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The World and Everything In It
7.24.25 Returning awards to female athletes, phone-free classrooms, and a Congo and Rwanda peace agreement
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- [00:06]
Mary Reichert
Good morning. State attorneys general urged the NCAA to restore fairness in women's sports before men were allowed to compete against them.
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Myrna Brown
Also, back to school season is here and so is the battle over cell phones. In the classroom, new rules draw lines between learning and distraction.
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Kent Covington
Quite often, teachers are spending a considerable amount of class time not teaching the subject, but kids to put the devices away.
- [00:34]
Myrna Brown
And a historic peace deal between Congo and Rwanda. But after decades of bloodshed, can paper promises bring real peace? And world commentator Cal Thomas says late night television used to bring laughs without lectures.
- [00:56]
Mary Reichert
It's Thursday, July 24th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichert.
- [01:03]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Erna Bryan. Good morning.
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Mary Reichert
Up next, Kent Covington has today's news.
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Erna Bryan
Cameras flashed in Istanbul, Turkey, as negotiators from Russia and Ukraine met across the table Wednesday for a third round of peace talks. Ukraine wants the meeting to lay the groundwork for a summit between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. But Moscow has played down any expectations of a breakthrough. Meanwhile, the White House says President Trump remains ready to impose heavy secondary sanctions against Russia if there is no peace deal in place soon. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said Trump is talking to lawmakers in Washington about those sanctions.
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Daniel Buck
But the president has always maintained, you know, he's the commander in chief and the president for a reason. And so any decisions that are made with respects respect to sanctions, the president wants to reserve that authority and that right to himself.
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Erna Bryan
Trump gave Putin 50 days to sign a peace deal or else the US will hit Russia's trading partners with heavy sanctions. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has confirmed to reporters that she has referred former President Barack Obama and several of his aides to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
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Kent Covington
The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly point to.
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Mary Reichert
President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment. There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact.
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Erna Bryan
She told reporters at the White House that the Obama administration manipulated intelligence documents to craft a false narrative that Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia ahead of the 2016 election. Gabbard also released a declassified report from the Republican Lighthouse Intelligence Committee that scrutinized the handling of the so called Russia probe. The current chairman of that committee, Rick Crawford, says Trump was the victim of political activists inside the intelligence community.
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Myrna Brown
Well, I think this is really sad.
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Erna Bryan
That this fraud was perpetrated on the American people for almost eight years now and without any accountability. But the top Democrat on the Senate Intel Committee, Mark Warner, fired back. He said it is just another reckless act by the director of National Intelligence, so desperate to please Donald Trump that she's willing to risk classified sources. Eddie charged that Gabbard and other Trump officials are the ones politicizing intelligence, not the Obama administration. Former President Obama's office has dismissed the accusation as a distraction. Tulsi Gabbard also fielded questions yesterday about the Jeffrey Epstein case. She told reporters that she has seen no evidence to suggest that Epstein had any sort of a written list of clients naming those tied to his trafficking of underage girls.
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Mary Reichert
If anything comes before me that changes that in any way support the president's statement. If any credible evidence comes forward, he wants the American people to see it.
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Erna Bryan
Meantime, at the Capitol, a House subcommittee has voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for files in the Epstein investigation. The bipartisan 8 to 2 vote came just hours before the House was scheduled to end its July work session and leave Washington for a month long break. The committee has also subpoenaed Epstein's former associate Ghislaine Maxwell for a deposition next month. She would answer those questions from a federal prison. President Trump on Wednesday touted a new trade agreement with Japan, which he announced one day earlier. He said he is cutting the planned 25% tariff on Japanese imports.
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Cal Thomas
We agreed to reduce it to 15 based on the fact that Japan has agreed for the first time ever to open up its country to trade.
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Erna Bryan
The president said American businesses will have greater access than ever before to the Japanese market. He also said Japan is planning a new investment of more than a half trillion dollars in the United States. State lawmakers in Texas have begun a review of the devastating flash floods that struck Central Texas earlier this month, killing at least 137 people. Nim Kidd is the head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management. He told lawmakers I grieve for those.
