The World and Everything in It: September 14, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like me. Hi. My name is Jon Wellman. I'm a discipleship pastor at a church in Henderson, Nevada in the Las Vegas Valley. My family and I are originally from Kentucky and can attest to the fact that yes, it is in fact as hot here as you've heard on the news. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! California’s Attorney General tells a school district it can’t inform parents about their children’s gender behavior at school…what are parents in the state doing to push back?

SHAW: We rip off the labels, we're fighting as people, as humans that love our children right? We become one for our children.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Also, the Biden administration agrees to a prisoner swap with Iran and seeks to unfreeze $6 billion dollars. We’ll talk about it with a policy expert.

Plus, a museum display about babies in the womb is fearfully and wonderfully made.

HENDERSON: I feel like I’ve developed this understanding that whoever has the best art wins the argument.

And Commentator Cal Thomas says politicians who send their kids to private school demonstrate the need for school voucher programs.

BROWN: It’s Thursday, September 14th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

BUTLER: And I’m Paul Butler. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Impeach inquiry latest » House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says new information about Joe Biden’s actions as vice president drove the launch of an impeachment inquiry into Biden. Including…

MCCARTHY: That vice president used pseudo name for emails, that 5,400 of those are in the archives.

Republican-led House committees have been investigating Biden family business dealings for months. They say the Biden administration has routinely stonewalled their requests and subpoenas for records. McCarthy says the inquiry will help to rectify that.

The top Democrat in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, again blasted the inquiry. He called it a “kangaroo court” that will not uncover any wrongdoing by President Biden.

AI regulation » Meantime, inside a Senate hearing room at the Capitol, lawmakers discussed the threats of artificial intelligence with—quote—“some of the smartest people in the world”

That’s how Elon Musk described the gathering of nearly two-dozen top tech executives.

MUSK: The reason I’ve been such an advocate for AI safety in advance of anything sort of terrible happening is that I think the consequences of AI going wrong are severe. So we have to be proactive rather than reactive.

The Tesla CEO said Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked for a show of hands when asking, "Should government have a role in overseeing artificial intelligence?"

MUSK: Judging by the fact that they put their hands up, I think it’s clear that there’s a strong consensus that there should be some AI regulation.

But there is no consensus at all at this point as to what that regulation should look like.

The tech leaders also discussed how the United States can stay ahead of China and other countries in developing AI.

UAW strike » At this time tomorrow, thousands of auto workers may be marching with picket signs in hand outside the factories of Ford, GM and Stellantis.

United Auto Workers Union President Shawn Fain:

FAIN: September 14th is the deadline. We expect to have agreements with all three companies by that date. The workers deserve that. 

And if the clock strikes midnight without a new labor deal, Fain says they’re ready to strike.

It would be the first time in the union's 80-plus-year history that it struck all of America’s big-three automakers at the same time.

GM, Ford and Stellantis have raised their initial wage offers, but Fain said they’ve rejected some of the union's other demands.

KIM: [Speaking Korean]

Kim Jong UN vows support of Russia » North Korea’s Kim Jong Un vowed “unconditional support” for Moscow while seated next to Vladimir Putin in Russia Wednesday.

He said “Russia is waging a sacred fight to defend its sovereignty.” His remarks came as the two authoritarian leaders huddled in southern Russia.

U.S. State Dept. spokesman Matthew Miller responded:

MILLER: When you see what looks to be increased cooperation and probably military transfers, that is quite troubling and would potentially be in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

That could involve Russia sharing high-tech military technology with North Korea … including help in building satellites.

Miller said that would violate UN Security Council resolutions that Russia itself voted for.

Libya flood latest » Libyan authorities say at least 5,000 are dead after Mediterranean storm Daniel swept across the country’s northeastern coastline on Sunday.

Thousands are still missing and tens of thousands are left homeless…with the death toll expected to keep rising.

Emergency officials say the coastal city of Derna was one of the hardest hit estimating a quarter of the city washed away

Two dams outside Derna collapsed in the storm causing more devastation during the storm.

Local emergency responders, military troops, and local residents are searching for survivors under collapsed buildings and in the water.

