10.9.15 Striking Venezuelan drug operations, abortions by deception, and meeting an Italian artisan

Summary

The World and Everything In It (October 9, 2025)

Host: WORLD Radio
Episode Theme: Striking Venezuelan drug operations, abortions by deception, and meeting an Italian artisan

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Overview

This episode delivers in-depth coverage of three central stories: U.S. airstrikes targeting Venezuelan drug boats and the legal questions surrounding them; the troubling rise in coerced abortions facilitated by mail-order abortion pills; and an intimate visit with Italian leather artisans, reflecting on craft and family. The episode wraps with a commentary on the Supreme Court's examination of laws surrounding "conversion therapy" and counselors’ rights.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. U.S. Strikes on Venezuelan Drug Operations

Context & Background

• President Trump has escalated efforts against drug cartels, now including airstrikes on vessels off Venezuela’s coast. (07:11)
• The Department of War confirmed lethal force against a suspected drug boat—the fourth reported strike since early September.

Legality and Political Debate

• The legality of these airstrikes is questioned; traditionally, drug interdiction has been a law enforcement, not a military, responsibility.
• Gil Garra (Niskanen Center): "The cartel outflow of drugs from Venezuela ... is relatively small when you compare it to other countries like Mexico or even like Colombia." (08:20)
• Context: Most cocaine comes from Colombia and reaches the U.S. via Mexico.

Political and Legal Concerns

• U.S. designation of Nicolás Maduro as head of a drug cartel deepens tensions. The State Department offers a $50 million bounty for Maduro’s capture.
• Ian Ralby (Maritime Lawyer): "The whole regime of peacetime law and law enforcement at sea was completely rejected in these attacks. So this is not a drug enforcement operation." (10:12)
• Lethal force is only legally justifiable in self-defense; the White House hasn't clarified the immediate threat justifying strikes.

Congressional Response

• Bipartisan skepticism: Democratic Senators (Kaine, Schiff) and Republican Senator Rand Paul question legality and urge for Congressional authorization.
• Sen. Rand Paul: "We can't have a policy where we just blow up ships where we don't even know the people's names. It can't be the policy for drug interdiction ..." (11:15)
• Some Republicans argue historical precedent (pirates), while others want more information before supporting or condemning the strikes.

Future Escalation Risks

• The link between the Maduro regime and cartel activities raises concerns of expanding targets to Venezuelan government-associated facilities.

Notable Quote:

• Carolina Lumeta: "Airstrikes have so far been limited to small vessels outside the 12 mile boundary of Venezuela's sovereign waters. But with the State Department linking the Maduro government to a drug cartel, Guerra says things could escalate." (12:13)

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2. Abortions By Deception: Mail-Order Pills & Coercion

Rising Trend

• Abortion pills account for ~two-thirds of all U.S. abortions; by late 2023, nearly 1 in 5 abortions happened without any in-person medical interaction. (13:17)
• Pro-life groups warn that easy online access is enabling coerced abortions and abuse.

Illustrative Case

• Bloomington, Illinois: A woman is given abortion pills without her consent by her boyfriend after refusing an abortion, leading to a traumatic miscarriage. Charges filed for homicide of an unborn child. (13:49)

Broader Concerns

• Kelsey Pritchard (Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America): "I would say abortion drug poisoning is a new form of domestic violence that's on the rise." (14:26)
• Drug availability online, lax regulation, and shipment into pro-life states are fueling cases of abuse.
• Abby Johnson (ex-Planned Parenthood; pro-life activist): Easily orders abortion pills online without any identity verification, highlighting regulatory lapses.

Legal & Policy Landscape

• Texas signed a law allowing citizens to sue those who ship abortion pills into the state.
• Texas lawsuit: Leona Davis sues Aid Access and her ex-boyfriend for allegedly deceitfully aborting her pregnancy.

Enforcement Challenges

• Melanie Israel (Heritage Foundation): "If the FDA could step in and at the very, very least return to that in person dispensing requirement, it wouldn't fix all of the issues, but it sure would fix a lot of them." (17:07-17:18)
• Mail-order pills make it hard to detect abuse or trafficking.
• Legal patchwork complicates prosecution.
• Victims of coerced abortions often fear coming forward; support networks encourage them to speak up.

