The World and Everything in It - November 8, 2021

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The law in Texas about who can sue over abortion prompted worries from justices on both sides of the political divide.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Legal Docket.

Also today the Monday Moneybeat. We’ll talk about passage of the infrastructure bill and an encouraging jobs report for October.

Plus the WORLD History Book. 20 years ago this week, a basketball great surprises his fans.

REICHARD: It’s Monday, November 8th. 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: Now time for the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden hails newly passed infrastructure bill » President Biden is hailing the newly passed bipartisan infrastructure package as a—quote—“monumental step forward for the nation."

BIDEN: A once-in-a-generation investment that’s going to create millions of jobs, modernize our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our broadband, a whole range of things.

The House passed the roughly $1 trillion bill late Friday on a vote of 228-to-206, and Biden said he’ll sign it soon.

The Senate passed the bill back in August. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House progressives held up a vote on the bill while Democrats debated President Biden’s larger multi-trillion-dollar spending proposal.

And that spending package is next on the agenda for Democrats. It would have to pass straight down party lines, and Democratic leaders would use the reconciliation process to avoid a GOP Senate filibuster.

Republicans remain strongly opposed. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso ...

BARRASSO: Wasteful spending and regulations that are going to drive up the cost of energy for American families through the winter and into next year.

Moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have not yet signed on to support the spending package. Party leaders will need all 50 Senate Democrats on board to pass a bill.

U.S. reopens to fully vaccinated foreign travelers » Starting today, the United States reopens to fully vaccinated foreign travelers who have been shut out of the country for the better part of two years.

But there's a catch: non-immigrant adults need to have received vaccines authorized by the FDA or the World Health Organization. Those include Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson.

That has millions of already-vaccinated people scrambling to get U.S.-approved vaccines because the shots they received aren’t on the approved list. For example: the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, which is used in around 70 countries.

Children are exempt from the vaccination requirement. But all air travelers 2 years old and up will also need a negative COVID-19 test within three days of their flight.

Possible GOP White House hopefuls gather in Las Vegas » More than a half-dozen potential GOP White House contenders converged on Las Vegas over the weekend. That’s where the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference took place.

Among the speakers, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. He told attendees that he’s standing up against cancel culture and vaccine mandates from Washington.

DESANTIS: I am standing my ground. I am not backing down. We have a lot more to do and I have only begun to fight. Thank you guys!

Some have called the event the first significant cattle call of possible presidential candidates.

Former President Trump did not attend in person but addressed the conference by video.

TRUMP: We will win back the House. We will win back the Senate, and we will win back in 2024 that beautiful white building sometimes referred to as the White House.

But former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had a warning for Trump supporters. He said those who question the legitimacy of the 2020 vote must move on.

CHRISTIE: We can no longer talk about the past and the past elections. No matter where you stand on that issue, it is over.

He said the campaigns leading up to the GOP win in last week’s Virginia’s gubernatorial election and a tight vote in New Jersey proved that looking forward is the winning formula.

Other speakers included South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and Senators Rick Scott and Ted Cruz. Several top Trump administration figures also spoke: former Vice President Mike Pence, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Authorities investigating deaths at Houston music festival » Investigators in Houston are trying to determine how eight people died at a music festival on Friday night.

An estimated 50,000 people packed out Astroworld for the two-day event. Eyewitnesses said ahead of rapper Travis Scott’s performance, a mob of thousands of fans suddenly surged toward the stage.

Concertgoer Kevin Perez was there …

PEREZ: There was like a mosh pit next to me that had collapsed, so literally there was just a bunch of people lying down on the floor on top of each other.

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner addressed a report that someone in the crowd was injecting others with drugs. He urged patience and said it will take time to sort out the facts.

FINNER: A lot of narratives out there right now, a lot of them, on social media and even last night. I think that all of us need to be respectful of the families and make sure that we follow the facts and the evidence.

The dead ranged in age from 14 to 27. More than a dozen others were hospitalized.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: the Supreme Court considers a unique abortion law in Texas.

Plus, gospel riots in Greece.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Monday, November 8th and we’re so glad you’ve joined us 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. Today on Legal Docket: the two abortion-related cases the Supreme Court heard last week.

