The World and Everything in It: June 23, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. Hi. My name is Alex Graziani, and I'm from Western Pennsylvania. I want to say happy anniversary to my beautiful wife Eva, who is also a daily listener, on June 24th. We celebrate 34 years of God blessed marriage. God is so good. I hope you enjoyed today's program.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! Today on Culture Friday: The Dobbs decision, year one remembering the day Roe versus Wade died.

NICK EICHER, HOST: We’ll talk with John Stonestreet about pro-life accomplishments over the past year, and lessons learned.

Also today, the movies went from bleak to bright 40 years ago reflecting a more optimistic time. 

AUDIO: That guy in the corner. Yeager’s his name. He’s some kind of war hero.

And have you ever heard of a backronym? Well, if you haven’t, you will soon. It’s Word Play with George Grant.

BROWN: It’s Friday, June 23rd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

BROWN: Time for news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Atlantic sub » A tragic ending to the search for a missing submersible vessel carrying five people the wreckage of the Titanic.

Rear Admiral John Mauger says the U.S. Coast Guard:

JOHN MAUGER: Discovered the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the titanic on the sea floor.

Retired submarine captain Bill Toti told WORLD that it appears the vessel was about a hour-and-a-half into the two-and-a-half-hour descent to the ocean floor when the vessel imploded.

BILL TOTI: Which meant that there had to be some sort of defect present on the day that they were going down, because that’s nowhere nowhere near what we call the test depth, which is where you expect the hull to fail.

He said possible explanations include a welding defect or problems with carbon fiber components used to make the vessel.

All five occupants were likely killed instantly.

Modi visit » At the White House on Wednesday, President Biden welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi for an official state visit.

President Biden said they discussed the partnership in the so-called “Quad.”

JOE BIDEN: And how India and the United States, together with Australia and Japan, can ensure the vital Indo-Pacific region remains free.

The White House increasingly sees the US relationship with India as critical to countering China’s influence in that region and around the world.

The two leaders talked about launching new partnerships in defense and the manufacturing of semiconductors, among other things.

Schiff censure reaction » House Democrats are circling the wagons around Congressman Adam Schiff … after the Republican majority voted to censure the congressman this week.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries:

HAKEEM JEFFRIES: The extreme MAGA Republicans are increasingly dominating the activity that is occurring amongst the House Republican Conference.

The censure refers Schiff to the House Ethics Committee for investigation.

GOP Congressman Russell Fry:

RUSSELL FRY: Adam Schiff for years lied to the American people. He used his position on the Intelligence Committee to pedal these lies constantly.

Republicans specifically cite claims that Schiff made about supposed collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign which later proved to be false.

Biden impeachment push » A group of House Republicans forced a vote Thursday to move forward with impeachment proceedings against President Biden.

GOP Congresswoman Lauren Boebert said the House is making history.

LAUREN BOEBERT: For the first time in 24 years, a House Republican-led majority is moving forward with impeachment proceedings against a current president.

Boebert, backed by allies, was able to use House rules to force a snap vote. The 219-208 party-line vote sent her resolution to committees for possible consideration. They cite Biden’s handling of the border crisis as cause.

But Committees are under no obligation to act.

And Speaker Kevin McCarthy said investigations in House committees should play out first.

KEVIN MCCARTHY: This is one of the most serious things you can do as a member of Congress.

He said Republicans need to build a strong legal case before even considering impeachment.

SCOTUS Navajo » The Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling says the government is not responsible for supplying water to Native American reservations.

A Navajo reservation argued that an 1868 treaty guaranteed the nation a sufficient water supply from the government.

Frederick Liu is an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general.

LIU: The 1868 Treaty didn't impose on the United States, a duty to construct pipelines, pumps, or wells to deliver water. Those affirmative duties aren't part of the treaty. And because the government has never expressly accepted those duties, the Navajo nation's breach of trust claim can't proceed.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion and said that it is not the role of the court to rewrite and update treaties.

Florida Supreme Court won’t reinstate » The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday refused to reinstate a prosecutor who was removed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Gov. DeSantis removed Democratic state attorney Andrew Warren after he declared that he would not enforce state abortion laws or statutes related to transgender procedures.

In a 6-1 decision, the state’s highest court rejected a petition by Warren to reinstate him.

The court ruled Warren had waited too long to file that petition.

Warren complained that the justices ruled on a procedural matter rather than the merits of the case.

