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The World and Everything In It
10.28.25 Europe’s defenses, using troops to keep order, and prompting spiritual conversations at Planned Parenthood
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Good morning. After years of Russian aggression, European leaders are taking steps for their own defense. We need to move now and we need to move fast and we need to move together. Also, lessons from past deployments of the National Guard to American cities. And a street preacher's message and style divides fellow pro lifers outside an abortion facility. You can save a baby, but they can both go to hell if they don't know Jesus. And learning to be serious with world commentator Janie B. Cheney. It's Tuesday, October 28th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichert. And I'm Lindsay Mast. Good morning. It's time now for the news with Kent Covington. Hurricane Melissa is slamming Jamaica this morning after strengthening to a Category 5 hurricane on Monday packing winds north of 170 mph. Forecasters said it could be the strongest storm ever to strike the island nation. Authorities in recent days urged residents to evacuate to higher ground or to storm shelters. And they've warned residents that even if they don't live near the shoreline, that does not mean they are safe. Director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson. If you think that you are free from that, think again because the heavy rains will also affect you. The strong winds reaching tropical storm force could still continue to affect you as we go through the day. On Tuesday, officials said rainfall in parts of Jamaica would be measured not in inches but in feet. Once the storm has passed, it will take some time to assess the damage. Larry Kelly with the US National Hurricane Center. We're talking, you know, extensive structure, infrastructural damage and long lasting power outages, communication, not to mention the life threatening storm surge that's going to happen along the coast. Melissa is now expected to take aim at Cuba and the Bahamas moving into open Atlantic waters by Thursday. President Trump is in Japan for meetings with the country's new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. She is the first ever woman to hold that office. And en route to Japan, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. I look forward to meeting the new prime minister. I hear phenomenal thing. She was a great ally and friend of Shinzo Abe, who was my friend. Shinzo Abe served as prime minister during Trump's first term in the White House. He was assassinated in 2022. For her part, the prime minister is banking on a friendly relationship with Trump as she talks trade with the president. And Tokyo is floating an idea that might appeal to him, buying a fleet of Ford F150 pickup trucks. That's great. She has good taste. That's a hot. That's a hot truck. Trump has long complained about American vehicles being shut out of the Japanese market. He's seeking a Japanese investment of $550 billion to reduce U.S. tariffs. President Trump also reacted on Monday to Russia's weekend test of a new nuclear missile, which Moscow claims cannot be stopped by air defenses. He said of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, I don't think it's an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying either. By the way, you ought to get the war ended. A war that should have taken one week is now in its soon fourth year. That's what he ought to do instead of testing missiles. Meantime, a United nations inquiry has found that Russia's drone attacks on civilians near the front line in Ukraine have created a climate of terror. Eric Mose is chairman of the Commission of Inquiry. And we have found in this recent report that these attacks against civilian and civilian objects amount to crimes against humanity, crimes against humanity, both with respect to murder and with respect to forcible transfer of population. Ukraine's foreign minister says his country is working with the United States and the UK to speed up delivery of certain air defenses that as Moscow continues its bombardment of Ukraine's power grid ahead of winter. The U.S. department of Agriculture says no one will receive federal food assistance at the beginning of November if the government shutdown persists. The USDA's website says funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as snap, has dried up during the weeks long funding lapse. Abby to works at the Great Plains Food bank in North Dakota, and she says local charities are banding together ahead of the benefits freeze. SNAP is a federally funded program. It is the most important, efficient and the largest hunger relief program there is in the country. The Trump administration says Democrats are to blame for continuing to block legislation in the Senate that would fund the government. But Democrats are condemning the Trump administration, saying it could have used other funds to ensure benefits continued into November. As of tonight, the shutdown will officially be four weeks old with no end in sight. Diplomats from Pakistan and Afghanistan just held a third day of peace talks, working to halt the bloodshed along their shared border world. Benjamin Eicker reports the two sides signed a ceasefire framework agreement more than a week ago. It includes commitments to stop fighting, respect sovereignty and to keep an open dialogue. And diplomats from both sides are now working to finalize the details and then actually enact that ceasefire. The latest round of violence broke out earlier this month after Pakistan launched airstrikes inside Afghan territory. Islamabad said they were aimed at militants responsible for a deadly attack on Pakistani soldiers. Afghan forces then retaliated. President Trump has offered help from Washington, but right now there is no indication that US Diplomats are