3.18.26 Politics of the Iran war, Haiti’s next election, and astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore

Good morning, the war in Iran and what victory might look like.

Anyone who says that we're already losing was a kind of saying ice power is losing,

who he hadn't made it early on within two weeks of D-Day.

That's ahead on Washington Wednesday with Hunter Baker.

Also, today World Tour Haiti prepares for its first elections in a decade.

Later, an astronaut on grit, faith, and getting stuck in space.

We were in a position where we didn't plan to be there and couldn't leave,

but ultimately the Lord put us there.

And World Commentator, Cheney B. Cheney, on the purpose we were made for.

It's Wednesday, March 18th.

This is the world and everything in it from listener-supported world radio.

I'm Lindsay Mast.

And I'm Nick Iker. Good morning.

Up next, Kent Covington has today's news.

At the White House, on Tuesday, President Trump welcomed Ireland's Prime Minister and the Oval Office.

Well, thank you very much. It's a great honor to have T-Shop Martin from Ireland and

thank you very much for being here.

He set the two planned to talk at length about trade, but for reporters invited into the room,

the war in Iran was top of mind.

The president again said the military mission is going extremely well,

systematically devastating Iran's military and the regime's ability to wage war.

If we left right now, it would take 10 years for them to rebuild.

But we're not ready to leave yet, but we will be leaving in the near future.

Prime Minister Martin, for his part, said Ireland's official position is to emphasize diplomacy.

We have to continue to work to see. Can we bring peace

to Iran? Where Iranians can live in peace again. The people at the Middle East can live in peace.

Trump this week said U.S.

and Iranian officials have begun talks aimed at ending the war,

but he said it's tough in part because it's unclear who is actually in charge in Iran right now.

Main time, Israel says it has killed two more of Iran's most powerful senior leaders and

airstrikes. Ali Larjani headed Iran's Supreme National Security Council and had been widely

seen as the country's defacto leader, given that it's newly named Supreme Leader had yet to be

seen in public. Also killed was besiege commander Gholmresa Salamani, whose forces brutally cracked

down on protesters recently killing tens of thousands of Iranians.

Trump on Tuesday also said that he's not happy that many other nations are not stepping up to help

guard the straight-of-for-move from Iranian attacks. He particularly called out NATO allies.

NATO is making a very foolish mistake and I've long said that I wonder whether or not

NATO would ever be there for us. So this was a great test.

He said of NATO, quote, we helped them and they didn't help us and he hinted it possible

consequences for that, but he did not elaborate. At the same time, though, he said the U.S.

doesn't actually need their help and that the U.S.

military is capable of fully achieving its mission without them.

The Iranian regime says only certain countries will be allowed to send ships through the

strait, the attacks on oil tankers and refining facilities of caused oil prices to spike.

The president also reacted to news that the administration's top counterterrorism official

had resigned in protest over the war.

Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security.

Joe Ket was the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He issued a highly critical

statement claiming that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States. He also said he

believes it's clear that the U.S. started the war due to pressure from Israel.

Ket is a veteran and a former Washington state political candidate.

President Trump added that when he read the resignation letter,

I realize that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat.

Iran was a threat every country realized what a threat Iran was. The question is whether or not

they wanted to do something about it. Though again, Ket's statement emphasized his belief that

Iran posed no imminent threat. The president, though, insists that it did.

Also during that meeting, Trump spoke to the crisis in Cuba, saying that it's in very bad

shape and adding quote, we'll be doing something in Cuba very soon. He added that Cuban leaders are

now in talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also in the Oval Office at the time,

and the Secretary told reporters. The bottom line is, their economy doesn't work. It's a

non-functional economy. It's an economy that has survived, has survived on subsidies from the Soviet

Union and now from Venezuela. They don't get subsidies anymore, so they're in a lot of trouble.

And the people in charge, they don't know how to fix it. So they have to get new people in charge.

Cuba has been enduring its third nationwide blackout in four months. Electricity is slowly

being restored to the hospitals and some homes, but officials warned that the crumbling power grid

could fail again. That comes amid a U.S. energy blockade of Cuba.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky traveled to London Tuesday to address members of the

British Parliament in person about Ukraine's ongoing war against Russian invaders.

