The World and Everything in It: May 8, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like me. My name is Becky Barnes. I live in Bloomington, Illinois and recently returned from taking Cornerstone Christian Academy students to Africa. I'm very thankful for those who stay up late to bring us the program early. Midnight here was 7 a.m. there. I hope you enjoyed today's program.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning! Republican challengers of House Speaker Mike Johnson back down and the House steps up on anti-Semitism in education.

AUDIO: The Antisemitism Awareness Act will help the Department of Education better enforce federal anti-discrimination laws.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Washington Wednesday is coming up. Also today, World Tour. And later, the privilege of serving as guest chaplain in Congress.

SUHR: I think it is an ongoing, daily affirmation, that “In God We Trust,” as, as a body, as a country is still real.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, May 8th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

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

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

SOUND: [Explosion]

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Rafah » Israeli Defense Forces — or IDF — continue targeted strikes in and around the city of Rafah. And an Israeli tank brigade has seized control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says while Israel insists that a major ground operation in the city is necessary …

KIRBY:  That's not what this is, uh, that this is, uh, an operation of limited scope, scale, and duration, um, and aimed at cutting off Hamas's ability to ship arms across the Rafah border.

Meantime, cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remain on a knife’s edge. State Dept. spokesman Matthew Miller said negotiations continue in Cairo.

MILLER:   We continue to believe that there is space to reach a deal and we are trying, uh, incredibly hard to push one over the line.

The terror group Hamas is demanding that the IDF halt their offensive saying they won’t negotiate under fire. But Israel says it will not hold its fire until there’s a cease-fire agreement in place for Hamas to free Israeli hostages.

SOUND: [Chanting]

Campus protests » Anti-Israel/Pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Chicago. The school let the protesters back on campus after police cleared out their week-long encampment Tuesday.

Similar demonstrations are breaking out worldwide, including Berlin. Demonstrators clashed with police …

SOUND: [Demonstration]

… and the at the University of Amsterdam.

SOUND: [Demonstration]

Police there detained nearly 200 people.

Education Secretary grilled by lawmakers over anti-Semitism » Meantime, in Washington members of a House committee pressed the secretary of education about the recent rise anti-Semitism on American campuses.

Secretary Miguel Cardona told lawmakers hate has no place in higher education

CARDONA: Every student deserves to learn in an environment where they can feel free to be themselves without discrimination or fear for their safety.

And he said his department is working with schools to address the issue.

Members also pressed him about the botched rollout of the free application for federal student aid.

Northern Mariana Islands Congressman Gregorio Sablan said college hopefuls in his district could only fill it out if they said they were foreign.

SABLAN: Could I please have your commitment that this will be resolved before the next school year? 

CARDONA: Absolutely.

The glitches have made it tough for students to finalize college plans.

House Judiciary probe of FBI's handling of Trump doc case » A federal judge is postponing President Trump’s classified documents trial indefinitely as House Republicans investigate whether the FBI mishandled evidence in the case.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan…

JORDAN: The physical documents didn’t match up with the scanned documents and someone might say, when you do that, that is called tampering with evidence, something you’re not supposed to do.

Special counsel Jack Smith admits documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home are no longer in their original order.

Jordan says that raises questions about whether the documents were altered.

JORDAN: We got Jack Smith mishandling documents. All the while he’s charging President Trump for supposedly mishandling information. You can’t make this stuff up.

Trump’s accused of mishandling national security records and hiding them from the FBI.

His trial was set to start in less than 2 weeks, but on Tuesday Judge Aileen Cannon postponed it indefinitely citing “myriad and interconnected pre-trial issues.”

Trump trial » Meantime, in Manhattan jurors heard more testimony in week-3 of New York’s criminal business fraud trial against Trump.

Pornographic film actress Stephanie Clifford — known publicly as Stormy Daniels — took the stand. Clifford claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

He says it never happened.

His former lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Clifford $130,000 to keep quiet.

Trump says there was no fraud committed, that he paid money to his lawyer for legal expenses, and that’s exactly how it was logged in the books.

TRUMP:  We didn't put it down as construction costs, uh, the purchase of sheetrock, the electrical cost. The legal expense that we paid was put down as legal expense. There's nothing else you could say.

Prosecutors accuse Trump of wrongly claiming the so-called hush money was a legitimate business expense.

