The World and Everything in It: March 27, 2025

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

A new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom shines a light on global persecution—naming names and urging US action.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also, hopeful signs for U.S. families trying to finalize stalled adoptions from China.

HANLON: I think it can be a win-win. These children need a family. We have U.S. families that want to move forward and adopt them.

And a Ukrainian ballet company is touring the U.S.,  highlighting the importance of art during a time of war.

HARDY: I feel that it actually helps entice art… How to express what's happening.

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says the Department of Education has not lived up to its name.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, March 27th. 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: It’s time for the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump places 25% tariff on imported autos » President Trump says he is placing 25% tariffs on imported vehicles. It’s a move he says will bring more jobs and manufacturing back to the U.S.

TRUMP: This will continue to spur growth like you haven’t seen. Before I was elected, we were losing all of our plants. They were being built in Mexico and Canada and other places.

The president predicted that the auto tariff would also generate $100 billion dollars in tax revenue annually.

Trump said many automakers already have plants in the United States that are currently underutilized.

TRUMP:  So they'll be able to expand them inexpensively and quickly.

Meantime, in Savannah, Georgia, Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz showed off a new $8 billion dollar electric vehicle plant. He said his company made the decision to build it during Trump’s first administration.

MUNOZ:  And this plant couldn't come, uh, at a better time than now because all the cars that we would produce here are going to be accepted from any tariff.

But some say the new auto import tariff could hurt automakers that depend on global supply chains. And critics of Trump’s tariff policies in general predict they will fuel inflation.

Signal chat kerfuffle latest » The Trump administration continues to clash with Democrats in the wake of a national security breach.

The White House says that when a journalist was mistakenly looped in on an encrypted group chat about military strikes in Yemen …

LEAVITT: No classified material was sent on this messaging thread. There were no locations, no sources or methods revealed, and there were certainly no war plans discussed.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

But the editor of The Atlantic said he saw information on the timing of airstrikes against Houthi terrorist targets … as well as info about specific weapons packages.

And Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro, who serves on the House ‘Intel’ Committee shot back at the White House …

CASTRO: The idea that this information, if it was presented to our committee would not be classified, y’all know is a lie. That’s ridiculous.

The top Democrat on that committee, Jim Himes, said the Russians or Chinese could have gotten a hold of that information and passed it along to the Houthis.

HIMES: I think that it’s by the awesome grace of God that we are not mourning dead pilots right now.

President Trump Wednesday suggested the ordeal has been overblown, adding that the military strike was successful, no harm done … and that the error will be rectified.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is leading an investigation into how the breach occurred.

NPR / PBS funding hearing » Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, a House panel held a hearing to take a hard look at taxpayer funding of NPR and PBS.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene chairs the House DOGE Subcommittee.

GREENE:  The news that these entities produce is either resented or increasingly tuned out and turned off by most of the hardworking Americans who are forced to pay for it.

Greene and other Republicans on the panel said that’s because NPR and PBS have increasingly become left wing echo chambers.

But National Public Radio CEO Katherine Maher pushed back when questioned by Congressman Jim Jordan.

JORDAN: Is NPR biased?

MAHER: Uh, Congressman, I have never seen any instance of political bias determining editorial decisions, no.

NPR receives approximately 1% of its funding directly from the federal government. But it receives more taxpayer dollars indirectly by way of member stations.

PBS receives roughly 15% of its funding directly from Uncle Sam.

Alaska Public Media CEO Ed Ulman told the panel that cutting funding to public media would have a devastating impact on small market and rural media stations.

Gaza anti-Hamas protests » A rare sight in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday …

SOUND: [Gaza protests]

Palestinians demonstrated against Hamas. Many of them chanting "Out! Out! Hamas get out!"

PROTESTER: [Speaking Arabic]

One Palestinian heard there asks Israel to end the war but then goes on to tell Hamas he's had enough. He says he's tired and he no longer has a home, food, salary or family members.

Israel protests » Meanwhile, in Israel …

SOUND: [Israeli protests]

Thousands of Israeli demonstrators gathered outside the parliament building in Tel Aviv.