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Lindsay Mast
The families and those lives that have been devastated, the sadness and pain for the families to find and the friends of the 136, now 137 fatalities. It will not leave me and it.
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Myrna Brown
Drives us forward to do a better job.
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Erna Bryan
Republican State Senator Charles Perry said the Senate panel is not seeking to assign blame or, quote, armchair quarterback as they review the disaster.
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Lindsay Mast
To do so would undermine the very.
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Cal Thomas
Goal in the committee's creation.
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Erna Bryan
The goal of our committee is to.
- [05:51]
Cal Thomas
Find constructive policy solutions which will prevent future loss of life.
- [05:55]
Erna Bryan
State and county emergency response officials are testifying, but no officials from Kerr county, the hardest hit Area 27 campers and counselors, mostly children, were killed at an all girls Christian summer camp in Kerr county, which does not have a warning system along the river. New York prosecutors are backing down in a legal battle with a Christian photographer over her First Amendment rights. World's Benjamin Eicher has more.
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Lindsay Mast
Prosecutors have agreed not to enforce the state's non discrimination law against photographer Emily Carpenter. She argued the law would force her to violate her religious beliefs by photographing same sex weddings. The settlement ends a years long legal fight. Before the agreement, Carpenter had faced the possibility of losing her business, jail time and fines up to $100,000. She was represented by the nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom. Attorney Jonathan Scruggs told World that while the settlement directly protects only Carpenter, it sends a clear message that Christians across New York will have stronger for living out their faith. For World, I'm Benjamin Eicher.
- [07:08]
Erna Bryan
And I'm Kent Covington. Still ahead, state attorneys general urged the NCAA to restore fairness in women's sports. And later, the decline of late night TV comedy. This is the world and everything in.
- [07:39]
Myrna Brown
It'S Thursday, the 24th of July. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the World and Everything In It. Good morning. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [07:47]
Mary Reichert
And I'm Mary Reichard. Up first, the ongoing fight to restore fairness to female sports. In recent weeks, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee updated its athlete safety policy to align with President Trump's executive order barring men from competing in women's sports.
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Lindsay Mast
I want to make this a really good signature because this is a big one, right?
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Myrna Brown
That's a big shift for the nearly 50 national sports bodies under the USOPC. They'll have to comply as well. USA Swimming is reviewing what changes it may need to make. And USA Fencing already started in August. Its new policy is set to go into effect, allowing only females to compete in the women's category. Everyone else will compete in the men's category. The change by the Olympic committee could trickle down from the elite level to local sports clubs.
- [08:44]
Mary Reichert
And there is more. This week, attorneys general from 27 states sent a letter to the NCAA urging the collegiate sports body to reverse course. They want championships, titles, awards and records returned to the women who lost them to men. Ohio Attorney General David Yost was one of those who signed the letter. World's Lindsay Mast talked to him yesterday about what it's asking of the ncaa.
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Myrna Brown
Attorney General Yost, thanks so much for being with us.
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Lindsay Mast
It's good to be with you.
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Myrna Brown
If you could walk us through what this letter is requesting of the NCAA what would be the ideal outcome of this letter?
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Kent Covington
Well, sure.
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Lindsay Mast
During the somewhat chaotic years that we just came through, there were a number of female athletes who competed and placed just out of the medals or were displaced from a championship and competed against a biological male who had a different body type and superior strength. So we think that particularly after the Scrametti decision, which was not on point but kind of affirming that gender preferences are not really constitutionally required, at the very least, it's the right thing to do to go back and make this right if the winning woman in a female sport ought to have the medal or the title.
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Myrna Brown
The letter mentions Title IX protections for athletes. Can you tell me what is the relationship between what the letter is asking and Title IX protections for women?
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Kent Covington
Yeah.
