← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
1.7.25 The rise of sports gambling, a former embryologist explains IVF, preparing music for a state funeral
00:35:35
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:06]
Mary Reichardt
Good morning. Congress takes a look at online sports betting and it's not a pretty view. The amount of gambling is exploding. Also today, IVF from the perspective of the nascent lives suspended in time. And later, the Carter funeral. You'll meet some of the U.S. air Force Band and learn about its role in services today and this week. We're the musical soundtrack. And if you can imagine, a movie without a musical soundtrack really loses a lot of its emotional underpinnings. And world commentator Janie B. Cheney on the importance of living in the moment. It's Tuesday, January 7th. This is the world and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichardt. And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning. Time for news now with Kent Covington. President elect Donald Trump's election victory is now official. Vice President Kamala Harris, in her capacity as president of the Senate, certified the results at the Capitol on Monday. The votes for president of the United States are as. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris. Harris joined a short list of other vice presidents who have overseen the confirmation of their own election losses. Richard Nixon did it after losing to John F. Kennedy in 1960, and Al Gore followed suit after the 2000 election. Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes. It was also the fourth anniversary of the Capitol riot in 2021, in which protesters burst into the Capitol building and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer remarked, we will never forget. We cannot forget because democracy is saf. There were no incidents at the Capitol on Monday. Following a decisive election win for Trump in November. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation after nearly a decade in power. The decision bows to rising discontent over his leadership and growing turmoil within his government. This country deserves a real choice in the next election. And it has become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election. His announcement follows the abrupt departure of his finance minister. Trudeau plans to remain on the job until a new leader of the Liberal Party is chosen. In Israel, government leaders are condemning a deadly attack on a bus carrying Israelis in the west bank on Monday. Israeli Government spokesman David Three Israelis were murdered, two women in their 60s and one man in his 40s. Eight people were wounded and, of course, families shattered. Terrorists opened fire on cars and a bus this morning in Al Funduk. Our army is currently conducting a manhunt for the gunman. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to, quote, settle accounts with the attackers and with everyone who assisted them. The terror group Hamas praised the attack in a statement but did not claim responsibility for it. Meantime, Israel's phased withdrawal from southern Lebanon is going as planned, according to the Biden administration. Both Israel and the terror group Hezbollah agreed to withdraw from southern Lebanon as part of a ceasefire agreement reached in November. The Lebanese army is filling the void, senior US Adviser Amos Hochstein told reporters yesterday. I have every confidence from what I saw today and what I get reports from the team on the ground that things are going as they should be. And I think the Lebanese army is doing its job very, very well. The Biden administration is still pushing hard to broker a cease fire deal between Hamas and Israel that would bring the remaining hostages held by the terror group home. North Korea has test fired another ballistic missile. It reportedly traveled 700 miles before splashing into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Secretary of State Tony Blinken was in Seoul Monday for talks with South Korean allies. He told reporters, we condemn the DPRK's missile launch just today, yet another violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. South Korean officials also denounced the launch as a provocation that poses a serious threat to peace and stability in the region. Snow, ice and frigid winds have been blasting much of the country. A polar vortex that dipped south over the weekend is keeping an area stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the coast of Maine in its frosty grip. Louisville, Kentucky Mayor Craig Greenberg said Monday it is the largest single day snowfall we've had in over 25 years here in Louisville. Very significant event. Nearly a foot of snow has fallen on Louisville since Saturday. Blizzard conditions slammed Kansas and Missouri with 45 mile per hour winds. And the National Weather Service has extended winter storm warnings into this morning for several states from West Virginia to New Jersey. And Richard Bond with the National Weather Service says attention is now turning to parts of the Southern Plains. We are looking at the potential for another system to take shape that could bring wintry weather to parts of Oklahoma, Texas. But he said it is still