British Prime Minister Kier Starmer emphasized the importance that the world not forget about the

Russia-Ukraine conflict. Zelensky said Ukraine has a lot to offer its allies in terms of what

it's learning from this war. The world has entered a completely new time, a time of drones,

a time of AI. He would not say that Ukraine has gained expertise in the construction of so-called

interceptor drones, and that he's offering that expertise to Kiev's allies.

We are capable of producing at least 2,000 effective and combat-proof interceptors every day.

We can produce more, it depends on the investment. We need about 1,000 interceptors a day,

and we can supply at least another 1,000 a day to our allies.

Britain wants to help Ukraine support Gulf countries in the Middle East under regular attack from Iran.

The U.S. Senate kicked off debate on a voter-verification bill Thursday, with no end in sight,

World's Carolina Lumeta reports now from the Capitol.

The Save America Act would require voters to prove citizenship before registering to vote,

and to show photo ID before casting a ballot. President Trump wants to add a ban on most

mail-in ballots, along with bans on men competing in women's sports and transgender surgeries for

minors. The Senate is considering the bill as a so-called message from the House,

which allowed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to start debate on it yesterday,

with a simple majority, rather than the typical 60 vote threshold.

Unlike a filibuster, Sanders can pause this extended debate and resume at the next morning,

allowing it to stretch across multiple days. Thune told reporters that he expects a robust debate,

with no timetable on when at my end. Reporting for World, I'm Carolina Lumeta in Washington.

And I'm Kent Covington. Straight ahead,

Hunter Baker is here for Washington Wednesday, plus Astrodot, which will more on his unexpectedly

long stay in space. This is the world and everything in it.

It's Wednesday, March 18th. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the world and everything

in it. Good morning. I'm Lindsay Mast. And I'm Nick Eichert. Time now for Washington Wednesday,

and joining us is political scientist Hunter Baker. Hunter is a world opinions contributor,

and he is our regular Washington Wednesday analyst. Good morning, Hunter.

Good morning. So as we were preparing this, Hunter, you said something I really wanted to pursue

with you, and that's your view that the president has in effect wagered his presidency on the outcome

of the Iran War. Pretty straightforward notion, but I wonder whether you mean by that,

that it's a close enough proxy for the midterm elections. IE, you lose in Iran, you lose the midterms,

but winning in Iran does does that actually translate into winning politically that way?

I think this is the whole ball of wax for him. Going after Iran is something that probably other

American presidents have wanted to do, but have been intimidated by the task because it is a big

task and we see that. They are the number one world sponsor of terror. They did exact a very high

toll for us during the war on terror when we were trying to basically avenge the September 11 attacks

and to sort of build a new order of democracy and freedom in the Middle East. We have now gone after

them in part because of their nuclear ambitions and their other aggression, and this is turning out

to be a very big job. You know, we talked about maybe it's a few days and maybe the Israelis would

be doing something for a few weeks, but it looks like it's going to take considerably longer to unfold.

This is going to be a much bigger challenge in complicating matters. And this is why I say that

Trump has really staked his whole presidency on it is the Strait of Hormuz. And we mentioned that

before that the Strait of Hormuz is affecting the world oil equation and we've seen the prices

shoot straight up at the pump and that's very upsetting to people. It's one of the most attention

getting sort of prices, but really it has an impact worldwide. And so there's the domestic part.

Americans are extremely wary about another Middle Eastern military adventure. They're going to be

very unhappy with pain at the pump if that continues. There's a lot at stake domestically,

internationally, and the people that were up against in Iran, they know that. And so their goal

is to drag this thing out as much as possible and to cause as much pain as possible.

Absolutely. And that's why I framed the question as I did because I can see how losing or having

a difficult time getting bogged down in Iran translates into losing, but I wonder what's the

upside? You know, if you win, then what's the prize politically? If you win, it's an incredible

prize. If you win, you have vastly contributed to the stability of the world. I mean, if you turn

around that regime in Iran, it is incredibly good for so many different people and good for us.

They've been a thorn in our side for 50 years. But hunter, does it translate to domestic politics?

