The World and Everything in It - September 16, 2021

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

The U.S. exit from Afghanistan is re-opening some painful wounds for veterans.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Also the federal food assistance program is expanding, but not in the usual way.

Plus, how an unassuming woman changed a church.

And the wisdom of moderation in all things, especially when it comes to spending.

BROWN: It’s Thursday, September 16th. 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 has today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Milley defends calls to Chinese as effort to avoid conflict » America’s top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley on Wednesday defended phone calls he made to China’s top military commander in the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The Milley phone calls are described in excerpts from the forthcoming book Peril by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The book says Milley told his Chinese counterpart that he would warn him in the event of a U.S. attack.

In a statement, Milley’s spokesman said the conversations were intended to convey “reassurance” to the Chinese military and were in line with his responsibilities.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki echoed that defense…

PSAKI: Any chairman of the Joint Chiefs has channels to communicate with China and Russia. Those are meant to increase confidence. Those are meant to prevent and deter any action that would be unintended. And that is a good thing, because obviously we want to prevent nuclear war.

The book by Woodward and Costa reported that Milley, fearful of Trump's actions in his final weeks as president, twice called his Chinese counterpart to assure him that the United States was not going to attack China.

Some in Congress accused Gen. Milley of having overstepped his authority and urged President Biden to fire him.

But Biden said Wednesday he believes Milley did the right thing and he stands by him.

Top U.S. general warned against military withdrawal from Afghanistan » Prior to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Austin Miller, warned that if the U.S. withdrew all forces from the country, a rapid collapse of the Afghan government would be the most likely result.

Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee say Miller has confirmed in closed door testimony that he opposed the withdrawal and registered his dissent with top military brass.

GOP Senator Dan Sullivan said Wednesday...

SULLIVAN: President Biden rejected that even though he was forewarned, and again, I think this foreign policy fiasco, given that he was given this advice - these predictions of chaos, is something that President Biden solely owns.

In an August interview with ABC News, host George Stephanopoulos posed this question to the president:

STEPHANOPOULOS: So no one told you—your military advisers did not tell you, no, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that.
BIDEN: No, no one said that to me that I can recall.

The Washington Post has reported that both Gen. Miller and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did in fact warn President Biden against the withdrawal.

But it’s unclear if Gen. Miller confirmed during testimony that he directly informed the president of his dissent.

Kim Jong Un's sister warns of 'destruction' of S.Korean ties » Tensions are rising on the Korean peninsula after dueling missile tests and a new threat from Pyongyang. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday threatened a “complete destruction” of bilateral relations with the South.

That came after both countries tested ballistic missiles hours apart.

The missile launches underscored a return of tensions between the North and South after nuclear talks with Pyongyang stalled out.

Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, blasted South Korean President Moon Jae-in for comments he made after his country's missile tests. Moon said South Korea’s growing missile capabilities will serve as a—quote—“sure deterrence” against North Korean provocations.

The tests came hours after North Korea reportedly fired two ballistic missiles into the sea.

In a statement, Kim berated Moon for his remarks, accused the South of hypocrisy, and threatened to sever diplomatic ties.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin. 

U.S. mandates COVID-19 vaccines for new immigrants » U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services added the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required shots all legal immigrants must have.

New arrivals old enough to receive the shots must prove vaccination status starting on Oct. 1st. The U.S. government will allow medical and religious exemptions.

The Biden administration says the surge in delta variant infections has forced the move.

But that does not address the many thousands of immigrants crossing the southern border illegally as the border crisis continues.

Border officials are detaining 6,000-7,000 people at the border every day with thousands more likely evading Border Patrol agents. 

Alaska’s largest hospital rations care amid COVID-19 surge » Amid the COVID-19 surge, Alaska’s largest hospital has announced it will have to begin rationing care. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage said in a statement that “The acuity and number of patients now exceeds our resources and our ability to staff beds with skilled caregivers.” It added that it has been forced “to implement crisis standards of care.”

State health officials reported nearly 700 new cases and six recent deaths. More than 200 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized, 33 of them on ventilators.

Elsewhere in the United States, Mississippi has surpassed New Jersey with the nation’s highest rate of deaths per 100,000 residents. That number is just over 3,000.

