8.21.26 Lindsay Clancy’s trial, The Magic Faraway Tree, and a conversation with Michael Milton

**Nick Eicher** (0:05)
Good morning. Violent crime in America has plummeted, but the reasons leave much to be desired.

**Lindsay Mast** (0:11)
And is motherhood a threat to a woman's flourishing or part of it? John Stonestreet is standing by for Culture Friday.
Also today, a review of a family fantasy film that invites us to rediscover wonder.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:23)
The magic of childhood is always forgot, but this is the story of one who did not.

**Lindsay Mast** (0:31)
And this month's Quest with George Grant. Today a conversation with theologian and artist Michael Milton.

**Nick Eicher** (0:45)
It's Friday, August 21st. This is The World and Everything In It from listener-supported World Radio. I'm Nick Eicher.

**Lindsay Mast** (0:51)
And I'm Lindsay Mast. Good morning.

**Nick Eicher** (0:56)
Up next, Mark Mellinger with today's news.

**Mark Mellinger** (0:59)
Iran is verbally shrugging off. President Trump's pledged to hit the country with crushing new economic measures. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arachi says Trump's recently announced launch of a pressure campaign, which the president has called Economic D-Day, will stir hostility among Iranians and quote, bring more failures. But House Majority Leader Steve Scalise says part of the new campaign's bite is that it won't only tighten the screws on Iran.

**Steve Scalise** (1:29)
Now we're going to look at all those people that are doing business and feeding billions of dollars into Iran's economy and say, you got to stop doing it or it's going to affect your economy too.

**Mark Mellinger** (1:38)
Scalise talking to Fox and Friends. As part of this new crackdown, Trump says any country providing economic help to Iran will now face major consequences. The president's ratcheting up the pressure in hopes it'll help draw the war with Iran to a close. Negotiations between the two countries are off for the moment. Trump says the primary aim of the war is to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.
In Ukraine, the sound of earth movers digging out portions of a bombed out building in the capital city, Kiev. At least 17 people died in a massive Russian attack Thursday, local leaders say the strikes took out a hospital, a school, a preschool, and several other buildings, including people's homes. Ukraine is more vulnerable to these sorts of strikes right now because its supply of Patriot interceptor missiles from the US and other allies is running critically low.
The FBI has arrested a 35-year-old woman for allegedly plotting to bomb the New York State Capitol building. Jessica Bowie is accused of buying what she believed was an explosive device to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack. FBI Special Agent Craig Tremoroli.

**Craig Tremoroli** (2:55)
She said, quote, I want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting.

**Mark Mellinger** (3:04)
Investigators say Bowie converted to Islam five years ago, was radicalized online, swore her allegiance to ISIS in several audio recordings and was planning to flee to Syria after she carried out the attack.
The 19-year-old convicted of fatally stabbing another student at a track meet is seeking a retrial as new information in the case comes to light. A judge this week is considering whether to order a retrial for Carmelo Anthony. Earlier this year, a jury convicted Anthony of stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf to death during a confrontation last year in suburban Dallas, resulting in a 35-year prison sentence. The case became a national firestorm as it was amplified in racial terms on social media. Anthony is black and Metcalf was white, though attorneys on both sides said race was not a factor in the killing. Texas Governor Greg Abbott says a retrial isn't necessary.

**Greg Abbott** (4:04)
The jurors who convicted him, they have far more information than I have about it, and I think they got it right. There are videos showing exactly what happened. There are eyewitnesses who saw exactly what happened.

**Mark Mellinger** (4:16)
But Anthony's lawyer says there were several missteps in the trial back in June. Among them, he claims, was an off-the-record agreement between prosecutors and Anthony's former defense team to stay away from character evidence. Some of that evidence came out in Thursday's hearing, including prosecutors claiming Anthony had an obsession with guns and knives and was angry the morning of the stabbing, and the defense claiming Metcalf had used racial slurs in the past and bullied black classmates.
Donald Trump rarely talks about the concept of forgiveness publicly, but his former fixer-turned-adversary says that's exactly what's taken place between the two men. Trump and Michael Cohen had been at odds for years. Cohen said covering up Trump's actions landed him, Cohen, in prison for over a year. Cohen's testimony then later played a key role in Trump's criminal conviction in New York. But this week, Cohen hosted Trump for a friendly interview on his radio program.