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The World and Everything In It
1.8.25 Contrasting election certifications, global news on World Tour, and private security helps fight crime in Portland
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Lindsay Mast
Good morning. Portland, Oregon was a progressive laboratory decriminalizing drugs, cutting police. So private security firms stepped in to pick up the slack. We meet people and we say, when you were in second grade and the teacher asked you what you wanted to be when you grow up, did you really think that you would say I want to be homeless and addicted to fentanyl? Also today, world tour and Washington Wednesday. Congress certifying the 2024 election with new rules making it harder stop the process so a significant number of House members and a significant number of senators would have to vote to even consider an Objection. It's Wednesday, January 8th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Lindsay Mast. And I'm Nick Iker. Good morning. Up next, Kent Covington with Today's news. The U.S. navy banned paying tribute to the late President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday as his remains arrived at the Navy Memorial in Washington. Carter's flag draped casket was flown yesterday from his home state of Georgia to the nation's capital where political leaders from both sides of the aisle paid tribute. Vice President Kamala Harris James Earl Carter, Jr. Loved our country. He lived his faith, he served the people and he left the world better than he found it. House Speaker Mike Johnson also highlighted Carter's charitable work, saying the former president truly cared about people. We all know that his care for humanity didn't stop at building homes in the face of illness. President Jimmy Carter brought life, saving medicine in the face of conflict. He brokered peace in the face of discrimination. He reminded us that we are all made in the image of God. Carter's body will lie in state at the Capitol ahead of a national funeral service tomorrow. A massive winter storm front that hammered much of the nation east of the Rockies has finally moved offshore, but not before wreaking havoc causing hundreds of car accidents and thousands of flight cancellations and delays. Peter Mullinax with the National Weather Service. It seems as though winter has come back with a, with a vengeance in parts of the East. The big winter storm left over a foot of snow from parts of Kansas all the way to the mid Atlantic coast almost. But now a polar vortex is plunging temperatures in some of the southernmost points of the U.S. mullinix said the winter front could blanket areas from Texas to Georgia with snow and ice this week. Meantime, in California, forecasters had warned that life threatening destructive wind gusts could topple trees and create dangerous surf and extreme fire risk. And sure enough, a wildfire driven by those winds is ripping through an area near Los Angeles, Louisiana. County Fire Chief Anthony Maroney. It's incumbent that everybody have a wildfire action plan for their home if they live in a brush covered area. Please visit the LA County Fire Department website for Ready Set Go information. Governor Gavin Newsom is urging residents to take warnings and evacuation orders seriously. Many structures already destroyed and people were still not evacuated still did not heed the warning. The fire has been especially fierce in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood of la. President Elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that a Dubai based developer is set to invest big money in the United States. He told reporters at his Mar a Lago resort in Florida, DAMAC will be investing at least $20 billion over a very short period of time into the United States and they may go. He also talked about his belief in the strategic importance of both Greenland and the Panama Canal to the United States. When asked if he would rule out economic pressure or military force to take control of either, Trump declined to rule anything out. When a reporter asked him to clarify specifically regarding military force, Trump again said no, but narrowed his follow up response to Panama. The Panama Canal is vital to our country. It's being operated by China, China and we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn't give it to China and they've abused it. They've abused that gift. It should have never President Elect also suggested renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. And speaking to the conflict in Gaza, he again warned of dire consequences for Hamas if the terror group does not release the remaining hostages before he assumes office. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is making a big change to the way it polices user content. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says his company's platforms are ditching official fact checkers in favor of community notes, similar to the process used on X formerly Twitter. After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth, but the fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US on the X platform. Community notes Democratize fact checking, putting it in the hands of users rather than a small group of officials determining what should be deemed true or untrue. And a user who sees a potentially misleading post can request that a note be added below the original message, adding critical context or correcting erroneous claims. The Biden administration has finalized a rule that would prevent credit reporting agencies from listing delinquent medical debts on credit reports. World's Kristin Flavin has more. Late payments on your credit report can affect the interest rates you pay, availability of credit