Notable Quotes:

• Mary Browning (Operation Outcry): "Part of the battle here is to get the truth out so that women that are out there suffering in silence ... feel like they have a place ... they won't be shunned or judged or criticized." (18:29)
• Myrna Brown: "There's this mixture of the sense of betrayal, the sense of having a trust violated, and then the confusion of loving someone and coming to grips with the fact that they would do something like this." (19:12)

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3. Meeting an Italian Artisan: Craft, Family, and Slowness

Introduction

• In Orvieto, Italy, Federico and Hana Badilla run a small leather goods shop, resisting trends of mass production and emphasizing traditional craft. (22:12)

The Value of Craft

• Federico, a master shoemaker, describes learning “the missing knowledge” from a master and values the precision and patience required.
• Federico Badilla: "It requires position, patience, I mean having good skill." (23:49)
• The business is a true family operation; their young son helps, embodying the “life-sized” dimension of artisanal work.

Work-Life Balance

• Hana Badilla: "What we do with our bodies affects, I feel like inevitably, the state of our souls and our hearts. ... There is something that is valuable and engaging in the act of physical creation which forces you to both slow down and pay attention." (24:18)

The Limits and Joys of Handwork

• The family copes with running out of stock due to life’s interruptions (e.g., their son’s injury), yet values flexibility.
• Overwhelmed by online interest, they pulled back from social media, prioritizing manageability over scale.
• Hana Badilla: "If one were to scale and just have things produced ... you are no longer then doing the human size job which first caused you to fall in love with the material and it seems like that would be a loss." (27:16)
• They see beauty in doing what’s possible with just two hands.

Notable Quote:

• Hana Badilla: "You live off what you can make. It's a very inevitably human and modest dimension. You have two hands. You can make so much in a day and not more. And there's also a beauty in that ..." (27:55)

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4. Supreme Court & "Conversion Therapy" Laws

Commentary by Cal Thomas: (29:28)

• Focus: The Supreme Court takes up a Colorado case on whether counselors can work with minors experiencing gender dysphoria, challenging state bans on “conversion therapy.”
• Analysis of precedent, free speech, and religious rights.
• Cal Thomas: "For the law to deny a therapist or anyone else the right to share that message imposes, or one might even say establishes, secularism as the state religion." (31:30)
• Argues that as long as there is no coercion, counselors should be able to express faith-based perspectives.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• U.S. Strikes on Venezuelan Drug Boats: 07:11–13:10
• Abortions by Deception and Mail-Order Pills: 13:17–19:38
• Italian Leather Artisan Feature: 22:12–28:55
• Supreme Court “Conversion Therapy” Commentary: 29:28–32:42

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On U.S. Drug Policy:
  "If Thomas Jefferson can activate the military against pirates, I'm not sure how this is any different."
  — Josh Hawley (11:31)

• On Coerced Abortion:
  "Abortion drug poisoning is a new form of domestic violence that's on the rise."
  — Kelsey Pritchard (14:26)

• On Artisanal Work:
  "You have two hands. You can make so much in a day and not more. There's also a beauty in that."
  — Hana Badilla (27:55)

• On Religious Liberty:
  "For the law to deny a therapist or anyone else the right to share that message imposes, or one might even say establishes, secularism as the state religion."
  — Cal Thomas (31:30)

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Conclusion

This episode offers sharp, diverse reporting: examining the practical and legal boundaries of U.S. foreign military action against drug cartels; sounding the alarm on the hidden abuse enabled by mail-order abortion pills; and celebrating the intentional slowness and value-centered life of artisans in a fast-paced world. Commentary closes with reflections on Supreme Court debates about faith, counseling, and state non-interference.

Listeners are left with pointed questions about the rule of law, the meaning of autonomy and protection, and the irreplaceable beauty of human-scale work and faith-informed lives.

