Walker Wildmon: American Family Radio thanks its sponsor, Preborn
Walker Wildmon We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection and the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without your help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound250 and say the key word baby or visit preborn.com afr. We inform religious freedom is about people of faith being able to live out their faith, live out their convictions no matter where they are. We equip sacred honor is the courage to speak truth, to live out your free speech. We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character.
This is at the The Core on American Family Radio.
Walker Wildmon Welcome to the The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us on today's edition of the show. I'm, Walker Wildmon. Once again, the name of the program is at the The Core. We're hosted, hosted each week by myself and Rick Green. Good to be with you on the program. You can get the live audio and video [email protected] we just launched in the last few weeks a, brand new video option on afr.net so in the top left hand corner of the site you can listen live to the audio. In the top right hand corner of the homepage you can watch the video, the live feed for the programs that do have live video options. And so that's all [email protected] if you want to jump over to the AFR app, you can get the live audio there as well. And of course we would greatly appreciate it for you to subscribe to the podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts, we upload this program, after the fact, in the form of a podcast each and every afternoon. So you can listen to the show in its entirety, but go back and listen to certain, segments or interviews rather and get the show at your convenience, the full episode each and every afternoon.
Acts 17 describes conversion of Jews from Greece to Christianity
Well, let's turn our attention to the scripture then. We'll jump into some of the stories we're going to get to this segment. Acts 17, reading verses 1 through 4. Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where they were in a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them and for three sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead. And saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. Verse 4. And some of them were persuaded. And a great multitude of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas. That's Acts chapter 17:1 4. And so we have a conversion of Jews from, Greece that, converted to Christianity and the teachings of Christ here, in the early church and in Paul's, ministry. Very, very encouraging. And as a reminder, today, some 2,000 plus years later, we still should be, witnessing to both Jew and Gentile and for the conversion of all to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
New data from the FBI shows the US saw its largest yearly drop in violent crime
Well, as I, ended the show on Monday, I alluded to the 70 year drop, 70 year low in violent crime that the FBI just reported under the Trump administration. Very good report, very positive report. These are the types of reports that ought to be highlighted as we head into this midterm election cycle. If President Trump and the Republicans are the least bit interested in retaining, the Chamber of Congress, the House and the Senate. And so let's play this local news report about the, drop, 70 year low in violent crime, according to the FBI's national database. This is a CBS Evening News report on these latest FBI statistics. Let's listen.
CBS Evening News Anchor New data from the FBI shows that in 2025, the US saw its largest yearly drop in violent crime since they started tracking it nearly a century ago. These days, the sounds of sirens are less frequent in Newark, NewSong Jersey, a city long known for its high crime rate. I feel it's been a lot safer. Safety of Newark is very good right now. Recent data shows Newark saw the largest decline in homicides among major cities in the country, down more than 64% for the first half of this year compared to that period last year. Emmanuel Miranda is Newark's Director of Public Safety. I think that everyone, should be able to take pride in the work that we're doing so far this year. Some cities like Chicago have seen an increase in homicides, while many major cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia are down about a quarter. The FBI says last year the US saw its lowest murder rate in roughly 70 years.
Walker Wildmon So lowest violent crime and within that statistic, lowest murder rate in 70 years, according to this FBI report. And here are some of the key findings from this report. The data coming in at the end of 2025 being released now once it's compiled, violent crime fell 9% from 24 to 25, which is, according to the FBI, the largest year to year change or drop in violent crime. Since these, FBI numbers began to be published in 1936, murders and non negligent manslaughters dropped 18%. Robbery declined 18%, aggravated assault declined 7%, rape offenses declined 7%. And, and property, crime, and, other categories also dropped as well. And so this is comparing data going back to the 1950s, when it comes to this drop in violent crime. Of course the data goes back before that because I mentioned 1936. But the last time that the violent crime rate was this low was in the 1950s, 1955 and 56 to be specific. And so we're seeing some positive trends. Of course, there's your outliers, there's your Chicago war zone. But guess who runs that? The Democrats do. So no surprise there. But largely speaking around the country, especially in these conservative states where law and order is being enforced, the, streets are becoming safer by the year, by the day, by the election, when we choose common sense policies, to run our streets and our cities and our counties.
President Trump recently appointed Attorney General Todd Blanche
let's talk another story. I wanted to get to this segment while we have the time. The, president recently, appointed Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was since confirmed. He was the Acting Attorney General for a period. Now he is officially the Attorney General. He was confirmed within the last two weeks. And he's actually doing phenomenal work. Rather surprising because he used to be a Democrat, but now he's doing very good work, better than Attorney General Bondi, in my opinion. He's responsible for the investigation and criminal charges against the Southern Poverty Law center employees. He has gone after these, some of these, pro abortion groups. He's gone after the, medical systems that were filing fraudulent, Medicaid claims, on transgender surgeries. I mean, the list goes on. Regarding the positive things that Attorney General Blanche has been responsible for in his few months as Acting Attorney General, but he was recently questioned right after his confirmation about this loyalty to President Trump. Remember, the left has created this bogeyman that, you can't be loyal to your duties as an appointed official under the oath that you swore to office under the Constitution, that you can't be, doing the right thing there and also do what the President wants. You just have to pick one or the other. And there's been this long standing narrative out there, even from President Trump's first term, that these cabinet officials have to pick between doing what President Trump wants and then doing what their oath of office says, as if these two can't go together. And Attorney General Blanche just beautifully handles this and makes it clear to Kristin Welker that these two are not exclusionary. These two go together. I can do what President Trump wants me to do, which are lawful request by the executive branch, and I can also uphold my oath to office. We don't have to pick one or the other when it comes to carrying out my duties. This is going to be clip two. Let's listen.
Kristin Welker Appreciate your being here in person.
Can you pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House
As we just heard, in your address to the Justice Department staff this week, you said you and DOJ will, quote, uphold the law without fear or favor. You, of course, used to be President Trump's former personal defense attorney. Can you pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House?
Todd Blanche Well, there's a big difference between saying we will be. We will always do our job and investigate any case and act independently of the White House. No, I'm not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that the president. I mean, if I were to pledge, I will be independent of the White House. What that means is that if President Trump says, I want the Department of Justice to go after every violent criminal in this country, which is what he has said, what you're saying to me is I just say, no, sir, not going to do it. So I will act with integrity. Our prosecutors will act, with integrity. We will prosecute without fear or any sort of favor. And that's exactly what we've been doing, and that's what every Department of Justice should do.
K. Welker Well, I guess big picture, if the president asks you to do something that you feel crosses an ethical or legal line, would you do it?
Todd Blanche The president will never ask me to do something unethical or legal or illegal. He never has, he never will. And, no, I have. I swore, to the Constitution of the United States, like every Cabinet secretary has done and like every attorney general before. And so this narrative that's mostly pushed by the left and pushed by the media, that the president's going to pull me aside and ask me to do something illegal is completely a false narrative. Not true, will not happen and hasn't happened.
Walker Wildmon So I don't like the use of the term ethics. I think something's either legal or it's not. so the whole ethical debate can get very subjective. but, Attorney General Blanche handles this beautifully. Look, let's don't kowtow to the left. Let's don't distance ourselves from the president. Let's don't act like, we can just pick and choose what orders from the President we can follow. You work for him. You are under the executive branch legally. This notion that the Attorney General is independent of the White House is a falsehood. It is nowhere to be found in the Constitution, nowhere to be found in federal statute. This is all literally made up. It's nowhere to be found. You cannot cite federal statute or constitutional provisions that suggest that the Attorney General is independent from the President or the executive branch. That factually does not exist. It is nowhere to be found. This is a false narrative and a false expectation that has been propped up by the media. And in order to cause strife and division whenever conservatives and Republicans get in the White House 100%, that's what this is all about. You want to know why I know that's the case? Is because when Obama was ordering his FBI, his doj, and his intelligence community to go after President Donald J. Trump when he was candidate, there was no problem there. There was no dilemma. All right? When President Biden instructed his DOJ to go after pro lifers who were law abiding citizens and instructed the DOJ to raid Mar Lago, there was no problem there. Okay? And those are actually, I would argue, bad decisions, wrong decisions to go after your political opponent during the campaign and raid his residence in Mar A Lago. And if President Trump were to do this, then the left would cry foul. And so I'm thankful for Attorney General Blanche and for him dispelling this myth that the DOJ is, quote, independent of the FBI. It's just absolutely not the case. And so the DOJ has a lot of opportunity here. Vice President Vance sent over criminal referrals regarding Medicaid fraud and these transgender treatments down in Texas and over 225 clinics around the country that have been mutilating kids, and getting Medicaid reimbursements for it. I mean, this stuff's insane. And so Attorney, General Blanche is going to follow through on that. once again, he indicted and is pursuing, criminal charges for the former Southern Poverty Law center employee that has multiple, allegations against her m. Multiple criminal allegations against her for wire fraud and things like that. And basically, the Southern Poverty Law center was running this racket where they fund the groups they claim to oppose, and then they report on their bad behavior that the SPLC funded. if that's not shady, my friends, I don't know what is. And that just shows you this notion that hate is rampant in America. America is so unfounded that the SPLC had to find people to pay to carry out, quote, hateful things. And, so Attorney General Blanche is following through on that and pursuing criminal charges in that arena and many, other areas. James Comey with the, assassination, inference regarding his social media post. James Comey. That is criminal charges being pursued there. So a lot of opportunity here to go after the true wrongdoers. We'll be back.
