Latest News on War in Iran

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>> : Welcome to Today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day. here's your host, Tim Wildmon president of the American Family Association.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning everybody. Welcome to today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to afr. I'm Tim Wildmon with Ed Vitagliano. Good morning, brother Ed.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning, Tim.

>> Tim Wildmon: Brother Fred Jackson. Haidt thanks for joining us, everybody. People may be wondering, why do they call each other brothers? Well, they're not brothers, but we're brothers in the Lord, right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Amen.

>> Fred Jackson: That's right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Brothers in the Lord.

>> Fred Jackson: Absolutely.

>> Tim Wildmon: It's been a tradition since the early church. Probably sisters.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right, right there. And that there Bible.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, it's that there. Which, which, version is that? That their Bible?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm not going to start that. Okay, I, I'll tell you which one I use. I do like the new, American Standard. I've used that since I was in Bible college.

>> Tim Wildmon: What about you, Fred?

>> Fred Jackson: Nas is good. And I like the new King James as well.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, the new King James.

>> Ed Vitagliano: the English Standard Version. Good.

>> Tim Wildmon: Which ah, one's not good. Are you not going to incriminate yourself?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't care for some of the later new international versions. I think have made some compromises. the message Bible, it's not really a translation Ayanna You can get.

>> Tim Wildmon: Whatever happened to the living Bible? It was a, that was a paraphrase too, right? That wasn't. Or was it living? You remember the living Bible, 70s.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I think that may be a paraphrase.

>> Tim Wildmon: I had one of those and from the 70s, but it was like the Bible in modern day English basically is what it was. Red. You ever use the living Bible or heard of.

>> Fred Jackson: I read some verses from it, but

>> Ed Vitagliano: I didn't own Ayanna, it's explicitly classified as a paraphrase.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Not a direct translation from the original.

>> Tim Wildmon: So there's nothing wrong with a paraphrase as long as it's noted as such. Right. Would you agree with that?

>> Ed Vitagliano: or you think that. My own personal opinion is I don't like them doing that because I'm looking at a picture, it says the living Bible, which may. Which they do say English biblical paraphrase on the inside. But people at a Christian bookstore, if they are still Brice and mortar store still in existence, you walk around and you're saying, how about this? This is a Bible. And so I don't like it.

>> Tim Wildmon: Of course you have the King James Bible, which is the Bible, Jesus used. Isn't that what they.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Now see, when I said don't get yourself in trouble.

>> Tim Wildmon: I know, I'm just kidding. Let's get off that subject, right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. I think we're already skating on thin ice.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know why I brought that up. I was referencing why Christians call each other brother and s. And a lot of non Christians may wonder what in the world are they talking about here, why they do that? And that's the reason. It's spiritual. It's a spiritual thing.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We're in the family of God.

>> Tim Wildmon: Family of God.

Fred Thompson: Some news stories go on for too long and people lose interest

All right. You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. We appreciate you listening, to afr. Fred. Not a lot going on in the world, is there, Fred? Oh, my, oh my, oh my, oh my.

>> Fred Jackson: You know, the danger with some news stories is they're very, very, very important, but they go on for a long time and people lose their interest. But that's a mistake.

Talk about the war with Iran. February 28th started this battle

and let's talk about what's going on in the Middle East. February 28th started this battle and we, we got into what some consider a lull, at a period when there was a blockade.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Talk about the war with Iran.

>> Fred Jackson: War with Iran. There was a bit of a lull there, but it has picked up once again. And this past weekend we lost three of our best. Yeah, three of our soldiers. One other soldier is missing and, and we want to pray for the families of 25 year old Tyler James Feehan of, Hawaii and 19 year old private Izabella Gonzalez of Carleton, Texas. Because, we lost those young people, this weekend, the Iranians. And this is worthy of a broader discussion. How is it that the Iranians still have weapons and can send missiles and drones? these young people, these young soldiers of ours were in Jordan and Iran fired. And this has all become part of the story. Iran now is firing at those countries in the Persian Gulf, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, now is a target.

>> Tim Wildmon: A lot of enemies.

>> Fred Jackson: A lot of enemies. And then we lost another soldier in Iraq. this young soldier who has not been identified yet. apparently a missile landed and they were going to try to destabilize it and that young person also died. So, you know, it brings it home once again. As I Say sometimes we get, we get dull in our senses as to what's going on out there, but it's still very dangerous as what happened this weekend. And so, the targets. Now you remember what happened. There was a memorandum of understanding. We supposedly were in a ceasefire. And, depending on who you talk to and what news agency you listen to, Iran broke that because it, it started firing on ships trying to use the Stuart of Hormuz to bring oil out of those Persian Gulf countries. And then at some point President Trump said, enough of this, we're going to start hitting back. And for the ninth Stuart night now, the United States has resumed hitting a lot of military targets, in Iran. And now Iran has started hitting desalination plants. And desalination plants in that part of the world are very, very important.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, hold on just a minute. you're saying Iran or Iran, they're now firing on their neighbors.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Who they say support the United States.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. We have bases in a lot of

>> Tim Wildmon: these countries and we're using. There's so many. So Iran is at war with the United States and anybody who supports the United States.

