The World and Everything in It - June 30, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Ahead today: securing schools: it’s not just about metal detectors and action plans.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Also how should the U.S. respond to the threat of MonkeyPox?

Plus a visit to the Liberty Bell.

And Cal Thomas with a personal story about choosing life.

BROWN: It’s Thursday, June 30th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

BUTLER: And I’m Paul Butler. Good morning!

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: NATO invites Finland and Sweden to join the alliance » Finland and Sweden are officially set to join NATO. The world’s most powerful military alliance formally gave its stamp of approval Wednesday during its summit in Madrid.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg:

STOLTENBERG: We will demonstrate that NATO’s door remains open by inviting Finland and Sweden to join our alliance.

For generations, the countries have kept a policy of military neutrality. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine quickly shifted their thinking. Finland shares an 800-mile border with Russia.

Wednesday’s announcement came one day after Turkey lifted its objections to the Nordic nations joining the alliance.

And Stoltenberg says Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired.

STOLTENBERG: Now, President Putin is getting more NATO on its borders. So what he gets is the opposite of what he actually demanded, and that was for NATO to close its doors.

U.S. boosting military presence in Europe amid Russia threat » Speaking of things Putin does not want to hear, President Biden says the United States will beef up its military presence in Europe.

Biden, speaking in Madrid Wednesday announced a permanent U.S. garrison in Poland, and…

BIDEN: We are going to send two additional F-35 squadrons to the UK and station additional air defense and other capabilities in Germany and in Italy.

The United States is preparing to keep 100,000 troops in Europe for the “foreseeable future.” That’s up from 80,000 before the war in Ukraine.

U.S. economy slipped 1.6% to start year » The U.S. economy shrank in the first three months of this year.

That’s the word from the federal government, which downgraded its previous estimate for the quarter. It now says the economy contracted at a 1.6 percent annual pace.

That comes as soaring inflation continues to shake consumer confidence.

GDP—gross domestic product—measures the country’s economic output. And this was the first drop in GDP since the middle of 2020 when the pandemic triggered a recession.

But many analysts say the negative GDP number probably doesn’t signal the start of a recession. Most economists expect growth to resume later this year.

Cross-state abortion arrangements » Abortion centers throughout the United States are sending women across state lines to get abortions. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: New York has created a fund to help women from out-of-state to get abortions. It would even pay for their travel.

But New York Republicans say, aside from the ethical concerns, paying for airfare and hotels would cost the state untold millions of dollars. They’ve introduced a bill to block the state from funding travel.

Other states are also working to become “sanctuaries” for abortion.

California passed a bill to fund the procedure once a woman is in the state, though it would not fund travel to California.

Even Mexico is setting up makeshift abortion centers just across the U.S. southern border.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Migrant death update, Texas decries immigration policy » In Texas, authorities have raised the migrant death toll from a human smuggling tragedy to 53. That after two more people died on Wednesday.

Police this week found 67 migrants trapped in an abandoned tractor-trailer near San Antonio.

Police later arrested the driver and two other people.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said his state will put measures in place to try to prevent this from happening again.

ABBOTT: Texas is going to add additional truck checkpoints.

Abbott again blasted the Biden administration for policies he says are creating an unprecedented sustained surge of migrants at the border.

Border officials made nearly a quarter-of-a-million arrests last month alone.

Ghislaine Maxwell and R. Kelly sentencing » R&B singer R. Kelly will spend decades behind bars. A federal court in New York Wednesday sentenced him to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing women and girls.

Gloria Allred, attorney for the victims, says no one can undo the harm his victims suffered.

ALLRED: But at least it's time for Mr. Kelly to be accountable for what he's done.

In a separate case on Tuesday, a federal court sentenced Ghrislane Maxwell to 20 years in prison. A jury convicted her of trafficking underage girls on behalf of the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

I’m Kent Covington. Coming up: securing our nation’s schools.

And, what to make of the monkeypox outbreak.

This is The World and Everything in It.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: It’s Thursday the 30th of June, 2022.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. First up: School safety.

The Uvalde school shooting last month prompted demonstrations condemning gun violence on campuses. Protesters demanded lawmakers “Do something!”

BUTLER: On local campuses across the nation, security administrators have once again had to make a sobering assessment of their own security protocols—always with the question, will it work? WORLD Reporter Bonnie Pritchett brings this report.

BONNIE PRITCHETT, REPORTER: Texas City is about 20 miles from Santa Fe High School, the site of a 2018 shooting that left eight students and two substitute teachers dead. Craig Straw is director of security for the Texas City Independent School District.