We live in a day when America's families are under attack like never before.
American Family Association celebrates America's 250th birthday with patriotic apparel
Buddy Smith, senior vice president of the American Family Association. The the war against biblical principles rages on numerous fronts. The Internet, Hollywood, Washington, D.C. america's corporate boardrooms, and the list goes on. At American Family association, we're committed to standing against the enemies of God, the enemies of your family. And we recognize it's an impossible task without God's favor and your partnership. Thank you for being faithful to pray for this ministry, to give financially and to respond to our calls for activism. What you do on the home front is crucial to what we do on the battlefront. We praise God for your faithfulness and may he give us many victories in the battles ahead as we work together to restore our nation's biblical foundations. America's 250th birthday. It's a great excuse to have some extra cake and ice cream, but we can help your celebration go well beyond that. Show your patriotism with America. 250 apparel that will become a memento of this special year. We also have special episodes on AFA Stream to help underscore that America is a Christian nation and help you find God in the Constitution. Find all of this and more in one place. Afa.net topics250@the corps. Podcasts are [email protected] now back to at the The Core on American Family Radio.
Andy Gipson is the current Mississippi Agricultural Commissioner
Walker Wildmon Welcome back to the The Core here on American Family Radio. Second segment now. second segment M now underway. We get going a little too fast sometimes, and we, have on with us our good friend Andy, Gipson. He's the current Mississippi Agricultural Commissioner. Has been for some time now, several years, and also served in the state legislature before that. Commissioner Gipson, glad to have you on the program.
Andy Gipson Thank you for having me. It's always great to be on. I appreciate you and what you and AFA do. Thank you.
Walker Wildmon Absolutely. Well, time flies and I can't believe you've been the commissioner since 2018. just seems like yesterday. So, congratulations on your tenure there and of course, your time in the legislature before that.
Ag Commissioner Andy Gipson: Concerns from Mississippi voters about rapid data center development
wanted to have you on, to talk about one topic primarily these data centers that are just popping up left and right around the country, including in Mississippi. And then of course, we'll talk about as many other topics as we can during this segment. But nonetheless, this is actually, when you look at some of the polling, this is actually a top, maybe not a top concern, but it's probably top three or four concerns for local voters around the country. And that is this rapid development and construction of, of these huge data centers, that are being put up. I know there's been some put up in north Mississippi, towards the Memphis area. but talk about some of the concerns that you're hearing from local voters, from residents of Mississippi, about this, this rapid development and deployment of these huge data centers.
Andy Gipson Well, you're right, Walker. It definitely is, I would say in the top three, among the, the voters that I talk with here in Mississippi. And I've been in all 82 counties all over the state, for a long time. It's an issue that has gotten recent attention with the rapid. I, mean really since 2024 we've had, you know, half a dozen here announced in Mississippi. And the lessons that have been learned from other states are driving a lot of the concerns. How much water are these, these data centers going to use? Where's the water coming from? How much electricity are they going to use and who's going to pay for it? That's, that's a really top concern that I hear from folks. And then is this going to be a bubble that's going to bust at some point? There's so much of this investment. It really feels like sort of the dot com, bubble that we saw back in the early, the late 90s, early 2000s. And then if some of these companies go belly up, what then? These are concerns that people have. But I think the top one is the effect on quality of life. some of them are generating a lot of noise. People are very concerned in their communities. I've been hearing that out of South Haven for quite some time on the power plant that's running, the new data center there on temporary turbines. And so one of the issues that I hear is people are concerned that nobody seems to be able to talk about the facts. So many of these deals were done under secret, negotiations, non disclosure agreements with government officials and people want answers. And that's something that I've been able to respond to as AG Commissioner because it just so happens I serve on the Department of Environmental Quality Permit Board. I'm the only elected official on that board, and I'm in a position to get answers on a lot of these questions from these companies. Now, most of these deals are negotiated on the front end with local governments, but one of the last steps is to get that DEQ permit to operate. So I issued a memo in the middle of July saying, look, if you're a data center, here, questions we want to know, where are you getting your water? How's it going to affect our ratepayers? Where are you getting your electricity? Are you building your own? Are you paying your own? How's that going to affect ratepayers and also quality of life issues in terms of heat and noise? And an important question that some people haven't asked is that I'm going to get answers to is, who owns you, who, who controls you? Are you locally American owned, or, are you, owned by some foreign interest? These are answers that people, want to have as they, as they are having to live through this. And it's something that we as government officials ought to take into account. I'm a big believer in the wisdom of the people. And when the people are asking these questions, we don't need to turn a deaf ear. We need to listen and we need to respond.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, there was a July 2020, which is obviously within the last month or two, that was put out by Americans for Responsible Innovation that found that 77% of voters were concerned about higher electricity bills and deals being made without public input, regarding data center deployment. That was a national poll. But to your point, this is at the top of the list for a lot of these voters, especially voters that are conscientious and care about their city, about their town, about their county and what's being built in some instances in their backyard. That's the problem. I have Commissioner Gipson, and I'm very pro business. I know you are too. we need to, you know, attract as much business as we can in the state to employ as many people as possible. Although I don't think that's the primary role of government, is to, is to cut business deals for the state. I think that's a private sector thing, and I think sometimes public officials get too in the, in the, in the weeds of trying to attract business instead of just running the state. but nonetheless, the zoning has been a concern from my vantage point, because you throw up, for example, a data center, right behind a neighborhood. And it may be technically zoned commercial. but the wisdom There. And the spirit of the coding requirements should not lend itself to putting a data center behind a neighborhood. That is, that's just not smart zoning. And, but these municipalities, some of them are allowing it because they see the dollar signs and maybe tax revenue, etc. But what another differential that I try to compare this to, just thinking through this and how the voters view it and what, what's really getting at the heart of it is that traditionally a business or a corporation bringing in a manufacturing, plant, et cetera, you're employing the community, right? We all have neighbors and friends that work there, that earn an income there, and so you're developing rapport with the community. But the data centers, they're employing very few. I mean, you might have some technicians, but these are empty shells of buildings that have a handful of technicians, and they're not really employing people from the local community. That's another problem as well.
Andy Gipson It is. we're very familiar in Mississippi with the traditional industries like forestry and, sawmills and manufacturing, automobile plants, where you're creating hundreds and sometimes thousands of jobs. one of the pieces of information I'm going to be requiring through this DEQ process is how many jobs are going to be, created at the end of the project. Now, I know it's creating a lot of construction work right now, but at the end of the day, how many jobs are we talking about? Who's going to fill those jobs? A lot of these are, in some cases, foreign workers who are doing, you know, very technical work. And it's not a, real job creator for the long term in that community. And so balancing that with the cost, whether it's water usage or energy usage and who's paying for those things, that's information we have to get answers on. Now, some of them are doing it smart. And, President Trump has called for a ratepayer protection pledge that says if you're a data center, you got to pay your own way. And some of them are doing that, but not all of them are paying for their own electricity, paying for their own water. Some of them have been smart enough to use gray water out of cities that would be going down the drain to cool their system. but again, without information on the record, nobody really knows what the impact's going to be. So I'm going to require that information at, least 30 days before a hearing or before a permit, and make sure the people at least know and have the right to be heard on these issues as they move forward.
Commissioner Gipson is running for governor of Mississippi
Walker Wildmon Commissioner Gipson, A couple other topics I want to get to, if we can. What are you. Obviously you're running for governor. For those who don't know, in the state of Mississippi, there's a handful of candidates already declared, and sure more will come, as the months go by. Mississippi operates kind of on an off year election cycle. So 2027, will be the election November of 2027, but before that will clearly be the Republican primary. As you travel the state, obviously this is a topic for local communities. What are some of the other things you're hearing? obviously you've been on the road a lot. What are some of the other things that you're hearing from voters about issues that they care about in the state?
