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- [00:06]
Mary Reichard
Good morning. Today on legal docket, a New York gangster says he deserves a shorter stretch in prison because the law does not cover murder for hire plots that fail. The government is incredulous.
- [00:18]
Eric Fagan
There's really no distinction between the person who sprinkles poison in the cup and the person who withholds the antidote.
- [00:27]
Nick Eicher
Also today, the Monday money beat and later, the life of an early church bishop links to Christmas. And so we have to be really.
- [00:34]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Careful in terms of trying to turn a historic person into some type of fantastical thing.
- [00:47]
Mary Reichard
It's Monday, December 2nd. This is the world and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio, I'm Mary Reichard.
- [00:54]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning.
- [00:58]
Mary Reichard
Up next, Mark Mellinger with today's news.
- [01:01]
Mark Mellinger
President Biden has pardoned his son Hunter, despite previously promising he would not. The pardon will spare the president's son a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions. Until now, President Biden insisted he wouldn't pardon his son or commute his sentence, including in this interview with ABC's David Muir this past summer.
- [01:24]
Nick Eicher
Will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is? Yes. And have you ruled out a pardon for your son?
- [01:32]
Justice Clarence Thomas
Yes.
- [01:33]
Mark Mellinger
As recently as November 8, White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre continued to publicly rule out a pardon or clemency for Hunter Biden. But in a written statement Sunday, the president said his son had been selectively and unfairly prosecuted, adding, quote, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties are typically given non criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently. Hunter Biden was set to receive his sentence this month. Israeli jets struck a southern Lebanese village Sunday just days after a US Brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. There were no reports of casualties. Lebanon's acting prime minister has already accused Israel of violating the ceasefire. But Israel says any strikes by its military have been to thwart possible attacks from hezbol. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC's Meet the Press.
- [02:42]
Nick Eicher
Both parties, including Israel, have the right, consistent with international law, to take action.
- [02:47]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
In self defense if they're facing imminent threats. We have seen some of that.
- [02:51]
Nick Eicher
Our goal is to get through these first few days, critical days of a ceasefire when it's most fragile.
- [02:58]
Mark Mellinger
Sullivan added, the goal is for the ceasefire to become permanent. For now, the fragile truce remains intact and Hezbollah has not taken clear Israel has warned displaced Lebanese residents not to return to southern villages yet, and it's still enforcing nightly curfews in those areas. Meantime, as negotiators try to work out a separate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Hamas has released a propaganda video of a dual American Israeli citizen held hostage. In the video, Edan Alexander pleads with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Elect Trump not to forget him and to do whatever they can to free the remaining hostages in Gaza. Alexander was taken hostage in Hamas attack on Israel October 7th of last year. The White House called the video a cruel reminder of Hamas's terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own, and says it has been in touch with Alexander's family. Alexander's mother says she was shaken by the video, but also says Netanyahu assured her conditions are ripe for a hostage deal. The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, unrwa, has stopped aid deliveries through Gaza's main cargo crossing. It says armed gangs are looting convoys, and it's blaming the chaos largely on Israeli policies. This comes as overcrowded camps make Gaza's humanitarian crisis worse. Last week, European Commissioner Elisa Ferreira echoed a UN warning before the European Parliament.
- [04:44]
Mary Reichard
Famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip, which have practically received no humanitarian assistance for over a month.
- [04:55]
Mark Mellinger
Israeli forces have largely isolated northern Gaza to carry out a military offensive against Hamas since October. Israel claims Hamas is behind the recent looting and says it is working with the international community to get more aid in through Kerem Shalom, the main cargo crossing. It also says unrwa, which Israel accuses of being infiltrated by Hamas, coordinated less than 10% of aid flowing into Gaza last month. UNRWA says it is seeing no systemic diversion of aid and denies that Hamas is penetrating its ranks. Syria's military is scrambling to regain control of the country after insurgents launched a surprise offensive taking control of the city of Aleppo last week. Troops from President Bashar al Assad's government launched airstrikes in and around Aleppo Sunday, killing 25 people. Virginia Senator Mark Warner on Fox News Sunday, assad's a bad guy.
- [05:55]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
This guy has murdered literally millions of his own people. But this is what happens when Russia props up and Iran props up authoritarian figures like this.