>> Fred Jackson: That is correct.

>> Tim Wildmon: And now are you saying then that Iran has said publicly that they are, going to start targeting these, you call them de desalination, which means converting ocean water to fresh water.

>> Fred Jackson: That is correct.

>> Tim Wildmon: For drinking purposes.

>> Fred Jackson: And the United States is also targeting desalination plants in Iran.

>> Tim Wildmon: Has that happened yet?

>> Fred Jackson: There have been, I think at least one case of that. So.

I think President Trump is holding back because he doesn't want humanitarian crisis

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, because, all right, here's a situation and of course I am just a average person observing this like everybody else, but it appears to me that President Trump. This is my opinion. Okay, just let me say this. It's my opinion. Appears to me that President Trump is holding back. Now you might say, well, holding back. They've been bombing for nine days in a row. That's hardly holding back. I think the United States could, bomb the infrastructure of Iran. The water facilities, the. Hear me out before you judge what I say. Okay. The water facilities, the electrical grid, we know where these are. They could take that island.

>> Tim Wildmon: That the oil is refined on. That is the main source of their economy over there, as I understand it. What's it called? The island?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Kharg.

>> Tim Wildmon: Kharg Island. Now, not without cost of losing some soldiers because I'm sure they're ready for that. Iran. But I think he's holding back. President Trump is holding back precisely because he doesn't want to create a massive humanitarian crisis. Okay. He's trying to get the regime of Iran to bend the knee, I guess you could say. I'm not sure exactly what that Lexie like anymore. But if you start doing what I've just described, which the US Military has the capability of doing, you're talking about a, mass, massive humanitarian crisis involving potentially millions of people in Iran who really have nothing to do with the regime. In fact, they're opposed to the regime. So he's, he, President Trump, to me, has reached a, reached a point where if you don't, there's only so many bridges and, you know, military, quote, installations or military equipment that Iranians have that you can bomb. Seems to me now, obviously we haven't found them all because they're using them to kill our soldiers in Jordan, for example. So. Patti, I think he may not admit this publicly, President Trump, although I don't know what would be wrong with admitting it publicly because he's trying to hold back on. Well, you would be charged with war crimes, for what that's worth, too. And it would escalate the war to, a level that we don't know what would Hoppen if you put millions of people at risk for no food, no water, no. No electricity. So does that make sense, what I've just described?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, he could be charged. Talking about President Trump could be charged, could be charged, with war crimes. It is a little fuzzy from my understanding, the war crimes. You are allowed to attack not only military sites, but also the infrastructure that supports the, the military. So you could probably, you know, target some of the, you know, like the power grid, those kinds of things, the water supply, like the desalination plants. That might get you into trouble in terms of war crimes, because that's, that's a stretch to say that's supporting the military when it's obviously so critical to the, to the general population. But all the other stuff you're saying is, I mean, we could, if we wanted to, we could do it. And whatever happened afterwards, in terms of international disapproval, all that stuff would be an after effect.

>> Tim Wildmon: But there's a reason we haven't done it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I think, I think the president, the president does not want to break Iran like we did with Iraq. Remember, we broke the country, devastated the military, devastated their law enforcement. There was no one really to put in charge of it. We had to be in charge of it and rebuild it. I don't think the president wants to do that to Iran because I think he is hoping to be able to hand off a country that still functions to the people of Iran. And if he. If he blows it all to smithereens, obviously we're going to be in, in Iran repairing it and rebuilding it for another 10 years.

>> Fred Jackson: You know, Marco Rubio, our Secretary of State, was asked about all of this, on the weekend. This is what he had to say. Cut number four.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think we're always open to diplomacy. It has to be real. It has to be a deal that they're willing to live Pollack, Iran, a week ago was supposed to put out a statement saying that the Straits of Hormuz would be open, that they would no longer attack shipping. And instead of doing that, they attacked three ships. I think that was last Friday or Stuart So, I mean, their behavior has to change in order for ours to change.

>> Fred Jackson: And then there's Rob, Spalding. Interesting comment from him. He's a retired Air Force general. He says keeping the Stuart of Hormuz, will take a military commitment for a long time. And that's the big Brice right now, is to keep that Stuart open. Cut five.

