2.26.26 New York’s rent stabilization, school denies teacher religious accommodation, Ukraine’s long resistance, and helping girls in Kenya

Summary

The World and Everything In It — Episode Summary Date: February 26, 2026
Main Hosts: Mary Reichert & Myrna Brown
Episode Theme:
A comprehensive exploration of headline news, legal debates, global events, and humanitarian interventions, with an emphasis on issues of housing, religious freedom in education, Ukraine’s ongoing resistance, and the practical empowerment of girls in Kenya. The episode closes with biblical cultural analysis on “looks maxing” and the pressure on young men to alter their appearance.

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1. Overview of Episode Themes

• Rent Stabilization in New York: Examines the impact of proposed rental regulations on both tenants and landlords, highlighting the complexities and unintended consequences of rent control.
• Religious Accommodation in Education: Delves into a legal case involving a teacher’s refusal to read LGBT-themed books, raising questions about religious rights and federal protections.
• Ukraine’s Endurance: Reflects on the resilience of Ukrainians as the war with Russia marks four years, with direct insight from Kyiv.
• Empowering Kenyan Girls: Showcases a ministry providing essential hygiene products to help girls stay in school, breaking cycles of poverty and exploitation.
• Cultural Commentary: Concludes with an analysis of the “looks maxing” trend among young men, situating it within biblical and psychological frameworks.

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2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. New York’s Rent Stabilization Crisis

Segment Start: [07:00]

• High Demand & Short Supply:

  • Fewer than 1% of apartments are rent-controlled; the rest are “rent stabilized” with annual cap increases ([07:27]).
  • Many New Yorkers wait years for affordable housing, only to be denied if they exceed income limits ([08:04]).
  • Quote: “I had waited for that one maybe a year before they even reached out to me. And then they turned me down.” – Val Fleming [08:24]

• Landlord Perspective:

  • Rising costs make it hard for owners to maintain properties, especially with rent caps; some units remain vacant as repairs exceed rental income ([09:09]).
  • Quote: “Many owners these days would be happy to be making zero, breaking even instead of digging in their pocket and running in the red.” – Pashko Lujuray [09:09]
  • Landlords struggle with delayed evictions, costly repairs, and feel excluded from policy conversations ([10:14]).

• Consequences for Everyone:

  • Rent freezes may lead to deterioration of housing stock; local retailers also affected.
  • Quote: “Even though you're freezing the rent… what is it going to cost us in other areas of our life?” – Val Fleming [11:27]

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B. Religious Rights of Teachers in Public Schools

Segment Start: [11:50]

• Case Overview:

  • Teacher Eric Rivera declined to read books featuring same-sex parents, citing Christian beliefs about marriage ([12:13]).
  • Requested a religious accommodation, which was briefly honored before he faced disciplinary threat.

• Legal Framework:

  • First Liberty Institute argues Rivera's rights are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act ([13:59]).
  • Quote: “Here it is obvious that, you know, an accommodation could have easily been provided and actually was arranged for. And yet the principal retaliated against Mr. Rivera and clearly discriminated against him.” – Cliff Martin, First Liberty Institute [13:59]
  • Supreme Court clarified “substantial increase in cost” is required for an employer to deny accommodation ([15:14]).

• Implications:

  • Rivera hopes his case emboldens others: “This should be a wake up call... God is powerful and he tells us to live day by day and trust in Him.” – Eric Rivera [16:14]

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C. Ukraine’s Long Resistance

Segment Start: [17:32]

• Anniversary of War:

  • Four years since Russia’s invasion; Ukrainians continue to demonstrate high civilian and military resilience ([18:14]).
  • Quote: “The resilience… is high. They’re stubborn and patriotic people who are not going to concede any more of Ukraine to an authoritarian, rapacious thug like Putin.” – Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery [19:08]

• Military Situation:

  • Frontlines are largely static but with hard fighting; Ukraine’s smaller forces focusing on reducing their own casualties ([19:42]).
  • Quote: “Most reporting is that 80% of Russian casualties come from Ukrainian drones… Ukrainians act more and more like a Western power than a former Soviet state.” – Mark Montgomery [20:06]

• Morale & Daily Life:

  • Troop morale varies by unit leadership, but all remain clear on why they’re fighting.
  • Quote: “This is not a silly war for Ukraine. They were attacked… dignity for them is defeating Russia and not acceding to it.” – Mark Montgomery [21:39]
  • Kyiv faces harsh winter and frequent missile attacks, but the population adapts.