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Lindsay Mast
Back in the bad old days, before you were born, men had the ability to do sports, and it taught them competition and resilience and tenacity and leadership and all these kinds of things, and forged important relationships that survived the school years and helped them later in life. Women had no such opportunities. And Title IX was designed to make sure that if a school is providing sports, it provided for boys and girls because both of them are equally going to benefit from the lessons and the experiences of sports. But in order to do that and have meaningful competition, you have to segregate the sexes. There's a reason there's a wnba. Caitlin Clark is an amazing athlete. She would not want to post up against LeBron James. So the title nine stands for the proposition that women get equal opportunities in sports. When those lines started getting blurred, those guarantees and statutes started meaning less and less. And yet somebody like Riley Gaines, who is, you know, a champion and is displaced by Leah Thomas, a biological male, things are starting to be upside down. So our letter is to say, let's turn back right side up and recognize that this experiment just did not end well.
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Myrna Brown
Sure. Talk to me a little bit about how the restoration of titles and records helps not only past female athletes, but. But also future ones.
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Lindsay Mast
Yes. So if you have a school record that Is exceeded by 12% of the previous female record holder by a male competing against women, that's a pretty big jump. And as athletes continue to get better, you know, maybe someday there would be somebody that would think I could get there. But most records are hard to break. They represent an ever higher peak of performance. And when you introduce an XY chromosome pair into a double X league, you're setting the bar artificially high in a way that it just undermines the entire idea of a legal protection for women's sports.
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Myrna Brown
Now, we just reported the US Olympic Committee just changed its rules regarding men and women's sports. So with this letter and all else that's gone on since the Trump executive order, Attorney General Yost, if this were a road, where do you think we are on the journey to restoring fairness in women's sports?
- [13:11]
Lindsay Mast
Well, I think there's a way to go because there's an awful lot of pockets of resistance out there. Every week I'm hearing about some school district or the other where a group of progressives on a school board or progressive faculty is trying to protect the status of transgender athletes to males who are transgender to compete in female areas. We also see the same kind of fights going on regarding separate locker and changing facilities and bathrooms. So I think there's a way to go before we can say we've reached the exit ramp. But I'm hopeful we're at least out of the traffic jam at this point.
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Myrna Brown
Dave Yost is the attorney general of Ohio. Thank you so much for your time.
- [14:02]
Lindsay Mast
It was wonderful to talk with you. Thank you.
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Myrna Brown
Now, we did reach out to the NCAA yesterday. They responded to our inquiry, but did not directly answer a question as to whether they would restore any titles, wins or awards to female athletes who lost them to male competitors. Reporting for world, I'm Lindsay Mast.
- [14:23]
Mary Reichert
Coming up next on THE WORLD and everything in it, an update on smartphone bans. Public schools across the country are tightening restrictions on student phone use in the classroom. And a new report from the Parents Television and Media council says all 50 states are encouraging the move. Teachers may sigh in relief, but safety conscious parents may not.
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Myrna Brown
And while momentum is strong, some experts say enforcing these bans is problematic. World's Mary Munsey reports.
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Daniel Buck
In 2022, former English teacher Daniel Buck had what he calls his Road to Damascus moment about smartphones.
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Lindsay Mast
When I was teaching, the students came in and it was just silent for the first 15 minutes before the bell rang because all the students were just sitting in their own little corner staring at their phones. And I thought, this is wrong. This is unhealthy. This is almost dystopian.
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Daniel Buck
Buck used to think of himself as an optimist about technology in the classroom. But after realizing the harm that phones can cause to developing brains, he started championing phone free classrooms now as director of the conservative Education Reform Network at the American Enterprise Institute. And he's in favor of phone bans for schools.
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Lindsay Mast
And so it's kind of interrupting both the academic and the social benefits that schools give to children, which is the whole reason that we send them to school for them to learn and make friends.
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Daniel Buck
A host of educators and state lawmakers have also called for phone bans at public schools, and their efforts seem to be paying off. Parents Television and Media Council Vice President of Programs Melissa Henson Every state in.
