The American Family Association offers an in depth worldview training course called Activate

>> Ed Vitagliano: Every day, AFA offers biblical insight on issues that others aren't willing to touch in the hopes that you'll become a world changer. That's why we're offering an in depth worldview training course called Activate. Thirteen different professors teaching 18 sessions, all available online, including a printed workbook to help you apply what you've learned and one year access to AFA streaming content to give you even more resources. Find out more about Activate and sign up today at Acctivate.AFA.net welcome to today's Issues, offering a Christian response to.

>> Tim Wildmon: The issues of the day.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network for this Tuesday, December 16, 2025. As always, we thank you for listening to AFR. Well, joining me in studio today is Ed Vitagliano. Good morning, Brother Ed. Good morning, Tim and Fred Jackson. Hi there, Tim and Chris Woodward. Good morning. So the four of us are going to, do a cantata for you today, ladies and gentlemen, and, you will enjoy it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I might eat a cantata. Can you get salsa on that chicken? Cantata.

>> Tim Wildmon: A cantata?

>> Chris Woodward: I thought that was only at Easter.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, cantata is a fancy word for a choir singing a bunch of Christmas songs. Yeah. have I got it right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I think that's right. The Christmas cantata.

>> Tim Wildmon: Nobody wants to go hear that necessarily if you, you hear it all year long. But if you got a cantata going on. Yes, sign me up. That's right. I want a cantata because.

Today at our offices is, uh, Ugly Sweater Day

All right, so, we got a lot to talk about today. Today at our offices is, Ugly Sweater Day. We, we have a theme Monday through Friday here, the week before Christmas. You know, people wear stuff. We have different things, different days. Our HR department provides us, what this, this festive attitude.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, it is festive. Festive atmosphere.

>> Tim Wildmon: So, anyway, I don't always pay attention to these memos, but, my wife, she does. She started reading my emails the other day and she said, hey, you got Christmas week coming up. You need to participate. You need to show, you know, your HR spirit. Yeah, yeah. Your HR is planning all this. You need to participate. So then she went online and began to order me a bunch of stuff to wear during Christmas week. And so here I am, for those watching on our, streaming service, wearing my ugly sweater. It's ugly sweater.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Fortunately, my wife does not read my emails. Otherwise I'd be. I just wore. I just wore a regular green sweater.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And this Morning. Tim saw me in devotion and he said, way to step up or bold choice or something.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wow.

>> Ed Vitagliano: But now I don't.

>> Tim Wildmon: Just a regular green sweater.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't consider that an ugly.

>> Tim Wildmon: I know, but it's crazy.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's pretty cool looking.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think it's like, I need. Now, what I'm wearing here is just. It's loud.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, right.

>> Tim Wildmon: It's a loud, quote sweater. It's kind of a shirt.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Now, in our devotion, some of our staff, what they were wearing qualifies as ugly sweater.

>> Tim Wildmon: About half the staff participate, and the other half. Baham Bug. Yeah, they don't participate at all. like, Fred wears that sweater every. Every other week.

>> Fred Jackson: Every second day.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. now if I were to wear what I'm wearing right now in January, it would be thinking I escaped.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You escape the cantata.

>> Tim Wildmon: Some. Some mental institution, probably.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So, yeah, you can wear that once a year.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's, somebody's, somebody if those watching on our streaming service. People want to watch us on our streaming service, Ed. How do they do that?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, they can go to, stream.afa.net not scream. Not scream. Stream.AFA net. That is AFA stream streaming service. It's more than just watching live programming on American Family Radio. You can see all kinds of films and videos, maybe a cantata or two thrown in there. Or you can go to our Facebook page, Today's Issues, or Today's Issues Live, I think on, YouTube. And you can watch. Or you can go to afr.net on your computer and you can watch the, Oh, I think you just listen to the live audio stream on afi.

>> Tim Wildmon: Watch my shirt, too.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, just a live audio stream, but watch my shirt. Yeah. So it actually be stream.afa.net or our Facebook page or YouTube. Is the only way that you can.

>> Tim Wildmon: See Chris is rocking the gray over here.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, I had an ugly sweater, but I took it off for this show because I didn't want my compadres to feel underdressed.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Chris Woodward: But I will post a picture of it on our Facebook page.

>> Tim Wildmon: Compadres, Cantatas.

Have you ever checked out your, uh, your family heritage online

We just speak in a lot of foreign languages here. Here. This morning, I was gonna say, I.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Didn'T know you were Spanish.

>> Tim Wildmon: Have you ever checked out your, your family heritage? you know, what do they call those things?

>> Chris Woodward: Genealogy.

>> Tim Wildmon: Genealogy website. You ever done this?

>> Fred Jackson: Gene tree?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, actually, back in 23, a great.

>> Fred Jackson: Aunt wrote a book on the Jackson, family. It was quite. Quite fascinating, really.

>> Tim Wildmon: What did she find out? Great aunt. So, yeah, our Aunt, as you say. So that would have been. She wrote that in the. In the mid 20th century maybe, or late 20th century, thereabouts. Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: Maybe a little later than that. anyway, she found. And we weren't really surprised by this. Of Scottish, and British influence in the Jackson family. From my mother's side. The, the. The Mac side. she, that.