These are really important, but as we stressed last week, they have to do with the new law in Texas and these do NOT provide the head-on constitutional clash that provides the very best chance for the court to revisit the question of the abortion right the court created in Roe versus Wade. 

REICHARD: Exactly. That head-on constitutional clash, as you say, is coming in just a few weeks in a case involving the Mississippi state law on abortion. Texas is important and we’ll tell you about it, but thought it was important to make the distinction between Texas—which you’ll hear about today—and Mississippi, which is in December.

EICHER: Before we get to it, and speaking of December, that’s when we’ll be doing our year-end giving drive. But today and during this month, I want to talk specifically to you if you’ve never given before to support the work of WORLD. Over the last couple of years, we’ve emphasized November as a month where we challenge brand-new givers, and we’ve added hundreds to the thousands who give regularly to make this program possible, and, really, all of the journalistic work we do at WORLD.

So if you’ve not given to WORLD, please consider a first-time gift of support to help shore up Biblically objective journalism and ensure we continue to be here every day for you.

REICHARD: Please visit wng.org/donate to become a first-time giver or just use the next few days and weeks to consider becoming one. We’re so grateful that you get your news from WORLD and grateful for your generous support to keep that work going. Again, wng.org/donate to make a first-time gift and thank you!

EICHER: November first—last Monday was the date the Supreme Court heard oral argument in two cases on the issue of abortion.

REICHARD: These cases confront a Texas law that went into effect in September. Called S.B. 8 or The Heartbeat Act.

The law bans abortions after six weeks’ gestation and authorizes anyone to sue over an illegal abortion. Usually a government official would bring the prosecution. Successful plaintiffs can seek at least $10,000 in damages per abortion.

EICHER: The Biden administration and abortion providers sued to stop enforcement of the law. One argument is that it violates the Supremacy Clause found in Article VI of the US Constitution. That says federal law takes precedence over state law.

Listen to how the lawyer for the federal government framed the argument. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar:

PRELOGAR: Texas designed S.B. 8 to thwart the supremacy of federal law in open defiance of our constitutional structure. States are free to ask this Court to reconsider its constitutional precedents, but they are not free to place themselves above this Court, nullify the Court's decisions in their borders, and block the judicial review necessary to vindicate federal rights.

REICHARD: The high court’s decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey permit abortion prior to fetal viability, around 24 weeks’ gestation. So, she argued, the Texas law is an unconstitutional go-around of court precedent.

On the other side, in support of the Heartbeat Act, Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone:

STONE: Texas does not suppress any substantive right by saying that it prefers to see certain kinds of challenges brought through the state court system.

Stone argued that a state can decide for itself how it wants to handle challenges to its own state laws. He says the federal government overstepped its boundaries.

The lawyer arguing on behalf of the abortion providers brought out the flip side: this law chills a woman’s right to seek an abortion.

Not particularly impressed with that argument: Justice Neal Gorsuch. Listen to his exchange with lawyer Marc Hearron.

GORSUCH: But do you agree that there are laws—defamation laws, gun control laws, rules during the pandemic about the exercise of religion—that discourage and chill the exercise of constitutionally protected liberties?

HEARRON: Yes.

GORSUCH: And that they can only be challenged after the fact?

HEARRON: I'm not sure that they—that all of those laws could only be challenged after the fact, but there may be some, Your Honor.

GORSUCH: Certainly, there are certain circumstances where that's true, right?

HEARRON: That's probably correct.

GORSUCH: So it’s a line drawing …

Justice Gorsuch references the general principle that to vindicate a right, you must first show you’ve suffered an injury from the denial of that right.

And that comes once a law is actually enforced. But nobody’s violated the law and then been sued over it yet. These cases are pre-enforcement lawsuits, asking that the law be stopped now.

Justice Elena Kagan thought the right place to draw the line is around legislative chicanery.

KAGAN: We would be inviting states, all 50 of them, with respect to their un-preferred constitutional rights, to try to nullify the law of that this Court has laid down as to the content of those rights. I mean, that was something that until this law came along no state dreamed of doing. Guns, same sex marriage, religious rights, whatever you don’t like, go ahead.

As it happens, a gun-rights group filed a friend of the court brief in support of the abortion providers. Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked the lawyer who argued in support of the Heartbeat Act about that.