About 49 percent of Mississippi residents have received at least one vaccine shot. That is the fourth-lowest vaccination rate in the nation.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: veterans struggle to make sense of their time in Afghanistan.

Plus, a few suggestions for tightening the federal budget.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNRA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday the 16th of September, 2021.

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

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler. First up: reopening the wounds of war.

The U.S. pullout from Afghanistan has been especially difficult for the men and women who served there in the last two decades. Many of them already struggled with mental and emotional battle scars. Now some are questioning whether their sacrifice was worth it.

WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports.

GILSON: Do you remember the O.K. Corral, Wyatt Earp and the wild, wild west? It's a very small, little tiny space, no bigger than the average living room? And you had two groups of men gun fighting to the death? Well, that's what Afghanistan was like, on an hourly basis.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Retired U.S. Army Sergeant Noah Gilson suffers from PTSD. It’s mostly a result of his service in Afghanistan.

But he says it’s not like what you see in the movies—uncontrollable anger, violent behavior, or suicidal thoughts.

GILSON: That hasn't been my experience. Now, I do have a very colorful combat history. But what I dealt with, which affected me the most, there's kind of two things: the excessive nightmares, that I still have them today. It's been, it's been brutal. It's been interesting, and it's a challenge. Another thing is, I had a hard time re-adapting in a normal society...

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan triggered a flood of emotion.

GILSON: It angers me, it frustrates me, it makes my heart saddened to know that you have a situation where the president allowed such an occurrence to take place. And, and I don't just blame the president, I blame the the acting cabinets, where we shouldn't have allowed that.

Gilson’s anger and frustration isn’t uncommon. Dr. Brian Marx is deputy director for the National Center for PTSD at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

MARX: There's certainly not a one size fits all answer. But we certainly have seen the news reports, and the footage that is being played on social media and TV is really quite upsetting for a number of folks who have served in Afghanistan, in particular, over the last, you know, 20 years or so…

Dr. Marx says the Afghan pullout can be especially hard on veterans with PTSD because they often suffer from distorted beliefs about themselves and the world around them.

MARX: We are seeing in patients in terms of increased symptoms and increased distress really feeling like the country has kind of betrayed them or betrayed the mission that they served.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, as many as one-fifth of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are diagnosed with PTSD each year. Common symptoms include nightmares, increased anger, engaging in self-destructive behaviors, and difficulty maintaining relationships. And those who suffer from PTSD are more susceptible to suicide. According to Brown University’s “Costs of War Project,” about four times as many veterans have died by suicide since 9/11 than have died in combat.

Dr. Chris Frueh is a professor of psychology at the University of Hawai’i. He says it’s not just veterans who are struggling with the end of the war in Afghanistan.

FRUEH: Here's an example: a woman, a Gold star widow, lost her husband in Afghanistan. He was a special operations, was killed on a mission 15 years ago, she's moved on with her life. She's got a new a new husband, she's got you know, children with that husband. And she called me a couple weeks ago and just said I am just struggling, struggling. Just, ‘All I can think about is my my husband, my first husband, who died 15 years ago and so it just brings back a whole lot whole lot questions. Why did I lose him? What was it for? What if we could do it over again?’ A lot of those kinds of questions are just kind of haunting a lot of people right now, I think.

Dr. Brain Marx expects some PTSD patients will experience setbacks in their recovery over the next few months.

MARX: This event, the end of the war and our withdrawal from Afghanistan and feeling like the mission was all for naught, and the things that they did and the things that they saw, and the mission that they served, really didn't accomplish anything. That, well, could be a tipping point for many individuals...

It could even push those who didn’t have PTSD before to start showing symptoms. Veterans—and survivors—could previously process and reconcile their pain and grief with the knowledge that it had a purpose. It served the country and spread freedom and liberty around the world.

MARX: And now what you're seeing is an outcome that does not support any of that. It can be shattering for some people, and you can end up with not just individuals who have PTSD becoming worse, but actually creating cases of PTSD.

Veteran Noah Gilson is leaning into his faith to get him through what amounts to a period of mourning.

GILSON: My faith and my relationship as a Christian as God's child absolutely affects how I respond and react to the federal government and how I respond and act under the current—what I would consider a crisis.

