Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Ed Vitagliano
>> Ed Vitagliano: Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Ed Vitagliano. And, ah, welcome back, folks, to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week, joined in studio by Fred Jackson and Wesley Wildmon. And now we welcome Steve Paisley Jordal, with the Hawaiian shirt on.
>> Steve Jordahl: There you go. Aloha, everyone.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, you're kind of drifting away from the Paisley a little bit yesterday with flamingos.
>> Steve Jordahl: I'll tell you why. It's because I'm getting a little tired of the three or four pages of shirts I have. I need to go shopping.
>> Ed Vitagliano: There you go.
>> Steve Jordahl: Get some.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Get some.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah, I'm going to be doing that, Heather. Just, expect, some Amazon packages in the near future. All right?
Ronnie Winters says if you voted for Donald Trump, you're not welcome
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right. Well, so what's, what's on your list of important news stories for us to cover, Ed?
>> Steve Jordahl: This. I don't know how this raises to the level of most important, but I did want to get the bad news out of the way first for you. Is that okay?
>> Ed Vitagliano: The bad news out of the way? I, I find that hard to believe. Well, we're going to go the rest of the show with only good news, but go ahead.
>> Steve Jordahl: No, the, this is personal to you because I know what a fan you are of the band Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I know that you, you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I tripped on that in the hallway one time when the kids were little.
>> Steve Jordahl: But, well, you're, you're gonna, you're all of a sudden. Unless there's something we don't know about how you vote. Ronnie Winters, the lead singer of your favorite band, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, says you're not welcome at his concerts anymore. Cut 16.
>> Ronnie Winter: Hi, I'm Ronnie Winter. I sing for the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and I actually follow what Jesus says. If you're a Christian and you're watching this and you voted for Donald Trump, shame on you. You are not allowed to come to my shows. I don't want you there. Don't come to my shows. It's awesome that you love Face Down. It's not for you. It's not your song. Okay? It is not your song. If you voted for Donald Trump, do not come to my shows or ever not just like these four years. Don't come to my shows because you're going to hear a lot of woke propaganda and you're going to hear, like, the actual words of Jesus. You're going to see a lot of acceptance from all, areas, of life and races. And, you're just going to see a lot of like, harmony. Okay, that's not what you're about. Okay. Don't come. Refunds are available forever. Don't come. Goodbye.
>> Steve Jordahl: Sorry, Ed.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, well, look, you know, he's not invited to my shows either, okay. When I sing in public, he's not invited.
>> Steve Jordahl: you might want to say he's required to come. That would be kind of the equivalent.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: My response would be, no problem, pal. Yeah, yeah, no problem.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Look, okay, so let me just start off by saying if he is. What's his name again?
>> Steve Jordahl: His name is Ronnie Winter.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Ronnie.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I have an insult, okay, for this gentleman, because I'm.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm gonna say something nice, very Christ like.
>> Wesley Wildmon: No, he sounds like, you've. You've been, you think back to middle school when two girls were fighting and said, don't come to my party.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, yes.
>> Wesley Wildmon: You're not. You're not welcome.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He sounds a little petty.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. Oh, that's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, a little Richard petty.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. And. And this guy's got adult of some age, right? I mean, what's this guy?
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah, he's in his 30s.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I'm looking at him. Yeah, in his 30 foot.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, look, okay, I've never heard of the band. Not a band. Okay?
>> Steve Jordahl: It's. It's alternative.
>> Wesley Wildmon: it's rocks. Rock, man.
>> Steve Jordahl: Grunge rock.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah, grunge rock.
>> Steve Jordahl: I actually listen to one of the songs, and as a band, they're not bad.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, listen, so first of all, he said he was a Christian, so if he really loves Jesus, we're brothers, okay? he's a. He's a Christian brother, and he clearly sees things in a different way. But I grew up with two sisters. They were wrong all the time. And so just because you're related, quote unquote, doesn't mean someone can't be wrong. And if he thinks the. I mean, I. He didn't say what he specifically was talking about, but I think I know some of the things. If he thinks that. That the words of Jesus support alternative lifestyles and things, he's just wrong. and listen, I gotta say, I, do enjoy social media to some extent, but I don't get. I just don't get the tendency. It's not just young people. I don't want to just put this on young people, but the tendency of people to use social media, they get in their car and park it somewhere and tell the world what they think and how they feel, and sometimes they scream and sometimes they cry.