>> Tim Wildmon: That cheese.

>> Fred Jackson: Beg pardon? No, the McGinns.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, my bad. I thought maybe you're talking about your. Some people have a backside, some people have it in cheese.

>> Fred Jackson: You know, like mackinnons and all that.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, yeah, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: They're all from Scotland or Ireland.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes, my. My grandfather, My, mom's side actually spoke Gaelic.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And so that's the Irish or the original. That is Irish. Irish now. Right.

>> Fred Jackson: Shame on you.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Gaelic.

>> Fred Jackson: Gaelic is Scottish.

>> Tim Wildmon: Scottish.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, I didn't know that.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So what's the Irish version of it?

>> Fred Jackson: I have no idea.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, I've been Celtic. I don't know.

>> Tim Wildmon: Why'd you, Why'd you start this if you didn't know? Fred was talking about my life and welcome. Yours is obviously. You got a little. You get your Greek. Italian.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right, Greek and Italian. But I, I've never done the ancestry, uh,.com or anything like that. frankly, I'm afraid to find out I might be half Russian and half Nigerian and just didn't know this whole time.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, I have. I have not. I have family members that have looked into that and they'll share findings with me, but I've never.

>> Tim Wildmon: Even though you're from Nova Scotia and I grew up in Mississippi. Fred, we're. We're kindred spirits there. Cuz my. For the British Isles. Oh yeah, that's the.

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, absolutely.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's where our family's from.

>> Fred Jackson: Yep.

>> Tim Wildmon: The British Isles there. as so many Americans trace their history back to. To I mean, probably 20, 30% of the American public.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. And our Cajun friends in Louisiana goes, back to the Acadians that came down from Canada. From the east coast of Canada.

>> Fred Jackson: interesting background there.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Anthony Vitaliano is the illegitimate son of a pope in the 1300s

All right, well, whatever your family heritage is, whatever criminals are in your tree, we welcome you to listen to this program.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Now I will say one thing. Well, actually say two. Two quick things because I know we've got someone wa. But I did wake up that, yes, Scottish is Gaelic. Irish is like Gaelic or something. It's pretty close, but Irish is the real way to refer to it. But my sisters did do. It wasn't like a deep dive on Ancestry.com. it's when you sent away for, a study of where your name appears. And Vitagliano or Vitagliano, we can trace it all the way back. And this is actually what they found out to the, to the, child of a illegitimate child of a pope in the 1300s. That is.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, man, that is.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Some kind of royalty. Well, I'm not sure what.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm not sure I think I know what it means, but.

>> Chris Woodward: Somebody was disqualified to be a pope.

>> Tim Wildmon: Who does the pope Pope confess sin to is what I want to know.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I. I don't know if you know any, Catholic folks.

>> Tim Wildmon: Get me cardinal, for I have seen. What'd you do, Pope? I had an illegitimate child, a child out of wedlock I named.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I mean, Anthony Vitaliano. May his ancestors be blessed. all right, you know, and that is.

>> Tim Wildmon: That is this true story?

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's what my sisters told me.

American Family Radio welcomes guest Frank Turek on Tuesday

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. Well, all right. You're listening to, today's issues on American Family Radio. before we jump into the stories of the day, we have a guest with us, as we do most Tuesdays, that he's available. Brother Frank Turek joins us from, the Tar Heel state of North Carolina. Good morning, Frank.

>> Frank Turek: Good morning, Tim. I think you need to go to confession for wearing that shirt.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, I was walking down the hall, coming to the studio, and one of our fellow employees said, hey, I love that shirt, and I'll go, that's disappointing because you're supposed to hate it because it's supposed to be a ugly.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Sweater, but it's not.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's why I say, oh, it's.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It's a black background, and it's like neon Christmas trees and Christmas lights.

>> Tim Wildmon: I'm ready to go to Vegas. So am I right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: No.

>> Tim Wildmon: No, I don't. No. Maybe.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No, It's Indiana. I don't think it's an ugly.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know per se. It's just loud.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.

>> Frank Turek: I think you ought to, like, take it off. Don't wash it. Put it in a box. Wrap it up and give it to.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think if I start taking this off, the FCC will put a. Will call us and suspend our license.

>> Frank Turek: Give it to one of your sons as a white elephant gift.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Now, if we want to go down a rabbit trail, I have a pretty funn. White elephant.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, tell it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So this is. Now, by white elephant, I think you mean just like when a bunch of Christians get together.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know why this has to be racial, but go ahead.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So this goes way Back to the mid, 80s.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I was on staff at a church in Scottsdale, Arizona, and they had a Christmas party for the staff and I was just a youth pastor and all that kind of stuff. I was way down, bigger, way down on the, on the. Pretty good sized church. So they said don't, even. They said don't even buy gifts. just find something to get around your house and wrap it up and.

>> Tim Wildmon: Seriously?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. And we're going to have where you.