Andy Gipson Well, one of the top issues, of course, is, taxes. You know, there's been a lot of discussion about tax relief in Mississippi. There's been a passage of an income tax phase out of Mississippi, but that income tax remains in effect. So, I've been hearing a lot of concerns about property taxes, especially among homeowners who have bought and paid for their home and yet still paying the government for the right to live there. That's been a concern of mine for a long time. I've called for property tax reform now for years, not just recently. And then even car tags, in some counties, car tags are, you know, $1,000. In some, they're very low. But the issue that it's unveiling is your property ad valorem tax really depends on what county you live in and how that county is applying the valuation. And it's, it's a wildly ranging disparity from county to county. That's an issue that people are concerned about and wanting to get those taxes, get some real tax relief for real people in the, in the sense of property and car tags. So that's a big issue. Another one is public safety. that may surprise some of your listeners, but I'm telling you, whether it's north Mississippi or way down south on the Louisiana line, or east or west, there are pockets of dangerous, violent criminals that are moving in. A lot of juvenile crime is happening, and people are concerned in neighborhoods that used to be safe. They want help. And so, that is something that we can help be a part of with what I'm proposing. A statewide law enforcement task force to, to detect and deter and to drive this criminal element out of our communities to make folks where they can feel safe again. Those are two big issues a lot more I can talk about. One, I'm very passionate about is local food. You know, we've been able to see a lot of growth in farmers markets and we want to grow the access to fresh, healthy food and really support President Trump's Make America Healthy Again plan. That's something that I hear a lot of support for all around Mississippi.
Most people would agree we need to eliminate the property taxes because
Walker Wildmon Let me, let's park on the, on the taxes for a minute because, I agree with you on we need to eliminate the property taxes at a base level. most people would agree we need to eliminate the property taxes because as you're saying, this is a perpetual, basically note that you owe to the government as long as you're alive on property in many instances that you own free and clear of any bank or lender. the problem that is clearly going to come up within the legislature is how do we offset this? and I don't want to ignore that. It's one thing to say we need to eliminate property taxes and we all raise our hand, but in some manner we're going to have to offset that in another area that's better. that makes more sense from a tax standpoint and a capitalism standpoint. So what are some ideas that we could do as a state to do the right thing on property taxes, just like we're doing with income, and eliminate it, but also not, not cause a deficit or a problem in another area of revenue for the government?
Andy Gipson Well, yeah, it's something I've thought a lot about and there's some, there's some easy, low hanging fruit that we can address there. One of them is to increase the diversion on our sales tax back to the counties and back to the cities to help hold them harmless. Also a use tax. The number one fastest growing source of revenue in Mississippi is the use tax, which is a tax paid on goods purchased out of state. And with the rise of Amazon and all that, I mean that's a big growing factor. So it makes sense to me. I mean this is not something that's going to happen overnight. It's going to have to be phased in. But it doesn't need to be 30 years like this income tax elimination. It needs to be over, I would say a three year period, really creating a Runway to increase the diversions to the counties, to fund local governments, from those sales and use taxes as well as, eliminating that property tax off the books. And at a minimum it needs to be eliminated from the homeowners, books because as you said to me, the most heinous tax in all the world is the tax I Pay on the home I bought and paid for. I thank God. my wife Les and I have a home. We live on our farm. We have paid for it and yet every year we're paying tax and every few years we're paying more tax and more tax and more tax for the right to live in our home. that needs to be repealed. It'll take some diversions from those use and sales taxes to make that happen.
Walker Wildmon Yeah. And if you talk to voters, I would suspect at least going off my, my own opinion, a consumption based tax, even a slight increase on a consumption based consumer tax, that's pretty fair. I mean, to your point, if you're out shopping, and that's some of the more originalism kind of approach to taxes is based on consumer consumption, citizen consumption, and not this perpetual property tax that is just literally never ending. so, I know voters are reasonable and they're willing to, to, you know, move, move the revenue around or the rates around if you can promise them, you know, eventual elimination of the property taxes. And the pros there far outweigh any nominal increase, you know, for example on local sales tax or something like that. And you mentioned this out of state, you know, what was the name of that tax from out of state orders? Yeah, the use out of state use tax. I mean that, that's probably there's no telling how many millions or even billions annually come in to the state from out of state that could be taken advantage of there. So, but you just gotta. Yeah, go ahead.
Andy Gipson When you make that policy adjustment, you put it in the hands of the people, a factor they can control. They can decide how much they want to buy on Amazon or whatever. As it is right now you have a, tax just for existing and living in your home. That is something that really, it's a fundamentally flawed system in a number of ways. But it's also being applied unfairly because the same home, you had identical home in one county A, you moved it to county B, you could be paying, you know, twice as much tax or half as much depending on where you live, the way the tax is being applied. So it's fundamentally, I think it violates our constitution, which cost repair and uniform taxation on property tax. That's not happening. Here's a way to fix it and put it back in the hands of the people to control.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, I just love that we're moving in this direction. Whether it's you or other candidates for public office talking about this I mean, the pendulum, we are moving this pendulum back in the right direction and moving just beyond settling for, for example, reducing or eliminating the income tax. I mean, if we're going to eliminate unconstitutional unjust taxes, let's go for them all. and there's plenty of, to your point, low hanging fruit to offset some of these revenues so that the government can balance the budget properly at the state level. Commissioner Gipson, thanks so much for coming on. We appreciate your insights.
Andy Gipson Thank you for having me. God bless you and God bless afa.
Walker Wildmon Thank you so much. That's Commissioner Andy Gipson, agricultural commissioner in the state of Mississippi. Mississippi also running for the gubernatorial, position in the Republican primary, which is now underway as we head into 2027 election season. So we appreciate him coming on. Folks are listening to at the The Core. We'll be back in just a few minutes. Right now, the voices in our culture are loud, but truth is often silent. And today preborns need you to help speak that truth. Women facing unplanned pregnancies are often pressured to act quickly before they have time to pause, breathe, or, hear the truth about life, dignity and hope. But I refuse to be silent and I'm asking you to join me. At preborn Network clinics, a woman is welcomed with compassion and given a free ultrasound. She sees the life growing inside her, often for the very first time. And in that sacred moment, for fear gives way to clarity. And she's offered something abortion industry will never provide. The hope of Jesus Christ. This April, our goal is to have 11,000 gospel conversations in preborn network clinics, trusting God to bring the increase as we remain faithful to speak. You can help make that possible by sponsoring ultrasounds. Just $28 provides one ultrasound and $140 provides five free ultrasounds. For more mothers in crisis. Every dollar helps save babies and share the hope of the gospel. To donate, dial £250 and say the keyword baby. That's £250 and say the keyword baby dot or visit preborn.com afr that's preborn.com afr this is at the The Core on
American Family Radio with your host, Walker Wildmon
American Family Radio welcomes Pastor Bill Ledbetter for this last segment
Walker Wildmon Welcome to The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you back with us on this last segment of today's program. As a brief reminder, as I said at the beginning of the program, you can, do two things. There's two ways to keep up with the program. To listen to the program live or watch it, you can simply go over to afr.net afr.net if you just want the audio. Then you can click on the Listen Live button in the top right hand corner. If you want to watch the program, the live video, you can do so by clicking the Watch live [email protected] that's a brand new feature we just launched in recent weeks and we have thousands of people utilize it each and every day to watch the program on their tablet, smartphone or their computer. Well, introducing our next guest that we have for this segment is Pastor Bill Ledbetter. He's senior pastor of Fairview Baptist Church. He's also president of Lighthouse America Organization. He's out of Oklahoma, and he's with us now. Pastor Ledbetter, welcome to the program.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Thank you, Walker. Thank you for having me today. Big time. I'm glad to be here.
Walker Wildmon Yes, absolutely Pastor.
Oklahoma has several statewide offices up for grabs in November elections
And we have a lot of listeners in Oklahoma, many, many stations there. So you're speaking to the country, but also to voters and folks there on the ground in your state. we wanted to have you on to give us some info, some local perspective on what's going on in Oklahoma from an election standpoint. This is a pretty big election cycle. You've got multiple, statewide offices running or open if you will, primarily the governor's, position, the governorship and then even the education superintendent which was formerly held by Rhyen Walters. Both of those positions are open now and people are running in primaries and then eventual general elections here in November. So give us the lowdown. What's the latest on the governor's race and then the superintendent of education race?
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Well, in the governor's race, we're said is a, heated competition. it's critically important that we elect the right governor this time around. Someone who understands our Bible based constitutional republic. Someone who will adhere to those principles and lead us in those pathways. and so we have two candidates, for that one, will, will lead us more in that pathway as opposed to the other one. Mike Mazzei embraces the Bible based principles of our constitutional republic. the other gentleman probably does not. Ah, so much. Mike Mazzei is more of a strong conservative, whereas the other one, Mr. Drummond is not. And so it is critical. It's critical because we need to be returning this nation to the foundations upon which she's built. And of course I believe, and I'm promoting the idea that Mike Maze is the man for the job to do that, ideologically, experientially, and so forth.
