The World and Everything in It: November 28, 2024

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving!

This week’s ceasefire agreement means people displaced by war in Lebanon and Northern Israel could return home. But uncertainty still exists:

FRIEDMAN: It's not clear that conditions agreement will enable Israelis to feel safe enough to go back to their homes.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also, improving your conversation about politics around the dinner table.

And a musical introduction to The Great American Songbook from Bob Case.

CASE: And all one has to do is mention the name “Bing” and people all around the world know exactly who you’re talking about…

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas reminds us to whom our gratitude should be directed this Thanksgiving.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, November 28th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Good morning!

REICHARD: Now news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Threats to incoming Trump officials » The FBI is investigating violent threats against members of the incoming Trump administration and others.

Bomb threats and so-called swatting attacks have reportedly targeted nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for leadership roles as well as some Republican lawmakers.

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney of New York said Wednesday:

TENNEY:  We've got to stand up to these people. This is what terrorism looks like. This is local, you know, domestic terrorism. A lot of the hysteria on the left, you know, does get people incited.

Investigators are not yet certain whether the perpetrators are domestic or foreign.

Among those targeted were Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the UN and Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

No word on whether incoming border czar Tom Homan was targeted, but told Fox News:

HOMAN:  I'm not going to be intimidated by these people, uh, uh, I'm not, they're not going to silence me. Look, I'm going to do this job. I'm going to do this job because it's a, it's an issue of national security.

Among the GOP lawmakers targeted was Congressman Lee Zeldin of New York. He said yesterday—quote … “a pipe bomb threat was targeting me and my family at my home today [and] was sent in with a pro-palestinian themed message.”

Israel latest » In the Middle East so far the cease-fire in Lebanon is holding for now.

The agreement between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group took effect Wednesday morning.

But Israeli government spokesman David Mencer had a stern warning for Hezbollah:

MENCER:  We will respond forcefully to any violation — with the US’ full understanding, Israel maintains full freedom of military action, so if Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to, again, rearm itself, we will defend ourselves.

Under the terms of the deal, both sides must hold their fire for at least 60 days. And Hezbollah must disarm and move away from the Israeli border ...while Israel slowly withdraws its ground forces from Lebanon.

But many are skeptical that the truce will hold. NATO Secretary-general Mark Rutte.

RUTTE:  I welcome it, uh, but let's not be naive. Um, Hezbollah is still there, Iran is still backing Hezbollah. So it is good that it is there, but now it has to be implemented.

Hezbollah began launching rockets into Israel at the start of the war in Gaza last year. Israel launched a ground invasion last month into Lebanon to take out the Iran-backed group’s military capabilities.

Ukraine » Mark Rutte also weighed in on support for Ukraine.

Russian forces are reportedly advancing in Ukraine at the fastest rate since early in the invasion.

RUTTE:  We have to make sure that Ukraine is in a position of more strength than they are at the moment so that a deal can be struck, which is favorable, not to the Russians and therefore to China, North Korea and Iran.

Retired three-star general Keith Kellogg will serve as the Trump administration’s point man for efforts to end the war. President-elect Donald Trump just tapped him to serve as special envoy for the war in Ukraine.

Meantime, the Biden administration is reportedly urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops, including those as young as 18.

Walmart DEI rollback » The nation’s biggest retailer is the latest to walk back so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion —or DEI— policies. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: D-E-I initiatives have come under heavy fire recently. Critics say such policies are blatantly discriminatory … as they favor certain groups or employees based on race or identity.

A growing list of companies are walking away from D-E-I, including Ford, Toyota, and Lowes, just to name a few.

Walmart’s announcement comes after a string of legal wins by groups challenging such corporate policies.

The retail giant says it is also carefully reviewing its grants for LGBT groups and events … to ensure those funds aren’t paying for inappropriate messages aimed at kids.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Ohio governor signs bathroom bill into law » Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a bill into law protecting women’s privacy. The law requires all schools to prevent male students from using women’s restrooms and vice versa. And that is to be defined by biology, rather than so-called gender identity.