The Republican governor last year suspended Warren, accusing him of neglect of duty and incompetence.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Ukraine-Russia » Russia will have to find another way to get weapons and supplies to the front lines of the battle in Ukraine’s south. A missile attack on Wednesday severely damaged a bridge that links southern Ukraine to Crimea, a bridge critical to supply lines between Russia and the Kherson region.

Russia says Ukraine launched the attack on the bridge.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Surveying the post-Roe landscape with John Stonestreet on Culture Friday. Plus, the revisionist history of backronyms.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s the 23rd day of June 2023. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s Culture Friday.

Joining us now is John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint Podcast. John, good morning.

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning.

EICHER: Well, it's been one year since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the actual anniversary will be considered on Saturday because that is the date of the of the Supreme Court's decision. But I remember it was on a Friday and my it's my vivid memory because one of my son's weddings, we were doing the rehearsal dinner that night, and just had gotten the news about the overturning of Roe v. Wade. And I had to pause and just take a moment, talking with our group, that we're never going to forget this day for a whole lot of reasons. But also the historic nature of the day.

So I want to spend the time today, Myrna and I want to talk to you just sort of about the year that has gone on since that big day. But let's begin by just going back in our memories, John, and talk about what your most vivid memory was from that historic day one year ago.

STONESTREET:  I think part of it was certainly the celebrations and being lectured about those celebrations by some and thinking, “no, this, this needs to go down in history, this is an evil that is now out of the law.” And again, it didn’t end the evil of abortion, but the law itself was evil: the language of it, what it valued, what it prioritized, what it enthroned essentially, and that is now gone. That became a huge moment.

It also was a moment where a whole lot of people who spent a whole lot of years got to see at least part of the fruition of what they worked so hard for. I don’t think any of them thought this means it’s over. And we certainly have learned that lesson. But culture without Roe, a country without Roe in the books is better than one with it. And I think that’s an important note.

The other thing that I remembered, and this will kind of point to some of the nerdier aspects of who I am, was really the anticipation of figuring out okay, what exactly is in the Dobbs decision, how far did it go in terms of the willingness to really push back on things that are “settled law” and suggest that they aren’t. That’s a huge thing that was put into those opinions. And then just Alito’s mastery of the whole case and the things that he wrote, those were really important parts of it to me.

EICHER: Didn't you kind of take the leaked opinion and compare it with the final draft just to see was it word for word pretty, pretty much what we expected?

STONESTREET: Oh, yeah. That was kind of fun, too. Yeah, maybe that’s even more memorable. I remember connecting in Atlanta, rushing from one plane to the next when the leaked opinion was released. And the news of that, and just how kind of crazy that whole moment was, and then immediately calling some legal folks and saying, "Alright, tell me what I’m supposed to think about this." And I was really grateful.

For example, Erin Hawley from the Alliance Defending Freedom and Ryan Anderson both jumped on our podcast within hours, early the next morning. Aaron had actually read the whole thing, which is really impressive. I mean, midway through it was like, "Oh, you didn’t just read summaries, you read the whole thing?" She was like, "Oh, yeah, I stayed up all night reading." And it was pretty close. I mean, that was really a remarkable thing, the courage of Alito to go, “I already know what how everyone’s going to react because everyone already reacted. And I’m not backing off at all.” And he didn’t.

BROWN: John, right after the Dobbs decision last year, I spent quite some time talking to a number of pro-lifers, research for a three-part special report I got to work on, all about the best way to serve mothers who feel like they are unable to care for their newborn babies.

And, I gotta tell you lots of disagreement over the best way to do that. So in your mind, what are the primary dividing lines in this post-Roe reality?

STONESTREET: We have a game around the Colson center, it’s called, “how many times is John going to quote Alexander Solzhenitsyn either ‘Live not by lies’ or ‘The line of good and evil runs right down the middle of the human heart,’” but I’m going to go with that second one here. The primary dividing line is in the American conscience. We have a dividing line right down the middle of America. We haven’t had a moral issue that has so deeply split America state by state since slavery, and God help us I hope the result is not the same as it was there, that the ending of a great evil ends up leading to that sort of conflict. We know that there’s conflict. And we know that pro-abortion states have run further and further and further away from safe, legal and rare into all kinds of additional evil so that in some states, what the end of Roe wrought is worse than what was there during Roe. But we’ve also had incredible restrictions on abortion, and a holding back of that evil to the result as 538, that website reported last week, the net number is about 28,000 fewer abortions over the last year during this 11 month period. And that’s good news. But I also think there’s a real problem in the conscience.

