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The World and Everything In It
12.30.25 Attack in Kyiv, Ukraine and Russia peace talks, 2025 religious freedom rulings, and Secretariat’s jockey
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- [00:00]
Nick Eicher
You know, today is the penultimate day of World's December giving drive. So many have given gifts so far this month and we are grateful. But not everyone has.
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Mary Reichard
And if you're in that not everyone camp, well, I guess I'm talking to you. There's just today and tomorrow to send in your support.
- [00:18]
Nick Eicher
Now, if you depend on the world and everything in it for serious reporting, for careful analysis and for journalism of Christian conviction, if you depend on us, that's great because. Well, because we depend on you, too.
- [00:31]
Mary Reichard
We do. So don't let that deadline get behind you. Please visit wng.org donate and won't you do it right now?
- [00:40]
Nick Eicher
That's wng.org donate.
- [00:49]
Mary Reichard
Good morning. Over the weekend, Russia launched one of its largest drone attacks of the year on Ukraine's capital. One of our reporters was there and we'll talk to him.
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Nick Eicher
Also today, World's Steve west looks back at some of the biggest religious liberty cases of 2025. And later, the legacy of one of the greatest jockeys in thoroughbred racing and the rare bond between rider and racehorse.
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Leonard Luskie
I don't know that any other jockey might have figured that out with Secretariat in Time. So they got each other.
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Nick Eicher
And world commentator James woods on the illiberalism of Canadian lawmakers.
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Mary Reichard
It's Tuesday, December 30th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichert.
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Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning.
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Mary Reichard
Time for the news now with Kent Covington.
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Kent Covington
President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump's Florida Mar? A Lago estate on Monday. The meeting came as the White House presses to move Israel's peace deal with Hamas into its second, more complicated phase. That would involve Hamas disarming and handing over power to a provisional government. And Trump told reporters if they don't.
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John Hardy
Disarm, as they agreed to do, they agreed to it and then they'll be.
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Richard Hart
Held to pay for them.
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Kent Covington
Hamas maintains it never agreed to disarm, but Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon also emphasized that the removal of Hamas is essential for moving forward.
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Steve West
We are willing to cooperate, but I.
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Richard Hart
Think the understanding that Hamas must not.
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Nick Eicher
Be part of the equation.
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Steve West
It's essential and President Trump mentioned it before the meeting.
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Kent Covington
Trump and Netanyahu had high praise for one another on Monday. Trump described the prime minister as a great wartime leader that has taken on an existential threat to Israel. And Netanyahu called the president the best friend his country has ever had.
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Steve West
I think he's been extraordinary in his.
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John Hardy
Friendship and his support for Israel, his principled positions, his willingness to just cut.
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Steve West
Through and get to the essence of things. And I don't say that as a.
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John Hardy
Compliment, I just mean it.
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Kent Covington
He also announced that his government will award Trump the Israel Prize in recognition of his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. Netanyahu said that would make Trump the first non Israeli ever to receive that award. President Trump also told reporters yesterday that the United States has struck a dock facility in Venezuela where US Authorities say drunk boats are loaded.
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John Hardy
There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs, they load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats and.
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Richard Hart
Now we hit the area.
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John Hardy
It's the implementation area.
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Richard Hart
That's where they implement and that is no longer around.
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Kent Covington
That could mark the first land based action in the US Campaign against drug trafficking out of Venezuela. So far this year, the United States has carried out dozens of strikes on drug trafficking vessels. Trump declined to say whether the US Military or the CIA carried out the dock area strike or confirm the exact location. Ukraine's president says the United states is offering 15 years of security guarantees as part of a proposed peace plan with Russia. World's Kristen Flavitt has more.
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Mary Reichard
Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday he wants a much longer commitment, closer to 50 years, to prevent future Russian attacks. The comments came a day after Zelensky met with President Trump at Trump's Florida resort. Trump said the two sides are closer than ever to a deal, but warned talks could still fall apart. Major issues remain unsolved, including troop withdrawals and control of the Russian occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Zelensky said security guarantees are essential, calling them the only way the war can realistically end. Trump also spoke by phone with Russia's Vladimir Putin, calling it a very good conversation with while acknowledging several difficult issues remain for World I'm Kristen Flavin.