too early to predict the severity. I'm Cat Covington and straight ahead, Congress considers what can be done to regulate sports gambling. Plus, an in vitro fertilization doctor has a change of heart. This is the world and everything in it. It's Tuesday the 7th of January. We're so glad you've joined us today. Good morning. I'm Mary Reichert. And I'm Nick Einker. First up on the World and everything in it, sports gambling. If you follow sports, you likely hear A lot of this action so good, why bet NFL playoffs anywhere else? We've teamed up with our partners at DraftKings to give new customers $200. That's right, $200 in bonus bets. Betting on sports adds a whole new level of excitement to any game you're watching, even a blowout. Sports betting companies spent more than a billion dollars advertising in 2024. That same year, by one estimate, Americans bet around $150 billion. The National Council on Problem Gambling says risky gambling was particularly bad during COVID lockdowns. They've leveled off since then, but public acceptance of sports betting continues to grow. World Radio executive producer Paul Butler has the story. Gary Schneider was just 13 when he placed his first bet on sports. And I continued to do that until I was 18. And I know that I got addicted. At 18 years old, betting seemed like a fun way to put his knowledge of sports to work. Long before online sports gambling came on the scene, Schneider called up a bookmaker in Jersey Shore to place his bets, and the bookmaker told me, I won every single bet. From that point on, my goal was to bust many bookmakers. And I was chasing that illusion until I came at 40, when I crashed. After 27 years of betting on sports, Schneider was buried in debt and suicidal. Today, however, Schneider counsels gambling addicts and serves as a board member for the advocacy group Stop Predatory Gambling. The group's national director, Les Burnell, says gambling corporations today are more sophisticated in their offerings and their messaging. They, like, send you text messages if you haven't gambled today. Like, they'll send you two or three hundred dollars worth of free bets to keep you in action. The rise of online sports betting is not just a recent technological phenomenon. It's also a relatively new legal one. In 1992, Congress passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection act, and that law made sports betting illegal in the United States with just a handful of exceptions for states like Nevada and New Jersey. But then in 2018, the Supreme Court struck down that the Supreme Court did not endure sports gambling, but they just said the way the law that prohibited commercialized sports gambling was written was unconstitutional. But the Congress still had the right to prohibit sports gambling just but had to do it in a different way. Congress left the issue open to the states, and within six years, 38 states in the District of Columbia had legalized sports betting. State governments in partnership with these powerful gambling corporations, like they acted with lightning speed to ram through sports gambling, online gambling, like, just at an extreme pace, all driven in a very sophisticated national Public affairs campaign, not because the public demanded it, but because of greed. The lucrative partnership between state governments, gambling corporations and sports leagues has since drawn scrutiny from Congress. This meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee will come to order. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin chairs that committee. Last month, senators heard testimony about the effects of sports gambling on citizens, athletes and schools. It is critical that Congress look into sports betting's impact on America and determine how the industry should be regulated going forward. Former gaming enforcement director David Reebuck encouraged lawmakers to leave the issue to the states. I believe after six and a half years of litigation to the states to earn the rights, constitutional rights to have sports wagering, that we are entitled to do the best we can to regulate and deal with the issues that are highlighted here. But public health expert Harry Levant says current regulations fail to address the problems created by gambling corporations as they partner with state governments, sports leagues and media companies. All are acting in concert to deliver online gambling at light speed and ensure the action never stops. The new AI fueled business model will inexorably result in increased gambling addiction and gambling related harm. Back in September, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal introduced a bill to set national minimum standards for the gaming industry. He told World about some of the problems it would address. So called risk free bets, the throttling techniques, the targeting and customizing of betting to individuals. The sophistication and complexity of these techniques is staggering and it's successful because the amount of gambling is exploding. Several witnesses and lawmakers said they support putting minimum standards in place. But Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling says the legislation will not fix a key underlying problem. All these