>> Fred Jackson: It's certainly not surprising to see. I don't think anybody is surprised that the Iranians aren't going to follow their agreement. And I think this is something that's going to have to continue as a result. I think they're trying to create a pathway so that we can control the Stuart I think that they're, reducing the distance that arms from Iran can travel to shipping. And so in doing that, I think we're setting up for something like Operation Southern and Northern Watch, where it's going to be a long time that we're there to keep the Stuart open.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, a long time. But, you know, you always go back to, the Iranians are well aware we have an election coming up. We're getting ever closer to that. And if you believe the polls that have been done with the American people, they want this thing to wrap up. And if we're still there and the Iranians are still shooting at our people at those various bases in the Persian Gulf, it's going to be very difficult for the President and for the Republicans.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. And like you said, whoever. And I'm not sure anybody knows who's in charge of Iran. In fact, when they started, when somebody started firing on these ships, there was some question over who was doing it. And I think some of those who were negotiating with the US From Iran were saying, look, that's a faction. We're not in charge of them. So, these factions know this about the United States. You know, Our leaders Care Net appointed for life. They're not dictators. They got to go. They got to regularly run for reelection. And these kinds of issues, like ongoing wars, can be politically detrimental.

President Trump is building bridges with other countries, including Iraq

Then these folks over there know that,

>> Fred Jackson: you know, there was another development, in the last three or four days, kind of interesting, didn't get a lot of play. the, Iraqi, prime minister, Al Falah al Stier was in, Washington last week.

>> Tim Wildmon: The Iraqi prime minister.

>> Fred Jackson: Iraqi Prime Minister.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, have a listen.

>> Fred Jackson: What happened there while he was in Dannah, the Iraqi officials signed $60 billion worth of deals with some of our oil companies, like Chevron, et cetera, et cetera. What's really interesting is that part of the deals is, alternative ways to get oil out of that country to the West. Now, what they're talking about is building a pipeline, and I think Chevron may be involved with this. Building a pipeline from the southern part of Iraq that would go up north and would go to ports, Syrian ports, a Syrian port and a Turkish port. You put all this together, what the president's been up to. President, Trump in Turkey recently for that, meeting. And then he Haidt, he's had the Syrian head. He's been talking with Iraq. So President Trump is building bridges with these other countries. There's also talk of Stier Arabia building a pipeline to the Red Sea, but the Houthis, could be a problem there in Yemen with that. So there's some interesting developments. While fighting to open up the Stuart of Hormuz, there's also another track that's going on here for alternatives to the straighter Hormuz.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, my head's hurting right now. I don't know about you guys here. Trying to figure out we got it now. We're getting more players. We're talking about the Hooties.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: You got the Blowfish. They're coming in there, too, you know, trying to disrupt things.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Hooties in the Blowfish?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. you're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio.

What does this mean for gas at the pump for the average American, though

All right. What does this mean for gas at the pump for the average American, though?

>> Fred Jackson: this morning, as of this morning, we're talking $90 a Pearle back up again.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't pay for barrels.

>> Fred Jackson: $4, $4, $4 a gallon. Nationally.

>> Tim Wildmon: Nationally. That's the average.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. Where I buy my gas went up 30 cents this weekend.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Because the. It went down for a while.

>> Fred Jackson: It did. I was happy.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, last week, we were talking about how the. The price of gas had fallen precipitously, yes.

>> Fred Jackson: You know, I was getting it for $3.11 in our market, but it was up close to three.

>> Tim Wildmon: They're averaging $4 a, gallon right now today for the, for the average American. when do you think Americans begin to say, hey, this is getting out of hand, talking about the price of gas? $5. $5 a gallon.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, that, that would, that would be

>> Tim Wildmon: way out of hand. That'd be out of two hands.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. I think if, if you get to I just here where we live in northeast Mississippi, I'm with, with fred. When you're three in and $3, and then in the teens, that felt pretty good. Although it was in $2 and something, just a couple of years ago. But you start getting into 450 a gallon, 460 a gallon. That becomes.

>> Tim Wildmon: People start complaining.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, they will probably complain now, but I'm not sure people can handle that.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, well, hopefully it won't do that, Patti, the average price nationally for a gallon of gas, in the US is $4 right now. And we will see what, what, what happens. But we're like, we seem to be, we seem to be stuck.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, we're stuck. We're stuck. Jerry, just go back to Seinfeld.

>> Fred Jackson: Would that be George?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Are we either that or Kramer?

>> Tim Wildmon: So we're stuck, over there in the Middle east, we were talking about

>> Ed Vitagliano: the price of a gallon of gas at the, at the, at the, pump.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: This is why President Trump is hesitant to start blowing up the, oil depots on Carg Island. We've hit some military targets there, but we have not hit their oil infrastructure. I don't think you want to close off Iran as a source of oil. That's going to cause the price of a, of a, of a Pearle of oil to skyrocket. All these ideas, even of, of Iraq maybe building, pipelines. Pipelines. The best thing, because the pipeline would go from Iraq through Sower to the Mediterranean or through Stier Arabia to the, to the Red Sea. I'm guessing just a real stable part of the world. Well, then you got to go around if it's, if you go into the Mediterranean, you got to go.

>> Tim Wildmon: Ed's using his fingers, people. I am m. For Those watching on YouTube or Facebook, Eds got both hands diagrams, his fingers going, showing, showing us where the pipeline is going to run over there.