LOCAL [SPEAKING ARABIC]: International bodies like the United Nations, relief agencies, and the World Health Organization need to step in with aid for our city. I must admit, our government and leaders did their part. Even regular civilians gave whatever they could. But the magnitude of this disaster is enormous.

A local man begs the United Nation s and the World Health Organization for disaster relief aid saying Libyan officials have done all they can.

A UN spokesman said Tuesday they are actively working with local and international partners to get humanitarian aid to Libyans in need.

Romney to retire » Senator from Utah Mitt Romney of Utah says he will not seek reelection in 2024.

Romney is wrapping up a decades-long career in politics. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2012 and served one term as Massachusetts governor before that.

ROMNEY: It really is a profound honor to serve Utah and the country. And I thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so.

In his video statement, Romney called out Presidents Biden and Trump for not sufficiently addressing issues like national debt, climate change, and relations with Russia and China.

Romney said he will serve out the rest of his term as senator until it finishes in January of 2025.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: A battle over gender and parental rights in California. Plus, the Iran prisoner swap.

This is The World and Everything in It.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: It’s Thursday the 14th day of September, 2023.

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

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

First up on The World and Everything in It: parental rights.

Do parents have a right to know how their children are behaving at school? A school district in Chino Valley, California says yes.

SHAW: Mr. Na, aye. And I’m a yes, the motion passes [cheering]

BUTLER: This summer, the Chino Valley Unified School District adopted a new parental notification policy. The policy requires staff members to notify parents about their children’s behaviors, including gender, acts of bullying, injuries on school property, or contemplated suicide.

BROWN: A majority of parents in the district support the rule. But not everyone is on board with the stipulations regarding gender including state Attorney General Rob Bonta, who blocked the policy with a temporary restraining order.

BONTA: Let’s call this policy what it is. It is a forced outing policy.

BUTLER: What should we make of the policy’s effect on California’s gender ideology tug-of-war and what’s its implications for the rest of the nation? WORLD’s Lillian Hamman has the story.

AUDIO: [Pledge of allegiance at the meeting]

LILLIAN HAMMAN: On a warm July evening 35 miles east of Los Angeles, students, parents, teachers, administrators, and taxpayers gathered in one of Chino Valley’s high schools. It’s the last school board meeting before the new year starts. Top priority on the agenda: a contentious parental notification policy.

SHAW: Please display appropriate behavior everyone…let it go everybody behave on all sides. Everybody, you guys are adults, there's kids in here, let's display appropriate behavior.

Wearing a hot pink dress, Sonja Shaw led the meeting. She’s not just the school board’s only woman…she’s also its president.

SHAW: I knew that God had a plan. There was a reason why he was allowing this soccer mom to be the President of the school board during a crazy time.

Right now, the craziness is centered around the parental notification policy Shaw pioneered. Teachers and staff members are required to notify parents if their children want to use names, pronouns, or bathrooms opposite of the gender on their records. But the policy doesn’t just address gender behavior. Parents must also be notified if their children are injured on school property, bullied, or are considering suicide. Pre-existing state law already requires schools to notify CPS if a student mentions abuse at home.

Several people who spoke against the policy at the meeting in July, focused on a child’s right to privacy regarding their gender behavior.

KOFI CABRERA: I'm a survivor of many years of abuse…if parents really wanted to know what's going on in their kids lives then it’s their job as a parent to create that bond and relationship. It is not something you are entitled to just because you raised them.

DONALD BRIDGE: If this policy passes we will have effectively shut the door on students confiding to a staff member or a teacher. If I don't know about it, I can’t inform the parent.

Others, including some teachers, supported the new policy as necessary for doing their job in the classroom.

SPEAKER ON BEHALF OF CARLA VANDESTEEG: When a child doesn't feel well, go on a field trip, want to watch a PG movie in class, give them any type of medication, we have to get permission from parents. I do not make life decisions for the child that sits in my classroom because I am their educator, not their parent.

Another concern raised was that the policy violated California law. The district’s lawyer explained that the policy does not align with the California Department of Education’s guidance that parents do not have a right to be notified of their childrens’ gender preferences. But, he clarified that this is just guidance. Not law. When it came time to vote, the school board approved the policy with a 4-1 majority.