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Kent Covington
Winter weather still slamming large sections of the US A fast strengthening bomb cyclone slammed the Midwest bringing blizzard conditions, dangerous travel and widespread power outages before turning its attention east, Cody Snell with the National Weather Service said Monday. The warm lake waters clashing with the.
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John Hardy
Cold air moving over top will produce.
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Nick Eicher
Heavy lake effect snow across portions of.
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Kent Covington
The Great Lakes, including downwind of Lake.
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Nick Eicher
Erie and Lake Ontario, specifically into portions.
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John Hardy
Of New York State and just south.
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Nick Eicher
Of the Buffalo metro area.
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Kent Covington
Heavy snow and strong winds have shut down roads across parts of Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan. More than 200 miles of Interstate 35 are closed in Iowa, where state troopers reported dozens of crashes, including one fatal wreck. Wind chills dropped as low as 3:30 below zero in the Northern Plains. FBI Director Kash Patel says federal authorities are investigating fraud accusations in Minnesota. In fact, he says investigations have been ongoing for months and that numerous Somali suspects have been charged. Patel's update came days after an independent journalist went viral for uncovering even more state funding being given to phony daycares and learning centers. Minnesota State Representative Harry Diska.
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John Hardy
These are all sites that have been flagged by the fraud committee for DHS previously, but they continue to operate and receive millions in taxpayer dollars.
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Richard Hart
Some may be legitimate, but based on our work and the efforts of citizen.
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John Hardy
Journalists, it appears that many may be entirely fraudulent.
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Kent Covington
Patel said The FBI uncovered $250 million in Covid relief funds fraud among Minnesota Somalis, which he described as as only the tip of the iceberg. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, a first hand report from Kyiv on last Saturday's drone attack. Plus, the life of a short athlete who cast a long shadow. This is the world and everything in it.
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Nick Eicher
It's Tuesday, the 30th of December. This is World Radio and we are glad to have you along today. Good morning. I'm Nick Eicher.
- [07:19]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichard. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, things had gotten relatively quiet in Kyiv, but many people were holding their breath waiting for a Christmas attack by Russia. Early Saturday morning, telegram channels lit up with warnings as more than 4, 400 drones and missiles were on their way.
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Nick Eicher
World's Caleb Weldy spent Christmas in Kyiv and he recorded the sound of these shahid drones from his hotel room. Caleb is here now to talk with us about what it was like. Good morning, Caleb.
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Caleb Weldy
Good morning.
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Mary Reichard
Tell us a bit about the lead up to this latest attack. It wasn't really a surprise, was it?
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Caleb Weldy
No, it wasn't. A number of people in Kyiv said, don't be fooled, it's been too quiet lately. Russia is stockpiling to overwhelm the air defense systems in Kyiv.
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Nick Eicher
Well, could you just take a moment and walk through this and kind of describe the beginning of that attack on Saturday morning?
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Caleb Weldy
So we got word on telegram channels late Friday night that something was coming and by early about 12:30 in the morning, Saturday morning. And I'll just read this message on a telegram channel and it says considering the number of ships at sea and bombers in the air, as well as ballistics and daggers, that'd be dagger missiles today could be the most massive shelling this year. So that was before any explosions Then around 1:30, I counted 15 or 20 explosions. Shook the building, shook the windows. Then it was quiet for about an hour. I fell back asleep. And then around three in the morning, I woke up again and could see on the telegram channels there was a radar image of a string of drones stretching from Kyiv almost to the Black Sea. At one point that morning they said, you know, be ready. We think 80 drones will arrive in the city in the next 20 minutes. You know, opening the window, I could hear them approaching, hear them leaving, and then the anti aircraft fire trying to shoot them down. More or less for hours and hours, you know, there was explosions every 30 seconds or so at varying distances for me over the city.
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Nick Eicher
So what kind of reaction did you notice among the people?
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Caleb Weldy
I'm in a pretty small hotel. I don't know how many people are staying here, but when I went downstairs, there's no underground where I'm at. But in the eating area there was one couple that had kind of laid down in a booth and, and looked like, decided to camp out there for the night. A few hours later, I was sitting in a hallway watching the videos come in of the attacks throughout the city. And I could hear a woman in the room across from me crying. And I don't know what was going on. She was watching the same video as I was, but it was video after video of drones flying into, into apartment buildings. And based on the lighting of the videos, I could tell they were just, you know, five or ten minutes ago.