Ed: I firmly believe that the vast majority of the world doesn't care
And I just. I don't get that.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: you know, I'm on afr. I hope our listeners are interested in what we talk about, but I. I firmly believe that, the vast majority of the world doesn't care what I think. And it seems to imply when they do this that, that people care what your rant week is all about. Well, and I want young person random.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Young person random. I want to go a little further than you did.
>> Steve Jordahl: This is hijacking way more time than intended.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I'll stop after this then, because we do have, plenty of other stuff to get to. I'm going to go further than Ed and go on the record. And I would say that he's wrong. And the reason he's wrong is because he's. If he says he's a Christian. Anybody that believes the gospel as it's. As it's interpreted in scripture all through church history and as it's originally written, knows that we want to share that gospel with everybody 100%. So it wouldn't matter what they believe about politics or any views. And so for him to cut people off and say not to come is the. Is the opposite of what the welcoming message of the good news. And so if I am, as a Trump supporter, such so bad off that I, That I. That he has disdain for my views to the point where he doesn't want to be around me, that's the opposite of what he needs to be trying to convert me.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, that's a good point. To the truth. The truth is over here and you're over yonder. Yeah. Ah, he needs to try to bring you to the truth. That's a very good point.
>> Steve Jordahl: Red jumpsuit apparatus opening at an Episcopal church near you.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes. Well played. Our next.
The Florida Panthers won the Stanley cup last night over the Edmonton Oilers
>> Ed Vitagliano: By the way, before we get to further news, Fred, we dropped the ball, we forgot at the top of the program to mention that the Stanley Cup. Back to hockey, folks. The Stanley cup was won by the.
>> Steve Jordahl: You want to go to lunch?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes. Popcorn break.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Brent Crey, muted my microphone for a moment. The Florida Panthers won the Stanley cup last night over the Edmonton Oilers. And, that's all I really want to say about that is disappointing all the way around. Although the former Boston Bruin captain, Brad Marchand, who plays for Florida now, was traded mid season. Yeah, he won a second cup. I was happy.
>> Steve Jordahl: Did he get the Smythe Con?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, he did not get the concert.
>> Fred Jackson: There's a hockey fan.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Hey, he's trying. That's, that's. That's good. All right. Anyway, I forgot to mention that. And when there's a championship and somebody wins it, we do try to mention it.
Ed Fordo interviewed Oklahoma Senator James Lankford on Israel and Iran
All right, next.
>> Steve Jordahl: All right. I just got off the phone, with, Oklahoma Senator James Lankford. I was interviewing him on a different topic that you can read [email protected] starting tomorrow. But I did give him a chance to opine on some current events, and he chose Israel and Iran, obviously, being in the Senate. And one of the things, I asked him was would he support President Trump if President Trump decided to use an American bomber and American pilots and, sent a bomb, these bunker busters, into this,
>> Ed Vitagliano: Fordo.
>> Steve Jordahl: Fordo. And, this was his response. Cut 17.
>> James Lankford: The challenge that we have now is Iran NOW has documented 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium. A terrorist regime that has a nuclear weapon is a game changer for the entire world. And so we've got to figure out how to be able to prevent that from happening. What Israel is doing now is taking strikes on them to make sure that they cannot launch missiles at Israel and they cannot come and attack. And they're trying to be able to take out their scientists and key military leaders to slow down the process, but at the end of it, their centrifuges are still there. The highly enriched uranium is there. The president has the authority to be able to protect American lives. Just dropping a bomb on top of Fordeaux, doesn't stop the nuclear enrichment, doesn't take away that nuclear, material that's still there. It's still just buried in the mountain.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I'm just going to say I. I know this is probably at this point, kind of politically unpopular, but I think the president has to do it. Fred, I'll come to you first, then Wesley and then Steve. We'll get everybody's opinion just as briefly as possible. I think that unless the. There is regime change in Iran, I. I don't think you can trust the mullahs to agree to, stop the process of developing it. I think they'll lie because they have ideological reasons for getting nukes. And I think as much as the president has said, I don't want to get us into more wars, he has to do this. We're the only ones who can do it, at least the only ones who will do it. If other countries have bunker busters, I think they got. I think they got to do it. So let's go around the table and see what you all think, and feel free to say whatever you want.