Many of the demonstrators blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his prosecution of the war as well as his proposed changes to the country’s judicial system.

DEMONSTRATOR: It's a corrupted government. Some are literally criminals. And for the sake of the people and the country, we need to go to an election.

Many of the demonstrators called for Israel to end the war.

But Netanyahu says it can only end when all Israeli hostages are freed and Hamas is eliminated from Gaza.

SCOTUS ruling on ghost guns » The Supreme Court says Biden-era regulations on so-called ‘ghost guns’ can stay. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The high court handed down the 7-to-2 decision on Wednesday. Justices Thomas and Alito dissenting.

The ruling upholding regulations on guns that consumers assemble themselves using pre-ordered kits.

They are very difficult to trace without serial numbers. And that’s one of the things the rules put in place three years ago require … a serial number on each kit.

The regulations also require age verification and background checks to purchase the kits.

Gun rights groups had argued that the federal government overstepped its authority.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: countries under scrutiny for their role in religious persecution. Plus, a ballet troupe that dances in a time of war.

This is The World and Everything in It.

I'm Kent Covington.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday, the 27th of March.

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.

Up first: shining a light on religious persecution around the world.

This week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its annual report. The independent watchdog tracks violations in countries like China, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan and makes recommendations to the State Department to act.

Recommendations include designating a Country of Particular Concern or restricting foreign aid, among other actions.

BROWN: Where it gets complicated is when strategic partners like India and Nigeria end up on the list.

At a press event Tuesday, Oklahoma Senator James Lankford likened hidden persecution to mold growing behind the walls of a house.

LANKFORD: There are many countries around the world that keep the sheetrock up and say don't look at this part. And what this group is doing is they're pulling back what others are covering up and saying that's disastrous inside.

REICHARD: So what is behind the sheetrock? Joining us now is Stephen Schneck, political philosopher and current Chairman of UCIRF.

Chairman Schneck, good morning.

STEPHEN SCHNECK: Good morning, Mary.

REICHARD: Chairman, the Commission was formed in 1998 to make religious freedom a greater priority in U.S. diplomacy. How would you say USCIRF’s work has influenced how American officials respond to persecution in a country like Nicaragua?

SCHNECK: Yes, I think that since our formation in 1998, USCIRF has proven itself to be incredibly valuable to the United States foreign policy. We identified, for example, the government in Nicaragua cancelling the legal status of a large number of religious organizations. In fact, you know, by our count, more than 1500 non-governmental organizations were cancelled in Nicaragua and last year alone. And for the most part, those were religious in nature, Catholic and Protestant. And if I could add to that a little bit more, since we have Easter week coming up, not too far down the road, last year the Ortega -Maria regime in Nicaragua sent approximately 4,000 officers to Catholic churches around the country, at Easter, to block holy week processions in the country. So identifying instances like that, where we see real religious persecution taking place. It's been the, I think, the invaluable contribution that USCIRF has offered to the United States government and, frankly, to the world community since its foundation.

REICHARD: The State Department currently designates twelve countries as “Countries of Particular Concern.” But USCIRF has for years urged the addition of other countries, including Nigeria, India, and Vietnam. Given America’s economic ties to those countries…how does that complicate things to hold them accountable?

SCHNECK: Our job, our legislation, in fact, calls on usurped to speak unflinchingly about the challenges to religious freedom around the world. And so our job is separate from whatever the foreign policy concerns of the State Department or any particular administration might be. So we call it out as we see it. Now, as you identify with India and Nigeria and Vietnam, the State Department has bilateral concerns, geopolitical concerns, that it obviously considers in these circumstances. Nevertheless, our job is, in a sense, to speak truth to power. And that's what we believe that we do in calling out the persecutions that we see taking place in these countries.

REICHARD: Let’s talk about Azerbaijan. USCIRF previously recommended it to be listed as a Country of Particular Concern, but now it’s on the Special Watch List. For listeners who may not know, Azerbaijan is a majority-Muslim nation just south of Russia, often at odds with Christian-majority Armenia. What prompted the change in designation?