Transcript

[Myrna Brown]

Good morning. Blowing up boats used by drug cartels may be effective, but is it legal? Views differ.

[Kent Covington]

If Thomas Jefferson can activate the military against pirates.

[Myrna Brown]

I'm not sure how this is any different. Also today, mail order abortion drugs are leading to a rise in crimes against pregnant women. And the heart of an artisan.

[Carolina Lumeta]

You have two hands. You can make so much in a day and not more. There's also a beauty in that.

[Myrna Brown]

And World cup commentator Cal Thomas weighs in on so called conversion therapy. It's Thursday, October 9th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Myrna Brown. And I'm Mary Reichard. Good morning. Up next, Kent Covington with today's news.

[Kent Covington]

President Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of his peace plan to halt fighting. The president said this means that all of the hostages will be released very soon and Israel will withdraw their troops to an agreed upon line, end quote. Shortly before he made that announcement on social media, he cut short a roundtable event at the White House.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

I was just given a note by the Secretary of State saying that we're very close to a deal in the Middle east and they're going to need me pretty quickly. So we'll take a couple of more questions.

[Kent Covington]

And the Hamas terror group announced in an official statement the reaching of an agreement that ends the war in Gaza, provides for the withdrawal of Israeli forces and implements a prisoner exchange. Israel would release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, though the details of that exchange were not immediately clear. Negotiators have been meeting in Egypt for days to hash out a Trump backed peace plan aimed at bringing a permanent end to the year war on Capitol Hill. Another day, another failed funding vote in the U.S. senate as the government remains partially shut down. On this vote, the A's are 54, the nays are 45. Three fifths of the Senate is duly chosen and sworn. Not having voted in the affirmative. The motion upon reconsideration is not agreed to. Republicans once again trying to pass a clean stopgap bill that would restore and extend the funding levels that were already in place before the shutdown with no changes. But they cannot get to the 60 vote threshold they need in the Senate without help from Democrats. And Democratic leaders say that will not happen until Republicans agree to add health care policy changes to the bill. Meantime, House Speaker Mike Johnson made clear Wednesday that he believes all furloughed federal workers should be paid for any time missed once the government reopens. It has always been the case.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

That is tradition and I think it is statutory law that federal employees be.

[Kent Covington]

Paid, and that's my position.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

I think they should be. They should not.

[Kent Covington]

President Trump suggested recently that some some furloughed workers might not receive back pay, and the shutdown is now being felt. In airports across the country, air traffic controllers since Monday have been working without pay, at least for now, and some have seemingly felt less motivated to show up. A surge in air traffic controllers calling out sick has led to thousands of flight delays this week. In fact, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says a majority of flights are now running behind.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

The last couple of days it's been 53%. And so my message to the air traffic controllers who work for DOT is show up for work. You have a job to do.

[Kent Covington]

Essential federal employees are still expected to work amid the shutdown, and they are assured back pay. Former FBI Director James Comey says he is not guilty of lying to Congress. World's Benjamin Eicher has more.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

Comey entered his plea in a federal court in Virginia Wednesday. Prosecutors say Comey authorized leaks to the media about the Russia probe and then lied about that under oath during a 2020 Senate hearing. His legal team says the former FBI director is the target of political prosecution orchestrated by President Trump, and they'll argue that the acting U.S. attorney overseeing the case was illegally appointed after her predecessor declined to bring charges. The indictment follows public calls from Trump for the Justice Department to investigate Comey. The president fired him as head of the FBI in 2017, and since then Comey has been an outspoken Trump critic. His trial is set for January 5th. For world, I'm Benjamin Eicher.

[Kent Covington]

Authorities have charged a California man with igniting the most destructive fire in the history of Los Angeles. ATF Special Agent Kenny Cooper.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

After more than eight months of tireless, meticulous work, I stand here with our partners proud to announce an arrest in connection to the devastating Palisade fires.