forms of commercialized gambling that you see in the public square, every single one of them is an extension of a government program. This business is only legal when you partner with state government. States like New York and North Carolina tax the winnings of sports gambling and then use that revenue to fund programs like education and youth sports as well as gambling recovery programs. But gambling is not your typical business service or product. You can't regulate this business in a way that's safe for the American public because it's a con. It's a form of consumer financial fraud. With our exclusive lightning bets, you can bet live on the next play. Gary Schneider's gambling addiction ended only after months of counseling through Gamblers Anonymous. As a counselor now, he's alarmed by the data that reveals a high number of high school and college age young people who have tried gambling. In 2023, the NCAA reported that more than half of college students bet on Sports Online and were convinced that they could make money by playing the game. We're talking tens of millions of kids that have gambled so far, tens of millions. If you want to have more fun, quit being a spectator and start being a player. Les Brunel says that it'll be difficult to deter young people from accepting Sportsbook's call to get in the game when so much of pop culture is already on board. It's got an NFL offer. Don't play with me. They don't know enough to stop. And why would they stop when they see their favorite athletes are ENDORSING THIS ON TV, LeBron James endorsing online gambling and, you know, Peyton Manning and all these other famous athletes like, why would they think it's a dangerous product that could hurt them the rest of their lives? Schneider is hopeful that changing the rules for how sportsbooks present themselves to the public could help Americans see the danger and put gambling corporations on notice that they are going to have to change. Remove that advertising. It's going to be hard for them to survive. For world, I'm Paul Butler. Coming up next on THE WORLD and everything in it. Freezing human embryos no one knows exactly how many human embryos are currently frozen in the U.S. estimates range from a few hundred thousand to more than a million. Alabama's Supreme Court made a ruling last year that brought these tiny frozen humans into the national spotlight. It classified them as children under a civil wrongful death law, sparking discussions about IVF both among lawmakers and the general public. In recent episodes of our Double Take series, World's Leah Savas explained the process of IVF from the perspective of a mom who used it. Today, we will hear from a former embryologist who explains what embryos go through. Craig Turzynski has a PhD in reproductive physiology and used to work as an embryologist in the IVF lab. He left embryology more than 20 years ago over ethical concerns. The final straw was actually when I was essentially forced to discard a patient's human embryos. Patient wanted them discarded. The patient's physician, who was my boss, insisted that I follow the patient's wishes. It's standard in the field to discard embryos if they are deemed low quality or if they're simply unwanted. Many Christians see IVF as acceptable to pursue as long as they avoid discarding their embryos and commit to using all of them, even if it means some of the embryos have to remain frozen for a time. But as Traczynski explains, even the standard process of freezing Embryos has its own ethical complexities. The fact that they're even created and then frozen, doing that is never for the benefit of the embryo itself. It's only to improve the opportunity that at least one of them will become a baby for the parents. So it's a benefit to the parents, it's a benefit to the program because they do want success, but it's at the expense of these human lives. Usually in the IVF process, providers inseminate more eggs than they intend to immediately transfer into a woman's uterus. This is to increase the chances of having multiple viable embryos to work with. After they select the embryos that they would transfer, then the remaining embryos that they call excess, they have to first put them in a liquid medium they call a cryoprotectant that essentially dehydrates the embryo. Replacing the water inside its cells with the cryoprotectant substance. It helps prevent the formation of ice crystals in the cells. The enemy of any cell that's being frozen is the formation of ice crystals, which would be like internal knives that go in and basically lyse cells and kill them. The amount of water the lab removes from the cells depends on the freezing method used. The most common method today, called vitrification, is a fast freezing technique that involves using more cryoprotectants and then plunging the embryos into liquid nitrogen so that their temperature drops hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit. That puts the embryo into a glass like state, effectively eliminating ice crystal formation if done correctly. So even though they're subjected to this cryoprotectant, it doesn't 100% protect them, right? Some survive, some don't. Usually the more viable ones will survive. While the fast freezing