← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
2.20.25 Making air travel safer, White House renews support for religious liberty, and Russian refugees settle in America
00:36:32
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- [00:06]
Mary Reichert
Good morning. The FAA faces intense scrutiny after several recent airplane accidents. We'll ask an expert about that.
- [00:13]
Myrna Brown
Also, President Trump gives the White House faith office a new safeguarding religious freedoms.
- [00:20]
Cal Thomas
If we don't have religious liberty, then we don't have a free country. We probably don't even have a country.
- [00:26]
Mary Reichert
And we follow up with a Russian family seeking asylum in the US Very.
- [00:30]
Sergei Kosiak
Often I just feel. And dreaming all the time.
- [00:34]
Myrna Brown
Plus, world commentator Cal Thomas warns it's crucial to watch how our leaders handle financial house cleaning.
- [00:49]
Mary Reichert
It's Thursday, February 20th. This is the world and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichert.
- [00:56]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. Good morning.
- [01:01]
Mary Reichert
Time now for the news with Kent Covington.
- [01:04]
Kent Covington
President Trump is facing criticism for remarks he made this week about the war in Ukraine and about Ukraine's president. On Wednesday, Trump referred to President Volodymyr Zelensky as a dictator. And he said Zelensky has to move quickly to strike a deal with Russia to end the war. He also criticized Kyiv for not holding recent elections.
- [01:24]
Cal Thomas
A dictator without elections. Zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. Got to move. Got to move fast because that war is going in the wrong direction.
- [01:34]
Kent Covington
Ukraine's constitution prevents the country from holding elections while under martial law, which the government declared after Russia launched its full scale invasion of the country in 2022. Trump's latest remarks come one day after he seemingly blamed Kyiv, not Moscow, for Russia's invasion.
- [01:51]
Cal Thomas
Years, you should have ended it. Three years, you should have never started it. You could have made a deal.
- [01:56]
Kent Covington
That drew condemnation from Democrats and pushback from some Republicans, including Senator John Kennedy.
- [02:02]
Doug Burgum
To the extent that the White House said that Ukraine started the war, I disagree.
- [02:09]
Robert Poole
I think Vladimir Putin started the war.
- [02:11]
Kent Covington
Meantime, in Kyiv, President Zelensky said he is talking with European leaders about continuing to back Ukraine's defense if the US Pulls funding for Ukraine's military. Republican leaders in the Senate are planning a vote today on a budget reconciliation bill that would allocate $300 billion for BO and national security. That is despite President Trump saying he prefers the House version that includes nearly $5 trillion in tax cuts. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that's not a problem.
- [02:43]
Robert Poole
We're prepared to work with them to.
- [02:45]
Kent Covington
Get that across the finish line.
- [02:47]
Robert Poole
But we believe that the president also likes optionality.
- [02:51]
Kent Covington
There's no guarantee that the House bill could pass with Republicans only able to lose a few GOP votes. Some members are worried about potential cuts to benefits While others are worried about the impact on the deficit, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says the Trump administration is working to lower energy prices in America. One key to that, he says, is cutting red tape and regulation that makes oil more expensive. And he said the administration also wants to bring more energy revenue into the U.S. i think the key infrastructure that.
- [03:23]
Doug Burgum
President Trump is focused on right now, and he's spoken about these, is that In Alaska, an 800 mile pipeline that would help deliver LNG for export to.
- [03:32]
Robert Poole
South Korea, the Philippines and Japan.
- [03:34]
Kent Covington
Burgum says those countries right now buy oil from the Middle east. But a pipeline from the United States could largely change that. President Trump has signed an executive order directing Bergam to undo former President Biden's offshore oil ban. The Senate just confirmed another new member of the Trump administration. Former US Senator Kelly Loeffler will return to public service as the next head of the Small Business Administration. On this vote, the ayes are 52.
- [04:01]
Cal Thomas
The nays are 46.
- [04:03]
Doug Burgum
The nomination is confirmed.
