The World and Everything in It: March 7, 2025

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

High earners struggling to make ends meet, and punishing public servants: lawmaking or showmanship?

And how a soft answer turns away wrath, especially on social media.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: John Stonestreet breaks it all down ahead on Culture Friday.

And music critic Arsenio Orteza is back, bringing his sharp ear to review the latest pop music releases!

REICHARD: And on Ask the Editor, we turn the mic around—sharing what you taught us in the focus groups.

BROWN: It’s Friday, March 7th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown

REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. Good morning!

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Tariffs » President Trump is delaying tariffs on some Mexican and Canadian imports for roughly one month. Companies compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement will get a reprieve from the new 25% import taxes.

Trump said he was very encouraged by a recent conversation with Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum.

TRUMP:  We discussed drugs, and they've been working much harder lately. Do you notice that on people coming in and drugs? And we've made tremendous progress on both.

Illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the country are the two main reasons Trump cited for imposing the tariffs.

But separately, he says reciprocal tariffs will be imposed on any and all trading partners who impose tariffs on U.S. goods.

TRUMP:  This is very much about companies and countries that have ripped off this country, our country, our beloved USA, and they're not gonna be ripping us off anymore.

Those tariffs take effect on April 2^nd, at varying levels Trump says will match those imposed on U.S. goods.

Ukraine »  President Trump's special envoy, Steve Whitkoff, plans to travel to Saudi Arabia next week to meet with Ukrainian leaders.

WITKOFF: And I think the idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well.

Whitkoff says a minerals deal with Ukraine that fell apart during that Oval Office argument last week, could also be signed very soon.

President Trump has ordered a pause on U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine until he’s convinced that Zelenskyy is serious about negotiating a peace agreement.

Israel: Gaza talks » Hamas issued a defiant response Thursday to President Trump’s warning the night before.

The terror group said it would only free the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. That came after the president told Hamas leaders “Release all of the hostages now” or—quote— “it's OVER for you.”

And Israeli government spokesman David Mencer echoed Trump’s remarks.

MENCER: Release the hostages now. Release our hostages now, and you'll be able to leave Gaza alive.

The president spoke Wednesday of giving Israel—his words, everything it needs to finish the job - of eradicating Hamas.

No word on whether U.S. troops could play a role in any operation.

Israel: Hostage demonstration » Meantime, in Israel:

SOUND: Hostage families protest

Family members of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas held a demonstration in Tel Aviv, begging President Trump to bring their loved ones home.

WEINBERG: You are the man that could put an end to this war, bring all the hostages back home and create here a better future for all people.

Earlier this week the White House confirmed U.S. officials had been in direct talks with Hamas. It’s unclear if those talks continue, or if the U.S. is awaiting action by the terror group.

Al Green censured in House » The House has voted to censure Democratic Congressman Al Green of Texas for deliberately disrupting President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress this week.

It is effectively a slap on the wrist, requiring the congressman to be admonished while standing before his peers.

JOHNSON:   By its adoption of House Resolution 189, the House has resolved that Representative Al Green be censured, that Representative Al Green forthwith present himself in the well of the House of Representatives for the pronouncement of censure.

Ten Democrats voted with all Republicans on the censure.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries defended his fellow Democrat:

JEFFRIES:  The censure resolution put forth by extreme mega Republicans is not worth the paper that it was written on.

Congressman Green on Tuesday night stood, shouted at President Trump, and waved his cane in the air, refusing to be seated, before eventually being escorted out of the chamber.

Green introduced articles of impeachment against Trump last month, two weeks after the president was sworn in.

Transgender surgery » A recent study is calling attention to the harms of transgender surgeries. WORLD’s Paul Butler has more.

PAUL BUTLER: Scientists from three Texas medical colleges analyzed a decade worth of data on the mental health of more than 100-thousand people suffering from gender dysphoria. Some had received so-called transgender surgeries others had not.

Researchers found that those who received surgical interventions were much more likely to experience depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse.

The data show that surgeries meant to—quote—"feminize” males showed "particularly high" rates of depression and substance abuse two years after the procedures.

Males with surgery had depression rates more than twice that of males in the study who did not.

For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

I'm Kent Covington. 

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus: Ask the Editor.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday the 7th 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

Well, it’s Culture Friday. Joining us now is John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. John, good morning!

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning.

REICHARD: I learned a new term from your Breakpoint column this week. People identifying as “HENRYs.” That’s an acronym for “high earner, not rich yet.” HENRYs. These are folks earning incomes of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but still feel they live paycheck to paycheck.