STRAW: Here's an unfortunate, nasty fact about active shooter events…

Straw walked up to a clear plastic box mounted on the wall of the Texas City High School cafeteria. It’s a bleeding control kit. After the deadly shooting in Santa Fe, every Texas public school is now required to have them.

STRAW: So, inside of here you've got a tourniquet, you've got chest seals, you've got gloves, you've got everything that you need. There's even a stretcher to be able to pull the person out of the building…

Every school shooting forces Straw to reevaluate his security procedures.

STRAW: And I sit with my local law enforcement. Will this work? Their answer is ‘Yes. And no.’ The answer is, yes. If the shooter follows the exact plan as we laid it out. But if he doesn't come through the front door, and he comes to the side door, and we plan for him to come to the front door, everything changed. Now we go into problem solving mode…

How Straw and school security teams across the nation assess their protocols sometimes depends on what state and federal lawmakers dictate. The National Governors Association convened earlier this month to develop plans to stop mass shootings. Democrats called for gun control measures while Republicans wanted to beef up school security.

At Texas City High School, Straw is already implementing orders handed down from Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

STRAW: Under the new letter that Governor Abbott just released post Uvalde, he's tasked all the school districts in the state of Texas to go back and check their doors and their locks…

The Uvalde investigation revealed an exterior door failed to automatically lock once it closed. The shooter used that door to enter the building.

Richard Marianos investigated the 1998 deadly rampage at Columbine High School that gave rise to the term “mass school shooting.” He’s retired from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and teaches a graduate program on applied intelligence at Georgetown University. He’s also a consultant for a security management company.

The Columbine shooting was unprecedented for all law enforcement agencies. The investigation taught some hard lessons.

MARIANOS: And it was probably the first time that we really had to take a serious look about creating hardened targets surrounding our school system.

Hardening targets refers to tightening security for buildings prone to violent attacks like banks, court houses—and since 1998—schools. They’ve added metal detectors, security checks, cameras, and other forms of less obvious monitoring systems. They’ve also redesigned entryways to control access.

In recent years, school safety protocols have incorporated artificial intelligence —with mixed reviews. School employees can comb through a student’s records like attendance and disciplinary referrals and even open source social media platforms. That information can sometimes reveal a student who could become a violent threat. An AI program can gather that information a lot faster and more effectively.

MARIANOS: What are some of the preemptive things that go on with a shooter? What are some of the issues that have been continuously demonstrated in some of these arenas? And then be able to dive into the school system, to other work and see if any of these things come up. And then, you know, maybe contact the parents sit down, get individual counseling. But it has to be precipitated on reasonable suspicion. We don't want cops going out on fishing expeditions…

Some parents and students are pushing back against suspected fishing expeditions. Marianos said school administrators fear lawsuits for acting—or not acting—on the data they collect.

Others have suggested arming teachers and staff to stop school shooters. According to the National Conference of State Legislators, about 30 states allow teachers or other school staff to carry firearms on campus. Most of those statutes require the districts’ approval to do so. And staff participation is voluntary.

Most school districts choose to leave the armed security to locally contracted law enforcement who patrol campuses. Some districts, like the Uvalde Independent School District, have their own police departments. Straw and Marianos said those officers have become an integral part of campus life. That’s why recent calls to defund the police are especially frustrating for Marianos.

MARIANOS: I think that where that is completely false, fallen short, and part of their rally cry is, well, we're just a little bit intimidated by having cops with guns in our schools. Well, you know what? A school resource officer can be one of the biggest deterrents there can be for this type of violence, because it's going to make people second guess…

He said a school resource officers’ best defense against school violence isn’t necessarily his gun. A good relationship with the students and teachers builds trust. And with trust comes candid conversations about students in need of attention.

MARIANOS: And again, by people in the schools, identifying at risk individuals or being able to communicate with this generation, and have honest conversations of, ‘Hey, who's having some problems?’ Or, ‘Why is this individual constantly bullied, or what is going on here’…

Craig Straw agreed. He’s concerned that most students’ “social engagement” is done through a tiny screen.

STRAW: But we've got to get them back to basic human interaction. A lot of teachers in our district, they step out in the hallways when the kids come in, ‘Hey, how you doing Craig? Welcome in today.’ And they, just every day, they look you in the eyes, and they talk to you. And they kind of get an idea of whether or not you're here today to learn or whether you're having a problem. And if you don't look like you're here to learn, those teachers, ‘Hey, Craig, can I see you at the end of the day? Is everything okay? Do you need something? There's a counselor. If you need something, you know, I can get you any help you want. I'll go, I'll sit with you. You don't have to do it alone.’