- [06:06]
Mark Mellinger
Russia has conducted airstrikes in support of Assad. Iran and other allies have promised support without detailing plans. Syria's civil war is entering its 14th year. President elect Trump's nomination of outspoken loyalist and former national security aide Cash Patel to lead the FBI is causing a firestorm in Washington. Democrats are concerned by Patel's stated plans to rid the government of conspirators against and to shut down the FBI's Washington, D.C. headquarters. Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy on NBC's Meet the Press.
- [06:43]
Nick Eicher
Kaspertel's only qualification is because he agrees.
- [06:47]
Mark Mellinger
With Donald Trump that the Department of Justice should serve to punish, lock up and intimidate Donald Trump's political opponents. But on the same broadcast, Republican Tennessee Senator Bill Haggerty pushed back.
- [07:02]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
There are serious problems at the FBI.
- [07:04]
Mark Mellinger
The American public knows it.
- [07:05]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
They expect to see sweeping change and.
- [07:07]
Mark Mellinger
Cash Patel is just the type of.
- [07:08]
Nick Eicher
Person to do it.
- [07:09]
Mark Mellinger
Patel would have to be confirmed by the Senate. Trump would also have to fire current FBI Director Christopher Wray, who still has three years left on his ten year term. I'm Mark Mellinger. Straight ahead, the fate of a suspected associate of a crime family. Plus, thoughts on the President elect's rounded out economic team. This is the world and everything in it.
- [07:54]
Nick Eicher
It's the world and everything in it for this second day of December, 2024. We're so glad you've joined us today. Good morning, I'm Nick Einker.
- [08:02]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichard. It's time for legal docket. Today we meet Fat Sal. That of course, is a nickname. He's Salvatore Delegati, and if the US Government is to be believed, he is an associate of the Genovese crime family. The conflict that has Fat Sal's fate in front of the U.S. supreme Court begins with a bully by the name of Joseph Bonalli who operated in a particular neighborhood in Queens, New York.
- [08:29]
Nick Eicher
Benelli was believed to be a snitch. He was thought to be cooperating against some of the local bookies and that made him a threat to the family's gambling business. So when a local businessman paid Sal to get rid of Benelli, the hit was on. Sal split the cash with his boss and hired members of the Crips to do the dirty work. He gave them a car, a.38 revolver and a simple plan ambush. Benelli.
- [08:57]
Mary Reichard
The first attempt fell apart, though when the crew saw potential witnesses and backed off. Sal was not pleased. He demanded they return and kill not just Benally, but anyone with him. The crew promised to try again the next day. Armed with the same.38 and even bleach to clean up the scene. They headed back.
- [09:17]
Nick Eicher
But this time they didn't find an unsuspecting target. What they found instead were lights and badges. Police arrested the crew near Bonelli's home. He wasn't done. After the failed hit, he regrouped with his crew. Maybe next time, he said. But next time never came. The law had him in its sights, and the game was over.
- [09:40]
Mary Reichard
Six years ago, Sal was convicted on a gun charge that added five years to a 20 year prison sentence he'd received for other crimes. The conviction came under part of the law known by the acronym acca, the Armed Career Criminal act that makes it a federal crime to possess a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. But Fatsal is fighting those five years. He doesn't dispute providing the.38 and the getaway card to the crew he paid for the hit, but because they failed, there was no crime of violence.
- [10:13]
Nick Eicher
That's the legal argument, anyway. So Fatsall's lawyer is making the case that the conviction relied on a federal law that doesn't apply. Congress purpose, he said in passing Awka was to combat the violent, aggressive and purposeful conduct of armed career criminals. Crimes of omission don't fit that mold. Here is his lawyer, Alan Keetam.
- [10:36]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
Using physical force against another requires taking some step to bring force into contact with the victim. That can happen directly, as with a kick or punch, or indirectly, such as giving a gentle push to someone teetering on the edge of a cliff, but it does not involve an offense that can be committed by pure omission, such as failing to render aid to someone suffering from a natural disorder.
- [11:01]
Nick Eicher
In other words, not taking an action is opposite of taking an action. Not acting to prevent harm might be legally wrong in some situations and also morally wrong, but it's not in the same category as using violent physical force against another person. Justice Clarence Thomas pressed Keetum for the boundaries between a kick or a punch or a gentle push off a cliff.
- [11:26]
Justice Clarence Thomas
So in your thinking, if you poison someone and cause thereby cause the death of that person, that is, under your argument, treated differently from withholding critical, say, heart medicine when someone is in the process of having a heart attack?
