The World and Everything in It: May 2, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like me. I’m John Schweizer and my wife Sheila and I live in Everett, Washington, where we’re local missionaries with Evangelism Explosion International helping churches equip the saints to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. We hope you enjoy today’s program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Some states are moving to re-criminalize possession of deadly drugs.

AUDIO: Drug overdoses now account for 80 to 85% of the city's accidental deaths, and it blames fentanyl.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today: a new front on the fight to protect lives from chemical abortion.  Plus World’s Classic Book of the Month.

AUDIOBOOK: “Aye, breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!” cried Ahab, “thy hour and thy harpoon are at hand!”

And WORLD’s Steve West on what it means to be of good courage.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, May 2nd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Debt ceiling » President Biden has invited top lawmakers to meet with him at the White House next week to talk about raising the debt ceiling.

Hours earlier, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters:

KEVIN MCCARTHY: The only way you solve problems is you negotiate. And I’m looking forward to the president changing his mind and negotiating with us.

But it’s not clear that the president has changed his mind. In the meeting one week from today, Biden says he’ll discuss the need to pass a clean bill that raises the debt ceiling without cutting spending.

Republicans want to reduce overspending before agreeing to borrow more. But the president has said tying spending cuts to the debt limit is out of the question.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday warned that the country could slam against the current debt ceiling on June 1st, risking default on US debts.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: The only way to avoid this kind of economic disaster is for Congress to do its job and prevent default.

House Republicans passed a bill last week that would both raise the debt limit and trim spending. McCarthy says the ball is now in the Democrats’ court.

First Republic » The latest mid-sized U.S. bank to fail, now has a new owner.

JPMorgan Chase bought First Republic Bank in a fire sale after what was the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

Financial analysts David Bahnsen:

BAHNSEN: First Republic Bank ceases to exist. They have 84 branches that by opening this morning were essentially JPMorgan branches.

The government insures deposits in FDIC-insured banks up to $250,000. But that insurance was not needed in this case due to the JPMorgan sale.

20k Russians killed since December » The White House says the Russian people continue to pay a heavy price for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby:

JOHN KIRBY: Just since December, we estimate that Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties.

Kirby said the estimate is based on newly declassified U-S intelligence.

The new figures suggest that Russian losses have dramatically accelerated in recent months.

Missouri Judge ruling » A Missouri judge has temporarily blocked a regulation that would protect children and some adults from most transgender procedures. WORLD Reporter Lauren Canterberry has more.

LAUREN CANTERBERRY: The rule would require anyone seeking transgender treatment to attend therapy sessions for at least a year and a half.

Patients would also have to show proof of a pattern of gender dysphoria for at least three years, and providers would have to ensure that any mental health conditions a patient had were resolved.

Supporters say the bill will keep providers from rushing people into experimental treatments.

The judge blocked the regulation yesterday until at least May 15 while he hears a pending lawsuit against it.

For WORLD I’m Lauren Canterberry.  

Texas shooter » Authorities in Texas say the suspect in a mass shooting outside Houston was a Mexican national who had been deported four times.

Francisco Oropeza is accused of killing five of his neighbors Friday night. One of the victims was a nine-year-old boy. FBI agent James Smith said, as of last night, the manhunt was ongoing.

JAMES SMITH: We do not know where he is. We don’t have any tips right now to where he may be. 

Police say he attacked the victims with a semiautomatic rifle after they asked him to stop shooting in his yard.

DeSantis signs death penalty for child rape » Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill allowing the death penalty in child rape convictions, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that banned capital punishment in such cases.

RON DESANTIS: We think that that decision was wrong. We think that in the worst of the worst cases, the only appropriate punishment is the ultimate punishment.

DeSantis is hoping this law will eventually prompt the Supreme Court to reconsider.

He also signed a bill that ramps up sentencing for selling fentanyl, especially in colorful forms that look like candy. Offenders now face a life sentence. 

Florida board counter-sues Disney » Another twist in the battle between Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Members of the new state oversight board appointed by the governor have counter-sued the company.

GARCIA: We didn’t sue Disney. Disney sued us. We have no choice now but to respond.

Disney sued DeSantis for what it said was retaliation for siding with LGBT activists in publicly opposing a parental rights bill.

The company effectively owned its own private local government and could approve its own construction permits. That was until Florida Republicans stripped it of the unprecedented arrangement.