- [04:05]
Kent Covington
Loeffler was a Republican senator from Georgia between 2020 and 2021 before losing re election to current Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock. Loeffler had an extensive business career, including serving as the CEO of a software service company in the Los Angeles area. Officials and local residents have embarked on the long road to recovery after last month's devastating wildfires. The first step is to clean up hazardous debris, EPA spokesman Bill Dunbar said Wednesday. Of the 13,000 plus properties impacted by the fires, EPA has completed over 80% of our work to conduct our portion of the recovery process which we Flames scorched tens of thousands of acres and killed at least 29 people. Hamas today is turning over the remains of four Israelis who died while being held hostage by the terror group. And an Israeli official has confirmed that among them would be the bodies of a young mother, Shiri Bebas, and her two small children, Ariel and Kfir, who were four years old and nine months old when they were captured. This is the first Israeli confirmation that the bodies of the family are being returned to Israel. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, rethinking how US Air traffic control operates, plus seeking safety and finding a new home. This is the world and everything in it.
- [05:51]
Mary Reichert
It's Thursday, the 20th of February. This is World Radio and we thank you for listening. Good morning. I'm Mary Reichert.
- [05:58]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. First up on the World and Everything in it, rethinking how the Federal Aviation Administration operates.
- [06:06]
Mary Reichert
Right this week, the family of a passenger killed in the recent Black Hawk helicopter and jet crash, filed claims against both the army and the faa. World's Lindsay Mast talked to an aviation expert who says it's time to rethink how the agency is running.
- [06:22]
Carolina Lumeta
Thanks, Marian. Myrna. Of course, the investigation into that crash in D.C. last month is ongoing. This week, the National Transportation Safety Board chairperson said there may have been miscommunication from air traffic control to the Blackhawk. Robert Poole is the director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation. He's testified before congressional subcommittees about privatizing air traffic control, and he joins us now. Robert, good morning.
- [06:46]
Robert Poole
Good morning. Glad to be with you today.
- [06:48]
Carolina Lumeta
I'd like to talk first about some of the historical problems with the FAA and air traffic control, particularly in terms of technology. Can you talk about that and maybe give us some examples of problems and mishaps?
- [06:59]
Robert Poole
Well, there are all sorts of technologies that are needed. They're used in other countries that are slowly being rolled out by faa, but their procurement process is very flawed because FAA gets annual budget appropriations from Congress. If they need to equip several hundred facilities with this new device, they only get a certain amount every year in the budget for new stuff. So they have to roll it out over 15, 20 years, you know, in dribs and drabs. The last facility to get them, it may be obsolete technologically by the time they get it. This stuff isn't static.
- [07:40]
Carolina Lumeta
So what challenges to improving air traffic control systems do you see, particularly financially or politically?
- [07:46]
Robert Poole
First of all, there's also a not invented here approach within FAA. They're very traditional. FAA's research center in Atlantic City more than about 15 years ago, invented something called a remote digital tower, where instead of having a tall structure with windows at the top, you put cameras on masks all around the airport, with some of them infrared so they could see in the dark, they could see through fog and so forth, things that the controller in a tall building looking out a window can even see. So they published a couple of papers on this, and they did. The FAA as an organization did nothing with this idea. Saab in Switzerland, which is a big aerospace defense company, pioneered it. And they and other Scandinavian countries and Germany and more and more countries in Europe are implementing these as a big improvement. They cost less to build and they cost less to operate. Those digital towers have little tags that go on the screen tracking every single plane that in the sky and on the ground so they can follow in real time exactly where each one is.
- [08:59]
Carolina Lumeta
Robert, you think the answer is privatization? What would it look like if we went from the current system to privatization.