SCHNECK: You know we remain very concerned about the large number of imprisoned Shia Muslims in the country. In fact you know approximately 223 and maybe even more than that were kind of collected off the streets because the government charged them with you know a variety of drug crimes. But we think that's entirely spurious. In fact you know we're concerned in general about the religion laws in the country. In Azerbaijan, for example, the government is able to monitor and approve sermons and mosques and it regulates who can be named as Imam. So those are our primary concerns. The situation with Armenia, we see as something entirely different here. Obviously, we're very concerned about the situation of the Armenian majority or Armenian minority in the country, but we don't see that primarily as a religious concern.

REICHARD: But then what about Azerbaijan’s actions in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh where soldiers destroyed churches and tried to erase Christian history from the area?

SCHNECK: Yes, we're very concerned, particularly about the government's promise to restore the damaged religion sites in the NK region and expect them to fulfill their promises in regards to that restoration.

REICHARD: In 2024, the Biden administration did not make any updates to the CPC or Watch List. It stuck with the designations from the prior year. What do you hope to see from the Trump administration in this second term?

SCHNECK: You know, we hope to see in the second Trump administration, what we saw in the first Trump administration, and that was a real focus on the issue of religious freedom around the world. And so we hope, for example, that they move quickly to put out their own list of countries of particular concern, SWL countries and EPC entities around the world. As well, we'd very much like to see the appointment of a new IRF ambassador to the State Department and we'd very much like to see the Trump administration include a religious freedom expert within the National Security Council. So those are the sorts of things that we're looking for in this new administration.

REICHARD: Chairman, while USCIRF’s focus is on international violations, some Americans are concerned about threats to religious freedom here at home. Cases like Colorado baker Jack Phillips who was dragged through the courts for a dozen years because he didn’t want to make custom cakes that violated his religious beliefs. How do you see domestic cases in the broader conversation about religious liberty?

SCHNECK: You know, in fact, what we've seen from Yusuf's perspective, and of course we are primarily focused, only focused really on the international scene, but what we've seen around the world is a spike in instances of repression on people on the basis of their faith and their beliefs and you know so we're very concerned and this isn't something that's just you know limited to you know countries on the periphery of America's attention. It seems to us that religious freedom concerns are evident in almost every country of the planet and so we watch closely and are very concerned about a larger surge of challenges to the freedom of religion around the world.

REICHARD: Wrapping up here…is there any other aspect of this report that warrants more attention?

SCHNECK: One of the things that I would encourage your listeners to notice is that there's a real correlation between the surge that we're seeing in religious freedom violations and the decay of democracy and the rising of authoritarianism around the world. These things seem to be going hand And, you know, I think that that's something that your listeners might appreciate keeping an eye on.

REICHARD: Stephen Schneck is Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

SCHNECK: It’s an honor. Thank you, Mary.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: American families still fighting to bring their adopted children home from China.

Nearly five years after the pandemic began, around 300 —already matched with U.S. families—remain in limbo. China abruptly ended its international adoption program, leaving hundreds of cases unresolved.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Now, with a new administration in the White House, waiting families are urging President Trump to step in.

WORLD’s Lauren Canterberry has the story.

XIAO TANG: (Speaking in Mandarin) Mom and dad, thank you. I received it. I also read the letter. I hope to meet you soon.

LAUREN CANTERBERRY: Xiao Tang is ten years old, and lives in an orphanage in China. The video is one of many his adoptive parents Meghan and David Briggs have received, thanking them for their letters and gifts. He ends by saying he hopes to meet them soon. That was in March 2024. One year later, the Briggses are still waiting to hear from Chinese adoption officials.

BRIGGS: We had a really nice rapport with them. After September, we’ve never heard anything from them again.

Meghan and David began the adoption process in late 2018. They already had a four year-old biological son, but had long desired to adopt. David was adopted from South Korea when he was four years old, and Meghan has several adopted cousins. They interviewed several adoption agencies before selecting Living Hope Adoption Agency and applying for their China program.