Yes. I think it does because this would be different from the terrible and humiliating failures

that we had in Iraq and most notably in Afghanistan. If you come away from this with a win,

then you change the whole narrative. And then you look like somebody who was able to do

what others were not able to do. You know, it adds to that idea that Trump is a real winner and

that when he undertakes something, he's serious about it and he's going to win.

Well, then let's talk about defining victory. It simply does not seem reasonable that the US

would lose this one because of the overwhelming might of America. But victory has a political

definition, right? And already that's being talked about. Senator Tom Cotton had this to say,

let's hear it. Anyone who says that we're already losing or in a quagmire, the president can't

succeed because of the threat that Iran poses to the whole news right now is akin to saying

Eisenhower is losing because he hadn't made it Berlin within two weeks of D-Day. It's going to

take some time to achieve those military objectives. But in the end, we will have defang the Iran

energy, their missile forces, their drones, their missile launchers, their manufacturing capability

will be ended. Their nuclear program will once again be pulverized.

Not a bad point, but I remember the number being four to five weeks or maybe a little longer.

What about you? How do you define success or victory?

So if we have to actually go all in, right? You know, major, major league troops on the ground

in Iran, there is no telling how long that could last, how much it would cost, how many lives

will be lost. I think that the gambit is that we attack as we have, carg island, and try to get

control of sort of the hub of their oil exportation business. And the idea is if we do that,

then we choke off the revenue to the regime, maybe that forces them to come to the table.

So that's the game. We have to force them to come to the table. And if we do that,

then success or victory becomes something that I could see happening.

Well, Hunter, I did want to ask you about the counterterrorism official resigning over the war.

Joe Kent is his name. He's the highest ranking administration official to quit over opposition

to the conflict. He complained about the sway of the Israel lobby, saying that it has too much

influence over American policy. He said that as far as the US is concerned, Iran posed no

imminent threat. Now, before you can say he sounds an awful lot like Tucker Carlson, the New

York Times, had a story saying that the two of them are close friends. I'd now like to quote a

close friend of ours, world opinions writer Eric Erickson. He posted this yesterday on X,

and this is a direct quote from that. There is a rule in conservative politics, Erickson says,

that a man is rarely to the right of his wife. Joe Kent lost his first wife in war and

remarried a woman who now works for a far left anti-Israel pro-Iran website. Kent should never

have been appointed to anything in the Trump administration, that from Eric Erickson. A lot

going on here, Hunter, what do you think about all this? First of all, I kind of wonder about that

in conservative politics because there have been an awful lot of Republican presidents who I

would say were on the right of their wives politically. Nevertheless, let's take this issue up.

For a long time, the, let's call it Israel skeptical sort of a group has been a deep minority

in Republican politics, but they have been there. Pat Buchanan has often sort of occupied that

position in the Republican Party. He was able to survive being sort of a Israel skeptical

in his career, but you look at somebody else like the former national review writer who's long dead

now. Joe Sobrin. Joe Sobrin was so skeptical of Israel that he eventually lost his

perched national review. And this viewpoint has been around with Republicans for a very long time.

Sometimes they make common cause with some Democrats, and we see it coming out again. And

this group, however large it is, they are gaining some influence. And I think they're gaining some

influence with some young conservative Christians who have begun to sort of question the alliance

with Israel. And so this is something that I think is becoming more prominent. I think it's

something that we're going to hear more often. And it hurts Trump a little bit. I think that some

of these folks allied with him on the view that he would be America first and not have the appearance

of doing something that Israel wants America to do for its own benefit. And so I think that this

is, you know, him, this guy, Joe Kent, as you pointed out, he's close to Tucker Carlson,

and we may hear more of this. Well, Hunter, since the war with Iran started,

there have been multiple attacks or attempted attacks on Americans, on American soil.

