The World and Everything in It: May 2, 2025

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The FDA says abortion pills are safe. A major new study says otherwise—one in nine birthing persons suffer serious complications.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Katie McCoy is standing by. We’ll talk about that—as well as baby bonuses, the fight over a so-called “Sharia City” in Texas, and a dark new trend in youth culture: assassination chic.

Later—

LOUIS-DREYFUS: I don’t think so, junior varsity Captain America.

The summer blockbusters have started…first out of the gate is from Marvel. WORLD Arts and Culture editor Collin Garbarino has a review.

REICHARD: It’s Friday, 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: Waltz out as NSA, nominated for ambassador to UN » President Trump is shaking up his national security team.

He has removed Michael Waltz as national security adviser. But he is not firing him. Instead, the president is nominating Waltz to serve as US Ambassador to the UN.

Vice President JD Vance said Waltz still has the president’s trust.

VANCE:  Donald Trump has fired a lot of people. Uh, he doesn't give them Senate confirmed appointments afterwards. What he thinks is that Mike Waltz is gonna better serve the administration, most importantly, the American people in that role. And I happen to agree with him.

The move comes in the wake of a public controversy after Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to a chat using the encrypted messaging app Signal. That chat included high-level discussions about military plans.

There were conflicting reports last night as to whether Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, would remain on the job.

The president last month announced the firing of a handful of national security employees.

Rubio to serve as acting NSA and secretary of state » With Waltz’s departure from the White House:

VANCE: Marco Rubio’s going to step in as interim leader of the National Security Council.

But Secretary Rubio will also keep his current job.

Though it is likely a temporary arrangement, this will make Rubio the first person to serve as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor at the same time … since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s.

Iran talks postponed, Trump sanctions  » President Trump is ramping up pressure on Iran amid nuclear talks. At the White House on Thursday, Trump declared:

TRUMP:  I put sanctions on last night. Any oil that anybody takes from Iran is not allowed to do business in the United States of America, which is what I did the last time. That drove them into a very, uh, bad state.

This move follows the postponement of planned U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, which were scheduled to take place in Rome.

Mediators from Oman cited logistical reasons for the delay rather than any breakdown in talks.

It remains to be seen how those secondary sanctions against Iran will be enforced, especially concerning major importers of Iranian oil like China.

Trump religious liberty commission executive order » At the White House Thursday, President Trump welcomed dozens of faith leaders in the Rose Garden to mark the National Day of Prayer and sign a new executive order. That order will establish a new religious liberty commission.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will lead that effort.

PATRICK:  There's a saying that no one should get between a doctor and a patient. I think we would say no one should get between God and a believer. No one should get between God and those seeking him.

The commission will identify and evaluate threats to religious liberty, parental rights, and free speech for religious organizations.

President Trump has also set up offices to look into allegations of anti-Christian bias at the Justice Department and antisemitism on college campuses.

DeSantis and ICE on Operation Tidal Wave » Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is touting the biggest single crackdown on illegal immigration in the state’s history.

Operation Tidal Wave involved both state and federal partners, including the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

DESANTIS: This is the largest immigration enforcement operation that we've seen in quite some time throughout the entire country. Florida state agencies assisted federal authorities to arrest over 1,100 illegal aliens across the state.

Not everyone is happy with the crackdown though. Some critics are calling for greater due process provisions for migrants before they’re deported.

Illinois driver medical emergency » Illinois State Police say the driver of a car that barreled through a building housing an after-school camp in central Illinois may have suffered a medical emergency.

Three young children and a teenager were killed in the incident on Monday.

State Police Director Brendan Kelly said the investigation is ongoing, but …

KELLY:  At this time we can report initial preliminary toxicology test results were negative for alcohol and negative for controlled substances.

A 44-year-old woman was behind the wheel of the vehicle that went off the road and smashed into the side of the building in Chatham, just outside of Springfield.

Police previously said they did not believe it to have been any kind of intentional, targeted attack.

Six other children were hospitalized and one remains in critical condition.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with Katie McCoy. Plus, more listener feedback during Ask the Editor.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Friday the 2nd of May.

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. It’s Culture Friday. Joining us now is author and speaker Katie McCoy. Good morning.

KATIE MCCOY: Good morning.

EICHER: Katie, this story is really making waves: a new study raising serious questions about the safety of chemical abortion—and the federal government’s oversight of it.