>> Tim Wildmon: Don'T know this dirty Santa?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, it's, it's where you go and you just grab a present, but you don't know who, who get. Who put it up there under the tree. So I went into our garage and I found an old clock that had been in the kitchen and I had just hadn't thrown it out. you know, it was pretty disgusting. So I told Diana, said, this will be funny. We'll wrap this up and put it under the tree. And so we're sitting around where, at our table is the music minister and his wife, Rick and Linne Myers. And so they, we all get our presents, sit down, start unwrap. And Rick tells his wife, he says, look at this. Someone wrapped up a disgusting clock. Everybody else had bought a present. Yeah, everybody else had bought a present. We were the only ones who did as we were told. Just wrapped something up. And I didn't even, I didn't tell them. I, I've met to this day, never tell. Told him.

>> Tim Wildmon: You just didn't say anything. I just lie about it. Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Because I was looking at everyone else opening presents.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And it's, you know, it was ten dollar gifts or something like that. And then they opened that with the clock. And he was so upset. Someone just wrapped up their disgusting old.

>> Tim Wildmon: And wrapped it up. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Good times.

>> Frank Turek: You should have told them. I just didn't have time to shop.

>> Tim Wildmon: Didn't have time to shop. I don't. That doesn't fly anymore though, when you got 364 days.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I think he's talking about the clock.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, the clock. Oh, I, I get it now.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Pardon me.

>> Tim Wildmon: I'm a little slow.

>> Frank Turek: It's just because you're wearing that shirt, it's taking all the energy out of your brain.

>> Tim Wildmon: Lowers my I.Q.

>> Ed Vitagliano: 20.

>> Tim Wildmon: 20 points. all right.

There's a whole town and county called Turk in Poland

So, well, by the way, what is Turk? Where does that come from?

>> Frank Turek: It comes from Poland. There's a whole town and county called Turk in Poland. It means little Buffalo.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Turksville.

>> Frank Turek: Turk.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Look it up.

>> Tim Wildmon: They got buffaloes, and I got my own county. And in Poland, it means what? Little buffalo.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Little buffalo.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, like, I didn't know the word buffalo. They did. Like the Indians do here. You know, little Bighorn, little buffalo.

>> Ed Vitagliano: But I didn't know there were buffalo in Europe.

>> Tim Wildmon: Turk.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Poland. City in Greater Poland. As if there's such a thing.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wow. That's pretty cool. Got his own town named. Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: it's a historic city in western Poland situated on the Turk upland.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, wait.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Near the Kilbaska River.

>> Frank Turek: Where the little buffalo roam.

>> Tim Wildmon: In 1684, the Turks were thrown out of Poland for wearing loud Christmas shirts. All right, we'll have to read more on that.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Was notably involved in pivotal moments of Polish history. I'm gonna have to take a look at this. Frank, because you're involved in Polish royalty in pivotal moments in our history.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know how many interesting. How many Polacks it takes to.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, don't.

>> Tim Wildmon: What?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm just. Listen, this. This shirt's just your head. You cannot tell a Polo Pollock joke on the air.

>> Frank Turek: Jasmine Crockett said. Can I ask you a question?

>> Tim Wildmon: We did that in fifth grade, and nobody knew what we were doing wrong. How many Pollocks does it. Is Pollock an offensive word? Is it really?

>> Chris Woodward: There's a, what some might call a negative stereotype that Polish people say.

>> Tim Wildmon: That. Is that. Is that. Is that offensive? Is it really?

>> Frank Turek: I have no idea. But can I ask you a question?

>> Tim Wildmon: That's enough of that. Go ahead.

>> Frank Turek: Why is it that whenever, the sign or the screen comes up with my picture on says host of. I don't have enough faith to be an atheist.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, is it misspelled? M?

>> Frank Turek: it's an AI Theist. Am I an.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, hold on.

>> Frank Turek: Artificial intelligence.

>> Tim Wildmon: Get this corrected. who's. Whose responsibility is looking at Brandt right now? Brent Creed, our producer. Brent, do you have an answer for this?

>> Ed Vitagliano: that on your paper, it's spelled right. On video, spelled wrong.

>> Fred Jackson: I will check our video.

>> Frank Turek: These video guys. I'm telling you, they're all wearing loud shirts. Not paying attention.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, we'll get that corrected. Because Frank notices stuff like that.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No, what I was saying. I don't know whether Pollock is offensive to Polish people, but you're about to tell a Polish joke.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. Well, every ethnicity's got their jokes. The Polo's got some good ones. What? I'm saying there's some good ones. all right. And not in a good way, but you're only supposed to use it if you're of that ethnicity. That's right. Right. So you can only tell jokes on your own group, which I do. I think that's acceptable. Right, but you can't tell jokes another group.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And that's like, how can you tell the. The bride at an Italian wedding?

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

What? She's the one with the braided armpits

>> Fred Jackson: What?

>> Ed Vitagliano: She's the one with the braided armpits.

>> Fred Jackson: Oh.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, I did not need that. Bad image. That was gross.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's a European thing.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, bad.

>> Tim Wildmon: One of the reasons we left Europe.

>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, you know, you, as you frequently say, you better, you better, you better rein this then. I've got more.

>> Tim Wildmon: We got it. We got to move on. You save it for another day.