[Kent Covington]

Authorities have charged 29 year old Jonathan Renderknecht with igniting the January fire. And federal prosecutor Bill Aseli says the government intends to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect started that fire intentionally. As the world watched in horror as the Palisade's fire burned, victims perished in the smoke and flames homes where cherished family memories and belongings were turned to rubble and ash. The suspect faces charges including malicious destruction. The blaze killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,000 homes and buildings in the wealthy coastal neighborhood of LA. The European Union says Russia is conducting a targeted gray zone campaign against Europe. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says that has included violations of European and even NATO airspace by Russian drones and aircraft.

[Myrna Brown]

One incident may be a mistake, two.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Incidents a coincidence, but 3, 5, 10.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

This is a deliberate and targeted gray zone campaign against Europe.

[Kent Covington]

She said that campaign has also included acts of sabotage and cyber attacks. And she added, if we hesitate to act, the gray zone will only expand.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

Europe must respond. We must investigate every incident and we must not shy away from attributing responsibility.

[Kent Covington]

She says Russian fighter jets breached Estonia's airspace and drones flew over military bases in several countries. Von der Leyen stresses the need for an affordable anti drone system and is urging greater European investment in defense. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, the war on drugs takes a new turn. Plus, making a living as an artisan. This is the world and everything in it.

[Myrna Brown]

It's Thursday the 9th of October. This is World Radio and we thank you for joining us today. Good morning. I'm Myrna Brown. And I'm Mary Reichard. Up first blowing up Venezuelan drug boats. Last week, the Department of War confirmed it used lethal force against a vessel off the coast of Venezuela, the fourth reported airstrike. Since early September, President Trump has said the US Is at war with drug cartels. But is Congress on board? World's Carolina Lumeta has the story.

[Carolina Lumeta]

When President Trump returned to office in January, he promised to halt the flow of illegal drugs by whatever means possible, with tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, mass deportations, and now airstrikes.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

Because right now in the Republican Party, I think everyone is united and everyone agrees that we need to take stronger action against drug cartels.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Gil Garra is an immigration policy analyst for the Niskanen Center, a centrist think tank in Washington. He says drugs may be the White House's justification, but Venezuela is not the biggest culprit.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

The cartel outflow of drugs from Venezuela to the United States is relatively small when you compare it to other countries like Mexico or even like Colombia.

[Carolina Lumeta]

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that nearly 70% of the world's cocaine comes from Colombia and then heads north to the United States through Mexico. Guerra says Venezuela serves as a smaller conduit for drugs through the Caribbean.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

A lot of the staging for this really began In July of 2024, when Nicolas Maduro lost an election that he agreed to under US Arbitration.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Reporting on the ground says Maduro lost to challenger Edmundo Gonzalez by more than 40 points, but he held onto power anyway and cracked down on protests. The US and other Western nations say Maduro's ongoing leadership is illegitimate. After months of failed diplomacy on drug trafficking and immigration. Guerra says the White House lost patience with Maduro and switched to hardball.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

The United States has designated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as the head of the largest drug cartel within Venezuela, known as Cartel de Rosales or Cartel of the Suns.

[Carolina Lumeta]

The State Department also raised a bounty for capturing Maduro to $50 million. Deterring drug traffickers has also intensified. In August, the US military moved eight warships and 10 F35 fighter jets into the region.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

But we have to be very careful because the war on drugs is not actually a war.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Ian Ralby is an operational maritime lawyer.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

Which means that I work on the law side with navies and coast guards. So I've worked on maritime security issues in roughly 100 countries.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Ralby told Washington Bureau producer Harrison Waters that the Coast Guard is responsible for catching drug traffickers in the Caribbean. For the government to then bring to court firing missiles at suspected drug boats is a sea change.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

The whole regime of peacetime law and law enforcement at sea was completely rejected in this these attacks. So this is not a drug enforcement operation.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Ralby says lethal action is generally allowed in cases of self defense against an imminent threat.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

Legally, the slow movement of drugs over time based on a consumer base is not a basis for that imminence. So there would have to have been something else.