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D. Helping Girls in Kenya Stay in School

Segment Start: [24:42]

• Problem:

  • Girls drop out between 4th and 8th grade due to lack of menstrual hygiene products, leading to poverty and vulnerability ([25:05], [25:48]).
  • Quote: “So they were all real quiet for a few minutes, and one of them… said, Mama, we don’t have anything for our monthly.” – Vicki Winkler relaying a conversation with students [25:57]

• Extreme Measures:

  • In absence of supplies, girls use leaves or even dried cow dung, leading to shame and absenteeism ([26:09], [26:34]).
  • Some are exploited by older men for basic menstrual products ([28:28]).

• Solution & Impact:

  • The “Freedom for Girls” program distributes monthly packets of sanitary towels and underwear.
  • Quote: “A one month supply costs less than half a dollar. But for many, that's unaffordable.” – Narration [28:28]
  • Program also provides health and Bible-based sex education ([29:02]).
  • Results: Girls are staying in school, finding professional success, and breaking cycles of poverty and early marriage ([29:49]).

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E. Cultural Analysis — Looks Maxing

Segment Start: [31:02]

• Trend Definition:

  • “Looks maxing” refers to extreme cosmetic interventions, dangerous procedures, and obsessive body modification among young men ([31:02]).
  • Quote: “Some break their legs and insert metal rods to gain height. Some inject fillers or undergo jaw reconstruction. Some hit themselves in the face with a hammer… some use meth to suppress appetite.” – Seth Trout [31:20]

• Underlying Issues:

  • Driven by status-seeking, not just romantic attraction; fueled by online influencers.
  • Connected to body dysmorphia and broader cultural sickness.
  • Quote: “It is self-harm disguised as self improvement. And it's fueled by envy.” – Seth Trout [32:45]

• Biblical Perspective:

  • Encourages stewardship, not worship, of the body.
  • Quote: “The answer is not self-hatred. It's not obsessive self worship either. It's gratitude, stewardship, embodied faithfulness. A positive vision of masculinity grounded not in the mirror, but in the image of God.” – Seth Trout [34:35]

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3. Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Many owners these days would be happy to be making zero, breaking even instead of digging in their pocket and running in the red.” – Pashko Lujuray [09:09]
• “So they were all real quiet for a few minutes, and one of them… said, mama, we don’t have anything for our monthly.” – Vicki Winkler [25:57]
• “Even though you're freezing the rent… what is it going to cost us in other areas of our life?” – Val Fleming [11:27]
• “It is self harm disguised as self improvement. And it's fueled by envy.” – Seth Trout [32:45]

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4. Timestamps for Key Segments

• [07:00] – New York’s rent stabilization debate
• [11:50] – Religious rights of teachers
• [17:32] – Ukraine’s war: Four-year update
• [24:42] – Helping Kenyan girls stay in school
• [31:02] – Commentary on looks maxing

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Tone & Language:
The hosts balance journalistic rigor with empathy and faith-based cultural analysis. Interviewees speak candidly about their lived experiences and professions, contributing depth and authenticity.

Summary Usefulness:
This summary provides a thorough guide to the episode’s content, ideal for audiences interested in policy, education, international affairs, humanitarian work, and cultural commentary from a biblical perspective.

Transcript

[Mary Reichert]

Good morning. Proposed rent rules in New York City may bite both renters and landlords.

[Eric Rivera]

I think many owners these days would

[Harrison Waters]

be happy to be making zero, breaking

[Mark Montgomery]

even instead of digging in their pocket

[Eric Rivera]

and running in the red.

[Myrna Brown]

Also today, clarifying the religious rights of teachers in public schools. And later, a ministry that helps vulnerable girls in Africa remain in school by graduation. You still have like 22, 23 boys, but one or two girls. Why can't they be educated? And world opinions commentator Seth Trout on so called looks maxing.

[Mary Reichert]

It's Thursday, February 26th. This is the world and everything in it from listeners supported world Radio. I'm Mary Reichert.

[Myrna Brown]

And I'm Erna Brown. Good morning.

[Mary Reichert]

Time now for the news with Kent Covington.

[Kent Covington]

Officials from Ukraine and the United States are expected to meet today ahead of high stakes peace talks with Russia in Geneva early next month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters that Ukrainian land currently occupied by Russia remains a major sticking point.

[Harrison Waters]

We understand that Americans want to stop this war as quick as possible.

