Today's Issues offers a Christian response to the issues of the day

>> Ed Vitagliano: 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, and welcome to Today's Issues here on the American Family Radio Network. Today's Issues, the name of this year's show. And it's Tuesday, June 9, 2026. We hope you're having a nice day. And we have assembled here in the studio quite the panel.

>> Wesley Wildmon: It's the original team.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is this the A team?

>> Wesley Wildmon: This is it. Well, sometimes we have to piece it together, but not today.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right?

>> Wesley Wildmon: This is it.

>> Tim Wildmon: As I say, we've got four people here. If 25% of us have some brain power, you're looking at Bravo bringing 100% to the table.

>> Wesley Wildmon: All right. I don't know if that made any sense. Try that again. 25% of us.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I think that was an insult, but I'm, but I'm not sure because I

>> Tim Wildmon: would have insulted myself right in that equation.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yourself. You go all, you go right ahead.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, Ed Battagliano. Good morning, Ed. Good morning, Tim Westy Wildmon.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Good morning, Fred Jackson.

>> Fred Jackson: Good morning to you, Tim.

>> Tim Wildmon: And on the drums, Brent Creeley, our producer.

>> Ed Vitagliano: On the drums, give it up.

>> Tim Wildmon: From Tupelo, Mississippi, on the drums, Brent Freely. Brent Freely. Like Ace Freely?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, like Ace Freely. Yeah, that was a good. See.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I caught that. I caught that. All right. you're listening to Today's Issues. By the way, welcome back from vacation.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, we're on a vacation with, my wife and I, with our grown kids and our grandkids, the whole family, we went to the beach and I'm going to tell you how God looks after you. Okay? Now, I love the beach, but I love it when my wife and I, like in October, God willing, my wife and I'll go down to the beach, just us. but with the grandkids, I was looking at being in the sand all day. I like going walking on the beach, walking in about ankle deep water, picking up shells, but hanging out in the sand with a bunch of little kids running. So, so they had two red flags.

>> Tim Wildmon: Get off my beat. That's your attitude.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No, it's just I don't like to just hang around the sand.

>> Wesley Wildmon: One grain of sand in that sandwich.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's what I'm talking about. So they had double red flags. That. Which means riptides.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So my, my son and daughter in law, very, you know, careful, right? So we were at the pool the whole time we're there Very nice, pool and no sand. We got to hear the beach at night and, spent. We were at the pool three times a day.

>> Tim Wildmon: So the double red flags are the riptide pretty serious.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I've seen the red flag. If it's double, it's double.

>> Tim Wildmon: Double basically means don't go in the water.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?

>> Tim Wildmon: More than what, knee deep May.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, we stayed. I didn't see anyone going knee deep.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I mean, they'll take you out.

>> Tim Wildmon: It'll take you out to.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So. So we got to be at the beach and have fun and sit in the pool.

>> Tim Wildmon: I got you.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I got Is awesome.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, well, welcome back.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Thank you.

>> Tim Wildmon: a lot to talk about today on the. On the program, which is a good thing because it's a talk show. And so if we don't have anything to talk about, might as well play elevator music here on the show.

Tim: Christina McInnis is running for Alabama agricultural commissioner

Fred, what's the. What's leading the, the news today? Oh, yes, we have a guest. I'm sorry, my. My apologies. Christina McInnis is, from Alabama. She is running for, the agricultural, commissioner position, which is a statewide, race and, obviously a, statewide office. And Christina is on the phone with us. Good morning, Christina. This is Tim.

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: Good morning, y'. All. How are y' all doing this morning?

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, sorry to keep you waiting there.

>> Ed Vitagliano: we lost track.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Did we just get a y'? All? So we go.

>> Tim Wildmon: We did get a y'.

>> Wesley Wildmon: All.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, good. She's from Alabama.

>> Wesley Wildmon: She's fitting in just fine, huh?

>> Tim Wildmon: That's right.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Fitting in.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wesley's kind of a Mississippi up. He's kind of uppity. Christina. I'm just kidding.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: So, you're from the, coastal area, aren't you, Christina?

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: I am. I'm from Baldwin County, Alabama, and my family has been farming here in Alabama for 120 years.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wow.

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: I'm a fifth generation farmer, so kind of, I get the best of all worlds. I'm close to the Gulf coast or Gulf of Americas. And, you go in a little bit and you're on God's country, on the farmland.

>> Tim Wildmon: Amen.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, we were that. We were down in Fort Morgan. That's for the vacation.

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: Did you pass my signs on the Beach Express? I have these shipping containers with my name. Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And I saw the. There's a Baldwin Beach Express. We were on there that for a while, kind of on the way home.

>> Tim Wildmon: So the Buc ee's where Buc ee's is?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, we went to Buc ee's

>> Tim Wildmon: and, Christina, it's been nice to have you. Ed's about to go off on 10 minute buc ee.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Christina, just.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is that your first.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Just once, just one statement. Okay.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is this your first time?

