ukraine.

Fed interest rates » Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says when it comes to curbing inflation we’re getting close, but we’re not there yet.

POWELL: Inflation has eased substantially from a peak of 7 percent to 2.7 percent but is still too high. 

Inflation still hasn’t cooled to the Fed’s target of 2 percent. So for now, the central bank’s key rate will stay put at 5.3 percent.

Powell says the Fed now expects to make only one rate cut between now and the end of the year.

Port of Baltimore reopened » Maryland Governor Wes Moore with an announcement 11 weeks in the making.

The Port of Baltimore has fully reopened for the first time since the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March.

Officials say commercial shipping traffic in the port should be back to normal levels next month. Federal, state, and local governments teamed up on a $160 million effort to clear the channel.

SBC vote » The Southern Baptist Convention has voted to condemn in vitro fertilization — or IVF.

Voting representatives at the SBC’s annual meeting like Monica Hall say the process destroys human life by creating embryos that won’t have a chance at birth.

HALL: Nothing in the process of IVF upholds the sanctity of life. There is no way to describe the treatment of embryos at any point in the IVF process as ethical or dignified.

But a vote to enshrine a ban on women pastors in the SBC Constitution failed, garnering 61 percent support instead of the supermajority needed.

BARBER: The amendment not having found two thirds in favor, the amendment is lost.

Many who voted against the amendment support the denomination’s official doctrinal position that only men can serve as pastors.

But because the SBC can already remove churches with women pastors on a case-by-case basis, as it has each of the past two years, they didn’t think the amendment was needed.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Border security up north. Plus, mentorship on the basketball court.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday the 13th of June, 2024. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. First up: Protecting the northern border of the United States. The federal government’s been focused lately on the immigration crisis on the southern border. But some lawmakers are raising concerns about the other border.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that encounters at the U.S.-Canada border doubled from about 100,000 two years ago… to nearly 200,000 last year. Those numbers are expected to climb.

BROWN: Illegal crossings in the north are only in the thousands as compared to the millions pouring across the southern border. But some worry that problem is only going to get worse. WORLD Radio’s Mary Muncy reports.

MARY MUNCY: Luke Dyer is the town manager for Van Buren, Maine, a community that borders New Brunswick, Canada.

LUKE DYER: It's a very difficult border to protect because it's so vast and we're so remote—we’re very remote here.

Dyer used to be a law enforcement officer in Van Buren and says he saw smugglers shift from running cigarettes over the border to drugs, and now to trafficking people.

Add to that the problem of illegal immigration as people cross the border on their way to cities like Boston or New York City.

DYER: If they cross the border and just stayed here, it would not take very long for the locals to notify the U.S. Border Patrol and they would be picked up.

There are more border patrol stations near Van Buren than some other towns along the border, but Border Patrol’s resources are still stretched thin. The nearest station to Van Buren monitors about 130 miles of border.

DYER: You have 25 employees at a border station, and only so many of them on the road at a time. And covering that land mass is very difficult.

Congress has tried to address the issue over the last few years.

Last year, the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing pointing to a worsening smuggling problem at the northern border.

Committee Chairman Dan Bishop.

DAN BISHOP: Due to the crisis at the southwest border Secretary Mayorkas surged resources away from other areas critical to homeland security including the northern border. There are now fewer than 2,000 border patrol agents to cover the 3,145 mile land border.

Earlier this year, Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Troy Miller did tell Congress in a budget hearing that this year, border control has hired people directly for the northern border for the first time.

But lawmakers and border towns say there’s still a growing problem.

Montana lawmakers signed a letter last month calling for more resources for the northern border. Meanwhile, a House Judiciary Subcommittee held a hearing in North Dakota. Law enforcement officers and the state attorney general testified to a lack of resources for the nation’s longest land border.

ROGER HUTCHINSON: When I first became sheriff, I do not recall a day that went by that I did not see a patrol agent patrolling.

Roger Hutchinson is the sheriff of the border county, Renville in North Dakota. He testified at the hearing last month.

HUTCHINSON: At one time we had four patrol agents that lived within our county. Now we have one resident agent in our county who works out of Portal Station.

Portal Station is about an hour outside of Renville County.

Hutchinson says since he has a small force, they rely on Border Patrol to help process any people who illegally cross, and if there aren’t enough agents, it’s up to the county to deal with apprehensions, detainment, or damage to property.

HUTCHINSON: We have a wide open, vast border with no natural physical barriers and very few man-made ones.

So who are the people crossing and where are they coming from?

LAURIE TROUTMAN: I think some of the main culprits are a somewhat like reverberation from what we're seeing on the southern border.