Boy Scouts changing to a more "inclusive" name » After 114 years, the Boys Scouts of America is changing its name to Scouting America.

President and CEO Roger Krone…

KRONE: Membership is at historic lows, alright. Part of my job is to reduce all the barriers I possibly can for people to accept us as an organization and to join.

Boy Scouts’ membership is just half of what it was back in 2018 as the organization walks through bankruptcy and compensates former scouts for sexual abuse claims.

Through the years, the Scouts started welcoming girls as well as homosexual scouts and leaders. And Krone says this change is the next step.

KRONE: They can bring their authentic self, they can be who they are.

Critics accused the organization of being driven by what they called increasing “wokeness” in removing a gender reference from its name.

The name change takes effect in February.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Congress’s response to anti-Semitic protests on Washington Wednesday. Plus, World Tour.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 8th day of May, 2024.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s Washington Wednesday.

Today, legal analysis of a bill aimed at anti-Semitism on campus.

But first, a quick update on the move to oust the House Speaker, that wasn’t.

Just a few days ago, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said she would “absolutely” advance a measure to remove U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson. She filed a motion to vacate back in April, in protest of Johnson’s advancing a foreign-aid bill.

MAST: Greene’s threat moved just barely beyond Greene, but under the rules that doesn’t really matter, as a single Republican member has the power to force a vote and even prevail if Democrats go along.

So yesterday [Tuesday], after two extended meetings with the Speaker, Representative Greene softened her position. Audio here from World’s Washington Bureau:

GREENE: What I’m trying to do is give Mike Johnson a chance to be a Republican speaker, and we’ll see what happens.

REPORTER: But why back off from what you said last week?

EICHER: Now, the motion to vacate that Greene filed back in April could still be brought to the floor. But for now, Greene issued a list of demands. Among other things, she wants Johnson to commit to no more funding for Ukraine and consider only single subject appropriations bills … to stand or fall on their own merit. In other words, no more massive bills with something for everyone designed to help the medicine go down.

Johnson told reporters yesterday that he has heard Greene’s ideas, but…

JOHNSON: It's not a negotiation, ok? What is required when you have the smallest majority in history is that you have to quite literally get everyone to work together. When you can only lose one vote on a, on a, on a party preference or priority, it, it takes a lot of time to build consensus.

MAST: Turning now to a proposal that’s gotten much more support in the House:

Last week, the House passed “The Antisemitism Awareness Act” with bipartisan backing. During House debate … Tennessee Republican David Kustoff explains what the law would do.

KUSTOFF: Mr. Speaker, by clearly defining anti-Semitism, the Antisemitism Awareness Act will help the Department of Education better enforce federal anti-discrimination laws.

EICHER: But New York Democrat Jerry Nadler opposed the bill.

NADLER: This bill threatens to chill constitutionally protected speech. By encompassing purely political speech about Israel into Title VI’s ambit, the bill sweeps too broadly.

MAST: So does Nadler have a point on free speech? Joining us now to talk about it is WORLD’s legal reporter Steve West.

Steve, good morning.

STEVE WEST: Good morning, Lindsay.

MAST: Well let’s start with defining terms. How does this bill define “anti-Semitism?”

WEST: Well, this is a definition that has been around since May of 2016. It was adopted, adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance back then. And it was originally drafted for the purpose of collecting data on anti-Semitism in Europe. So what it says is that "Anti-semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews, rhetorical, and physical manifestations of anti semitism are directed towards Jewish or non Jewish individuals, and or their property towards Jewish community institutions, and religious facilities." And then it goes on to offer some examples of what how that might be expressed. And that's where some of the trouble comes.

MAST: What are some of those examples?

WEST: Right, well some at some of the things that it goes into, like, for example, expressing criticism of the State of Israel, that might be one. Anybody under the First Amendment should be able to criticize the policies of another nation. Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing, or even for acts committed by non-Jews, well, that may be wrong to do, of course, but it's not directed against a specific Jewish person as a threat. And so it's able to be expressed under the First Amendment. It doesn't violate the First Amendment.

MAST: As we mentioned earlier, this bill would affect how the Department of Education investigates harassment under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Remind us what Title VI does and also how this legislation would affect how it’s enforced?