>> Fred Jackson: I just, think that Iran has made Threats against Israel and the United States. For years, they want to wipe us off the face of the earth.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: For years, both the Israeli leadership and the US Leadership has said, m. We need to do something about this. And I think what, you know, and I talked a little bit about this yesterday. What happened on October, In October of 2023, Israel made the decision. Enough talking.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: You know, Israel's, you know, we're willing to talk to Hamas about this, we're willing to talk to Hezbollah about this. We'll keep an eye on these terrorist groups. And then October of 2023 occurred, and we saw more than 1200 Israeli men, women and children wiped out in a unmerciful way. Israel decided, that's enough.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: We're going into Gaza and once and for all, we're going to put Hamas out of business. That's. That's the only way to do with terrorism.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: Terrorists are not reasonable people.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: sometimes we approach these problems as if, you know, they think the way the Westerners think. You know, we'll sit down around negotiation table and we'll come to some kind of agreement. That's not what these people are about. They have a religious fervor to kill anybody who disagrees with them.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Think about 9 11. Look what they did there. They're serious folks. When they say, we want to wipe you off the face, they are serious.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And if they'd had nukes, then they would have used them.
>> Fred Jackson: They would have used them. So I don't think I agree with you, Ed. The time for talking is over. The United States has got to be serious about its threat to ensure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. If that takes removing their facilities, wiping out their facilities, then let's do it. Simple as that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I would just say just one quick thing before I forget it. I'm like your dad. Thought comes to my mind, and I'll forget it. Here's for the Iranian people. This is the time for regime change. Because if Iran gets a nuke and they detonated inside our country, we will respond with overwhelming force, and a lot of innocent Iranians will die in a nuclear exchange.
>> Fred Jackson: I agree.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And they have to understand that that's the choice that they're facing. Go ahead.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And also, too, for them, their religion teaches, to die. What? Think about the, 9, 11. They flew the planes in and they killed themselves, but they killed others as well. If they had a nuclear bomb, they would. There's no fear for them. If we say, well, we got one bigger, they don't care they are to kill as many people as possible.
>> Ed Vitagliano: As many infidels.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Infidels as possible. So that's one reason. Number two, the Mississippi side of me says that bombing bad guys is a good thing.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: So let's keep it simple. So I don't really have a lot of pushback. and I'm not very good at thinking about, well, what if this happened? What if, you know what, Bombing bad guys is a good thing. And I'm gonna end there.
>> Steve Jordahl: Alright, Steve, this may be an imprecise, analogy here, but, if my wife gets into a fight with somebody online, I might sit back and do nothing until they get personal. They start attacking her character. I am, I'm jumping in and I'm defending her. Israel has been, like we've said, opposing getting bombed for decades. and this October 17th thing in the war with Hamas and now with Iran jumping in, it's personal.
Israel started a war with Iran, that's fine, don't drag us in
As, the president, we could watch this thing kind of go forever. I don't know that we have the capacity with our Moabs, by the way, the bunker busters. The Moab is the mother of all bombs. that's what they term it. I don't know that that has the capacity to, like the nuclear weapons in World War II, to shock Iran into sense to say, okay, we're not going to win this, we better stop and settle. But, President Trump has to come to their defense.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. All right, so we're unanimous here. I'm sure some of our listeners may disagree. I know there's a lot of talk about, hey, I don't want, if Israel wants. Israel started a war with Iran, that's fine, don't drag us into it. But I think it goes beyond just what Israel prefers. This is Israel's survival and it's ours because Iran's threats have been against the little Satan and the great Satan.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And if they get, if they have nine nuclear weapons, which is apparently what they're on the verge of getting, you can expect one in a, in a suitcase delivered to Miami.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right. And if you think that they, they have any reason not to do that, you're kidding yourself.
>> Steve Jordahl: So ironic because I think they're getting a lot of help from the real Satan.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, no, that's absolutely, absolutely. So, all right, let's move on.
Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz got into a spat about Iran
>> Steve Jordahl: All right. one person who is, not on the fence about, about this is Tucker Carlson. And he, might not be on the fence about this, but he has fallen off of some fence. Tucker is Not the Tucker you remember from, Fox News. It, it seems, I don't know what, why or what he's thinking, but he was on with Ted, Cruz. Had Ted Cruz on his show, and, they got into a little spat about, Iran and how to deal with it. Let's listen to cut 13.
>> Tucker Carlson: How many people live in Iran, by the way?
>> Steve Jordahl: I don't know the population at all? No, I don't know the population.
>> Tucker Carlson: You don't know the population of the country you seek to topple?
>> Steve Jordahl: How many people living around 92 million. Okay, yeah.
>> Tucker Carlson: how could you not know that?
>> Steve Jordahl: I, I don't sit around memorizing population tables.