>> Ed Vitagliano: No.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: But this was nuts. This is our second time. My wife and I have been. And I'm just gonna say I don't get it. That place was wall to wall. Listen, it's. It's good for America. It's good for America. Some good jobs and stuff, but it was insane. And you know what? That's all I'm gonna say about it. We've got pristine.

>> Tim Wildmon: I've never seen so many gas pumps in all my life.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: And you know, the Commissioner of Ag in Alabama, the weights and measures, that's what I'll be over. So that little tag on every single one of those, I think there's a hundred of them. hopefully next year they're going to have my sticker on them.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, sounds good to me.

>> Tim Wildmon: You just don't want the Biden sticker. I did that on the gas prices.

Christina Johnson is running for Alabama agriculture commissioner

All right, Christina, you are, running for Alabama agriculture commissioner. And, ah, why are you doing this?

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: You know, I can tell you this. we are living in the golden age right now. And you're watching so many people leave farming. It's really hard. And that's a national security issue for us. And I am leaning into what has built me. Agriculture has built me. I have lived the American dream with agriculture. I came from literally the back of a tractor in Alberta, Alabama. Watched my parents go from homeless when their single wide trailer was destroyed. From Hurricane Frederick to now I work in every state nationwide. And between my husband and I and our companies, we employ hundreds of people. And so, I can say that agriculture has built me. It's been a success story. But now, as important as it is, as we're watching China come in and one out of four hogs purchase 400,000 of our acres, as we're watching the global struggles that are occurring that affect farmers, you're not having this next generation going into it. They can't see the path to success. They can't see the profitability. And I want to bring life back to that. I'm the next generation. I have lived a success story with ag. And I want to pour my public servant heart back into making this great in Alabama. It's our number one industry in Alabama. It's a 77.3 billion with a baby billion. Economic. And that's an economic impact, but the workforce is 1 out of 10 jobs. So we all know this as you're looking at a business and you're looking at financial statements. Protect your golden goose. Agriculture is our golden goose. We need to sit at the table and we need to eat, we need to feed our country. But in doing so, if we eat from a foreign hand, they're going to control us without ever lifting a bullet. So this is, this is the time to step up, lean into this golden age and go all in on ag. And I'm there to serve and I'm looking forward to the leadership.

The burden of government regulations is breaking down small Alabama farmers, Christina says

>> Ed Vitagliano: Christina, one of the questions I have is I pastored for many years and have had in a small church in the county, in which I live and have had a couple of families. And one, owned a dairy farm, and another did some farming. One of the things that I, that I heard was that this was especially from the dairy farmer, that the amount of regulation, you can't control a lot of this. It comes from Washington D.C. but the amount of regulation literally drove him out of business. And it seems like what's happening, this is not my bailiwick. So that's why I'm asking you is that the small farmers, family farms, they can't hold up under the scrutiny of, the FDA or whatever branch of the government is overseeing them. And so they sell to big conglomerates or sometimes to China. And we are losing that generational knowledge that produces the stuff, we all enjoy buying at the farmers market.

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: You're correct. The burden has become break breaking our small farmers. So, for instance, we will compete with other countries that have a longer growing season and do not have the same government regulations. So their workforce is a lot cheaper, they can grow longer. And so we're trying to be competitive. And, so I'm excited to see how, you know, Trump and Secretary Brooke Rollins, the USDA Ag Secretary, is stepping up to protect because so much has just been. You see how it is when we used to go to Walmart and it opened in Foley, you know, there was a American flag and God bless America. And today you walk in and it's 90% sourced from China. And we're doing the same with our food because we've made it so difficult to do it here that we were just buying it from somewhere else and importing it. Let me use an example. we're number two in the nation in poultry. So we have a lot of poultry farmers and poultry houses. And every year, not only the government, but their vendors will say, well, we need you to do this upgrade or this upgrade or this upgrade. And by the time they go and put a million dollars in an upgrade, it puts them 20 to 30 years back in debt again. And they never get to that break even or, the black on their financials. So you're right. It's so intentional that we really look at how can we lower those government regulation barriers. And then also I challenge somebody, they really want to do something today. Like today. How can I do this today? Well, you know, you just visited the Gulf Coast. What I would have challenged you to do is say, you know, which is one of my. I have a five point plan. I'm running on a five point plan. I would have said, I need you to stop at the coastal farmers and Fisherman's Market in Foley, Alabama. We're number two in the nation for farmers market. You go there, you get Alabama grown beef. And Lillian, you get, arugula salad, you get honey. You basically have all of your groceries. Buying it direct from my Baldwin county farmers. And that dollar that you're spending 60 cents is going to stay in that community. And those T ball teams that need sponsorships and other things, you're helping support that B2B model. And someone said, what is that? Well, you know, the business, or B2C model. I'm so sorry. B2C model. Which is what's going to help these small farmers stay alive and why that's so important.