The law also applies to changing rooms and locker rooms in school buildings—or buildings used for school-affiliated activities.

It also prohibits schools from having multi-gender locker rooms and restrooms. Schools can still have separate single-occupancy or family restrooms.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: people in Northern Israel and Lebanon consider returning to their homes.

Plus, keep relationships strong, even when you disagree over politics.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday the 28th of November.

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

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

First up: rebuilding a warzone.

On Tuesday, Israel and Hezbollah made a deal for a 60-day ceasefire. Northern Israel and southern Lebanon have been blasted by missiles nearly every day since October 8th of last year. That meant evacuating people on either side of the border.

BROWN: Now with the ceasefire, long lines of cars are headed back into those areas as people are eager to learn whether their homes are still standing.

WORLD’s Mary Muncy talked to a few families there assessing the damage.

BACHIR AYOUB: Not my first war, unfortunately, but it was probably the most difficult one.

MARY MUNCY: Bachir Ayoub is the country director for the non-profit Oxfam in Lebanon. He lives in Beirut, a city in the middle of Lebanon that was a common Israeli target.

AYOUB: I'm a new father. So you know, I'm not the swashbuckling aid worker that I was in previous conflicts.

When Hezbollah started firing into Israel on October 8th, Ayoub knew it was only a matter of time until Israel responded. For the first several months, it was a few missiles here and there, but that wasn’t very uncommon.

Then, pagers started exploding.

AYOUB: If you were driving your car, you were worried that maybe the person beside you had a pager. Or if you're in a supermarket, it was the same.

After that, Israel started firing more heavily on southern Beirut. Ayoub lives about five minutes from where the worst of the damage was, and the sound of explosions and the dust from collapsing buildings became too much.

AYOUB: Actually where I am right now is about a 40 minute drive up in the mountains from Beirut, and that's where I have been for two months.

Ayoub is pretty sure his house is still standing, but he isn’t getting his hopes up about a prolonged ceasefire just in case peace doesn’t last.

And that’s something everyone is watching closely.

SHUKI FRIEDMAN: It's really dependent on to what extent Iran will push to rebuild Hezbollah power.

Shuki Friedman is the Director General of the Jewish People Policy Institute in Israel.

FRIEDMAN: Down the road we have also an agreement to negotiate on the border between Israel and Lebanon, then Hezbollah is claiming it in some points, and the border is going favor of Israel. So it will be another test for the agreement.

The agreement echoes United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. That resolution ended the 2006 Lebanon war and put the UN and Lebanon in charge of monitoring Hezbollah. Under the terms of the agreement, the Iran-backed terrorist group was not supposed to be able to amass weapons. But in practice, the UN had very little power to enforce the resolution.

FRIEDMAN: It's completely failed.

This time, the US, France, and the UN have the authority to decide whether either side has breached the agreement, and Israel has US backing if Hezbollah breaches the agreement.

FRIEDMAN: It's also true that Israeli military and warehouses are become, you know, not empty, but close to the red line.

Friedman says at a certain point, Israel has to stop trying to track down Hezbollah terrorists. He says there’s a general understanding among Israeli civilians that there’s no way to completely destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon. So, eventually, the military has to start weighing the costs and benefits of continuing to fight.

FRIEDMAN: So in some point we have to get to an agreement. And this point is not unreasonable to conclude war, or at least to hold it for some time, and to enable Israel to gain more capabilities to continue, if you want or decide to continue in the future.

The agreement requires the Israel Defense Forces to slowly withdraw from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army to fill that gap.

FRIEDMAN: It's not clear that conditions agreement will enable Israelis to feel safe enough to go back to their homes. I assume that some of them remain in places where they've been evacuated to.

In Lebanon, Ayoub won’t try to take his son back home for another week. He’s waiting for the dust to clear from the last barrages.

He says it will take years to rebuild the physical structures—but it will take even longer to heal a scarred people, and he hopes his son never has to hear the sounds of war again.

AYOUB: So one of the first Arabic words that he learned was, it's the term kasr jidar sawt, which is breaking the sound barrier. So I was hoping he would learn another word early on, but that was the first thing he picked up on.