>> Ed Vitagliano: But that would take time to build the pipeline. The best solution is to open up the Stuart of Hormuz. The only way that's Happening is if you get rid of the regime running the country of Iran and, and we're stuck because there's no easy way to do that.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's why we're stuck.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, because you could blow them to smithereens.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: And then you'd be, you'd be unstuck, so to speak. But then you would have unintended consequences that would, that could affect the world economy in ways we can't really, understand right now.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is that right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: And that's the potential.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Patti, we, we do know the way it would affect the world economy would be bad.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We just don't know how bad.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

When do you think President Trump has to go to Congress for approval for war

When do you think President Trump has to go to Congress for approval for being at war? Or do you think that doesn't matter anymore?

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's, that's a puzzle to me. we're kind of well past the, like the three months when the President could do it without congressional approval. The problem for those opposed to it is if you say no, the President cannot retaliate for us losing three soldiers or three service people. Okay. Then the Democrats, for example, or even some Republicans would get in political trouble. As long as we are attacking Iran in retaliation for them killing service members, then I don't think Congress is going to.

>> Tim Wildmon: But I thought, isn't there a 90 day or something like that? Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And then, and then Congress can approve it at 30, 30 days.

>> Tim Wildmon: So we passed that. But I don't hear Democrats crying for a vote. I don't care. I don't see a big outcry for a vote. Maybe I'm missing, but I think the

>> Fred Jackson: argument is once the ceasefire was put in place, then, then they start all

>> Tim Wildmon: over again Talking about that 24 hour cease fire we had going Ayanna, yeah, well, that was a breath of fresh air, wasn'. we just had a 24 hour memorandum of. Whoa. Memorandum gets to. We didn't get through putting the ink on that thing.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I guess some people didn't get the memo.

>> Fred Jackson: I guess.

>> Tim Wildmon: Memorandum of understanding. Well, you know, we're laughing a little bit here because it's just crazy with a small C, maybe a capital C. Before long, hopefully it doesn't get to that. Patti, the sobering part of the whole situation is that we have now lost, we lost two soldiers. Three potentially.

>> Ed Vitagliano: One's missing, two in Jordan and then one in Iraq.

>> Tim Wildmon: American soldiers have died over the

>> Fred Jackson: weekend, 17 altogether since this conflict started.

>> Tim Wildmon: 17 altogether. And another, sobering part of this is there just seems to Baughan, we seem to be boxed in, seems to me, on what to do next because our hands are, are tied in the sense that we can't do. What you would need in the old days would have been done. People would have just, you know, whatever country attacked whatever country would just obliterate them.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Without, without care for the people.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: The innocent people. And I think President Trump, rightfully so, is considering the plight of, the innocent people in Iran. And how far do you, how far, how much do you bomb to where it becomes a humanitarian crisis for the people? Yeah, that's, that's what I mean by your hands are. At least you got one hand tied behind your back.

>> Don Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: does that make sense? Okay, we'll be back momentarily with more of today's issues on American Family Radio. Stay with us.

>> Don Wildmon: It's my turn.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Here is your host for my turn, Don Wileman.

Jesus and his disciples stopped at Jacob's well in Samaria to rest

>> Don Wildmon: So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. And so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. Palestine in the time of Jesus was divided into three sections. In the south was Judea, the region where Christ was born. In the north was Galilee. The region where Christ grew up in between Judea and Galilee was Samaria. The scriptures tell us of a journey Jesus took through Samaria. It also reminds us that Jews did not normally travel through Samaria. In fact, the Jews considered the Samaritans such a, low class people that no self respecting Jew had any dealing whatsoever with a Samaritan. We know that Jesus and his disciples stopped at Jacob's well in Samaria to rest and eat. The disciples left Jesus at the well and went into Sychar to get some food. It was about noon and Jesus was resting at the well, waiting for the return of his disciples. As he waited, a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. To the Ghazal reader there is nothing unusual about this. But to one who is familiar with the customs of the day, the oddity is immediately recognized. No woman ever drew water in the middle of the day. Only work absolutely necessary was performed while the heat was so intense. Women drew their water at the close of the day when temperatures were much cooler. It was a social event for the village women and as they drew water, they could catch up on the lady's gossip. Evidently, the respectable women had so ignored, excluded and embarrassed this woman that she came to draw water At a time when she would be sure no one else would be present. Then Jesus did a very unusual thing. He spoke to the Samaritan woman. He asked her for a drink, and the request opened up a conversation which was to change her life. She replied to his request by reminding him of the racial prejudice between the Jews and Samaritans. But then Christ lifted her vision to a higher plane by offering her living water. When she again injected the race issue into the conversation by mentioning the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim, located to the south and visible from Jacob's Allie Christ reminded her that the place where one worshiped was unimportant. The important part of worship was the how in spirit and truth. It is of supreme importance that Christ first revealed his identity to this woman of the world. Married five times and living with a sixth man. To the Jew, this woman was as low a human as one could be. It is significant that John included this story in his Gospel. None of the other gospels contain it. Here is Christ revealing for the first time his messiahship to a sinful Samaritan woman. In effect, John is saying that God's love reaches to the very lowest and least of all people. The love of God knows absolutely no limits. You can still drink from Jacob's well today. Each time I stop there, I pause to drink from the very deep stream. For centuries and centuries, the well has been giving life. But each time I drink, I am reminded of the living water which Christ gave to that Samaritan woman. And like he said, this living water is available to us no matter who we are or where we worship. Indeed, God's love knows no limits.