Alabama farmers should use sweetgreen Alabama brand as agritourism experience

Because Alabama, let's talk about how farmers can capitalize on that. As they're coming in, we can directly to the tourists. There's 29 and a half million tourists that come into our state every year. And as they're coming down the interstate or coming in through an artery, they're shooting to the beach as fast as possible. But what they should be doing is using our sweetgreen Alabama brand as an agritourism experience. And stop off with your grandkids, go blueberry picking and brewton, go to the Coleman Strawberry festival, go, you know, if it's fall, go to the Tate pumpkin patch. Again, that economic opportunity. Because right now, the Gulf coast, those communities, they take the tourism dollars and they smile. But we need to make those dollars a little bit more sticky, passing Chilton county peaches and so forth and making that experience because that's good for families when they're coming in our state and you're eating real food. The farmer went out and did that and is selling it directly to our families here in our nation.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think you should go blueberry Picking with your grandchildren. Ed. Ed, I think you should do that.

Christina McGinnis is running for Alabama agriculture commissioner

Well, listen, one other I wanted to ask you. We're talking to Christina McGinnis, who's running for agriculture Commissioner of the state of Alabama, going on all across America. What these call the data centers, that's what we hear them called. Most of us don't really, we have some sort of general idea, but we don't really know what they are and what they do and what the purpose. you know, everybody wants to see technological advances, that are helpful, to everyone. But, but still there's a concern about these data centers, environmentally and otherwise. how are you tracking this issue?

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: Great question. So I actually just released, I think it was on Friday, where I'm going to do an audit. So the reason this is so important is I actually was in Stockton last night and there was 100 plus people in a very small community. They have 4,500 acres. So I'm going to tie it to solar, to large industrial solar because they tie to the data centers. It's like a whole movement that's going on in the United States everywhere. But they're targeting Alabama specifically because we have a lot of water. They're tied next to energy and it's affecting very, very small towns like Stockton. So what I've pledged is I'm going to be working with multiple people, multiple different agencies and what we're going to do, or I'm going to lead, specifically I want to lead. How is this impacting our farmland and doing an audit to say here's where we've gone in the past. Because you have to say this is grandfathered in because that's happened. This is what's gone in the past. Here's where we are currently. But what can we be doing to shape a better tomorrow with these decisions? So for instance, I have people saying, okay, well this is how they handle their water. There's a lot of energy and water that goes into a data center. So I see other states where they're not doing sort of, water, you know, requests on theirs. So I think what we need to do is learn from other mistakes, make sure that we're doing the best we can and protecting our farmlands and don't go put a bunch of things that can be cultivated for food, you know, put it in areas or, you know, that will have less impact and then also monitor that growth of what's occurring. Which again is going back to, we need to audit and take a look at it. There is an outcry right now from constituents in Alabama and the nation asking for answers. Just give us answers. Don't necessarily just go to social media and read everything you believe. Give us facts. And I mean, I know we can all, you know, smile when we say this. Eryn Brockovich became famous over, you know, what she did with the water. Well, now she's doing it with data centers. So, you know, what are the dangers there? Why, you know, what is the investigation? Let's look at answers and facts and again, shape a better and smarter future. Because, if we don't get in front of this now, we will be fixing problems later.

Christina McInnes is running for Alabama Agriculture Commissioner

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, well, listen, Christina McGinnis, McInnis has been our guest. She's running for Alabama Agriculture Commissioner. What is your, website?

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: It's McInnes for Alabama, but also on Facebook. So go find me on Facebook. Christina Warner McInnes for Alabama Agriculture. And if you're an Alabama voter, I ask for your vote next Tuesday, June 16th. We're going to have one of the lowest voter turnouts in the nation, you know, in the state. And it is so critical for me to emphasize every vote matters. And I asked for your vote on June 16th.

>> Tim Wildmon: Thank you, Christina. God bless you.

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. You'll have a great day.

>> Tim Wildmon: You too.

What about these data centers? What do you think about. Well, listen, it's one of those deals

What about these data centers? What do you think about.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, listen, it's one of those deals where you talked about technological advancement there. You know the old expression, you can't put toothpaste back in the tube. We're going to have data centers and we're going to have to deal with AI but what I don't want to see happen is, county decisions, state decisions, even local, you know, municipal decisions, bringing in data centers without consulting the people. Because these things are big drains on electricity, big drains on the water supply. there are reports of a consistent and persistent low grade noise in the background. Sometimes, I'm not an expert on this. I. I've read a lot of things saying that, it can, it can ruin entire neighborhoods if it's not done. And people need to know about it before it happens. That's my opinion. and sometimes politicians. I say sometimes this is gonna be a shocker, guys. Sometimes politicians do what's good for their reelection campaigns and don't care what happens to the people they're supposedly representing. I know, I know. That's a shocker, okay? But I don't think these politicians should be allowed to make these kinds of decisions without the approval of the people they're representing. Yeah, that's a, That's a shocking concept.

Currently 38% of Americans live within five miles of at least one data center

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, well, these data, data or data, whatever you call them, centers are popping up, are being built all over the country.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Wesley Wildmon: All right.

>> Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues. That's the name of this program on American Family Radio. Wesley, anything you wanted to share? You want to share your heart or Fred jumps in here with some, some news of the day here?

>> Wesley Wildmon: No, I was listening to Ed and, as he was doing that, I pulled up a Pew Research article on the, these data centers you're talking about. Currently there's 87% of them are in urban areas with the goal of 67% finally being in rural areas.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Wesley Wildmon: To your point, that is a concern.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Space. There's space out there and you know, it's what Christina was talking about. Something's on that space. Now, maybe it's just trees that they cut down, but I think what they probably want to do is not have to cut down a bunch of trees and, you know, bulldoze. They want to use farmland. It's flat. It's, you know,

>> Wesley Wildmon: and currently 38% of Americans live within five miles of at least one operational data center.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, I didn't know. I did.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Exactly.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know where mine you may

>> Wesley Wildmon: not be part of. 38%.

>> Tim Wildmon: Let me ask you, this is Love's Truck Stop considered the data center? Oh, because it's only like a mile.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, I don't think so.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. All right.

>> Wesley Wildmon: The 25% of my brain that says we need to move on.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think we need to move on. You're 25%, my 25, 75% of the brain power here. Fred thinks we need to move on to you. Go ahead. Next up, next up, Fred Jackson, ladies and gentlemen.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is being investigated by a House Judiciary Committee

>> Fred Jackson: Well, the Southern Poverty Law center, also based in Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama has been in the news over the last couple of weeks as the, Justice Department, now has, issued indictments against that organization. The charge basically is this. They've been using donor money, to put, informants into hate groups. Very. The so called hate groups that they condemn. They have been sending informants in and supplying money to these hate groups. The allegation is they're supplying money to keep the hate going, which keeps the donor money coming into the Southern Poverty Law Center.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, kind of like they've been. What they've been accused of is, lighting. Of lighting a fire. And they're the fire department. Yeah, that's good. They put it. They light the building on Fire. And then they say, well, see, we've got to have a fire department because

>> Ed Vitagliano: all these fires are popping up.

>> Tim Wildmon: These fires are pulled. Yeah, yeah. that's what they, that's basically what they've been accused. You come up with that and rob top of my 25% head. I did. All right.

>> Fred Jackson: Very quickly.

>> Tim Wildmon: Do it again.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That was impressive.

>> Fred Jackson: I like that sblc. They are the focus of a House Judiciary Committee today. And the chairman of that committee is Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan, in his opening remarks, talks a little bit about what the SBLC is being charged with. Cut 14 field source 37.

>> Tim Wildmon: The guy at the Charlottesville rally helped plan that rally, coordinate transportation there was paid to attend.

>> Ed Vitagliano: After the event again after the event where a lady was killed. The Southern Property Law center almost tripled their income, 51 million to 133 million.

>> Tim Wildmon: After they were coordinated.

>> Fred Jackson: The hate that took place at that crazy rally.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You run a scam, you become the standard. You don't get prosecuted and you make a ton of money. They got 800 million assets, 700 million in an endowment.

>> Tim Wildmon: Such a deal. I was. They, they, they drew the short end

>> Ed Vitagliano: of the short, short straw.

>> Tim Wildmon: They drew that SPCD when they got Jim Jordan's committee. Jim Jordan is a dead gum, pit bull, huh?

>> Fred Jackson: He sure is.

>> Tim Wildmon: And what he said right there, listen. And we've known this for years. The SPLC, the Southern Poverty Law center, which started in the 60s maybe, and they were a civil rights group and they had a, if you want to go back, they, you could say they had a, cause that was, legitimate back in that time. But, what happened is, they lost their reason for existence and they wanted to stay in existence. So they morphed into this, self appointed hate group monitoring organization. So that they declared groups, they declared other. And there was always conservative groups like ours, they declared us hate groups. And thus, if the SPLC speaks, it is like the voice of God to the left and to the news media. Well, what's happened is it's been discovered. Jim Jordan just said it. They got an endowment. They've got so much money they don't know what to do with. Which begs the question to me, if there's that much hate in America and you're not spending the money you raise to fight it, but rather you're raking in, you're building your portfolio. There must not be enough hate to fight.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Unless, their motto is apathy is not an option. So we're going to gin up excitement. That part you Yeah, I added.

>> Tim Wildmon: What were you gonna say, Wesley?

>> Wesley Wildmon: You wanna say manufacture? Oh, wait.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. All right. We're gonna be back with 100% brain power.

