The World and Everything in It: June 6, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. Hi, I'm Dwight Mathers. I live in Lewisville, Texas. I'm a retired Coast Guard Captain and now work for Fannie Mae. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! India’s Prime Minister holds onto power, but loses majority control. What’s it mean for Christians in the country?

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also, President Biden’s border security plan. What’s in it, and why now? Plus, a mom who made sacrifices to protect the life of her unborn child.

HAYES: To me, it didn't matter what the outcomes were if he were still alive and growing. It was my duty to do everything I could to keep this little baby alive.

And what a U.S. Attorney in 1940 had to say about political criminal prosecutions.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, June 6th. 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 with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: House recommends charges for Hunter, James Biden » House Republicans are formally accusing President Joe Biden’s son and brother of lying to Congress.

GOP lawmakers just issued criminal referrals against Hunter Biden and James Biden. Republicans say the pair made false statements during the GOP’s presidential impeachment inquiry.

House Speaker Mike Johnson:

JOHNSON:  These are clear violations of federal law, and this is an opportunity for Merrick Garland, the Attorney General, to prove, if he wants to demonstrate that there's not a two tiered system of justice, then they need to use the mechanisms, the appropriate steps that the Department of Justice should take.

The alleged false testimony was related to questions about whether Joe Biden, when he was vice president was improperly involved in his family’s business dealings.

Hunter Biden gun trial » Meanwhile, separately Hunter Biden is currently on trial in Delaware on federal gun possession charges. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has the latest.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Jurors heard testimony from the younger Biden’s ex-wife. Kathleen Buhle was married to Hunter for two decades. She told the jury she found a crack pipe in an ashtray on their porch in 2015 leading Biden to admit to a drug problem.

Hunter’s ex-girlfriend also testified about his drug abuse issues.

Prosecutors allege Hunter lied to a federally licensed gun dealer in 2018 when he stated on an application that he was not a drug user.

He faces three felony firearms charges.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

IAEA Iran censure » The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA has voted to censure Iran for not cooperating with inspections of its nuclear facilities.

Out of the 35-member nations voting there were reportedly two votes against the measure: Russia and China.

The censure comes just over a week after a report by the agency said Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Ukraine reportedly strikes inside Russia/Putin threat » Vladimir Putin is threatening to retaliate in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to launch attacks on military targets on Russian soil.

State Dept. spokesman Matthew Miller clarified again Wednesday that the authorization is strictly limited to the defense of Ukraine’s border region of Kharkiv.

MILLER: We’ve granted the authority to target military targets just over the Russian border in that area.

Moscow’s forces have been launching cross-border attacks on the Kharkiv region, which is home to Ukraine’s second-largest city.

PUTIN: [Speaking Russian]

But Putin says, in response Russia may begin supplying to its allies weapons with the capability of striking targets on NATO soil.

PUTIN: [Speaking Russian]

He also once again raised the specter of nuclear war. He said, "for some reason, the West believes that Russia will never use [nuclear weapons]. He added, “If someone's actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” we may use all means at our disposal. And, “This should not be taken lightly.”

Putin also said recent actions by the West could lead to “very serious problems.”

But Miller shot back:

MILLER: It is Vladimir Putin who has escalated this conflict over and over again.

The Biden administration is also reportedly tracking Russian warships and aircraft expected to arrive in the Caribbean for a military exercise in the coming weeks. The officials say the Russian military presence is notable but not concerning.

AUDIO: 3, 2, 1, ignition - and liftoff of Starliner Atlas 5!

Boeing astronauts » After a successful launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Wednesday, Boeing’s Starliner capsule is expected to dock at the International Space Station today … with two U.S. astronauts aboard.

This was Boeing’s first successful manned launch after years of delays.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule has been carrying astronauts into space since 2020. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson:

NELSON:  Now with Dragon and Starliner, the U. S. is going to have two unique human space transportation systems. And that of course, we always like to have a backup that makes it safer for our astronauts. And that's why we started the Commercial Crew Program in the first place.

Wednesday’s launch was Boeing’s third launch attempt, coming after a pair of rocket-related delays.

Japan birth rate » The Japanese government data shows the country's birth rate fell to a new low for the eighth straight year in 2023.

The new numbers underscore Japan’s long-standing issues of a rapidly aging and shrinking population which has serious implications for the country’s economy and national security.