Investigators in Texas are looking into possible ties to terrorism in the deadly mass shooting at a

bar in Austin over the weekend. Chaos at Mayor Zoran Mamdoni's house, a man tries to ignite an

incendiary device during a protest, but is tackled by New York's finest. But we're also learning more

about a shooting this morning at Old Minion University in Virginia. That shooting left one person

dead to injured. The shooter is also deceased. Now, those three attacks are being investigated as

terrorism. A fourth attempted attack at a Jewish synagogue in school in Michigan is being officially

investigated as a targeted hate crime for the time being. We'll see reports say the suspect in

that case may have a brother with ties to Hezbollah. Now, I remember a time not so long ago when

any one of those would have prompted some sort of political response, maybe even a bipartisan

political response. But that doesn't seem to be happening here. Why? Well, these are all examples

of attacks that appear to be motivated by the action that we are taking in Iran. And there are

concerns, especially among the American left. And when we talk about the American left, we are

including a lot of the American media in that description, who are concerned with what they would

term Islamophobia. And so they are very worried that if we draw attention to attacks that are

carried out by Muslims, by radical Muslims, that they will then be participating in a sort of

castigation of Muslims in general. They're not going to highlight that. They're not going to

ask voters to kind of say, hmm, what's going on here. But nevertheless, that's what I think is

going on. I think that the idea of running with these stories would be counter to the American

media narrative. And that's why we're not hearing much about it. So, Hunter, I guess here's my

follow-up for you is as an American who likes to go places, places where other people are. It's

starting to feel less and less safe. And there was a time where I would have thought that the politicians

would prioritize that. What would it take to get the attention of politicians to where

some policies would either be enforced or changed or something that I would have expected, I don't

know, say some 24 and a half years ago, when this would not have been tolerated. But suddenly,

it's not only tolerated, but barely even spoken about. I would say that on the right side of the

equation, what you're going to hear is more focus on immigration, more focus on knowing who is

coming into the country. And figuring out whether there are any patterns that would tell us that

there are certain people that we need to keep an eye on. Donald Trump has suggested that we do

that sort of a thing. And on the left side, the interest is going to be in gun control or something

like that. But of course, with at least one of these attacks, I think that you had these young

men trying to throw improvised explosive devices. So, gun control laws wouldn't have helped us in

that instance. But the problem with this, as it is with everything for us right now, you know,

including something like the Save Act or any number of other potentially useful pieces of

legislation that we might address, is that almost nobody is dealing with it in terms of the common

good. Almost everything is being dealt with on a partisan basis or how it will hurt the other side

or help the other side in how we can avoid doing that. They don't want to give the other side a

win or they don't want to take a loss. But a lot of times, that's not the most important question at

all. The most important question is what's good for the American people? Hunter Baker is provoked

at North Greenville University. Hunter, thank you so much. Thank you.

Additional support comes from Truth for Life. And a book to share this Easter title,

The Man on the Middle Cross by Bible Teacher Alistair Beck, truthforlife.org slash world.

From Barnabas Aid, hope and support for our suffering brothers and sisters around the world.

Aid from Christians, through Christians, to Christians. Barnabas Aid.org.

And from the Master's University, equipping students for lives of faithfulness to the Master Jesus

Christ, masters.edu.

Coming up next on the world and everything in it, world tour.

Preparations are underway in Haiti for its first elections in 10 years. Last week marked the

deadline for registering a political party to rot. Haiti is currently racked with gang violence

and over half of its population lives in poverty. The country has been operating with an interim

government since the last president was assassinated in 2021. Even so, some say the country isn't ready

to hold a vote. World's Mary Muncie reports.

Junior look near Busan has lived in Haiti his whole life. He's 33 now and says he doesn't trust

the government to run the elections. And he has some good reasons. We have several governments

that came in different prime ministers and different like seven presidents. I think seven or

nine we've had in the past government. And they have not been able to do anything. Any change,

like nothing at all. The current interim government is made up of the same people who were in

power when former president Joe Benel Miles was assassinated in 2021. I have a feeling that the

people that are leading are, I mean, they're just there because they couldn't find anyone else.

Many of them will soon be called to testify in the trial of Moise's assassins.

Jury selection started in Florida last week. Meanwhile, more than half of the population

is facing food insecurity. Gangs control about 90% of the country's capital,

Porter Prince. And some reports say the violence is spreading. I don't see how some people

like in different parts of the country would be able to get to the polls. Porter Prince was the

economic hub of the country, but the gang problem has frustrated even the hope of economic development.