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Bonnie Pritchett.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: what to make of monkeypox?

Reacting to the surprising outbreak of the virus, U.S. health officials this week expanded the group of people recommended to get vaccinated against the virus.

They also said they’re providing more monkeypox vaccine, working to expand testing, and taking other steps to try to get ahead of the outbreak.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: The announcement came after the World Health Organization said the virus is not a global health emergency at the moment.

But what exactly is monkeypox and should we be concerned about it?

BROWN: Here now to help us answer that question is Dr. Zach Jenkins. He is a pharmacist and pharmacology professor at Cedarville University, a Christian college in Cedarville, Ohio. Doctor, good morning!

ZACH JENKINS, GUEST: Good morning!

BROWN: First of all, what are the symptoms of monkeypox?

JENKINS: So, monkeypox—generally speaking—begins with flu-like symptoms in individuals. So, you may have a fever, swollen lymph nodes and the kinds of things you might normally associate with the flu. And then what ends up happening is there's a progression from that, after somewhere in the neighborhood of four to six days, to this place where people start to develop rashes. And those rashes will eventually move from just being just redness, this patchy redness towards forming these blister-like lesions all over the body. So what happens as those things progress is they can actually rupture. And then that will crust over. And it's very, very, very painful for people. What's interesting about this particular monkeypox that’s floating around at the moment, though, is there are people that are actually manifesting those skin lesions earlier on than we would normally expect.

BROWN: And what is the recommended treatment for monkeypox? Is this something that typically clears up on its own, or is medical treatment important?

JENKINS: Most of the treatment we can offer is more supportive than anything else. Pain management would actually be a big one. If you look at the number of patients that have had monkeypox that we know of in the United States, up until now, through this particular outbreak, it's around 300. Only some of those individuals have been hospitalized. And the reason they've been hospitalized is not from the illness itself, it's actually from the pain from the illness. So it's a case where those lesions get very painful as the blisters rupture, and that's a place where medical management is helpful. Other than that, it's largely supportive care, traditionally speaking. There are some antivirals that we have actually used before to manage smallpox. But we don't have any information to tell us what that would look like with monkeypox, which is a relative of smallpox. So no real clinical trials in humans to speak of.

BROWN: How long does it last?

JENKINS: Yeah, so how monkeypox typically introduces itself is it's a slower incubation than you might think of with COVID-19 where you have the exposure and then somewhere between two to three days later you start to have symptoms. With monkeypox, it can take a full week before you might actually start having symptoms—sometimes a little bit longer in some individuals. But once it actually has hit, usually after about I would say four to six days into it is when those rashes would start to develop and people—those lesions all over the skin, the blisters—from there what ends up happening is it lasts somewhere around two to four weeks in most individuals.

BROWN: Tell us about the monkeypox vaccine. Who does the U.S. government say should get the vaccine, and what kind of vaccine is it?

JENKINS: We're talking about a smallpox vaccine, which does have some evidence to say that it is helpful in these cases. The question is who should actually receive that. And so originally, we actually had vaccines stored in the strategic national stockpile in the event of maybe a bio terrorist attack with smallpox. What's happened now, though, is as people have been concerned with possible infections, they've actually sort of taken some of the restrictions in place that required a proof of infection before—because we have testing limitations with detecting this right now—to where if you've been around people and you were most likely exposed, then you could potentially qualify for this, especially if you're in the higher risk groups. So it's not for everyone, for sure. But if you were directly around someone who had monkeypox that was confirmed, that's where you would probably be a candidate for this.

BROWN: And if someone feels they need the vaccine, where should they turn to get that?

JENKINS: That’s a great question. It would start with your primary care provider. And then from there, it actually would escalate up to a discussion with the Health Department. And the reason that that would take place is because supplies are limited. We only have about 30,000 of those vaccines that we had in the stockpile. And so they're sort of a distribution house when it comes to that vaccine, at least at present. So that's what we have in place right now. It doesn't mean it will stay like that. But in all likelihood, this is not something like COVID or like the flu where you'll see the spread wildly, uncontrolled in mass. This is something that's a lot more slowly moving. It spreads more through direct contact with body and body fluids than it does through the air. So that's why you're not going to see this spread maybe the same way you would have seen with other kinds of viruses. So probably the need for it is not going to be huge.