At the 11th hour, the Disney’s outgoing board tried to sign away many of the government’s rights to the company for decades to come. But the new oversight board invalidated that contract, triggering Disney’s lawsuit.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Putting the handcuffs back on drug possession. Plus, revisiting Herman Melville’s classic, Moby Dick.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 2nd of May, 2023. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up first: rethinking drug laws.

Over the past decade, more than a half a dozen states have lowered penalties for drug possession even for drugs like crack cocaine and heroin. Supporters argue that lengthy prison sentences are too expensive costing states millions of dollars and failing to lower drug use or crime rates.

But then, the synthetic opioid fentanyl began taking over the drug scene.

FOX NEWS: New York City's Chief Medical examiner's office says drug overdoses now account for 80 to 85% of the city's accidental deaths, up from 60% in years past, and it blames fentanyl.

REICHARD: More than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021, and fentanyl was responsible for over two-thirds of those deaths. And the numbers keep climbing.

Lawmakers in Oregon, Washington, and Nevada to name a few states are now considering upping the penalties for drug possession. In Oregon, a bill to raise the penalties for fentanyl possession passed the house back in February. If it becomes law, possessing anything more than 5 grams of fentanyl is a felony.

EICHER: That’s a reversal from three years ago when Oregon took off the books felonies for some forms of drug possession. WORLD’s Compassion Reporter Addie Offereins explains why.

ADDIE OFFEREINS: In November 2020, voters approved measure 110, and this decriminalized small amounts of illicit drugs like fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamines. And so this meant that if someone was caught with a small amount of these drugs, they could either pay a small $100 fine or call a hotline where they would complete a health evaluation and receive a referral to some kind of treatment and center. And proponents of the law wanted to start treating addiction and substance abuse as a health issue rather than a crime. They hope that this measure would get more people into treatment rather than landing them in prison.

EICHER: So far, the measure hasn’t delivered the intended results. While the number of drug arrests did fall, the number of citations issued to get violators on the path to treatment fell short of expectations.

OFFEREINS: The vast majority of those given a citation chose to pay the fine and didn't even call the hotline. And then those who did call the hotline many of those admitted to the person on the hotline that they were just calling to go through the motions, they were having their health evaluation done getting this referral to a treatment center, but had no intention of following through, and so most of those people didn't even enter treatment and so police didn't want to waste resources on citations that made little difference at all.

Even worse, the number of drug overdose deaths in Oregon jumped 30% just a year after the law went into effect. That’s twice as fast as the national average.

So what will it take to reduce overdose deaths? Some say that more decriminalization is necessary. Jeffrey Miron, vice president for research at the Cato Institute, says people in Oregon will keep dying from accidental overdoses until lawmakers legalize the production and distribution of the drug, not just the possession.

JEFFERY MIRON: So further criminalization of fentanyl will do absolutely nothing constructive to address the fundamental problem. Underground markets are violent, and they have terrible quality control. So there are more overdoses and accidental poisonings than if these substances were legal.

REICHARD: But others say authorities need to take the dangers of drugs more seriously. Dr. Eric Geisler is a board-certified addiction specialist and a member of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations.

ERIC GEISLER: I think there needs to be encouragement of law enforcement to arrest these people and have some consequences, whether it's just having drugs and paraphernalia removed and having to make a court appearance and be referred to treatment court, which I think is very effective.

While law enforcement is necessary, Geisler says felony convictions for possession go too far.

GEISLER: Sometimes people need to be incarcerated in order to protect themselves from themselves and the environment. But again, sometimes the felony, the felony follows them, they can't get apartments, they can't get jobs. And it's really disproportionate and really impairs their recovery.

Ministries serving recovering addicts in Oregon have seen the results of drug decriminalization first hand, and they hope the proposed law reverses some of the disastrous consequences of rampant drug use. Among them is Jason Bull, the executive director of the Medford Gospel Mission.

JASON BULL: Measure 110, it’s really taken drug use, from the alleys to public, and how we saw that, how we saw that visually here at the Medford Gospel Mission, our building is about 100 yards or less than 100 yards from a school. And as I was coming into work, I saw six individuals that were smoking methamphetamines out of a pipe, or out of pipes, on the side of our building. The real ironic thing is right on the other side of the wall, there are people that are in our program that's left that type of lifestyle, to be restored.

EICHER: While lawmakers consider tightening drug possession laws, WORLD’s Addie Offereins says that real solutions need to zoom out from focusing exclusively on the individuals possessing drugs.