It's not surprising that you have violence and gangs because that's something that if you're

very poor, you don't have any alternative. Robert Fatton is a Haitian and a former professor of

government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia. The United Nations Children's Fund

estimates that about half of all gang members are children. Giving guns and weapons to people

of that age is a calamity and even if things unfold well, you have to disarm them then what do you

do with them because the trauma that exists is significant? Any new leader will need to address

these issues or at least have a plan to more than 300 political parties have registered in the

election. Many of them will not meet the requirements to be considered a party, but still that's a

record in Haiti. In the last election, there were a little less than 200. The government gives a

stipend to political parties that's supposed to go to things like campaign ads or visiting

constituents. So Fatton suspects that this uptick may be because of some promised financial support.

Given the level of corruption that we have in the political system, that a lot of that money is

going to go to the people with a very small group of people who form that political party.

The election is supposed to take place in August, but the current Prime Minister says it may be as

late as the end of the year. I don't think it's a very serious thing to consider elections at that

point, although the current government and the international community want the elections.

Fatton worries that whenever the elections happen, no one will trust the results.

He points to the last election in 2016 when President Moise came to power.

Something like only 15% of the population participated in those elections. The results were

continuously contested, and that made that Moise himself was a very contested leader,

and quite an unpopular leader, although when he was killed, his popularity with his death increased.

He says there haven't been many stable trustworthy elections in the country ever,

but people were at least able to walk the streets until 2010.

Haitians have been leaving the country for years, but after the earthquake, the US granted them

temporary protected status. As of 2024, almost a million Haitians live in the US.

It's unclear whether those living outside Haiti will be able to vote.

The government has said that it would have voting stations in the United States, in Canada,

in France, but I seriously doubt it, because to generate that is very complicated,

and I don't think the government has the money or the logistical support to do so.

Fatton says the first step to free and fair elections will be to remove the gangs.

The government plans to bring in a gang's oppression force from Chad,

but it's tried similar tactics before without success.

You need political stability, you need a certain degree of equity and you need economic development.

Are you do that given the current situation is really an immense task and problem for any government?

Even if you have the best government, the situation is dire.

Back in Haiti, Busan is not optimistic that any of the 300 parties will have the will or

ability to help the country. We need people to really think about the situation,

you know, about what's good for the country, but they just want you to vote, they just want

that power grab they're about to do. For now, Busan just hopes that the elections don't

bring more chaos, even if they don't bring the needed change. Reporting for World, I'm Mary Muncie.

While politics can certainly leave a person wanting to scream and in at least a few American

cities now, that's not just a figure of speech. Atlanta, for example, pent up people gather in

Piedmont Park. They gather for a thing called the Scream Club.

Yeah, I think you get the picture, pretty simple idea, show up, take a deep breath, and let her rip.

Dr. Kenneth Carter, a psychology professor at Emory University says there may actually be a method

to the madness. The Scream can bring out a lot of that sympathetic nervous system response,

but then afterwards, in people end up feeling a lot more calm. Yeah, healing may be

community, maybe, or maybe America's finally found a way to turn losing your mind into a group

activity. It's the world and everything in it.

Today is Wednesday, March 18th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I'm Lindsay Mast. And I'm Nick Eiker.

Coming next on the world and everything in it, we have a problem used in.

Captain Barry Butch Wilmore is a retired NASA astronaut and Navy test pilot. He's spent a

considerable amount of time and space a total of 464 days. He's done three space flights.

He spent 32 hours space walking. And most recently, he and fellow astronaut Sunni Williams

grabbed sensational international headlines for their time aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

They arrived at the International Space Station June 6th, 2024 and arrived home a year ago.

March 18th, 2025. Captain Wilmore retired from NASA a few months later after celebrating

25 years with the agency. And he's written a book about his unexpectedly long stay on the ISS.

That book is called Stuck in Space. It's available today. And Captain Wilmore joins us now to talk

about it. Captain, welcome. Great to be with you, Lindsay. Thank you for having me.

Thanks for being here. In the book, you mentioned that cassette tapes of John MacArthur's

ministry grace to you became your church for a period of time. You said you've probably listened

to more than a thousand of his sermons often while deployed. What is it about his teachings that

really grabs you? And how did those messages minister to you specifically while you were in space?