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Mary Reichard
I'm curious, Caleb, this war has been going on for years now. Would you say that this kind of thing has become almost routine, so life just goes on?
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Caleb Weldy
Yeah, I'm sorry to say that it does seem like it's routine here. Everyone has alerts on their phone when there's an air raid going on. But that can be, you know, a ballistic missile has been launched that, that could hit a large area. And so people really do seem to check the telegram channels. But I mean, even during the attack, I remember looking out the window and there was a man taking his trash out in the dumpster. And I think there's really a range. A woman in a nearby coffee shop told me she sleeps in the bathroom on nights like that. She knows people that go and sleep in their cars under their apartment buildings on nights like that. But then a woman in a town 70 miles from the front line said 90% of people there just completely ignore the alarms.
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Nick Eicher
Well, it's been a few days since the weekend attack. Among the people that you talk to, Caleb, what's your sense of the mood?
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Caleb Weldy
The mood in Kyiv is about like before the attacks, you know, some people at a English learning club I'm a part of here were saying, you know, what's to celebrate? They were not believers. But then on the other hand, just riding the metro through the city, you know, you see people carrying gifts and, you know, very much just continuing life. And there was, there was even a video actually, again, during while the attack was still going on. You know, at this point, there was only six drones over the city. A picture went out on the telegram channels of a woman cleaning her windows on a high rise. She had one foot out the window, one holding herself to the side of the building and just cleaning her windows. And the caption said, for some in Kyiv, anxiety, for some washing the windows, we will not be broken.
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Nick Eicher
You know, back here, we're far removed from the fighting, of course, and we pay a lot of attention to news around a potential peace process. But I wonder whether that filters down. What do you hear there?
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Caleb Weldy
Well, there's been a range of things that I've heard. They're not optimistic about it, kind of first of all, in the sense of they can see as much as Trump and Zelenskyy in Europe talk, that it doesn't seem like Russia is really making concessions. And everyone I've talked to has said that they believe if Ukraine does give up the territory that Russia has taken that it will not bring peace, that it will at best, pause the war for a few years and give Russia time to regroup. I've been surprised to hear basically everyone I've talked to has said that they really believe Russia is an existential threat to the country and not only 100% wants to take over all of Ukraine, but probably more of Europe as well.
- [13:19]
Mary Reichard
Caleb Weldy is a freelance reporter for World. Caleb, thanks so much for joining us. Stay safe.
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Caleb Weldy
Thank you.
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Nick Eicher
All right, well, moving on now from the streets of Kyiv to US Efforts to broker peace, it was just hours after the latest barrage in Ukraine's capital that President Zelensky was in Florida, meeting face to face with President Trump.
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John Hardy
Got to make a deal.
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Richard Hart
Got to get it done. Too many people dying. And I think both presidents want to make a deal.
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Mary Reichard
The Ukrainian president suggested that they are closer to nailing down a deal than ever before. Our team talked about strategy, how to make step by step and bring this closer. And we will discuss this strategy.
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Nick Eicher
Joining us now to talk about these latest developments is John Hardy. He is deputy Russia Program Director for the foundation for Defense of Democracies. And John, good morning.
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John Hardy
Good morning. Thanks for having me on.
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Mary Reichard
So glad you're here. Well, Zelensky met with Trump on Sunday. Was the weekend meeting already scheduled or in response to the attack?
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John Hardy
This meeting was planned. It's in response to weeks of shuttle diplomacy between Ukrainian, American and European officials trying to nail down details of a 20 point plan put forward by President Zelensky and accompanying documents concerning security guarantees as well as post war reconstruction of Ukraine.
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Nick Eicher
Well, President Zelensky is now saying they are much closer to a deal than ever before, giving a figure of 90% there. What has changed to get to this point since the last meeting?
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John Hardy
Well, I think in Mar a Lago, President Trump endorsed some of the plans surrounding security guarantees and post war reconstruction. There is still no consensus, though, on the thorny issue of what to do with Ukraine's Donbas region in the eastern part of the country. This is territory demanded by Putin and that Kyiv is very reluctant to give up. There have been some kind of compromises discussed, but as I say, still no consensus. And that's, you know, putting aside the fact that Russia will object not only to Ukraine's position on Donbas, but many other of the points in that 20 point plan.