Laurie Trautman is the director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University. She says one reason for the surge is that pandemic lockdowns created a backlog for asylum seekers at the northern and southern border. But that’s not all. Back in 2016, Canada removed its visa requirement for Mexican nationals to enter the country.

TRAUTMAN: So there's sort of two things happening. One is, is that more asylum claims being made in Canada, and then people are sort of using Canada as a transit point to come to the U.S., which is, I would say, probably a fairly new trend.

In response to rising numbers of asylum claims, Canadian lawmakers reinstated some visa requirements earlier this year.

Customs and Border protections reports a significant number of people from South America coming across the northern border, but also some from places like China and Ukraine.

Trautman says one key difference between the borders is that if people come from Canada and don’t have a place to go, there isn’t much infrastructure to help them.

TAUTMAN: If you're in a rural community, you don't have the facilities to provide any services. So a lot of times in this community, rely on churches, actually, who will pick them up and give them a ride, or, like, there's no hotels, like there's no accommodation.

I called several churches in Trautman’s part of Northwest Washington State, and some other border towns to ask about this, but they didn’t want to comment on any services they may be providing.

Trautman met with a charity and border patrol a few months ago to try to figure out how to help people coming over the border, but since they’re not refugees, it’s a sticky situation and the charity said they couldn’t help.

TRAUTMAN: The border patrol officer, it was like, ‘Yeah, it'd be three in the morning, and it's like, 30 degrees outside, and there's this family, and they show up in this tiny, little town called Blaine, and, like, there's not even a hotel to put them in.’

The numbers are still small when spread out across communities like Trautman’s, but the running total of border encounters in 2024 is about to pass the 2022 total of nearly 110,000, so she says something needs to change.

TRAUTMAN: It's not a challenge that we've had to deal with. So it's a new challenge, and also one that I think people aren't prepared for.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: the fallout from European parliamentary elections.

Earlier this week, citizens of the European Union voted for their representatives to the EU parliament in Brussels. And results are a marked swing to the right.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: In the wake of those gains for the right, French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved France’s National Assembly, which is its parliament.

That triggers an election later this month. So why would Macron do that?

Breaking it all down for us is WORLD’s Global Desk Chief, Jenny Lind Schmitt.

REICHARD: Good morning, Jenny!

JENNY LIND SCHMITT: Good morning!

REICHARD: Ok, Jenny, can you explain the difference between the EU election and the one Macron is triggering in France?

SCHMITT: Well, first, it's really important to understand we're talking here about two different parliamentary elections for two different legislative bodies at two different levels.

The first election that was held last week was the election for the EU Parliament in Brussels. Now, each EU country sends a number of representatives based on their population to the EU Parliament, and those representatives vote on policy for the entire European bloc. And then the National Assembly is France's own domestic parliament.

As a very, very loose metaphor. You can think about it as the way in U.S. states, we vote for state representatives in our state capital, and we also vote for congressmen and congresswomen to represent our state in Washington, D.C.

REICHARD: Okay, so two different elections. But how do they connect? One triggered the other, right?

SCHMITT: Right. First of all, Europeans tend to use these EU Parliament elections as a referendum for their national leaders, and the message to Macron was very clear: people are unhappy with his policies, both his pro-EU agenda and his domestic policies.

In the EU elections, France's national rally party won 31% of the vote, and that was compared with Macron party, which only got 15% of the vote.

REICHARD: Do you think some of this reaction against Macron is fallout from last year’s fiasco with pension reform?

SCHMITT: Oh, definitely. As you'll recall, the first part of last year, there were massive protests and strikes against Macron raising the retirement age to relieve state finances. It was massively unpopular. In the end, his government pushed through the change, but using a procedural vote, and many people, including Marine Le Pen of national rally, criticized him for that, calling it undemocratic. So this week, Macron spoke about how democratic he's being in calling for new elections. He says he's heard the voice of voters in the EU elections, and now they must be heard in national elections.

REICHARD: Okay, so back to what Macron did this week, what does it mean that he dissolved the National Assembly? Is that a nuclear option or business as usual?

SCHMITT: It just means sending the 577 parliament representatives home, and holding new elections for their seats. Since the beginning of the 5th Republic (that is the French Republic after World War II), there’s only five instances of the president dissolving parliament. The last time was in 1997 under Jacques Chirac because people were so dissatisfied with his Prime Minister.

REICHARD: So what is Macron concerned about that he’s taking this gamble?