- [11:44]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
That's correct, you, Honor. So this court has described poison as having forceful physical properties that you would have put into contact with the victim by putting it in their drink. That's a very different situation if, for instance, it's a congenital disorder.
- [11:58]
Nick Eicher
So kick, punch, push, poison. Justice Sonia Sotomayor tried another angle to try to find the line.
- [12:06]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
I mean, I could be in a.
- [12:07]
Justice Clarence Thomas
Restaurant watching someone die, but I have no obligation, even if I know the.
- [12:12]
Mary Reichard
Heimlich maneuver, to do it. However, if it's a child and my.
- [12:16]
Justice Clarence Thomas
Child, I have an obligation to try to save them.
- [12:18]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
That's correct. And it is a serious offense so.
- [12:20]
Justice Clarence Thomas
I'm letting nature use its force to kill that child.
- [12:24]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
So there's no dispute that it is criminally culpable behavior and can be punished severely. But the question is, is there violent force being applied to the victim and have you actively employed that force? And in a situation where, for instance, you just don't provide medicine or nutrition to someone and they slowly expire, there is no violent physical force of any sort.
- [12:46]
Mary Reichard
It's not like Justice Neil Gorsuch mentioned that omissions are often just as bad as actions, and they are not always easy to distinguish, especially when there is a preexisting duty of care that is not attended to. He made reference to the proverbial little old lady and to a retired justice who was known for his fantastical hypotheticals.
- [13:06]
Nick Eicher
Someone comes across the streets, sees that the manhole covers open, doesn't rescue the little old lady who steps into it because this person has animus toward little old ladies. Now, extreme hypothetical Justice Breyer might be proud. That would be murder in a state with a Good Samaritan statue. Physical force, I guess the gravity's. I mean, what more powerful force in the universe, universe is there than that? Would that, in your view, fall within the government's understanding of what would qualify as the application of violent force?
- [13:45]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
It would have to. The government's view essentially is anytime you have a bad result, you know that there must have been violent physical force. Which means that not only would the death or other injury in your example be violent physical force, it would also be involved in literally every death since the beginning of time, because in every death, something bad happens because you either are injured or run out of the cellular inputs necessary to sustain life.
- [14:11]
Nick Eicher
The government on the other side argued that Fat Sal should serve extra time for possessing a gun as a felon. Here is Eric Fagan, Deputy Solicitor General.
- [14:21]
Eric Fagan
It's hard to believe that we're actually here debating whether murder is a crime of violence. This is one case where the law already tracks common sense, and there's really no basis in law or logic to draw a distinction between the person who gently sprinkles poison in the cup and the person who, hating the victim, just withholds the antidote. By urging that distinction, petitioner is asking this court to discard literally two millennia of common law that treat acts of omission just like other acts.
- [15:02]
Nick Eicher
In other words, Fat Sal's intent matters, he argued, and he intended murder. Justice Elena Kagan commented on having her pick of absurdities, including one Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson offered up about a lifeguard who hates a particular child and watches the child drown rather than jump in and save her.
- [15:23]
Justice Clarence Thomas
So it's almost as though we have to pick our absurdity. You started with one absurdity. We would say that murder is not a crime of violence. That seems pretty absurd. But here's another absurdity. The lifeguard is just sitting up there watching. Somebody is using physical force. That seems pretty weird, too.
- [15:43]
Eric Fagan
So, you, Honor, I think your two questions, as your Honor probably recognizes, really pair together here. And the reason that we have two millennia of law that don't draw this distinction is precisely because it is a word game.
- [15:59]
Nick Eicher
So the case comes down to balancing government overreach with giving prosecutors the tools they need to take down the Mafia. The Genovese crime family has been particularly difficult to catch and prosecute over the years.
- [16:13]
Mary Reichard
All right, onto our second and final case. Today we shift from the mafia to Medicare. More than 200 hospitals sued the Department of Health and Human Services, alleging that it has shortchanged the hospital's billions of dollars to cover the medical costs of low income patients. The dispute is really over the formula HHS uses to figure out what it owes in the Medicare program. Hospitals serving significant number of poor Medicare patients receive additional money from the government to cover those costs. It's a program with Medicare called dish, an acronym for disproportionate share hospital.