[Carolina Lumeta]

So far the White House has not identified that something else and members of Congress are pushing for answers.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

These military actions should stop unless authorized by Congress.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Democratic Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and Adam Schiff of California briefed reporters yesterday ahead of a resolution vote to halt further military action against a non state actor. While the White House gave Congress a closed door briefing after the airstrikes, Democrats say they left with more questions than answers. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky told Bloomberg News he co sponsored the War Powers Resolution because even drug traffickers deserve their day in court.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

But we can't have a policy where we just blow up ships where we don't even know the people's names. It can't be the policy for drug interdiction either in the country or outside the country.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Other Republicans I spoke with said this resolution was unnecessary, including Missouri Senator Josh Hawley.

[Kent Covington]

Again, I mean if Thomas Jefferson can activate the military against pirates, I'm not sure how this is any different.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota sits on the Armed Services Committee. He told me that with the government shutdown ongoing, he expected many to vote no on the resolution.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

So if we want to make modifications to the War Powers act, we should.

[Kent Covington]

Do it when we're not in the middle of a politically charged environment.

[Carolina Lumeta]

But when I asked if the boat strikes concerned him, Senator Rounds said he couldn't weigh in.

[Kent Covington]

We've asked for some additional specific information.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

I don't have that information yet. Once we get that information information, I'll.

[Kent Covington]

Be more able to specifically talk about the issue.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Airstrikes have so far been limited to small vessels outside the 12 mile boundary of Venezuela's sovereign waters. But with the State Department linking the Maduro government to a drug cartel, Guerra says things could escalate.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

If you're striking a cartel target in Venezuela that is part of this cartel de los soles, you are potentially opening yourself up to having the option of striking government facilities or other facilities that are connected in some way to the government.

[Carolina Lumeta]

At a Monday press briefing, reporters asked White House press Secretary Caroline Levitt if regime change is on the table, and she deflected. I won't get into any specific proposals.

[Lauren Canterbury]

That are being considered by the president and his national security team, but I.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Think we've been pretty transparent and clear.

[Lauren Canterbury]

In the administration's view of the illegitimate Maduro regime.

[Myrna Brown]

And the president has taken very unprecedented.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Tough action to end the illegal trafficking.

[Myrna Brown]

Of Olympic illicit drugs into our country from Maduro's illegitimate regime.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Reporting for world I'm Carolina Lumeta in Washington.

[Myrna Brown]

Coming up next on THE WORLD and everything in it coerced abortions. Abortion pills now account for about two thirds of all abortions in the U.S. by late 2023, nearly 1 in 5 occurred without in person contact with a medical professional. Pro life advocates warn that this easy access is fueling more cases of coercion and abuse crimes against women and their unborn children. World's Lauren Canterbury brings us this report.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Police in Bloomington, Illinois responded to a home in August after a call about a medical emergency. When officers arrived, they found a woman crying in a bathroom. She was sitting in a pool of blood next to the remains of her tiny baby. She had been about seven weeks pregnant and she said her boyfriend gave her abortion drugs without her knowledge after she refused to kill their child. The boyfriend later admitted to police that he bought the pills from another woman and claimed his girlfriend knew he was giving her the deadly drugs. Authorities charged the 31 year old with two counts of intentional homicide of an unborn child.

[Carolina Lumeta]

I would say abortion drug poisoning is a new form of domestic violence that's on the rise.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Kelsey Pritchard is the political communications director for Susan B. Anthony, Pro Life America. She says that men have coerced or tricked women into abortions for years but since the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol became easier to buy online, the group has seen the problem get worse.

[Carolina Lumeta]