>> Ed Vitagliano: All, right.

Dr. Frank Turk hosts American Family Radio's radio program and podcast

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, Dr. Frank Turk. Do I want to reset this show here? Dr. Frank Turek, a distinguished scholar, from the Tar Heel state of North Carolina. Distinguished collar and North Carolina. That does go together sometimes, and it does here. so, on a more serious note, by the way, Frank does host the radio program and podcast. I don't have enough Faith to be an Atheist. It airs live on Saturday mornings at 9 o' clock Central time right here on this radio station. You're listening to American Family Radio. And then we re aired on Sunday afternoons at 4:00 Central Time right here on AFR.

Frank: When someone makes a charge, they better have evidence behind it

So, Frank, the topic today is conspiracy theories. Yeah, I noticed yesterday where Candace Owen, the queen of conspiracy theories. she was, she met with Erica Kirk. Yes. Wife of Charlie, Kirk. The late Charlie Kirk. For four and a half hours, according to one report. so, my question is, the topic of conspiracy theories. and talk about this, if you would.

>> Frank Turek: Well, I think that as Christians, we have to make sure that when someone makes a charge, they better have evidence behind it. Especially if you're charging somebody with being involved in a murder, which is what Candace Owens has been doing. I mean, she's been saying that TPUSA betrayed Charlie and all this. She has no evidence for this. She's just making claims to apparently to draw attention to herself. I don't know what her m motives are, but you don't implicate people in a murder unless you really have strong evidence. And she doesn't have strong evidence. She has possibilities. Anything's possible. But not everything has evidence behind it. You know, the Bible talks about having at least two witnesses, right? Have you heard about any witnesses? No witnesses. the Bible talks about. You don't. Slander. In fact, what are the words that are used to describe Satan, the accuser, the slanderer, the liar, the murderer. Check, check, check, check. All those things have occurred in the Charlie Kirk situation. You have a murderer, you have a bunch of liars, you have slanderers, you have people who are accusing others without evidence. If you can't see, this isn't spiritual warfare. I do not know what would show you that spiritual warfare is actually going on right now. All of these things are showing that people are not being reasonable. They are, they want to hear things that they think is going to, is going to scratch their itching ears. As the Apostle Paul said, when he was talking about, the people in the last days. You know, it's, Second Timothy, his very last letter that he writes. He talks about how people are going to, are going to get teachers around them to tell them what they want to hear. In fact, here's what he says in Second Timothy three. This is the very beginning of the chapter. He says, mark this. There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying its power have nothing to do with such people. I mean, this is what's going on with all these conspiracy theories. Now. I think the evidence is quite good that Tyler Robinson is the killer. Whether he acted alone or not, that remains to be seen. You know, whether. Do other people know about it? Were they involved? That's what a trial is for. And we're going to have on our program this weekend J. Warner Wallace, the cold case homicide detective whom I've had on before, to talk about how prosecutions are done. And they're done very deliberately. You know, Candace Owens and others will say, well, why hasn't the FBI done this? Or why hasn't the FBI done that? Hey, newsflash. The FBI isn't covering this particular murder. They're not the lead. The lead people are the folks in Utah. This is a state case. And whether the FBI or the state is involved, they do not reveal everything they're working on because if they did, it would jeopardize their case. Their job is to convict the true murderer, not to quell ridiculous conspiracy theories that don't have evidence behind them. If they did that, they wouldn't get anywhere. What they need to do is gather the evidence and then present it at trial. If, if they start telling you what they're doing or what they have that's going to jeopardize their trial. Why? First of all, it's going to taint a jury. Second of all, they're not going to know whether they're getting good testimony, because suppose they come out and they say, hey, we're looking for a second shooter. If somebody comes forth and says, oh, I saw the second shooter, they don't know whether that person really saw a second shooter, or that person is just trying to make a name for themselves by saying, oh, yeah, I saw the second shooter. And they're fabricating it so they can make a name for themselves. They have to. The prosecution has to hold all this close to the vest until the trial. And when the trial comes out and everything is released, I think we're going to see Tyler Robinson is the real killer. Whether or not he worked together or not, that remains to be seen. Or he worked alone or not, that remains to be seen. But Candace Owens so far has said TPUSA is part of this. Mikey McCoy is a part of this. His father, Rob McCoy is a part of this. Trump's a part of this. Mossad is part of this.

>> Chris Woodward: Israel.

>> Frank Turek: Israel's a part of this. Egypt's a part of this. Trans. Is a part of this. Gee, I thought France. All they did was. Was surrender. You know, I mean, how could they all be a part of this? It's impossible. Which means most, if not all of what she's saying is completely bogus. Yet people eat it up. Well, they eat it up. Meanwhile, they're running down a grieving widow who. Who, full disclosure, is a friend of mine, because Charlie was a friend of mine. As you know, I was at the murder. it's ridiculous.

Frank: Christians who are easily pulled into this kind of slanderous mindset

What's going on. Hopefully yesterday's meeting is going to stop all this nonsense, but that remains to be seen.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Hey, Frank, we just got just 30 seconds. What would you say to Christians who are easily pulled into this kind of slanderous mindset? You got 30 seconds.

