← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
1.1.25 Political and global news of the year, significant people in government and law who died, and Jimmy Carter’s spiritual legacy
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- [00:05]
Lindsay Mast
Happy New Year. Today, the big political stories from the year that was including Republican changes to mail in voting.
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Kent Covington
The biggest change is the recognition that without adapting to this extra tool that we weren't going to win.
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Nick Eicher
That's ahead today on Washington Wednesday. Also today, world tour later, Cal Thomas reflects on Jimmy Carter and will remember other notables who influenced politics, law and government climate.
- [00:32]
Kent Covington
It has always changed and always will. There's archaeological evidence of that.
- [00:36]
Cal Thomas
There's biblical evidence of that.
- [00:37]
Kent Covington
There's historic evidence of that.
- [00:47]
Lindsay Mast
It's Wednesday, January 1st. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Lindsay Mast.
- [00:54]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning.
- [00:57]
Lindsay Mast
Up next, Kent Covington with today's news.
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Kent Covington
Crowds in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, welcoming the arrival of 2025. It was one of many cities to ring in the new year with everything from spectacular light shows in Mumbai to ice plunges in the Netherlands and of course, the famous ball drop in Times Square. The Times Square alliance, which puts on the annual event in Manhatt as they retired the 6 ton old crystal ball this morning, it will be replaced with a new ball with more bells and whistles. No holiday break, though, for House Speaker Mike Johnson. This week. He's working the phones and working overtime in hopes of winning over some skeptical House Republicans. Members will cast their votes on Friday to elect a speaker for the 119th Congress. And Congressman Andy Biggs says he does not believe that Johnson has the votes needed to hold on to the gavel.
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Cal Thomas
I'm talking to different people from different.
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Kent Covington
Factions in the conference.
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Carolina Lumeta
All of us want to see at least procedural change.
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Kent Covington
But fellow GOP Congressman Russell Fry noted that President elect Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Johnson.
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Carolina Lumeta
We should honor President Trump's request, select Mike Johnson as speaker and go about the business of enacting his America first agenda.
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Kent Covington
Johnson has served as speaker since October of 2023. That's when then Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted by a small group of Republicans, including some of the same members thus far withholding support from Johnson. The calendar has turned over once more with many Israeli hostages still in the clutches of Hamas terrorists. And Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Dinan says he's hopeful that they will finally see the return of those hostages in the new year with the support of the incoming Trump administration. I think the statement of a president.
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Nick Eicher
Elect President Trump that he wants to.
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Kent Covington
Seize them as soon as possible.
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Nick Eicher
But you know, in the Middle east.
- [03:00]
Leo Braceno
The only language that those evil animals.
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Kent Covington
Understand is power and strength. President elect Trump vowed that there would be quoting here, hell to pay if the hostages are not released by the time he takes office on January 20th. He did not expound on what that might mean. New York City police say they have identified the woman who died on December 22 after being set on fire while inside a New York subway train. The victim was 57 year old Debrina Kuom, New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters she resided in New Jersey.
- [03:34]
Onize Odua
She had a brief stint in our homeless shelter system. Our shelter system and our house goes out to the family. A horrific incident to have to live through.
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Kent Covington
Authorities previously said they were using forensics and video surveillance to identify the victim. The man accused of lighting her on fire, Sebastian Zepeta, is a Guatemalan national in the country illegally. In South Korea, a team of U.S. investigators, including representatives from Boeing, have examined the site of a plane crash that killed almost 200 people on Sunday. World's Kristin Flavin has more.
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Lindsay Mast
South Korea's chief of aviation policy, jujung won, said eight US officials have joined 11 South Korean government safety investigators probing the crash. Authorities, meanwhile, are conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737, 800 aircraft operated by the country's airlines. The plane was seen having engine trouble, and preliminary examinations also say the pilots received a bird strike warning from the ground control center and issued a distress signal. But many experts believe a landing gear issue was likely the main cause of the crash. For WORLD I'm Kristen Flavin.
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Kent Covington
Almost everyone in Puerto Rico welcomed the new year in the dark last night. A major blackout on Tuesday left more than 1.3 million homes and businesses without power, and service might not be restored until tomorrow. Officials say it appears that a failure in an underground power line triggered the outage. Puerto Rico continues to struggle with chronic power outages blamed on a crumbling power grid that was raised by Hurricane Maria in 2017. I'm Kent Covington. And just ahead, the top political stories from the year that was Washington Wednesday. THIS IS THE WORLD and everything in it.