The way that these drugs have just been almost completely unregulated is just enabling that abuse. And we've seen case or two of a woman getting them to poison another woman. So this is, this is something we should all care about.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. food and Drug Administration in 2021 removed any requirements for in person visits to obtain abortion drugs. Two years later, the administration allowed retail pharmacies to dispense mifepristone directly to women. Online groups started shipping them in record numbers and even into pro life states. These changes are still in effect. Earlier this summer, former Planned Parenthood center director and now pro life activist Abby Johnson posted a video online showing how easy it was for her to order the pills. Johnson lives in Texas, where most babies are protected from abortion, but she still got the drugs in a few short days without proving who she was. I wasn't asked for an id. I mean, I could have put in any information I wanted because I was never asked for any sort of verification. Johnson ordered the drugs from the European abortion pill company Aid Access. In August, the Journal of the American Medical association reported that more than 80% of aid access abortion drug shipments went to states with pro life laws. Texas is trying to shut off the supply. Last month, Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a measure allowing private citizens to sue individuals and organizations ship abortion drugs into the state. Meanwhile, Texas resident Leona Davis in August brought a federal lawsuit against Aid Access, its founder Rebecca Gomperts, and Davis former boyfriend Christopher Cooprider. Davis claims they committed felony murder and violated the federal Comstock act, which prohibits mailing abortion inducing drugs. Davis says her unborn baby died in April after Cooper allegedly dissolved abortion drugs into her drink. According to court documents, Coopreider bought the drugs using his own name online. Though he denies all allegations, Heritage foundation visiting fellow Melanie Israel says the federal government must intervene to regulate the deadly.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Drugs if the FDA could step in.

[Lauren Canterbury]

And at the very, very least return to that in person dispensing requirement. It wouldn't fix all of the issues.

[Myrna Brown]

But it sure would fix a lot of them.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Melanie Israel says in person visits could also help identify women who are being trafficked or who are in abusive relationships. Abortion facilities, OBGYNs and pro life pregnancy centers often report such cases. But mail order abortion pills make it easier for abusers to hide their crimes. For many women, that is the only.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Lifeline that they Get Prosecuting cases of.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Forced or coerced abortions can be difficult if a woman does not know for sure if she miscarried or was given a abortion drugs without her consent.

[Carolina Lumeta]

I I think for a lot of these women, they suspect something because their.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Partner had been so insistent that they get beforehand. A patchwork of laws across the country complicates litigating cases of coerced or forced abortion. Some states recognize the personhood of unborn children, while others do not. Often the biggest challenge to bringing cases forward is that women are afraid to speak out. Here's Mary Browning, legal advisor to Operation Outcry with the Justice Foundation.

[Myrna Brown]

Part of the battle here is to get the truth out so that women that are out there suffering in silence that they feel like they have a place that they can turn to, that they can speak up, that they won't be shunned or judged or criticized. There are a number of people that are willing to bring the lawsuits if the women will come forward.

[Lauren Canterbury]

She says that at the very least, forcing a woman to have an abortion against her will should be considered assault. Women who are forced to abort their babies face deep, complex pain. While they are mourning their child's death, they are also coming to terms with the loss of safety they once felt in their relationship.

[Myrna Brown]

There's this mixture of the sense of betrayal, the sense of having a trust violated, and then the confusion of loving someone and coming to grips with the fact that they would do something like this. There's significant importance to getting healing in the aftermath of abortion, no matter how you came to that place.

[Lauren Canterbury]

For world hi, I'm Lauren Canterbury.

[Kent Covington]

Additional support comes from Ambassadors Impact Network, helping entrepreneurs who are looking for more than just funding discover a community of Christian faith. Led investors [e-mail] from Cedarville University, equipping students for professional excellence and gospel Impact Cedarville Edu World. And from Covenant College, where Christian faculty.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

Equip students for their callings through hard.

[Kent Covington]

Ideas, deep, deep questions and meaningful work. Covenant Edu World.

[Myrna Brown]

Fred Ramsdell and his wife went hiking in the Wyoming wilderness at the end the of of September. Off the grid and blissfully ignorant of the routines of life. So when the couple returned to civilization this week and cell service returned.

[Kent Covington]

My wife's phone blew up when we.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

Drove through some little town.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Yeah, it did.

[Myrna Brown]

Messages galore awaited as people were trying to notify her husband of something quite unexpected.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

She started yelling and I thought there was a grizzly bear nearby.

[Carolina Lumeta]

I said, what?

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

She said, you won the Nobel Prize.