According to the latest statistics, the average number of children a woman gives birth to in her lifetime — was 1.2.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: President Biden’s executive order on border security. Plus, difficult choices for a pregnant mother in Texas.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 6th of June, 2024. This is WORLD Radio and we thank you for listening. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. First up on The World and Everything in It: A political shift in India.

SOUND: [Modi speaking in Hindi]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi heard there on Tuesday claiming victory in national elections. After 6 weeks of voting, with more than 640 million ballots cast, Modi held onto power, but his party’s majority shrank instead of growing as expected. That means Modi’s Hindu nationalist party—BJP—will need help from other political groups to form a government.

This comes after several years of the Hindu nationalist government tolerating attacks on religious minorities in India.

REICHARD: What do the election results mean for India and its Christian citizens?

Joining us now to talk about it is Vishal Mangalwadi. He’s a Christian philosopher and author from India and founding president of the ministry Revelation Movement.

BROWN: Vishal, good morning.

VISHAL MANGALWADI: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

BROWN: 73 years old, described as a charismatic leader. What else can you tell us about Prime Minister Modi and his Hindu nationalist party the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP?

MANGALWADI: Prime Minister Modi has been humbled. He has begun to promote himself as the incarnation of God and invincible. He had tried to make idol worship as the centerpiece of his election campaign. They invested a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of energy in making religion the central issue, the Ram temple, the central issue for the election, but the voters ignored that issue. And he is 32 seats short of majority. And therefore he has to rely upon other parties to form a coalition - and those other parties he has humiliated in the past. So it's not going to be easy for him to find coalition partners.

BROWN: As we heard, Modi’s party did not win like it expected, who were the primary challengers the BJP faced, and how did they appeal to voters?

MANGALWADI: Well, the Congress Party led by Rahul Gandhi became a moral force. Now, Rahul himself became a moral force like Mahatma Gandhi. But unfortunately, his party still had a lot of the old style politicians who did not inspire a lot of confidence amongst the voters. So they have not done as well as they could have done. But one thing Rahul has done is genuinely respected his allies. He has championed love, in contrast to hatred. People have taken him seriously that he is sincere. So he has the credibility to keep the alliance with him.

BROWN: So how do these results change the balance of power in India?

MANGALWADI: On the one hand is a militant Hindu party; on the other is everyone else. So the very important thing which most of the news has missed is that during this election process, the lowest castes, Dalits, about 10,000 Hindus, became Buddhists during the election within the last week or so. The lowest classes, the Dalits, and lowest caste that is, are more likely to become Buddhists, but the backward castes, which are estimated to be about 52%, those who quit Hinduism, they're more likely to turn to Christ. And India might see conversions at a scale that we've not seen in 2,000 years.

BROWN: Yeah, as I'm listening to you talk about these potential conversions, I'm wondering, how do you think this potential political setback for Hindu nationalists will affect religious minorities, like Christians, and Muslims in India?

MANGALWADI: One of the important things for the lower class was the Constitution itself. The idea of human equality, which is fundamentally in conflict with Hinduism, because it has never been self-evident to any Indian that all men are created equal. That was a humanist myth, that it is self evident that all men are created equal. This is a revealed truth. And it came into India through the Bible, through the missionary movement, that all people are created equal. And that is enshrined in the Constitution, including the freedom of conscience, the freedom to convert, and those aspects of the Constitution have been under threat—human equality, human dignity, human freedom, the freedom of conscience—and that's one important reason why the lower castes voted against the Hindu party, particularly in north India. The problem is that when a political party such as BJP makes religion its main platform, it forces the opposition to undermine religion itself. And that is going to be the most significant outcome of this election. It might take couple of years while the BJP loses state elections. But after it has lost the state elections—state governments control the police—then the conversion tsunami might happen at a much bigger rate. But I think right now, many of the politicians who have won, they are the ones who are going to support and encourage conversion, they may not be in a position to facilitate, but they certainly would give moral encouragement to other backward castes and lower class to get out of Hinduism.

BROWN: Vishal Mangalwadi is a Christian philosopher and founding president of the Revelation Movement. Vishal, thank you for your time.

MANGALWADI: Thank you for having me. I'm grateful.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: A new plan for border security.

On Tuesday, President Biden signed an executive order that blocks new asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border.