- [05:47]
Lindsay Mast
It's Wednesday, the 1st of January. This is World Radio. And we're glad you've joined us for today's edition of THE WORLD and EVERYTHING IN it. Good morning. I'm Lindsay Mast.
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Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Iker. Time now for Washington Wednesday. Well, the books are closed on 2024. And what a year it was in politics.
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Lindsay Mast
Donald Trump wins big in the first in the nation caucuses.
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Kent Covington
Washington is deeply divided over the Supreme Court's historic ruling Monday on presidential immunity. President Joe Biden and former President Donald.
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Carolina Lumeta
Trump clashed on stage at CNN's Atlanta headquarters.
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Kent Covington
The pressure on President Biden to give up his re election bid is intensifying. This year's convention in Milwaukee will be unlike any other, kicking off just hours after a would be assassin's bullet pierced the right ear of the former president.
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Cal Thomas
Take a look at what happened.
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Kent Covington
Party leaders say Vice President Kamala Harris will be the nominee, replacing President Biden atop the ticket. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will square off in at least one presidential debate. Former President Donald Trump is now once again President elect Donald Trump. He declared victory early this morning, shortly after FOX News called the election for the 45th and soon to be 47th president.
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Lindsay Mast
Here now to talk through a few of the big stories of last year and what's coming up this year are Carolina Lumeta and Leo Braceno from world's Washington bureau. Good morning.
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Leo Braceno
Good morning, Lindsay.
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Lindsay Mast
Good morning, Carolina. Starting with you, the presidential campaign was a whole saga of stories. What stands out to you from the reporting that you did last year?
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Leo Braceno
Well, it certainly was a wild presidential election cycle. We had a embattled president in the courts. We had assassination attempts. We had a switch of the candidate at a very late point. So what I had heard throughout the year was that this was going to rely on turnout, whichever side could convince more low propensity voters to come out and vote. That became a very difficult moving target the more that we experienced all these unusual points about the election. However, throughout the year, political operatives were telling me that the Trump ground game was more sophisticated this year than it's ever been. Even despite all of those changes, one thing that really stuck out to me, though, is that the Republican Party decided to embrace mail in voting. That was a surprising shift from 2020, where the party and President Trump claimed that mail in voting led to election fraud or the very least irregularities in the 2020 presidential election. However, this year they really changed their tune and said that not only are we going to improve the system, but we want voters to use that. I covered a story about mail in voting back in April, and I'm especially focused on Pennsylvania, where Republicans were really hoping to flip that crucial swing state from blue to red. I spoke with Guy Shirocki, who's a former congressional candidate and a senior fellow at a Pennsylvania think tank.
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Kent Covington
The Democratic Party saw this as an educational tool to increase and improve voter turnout, having little or nothing to do with COVID and the Republican Party. Still, I think up until the recent past saw it as an outgrowth of COVID and didn't want to do it. The biggest change is the recognition that without adapting to this extra tool that we weren't going to win.
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Leo Braceno
So the Republican National Committee then stepped in and created this system that went through several name iterations but ended up with swamp the Vote, where they were convincing Republican voters to turn out well before election Day, either through early voting or that mail in voting. Along with that, they set up an aggressive litigation team that swept the country with lawsuits anywhere that they saw any voting irregularities, the state not enforcing the law as defined on the books or trying to add new laws to safeguard the mail in voting practice. That left Trump's campaign team free to work on those low propensity and undecided voters across the swing states. Fast forward to election night. We all saw that Trump was on the glide path to win as soon as Pennsylvania flipped and then he ended up carrying every single swing state.
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Lindsay Mast
Of course, on election night it was Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris. But for most of the year, that was not the case. Can you walk us through what stood out to you leading up to the switch in candidates?
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Leo Braceno
Actually, as early as the New Hampshire primaries in January, Democratic voters told me that they didn't love Biden as their option. They had a couple concerns about his age, but they trusted that he was the only one who could beat Donald Trump because he has before. They also weren't thrilled with Vice President Kamala Harris's track record so far and nationally. Neither of those moods seem to change over the year. Then we had the presidential debate in June between Trump and Biden, and that's when the age issues really catapulted to the forefront of the presidential campaigns. President Biden stumbled over his words frequently. He struggled to complete sentences and thoughts and he had a very raspy voice from what the campaign said was a cold. I watched the debate with the Georgia Republican Party at a watch party just outside Atlanta. And I spoke to chairman Josh McCune right after that debate ended tonight, really.