American Family Radio is celebrating its 250th birthday with two international tours

>> Ed Vitagliano: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, Preborn to. 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 our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial 250 and say the key word baby or visit preborn.com AFR America's 250th birthday. It's a great excuse to have some extra cake and ice cre, 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

>> Tim Wildmon: hello, everyone. I'm Tim Wildmon, president of American Family association and American Family Radio. Hey. We are announcing two tours coming up in 2027. March of 2027, we're going to Greece and we're going to Italy. The Greece tour we call the footsteps of Paul. And you're going to follow the footsteps of St. Paul in the, country of Greece. And then the Italian, tour. The tour of Italy, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome, we're calling the make lasagna gradient tour. And these are coming up in March of 2027. And if you want to read all about them, the itinerary, the cost, everything you need to know about these tours coming up in March of Greece and Italy, go to tours.afa.net that's t o u r s.afa.net we're going to have a lot of fun, a lot of good fellowship, and see some of the most historic and iconic sites in the world.

>> Fred Jackson: For we know that if the earthly

>> Tim Wildmon: tent we live in is destroyed, we

>> Ed Vitagliano: have a building from God, an eternal

>> Tim Wildmon: house in heaven not built by human hands.

>> Ed Vitagliano: 2 Corinthians 5, 1. American Family Radio.

>> Tim Wildmon: This is today's issues.

>> Ed Vitagliano: 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.

Tim: NASA to announce crew for the Artemis 3 mission

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to afr. I'm Tim with Ed, Wesley and Fred. Guys, I was just watching the news here on TV and it says NASA to announce crew for the Artemis 3 mission. And so I'm going to step out of the room because I just need to know if my name's going to be one of the ones called because

>> Wesley Wildmon: I did send it for you for a few minutes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I sent in my application. Okay. For the, Artemis 3 mission. And so if I'm chosen, I'm going to be very excited. So excited to be on the air. If I'm not chosen, I'm going to be disappointed. And I really don't want to be on the radio show today. So you understand my mixed emotions here?

>> Wesley Wildmon: I do.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I I'm just gonna be honest. I have no idea what you're talking about. You really want. Would you if you had a job

>> Tim Wildmon: you don't keep up with? The Artemis 3 mission.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Space Station.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: If you had a chance to go with the space station, would you do it?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I would. At 63? At 33, if I was Wesley's age, I wouldn't do it. But 33, looking what, 20, 30 years max left. Get a chance to go to the moon?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, not the moon. You'd just be in the space station.

>> Fred Jackson: But Tim, you love to travel.

>> Tim Wildmon: Imagine the frequent flyer miles from going on the Artemis 3 mission.

>> Fred Jackson: Artemis 3 is going to the moon?

>> Tim Wildmon: Is that what it is? I'll look it up. Because like I said, I sent my application in, I hadn't heard back from NASA, and I don't know.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I'm looking at here at. The Artemis 3 says the Artemis 3 mission will launch crew in the Orion. Orion spacecraft on top of the Space Launch System rocket to test rendezvous and docking capabilities.

>> Tim Wildmon: No, that's what I do. That's the part I come in. The docking.

>> Fred Jackson: The dock.

>> Ed Vitagliano: you could do the docking part.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, that's what I told him. I have some experience in docking space stations, but it's, it's not extensive.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I was, I wasn't listening. I was, I was reading.

>> Tim Wildmon: Let's move on.

Artemis 3 was originally planned as the first crude lunar landing since Apollo 17

>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, so this.

>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead. It's obviously not interested in my career path.

>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, so I'm looking. This says Artemis 3 was originally planned as the first crude lunar landing since Apollo 17.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: By 2023, however, NASA had indicated the mission could proceed without a landing due to heat shield concerns.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I had heat shield concerns at the beach.

>> Tim Wildmon: You did, you did. Here's the end. I think you handled it well.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And honestly, if I was going to go either to the space, you know, into space, I think NASA would look at me and say, I don't think our rockets have enough thrust. You're going to have to drop another 20 before we can get you off the ground.

Nat: I think it'd be a great video to see Ed floating around in capsule

>> Tim Wildmon: Brad, next story.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I think it'd be a great video to see Ed floating around in the capsule. That's right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Reaching for the floating piece of pepperoni pizza. Wesley, you have anything to add to this?

>> Wesley Wildmon: I just feel like yesterday was my chance and, I took the opportunity to have a little fun. I feel like, Nat, today's my day to keep you all in line.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

NASA announced a launch date for a moon base in late 2027

So let's get back to the hard news as.

>> Ed Vitagliano: As very important Liam Neeson, as might say.

>> Tim Wildmon: Good luck. Hey, by the way, is taken 17 come out yet? Because I'm waiting on. I look and I wonder what the storyline's going to be.

>> Wesley Wildmon: No, but they did a whole Amazon series on it.

>> Tim Wildmon: Like a new, like, making of that movie series.

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: No.

>> Wesley Wildmon: So they turned it into a multiple season taken.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Without Liam Neeson and the main character. Oh.

>> Tim Wildmon: Spin off or something.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Or somebody else is finding their lost Taken family.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. Multiple times at multiple.

>> Ed Vitagliano: In the respect to Wesley, we do need to come back here and this. This is kind of exciting because a couple weeks ago NASA announced, Remember the three phase plan to put a base on the moon?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I mean, I don't know if. Tim, you might make it. Okay. In terms.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know, fingers are crossed. But I've got a phone number.