and more so supporters of the new rule say it will help millions who in some cases through no fault of their own, fell behind on medical debts. Vice President Kamala Harris called the change life changing for millions of families. But critics predict a cascade of unintended consequences. They say it could raise the cost of care for everyone if providers find it tougher to collect outstanding medical debts. They also say it could impact the availability of care in some situations and that it may lead bill collectors to turn to more aggressive tactics. The rule would not take effect until March of 2025, and it's unclear whether the Trump administration will leave it in place. For WORLD I'm Kristin Flavin. Rescue crews in Tibet are searching through freezing temperatures for survivors after a major earthquake rocked the region, killing well over 100 people. Chinese officials say a 6.8 magnitude quake shook an area about 50 miles north of Mount Everest on Tuesday. The U.S. geological Survey, though, reported the quake at a magnitude of 7.1. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, certifying the 2024 election on Washington Wednesday. Plus what some residents in Portland are doing to improve their personal safety. This is the world and everything in it. It's Wednesday, the 8th of January. This is World Radio, and we're so glad you've joined us today. Good morning. I'm Lindsay Mask. And I'm Nick Eichert. Time now for Washington Wednesday. Well, many Americans got a snow day on Monday, but Congress plowed right on outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, certifying her own defeat. Pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States. The Senate and House of Representatives are meeting in joint session to verify the certificates and count the votes of the electors of the several states for president and vice president of the United States. Here now with what made this vote certification different is world reporter Leo Braceno. More than 5 inches of snow covered sidewalks in Washington, D.C. on Monday, along with miles of barriers surrounding the U.S. capitol. While many federal employees had the day off, members of Congress like Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville navigated the snowdrifts to get to work certifying the 2024 election results. No, I walked through the snow and wore my boots and then brought my shoes with me. Lawmakers and their staff also navigated fences and police checkpoints staffed by officers from as far away as the New York Police Department. All security measures aimed at deterring protests like the one in 2021 that ended with violence inside the Capitol building. The 45 minute ceremony this year took place without incident. The purpose of the joint Senate having been concluded pursuant to Senate Concurrent resolution number two, the 119th Congress, the chair declares this joint session dissolved. Thank you. According to Democratic lawmakers like Colorado Congressman Jason Crow, the peaceful process had little to do with security measures themselves. Well, it's January 6, 2025, and the key difference today at the United States Capitol as we certified the election from four years ago, was we don't have an insurrectionist mob brutally beating hundreds of police officers and attempting to overturn a rightful election. Many Republicans and Democrats are still split on the severity as well as the significance of what happened on January 6, 2021. On Monday, Georgia Congressman Mike Collins downplayed the threat and seemed to troll readers on X writing thousands of peaceful grandmothers gathered in Washington, D.C. to take a self guided, albeit unauthorized tour of the US Capitol building. Senator Adam Schiff of California counters, this was a violent attack intended to stop the transfer of power and not some peaceful tourist attraction. Those aren't the only views on what happened. Senator Lindsey Graham told the Associated Press that some of the protesters were violent, though not all this time. Adam Schiff says Democrats acceptance of the election results and the heavy snowfall made the certification process much more peaceful. This is how the transfer of power is supposed to proceed. The certification process works like this. The certificate of the electoral vote of the state of Alabama seems to be regular in form and authentic. The clerk reads the name of the state and its Electoral College votes without objection. Those results are considered approved and become official. Lawmakers can object to those results on a state by state basis if they think there's something irregular about how the election was conducted. For example, in 2001, several Democratic lawmakers objected to results from Florida. In the election of 2000, I rise to object to the fraudulent 25 Florida electoral votes. Vice President Al Gore then asked California Representative Maxine Waters a question. Is the objection in writing and signed by a member of the House and a Senator? The objection is in writing and I don't care that it is not. It is not signed by a member of the Senate. The chair will advise that the rules do care and the signature. In 2021, Republican Congressman Paul Gosar of Texas raised a similar objection to the certification of Arizona's results. Mr. Speaker, can I have order in the chamber? The House will be in order. Texas Senator Ted Cruz joined this objection and 121 House Republicans ultimately voted in support. Shortly before protesters breached the House chamber. Before the 2024 election, Republican lawmakers demanded changes like requiring states to verify proof of citizenship for voter registration. But that legislation ultimately didn't get passed. The Democrat controlled Senate. Not a single one of those Republicans who objected