WEST: I can. Title VI is a federal law that bars discrimination in any kind of federal program or activity that receives federal financial assistance---discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. So for example, the private school or public school that receives funds, federal funds, could be barred from participation in financial aid programs or in federal grant programs if they are shown to discriminate on any of these bases, and also imposes an obligation on them to look into and investigate any kind of allegation of discrimination.

MAST: At the end of the bill, there’s a section explaining what it would not do. For example, the legislation would not expand the authority of the Secretary of Education or infringe on the rights of those being investigated. Most importantly, it says “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution.” So why the fears about how this could affect free speech?

WEST: Well, really two things. One is that just because you have that kind of language in there doesn't preserve the act from litigation. There's still got to be courts to figure out well, where is the boundary between the First Amendment free speech guarantee, and what's barred by this particular definition, as it applies to Title VI? So you've got litigation that will ensue because of this, obviously.

The other thing is that many would argue this is a bad precedent, because it tries to, it's a form of a bar of hate speech. And so it's a regulation of speech, and because of that, infringes on free speech, and it could lead in the future to other types of hate speech litigation. For example, just imagine that they defined in Title VI, you know, what homophobia was, or discrimination against LGBTQ persons. And so religious students or religious schools that took the position that same-sex marriage was not allowed or that sexual expressions between two persons of the same sex were not allowed, may be accused of discrimination, and therefore have all federal funds withdrawn. So that's a danger that this could lead to. Whenever you're trying to regulate speech, you're infringing upon the First Amendment. And I think that's what happens in part in this particular definition.

MAST: Well, this bill is now headed to the Senate, so there’s still time for lawmakers to address some of these concerns. Final question here…is there any other aspect of this story you think warrants a closer look?

WEST: So I think what was important to keep in mind is that there are already protections for directed threats against Jewish students, violent activity, other types of things on campus, and many tools that some some administrators are not using. For example, you can have time, place and manner restrictions on protests that occur. Schools don't have to allow, of course, occupation of their buildings. They don't have to allow protests to occur 24/7. They don't have to allow the disruption of the educational environment for other students who are trying to study or go to class or take exams. All of that is proper under the First Amendment while still providing for avenues for them to protest. So there's still tools that are available there, of course, many ways to protect Jewish students as well without this particular law.

MAST: Steve West is a legal reporter for WORLD. Steve, thank you for your analysis!

WEST: Thank you, Lindsay.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onize Ohikere.

AUDIO: [Residents talking]

DRC explosion — We start today in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where residents at a camp for the displaced look over what’s left of their items after two bombs went off.

At least 12 people died—including children—after the explosions hit two camps on the outskirts of the city of Goma in North Kivu province.

Congolese authorities blamed the M23 rebel group for the attack, but the group denied responsibility. The rebel group, which has alleged links to Rwanda, confirmed it captured the strategic Congolese town of Rubaya a day earlier.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also called on Rwanda to stop supporting rebels and withdraw its troops from Congolese territory.

Safi Kasembe is one of the displaced people.

KASEMBE: [Speaking Swahili]

She says here that they fled their villages because of the war and took refuge at the camp, but the violence has continued even there.

More than 120 armed groups are active across eastern Congo.

Kambale Kiyoma is another displaced resident in North Kivu.

KIYOMA: [Speaking Swahili]

He says here that the residents are asking authorities to restore peace so they don’t remain in the middle of the war.

AUDIO: [Chanting protesters]

Panama elections — Next, to cheers in Panama after the electoral tribunal confirmed José Raúl Mulino as the country’s new leader.

The former security minister clinched nearly 35 percent of the votes, earning a nine-point lead over his closest competitor.

Mulino stepped in as a replacement for former President Ricardo Martinelli, who couldn’t run for office since receiving a 10-year prison sentence for money laundering.

During his acceptance speech, Mulino said he is no one’s puppet.

MULINO: [Speaking Spanish]

He says here that he will work with God’s guidance to run a government that will benefit the people.

The 64-year-old new leader will now contend with corruption, a slowed economy, a migration crisis, and drought.

China-Canada interference — Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have slammed a Canadian report chronicling China’s alleged interference in federal elections.

The preliminary document last week by Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission said it found that China, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Russia interfered in federal elections in 2019 and 2021.

Lin Jian is a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman.

LIN: [Speaking Mandarin]

He says here that China has always practiced non-interference.

The Commission will release its final report by the end of the year.