>> Ed Vitagliano: But can you imagine if we lived under. Wesley's absolutely going to make it. But us three older guys, can you imagine if we live to see the face on the moon?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: This is like a science fiction.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is that what this announcement?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, they're going to. They're announcing that the launch date, which is late 2027 to start.

>> Tim Wildmon: a.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, that was, I think, supposed to be the next step after the last mission is to really, to prepare to put this village on the moon.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: It's crazy.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: M. Yeah. All right, next story. Fred.

Elon Musk says he wants to occupy Mars

>> Fred Jackson: All right.

>> Tim Wildmon: by the way, Elon Musk, he's not satisfied with the moon.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No. He wants Mars.

>> Tim Wildmon: He wants to occupy. That's what his T shirt says. Occupy Mars.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, that's a good playoff. You know, Occupy Wall street and all that kind of stuff like that.

>> Fred Jackson: This is not really breaking news because put, up your hand if you've heard these words before.

President Trump expresses renewed optimism that the US and Iran are close to a deal

President Trump is expressing renewed optimism that the US And Iran are close to a deal. I've heard this before. We have a good chance, he said, of signing a deal in two or three days, but he didn't provide any details on why there was reason for new optimism.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's surprising.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, there was a. I'm just gonna say there was a girl in high school, right, Darlene, who said she

>> Tim Wildmon: would go out with you.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I asked her out many times. She says, maybe this weekend. And that went on for four years.

>> Tim Wildmon: Tell him I'm still in the shower. Yeah, but you've been in the shower for six hours. I don't care. Tell him I'm still in there. Well, so. So, yeah, President Trump has become a broken record on, the Iran situation and probably just needs to shutty till something of, substantial. Yeah, substantial happens. because his words have proven to be, without. Without any, power words.

>> Fred Jackson: No action.

>> Tim Wildmon: No action. Yet.

>> Fred Jackson: Here's what's interesting. through a translator, a member of the Iranian Parliament kind of says, I don't know what he's talking about. Cut number one,

>> Ed Vitagliano: we do not see

>> Tim Wildmon: a serious will to reach a framework that could actually be implemented.

>> Dr. Georgia Purdom: And I think with regard to Iran's blocked assets, this is in fact a very clear and prominent example of that.

>> Ed Vitagliano: As for uranium enriched materials, enrichment itself, and nuclear issue, we are not currently negotiating on those matters.

>> Fred Jackson: So there's the difference of opinion as to where things are. You add to that the conflict that we have seen, the verbal back and forth between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. and we talked about this a bit yesterday, some bitter words coming from President Trump against Netanyahu, who ordered his, his army to defend itself against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. And also then on the weekend, Iran initiated another attack against Israel, and Israel responded. And basically, Prime Minister Netanyahu last night went on network television there in Israel and he says missile attacks from Iran and Hezbollah are unacceptable and Israel will defend itself. Cut number two.

>> Ed Vitagliano: In the past 24 hours, Iran and

>> Tim Wildmon: Hezbollah tried to impose a new equation on us.

>> Ed Vitagliano: This equation is intolerable and unacceptable to me.

>> Tim Wildmon: They thought they could fire from Lebanese and Iranian territory at Israel and that

>> Ed Vitagliano: we would not act.

>> Tim Wildmon: That did not happen and that will not happen.

>> Fred Jackson: So there you have it. the Iranians are saying we're not close to a deal on any of the points. And you see Prime Minister Netanyahu saying, if we get fired upon, we are going to respond both Things that, President Trump has been critical of.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm just gonna. I don't want to sound like a broken record, because this story has sounded like a broken record. So we're basically revisiting it every two or three days. And we have. Since when was it February 28th or whatever?

>> Tim Wildmon: When this war been that long?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I think it's been that. That long. Listen, I'm just going to go down these bullet points. the Iranian regime that's in charge, apparently in charge is, is the fanatical branch of Shia, Muslim, the 12, Imam folks. they're not making a deal. They are not going to make a deal because this is their worldview, and they are going to fight this war through their proxies. Hezbollah is one of those, and so they are going to keep this thing instigated by firing via Hezbollah or Iran doing it, and they are going to try to become the main player in the Middle East. Middle Eastern nations that are more moderate, they don't want to go to war with Iran. So I'm not sure they're going to be an option. President Trump's only real way out of this mess, okay, Once he did what he did with Israel to try to take out not only Iran's, weapons program, nuclear weapons program, but also to degrade their military. Once that did not result in the collapse of the regime, his goose was cooked. In terms of what he could get done. President Trump, he could. He. He cannot. If the regime had fallen, this would have been one of the greatest foreign policy, military, tries attempts in recent 200 years of history. This would have been huge. But it didn't happen.