- [16:09]
Kent Covington
The country has at least worked towards some form of restriction or prohibition on smartphones in the classrooms.
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Daniel Buck
Restrictions on phones during the school day vary state by state. More than a dozen states have banned or await legislative approval to ban phones. Bell to bell, this means that the devices must stay locked up even during breaks or lunchtime. Some states only curb smartphone use during.
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Kent Covington
Class hours, so some states are still leaving it up to the districts to decide on implementation. But what we are seeing is widespread support across the country for limiting kids ability to be on their phones and personal digital devices during school hours.
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Daniel Buck
Initially, most public schools had a positive approach to personal technology. Beginning in the 2000s, schools started issuing laptops to students. Some districts even encouraged students to bring their own devices to class. They focused on helping students become media literate as soon as possible.
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Kent Covington
A lot of that has been driven by the tech industry and frankly I would say a lot of fear mongering about our kids being left behind in a digital world or a technocratic world. If your child isn't learning how to code in grade three, they're going to be left out of the job market.
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Daniel Buck
That tech centric perspective has changed. Smartphones have taken a noticeable toll on academic performance and social interactions. They're also a disciplinary nightmare for educators.
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Kent Covington
And it winds up devolving into a battle of wills between teachers and students. And quite often teachers are spending a considerable amount of class time not teaching the subject, but just getting kids to put the devices away.
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Daniel Buck
In 2023, Florida became the first state to ban phones in public school classrooms. Since last fall, more than 30 states have followed their lead and advanced or passed phone ban policies. Henson credits the Anxious Generation author Jonathan Haidt for the more recent momentum that.
- [18:16]
Kent Covington
What he was able to do was pull together all of this social science and present really a very compelling case for why having kids chronically online is really negatively impacting not only their physical health but also their mental health.
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Daniel Buck
According to 2024 data from ED Choice, a little over half of teachers think phones should be allowed in school, compared to almost three quarters of parents. Some parents have safety concerns. Colin Ritter is a senior research associate with Ed Choice.
- [18:51]
Kent Covington
But if you think back to 2022 or 2023 with Uvalde in Texas and Nashville and there have really been tragic instances in schools where safety is not always guaranteed. And so parents are really that kind of reinvigorates the argument that cell phones are really necessary.
- [19:08]
Daniel Buck
Some experts say that in the event of a school shooting, parents can't necessarily keep children safe by being able to call or text them. Here's Melissa Henson.
- [19:19]
Kent Covington
You calling from, you know, 15 or 20 miles away from your office, you don't have all the information that the first responders have. You're not going to be able to give your child the best advice about how to be safe in those situations. So I think we just need to recognize that reassurance is more for us as parents. It's not going to really help our child that much in those scenarios.
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Daniel Buck
But some parents will want to stay in touch. Ed Choice's Colin Ritter says some may even choose to pull their children out of phone free districts.
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Lindsay Mast
This has broader implications of okay, if.
- [19:51]
Kent Covington
My school bans technology and cell phones.
- [19:54]
Lindsay Mast
Completely and I just, that's not something.
- [19:56]
Kent Covington
I want as a parent, I should.
- [19:58]
Myrna Brown
Be able to look elsewhere.
- [20:00]
Daniel Buck
When it comes to implementing the statewide bans, schools might prove to be the greatest obstacles. American Enterprise Institute's Daniel Buck.
- [20:09]
Lindsay Mast
Once again, I actually think the most interesting conversation is going to be the enforcement of these policies where a lot of schools won't enforce even basic dress code and now we're asking them to enforce a phone ban. A lot of schools already have restrictions on phones, but no admin kind of has the spine to enforce it. And that's really going to be the critical juncture is do the policymakers and administration, are they willing to enforce their own rule? They said.
- [20:39]
Daniel Buck
Reporting for world, I'm Mary Muncie.
- [20:54]
Erna Bryan
Additional support comes from Cedarville University equipping students for professional excellence, excellence and gospel impact. Cedarville. Edu World from Dort University offering fast track ag degrees to help graduates make.