Tim Wildmon: We've got some great tours lined up for 2027

>> Jeff Chamblee: This has been my turn with Don Wildmon, a, production of the American Family Association.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hello, everyone. I'm Tim Wildmon president of American Family association and American Family Radio. Hey, we've got some great tours lined up for March of 2027. We've got one tour we call the Footsteps of Paul tour that's mainly in Greene or only in Greene including, including Athens and Corinth and Thessalonica. And then we've got a separate tour to Italy, where we're going to Venice and Florence and, Pisa and Rome and all the sites of Italy. So you can do both of these tours if you want to. We've arranged that as well. Also, this tour of Italy, it's not like the Olive Garden tour of Italy, you know, this is. We're really going there to Italy to see Italy and to eat Italian food, too, as well. So for information on any of the Tricia mentioned here, go to tours.afa.net tours.afa.net tours.aca.net

>> Jeff Chamblee: you love him, M. Even though you have never seen him, Though you do not see him now, you trust him and you rejoice with, with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. First Peter 1, 8, 9.

>> : This is today's issues. Email your comments to commentsfr.net Past broadcasts of today's issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more, of today's issues.

Spain won the World cup, uh, yesterday in New York City

>> Tim Wildmon: Welcome back everybody, to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. Tim, Ed and Fred. And we're gonna, we're gonna break down the riveting World cup, final game yesterday in New York City.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Deep dive. We're gonna go do deep dive.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. It ended up after a back and forth, just whiplash of your head watching it on tv, which I didn't do, to a one to nothing score. And listen, I didn't grow up with soccer, so I, don't know all the, I didn't grow up playing it much or watching. So I don't know all the rules. I don't know Allie, the strategy. I just know for me I've got to have more than one goal in a game. I need some more scoring. And this is from a baseball fan who you don't often have scored. But one, I guess one to nothing would be for, for a rabid soccer fan, that'd be a great game because it's great defense. Right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't know.

>> Tim Wildmon: Spain, one hour.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't know what the reason would be.

>> Tim Wildmon: You don't either?

>> Ed Vitagliano: No.

>> Tim Wildmon: Spain beat Argentina, by the way.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Spain beat Argentina. And let me just for those of you not familiar with, soccer, or as they say in the rest of the world, football.

>> : Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Let me explain to you in the technical language.

>> Tim Wildmon: Please do.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That Spain won an extra innings because they didn't even win in 90 minutes of regulation. It went into extra time.

>> Tim Wildmon: But Spain won the World cup, yesterday in New York. They beat Argentina. So it was, it was really fascinating because all these teams from countries from around the globe, they gathered kind of like the Olympics, except it's one sport, one time every four years. And it's the biggest deal in the world in terms of sporting events bigger than the super bowl, bigger, than anything. M m the most watched because you have a global audience. Because why? Because soccer is Played around the world and loved around the world and increasingly

>> Ed Vitagliano: loved in this country. A lot of people like it. We have a lot of people who are here, both legally and illegally, who came into this country with a love for soccer.

>> Tim Wildmon: I, think it's time that our US Team start taking some illegals. because we're not winning with legals. Doesn't appear to me. Ed, we need to put some nil money out there. No, I'm just kidding. Listen, it is over now. Was it a month long?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I think it was a month.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think it provided a lot of help to our American economy because you had all these tourists who were following their teams from around the world and

>> Ed Vitagliano: helped our image, especially in Europe. The people who came over here fell in love with the country.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. All those reports about the European, especially the European. Not only the Europeans, but others from around the world who got to experience the usa. So it was good publicity for us.

>> Ed Vitagliano: it was also in Canada and Mexico.

>> Tim Wildmon: Mexico. That's right. So they had the, ceremony yesterday after the. By the way, the. Spain. Spain and Argentina had a little extracurricular activities. After the match was over, they decided to take on boxing, our MMA fighting. Add that to the, World Cup.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And then Argentina, they all turned their players, turned their backs on Spain when they were getting the trophy.

>> Tim Wildmon: I missed that Ayanna. Serious.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, they. They turned their backs because they. There was roughhousing at the end and, you know, probably a lot of trash talking. And so instead of facing the.

>> Tim Wildmon: They both talk Spanish. I know the Spaniards do. I, know enough. But Argent. Argentina. Brazil. Brazil talks Portuguese.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Portuguese. I think Argentina. I think that's Spanish.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Spanish.