I mean, we’re seeing polling literally all over the place, depending on how you ask the question, if the question is asked, "What do you think?" then America’s way more pro-life than we hear. If you ask, "should there be restrictions on people’s behavior?" I mean, clearly, we are a nation that’s far more committed to a radical autonomy, individualism and relativism, that we don’t want to tell people and make it impossible for them to kill their children. That’s not the mark of a civilized society. So I think we’ve got a real divergence, I think the younger generation in particular, has a hard time imagining that the world is a place of good and evil. The worldview that is underlying and sustaining this evil, it’s not just going to be getting rid of that when we say the goal is not just that abortion is illegal but unthinkable, that’s worldview work at the level of fundamental beliefs about reality and about human beings. And I think that we have come to see just how much of a worldview crisis there is.

BROWN: Hey, can I follow up real quick? Because in your answer, you mentioned slavery, and, you know, not seeing dividing lines, you know, so prominent as in during slavery, as it relates to the movement, the pro-life movement, do you see any parallels between the pro-life movement and the civil rights movement of the 60s?

STONESTREET: I think that there’s a couple of ways to mark that, and I think maybe the most important things that we learned from the Civil Rights Movement is a lesson on exposing reality and showing what’s actually happening. And there’s not much of a stomach right now for really saying, look this is really the nitty gritty of it.

Now look, I’m not talking about putting posters on vans and driving them around innocent bystanders, especially children. But there needs to be an exposure of what actually happens during abortion. I think there’s also that emblem that was Josiah Wedgwood’s, "Am I not a man and a brother?" which was not only portraying the evil of slavery but making that argument for the humanity of every person. And I think the more we can show the humanity of the unborn and the good of children—Myrna we’re talking about a culture right now that talks to women as if their healthy functioning reproductive capacity is the greatest obstacle to their humanness. The children right now are disposable entities. There’s so many parallels here.

I also think that the moral conscience was awakened in America by appealing to God, and appealing to what God created and what’s true. And I think we’re probably while we can make incredibly important arguments based on science and technology and ultrasounds and genetics and embryology (and we should make as many arguments as we can,) for people of faith who are wishy-washy on this issue, we need some more of what we saw from Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, basically pointing back to theological truths and saying, “look, you can’t get away from the fact if you say this, you’re committed to this, and he did that. And he called people of faith to that sort of cause.” So I think there’s parallels there too. So the short answer is yes. I mean, we could probably start digging up this and find a lot more.

EICHER: John, we may not have time. We're really tight on time. But I do want to ask, we talked about the lessons of of Roe versus Wade and having it overturned. But we've had a year of post-Roe. What do you think is going to be different about the next year in, again, sort of building that culture of life because we've got abortion states and we've got life states in America. Have we learned anything in the one year of being post Roe that may inform the year ahead?

STONESTREET: Yeah, you know, I think a couple things. Number one is that the law actually does matter. And the number of people who downplayed the significance of this law, they need to then go back and see the actual data on the ground that a year later, in pro-life states, the number of abortions dramatically decreased. The number in pro-abortion states, the number of abortions increased pretty dramatically. And that's due to the law and everything that the law comes---the law is not separate from the culture that was part of the culture, and it leads to culture sometimes, and it follows the culture. And so what is thinkable and is largely informed by what's allowable, that also means elections have consequences, like it or not. And so that's something we have to take into consideration, even as we kind of go back to the ickiness of the process that a lot of us feel, that this stuff, you know, really does matter. I think also just how far pro-abortion states went is pretty significant. And that surprised even some of us. You know, it's one thing to say, "Okay, we want no restrictions on abortion," it's another thing to, you know, kind of remove all restrictions and then also, you know, including language like they did in Colorado, in Michigan, about, you know, the sex selective abortion or, you know, abortion designed to target children with particular in utero conditions. I mean, now, we're talking eugenics in an obvious, unapologetic way. And that was certainly, you know, open. And the blatant attacks on pro lifers, and I mean, physical attacks, but also legal attacks where in Colorado, the so-called, you know, "false advertising laws." I mean, that is something that a lot of people feared but maybe didn't have on their bingo card here for the coming year. You know, I think the other thing and probably the most notable, practical, on the ground reality is the explosive growth of chemical abortions. Over 50% of abortions are now attributed to that kind and those are particularly hard to track. And so, that is a an enormous development on, you know, of on the ground concerns.