Just one month later, Chino Valley faced a more serious challenge. A judge granted California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s temporary restraining order against the policy. Again, the claim was that the law infringed on state privacy protections of LGBTQ+ students. Shaw wasn’t surprised by the restraining order. But, there is no statute regarding gender in the state, or the U.S. Constitution, that grants minors a right to privacy over their parents.

SHAW: They're literally telling you that they are suing a district for wanting to inform a parent about something of their own child. The privacy laws and guidelines were put in place to protect children from third party and government. Not from their parents.

A formal hearing for Bonta’s restraining order on the policy is set for October 13th. But Shaw doesn’t expect the legal battle to end there. This week, the Chino Valley board secured the help of a non-profit law firm. That will help keep taxpayer dollars in the classroom and out of the courtroom during the legal fight.

SHAW: We secured Liberty Justice Center. I get the chills even saying that because we've built the dream team. I think to go as high as we can take this.

Shaw knows Bonta’s restraining order and Newsom’s recent child transgender welfare bill are no small opponents. Neither are the death threats she and her family have received for passing the parental notification policy. But, Shaw also believes these obstacles illuminate the state’s true intentions with a fire parents aren’t backing down from.

SHAW: People are aware of it now and here’s the greatest thing that I see happening too. You see people running for all these elected local positions. We know our families are important. Our kids are important. Even though sometimes it gets thick we just get on our knees pray and we ask what’s next, and now the nation's reaching out to help. Because they know whatever happens in California goes everywhere else.

At least three other Southern California school districts have already followed Chino Valley’s lead passing similar parental notification policies. Shaw believes that if someone like her can take the risks involved in challenging the state, then even more will follow.

SHAW: I didn't graduate college. I took care of my siblings since I was little. My mom was on drugs when I was little, my dad was from another country, like if I could do it with all the obstacles, then anybody can, you know, stand up and do this, too.

And if parents in California and elsewhere can come together for the same cause, Shaw believes they can successfully challenge lawmakers.

SHAW: They've tried to divide us right, religious, non religious, Republican versus Democrat. But when it comes to our kids, we rip off the labels, we're fighting as people, as humans that love our children, right? We become one for our children. I think we’re unstoppable because we have God directing the ship.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lillian Hamman.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Making a deal with Iran.

On Monday, The Biden administration cleared the way for a prisoner swap with Iran. Tehran agreed to free five American citizens.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: In exchange, the United States is releasing five Iranian prisoners. And, crucially the U.S. is also unfreezing $6 billion dollars in Iranian money that has been tied up in South Korea under sanctions.

BROWN: That has drawn strong rebukes from Republicans who accuse the White House of paying ransom money incentivizing the capture of more American hostages in the future.

BUTLER: Joining us now to help us think through these issues is Benham Ben Taleblu. He is an expert on Iran, who has been called on to testify before the U.S. Congress and Canadian Parliament. Benham, good morning!

TALEBLU: Great to be with you, good morning.

BUTLER: There is a long history of controversial prisoner exchanges with Iran. Are there any U.S. laws or regulations on the books that govern what a presidential administration is permitted to do when it comes to prisoner swaps? Or is it really just up to each president?

TALEBLU: Well, let's call a spade a spade here because we've had this issue with the government of the Islamic Republic ever since its inception in 1979. You may have heard, both in lore and in reality, American administrations saying we don't negotiate with terrorists. The problem is, in many of these”, quote unquote, agreements”, which in reality have been in some way ransom payments for hostage deals, the vast majority of them have involved funds that were transferred. For instance, if they are phased as part of a larger understanding, such as this most recent one, which many including myself believe to be part of some kind of evolving the unwritten nuclear freeze for freeze understanding, then that could trigger INARA, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which would require congressional review of it. But thus far, you've had the administration insisting that hostage diplomacy and nuclear diplomacy are separate and thus not linked. I'm inclined to disagree, but this is the administration's presentation of the case.

Moreover, you also have the question of remaining hostages. Every time there is a hostage dealing with Iran, there is a law for instance, called the Levenson act, that defines broadly, who is and isn't going to be considered a US national. Based on many popular interpretations of this law, there still are going to be once you get those five US citizens home, three remaining US nationals in Iran. So the problem is both wider and deeper than we perceive.