SCHMITT: I think he's mainly concerned about Marine Le Pen. She ran against him in the 2022 presidential election, and Le Pen has worked really hard to change her party's image over the past couple decades, from a fringe party to one that's palatable to the majority, and that has been happening. Many voters still see Le Pen and the National Rally as a far right party, and I think that's something Macron is counting on in these legislative elections.

I've already mentioned, in the EU elections, people often vote further left or further right than they would in national elections, so it's possible that Macron wants to force people to reckon with whether or not they really want Le Pen's party in government, and if that's the case, he may already be losing that gamble.

The leaders of Les Republicains which it's a center right Conservative Party, they've already indicated in the last couple days that they'd be willing to cut a deal with Le Pen if her party wins the National Assembly elections. And this is a huge break from the past.

Turnout for the EU elections in France was 45% and I think Macron is betting, and I think we're going to see a much larger voter participation on June 30 and then in the second round on July 7.

REICHARD: Why would Macron risk losing control of Parliament by calling these snap elections?

SCHMITT: It may be a strategic move on the part of Macron. Let me just back up here and explain these legislative elections had been scheduled for in 2027 for a five year term. But for the past several election cycles, both the presidential and the legislative elections have been held around the same time, just a few months apart, but now the terms will be staggered.

That means the next presidential election will be in 2027 but the next legislative elections will be in 2029, so Macron may be hoping that whatever momentum Le Pen and National Rally have going into these legislative elections will have lost steam by the time the French vote for a new president in 2027.

REICHARD: Jenny Lind Schmitt is WORLD’s Global Desk chief, based in Switzerland. Thanks so much.

SCHMITT: You’re welcome!

MLE ANNCR: [Crowd yelling] 5-4-3-2-1

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Competitive eating is so American we even have a major league!

ANNCR: Put down your hotdogs!

Top dog Joey Chestnut has put down plenty! They call him “Jaws” for a reason, you know. He’s won sixteen Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contests.

His record: seventy-six hot dogs and buns in ten minutes!

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: His mama must be so proud!

REICHARD: I guess so. But now Jaws has bitten off more than he can chew. This year Joey Chestnut decided to represent—gasp—a rival brand that sells plant-based hotdogs!

And it’s causing heartburn for Nathan’s Famous contest cofounder George Shea:

GEORGE SHEA: It would be like Michael Jordan saying to Nike, “I’m going to rep Adidas as well.” He’s an American hero and we want him there, and if we can resolve it we absolutely will.

BROWN: With a nickname like Jaws you really can’t be a vegetarian, quite frankly.

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

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 13th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Mentorship. In Iowa, basketball is big, and the biggest name this year…

ANNCR: … the mythical mastery of Caitlin Clark continues [Cheering]

That is University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, a superstar in this year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

REICHARD: But great players start with great coaches. And in the northwest corner of Iowa, a generational legacy has shaped some of the region's top basketball coaches.

World Journalism Institute graduate Josephine Lee has our story.

JOSEPHINE LEE: Les Douma sits in a hospital bed in Orange City, Iowa, recovering from a hip replacement.

DOUMA: ‘What I need to do is just, therapy is the best and just see what happens.

Just one mile away is the college where he coached basketball forty years ago, mentoring dozens of athletes who would become great coaches themselves.

But before Douma was a coach, he was a student athlete in Sheldon, Iowa.

DOUMA: I always liked athletics in high school. So I played all the sports. And I knew by my sophomore year in high school that I wanted to be a basketball coach.

Douma wasn’t skilled enough to play in college. But the example of his high school basketball coach stuck with him.

DOUMA: His name was Fred Brower. And he was just a gentleman. I liked his demeanor. He was an encourager, high expectations.

Douma took many of those qualities into his coaching when he came to Northwestern in 1981. He made it a point to learn as much about the game as he could.

DOUMA: you didn't have the internet, you couldn't go to a computer and checkout, ‘I wonder how this team is playing? Let's watch a game. Let's watch each player.’ So you had to do it, just the old fashioned way.

To research the college’s competition, Douma would call fellow coaches with questions. After his own practices, he would drive out of town to watch other teams play.

BRENT: Dad was extremely detail oriented…

That’s Brent, Les Douma’s oldest son. He played for his dad at Northwestern for four years.

BRENT: And he had things thought out really well over the years of how he wanted his teams to perform, how he wanted to develop his players.

In 1986, Douma’s hard work took the team to the national tournament for the first time in 15 years. Brent and his brother Craig would both go on to become successful coaches.

But Douma was more than focus and drive. He was about people.

BRENT: If some kid went upstairs to his office – he's on the second floor looking at the gym – and they walked in, and they wanted to talk, he dropped what he had to do. When you invest in people like that, the return is the they put it all on the line for you and I think that’s what happened.