>> Tim Wildmon: He stopped, too, huh? well, one of the reasons was who knows what would have happened? But President Trump pulled back the military operation. He stopped it. He stopped the military operation. Now, to his. If you. In his defense, he's probably saying, well, now we can negotiate because they see how powerful we are and what we can do. So therefore, they're going to come to the table. I'm sorry, you finished then, Wesley?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay. And so what? So, now that. That is the reality on the ground, this, regime has stayed in power. It's doubled down, it is slaughtered its own citizens. It's not going anywhere. Now, I think what President Trump ought to do, rather than say, hey, I think we got a deal. He's going to be either forced into making a bad deal with these murderers, or he needs to just say, hey, we tried. we did the best we could. Our military did X, Y, or Z, but we were not able to overthrow the regime. Nobody else ever tried. Even though other presidents said we got to stop them, we did the best we could. We're going to pull out. And, you know, if. If, if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, the whole world's going to have to deal with that reality. And if it's ever used on American soil or American interests will nuke Tehran and, goodbye and have a good night. I think that's the only thing he can do at this point, because either way, it's going to be a political loss for the president in terms of the Democrats who weren't going to do anything against Iran anyway. So rather than pretend like he's getting a good deal and everybody know that it's not a good deal, or he just says, hey, look, we tried and we took our best shot. No one else did anything.

>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead, Wesley, because I have his own words about this.

Ed: I question why President Trump waited three months to pull out

Go ahead.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I still want an answer for why the United States military and, or President Trump and his team did not consider the fact that of the Strait of Hormuz potentially being the problem that it's caused. Because up until. Up until the Strait was there, I felt like we were about to be pulling out and being done. But now I feel like the Strait is as much of a problem or a concern as it is.

>> Tim Wildmon: Why is it our job to keep it open?

>> Wesley Wildmon: No, why did we not think that that was going to.

>> Tim Wildmon: When we be a problem?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Right. Because how come we don't have any more control over that than we did? Because that. Seemingly. There seems to be three problems here. You got the. You got the, Iran potentially getting a nuclear weapon. So that's been in discussion. And all this gets kind of confusing to our point and why we were there. At first it was. I thought. I thought it was just to set back their military 10 years because they support terrorism. And then we did that, and then. And then it turned to, well, now we got to get the uranium. Yeah, okay, well, we realized we can't do that. And then it's like, oh, yeah, well, we can't leave yet because we're negotiating for them to open up the Strait of Hormuz. So what. I mean, there seems to be, like, things that we did not account for, which is why I'm, of course, where I'm at. But I believe that it would have been just as fine with me as a voter, for Trump as a president. I'd have been just as happy after about two or Three weeks of just bombing, a terrorist country's military and setting them back five or 10 years, 15 years, and just pulling out. And just monitor the. And monitor the potentials, of a nuke. And also tell them if you don't open it straight, then we're going to keep bombing your bridges in your facility.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Because that's what it's turned out anyway.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: As it turns out, we didn't, as far as we know, completely stop their nuclear. Maybe we set them back. Set them back, you know, a certain amount of time, we degraded their military significantly. And that's it.

>> Wesley Wildmon: That's it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And so why wait three months to pull out when we could have done it after three weeks?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yep, absolutely.

>> Tim Wildmon: So, according to the. A story in the Jerusalem Post, which I'm sure is being reported back here in the States, too, but this is the first article I pulled up, and we don't have the audio for this. And here's what President Trump said. Yes. Said, yesterday. Yes. Tuesday. Said on Tuesday. Today. Yeah. There's still Wednesday, right After Tuesday.

>> Ed Vitagliano: There is.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. I didn't know if we voted.

>> Fred Jackson: I hope.

>> Tim Wildmon: Did we vote on that, or do you remember? I think that. Anyway, so here's what President Trump said. Quote, you're really going to win this over the next year. I don't know. He's talking about himself, I guess, or us. The US you're really going to win this over the next two weeks. When we declare total victory, it'll be total victory. It will happen very soon, and oil prices will come tumbling down. regarding America's demands in the talks, Trump added that Iran's negotiators are willing to give the US quote, everything. you're shaking your head, Ed. You don't believe President Trump.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I think President Trump is a very optimistic fellow, but that. That is not happening, what he said. Now, if. If there's something behind the scenes and it happens in a couple of weeks and it comes out just like President Trump said, I will come on here and say the guy's a genius. All right? I do not think the Trump administration understands the kind of people they're dealing with. They think they're people who operate like somebody, who wants to build a high rise. Okay? This is not the kind of person you're dealing with. They are. President Trump is not going to get everything, and the Iranian regime knows it, and they are working to try to embarrass him.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, here's what he said. Continuing on here with this Jerusalem Post. I'm Just. President Trump's going on record here, quote, we are in the final throes. He said this today. We are in the final throes of what will be a very good deal that will not allow for nuclear weapons in any way, shape or form, end of quote. So that's the standard he set here.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And he said that would be a win.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah, that would be a win. But you got to have a way to verify.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right. And that's going to be the problem.