[Myrna Brown]

The problem is with the political will

[Mark Montgomery]

to stop this war and that the

[Harrison Waters]

question of territories, this question, I repeat again and again. This question I think to my mind

[Mark Montgomery]

has to go to the level of leaders.

[Kent Covington]

In today's meeting. Zelenskyy says U.S. and Ukrainian officials plan to discuss possible post war recovery plans for Ukraine. Iran is pushing back defiantly in response to President Trump's remarks in his Tuesday night speech ahead of critical talks in Geneva with Tehran over its nuclear program. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman dismissed Trump's remarks as big lies. Meantime, Iran's parliament speaker said Wednesday that the US could either engage in diplomacy or face the wrath of Iran if the US Attacks. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he believes there is widespread support for Trump's stand.

[Harrison Waters]

I mean, we cannot abide, we cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran. He made that clear in his speech last night. I think that's something I hope at least that big majority of Americans agree with.

[Kent Covington]

The US has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships into the Middle east in decades. Trump's message to Tehran is strike a deal to voluntarily curb your nuclear program or else. With an eye on this year's midterms, Republicans in Congress are working on President Trump's legislative priorities laid out in his State of the Union address. World's Harrison Waters has more now from Washington.

[Harrison Waters]

Top of the list for lawmakers is passing the SAVE Act, a bill aimed at verifying voter eligibility ahead of federal elections. Alabama Congressman Barry Moore.

[Kent Covington]

We've done our job in the House.

[Myrna Brown]

We've passed it. We need to pass it in the Senate.

[Harrison Waters]

Majority Leader John Thune has promised to put the bill on the floor for a vote once the partial government shutdown is resolved. GOP lawmakers are also working on President Trump's proposal last month to restructure health care with a focus on health savings accounts. Florida Congressman Byron Donalds stop sending subsidies

[Mark Montgomery]

to health insurance companies so their stock prices go up, their profits go up,

[Kent Covington]

as opposed to giving that money to

[Mark Montgomery]

the American people and giving them more purchasing power in health care.

[Harrison Waters]

Other priorities include bills to stop insider trading in Congress and making a ban on investor home purchases permanent. Reporting for World, I'm Harrison Waters in Washington.

[Kent Covington]

Also on Tuesday night, President Trump announced that Vice President J.D. vance would be leading what Trump calls his administration's war on fraud. And the next day, Vance, speaking alongside Centers for Medicare and Medicaid administrator Mehmet Oz, had this announcement.

[Mark Montgomery]

We have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good

[Kent Covington]

stewards of the American people's tax money. That will affect almost $260 million in Medicaid payments. That follows scandals in Minnesota with allegations of some behind education and daycare centers fraudulently enrolling students to funnel money to themselves, Mehmet Oz told reporters.

[Mark Montgomery]

We believe, listen carefully, we are spending

[Harrison Waters]

$300 billion a year in health care in this country for fraudulent, abusive or wasteful purposes.

[Kent Covington]

The vice president says the generosity of the American taxpayers is being taken advantage of. More snow and cold weather. Parts of the northeast got another 1 to 3 inches of snow on Wednesday, even as cities were still digging out from a massive snowstorm. Bob Orvak with the National Weather Service says there was no major accumulation, but it added insult to injury on the heels of the earlier historic winter blast. And now there is a pretty cold

[Mark Montgomery]

air mass that's going to sink southward across the northern part of the country this weekend and that'll be pushing eastward into the east coast by late in the weekend.

[Kent Covington]

And he said that sets the stage for another potential storm into early next week. From the Midwest to the Mid Atlantic to the Northeast, the bidding war for Warner Brothers discovery is heating up once again. World's Benjamin Icker has more.

[Harrison Waters]

Warner Brothers says Paramount has raised the price of its takeover offer to $31 per share, potentially reopening a bidding war with Netflix over the future of the Hollywood giant. The company previously had offered $30 per share when it first went directly to Warner stakeholders with its all cash hostile bid in December, just days after Warner struck a deal to sell its studio and streaming business to Netflix for just under $28 per share. Unlike Netflix, Paramount wants to acquire Warner Bros. In its entirety, including legacy cable networks like CNN and Discovery. Beyond upping its proposed purchase price, Warner said Paramount had increased its regulatory termination fee to $7 billion. For world, I'm Benjamin Eicher.

[Kent Covington]

And I'm Kent Covington. Straight ahead. Tenants and landlords struggle to make rent restrictions work in New York City. Plus, a teacher says no to reading LGBT books to kids. This is the world and everything in it.