- [21:12]
Lindsay Mast
An impact in agriculture sooner Dort.
- [21:16]
Erna Bryan
Edu and from the Joshua program at St. Dunstan's Academy in the Blue Ridge Mountains, work, prayer and adventure for young men. Stdunstonsacademy.org.
- [21:37]
Mary Reichert
Well, Myrna, would you trust a robot to cook your dinner? Well, get a load of this.
- [21:43]
Joe Kapapa
Welcome to my kitchen. I see you've come to learn a.
- [21:45]
Lindsay Mast
Bit of my magic.
- [21:46]
Myrna Brown
Today I'm going to show you my.
- [21:48]
Lindsay Mast
Pan seared shrimp recipe.
- [21:50]
Mary Reichert
Well, in Dubai, that magic is code. A new restaurant called Woohoo is set to open in September offering dining of the future, powered by an AI language model called Chef Iman. That's AI plus man.
- [22:03]
Myrna Brown
I'm constantly learning from feedback loops with Chef Reif and our test kitchen. It's a blend of science and lived culinary experience.
- [22:12]
Mary Reichert
Humans still do the cooking, at least for now, but Eiman writes up the menu, curates the flavors and and serves up data driven dishes. As one man on the street put it, if it's not in Dubai, where else in the world the word is Chef Iman doesn't yell in the kitchen yet. It's the world and everything in it.
- [22:41]
Myrna Brown
Today is Thursday, July 24th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [22:50]
Mary Reichert
And I'm Mary Reichard. Coming next on the World and Everything in it. Peace in Africa. It's been four weeks now since President Trump brokered a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and its eastern neighbor, Rwanda. The agreement promises us access to critical minerals. But more than that, it's meant to bring an end to decades of deadly conflict between the Congo and Rwanda.
- [23:13]
Myrna Brown
Is this a turning point or just another promise that will fall flat? That's the question I asked two Congolese natives who've been waiting and hoping for peace their entire lives.
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Cal Thomas
So we're here today to celebrate a glorious triumph and that's what it is for the cause of peace.
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Myrna Brown
Friday, June 27th. President Trump in the Oval Office surrounded by cabinet members, reporters and two African leaders. The Democratic Republic of the Congo's Foreign Minister, Therese Caikwamba Wagner.
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Joe Kapapa
First of all, thank you and congratulations indeed for this remarkable milestone.
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Myrna Brown
And the Foreign Minister of Rwanda, Olivier Duhugihere.
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Joe Kapapa
This is indeed a historical day.
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Myrna Brown
This deal promises both countries will will pursue peace and refrain from acts of aggression. But the people who have lived through decades of war and bloodshed aren't sure promises on paper will ultimately make a difference. 33 year old Joe Kapapa is watching and listening to the press conference from his office in Kinshasa, the capital of the drc.
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Joe Kapapa
I'm deeply grateful to President Trump and his administration. He's not saying, okay, let's fight again, but he's saying make peace. That's the word that I wanted to hear.
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Myrna Brown
Thousands of miles away from Kpapa, a 26 year old graduate student takes a break from her studies in Massachusetts. She also leans into her screen.
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Joe Kapapa
I don't know what to think about this, but to be honest, I cannot judge now. Maybe something good will result from it. Just have to give it time.
- [24:52]
Myrna Brown
Both grew up in the DRC and earned scholarships to study in the United States. But the two African scholars have very different Experiences. Experiences. The young Congolese woman, who does not want to reveal her identity, almost whispers when she speaks.
- [25:09]
Joe Kapapa
Growing up, whispering became like a language because. Because of the fear. Just. I don't know how fear can move from one person to another, but it became like something that we grew up in.
- [25:21]
Myrna Brown
Her family was forced to leave their home in the eastern part of the Congo and fled to the southernmost part of the nation. She's too young to remember that journey, but can quickly recall the stories passed down by her parents. The cousin, for instance, who led them safely through the dense forest, accidentally moved.