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Nick Eicher
Okay, well, aside from the Donbass issue, what else is getting in the way?
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John Hardy
So if you think about Putin's basic reason for starting this war, it's to try to arrest the movement of Ukraine towards the west, lock it within Russia's sphere of influence. He wants to, for example, outlaw the Western military presence in Ukraine, force Ukraine to forswear its ambitions of joining NATO, including by changing its constitution, put very stringent caps on Ukrainian armed forces and a whole host of other demands. Kyiv, of course, rejects all of that. And it's kind of emerging consensus with Washington would really fly in the face of many of those Russian demands. Again, aside from the territory issue. And the Kremlin has been very clear in recent weeks saying that kind of the emerging proposal coming out of these meetings between Washington and Kyiv and the Europeans are just completely unacceptable to the Kremlin. So there's a long way to go to kind of bridge that gap.
- [16:32]
Mary Reichard
Well, after the Sunday meeting, Trump had a phone call with Russian President Putin. He said after that it was positive. Is there any indication that Putin is moving?
- [16:42]
John Hardy
No, I think Putin in recent weeks has been really adamant about sticking to his maximalist demands. He often dresses in fatigues in these scripted meetings with military officials to try to tout supposed Russian battlefield progress and kind of making the case that if Kyiv refuses to give up territory. Russian forces will take it regardless. I think, you know, there's a lot of caveats to that claim. One being that if you look at the current rate of Russian advances, it's very far from clear that Russia could take the rest of the Donbas before running out of steam. So despite the fact that President Trump seems to think Ukraine would be better off conceding that territory now, I think Kyiv does have good reason to stick to its guns.
- [17:28]
Nick Eicher
Well, now, John, you have deep knowledge about this area of the world. Is there anything that we're not hearing in the west, in the media, anything we're not hearing that we need to be hearing so we can understand the situation, situation better?
- [17:40]
John Hardy
I think, you know, President Trump is of the view that, you know, this, this struggle, this war can be resolved, you know, through diplomacy and perhaps there is a settlement that'll end at least pause the fighting, you know, but this is something that Russia views as a generational, even existential struggle with not only Ukraine, but with its Western backers and part of a bid to kind of rewrite the security order in Europe that emerged after the Cold War. So, you know, this isn't going to end with this war. And that's really puts an emphasis on when and if the fighting stops, making Ukraine, a so called steel porcupine, hard to swallow. And a continued U.S. commitment to conventional defense in Europe.
- [18:22]
Mary Reichard
Steel porcupine. Never heard that one before. John Hardy is deputy Russia Program Director for Foundation for Defense of Democracies. John, thanks so much for your time today. Really appreciate it.
- [18:32]
John Hardy
Thank you.
- [18:48]
Kent Covington
Additional support comes from Commuter Bible, the Workweek audio bible available on podcast apps and commuterbible.org new yearly plans begin January 5th.
- [19:04]
Nick Eicher
Up next, a look back at some of the most significant religious liberty stories of the year with World's Steve West.
- [19:11]
Mary Reichard
Well, it's hard to believe, but 2025 is just about in the history books. Now you're sending out the last of your liberties newsletter of the year. So let's talk about some of the stories from the legal beat that you've been watching.
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Steve West
Well, I'd like to break down these stories into three categories. Religious liberty, free speech, parental rights, although there's quite a bit of overlap between these categories.
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Mary Reichard
All right, that's a good way to think about all of this. Let's start with that first one, Religious liberty and its corollary, religious autonomy. That's the idea that we just don't need the government second guessing how churches and religious nonprofits operate.
- [19:47]
Steve West
I'm happy to report some good news in that area. Back in August, a federal appeals court reaffirmed the right of World Vision, an evangelical humanitarian organization, to rescind an employment offer to someone who is in a same sex relationship. Its legal basis to do that's called the ministerial exception. That's a doctrine derived from the First Amendment that protects decisions to hire and fire employees who serve vital religious functions. And that trumps state anti discrimination laws.