[Mary Reichert]

It's Thursday, the 26th of February. This is World radio and we thank you for joining us today. Good morning. I'm Mary Reichert.

[Myrna Brown]

And I'm Erna Brown. First up on the World and everything in it, New York's rent fight. Tonight, city officials open what New York City Mayor Zoran Mandani calls rental rip off hearings, inviting tenants to air their complaints.

[Mary Reichert]

But with more than 50,000 apartments sitting empty, landlords say they're the ones being squeezed. World's Lauren Smith has the story.

[Lauren Smith]

Hop into any taxi cab in New York City and the ads playing inside will be a quick reminder that life here is expensive.

[Mary Reichert]

If you're looking to rent the same

[Myrna Brown]

one bedroom, the price will be 3,3500

[Harrison Waters]

to 10,000 per month.

[Lauren Smith]

New Yorkers have a median household income of just over $80,000. Many would struggle to live here if it weren't for the city's Rent Guidelines Board, which sets rules to hold rents down. The board regulates more than a million apartments, which is a lot, but not enough to meet demand. For renter Val Fleming, the shortage meant she had to wait more than a year just to hear back on her rental application.

[Mary Reichert]

And then they called me and said,

[Myrna Brown]

according to your statements, you make over

[Mary Reichert]

the income for this particular housing development.

[Myrna Brown]

And I was like, that really made me so upset because I had waited

[Mary Reichert]

for that one maybe a year before

[Myrna Brown]

they even reached out to me. And then they turned me down.

[Lauren Smith]

Less than 1% of New York apartments are actually rent controlled, meaning the sticker price of the rent is held below a certain dollar amount. More commonly, their rent stabilized, a relic of nationwide World War II price control laws. Instead of capping the sticker price, the city caps annual increases. A decade ago, the maximum allowable increase was 0%. And since then, even when the increase was positive, it never exceeded inflation. For the renters who can find an apartment and afford a long wait Those caps are good news, but they make it tough for landlords to cover rising maintenance and upgrade costs. Pashko Lujuray and his brother are Albanian immigrants who own 6 New York apartment buildings.

[Eric Rivera]

I think many owners these days would

[Mark Montgomery]

be happy to be making zero, breaking

[Eric Rivera]

even instead of digging in their pocket and running in the red. And the politicians know this, but they don't care.

[Lauren Smith]

One of their rental units has been empty for seven years because the rent is capped at $700 a month, while repair costs have topped $100,000. They've joined a suit against the city arguing that a 2019 law prohibiting rent increases after vacancy is an unconstitutional government taking.

[Mark Montgomery]

It's not like we're sitting back and delegating everything.

[Eric Rivera]

Well, you know, you go collect the rents and fix that faucet and whatever, and we're sitting back under a palm tree with pina colada.

[Harrison Waters]

My brother rolls up his sleeves and

[Mark Montgomery]

he's out there, you know, six, sometimes seven days a week, you know, making repairs.

[Lauren Smith]

Bringing vacant apartments like Paschko's to market wouldn't solve the city's housing shortage, but it could more than double the number of new units added to the NYC market annually. So far, though, New York officials don't seem interested in hearing from landlords.

[Myrna Brown]

We need to take on the indignities

[Harrison Waters]

from those landlords who demand more than their fair share.

[Lauren Smith]

That's Mermamdani gearing up for his rental rip off hearings where local tenants are invited to air their landlord horror stories on national television. Not pictured are landlords who can't evict destructive tenants. Louis Calamine is a local real estate broker who says he experienced the difficult legal process firsthand.

[Mark Montgomery]

So on Staten island, it took us 13 months to evict somebody who didn't

[Kent Covington]

make any other claim other than he

[Mark Montgomery]

doesn't want to pay anymore.

[Kent Covington]

Wrecking the house, flooding the house.

[Mark Montgomery]

Only in crazy whacked out New York

[Kent Covington]

City does very little lease to a non paying tenant. Destructive tenant equal 13 months of free cheese.

[Lauren Smith]

A raw deal for landlords that may not help tenants either. If landlords can't bring their units to market, it's one less apartment available. Other price reduction efforts like Mamdani's plan to freeze rents with no increases for four years could leave even less cash for landlords to cover regular maintenance and upgrades. And renter Val Fleming says she's already seeing grocery prices go up as stores are starting to close in rent stabilized neighborhoods.

[Kent Covington]

New York City is very expensive already.