I think you just said it, teaching. Growing up, I heard sermons for each which there's nothing

wrong with sermons. I had never heard the Bible taught. The first time I heard the Bible taught,

it was a cassette tape that I turned out it was John MacArthur. I didn't never heard of the

gentleman. And it really rocked my world. I thought I was listening to a seminary class.

And then over more tapes, I got more tapes from a friend of mine. I continued to listen,

thinking it was a seminary class. And then when I found out it was preaching from the pulpit,

I was like, Oh, my goodness. I did not even know this existed. So teaching, you just said it.

Preaching is great. Message from the word from the pulpit is vital to our Christian growth.

But the teaching that I started to hear there and what I've heard since has just really changed

things for me. I love this. You wrote that the headline astronauts assimilate wouldn't get any clicks.

So the media used the word stranded. So first of all, explain the difference between being stranded

and the actual truth of the matter. And then perhaps why you chose the word stuck for your own book.

Yeah. Well, stuck, stranded. There are many definitions for both of those words, many items that

come to mind. And we were definitely in some of those definitions stuck and stranded. We were

in a position where we didn't plan to be there and couldn't leave for any number of reasons.

But ultimately the Lord put us there. It was him that put us there. He placed us in the situation.

He's sovereign. He's in control. And I know that. So I can't say from that standpoint, it was stuck.

The name of the book is that because I don't pick the name of the book. I've learned the publisher picks

the name. And of course, that's the way to, you know, general public knows this situation is being stuck.

And so that, that's why that is the title. And in the book, I have a, there's a section called

stuck in space. And I go into those details of saying what, why that, that's the title,

but truly, truly, as believers, we know there's no situation where we stuck. Even though we feel

stuck, some people feel stuck in a job, feel stuck in marriages and other situations.

But the Lord allows us to get in there and it's again, working out his plan and his purposes for

his glory and our good. And hopefully that for those that will believe and that we will learn and

grow from those situations we find ourselves in. You know, very, very, very few humans

have had the experience of looking down on earth from space. So I want to ask, what was your,

what is man that you are mindful of him moment when, when you were up there, you know, God has

an even broader perspective. But, but how did it change yours? I didn't change my, I didn't need

to go to space to learn anything about my Lord. His word is all sufficient. However, you say,

what was my, that moment, there wasn't a moment, there was moments all the time. Every time you look

out and you see the aurora, you know what it's, how it's protecting the earth from the nasty

radiations that's out in the cosmos as the magnetic waves orient that around our planet. And it's

just a visible part of the poles where the hydrogen G electrons into the atmosphere. And you see that

and you understand that is the Lord's protection, how he designed this planet to be inhabited.

As it says in Isaiah 45, 18. And so that and and and just sites in general the colors, the beauty,

the variety, it's it's not moment, it's moments every single day as you look and gaze from that

vantage point, which you know, few people in the history of mankind have had the opportunity to

to view that with their own eyes. And it's certainly, it makes you grateful, obviously, to our

savior that he gave me and this desire, my heart that I had, I've looked, been able to review

the planet from that vantage point. And just, you know, maybe a little bit it just give you that

appreciation all the more that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Last question, I'd like you to talk

for a second about grit that's loosely defined a combination of passion and perseverance. And from

the beginning of your story, you seem to have had a lot of it. I'm curious what aspects of your

life you think most help develop your sense of it. And when have you been most grateful that it was

something that you developed from a young age? Great is something that I don't think it's something

you wake up with is something that he's learned over time. And that's something about, you know,

it's in this book you can see if you read the book, stuck in space, it goes through some of those

details where I learned the grittiness of life to knuckle down and go forward and be that, you know,

that work like a mule mentality because I learned it many times the hard way. And just real quick,

since I talk about the book, I mean, that's the reason I wrote the book was for my daughters, my wife

and I had our daughters. We were in our 40s. We lived a life before they were born. So I wrote it

with a purpose for them. I started actually before the Starliner wrote some chapters, but I continued

it. So that's the reason I wrote it. The reason I published it is because I think it tells this

message of grit. We all have to deal with life. Life is tough in many instances. And I think it will

be an encouragement for people in the now to deal with life that we have to deal with. But beyond that,

we also must be aware of the eternal everlasting aspects of our existence. And that's where Jesus

Christ our Lord comes in. He comes in every day dealing with life that grit, as you're talking about,

is that something that's a blessing from him. But that also points us to the eternal aspect. So

dealing with life now and encouragement there in the perspective of dealing with life now,

as well as focusing on our eternal existence. And that only comes successfully, eternal hope

through Jesus Christ our Lord. And the wrath he incurred from the Father on the cross as he paid

the price for our sins. So that's why I wrote the book. I wrote it for my daughters. I published it

for the glory of God. Well, the book is called Stuck in Space. It is out now. And Captain Wilmore,

thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Pleasure being with you, Lindsay. Thank you.