- [20:14]
Mary Reichard
Well, if I recall, in that case, the person's job involved talking to donors, and that was deemed to be a vital religious function. But broaden that principle out. What if it's the person who, say, cleans the offices?
- [20:28]
Steve West
Well, that's where the decision falls short. You know, World Vision requires all its employees to sign onto its statement of faith and standards of conduct. That argument wasn't addressed at all whether a religious organization has a right to ensure that all of its employees are on board with its messaging. But it was addressed earlier in the year in the 2nd U.S. circuit Court of Appeals.
- [20:48]
Mary Reichard
All right, so in that circuit, I think the case involved pro life pregnancy centers, right?
- [20:53]
Steve West
That's right. That's right. New York had a law on its books that required pregnancy centers to hire people who did not agree with its mission. Can you imagine that? I'm happy to report that the Second Circuit ruled the state violated the center's right of expressive association, meaning the right of the organization to hire only those employees who affirm the pro life mission. So that's broader protection than the decision in the World Vision case.
- [21:16]
Mary Reichard
Right? Now, those are lower court rulings. Even more encouraging is when we get unanimous Supreme Court rulings for religious liberty. And we did get one in 2025, didn't we?
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Steve West
And with the majority opinion authored by Sonia Sotomayor, no less. Just before its summer recess, Catholic Charities won its case against the state of Wisconsin. The court ruled the state discriminated against the Roman Catholic nonprofit by excluding it from a tax exemption most religious organizations receive. Basically, the state denied the exemption because it said Catholic Charities was not religious enough because it fed the hungry, but it didn't worship or evangelize. And the court said it was wrong to demonstrate a denominational preference. Yeah.
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Mary Reichard
In other words, hey, Wisconsin, you don't get to say what's religious enough.
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Steve West
Exactly. Right.
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Mary Reichard
Okay, let's move on to that second category of free speech. Can you highlight a couple of cases this year from that area of the law?
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Steve West
Well, free speech disputes often involve downright offensive speech, but these cases remind us that the answer to bad speech is not to Shut it down. The answer, as many have said, is more speech.
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Mary Reichard
If I remember correctly, free speech within the context of immigration enforcement is something we've heard a lot about this year.
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Steve West
We sure have. And a prime example was the case of that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil. The Trump administration sought to deport him because of his role in pro Palestinian protests. You know, statements in support of Hamas, for example. But a federal judge released Khalil finding that he was engaged in constitutionally protected political speech and that he was not a flight risk.
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Mary Reichard
I do think it's important, though, to point out that this ruling does not mean that speech can never be regulated.
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Steve West
Correct. Speech that threatens imminent violence, for example, or speech by students in a high school that substantially disrupts the operation of the school, or reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of speech? They're fine.
- [23:09]
Mary Reichard
What about speech by a student that isn't on campus, then?
- [23:13]
Steve West
Well, it's possible off campus speech can be that disruptive to the school, but it's a high bar. Last month, the 2nd U.S. circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a public school cannot discipline students for off campus speech it views as offensive. You know, what happened is that a student posted an offensive picture on Snapchat that upset a lot of students. Some perceived it as racially biased. And the court said just because it defended some students, that's not enough reason to censor his off campus speech.
- [23:42]
Mary Reichard
All right, now on to the last category of cases, parental rights. Back in June, parents got some help to counter school districts intent on foisting gender ideology on their kids.
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Steve West
Right. The case was Mahmoud versus Taylor. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court sided with parents in Maryland who wanted to opt their kids out of storybooks with heavy LGBTQ themes that were offensive to parents religious beliefs.
- [24:07]
Mary Reichard
It sounds like you could have included this under the religious liberty category, Steve.
- [24:11]
Steve West
Sure could have. That's the overlap I mentioned. This decision boosts parental rights, but it rests on free exercise of religion. It's a helpful decision, but it doesn't answer the question of how far the right to opt out reaches. For example, can parents opt their children out of a class discussion on evolution?
- [24:28]
Mary Reichard
You know, an opt out option may help parents guard against indoctrination of their children, but only so long as they even know what the school is up to. So there's that. There's also this lawsuit in California that challenges the school's no tell policy that tells teachers not to say anything to parents about their child who is socially transitioning from girl to boy, or vice versa.