[Myrna Brown]

I said, No, I didn't. The immunologist help discover the cells that keep our immune systems from attacking itself. So congratulations to Dr. Ramsdell. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Thursday, October 9th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Myrna Brown. And I'm Mary Reichardt. Coming next on the World and everything in it. Working with leather in Italy. As the world races toward newer and better, some people are thinking about how to keep their work slower and simpler. World's Mary Muncie brings us this report.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

First, I stitch this piece, which you know is the card holder on this piece. Now I glued.

[Myrna Brown]

Master shoemaker and artisan Federico Badilla stands at a tall work table at a shop and storefront in Orvieto, Italy. The smell of leather permeates the sunlit room. There are tools scattered across the table. Today he's making wallets.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

And then now I have to sand the edge and then I'll stitch them and then I'll finish the edges again.

[Myrna Brown]

With like a primary wax product, liquid and The Burnisher. The 38 year old Medea started working with leather in his early 20s while he studied to be a draftsman. But after a few years he realized he wanted to work with his hands. He tried shoemaking and it came naturally. But to succeed, he needed training.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

I reached a point that something was.

[Myrna Brown]

Missing in my knowledge and that's when.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

I discovered that you need a master.

[Myrna Brown]

Shoemaker that could teach you and pass out the trade. He studied in Rome for two years before coming back to Orvieto. He opened his shop 15 years ago. Today his his worn hands move effortlessly in a mesmerizing choreography. Cutting, punching, stitching as a wallet takes shape on the table. He says building a family business is a lot like making anything with leather.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

It requires position, patience, I mean having good skill.

[Myrna Brown]

Across the room, Federico's wife Hana stands at a different work table. Their two year old son Edmund is helping her.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Do you want to come push the buttons? Yeah.

[Myrna Brown]

All right. Hannah is an American who came to Italy in an exchange program about 20 years ago. She fell in love with Federico first, but a love of his work soon followed.

[Carolina Lumeta]

What we do with our bodies affects, I feel like inevitably the state of our souls and our hearts. And so I think there is something that is valuable and engaging in the act of physical creation which forces you to both slow down and pay attention.

[Myrna Brown]

Hana is putting together one of their popular items, a small crossbody bag. She has her hands full and not just with tools and leather.

[Kent Covington]

Yep.

[Carolina Lumeta]

You're working.

[Kent Covington]

Yep.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Careful bud.

[Myrna Brown]

Between COVID 19 and relocating, it's been a tough few years. Earlier this year, Edmund broke his leg and both parents spent a lot of time taking care of him. Normally they'd have some finished products waiting to go on the shelf, but they've completely run out of their stores in the past few months. Anna is grateful for the flexibility of the work. It's important to her to be able to take time off to care for her family. But that time away from the shop means fewer products on the shelves. Earlier today, two people came in looking for items they would normally have in stock. One of them left with something slightly different. The other was leaving the area too quickly for Hana to customize to make something and left empty handed. Hana says she feels the pressure to produce, but says she's at peace knowing that sometimes there are more important priorities than the next project.

[Carolina Lumeta]

People will request things like my list of orders on the board, which I have fallen inevitably, radically behind on. And so they're sort of this, you never really, I mean both thankfully, providentially and also, I mean there's never, there's never a point when there is not the next thing that is asking to be done.

[Myrna Brown]

Still, the Badias do look for ways to grow their business, but like learning to sew, there's a bit of trial and error. Earlier this year, Federico started building a social media platform profile for their shop. But it generated too much interest. Since it's just the two of them, the orders soon overwhelmed them and he stopped posting. We can't make, you know, thousands of.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

Thousands of products every year, right?

[Carolina Lumeta]

It's just impossible.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

But that's, you know, that's what it is.

[Myrna Brown]

But if there's the impact, why not upscale production? Some of their processes could be mechanized and Hannah and Federico admit that they'd love to find ways to work faster and easier, but not at the expense of quality.

[Carolina Lumeta]

If one were to scale and just have things produced, even if you were teaching or overseeing or et cetera, et cetera, you are no longer then doing the human size job which first caused you to fall in love with the material and it seems like that would be a loss.