technique is safer for the embryos than an older slow freezing technique, the substances used as cryoprotectants in both methods can be toxic to cells. The cryoprotectant itself is not in any way therapeutic to the embryo. It's the better of two evils, right? If you don't use any cryoprotectin, it's definitely going to die. It's not a benefit to the embryo at all, but it helps it survive this process. Now, in a glass like state, these embryos have a new home inside of metal tanks filled with liquid nitrogen. Metal canisters hang in the tanks suspended from hooks. Each canister contains smaller metal devices called canes, which hold even smaller plastic like devices, straws or vials that contain the microscopic embryos. When a patient is ready for one or more of the frozen Embryos. The lab staff removes the embryos they want to use. They have to warm them up from the sub zero temperatures and replace the cryoprotectant with water, all at the right speed to avoid damaging the embryos. You don't want so much water to rush into the embryo that it explodes it. And that is one of the things that can happen to that embryo, is it can basically explode. So you look under the microscope, all you see is fragments of an embryo, or you may not see anything at all. While most embryos survive vitrification, up to 5% don't. But even when all of that goes right, there's still a lot more that can go wrong with embryos that parents entrust to fertility centers. Couple is suing a fertility clinic and its owner over an IVF mix up that led two women to give birth to the other person's baby. The case involves couples whose embryos were destroyed when a patient removed them from a freezer and accidentally dropped them. The storage tanks containing liquid nitrogen to keep the material at a certain temperature failed. Stories like these are rare, but they don't surprise Tracynski. And they just reinforce the reasons why he no longer supports the process. Nationally, Tarzinski's views are certainly in the minority. A Pew Research center poll in April 2024 found that about 70% of Americans see IVF access as a good thing. Even among people who believe life begins at conception. Around 60% see IVF positively, according to the same survey. For them, the focus is on the children who would not have otherwise been born, not on the plight of the embryos on ice. And for Tusinski, that's the whole point. The focus of IVF is on the final product instead of how the process affects people, including frozen embryos. This is my personal belief, right? It's part of the reason why I left is that it's only because you're doing these things that you set up scenarios that really can't be solved, right? And you set up scenarios that are absurd and you couldn't make them up. Reporting for World I'm Leah Savas. Additional support comes from Commuter Bible, the Workweek audio Bible in four annual plans, available via podcast app and commuterbible.org so if you had little kids around this past Christmas morning, you know, the excitement, you remember all of the anticipation, they just could not wait to tear into those wrapped boxes. Now imagine telling them, hey, kids, you're gonna love this present, but. But you're gonna need to wait about a half century, give or take. Now that's exactly what happened to a named Tim King. He's all grown up now. He's in his 50s. While remodeling his parents bathroom recently, he thought, you know, I better check inside the wall before sealing this thing up again. And good thing he did. Look what I find. That's my Christmas present. Yeah. The excitement though, it just doesn't stick around, does it? The gift was from when King was a six year old. The wrapping paper's all yellowed at this point, but inside, a brand new set of Matchbox Thunder jets. King's mom doesn't remember all the details but admits she did used to hide presents in the attic. And the best guess is it fell behind the wall and stayed hidden 46 years. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Tuesday, January 7th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Nick Eicher. And I'm Mary Reichard. Coming next on THE WORLD and everything in it, a state funeral from the day former President Jimmy Carter died. Just before the calendar turned to 2025, a clock began ticking for the military unit's response. Responsible for the ceremonies, the clock seemed to move even faster as the six day state funeral started this past weekend in Georgia. The funeral procession Saturday wound through Carter's hometown Plains. A farm bell rang out 39 times to honor the 39th president. He lay in repose at the Carter center in Atlanta up until this morning. From Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Special Air Mission 39 will take off for Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, arriving at a quarter to one Eastern time today. You'll meet some of those who provide what they call the musical soundtrack for the state funeral, the U.S. air Force Band. Here's World senior producer Kristin Flavin. I worked on this story with one of our freelance correspondents, Jeff Palomino. He's an Air Force veteran, a retired colonel and had the contacts to make it happen. Hey, Kristen. So we're going to hear from Air Force Band members