- [09:07]
Robert Poole
One of the major differences would be that it would operate like a public utility, like your electric company, or like a toll road. And with revenue stream, they can issue revenue bonds just like airports do. From large for they need to expand a terminal or build a new run, they issue bonds. And so it's easy to finance large scale facility replacements to get equipment, new equipment like the electronic flight strips. Buy the whole batch for all the facilities at once in one procurement and then roll it out in the first year or two. Nav Canada is the largest of these private nonprofits and it's been in operation, I think it's 15 or 20 years now. And it's very highly rated. It pioneers new technology. Point is to get it out of tax funding. The FAA would still be there, but in its original role as the aviation safety regulator. Today, with both of the aircraft control and the safety regulation in the same house, it's a conflict of interest. FAA regulates every other part of aviation at arm's length. Airlines, private pilots, mechanics, airports, every repair stations, they're all regulated at arm's length. And most countries around the world, ever since 2001, the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is a UN agency for air safety, put out guidelines that said you should have organizational separation between air safety regulation and both airports and air traffic control arm's length because it works better, it's more trustful, reliable, and avoids this conflict of interest. So that's another aspect of changing the system to make it a high tech service business regulated by the aviation safety regulator.
- [11:02]
Carolina Lumeta
I think an obvious question in all of this due to the timing is would these types of changes have made a difference in the crash last month.
- [11:09]
Robert Poole
In D.C. probably not. One problem was that the helicopter and the airlines, they were operating on the same kind of radio, VHF signals, but on two different frequencies. So they could not hear each other's conversations with the control tower, which means they didn't have the full picture of what was going on. The other thing that troubles me, all aircraft in the United States flying in controlled airspace have to have a device called ADS B which signals. It sends out signals saying exact every three seconds, where they are, what altitude, what direction, what speed, and so forth. The Black Hawk helicopters was turned off or at least it was not sending out signals. So that just came out a day or two ago. If that had been on the controller and this Howard would have seen exactly where the copter was in real time every 3 seconds update and would have said, oh no, you got to move now because you're about to be in the flight path of the landing plane. So my recommendation is they've got to get those helicopter routes out of the Potomac away from DCA Reagan National Airport. That's a built too dangerous a situation inherently. Even if the ads, B, if the military changed their policy, which they may not because of security reasons, these are many high ranking generals flying to from the Pentagon to meet somebody on Capitol Hill or something or whatever. So we may be stuck with that.
- [12:47]
Carolina Lumeta
So in your opinion at this point, what will it take to improve air traffic control?
- [12:52]
Robert Poole
Almost all the really meaningful improvements require getting it out of the government budget process and making it self funded like any other utility. Somehow in government it's got to get off of the annual budget thing. It's got to be exempt from that and able to raise capital. The high altitude centers are 50 to 65 years old and starting to fall apart. And the billions and billions it would need to replace them cannot possibly come from the annual operating budgets of faa.
- [13:26]
Carolina Lumeta
Last question. Very quickly. We've talked about a lot of problems. I'm getting on a plane this week. Lots of other people still flying. Should we feel safe?
- [13:34]
Robert Poole
I feel Safe. I'm a 2 million mile frequent flyer on American Airlines. I have lifetime platinum status. I don't hesitate to get on board a plane. It's still far safer than driving.
- [13:46]
Carolina Lumeta
Robert Poole is director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation. Robert, thank you so much for your time today.
- [13:52]
Robert Poole
Very glad to do it. Thanks.
- [13:58]
Myrna Brown
Coming up next on the WORLD and everything in It, a new faith advisor at the White House. During the annual National Prayer Breakfast earlier this month, President Trump made this announcement.
- [14:11]
Cal Thomas
This week I'm also creating the White House Faith Office led by Pastor Paula White, who is so amazing.
- [14:19]
Mary Reichert
How will the faith office work? And what does the televangelist Paula White Kane bring to the White House? Washington Bureau reporter Carolina Lumeta has the story.
- [14:30]
Hiram Sasser
For more than two decades, the executive branch of the US Government has had an office that works with religious groups.
- [14:36]
Robert Poole
Faith based organizations should be allowed to receive federal grants when it comes to helping people in need.
- [14:44]
Hiram Sasser
In 2001, President George W. Bush established the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The goal was for federal agencies to engage with religious and nonprofit organizations on issues like disaster relief and workforce development.
- [14:59]
Robert Poole
What government can do is recognize its limitations and more significantly, recognize the power of faith in our society. And that's what this initiative does. We don't pick religions, we don't fund.
- [15:11]
Cal Thomas
Religion, but we welcome the soldiers of.
- [15:13]
Robert Poole
The armies of compassion.