>> Tim Wildmon: They both talk Spanish. Probably got an accent.

>> Ed Vitagliano: A Southern. A Southern accent.

>> Tim Wildmon: Ayanna the World cup is now officially over.

Fred Stier: President Trump went to Spain World Cup last week

Did you see, Fred, you see President Trump went to New York? Went to New York.

>> Fred Jackson: I saw the pictures. Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: he was on the field, and the,

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Secret Service is following him around on the field. It looked kind of odd. Yeah, they probably didn't. They probably didn't vote for that Ayanna.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Secret Service would be harder to protect the President.

>> Tim Wildmon: He's in the open field.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Now you have massive security there.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Still, on the one hand, you go, well, I admire President Trump because he's not letting fear stop him from doing what he otherwise would do.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: So that's, That's kind of in his nature. Right. He's pretty brave, man.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, he is.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So. But on the other hand, if you're the Secret Service, you're Going to. You're, Excuse me. Right, Mr. President. You're doing what? You're walking out in the middle of

>> Ed Vitagliano: an open field with people running around.

>> Tim Wildmon: We can't. We can't guarantee your safety.

>> Ed Vitagliano: He was Patti probably by some of the fans, especially of Spain, because President Trump had some very, say. I don't say harsh. He. He was, He ran down with Spain.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And had some hard. Let's say, hard words to say about Spain. You know, losers and, you know, that kind of thing. But so a lot of the fans, when he appeared, they Patti him. So what I'm saying is, you don't want some nut job to go and take a swing at the president because he had talked about your country last week or whenever. So I'm sure, to your point, it was a pretty nervous moment for the Secret Service. Protect the president.

>> Tim Wildmon: So, Ayanna President Trump was there. the trophy was given to the, to Team Spain. and they're celebrating in Madrid and other parts of that country today, as they have. They literally are on top of the world.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Now, is this every four years?

>> Tim Wildmon: Every four years. Where's the next one going to be edited?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I. I don't know.

>> Tim Wildmon: Why don't you look it up?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I am looking up what he Stier, what President Trump said about Spain.

>> Tim Wildmon: you don't want to quote that.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: But he. He did soften his rhetoric, afterwards. But he, wanted to cut off all trade with Spain because Spain would not commit to the 5% for NATO and, described Spanish leadership as hopeless, Patti.

>> Fred Jackson: People.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And so that obviously led to Spain. Yeah. Booing the president. So.

>> Tim Wildmon: But, where's the next World Cup?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I. I will. I will check on that. Fred, you can contribute to the show anytime you want, but.

>> Fred Jackson: Sure.

>> Tim Wildmon: Where's the next World Cup, Fred?

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, all that at World Cup.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Be held.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Like.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, like 20. No, 20.

>> Ed Vitagliano: 30. So it'll be 2030. Yeah. Will be hosted by Spain.

>> Tim Wildmon: Are you serious?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep. Portugal and Morocco with special opening matches held in Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay.

>> Tim Wildmon: Are you going?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Am I going?

>> Tim Wildmon: Ayanna. Going over there for that.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No. I didn't even go to the ones in my country.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm not, I don't want.

>> Tim Wildmon: So that's ironic.

Spain, Portugal and then Morocco across the, uh, Stuart of Gibraltar

Spain wins the World cup and now

>> Ed Vitagliano: they're hosting, and I guess it's kind of like we did with, you know, US, Canada and Mexico.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Spain, Portugal, and then Morocco across the, Stuart of Gibraltar.

>> Tim Wildmon: you don't think that Iran is going to Close that too, do you?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I think they'd have a hard time closing that Stuart but.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Well, they've been big on straits.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Here recently.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Well, they're in favor of straits and not. Not in favor of lgbtq.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's true. You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Tim, Ed and Fred. Fred, what's your next news story?

Britain has a new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham

>> Fred Jackson: Allie, Britain has a new Prime Minister. This morning. It's prime minister number seven in the last 10 years.

>> Tim Wildmon: It's hard to keep up with them.

>> Fred Jackson: It's hard to keep up.

>> Tim Wildmon: What in the world? Why can't they keep a Prime Minister in office?

>> Fred Jackson: It's tough to keep your job over there as Prime Minister. They got kind of tired of, cursed armor. And they've put in place a former mayor of Manchester. his name is Andy Burnham.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Let me just stop you right there, Fred. I know we haven't. I'm like, I wouldn't trust a politician named Andy. Okay. He sounds like a character out of Toy Story. And I'm just, I can't.

>> Tim Wildmon: Andrew, would you have more respect?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Andrew.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Why is the Andrew Okay. Hey, everybody, I'm Andy.

>> Tim Wildmon: So Prime Minister Andy, you're just, you don't think that's going to command a lot of respect?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't like it.

>> Fred Jackson: No.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: Ayanna and he's, and he's going to be known as Andy the Socialist, because he let it be known, even last Friday when the Labour Party had their vote, to send, him to the head of their party, that he didn't like, Margaret Thatcher at all. And he says we're going to be the opposite of Margaret Thatcher.