- [24:50]
Steve West
Yeah, in that case, two teachers took on a school district that forced them to follow a state and local school district policy encouraging gender transitions. A federal judge who temporarily blocked the policy in 2023 made it permanent in a ruling just before Christmas. He called what the state and school district did a trifecta of harm against parents, teachers and students. The other good news is that the lawsuit was certified as a class action, meaning its ruling will extend to all similarly situated teachers, parents and students in all of California. And that can be a big help to similar challenges across the country.
- [25:26]
Mary Reichard
So there is some good news out there. To learn more about each of these stories, or to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter called Liberties, just visit WNG.org.
- [25:55]
Nick Eicher
Diverse Incredible, wonderful bread.
- [25:58]
Mary Reichard
It is absolutely delicious.
- [26:00]
Nick Eicher
That's right. It's the word on the street in Mexico City after the country's bread culture came under international criticism. Richard Hart is a baker well known in UK foodie circles.
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Richard Hart
They don't really have much of a bread culture. They make tortoise on these white, ugly.
- [26:17]
Steve West
Rolls that are pretty cheap.
- [26:18]
Nick Eicher
Oh, that's harsh. That is no bueno student Dana Severiano saying that for me, bread is family time. We get it almost every night. We eat it together. My dad is crazy about it. Bread simply feels like unity and home. Well, by week's end, Hart said he was sorry for all that. The apology did land because in Mexico, bread culture evidently doesn't lower itself to argument and insult. It rises as good bread should. It's the world and everything in it.
- [27:03]
Mary Reichard
Today is Tuesday, December 30th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Mary Reichard.
- [27:10]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Eicher. Coming next on THE World and Everything in It, a horse racing legend who became an advocate for the disabled, the sports world said goodbye this year to figures who defend entire eras icons in the ring, on the field and behind the microphone professional wrestling star Hulk Hogan, whose later years included a strong Christian testimony beloved baseball broadcaster Bob Uecker, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabu, hall of Fame second baseman Ryan Sandberg, basketball great Lenny Wilkins and heavyweight boxing champ George Foreman, who went on to become a Christian minister.
- [27:50]
Mary Reichard
Today we focus on one name whose place in sports history is also secure. Ron Turcotte, the jockey who rode Secretariat to a Triple Crown victory in 1973. World's Jenny Ruff has his story. They're at the post, all standing well as we wait for the start.
- [28:10]
Jenny Ruff
May 5, 1973, the Kentucky Jockey Ron Turcotte anticipated breaking out of the stall with Secretariat the favored horse.
- [28:20]
Mary Reichard
Secretariat throws his head a bit.
- [28:24]
Steve West
On.
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Jenny Ruff
The rock, but Turcotte and Secretariat were last out of the starting gate. Secretariat's style was to advance from behind. By the final stretch of the mile and a quarter race, everything had changed. Turcotte leaned forward.
- [28:38]
Caleb Weldy
Ron Turcotte uses the right handed whip.
- [28:41]
Jenny Ruff
He chirped into Secretariat's ear, a signal to run faster.
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Richard Hart
Secretariat on the outside to take the.
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Mary Reichard
Lead at the wire. It's going to be Secretariat.
- [28:49]
Caleb Weldy
He wins it by two lengths.
- [28:51]
Mary Reichard
Secretariat just broke the old Kentucky Derby record.
- [28:56]
Jenny Ruff
That record still stands. Two weeks later, Turcotte rode Secretariat to victory in the Preakness. And three weeks after that, the Belmont Stakes, where he won by a jaw dropping 31 lengths. Those records still stand too. The Triple Crown victory shot the jockey to international fame. Ron Turcot, affectionately known as Ronnie, was born on July 22, 1941 in Canada, the third of 12 children. He dropped out of eighth grade to work as a lumberjack with his dad.
- [29:26]
Mary Reichard
He handled the big horses that they would chain up the logs to and drag them out. So he was very good with horses.
- [29:32]
Jenny Ruff
That's artist Jocelyn Russell, who sculpted a monument of Turcotte riding Secretariat.
- [29:37]
Mary Reichard
But he didn't know much about racing.
- [29:39]
Jenny Ruff
At 18, Turcotte left home to find better work in Toronto. Here's audio of an interview with him from the documentary Secretariat's Jockey.