And he’s taking comfort in the knowledge of God’s sovereignty.

GILSON: If nothing else, what war teaches you, is God's ultimate control. Now, I have seen men severed in half from the waist, and survive. I have seen men die from a grain of sand to the heart wearing body armor. Now, that is absolutely confusing if you just try to say, well, things just happen as they happen. I don't believe so. I mean, I have seen God's divine authority. He allows what he wants to allow, and he doesn't what he doesn't.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: a record increase for America’s “food stamps” program.

The Biden administration last month made the largest ever increase in the SNAP initiative. That’s short for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as “food stamps.”

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And in a highly unusual move, the administration enacted the record increase through executive action, cutting Congress out of the picture.

Joining us now with more insight on the move and what it means is Angela Rachidi. She is a senior fellow and the Rowe Scholar in poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Angela, good morning!

ANGELA RACHIDI, GUEST: Good morning! Thanks for having me.

BROWN: Well, first of all, please give us maybe a 30 to 60 second overview of what the SNAP program is and what it does.

RACHIDI: Sure. So, SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. And it's basically the U.S. -- the United States’ main food assistance program to low income households. So, the program provides monthly benefits to low income households who are determined eligible, and households can use those benefits from the government to purchase food or beverages. So it really is designed to kind of increase the income in low income households so that they can provide nutritious meals to themselves and to their families.

BROWN: Okay, and how big is this increase to the SNAP program? Put this increase in perspective for us if you would.

RACHIDI: It is a very large increase. Actually, an increase without historical precedent. So, two times in the past we've seen fairly large increases in the maximum benefit level. One was during the Great Recession, and it was tied to kind of an effort to stimulate the economy by providing more money into low income households so they would go out and spend it. And the other was during the pandemic. Kind of a similar approach there, that a lot of economic distress due to the pandemic, so SNAP was used as a way to increase benefits going into low income households. But beyond those two efforts during major economic downturns, the benefit levels for SNAP have only really been adjusted according to inflation. So this will be the first time in the history of the program that an administrative agency—meaning the USDA, which runs the program—has actually increased benefit levels outside of congressional action.

BROWN: Does it matter that the administration did this on its own, without Congress? And if so, why?

RACHIDI: I think it does matter. SNAP has historically received a lot of public support for the most part. The public has been supportive of the federal government providing benefits so that low income households could afford food. And I think that when when agencies that are administrative in nature—meaning outside of Congress—when they take it upon themselves to expand a program that historically has been expanded by our legislative body, which as we know is directly elected by the people, when it goes outside of that process, I think people start to be concerned about the integrity of the program, and really feel that it is outside of the scope of what those administrative agencies should be doing.

BROWN: The concern that many have is that this increase will serve as another disincentive to work. Do you share that concern? And if so, why?

RACHIDI: Yeah, I do share that concern. I really have two major concerns. One is the disincentive to work. And it's not that this creates a new disincentive to work. There actually has been evidence in the past that SNAP does disincentivize work because it provides benefits to non-working households and can kind of replace income that households otherwise would have to work to receive. So, it doesn't introduce a new one, but it does potentially make the existing work disincentive worse because households will be receiving even more income. So it will make it more attractive—for lack of a better way to describe it—but more attractive for households not to work, because they will be getting that income from the government.

The second main concern is really around nutrition. So, there's very little that SNAP does to ensure that households are actually purchasing healthy foods. And this action by President Biden and his USDA actually makes that problem worse because it's giving more money to households to purchase food and we already know that households that receive SNAP—like many American households—purchase a great deal of unhealthy products. So the concern is that with more money households will be purchasing more unhealthy products and will actually make problems with obesity and other health-related issues worse.

BROWN: Okay, Angela Rachidi with the American Enterprise Institute has been our guest. Angela, thanks so much!

RACHIDI: Thank you.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Some Elvis Presley fans have been known to pay top dollar for his personal possessions. It’s like having a little piece of the king of rock-n-roll himself.

All kinds of Elvis costume pieces and jewelry have sold for a pretty penny.

But one item that recently found its way to an auction floor in Los Angeles was something else entirely.

Kruse GWS Auctions sold a baseball-sized clump of Elvis’ hair.