>> Frank Turek: I would say that you are involved in spiritual warfare and you're advancing it. You need to pull away from this. You need to make sure that people have facts before they put accusations out there. It's slander.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And we live in. Unfortunately, we live in a who gets the most clicks world.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: And, truth. What's the old saying? A rumor flies around the world before.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Truth gets its shoes on.

>> Tim Wildmon: Gets the shoes on.

>> Frank Turek: Yep.

>> Tim Wildmon: or gets its dirty pants on, or it gets its ugly sweater. Christmas sweater on. or bright Christmas sweater. All right, Frank. Thanks so much, my friend. Appreciate it all.

>> Ed Vitagliano: right.

>> Frank Turek: God bless you guys.

>> Tim Wildmon: Take care.

Preborn network clinics help women choose life through free ultrasounds

That's Dr. Frank Turek, whose family hails from Poland.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Turek, Poland.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. We'll be back momentarily. Stay with us.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We're living in a time when truth is under attack. Lies are easy to tell, easy to spread, and easy to believe. But truth, truth is costly. And nowhere is the cost greater than for mothers in crisis. When a woman is told abortion is her only option, silence and lies surround her. But when she walks into a preborn network clinic, she's met with compassion, support, and the truth about the life growing inside her. That moment of truth happens through a free ultrasound, and it's a game changer. When a mother sees her baby and hears that heartbeat, it literally doubles the chance she'll choose life. Preborn network clinics are on the front lines, meeting women in their darkest hour, loving them and helping them choose life and sharing truth. Friend, this is not a time to be silent. It's a time for courage, for truth, for life. Just $28 provides one ultrasound and the opportunity for a mother to see her baby. To help her choose truth and life. Donate today. Call £250 and say, Baby, that's £250, baby. Or give [email protected] afr that's preborn.com afr.

>> 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.

The migration from Europe to the U.S. is fascinating

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. Today's issues. The name of the show. Tim, Ed, Fred and Chris. Just real quickly, maybe we should do a show on this sometime. But, how the. The migration from Europe to the U.S. fascinating. I've read and read a lot on this, but the reason so many. There are so many people, of Scottish and Irish backgrounds, that's just. Just mass immigration to where you grew up, Fred. Canada.

>> Fred Jackson: Yep.

>> Tim Wildmon: And then also, a lot of them, especially the Scots, they migrated down to the American south through, like, Charleston, the ports of Charleston, Savannah and some other key places over on the eastern coast of the southeastern part of the United States. And then they started just migrating west.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I had a bunch of relatives on, my grandfather's father's side. they all migrated to NewSong England, to, Ed's area.

>> Tim Wildmon: NewSong England, Boston. A lot of Irish influence there.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, yeah, a lot of Irish.

>> Tim Wildmon: The potato famine.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Just, so many. So many Irish. There's a real. I mean, there's a real thing. The potato famine drove people to leave.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Ireland. Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And. And, the Irish came in one wave. They got settled in, you know, the Boston area and around there and got good jobs, in the police force, for example. So. So that's kind of one of the stereotype, movie scenes with the Irish cop. And then the Italian wave of Italians came. It's funny how things work because the Irish were discriminated against when they got there, and then when they got settled in, they discriminated against the Italians who came, who came out, who came after them. So that's human nature for you.

>> Tim Wildmon: So we all discriminate against each other. It's sometime down to human.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We tend to be clannish.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. Yeah, well, that's right. Clannish or tribal.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

Police say Sydney massacre was inspired by Islamic terrorist group isis

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. You're listening to today's issues. Chris, what's the first news story we're going to get to here?

>> Chris Woodward: Well, this one is on our website, afn.net, australian, police admit Bondi beach massacre was inspired by the Islamic terrorist, group isis. is the, term many people are familiar with. And, authorities again in Australia think the, father and son that carried out this horrible shooting there at Bondi beach in Australia were inspired by the Islamic terrorist group. Authorities say they found ISIS materials in a. Vehicles, in a vehicle that the gunman, used. They, also had traveled to the Philippines back in November, where there may be some sort of ISIS outfit there. And I've got a lot of audio here. do you want to go ahead and do the, Rabbi Goldstein.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. Sandy Rios, our good friend Sandy Rios sent me, about a seven minute video this morning of the Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Warren Goldstein is his name and he. Excellent points. Ah, about the, globalization of Intifada. He says governments all over the world need to start taking this seriously. He said, and I'll just paraphrase and then we'll listen to a little bit of this. He said Australia is just the latest example and governments have to wake up. It's not just a saying. This is a serious, bold movement that's manifesting itself all over the world. So here's a little bit of that from the, Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Warren Goldstein.