- [16:50]
Nick Eicher
The hospitals say HHS doesn't count patients the right way and that's what causes the short changing. But for its part, HHS argues it is following the law by only counting Medicare patients who also qualify for SSI each month. The Supplemental Security Income cash payment during their hospital stay. Here is government lawyer Ephraim McDowell.
- [17:13]
Eric Fagan
The Medicare fraction uses two distinct phrases, entitled to benefits under Medicare Part A and entitled to SSI benefits under Title 16. And while the word entitled means the same thing within both phrases, benefits under Medicare Part A are fundamentally distinct from SSI benefits under Title 16.
- [17:30]
Mary Reichard
Justice Jackson had her doubts about that argument given the purpose of the law in the first place.
- [17:35]
Justice Clarence Thomas
I'm struggling to understand why an individual's eligibility for payment in a particular month has any bearing on the goals of compensating hospitals for the higher cost of low income people. So let me give you a hypothetical. Imagine a man who's lived well below the poverty line for his entire life. He has a range of health conditions that result from that kind of upbringing. When you turn 65 in January, he applies for SSI payments and starts receiving them in February pursuant to the statute and the regulations. Let's say in June he comes into a bit of cash. He inherits some jewelry, he sells it, he picks up an extra shift at work, he gets money back from a friend who owes it to him. Okay, we can all agree that if the extra cash he gets in June brings him above the threshold, he doesn't get a cash payment that month because now he's above the threshold. But the Medicare fraction, I thought was not about how much cash a patient had in any particular month. It's about how costly it would be to treat this person. And I don't understand why it is less or more costly in June when he has the heart attack than in May when he did when he doesn't get the cash payment.
- [18:48]
Eric Fagan
So, your Honor, I think that understanding of the statute rests on an erroneous premise in petitioners artificial for the hospitals.
- [18:54]
Mary Reichard
On the other side, lawyer Melissa Arbus Sherry resisted accusations of an erroneous premise with Justice Jackson's line of thought.
- [19:02]
Emma Perley
In the end, this is about dish. And DISH is about ensuring that hospitals are reimbursed for low income patients that are less healthy and that are costlier to treat and health does not change overnight. The government's interpretation simply does not count that low income population.
- [19:20]
Justice Clarence Thomas
It does not count the low income.
- [19:22]
Emma Perley
Medicaid patient coming out of a nursing home. It does not count the low income patient waiting for her first check. And the list of those it does not count goes on and on.
- [19:33]
Mary Reichard
The justices will need to balance the law's intent with practical outcome as hospital closures are increasing, particularly in rural areas. It seemed to me listening to the oral argument that the justices were split as to what to do. With more than $9 billion on the line, it matters a great deal. And that's this week's legal docket.
- [20:09]
Mark Mellinger
Additional support comes from Dort University.
- [20:12]
Nick Eicher
Dort's new online MBA program prepares aspiring.
- [20:16]
Mark Mellinger
Christian business leaders to serve and accept.
- [20:19]
Nick Eicher
In the world of business until all is made new. And from Silent Night, season two of.
- [20:27]
Mark Mellinger
The podcast based drama presented by Northwest.
- [20:30]
Nick Eicher
Christian School Online on all podcast apps or at the letter I witnesspod.com.
- [20:45]
Mary Reichard
Coming up next on THE world and everything in it, the Monday Money Beat.
- [20:51]
Nick Eicher
Time now to talk business, markets and the economy with financial analyst and advisor David Bonson. David heads up the wealth management firm the Bonson Group, and he is here now. Good morning to you, David.
- [21:03]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Well, good morning, Nick. Good to be with you.
- [21:05]
Nick Eicher
Well, one last bit of economic policy personnel to talk about. When we left off, David, we weren't quite sure who was going to be heading up the National Economic Council in the new administration. And now we know.
- [21:19]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Well, since we recorded last week, President elect Trump did name my good friend Kevin Hassett to be the National Economic Council director. And I really can't say enough good things about this appointment. Kevin served twice in his first term, both times as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. And this is a role that was previously filled by Larry Carlos and has a little bit more to do with taking public policy priorities and working legislatively with Capitol Hill and working with business stakeholders to try to bring things to reality. And it's going to be a very important role. Kevin's a very smart guy, but he's a first principles guy. I've worked with him at National Review for many years, and Kevin and I have spoken together at conferences all over the country. I'm really pleased with the way a lot of these economics appointments have come together. And the question will be the chemistry of the team and then, you know, where exactly. Tariff considerations, trade, immigration, energy, all of these different policy things that overlap but have separate components are going to be integrated. And I would just describe my own mood right now as cautiously optimistic. You have to be cautious because there's a lot of unpredictability with President Elect Trump, but you have to be optimistic because there are a lot of good personnel behind some of the policy.