KAVANAUGH: Can I ask you about the implications of your position for other constitutional rights? The amicus brief of the Firearms Policy Coalition says, "This will easily become the model for suppression of other constitutional rights, with Second Amendment rights being the most likely targets." And it could be free speech rights. It could be free exercise of religion rights. It could be Second Amendment rights. If this position is accepted here, the theory of the amicus brief is that it can be easily replicated in other states that disfavor other constitutional rights.

As an example, maybe let anyone sue anyone else who owns an AK-47 and then collect $10,000 in damages.

You can imagine how that could apply to other politically divisive issues in this day and age.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett echoed Justice Kavanaugh’s concerns, and I think those two justices will be the pivotal votes.

Solicitor General Prelogar amplified those worries:

PRELOGAR: And if that is true, if a state can just take this simple mechanism of taking its enforcement authority and giving it to the general public, backed up with a bounty of $10,000 or $1,000,000? If they can do that, then no Constitutional right is safe. That would be an intolerable state of affairs and it cannot be the law. Our Constitutional guarantees cannot be that fragile.

Chief Justice Roberts saw an incongruity in her argument, though. Where’s the line to draw around federal overreach?

ROBERTS: You say this case is very narrow, it’s rare, it’s particularly problematic. But the authority you assert to respond to it is as broad as can be. It’s equity, you say. We have the authority to sue states under equity, which is a limitless ill-defined authority. And I just wonder...what is the limiting principle?

PRELOGAR: Well, Mr. Chief Justice, the equitable remedy that we’re seeking here is not limitless.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page pointed out the problem: one bad law often begets another. The risk here is the justices could do long-term damage to the separation of powers just to undo that one bad law that should be resolved in the state court system.

It’s a guess, but it does looks like the DOJ’s lawsuit against Texas will be dismissed for lack of standing as to the federal government and no limiting principle as to power.

The other case, the one brought by the abortion providers, looks likely to proceed. Likely due to worry that other states might copy what Texas did and undermine other constitutional rights.

And that’s the danger: it’ll muddy up that “limiting principle” Chief Justice Roberts asked about.

On December 1, Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks’ gestation brings the direct attack on Roe v. Wade.

That’s the one to watch.

Quick mention here of one more argument. It’s about arbitration disputes.

Justice Stephen Breyer nods to human nature and coins a new word for people who don’t like arbitration. Listen for it:

BREYER: ...what we're doing here, normally, is we are having, let's call him an arbitration rat. There is the guy who loves arbitration and then there is the rat who hates it, although he agreed to it, okay? Now he will express his ratitude in many different ways. First, he will not want to go in in the first place. Then, if you make him go in in the first place, he's not going to want the other guy to get any witnesses. And then, if you go and get that, he's not going to want anybody to enforce this thing which he lost in the third place.

The question is which courts have jurisdiction to hear certain arbitration disputes already dismissed by an arbitration panel.

The circuits are split over this, so only the Supreme Court can provide the clarity needed.

And only Justice Breyer can supply the wittiest neologisms—Ratitude. Word of the day!

I hereby express my gratitude for Ratitude!

And that’s this week’s Legal Docket.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Three new toys have taken a place of honor in the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Among the new inductees: American Girl Dolls.

Another is one of the most popular board games of all time.

AUDIO: Risk … with the game and win the world.

Parker Bros. released Risk in the United States all the way back in 1959.

But the third inductee has been around even longer than that! It’s sand.

Yes, sand, as in granular rock and mineral particles.

Not flashy, but popular with kids—and for a long time—well, probably as long as there have been kids.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Next up on The World and Everything in It: the Monday Moneybeat.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Financial analyst and adviser David Bahnsen joins us now for our weekly conversation and commentary on business, markets, and the economy. David, good morning.

DAVID BAHNSEN, GUEST: Well, it's good to be with you, Nick.

EICHER: Well, maybe I should’ve said politics and the economy.

Let me try out a headline for you—see if this fits your assessment of the week: Democrats falter in Virginia, party moderates reassert control in DC, pass bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Is that about it? Does it capture the cause and effect?