>> Tim Wildmon: Margaret Thatcher, she's been gone a long time. Why is he bringing her name Appelo,

>> Fred Jackson: he doesn't like the private enterprise. He wants to give the government more control. That sounds kind of like democratic socialists here in America.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Brice Morgan. I think most of our listeners are familiar with Brice Morgan. He did a report card on Andy this morning. Got number eight.

>> Ed Vitagliano: He's a self acclaimed socialist. He's proud of it. He's, as you say, the seventh prime minister my country's had in 10 years. And I would say to Fox viewers, just imagine if you'd had seven different presidents in 10 years, how absurd that would feel. We've had five in four years. There is a cat at number 10 Downing street, the home of the British Prime Minister called Larry. Larry the Cat. He was adopted in David Cameron's tenure in 2011. That cat has out survived seven different prime ministers. It is a complete joke.

>> Fred Jackson: Do you think the cat's involved at all?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. Is Larry the assassin? You know what? To be honest, it kind of sums up, how farcical this has become.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That is a funny exchange. Who was the Fox host that said that?

>> Fred Jackson: Brice Barkin?

>> Ed Vitagliano: No, the one who's asking about the cat. You think the cat's involved?

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, I think was Brian.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Kill Mikella me. Yeah, that's funny. But to the.

Britain has a parliamentarian system of government where elections happen every month

To my earlier point, Larry the cat, Andy the prime minister. It sounds like a Warner Brothers cartoon.

>> Tim Wildmon: So they got a new prime minister now in Britain. They have the parliamentarian, system of government, which is the way it is. Several European. Most, probably most European countries, I would guess, and some in the Middle East. Well, Israel. Most of the Middle east is dictatorships. but, so a prime minister, that kind of a parliamentarian system of government, you can. You only. You have certain thresholds to meet, and you can call for a national election. And there's nothing on the schedule. Right. Like in the US Four years. Like in the US we have a schedule where we have a presidential election every four years. And, But in these parliamentarian systems of government, you can have them every month.

>> Fred Jackson: But this wasn't even, The people of Britain didn't have a say in this.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh.

>> Fred Jackson: Why, this was a. This is. The Labor Party got tired of their leader, Corrie, Starmer got tired of him. He gets the boot.

>> Ed Vitagliano: He stepped down, didn't he?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, yeah. He had no support. Yeah, he gets the boot. And they have a little convention. Labor Party, you know, and they say, this is the guy we want. They voted for him on Friday. Bang. He becomes prime minister today.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is the Labour Party in Britain akin to the Democrat Party in the US I would say. Are they ideological twins?

>> Fred Jackson: I would say so.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Maybe a little further down the socialist rabbit Trillia.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. But there, you know, you just wonder, as you look at Europe today, you just wonder, in 25 years, are we going to even recognize the Europe that we even know today because of the massive immigration that they've experienced, from the Middle east and from North Africa. You combine that with the lack of, That they don't have babies. The natives. I'm talking about the native Europeans don't have babies. that's a combination for a shift in demographics that will be radical, as I say, in 25 years from now. Am I right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Could be. I mean, we're talking about by the middle of this century and certainly by the end of the century, demographers who, who study demographics, and that is, the study of changes in population. There are some demographers who say there might not be any Italians left.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Or Russians left 50 years from now,

>> Tim Wildmon: 100 years from now. And what happened? The, the lost, the lost, people of Italy.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, they're going to be. That's going to be a special on tv.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. And because they're not having, they're not having enough kids to replace the adults. So that's what they call a replacement rate. So if in developed countries, if you want to, population wise, replace two Brandice you've got to have 2.1 kids. I know that sounds funny, but that point one helps a country cover infant mortality. But obviously if you have two Brandice you got to have two kids to replace them. If you have. If those two Brandice only have one child and everyone does that, your population is cut in half in one generation. And then if that one child marries the one child from next door and they only have one child, the population is cut in half again. The same thing is actually happening in Shane as well. Japan may have the lowest, pop. The fertility rate in, in the developed world. So this is a really serious thing. Elon Musk talks about it a lot. we've been talking about it, you know, 10, 12, 15 years because this became a big thing about 10, 12, 15 years.

Total fertility rate in the United States is significantly below replacement rate

>> Tim Wildmon: What's the birth rate in the U.S.

>> Ed Vitagliano: it is now below.

>> Fred Jackson: Replacement rate is at 1.9.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I will check. We. For a long time the US Had a replacement rate that was sufficient to keep the population stable, but that has, gone down, I think in the last,

>> Tim Wildmon: we've become like Europe. You mean becoming like Europe.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. So, the United States, the total fertility rate has been significantly below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman. So the rate in 2023 fell to 1.62 births, in 2023 and in 2024, 1.6. So it has been declined.