Walker Wildmon Let me ask you this pastor? once again, we're talking to Pastor Ledbetter from Oklahoma. he is a senior pastor at Fairview, Baptist Church there. He's also president of Lighthouse America. I'm more familiar with this race than I am some of the others, typically only because I've done research into one of the candidates, Gentner, Drummond, based on past legal work, and we were looking at the Attorney General position anyway, so I've got actually more experience and knowledge of him than I have most candidates for governorship. And, his legal background is very concerning, based on some of the positions he's argued in court. Also, more recently, just from purely a policy standpoint and how he views, President Trump's, his deportation agenda and the immigration enforcement operations that President Trump's been overseeing and prioritizing, which I think are very good things from a federal government standpoint. Drummond recently in a debate. It was either in a debate or an interview. The way he characterized Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE operations, was very demeaning. I mean, it was very belittling demeaning of President Trump's Department of Homeland Security and their operations. I mean, he was basically parroting the talking points of the left, that somehow Immigration and Customs Enforcement is like going into churches and schools, you know, hunting down kids to deport, which is fundamentally untrue. When I heard that pastor, that was a complete turnoff to me. I was like, who is this guy? What's he running for? And little do you know, he's running for. For the governor's race in Oklahoma.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Well, and, of course, he's running as a moderate Republican, and I don't think he's a Republican at all. I think he represents the left, ideologically speaking. his ideas about immigration, for instance, are totally wrong. our immigration policies are designed to protect America. Strong borders help us stay healthy, free, strong. And we're not trying to keep people out. We just want people to come here legally. We want them to be trained to understand our country, as opposed to trying to reform our country or change our country. But learn our constitutional principles. learn about the Declaration of Independence, take the oath and become an American. We want people to do that. What we don't want is open borders where people can just flood in and bring any ideology, anything they want to do, especially if they want to hurt our fellow Americans and our families. And many do. It's insane to have open borders without restrictions and supervision. That's crazy. Hurts us. Hurts us every time.
Walker Wildmon Absolutely.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter So, Mr. Drummond is embracing a Democrat socialist position while at the same time calling himself a conservative.
Walker Wildmon M. Yeah, absolutely. And these differences are being highlighted by candidate Mike Mazzei. And and I know for sure, just looking on social media and news reports, these clips of Drummond going after President Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, which have been once again very beneficial for the country and for public safety, that's just not going to bode well, with conservative voters. Oklahoma is just a very conservative state. President Trump has won the entire state, all of the counties, on multiple occasions, every single time he's been on the ballot as president. And so I'm not sure what ah, candidate Drummond thinks, how he thinks that's going to go with conservative voters.
Pastor Ledbetter says Oklahoma needs a conservative candidate for state school superintendent
nonetheless, the other race I wanted to get you to talk a little bit about is this election for the education superintendent, if you will, in the state and the importance of that because the left and the Marxists have been going after America's school children through the education system. And so, the state of Oklahoma has to have a very conservative, solid, candidate for the general election when it comes to this education position, right?
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Well, that's correct, Walker. The thing is, as important as the gubernatorial race is right now, this race for our state superintendent, school superintendent, is very, very critical. Our nation is facing a lot of issues right now precisely because we don't train our children in the fundamental principles of this Bible based constitutional republic like we should. And if you don't, if you don't do that at the school level, then you get people out voting for things that they don't really understand they're voting for or who we are as a nation. And with that said, you have one candidate for state school superintendent, Mr. Franklin, and I like him. I've studied his background, I've studied some things that he's for. The problem is, is that he said this, I, read something he said. He said that, that Oklahoma education should stay focused on preparing students for life, not chasing every political fad or culture war distraction that takes attention away from the student achievement. Well, to a degree I agree with that. Except what we need to be doing in our schools is teaching the fundamental historical foundations of our constitutional republic. Starting there with the idea that we are not a democracy, we are a constitutional republic. In fact. Article one, excuse me, Article four, Section four says the United States shall guarantee to every state in the union a Republican form of government. Well, that's because we are a Republican form of government. We are not a democracy. Mr. Franklin and his entire rollout will enhance this idea of democracy. Anything kind of goes. It will ignore the basic fundamental history of our nation. That's why we have big trouble in our country. Dr. Taylor, on the other hand, is fundamentally rooted in these principles. He's a wonderful teacher. he understands our constitutional republic inside and out. He's a brilliant man. He's a godly man. he will reinforce our American foundation and principles on which this. This nation is built. He's not going to try to revision or revise our nation, but to sustain it, to preserve it the way the framers intended. Revisionism is the great problem in our country right now, big time. And I fear that Mr. Franklin will advance revisionism, whereas Dr. Taylor will advance the idea of returning us to our foundations, which we must do. If the foundations are destroyed, m. What can the righteous do?
Walker Wildmon Wise words from pastor Bill Ledbetter. We're talking to now senior pastor of Fairview Baptist Church. He's also president of lighthouse America from the state of Oklahoma. Talking about a couple of these statewide elections. Couldn't, agree more, pastor Ledbetter. Hey, ah, before we let you go, tell our folks about your organization there, your ministry, and how folks can find out more about your work.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Sure. Thank you, Walker. Lighthouse America exists to engage culture with truth, like we're doing today. And fundamentally, we spend most of our time teaching the Bible principles on which this nation is built. one of the principles that Jon Adams listed in the works of Jon Adams, he said this. He said, remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon m Wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. Well, that speaks to us because, at 30 something trillion dollars in debt, you know, we need to start paying attention to where we are. And, the framers talked about the biblical foundations, of our nation. And Lighthouse America exists to teach those fundamental principles. for instance, and I'll share this with you. This is important. Alice Baldwin, the first woman dean of Duke University, she wrote a book called the NewSong England clergy and the American Revolution. And in that book, she chronicles that every precept of the Declaration of Independence came from a sermon preached by the pastors in the colonial era. That is truth. I have here in my study, a textbook being taught in our schools right now for government that refutes that idea because it's rooted in revisionism. So Lighthouse America exists not only to teach the Bible truth about every issue under the s. Other. The under the sun as our vision to engage culture with truth, but especially to help people understand the wonderful foundations on the that undergird this beautiful country we call America. Walker, that is the longest ongoing constitutional republic in history. Hallelujah.
Walker Wildmon Amen.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter What a great country. America the beautiful. Hallelujah.
Walker Wildmon Amen. Love it.
Pastor Ledbetter provides valuable insight on Oklahoma's upcoming elections
Pastor Ledbetter, hey, thank you so much for bringing us some insight and what's going on on the ground in Oklahoma from someone who's in Oklahoma and votes in the state there. We appreciate you coming on and appreciate your encouragement as well.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Walker. Thank you so much and thank you for all you guys are doing. This is critically important way to go. We appreciate it very much out here.
Walker Wildmon Amen. Appreciate that, Pastor Ledbetter. Well, there you have it folks. And by the way, we're going to link to this Oklahoma voter Guide that we've published through our affiliate I Voter Guide, which gives tons of information and research on these candidates, much of which Pastor Ledbetter just cited there on their voting records, their public statements, who's endorsed them, et cetera, et cetera. All of this is [email protected] if you click on the state of Oklahoma or you key in your Oklahoma address you can see these statewide offices and their evaluations. And folks, this is the most comprehensive, unbiased data driven voter guide in the country through ivoterguide. And Gettner Drummond is evaluated as moderate according to this voter guide according to ivoterguide. And Mike Mazzei is evaluated as conservative according to ivoterguide. And then you go down to this education or superintendent of Public instruction technically is the title for this position position. And candidate Franklin, Robert Franklin is actually evaluated as liens liberal and he's running on the Republican side of the ticket. So that's quite interesting. And then James Taylor in this primary is evaluated as conservative per I Voter Guide. So if you're in the state of Oklahoma or if you're from any state and you just want to read more about these candidates, folks, I Voter Guide is the go to resource resource for all of these elections. And of course those of you who listen frequently know that I Voter Guide is affiliated with AFA through our government affairs outfit AFA Action. And I Voter Guide is one of the divisions there under AFA action. So go to ivotaguide.com check out more about those elections in Oklahoma and for that matter every election around the country. Go to ivoterguy.com keying your voting address and see if we are covering a race an election near you. Thanks so much for joining us. Remember to subscribe to the podcast. We'll see you next time.
The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Walker Wildmon: American Family Radio thanks its sponsor, Preborn
Walker Wildmon We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection and the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without your help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound250 and say the key word baby or visit preborn.com afr. We inform religious freedom is about people of faith being able to live out their faith, live out their convictions no matter where they are. We equip sacred honor is the courage to speak truth, to live out your free speech. We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character.
This is at the The Core on American Family Radio.