AUDIO: [Responders]

Brazil flooding — We wrap up today in southern Brazil where responders are still evacuating people from flooded areas.

Volunteers joined firefighters and other responders to get survivors to safety.

Heavy downpour that began over a week ago has killed more than 80 people and injured more than 150 others. The downpour caused landslides, knocked down bridges, and cut off power and water supplies.

Neucir Carmo is a resident of the affected Floresta neighborhood.

CARMO: [Speaking Portuguese]

He says here that he had no water and electricity for three days.

Here’s Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

LULA DA SILVA: [Speaking Portuguese]

He says here that authorities need to stop chasing misfortunes and start anticipating disasters.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: In baseball the ceremonial first pitch is kind of a big deal.

Usually it’s done by a local luminary, but presidents have done it. Biden did but as VP, Trump, Obama. Goes all the way back to Taft.

You get the picture. It can generate a buzz.

So in steps Matt Hilton to the mound to throw out the first pitch in an Arizona Diamondbacks game. And you’re going Matt who?

No, no, no, he was not there to create a buzz, but to shut one down.

Hilton was called on to disable and remove a swarm of bees in the netting behind home plate. It had delayed the game almost 2 hours.

Hilton took care of business. The Diamondbacks took care of him, honoring him with that first pitch. Then they took care of the Dodgers with a walk-off win in the bottom of the tenth that had the stadium buzzing again.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, May 8th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: guest chaplains at the House of Representatives.

Each day it’s in session, the House opens with prayer. The House Chaplain usually says that prayer, but a few times a year, an invited guest does.

WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has the story of one of them.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: On Friday April 12th, members of The House of Representatives started their day much like any other.

ROBERT SUHR: So they walk in, the speaker of the House or his representative for the day comes in… 

AUDIO: The Chair lays before the House a communication from the speaker...

ROBERT: They proclaim him pro-tem…

AUDIO: The prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain.

ROBERT: And then he introduces the chaplain, just a brief: our guest chaplain of the day is…

AUDIO: Mr. Robert Suhr, Christ Church Mequon, Wisconsin.

ROBERT: Please pray with me. Holy God, mighty Lord, gracious Father …

But what was a normal day for Congress was anything but ordinary for Robert Suhr and his family. His son, Daniel, watched the prayer from the gallery with his mother. Daniel beamed.

DANIEL SUHR: I would say pride, but I know that’s a sin. [Laughs] So I’ll just say joy.

That voice may be familiar. Daniel Suhr is a contributor to World Opinions.

On this day, Daniel said his father’s prayer put him in a unique position, almost as if the parent-child roles reversed.

DANIEL: It's really a unique position to be able to look at your parent who's been your role model and your example and say, like, wow, I just take joy in seeing your lifetime of service, your lifetime of sacrifice like that. We can sort of recognize it with this unique honor, which is also an opportunity to pray for our country.

Robert Suhr is an ordained minister in the Lutheran church and has been for 42 years. But he retired this year.

DANIEL SUHR: Every son has this dilemma, like, what do you do?

Daniel Suhr considered many different options, but landed on one unique idea.

DANIEL: Dad has always loved our country and been interested in my career, which has been in politics and public policy. And I don’t know that he actually watches much C-SPAN—you’re probably more of a Fox News guy than a C-SPAN guy. But I watch a lot of C-SPAN. And so I knew that there was this tradition of having guest chaplains, that that was a thing.

So, he emailed a former colleague about it.

DANIEL: Ends up it's a relatively easy process. You just contact your member of Congress, they contact the chaplains office. And as long as your member of Congress says you're a good guy, or good gal, then they kind of sponsor you.

Their member of Congress is Glenn Grothman. He’s a Republican from the 6th District in Wisconsin. He’s been a congressman for 10 years. This was his first time sponsoring a guest chaplain.

GLENN GROTHMAN: I'm very honored. Who knows if he came to me now, maybe it's going to take another 12 years so we're glad we got him.

He says that because it’s actually not easy to be the guest chaplain. Every congressman gets a maximum of one nominee per two year period. And there are only 60 guest chaplains during that same time period.

GROTHMAN: So you can see with 435 congressmen, if you're a congressman for 14 years, you're lucky to get one.

The role of House Chaplain is a long-standing tradition of Congress. 200 years this month, to be exact. It’s a role protected in the Constitution, a way of acknowledging the country’s commitment to free expression of religion.