- [22:52]
Nick Eicher
All right, David, well, let's turn our attention to the markets now. What is your assessment of things now?
- [22:58]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Well, I mean, I think that it's rather clear that markets have had a tremendous optimism, undergirding them. And I think that there is an awful lot of momentum in risk assets. And you know, even on the half day of barely anybody really working on Wall street last Friday you saw markets go up another couple hundred points. So you're sitting at all time highs in the markets. And that isn't really all that relevant when you consider that every price markets have ever been at on the way up is an all time high. But it's valuation. And I continue to believe that there are certain elements of markets that are quite expensive and that the challenge in that is it's not necessarily timeable. Valuation always reverts to the mean eventually, but it doesn't do it on anyone's given timeline. The S&P 500 is traded at an average of 16 times its own earnings, the combined weighted profits of all the companies in the index for over 30 years. And it's right now trading at over 22 times next year's earnings. But if you were to take out the so called Magnificent Seven, the major really big, in some cases multi trillion dollar big cap tech companies which are trading about 50 times earnings put together, then the market is trading at a little bit more reasonable of evaluation. And so we're looking at things right now very selectively that the overall index is very expensive and is due for some what we call mean reversion. But there are other elements that we think are more fairly priced and that's what we think the challenge for investors is right now is to find value.
- [24:51]
Nick Eicher
And again, David, we have been so busy with politics and personnel and it's been a little bit since we have discussed the broader economic indicators. So whether that's jobs or manufacturing, housing, economic growth, how are you seeing the overall economy these days?
- [25:09]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Yeah, I think that there has continued to be for some time a bit of mixed messaging in the data which is net positive, even though there are some elements that are cautionary. And again, we're kind of talking about a short term outlook here. When you look at the jobs data, wages, corporate profits, when you look at manufacturing, housing, there's a lot of different elements that one could look at to get a feel for what the overall state of the economy is. And I've been critical for quite some time of those that feel the need to constantly politicize this. It isn't so much a political issue for me as it is objectively assessing what is looking good and what is looking challenging in the economy. But the reason why, Nick, it's important to differentiate between the short term and the longer term is that the longer term still suffers from something that I think is mostly unfixable right now, which is the overhang of excessive government debt that takes takes away from future economic growth. I think that manufacturing has been contracting for some time and yet we're producing more from less manufacturing. There's obviously a lot of question as to what AI and other technological advancements may or may not do for productivity. But most people who want a job have been able to find one. It is certainly a better economic climate for people with more advanced job skills than more remedial work. But nevertheless, even at more remedial work level, there aren't a ton of income brackets where there's low access to jobs. So that's a good thing. But of course prices have been high and that is not so much these days concentrated in terms of ongoing price growth in consumer goods. It's mostly concentrated in housing. And I think the notion of middle class families having to devote 45 to 50% of their after tax pay, pay to rent or a mortgage payment is totally unsustainable and I don't think those people are going to see 30% pay increases anytime soon. Therefore, I think housing prices have to eventually correct. So long answer, but short term, I think that's the biggest issue is the affordability problem in housing and it can't be solved by government intervention. Government intervention is what's caused the problem. There's too much impediment to building new supply and we desperately need more supply, particularly of single family residents.
- [27:53]
Nick Eicher
All right. David Bonson is founder, managing partner and chief investment officer of the Bonson Group. David's excellent Dividend Cafe is available to you for free@dividendcafe.com Sign up there with your email address and then you will receive it in your inbox as often as he writes. David, thank you and we will talk next time.
- [28:14]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Looking forward to it. Thanks so much, Nick.
- [28:35]
Nick Eicher
Today is Monday, December 2nd. Good morning. This is the world and everything in it from listeners supported World Radio. I'm Nick Eicher.
- [28:42]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichard. Up next, the world history book Today, the life of a bishop who wasn't very well known in the early days of the Christian church, yet who inspired a legend that survives to this day a thousand years after his death. Here's world's Emma Pearley.