Walker Wildmon Welcome to the The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us on today's edition of the show. I'm, Walker Wildmon. Once again, the name of the program is at the The Core. We're hosted, hosted each week by myself and Rick Green. Good to be with you on the program. You can get the live audio and video [email protected] we just launched in the last few weeks a, brand new video option on afr.net so in the top left hand corner of the site you can listen live to the audio. In the top right hand corner of the homepage you can watch the video, the live feed for the programs that do have live video options. And so that's all [email protected] if you want to jump over to the AFR app, you can get the live audio there as well. And of course we would greatly appreciate it for you to subscribe to the podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts, we upload this program, after the fact, in the form of a podcast each and every afternoon. So you can listen to the show in its entirety, but go back and listen to certain, segments or interviews rather and get the show at your convenience, the full episode each and every afternoon.
Acts 17 describes conversion of Jews from Greece to Christianity
Well, let's turn our attention to the scripture then. We'll jump into some of the stories we're going to get to this segment. Acts 17, reading verses 1 through 4. Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where they were in a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them and for three sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead. And saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. Verse 4. And some of them were persuaded. And a great multitude of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas. That's Acts chapter 17:1 4. And so we have a conversion of Jews from, Greece that, converted to Christianity and the teachings of Christ here, in the early church and in Paul's, ministry. Very, very encouraging. And as a reminder, today, some 2,000 plus years later, we still should be, witnessing to both Jew and Gentile and for the conversion of all to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
New data from the FBI shows the US saw its largest yearly drop in violent crime
Well, as I, ended the show on Monday, I alluded to the 70 year drop, 70 year low in violent crime that the FBI just reported under the Trump administration. Very good report, very positive report. These are the types of reports that ought to be highlighted as we head into this midterm election cycle. If President Trump and the Republicans are the least bit interested in retaining, the Chamber of Congress, the House and the Senate. And so let's play this local news report about the, drop, 70 year low in violent crime, according to the FBI's national database. This is a CBS Evening News report on these latest FBI statistics. Let's listen.
CBS Evening News Anchor New data from the FBI shows that in 2025, the US saw its largest yearly drop in violent crime since they started tracking it nearly a century ago. These days, the sounds of sirens are less frequent in Newark, NewSong Jersey, a city long known for its high crime rate. I feel it's been a lot safer. Safety of Newark is very good right now. Recent data shows Newark saw the largest decline in homicides among major cities in the country, down more than 64% for the first half of this year compared to that period last year. Emmanuel Miranda is Newark's Director of Public Safety. I think that everyone, should be able to take pride in the work that we're doing so far this year. Some cities like Chicago have seen an increase in homicides, while many major cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia are down about a quarter. The FBI says last year the US saw its lowest murder rate in roughly 70 years.
Walker Wildmon So lowest violent crime and within that statistic, lowest murder rate in 70 years, according to this FBI report. And here are some of the key findings from this report. The data coming in at the end of 2025 being released now once it's compiled, violent crime fell 9% from 24 to 25, which is, according to the FBI, the largest year to year change or drop in violent crime. Since these, FBI numbers began to be published in 1936, murders and non negligent manslaughters dropped 18%. Robbery declined 18%, aggravated assault declined 7%, rape offenses declined 7%. And, and property, crime, and, other categories also dropped as well. And so this is comparing data going back to the 1950s, when it comes to this drop in violent crime. Of course the data goes back before that because I mentioned 1936. But the last time that the violent crime rate was this low was in the 1950s, 1955 and 56 to be specific. And so we're seeing some positive trends. Of course, there's your outliers, there's your Chicago war zone. But guess who runs that? The Democrats do. So no surprise there. But largely speaking around the country, especially in these conservative states where law and order is being enforced, the, streets are becoming safer by the year, by the day, by the election, when we choose common sense policies, to run our streets and our cities and our counties.
President Trump recently appointed Attorney General Todd Blanche
let's talk another story. I wanted to get to this segment while we have the time. The, president recently, appointed Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was since confirmed. He was the Acting Attorney General for a period. Now he is officially the Attorney General. He was confirmed within the last two weeks. And he's actually doing phenomenal work. Rather surprising because he used to be a Democrat, but now he's doing very good work, better than Attorney General Bondi, in my opinion. He's responsible for the investigation and criminal charges against the Southern Poverty Law center employees. He has gone after these, some of these, pro abortion groups. He's gone after the, medical systems that were filing fraudulent, Medicaid claims, on transgender surgeries. I mean, the list goes on. Regarding the positive things that Attorney General Blanche has been responsible for in his few months as Acting Attorney General, but he was recently questioned right after his confirmation about this loyalty to President Trump. Remember, the left has created this bogeyman that, you can't be loyal to your duties as an appointed official under the oath that you swore to office under the Constitution, that you can't be, doing the right thing there and also do what the President wants. You just have to pick one or the other. And there's been this long standing narrative out there, even from President Trump's first term, that these cabinet officials have to pick between doing what President Trump wants and then doing what their oath of office says, as if these two can't go together. And Attorney General Blanche just beautifully handles this and makes it clear to Kristin Welker that these two are not exclusionary. These two go together. I can do what President Trump wants me to do, which are lawful request by the executive branch, and I can also uphold my oath to office. We don't have to pick one or the other when it comes to carrying out my duties. This is going to be clip two. Let's listen.
Kristin Welker Appreciate your being here in person.
Can you pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House
As we just heard, in your address to the Justice Department staff this week, you said you and DOJ will, quote, uphold the law without fear or favor. You, of course, used to be President Trump's former personal defense attorney. Can you pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House?
Todd Blanche Well, there's a big difference between saying we will be. We will always do our job and investigate any case and act independently of the White House. No, I'm not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that the president. I mean, if I were to pledge, I will be independent of the White House. What that means is that if President Trump says, I want the Department of Justice to go after every violent criminal in this country, which is what he has said, what you're saying to me is I just say, no, sir, not going to do it. So I will act with integrity. Our prosecutors will act, with integrity. We will prosecute without fear or any sort of favor. And that's exactly what we've been doing, and that's what every Department of Justice should do.
K. Welker Well, I guess big picture, if the president asks you to do something that you feel crosses an ethical or legal line, would you do it?
Todd Blanche The president will never ask me to do something unethical or legal or illegal. He never has, he never will. And, no, I have. I swore, to the Constitution of the United States, like every Cabinet secretary has done and like every attorney general before. And so this narrative that's mostly pushed by the left and pushed by the media, that the president's going to pull me aside and ask me to do something illegal is completely a false narrative. Not true, will not happen and hasn't happened.
Walker Wildmon So I don't like the use of the term ethics. I think something's either legal or it's not. so the whole ethical debate can get very subjective. but, Attorney General Blanche handles this beautifully. Look, let's don't kowtow to the left. Let's don't distance ourselves from the president. Let's don't act like, we can just pick and choose what orders from the President we can follow. You work for him. You are under the executive branch legally. This notion that the Attorney General is independent of the White House is a falsehood. It is nowhere to be found in the Constitution, nowhere to be found in federal statute. This is all literally made up. It's nowhere to be found. You cannot cite federal statute or constitutional provisions that suggest that the Attorney General is independent from the President or the executive branch. That factually does not exist. It is nowhere to be found. This is a false narrative and a false expectation that has been propped up by the media. And in order to cause strife and division whenever conservatives and Republicans get in the White House 100%, that's what this is all about. You want to know why I know that's the case? Is because when Obama was ordering his FBI, his doj, and his intelligence community to go after President Donald J. Trump when he was candidate, there was no problem there. There was no dilemma. All right? When President Biden instructed his DOJ to go after pro lifers who were law abiding citizens and instructed the DOJ to raid Mar Lago, there was no problem there. Okay? And those are actually, I would argue, bad decisions, wrong decisions to go after your political opponent during the campaign and raid his residence in Mar A Lago. And if President Trump were to do this, then the left would cry foul. And so I'm thankful for Attorney General Blanche and for him dispelling this myth that the DOJ is, quote, independent of the FBI. It's just absolutely not the case. And so the DOJ has a lot of opportunity here. Vice President Vance sent over criminal referrals regarding Medicaid fraud and these transgender treatments down in Texas and over 225 clinics around the country that have been mutilating kids, and getting Medicaid reimbursements for it. I mean, this stuff's insane. And so Attorney, General Blanche is going to follow through on that. once again, he indicted and is pursuing, criminal charges for the former Southern Poverty Law center employee that has multiple, allegations against her m. Multiple criminal allegations against her for wire fraud and things like that. And basically, the Southern Poverty Law center was running this racket where they fund the groups they claim to oppose, and then they report on their bad behavior that the SPLC funded. if that's not shady, my friends, I don't know what is. And that just shows you this notion that hate is rampant in America. America is so unfounded that the SPLC had to find people to pay to carry out, quote, hateful things. And, so Attorney General Blanche is following through on that and pursuing criminal charges in that arena and many, other areas. James Comey with the, assassination, inference regarding his social media post. James Comey. That is criminal charges being pursued there. So a lot of opportunity here to go after the true wrongdoers. We'll be back.