>> Tim Wildmon: But that goes in contrast to the, one of the ayatollahs, or one of the leaders of Iran that we just heard a few minutes ago, who said we're not. That's not on the table.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and what happens. What happens, like you said, verifiability or what if two months from now, Iran says we change our mind?

Wes Bell: President Trump's credibility is on the line with Iran deal

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, let me just say. Let me just say this. President Trump's credibility, complete, his credibility. He's been given a lot of leeway by his supporters, I think, in this whole situation, and rightfully so. He's earned that, I think. But his credibility is on the line. If, in fact, what he says doesn't come to pass in the next two weeks, if three weeks from now, he's saying, yeah, we got a deal in the next two or three days, we're. They're going to give up everything. If he's still saying that kind of stuff, which he's been saying. I know, I know, but I'm just trying to give him. I'm just saying, he. He's. This is pretty clear what he said now. And I think, he needs. Because he's saying complete victory, total victory. And he's. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. But we don't see it right now what he's talking about, unless he's going to redefine. But he just said, no, we will not. That, this deal will not allow for nuclear weapons in any way, shape or form. That's still the standard that he's holding out there.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So I was on vacation, but I was kind of paying attention a little bit to what was going on. And this, very public conflict between President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. I don't know if we've got more on that, but, that was not good. That was not a good look. And the fact of the matter is, I think now Iran is playing Israel against the US or the US Against Israel, because they're telling Trump, hey, we'll give you what you want, but we got to stop the attacks from Israel into Lebanon against Hezbollah. And the US has no control, really, over what Israel.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, no, Trump said he does. Trump said, I call the shots for Israel. I'll tell Netanyahu what he can and can't do. That's what he said. Go ahead, Wes.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And that's the point that I made yesterday on the program, and I brought it back to this, and this is an uncomfortable statement for all of us, but that just tells you who's really in charge here, and it's not Trump and his in the United States. If that's what you're saying is true.

>> Tim Wildmon: If what's.

>> Wesley Wildmon: What he's saying is true is that the Iran is telling us to tell Israel what to do, and that way they'll negotiate with us.

>> Ed Vitagliano: well, they. What I'm saying is Iran's negotiators are talking to the US and saying, we can work out a deal, but we want the attacks from Israel to stop. Probably why.

>> Wesley Wildmon: The point is they're setting the terms. But we should be setting the terms.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, but Trump should say, no, Iran, you tell Hezbollah to quit firing on Israel. Trump doesn't need to be telling Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, quit defending yourself against Hezbollah because you're hurting our deal with Iran. Trump needs to say, no, no, Iran, you tell Hezbollah to quit attacking Israel. that's what needs to take place. That's why. I don't know. but I think a lot of

>> Wesley Wildmon: today, we're not talking about it until we get an answer.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm good with that, man.

Tim Ferriss: I still haven't heard from NASA on my application

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. I don't know.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what else to say about this.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I know.

>> Ed Vitagliano: you know, about. We got not. We got to talk about stuff that happens. I understand we got to at least mention it, but I don't know what else to say.

>> Tim Wildmon: If a wrong hands are out because you're exasperated.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm exasperated.

>> Tim Wildmon: You are.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I am exact.

>> Tim Wildmon: You're exasperated and you're. There's nothing else to say. That. That was body language you just had right there.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I paid $424 a gallon on my trip for gas.

>> Tim Wildmon: 424.gallon.

>> Ed Vitagliano: 424. Because you get a. Get gas in the middle of a trip, you got to get what they offer. Oh, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: So. But you could have just not gone to the beach. Well, that was a choice you made.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. That. That is true.

>> Tim Wildmon: Life's full of choices, and we have to deal with the consequences.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Thanks, dad.

>> Fred Jackson: You could have got to a motel.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I'm gonna tell my grandkids Papa and Mimi M. Are going.

>> Tim Wildmon: We're gonna rent a pool at the day's end in a room at the Day's Inn. Guy, you can have the pool.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Papa's too cheap to pay an extra six.

>> Tim Wildmon: We're gonna order gallons. We're gonna watch TV in the hotel room. How about that?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Everybody watch Andy Griffith with reruns. What do you think of that, kid? Oh, boy. Who's with me?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Jon Wayne, black and white.

>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, we're out of time for this hour. We're coming back, Tim.

>> Tim Wildmon: I keep waiting.

>> Wesley Wildmon: You better be back with us.

>> Tim Wildmon: I'll be coming.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't want to talk about Iran anymore.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I'm. I still haven't heard from NASA. I'm still. no phone call, no text.

>> Ed Vitagliano: On that text, we either see a screenshot or it didn't happen.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, okay.

>> Fred Jackson: It's in the mail, Tim.

>> Tim Wildmon: You mean my application came back to me?

>> Fred Jackson: No, they're responding.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, they're responding. Okay. We'll be back momentarily with more of today's issues.

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

Tim, Ed and Wesley talk with Fred on top news headlines of the day including a discussion on the SPLC hearings and also how President Trump says we are close to a deal with Iran.