The ceasefire doesn’t really change how many people need help on both sides of the border. Tens of thousands of people were displaced in the conflict and many of them don’t have a home to return to. So for now, it’s business as usual for Ayoub.

AYOUB: This just felt like honestly, another crisis, as sad as that sounds, it's just something else and you dust yourself off and get ready for the next one.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: talking politics in everyday life.

President Ronald Reagan once said all great change in America happens at the dinner table.

But after this latest election, conversation could be sensitive. After all, the truth matters, but so do relationships. So how to keep the right priorities when emotions run high?

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today, a story about how some Americans are “setting the table” for conversations about politics.

Washington Bureau reporter Carolina Lumetta visited a red-blue workshop in Philadelphia with this report on how it’s being done.

CAROLINA LUMETTA, REPORTER: Talking about politics with people who have different viewpoints can be challenging. And getting family members to overcome political differences can feel insurmountable.

JERRY: Heather felt strongly enough about the way she felt, and it was different than mine, that we probably had difficulties talking about it, okay?

10 years ago, Jerry Blakeslee and his daughter Heather had a problem. After slammed doors and raised voices, they weren’t on speaking terms. Heather wrote her father a note that she would not come home anymore. They found themselves on opposing political sides until they went back to square one.

HEATHER: I just felt really strongly that we had to start at the kitchen table.

JERRY: And so it worked. We talked to each other.

Earlier this month, Jerry Blakeslee joined 15 other people for moderated conversations about politics in Philadelphia. Heather, now the editor at a local culture magazine (Root Quarterly), invited the Southeast Pennsylvania Alliance of Braver Angels to host one of their red-blue workshops. The nationwide nonprofit says it’s on a mission to depolarize America through civil debates, community events, and workshops.

BAKER: If I'm not a founder, I am the next best thing.

Hunter Baker writes for WORLD Opinions. He’s also on the board of Braver Angels. He says the vision is to engage in accurate disagreement.

BAKER: …it's easy to disagree with each other and then to caricature what the other person believes, right, and to turn it into the most unattractive option possible. But if you're really practicing virtue, then what you can do is you can state the other person's position in terms that they themselves would accept.

The first exercise at the Philadelphia workshop was to identify stereotypes. The red team met in a room and filled out a poster board with what they thought the blue team thought of them.

MODERATOR: So what are some stereotypes that you think Blues will label us with?

FEMALE PARTICIPANT: Racist, misogynist, patriarchal.

MODERATOR: Woo! Okay, we're knocking it out here.

MALE PARTICIPANT: That was on top of my list too.

The poster board had three categories: What is false or misleading about the stereotype, what is true instead, and what is the kernel of truth in the assumption.

MODERATOR: What's false, misleading, or exaggerated about the fact that all conservatives are intolerant?

PARTICIPANT: I would say specifically about racial, that I believe we are the last bastions for actually judging people by their content of the character, not the color of their skin…frankly I think we're the true anti-racists.

Organizers told me that the people who come to these workshops are typically more moderate in their political views. Or they have reached enough of a family breakdown that they’re willing to hold their politics more loosely. Participants on both teams said they wanted to get out of the echo chambers that keep them from understanding the other side.

When the teams came back together to present their stereotype responses, the blue team brought up abortion.

SPOKESMAN: The last one was that Democrats are baby killers, right? What is exaggerated and misleading is that we don't value life. And that we do, right? What is true instead is that our priority is respecting the personal choice.

After each exercise, Republicans and Democrats paired up to discuss what they learned about each other. Craig Tavani, on the red team, found common ground with the blue team even though he disagrees with many of their policy priorities.

TAVANI: I still identify as Republican and yet I could see some of the thinking, some of the feelings on the other side. I said, "Yeah, I agree with that."

Tavani’s blue team partner, Eric Hamell, said the same.

HAMELL: from what I heard today there is a lot of receptivity and willingness to understand where I'm coming from and where other left -leaning people are coming from…So I mean, in that sense, it’s encouraging.

After the workshop, many participants were sharing contact information to keep in touch. Hunter Baker sees a need for conversations like these.