And that commitment to religious expression is extended to the members of the House and their constituents through the guest chaplain program. It allows members to see their community’s religious beliefs on display at the Capitol.

For Robert Suhr, it was a special opportunity.

ROBERT: I think it was my hope in the prayer I offered in particular today that it would be received by those who would listen, to ground them in their own brokenness and to understand their need for a God who is greater than themselves.

The tradition of opening each session with prayer is a tradition that has drawn controversy over the years, evoking strong opinions from both sides of the aisle. With some taking issue with certain guest chaplains on the basis of their politics, others taking issue with the religious views.

But from Daniel’s position in the gallery, watching his father deliver a prayer for the members of Congress below the words “In God We Trust” etched in marble, Daniel says it’s a reminder that at least in a small way, our nation still recognizes an important founding principle.

DANIEL: I think it is an ongoing, daily affirmation, that “In God We Trust,” as, as a body, as a country is still real. And that if they got rid of that tradition—and it's more than a tradition, right?—if they got rid of that, if they ended the invocation, I think it would be sort of abandoning so much of who we are as a country and what our history looks like. But that was brought home to me in a very visceral way, looking down from the gallery and seeing him in his clericals under “In God We Trust” as he’s delivering the invocation.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin. Additional reporting by Emma Perley.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, May 7th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next: WORLD commentator Andrée Seu Peterson on the God-created differences between men and women.

MUSIC: [Some Enchanted Evening]

ANDREE SEU PETERSON: I recently came across this Babylon Bee headline: “Man Thoughtfully Responds To Wife’s Nine-page Text About Her Day With A Thumbs-up Emoji.”

There are two genders, which is quite enough. Men are not women, a truth downplayed during courtship but dependably brought to light later. Generally speaking, men are (a) creatures of few words, and (b) emotionally truncated. If it took me years to come to terms with this, it is because all the treacly love songs are written by men, a fact I’m still puzzling out:

“Laura” by Dave Raskin; “Some Enchanted Evening” by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein; “Unforgettable” by Irving Gordon; “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Ewan MacColl.

Thirtieth President Calvin Coolidge reportedly sat near a woman at a dinner party who said, “I bet someone I could get more than two words out of you.” He replied, “You lose.” WORLD listeners might also like this Coolidgism: Mrs. Coolidge was unable to attend church one Sunday, so she asked her husband upon his return what the sermon was about. “Sin,” he said. When she asked what the preacher said about sin, Coolidge offered: “He was against it.”

Which exhausts both my Coolidge trivia and substantiation of claim (a).

For claim (b) that men are emotionally truncated, take a scene from screwball comedy Dumb and Dumber, where two losers are lounging in a bathtub: “So why did your wife divorce you?” one inquires idly. “She said I don’t listen. Or something like that. … I don’t know, I wasn’t paying attention.”

I’m reminded of a scene from My Fair Lady in which Professor Higgins addresses Col. Pickering:

MY FAIR LADY CLIP: Men are so pleasant, so easy to please. Whenever you’re with them, you’re always at ease. Would you be slighted if I didn’t speak for hours?” “Of course not.” “Would you be livid if I had a drink or two?” “Nonsense.” “Would you be wounded if I never sent you flowers?” “Never.” “Well, why can’t a woman be like you?

So did God make a mistake? Why the mismatch of sensibilities and expectations?

Blimey, Pickering! I believe it’s by design! I believe it is on purpose! If a man could get everything he needed from a woman, and a woman could get everything she needed from a man, where would be the quest for God?

The late apologist Francis Schaeffer wrote this in his book True Spirituality: “No love affair between a man and a woman has ever been great enough to hang everything on. It will crumble away under your feet… But when I am a creature in the presence of God, and I see that the last relationship is with an infinite God… I can take from a human relationship what God meant it to provide, without putting the whole structure under an intolerable burden.” 

So let us all have a good laugh and bear each other’s failings. In any case, life is short and we shall be home by and by.

I’m Andrée Seu Peterson.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Israel’s strike on Rafah. Has it crossed the Biden administration’s so-called Red Line? We’ll talk about it with an expert.

And, African churches decided to stay in the United Methodist Church despite doctrinal changes many of them disagree with. We’ll have a report. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

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 apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”—1 Corinthians 11: 23-24

Go now in grace and peace.

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