Presley’s personal barber, Homer Gilleland, kept the clump of hair—collected over a few haircuts. Gilleland sometimes traveled with Elvis to cut his mane before a show.

The sealed jar came with a certificate of authenticity and is described as "the most well-documented collection of Elvis’ hair in the world.”

Care to guess what that clump of hair sold for?

$72,000!

But believe it or not, that was a bargain. In 2002, the same collection of hair fetched $115,000.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, September 16th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler.

1 Corinthians 1:27 says: “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” That verse was proven true in an unexpected way at a small New Jersey church.

AUDIO: [PHONE BUZZ AND RING]

BROWN: Earlier this year, WORLD Correspondent Amy Lewis met a woman who knew she was dying. Over the next few weeks Amy checked in with her by phone.

PHONE BUZZ AND RING: This call is now being recorded...

What began as a conversation about dying well, turned into a story of how God used her to change a church.

HARRISON: I’m not afraid to die. I believe I’m going to heaven. But I didn’t want to die so soon.

AMY LEWIS, REPORTER: In January 2021, a doctor diagnosed Doris Harrison with the rare cancer Ewing’s Sarcoma. She underwent surgery in March. A few weeks later, she was sent home to die.

HARRISON: I wanted to finish school. I wanted to establish a decent relationship with my son. I wanted to write a book…

Doris Harrison was born April 17th, 1967. She lived a hard life: abuse, drug use, prison time. Last year she started writing her life story. She shared the first draft with her friend Bonnie Russell.

BONNIE RUSSELL: The first chapter she wrote. She asked me if I wanted to read it. I said send it along. I said, “That’s an R-rated book, Doris!” She said, “Yeah, that’s my life.”

MUSIC: Billy Graham

In 2006, she heard Billy Graham speak and it changed everything.

Harrison began attending Mercy Hill Presbyterian Church in Glassboro, New Jersey. That’s when she met Phil and Polly Henry. Phil is Mercy Hill’s pastor. Polly is a geriatric nurse.

When Harrison joined the small church, she was anxious and needy. Church members gave her rides to doctors’ appointments and to worship services. They walked with her through fighting a meth addiction. She wasn’t able to give much financially. But she loved to pray.

HARRISON: I pray for everyone. I’m a prayer warrior. I love to pray. I send out prayer cards each week. I would go through the directory and pick out the next ten consecutive families...

After she got cancer, the woman who prayed and wrote cards for others started receiving them.

HARRISON: I knew I was loved by Mercy Hill, but I had no idea the amount of love that I was receiving from the people at that church. I have over 130 cards of prayer for my health, you know, my cancer.

In late April, Harrison entered hospice care. Before she died, she had a few relationships she wanted to make right, if she could.

HARRISON: Primarily it’s in the relationship between my son and I. We’ve had a very rocky road for many years. It breaks my heart, actually, you know, to not have this peace with him.

A terminal cancer diagnosis tends to clarify what’s really important. For Harrison, it was the relationship with her son Tommy—and her relationship with her savior. Her friend Polly Henry put it this way.

HENRY: After that first day of tears, she really realized that, wow, she was gonna go meet Jesus, face to face. For a woman who had had so many anxieties and so many fears, for all of that to kind of wash away into ‘I’m going to meet Jesus and I’m excited about that and I’m not afraid’ was a huge encouragement to everybody around her to watch that.

Mercy Hill members cared for Harrison for nine days.

HENRY: That last week, it was her biological family and her church family that came around and were caring for her, and singing together and reading scripture together. We got a bigger picture of God’s work in her life by listening to her family. I don’t know how much Doris realized, of this coming together of her two families. It was beautiful.

Tommy visited and helped care for his mother. They got to speak alone. On Mother’s Day, her church family sang at her bedside. “When shall I see my Father’s face, And in His bosom rest?...I am bound for the promised land.” Doris Harrison, aged 54, died as the song ended.

SOUND: MILLING CROWD

The cars of Harrison’s church family and biological family lined the street for blocks on the day of her funeral.

PHIL HENRY: Thank you for joining us this morning for this special worship service on the occasion of Doris’ death. I’ve asked her son to share the first thoughts about his mother and then anyone else who’d like to share at that time.