part of the peace talks. For world I'm Benjamin Eicher. And I'm Kent Covington. Straight ahead, Europe gets serious about its own air defenses, plus a debate over how much to say during sidewalk counseling outside of abortion centers. This is the WORLD and everything in it. It's Tuesday, the 28th of October. So glad to have you along for today's edition of THE WORLD and Everything In It. Good morning. I'm Mary Reichert. And I'm Lindsay Mast. First up, Europe rearms. Over the past month, European authorities have reported air incursions almost every day. Authorities have confirmed Russia is behind many of them, but the source of others remains speculative. In any case, it's the latest in a decade of Russian escalation, and it seems European leaders think enough is enough. This month, the European Union unveiled its Defense Readiness Roadmap. That's a plan to make the continent ready to defend itself by 2030. World's Mary Muncie reports on what is in the plan and why now. Last week, a Russian fighter jet and a transport plane entered Lithuania's airspace for about 18 seconds. Russia says it was just a routine training mission, but Lithuanian President Yutanis Nusieda condemned the incursion. This is cruel violation of international law and territorial sovereignty of Lithuania, and we have to react to this. Two Spanish fighter jets responded under NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission and patrolled the area. The incident is becoming almost routine. We begin with Estonia, which has described an incursion by Russian fighter jets into its airspace. Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace overnight. Germany scrambled its Eurofighter jets to head off a Russian reconnaissance plane that was flying with its transponders turned off over the Baltic Sea. Drone sightings have also shut down airports across the continent. Some of them are confirmed Russian actions and others are not. Some experts say Russia is trying to build a map of how Europe responds when faced with aggression. A reconnaissance project, taking notes of things like which people are called, what's mobilized and how quickly it comes together. And this is on top of an increasing number of Russian cyber attacks on governments around the world over the past 10 years. So two weeks ago, the European Commission laid out its plan to rearm Europe. We need to move now and we need to move fast and we need to move together. European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkunen says they want to be fully ready to defend the continent by 2030. After years of massive underinvestment in our defense, the white paper has identified the main critical capability gaps such as drones and counter drones, cyber artificial intelligence, missiles and ammunitions. The Commission plans to invest at least 800 billion euros into defense, a five fold increase. The plans include creating a drone network across Europe to defend the Union's skies, making its troops more mobile, and streamlining defense production to keep up with new military advancements. These flagships, they will reinforce Europe's ability to deter and defend across land, air, sea, cyber and space, while contributing directly to NATO capability targets. In recent years, the European strategy has been to make its enemies trading partners so they would see war as too costly. So why the change in strategy now? The Russian war of aggression on Ukraine has really shattered the European security order. Christian Kennard is a professor of international security at Dublin City University. When Russia invaded Ukraine, European leaders started talking about upping defense. But Kennert says it was just talk until US President Donald Trump signaled at the beginning of his second term that the US Military would no longer be Europe's security guarantee. And they said, if you don't pay your bills, we're not going to participate, we're not going to protect you. A few months after that statement, NATO allies made a commitment to up their defense spending from 2% of GDP to 5%. That's unheard of. That's not been something that European countries have agreed to for a very, very long, ever. Kennert says that right now Europe's defense industry is languishing and it's going to take time and money for a rebound. In the best case scenario, he thinks it will take an extra 500 billion euros on top of what the Commission is planning. In the worst case scenario, he thinks it could be a trillion euros if the US were to completely pull out of NATO. The European Commission is communicating with NATO so they don't duplicate efforts and to streamline decision making processes. This entire program is not to replace NATO. This entire program is to strengthen NATO. But some have concerns with parts of the plan. There are limitations to the concept of a drone wall just across Europe's eastern frontier. Kier Giles is the director of the Conflict Studies Research Center. Even if it's a highly effective system with the most ambitious means of layering sensors and defenses to keep Russian drones out. That doesn't deal with the problem that we've seen demonstrated across Europe recently, where the drones are not actually coming from Russia. Instead they're coming from Russian partners inside Europe. Giles believes Russia has been demonstrating a real threat against Europe over the past few years. And he says right now even the most well armed European countries are not prepared for all of Poland being a clear leader in rearmament in Europe and reinvesting in its armed forces to get them ready for the kind of conflict that Russia wages. They still weren't prepared for a drone incursion that was really just a tiny fraction of what Ukraine experiences every night. For now, many parts of Europe's defense initiative are still being worked out, but the commission plans for there to be a fully functional web of drone defense over the continent by the