The World and Everything in It - November 17, 2021

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The pain at the gas pump is being felt across the board with higher energy prices affecting nearly everything. How much is within control of the White House?

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday.

Also World Tour.

Plus we return to Arkansas for the rest of the story about a great big table.

And WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney on finding your place in making the world a better place.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday November 17th. 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: Time now for the news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden touts infrastructure bill in NH » President Biden set out Tuesday on a national tour to sell the benefits of the just-signed infrastructure bill. His first stop was a snowy, rusty bridge in New Hampshire.

BIDEN: Thanks to the infrastructure law, we’re going to make the most significant investment to modernize our roads and our bridges in 70 years. The law is going to speed up the replacement of bridges by at least a year and allow New Hampshire to invest in other infrastructure needs.

With his stop in Granite State, Biden returned to a state that gave him no love in last year’s presidential primaries. He left New Hampshire in February of 2020 before polls had even closed on his fifth-place primary finish. But he returned as president, eager to talk up the $1.2 trillion bill he signed into law on Monday.

And the White House says it was just the first of many stops for Biden and other top officials to tout the rollout of the new law.

Retail sales show strong growth despite inflation » Americans largely shrugged off higher prices last month and stepped up their spending at retail stores and online.

Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent last month. That's the biggest gain since March. Much of the sales increase also reflected higher prices.

Gus Faucher is chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. He said spending was up on a wide range of goods.

FAUCHER: We had strength across a lot of different categories: autos, department stores, building materials. So it looks like, despite all the concerns about inflation, consumers are out there spending now.

Americans are also still buying more cars, furniture, and other goods than they did before the pandemic, which is overwhelming U.S. ports and shipping firms and pushing up prices. The solid spending last month suggests the holiday shopping season is off to a strong start.

Solid hiring, strong pay raises, and healthy savings for many households are underpinning robust spending.

U.S. journalist jailed for months in Myanmar lands in New York » American journalist Danny Fenster, who was freed after nearly six months in jail in Myanmar is back at home. He arrived in New York Tuesday for an emotional reunion with his family.

FENSTER: Everything that everybody was able to do within their mandates - this time it worked, and I’m incredibly grateful.

Myanmar’s military-ruled government accused Fenster of supposedly spreading false or inflammatory information, contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations. He was convicted last week and sentenced to 11 years of hard labor.

But Myanmar’s ruling military junta released him to the United States after negotiations with former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson.

Fenster is one of more than 100 journalists, media officials or publishers arrested since the military ousted the elected government in February.

Pfizer to share formula for COVID-19 pill » Pfizer is sharing the formula for its COVID-19 pill across the globe. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has that story.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The company signed a licensing agreement with an UN-backed group called the Medicines Patent Pool. It will distribute Pfizer’s experimental pill known as paxlovid combined with a low dose of an antiviral drug to nearly 100 countries.

Pfizer has repeatedly refused to share its COVID-19 vaccine patent. But under this agreement, it will waive royalties on sales in low-income countries and places where the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency.

Pfizer released results from clinical trials earlier this month. The trial showed paxlovid to be nearly 90 percent effective at preventing hospitalization and death in mild and moderate COVID cases.

Those results are not yet peer reviewed, and U.S. regulators have not yet authorized the treatment.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Violence breaks out at Poland-Belarus border » Roughly 2,000 migrants, mostly from Middle Eastern countries, are stuck between a razor-wire fence on the Polish border and Belarusian security forces.

Polish authorities claim Belarus is preventing migrants from going back into the country and that Balrus is even giving them weapons. The Belarusian regime denies that.

A group of 100 migrants attacked Polish guards at the border on Tuesday morning with stones, broken concrete blocks, and smoke grenades. The Polish Border Guard fought back with water cannons and tear gas. Authorities said seven police officers, one soldier, and one border guard were injured. At least nine migrants have died in the border clashes so far.

Poland says Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko is weaponizing migrants, escorting them to Poland’s border to destabilize the Eastern bloc.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: rising energy costs.

Plus, influence that truly matters.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Wednesday, November 17th, 2021.

You’re listening to The World and Everything in It and we are so glad to have you along today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. First up: rising energy costs.

Prices are soaring pretty much across the board in the United States as inflation continues to reach further into Americans’ pockets. But that is especially true when it comes to energy costs.

Fuel prices rose more than 12 percent in October. The average cost for a gallon of regular unleaded now tops $3.41.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told PBS NewsHour.

GRANHOLM: The president is all over this. He’s looking at whatever short-term tools he has to be able to relieve the pain the people may be feeling at the pump.