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Lindsay Mast
Painfully put it on display for an hour and a half that there appear to be some real deficits in being.
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Kent Covington
Able to lead and being up to this challenge. And so I certainly expect you'll hear.
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Cal Thomas
More of that as well.
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Leo Braceno
It really marked this pivot point for the Democratic Party, even though President Biden didn't drop out until nearly a month later. That put the whole party on the defensive roughly 100 days before an election with a lesser known candidate, with Vice President Kamala Harris, who voters were already not that thrilled about.
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Lindsay Mast
Well, Leo, you've been watching Congress. What was the biggest story there in 2024.
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Kristin Flavin
Obviously, many different stories that we could touch on, but probably the single biggest change that happened in Congress happened over in the Senate, where Senator Mitch McConnell has represented the state of Kentucky since 1985. He's led that chamber since 2007. But in February of this year, he announced that he would be stepping down from the role and letting someone else take his place. There were concerns about his age in particular. There were two separate freezing instances where the senator paused for multiple seconds after trying to give a response to the media during press conferences that left bystanders kind of shocked and really concerned about his clarity of mind, his state of health. That year, he also suffered a fall that hospitalized him for a good bit. And so there were so many different concerns coming into his decision this year that it was just a matter of time before McConnell was probably gonna have to relinquish this role. Now taking the reins of McConnell is Senator John Thune, who was voted in by his party this past November following the November elections. And so kind of an institutionalist like McConnell. McConnell has said and maintained that the filibuster is a very important component of the Senate and how it functions. Thune takes a very similar approach in opposition to kind of maybe some of the changes that Trump would like to see in the Senate. It's going to be really interesting to see how Thune rises to the challenge in 2025.
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Lindsay Mast
And what about big stories from the other side of Congress?
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Kristin Flavin
Yeah, I think a predominant theme throughout the 118th Congress was just kind of the small majority that you saw over on the other side of the building, over in the House of Representatives. U.S. house Speaker Mike Johnson and his predecessor, U.S. house Speaker Kevin McCarthy, both had to contend with, historically the smallest majority in the House of Representatives ever. And so that majority started out at about five seats and at one point shrunk down to just one seat. That continued to cause headaches and problems for the leadership team there at the GOP, because really, they could only afford to lose 1, 2, 3, 4 votes, depending on who was in the chamber at the time. And so that really forced them to try to find unity in the Republican Party. But that was really hard to do, especially because whoever happened to be right on the receiving end of that kind of persuasion tended to realize, oh, I have a lot of power here and a lot of say, to throw wrenches into the gears of how this place functions just by saying, you know what? I will support you, but I want this, this, and this before I do. And so that also gave Democrats a very strong hand when it came to working with Republicans because if Johnson or whoever was in the leadership position at the time couldn't get the votes from his own party, he would often have to cross the aisle to find support with Democrats. That was a headache for, for Republican leadership all throughout the 1 18th. And it's also a very relevant story to bring up because it's gonna be, again, a big headache for the Republican Party going into the 1 19th where they are looking at just a two seat majority year. And so definitely something that raised its head throughout the year in 2024 and something to keep an eye on going forward.
- [14:47]
Lindsay Mast
Well, looking forward now as Donald Trump heads back to the White House later this month. What stories are you watching, Carolina?
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Leo Braceno
Well, most immediately, we have several confirmation hearings to get through as Trump tries to staff his second term. He has some very controversial picks for key cabinet positions. And so we will be covering that very closely from January into February, hopefully not into March, but we'll see. I'm also looking closely at Trump's tariff proposals. He suggested that he would impose heavy tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada to combat the flow of illegal fentanyl. However, Washington lawmakers are concerned that this will cause economic headaches here at home. It's already also causing shifts with allies, like in Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing calls to resign over his response to Trump. He's already battling a very high cost of living there. His finance minister resigned because they disagreed on what to do about this threat of tariffs. And so I'm interested to see the ripple effects that a second Trump presidency will have. I'm also interested to see how he intends to follow through with a lot of his campaign promises, which include closing the southern border and improving the economy.
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Lindsay Mast
What about in Congress, Leo?