>> Speaker F: The mass murder terror attack in Sydney, Australia, was not simply an anti Semitic incident that got out of control. It was a professional military operation conducted as part of the global jihadist War being waged on every continent. To plan an operation like this takes time and resources, which was only possible in an environment created by the Australian government that has been conducive to the development of radical Islamist infrastructure. An environment that indulges the demonization of Israel and Jews on the streets, that allows people to chant gas the Jews on the Sydney Bridge, that tolerates and even endorses the genocidal slogan from the river to the sea a ah call for the extermination of all Israeli Jews. What happened in Sydney is what globalized the Intifada looks like in action. A jihad against the Jews. It is what happened in Manchester where a terrorist attacked Jews at ah prayer on Yom Kippur. It is what happened in Amsterdam where Israeli football fans were hunted down in the streets. And it can happen anywhere to any Jewish community in the world. Because globalize the Intifada means exactly that. Hunting Jews everywhere. It is not a protest movement. It is not resistance. It is a jihad of murder, terror and destruction. Like the original intifadas launched against the Jews of Israel. The global version has nothing to do with a Palestinian state. It never has. If it were about a state, there would have been one in 1948, in 1967, in 2001 and many times since. The multi front Islamist war, from Iran to Gaza to Lebanon and Yemen, is not about a Palestinian state. It is about jihad. The violent spread of a global Islamist movement whose sole purpose is the destruction of the Jewish state first and then the west and the rest of the world. When Western leaders like this Australian Prime Minister and his counterparts in Europe, in response to the Gaza war recognized a Palestinian state, they endanger themselves. They reward Jihadi terror and they make a lethal mistake, lethal to the survival of the free world. Because the Jews are only the first target the jihadists take aim at all infidels. Their slogan says it all. First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I thought, I've never heard that expression. That's that last one. Oh you have Saturday people.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh yeah, yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: That is, that has been around and what they are referring to, first the Jews, then the Christians. When I heard this this morning, I got thinking about the history of the last even 25, 30 years, 9, 11. It wasn't just Jewish people they were after, it was Americans, Jews and Christians they were after. And what he is saying is that, you know, and I thought about the protests that broke out on our campuses here in the United States in the wake of October 7, 2023. What were those young people around NewSong York University and Harvard. What were they saying? From the river to the sea. so it's a mentality that has now been ingrained into the minds of even many young Americans. He is warning that you're going to have more of what happened in Sydney, because that is the ultimate goal. It is not just a political movement. I thought it was very interesting. He said it has nothing to do with the Palestinian state. What was he referring to there? Well, remember, Yasser Arafat was basically offered a Palestinian state. They gave him 95% of whatever he demanded.

>> Ed Vitagliano: He was the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: This was Bill Clinton. Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: And he turned it down because that's not what they were after. They want to get rid of Israel. That is the ultimate goal in all of this.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And by the way, that's why to this day, Hillary Clinton calls it Right when she's talking about, radical Islam. Yeah, listen, they say I wasn't alive prior to World War II, obviously. But they say, and historians note that, leaders in the west, even though they may have read Mein Kampf, which was Hitler's kind of testament, his. His, beliefs and his goals, even though they read it, they didn't take it seriously, what he said he was going to do.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Now, there might have been leaders who didn't read it, but it's a very, very thick book. Very difficult going. I've never got. Been able to get all the way through it. But. But the point I'm making is it's. There's nothing wrong with taking people at their word. And that is what this gentleman was trying to get across and we were talking about in our story meeting this morning. My belief is, I absolutely agree, that what we are starting to see is the trickle, I think, before the dam breaks. Yeah, I think we're going to see, not just an uptick in radical Muslim violence. I think we're going to start seeing this all over the world. And in this country, we're going to see this more and more because this is what they're. This is what they're after.

This, uh, this is a religion of conquest. It always has been

This, this is a religion of conquest. It always has been. It wasn't a religion of conquest when the west became so powerful militarily that the Arab, countries, for example, were locked into the Middle East. But when they started, when they discovered oil and started becoming wealthy because of it and began being able to fund these radical groups around the world, you are now seeing the true nature of Islam. Not all Muslims, but the true message of Islam. And we Better take them at their word because they hate Israel and they hate the West.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Tim Ferriss: Hamas knew Israel would respond heavily to Gaza attack

All right, you're listening to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. What was the, how many people died there in that Australian killing?

>> Chris Woodward: At least 15. And the victims range in age from 10 to 87 years old.

>> Tim Wildmon: I know we may have talked about this yesterday, but did you see the video of the man who took the gun away from the.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes, he's Syrian Muslim. He's a Syrian Muslim.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Very courageous man.

>> Fred Jackson: He was a hero.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. He saved m other lives.

>> Fred Jackson: He attacked, he attacked this guy who had the rifle, managed to take that rifle away from him.