end of 2027 and to have all of their contracts for shoring up capability gaps in place by 2028. International Security Professor Kennert says just making the plan is a big shift for Europe in the right direction. There have been a number of different warnings. One that it could come as early as next year, other warnings that maybe we're looking at a Russian aggression towards the end of the decade. This is meant to, in a sense, get Europe ready in the next two years to be dealing with something if something happens. Both Kennert and Giles agree that whether Russia attempts to take more territory in Europe or not, the best way to keep peace in the west is to be ready for war. Reporting for world I'm Mary Muncie. Coming up next on THE WORLD and everything in it, the National Guard on the streets of American cities. The Trump administration's deployment of state based military reserves to respond to unrest and protect federal property has raised raised questions. World's Josh Schumacher has the story. On May 1, 1992, President George H.W. bush deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles. I will use whatever force is necessary to restore order. Widespread riots had broken out after a jury acquitted four police officers of assault even after they'd been caught on video beating a black man by the name of Rodney king. Before the 1950s, US presidents didn't deploy the National Guard to maintain law and order domestically. Since then, they've only done it a handful of times. Before the Rodney King riots, President Lyndon Johnson deployed the National Guard to protect protesters at Martin Luther King Jr. S 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Johnson did so again to quell the race riots in 1967. The federal government should not intervene except in the most extraordinary circumstances. The fact of the matter, however, is that law and order have broken down in Detroit, Michigan. And then one year later, the Guard responded to riots in Washington, D.C. following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Now President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles and several other American cities, all within one year. These are unsafe places. We're going to make them safe. Trump has said the goal is to crack down on rampant crime, but the specific justification is protecting federal immigration facilities and personnel from protesters. In Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, protesters have gathered at federal immigration facilities and in some cases, engaged in violent acts against federal authorities protecting the buildings. But some legal experts say pulling in the National Guard goes a little too far. Brenner Fissell is a law professor at Villanova University. I think that the justification that they're giving, which is to protect federal assets, has a requirement which has not been met, which is that the local police are unable or unwilling to step up. And that has not been the case. Local police have been on the scene to confront protesters in Portland, Oregon, and in Los Angeles. But in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive, executive order prohibiting local police from assisting federal immigration personnel. Essentially, Fissell explains that things have to get so out of control that local police are overwhelmed and it's no longer possible to enforce federal laws or other types of laws, for that matter. That was the case during the Rodney King riots, and it was also the case In Massachusetts in 1786, you know, in Shays Rebellion. It wasn't a riot. It wasn't that they were just destroying random property. Joshua Braver is a law professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. It's that farmers were upset that courts were going to foreclose on their farms, and they shut down the courts. So if you shut down the courts, if you take over an entire city, that might also be a reasonable opportunity for the federal government to step in. Braver says National Guard deployments are only supposed to be a last resort. But administration supporters say there is precedent for using the National Guard to ensure the proper enforcement of American laws, even when a city isn't burning down. Zach Smith is a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation. President Eisenhower actually sent in the 101st Airborne Active Duty troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to make sure that the civil rights, the federal civil rights of American citizens were being guaranteed. And so there is ample precedent, ample authority for presidents using National Guard, even using active duty troops to make sure that federal law can and will be in force. The ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week ruled that the Trump administration was acting within the bounds of its authority when it deployed the National Guard to Portland, Oregon. The Court of Appeals also said that protesters had engaged in violent acts against federal agents at Portland's ICE facility and had even succeeded in shutting down operations at the building. But the courts are split on this issue. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Illinois has stopped the administration from deploying federal troops on the streets of Chicago while legal proceedings play out. Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection act in order to get the National Guard troops back onto the streets. But Fissell says that would be an over the top measure. The Insurrection act requires an insurrection. We don't see these protests or even violent protests that become riotous are not rebellions against the authority of the United States. They're breaking laws. To be sure, if you're violently rioting, but it's not insurrection in the meaning, which is like a a group of people who are challenging the actual basic authority of the government. Fissell acknowledges that the text of the Insurrection act leaves it up to the president to decide when the obstruction of government activities is severe enough to invoke the statute. He has a lot of authority under the act to it says whenever the president considers. So some have argued that there's no way to review that. It's up to him now whether I mean, but I can still say he's wrong to do it. While Fissell emphasizes that none of the protests against ICE activities have turned into actual rebellions against government authorities, that determination is still left up to the president. So far, Trump's threats to invoke the Insurrection act are still just threats. Reporting for World, I'm Josh Schumacher. Additional support comes from Cedarville University Equipping students for professional excellence and Gospel impact Cedarville. Edu World from the Issues Etc podcast, expert guests, expansive topics extolling Christ More at Issues Etc. And from Asbury University, where students are known, supported and prepared to lead customized visits. Available asbury. Edu Visit Brent Chapman was blind for decades before receiving the gift of sight again through his tooth. Yeah, his tooth. Surgeons pulled a tooth, drilled a hole in it, inserted a little lens, and then implanted it into his eye. Because it's material from his own body, it won't be rejected. The technique isn't new, but for Chapman, the results certainly. And when he made eye contact with his doctor for the first time, we both just burst into tears. And I hadn't really made eye contact in 20 years. Here's that Dr. Greg Maloney to watch them come back into the world, it's an incredibly rewarding feeling. Chapman's vision in that eye is now around 2040, meaning he can read, walk without a cane, even shoot the some hoops. It's a whole new world. I bet it's the world and Everything in It Today is Tuesday, October 28th. Thank you for turning to world radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Lindsay Mast. And I'm Mary Reichard. Coming next on the World and everything in it, gospel preachers at abortion facilities. Pro lifers who gather on public sidewalks outside abortion businesses often don't see eye to eye. One question that divides them is whether spiritual conversations should be used with women considering abortion today. World's Leah Savas introduces us to a man who says gospel conversations should come first. But if you will turn away from your sins and turn towards Jesus Christ, he will not cast you out. That's 30 year old Jordan Sweezer doing what he's been doing regularly for the last three years. He will not say to you, you're too bad. He sacrificed himself on the cross and that is a greater price to pay than any sin you could possibly have committed. So turn to Jesus today and receive his love and his mercy. Sweezer is preaching outside the Planned Parenthood in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He's trying to get the attention of people in the lobby. When more people are coming and going, Sweezer tries to start one on one conversations. He approaches cars or calls out to the people in the parking lot. Please trust in Jesus today. Please come and talk with me. We can help you. His main goal is to tell the people there about Christ, whether they're there for STD tests, body modifications, abortions, or just walking through the neighborhood. But he sees that as working in tandem with his other goal of saving babies. Since only God's word can change hearts. I have no ability to change anybody's mind. I have no ability to manipulate or convince or even if I did, it would be short term. They would come right back, you know, and God does the work. The main abortion facility in town used to be a couple minutes away on a busy street. But when that facility closed in 2023, Sweezer moved to this Planned Parenthood on Cherry Street. It's quieter here, a cozy looking neighborhood with rows of fancy old houses and people walking their dogs. But Sweezer's arrival brought backlash from the neighbors. That's audio from one day in 2023 when Sweezer and some fellow pro lifers were gathered to pray. A woman who lived across the street cussed them out. A neighborhood man threw eggs at them. Another guy drove his Subaru into the Planned Parenthood driveway and sat on the vehicle's route holding a sign saying pray to end male oppression. Sweezer was trying to read a Bible verse Nor did they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand. And it gives light to all who are in the house. The sidewalk has quieted down since then. It was a mess out here, you know, not that we were doing anything wrong. We were still loving and kind and sharing the gospel, but they were blasting their music and honking their horns for four hours, you know, so it looked pretty wild out here. But some local pro lifers say the street preaching style Sweezer uses agitated the community. The sound actually does impact people who are just living alongside that abortion facility. Melissa Yeomans is a local leader with the national organization Sidewalk Advocates for Life. It stirs up a lot of anger amongst the neighborhood. It becomes a toxic environment where there's a lot of tension and there's a lot of emotion. And all of that, I feel, distracts from that focus on being ever present and ready to respond to that abortion vulnerable woman the moment that she is ready to engage. Yeomans agrees the spiritual needs of women considering abortion are important. But she said leading with talk of sin and repentance and isn't a good idea. Shame based condemning messages are not effective. They don't reach that woman in her moment of considering abortion. When all the sidewalk groups moved to this Planned Parenthood, the change affected the local pregnancy center as well. PRC Grand Rapids shares a parking lot with the abortion facility, and the pregnancy center staff got a front row seat to the sidewalk drama. Becky Buick is the center's