Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Ed Vitagliano
>> Fred Jackson: Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Ed Vitagliano.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And welcome back, everybody. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week or for the remainder of the week, joined in studio by Fred Jackson and Tony Vitagliano. And now, Steve Jordal. Steve Paisley. Jordal joins us. Good morning, slash. Good afternoon to you, sir.
>> Steve Jordahl: Willing and present.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Willing and present.
My favorite colors are blue and black, comparatively speaking
All right. no, you got this, I don't know, floral print.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah, it's a little. Yeah. Flowers today.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Nice colors anytime.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Muted a little. Muted little.
>> Steve Jordahl: Comparatively.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So, comparatively, compared to what he usually wears, which is blinding. color combination.
>> Steve Jordahl: That's right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Any. I. I'm. I. My favorite colors are blue and black.
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, there you go.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And that's pretty close to the. The black.
>> Steve Jordahl: But did you get those favorite colors growing up as a bullied boy in high school or.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No? No. I don't know how I got. I. I think just blue and black are just dull, comparatively speaking. And I. I think that's just a description of my personality.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah. Right. As we all know. Yes.
Steve: Only thing keeping you from achieving dreams is probably money
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, Steve, what do you got?
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, I thought we.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We.
>> Steve Jordahl: I have some breaking news, but I thought we'd start with just some encouragement. I got some words of wisdom from a, unknown, well, unnamed influencer, that just. I thought we should. If we. I just want to start out with encouraging everybody. Oh, good, good. Listen to cut 17.
>> Speaker E: Remind you that the only thing keeping you from achieving all your dreams and having all of the things that you've ever wanted is probably money. That's it. Just lots of money. So if you could just. Just get lots of money, you probably have all that stuff you wanted.
>> Fred Jackson: Who is that?
>> Ed Vitagliano: What was that?
>> Steve Jordahl: Some guy that showed up on my Twitter feed. I thought. I thought you'd enjoy that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That is inspirational. And good grief, I'd never thought of that. No, actually, there is something in the Bible that, I think it's in Proverbs somewhere, but it mentions that, that. That wealth is, like the. Like the walls of a city in protecting people. And so there is. There is something to the fact that, What's the old saying? Money doesn't buy happiness, but it buys kind of misery. I can live with you.
>> Steve Jordahl: How to ruin everything. Don't you know?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I'm sorry.
>> Steve Jordahl: I should have just let it know. Yeah, you're right. You're absolutely right. There. Spiritual lesson in that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Let's.
>> Steve Jordahl: Let's stop.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That hurts, Steve. That hurts. I. I will say this. Since my son is here today, that when they were growing up, I. I turned everything into a lecture.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: I'm guilty of the same thing. My kids. I don't know if. If my daughter's listening, she'd be like, yeah, that's the same thing. I get it. Honest. And like, where are you going? Let's start to kind of start to scoot back, you know, start to slowly back away from.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Backing away from me.
>> Steve Jordahl: Like Homer Simpson into the bushes, Right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, that's right. Well, and I don't know whether it was you, Tony, or M. my daughter, Lindsay, but they were. They. They were teenage slash college. I'm not sure. But they were old enough. We were going somewhere, and I was commenting about As a dead armadillo or something on the side of the road, and I. And I started talking about. I think I started talking about drugs or something, and one of them said, dad, you can turn anything into a lecture. And so.
>> Fred Jackson: Dead armadillo.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Apparently it'll be a lesson to you.
>> Steve Jordahl: Apparently, it's a parenting gift.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Yeah. Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: You need to look up and down.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Before you cross the street. Doesn't matter how strong your shell, the F150s of this life are going to run you over.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer is issuing subpoenas related to Epstein case
All right.
>> Steve Jordahl: All right. In serious news, breaking news. we're hearing this from the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, tweeting out that he is issuing subpoenas for the following. This is in relation to this. This, Obama scandal that. That Obama and other people cooked up to try to discredit the president coming into the 2016 election and then overthrow his presidency afterwards, is what they're saying. So he has issued subpoenas, and I've got dates for all these subpoenas for Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Merrick Garland, James Comey, William Barr, Alberto Gonzalez, Jeff Sessions, Robert Mueller, Loretta lynch, and Eric Holder. They are going to be compelled to testify, according to James Comer.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and this is about.
>> Steve Jordahl: Compelled to appear.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, yes, that's right. Jeffrey Epstein, case.
>> Steve Jordahl: It's not about the Jeffrey Epstein case.
>> Ed Vitagliano: okay. I'm looking right at it.