But it’s not just gas prices. Energy costs rose across the board almost 5 percent last month and are up 20 percent over the past year, with no end in sight to the price surge.

REICHARD: So what’s behind the rising energy prices and what can the Biden administration do about it?

Joining us now to help answer those questions is Katie Tubb. She is a senior policy analyst for energy and environmental issues with The Heritage Foundation. Good morning, Katie!

KATIE TUBB, GUEST: Good morning Mary.

REICHARD: Well, we talked to you a couple of months back about gas prices. And they haven’t gotten any better since then!

But again, we’re seeing energy costs rise in general. What’s going on?

TUBB: Well, in some ways the story isn't entirely different. We're still seeing a robust recovery from the pandemic, both in terms of consumer demand and suppliers getting operations back on track. And so just an example of what that looks like, you know, world consumption for oil has far outpaced demand. And as far as the Energy Information Administration projects, that's going to continue for the next year or two as these supply and demand aspects of these global markets continue to correct after what was a very difficult year for both suppliers and consumers. But I think we would be remiss if we said it was only energy markets recovering. I think there is a role for policy here. And certainly the Biden administration has not welcomed the return of coal, oil, and natural gas, which are resources Americans rely on heavily for their total energy needs.

REICHARD: Obviously, the Biden administration places a higher priority on environmental factors than the prior administration. How much do the president’s policies factor into this vs things that are outside of his control?

TUBB: Well, I think you're right to caveat by saying that there are circumstances outside of a president's control. That said, you know, President Biden has not allowed any coal, oil, or natural gas leasing activity on federal lands. One of his first decisions was to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline presidential permit from Canada and the United States that would have brought Canadian oil into U.S. markets. And he's continuing to push a regulatory agenda that basically targets every aspect of coal, oil, and natural gas exploration, production, and even use it at this point, whether we're talking about the actual processes of producing energy, or we're talking about financial markets and raising capital for these businesses. So I do think that has an impact as far as what people are willing to invest in and continue pursuing. And those decisions have consequences months and years out ahead of us. But I think another useful contrast point is what's happening in Europe. You know, Europe has made policy decisions years ago, not to pursue robust energy exploration and production. And I think they're reaping the consequences for that now. And so that's, I think, a good lesson learned for the United States to watch what is happening in Europe as a result of policies that were made years ago, and I think they're much less resilient because of those policy decisions.

REICHARD: The Biden administration has said tapping into the strategic petroleum reserve is on the table. That is of course the nation’s reserve supply of oil. It’s intended for emergency situations. They could tap into that to help lower prices. Good idea, bad idea? Do you think that would help?

TUBB: Hmm, not a good idea. And the reason why is, you know, the purpose of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is to pitch into a crisis situation where there's low supply. And I don't think that's exactly where we are. And I think the reason it's a bad idea to pump out SPR resources at this point is because we have a situation where supply and demand are trying to get back on track and so the communication tool between supply and demand is prices. The higher prices are, the more incentive there is to increase supply. And so it's important that those prices continue to communicate to suppliers to work hard to get supply online. If the administration were to short circuit that communication, between supply and demand, I think what we'd see is very slight relief probably a month from now. But I think it would have long term damage as far as harming supply in the U.S. to the long-term goal of what we want is a stable oil market. So I think it's a shortcut and the point that the administration would be missing, if they go that route, is all of the other things this administration is doing to harm supply in the long term. So to me, it's a shortcut that could do far more harm than good in the long term.

REICHARD: Some analysts suggest that if the United States were to tap into its reserve, OPEC might just cut oil production to match the release from the reserve. Do you think that’s a concern?

TUBB: Yeah, to me, the SPR has become a political tool to bail out a president when he feels pressure over energy prices. And I don't think OPEC is blind to the pressure the Biden administration is under and I don't think they have too much concern with helping him out. So, to me, the Biden administration should pivot not towards SPR—because, again, I think that's a shortcut—but move to what would be a more resilient and robust energy sector United States and that's pulling back a lot of these regulations that I think are creating considerable risk for the industry

REICHARD: The Biden administration was recently taking a look at shutting down the Line 5 pipeline, which runs from Canada through Michigan. Officials now say they are no longer considering that. What effect would that have if they did shut down that pipeline?

TUBB: Well, I'm not ready to say that the question is off the table. The administration said they're looking at it, so I think we should hold our breath a little bit longer. But that pipeline is important for bringing fuel propane, which is used for heating, all different kinds of oil products through that pipeline to the Midwest and also to Canada and so there are significant ramifications for shutting that pipeline down. I would also say that, you know, part of the reason people are advocating it be shut down is environmental concerns. And I think reality is exactly the opposite, that this pipeline has not had any consequences to the environment and to shut it down would not be to stop use of those products, those oil products, it would just transfer the transportation of those products, by other means, whether we're talking about real or trucking, and that those have their own environmental implications. So I think there are -- it's a tug of war between what the administration would probably want to do and what the energy realities of the situation are.