JOE BIDEN: Migrants will be restricted from receiving asylum at our southern border unless they seek it after entering through an established lawful process.

The ban will remain in effect until the daily number of immigrants encountered at the border drops below 1,500 people.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson says the measure is too little too late.

MIKE JOHNSON: One executive order can in no way undo the 64 specific executive actions he's already taken and 3.5 years of chaos that they've allowed to ensue.

BROWN: So how could this executive order affect the immigration crisis?

Joining us now to talk about it is Gabriel Salguero. He’s President of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and Pastor of The Gathering Place church in Orlando, Florida.

REICHARD: Gabriel, good morning.

GABRIEL SALGUERO: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

REICHARD: So glad you're here. Well, President Biden has resisted calls to close the border. Can you explain what's the difference between closing the border and what the president's latest executive order does?

SALGUERO: Well, one of the differences is that it's not an absolute closure. But it's functionally like a closure, because there are numbers, if there's seven consecutive days, that the number of asylum seekers and people coming to the border is above 2,500, they close it. And so this is a major turn in Biden's previous actions. And so although it's not an absolute closure, because people can still come and seek asylum, it's practically a functional closure, because the average is above that right now, and has been for some time.

REICHARD: Why now do you suppose President Biden let more effective policies used by former President Trump lapse? He threw them out on day one of his term. Why do you think he's doing this now?

SALGUERO: Look, I try not to speculate on people's intentions. But here's what I know: I know we had a similar bipartisan proposal out of the Senate that was negotiated by Senator Lankford and some Democrats, and it was it had strong bipartisan support in the Senate and came to the House, and it was roundly defeated. It didn't, it didn't go anywhere. And so I think that inaction by Congress has moved the president to take action. And it's interesting to see that much of the executive action resembles the bipartisan legislation that came out of the Senate, negotiated by Senator Lankford and others.

REICHARD: Well, I think it’s useful to remember that the reason objecting Republicans gave for rejecting that bill, though, was because it didn’t solve the problem. I think it would have accepted 5,000 illegal immigrants a day and would give automatic work permits to asylum recipients. They argued it would just be a magnet for more illegal immigration. Is that your understanding?

SALGUERO: Well, my understanding is that historically, the U.S. has had an asylum friendly system since World War II. It was there to protect predominantly Jews fleeing religious and political persecution in Europe. And it's legal, it's legal to seek to turn yourself in and seek asylum. I for one, think that that's one of the distinctives of our great nation, that people who can legitimately claim asylum should be processed and those who don't qualify, then they don't qualify and they shouldn't, they don't have to come into this country. But those who legitimately qualify should have the legal right and availability to to seek asylum. You know, I think that for.... Look, I'm a pastor, I'm not a politician. But I think Jesus was serious when he said in Matthew 25, I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.

REICHARD: I don’t want to skip over this next topic as I do hear and read stories from people whose family members were murdered by migrants who ought not be here in the first place. Some were apprehended earlier and then released even. That’s job one for the federal government, to protect our borders. What do you say to those people?

SALGUERO: Yeah, I would say it's deeply lamentable. And I would express first of all, as a pastor, my deepest condolences for the loss of loved ones, I think we should have deep empathy. For those who are grieving – Scripture teaches “mourn with those who mourn.” And I would say that the government has failed. When there are violent criminals in any population, the law should address them simultaneously. I would say, you know, there are criminal elements in every community, but we should not wholesale label communities, right? When a white nationalist killed African Americans at AME Church here, we can't say well, now all white people are nationalists. When we saw police acting inappropriately, most police are good. So we shouldn't do that. And so we should be consistent if we're Christians in how we treat groups of people.

REICHARD: Right. I do know what the answer to that would be, is that you cannot deport an American citizen, that so we do have a tool in our in our toolbox to deport people here illegally.

SALGUERO: Mary, my point is that the criminal justice system failed both communities. One is a federal system and one is a local system. Right. And so what I'm saying is, there are systems in place that need to deal with. In one we fail to identify a person who had written diatribes against certain communities. And in another we fail to identify a criminal immigrant. And we fail to deal with him justly. And so to me, that is the analogy that I'm trying to draw.

REICHARD: Well, one thing that President Biden and Republicans can agree on is that our system, our immigration system is just overwhelmed by the number of migrants coming over. That's not including the ones who aren't even caught. I want to ask you this, pastor: Former President Trump's “Remain in Mexico” policy did address much of that process. Do you think the U.S. could return to a system like that at this point?