- [29:06]
Emma Perley
December 6th is the day the Western world celebrates St Nicholas with a lot of very different traditions. In Holland, kids fill shoes with hay or carrots as treats for St. Nick's horse and leave out a Christmas wish list. If they've been bad, they might get a potato instead of chocolate. In eastern European countries, St. Nick shows up alongside an evil sidekick named Krampus who scares bad children into behaving better. And of course, St Nicholas is also known by other names. Just take it from Scott Calvin in the Santa Claus.
- [29:40]
Mark Mellinger
I say name, you say Scott Calvin.
- [29:44]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Name Kris Kringle. Name Santa Claus. Name Per Noel Babo Natali. Per's Nicole Topo Gigio.
- [29:58]
Emma Perley
For a long time, historians weren't sure that Nicholas was even a real person. They thought he lived in the 4th century A.D. but there wasn't any reliable information about him from this period. Much of what we know is passed down through oral tradition. But in the 1980s, historian Gerardo Choffre reevaluated ancient documents. Audio here from St. Nicholas the Real Story Documentary interview with Adam English. He's a professor of Christian theology and philosophy at Campbell University.
- [30:27]
Eric Fagan
He was able to reassert that there indeed was a historical person named Nicholas, who lived and did many of the things that we have attributed to him. And he was able to establish that with a great degree of historical certainty.
- [30:41]
Emma Perley
Nicholas life remains largely unknown, except that he was a Christian bishop in Myra, a region in modern day Turkey. And he was well known for his generosity. One famous story says he helped a poor man who couldn't give his three daughters a dowry for marriage.
- [30:57]
Eric Fagan
So in the middle of the night.
- [30:59]
Mary Reichard
He slipped out under cover of darkness, and he threw a bag of gold coins through the window into the house.
- [31:07]
Eric Fagan
It was found in the morning. The money was used as a dowry so that one of the girls might be able to marry out of their condition of poverty.
- [31:16]
Emma Perley
Nicholas went back to the house again to give them more gold for the other two girls. The father was so grateful that he waited for Nicholas to come by a third time so he could thank. But Nicholas warned him not to tell anyone. In 343 AD, Nicholas died, and his church in Myra built a shrine in his honor. Some 500 years later, Italian sailors stole his remains and moved them to Italy. And then in 1446, the Pope canonized him as a saint. As his popularity spread around the world, so did the legend of Santa Claus. Although the idea of Santa has been around for a long time, the jolly old man in a magical sled pulled by reindeer hasn't always looked that way. In 1863, the cartoonist Thomas Nast was the first to depict Santa Claus in iconic red and white colors with a round belly and white beard. But the image really took off when the Coca Cola marketing team chose Santa Claus for their Christmas time mascot, always holding a glass or bottle of Coca Cola in his hand. The 1930s ad campaign was so popular that the original artist, Haddon Sunbloom, painted this classic depiction of Santa Claus for over 30 years. Audio here from the Coca Cola company.
- [32:36]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
It just happened. But when it happened, it was a beautiful accident and it created this wonderful Santa Claus for the rest of the world to enjoy.
- [32:43]
Emma Perley
Some pastors warn against merging the myth of Santa with the real works of St. Nicholas. While they both embody the spirit of giving, one was a dedicated Christian, while the other has become a symbol of consumerism. Audio here from Good Catholic's interview with Jeffrey Kirby.
- [33:00]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
And so we have to be really careful in terms of trying to turn a historic person into some type of fantastical thing.
- [33:08]
Emma Perley
We can't avoid the myth of Santa Claus during the holidays, but it could serve as a chance to remember and celebrate the life of the man he was based on. From the St. Nicholas documentary.
- [33:20]
Eric Fagan
We don't simply have to reject consumerism and Santa Claus and everything that goes with us. We have an opportunity to reclaim a part of our own faith when we reclaim the Nicholas story and legacy and heritage in our own family traditions.
- [33:37]
Emma Perley
That's this week's World History Book. I'm Emma Perley.
- [33:45]
Mary Reichard
Sa.
- [34:36]
Nick Eicher
Tomorrow, the UK Parliament is moving ahead with a bill that, if passed, will permit euthanasia in Britain. We'll talk about it, that and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Eicher.
- [34:46]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichard. 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 Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, for even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Verses 10 through 12 of 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 3. Go now in grace and peace.