>> Fred Jackson: Or there would have been more killed.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, the other thing about these Islamic fanatics is that they're indiscriminate about the people they murder, but they're also discriminate at the same time. Let me explain. If this were a, war, being fought because the Israelis and the Gazans, the Arabs, the Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip and war with Israel, you would take it out on the army of Israel or.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Or maybe even, you know, inside Israel. But what these people. Now this has been going on for a long, long time. A long time. Decades and decades. I'm talking about these, the well, since 1948. Yeah. So, and before that you mentioned Hitler and yes, the persecution of the Jews has been going on a long, long time.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Even before that. But the modern day Arab v. Jew, v. I mean, versus Jew war in a broad general sense, has been going on a long time. But the, these people, like this guy that kill these Jews, in Australia, he hates Jews. He doesn't just hate Israelis. Okay. because of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: He hates Jews because they're Jews. Now what, what is going to give rise to m. More violence against Jews? Unfortunately, and sadly, tragically I think, and I hope it doesn't happen like Fred's talking about, but the cause will, the motivation for attacking Jews will be amped up around the world because the, especially the Muslim extremists are going to say we need to take revenge against the Jews who are killing children in Gaza. You see what I'm saying?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Because we've talked about all these videos that have been made, many of them by AI that are, that are not even true. They're phony, they're fake, but they look real. against the you know, accusing the Israelis of intentionally murdering women and children in Gaza, for example. So I don't know where you live. And we live in a very dangerous time.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: If you're a Jew and you feel like you're being hunted. Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: You know, Hamas, I believe, knew how Israel would respond to October 7, 2023. They knew it and that was just fine with them.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, they had a pretty good track record.

>> Fred Jackson: No, you mean they knew that Israel would respond heavily. They knew that not only Hamas, but Hezbollah and Lebanon. Remember Netanyahu saying, we have to be ready on all kinds of fronts because we know what's going to happen. Now, they thought Israel would go heavily against Hamas. That's why Hezbollah opened fire as well. That's why Iran, we saw in Yemen, all of these forces thought by Israel going heavily after Hamas would be weakened. So they would attack them from Lebanon and they would attack them from Yemen.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. There's no right or wrong answer to this, but I don't think that Hamas. You're saying they knew what was going to happen. I don't know if they counted the cost or if they even cared about what was going to happen to their.

>> Fred Jackson: I think you hit it.

>> Tim Wildmon: They didn't care to their fellow citizens because Israel turned Gaza into rubble.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. It's into rubble now. It's squalor. It's nowhere to. For they. They're going to have to have something happen over there to get.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I think both what you guys are both saying, you, Tim and Fred, I think are both true at the same time. I don't think they expected for Gaza to be turned into rubble. That certainly I don't think what they wanted, but I think they didn't think it was going to happen because to Fred's point, and I said this after the, after the attack, I think that Hamas was. I think they believed they were going to trigger a wider war against Israel so that Israel would not just focus on them. I think they expected. Remember Hezbollah, had had thousands of rockets aimed at Israel. Israel repelled them and obliterated a lot of them.

>> Tim Wildmon: Were those cell phones that Israel had blow up?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't think. I don't think those groups were expecting Israel to do what Israel did, but I think they thought that Iran would get involved. Maybe they could drag Egypt and maybe even Saudi Arabia into it so that they could crush Israel once and for all. I don't think they expected to the. What they got, which was devastation.

Tragic situation in Australia with all these Jews dead

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. You're listening to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. Tragic situation in, Australia with all these Jews dead. They were just trying to celebrate Hanukkah on a beach. It's summertime in Australia now where, you know, they, it flips what we. When we're in winter there in summer, when summer there in winter. Right, what's your next story? Well, about the Rob Reiner story.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, I mean I was. Okay, we can do that.

>> Tim Wildmon: Let's do that one.

>> Chris Woodward: let me find it on my list here.

Son of Rob Reiner arrested and charged with murdering his parents

Alright. So authorities in LA say the son of Rob Reiner has been arrested and charged with the murder of Reiner and his wife. And I've got some audio here from a criminal defense attorney who's also a Fox News contributor. His name is David Gelman and says there's really not a lot of information out there other than what Fox News and some other people have said. Clip 9 what we know so far.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is this was a gruesome, gruesome murder of his two parents. Now he's accused of it right now.

>> Fred Jackson: So he hasn't been convicted of anything. But if we're reading correctly, what happened is definitely a result potentially of drugs.

>> Tim Wildmon: And a mental health issue that Nick has and it's had had it for a long time. It sounds like m. Yeah, I read about this again. Again this, this their son is alleged to have murdered them, but it's almost certain that he did. and his son, this son was in his mid-30s I think and he was a drug addict for years. A serious hardcore drug addict for years, which probably led to some mental problems too if he didn't have them naturally. And he had gotten into this shouting match with his parents, Rob Reiner and his wife, I don't know his wife's name.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Myshel.

>> Tim Wildmon: Myshel, at a party they had gone to a Conan o', Brien, the comedian. He held a party, holiday slash Christmas party. And the Reiners were in attendance and they got into a heated argument. The dad, Rob Reiner and his son. Was his name Nick.

>> Fred Jackson: Nick.

>> Tim Wildmon: And so it was so bad that, you know, it was disturbing the party and they, I think they had to leave or something of that nature. But it was later that night that he went in to his parents home if he didn't live there. I don't know what the situation was exactly. And I'll just warn people right now who have small children, they don't need to listen to what I'm about to say. But he slit their throats. And that's when they were saying it's a gruesome scene. And then they bled out and he also did some other stabbings. But then their daughter found them. Their daughter found them. M. And immediately when they called the police, said that my brother should. This is what I read now in the NewSong York Post and other places. My brother should be considered a prime suspect because of what happened. Precede, you know, proceeding here. And then Billy Crystal, the comedian.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: And movie actor. He and his wife went over there and had to see the scene.