in 2021 did so on Monday. Even though not much has changed for election security, some Republicans, like Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee, think that Trump's win was decisive enough to relieve concerns. I always say you gotta put enough points on the board, they can't steal it. And I think we put a lot of points on the board this time. Other Republicans cited more systemic irregularities present in 2020 that were not a factor in 2024. Here's Congressman Michael Guest of Mississippi. I voted against that because of the changes that had been put in place by the court during that Covid period that I thought were improper. So there's a range as to why Republicans believe 2024's election results are more trustworthy. There was, however, one key difference between the laws on the books in 2021 and the ones in 2025. There is nothing more essential to the orderly transfer of power than clear rules for affecting it. Senator Susan Collins of Maine heard there before Congress passed the Electoral Count Reform act of 2022 to clarify the role of the vice president in the certification process in 2020. President Trump insisted that then Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to reject Electoral College votes over concerns of election fraud. Pence and his legal team disagreed. The Electoral Count Reform act clarifies that the vice president's role, along with that of lawmakers in the chamber, is largely symbolic. I don't think it was ever in the power of the vice president to do this, but the new act clearly says the vice president is there, really, just as a very ceremonial figure standing before the joint session of Congress. John Fourtier is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He says that the Reform act simply clarifies what most legal experts already believe is in the Constitution. The one change it does make is that lawmakers are no longer allowed to individually raise objections. The old act had if one member of the House and one member of the Senate would object to any question about the electors, the slate of electors, then they would have to divide into the House and the Senate separately. They have to consider this debate for several hours and come back. And we do that one time in 2004, and then a couple times in 2020, we didn't have a majority to actually sustain it, but we had, especially in 2020, some substantial number of people voting for those objections. The new rule raises the bar for raising objections. So now it's 20% of each body. So a significant number of House members and a significant number of senators would have to vote to even consider an objection. And then ultimately, just, just as before, a majority of both House and Senate would have to agree to make some objection to throw out a slate of electors. There were no objections raised this time around. On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris became the fourth such office holder to preside over her own electoral defeat. Here's what she told the press after the certification. Well, today was obviously a very important day, and it was about what should be the norm and what the American people should be able to take for granted, which is that one of the most important, important pillars of our democracy is that there will be a peaceful transfer of power. I do believe very strongly that America's democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. And today America's democracy stood reporting for World I'm Leo Bruceno in Washington, D.C. additional support comes from Commuter Bible, the Workweek audio Bible in four annual plans available via podcast app and commuterbible.org coming up next on THE WORLD and Everything in It World tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Adua. Today's world tour begins in the West African nation of Ivory Coast. Authorities there have said French forces will start to pull out this month. Here's Ivory Coast President Alassan Ouattara. He says the French forces will hand over command of a marine infantry battalion in Abidjan to the country's armed forces this month. It's the latest in France's waning presence on the African continent. In the last few years, more than 70% of African countries with a French military presence have pushed the European nation out. Recent military coups in several former French colonies have accelerated the exit. But the European country is still expected to retain some ties with Ivory coast, which is considered one of France's closest allies in the region. We head next to the Balkan nation of Montenegro, where thousands of people gathered to remember the victims of a New Year's Day mass shooting. Authorities said a 45 year old opened fire in the city of Cetinier. At least 12 people died, including two children. The shooter also shot himself and later died from his injuries. Back in 2022, police confiscated illegal weapons from him and authorities sentenced him to three months in prison. He appealed and won. Mourners called for better security measures to prevent another mass shooting. Tatiana Minik organized the Sunday Ralph. She says nearly one in five people in the country own a firearm, a reality she says comes with more dangers. Authorities are now considering several new measures, including recruiting more police and tightening requirements to own and carry firearms. In Indonesia, authorities on Monday launched an ambitious plan to provide free meals to school children. The $28 billion project is projected to last four years and includes at least 190 kitchens that began to deliver cooked meals this week. The project, launched by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, also seeks to cater to pregnant women. This year, each meal costs about 62 cents. Authorities hope it