TOMMY PESSOLANO: Thank you all for coming today. I know it would mean the world to my mom. God gave my mom new purpose. She was able to help with little jobs, like church filing, sending prayer cards. She loved writing her prayers cards, man. My mom would go on and on about her church friends and family. It was a joy to be surrounded by so many loving, welcoming people.

Will Bausch is an elder at Mercy Hill and shared at the funeral.

BAUSCH: A couple Saturdays read Psalm 32 together. When I read this part: ‘You are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance,’ Doris said, ‘I can hear him shouting.’ She could. She was always so close to the throne. She needed God desperately. I’m glad that she reminded me to listen.

SONG: His Eye is on the Sparrow

Harrison often told how God used Mercy Hill Presbyterian Church to change her life. Turns out it was a two-way street. Her life was a vivid reminder to her church family that God still saves sinners, and He covers struggles and doubts with His mercy and grace. Here’s Polly Henry.

POLLY HENRY: Doris never appeared perfect, and so we saw God’s unconditional love, we saw our need to be real with one another, and how the gospel enters in with forgiveness, with restoration. It got us out of our own little worlds into another person’s world.

Harrison’s life—and her death—demonstrated the reality of the gospel.

HENRY: My husband met some people in the neighborhood a couple days afterward and they said, “Wow, someone really important died at your church.” And my husband said, “Yes, indeed.” It was the woman who kept the prayer log. It was the woman who literally gave $5 a month on autopay to the church as her tithe that was amazing to see how someone so seemingly insignificant made such a huge impact. And that is what God does…

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Amy Lewis in Glassboro, New Jersey.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Thursday, September 16th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

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

Moderation used to be a virtue. Not anymore—especially when it comes to government spending. Here’s commentator Cal Thomas.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Some moderate Democrats are troubled by the massive $3.5 trillion spending bill that would forever transform America into a debtor nation. In response, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked, “Where would you cut?”

Her question carries with it a conceit held by many contemporary politicians that every government program is sacred and must not be touched. Even suggesting a decrease in the rate of spending increases can get a member trashed by those with vested or ideological interests in big government. Every government program inevitably attracts lawmakers with personal or political interests in maintaining it. The programs become like barnacles on a ship—useless, but difficult to remove.

But I accept Pelosi's challenge. Gladly!

In its 2021 Long-Term Budget Outlook, the Congressional Budget Office gave the country its lowest ranking ever—20th in the world in overall economic freedom. It said the reason was a dramatic decline in fiscal health. We are worse in that ranking, CBO said, than 150 other countries. The CBO concluded that because of overspending, the national debt has already eclipsed the size of the economy. If it continues, we will reach 202 percent of GDP by 2051. If ever there was a case for "we can't go on like this," this is it.

The Heritage Foundation also released a report on the national debt. It noted, “The primary drivers of the increases in spending are unsustainable entitlement programs, which require significant reform not only for the sake of the taxpayers, but also to allow better results for Americans in need. Unless substantial reforms are implemented, Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2026. The Social Security Trust Fund is projected to be depleted by 2032, which could cause across-the-board benefit reductions for all retirees just 11 years from now.”

In 2009, Brian Riedl of Heritage listed 50 examples of government waste. The list was not exhaustive and arguably has become longer in subsequent years. But cuts could begin with those spending programs to build public trust.

Included are billions of dollars in improper government payments. Those totalled $72 billion dollars in 2008. We could cut another $92 billion dollars in corporate welfare. And government auditors spent five years examining all federal programs and concluded that 22 percent of them failed to show any positive impact on the populations they served. Together those cost taxpayers $123 billion dollars a year! Then we have unused or vacant federal properties. Those cost $25 billion dollars a year to maintain.

I could go on. But even this short list answers Pelosi's question about where to cut. Many of the things bloating our federal budget are not even the federal government’s responsibility. Before going on another spending spree, lawmakers should be required to read the 10th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

I’m Cal Thomas.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Tomorrow: The Facebook Files. The Wall Street Journal recently investigated the social media giant—and what they uncovered suggests it knew that their platforms can and do harm young people. We’ll talk about that with John Stonestreet on Culture Friday.

And, we’ll tell you about a new documentary from a well-known pair of Christian filmmakers.

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.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Go now in grace and peace.

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