>> Steve Jordahl: Oh, is it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It is a record for records related to Epstein's case. But. But the. The thing I wanted to say, Fred, is that, ordinarily you come before a House, ah. Or Senate committee where the opposite party's in charge. You could just say, I'm, pleading the Fifth Amendment, you know, and you can do that all day long. But the Epstein case, I don't know how you. If you're Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton, how Do you say him pleading the Fifth Amendment without making it appear that what everyone says probably happened on that island you were involved with this is, I don't know, this is pretty genius.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, it is. I think we have Republicans and certainly the Democrats that they say there's stuff being hidden and that Pam Bondi hasn't been forthcoming enough to release what she said she was going to release. And so I think what's happening here, the contingent of Republicans say, let's just get it out there.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Because this is going to shut down. you know, the Democrats, because they want to focus on this Epstein thing, they'd like to plant the idea that somehow Donald Trump was really good friends with Epstein and that he's trying to hide stuff. So I think the Republicans and I, I would, applaud them for. Let's get it out there.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: All right. You know, we'll get all the documents out there, we'll have the testimonies from all of these people. And now Democrats, where do you want to go with this?
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, Tony, you're not a big conspiracy guy.
>> Fred Jackson: Okay, so is that tongue in cheek?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Tongue in cheek. Tony's to the right of me.
>> Fred Jackson: Okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Just like Wesley Wildmon is to the right of Tim.
>> Fred Jackson: Okay.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: look, when I'm on the show, I behave, I moderate.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, that just ended.
Steve Nowad: I have my doubts that anything of substance will come out
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, so do you think, do you, first of all, with the Epstein case, you think there's the. There, there or, and, or if there is, do you think we ever get to the bottom of it?
>> Whitney Vitagliano: all right, well, I'm going to moderate. Moderate. My response, I, I think it is, I think it is realistic and the grown up approach to think, to, to realize that nothing of substance. I, I have my doubts that anything of substance where we are able to, pinpoint and, you know, prosecute people for these horrendous crimes will ever come out in the public? I think that's, it's just, that's kind of what I had to realize. I've talked about this, I think, with you, you know, when, when Trump was coming into office and the people that he was talking about nominating, oh man, we are going to have justice finally. And, it just, I had to realize that, you know, justice as a Christian, sometimes we have to sit, we have to sit and sit back and watch the world system of justice fail, recognizing that God's, justice, however, will always be done. So I don't think on. I'd be very shocked if, if all, if my time on this earth I ever witnessed anybody on the Epstein client list coming to face, justice. So to me, this is more. This. These subpoenas are more, I don't want to call it theater because, I mean, there will be some substance to m. Me. It's more about optics. Right. Dragging some of these people out than it will be about finding out, the bad guy and pointing to Bill Clinton being on the Epstein list, which, I have my suspicions that he was probably very good friends with Epstein. so that's. That's my take. I do think there is something to it. I think there is, I think horrible, horrible things were done, but I'm just not confident that our current system of justice will ever bring those people, will punish them.
>> Fred Jackson: I'm a little confused by. Why is Loretta lynch on this list?
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Yeah, that's strange.
>> Fred Jackson: I'm not sure what she adds to this.
>> Steve Jordahl: I'm not sure that the Republicans aren't going to bring up some questions about the Obama conspiracy.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, that's interesting.
>> Steve Jordahl: I'm just saying they got him there. Got him under oath, because Eric Holder is.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I mean, there. There's interesting people being called.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Jeff Sessions.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, Jeff Sessions. Well, he was Attorney General, so.
>> Fred Jackson: For three days.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yes.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Ah, that's. That is true. And I don't even know how old Jeff Sessions is.
>> Steve Jordahl: Sessions is the one that got, though, that turned everything over to, the ethics lawyers. Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Prosecutor.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: I will say this. James Comer. If I were him, I would stay away from walking on mountain paths or paddle boarding or.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Swimming.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: I would keep firearms away from, you know. anyways, there's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So there's.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: There's your little crazy conspiracy.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm not sure how crazy that is. Nowad. Steve, what's your opinion?
>> Steve Jordahl: well, I agree with all y' all that, I think Tony hit it on the head when he said that MAGA is waiting and hoping that somebody pays for something for what they did to Donald Trump. and that's why I think that the, James, the. The Epstein thing has probably, less legs to it than I think the conspiracy, to frame President Trump.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Russia hoax.