>> Tim Wildmon: And you gotta have what, 2.1.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You gotta have 2.1 for an adequate replacement rate.

>> Tim Wildmon: That can't continue or it can't.

>> Ed Vitagliano: you know, there's places in Germany. I wrote an article on this about 10 years ago. And at that time there were small towns and Stacey in Germany where they had to go. This sounds a little out there. They had to go back. They had to go and change the water pipes and the sewage lines because they were not large enough. The sewage lines were not large enough. To carry the waste away because there weren't enough people. So they had to put a smaller diameter of pipes in some of these towns. And that is just a bizarre situation.

>> Tim Wildmon: But why do you think that is, Fred? Why do you think the west Care Net having babies? at least not enough to.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. Some of the studies that I've read, and we've done some stories on that with American Family News, is that young couples, are either delaying getting married or they're getting. Either getting married much later.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, that's noticeable.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. And the women, are saying, I want to Stier, in the career because the money is needed to Pay for housing, etc. Etc. Etc. So, it's a combination, as I say, couples, are waiting very late or not getting married at all is the other factor. They've decided to stay single, because they want to make money, and they believe that is their purpose in life, is just to enjoy life and kids get in the way.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'd also say that, absolutely. What Fred is saying, that's probably the main driver. But abortion rates also, and a lot of these countries, like Russia, abort a lot of babies. Shane aborted a lot of babies during its Cultural Revolution, especially girls. They didn't want girls because girls can have babies. So they encouraged, Brandice who became expected, pregnant to abort their baby if they had a girl. now this is interesting that in the months following the overturn of Roe vs. Wade in the United States, States with total abortion bans experienced a 1.57% increase in monthly birth rates in 2023, amounting to approximately an extra 14,500 births across 13 states. It's not huge, but it is a contributing factor.

>> Tim Wildmon: I would add one other thing. you guys have mentioned the reasons why, the people in the west, and if you talk about Americans and Canadians too, which are part of the west, not having enough babies to have, to replace people who are dying. That's the replacement.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Then you have to say, the birth control pill, right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: That would be that revolution that revolutionized, and then you have abortion and then you have delay, though people aren't getting. This is just an observation. I have no stats on this, but I'm just guessing the average age of marriage has gone up, on average, five years in the last 20 years, wouldn't you say?

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: so, I mean, Allison, my wife and I, we got married. I was 21, she was 20. If you get married 21 and 20 today, people look at you like you have three heads. You're what, you're getting married. You know what I'm saying? That's like you're just a baby. I mean you. So I think this is not, I'm not judging anybody on this. I'm just saying that I think the average age of marriage has probably shifted 5.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Allie got some stats.

>> Tim Wildmon: You have some stats.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Interestingly enough, bring forth unto US stats. So according to the US Census Bureau, the median age at first marriage in 23, 20. 23, 2024 reached a historic high in the United States.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: With men marrying at an average age of 30.2, women at 28.4. This represents a significant rise from the mid century low in 1956 when men married at 22.5 years old and women at 20.1 years. So for men it is since 1956 it has got. The average age of marriage has gone up eight years.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wow.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It's gone up eight years for women as well.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, there you go. That's a big part of the explaining why the birth rates go down.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, if women especially wait till 28 to get married, that's probably going to shrink the number of kids they'll have and the number of kids eventually that they're able to have.

>> Tim Wildmon: Sure it is.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You may get it to age 35, 36. You've already got one. Should we get two?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Three.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And now you're getting to where that's not as likely.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right? Yeah. So that, that would explain. So I am, my observe, my general observation has been borne out by the facts. Born out by the facts. So the average age from in the 50s was 22 years old.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, for a man it was mid. That the, the lowest point in the century. The, the 1900s, 1956. Men married at 22.5 age women at 20.1.

My mom got married and my mom and dad got married in 1957

My mom got married and my mom and dad got married. My dad was 28. He was a little bit older because he had gone into the marines first and then then to college. But my mom was married at 20. Yeah, that's what, that's what it was 1957.

>> Tim Wildmon: My wife, I mean she was 20 when we got married.

>> Fred Jackson: My mom was 19.

>> Tim Wildmon: 19. Well and it wasn't uncommon back in before the 50s that people got married, they got right out of high school in their teens. Yeah, I think my grandmother was like one of my grandmothers was like 15 or 16.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, girls are certainly able.

>> Tim Wildmon: And she had five children.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: So you mean this is pre birth control.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Pills And I forgot about the birth control.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's a good that was a good point because that that has led that has given women the ability to say, I can put it off without any act, quote, unquote, accidental children after.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And I would probably pre1950, the average couple, married couple, had probably average three to four kids, huh?

>> Ed Vitagliano: yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: And then three kids was a small

>> Ed Vitagliano: family back in after World War II. There was a baby boom.

>> Tim Wildmon: Baby boom. Yeah. I'm glad there was.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You and me both.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. We'll be back in five minutes with more of today's issues on the American Family Radio Network.

>> Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

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