- [29:47]
Richard Hart
The landlord asked me, why don't you try the racetrack? He says, he looks tall enough to be a jockey. I says, what's a jockey? He says, little boys in the white pants.
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Jenny Ruff
Turcotte was 5ft 1 inch. He started as a hot walker at Winfield's Farm, cooling down horses after their workout. He began racing in 1961 and quickly became Canada's champion jockey. In 1963, he moved to the United States to compete. Two years later he married his childhood sweetheart and together they had four daughters. After Turcotte moved to the States, trainer Lucien Loren connected him to the Chenery family. They owned Meadows Stable, a prestigious racing operation in central Virginia.
- [30:33]
Mary Reichard
This was his particular stall and the colt that was showing the most promise got this stall.
- [30:41]
Jenny Ruff
Leanne Layden gives tours there. Secretariat's stablemate was a horse named Reeva Ridge, and Turcotte was instrumental in Riva's success too. Riva was afraid of other horses on the track.
- [30:54]
Mary Reichard
Ronnie asked Lucian Lauren could he take some extra time with Reva and jockeys don't usually do this to get him to overcome his fears of other horses, so they would gallop three abreast with Reeva in the middle and do some bumping and all of that. And Ronnie cured Reeva of that fear.
- [31:16]
Jenny Ruff
But Reeva didn't run well on the muddy track at the Preakness in 1972, and that cost them the Triple Crown. Secretariat could run on anything. Here's Turcotte in the documentary Big Red's last Race.
- [31:29]
Richard Hart
And when he runs, he runs so fast, you don't really realize how fast he goes. It's like piloting a jet, I guess. He just pushes the accelerator and he goes on. I don't think the bad condition will affect the horse at all, because he's always impressed me like he would run even on broken bottles.
- [31:45]
Jenny Ruff
Sculptor Russell said when Turcotte raced Secretariat, he'd pull the bit back in the horse's mouth.
- [31:51]
Mary Reichard
What we would think, as you know, whoa, that was actually go.
- [31:56]
Leonard Luskie
That is a real intuitive thing between horse and rider.
- [31:59]
Jenny Ruff
That's Leonard Luskie. He became Turcotte's business partner and friend.
- [32:03]
Leonard Luskie
I don't know that any other jockey might have figured that out with Secretariat in time. So they got each other.
- [32:09]
Jenny Ruff
Turcotte won over 3,000 races. He once said he was never scared of dying, only of becoming paralyzed. In a 1978 race, Turcotte's horse clipped heels with another, catapulting Turcotte over the horse's head.
- [32:24]
Leonard Luskie
The worst part in a spill is getting hit by the trailing horses, because you can really, really get damaged. He seemed to avoid that, so people at first thought, oh, this doesn't look too bad.
- [32:36]
Jenny Ruff
Turcotte explained what happened.
- [32:38]
John Hardy
My legs were crossed, you know, like.
- [32:41]
Richard Hart
Something like I hadn't seen my leg twisted, and I went to straighten them out, and when they touched my legs, like I was touching somebody else's leg.
- [32:52]
Jenny Ruff
He was 38. He never walked or raced again. Luskie said Turcotte relied on his faith.
- [32:59]
Leonard Luskie
His faith undoubtedly was the pillar to so much of his success, I think before and after the accident.
- [33:08]
Mary Reichard
Russell agrees he was just a very strong believer, and it echoed through everything that he did and said throughout his life.
- [33:17]
Jenny Ruff
He lived with incredible pain, but he.
- [33:20]
John Hardy
Said, I just thank God every time.
- [33:22]
Caleb Weldy
I open my eyes every morning.
- [33:25]
Jenny Ruff
Turcotte began working with other injured jockeys.
- [33:28]
Leonard Luskie
He became a big advocate for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund. It's an organization that funds disabled riders because riders are not employees. They don't get insurance and so forth. So there are many riders who, when they're injured, I mean, and their lives are over, basically, for the, you know, working part so this was a group that he was very passionate about.
- [33:56]
Jenny Ruff
He became the face of the organization which gave him a new purpose, counseling hurt jockeys and encouraging the healthy riders. Luskie describes Turcotte as optimistic.