BAKER: As Americans, we have to govern ourselves. We are not governed by a dictator or a monarch. And if we're going to govern ourselves, then that means we also have to moderate our worst impulses. We have to be able to reason together.

For the Blakeslees, Jerry’s participation came after years of learning to talk with his daughter. Heather said she has also learned how to respect her father’s views even if she doesn’t hold them. I sat with both of them on a church bench outside after the workshop.

JERRY: we just decided to maybe not talk about it for a while and then we decided to listen a little bit better.

HEATHER: Yeah. And also to not assume that we were avatars for the entire other side or the other party, that we had individual thoughts about things that maybe sometimes lined up and sometimes didn't, you know, with our party.

Jerry and Heather didn’t vote the same way this year. He is excited about the incoming Trump administration, and she is concerned. But they’re no longer trying to change each other’s minds.

JERRY: You realized that the relationship and father-daughter relationship is much more important than any politics.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta in Philadelphia.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: The late artist Bob Ross said, “We don’t make mistakes, we have happy accidents.”

Well, several years ago, Wanda Dench mistakenly sent a text to a teenage boy, thinking it was her grandson. She invited him to Thanksgiving dinner.

Jamal Hinton received that text, and asked “who is this?” Dench texted back: Grandma.

He replied: “You’re not my grandma! Can I still get a plate though?”

Hinton said sure, grandmas feed people. And that entire exchange went viral!

She spoke to WFSA channel 12 last month:

DENCH: When he calls. I smile because Jamal, you know, we met back in 2016 and been together every Thanksgiving.

Eight years going strong. But this year is a bit different, because Denton is in chemotherapy for cancer. Yet the two plan to keep their tradition going regardless. Denton maintains her sunny outlook, with a reminder to get those checkups!

DENCH: We still have more life to live, and if we catch things early, maybe everything will turn out good.

Granny knows best! It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, November 28th.

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

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: The Great American Songbook.

Yesterday we reintroduced you to Bob Case. He’s a musical history enthusiast who contributed to this program in its early days. And he’s back with an occasional series on popular music from the early 20th century.

REICHARD: Today, he acquaints us with some big-name musicians he’ll profile going forward.

[IRVING BERLIN: ALEXANDER’S RAGTIME BAND]

ROBERT CASE: The American Songbook is the collection of popular music from 1910 to 1960…it begins with Irving Berlin’s 1911 international hit “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”…and ends with Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” in 1955.

[BILL HALEY: ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK]

What makes the American Songbook so special is the lyrics. Many of the songs are written by talented and gifted poets. Their words empower the listener to reflect on what it means to be human—speaking of common experiences and emotions like love.

MUSIC: [IT HAD TO BE YOU

And the music is sophisticated and surprising—written by artists who studied with and listened to the best composers who preceded them.

MUSIC: [NIGHT AND DAY]

This combination of lyrics and music is artistically significant and satisfying because it is fascinating, provocative, and always relevant.

MUSIC: [NIGHT AND DAY]

The popularity of the American Songbook is evident in that hardly any American reaches adulthood without at least one experience with it either while attending a musical or sitting in a movie theater. Or performing in a community or school production. Or humming or dancing or tapping their feet to a classic popular song.

MUSIC: [WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK]

One can’t enter a medical lobby, an office building, or a Christmas shop without hearing the songs of the Great American Songbook.

MUSIC: [WHAT A WORLD]

Several months ago, I was scanning through television listings and stumbled upon a whole channel dedicated to just one artist, Frank Sinatra, who died in 1998, singing songs by composers who died largely before 1950…and here I was in 2023, thoroughly enjoying what I was hearing.

MUSIC: [BLUE SKIES]

The American Songbook is so powerful a cultural artifact that all one needs to consider is that an entire worldwide human endeavor and cultural aspiration can be defined as coming from one street: Broadway…

MUSIC: [PAPER MOON]

…and from one hamlet: Hollywood.

MUSIC: [SINGING IN THE RAIN]

And all one has to do is mention the name, “Bing,” and people all over the world know who you’re referring to.