>> Steve Jordahl: Russia hoax. Although if it depends on how you measure that, by real legs, as far as real wrongdoing that they can actually have, you know, receipts for. That's the conspiracy. Russia, Russia, Russia. but if you're gauging it on what the mainstream media wants to talk about, you won't hear a thing about it. They. They have reported on these. These, subpoenas but I, don't think. I think you've got a better chance of probably holding somebody legally accountable. well, they've convened a grand jury, although where it's going to be convened if they can get a. A, subpoena in or indictment in Washington D.C. there's questions about that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So I tend to agree with you, Steve, that, the only way I think people go to prison on the Epstein thing is, if Epstein had. Has video of people breaking the law, and I'm not sure that, ever existed, or if it did exist, that it still exists in. And you do have to be careful. We've said this on the show before. I think it's fair to say that there may be people who went to Epstein parties in Manhattan or went to the island and did not know what was going on in this wing or, you know, behind the scenes. And you got to be careful not to taint them with the. The horrific things that likely went on. and unless Epstein had that kind of proof, I don't think anyone other than Epstein himself and Ghislaine Maxwell are going to pay the price for that. Meanwhile, what you said about some of these other things where the swamp or the intelligence community, and perhaps even a president.
>> Steve Jordahl: They're pulling receipts for them.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, that, that. That to me is more likely to result, in. In legal. In criminal actions, but certainly the political destruction of people who may not go to prison for what they did in 2015, 2016 onward, but they may be ruined. Well, by it.
The Epstein files may or may not have been mishandled
>> Steve Jordahl: with regard to what you said, though, about the Epstein files in the videos that they may or may not have, this whole thing got turbocharged when it was mishandled at the beginning when Pam Bondi said that she had. Was it Pam Bondi or was it. Yeah. Said she had the files on her desk, she said.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And she said the list.
>> Steve Jordahl: The list on her desk. And so she mishandled that. And then they had. Then they said, oh, there's no list.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, they emphatically said that there's no video of anybody doing anything wrong. And if it turns out that there is, they're shooting themselves in the foot again. I don't know how to overcome that big of a bungle if they're still messing it up.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, let's go ahead and, move on.
Warren English claims American Heart association conspired with pharmaceutical companies over high blood pressure
>> Steve Jordahl: All right, I want to talk about, This is brought to us by a gentleman named Warren English, who, is a pharmacist by trade, but is, on Twitter talking about drugs and some of the, pharmaceutical, company issues. And what he is claiming and what he seems to have, and he has produced receipts on this as well, is that the, American Heart association in cahoots with the pharmaceutical companies and he names Merck and Pfizer and AstraZeneca conspired to make the pharmacy companies a lot of money. And I'll read what he said. For decades, quoting him. Blood pressure over 140 over 90 was defined as hypertension. But in 2017, the American Heart association changed the rules. They redefined normal as under 120 over 80. Overnight, 103 million Americans all of a sudden had high blood pressure instead of just 72. So some, what, 20 million people now had high blood pressure. And by the way, AstraZeneca and these big, people started making drugs for said high blood pressure. Where it gets suspicious is six of the 15 panel, members who wrote these guidelines had financial ties to big pharma. The American heart Association received $30 million from pharmaceutical companies the same year. Blood pressure medication generated $36 billion globally. In 2024, lowering the threshold expanded the market by 43%. They just opened up a huge market.
Fred: I'm suspicious of pill companies dropping cutoff for high blood pressure
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, Fred, we'll get you in here. This. When we went over this, by the way. Send me that before I forget. I want to take a look at that. So we were talking about this story in our, ti Today's issue story meeting that we have after Devotion, where we go over the stories that we're going to be discussing, and we rarely get to all of them. But I told Steve, I said, I want to get to this one. Okay. Now, I, don't want to slander the medical community. Perhaps they legitimately thought that 140 over 90 was too high. That damage is done to the kidneys and the body if you get up that high. So we are going to. Maybe there was legitimate medical reasons, is what I'm saying, for, for. For dropping the cutoff for, blood pressure being too high. Hypertension. Okay. However, the fact that there are these ties to the companies that make the medicine and the money flowing to the medical community and even the ama, according to what this gentleman is saying, makes it look suspicious. And I'm just. I just got to tell you, after Covid, I'm. I'm suspicious. Yeah. Of people who say they're following the science, but there's also a money trail and follow the money. I'm not sure which one I should follow.
>> Fred Jackson: I often, you know, my wife and I talk about this quite a bit. We're getting old.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And we're getting,
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Yes, you all are.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Steve Jordahl: I'm sorry, you ain't getting any younger, Tony.
>> Fred Jackson: We, we just signed up for, ah, I don't know what you call it. A video where you don't have commercials. You pay a little bit of extra.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Streaming service. Yeah, the premium.