BAHNSEN: Yeah, yeah, I think that there is a lot of that that happened. It was, you know, there's nuances and more complexity on both of those stories. But you definitely had a huge story out of Virginia, and you had a huge story out of last Friday night. And both of them do, essentially, have the narrative of what you described that the moderates got what they wanted on Friday night. And obviously, the results, not just to Virginia, but have a multitude of election results around the country, at least provide some sort of prima facie support to the idea that the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party is running on defense right now.

EICHER: Probably not worth going into more political detail, so maybe let’s jump into the infrastructure bill’s passing, without the much-bigger reconciliation tax-and-spend package, which seems really to show the ascendancy of the moderate wing of the Democrats.

BAHNSEN: Well, I think those two things go together. I mean, I think on the political front by now, everyone knows the closeness of the governor race in New Jersey, the result of the Republican Virginia win and the governor's race there, they, you know, look special elections and off election years, they can be indicative, and they have been foreshadowing in the past to certain things, but they're not exclusive. And they don't, you know, guarantee a certain result into the future. But I think that they're incredibly confirming of what has sort of been my anecdotal observation, and I'm sure the anecdotal observation of, of many people listening, which is that there's an overreach right now towards some of the more progressive side. And I think a lot of that is more cultural than even economic. But I think that more importantly, right now is a lot of people are wondering what's happening with this reconciliation bill. And they cannot know. Because what happened with the infrastructure bill did not dictate anything to what the Senate is going to do with the reconciliation bill. Not only did the House not approve a reconciliation bill, even if they had, they would have been doing so knowing that many of the things in there are red lines for some of the Democratic senators. And so until the house does something, and then sends it to the Senate. And then we see what a variety of senators, both the Manchin/Sinema moderate side, and then some of the other more progressives, there are red lines for both sides here. Now, I'm very happy to tell I'm not really happy, but I am in I feel confident sharing with WORLD listeners that I do think a reconciliation bill will end up getting passed, I never really believed that they were going to get one done and not the other, I thought it was both or none. And the fact that they got this infrastructure thing done, probably, let's put it this way, if they had not gotten it done, I think reconciliation was done, over, they're gonna have to walk away with their heads down. And that was almost a completely unacceptable outcome for what the you know, severity of the humiliation would have been to party leaders. At this point, the issue is just really how much they're going to be able to shape the bill, in a more moderate vein versus a more progressive vein. They've already done yeoman's work in reshaping this bill. But are they going to now have the leverage to really get it down to what the kind of Manchin side initially said? That remains to be seen? And I don't think we're going to know for at least a few weeks.

EICHER: All right, 531,000 jobs added in October—that report is in and it’s quite an improvement, more than half a million. Unemployment rate at 4.6%. We’re still four million jobs short, pre-pandemic. But that’s got to be the improvement you’re looking for with that federal incentive not to work fully now out of the way.

BAHNSEN: Yeah, similar to the stuff we talked about last week, the initial jobless claims this week on Thursday, going to another new low. The continuing claims now getting really much closer to pre pandemic levels, and then the confirmation that I expected to see See in the total October number all indicate the same story, which is that the relief from the Federal supplement has worked out according to plan. The bad news remains the same bad news, which is a declining labor participation force. The good news remains the same good news, which is a absolutely astronomical amount of jobs lost during COVID have indeed come back. But we, week by week have had people that have said, okay, the gravy train is over, I enjoyed being out of work. And yeah, the folks going back to work right now people need to go back to work. There are still a concerning amount of people that have just decided they don't want to work again. And that remains in the same demographics we've talked about in past shows. And I don't have anything optimistic to say there. A labor participation force at 61% is way, way, way too low. It was closer to 64% before the COVID moment, and I just think that it's a tragedy to see the amount of people that decided they don't want to be in the workforce again. But I don't think it's necessarily a tragedy because of economic output. I think it's just a tragedy for the cultural ramifications.

EICHER: David Bahnsen, financial analyst and adviser. He writes at dividendcafe.com. Thanks again, David!

BAHNSEN: Well, thank you for having me.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, November 8th. 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. Next up: The WORLD History Book. Today, a basketball legend makes a startling announcement, a woman heads to Capitol Hill, and the Gospel of Matthew sparks a riot. Here’s senior correspondent Katie Gaultney.