Now we’ve all heard money can’t buy happiness, but my point is, neither does poverty.

So my question is: what’s the lost perspective among the HENRYs, these high earners, not rich yet people?

STONESTREET: Isn't that an interesting term? It was new to me too. One of our folks on our editorial staff at the Colson Center brought that. But it just said so much. It just reflects how disconnected people are from a proper understanding of things like work and the relationship with work and well being and the relationship between work well being and things like happiness and then also just income.

Now I think there's a lot of factors here. As a friend likes to say, this is probably a case of not one thing, but everything, a whole lot of things. For example, incredible amounts of debt. We know that, and we know that that, in and of itself, is indicative of a worldview shift, one which the early sociologist Pitirim Sorokin called this shift from being ideational as a culture to being sensate as a culture, living for some sort of higher ideal, as opposed to living for immediate gratification. A secular society is one in which we are untethered. We're unattached from anything eternal, anything vertical, anything transcendent. And so life becomes the here and now, and how you then fulfill that vision of life certainly affects what you think about work and what you think about money. I think this also reflects this ever changing definition. I remember a comedian talking about flying next to someone on those early days when we just got internet on planes, and he was so mad that the internet wasn't working. And he said, How is it that you can feel entitled to something you didn't know existed until 30 seconds ago? This is the case in a culture of stuff, where we have so many new toys that are supposed to make life easier, and we have confused, of course, an easier life with a happier life. And so we need these things, or we think we need these things.

And certainly, if you read this article which the HENRYs were introduced to me, that's what you're hearing. You're hearing people who just can't believe that they can be happy without a particular level of and then just fill in the blank. Certainly, it has a lot to do with income, but it has a lot to do with stuff.

You know, the choice to live in some of the most expensive places on the planet and drive cars that are incredibly expensive, and have clothes that are incredibly expensive, and eat at restaurants that are incredibly expensive, and then be in debt despite the fact that your your income level should, should have you out of that. So, you know, this is the shifting of value. So that's another factor in all of this.

But underlying this, and to really specifically answer your question, the lost perspective. It's fascinating the people who are writing right now about happiness, certainly Arthur Brooks, who used to, you know, lead the American Enterprise Institute, and recently, at the Arc Conference in London, Arthur Brooks had a really important thing to say, which is, look, once you're above survivability, the level of income is absolutely unrelated to the level of happiness. And that happiness is a result. It's a product of enthusiasm and perspective and a number of things, he said. But the main thing, meaning, if you don't think life has meaning, all the money in the world can't make meaning. And that's the thing that's missed, I think, at the end of the day.

BROWN: I’m pretty sure I don’t even like the word happy. I’d rather say joy.

Well John, if you watched President Trump’s speech to Congress earlier this week, you saw Texas Representative Al Green’s relentless heckling. It got him booted and sparked talk of censure.

Meanwhile, Maine State Representative Laurel Libby was censured, not for shouting, but for a social media post .

She shared two photos of the same boy. In one, he’s fifth in the boy's pole vaulting. In the other, he’s first in the girl’s category.

Her post went viral. The backlash was swift. So now, she’s banned from speaking or voting until she apologizes.

This looks less like lawmaking and more like the culture war hijacking the process. What do you think, John?

STONESTREET: Well, absolutely, and there's no question that politics has become showmanship. I mean, then that's not something that's dedicated to one side of the aisle or the other. I mean, it's certainly something that has to do with a culture that moves from being word based to being image based, or being, you know, book based or literacy based, to being entertainment based, as Neil Postman wrote about.

There's so many times, I think we talked about this a couple weeks ago. There's so many times you just see stories like this, and you're like, Postman. Postman, it's all in Neil Postman. You know, it's all in amusing ourselves to death. Kind of what this means.

Now, look, the silencing, the absolute silencing of what happened to this main representative, Laura Libby, is absolutely shameful. What happened to her was more than just a censoring that leads to a consequence in terms of her ability to fulfill her job, they publicly, or attempted to publicly humiliate her by silencing her. And I think she came out on top, and they came out looking humiliated, because really we have it's so interesting to see how much things have changed on this cultural issue.