- [15:15]
Hiram Sasser
Every president since then has had some sort of liaison to religious groups. Though President Trump left the office vacant during the first few years of his previous term, this time he's making it a priority with some updates. Trump shortened the name of the Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships office to simply the White House Faith Office. And for the first time ever, it will get space inside the West Wing. Its leader, the famous televangelist Paula White Kaine.
- [15:40]
Paula White Kane
And if we don't get religious liberty right, it is the bedrock which all of our other freedoms fall upon.
- [15:47]
Hiram Sasser
White Kane has been a personal faith advisor to the Trump family for more than 20 years after Trump discovered her while watching TV. Here they are together at the National Faith Advisory Board Summit last fall, and.
- [15:59]
Cal Thomas
We'Ve had them at the White House. A lot of the pastors and respected people, I recognize a lot of them just originally by just seeing them on television for so many years. Right. Including you.
- [16:09]
Paula White Kane
I was going to say, people don't realize that, that we met literally, you were watching television and called me out of the blue. And I'll never forget you said, you've got the it factor. And I said, oh, sir, we call that the anointing. And that was our hello.
- [16:24]
Hiram Sasser
White Kaine led the Faith Based Partnerships office during Trump's first term after he reopened it in 2019. During the fallout from the 2020 election, she claimed demonic forces were stealing the presidency from Trump. She's been affiliated with the Word of Faith movement, teaching that Christians can declare things like money, success or holiness into existence because they have a portion of God's divinity. She says she teaches a provision gospel and denies teaching a prosperity or health and wealth gospel. Here she is on another televangelism program in 2019.
- [16:56]
Paula White Kane
You just simply need to be obedient, whether it's 100,000, whether it's $10,000. There's a department of treasury in heaven that God is watching over everything you do and you are storing up eternal treasure that will go so far beyond, I think, that we can even begin to imagine.
- [17:15]
Hiram Sasser
White Cane's role in the White House worries some Christians, including Justin Peters, a Montana based evangelist raised Southern Baptist. He's now a traveling preacher who has created a curriculum to rebut the Word of Faith movement.
- [17:27]
Robert Poole
And she tells people to sow money into her ministry, sow seed so they can reap a harvest. And she's using scripture to exploit the poor, the sick, the desperate and the widows for her own personal financial gain.
- [17:48]
Hiram Sasser
Peters voted for Trump in each of the past three presidential elections. He says he aligns with White politically but disputes her theology.
- [17:56]
Robert Poole
My first and foremost concern is the purity of the gospel to a watching world. I would gladly undergo persecution from the government as long as the gospel of Jesus Christ is not distorted.
- [18:13]
Hiram Sasser
Others support White Cain's return to Washington. Pastor Samuel Rodriguez Jr. Worked as a faith liaison for Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump. He's now president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
- [18:26]
Doug Burgum
Pastor Paula was the leader.
- [18:28]
Paula White Kane
She convenes the troops, she gathers the team. She's the quarterback.
- [18:31]
Doug Burgum
We're on the field and we execute accordingly. And she has brought in others outside the evangelical world, including rabbis and Catholic Bishop.
- [18:41]
Hiram Sasser
Rodriguez also credits White Cain with helping boost President Trump's support among evangelicals.
- [18:46]
Doug Burgum
President Trump was able to gain close.
- [18:48]
Cal Thomas
To 80% his first time around and now 84 to 87%, according to which.
- [18:53]
Doug Burgum
Exit poll you read the second time around.
- [18:56]
Hiram Sasser
So what will the faith office focus on this time? During the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump said he directed whitecain to work with the Justice Department on a new executive order to eradicate anti Christian bias.
- [19:07]
Cal Thomas
In addition, the task force will work to fully prosecute anti Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.
- [19:21]
Hiram Sasser
During the Biden administration, pro life Christians who prayed in front of abortion centers received multi year prison sentences for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Some also point to church closures during the pandemic and denial of religious exemptions for federal vaccine mandates as examples of anti Christian discrimination.
- [19:40]
Cal Thomas
And the Biden administration, they took great pleasure in sort of putting the screws to religious liberty. But you know, it's a new sheriff in town.