We live in a day when America's families are under attack like never before.
American Family Association celebrates America's 250th birthday with patriotic apparel
Buddy Smith, senior vice president of the American Family Association. The the war against biblical principles rages on numerous fronts. The Internet, Hollywood, Washington, D.C. america's corporate boardrooms, and the list goes on. At American Family association, we're committed to standing against the enemies of God, the enemies of your family. And we recognize it's an impossible task without God's favor and your partnership. Thank you for being faithful to pray for this ministry, to give financially and to respond to our calls for activism. What you do on the home front is crucial to what we do on the battlefront. We praise God for your faithfulness and may he give us many victories in the battles ahead as we work together to restore our nation's biblical foundations. America's 250th birthday. It's a great excuse to have some extra cake and ice cream, but we can help your celebration go well beyond that. Show your patriotism with America. 250 apparel that will become a memento of this special year. We also have special episodes on AFA Stream to help underscore that America is a Christian nation and help you find God in the Constitution. Find all of this and more in one place. Afa.net topics250@the corps. Podcasts are [email protected] now back to at the The Core on American Family Radio.
Andy Gipson is the current Mississippi Agricultural Commissioner
Walker Wildmon Welcome back to the The Core here on American Family Radio. Second segment now. second segment M now underway. We get going a little too fast sometimes, and we, have on with us our good friend Andy, Gipson. He's the current Mississippi Agricultural Commissioner. Has been for some time now, several years, and also served in the state legislature before that. Commissioner Gipson, glad to have you on the program.
Andy Gipson Thank you for having me. It's always great to be on. I appreciate you and what you and AFA do. Thank you.
Walker Wildmon Absolutely. Well, time flies and I can't believe you've been the commissioner since 2018. just seems like yesterday. So, congratulations on your tenure there and of course, your time in the legislature before that.
Ag Commissioner Andy Gipson: Concerns from Mississippi voters about rapid data center development
wanted to have you on, to talk about one topic primarily these data centers that are just popping up left and right around the country, including in Mississippi. And then of course, we'll talk about as many other topics as we can during this segment. But nonetheless, this is actually, when you look at some of the polling, this is actually a top, maybe not a top concern, but it's probably top three or four concerns for local voters around the country. And that is this rapid development and construction of, of these huge data centers, that are being put up. I know there's been some put up in north Mississippi, towards the Memphis area. but talk about some of the concerns that you're hearing from local voters, from residents of Mississippi, about this, this rapid development and deployment of these huge data centers.
Andy Gipson Well, you're right, Walker. It definitely is, I would say in the top three, among the, the voters that I talk with here in Mississippi. And I've been in all 82 counties all over the state, for a long time. It's an issue that has gotten recent attention with the rapid. I, mean really since 2024 we've had, you know, half a dozen here announced in Mississippi. And the lessons that have been learned from other states are driving a lot of the concerns. How much water are these, these data centers going to use? Where's the water coming from? How much electricity are they going to use and who's going to pay for it? That's, that's a really top concern that I hear from folks. And then is this going to be a bubble that's going to bust at some point? There's so much of this investment. It really feels like sort of the dot com, bubble that we saw back in the early, the late 90s, early 2000s. And then if some of these companies go belly up, what then? These are concerns that people have. But I think the top one is the effect on quality of life. some of them are generating a lot of noise. People are very concerned in their communities. I've been hearing that out of South Haven for quite some time on the power plant that's running, the new data center there on temporary turbines. And so one of the issues that I hear is people are concerned that nobody seems to be able to talk about the facts. So many of these deals were done under secret, negotiations, non disclosure agreements with government officials and people want answers. And that's something that I've been able to respond to as AG Commissioner because it just so happens I serve on the Department of Environmental Quality Permit Board. I'm the only elected official on that board, and I'm in a position to get answers on a lot of these questions from these companies. Now, most of these deals are negotiated on the front end with local governments, but one of the last steps is to get that DEQ permit to operate. So I issued a memo in the middle of July saying, look, if you're a data center, here, questions we want to know, where are you getting your water? How's it going to affect our ratepayers? Where are you getting your electricity? Are you building your own? Are you paying your own? How's that going to affect ratepayers and also quality of life issues in terms of heat and noise? And an important question that some people haven't asked is that I'm going to get answers to is, who owns you, who, who controls you? Are you locally American owned, or, are you, owned by some foreign interest? These are answers that people, want to have as they, as they are having to live through this. And it's something that we as government officials ought to take into account. I'm a big believer in the wisdom of the people. And when the people are asking these questions, we don't need to turn a deaf ear. We need to listen and we need to respond.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, there was a July 2020, which is obviously within the last month or two, that was put out by Americans for Responsible Innovation that found that 77% of voters were concerned about higher electricity bills and deals being made without public input, regarding data center deployment. That was a national poll. But to your point, this is at the top of the list for a lot of these voters, especially voters that are conscientious and care about their city, about their town, about their county and what's being built in some instances in their backyard. That's the problem. I have Commissioner Gipson, and I'm very pro business. I know you are too. we need to, you know, attract as much business as we can in the state to employ as many people as possible. Although I don't think that's the primary role of government, is to, is to cut business deals for the state. I think that's a private sector thing, and I think sometimes public officials get too in the, in the, in the weeds of trying to attract business instead of just running the state. but nonetheless, the zoning has been a concern from my vantage point, because you throw up, for example, a data center, right behind a neighborhood. And it may be technically zoned commercial. but the wisdom There. And the spirit of the coding requirements should not lend itself to putting a data center behind a neighborhood. That is, that's just not smart zoning. And, but these municipalities, some of them are allowing it because they see the dollar signs and maybe tax revenue, etc. But what another differential that I try to compare this to, just thinking through this and how the voters view it and what, what's really getting at the heart of it is that traditionally a business or a corporation bringing in a manufacturing, plant, et cetera, you're employing the community, right? We all have neighbors and friends that work there, that earn an income there, and so you're developing rapport with the community. But the data centers, they're employing very few. I mean, you might have some technicians, but these are empty shells of buildings that have a handful of technicians, and they're not really employing people from the local community. That's another problem as well.
Andy Gipson It is. we're very familiar in Mississippi with the traditional industries like forestry and, sawmills and manufacturing, automobile plants, where you're creating hundreds and sometimes thousands of jobs. one of the pieces of information I'm going to be requiring through this DEQ process is how many jobs are going to be, created at the end of the project. Now, I know it's creating a lot of construction work right now, but at the end of the day, how many jobs are we talking about? Who's going to fill those jobs? A lot of these are, in some cases, foreign workers who are doing, you know, very technical work. And it's not a, real job creator for the long term in that community. And so balancing that with the cost, whether it's water usage or energy usage and who's paying for those things, that's information we have to get answers on. Now, some of them are doing it smart. And, President Trump has called for a ratepayer protection pledge that says if you're a data center, you got to pay your own way. And some of them are doing that, but not all of them are paying for their own electricity, paying for their own water. Some of them have been smart enough to use gray water out of cities that would be going down the drain to cool their system. but again, without information on the record, nobody really knows what the impact's going to be. So I'm going to require that information at, least 30 days before a hearing or before a permit, and make sure the people at least know and have the right to be heard on these issues as they move forward.
Commissioner Gipson is running for governor of Mississippi
Walker Wildmon Commissioner Gipson, A couple other topics I want to get to, if we can. What are you. Obviously you're running for governor. For those who don't know, in the state of Mississippi, there's a handful of candidates already declared, and sure more will come, as the months go by. Mississippi operates kind of on an off year election cycle. So 2027, will be the election November of 2027, but before that will clearly be the Republican primary. As you travel the state, obviously this is a topic for local communities. What are some of the other things you're hearing? obviously you've been on the road a lot. What are some of the other things that you're hearing from voters about issues that they care about in the state?