OFFEREINS: What I realized in talking to a lot of different people about this issue is that substance abuse and addiction can't be seen as merely this personal problem, or this personal failing. This impacts communities. This impacts families. And this isn't about just someone's choice to be addicted to drugs or not.

Addie Offereins is WORLD’s Compassion beat reporter. If you’re interested in digging deeper, we’ve included a link to Addie’s article in today’s transcript.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: the freedom to reverse chemical abortions.

A couple weeks ago, WORLD’s Life beat reporter Leah Savas told you how chemical abortions work. The drug at the center of a legal battle in Texas is mifepristone. It blocks the hormone called progesterone that is necessary for pregnancy to continue.

NICK EICHER, HOST: One way crisis pregnancy centers help pregnant mothers is by offering treatments to reverse the effects of mifepristone and letting their pregnancies continue.

But pro-abortion forces oppose these treatments. Back in April, the governor of Colorado signed a law effectively banning such abortion-reversal treatments.

That same day, lawyers for a clinic called Bella Health and Wellness filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado. It argued that the state was targeting its religious practice—namely, working to save lives.

REICHARD: On Friday, the judge ruled that the court would not block Colorado’s law because the state agreed not to enforce it. Case closed? Maybe not.

Joining us now is Rebekah Ricketts. She was previously an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, and now serves as counsel for the religious liberty law firm, The Becket Fund.

Good morning, Rebekah.

REBEKAH RICKETTS: Good morning, Mary. Thank you for having me.

REICHARD: First of all, why did Colorado lawmakers want to pass this law? What are their concerns about abortion reversal treatments?

RICKETTS: That's a great question, Mary. As you alluded to, you know, just over two weeks ago, Colorado passes a law that bans offering progesterone to pregnant women only in one circumstance, where that woman has taken the first abortion pill. That's the treatment that's often referred to as abortion pill reversal, that the legislative record in the case we think indicates an intent to target religious actors. There's a lot of discussion in the legislative record about, you know, the faith based providers in within the pro-life movement. So we do think that's clear on on the legislative record. There are also claims about the abortion pill reversal process itself, claims that we think and certainly our client thinks are misguided and misstate the science behind abortion pill reversal.

REICHARD: Well, the judge's ruling seems like it’s not a direct victory for the Catholic clinic. It just basically says that Colorado was committed to not enforcing a law it passed. Feels a little bit like limbo here. Rebecca, is that enough to protect clinics that offer abortion reversal treatment? Or do you see further legal action?

RICKETTS: So Mary, we are, that there is really meaningful protection that comes out of the judge's order last week. And as you alluded to earlier, what's really interesting here is that once we filed in federal court, with the list the long list of constitutional violations that come from this law, the state did not show up to defend the constitutionality of the law. The state did not address the merits of the law at all. All the state said when they showed up to court is that we promise not to enforce it, we promise to act like the law doesn't exist until the medical boards convene for rulemaking process in the fall. And so effectively what the judge did in his order last week is say that the court is going to hold the state to those promises. And those protections, it's worth noting, extend not only to Bella Health and Wellness, but to all providers in the state, because the state of Colorado has said that it is not going to enforce this law against any licensee pending this rulemaking process. And so the upshot of that is that, you know, our clients are free to continue serving the women that they currently serve and others are free to do so as well.

REICHARD: Let’s talk about the treatments themselves. ABC News ran a story asking, “What does science say about abortion pill 'reversal' treatment?” Now, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that abortion pill reversal is “not supported by science.” It points to studies of the treatment that were either invalid or ended early because of safety concerns. Should we be concerned about the safety of women who change their minds and use progesterone to keep their unborn child after mifepristone is already in the works?

RICKETTS: So the short answer to that is no, Mary. Progesterone is the naturally occurring hormone that regulates the female reproductive system. It's critical at all stages of a healthy pregnancy. And so it's been used in fertility care and care for pregnant women for for decades, right. It's used to treat recurrent miscarriage. It's used in IVF. It's true used to treat everything from premenstrual syndrome to post menopausal conditions. It's a really long list of conditions that are treated with progesterone. And, you know, there's also good scientific reason to think that uh, that using progesterone to counteract mifepristone increases the likelihood that the baby will survive, it increases effectiveness. So that the other side will commonly point to one study by a doctor named Mitchell Creinin, who claims that abortion pill reversal is is dangerous. And that's really, we think, a misrepresentation of what that study can be read to mean. What actually happened in that study was that there were two groups of women, one who received progesterone after mifepristone, one who received a placebo after mifepristone. And three women ended up seeking emergency room treatment. But two of those women were in the placebo group, meaning that if anything, we think that study demonstrates a risk of harm from the mifepristone, not from the progesterone.