[Myrna Brown]

And even though you're freezing the rent

[Mary Reichert]

that's great, but then what is it going to cost us in other areas of our life?

[Lauren Smith]

Still, those costs haven't deterred everyone. The city's most recent data shows an annual growth of 87,000 people, making New York a growth leader among major US cities. For world I'm Lauren Smith in New York City.

[Myrna Brown]

Coming up next on THE WORLD and everything in it, the Religious Rights of teachers when the Supreme Court ruled last year in the Mahmoud vs. Taylor case, it gave parents the right to opt their children out of LGBT related curriculum in schools. But what about the teacher who objects? What protections are in place?

[Mary Reichert]

Eric Rivera declined to read two books to first graders that feature a same sex couple the book claims are married to each other. Rivera says he asked for a religious accommodation. Instead, he was removed from his classroom at KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School in Nashville. Rivera explains his objection well, my beliefs

[Eric Rivera]

are that marriage and family are God given institutions and because I'm a Bible believing Christian and because it's between a man and a woman, seeing that marriage in the book has two dads and a daughter, it does not coincide with my religious beliefs.

[Myrna Brown]

Rivera tried resolving the issue with the school while standing by his own beliefs. He set up a meeting with an assistant principal.

[Eric Rivera]

We discussed a solution and the solution was to have the co teacher read the book when the lesson was going to be taught and that was executed the following day. Everyone was in agreement that that was going to happen and it worked out smoothly. But then the following day I was brought to the principal's office with a final warning and my job was threatened.

[Myrna Brown]

Even though Rivera's job performance to that point had been good with no prior discipline. River explained that the principal of the school told him he had to maintain fidelity to the school's worldview. If he couldn't, then his job was at risk.

[Mary Reichert]

So he contacted lawyers at First Liberty Institute for help. They sent a demand letter to the school. Senior counsel Cliff Martin explains that Rivera's requests are protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights act, which is a

[Eric Rivera]

federal law prohibiting discrimination based on religion and also requiring employers to provide accommodation for religious beliefs and practices unless doing so would cause an undue hardship. Here it is obvious that, you know, an accommodation could have easily been provided and actually was arranged for. And yet the principal retaliated against Mr. Rivera and clearly discriminated against him based on his religious belief in threatening to terminate him if he did not practice in line with the school's values and beliefs rather than his own. And given that an accommodation should have been easily reached. There was no justification for the school district discriminating against him for his religious faith.

[Mary Reichert]

I did contact the school for its response, but heard nothing back in time for this story. Now, if someone from the school does agree to talk, I'll be sure to share that with you. Meantime, the Supreme Court recently clarified that employers have to show a substantial increase in cost to accommodate in order to claim undue hardship. But here Martin says there's no evidence of that. So he's asking the school to think again.

[Eric Rivera]

We're asking for a commitment that the district will not discriminate further against religious employees. We're also asking for the district to remove that final warning letter that, you know, under the specific language of the warning letter, it was placed in his personnel file. So we're demanding that that be removed and that his name be cleared. And we also added that the district should review its policies with respect to notification of parents regarding the materials that are in their curriculum because under Tennessee law, there may be parental rights implicated in their decisions.

[Myrna Brown]

Lawyers for Rivera have asked for a response from the school by tomorrow. At the moment, Rivera is still employed by the school but is being shuttled to different departments. He hopes the case sends a message to other teachers that they have rights under federal law.

[Eric Rivera]

Well, I hope other educators may take this as a wake up call and also just to embolden them to step up against coercion against them. The Civil Rights act of 1964 gives them religious freedoms, religious liberties. But you know, God is powerful and he tells us to live day by day and trust in him. So that's what I'm leaning on for my strength.

[Kent Covington]

Additional support comes from Planted Gap Year, where young adults combine Bible classes, hands on farming and outdoor adventure. [e-mail] from Rich Haven Camp in North Carolina and Iowa summer camp registration open [e-mail] and from the Joshua Program at St. Dunstan's Academy in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Work, prayer and adventure for young men. St. Dunstansacademy.org.

[Mary Reichert]

The war in Ukraine lurches into year five this week. People in Great Britain, Germany, Serbia and elsewhere came out to mark the anniversary of the start of the conflict.

[Myrna Brown]

In Ukraine itself. The anniversary means keeping a commitment to fight. Retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, who works for the foundation for Defense of Democracies and who we turn to occasionally for insight into military matters, is in Ukraine this week and joins us now from Kyiv.