BRIGGS: We just had heard from so many people that China's program was so reliable and so well established there was a lot of transparency early on with the process, and that helped build our confidence about what to expect.

By late 2019 the Briggs were approved to begin reviewing the files of children in need of forever families. They were hoping to adopt a child who was preschool age or a bit older. They also knew that adopting from China meant preparing to bring home a child with special needs, since most children eligible for international adoption have disabilities and deformities that make domestic adoption unlikely.

BRIGGS: We were open to either a boy or a girl, but we were excited when we came across on an advocacy site, a little guy who just sort of popped off the page. And when my husband came home from work later, I turned the computer around, I just showed him the picture and he said, “Oh, wow, that's my son.”

On the first day of Chinese New Year in 2020 they were approved to adopt Xiao Tang, who has cerebral palsy. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the family’s trip to China was cancelled.

Between sporadic updates from the Chinese government, the Briggs’ adoption agency coordinated an English teacher for Xiao Tang who also acted as a translator for their zoom calls. He was living with a foster family at the time and the Briggs received videos of him opening their gifts and reading their letters.

In 2023, Xiao Tang was unexpectedly called back to his orphanage and the Briggses received less frequent updates. Then last September, China abruptly ended its international adoption program without clarifying what would happen to the 300 or so children already in the adoption process.

BRIGGS: We understand and we respect any country has, you know, they're well within their rights to close a program down if they choose to do so. But there was a lot of unfinished business. And unfortunately, this unfinished business were that children had been told families were coming for them, and then suddenly that wasn't happening.

The Chinese government did not formally communicate it was closing adoptions. Instead, the news trickled down from the U.S. Department of State to adoption agencies and families.

MAO NING: (Speaking in Mandarin) The Chinese government has adjusted its cross-border adoption policy…

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 5 acknowledged the policy change and confirmed that the country would not send children abroad for adoption. Beijing says international adoption is no longer needed because Chinese families are more capable of caring for orphans and child abandonment has declined. Since the late 1990s, the country has been shifting away from an institutional care system to a family care model in which orphans are placed with foster families while they wait for adoption.

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley.

GRASSLEY: While that’s good news for those orphans, the country made a commitment to American families that’s not being kept.

In November, 103 members of Congress urged then-President Joe Biden to speak with Chinese officials to resolve the incomplete adoptions. That same month, then-Senator Marco Rubio condemned Beijing’s decision and called on President Xi Jinping to allow the adoptions to be finalized. In December, a coalition of 33 governors sent a letter to the White House asking Biden to intervene.

Earlier this month, 105 members of Congress sent a similar letter to President Donald Trump, asking him to step in. Waiting families told WORLD that days after the letter reached his desk, the Department of State asked each family to submit updated information about their cases and their waiting children.

HANLON: What we want is for the President and his team to reach out to the highest levels of government in China to say, let's make this happen.

Ryan Hanlon is president and CEO of the National Council for Adoption. While advocates have spent years reaching out to Chinese authorities without seeing any movement, Hanlon is hopeful the Trump administration can get a deal on this.

HANLON: I think it can be a win-win. These children need a family. We have U.S. families that want to move forward and adopt them. This doesn't have to get caught up in bigger issues with tariffs, or, you know, other, you know, world stage issues.

While the Briggses wait to see what might come from Washington, their adoption agency encourages them to send letters to China.

BRIGGS: We send both a Mandarin Chinese and an English copy together so that he can read it in his own language, of course, but also has handwriting, which is far more personal coming from that. So that's what we have done, and we usually include a photograph or two. We have no idea if those are delivered at this point or if they're just tossed when they arrive at the front door. We don't know.

The family continues to pray for Xiao Tang, and hopes he knows they are waiting for him, as eager today as five years ago when they first met.

BRIGGS: We are not going anywhere, and as long as we are allowed to wait, we will. We promised this little boy a family, and his country promised him a family. We have the letter with their red seal on it saying that this was supposed to move forward. We are asking China to honor their word to their child, and we will certainly honor our word to him as well.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Canterberry.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: At Nashville’s animal shelter, volunteer Adrian Budnick isn’t just naming dogs—she’s rebranding them.