EICHER: All right. John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center, and he's host of the Breakpoint Podcast. It's always great to talk with you, John. I really appreciate the time, and we'll catch you next time. Have a good one.

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, June 23rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: What comes to mind when you think of movies from 1983? Quirky, upbeat soundtracks? Like this, from National Lampoon’s Vacation? The Ramones!

MUSIC: Hey ho, let’s go!

Well, it’s been 40 years since then, so let’s go! down memory lane.

MUSIC: Let’s go!

Here’s film reviewer Max Belz.

MAX BELZ: The 70s saw a long run of bleak movies.

MONTAGE: [Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown. It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.]

But the 80s dawned with a new president and fresh optimism.

REAGAN: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

And the movies began reflecting that hopeful outlook.

SKYWALKER: Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.

Three films that embody that 80s-era optimism turn 40 years old this year. If you need a break from the current fare at the theater, check out one of these classic movies from 1983.

MAC: You see, I don’t trust happiness. Never did, I never will.

The premise of Tender Mercies sounds despairing, but the story is one of redemption. Robert Duvall earned an Academy Award for his role as washed-up alcoholic country singer Mac Sledge who befriends a widow named Rosa Lee—played by Tess Harper.

ROSA LEE: Every night when I say my prayers and I thank the Lord for his blessings and his tender mercies to me, you and Sonny hit the list.

Rosa Lee hires Mac to help at her gas station while he sobers up. Thanks to her quiet care and love, Mac turns his life around and it’s not long before they are married.

ROSA: Would you sing the song you wrote to me?

MAC: Well, it’s no good.

ROSA: I sure would like to hear it.

Even though Mac resolves to reform his ways, he must reckon with the pain he sowed in his previous life as a star.

MUSIC: Maybe you’re the only dream I’ve ever had that’s come true.

The movie succeeds in painting this portrait without being sentimental.

Psalm 145 verse 9 (KJV) inspired the title of screenwriter Horton Foote's script: “The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” Rosa Lee is a woman of dignity and Tender Mercies is a dignified movie.

MUSIC: [Jakarta by Maurice Jarre]

For our next movie, we go to Indonesia.

In The Year of Living Dangerously, Mel Gibson stars as Guy Hamilton, an Australian news reporter working in Jakarta in 1965. Hamilton and local photographer Billy Kwon document the final days before a coup d'etat. Political tensions mount between Communists and a nationalistic movement during the unsteady rule of president Sikarhno.

KWAN: Why don’t you tell them a true story, gentlemen. Why don’t you tell them that Sikarhno makes empty speeches and builds monuments to his vanity while his people are starving to death? Why don’t you tell them that he says eat rats!?

MAN: My dear Billy, you were the one who told us he was a great man.

KWAN: He was. He was. That’s why his betrayal is so hideous.

This national unrest is the background for a love story between Hamilton and British embassy worker Jilly, played by a blithe Sigourney Weaver.

KWAN: This is my special friend Jilly Bryant.

BRYANT: Hello.

KWAN: Guy Hamilton.

MAN: Drinks all around!

Paranoia and betrayal plague the characters while the large nation with its deep cultural identity considers the threats from within.

Will the Indonesian way of life endure the political chaos? The Year of Living Dangerously explores this question even as its main characters figure out whom they can trust.

Director Peter Weir, known for The Truman Show, weaves a hopeful, love story amidst the civil strife.

HAMILTON: You want to stick around here and wait for him?

BRYANT: No, thank you. I’ve interrupted you.

HAMILTON: Oh, I’m glad you did.

Finally, we have The Right Stuff.

MUSIC: [Breaking the Sound Barrier - Bill Conti]

This movie is based on the book by Tom Wolfe … and it may be the cheeriest tale of '83. It’s the epic story of the first crew of astronauts and their rapid rise to celebrity and heroism as part of Project Mercury.

NEWSREEL: At secret locations throughout America, 56 of our greatest pilots are at this very moment vying to be chosen as one of the first men to go into space.

The astronauts' story parallels the story of Chuck Yeager—played by Sam Shepherd. Yeager earned his place in history with his quest to break air speed records, first piercing the sound barrier in 1947.