- [19:49]
Hiram Sasser
That's Hiram Sasser, the executive general counsel for First Liberty Institute, a conservative group that provides legal representation for religious liberty cases.
- [19:58]
Cal Thomas
We're very happy to see some acknowledgement that yes, indeed, even though it's the majority religion, there's still an anti religious bias to people of the Christian faith, just as there is an anti religious bias to people of other faiths.
- [20:15]
Hiram Sasser
The White House faith office is meant to help all religious groups communicate with agencies and receive equal access to federal grants. But most of Trump's comments on it so far have revolved around Christianity. Michael Ware worked in the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during the Obama administration.
- [20:31]
Paula White Kane
There are important efforts that can be made to address the stigmatizing of religion broadly and that can be inclusive of Christians. I think the sense that this administration has the authority or the trust to do so in a way that does more good than harm. I think is something that I, I personally question.
- [20:56]
Hiram Sasser
But Sasser argues that combating bias against Christianity boosts all religious expression.
- [21:01]
Cal Thomas
Here's the great thing about religious liberty is that a win for one of.
- [21:05]
Kent Covington
Us is a win for all of us.
- [21:07]
Cal Thomas
It's a rising tide that floats all ships.
- [21:09]
Kent Covington
And it's just great to have a.
- [21:11]
Cal Thomas
White House that's fighting for us instead of against us.
- [21:15]
Hiram Sasser
Reporting for World, I'm Carolina Lumeta.
- [21:42]
Kent Covington
Additional support comes from Covenant College in Georgia providing an uncompromising biblical education where students explore calling and career more at Covenant. Edu World. From Pensacola Christian College Academic Excellence Biblical Worldview affordable cost go pcci.edu world and from Rich Haven Camp and Retreat centers in Brevard, North Carolina and Cono, Iowa Camp and year round retreat registrations@ridgehaven.org.
- [22:41]
Mary Reichert
It'S been called a needle in a haystack. But James Howell says this needle is worth about $755 million. His bitcoin fortune was accidentally dumped in a landfill in Wales back in 2013. And now with the site set to close, Howells wants to buy it.
- [22:58]
Paula White Kane
Given the value of the needle, if you're willing to search every single piece of hay, eventually you will find the needle.
- [23:05]
Mary Reichert
A court blocked his efforts to dig, but Howells is not giving up. He's assembling a team using AI and proven landmark fill excavation methods.
- [23:13]
Paula White Kane
My data recovery guys are some of the best guys in the world. All we need to do is get a tiny fraction of data, a pinpoint of data from that entire disk.
- [23:23]
Mary Reichert
Skeptics say bitcoin has no real value. But Howells has a sharp response.
- [23:29]
Paula White Kane
Now you poke in the bear and.
- [23:31]
Myrna Brown
This bear isn't backing down.
- [23:34]
Mary Reichert
It's the world and everything in it. Today is Thursday, February 20th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Mary Reichert.
- [23:55]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. Coming next on the World and Everything in it. Just in time. Across the border last fall, we introduced you to Sergei and Jana Kosiak. They are a Christian couple from Russia and Ukraine. They fled Russia with their two children in early 2024 out of fear for their family's safety. Zhanna, who is Ukrainian, criticized Russia's actions in Ukraine online. And the couple's church also vocally opposed the war. The government targeted them and other members of the congregation for speaking out.
- [24:34]
Sergei Kosiak
If they see that you have posted something, you go to prison. They can take your kids to the government house for kids.
- [24:44]
Mary Reichert
When we met them last, the Kasiaks had been waiting for more than seven months in Tijuana, Mexico, for an appointment to ask for asylum in the US World. Compassion reporter Adi Offerens caught up with the couple, and World's Kristin Flavin brings you more of their story.
- [25:05]
Paula White Kane
The Kasiak's favorite thing about their new home country is simply walking outside without fear. If they see a police officer while on their walk, they're no longer anxious.
- [25:17]
Sergei Kosiak
When I see the policeman, I don't have a fear. When we live in Russia, when you see the policeman, you understand that you don't do nothing bad, but you're afraid.