REICHARD: Is there anything else you think the public should know? 

TUBB: You know, I think I find this a very useful time in the sense of it is focusing our attention on what matters, that affordable, reliable energy does matter and it's not just some abstract idea. This is about heating our homes, it's about being able to -- well, how do I want to put this -- To me, it's everything about American well-being and our way of life. And that's not something that we should trifle about. And so, to me, energy price increases focus our attention on why that matters, why affordable, reliable energy matters, why it's a problem to organize our grid, for example, around arbitrary political slogans like 30% renewables by 2030. There are consequences for policies like that. So, to me, this is a time to focus our attention on good policy, and also to be very thankful for the energy that we do have, thankful that when we put a plug into the wall, our machine works, or the light switch turns on, our homes are warming. That's not the case for everyone around the world. So we have a lot to be thankful for and we have a lot of work to keep doing to make that a situation we can look forward to in the future.

REICHARD: Katie Tubb is energy and environmental analyst for the Heritage Foundation. Katie, thanks so much!

TUBB: Thanks very much for having me on.

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

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Russia massing troops on border with Ukraine—We start today in Eastern Europe.

Ukraine is sounding alarms over the increasing number of Russian troops on its border. Dmytro Kuleba is Ukraine’s foreign minister.

KULEBA: What we see now is a deteriorating situation where Russia is demonstrating that it can quickly activate the already amassed troops and equipment and that every option, including the military one, is on the table for Russian leadership.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Moscow to be transparent about its intentions. He said any further aggressive actions would cause “serious concern.”

STOLTENBERG: None of us should speculate too much but the fact is that we see unusual concentration of forces, of military Russian capabilities and that we have seen that Russia has demonstrated the will to use these forces against neighbours Ukraine, Georgia and of course they have demonstrated against Moldova over many years.

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Cimean Peninsula in 2014 and supports a separatist insurgency that controls territory in eastern Ukraine. Earlier this year it conducted large military exercises on the border that prompted fears of a possible invasion.

The border buildup comes amid rapidly increasing tensions between Russia and the West.

PUTIN: [Man speaking Russian]

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed concerns about Ukraine. But he blamed Washington for causing trouble in the Black Sea with unannounced NATO military drills. He called the naval and air exercises “a serious concern.”

U.K. raises threat level after bomb attack—Next we go to England.

The U.K. government raised its terror threat level to severe on Monday after a bomb blast shook Liverpool on Sunday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said another attack is highly likely.

JOHNSON: But what yesterday showed above all is that the British people will never be cowed by terrorism, we will never give in to those who seek to divide us with senseless acts of violence.

A suicide bomber riding in a taxi detonated an explosive device outside a hospital in Liverpool. He reportedly asked to be taken to a Remembrance Sunday service at nearby Liverpool Cathedral. Several thousand people had gathered at the annual event honoring Britain’s war dead.

But due to road closures, the taxi ended up in front of the hospital. When the driver became suspicious about his passenger’s intentions, he jumped out of the car and locked the doors. The would-be attacker then detonated his device. He was the only victim of the explosion.

On Tuesday, police identified him as Emad Al Swealmeen. He was an asylum-seeker from the Middle East who converted from Islam to Christianity. But he also had mental health problems and spent time in a psychiatric hospital several years ago.

Cuba cracks down on planned protest—And finally, we end today in the Caribbean.

AUDIO: [Sound of people chanting, music]

The Cuban government deployed police throughout Havana on Monday to prevent a protest planned by opposition groups. Security forces also surrounded the homes of some activists and arrested others.

AUDIO: [Man speaking Spanish]

At a pro-government rally on Sunday, Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel declared, “Cuba will live in peace and living in peace we will perfect ourselves.”

AUDIO: [Man speaking Spanish]

Amid threats of arrest, Protest leader Yunior Garcia said opposition leaders wanted to change the reality of Cuba peacefully. But, he said, that’s becoming more difficult every day.

Garcia and others organized the protest to demand freedom for more than 600 people jailed after protests in July. Anger over economic hardship and repression prompted the spontaneous rallies.

That’s this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: $351,000 is a lot of money—unless you’re trying to buy a home in the upscale Boston suburb of Newton, Massachusetts.

The median home price there is $1.3 million.