YEAGER: Make another note here, wouldya? Must be something wrong with this old meter. Shows I’m off the scale.

He's a cowboy philosopher stuck out in the desert listening on the radio as his contemporaries' enter space and keep pace with the Russians.

MAN: That guy in the corner. Yeager’s his name. He’s some kind of war hero. Shot down five Germans in one day. They say he’s a natural born stick and rudder man. He’s the press liaison man for the Air Force, I think.

MAN 2: Do you know any problems with him?

MAN: Only one.

MAN 2: What’s that?

MAN: Holding him back.

Ed Harris plays the part of John Glenn. Glenn’s devotion to his wife Annie is an inspiring subplot.

JOHN: Annie, if you don’t want the vice president or the TV networks or anybody else to come into the house, then that’s it and I will back you up all the way one hundred percent on this and you tell them that. Ok?

ANNIE: [Giggles] Ok.

JOHN: Alright?

ANNIE: Yes.

At 192 minutes, The Right Stuff is pretty long, but it’s worth it. The movie seamlessly switches between newsreel footage and the original cinematography. The movie also captures some of the zaniness of Wolfe’s book, which caricatures the American press and politicians. One content caution: The Right Stuff earned a PG rating back in 1983, but the movie has some profanity that could get it an R rating today.

Nevertheless, it's an incredible story about American grit and ingenuity. A story with quite ordinary beginnings in the Mojave Desert to extraordinary results in space.

MUSIC: [Yeager’s Triumph]

I’m Max Belz.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, June 23rd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next, Commentator George Grant with this month’s Word Play.

GEORGE GRANT, COMMENTATOR: You probably know that an acronym is an abbreviation, usually created by combining the first letters of words in a title, a name, or a phrase. These days acronyms abound, particularly in email, text messaging, and social media: LOL is an acronym for “laughing out loud.” IMHO is short for “in my humble opinion.” IDK is an abbreviation for “I don’t know.”

What may not be quite as familiar are backronyms. The term is a portmanteau, splicing together the words backward and acronym. It was first coined in 1983, part of a monthly neologism contest in the Washington Post and connotes a reverse acronym. The difference between an acronym and a backronym is timing: which came first, the words or the phrase? The official name for the AMBER alerts is “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.” But that name is actually a backronym, created to memorialize Amber Hagerman, a Texas girl whose 1996 abduction led to the program’s formation.

NASA created a backronym when it named an orbital exercise machine–designed for the International Space Station–the “Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill,” or COLBERT, as a humorous tribute to Stephen Colbert.

The Federal Government often employs backronyms for its many programs and policies. ZIP code is a backronym for the Post Office “Zone Improvement Plan.” The USA PATRIOT Act is a backronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.”

While the provenance of these backronyms can be somewhat reliably verified, many others are more than a little dubious. RAP has been rumored to be a backronym for “rhythm and poetry.” Probably not. It is commonly claimed that the distress signal, SOS, is a backronym for “save our ship” or “save our souls.” That too is doubtful.

The concept of a conspiratorial CABAL is sometimes claimed to be a backronym formed from the names of five ministers of Britain’s King Charles II: Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale. The men were the catalysts for a host of nefarious intrigues including starting a war with Holland in 1672, and entering into a corrupt alliance with France in 1673. It’s a great story, but it’s not true. The word “cabal” was in common English usage for up to a century prior to these political shenanigans.

It is yet another reminder of the quip often attributed to Mark Twain, we ought to “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” Or a good backronym.

I’m George Grant.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week:

Mary Reichard, Jenny Rough, David Bahnsen, Jenny Lind Schmitt, Amy Lewis, A. S. Ibrahim, Onize Ohikere, Jill Nelson, Ryan Bomberger, Leah Savas, Leo Briceno, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, and George Grant.

Plus, a new voice on the program this week: Max Belz.

Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Mary Muncy, Lauren Canterberry, Christina Grube, and Josh Schumacher.

And because it takes a late night to ensure your early morning routine, thanks to Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Our producer is Harrison Watters with production assistance from Kristen Flavin, Benj Eicher, Lillian Hamman and Bekah McCallum.

Anna Johansen Brown is our features editor, and Paul Butler is our executive producer.

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 Psalmist writes: With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.When my spirit faints within me, you know my way!

Psalm 142, verses 1 through 3.

Let’s lift our voices in song and praise this weekend together in the house of the Lord.

Go now in grace and peace.

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