will help to curb stunted growth, which affects more than 21% of Indonesian children. The program provided meals on Monday to more than 100 students at an elementary school in East Jakarta. Yuliani is the school's head teacher. She says she hopes the program will also impact the children's academic performances. The plan has faced some criticism, with analysts cautioning that it's not sustainable. We wrap up in Korea, Colombia, where artists joined an annual tradition involving living pictures. This month, participants in the village of Galeras posed for motionless artistic scenes, earning the tradition the name Living Pictures. This year's scenes included one of Jesus holding a sheep and another with the elderly smoking cigars. UNESCO declared the tradition as an intangible cultural heritage in December. Ibeth Severiche is one of the creators of the event. She says the recognition would attract more tourists to the city. That's it for this week's world tour. Reporting for World I'm Onize Odua in Abuja, Nigeria. All right, you think it's difficult getting to the airport on time? You know, unless your name is Mike Johns, I'm not sure I even want to hear about it. Okay. Why is this happening to me on a Monday? I'm in a wayo car. This call may be recorded for quality assurance. This car is just going in circles. I am so glad he recorded this. John's had to get the sky harbor in Phoenix. He expected Waymo to get him there on time and points here for the calm demeanor. Finally, he did get a human from Waymo Support. I'm really, really sorry, Mike. It's circling a parking lot. I got my seatbelt on. I can't get out the car. Has this been hacked? What's going on? I feel like I'm in the movie. I understand, Mike. I'm really sorry for this. Do you have an access to your Waymo app right now? So he fumbled around with the app for a minute and finally they got that car under control and all's well. That Ends well, John's made his flight because it was delayed and the ride. Well, it was free. I should hope so. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. The least they could do. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Wednesday, January 8th. Thank you for turning to world radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Lindsay Mast. And I'm Nick Eicher. Next up on the world and everything in it, safety and security in Portland, Oregon. The city of Portland has seen massive increases in rates of crime, homelessness, and drug overdoses in recent years. Their police department is one of the most understaffed in the country. As a result, some citizens are hiring private security. But the situation in Portland is so complicated, some private security firms are having to rethink how they do business. World senior writer Emma Frair spent a day with one of them to see how they operate. There's foil here. What are we. Gordon Ramsay. There's foil everywhere, right? Look at these. All that's fellow Alex Stone and Michael Bach are walking the streets of downtown Portland. They point out the telltale signs of drug use scattered on the sidewalks. Stone is the owner and CEO of Echelon Protective Services. Bach works for him. Their job is to deter criminal activity, but they do that in unexpected ways by building relationships. As they walk, they greet everyone they meet. And in this neighborhood, that means a lot of homeless people. Stone and Bock ask them if they need help. Are you safe right now? Yeah, good. I'm safe. I have a pretty bad headache. You're shaky, so I'm sorry. It's a little cold out. It's a little cold. Well, yeah, for some. Not for me, though. I'm not that cold. You doing okay with clothing and all that? Stone and Bach act more like social workers than security guards. We meet people and we say to them, basically, when you were in second grade and the teacher asked you what you wanted to be when you. You grow up, did you really think that you would say, I want to be homeless in Portland and addicted to fentanyl? And usually they say no. And then we say, tell me your story. How did you get here? And then we say, what would it take to get you back on track? Stone co founded Echelon in 2019, and it has 100 employees in Portland who work with over 400 clients. Demand for private policing is on the rise. In early 2019, the state of Oregon had around 1600 security guards licensed to carry a gun. Five years later, that number had increased to more than 2000. And Oregon is representative of a national trend You've got some clear reasons private security is growing. That's Tom Hogan. He's a professor at South Texas College of Law, Houston. One, we obviously have a problem with recruitment of police officers, so they are substituting in areas where the police forces are running low. Two, there are some areas where even though the police are fully staffed, other political forces have decided to sideline the police. And in that case, private security gets called in and hired by private companies to do things that the police may not be able to do. And three, there are just some people who can afford private security. Portland is a particularly extreme example of those trends. Portland has a sort of a perfect storm going on. They underfunded the police. They demonized the police. Not surprisingly, police officers left in waves from Portland. So the people in Portland had to hire private security in order to establish some order. Bock and Stone do generally call the police when they encounter dangerous activity. Bock had a call one day. Female, African American, scantily clad, 42 degrees outside and raining. She had a stick, and she was beating the stick on the ground. This lady definitely would die of hypothermia. We see it all the time. Bought calls, law enforcement. What happens? She