BUTLER: What do we know about the prisoners the Biden administration agreed to send back to Iran?

TALEBLU: So it's a great question, because there are not just financial components of this deal. There is also a hostage for prisoner component to the deal, as well as the reference to it being a swap. Ffive US citizens for five Iranian nationals. There are several different names being floated around. Obviously, there are more than five Iranian nationals, either in the courts or in prison or subject to some kind of elements of the US judicial and legal system. There's Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi for instance, who was reportedly mentioned as being part of the potential five that were going to be sent back to Iran. His case is actually very interesting. It's one of espionage. It's one of being a foreign agent.

Nonetheless, I want to point out a disparity here. In Iran, the five people who are returning who are US citizens are hostages. Many were given at best sham trials. And that is the most charitable interpretation we can give. Here in the US they were subjected to the US judicial and legal system for committing actual crimes. That's why I don't like to use the term prisoner swap, because there was a fundamental lack of parity in what is going on.

BUTLER: Republicans have particularly criticized the cash component of this deal, calling it a ransom payment. The Biden administration argues that the $6 billion dollars will be placed in restricted accounts in Qatar and will only be available for humanitarian trade. But Iran claims it will use the money however it wants. So clear this up for us. What restrictions if any are on this money?

TALEBLU: Well, the most important thing is that the US government has not been fully transparent about how restricted these monies are going to be in these newfound accounts in Qatar. This was a Democratic administration, two administrations ago that worked with Congress to help freeze these monies abroad because the problem always was with the Islamic Republic, we have problems with how they choose to spend oil revenues. That money has long been frozen for concerns over funding Iran's nuclear program, missile program, military endeavors, and more recently refrozen for all that plus for terrorism. So the administration has failed to explain the guardrails in place to prevent that money from being made accessible to Iran, either indirectly through sanctions busting or elsewhere through that fungibility argument. So just because Iran may not use that money doesn't mean that the overall improvement of the regime's macroeconomic situation, and economic empowerment, even if in a more limited way for humanitarian goods and purposes, means that more money will be freed up for more nefarious Iranian activities in there, too. You've even had Iranian government officials, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps who served early in the current Iranian president's cabinet, talking about hostage taking as a macro economic solution to Iran's economic problems.

BUTLER: Benham, is there anything the mainstream media is missing or overlooking about this story?

TALEBLU: I think all those groups, the American policymakers, American media, the American public needs to know that there is no equity in a kind of hostage agreement with Iran, even if it's a swap or a trade in persons. As I mentioned before, it's hostages for prisoners. What I would like the American public to also know, of course, is that it has been possible in the past to get back American citizens, Americans held hostage in Iran, without moving money. In fact, the Trump administration did this twice in 2019. Once with the case of Michael White, I believe it was a US Navy veteran, and once in the case of Chinese American academic from Princeton University. He was working on his doctorate in Iran, Xiyue Wang. Both of those cases were cases where jailed Iranian persons held in the US were sent back, and not monies.

BUTLER: We’ve been talking to Benham Ben Taleblu. He is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Benham, thanks so much!

TALEBLU: Thank you so much, my pleasure.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: A Utah family had a scary encounter on Interstate 15 recently. Their dash-cam caught the moment. Audio here from KSL-TV.

LILLY EATON: It happened all super super quick...

15-year old Lilly Eaton was sitting in the front passenger seat.

EATON: Just something flying towards us. Oh, that's gonna hit us. What was that like? What hit us? I didn't even see what it was.

What hit them was the metal base of an office chair. Apparently, it was sitting on the road or shoulder a couple lanes over. Another car hit it and launched it into their windshield.

No one was seriously injured, just some cuts from the shattered glass, but it was a close call to be sure. A memorable lesson for Lilly Eaton as she learns to drive: to be extra careful and alert.

EATON: I think if maybe my mom was on her phone or like, distracted with passengers in the back, you know, like it could have been a lot worse. We’re just happy that everybody is alive

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Something for us all to remember.