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Kristin Flavin
A lot of different priorities coming in for the Trump administration in the first hundred days, everything from border policy to cutting government waste and inefficiency. But definitely one of the biggest priorities the Trump administration will want to hit right away is extending the 2017 tax cuts and Jobs Act. This was a landmark piece of legislation for the Trump administration in 2017. It cut taxes in virtually every area. And so if this doesn't get extended, you're going to have a kind of fiscal cliff type situation where, you know, the amount of taxes that businesses that individuals pay could go up. But coming into the election, one of the biggest questions was, what can they do that in divided government? Will these tax cuts get extended? That was one of the things that we knew that Congress was going to have to deal with in 2025. What we didn't know was that the Republican Party was going to have the benefit of having the House, the Senate and the White House all under the same party control. And so the question now isn't so much are these tax cuts going get extended, but really how and in what form do they stay the same or are there going to be changes? But really what it boils down to is can Republicans get on the same page to pass their priorities as far as tax goes and can they do it in that first hundred day window when, when they're also going to be struggling to deal with government spending and some of the other priorities that they've also got on their plate?
- [17:28]
Lindsay Mast
Leo Braceno and Carolina Lumeta cover politics for world's Washington Bureau. Thanks so much and happy New Year.
- [17:35]
Leo Braceno
Thanks, Lindsay.
- [17:36]
Kristin Flavin
Happy New Year.
- [17:45]
Kent Covington
Additional support comes from Commuter Bible, the Workweek audio Bible in four annual plans available via podcast app and commuterbible.org.
- [17:59]
Nick Eicher
And.
- [17:59]
Kent Covington
From Dort University, where students are invited into God's story of restoration to live, learn and work together with joyful purpose in all of life until all is made new.
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Nick Eicher
Coming up next on the WORLD and Everything in IT World tour with our reporter in Africa.
- [18:24]
Onize Odua
Onize the past year brought more than 70 elections globally. With millions of voters heading to the polls. The votes brought some expected and unexpected changes. India organized an elaborate electoral process that lasted six weeks and involved nearly 970 million registered voters. They cast their ballots for all of the more than 500 members of the country's lower house of parliament. Voters in South Africa also brought historic change as they removed the African National Congress Party from office for the first time since the country gained its independence in 1994. I spoke with Christopher Van Dome, a senior research fellow with the Chatham House Africa Program.
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Kent Covington
That's what's really striking about this election, and that's why it's been billed as.
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Lindsay Mast
The most contested election for 30 years.
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Onize Odua
Pluralism in every form is kind of.
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Kent Covington
A new thing in South Africa, and that's what's really exciting about this election.
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Onize Odua
And in Botswana, voters elected Douma Boko as president, ending the ruling party's nearly six decades in Par. Boko's victory brought a seamless power shift welcomed on a continent that has seen some contentious handovers.
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Cal Thomas
Thank you very much.
- [19:41]
Kristin Flavin
I'm humbled to sit here.
- [19:44]
Kent Covington
I accept it with, with humility.
- [19:47]
Onize Odua
I accept it with some trepidation, knowing.
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Cal Thomas
It'S a very, very big assignment.
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Onize Odua
More elections are ahead, with voters in Belarus heading to the polls later this month. Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko will be running for his seventh term. This year has also brought some political uncertainty beyond elections. In West Africa, military led countries have distanced themselves from the regional bloc. Back in January, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced their plans to withdraw from the Regional Economic Community of West African States, or ecowas. Their departure threatened to break apart the group, which provides some economic stability in the region. By July, the country organized the first summit of their new bloc, the alliance of Sahel States. Abdurahmani Tiani is Niger's ruling general. He says here that the new alliance is the only way to tackle terrorism in the current geopolitical climate. In December, ECOWAS gave the military leaders until next July to reconsider their membership, but they have said their decision is irreversible. Meanwhile, Hong Kong continued to crack down on pro democracy activists. In a significant November ruling, A court found 45 former lawmakers and activists guilty of subversion. Their prison sentences range from four to 10 years. Western governments and international rights organizations criticize the sentences as politically motivated. Chris Tang is Hong Kong's security secretary. He says here that the sentences match the severity of the crimes and show the city has zero tolerance for any act endangering national security. In many countries, Christians faced extra challenges this year. In Rwanda, authorities are still enforcing regulations mandating churches to meet basic building standards and maintain sound regulations, among other requirements. In order to remain open, authorities shut down more than 5,600 churches for failing to meet the regulations after a five year grace period. Peter Guitao is the Central Africa regional administrator for Africa Inland Mission. No one is saying you cannot meet in each other's houses for fellowship.