AUDIO: [RIOTING]

KATIE GAULTNEY, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Greece is largely considered the birthplace of democracy. It may be no surprise, then, that it has seen its share of protests and riots as citizens exercise their rights. More surprising, though, was the source of one major riot 120 years ago. On November 8th, 1901, the translation of the Gospel of Matthew into the common Greek vernacular prompted bloody clashes in Athens.

A newspaper called Akropolis published that book in demotic Greek, the modern version of the language. The language had evolved from its ancient roots to the point that modern and ancient Greek sounded almost nothing alike.

The chasm became not just linguistic, but political. On one end of the spectrum, ancient Greek proponents—especially in the Greek Orthodox Church and academia—believed that if they watered down their language, they might lose claim to their Byzantine land holdings. On the other end, demotic or common Greek proponents said language really isn’t as important as investments in artillery.

So when the newspaper published Matthew in the common form—alongside a political editorial—violence broke out. Eight demonstrators died. Ultimately, proponents of the ancient language failed in their efforts to make it the preferred form of communication. Modern Greeks do speak and write in the demotic form. But the Greek Orthodox Church continues to use ancient Greek as the liturgical language in its services.

And from the birthplace of democracy to democracy in America. One hundred and five years have passed since November 7th, 1916, when Americans elected a woman to Congress for the first time. Residents of Montana chose 36-year-old Jeannette Rankin, a Republican and women’s rights advocate, to represent them in the U.S. House.

During the Progressive Era, Rankin took up the suffragist cause, championing women’s voting rights in Montana and 15 other states.

WASNIEWSKI: She’s elected to the House four years before women had the right to vote nationally, and in a way she’s really a bridge from the suffrage movement to women attaining full political rights.

That’s historian Matthew Wasniewski speaking to C-SPAN. As a congresswoman, Rankin put forth legislation that eventually became the 19th Amendment, granting women across the United States unrestricted voting rights.

SONG: “Salute to the New Beginning,” performed by U.S. Army Herald Trumpets

Born in Montana territory nine years before it became a state, Rankin worked as a dressmaker, furniture designer, and teacher before becoming a social worker. Her campaign and election won her considerable national attention—and a few marriage proposals. She had a reputation as a compelling orator.

As her first term came to a close, Montana changed its voting procedures, and Rankin faced little chance of reelection. She launched a failed Senate bid, then spent decades traveling the country promoting women’s enfranchisement and pacifism.

Montanans reelected Rankin to the U.S. Congress in 1940, but her political career came to an end when she voted against declaring war on Japan in the wake of Pearl Harbor. For NBC, Jane Pauley recalled the immediate aftermath of that vote.

PAULEY: Booed off the House floor, Rankin briefly took refuge in a telephone booth, “like a cornered rabbit,” wrote the Washington Post.

She died in California in 1973, at the age of 92. Interestingly, as of 2021, Rankin was still the only woman ever elected to Congress from Montana.

And from politics to medicine and sports.

ANNOUNCER: Earvin… “Magic”... Johnson!

Thirty years ago, on November 7th, 1991, basketball great Magic Johnson announced his HIV-positive diagnosis—and his retirement from the NBA. He made the announcement at a jam-packed press conference.

JOHNSON: Because of the HIV virus that I have attained, I will have to retire from the Lakers, today. I just want to make clear that I do not have the AIDS disease…

That announcement came after 13 seasons with the Lakers. But, Johnson also shared, his pregnant wife remained HIV-negative, and he was hopeful about his prognosis.

JOHNSON: I plan on going on, living for a long time, bugging you guys like I always have, so you guys will see me…

Sports buffs consider him among the best point guards of all time. He had plenty of laurels to rest on in retirement—three-time NBA MVP, nine trips to the NBA finals, 12 All-Star games, Olympic gold medalist. He remains the NBA's all-time leader in average assists per game, at 11.2.

But, Johnson stayed busy, returning to the Lakers as head coach for one season, then buying in as a part-owner of the team. He also busied himself with charity work, business ventures, and raising HIV awareness.

SONG: “Do You Believe In Magic,” The Lovin’ Spoonful

Johnson takes a daily drug regimen to prevent his HIV infection from progressing to AIDS.

That’s this week’s History Book. I’m Katie Gaultney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: vaccines for children. We’ll hear some of the arguments for and against.

And, WORLD’s Daniel of the Year.

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.

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Go now in grace and peace.

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