BUDNICK: Shelters only have pit bulls? What’s this then? It’s a Himalayan fur goblin. That’s right.

Her online videos exploded! Overlooked pups turned into viral stars under hashtag What’s This Then? …an answer to people who say shelters only have pit bulls.

BUDNICK: It’s a teacup werewolf. We got those too. It’s a tater tot terrier. Mmm-hm. What’s this then? It’s a snackle jack.

Her pretend dog breeds have boosted adoptions by 25%—and counting.

BUDNICK: It went from 20,000 to over 100,000 followers in the last four months maybe. It’s a wild ride—but it’s helping these animals get seen.

Budnick’s bottom line?

BUDNICK: It’s working. And if that works for your shelter too? Do it! Oh—good girl!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, March 27th.

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: Ballet. It’s a cherished part of Ukrainian culture. But when Russia invaded in 2022, it turned the lives and careers of many dancers upside down. Still, for some, the show goes on, even far from home. WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson has their story.

SOUND: [Sound of crowd]

KIM HENDERSON: It’s Saturday night at the Dothan, Alabama, Civic Center. Director Clay Dempsey is watching ticket holders pour into the auditorium.

DEMPSEY: First time the professional ballet has ever been at the Dothan Civic Center in its 50 year history…

This is the State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine.

DEMPSEY: We try to do a lot of things to shift the culture here. And this is definitely something different. I mean, honestly didn't know how it would go over, but it's going over well enough that they’re coming back January 6.

So a second performance is scheduled for next year.

But for tonight’s grand event, the State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine has brought 55 internationally renowned dancers to Dothan. They’re performing Swan Lake.

SOUND: [Curtain opening music]

The company is on tour until May with 140 shows spread across 36 states in the U.S. and Canada. William Ward is just glad they came to Alabama.

WARD: We're just really interested in the ballet. We drove down from Birmingham. Wanted to see the Ukrainian ballet in particular.

Ward says he’s not surprised a Ukrainian ballet company is touring during the war.

WARD: I don’t know. It kind of gets them out of the country, doesn't it, and it preserves that. After it's over, they can go back.

Samatha Walden brought her two granddaughters to see the performance.

GRANDMOTHER: Always make memories. They won't remember what you bought them for Christmas, but they'll remember this.

She’s probably right. It’s quite a production.

SOUND: [Ballet music]

Two hundred costumes. Hand-painted sets. The dancing, so “on point.”

Christina Hardy is here with 12 of her students from an area dance studio. Hardy says the Ukrainian ballerinas have matchless style and expression. She believes that’s due in part to the war raging in their home country.

HARDY: I feel that it actually helps entice art… how to express what's happening.

SOUND: [Crowd]

During intermission, a ballerina comes to the lobby and poses—for a price—with admirers.

SOUND: [Camera clicking]

The ballet company’s photographer snaps away. Her name is Anastasia, and she’s Ukrainian. She describes their tour schedule.

ANASTASIA: We have three months from November to January, then we have, like, three weeks at home, and now we’re back and have three months more.

I ask whether the ballet company is touring her about the ballet company.

ANASTASIA: It's not since the war. I think it's like already 10 years, 10 anniversary of the touring.

But she’s not very talkative when pressed about the war. No one in the company is.

KIM HENDERSON: Has the war changed anything as far as the company?

ANASTASIA: Hard question for me.

SOUND: [Music]

Ballet dancers have not escaped the ravages of the war. Leading Ukrainian dancer Artem Datsyshyn died after being injured in Russian shelling in Kyiv. Another, Oleksandr Shapoval, died while fighting with the military in the Donetsk region.

Still, despite Russian missile attacks, ballet performances have continued in Kyiv at the National Opera House in the theater's bomb shelter.

History underscores the unbreakable spirit of the arts. Here’s Ted Brandsen, director of the Dutch National Ballet, in an interview with 60 Minutes.