- [22:20]
Kristin Flavin
They're just saying fix your place and.
- [22:23]
Kent Covington
You know you can meet there.
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Onize Odua
Meanwhile, Christians in Nicaragua face increasing pushback from President Daniel Ortega's government. Authorities there have shut down thousands of churches and exiled many church leaders. The crackdown intensified after churches provided shelter for protesters back in 2018. The targeted Christians include some 13 members of Mountain Gateway, a Texas based evangelical ministry. Authorities released them along with other political and religious prisoners back in September. Christina Yelcram is a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom International who represents Mountain Gateway.
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Leo Braceno
Of course, from a human perspective, we.
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Kent Covington
Are really glad and grateful to God.
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Leo Braceno
That these people are no longer deprived of their freedom for arbitrary and unjust reasons.
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Onize Odua
Despite this good news, the government is still suppressing religious freedom. Authorities ordered all Roman Catholic nuns to leave the country last month. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, Islamist insurgents and armed bandits have continued attacks on civilians. But Christians in northeast Nigeria are rejoicing after a judge acquitted a Christian woman of blasphemy charges last month. Authorities detained Rhoda Jatal, a mother of five, two years ago for sharing a video that showed the lynching of a young Christian student. She was released on bail last December as her trial continued. Her case drew condemnation from international groups that also criticized the country's blasphemy laws. And finally, we wrap up in Syria, where a coalition of rebels has regained control of the country, bringing President Bashar al Assad's leadership to an end. Hussein Abdul Hussein is a research fellow at the foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
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Kent Covington
So far, the few days that have.
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Kristin Flavin
Passed by, I think, you know, things.
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Kent Covington
Have been better when compared to other Arab Spring or Iraq war change. No looting, no burning, no breaking. But moving forward, I wish, I hope that things continue going in this direction.
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Onize Odua
The return of an Islamist group to power has also raised concerns of what the future holds for Christians. Martin Parsons is the CEO of the Lindisfarne center for the Study of Christian Persecution. He told World last month that he's not optimistic that Christians will stay safe for long.
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Kent Covington
We're not going to see an immediate massacre of Christians, but we are going to see that tightening news and we will see a few Syrian Christian leaders probably losing their lives and it will get to the point where life will become intolerable for Christians in Syria.
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Onize Odua
That's it for this week's world tour. Reporting for WORLD I'm Onize Odua in Abuja, Nigeria.
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Nick Eicher
Well, Magnus Carlsen may be a chess grandmaster, but just like you and me, he puts his pants on one leg at a time, even when the pants violate the dress code. At the World Rapid Chess Championship last week, Carlson was fined for wearing denim. A reporter confronted chess officials afterward.
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Kent Covington
But it's it's only a pair of jeans.
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Leo Braceno
It may be I don't like the balls.
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Cal Thomas
I just applied them, unfortunately.
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Nick Eicher
Well, Carlson refused to change, said denham. He took a 200 fine and stood his ground.
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Kent Covington
I think the situation was badly mishandled.
- [26:14]
Lindsay Mast
I didn't agree with it.
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Onize Odua
I didn't want to comply, and I stand by that.
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Nick Eicher
Well, the gambit paid off. Carlsen's move pinned the Chess Federation, which ended up rewriting the rules to allow for what's now called elegant deviance. Checkmate. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Wednesday, January 1, 2025. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Nick Iger.
- [26:53]
Lindsay Mast
And I'm Lindsay Mast. Coming Next on the World and everything in it, notable deaths from 2024. Of course, just this week we remembered former President Jimmy Carter. Other big names we covered last year include Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. He died under mysterious circumstances in a Siberian prison camp.
- [27:12]
Nick Eicher
We also mark the departures of Senator and presidential candidate Joe Lieberman and the youngest son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Dexter King. Today, a handful of others who left their mark on law and politics. Here now is world's Washington producer, Harrison Waters.
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Carolina Lumeta
We begin today with Jean Carnahan, the first woman to represent Missouri in the U.S. senate. She died in January at age 90. In the year 2000, Jean was the first lady of Missouri and her husband, Mel Carnahan, was leveraging his popularity as governor in a bid to unseat Republican Senator John Ashcroft. But then tragedy struck. 20 days before the election, a plane.