Three years ago, it seemed like the trans train was unstoppable, that it was going to overrun every aspect of culture. And now that doesn't look like that. And so when someone behaves this way, like the Speaker of the main House did when he, you know, interrupted Libby as she was trying to make a speech while she was asking the legitimate questions behind her social media post, when she was trying to figure out why someone who had posted public images of himself, transitioning and all that, why suddenly he she's in trouble for doing that. It just seemed like theater on behalf of trying to basically push a point when you've run out of arguments.

And Maine looks like an isolated case.Although I think it is proof that there's they're not the only isolated case. I mean, I'm in Colorado, we're seeing the same sort of showmanship from those who want to progressively push culture war issues like abortion and like the trans issues. And, you know, in this local setting, we feel basically powerless to do anything to stop it. We don't have a real conservative voice in the political process in Colorado right now that that's worth anything honestly. Basically, we're getting overrun. And so it's a reminder of even though it is this level of showmanship that the political consequences are localized now to a degree that wasn't true just a couple years ago and on these cultural war issues. And so I know we hear this all the time, all politics is local, and it's very much true on these issues right now.

REICHARD: Alright, tagging onto that: people love to post things on social media of a political nature and then get into snarky little fights with total strangers. I doubt anybody’s ever convinced that way, but why are some of us (okay, me) compelled to do it anyway?

STONESTREET: It seems irresistible, doesn't it? I mean, it is a fruitless point. Again postman. Postman, it's all in Postman. I think that we all need to reread Neil Postman. There's actually a new book trying to make some of those applications of Neil Postman to today. And I'm glad that that's out there.

You know, I don't know, but it is a bizarre thing. I mean, you think about some of the Proverbs, and what I love about The Book of Proverbs is they're just good common sense. As you know, a buddy of mine in Tennessee used to say, these ain't rocket surgery, you know, these are basically saying what is clearly true like, and it's not this esoteric Buddhist wisdom from a guru on top of a mountain who says something you're not sure you really understand, but it sounds really deep, right? This is like, you know, don't hang out with silly people. And, you know, a soft answer turns away wrath, you know, and don't, as Jesus said, don't, don't, don't proclaim Your righteousness before, before men. And you think about this kind of easy, simple advice that's in the Proverbs and in other parts of the Scripture and how social media basically violates, how we behave on social media can basically violate all of those things.

A soft answer turns away wrath. That's true everywhere. And yet, for some reason, we think, Oh, the rules are different when it gets on social media. And that's just one example. I think there's lots of examples of these basic ways of interacting with other people. Treating them with dignity and respect, and also not having to be right at the end of the day, not having to win every debate, that somehow, when it comes online, we just have to have the last word.

I do think, too, that it's at the point where, gosh, it can really poison someone's character. And what I mean by that is to not, at the end of the day, be able to resist. I don't do this anymore, mainly because I'm private and I just don't want to talk to strangers. When it seems irresistible, and our inability to exhibit self control. I mean, I think it's time for some of us to do that kind of introspection and say, Was that really worth it? And seek ye first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness. How does that apply to this? Like, am I willing to be quiet right now? Because it's actually not going to advance the conversation at all? These are important questions.

BROWN: Before we let you go John, we have an extended Culture Friday program airing this weekend featuring our conversation with New York Times Opinion columnist and author, Ross Douthat.

You, me, Nick and Katie McCoy talked with him about his new book Believe, Why Everyone Should Be Religious.

So, what was your big takeaway from the interview?

STONESTREET: Well, it was certainly an enjoyable conversation that has a lot to do with Ross Douthat, who is just has an ability to skate to where the puck's going. To think about where when he had to, you know, theoretically have started this book, and where we're at culturally, where you have high profile intellectuals, you know, rediscovering Christianity. When you have some of the voices who, a decade ago, told us that God's a delusion and religion poisons everything now, saying that we need Christmas carols and Christmas lights and, you know, and Jesus. And, you know, gay atheists telling 4000 people in London Just a couple weeks ago to read the Bible.

There is obviously a return to the fascination with religion and what that will come with is various forms of spirituality. And Ross sees this, and he's making a case. He's making kind of a modern day apologetics case for not only why you should reconsider, like a whole lot of other people are doing right now. And that's why I think this is a book and some ideas that will have a wide hearing. But specifically you should consider the claims of Christ. Now you know what that looks like for him as a Roman Catholic, is different than me. And I think I would say, look specifically at Christ first, and then, you know, let it go from there.

But Douthat is a really helpful thinker in this regard. He has an ability to see beyond some of the cultural noise that tends to dominate the conversation and kind of see what's really happening in this cultural moment. I think this is another example of that, just like you know, the book on Decadence that he wrote back in 2020.