MUSIC: [I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS]

It is widely accepted by those who study popular culture that the American Songbook has had the largest impact on the individual American of any artistic expression. Furthermore, America exported this popular art form all over the world.

We Americans composed and they played, they sang, they danced, they Karaoked to what we created. This was not European music but American music – relentlessly romantic, sunny, optimistic, melodic, rhythmic, clever, personal, hopeful, and universal.

MUSIC: [I’VE GOT RHYTHM]

As far back as 1703 Andrew Fletcher, Scottish parliamentarian wrote this:

“I knew a very wise man. . . [who] believed if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.”

Fletcher goes to say:

“And we find that most of the ancient legislators thought they could not well reform the manners of any city without the help of a lyric.”

So, if you are interested in cultural apologetics, you should have a nodding acquaintance with the Great American Songbook.

[MEL TORME: I’LL BE SEEING YOU]

To remind us to gather again, let’s close out with Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal’s 1938 evergreen: “I’ll be seeing you.” The vocalist is Mel Torme with George Shearing on the piano.

I’m Robert Case.

[MEL TORME: I’LL BE SEEING YOU]

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, November 28th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

It’s Thanksgiving Day. It was President Abraham Lincoln who declared the last Thursday in November as a day of “thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” He called for “humble penitence” for our national sins.

BROWN: WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says it’s time to return to Thanksgiving’s spiritual roots.

CAL THOMAS: The thought behind Thanksgiving is outward toward God and his blessings, and not inward, which suggests gratitude to no one in particular for whatever positives might have occurred in one’s life. In the more secular view these positives are not blessings, but are to be chalked-up to luck, or “good fortune.”

Most presidents after Lincoln generally followed the pattern of giving thanks to God in some form, even and especially during wars and economic downturns.

In the midst of The Great Depression and a looming World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was still able to proclaim in 1939: “Let us, on the day set aside for this purpose, give thanks to the Ruler of the Universe for the strength which He has vouchsafed us to carry on our daily labors and for the hope that lives within us of the coming of a day when peace and the productive activities of peace shall reign on every continent.”

An optimistic sentiment…but far from reality. For Roosevelt’s Thanksgiving nod to Deity, he seemed less hopeful about God’s provision. He took matters into his own hands by declaring Thanksgiving to be on the fourth Thursday of the month in years when the calendar contained five Thursdays. That would allow more time for Christmas shopping, which he thought would help boost the economy. A trend that continues. Even in this month when Thanksgiving comes naturally late on the calendar, advertisers have been declaring “Black Friday” sales since October.

As noted by The American Presidency Project, beginning in the early 1940s, “the language of Thanksgiving Day Proclamations changed to emphasize American values and ideas, and to assert the event's direct link to the ‘first Thanksgiving’ of Plymouth Colony.”

Many myths have grown around Thanksgiving, The Mayflower, and other historical events. The website Museum Gallery Archive reports: “Four hundred years ago, Thanksgiving was a religious event, and marked by fasting not feasting. Recent research suggests that the first Thanksgiving of this kind was celebrated by new English settlers at Berkeley, Virginia in 1619. They were Puritans giving thanks for their safe arrival on the banks of the James River.”

Today, Thanksgiving is nearly a blur in the rush towards Christmas and the conspicuous consumption merchants exploit. It’s too bad because pausing to reflect amid the toxic political environment we have experienced this year—and are likely to continue to experience—is a way to cleanse us from the poison that has infected so many. It is also a way to turn our attention from things on Earth that must pass away to the One who is eternal and in control of all things.

After one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in modern history, dividing friends, family members, and even members of some churches, this Thanksgiving offers an opportunity to put bitterness aside, attempt to heal wounds, and focus on what unites us more than the political divisions. Let that process begin with humility, forgiveness, and confession to the One who ought to be the object of our gratitude.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Tomorrow: John Stonestreet will be here for Culture Friday.

And, an interview with film producer Dallas Jenkins about the movie he says he was born to make.

Plus, the Music of Advent.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Happy Thanksgiving!

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: “[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” —Colossians 1:13-14.

Go now in grace and peace.

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