Good morning. This is The World and Everything in it from listeners supported world radio. I'm Nick

and I'm Lindsay Mast. Questions about work, purpose, and risk can sound abstract until they show up

in the story of a life. Here's World Commentator Janie B. Cheney. For most of his life, my husband was a

risk taker. At the age of 19 after a summer job fell through, he decided to hitchhike from mid-Missouri

to Montreal, Canada. For the next three summers during his undergrad years, he sold Bible reference books

door to door. We met while he was in grad school. And for the next two years of college, his restless

spirit took him to opposite sides of the country for temporary summer jobs. Then he followed his

dream of steam locomotives to New Mexico, where he hung around the tracks of a tourist railroad

until they hired him. Even after landing a reasonably secure corporate job at the age of 32,

he wasn't afraid to quit 13 years later and start his own business. Don't get me wrong.

There's a lot to be said for steady employment with one company. Doug and I shared some anxious

months between jobs that he might have been a little too quick to walk away from. But every new start

promised excitement and adventure. And every job he held served the public in some way,

contributing to the general good and his own satisfaction. In his fifties, Doug gravitated to

doom casting, alarmed by fears of economic collapse. We should cut back on our expenses, he said,

make do with less. Or I thought, why not work to make more money? At the point where he would

have to expand his business or retire early, he chose the latter. I don't blame him. But the lack

of structure and purpose that work provided may have led to a broader lack, as he gradually

retired from planned projects, social life, and even church. I suspect the inactivity,

hastened and intensified his dementia. In his book Full Time, Work in the Meaning of Life,

David Bonson explains how America's producer-driven, risk-positive economy created a level of

wealth, comfort, and longevity the world had never known. But there, at the height of our game,

Keynesian economics shifted us to a consumer-driven model, where demand creates supply rather than

the other way around. Swapping producers for consumers doesn't just devalue work. It also devalues

people. In 1990, the Hoover Institution released a five-part series featuring supply-citer

Milton Friedman. Episode 1 was introduced by none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger, who shared

why he moved to America. Because I came from a socialist country that the government controls

the economy. It's a place where you can hear 18-year-old kids already talking about their pension.

But me, I wanted more. I wanted to be the best. Individualism like that is incompatible with

socialism. So I felt I had to come to America. You don't have to have a Schwarzenegger-sized

ambition to pity 18-year-olds dreaming of retirement. In a socialist country, they weren't encouraged

to see themselves as productive citizens, much less risk-takers. American teenagers and a

consumerist society don't fare much better if they're continually scrolling bad news and bad

advice from social media influencers. Moving to a house on the beach with no deadlines and no

pressure has its appeal for someone way past retirement age, like me. But I'm not retiring any

time soon. Or ever, if I can help it. It's a bit like stepping out on a high wire when I

attempt to shape words into useful thoughts. Not always successfully. But adventure and satisfaction

are right here in front of my keyboard. I'm Janie B. Cheney.

Tomorrow, a new pro-life strategy for confronting chemical abortion has an environmental twist.

We'll have a report. And a jazz great leaves his gospel mark. That in more tomorrow. I'm Lindsay

Mast. And I'm Nick Eiker, 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 the parable of the good Samaritan. We meet him after the priest and the Levite,

pretend not to see a man who'd been beaten and robbed. Jesus says, but a Samaritan as he journeyed

came to where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds,

pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took

care of him. And the next day, he took out two denariah and gave them to the innkeeper, saying,

take care of him. And whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.

Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?

The lawyer said, the one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise,

verses 33 through 37 of Luke 10. Go now in grace and peace.