>> Ed Vitagliano: These, are. These are all pretty close friends.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. You know, it was, it was a. It was a celebrity part of LA that people lived in that, you know, these high profile.

>> Fred Jackson: Same neighborhood as O.J. simpson.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. Brentwood. The Brentwood area. But it just. Just terribly sad. And, and for anybody, Rob Reiners, politics aside, for anybody, who we all know, families who've had to deal with, with, with kids or family members who have drug addictions, or mental or mentally ill in some way. And it's just like, wears you out. Okay. Where we've seen this happen with families and people, we all know this swallows up people's lives. Yeah. And especially this. He had been. I think he'd been in drug rehab 17 times or something. This. This kid. And, Well, he wasn't a kid now. He was a man, a grown man. He's in the 30s. But I'm talking about going back to his teenage years. So it's just a tragic story to read the whole, you know, how they had, you know, they had, as I said, in and out of rehabs and it's just, it was exhausting to read what they had been through with him.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: With their son.

>> Chris Woodward: But, anyway, you know, we were talking about, Charlie Kirk earlier in the show with Frank Turek. and one of the things, there's actually a connection between Rob Reiner and Charlie Kirk. Kirk. Because back when Charlie was shot and killed, Rob Reiner went on social media like some people, many people in fact, and said how awful it was he felt really bad for Charlie's family, that kind of thing. many people said he actually, Reiner said of Charlie's, assassination. I unfortunately saw the video of it. It's beyond belief what happened to him. He also stated that what happened to Kirk should never happen to anybody, regardless of their political leanings. I've posted this on our Facebook page because many people are saying, you know, like you, I don't agree with Rob Reiner's politics, but that was a very classy thing for him to say. And it really shows that even though we may have our political differences. We're still human beings.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah, that was. And Rob Reiner was very gracious after Charlie Kirk's assassination, even though Rob Reiner's, ah, a far lefty. He wasn't far lefty in his politics, but he said, I believe in the teachings of Jesus and forgiveness. And, he was very gracious, after Charlie Kirk's assassination. all right, you're listening to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. Next story. Chris?

>> Chris Woodward: well, we're going to be following up on this later today on afn, so stay with our website and the radio side of things for some sound on this because we're trying to get some reaction.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accuses television manufacturers of spying on Texans

The Attorney General of Texas is suing the makers of different, televisions, because Ken Paxton says.

>> Tim Wildmon: Television.

>> Chris Woodward: I don't know about your specific television, but Ken Paxton, the, Attorney General of Texas, says they're spying on Texans and secretly recording what they watch in their homes through a technology called Automated Content Recognition, which is acr, if you spell it out. The five companies named in the lawsuits are big name companies. Sony, Samsung, lg. He sense, if I said that correctly, TCL Technology Group Corporation. A couple of these are Chinese companies.

>> Tim Wildmon: So, what are we talking about here? So the AG of Texas, Paxton, who's running for the Senate, by the way, on the Republican side, he is suing these television manufacturers that you mentioned. Because, Fred, what's going on here?

>> Fred Jackson: They, well, they have put some software in these televisions, Samsung and others put some software that basically records what you're interested in, the kinds of programs that you're interested in.

>> Tim Wildmon: You mean like what web browsers do so they can target you with ads?

>> Fred Jackson: That's right. That's it. Exactly. And Paxton says that's an infringement on your privacy.

>> Tim Wildmon: And they do what he's saying, he's accusing them of doing this without informing the, customer that when you buy this, this is going to happen.

>> Fred Jackson: That is correct. That is correct.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'll say this, I think we are going to need some kind of congressional action too on this, because everybody knows when you use products, when you, you know, you register a tv, let's say after you buy it, you know, for the warranty purposes, or you use an app or you use this thing or that thing, you always get the, Do you agree with our, rules and regulations? Nobody. Nope. First of all, nobody has time to read all that and nobody understands it anyway. It's a lot of legalese. Everyone clicks. I agree. All right. And I think Congress is going to have to, pass some sort of law that requires these companies to spell out in simplified form what they do behind the scenes, because you're not. People can't understand this stuff. And that's going to go for these televisions as well. They should not be allowed to spy on people at. Good grief. It's. This is bizarre. No, you know, they take.

>> Tim Wildmon: Are they watching you through the tv?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I. I'm not. I wouldn't put that past them, but they are. They are recording what you watch and then sending that information. Information to companies that now send you ads and I guess have files on the American people. And I'm just telling you, I don't go for it. Tip. This needs to stop.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. Well, you Italians known to be able to do something about it?

>> Ed Vitagliano: that's right. We Italian. Along with the polo. Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Sleep with the fishes. I don't know, man. We got any inside jokes on our own people?

>> Fred Jackson: No, we're straight up.

>> Tim Wildmon: British Isles.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Our own people.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I'm talking about the people from the British Isles. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of.

>> Frank Turek: The American Family association or American Family Radio.

Tim, Ed and Fred talk with Chris on top news headlines of the day. Also, Dr. Frank Turek joins the program to discuss what the Bible says about conspiracy theories.