Researchers at the Ethics and Public Policy Center tracked more than 865,000 abortion-pill prescriptions over six years and found that one in nine women suffered a serious complication. I’d like to note how conservatively and carefully that term is defined in the study: The authors asked a panel of OBGYNs to map every diagnosis and procedure code that meets the FDA’s own definition of a serious event. They excluded mild or moderate complaints, and included only the top two grades on the NIH severity scale. We’re talking conditions requiring hospitalization, invasive intervention, or posing an immediate threat to life.

What the study found was that the rate of serious complications is in reality more than twenty times the rate listed on the drug’s FDA label.

And this is especially important, as it comes at a time when mifepristone now accounts for two-thirds of all abortions in the U-S.

So let’s start with the top-line finding: One in nine women who took the abortion pill experienced a serious complication. Did that surprise you?

MCCOY: I wish it did, Nick. It’s staggering and completely unsurprising, in part because we see the rhetoric surrounding mifepristone, the abortion pill highlighted not only as safe, but one of the lines you’ll hear associated with it is it’s safer than Tylenol.

What’s also staggering is to realize that women are getting this medication via telehealth. They don’t even have to see a doctor. So they’re getting effectively, abortion by mail. This is as easy to come by as an antibiotic.

I certainly hope this continues to make waves, but here’s where I’m afraid it might not: We are living in an age where data comes up against dogma, and dogma always wins. What I mean by that is what you believe is true depends upon the degree to which it aligns with a political purpose or an ideological narrative. So you already know what you believe, no matter what the facts are. But our own FDA is using old studies.

That was something else that this report found—old studies that are done with maybe 10 clinical trials, they said, with about maybe 31,000 women. But here they’re coming with not just their own study, but verifiable insurance claims. They have documentation of what was required after taking mifepristone, and it should be the biggest story in the news right now.

I remember, maybe you do too, just a few years ago, when this over-the-counter antacid, Zantac. Do you remember Zantac? It was pulled from the shelves, recalled nationwide. Get it out, throw it away, and that was because of studies that showed it might eventually increase the risk of someday getting cancer. With an antacid, we had a nationwide movement to get rid of it.

This should be something that is immediately halted, but it won’t be—and it won’t be because it doesn’t fit a narrative. As long as we’re defining truth according to its political effect, not according to that which corresponds with reality, I’m afraid this report will continue to fall on deaf ears.

REICHARD: OK, from one alarming thing to another.

I saw a report from an organization called the Network Contagion Research Institute. It points to a cultural shift taking root online. Researchers call it “assassination culture.” Now, this thing treats violence as not only acceptable, but desirable. And it’s fueled by memes and highly stylized forms of political extremism.

We know that political violence has been a concern for a long time. But what’s new is young people who are big-time engaged with left-leaning digital spaces like Reddit and BlueSky are doing this.

Here’s just one finding in that report: Nearly 4 in 10 Americans surveyed said assassinating President Trump would be at least somewhat justified. That number jumps to more than half among left-of-center respondents.

We’re not just talking about politicians, either. Many point to Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthCare, as a meme or rallying cry.

Katie, how on earth did we get here?

MCCOY: It is upsetting indeed. I’m not familiar with this Network Contagion Research Institute. But when I saw the name, I thought, uh-huh, contagion. We’ve had quite a few social contagions in our culture in the last 15 to 20 years, and certainly now this contagion of politically motivated or ideologically motivated violence is becoming more frighteningly common.

We also hear it in some of our elected officials. They’ll try to walk it back, but they’ll say things that certainly sound like they could be inciting people to violence. Again, Mary, what I go back to it’s that data versus dogma, because when people are using this language, they’re justifying it in the name of some type of politically held ideology.

It’s ironic, though—isn’t it?—that you have among some of the same pockets of our society both justifying violence but then also saying that certain types of words are a form of violence. So for instance, saying something that goes against your own political or ideologically held beliefs is considered violent or doing violence.

It is nonsensical. But the reason it’s nonsensical is because, again, data versus dogma. When you have a view of truth, a prevailing view of truth in our culture, that doesn’t have to correspond to reality and is just determined by its political effect, this is what you get.

EICHER: Alright, Katie: The New York Times says the Trump administration is considering proposals to encourage Americans to marry and have more children. Among the ideas: a $5,000 “baby bonus” for new mothers and reserving top government fellowships for applicants who are married or have kids. Laudable goal, for sure: to try to reverse America’s declining birthrate and restore the family to the center of American life. But what's your take on these kinds of things? Do you think financial incentives like baby bonuses and tax credits have a meaningful role to play—or do they risk reducing family to a policy lever?