BROWN: Is it a more traditional vaccine or mRNA like the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines?

JENKINS: So as far as this vaccine platform, it's more in the traditional sense. It's actually a live virus, but it isn't able to replicate. So when you think about the vaccines that have been used for COVID, those are newer platforms, the messenger RNA platforms. And so there's obviously some concern over that but if you had to have one of these for some reason, this is using an older technology.

BROWN: Okay, we’ve been talking with Dr. Zack Jenkins. Thanks so much!

JENKINS: Absolutely. Happy to help.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: A Canadian woman was moved almost to tears when she bought a pair of used roller skates recently.

There was nothing remarkable about the beige skates with red wheels. But when Renee Forrestall realized who these skates once belonged to, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

The 59-year-old Forrestall hadn’t skated in years, but she thought it would be a good way to get some exercise and she found an old pair of skates listed in an online classified.

And when she tried them on, they fit like a glove or like a slipper.

FORRESTALL: It was like a Cinderella slipper moment. It was very strange. It was like - a perfect fit! I couldn’t believe it, and they felt good.

She told CBC Radio Canada that the skates fit SO well because of who they had belonged to … 40 years earlier.

FORRESTALL: I flipped back the tongue, and there’s my name. And I was like … what? I couldn’t even believe it. I thought, this is me! These were mine!

She said the skates were dusty but still in great shape. They don’t make ‘em like they used to!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 30th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler.

Well, we’ve arrived at the last day for our Spring Giving Drive and not just because it’s officially Summer now!

I want to take this moment to say thank you so much for your generous support of our work. It does allow us to pursue our mission of biblically objective journalism and allows us to be bold in pursuit of it. We’re sooo close to our goal but not quite there. I do hope this will remind you if you haven’t given yet, to please visit WNG.org/donate and help us reach or even exceed our goal. Thanks again!

BROWN: Yes, thank you. We’re grateful!

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Let freedom ring! The Fourth of July is right around the corner, and it has us looking back at our nation’s beginnings. There may be no better place to do that than historic Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

BUTLER: Earlier this year WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson paid a visit to Independence National Historical Park in the heart of that city.

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR WRITER: The National Park Service offers a variety of volunteer opportunities as part of their Volunteers-In-Parks program. Pennsylvania resident Milton Wiest landed a pretty desirable spot when he applied 8 years ago.

WIEST: I love being here. And then in the West Wing, which is closed now, where we have a Declaration and Articles of Confederation and the Constitution . . .

Wiest volunteers in Philadelphia’s historic district. You know, Independence Hall. The Constitutional Convention. It’s where the Founding Fathers met, debated, and formed a new country.

WOMAN: You said that 10 year period that Philadelphia was the capitol . . . [WIEST:1790 to 1800.] WOMAN: Thank you.

Wiest really has to know his stuff.

WIEST: It was 1789 [WOMAN: when the Constitution was right, finally ratified 1787 was written, but then two years for . . .] WIEST: Yes, to get it. Right. Because under that, in that period, we were still under the Articles of Confederation.

Today Wiest is volunteering in the Liberty Bell Center. He likes the kind of visitor that comes to see this famous symbol.

WIEST: They're going to ask questions, as opposed to a school room where kids have to be there and they don't necessarily have any interest in the topic.

So he’s used to smart visitors, like this man who’s checking out a gauge near the bell.

MAN: The temperature is 74 degrees Fahrenheit, and the bottom part is 15% humidity. When it gets a certain temperature, he lowers the shades to reduce the heat. [And you were wondering why] why wasn't it automated in a closed loop?

When visitors talk to Wiest, they learn that the Liberty Bell once resided in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House. Today it’s housed across the street in the Liberty Bell Center. The center includes an outdoor interpretive area, an exhibit hall, and an impressive bell chamber with high ceilings and generous walls of windows and light. The bell is visible from the street 24 hours a day.

WIEST: It's made of bronze, which is a mixture of metals. It has iron, it has zinc, it has tin.

That mix of metals in the Liberty Bell matters. No one living today has heard the bell ring freely with its clapper. Wiest explains why.

WIEST: At home when you want to make the cake, you have eggs and butter and milk and flour. And if you leave one of those ingredients out, the cake doesn't come out right. Well, that's what happened to the bell. It didn't have the right ingredients. So when they rang it, it cracked.

It did crack—twice—and that silenced the Liberty Bell forever. But thanks to modern computer modeling and some grad students at Penn State, we have an idea of how it once sounded. How it sounded back when Benjamin Franklin heard it every day.