who as we speak are awaiting the flight carrying Carter's remains. But by way of setup, Jeff, describe how the Air Force band prepares for a state funeral. What would they be doing right now? Yeah. A state funeral involves bands from all the military branches as well as multiple honor and color guard units. The Air Force band today will have 56 musicians and it's a seven by eight block. It's a very specific instrumentation. There aren't going to be any strings or vocalists. And the band itself, of course, is actually much larger than this 56 person group. They have over 180 members in the band. And they have other missions that don't stop just because there is a state funeral. So, for example, the Air force plays about 180 times at Arlington National Cemetery every year. A deceased airman, and probably more than one, will be buried at Arlington today. And music, of course, is needed to honor that airman in that ceremony. So the manning of the Air Force band is actually based on the ability to do these multiple missions at one time. President Carter graduated from the U.S. naval Academy in 1946. After Annapolis, he served seven years in the Navy. Jeff, from your perspective, what is it about Carter's military service that raises the meaning of his state funeral? Well, as you said, this is a state funeral, but it's also a military funeral. I've been to several military funerals, and I'm always moved because I find myself reflecting on the fact that this person, at some point in their lives, gave themselves for others and for their country. Military funerals also make me feel like I've lost someone in my own family. And I think that's common, even if the person served in a different branch or even another generation. I thought it was interesting that following his death, the Navy's top officer, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, issued a statement on his passing where she referred to the former president as a shipmate. That's Navy speak for a fellow sailor, someone serving on the same ship as you. In other words, your friend and your brother. So I expect the events of the next few days to be even more moving for those reasons. Jeff, thanks. Yeah. My honor to interview these remarkable people, one thing Jeff emphasized was how precise these state funerals are, how quickly the military members have to pull them together. After a president dies, once you have notification of demise, there's very little time to solidify personnel. That's Chief Master Sergeant Daniel Valaday. He's the drum major for the Air Force Band. Valaday's been in the ceremonial brass for 25 years. It's one of the cornerstone missions for the entire organization. With the announcement of the former president's death, the band began preparations. There's a lot of coordination that happens in a very short amount of time. This is a military operation from beginning to end. These are active duty servicemen and women, and this funeral is their mission. There'll be an inspection that happens here to make sure everyone's uniforms are, you know, exactly what they need to be. And we'll go over to Andrews. There'll be security that needs to be cleared through and then do last minute walk through rehearsals with all of the team elements. It's an honor to honor a former Commander in chief and to recognize the importance of the person within that. We're the musical soundtrack. And if you can imagine a movie without a musical soundtrack, it really loses a lot of its emotional underpinnings. To provide that crucial soundtrack requires military precision. We rehearsed for several days prior to the arrival. Senior Master Sergeant Brooke Emery is a clarinetist. She's been in service for more than 20 years. She says rehearsal days can be tedious. You spend a lot of time on the flight line at Andrews Air Force Base rehearsing the sequence over and over again to make sure it looks absolutely perfect for when that former Commander in chief arrives and for that moment that millions of people will be watching on television. And today, the day of Special Air Mission 39 will begin with a lot of waiting. Everyone will sort of be tucked away in a bus or in a hangar. After a short 550 mile flight, they'll get word the plane is on approach and everything is set into motion. A joint honor guard representing all the services brings out a carpet. The service members march to meet the plane. So everything that you've rehearsed over the past three days happens within like 10 minutes. A 100 year life, a four year term of office, 10 minutes. The air Force band tells a carefully orchestrated story. But instead of words, musical notes, we're trying to make sure that as much as the event is important for the entire world and nation, that we don't lose sight of the fact that it really has to be important and something that is essential for the family to be able to honor their loved one. Both Valaday and Emory have done a state funeral before, so some of this is familiar. The last one was for former President George H.W. bush in 2018. Depending on what station you're watching on something like a C span, what you'll end up catching is the band sitting stationary as the casket is brought out present. The band will play the selection