- [25:31]
Paula White Kane
It's been a little more than two months since Zhanna, her husband Sergei, and their two children arrived in North Carolina. They talked about their experience in the living room of a small brick house just outside Winston, Salem.
- [25:44]
Sergei Kosiak
We asking each other and say, Sergei, you can imagine that we are already in America. Very often I just feel it's like I'm dreaming all the time.
- [25:58]
Paula White Kane
The couple used a Customs and Border Protection mobile app called CBP1 to request an appointment to begin the asylum process at a port of entry. It took them nine months. Then one day in early November, they were granted an appointment.
- [26:14]
Sergei Kosiak
For us, it was like a very big miracle because before we go to the body, we ask many lawyers about the situation.
- [26:25]
Paula White Kane
And they the lawyers told them they had a 99% chance of ending up in detention. Some immigration lawyers estimate Immigration and Customs Enforcement is detaining between 6,000 and 10,000 Russian citizens because the agency considers them high risk. The exact number is unknown.
- [26:45]
Sergei Kosiak
And you preparing for this to not see each other maybe for many months. So it was like if be honest. We pray in the God that God give us the strength going.
- [26:59]
Paula White Kane
The family arrived at the Mexicali port of entry on November 26.
- [27:04]
Sergei Kosiak
There are many people, for example, the man with men, women and women with kids, like this big array. And you are waiting there.
- [27:17]
Paula White Kane
Immigration officers did biometric screenings and asked them about their background. In another room, an officer gave them a brief medical examination. Officials asked why they were seeking protection in the United States.
- [27:30]
Sergei Kosiak
We thinking that they just take us to another place. So it was on the second floor. And then when we go to the first floor and they give us the documents and say, okay, welcome to America.
- [27:45]
Paula White Kane
The whole process only took six hours.
- [27:48]
Sergei Kosiak
We were shocked just looking to each other and inside we just want to cry because of God's mercy.
- [28:00]
Paula White Kane
Another thing about America that the Cassiacs love is Mexican food. Specifically Maria Gonzalez's cooking Until the family gets on their feet, they're staying with Mexican American pastor Juvenal Gonzalez and his wife. Maria Gonzalez pastors a church in North Carolina and also runs a ministry hosting asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexico. The couple stayed there while they waited for their CBP1 appointment.
- [28:25]
Sergei Kosiak
This is vegetables with sausage and rice.
- [28:30]
Paula White Kane
For dessert, there's papaya with lime juice and cheesecake. Sergei Kosciak can't speak English, so he used Google Translate to praise Maria's cooking. I think that any fast food or.
- [28:41]
Mary Reichert
Any cafe here in America will never.
- [28:44]
Paula White Kane
Catch up with her level. Sergey is working on getting his American driver's license and hopes to eventually get a job selling building material like he did in Russia. The couple is also preparing for their first asylum hearing in immigration court scheduled for next summer. They're grateful for the support of Pastor Gonzalez, his wife, and the rest of the church community they've found in North Carolina.
- [29:06]
Sergei Kosiak
You understand that God always with you. In any place where you can go, there is a family of God.
- [29:16]
Paula White Kane
But they're also praying for the friends they left behind. In Tijuana, President Donald Trump shut down the CBP1 app on his first day in office. Another family who attended church with the Cossacks back in Russia didn't get their appointment in time.
- [29:30]
Sergei Kosiak
They are waiting and they are praying. And we believe sometime the door they are closed. But when God opens, no one can close.
- [29:43]
Paula White Kane
The administration argues shutting down the asylum process is an essential, essential first step in regaining control of the border. The Kosiaks know the system is often abused.
- [29:53]
Sergei Kosiak
They just want to go to America. So American government need to check if really people have a reason to go.
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Paula White Kane
So asylum is a status granted to individuals fearing persecution on account of their race, religion or political opinion. But many immigrants use the system for personal gain. They see it as a stepping stone to economic opportunity. But for the Kasiaks, asylum gives them.
- [30:23]
Sergei Kosiak
A home for our family. I can even imagine the thought about that we can come back to Russia makes me scary. So.