- [27:52]
Kent Covington
Believed to be carrying Governor Mel Carnahan.
- [27:57]
Cal Thomas
His son Roger, and senior campaign advisor Chris Shefford went down in Jefferson County. There were no survivors.
- [28:05]
Carolina Lumeta
Gene was left to raise their three remaining children alone and finish the campaign that Mel started.
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Kent Covington
I determined that if the people would elect him, I would serve.
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Carolina Lumeta
Missouri elected Carnahan posthumously and Jean was appointed by the new governor to take the oath of office in her husband's place. In 2002, Carnahan lost a special election to her Republican challenger and never returned to government. But two of her children found careers in Congress and Missouri state government. Next, a man who made clothes for American leaders and celebrities.
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Kent Covington
I think that I make the finest clothing in the world. That's why they seek me out.
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Carolina Lumeta
Martin Greenfield was born in 1928 in Czechoslovakia, 14 years before his Jewish family was taken to Auschwitz.
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Kent Covington
Some were sent to the left and I was sent to the right.
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Carolina Lumeta
Greenfield never saw his family again, but the camp tailor trained Greenfield to make clothes. Then, in 1945, American forces under General Dwight Eisenhower liberated Europe. Sound here from ABC.
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Kent Covington
And I shook his hand and I cried. I cried with joy.
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Carolina Lumeta
Greenfield emigrated to America and started working in a garment factory. Here he is in a Jewish American Heritage interview.
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Kent Covington
I worked 30 years and then I bought a business.
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Carolina Lumeta
Greenfield's business made fine suits for the likes of President Lyndon Johnson and basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. But his first famous customer was General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Greenfield died at age 95 on March 20th. Next, our special guest today is none.
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Kent Covington
Other than Beverly LaHaye.
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Carolina Lumeta
In the 1970s and 80s, the wife of evangelical pastor and author Tim LaHaye made a name in her own right as founder of Concerned Women for America. As a pastor's wife and mother, lahaye was frustrated to see traditional values mocked and undermined in popular culture and the public square.
- [29:56]
Cal Thomas
We did not have a voice when the feminists spoke. They spoke, as they said, for the women of America. And we are not a single block group of women.
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Carolina Lumeta
In 1979, LaHaye founded CWA as a political action group for conservative women to get involved in politics and school boards. They also took national stands on issues like same sex marriage and abortion. Here's LaHaye at the organization's 40th anniversary gala in 2019.
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Cal Thomas
I started Concerned Women for America when I was 50 years old. So it's never too old to start doing something for the Lord.
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Carolina Lumeta
LaHaye died on April 14. She was 94. Turning now to a lawmaker who challenged the reasoning behind climate change alarmism.
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Kent Covington
We can't move on because if you're talking about the science, the science is not settled.
- [30:42]
Carolina Lumeta
Jim Inhofe represented Oklahoma in the US Senate from 1994 to 2023.
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Kent Covington
Mr. President, climate is changing and climate has always changed and always there's archaeological evidence of that.
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Cal Thomas
There's biblical evidence of that. There's historic evidence of that. It will always change.
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Kent Covington
The hoax is that there are some people who are so arrogant to think that they are so powerful they can change climate. Man can't change climate.
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Carolina Lumeta
Inhofe argued against the US joining the Paris Climate Accords in 2015. He said the deal put heavy burdens on the United States without addressing emissions from China and India. He also questioned the science behind global warming as a threat to human survival.
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Kent Covington
In case we have forgotten, because we.
- [31:24]
Cal Thomas
Keep hearing that 2014 has been the.
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Kent Covington
Warmest year on record, I asked the chair, do you know what this is? It's a snowball from outside here. So it's very, very cold out.
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Carolina Lumeta
Inhofe died in July. He was 89. We end today with the conservative attorney who argued the Supreme Court case that decided the presidential election of two Florida.
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Kent Covington
Affects people all over the United States.
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Carolina Lumeta
When Florida went to a contested recount, Ted Olson argued for the George W. Bush campaign. Sound here from a CBS Sunday interview.
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Kent Covington
Why did the Bush side win? We were right.
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Carolina Lumeta
Bush appointed Olson the solicitor general of the United States. Several years after returning to private law practice, Olson surprised many by taking on a case in California challenging the state's ban on gay marriage, known as Proposition 8. Here's Olson on PBS.