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

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is September 14th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Paul Butler.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Pro-life art.

At the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, visitors viewed a series of sculptures depicting unborn babies at different stages of development. All summer, people stood lined up for hours just to see the lifelike depictions of unborn life.

BUTLER: This summer, WORLD’s life beat reporter Leah Savas visited a modern-day iteration of that 1939 World’s Fair display. She found it at the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Kentucky. Leah now takes us behind the scenes to learn what went into the making of this powerful exhibit.

LEAH SAVAS, REPORTER: In a narrow, dimly lit room, a handful of people crowd around a transparent case. They stare at the glowing objects on display: life-like models of unborn babies at different stages of development.

With the dim lighting and the deep blues and purples in the room, it’s easy to imagine you’re the unborn baby, cozy in your first home.

MEGHAN HEWITT: I don’t know, it almost seemed like it was like a spotlight into the womb.

That’s Meghan Hewitt. She’s a mom of five from Minnesota who visited the Creation Museum with her husband and kids last year. For Meghan, the Fearfully and Wonderfully Made exhibit was the highlight of the museum.

MEGAN HEWITT: I think the mood in there felt pretty solemn almost a little bit, you know, because you realize, like, how precious like even like, the tiniest of those, you know, the models still looks like a baby. And then when we got out, I was just bawling my eyes out.

What brought her to tears was the last display of the exhibit. There she read the testimony from a girl whose parents had chosen life. Doctors had told them to abort because she had a heart defect. They didn’t. Meghan thought of her own daughter, who was born with three heart defects and today is an athletic 15-year-old.

None of the information in the exhibit was new to Meghan. But—

MEGAN HEWITT: I think it was just the whole atmosphere and the way they had it all put together. And then it led up to that. It just made it feel really personal.

What Meghan didn’t see was all the work that went on behind the scenes to create that experience.

HENDERSON: It is kind of one of those things where the whole time, it's painful and stressful.

Doug Henderson is the supervising art director at Answers in Genesis. He’s just one guy on the team that spent weeks—months—bringing this exhibit to life.

Henderson and his wife were a part of the original team that made the Creation Museum back in the early 2000s. Henderson has also sculpted lifelike figures for museums and theme parks like Universal Studios. For this project, bringing the babies to life was a big concern for Henderson.

HENDERSON: I was familiar with the sets of plastic baby development in the womb that you can get. And so I thought, well, we can get those and we can do some tweaks to or maybe give them a better paint job. I didn't know. But I couldn't find any that were really good.

The ones they found just seemed, well, dead. This exhibit was about bringing the babies alive. Henderson and his team had their work cut out for them.

They started by designing digital models that they 3D printed to make molds. Using those molds, they cast the actual baby models they were going to work with.

Then they had to give the models the proper coloring. Henderson painted the oversized baby model.

HENDERSON: And it was really the most nerve-racking and scary thing I've ever done. It works a little bit like watercolor in that you start with the lightest color and you build up layers. And if you mess up on color, you have to start over not with the paint job, you got to start over with the whole thing.

The skin is a creamy tan color, like what you’d see on a lot of humans. But to get that effect, Henderson mixed layers of colors including red, yellow, blue, green, violet, and orange. He painted the veins in a sort of teal color.

To get the realistic hair, the team attached yak and human hairs to the heads of the baby models. They inserted them with needles, one by one.

HENDERSON: And I would estimate about 150,000 hairs were inserted individually over the period of about a week they did that.

Seems like a lot of work for just some fake babies. But Henderson has a theory about art.

HENDERSON: I feel like I’ve developed this understanding that whoever has the best art wins the argument.

He points to the artistic renderings of Lucy, a collection of bones that evolutionists claim as evidence that men descended from apes. The bones themselves aren’t convincing. But different artists have made lifelike models of Lucy, basically putting flesh on her bones to imagine what she may have looked like. Some renditions make people think she must be an early ancestor of humans. But others…

HENDERSON: You'll see some of them are really garbage, like really just awful art. And there was this aha moment for me. Like, wait a minute, the artist is guiding the belief of the viewer.

That’s why Henderson and his team decided to start from scratch with these baby models.