MCCOY: Yeah, that’s a great question. So first, I’m really glad to hear people talking about this in the mainstream. It’s been at least 10-15, years ago that we started hearing about the demographic winter.

I recently heard an interview with Darrell Bricker, who wrote a book, Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline. This something that is generally speaking, true worldwide, certainly in Western countries.

This writer, Darrell Bricker, said that some people are not having children because they can’t afford them, but mostly they’re not having kids because they just don’t want them. So some of the policy issues, the economic issues that we’re talking about—necessary, though they are—they’re colliding with cultural issues as well.

We have, generally speaking, the decline in the family. We can go back to the sexual revolution, as we’ve talked about on this show many times, and see how 60 years later, we’re still living in the effects of that. Researchers like Mary Eberstadt would be a wonderful place to start if you’re wanting to look into that.

There’s a fantastic new book coming out by one of our WORLD Opinions writers, Nathanael Blake, wrote a book called Victims of the Revolution. It is phenomenal, so well-researched. But one of the ways that we are still seeing the effects of it now is among unmarried women. This is affecting everything from the disproportionate gender ratio in higher education to women remaining unmarried, 30s, 40s, then not having children—deciding maybe they don’t want to have kids at all, or if they do maybe one or two, and then maybe they don’t even need a partner, they can just do IVF if they would like to have a child that way as well.

The many cultural maladies that have caused our low birth rate will remain even after the financial incentive. But here’s the thing, Nick, and some of our writers, like our own, Katy Faust and Emma Waters, have talked about this. It isn’t just births that we need. We need families, because adding more single mothers raising children is not going to fix our social ills. In fact, you can predict a whole other host of compounded social ills if we just have an increase in fatherlessness. Fatherlessness being linked to nearly every negative metric, from mental and behavioral health, to increased risk of poverty and academic difficulties. So what we need is a revival of families, not just babies.

REICHARD:  I’m sure you’ve heard about the proposed development in Texas that Governor Greg Abbott is calling a “Sharia city.” He’s trying to block a thousand-home, master-planned community outside Dallas—anchored by a mosque and backed by members of the East Plano Islamic Center. The group behind the project, EPIC City, says it’s open to all, fully legal under Texas law, and born not of separatism, but of serving a growing faith community. So is this just religious liberty at work—or something else? What’s the right way to think about it?

MCCOY: Well, Mary, I’ll leave it to you to figure out what this means legally, but when I see this story, I can’t help but see what this means culturally.

For that, I compare communities in the United Kingdom, in France, and other Western European nations. You know, one of the things that we see, and I don’t want to unfairly besmirch practicing Muslims. I do, however, want to talk about the religion of Islam.

My colleague did a lot of missions overseas. I’ll never forget this conversation. He was describing to me what it’s like to live in a Muslim context, and describing that, you know, when they say they are a “religion of peace,” what “peace” is to this religion is global domination. Peace is the caliphate. So when they’re saying it’s a “religion of peace,” they say “peace,” but it’s not what in our pluralistic society we typically would understand to mean peace.

I asked him, I said, “Well, so how does that co exist with any other government?” He said, “It doesn’t.” True Islam is more like what we saw in ISIS about 15 years ago.

I will hasten to say that the rise of ISIS led to the exponential and unprecedented conversion of Arabs to Christianity because they had inherited their Muslim identity. It was part of their culture. It was a kind of nominal aspect of their lives, and they saw true Islam being practiced, and they didn’t want anything to do with it.

So this is culturally alarming. I realize it can sound like Henny Penny, The Sky is Falling. But the truth is, we saw this happening in the United Kingdom about 20 years ago. A British Parliamentary member named Baroness Cox talked about “Sharia councils.” They were sort of like family courts. They had about 80 of them in the UK, and she sounded the alarm on behalf of British female citizens and the inequality that they were living in.

I would really caution all of your listeners to see it through the lens of where has this gone in Western Europe, and could that happen in America as well, in the name of civil liberties in the name of the things that we take for granted. But the reason we take for granted is because we have lived historically in a predominantly Christianized society.

EICHER: Speaker and author Katie McCoy is ….Thanks, Katie. See you next time.

MCCOY: See y’all next time.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Friday, May 2nd.

Thanks for listening to WORLD Radio!

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: capes, quips, and box office clout. Hollywood launches its summer season with the newest superhero movie from Marvel.