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Cal Thomas
That was November 8th of 2008. Proposition 8 passed in California, adding a provision to the Constitution that said, marriage was permissible and recognizable only between a.
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Kent Covington
Man and a woman.
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Carolina Lumeta
Olson argued the case alongside David Boies, the attorney who represented Al Gore in the Supreme Court case Olson won nine years earlier.
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Kent Covington
And so when Ted called me, I immediately said yes.
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Carolina Lumeta
The unlikely legal team succeeded in defeating Prop 8, legalizing same sex marriage in California.
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Kent Covington
I think I've always been a conservative.
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Cal Thomas
People tend to want to put people in boxes and people overdo the conservative or liberal thing.
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Carolina Lumeta
On November 13th, Ted Olson died after suffering a stroke. He was 84 years old. For World I'm Harrison Waters.
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Nick Eicher
Today is Wednesday, January 1st. Good morning, this is the World and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Nick Iger.
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Lindsay Mast
And I'm Lindsay Mast. Up next, commentator Cal Thomas on the life and faith of America's 39th president.
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Cal Thomas
When Jimmy Carter began attending the First Baptist Church in Washington after becoming president, I thought it a unique opportunity to better understand his faith. He taught a Sunday school class, as he had done for years, in his native Plains, Georgia, and I joined it. Carter was an excellent teacher. He knew the scriptures well, and on one occasion he asked me to teach the class, which was an experience I shall never forget. After the service, we went downstairs for coffee. There was a basket on the table for people to pay 25 cents for the beverage. Carter reached in his pocket and found no money. He asked wife Rosalynn if she had brought any change. She said she had not. I said, how far have we declined when the President of the United States can't pay for coffee? I gave him a quarter and he laughed. Years later, after he had left the presidency, we met again at a function and I reminded him of that time in the church basement. He reached in his pocket and this time had a quarter, which he handed to me and said, we're even. I kept that quarter on my desk for years, unable to prove he gave it to me. But we both knew. When Carter announced during the 1976 presidential campaign that he was a born again Christian, most of the media were flummoxed. John Chancellor of NBC News announced he had looked up the term and it is nothing new. If he had read the Bible that Carter read, he would have known this. Carter's announcement and faithful church attendance attracted many newly energized evangelical voters, which helped him defeat Gerald Ford in the November election. By 1980, most of those voters had abandoned him in favor of Ronald Reagan, not because they necessarily doubted Carter's declaration of faith, but because they disagreed with his application of it. Carter had made Sarah Weddington Part of his administration, Weddington was the attorney who argued Roe v. Wade before the Supreme Court, resulting in the overturning of all state election laws restricting the procedure. He also hosted a White House conference on families, which included same sex couples. Anathema to most conservative Christians. No one should question the sincerity of another person's faith, but its application is fair game for analysis. Mark Tooley of the Institute for Religion and Democracy says Carter's faith was more in line with liberal Protestantism. He writes, quote, although he professed admiration for Christian realist Reinhold Niebuhr, Carter's accommodation of foreign adversaries, pseudo pacifism, undermining of allies and endless faith in personal diplomacy all more resemble the religious left's utopian aspirations. It's appropriate that Carter's controversial UN Ambassador Andrew Young, whom he removed for prematurely meeting PLO chief Yasser Arafat, later served as president of the National Council of Churches, a theologically and politically Liberal organization. In 1979, at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Roman Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen began his remarks, this fellow sinners. Turning to Carter, he added, and that includes you, Mr. President. Carter laughed along with the audience. Carter's faithfulness in church attendance inspired many who had given up the practice to return to Sunday worship. He focused on human rights as president and helped build houses for the poor after leaving office. Two things in line with the teachings of Jesus. He was a man of good character, kindness and mercy. He expressed other characteristics Scripture calls fruits of the Spirit. Whether you agreed with his application or not, his faith was genuine. He also paid his debts. The quarter he gave me proves it. I'm Cal Thomas.
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Nick Eicher
Tomorrow, the story of of aid workers who were on the ground in Ethiopia four decades ago who saw firsthand the effects of the historic famine. That and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Iger.
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Lindsay Mast
And I'm Lindsay Mast. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires scripture records. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void. And darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning. The first day. The first five verses of Genesis 1. Go now in grace and peace.