Andy Gipson Well, one of the top issues, of course, is, taxes. You know, there's been a lot of discussion about tax relief in Mississippi. There's been a passage of an income tax phase out of Mississippi, but that income tax remains in effect. So, I've been hearing a lot of concerns about property taxes, especially among homeowners who have bought and paid for their home and yet still paying the government for the right to live there. That's been a concern of mine for a long time. I've called for property tax reform now for years, not just recently. And then even car tags, in some counties, car tags are, you know, $1,000. In some, they're very low. But the issue that it's unveiling is your property ad valorem tax really depends on what county you live in and how that county is applying the valuation. And it's, it's a wildly ranging disparity from county to county. That's an issue that people are concerned about and wanting to get those taxes, get some real tax relief for real people in the, in the sense of property and car tags. So that's a big issue. Another one is public safety. that may surprise some of your listeners, but I'm telling you, whether it's north Mississippi or way down south on the Louisiana line, or east or west, there are pockets of dangerous, violent criminals that are moving in. A lot of juvenile crime is happening, and people are concerned in neighborhoods that used to be safe. They want help. And so, that is something that we can help be a part of with what I'm proposing. A statewide law enforcement task force to, to detect and deter and to drive this criminal element out of our communities to make folks where they can feel safe again. Those are two big issues a lot more I can talk about. One, I'm very passionate about is local food. You know, we've been able to see a lot of growth in farmers markets and we want to grow the access to fresh, healthy food and really support President Trump's Make America Healthy Again plan. That's something that I hear a lot of support for all around Mississippi.
Most people would agree we need to eliminate the property taxes because
Walker Wildmon Let me, let's park on the, on the taxes for a minute because, I agree with you on we need to eliminate the property taxes at a base level. most people would agree we need to eliminate the property taxes because as you're saying, this is a perpetual, basically note that you owe to the government as long as you're alive on property in many instances that you own free and clear of any bank or lender. the problem that is clearly going to come up within the legislature is how do we offset this? and I don't want to ignore that. It's one thing to say we need to eliminate property taxes and we all raise our hand, but in some manner we're going to have to offset that in another area that's better. that makes more sense from a tax standpoint and a capitalism standpoint. So what are some ideas that we could do as a state to do the right thing on property taxes, just like we're doing with income, and eliminate it, but also not, not cause a deficit or a problem in another area of revenue for the government?
Andy Gipson Well, yeah, it's something I've thought a lot about and there's some, there's some easy, low hanging fruit that we can address there. One of them is to increase the diversion on our sales tax back to the counties and back to the cities to help hold them harmless. Also a use tax. The number one fastest growing source of revenue in Mississippi is the use tax, which is a tax paid on goods purchased out of state. And with the rise of Amazon and all that, I mean that's a big growing factor. So it makes sense to me. I mean this is not something that's going to happen overnight. It's going to have to be phased in. But it doesn't need to be 30 years like this income tax elimination. It needs to be over, I would say a three year period, really creating a Runway to increase the diversions to the counties, to fund local governments, from those sales and use taxes as well as, eliminating that property tax off the books. And at a minimum it needs to be eliminated from the homeowners, books because as you said to me, the most heinous tax in all the world is the tax I Pay on the home I bought and paid for. I thank God. my wife Les and I have a home. We live on our farm. We have paid for it and yet every year we're paying tax and every few years we're paying more tax and more tax and more tax for the right to live in our home. that needs to be repealed. It'll take some diversions from those use and sales taxes to make that happen.
Walker Wildmon Yeah. And if you talk to voters, I would suspect at least going off my, my own opinion, a consumption based tax, even a slight increase on a consumption based consumer tax, that's pretty fair. I mean, to your point, if you're out shopping, and that's some of the more originalism kind of approach to taxes is based on consumer consumption, citizen consumption, and not this perpetual property tax that is just literally never ending. so, I know voters are reasonable and they're willing to, to, you know, move, move the revenue around or the rates around if you can promise them, you know, eventual elimination of the property taxes. And the pros there far outweigh any nominal increase, you know, for example on local sales tax or something like that. And you mentioned this out of state, you know, what was the name of that tax from out of state orders? Yeah, the use out of state use tax. I mean that, that's probably there's no telling how many millions or even billions annually come in to the state from out of state that could be taken advantage of there. So, but you just gotta. Yeah, go ahead.
Andy Gipson When you make that policy adjustment, you put it in the hands of the people, a factor they can control. They can decide how much they want to buy on Amazon or whatever. As it is right now you have a, tax just for existing and living in your home. That is something that really, it's a fundamentally flawed system in a number of ways. But it's also being applied unfairly because the same home, you had identical home in one county A, you moved it to county B, you could be paying, you know, twice as much tax or half as much depending on where you live, the way the tax is being applied. So it's fundamentally, I think it violates our constitution, which cost repair and uniform taxation on property tax. That's not happening. Here's a way to fix it and put it back in the hands of the people to control.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, I just love that we're moving in this direction. Whether it's you or other candidates for public office talking about this I mean, the pendulum, we are moving this pendulum back in the right direction and moving just beyond settling for, for example, reducing or eliminating the income tax. I mean, if we're going to eliminate unconstitutional unjust taxes, let's go for them all. and there's plenty of, to your point, low hanging fruit to offset some of these revenues so that the government can balance the budget properly at the state level. Commissioner Gipson, thanks so much for coming on. We appreciate your insights.
Andy Gipson Thank you for having me. God bless you and God bless afa.
Walker Wildmon Thank you so much. That's Commissioner Andy Gipson, agricultural commissioner in the state of Mississippi. Mississippi also running for the gubernatorial, position in the Republican primary, which is now underway as we head into 2027 election season. So we appreciate him coming on. Folks are listening to at the The Core. We'll be back in just a few minutes. Right now, the voices in our culture are loud, but truth is often silent. And today preborns need you to help speak that truth. Women facing unplanned pregnancies are often pressured to act quickly before they have time to pause, breathe, or, hear the truth about life, dignity and hope. But I refuse to be silent and I'm asking you to join me. At preborn Network clinics, a woman is welcomed with compassion and given a free ultrasound. She sees the life growing inside her, often for the very first time. And in that sacred moment, for fear gives way to clarity. And she's offered something abortion industry will never provide. The hope of Jesus Christ. This April, our goal is to have 11,000 gospel conversations in preborn network clinics, trusting God to bring the increase as we remain faithful to speak. You can help make that possible by sponsoring ultrasounds. Just $28 provides one ultrasound and $140 provides five free ultrasounds. For more mothers in crisis. Every dollar helps save babies and share the hope of the gospel. To donate, dial £250 and say the keyword baby. That's £250 and say the keyword baby dot or visit preborn.com afr that's preborn.com afr this is at the The Core on
American Family Radio with your host, Walker Wildmon
American Family Radio welcomes Pastor Bill Ledbetter for this last segment
Walker Wildmon Welcome to The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you back with us on this last segment of today's program. As a brief reminder, as I said at the beginning of the program, you can, do two things. There's two ways to keep up with the program. To listen to the program live or watch it, you can simply go over to afr.net afr.net if you just want the audio. Then you can click on the Listen Live button in the top right hand corner. If you want to watch the program, the live video, you can do so by clicking the Watch live [email protected] that's a brand new feature we just launched in recent weeks and we have thousands of people utilize it each and every day to watch the program on their tablet, smartphone or their computer. Well, introducing our next guest that we have for this segment is Pastor Bill Ledbetter. He's senior pastor of Fairview Baptist Church. He's also president of Lighthouse America Organization. He's out of Oklahoma, and he's with us now. Pastor Ledbetter, welcome to the program.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Thank you, Walker. Thank you for having me today. Big time. I'm glad to be here.
Walker Wildmon Yes, absolutely Pastor.
Oklahoma has several statewide offices up for grabs in November elections
And we have a lot of listeners in Oklahoma, many, many stations there. So you're speaking to the country, but also to voters and folks there on the ground in your state. we wanted to have you on to give us some info, some local perspective on what's going on in Oklahoma from an election standpoint. This is a pretty big election cycle. You've got multiple, statewide offices running or open if you will, primarily the governor's, position, the governorship and then even the education superintendent which was formerly held by Rhyen Walters. Both of those positions are open now and people are running in primaries and then eventual general elections here in November. So give us the lowdown. What's the latest on the governor's race and then the superintendent of education race?
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Well, in the governor's race, we're said is a, heated competition. it's critically important that we elect the right governor this time around. Someone who understands our Bible based constitutional republic. Someone who will adhere to those principles and lead us in those pathways. and so we have two candidates, for that one, will, will lead us more in that pathway as opposed to the other one. Mike Mazzei embraces the Bible based principles of our constitutional republic. the other gentleman probably does not. Ah, so much. Mike Mazzei is more of a strong conservative, whereas the other one, Mr. Drummond is not. And so it is critical. It's critical because we need to be returning this nation to the foundations upon which she's built. And of course I believe, and I'm promoting the idea that Mike Maze is the man for the job to do that, ideologically, experientially, and so forth.