AUDIO: [Sound of school]

At MOC Floyd-Valley High School, Loren De Jong has coached basketball for 34 years.

DE JONG: Perfect. Thank you, Donner. Appreciate that.

But before starting his career here, De Jong was a college student at Northwestern’s rival school, Dordt, 11 miles up the road. He would make that trek each week to learn from Douma.

DE JONG: In the summer, he offered a basketball coaching theory class and guess  who took the class? A Dordt guy. That’s how much respect I had for Les.

Some years later, as a young coach, De Jong’s team suffered a major loss in the state tournament. Crushed, he traveled again to see Douma.

DE JONG: I can remember, meeting with Les in the superintendent's office, had some tears in my eyes, because I was just hurt and frustrated, but he took the time to visit with me, took the time to listen. And he gave me some really good advice. And the very next year, we ended up making it all the way to the state championship game.

CHEERING: [Sound from 2005 state championship]

De Jong’s team has played in 8 state tournaments since and won more than 500 games. Douma remains one of De Jong’s greatest mentors.

DE JONG: Every year, I get a note from him every year before the season starts and after the season's over, it's always encouraging. I don’t know how he does it.

De Jong would go on to become Siouxland Basketball Coach of the Year in 2005. He wasn’t the only one. Bill Francis, one of Douma’s athletes, would win the same award 3 years later.

In 2019, Francis’s team would advance and compete for a state championship.

ANNOUNCER: Aiming for Title Number Four…

…which would elude them that year, but next year—2020—they did capture that fourth championship.

At Northwestern, Earl Woudstra and current coach Kris Korver are the winningest coaches in Northwestern history.

AUDIO: [NAIA Tournament game]

They have six national titles between them. Both were mentored by Douma.

AUDIO: [Douma and his son laughing]

But Douma, who retired a few years ago, is thankful for more than just their successes.

DOUMA: You see the investment in it later in life beyond basketball, and they still come and refer to you as friend and you’re privileged to call them friend.

Reporting for the World Journalism Institute, I’m Josephine Lee.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 13th, 2024. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. WORLD Commentator Cal Thomas now with thoughts about what a shift to the political right in Europe might mean for the United States.

CAL THOMAS: The 1970s are remembered for many things: the end of the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon’s resignation from the presidency, American hostages held for 444 days by Iran, and—unfortunately—disco.

In 1978, Pope John Paul II became leader of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher was elected as Britain’s first female Prime Minister. With two conservatives in power the political trifecta was completed with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Those events make me hopeful that a second conservative coming may be about to happen. Once again, large parts of Europe are leading the way.

Mainstream news stories suggest fascism may be about to return to the continent. Using the preferred language of the left, Politico reports that “far-right forces made major gains” and that France’s National Rally is now “the leading ultra nationalist group in the next parliament.” Notice the word choices, including “ultra,” which they never define.

Shouldn’t Europeans be concerned in the same way as many Americans about open borders, high taxes, jobs taken by migrants, lawlessness, crime, and inflation? Add to that centralized government in Brussels, Russia’s hunger for expansion, and a general feeling of despair about where their countries and continent are headed. The European (and American) media continue to frame all things liberal as good—even when their policies fail—and conservative policies bad, even when their policies succeed.

What amazes in Europe and the U.S. is why so many voters seem double-minded when it comes to policies that work and policies that don’t. I think it has something to do with voters who cast ballots based on feelings and a herd mentality, including the vacuous “I’ve always voted this way.”

A debate and an election run strictly on issues, and what has been proven to work in the past, and what hasn’t, would be the way to build and sustain strong nations rather than a “take mentality” based on what you think you are entitled to.

In the U.S., Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is planning a major legislative agenda should Donald Trump win the election and Republicans take control of the Senate and keep their House majority, or expand it. Predictions of a “red wave” didn’t materialize in the 2020 election or 2022 midterms, so Republicans should be humble while working harder this time.

The one unknown is Donald Trump. Unlike Reagan in 1980, Trump has a considerable amount of baggage. So far he has promised to finish the border wall and deport migrants who broke our laws to get here, keep taxes low, build up the military, and other things our system of checks and balances may, or may not, allow him to do.

Four decades ago events in Europe were a foretaste of what was to come in the U.S. Many of the circumstances were the same then. We are about to find out if conservatism with its workable common sense policies will return in November.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. And a review of Disney Pixar’s new sequel Inside Out 2. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

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

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: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” —Hebrews 11:1

Go now in grace and peace.

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