[Myrna Brown]

She says that attention and care imparts a kind of soul into their work. Something that mass produced items can't replicate. So they're committed to small runs and limited stock. They say that's just part of the life of, of an artisan.

[Carolina Lumeta]

You live off what you can make. It's a very inevitably human and modest dimension. You have two hands. You can make so much in a day and not more. And there's also a beauty in that because by merit of being an artisan, you are in love with material you work with inevitably, or you aren't an artisan. And so you're engaged by it, you're enthralled by it. And. And it gives you great joy and pleasure.

[Myrna Brown]

Neither of them want to give up the feeling of leather in their hands.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

These jobs are, you know, are real. Like we all need real stuff. Like we need good poets, we need good musicians, good writers, you know, good teachers, good artisans. Otherwise we're just gonna become empty jars.

[Myrna Brown]

And that's no. You want to have that life.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

I don't.

[Myrna Brown]

Reporting for World, I'm Mary Muncie. Today is Thursday, October 9th. Good morning. This is this is the World and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio, I'm Myrna Brown. And I'm Mary Reichardt. A case before the Supreme Court this week could have far reaching consequences for Christian counselors across this country. Here's WORLD commentator Cal Thomas.

[Reporter/Analyst (various guests and officials)]

The central figure of the east pediment on the Supreme Court building is Moses with the Ten Commandments. Not that most people see it as it is on the backside of the grand structure. When the Supreme Court declared same sex marriage legal in 2015, I wondered by what standard they would use. Should polygamists appeal for similar rights? The question seemed far fetched at the time. But 10 years later, the scenario is far from hypothetical. We find ourselves in another how did we get here? Kind of moment. In accepting a case from Colorado Springs about whether a Christian counselor can advise minors with gender dysphoria and same sex attractions, the Supreme Court must once again weigh in on the debate between the free exercise religion and the establishment clause in the First Amendment. The case involves the parents of a teenager who claims to be a different gender than one identified at birth. The Christian parents sought help from a counselor who shares their faith. But a Colorado law banned so called conversion therapy for minors. The therapist, Kaylee Childs, says the law silences her and deprives young people of help. She maintains she does not try to convert anyone to her faith. In familiar, secular, progressive fashion, the Washington Post found a person it identifies as a transgender man who it says tried to commit suicide in 2010. The newspaper says that person calls conversion therapy bad medicine. As with abortion, the Post and other media regularly look for people who will affirm their editorial and moral point of view. They would have done well to consult the October 2022 issue of World magazine, which published an article titled Our Voices can no Longer Be Denied. That article focused on detransitioners, people who have reversed or stopped their gender transition. The story profiled three women who had gone through pharmaceutical or surgical treatments to suppress and modify their physical characteristics. They later expressed regret and remorse and changed their minds. That's not conversion. It's coming to one's senses. Conversion is something different. In some circles it's known as being born again. I'll never forget when the secular media discovered the phrase in 1976, when Jimmy Carter described his own transformation. True conversion happens when someone accepts Jesus Christ as Savior. That person is given the power to live a life different from the life he or she had been living. That message goes back 2000 years, yet still changes people's lives today. For the law to deny a therapist or anyone else the right to share that message imposes, or one might even say establishes, secularism as the state religion. It denies individuals the right of choice, which is a sacred doctrine to the secularists when it comes to abortion. So as long as there is no compulsion involved, the court should uphold the right of the therapist and strike down lower court rulings that seek to deny her constitutional rights. Those include the right to freely express her faith and that of the teen's parents. If the Supreme Court doesn't recognize a standard by which truth and morality can be judged, it should remove the image of Moses, the great lawgiver, from the frieze on the back of its building. I'm Cal Thomas.

[Myrna Brown]

Tomorrow, John Stonestreet is back for Culture Friday and Colin Garbarino reviews ares, asking whether this four decade old sci fi franchise has anything new to say about AI. That and more tomorrow. I'm Mary Reichard. 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 Psalmist writes, the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of SAP and green. To declare that the the Lord is upright, he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Verses 12 through 15 of Psalm chapter 92 go now in grace and peace.