REICHARD: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks, John!

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Friday, March 7th.

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: some of the year’s most spiritually provocative music.

Popular music has long been dismissed as faddish, or sensational or shallow— sometimes all three! But WORLD’s music critic Arsenio Orteza says there’s more to it than that. If you know where to look, you’ll find songs with real depth and meaning.

ARSENIO ORTEZA: Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou was accomplished, talented, and aristocratically bred.She had the world on a string at age 21 when she experienced an existential crisis after she let the offer of a music scholarship in London slip through her fingers. When the dust settled, she had instead committed herself to the life of an Ethiopian Orthodox nun against her family’s wishes. And she spent the first decade of that time barefoot because she’d been told that the grounds of the monastery were sanctified by the blood of Christ.

Guèbrou died in 2023, but her music lives on. Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru Played by Maya Dunietz & String Ensemble, Live in Paris features the Israeli pianist Maya Dunietz. She has been performing Guèbrou’s music for more than a decade, and on this album she adds four violinists, two cellists, and a double bassist to Guèbrou’s solo-piano sound. As one might expect, the dimensions that those additions bring to “Spring Ode” , “Evening Breeze,” and “Ballad of the Spirits” give those ruminatively meandering pieces an almost “classical” formality. 

SOUNDBITE: Excerpt from “Ballad of the Spirits” by Maya Dunietz & String Ensemble 

With the album Another Mississippi Sunday Morning, we go from music originating in an Ethiopian convent to music originating in the American prison known as “Parchman Farm.” The music is credited to singers and musicians collectively known as Parchman Prison Prayer. Another Mississippi Sunday Morning picks up where its 2023 predecessor Some Mississippi Sunday Morning left off, with 13 additional informal, untutored, mostly a cappella, and totally gospel vocal performances by inmates at the maximum-security Mississippi State Penitentiary.

Yes, the men doing the singing (or, in some cases, the rapping or the speaking) apparently deserve incarceration. And, also yes, their crimes were most likely heinous. But they’re still human. Ministering to them is a condition of being a sheep,not a goat. And the redemption heard in their voices can break your heart. 

SOUNDBITE: Excerpt from “Grace Will Lead Me On” by Parchman Prison Prayer

Next is Cover Story, the new collection of other people’s songs by the veteran gospel singer Russ Taff. It’s soulful, bare-bones, and eclectic.And it’s already being favorably compared to the stripped-down, late-career series of recordings that Rick Rubin produced for Johnny Cash. It isn’t Taff’s first all-covers project. That honor goes to his 1991 album Under Their Influence. But that one was an all-gospel-standards affair. Cover Story begins that way with Blind Willie Johnson’s century-old gospel blues “Tear This Building Down,” but it ends with 21st-century CCM by Andy Gullahorn and All Sons & Daughters. Along the way we also hear Taff’s take on songs by Simon & Garfunkel, Bill Withers, Bob Dylan, U2, Depeche Mode, the National, Duran Duran, and Prince.

What Taff and his producers were looking for was material that accurately mapped the ups and downs of his life, a subject that has become well known thanks to the 2018 documentary, I Still Believe. It explored Taff’s decades-long struggle with alcohol and the grace by which Taff finally came out on top. Heard as a kind of belated soundtrack, Cover Story’s material makes perfect sense.

SOUNDBITE: Excerpt from “When Love Comes to Town” by Russ Taff.

Finally, we have the recording that inspired the January Forbes headline “Ringo Starr Charts the First No. 1 Album of his Solo Career.” Alas, the details regarding that Ringo Starr album, Look Up, are more modest: The only charts that it has topped are the Americana and the country charts in the U.K. Still as the Fab Four member with the spottiest track record and an 84-year old to boot, he deserves an attaboy for being number one anywhere.

He couldn’t have done so, however, without a lot of help from his friends, most notably T Bone Burnett, who wrote and produced most of the songs. Burnett’s Rolodex also no doubt helped in enlisting the likes of Alison Krauss, Larkin Poe, Greg Leisz, Colin Linden, and David Mansfield. Burnett also wrote the title cut, which is as close to outright gospel as anything he has written in years. One couplet goes “No matter where you place in the human race, / there is mercy. There is grace.” True—and especially cool coming from a Beatle.

SOUNDBITE: Excerpt from “Look Up” by Ringo Starr

I’m Arsenio Orteza.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, March 7th. 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. Up next: Ask the Editor.