[Mary Reichert]

Admiral Montgomery, good morning.

[Mark Montgomery]

Good morning, Mary. Thank you very much for having me.

[Mary Reichert]

Glad you're here. This week marks four years since Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2022. Tell us where do things on a military level while talks are still going on to end the war.

[Mark Montgomery]

So, Mary, things are very much, you know, kind of consistent across the front. They actually just gained a little bit back over the last two weeks. But it's a fairly static front in the sense of overall size, although there's a lot of fighting in there. You know, I think the Ukrainians have maintained their military resilience, which is hard. They're outnumbered, a much smaller country than. Than Russia. They have a much smaller budget, a much smaller military, and they have managed to hold their road. So military resilience is high. I would also mention that equally, civilian resilience is high. They are hit every night or maybe every other night with cruise ballistic hypersonic missiles and drones. You know, I've been here the last couple weeks, and, you know, it's two out of every three nights. There's a pretty heavy attack. And look, a lot of damage is done to electrical power grid, to water systems, to schools, to apartment complexes. But the people move forward. The resilience, I think, is high. They're stubborn and patriotic people who are not going to concede any more of Ukraine to an authoritarian, rapacious thug like Putin who's conducting an illegal and merciless war.

[Mary Reichert]

What are the Ukrainian military casualties at this point?

[Mark Montgomery]

I mean, that's hard to put a number on. It's well over 100,000. It's a lot less than the Russians, but they are a lot smaller population base. But they have worked really hard over the last year to preserve their most precious resource, their people. And so they are reducing their casualty rates. They're increasing the casualty rates on the Russians. At the same time, most reporting is that 80% of Russian casualties come from Ukrainian drones, either air or ground drones, which are effectively mines. So, you know, this is an. You know, it's a very unique kind of warfare set going on here, but one that the Ukrainians act more now are more and more acting like a Western power than a former Soviet state.

[Mary Reichert]

You spoke of the Ukrainian people as being dug in and committed to not ceding anymore to Russia. How would you describe the morale of the troops?

[Mark Montgomery]

I mean, there's a big gap there. If your infantry on the very front line, it's a tough slog. They're on the front for three to maybe six months of unremitting attacks by the Russians, dug in hard with a lot of camouflage, supported by aerial drops by drones, not by contact with humans. And Having to deal with their own wounds and things like that. And then it's unit by unit. Some of their units are fantastic units led by officers that would be in the same rank they're in in the US Military had they joined the US military. And the morale tends to be better in those ones because people know they have good leadership. So it varies, but at no point do I come across like, why are we fighting this war? People know why they're fighting this war. You know, I hear Steve Witkoff say, hey, it's, this is a silly war. Can't people have some dignity and get out of it? Shows an egregious lack of understanding of what happened here. And Steve Witkoff being the lead American negotiator, so it matters that he's so ill informed. But this is not a silly war for Ukraine. They were attacked with the intention of their country being dismembered and the government overthrown by an autocratic Russian regime that has executed a four year war crime against the people of Ukraine. So this is not silly. Dignity for them is defeating Russia and not acceding to it.

[Mary Reichert]

All right, I want you to take us out on the street there in Kyiv, where you are at the moment. Describe what you see. Strikes, winter going on, power outages, what's happening.

[Mark Montgomery]

It's cold. This is one of the coldest winters they've had in a long time. It has a weird effect. It's tough on the civilian people and that makes the strikes on the power grid even more problematic. But for the military, it actually kind of freezes things a little better, literally and figuratively. So it's harder for the Russians to advance. And the Russians have had a rough couple months with casualty rates that actually exceed their incoming arrival of replacements. So. But it's a tough winner and I think the Russians thought it might break the Ukrainians. They're probably a little once again disappointed in their underestimation of the Ukrainian will to resist.

[Mary Reichert]

Mark Montgomery is a retired rear admiral in the US Navy and a senior fellow at the foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mark, thanks so much.

[Myrna Brown]

Thank you for having mercy. Well, Mary, I appreciate you and the gang standing in for me. Last week, my husband Stanley and I got to go on a marriage renewal cruise. And we didn't just attend, we helped break a world record.

[Eric Rivera]

I take you to be my wedded wife.

[Mary Reichert]

I take you to be my wedded husband.

[Myrna Brown]

We went after the largest vow renewal ceremony in history and brought along the people from Guinness World Records to make it all official. Marriage certificates were Checked stewards verified the count. The vows had to be spoken at the same time. And then the announcement.