chief operations officer. I still, you know, I want to get out of my car and the parking lot. I'm not crazy about hearing a microphone. I mean, my fear initially goes, you know, initially her instinct was to question their approach to pro life work because it was so different from hers. But she's since had a chance to get to know Sweezer and see his love for Jesus and knowledge of scripture. And I think as Christians, it's really easy to throw stone at someone who preaching on the corner and to have prejudice about them. The Lord, she said, ministers to people in unique ways, including through street preaching. And just because that's not something that would appeal to me doesn't mean that it's not something that would really cause someone's heart to melt. And I've seen it. How are you doing today? Back on the sidewalk, Sweezer keeps trying to strike up conversations. Hi, I have an appointment. I'm sorry. A handful of people come over to talk. Some are there for routine visits or STD testing. At least one is there because she's thinking about aborting her baby. Really? I don't even believe in it, but I have so much going on. My money I can't afford. I'm just, you know. Yeah, I have a lot going on. Sweezer offers to buy her pregnancy tests. He tells her about adoption. So I just want to please do it. I make the commitment today to trust God and trust that he'll provide for you. But I'm literally here to be God's hands and feet to help provide for you. A couple minutes later, she still walks into the building. Sweezer wants to see babies like that woman's saved. But spiritual conversations take priority. I definitely feel like I've found my sweet spot or what the Lord wants me to be doing out here. Just always gospel centered, always rushing to the cross because it's the power of salvation. You can save a baby, but they can both go to hell if they don't know Jesus. You know what I mean? So, yeah. Reporting for world, I'm Leah Savis in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Today is Tuesday, October 28th. Good morning, this is the World and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichert. And I'm Lindsay Mast. Finally today, a gentleman warning from a faithful friend. Loose lips do still sink ships, usually our own. Here's WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheney. In 1997, the New Republic published an article called Spring Breakdown. Reporting from cpac, the up and coming young journalist Stephen Glass described college Republicans getting blind drunk after hours talking disgusting trash, hiring a prostitute, and in general, behaving badly. Liberal leaning readers were free to infer that these were the future leaders of the heartless, bigoted Republican Party. So watch out, America. The problem with the story as it later emerged was that it was at least partly fabricated, like dozens of other articles Glass had written for the New Republic. But the October 14th Politico story of young Republicans talking disgusting trash in an online chat is sadly true. It's there for all to see. Racial slurs, casual dismissals of rape and slavery, jokey references to the Holocaust, according to the Politico. It's a microcosm of the party as a whole, the author writes. The private rhetoric isn't happening in a vacuum. It comes amid a widespread coarsening of the broader political discourse as incendiary and racially offensive tropes from the right becomes increasingly common in public debate. Must be dizzy up there on that high horse. The chat involved a dozen Republican activists from four states. Much of the trash talk was directed against rivals on the right and the participants were aware it was not fit for public consumption. One young politician wrote, if we ever had a leak of this chat, we would be cooked. And so they are. The New York State GOP removed all the New York participants from their official positions. The other state GOPs likewise fired or dismissed many of theirs. And in spite of POLITICO's posturing, the coarsening of public discourse is not just happening on the right. After decades of being bludgeoned from the left with the Nazi label, perhaps it's not surprising that some Republican millennials and Gen Z's are trying it on for size. They're not seriously Nazis. But that isn't the problem. The problem is they're not serious. Proverbs 29:8 says scoffers set a city aflame. These Scoffers set a 24 hour news cycle aflame, wrecking their own careers, possibly for good. Might we take a lesson here? When I was in high school, scoffing was cool. Scoffing was the only thing we took seriously because it marked us as young sophisticates laughing over our purloined beers through clouds of COVID cigarette smoke. What fools these mortals be was the undercurrent of our conversation. These presidents who wage war over nothing, these politicians who tell us we're not smart enough to vote, these parents with their silly curfews. Nothing could shake our shallow cynicism and except maturity. Returning to the wisdom of Solomon, Proverbs 3:34 warns toward the scorners, God is scornful, Life is serious business, and so is he. Honest laughter at our own mistakes and foibles is healthy. But scorn and scoffing directs itself at the other, casting ourselves as the smart set who can't be fooled. It's time to grow up. The coarsening of political discourse may begin with juvenile mockery, but it will set our cities aflame. I'm Janie Buccaney. Tomorrow, international politics, conservatism and the big beautiful ballroom. Hunter Baker joins us for Washington Wednesday. And a question for should the Mexican wolf still be considered endangered? That and more tomorrow. I'm Lindsay Mast. And I'm Mary Reichert. 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 instructs, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of the your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Verse 2 of Romans 12 Go now in grace and peace.