REICHARD: Rebekah Ricketts is counsel for the Becket Fund. Rebecca, thank you so much.

RICKETTS: Thank you, Mary.

NICK EICHER, HOST: An alert seventh-grader near Detroit has become a middle-school hero. He saved 60 fellow students on a bus after its driver passed out.

AUDIO: [INTERIOR OF THE PANIC ON THE BUS]

This audio is from the security camera on the bus.

And so, with the driver incapacitated and the bus drifting into oncoming lanes, young Dillon Reeves grabbed the wheel and stepped on the brake.

On Sunday he appeared on Fox News Detroit’s program Let it Rip, along with his parents and his 3rd grade sister:

DILLON REEVES: Honestly, I mean I just got up and did what’s right.

Yeah, he did. Dillon hopes to someday be a fireman or policeman. He’s already got connections with city hall. The mayor showed up during the TV appearance.

MAYOR FOUST: I, James R. Foust, mayor of Warren, recognize and commend him for all his efforts towards keeping his classmates and community safe.

The broadcast ended with one more surprise, free milkshakes. Which was far more impressive to Dylan’s sister than was the mayor’s proclamation.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, May 2nd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

For some folks, summer means life at the beach or at least some time at the pool. WORLD reviewer Emily Whitten says our Classic Book of the Month for May might just be the ultimate beach read.

AUDIOBOOK: “There she breaches! There she breaches!” was the cry, as in his immeasurable bravadoes the White Whale tosses himself salmon-like to heaven. 

EMILY WHITTEN, REVIEWER: That’s B. J. Harrison reading Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, Moby Dick or The Whale. It follows Captain Ahab and his Nantucket whaling ship, the Pequod, as they seek to find and kill a white whale named Moby Dick.

AUDIOBOOK: “Aye, breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!” cried Ahab, “thy hour and thy harpoon are at hand!”

Melville’s magnum opus is clearly a classic of American literature. But if, like me, you tried to read the book in the past and didn’t get very far, you aren’t alone. Early reviews of Moby Dick were overwhelmingly negative. One critic called it “the ravings of a lunatic.” Another described it as “exceeding many pages of unaccountable bosh.” Perhaps the worst criticism came from Melville himself who called Moby Dick a “wicked book.” He certainly does give a lot of attention to the wicked character, Captain Ahab.

AUDIOBOOK: Whoso of ye raises me a white-headed whale, with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw. Whosoever of ye raises me that white headed whale with three holes punctured in his starboard fluke. Whosoever of ye raises me that same white whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys. Huzzah, Huzzah, cried the seamen.

The book has other issues, too. The narrator, Ishmael, often sounds like he’s reading Wikipedia entries on whale anatomy or habitats. Other times, he’s overly poetic and difficult to follow. For instance, he speaks of the “crush and crash” of a whale’s “ponderous flukes.” I will be honest, I had to look up the definition of a fluke. It’s part of the tail.

Why bother reading it then? For one thing, Melville knows his subject matter. As a young man, he survived three harrowing voyages aboard whaling ships. More than that, the book’s plot—which seems hard to believe at times—comes from a true story. Director Ron Howard explored its historical roots in a 2015 movie starring Chris Hemsworth called In the Heart of the Sea. In the following scene, a whale attacks a group of whaling boats.

FILM: Mr. Chase, what the devil is it? Why have you stopped? He’s been following us. Ain’t nothing out there, Mr. Chase. Ain’t nothing out there. Sir, what are you doing?  

The reason I picked up Moby Dick again is pretty simple: late pastor and theologian R. C. Sproul said I should. Here’s Sproul in a podcast episode of Open Book with Stephen Nichols.

RC SPROUL: “That chapter on the whiteness of the whale is so rich theologically that I try to get everybody to read at least that chapter.”

Critics differ on how readers should view the white whale. Is he a symbol of evil? Or of the power of nature? Sproul believed the whale symbolizes the God of the Bible. Stephen Nichols explained in a Facebook video last June.

STEPHEN NICHOLS:  He charts the whale, he thinks that by doing that he can control the whale. And of course this becomes Ahab’s downfall. Because this white whale is so majestic, so transcendent, and this is a metaphor for God.

Nichols sees this as related to Sproul’s major themes in books like The Holiness of God.