SALGUERO: I think that the only way the U.S. is going to fix this problem is if Congress acts. And so every time a president acts, whether it's Trump or Biden, or Obama, or Bush, or you know – the last kind of long term action actually happened under Ronald Reagan – we're going to have a pastiche. And then there'll be lawsuits about the power of the executive to implement and execute executive orders. And it to me, I'm troubled as a pastor, that people complain about it in Congress, but there's no action. I lay the primary responsibility of this problem on the feet of Congress because they have the power of the purse, and they have the power of legislation. Presidents will respond as they can. But you know, presidents are not kings, they, they have limits, rightfully so, in a democracy.

REICHARD: Gabriel Salguero is President of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and Pastor of The Gathering Place church in Orlando, Florida. Pastor, thanks so much!

SALGUERO: God bless you, Mary, and God bless your listeners.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Well, kids will be kids and they’re going to roam and climb.

And outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania this week, a young bear cub did the same, moseying around a suburban neighborhood, then climbing up a tree.

Animal welfare came to the rescue. They tranquilized the bruin and waited. One man was videotaping:

REPORTER: Oh it looks like he’s coming. Oh, and he fell! Wow! Wow! That happened so suddenly! It just fell right out of the tree.

Fell right out and landed on a giant blue tarp, unharmed after a 20 foot fall from the tree.

They moved it to a bear enclosure and released it into an area in central Pennsylvania where it can roam to its heart’s content.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Beary nice!

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

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 6th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: the challenge of pregnancy complications.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled unanimously last week to uphold its strong protections for unborn babies. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit a group of Texas women and doctors filed against the state last year.

They argued the limited medical exceptions in the abortion law puts moms at risk. They say doctors think they have to wait until a pregnant woman facing complications is on death’s door before inducing labor or performing an abortion. But the court ruled that the law clearly doesn’t require that the risk to the mother’s life be imminent in order for a doctor to act.

BROWN: One mother in Texas wrote to WORLD to tell us about her own experience with a complicated pregnancy last year, the options her doctors gave her under the law, and why she picked the harder one.

WORLD’s Leah Savas has the story.

LEAH SAVAS: Sarah and James Hayes were already the parents of three little girls in March 2023 when they decided to try for a fourth baby. They quickly conceived a boy.

SARAH HAYES: When we just got pregnant so quickly, we thought okay, this sounds like God's on board for what's happening.

But then Sarah’s water broke at 16 weeks.

HAYES: I wasn't expecting it. So I thought well, maybe it's something else. And I kind of hoped it was something else.

An ultrasound confirmed her amniotic sac was nearly empty. Sarah could tell right away. Instead of the normal black surrounding the baby, it was mostly gray.

As soon as the sonographer left, Sarah broke down in tears. Then the specialist came in.

HAYES: She walked in the room and her face changed immediately. And she just was like, she told me, she was like, you already know, don't you? And I was like, yeah.

The baby had a 14 percent chance of survival. Sarah had two options. The first one, inducing labor, would kill the baby but protect Sarah from possible infections. Unlike some Texas doctors, her providers knew that was still legal under the state’s abortion laws.

The other option was to see how far the baby could get. He had no guarantee of surviving, and Sarah could face any number of complications. The type of C-section it would take to deliver him would make it unsafe for her to get pregnant again.

HAYES: To me, it didn't matter what the outcomes were, if he were still alive and growing, it was my duty to do everything I could to keep this little baby alive, you know?

For about seven weeks, Sarah spent a lot of time on the couch—reading to her girls and cross-stitching. As instructed, she monitored her temperature and kept an eye out for other signs of an infection.

But nothing happened. Around 23 weeks, she checked into the hospital. She and her baby had already made it longer than anyone expected.

HAYES: I just was excited to be doing something where finally I felt like Jack had a chance.

That’s the baby’s name. Jack. After her grandad.

The plan was to continue about ten more weeks and then induce labor. But, about ten days later, Sarah went into labor naturally. The medical staff delivered Jack via C-section at 10:43 p.m. on September 8, 2023. Her prayer had been that she’d hear him crying as soon as he arrived. That would mean he could breathe.

HAYES: So if he cried, you know, I felt like all was well. So they pulled him out. They said, he's opening his eyes and then nothing. He didn't cry.