So when I tell you that a realtor just sold a single family home in Newton for $351,000, you might wonder…

REICHARD: What's wrong with it?

EICHER: Well, nothing! The house features new flooring and lighting, a new kitchenette and a recently renovated bathroom.

REICHARD: So what’s the catch?

EICHER: You might have noticed that I said kitchenette, rather than kitchen. The listing says it all:

"One of a Kind! Adorable Tiny Studio Home."

It’s a little bit larger than the size of the average parking space—251 square feet.

If you’re doing the math, that works out to about $1,300 per square foot.

The housing market in the Boston suburbs right now is not for the faint of heart!

REICHARD: Or light of wallet.

EICHER: It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, November 17th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: part two of a story about a dream for community and a table big enough to gather it around.

Yesterday we listened as a pile of honey-locust boards turned from a motley collection of 20-year old lumber into a beautiful table.

EICHER: When we left them they had a 600 pound problem in the room—specifically not in the room and that’s the problem: How to get that big table from McClendon’s workshop to the Williamsons’ home.

Here’s WORLD’s Julie Spencer with the rest of the story.

STUART MCCLENDON: Hey, Brent!
BRENT WILLIAMSON: Hey, how are you?
AUDIO: [Men’s voices, truck and ramp sounds]

JULIE SPENCER, CORRESPONDENT: It’s after lunch on the last day of September. White clouds are piled high in the humid air—rain has been threatening all day. Brent Williamson and four other men come to Stuart McClendon’s workshop with a big box truck.

AUDIO: [Truck sounds]

They back it up between skinny pine and oak trees. Ray Cook, McClendon’s fellow craftsman, cut branches from the trees just so the truck can make it right up to the shop door.

During the 90 minute loading process, Katie Williamson and the four Williamson kids are home sweeping out the garage and moving furniture to make a path through the house to the dining room. While Katie is anticipating a place to gather the young and old, friends and strangers—the kids have their own ideas about the table.

JSPENCER: Tell me what you’re most excited about the table--are you gonna do homework on this table? ABIGAIL: Probably. CHARLOTTE: We’re going to have ancient feasts! JSPENCER: What kind of food do you plan to have at your ancient feast? CHARLOTTE: Alligator!

Cook and the men carefully swaddle the tabletop in quilted white blankets, then carry this 600 pound baby through the shop, pausing every 30 seconds or so to rest from their work.

The scene is reminiscent of a beloved passage Brent Williamson, a forester, reads here from his copy of A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold. The book is a tribute to the work of caring for creation.

BRENT: ...our saw was biting its way, stroke by stroke, decade by decade, into the chronology of a lifetime, written in concentric annual rings of good oak.’ ‘Rest, cries the chief sawyer and we pause for breath’...

Once the table is secured inside the truck with straps and bungee cords, it’s ready for its first—and probably only—outing.

AUDIO: [TRUCK DOOR SLAMS SHUT]

The rain clouds burst just as the truck pulls out onto the highway.

AUDIO: [GRAVEL AND HIGHWAY]

Twenty minutes later the rain stops as the truck backs up the Williamsons’ driveway. Katie and the four kids—Victoria, John David, Charlotte, and Abigail—are waiting in the garage. Abigail, the youngest, skips around the empty space.

BRENT: I need y’all to stay out of the way, okay? I mean, you can watch, I just don’t want you to get in the way when it’s coming down.

Cook climbs into the truck and directs the unloading of the table.

AUDIO: “Hold on, hold on” “Pick it up a little bit,” shuffling sounds, “Rest it on there,” “Y’all got it?”

The men shuffle through the garage, pause for breath in the living room and finally make their way into the dining room. They begin by turning the tabletop upside down onto sawhorses.

Over the next half hour, Cook attaches the legs and central pedestal with a total of 144 screws. McClendon hands Cook each screw. He encourages him with a “Good, good” every time.

AUDIO: [Drill sound, “Beautiful,” drill sound, “About it,” drill sound, “The last screw”]

The moment has finally come to turn the table over and settle it in its new home. 

AUDIO: [Talking, creaking, and everyone sighs as the table is placed on the floor, Abigail says “Oh MY!”]

There is a moment of silence as everyone stares at the newest member of the Williamson family. The chandelier lights glow in the table’s glossy surface. A diamond of the reddish-gold wood anchors the center of the table. Carefully selected boards in alternating shades of cream and red fan out from there—twelve feet of beauty drawn from the thorny honey locust tree.

Katie offers McClendon and Cook pie and coffee.

MCCLENDON: Cream and sugar, lots of sugar. Let’s pull up some chairs!