WORLD Arts and Culture editor Collin Garbarino grabbed some popcorn and a notepad and brings us a review.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Not too long ago, the Marvel Cinematic Universe seemed an unstoppable juggernaut. With more than 12 billion dollars in domestic ticket sales, the MCU is the highest grossing film franchise of all time. But in the last few years, the franchise’s quality has dropped off, and fans have begun to complain that it’s grown bloated and tedious.

YELENA: There’s something wrong with me.

What the MCU needs is a reboot. The latest installment Thunderbolts* doesn’t scrap everything and start over. But even the film’s intro montage signals that it’s heading in a new direction.

YELENA: I thought it started when my sister died, but now it feels like something bigger. Just a… void.

Thunderbolts* begins with the Black Widow assassin Yelena, once again played by Florence Pugh, facing an existential crisis. She’s been performing black ops missions for the US government but feels like she’s leading a meaningless life. She agrees to go on one last mission for CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by a very game Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

VALENTINA: Look at you, you are all so adorable …

But the op doesn’t go as planned. Yelena runs into a few more of the government’s contract killers. It seems Valentina doesn’t have everyone’s best interest at heart. But these antiheroes aren’t sure whether they should cooperate or kill each other.

YELENA: There you are.

JOHN: Now what?

AVA: Oh, get over yourself.

Thus is born a ragtag squad of B-list superheroes. They’re a group that’s adept at punching and shooting things. But they’ll have to learn that some problems can’t be solved with fists and bullets.

The most respectable member of the group might be Captain America’s old sidekick Bucky Barnes, played again by Sebastian Stan. Barnes has recently been elected to Congress representing Brooklyn.

BUCKY: This ends today.

VALENTINA: Congressman Barnes, wow. You know, I never really thought you’d have a promising political career, but… less than half a term. Yikes!

Hannah John-Kamen plays Ava Starr, aka Ghost, an assassin who can walk through walls. And Wyatt Russell returns to the MCU as John Walker, the disgraced soldier who made a mess of things when he tried to pick up where Steve Rogers left off.

US AGENT: We’re taking you in, Val.

VALENTINA: I don’t think so, junior varsity Captain America.

Rounding out the crew is Yelena’s adoptive dad, played by David Harbour. He’s an old Soviet supersoldier who finds himself bored out of his mind during his forced retirement.

VALENTINA: Who’s this old Santa?

ALEXEI: I’m Alexi Shostakov. The Red Guardian.

VALENTINA: What?

Thunderbolts* possesses a kind of meta-commentary on the Marvel Cinematic Universe that I found appealing. The characters talk about their world in a way that acknowledges the fact that the franchise is in shambles. And it’s up to this scrappy team of misfits to get things back on track.

On the whole, I would rate Thunderbolts* as one of the best MCU movies of the last five years… not that there’s been much competition. It has some nice action sequences, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s not bogged down with too many ties to other MCU properties. You can understand what’s going on without watching the 35 films that precede it in the franchise. But if you want to get the full background on all the characters, you’ll only need to see two films, Ant-Man 2 and Black Widow, and one Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Thunderbolts* is rated PG-13, but it’s a grittier PG-13. The violence is about what you would expect, but the language is a little coarser than the typical comic book film. It also explores some heavy themes.

VALENTINA: Yelena, you look awful.

This isn’t your typical story of good versus evil. Just like in real life, everyone is flawed. The villain’s overarching problem is cynicism, believing the entire world is made up of bad guys and worse guys.

Each and every character in this movie is damaged in some way. Yelena’s not the only one plagued with memories of a difficult childhood. And just about everyone is racked by regrets and guilt over past mistakes.The film’s climactic battle becomes something of a metaphor for contemporary society’s struggle against mental health problems.

The film’s central question is the same one we see in the Book of Ecclesiastes: How can we find meaning in this life that sometimes seems so meaningless? Of course, I wouldn’t go see a comic book movie expecting insights to rival Biblical wisdom literature. The film acknowledges that we all have a hole in our hearts, but the scriptwriters don’t understand that God is the only thing that can satisfy it. Instead the movie suggests that we find meaning in a sense of community… which isn’t bad advice, as far as it goes, considering the isolating effects of contemporary society. Thunderbolts* might not offer the ultimate solution to the problem of our need for meaning, but I applaud the filmmakers for being brave enough to pose the question.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, 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. Up next, Ask the Editor for the month of May. WORLD Executive Editor Paul Butler now with a few recent emails that we just couldn’t squeeze in last week.