AUDIO: [Crowd]

More than a million people come to see the Liberty Bell up close each year. They marvel over its scarred beauty, its yoke, its mass. The beloved 3-foot-tall symbol weighs in at more than 2,000 pounds.

Weist remembers one visitor who couldn’t take in the sight, though.

WIEST: A couple years ago, I was here at the bell. Not a lot of people, but a few people around, coming down the aisle was another ranger.

The ranger was escorting a mother and her highschool-aged son.

WIEST: Totally blind. With a stick. And I'm thinking, “Okay, how's he going to do this?”

Wiest said the whole place grew silent as the mother held the stick and the ranger took the boy’s arm.

WIEST: He took the boy's finger and let him trace the crack all the way down. And he after he did that, he then took his fingers up and found the word “liberty” and traced the boy’s finger on the word liberty.

The crowd remained quiet and still as the boy reached up further and touched the wooden yoke.

WIEST: It was silence. I mean, it was just silence. And it was just such a marvelous thing. How else would this boy know what he's here for? . . . How does a blind person see the bell?

Pennsylvania lawmakers commissioned the bell in 1751, but that bell cracked on its first test ring. Local metalworkers John Pass and John Stow melted down that bell and cast a new one right here in Philadelphia. Just like the original bell, it has an inscription around the top that comes from the book of Leviticus. It reads: "Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof."

AUDIO: [Tour guide]

The bell that so many people come to see today fell into relative obscurity after the Revolutionary War. But abolitionists adopted the bell and its biblical message as a symbol in the 1830s. That’s when it became known as the "Liberty Bell."

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 30th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next, commentator Cal Thomas with a very personal reflection after last week’s Dobbs’ decision.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Abortion is presented by the media and activists as the only rational choice by women who are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy. That isn’t true, and I have a personal story to share that underscores that truth.

But first, this thought. Some editorial writers, columnists and activists are working overtime to tell stories of women who oppose last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade.

The word “choice” has been used by those opposed to any restrictions on abortion. If all choices are to be considered equal, then none is to be preferred. We don’t apply that to any other category of life and law.

The fifty-year debate – and the continuing debate going forward – is personal for me. My late daughter became pregnant before marriage and delivered a daughter. That daughter grew up, became a nurse, and now has two children of her own. One of her children was also conceived out of wedlock. He has grown into a handsome and intelligent young man.

Rather than my telling her story, I will let her tell it. Her name is Crystal and she posted this on her Facebook page after the court ruling:

“I was 19 when I found out I was pregnant with my first child. I didn’t have any future plans. Just taking one day at a time. The father of my child didn’t want to be involved so it was just me. Never did I think abortion was my solution. I had people tell me my life would be ruined. I would not be able to provide for my unborn child. Doctors encouraged me to get an abortion.

I became a mother. My instincts to love, protect and nurture my child were immediate. I didn’t have a college degree or a well-paying job. I didn’t have a bunch of money. I didn’t even have a car!

Having my child set me on a path and God guided me the whole way. I am thankful to have the courage and the ability to think for myself to make my own decisions. I am thankful I was not easily swayed by the lies that abortion is and was the only solution. If you find yourself in a similar situation, there is help! People say pro-lifers don’t care about the child once the baby is born. That is a huge lie. There are so many resources out there for young pregnant moms and people who choose life but need help to build a strong foundation.

There are people who can’t have children and WANT them. Adoption is a beautiful thing. Death for convenience and out of fear is not so beautiful. I know people who have shared their abortion stories with me and not one of them was because of a defect, rape, or abuse. Every single one was because of fear. I want to share my story to counter the big lies told by the abortion industry.

It’s a business. They don’t care about you or your baby. They want the money. My first born is 16. He is smart, funny, responsible, dedicated, and I’m so lucky I get to be his mom. I am where I am today in my life because I became a mother early on. I don’t regret a second of it. I have achieved so much in my life. Having a child didn’t hold me back…it propelled me.”

There is not much I can add to that.

Generations will be born because these two women chose life in circumstances that were less than ideal. And by the way, both later had committed their lives to Christ.

I'm Cal Thomas.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: On tomorrow’s program, John Stonestreet joins us for Culture Friday.

Plus pro-life movie recommendations.

And your listener feedback.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Paul Butler.

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 Jesus Christ equips [us] to build up the body of Christ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12, 14-15 ESV)

Go now in grace and peace.

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