HENDERSON: So if we were to start with the not-so-great models that we talked about earlier, I think that that would pull the person out of the experience. Go, oh, so a baby looks like a hunk of plastic, you know. And so we needed them to be as realistic as possible so that they would not be distracted by poor quality art.

After she left the exhibit bawling last fall, Meghan Hewitt found out that the exhibit had also affected her oldest daughter, Abby. The one who had been born with heart defects, like the girl they read about in the exhibit.

After their visit, Abby told her mom she felt like she should be doing more to defend unborn life.

ABBY HEWITT: I was just I felt really sad for those babies that didn't get a chance to like see life and experience all of the wonderful things that come with it.

Through a friend, Meghan connected with a pro-life lobbyist who eventually called Abby up to testify in front of their state Senate. So in January, the narrative that the team at the Creation Museum had built into the Fearfully and Wonderfully Made exhibit showed up in the Minnesota legislature.

ABBY HEWITT: In 2021, at least 183 babies just like me were aborted in Minnesota. We have the right to live. I'm not a statistic or defined by my heart defect. I am fearfully and wonderfully made, heart defects and all.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Savas in Petersburg, Kentucky.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, September 14th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

PAUL BUTLER: And I’m Paul Butler. Up next: school choice. Commentator Cal Thomas on the growing trend of allowing more state funds to be used to pay for students’ private education. But not everyone is happy with the development.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: There was a time in bygone America when calling someone a “hypocrite” was equivalent to the scarlet letter or the mark of Cain.

Today in an era of opinion polls and following the prevailing political winds, hypocrisy means little to nothing. The latest instance that caught my attention comes courtesy of the president of the Chicago Teachers Union. Stacy Davis Gates has opposed the highly popular Illinois Scholarship program for low-income students, calling it “racist” and its supporters “fascists”. That the program benefits primarily people of color in urban areas doesn’t seem to matter to Davis Gates, who is Black.

What earns Davis Gates the hypocrite label is that while denouncing school choice for others, she has exercised it for herself. Davis Gates has pulled her son from a neighborhood public school and enrolled him in a private Catholic school that costs $16 thousand a year. She is leaving her two other children in public school. I wonder how they feel about such unequal treatment by their mother?

What about poor kids and their parents who are unable to do what she has done?

Too bad for them. This inequality is a consequence of a monopolistic school system that has long outlived its usefulness.

Illinois’s “Invest in Kids Program” paid for nine thousand scholarships last school year. There were 31 thousand applicants.That so many largely Democratic politicians oppose school choice and in some cases have allowed their programs to expire, dooming low income children to a bad education, is worse than hypocrisy. It is a disgrace.

Davis Gates defends her choice in a way that any parent can understand. She says she enrolled her son in the private school so he could “live out his dream of being a soccer player while also having a curriculum that can meet his social and emotional needs.” Right there, Davis Gates has made the case for school choice for everyone.

The Illinois program will soon end unless it is renewed by the state legislature and approved by Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker. Since Democratic politicians are beneficiaries of donations from the teacher’s union, it will be interesting to see what Illinois decides to do.

If they allow the program to die, the hopes of thousands of Illinois families for a better life will be dashed. There will then be only one option for resurrecting the program and that is to vote for political leaders who support school choice.

School choice is spreading rapidly. A publication titled Education Week reports: “So far this year, lawmakers in 14 states have passed bills establishing school choice programs or expanding existing ones, and lawmakers in 42 states have introduced such bills.”

If parents continue to vote for Democrats who deny their kids the chance for a better life, they will be contributing to their child’s lack of opportunity. Democrats have styled themselves as advocates for the poor. Failing to renew the Illinois program would deservedly earn them the hypocrisy label with a dishonor cluster.

I’m Cal Thomas.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: On tomorrow’s program: Our weekly visit with John Stonestreet on Culture Friday. We’ll talk about concerns over artificial intelligence and a few reflections on some key historical events.

And, another Agatha Christie novel hits the big screen. How does A Haunting in Venice compare to the book it’s based on? We’ll have a review.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Paul Butler.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. 

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, The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. (Proverbs chapter 18 verse 10)

Go now in grace and peace.

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