BRANDSEN: Dances will go on, choreographers will go on. The work will continue. Theaters, ballet companies, they have survived worse. They have survived famines, revolutions, two world wars. I think they will survive.

SOUND: [Music]

Back in Dothan, the ballet is drawing to an end. Prince Siegfried and the lovely swan princess Odette are center stage.

It’s ironic that Swan Lake is the work of a Russian composer—Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The storyline is based on Russian folk tales.

But as Jose Gonzalez watched the Ukrainian dancers perform Swan Lake, he decided the choice makes perfect sense.

GONZALEZ: They're showing hope. They're showing that there's hope. You know, and it's beautiful what they're doing.

SOUND: [Music]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Dothan, Alabama.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, March 27th. 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.

Americans managed to get a good basic education Before the Department of Education existed. Some people will ask, why do we need a federal agency at all?

President Trump is dismantling it, but it’s going to take more than that. Here’s WORLD commentator Cal Thomas.

CAL THOMAS: How did I, my parents, grandparents, and ancestors going back to the founding of the nation manage to get a decent education before Jimmy Carter created the federal Department of Education?

Quite well, thank you.

I went to a public school where the basics were taught—math, reading, U.S. history and science without a political agenda. And I graduated from college without help from the government. I paid back my student loan—small by today’s standards. Tuition was cheaper then. Partly because the government wasn’t involved in education to the extent it is today.

President Trump's stated goal of eliminating the Department of Education…or D-O-E…has begun. His executive orders downsized the bureaucratic population and federal grants. But he’ll need Congress to approve its complete demolition.

The failure of the D-O-E to improve test scores in what was once considered the basics is well known, but it bears repeating. Federal spending on K through 12 public schools has tripled just in the last two decades. At the same time, proficiency in reading and math declined. If tumultuous meetings at school boards across the country are any indication, parents are increasingly fed-up.

According to a new Gallup poll, the percentage of adults who report being dissatisfied with public education has steadily increased from 62 percent in 2019 to 73 percent today.

Just how desperate the establishment is to preserve this failing education system can be seen in a bill under consideration by the Illinois legislature. If passed, it would severely harm the growing home-school movement. The bill would require home-school families to submit forms each year to their local public school that include names, birth dates, grade levels and home addresses of their children. Families who fail to submit the forms would be subject to criminal truancy penalties. Never mind that fewer than one in three Chicago public school students can read at grade level.

According to the Education Data Initiative, federal, state, and local governments provide nearly $880 billion dollars, or $17,700 dollars per pupil to fund K-12 public education. Clearly the return on this investment is not advancing education achievement.

A Wall Street Journal editorial doesn't let Republicans off the hook when it comes to education misspending at all levels. It says: "Republicans in recent decades have helped Democrats expand the Education bureaucracy and balance sheet. Its $1.6 trillion dollars in student debt would make it the fifth largest U.S. bank. The (DOE) doles out $270 billion a year, which it can use to promote a president's agenda and please parochial interests in Congress."

That last part is where much of the challenge lies when it comes to reform. Political agendas. Not only in the DOE, but in so many other programs and legislation where members vote according to their own interests, not the general welfare.

Whatever good the DOE might do can be rolled into other government agencies. Let’s lease its current building to private companies and help reduce the national debt.

I was not an "A" student in my public schools, but the quality of education I received prompted me later in life to pursue knowledge in history and other subjects.

When Ronald Reagan was running for president in 1980, he told a PBS interview the federal government had "usurped" education and had proven to be “incapable of operating (it)."

No one could have said it better.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: John Stonestreet is here for Culture Friday.

Plus a review of a new mystery series.

And your listener feedback.

Just a quick reminder, that tomorrow is the application deadline for our next WORLD Journalism Institute held from May 15th through May 31st. If you have a young person in your life interested in journalism from a Biblical worldview—who is currently in college or a recent graduate—it’s not too late. Visit wji.world and fill out the application today! That’s wji.world

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 records Peter’s sermon at Pentecost saying: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” –Acts 2:22-24

Go now in grace and peace.

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