>> Fred Jackson: A streaming service where you don't have commercials.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Give it time. That'll they'll start putting in commercials. Even for the premium.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, you have to get the premium. Premium.
>> Fred Jackson: But all of that to say one of the reasons we did that. I got so fed up.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Oh, yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: With all the pill commercials.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: There's a pill for this, There's a pill for that. There's a pill for this. I have grown. I'm going to join Tony's conspiracy team. I've grown very skeptical of that. If you just take this pill, this will take care of things.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: I, do know, of course, the companies are forced to be honest because of previous legal cases that a minute commercial for the pill is 40 seconds of this could happen to you if you take the pill. And they're only doing that because it's legally, necessary for them to do that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's, that's a good point.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The only reason they're doing that is because they're required by law.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes. on the blood pressure thing, you know, I'm with you. I think the, you know, many of our physicians are general practice physicians are very sincere.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: They want to take care of you. And if they see, you know, a blood pressure that seems to be high, you know, here's a pill, and that this will help you. And the pill does help, but there are side effects to it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: You know, and everybody's different. This is the other thing, too. You cannot say. Here are the numbers that everybody in the population has to have for blood pressure because we're all different and it varies from time to time. You can go to the doctor's office in the morning. You might have a reading. Doctor's office at 4 o' clock in the afternoon. It's going to be very different.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I've had them tell me that where I go for my checkup, and they say your blood pressure seems a little high. but it's afternoon.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep.
>> Fred Jackson: But I am suspicious. I am suspicious of the pharmaceutical companies. I, mean, they're, they're in business. And there have been stories that it's been proven that in some medical offices there are kickbacks that are Given you prescribe this, this goes back years. This is not new. If you prescribe this, we'll cut you a check for that. And so there's, you know, there's the medical field. They're not outside the area of being greedy to get more money.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
Pharma accounts for nearly 90% of digital ad spending, Tony says
>> Fred Jackson: All right. So I think there are great people who work for pharmaceutical companies who are doctors or in the medical community. And so I don't want to paint a wide brush.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: But I think if. If you don't believe there isn't corruption somewhere along the way that involves money, I think you're naive.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, Tony, that's just human nature, Right? Yeah, human nature. maybe I trust science, but science doesn't say anything. I think Frank Turek says this. Science doesn't say anything. Scientists do.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And if you don't think that scientists, human beings can be influenced, you're just not understanding human nature. What's your take on this?
>> Whitney Vitagliano: Yeah, the world. The world revolves around money. And anytime you start introducing money, the most ethical person can start to. Can start to slide a little bit towards, you know, stretching the truth or maybe, you know, doing things that he or she didn't, you know, never thought they would, but the money is pulling them. I pulled up just some numbers. This is from October 30, 2024. So you talked about the ads on even premium services, you're still. You might slip in an ad or two, but, pharma. Pharma accounts for nearly 90% of the broader industry's digital ad spending.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You're going for streaming.
>> Whitney Vitagliano: For streaming, 90%. and this was from October 2024. Say that again. Pharma accounts for nearly 90% of. Of digital advertising. So that's. That's what you see, you know, on. On ads, on websites, but m. More. More noticeable. It's what you see on streaming services. And they spent in marketing, said online marketing in 2024. And I don't have 2025 numbers in front of me. It said farmer will spend $19.45 billion. Yeah, that is a lot of money. And I think in order to. If you're spending that much on advertising, you're doing quite well, on revenue. And I think for these pharmaceutical companies, there is a motivation to continue to put out, new. New medicines, new drugs. I think about. I had to look them up because I always forget the man's name. But Berea, the. The chief of police for Stalin, he had an expression that said, show me the man and I'll show you the crime. All right, well, I think big pharma, they. They have a mindset where, show me the cure, and I'll show you the disease. And that's what I think about with this sliding scale as to what constitutes high blood pressure. Well, we've got this new drug, or we could make a new drug if we just stretch the, the range that constitutes an unhealthy person. Yeah, that's. I think there's too much money, honestly. I think that tends to corrupt, individuals, especially when you combine it with government individuals, who should be objective for the sake of all of us, the people they're supposed to represent.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and there are kickbacks. I'm not saying every gp, every general practitioner of medicine is getting kickbacks, but there are gifts. There are kickbacks for some. And if you're a gp, what do you know about the research? You don't have time to. You can't conduct studies. You've got to rely on what they're telling you. And, anyway, it's. I don't think you have to be a conspiracy theorist to be concerned. So, folks, that's all the time. We have, more great programming directly ahead on American Family Radio. We'll see you tomorrow.