It’s always a little bit risky to ask a friend for an honest opinion. But last month, Editor-in-Chief Les Sillars did just that. He invited WORLD’s listeners and readers to tell us what you really think.

Hundreds of you signed up—so many that we couldn’t fit everyone in! Now Les is back to share what we learned from you. 

LES SILLARS: You told us that you listen while commuting, doing housework, and just hanging out. You listen in the car, on boats, and on trains.

For Gwen Schilthuis, it’s a part of her morning routine.

GWEN SCHILTHUIS: I listen primarily in the morning, almost every day, I'm a walker, so our 10 pound dog and I, we go out and I listen, you know, with one ear bud. I was thinking about this the other day, when the news can be pretty bleak, I walk away encouraged, rather than doom and gloom.

Overall, you said, our production quality is excellent. And that was true of all our platforms: podcast, magazine, website, and app.

Here’s Scott Berggren:

SCOTT BERGGREN: It doesn't seem to be real flashy or trying to be more than it is. It seems to be honest and authentic.

When we asked, “What’s your favorite segment or kind of story?” Monday Moneybeat with David Bahnsen got the most mentions. Culture Friday with John Stonestreet and Legal Docket, with Nick, Mary, and Jenny were close behind. Several people said it’s amazing to hear the voices of Supreme Court justices questioning the lawyers.

There are things we could improve. A few said our news could sometimes use a bit more depth. Others said that at times it goes over their heads.

One person mentioned that our corrections seem nit-picky. But others said that commitment to accuracy makes us more credible. A few said that some voices are a little hard to understand. At times we could be more concise. Some people disagreed with our movie or music reviews or certain commentaries.

A small number of people said that we’re not critical enough of President Trump, MAGA, or right-wing politics in general. Others said we got that balance about right. Here’s Pat Moore.

PATRICK MOORE: It's not from a right or left perspective. It's from a Biblical perspective. And that is, that's huge.

This is going to sound odd, but I had a favorite criticism. Florence Mathews said that she listens to The World and Everything in It…

FLORENCE MATHEWS: To receive a biblical perspective on news and headlines. And so I think the things that I maybe don't prefer, like, are the things that don't accomplish that goal.

I’m not thrilled to hear that sometimes we miss the mark. But I love that Florence gets us. And she wasn’t alone. When we asked, “What’s distinctive about WORLD?” the vast majority said that you come to us for news from a biblical perspective. That’s truly where our heart is.

Here’s Beth Ballhausen:

BETH BALLHAUSEN: I was a big fan of NPR and BBC, and I just feel like I get everything that I ever got from listening to those radio broadcasts, but now with biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires.

There’s one other thing you value. Very highly. Different people described it in many different ways. You said our tone is fair, not manipulative or sensational or mean. Pat Moore put it this way:

PAT MOORE: The idea that God’s in control, and you don't feel like you're being wagged along by the news cycle. You feel like, you're presenting it as making people aware of what's going on in God's earth. And I'm I want, I want to be able to think through my life and the issues around me from a biblical perspective. And I want to be challenged to do that in every way. And you do help me do that more than any any other news outlet, for sure.

So, to Scott, Gwen, Beth, Pat, Florence, and everybody else who took the time to offer your thoughts: thank you. It means a lot to us. And to everybody who listens to this program or reads WORLD Magazine or checks out our website every day: Thank you. We’re humbled. We’re grateful. We’ll try to keep improving. And we’ll see you soon.

I’m Les Sillars.

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

Nick Eicher, David Bahnsen, Caleb Welde, Lindsay Mast, Addie Offereins, Anna Johansen Brown, Kim Henderson, A.S. Ibrahim, Leo Briceno, Onize Oduah, Janie B Cheaney, Carolina Lumetta, Mary Muncy, our WJI mid-career class, plus Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, and Arsenio Orteza.

Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Travis Kircher, Christina Grube, and Josh Schumacher.

And thanks also to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early, Carl Peetz and Benj Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Harrison Watters is Washington producer, senior producer Kristen Flavin is features editor, Paul Butler executive producer, and Les Sillars editor-in-chief.

The World and Everything in It is a production of WORLD Radio—where we bring you biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Psalmist reminds us: For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. Psalms 62:1-2.

Remember to set your clocks ahead one hour tomorrow night for Daylight Savings Time! Unless you live in Arizona or Hawaii and certain US territories…

And don’t forget to gather with your brothers and sisters in Christ this weekend. And Lord willing, we’ll meet you right back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.