The medical staff whisked him away to the NICU. Sarah was in a fog of exhaustion and pain meds. Word came that Jack’s organs were failing. She and her husband James went to see him.

HAYES: So yeah, I held him and he was really warm. And I just examined him. I looked at his nose and touched his ears and checked all of his fingers and toes and I talked to him. And while I was holding him, they said his numbers like his oxygen levels bumped up.

Sarah and James sat there with their son. Until he passed away.

Many women in Sarah’s same situation make a different choice. Fearing the loss of their future fertility or their lives, they choose to abort or induce labor as soon as possible. It means less uncertainty. Fewer dashed hopes.

Sarah sees how that option might have been more tempting if she didn’t already have other children or if she didn’t have confidence in her medical team. But the choice she made had its benefits.

HAYES: I'm just so happy I met him. I know what he looks like, I have pictures. You know, I held him. He got to meet me. He got to meet his dad. What a mental freedom I have for the rest of my life, knowing that I did everything I could and cherishing these little memories of an hour with my son. I got an hour, you know?

But Sarah still wrestled with another question. Why had this happened? They really thought Jack was going to make it. Was God punishing them?

She learned to recognize how God had not abandoned them in Jack’s death. Instead, he met her in her grief. Because God sacrificed his own Son for her, she has the hope of seeing her son again in heaven.

HAYES: Yes, I can be sad because I don't get to be with Jack for the next 50 years or however long I live, you know, but then after that, I have eternity. What a gift.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Savas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 6th, 2024. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. WORLD commentator Cal Thomas now with a notable speech about political prosecutions from 80 years ago.

CAL THOMAS: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg reached back to the 1930s to defend his role in the conviction of former president Donald Trump. He credited Republican Thomas Dewey for “usher(ing) in the era of the modern, independent, professional prosecutor.” Perhaps Bragg should consider a speech delivered in 1940 by U.S Attorney General Robert H. Jackson to the country’s chief federal prosecutors and U.S. attorneys.

Jackson said something that might be considered relevant to the Trump trial: “If a prosecutor can choose his cases, it follows that he can choose his defendants. Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor, that he will pick people that he thinks he should get rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted.” Jackson goes on, “With the law books filled with a great assortment of crime, a prosecutor stands a chance of finding at least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone. In such a case, it is not a question of discovering the commission of a crime and then looking for the man who has committed it, it is a question of picking the man and then searching the law books, or putting investigators to work, to pin some offense on him.” 

Many, and not just Trump defenders, will see this as a warning that has just been ignored 84 years later. Jackson really nails it in the following sentence: “It is here that law enforcement becomes personal, and the real crime becomes that of being unpopular with the predominant or governing group, being attached to the wrong political views, or being personally obnoxious to or in the way of the prosecutor himself.”

That speech could have been delivered today if we had attorneys general in New York and Washington who believed it. One can oppose Donald Trump’s campaign and still be worried that this politicization of the criminal justice system will come back to haunt those who currently favor it. The trial had many suggested conflicts. Judge Juan Merchan contributed small amounts of money to Democrats and the 2020 Biden campaign, and his daughter once worked for Vice President Kamala Harris and raised money for Democrats off the trial. DA Alvin Bragg made a campaign promise to get Trump. Matthew Colangelo, the third highest official in President Biden’s Justice Department, quit his job to work on a state prosecution. The jury pool was drawn from a city that voted overwhelmingly for Biden.

I am reluctant to join the company of conspiracists, but this definition seems to fit the pile-on that resulted in Trump’s conviction: “Any concurrence in action; combination in bringing about a given result.” Nothing will prevent retribution by prosecutors in Republican states from doing unto others what has been done to Trump should they wish to engage in payback. A Wall Street Journal editorial had it right: “Alvin Bragg might have opened a new destabilizing era of American politics. And no one can say how it will end.”

To which I would add that Trump’s conviction might be overturned, but the stain on our legal system is likely to remain for some time.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Tomorrow: Katie McCoy on the bravery of the greatest generation to the antics of the current one. She joins us for Culture Friday. And, a new Star Wars show called Acolyte touts its diverse cast, but is the story any good? That and more tomorrow.

I’m Myrna Brown.

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: “For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” — Titus 1:7-9

Go now in grace and peace .

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