for the Bush funeral. The selection was the traditional Hail to the Chief followed by My Country, Tis of Thee. The music is a conversation that happens between the military district of Washington and the families. And they pick the hymns that they, they want as material underneath. And we're basically providing the underscore for the movement of remains. We're playing musical honors for the arrival. Today the band will play two additional pieces chosen by the Carter family. Two hymns. Abide With Me and O Master. Let Me Walk with thee. Once the band finishes, the casket is transferred to a hearse and the family leaves, with the procession continuing on to the next stages of the funeral. The Air Force band will play again Thursday when the late president and his family depart Andrews. The events are rehearsed and timed out, perfectly steeped in tradition and rich with American symbolism. But for Emory, she looks deeper. I'm thinking Back to President H.W. bush's funeral, where President George W. Bush. Bush was there for the arrival and the departure. And you, you can see their face. And at that moment, they aren't the former president. They are someone's son. They are someone's family member. And it's a very humanizing moment, and I'm moved by it every time. With my colleague Jeff Palomino and reporting for world, I'm Kristen Flavin. This piece is one of the two the Carter family chose for today's arrival ceremony at Andrews. It's titled Abide With Me. At the beginning of the segment, you heard the other oh, Master, let me walk with thee. Carter will lie in state at the Capitol beginning today at 3 Eastern and then all day tomorrow. The national funeral service is Thursday morning at 10 Eastern burial is back in Plains, Georgia. Today is Tuesday, January 7th. Good morning. This is the world and everything in it from listeners supported World radio. I'm Mary Reichert. And I'm Nick Eicher. Next up, world commentator Janie B. Cheney on what living in the moment really means. At a chilly Sunday evening worship years ago, our pastor preached on a theme borrowed from his own grandfather's sermon notes, dated 1949, before most of us were even born. The future, he said, is like a dense veil, so thick we can't even see what the next minute holds. I wondered about that figure of speech. Maybe the future was more like a fog, where we can form a reasonable picture of the next days and weeks. But the more distant times are shrouded in mystery. Ghostly shapes rear up out there, the shapes of our children, grandchildren, friends and foes. Yet unmet or not. For in every sliver of the future lurks the sudden shift. One minute can change everything. It could have changed for me on my way to church that very evening, I was traveling north on my usual route. The church building was in view two blocks ahead at a moderate speed, though perhaps a little faster than I should have been driving, I cruised through the last intersection and glancing up, noticed that the light was red in one endless second, a screaming glare of headlights to the left just before the force of a 300 horsepower engine burrows into my side. Or an outraged blare of horn as a pickup truck strikes my rear bumper and spins me like a top. Or the sputter and whine of a police siren as a cop swivels his blue light and pulls me over me feeling, or perhaps looking like a crumpled wad of paper in my new coat. That was such a great deal and made me so happy for a little while. No, none of that happened. My hands flew up from the wheel as though horrified and my wandering mind snapped back to attention with all kinds of oh nos and what ifs and promises never to do that again. There was a good experience from that perspective, a smart crack of the whip to a mind too prone to wander. I could have slammed into my future at 40 miles an hour, loading it with consequences for my immediate family. The tremors would have shaken out to friends, church members and business associates all rallying to assist me or do without me. A single moment can change everything. Moses wrote, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. I try to do that with every sunrise God gives me, knowing their number is limited. My times are in his hands. I need not fear the veil that hides my future, even a careless instant with dreadful results. He can work out for good, but be careful not to shove he can in front of I will my continuing resolution Pay attention. Not to constantly grill myself on how I'm using the time, but to remain aware of time's potential for good or evil. It's moment by moment that things happen, that the spirit moves, that lives begin and end. God orders my days, but I'm accountable for my minutes. I'm Janie Buchaney. Tomorrow's snowstorms lying in state and certifying the vote. Just another January in the nation's capital and how a short lived flower bloom brings people together in unexpected ways. That and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Iger. And I'm Mary Reichardt. Washington producer Harrison Waters reported and wrote today's story on sports, gambling. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible says I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High. Verse 7 of Psalm 7. Go now in grace and peace.