- [25:41]
Joe Kapapa
And he went on the street, and that's how the rockets got him and he died.
- [25:47]
Myrna Brown
The extremely sheltered life they lived, even when they reached their new home.
- [25:51]
Joe Kapapa
When we arrived in the southern states, my mother was always closing all our doors. We were not allowed to play outside.
- [26:00]
Myrna Brown
And the nightly rocket attacks.
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Joe Kapapa
We were sitting in the house, and there was a rocket which hit my neighbor's door. And that woman was sitting at the door of the house, and there was a light which came to her face and divide her face into two. So we went to rescue her, but other face was gone. There was only a head with no nose, no eyes, no lips.
- [26:31]
Myrna Brown
Joe Kapapa was also a child when the conflict began in the drc. After his graduate studies in the United States, he returned to the Congo to start a leadership center. Originally a colony of Belgium, the DRC achieved its independence in 1960. It's primarily a Christian nation, Africa's second largest country, and it's rich in mineral wealth.
- [26:55]
Joe Kapapa
Congolese are like beggars sitting on the mountain of gold. One thing I know for sure is one of the richest countries in terms of natural resources that can contribute to make the world a better place if it's peaceful.
- [27:06]
Myrna Brown
But peace in the nation has been elusive. The first Congo war began in 1996, two years after the Rwandan genocide. That's when Hutu extremists killed tens of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda. Kapapa says those who survived crossed the Congolese border and settled in the eastern part of the drc.
- [27:30]
Joe Kapapa
So they stayed there. But at the point they felt that they were marginalized, they were not considered Congolese, and some of them started revolting.
- [27:39]
Myrna Brown
A small subset of those refugees organized militias within the nation. That led to the Second Congo War. War in 1998, widely considered the deadliest since World War II. One of the most prominent rebel groups to Emerge was the March 23rd Movement, also known as the M23, a militant group led by ethnic Tutsis and believed to be backed by Rwanda, the M23 takes its name from a peace agreement that was signed with the previous Tutsi led rebel group on March 23, 2009. In January of this year, M23 rebels seized the city of Goma in the eastern region of the drc. Kapapa says the violence left hundreds dead, thousands injured and even more displaced.
- [28:29]
Joe Kapapa
It's not possible to see in this world that people are treating human beings this way. Yeah, it's really so sad, you know, Congo is one of the countries where it's sad to be a woman back.
- [28:40]
Myrna Brown
In her dorm room. The young Congolese graduate student agrees and has one more story to tell.
- [28:46]
Joe Kapapa
I remember one night in 2020, I know that my neighbors were victims because you could hear your neighbor windows being cracked and people begging for their lives. I always pray that God dispersed from that, she says.
- [29:09]
Myrna Brown
God did. She crouched low in a corner of their tiny home and whispered the Lord's Prayer in Swahili. Both the young Congolese woman and Joel Kapapa say they believe God will continue to answer their prayers for peace.
- [29:27]
Joe Kapapa
Faith is what keeps me going and believing and hoping that maybe things will change. But I'm hopeful because I'm a child of God. I believe that whenever things are impossible for men with God is possible. I think that the problem of Congo, Rwanda is not a physical thing, it's a spiritual thing. That's why I'm so convinced God is going to intervene.
- [29:48]
Myrna Brown
Just two days ago, the Congo government signed yet another agreement, this one with the militant group M23. Under the terms, the two parties resolved to establish a ceasefire and make peace a priority. Today is Thursday, July 24th. Good morning. This is the World and everything in it from listener supported World Radio, I'm Myrna Brown.
- [30:28]
Mary Reichert
And I'm Mary Reichard. News of trouble in the land of late night television is really no surprise. Here's world commentator Cal Thomas.
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Cal Thomas
Stephen Colbert opened his July 18 show this way.
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Lindsay Mast
Before we start the show, I want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending the Late.