The conversation turns from wood and table-making woes to life. McClendon reviews the 40-odd years he’s known Cook, through years of alcoholism and now sobriety.

MCCLENDON: Ray’s really special.
COOK: I’ve come a long way.

And, like that, Katie’s dream of having folks around the table sharing life, encouraging one another, is already coming true.

SONG: COME TO THE TABLE BY THE SIDEWALK PROPHETS.

LYRIC: We all start on the outside. The outside looking in. This is where grace begins...

BRENT: What brought you to the point where you’re sober now for several years?

COOK: I just cried out to God, just help me. I knew it was different. My fight was done.

COOK: But that wasn’t me, that was the Lord. Ray had never did that. That increased my faith, because that wasn’t me.

SONG: COME TO THE TABLE BY THE SIDEWALK PROPHETS.

LYRIC: And He said: ‘Come, to the table. Come join the sinners who have been redeemed…’

BRENT AND KATIE WILLIAMSON: That is awesome. That is awesome, I’m proud for you.

COOK: I’m not egotistical, but I like Ray today.

MCCLENDON: Good, God loves you too—He says you’re awesome.

And then the conversation circles back to wood.

MCCLENDON: God made the wood—all we do is finish it and let the beauty of it come out. You see something that’s been hidden that’s never been seen before and all a sudden it’s there.

LYRIC: ‘Come, to the table. Come join the sinners who have been redeemed. Take your place beside your savior, sit down and be set free…’

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Julie Spencer, in El Dorado, Arkansas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, November 17th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Reminder, if you love the program but you’ve never given to support the work, we’re asking this month that you consider becoming a first-time giver. WNG.org/donate. We do have a family who is offering to match your giving dollar for dollar up to $40,000 to double your impact. We’re grateful for anything you can do to support our program so we can keep it coming your way every day: WNG.org/donate

REICHARD: Well, have you ever thought about what your sphere of influence is? Here’s WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney.

JANIE B. CHEANEY, COMMENTATOR: I consult YouTube almost every day for advice on changing a water filter or unlocking an ignition key. And about once a week I get sucked into the vortex of video clickbait. From the promising brainchild of three former PayPal employees, YouTube now accounts for about 15 percent of all internet traffic with 500 hours of content uploaded every minute.

YouTube has made celebrities out of Ukrainian preschoolers and Latin American amateur singers and trick-shot Dudes from Texas A&M. “YouTuber” has replaced “Astronaut” as a popular ambition of elementary-school children—at least that was the case in 2019 and is probably more so after a pandemic year. Who wouldn’t want to become rich by being themselves in front of a camera?

But no one can predict what makes a YouTube star. In 2014, a teenage Target shopper secretly snapped a photo of the cute boy at the checkout. She posted it on Twitter, and before his shift was over “Alex from Target” had become an internet sensation, going on to a brief career of talk-show appearances and YouTube celebrity. Felix Kjellberg , a.k.a. PewDiePie, a brash and telegenic Swede who built his fame on videos of himself playing video games, has remained in the top ranks of YouTubers since 2013. And the name “Kardashian” is still internet gold across the social-media landscape, for no discernable reason.

YouTube, and Instagram even more, are the preferred platforms of today’s so-called “influencers” who market themselves as much as any product. But schoolboys who dream of becoming the next PewDiePie (with 110 million YouTube subscribers) have about as much chance of becoming the next LeBron (with 157 million Instagram followers). Most online influencers built their internet careers on talent: singing, acting, or jump-shooting. Being sensational is not as easy as it looks.

Still, the lure of nobodies becoming famous is right in front of our faces every day. Why can’t we be the ones uploading pandemic song parodies like the Marsh Family, or Rube Goldberg contraptions like Joseph’s Machines?

Because those things are difficult, and take more time, energy, and talent than most of us have. But all of us have influence.

One of the unhappiest effects of YouTube celebrity, especially among the young, is depriving them of their sense of agency. It creates “followers” rather than actors, who dream of making their mark in the social-media world rather than moving purposefully through their own world. Our boundaries may be small, depending on age, ability, and position, but we have more impact within those boundaries than we know.

Doing what your hand finds to do means surveying your territory and figuring out how to make it better. This is what “dominion” is, and everyone has a personal share of dominion. In the end, when accounts are added up and eternal consequences weighed, that’s the influence that matters.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: education alternatives. We’ll talk to some of the parents who are part of a surge in homeschooling among black families.

And, Myanmar. We’ll find out how the democracy movement is faring, 10 months after the military coup.

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 Bible says of Jesus: Consider Him who endured from sinners... such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Go now in grace and peace.

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