NICHOLS:  Our fundamental problem is that we have a shallow religious view.

Ahab cannot see the whale’s—or God’s—majestic goodness and power, and he remains blind to his sinful, desperate condition. In contrast, Melville describes the repentance of the Biblical Jonah at length in Chapter 8. Here’s Sproul reading that chapter in a teaching series on Jonah. The whole episode is available on the Ligonier Ministries website.

SPROUL: Here, Shipmates, is true repentance. Not clamourous for pardon, but grateful for punishment. And how pleasing to God was this is shown in the eventual deliverance of Jonah from the sea and the whale. And Shipmates, I do not place Jonah before you to be copied for his sin but I do place him before you as a model of repentance. Sin not, but if you do, take heed to repent of it like Jonah.

Not everyone will agree with Sproul’s assessment of Moby Dick. But Christians will find much to consider theologically here. We can also think critically about how Melville portrays both the natural world and non-Western people. For instance, in Chapter 42, he says “white men” have been given “mastership over every dusky tribe.” And while that’s obviously untrue, many critics today still see Melville as ahead of his time—especially his positive view of racially diverse characters.

For my part, I hope you’ll give our Classic Book of the Month for May a second look. Herman Melville’s Moby Dick or the Whale is a difficult book. But with the right edition, like B. J. Harrison’s audio version, this whale of a tale might surprise you.

SPROUL: A dreadful storm comes on. The ship is like to break. But now when the boatsman calls all hands to lighten her, When boxes bails and jars are clattering overboard, When the wind is shrieking and the men are yelling and every plank thunders with trampling feet right over Jonah’s head, in all this raging tumult, Jonah sleeps his hideous sleep.

I’m Emily Whitten.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, May 2nd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming up next, WORLD commentator Steve West has an encouraging word after a visit to a beach cafe.

STEVE WEST, COMMENTATOR: Maria, our server at the restaurant, is radiant. “I won’t be working here as much,” she offers. “I have an internship.” She says it like it’s the best job in the world. “I get to work outside and meet people.” She smiles broadly.

“You’ll be good at that,” I say. I envy her zest for life. My wife is intentional about remembering names of servers, typing them into her smartphone with some clue about their appearance—short, brown hair, smile. But I have gotten modestly better at valuing people, particularly those who serve: Sometimes I look up, catch their eyes, smile, ask about their day.

We’re here together because I took the day off. We drove east this morning, toward the beaches. With the city in my exhaust, stress fell away. And so here we are at our favorite hamburger spot, thinking about kayaking.

“Can I refill your drink?” asks Maria.

“I think I’m OK for now,” I say. I peer over the edge of my cup. It’s nearly full. Yet she’s excited about refilling my drink. “Thanks, Maria.” She springs away. She returns, repeatedly, until I down four cups of iced tea and accumulate a stack of empty artificial sweetener packets which, I know, I know, cause all kinds of terrible things, according to the internet. But I can only work on one problem at a time. First I need to remember peoples’ names.

One name I haven't forgotten--a friend I talked to the day before. He labors under the consequences of bad decisions. He labors under, things Maria likely hasn’t lived long enough to see. I gave him the strongest thing I could, a prayerful coda to our talk.

I don’t know what animates Maria’s good cheer, whether a natural predisposition to optimism or Christ indwelling. Yet I am thankful. There’s a lot wrong in the world. Underneath the happy veneer of distraction, many are anxious. In these times, writer Denis Haack suggests, “[i]t might be wise to resurrect a biblical greeting that was used when God’s people faced uncertain times - ‘Be of good courage.’”

Or, because “courage” actually derives from the Latin word “cor,” which means “heart,” I want to say to my friend, and to myself, “Take heart. Sin casts a long shadow over your life and that of others, and not everything can be mended here. Yet all is not lost. Like a flower pushing up through the earth, if you stay rooted, you too will rise up and bear fruit.

Leaving the restaurant, I let the screen door slap behind me, and hearing it I recall the door on my childhood home which echoes through the years, a little root reaching back into the good soil of those years. I reach out and take my wife’s hand, which is connected to her heart, and I feel a little more courage that one day all disappointment will end.

I’m Steve West.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Republican hopefuls are jumping into the race for 2024. What are their chances against Donald Trump? We’ll talk about that on Washington Wednesday.

And the challenges and joys of adopting a child with special needs. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

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 Psalmist writes: The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. Psalm chapter 10, verses 16 through 18.

Go now in grace and peace.

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