PAUL BUTLER: I’ve always loved checking the mail. I’m a man of routine. Each day I listen to the program, lead our program planning meeting, and then head out to the mailbox…peering in, hoping for a card or a package.

These days the offerings are pretty meager. But sometimes, there’s a whole pile of post to go through. Those are the best days. That’s the feeling I have as I think back over the past month. We had so much listener feedback it was hard to choose what to include in last week’s segment, so I thought I’d revisit the mail bag for a few more highlights today.

The first comes from Allen Day, he’s got a thankless job. He’s a high school English teacher at a large public school in North Texas. But he was encouraged by a recent Friday program with Andrew Walker and George Grant:

ALLEN DAY: This morning I got to hear two men who've influenced me to be the best teacher I can be. My former professor Andrew Walker reminded us that grace doesn't destroy nature but perfects it. So as a Christian I'm really passionate about teaching literacy and critical thinking because that will always point us to God. Then George Grant always reminds me at the end of a long week just how much beauty and order and even humor can be found in language which we have as God's image bearers. Sometimes I even share his pieces with my students to demonstrate the delightful rewards of studying English. Thanks for all you do.

Allen, I think we all remember high school English, so thank YOU for all you do.

Another encouraging note came from Brenda Davis who listens to The World and Everything in It in Antioch, California. She had this to say after a recent commentary about Illinois removing pro-life representative Henry Hyde’s name from a local courthouse.

BRENDA DAVIS: I want to thank Hunter Baker for the story on Henry Hyde today. Instead of focusing us to lament the removal of Henry Hyde's name from the Illinois County Courthouse, your focus was to honor him as a hero. Instead of focusing on the very dishonor this act of Illinois has declared, you honored his act of the Hyde Amendment explaining how he convinced liberals and conservatives to support it. He really was an American hero…It was an excellent call, and even your tone pressed us to continue on, never give up. Because the illusion of the right to choose abortion, it will fade…Thank you so much, Hunter Baker, and for WORLD, for the encouragement that you all gave today to believe and speak the truth.

Thank you Brenda!

One more comment. This one came in after last Friday’s program, but I wanted to share it with you right away. Susan Smith lives in Plano, Texas, and she’s been a regular listener since 2019.

SUSAN SMITH: And I especially like Fridays with John Stonestreet. I enjoyed his comments today about the Maryland case before the Supreme Court and his encouragement to go listen to the entire oral arguments. I did that just now and it was fascinating to hear the lines of questioning, to hear the attorneys…you could hear…the assumptions and the worldviews behind each justice. And, and that was a little scary to hear, but it was also very interesting.

Well Susan we don’t often assign homework, but I’m glad to know you found the recommendation helpful. And for those of you who didn’t do your homework this week, we’ll include a link in today’s transcript to both John’s comments and the complete oral argument.

Oh, and by the way, Susan ended her email with this note:

SUSAN SMITH: I'm always excited to share this podcast with others.

We’re so thankful for WORLD Radio ambassadors! Those listeners who encourage their friends and family to listen as well. It’s a great way—in fact it’s the best way—to get the word out. It’s easy to do. Each platform, phone, and podcast player is different, but all of them have menu options that allow you to share a specific part of the program or the whole episode with a link.

So one more bit of homework as you listen in the days and weeks ahead, if you hear a segment or program you enjoy, we’d love to hear about it. But would you go a step further and share it with someone as well? Send them the link and encourage them to listen.

We’d sure appreciate it. Thanks so much.

That’s this month’s Ask the Editor, I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week:

David Bahnsen, Myrna Brown, Anna Johansen Brown, Janie B. Cheaney, Daniel Darling, Will Fleeson, Collin Garbarino, Amy Lewis, Carolina Lumetta, Becca McCallum, Katie McCoy, Mary Muncy, Jenny Rough, Josh Schumacher, and Cal Thomas.

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

And thanks to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early. This week has been a reunion tour of sorts, with Benj out on vacation … Johnny Franklin’s been back in the saddle providing technical assistance with Carl Peetz.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Harrison Watters is Washington producer, Lindsay Mast and Leigh Jones are our feature editors, Paul Butler is executive producer, and Les Sillars our editor-in-chief.

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 the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” —1 Corinthians 1:18

This weekend, don’t miss the joy of gathering with God’s people in worship—go to church, be encouraged, and be an encouragement.

And Lord willing, we’ll meet you right back here Monday.

Until then, 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.