[Jenny Ruff]

I can confirm that tonight you all

[Harrison Waters]

achieved a total of 1,593.

[Myrna Brown]

Yes, we did. That was more than 300. Better than the previous record set back in 2016.

[Mary Reichert]

Yeah, and then it was belly up

[Myrna Brown]

to the buffet line, I bet. Like, I need it there. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Thursday, February 26th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Myrna Brown.

[Mary Reichert]

And I'm Mary Reichard. Coming next on the World and everything in it, helping girls stay in school. In some parts of the world, young girls drop out of school because they lack access to a necessary hygiene product. The domino effect is devastating. But one woman decided to address the problem head on. World's Jenny Ruff brings us the story.

[Jenny Ruff]

Vicki Winkler had been visiting a remote village in Kenya for decades before she thought to ask why so many bright, motivated girls dropped out of school. The primary grades had just as many little girls as boys, roughly 25 each.

[Myrna Brown]

And then by graduation, you still have like 22, 23 kid boys, but one or two girls. And I'm thinking, how, how is this happening? You know, why can't they be educated?

[Jenny Ruff]

Winkler initially traveled to Kenya for her husband's work. But In February of 2000, she founded the nonprofit HART to help vulnerable women and children. And on occasion, she continued to visit the remote village. One day, Winkler asked the young females why so many of them dropped out, usually between fourth and eighth grade.

[Myrna Brown]

So they were all real quiet for a few minutes, and one of them kind of raised their head and said, mama, we don't have anything for our monthly.

[Jenny Ruff]

Many of the girls had single mothers who earned a dollar a day. That dollar went to food. Sanitary towels, absorbent pads worn inside underwear were hard to come by. Winkler continued the discussion.

[Myrna Brown]

And I said, well, what do you use now? And she said, leaves.

[Jenny Ruff]

Winkler immediately thought of her commute to the village that morning. It was winter in the desert, so leaves were scarce.

[Myrna Brown]

And on the way down there, I'd seen little goats that had. They were trying to get just the leaves off the thorn bushes until they were being cut by the thorns and their little mouths were all red from blood.

[Jenny Ruff]

She looked at the arid and rocky land.

[Myrna Brown]

I looked outside and there's not many leaves. And I said, what do you do when you don't have leaves? They said, then we use dried cow dung and we sit on it and so we smell bad and, and we also, we can't come to school like that.

[Jenny Ruff]

Winkler remembers silently praying. Why did I not know this, Lord? Why had I not thought to ask? Winkler got the idea to create gift packages to hand out every month, and she asked her friends for help.

[Myrna Brown]

And I said, I need 12,000 pair of girls underwear. And they said, what in the world do you need that for? And I said, I want to start this program called Freedom for Girls where we can give them sanitary towels, but they don't have any way to keep them on. They don't have underwear.

[Jenny Ruff]

Oh, gosh.

[Myrna Brown]

I said, I want them white and cotton and nothing sexy like that would cause more problems for them.

[Jenny Ruff]

Her friends held a fundraiser in the United States, and Winkler shipped the 12,000 pairs in suitcases and boxes. And then we have 12 packets, ideally one packet for each month. Sally Kamau serves as the program coordinator for Hart's Freedom for Girls at its center in Nairobi. She gathers the packets together. Each one includes sanitary towels, four pairs of underwear, and a health education brochure. That is to say this girl now can stay in school. She can go through her classes with confidence and dignity. Now that we have addressed this issue of lack, lack of the product. Once distributed, the packages stay locked in the school's hygiene cabinet until needed. And it is usually not for sale. Actually, for us it is kept in

[Myrna Brown]

school just to make sure that the girls are not sharing it with the mothers. Because once they share, definitely one month should not go to school.

[Jenny Ruff]

A one month supply costs less than half a dollar. But for many, that's unaffordable. Some girls feel so desperate they go to heartbreaking extremes. Kamau says elderly men who can afford the packets often misuse and abuse the girls. You can imagine a girl getting pregnant

[Myrna Brown]

just because did a transaction of sex to get one packet, which is half a dollar, and they end up getting infected.

[Jenny Ruff]

The cost can be steep. Maybe she has gotten an STD, or

[Myrna Brown]

maybe she has even, you know, gotten HIV and AIDS.

[Jenny Ruff]

Some estimates say over 260,000 teenagers in Kenya live with HIV. Kamau travels to the schools to teach sex education. Because the project is Bible based. She teaches that God created sex for marriage.