- [30:36]
Paula White Kane
In the small kitchen, Zhanna is pulling out spoons and coffee cups.
- [30:40]
Sergei Kosiak
Most of people like to drink coffee. Coffee, coffee, only coffee.
- [30:44]
Paula White Kane
So she's learned Americans drink more coffee than tea and enjoy putting sugar in everything.
- [30:51]
Sergei Kosiak
Become like more American to drink only coffee.
- [30:56]
Paula White Kane
For world I'm Kristin Flavin with reporting From Winston Salem, North Carolina.
- [31:21]
Myrna Brown
Today is Thursday, February 20th. Good morning. This is the world and everything in it. From Listener Supported World Radio, I'm Erna Brown.
- [31:31]
Mary Reichert
And I'm Mary Reichard, world commentator California Thomas says that we should pay attention to how politicians respond to the ongoing search for government waste.
- [31:45]
Doug Burgum
The credit card statement contained an unfamiliar charge. I called the fraud department, which canceled the payment and immediately sent me a new card. If only the federal government responded with similar alacrity. Instead, the reaction from the exposure and rooting out of fraud, mostly from Democrats, has been shouting profanities and demonstrating outside federal government buildings. Some who have ignored the Constitution for years while using federal judges to impose things voters would not tolerate, are suddenly appealing to constitutional order. They're demanding Congress not do any cutting or elimination of fraud and waste. They rarely address the misspending or who's responsible for it. That's true of Democrats as well as some Republicans. Protesters who once promoted and quoted the climate alarmist teenager Greta Thunberg now mock Elon Musk for using technologically gifted young people. Some appear a lot smarter than members of Congress, who are denouncing them for their youth. President Trump has directed every government agency to search for misspent money. The latest, but certainly not the last, comes from the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee zeldin. He discovered $160 million the Biden administration sent to Canada for electric buses, buses that were never built. Adding to the debacle, the company went bankrupt. Seldon also canceled a $50 million environmental justice grant to an organization that believes climate justice travels through a free Palestine. Decoded, that means the elimination of Israel. An undercover video from after Trump won the election shows an EPA official bragging about throwing billions of dollars of gold bars off the Titanic. These gold bars are how government agencies sustain numerous left wing groups, largely without congressional approval. This is only the tip of the melting iceberg. Lifelong politicians are howling about the exposure of such things because, like the con artists, they're being exposed for many years of misspending our money and fear they're losing their grip on government. The last election and recent poll numbers indicate a majority of Americans back the work of Musk and his Doge squad. The New York Times is running interference for those who are trying to shift attention from the fraud and waste. A recent editorial claimed there was no proof in such allegations. A counter editorial in the Wall Street Journal obliterated that claim. It said a Government Accountability Office report last spring estimated the federal government could lose between $233 billion and 521 billion annually to fraud. The federal auditor said a government wide approach is required to address it and recommended the treasury leverage data analytics capabilities to stop questionable payments. That's what Doge is trying to do. Ah, government accountability, if only. That's a pretty wide fraud gap. But why should Congress and various government agencies care? It's not their money they're spending. Republicans should not be left off the hook. Many are just as guilty as the Democrats. They're now deriding because of all the pork they add to various bills without going going through hearings that would justify such needless spending. The Pentagon is next for the Doge auditors. Democrats have made it a target for years, citing overpriced and unnecessary weapons and equipment. They shouldn't complain now about cuts, but probably will because complaining, demonstrating and cursing are all they have left. Let the protests continue. Those who oppose the government house cleaning will only watch their favorability numbers continue to decline. The public backs a return to sunlight being the best disinfectant and the old puritan ethic of living within your means. I'm Cal Thomas.
- [35:35]
Myrna Brown
Tomorrow, Katie McCoy is back for Culture Friday and Colin Gabbarino reviews a new faith based film about a boy with a physical disease. But unless Unbreakable spirit, that and more tomorrow. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [35:51]
Mary Reichert
And I'm Mary Reinkert. 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 if anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible. That's the NIV version of verse one of Leviticus, chapter five. Go now in grace and peace.