Walker Wildmon Let me ask you this pastor? once again, we're talking to Pastor Ledbetter from Oklahoma. he is a senior pastor at Fairview, Baptist Church there. He's also president of Lighthouse America. I'm more familiar with this race than I am some of the others, typically only because I've done research into one of the candidates, Gentner, Drummond, based on past legal work, and we were looking at the Attorney General position anyway, so I've got actually more experience and knowledge of him than I have most candidates for governorship. And, his legal background is very concerning, based on some of the positions he's argued in court. Also, more recently, just from purely a policy standpoint and how he views, President Trump's, his deportation agenda and the immigration enforcement operations that President Trump's been overseeing and prioritizing, which I think are very good things from a federal government standpoint. Drummond recently in a debate. It was either in a debate or an interview. The way he characterized Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE operations, was very demeaning. I mean, it was very belittling demeaning of President Trump's Department of Homeland Security and their operations. I mean, he was basically parroting the talking points of the left, that somehow Immigration and Customs Enforcement is like going into churches and schools, you know, hunting down kids to deport, which is fundamentally untrue. When I heard that pastor, that was a complete turnoff to me. I was like, who is this guy? What's he running for? And little do you know, he's running for. For the governor's race in Oklahoma.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Well, and, of course, he's running as a moderate Republican, and I don't think he's a Republican at all. I think he represents the left, ideologically speaking. his ideas about immigration, for instance, are totally wrong. our immigration policies are designed to protect America. Strong borders help us stay healthy, free, strong. And we're not trying to keep people out. We just want people to come here legally. We want them to be trained to understand our country, as opposed to trying to reform our country or change our country. But learn our constitutional principles. learn about the Declaration of Independence, take the oath and become an American. We want people to do that. What we don't want is open borders where people can just flood in and bring any ideology, anything they want to do, especially if they want to hurt our fellow Americans and our families. And many do. It's insane to have open borders without restrictions and supervision. That's crazy. Hurts us. Hurts us every time.
Walker Wildmon Absolutely.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter So, Mr. Drummond is embracing a Democrat socialist position while at the same time calling himself a conservative.
Walker Wildmon M. Yeah, absolutely. And these differences are being highlighted by candidate Mike Mazzei. And and I know for sure, just looking on social media and news reports, these clips of Drummond going after President Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, which have been once again very beneficial for the country and for public safety, that's just not going to bode well, with conservative voters. Oklahoma is just a very conservative state. President Trump has won the entire state, all of the counties, on multiple occasions, every single time he's been on the ballot as president. And so I'm not sure what ah, candidate Drummond thinks, how he thinks that's going to go with conservative voters.
Pastor Ledbetter says Oklahoma needs a conservative candidate for state school superintendent
nonetheless, the other race I wanted to get you to talk a little bit about is this election for the education superintendent, if you will, in the state and the importance of that because the left and the Marxists have been going after America's school children through the education system. And so, the state of Oklahoma has to have a very conservative, solid, candidate for the general election when it comes to this education position, right?
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Well, that's correct, Walker. The thing is, as important as the gubernatorial race is right now, this race for our state superintendent, school superintendent, is very, very critical. Our nation is facing a lot of issues right now precisely because we don't train our children in the fundamental principles of this Bible based constitutional republic like we should. And if you don't, if you don't do that at the school level, then you get people out voting for things that they don't really understand they're voting for or who we are as a nation. And with that said, you have one candidate for state school superintendent, Mr. Franklin, and I like him. I've studied his background, I've studied some things that he's for. The problem is, is that he said this, I, read something he said. He said that, that Oklahoma education should stay focused on preparing students for life, not chasing every political fad or culture war distraction that takes attention away from the student achievement. Well, to a degree I agree with that. Except what we need to be doing in our schools is teaching the fundamental historical foundations of our constitutional republic. Starting there with the idea that we are not a democracy, we are a constitutional republic. In fact. Article one, excuse me, Article four, Section four says the United States shall guarantee to every state in the union a Republican form of government. Well, that's because we are a Republican form of government. We are not a democracy. Mr. Franklin and his entire rollout will enhance this idea of democracy. Anything kind of goes. It will ignore the basic fundamental history of our nation. That's why we have big trouble in our country. Dr. Taylor, on the other hand, is fundamentally rooted in these principles. He's a wonderful teacher. he understands our constitutional republic inside and out. He's a brilliant man. He's a godly man. he will reinforce our American foundation and principles on which this. This nation is built. He's not going to try to revision or revise our nation, but to sustain it, to preserve it the way the framers intended. Revisionism is the great problem in our country right now, big time. And I fear that Mr. Franklin will advance revisionism, whereas Dr. Taylor will advance the idea of returning us to our foundations, which we must do. If the foundations are destroyed, m. What can the righteous do?
Walker Wildmon Wise words from pastor Bill Ledbetter. We're talking to now senior pastor of Fairview Baptist Church. He's also president of lighthouse America from the state of Oklahoma. Talking about a couple of these statewide elections. Couldn't, agree more, pastor Ledbetter. Hey, ah, before we let you go, tell our folks about your organization there, your ministry, and how folks can find out more about your work.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Sure. Thank you, Walker. Lighthouse America exists to engage culture with truth, like we're doing today. And fundamentally, we spend most of our time teaching the Bible principles on which this nation is built. one of the principles that Jon Adams listed in the works of Jon Adams, he said this. He said, remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon m Wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. Well, that speaks to us because, at 30 something trillion dollars in debt, you know, we need to start paying attention to where we are. And, the framers talked about the biblical foundations, of our nation. And Lighthouse America exists to teach those fundamental principles. for instance, and I'll share this with you. This is important. Alice Baldwin, the first woman dean of Duke University, she wrote a book called the NewSong England clergy and the American Revolution. And in that book, she chronicles that every precept of the Declaration of Independence came from a sermon preached by the pastors in the colonial era. That is truth. I have here in my study, a textbook being taught in our schools right now for government that refutes that idea because it's rooted in revisionism. So Lighthouse America exists not only to teach the Bible truth about every issue under the s. Other. The under the sun as our vision to engage culture with truth, but especially to help people understand the wonderful foundations on the that undergird this beautiful country we call America. Walker, that is the longest ongoing constitutional republic in history. Hallelujah.
Walker Wildmon Amen.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter What a great country. America the beautiful. Hallelujah.
Walker Wildmon Amen. Love it.
Pastor Ledbetter provides valuable insight on Oklahoma's upcoming elections
Pastor Ledbetter, hey, thank you so much for bringing us some insight and what's going on on the ground in Oklahoma from someone who's in Oklahoma and votes in the state there. We appreciate you coming on and appreciate your encouragement as well.
Pastor Bill Ledbetter Walker. Thank you so much and thank you for all you guys are doing. This is critically important way to go. We appreciate it very much out here.
Walker Wildmon Amen. Appreciate that, Pastor Ledbetter. Well, there you have it folks. And by the way, we're going to link to this Oklahoma voter Guide that we've published through our affiliate I Voter Guide, which gives tons of information and research on these candidates, much of which Pastor Ledbetter just cited there on their voting records, their public statements, who's endorsed them, et cetera, et cetera. All of this is [email protected] if you click on the state of Oklahoma or you key in your Oklahoma address you can see these statewide offices and their evaluations. And folks, this is the most comprehensive, unbiased data driven voter guide in the country through ivoterguide. And Gettner Drummond is evaluated as moderate according to this voter guide according to ivoterguide. And Mike Mazzei is evaluated as conservative according to ivoterguide. And then you go down to this education or superintendent of Public instruction technically is the title for this position position. And candidate Franklin, Robert Franklin is actually evaluated as liens liberal and he's running on the Republican side of the ticket. So that's quite interesting. And then James Taylor in this primary is evaluated as conservative per I Voter Guide. So if you're in the state of Oklahoma or if you're from any state and you just want to read more about these candidates, folks, I Voter Guide is the go to resource resource for all of these elections. And of course those of you who listen frequently know that I Voter Guide is affiliated with AFA through our government affairs outfit AFA Action. And I Voter Guide is one of the divisions there under AFA action. So go to ivotaguide.com check out more about those elections in Oklahoma and for that matter every election around the country. Go to ivoterguy.com keying your voting address and see if we are covering a race an election near you. Thanks so much for joining us. Remember to subscribe to the podcast. We'll see you next time.
The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
The FBI is reporting the lowest violent crime rate in 70 years, and Walker Wildmon examines what the new numbers reveal about crime trends across the country. He also looks at questions surrounding presidential authority and Stephen Moore’s prediction that inflation could soon fall below 2 percent as energy prices stabilize and AI boosts productivity.
Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson joins Walker to discuss his recent statement on data centers and the issues surrounding their growth. Pastor Bill Ledbetter, senior pastor of Fairview Baptist Church and president of Lighthouse America, previews Oklahoma’s upcoming runoff elections, including the races for governor and education superintendent, while discussing efforts to preserve America’s Christian and constitutional heritage.
Show Notes:
PreBorn Sponsorship
Acts 17 Reflection
FBI Crime Report Analysis
Data Centers in Mississippi with Mississippi Ag Commissioner Andy Gipson
Oklahoma Elections with Pastor Bill Ledbetter
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