[Myrna Brown]

We show them how it is doable because this is the way of God.

[Jenny Ruff]

She gives them a calendar to track their cycles and addresses an ongoing obstacle that continues even in today's world.

[Myrna Brown]

There is the shame that comes with

[Jenny Ruff]

the periods that they are filthy. She teaches that God created females this way to help them know they've come to womanhood. He never meant us to be shamed. He never meant us to be stigmatized because of the. And so the girls, after knowing the

[Myrna Brown]

truth, they rise up with strength.

[Jenny Ruff]

And I can tell you Kamau and Winkler have seen it again and again. An education allows the girls to earn enough money to pull them out of extreme poverty. It also results in marriages to another professional instead of those with significant age gaps between young females and elderly men. When the girls stay in school, they become teachers, business owners, doctors, landlords. Landlords. Here's Winkler again.

[Myrna Brown]

Honey, you give them a chance. And it's just like these ladies. Don't stop, you know?

[Jenny Ruff]

Reporting for World I'm Jenny Ruff in Nairobi, Kenya.

[Mary Reichert]

Good morning. This is the World and everything in it. From listeners supported World Radio. Hello, I'm Mary Reichardt.

[Myrna Brown]

And I'm Myrna Brown. For years we've talked about body image pressure on young women. Now a growing number of young men are turning that same scrutiny on themselves in extreme, expensive and sometimes dangerous ways. World Opinions writer Seth Trout explains.

[Harrison Waters]

Narcissists fell in love with his own reflection long before social media made that fashionable. Now a new generation of young men is doing the same thing, only with scalpels, steroids and hammers. They call it looks maxing. The goal? Maximize your attractiveness. There's even a guru, a young influencer known as Clavicular. His name is for the length of his collarbone, which he says meets the ideal masculine measurement. He and others promote what they claim is a science based system of perfect facial angles and body proportions. Young men follow it with near religious devotion. Some break their legs and insert metal rods to gain height. Some inject fillers or undergo jaw reconstruction to get that ideal jawline. Some take anabolic steroids and risk permanent infertility. Some hit themselves in the face with a hammer, hoping micro fractures will sharpen their features. Some use meth to suppress their appetite. For years we assumed body dysmorphia was a women's issue. No longer. A British study found that more than half of young men show signs of it. Looks. Maxing is a bundle of lies. And like many lies, it attaches itself to something true. It is true that we are made in the image of God. It is true that the body is a gift. It is true that hygiene, discipline, exercise and health are good things. Christians should reject sloppy stewardship. Taking care of your body matters. But there is a line and this movement sprints past it. John Calvin famously wrote that the human heart is an idle factory. Looks maxing is but one more example of that reality. It breaks the first and second commandments by making a false God of the self, bowing down to a technologically enhanced reflection. It violates the sixth commandment through reckless procedures and drug use that shorten life and damage fertility. It is self harm disguised as self improvement. And it's fueled by envy. The tenth commandment, the resentful desire to have someone else's face, someone else's body, someone else's status. There's also something darker at work. Looks. Maxing is not even primarily about attracting women. It is about status. In a recent interview, Clavicular admitted that simply knowing he could have sex was more satisfying than the act itself. Within these communities, male approval often matters more than female attention. Constant fixation on sculpted male bodies breeds confusion and disordered desire. Luxmaxing is the marriage of transhumanism and sexual distortion. It treats the body as raw material to be engineered. It turns both men and women into commodities to be optimized and consumed. But God made every man on purpose and with purpose. Rejecting his design and its limits is not confidence. It's ingratitude. We live in a culture offering counterfeit visions of masculinity. Parents need to know about this. Pastors need to address it. Lawmakers need to understand it. Young men are being catechized by influencers who promise status, power and admiration at the cost of their health, their fertility and their souls. The answer is not self hatred. It's not obsessive self worship either. It's gratitude, stewardship, embodied faithfulness. A positive vision of masculinity grounded not in the mirror, but in the image of God. For world, I'm Seth Trout.

[Mary Reichert]

Culture Fridays tomorrow and we will visit with John Stonestreet and the gospel story at the heart of an Oscar nominated short film. That and more tomorrow. I'm Mary Reichert.

[Myrna Brown]

And I'm Myrna Brown. 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 the fool says in his heart there is no God. They are are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity. There is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away. Together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good. Not even one. Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion. When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice. Let Israel be glad. Verses 1, 2, 3 and 6 of Psalm 53 go now in grace and peace.