took the stick, swung it at the police officer, knocked his monster drinker or something out of his hand. He backed up, drew a taser, and then left. Stone and Box say they know this police officer and they believe he does his best. But he and the rest of the Portland Police Bureau are overwhelmed by the scale of the problems they face every day. One of the most effective tools Bach and Stone use for building relationships with people on the streets is handing out free cigarettes. We approach a tent, and they try to talk to the occupants who are not interested in coming out but are interested in cigarettes. One person unzips the tent opening a few inches, sticks out a hand, and Bach gives him two cigarettes. Here's a couple. There's one. Hold your hand still. There we go. There's one. Despite their friendly demeanor, Echelon's guards usually wear protective vests and body cameras, and they carry handcuffs, pepper spray, and guns. This is not an agricultural community. There's nobody out here growing grain. There's nobody out here right now chopping down trees. And yet the number of machetes and hatchets are all over the place. I've got pictures of guys walking around. They're dripping with weapons. Portland seems to be changing course. Voters recently elected a district attorney who vows to be tough on crime. And the state legislature reversed drug decriminalization. Hogan is optimistic. It's fixable. You got a good da, a good mayor, and a good chief of police. Portland is small enough that within about 18 months you could return it to the wonderful city it once was. Reporting for World I'm Emma Frere report in Portland, Oregon. Today is Wednesday, January 8th. Good morning, this is the World and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Nick Iger. And I'm Lindsay Mast. Up next, World Opinions contributor Ann Kennedy says praying for our neighbors is a great start, but there's still more we can do. As a person who spends more than enough time online posting articles, xthreads and substacks about the best way to be Christian in a post Christian world, a recent question posed to the New York Times Ethicist left me feeling, well, uncomfortably convicted. The anonymous writer asked what he or she should do about this neighbor who is described as a sweet and very religious 85 year old woman. The complaint? She prays for me and says it in person, in texts and in emails for even the most minor situations. When informed by the writer that she doesn't need to pray for me, this wonderful old lady says she has to, otherwise she's not following the Bible. The simplicity of that line and the persistence of that prayer have to be together worth the weight of a thousand blog posts on evangelism and church growth. I live in a neighborhood that might best be characterized as post Christian. Getting to know the people I live next to is seriously hard going. More conversations go on in the Nextdoor app than in person. Once, an ambulance stood lights flashing outside the house across from mine, and I rushed out hoping to find out if everything was okay. It was on my lips to say, I'm praying. Let me know how else I can help. But the words died when my neighbor beat an embarrassed retreat back to her front door. One problem I have is that I care too much about what other people think about me, especially when I don't know them. I fear violating social conventions. I love my neighbors, of course, and do pray for them, but the thought of telling them what I'm doing fills me with dread. She says I have to puts everything into perspective. The person who prays must believe that the God to whom the prayer is directed is a being of great power, the one who possesses more authority than an uncomfortable neighbor who wishes those prayers wouldn't happen. The Christian must learn to endure the silent accusation of having given offense and see it as a reason for endurance and hope for God did not dot the landscape with Christians to condemn the world, but that through their prayers some might be saved. Praying for people has to be one of the most uncontroversial things a Christian does, especially for one's neighbor. And going a step further, the Christian should seize the opportunity to tell the subject of her prayers that she is being brought before the throne of God. It is not a matter of personal choice, a flight of fancy or an act of self indulgence. On the contrary, that sweet 85 year old troublemaker knows the definition and measure of Christian love. Not only is she putting into action her convictions, but she is also saying it out loud to the chagrin of her neighbor. I want to be her when I grow up. I want to care so much for the people I see every day that I don't worry at all about myself. I want to be doddering and forgetful enough that when people tell me they don't want me to pray, I do it out of habit. Most of all, I want to have been shaped by the commandments of scripture so that when someone complains to me that I am not respecting their boundaries, I will be able to stare at them with a blank face, nod and say, I'm praying for you. When asked why, I shall cheerfully and lovingly declare, the Bible says I have to. I'm Ann Kennedy. Tomorrow we will hear from an Israeli man who's trying to save his brother who's still held hostage in Gaza, and will tell you about concerns over China's apparent computer hacking program targeting the US that and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Iger. And I'm Lindsay Mast. Washington Bureau reporter Carolina Lumeta contributed to today's Washington Wednesday. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. Jesus told the disciples, behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Verse 16 of Matthew chapter 10 Go now in grace and peace.