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Cal Thomas
Show in May and critics of the decision are claiming politics is the reason. Reason they're right. Except it's the show that's been too political. During its 10 year run, it has been a conduit for Democrats to attack President Trump and Republicans. There are rumors within the entertainment industry that Jimmy Kimmel's late night show on ABC may also be headed for the door Nothing heard yet about the future of Jimmy Fallon and the Tonight Show. While Colbert show was the top rated broadcast late show, it had few advertisers, a staff of 100, and Colbert was reportedly being paid more than $15 million to do. The people of a certain age will recall the name. Steve Allen, who invented the Tonight show format on NBC.
- [31:38]
Lindsay Mast
Thanks a million. Well, to you folks who are just.
- [31:40]
Cal Thomas
Joining us, I want to say we're.
- [31:42]
Lindsay Mast
Glad to have you with us and I think we are going to give you 60 minutes. That'll give you something to talk about there before we get off the air.
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Cal Thomas
Steve was pure entertainment. He was followed by Jack Parr who brought an intellectual depth to the show along with his unique brand of humor.
- [31:58]
Erna Bryan
What a nice group.
- [31:59]
Cal Thomas
And away we go. Johnny Carson and Jay Leno followed, avoiding partisan politics. In a 1979 interview with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes, Carson was asked why he didn't do politics on his show.
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Lindsay Mast
Tell me the last time that Jack Benny, Red Skelton, any comedian used his show to do serious issues. That's not what I'm there for. Can't they see that it's a real danger once you start that you start to get that self important feeling that.
- [32:28]
Erna Bryan
What you say has great evil.
- [32:29]
Lindsay Mast
And you know, strangely enough, you could use that show as a forum, you could sway people and I don't think.
- [32:34]
Erna Bryan
You should as an entertainer.
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Cal Thomas
That attitude is what kept Carson on NBC for nearly 30 years. He was beloved by viewers from both sides of the aisle. He occasionally had politicians as guests, like Republicans Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and Democrats Bill Clinton and then California Jerry Brown. But Carson let the politicians make their political points while he kept to the middle of the road. There's very little that government can do as efficiently and as economically as the people can do.
- [33:01]
Erna Bryan
And if government would shut the doors and sneak away for about three weeks.
- [33:04]
Lindsay Mast
We'D never miss them.
- [33:05]
Cal Thomas
If the people, anybody you had in mind, particularly I used to stay up late watching the monologues and some of the interviews, beginning with Allen and ending with Leno. It's not worth it anymore. It's the same with many of the award shows. It's why ratings for the Oscars and Emmys have fallen. After a long day that usually includes exposure to politics and conversations or cable tv, I suspect many people are hungry for entertainment. There's another reason why people are watching less late night TV. We can access excerpts of the shows on YouTube and other platforms while getting a good night's sleep. Despite overwhelming evidence that people are tired of politics replacing comedy, the left is determined to keep force feeding us the same political gruel. This includes speeches from award winners lecturing viewers they are now suffering the consequences of their misguided decision. On the day CBS announced cancellation of his show and the vacating of his time slot, Colbert denounced the network. He had been critical of CBS before when network owner Paramount agreed to a $16 million settlement with President Trump over a Bill Whitaker's 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris before the election. Trump had claimed the interview was heavily and deceptively edited to make her sound better. Colbert's denunciations of his employer violate another truth don't bite the hand that feeds you. I'm Cal Thomas.
- [34:38]
Mary Reichert
Tomorrow, Katie McCoy is back for Culture Friday, and Colin Garbarino reviews the new movie reboot of Marvel's First Family in the Fantastic Four. Plus your listener feedback. That and more tomorrow. I'm Mary Reichert.
- [34:52]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. Our thanks to Becca McCallum for writing and reporting our school cell phone band story. Today, 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 records that the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death. But they found none. Though many false witnesses came forward at last, two came forward and said, this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. And the high priest stood up and said, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus remained silent, and the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Verses 59 through 62 of Matthew 26 go now in grace and peace.