- [34:07]
Leonard Luskie
When the little boys were young, they were probably 2 and 3 and he would come to the house, they would say, can we go for a roller coaster ride? Because that's how they didn't know really what a wheelchair was. But he put them on a lap and they would climb all over him. And he just was so kind to way. He really was one of my favorite people in life.
- [34:31]
Jenny Ruff
Ron Turcott died on August 22nd at age 84. Reporting for World I'm Jenny Ruff.
- [35:03]
Nick Eicher
Good morning. This is the World and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Nick Iker.
- [35:08]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichard. Winter's been brutal in parts of Canada, but World Opinions contributor James Wood says the deeper chill has nothing to do with with the weather.
- [35:21]
Richard Hart
This winter has been especially cold in southern Ontario. Snow has covered my backyard since the second week of November. And while my young children still delight in the novelty of winter, I find myself wondering how long the cold will last and how deep it will run. The question is not just meteorological. There is another kind of chill settling over Canada this season, one that has less to do with the weather and more to do with the public practice of Christian faith. In September, Canada's Liberal government introduced Bill C9, or the so called Combating Hate Act. It is in response to a documented rise in police reported hate crimes. Particular attention has been paid to the alarming increase in anti Semitic harassment, especially incidents tied to extremist networks in Quebec. The stated aim of the bill is both understandable and laudable, to ensure that genuinely hateful conduct can be investigated and prosecuted more effectively. Yet how we go about that matters. In its current form, Bill C9 threatens to chill not only hateful speech but also authentic Christian teaching. The bill proposes amendments to the Criminal Code intended to remove what its proponents describe as hindrances to hate crime prosecutions. Two of those changes are especially concerning for Christians. First, Bill C9 would repeal a long standing good faith defense for religious expression. Since 1970, a provision in the Criminal Code has ensured that Canadians cannot be convicted of hate propaganda offenses simply for expressing opinions in good faith rooted in scripture or other religious texts. This protection has been narrowly framed and carefully interpreted by courts. Courts have consistently affirmed that only the most extreme forms of speech fall within the scope of hate propaganda law. In its current form, Bill C9 would eliminate that safeguard altogether. Without the good faith defense, prosecutors will find it easier to pursue charges where religious teaching is deemed to willfully promote hatred against protected groups, including those defined by sexual orientation or gender identity. Traditional Christian doctrine is not ambiguous on such questions. Scripture affirms the created distinction between male and female, presents heterosexual marriage as normative, and describes certain behaviors as sinful. These teachings are not expressions of hostility towards persons. They are moral claims embedded in a comprehensive theological vision about God's good design for our human existence, what some refer to as natural law or creation order. Yet under Bill C9's revised framework, such teaching could invite investigations simply by being publicly articulated. Second, the bill would remove the requirement that prosecutors obtain the consent of a provincial attorney general before proceeding with hate speech charges. That requirement has long served as a crucial gatekeeping mechanism. It ensures that cases advance only where there is a reasonable prospect of conviction and a clear public interest. Eliminating it lowers the threshold for investigation and increases the likelihood of complaints initiated by private individuals. The most likely outcome is not a wave of pastors being imprisoned for preaching Romans 1. However. A more subtle and serious danger lurks behind the change. Churches, ministries and clergy could find themselves drawn into protracted and costly legal processes. Even where convictions are improbable, the mere prospect of investigation now, without attorney general oversight, exerts a chilling effect on Christian witness. Sermons grow cautious. Teaching on contested moral questions is softened or quietly avoided. Conferences are postponed or canceled. Materials go unpublished. All of this can occur without a single guilty verdict. To be clear, the problem is not that Canada seeks to combat hatred. The problem is that the law now risks erasing a distinction essential to moral reasoning itself the difference between hatred of persons and disagreement over ideas and practices, between malice and moral conviction. When that distinction collapses, the public square becomes inhospitable to any tradition that makes substantive truth claims. A society that marginalizes Christian truth in its public life is unlikely to become more humane. I'm James Wood.
- [39:34]
Mary Reichard
Tomorrow A living look back at the biggest political stories of the year with Hunter Baker on Washington Wednesday and Remembering Charlie Kirk. That and more tomorrow. I'm Mary Reichert.
- [39:45]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Eicher. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible says, praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise. Praise in the assembly of the godly. Verse 1 of Psalm 149 Go now in grace and peace.