>> Tucker Carlson: Well, it's kind of relevant because you're calling for the overthrow of the government.
>> Steve Jordahl: Why is it relevant whether it's 90 million or 80 million or 100 million?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Why?
>> Tucker Carlson: Because if you don't know anything about the country.
>> Steve Jordahl: I didn't say I don't know anything about.
>> Tucker Carlson: Okay. What's the ethnic mix of Iran?
>> Steve Jordahl: They are Persians and predominantly Shia.
>> Tucker Carlson: Okay, you don't know anything about Iran, so.
>> Steve Jordahl: Okay.
>> Steve Jordahl: I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on a ranch.
>> Tucker Carlson: You're a senator who's calling about the country.
>> Steve Jordahl: No, you don't know anything about the country. You're the one who claims they're not trying to murder Donald Trump.
>> Tucker Carlson: You know, you're the one saying that.
>> Steve Jordahl: Who can't think. Yeah. Yada, yada, yada. Ah, man.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Listen, you played this for us in our story meeting this morning. I was frankly shocked. Now I've been, you know, hearing bits and pieces about Tucker Carlson and just kind of in the back background of my life, I used to listen to some of his podcasts after he first left Fox. They were really interesting. and he would go places where no one else would really go. But just in the kind of background I've been just hearing comments or reading comments.
>> Wesley Wildmon: 18 month, two year slide.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. And I thought, and just in the background, what's, what's going on with Tucker? And then when I listened to that Wesley, I thought, first of all, that's incredibly rude.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's arrogant. it's petty. I mean, obviously Tucker Carlson for a.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Friendly, that was supposed to be a friendly. Because they have m. Way more in common than they disagree. Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So what's your take on that? And have you listened at all to Tucker Carlson? in terms of where he's changed his mind?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Not recently. I have not listened to him recently, but haven't heard that the second time. It only gets Worse, the more you listen to it, because it's everything that you. It's everything that you described it at and with for a friendly, discussion, which is what that should have been. That's not. If Ted Cruz goes on cnn, you expect that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: But for that type of interview, you gotta wonder then if Turco Carlson. My first reaction is, are you just wanting to get clicks here? Are you wanting to cause, a disturbance in a way that everybody talks about that versus the topic at hand? Because nothing, very little in that short clip right there told me that the rest of the discussion was productive at all, if that's how you're going to respond. He asked a question, and he answered the question with, no, I don't know. And then he, And then he sarcastic to say, well, you just don't know. He just answered that. He just. So he answered a question. You give him. If it's a discussion, back and forth. The guy answered the question. He says, no. I mean, like, I don't understand why he had to be so provocative and so. And, try to embarrass him over something that's. To his, to, Ted Cruz's point is secondary to the, to the issues at hand.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, Ted Cruz, obviously.
>> Wesley Wildmon: and lastly, to tell Ted Cruz that he doesn't know anything about Iran is just. That tells you all you need to know about the interview. His heart behind what he was trying to accomplish.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Fred, it seems to me that what Ted Cruz is trying to get across is it doesn't matter if I know, you know, what their, what their main, ethnicity, production. You know, we used to all have to learn about countries. And here are the, their, you know, here's their gross domestic product, and here's the, the things that they, will sell to other countries and in trade. All those kind of things. Yeah, that's important if you're studying, you know, you have a social studies class in the sixth grade. Ted Cruz is concerned about who's running the country.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And what they intend to do with a nuclear weapon. That's got nothing to do with the percentage of Persians who are in, Iran. And yet Tucker tried to make it about that.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
Steve: Tucker Carlson's questions were irrelevant to the main topic
I was waiting for the next question from Tucker Carlson to be, how many times a week do Iranians eat rice?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. I don't.
>> Fred Jackson: You know, it was, it was. The only person that came out of that interview bad is Tucker Carlson.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I don't know what's going on with him.
>> Fred Jackson: His questions were irrelevant to the main topic yes, we have an evil regime in Iran. Should we be doing something solid to finally put an end to the evil that they display?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and it doesn't help your, ah, I know that Tucker has got. Has gotten, far more isolationist, over the last several years, which is fine. our country has gone through those kinds of stages. But you're not helping your point by acting petty and arrogant when you're interviewing a U.S. senator. And to Wesley's point, that's the way CNN would handle it. Or probably msnbc or that's the way you'd get treat on the View. Well, Tucker, do you want to be the Whoopi Goldberg? You want people to think of you that way?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Anyway, yeah, Steve, that's one of those things where I go, I'm glad I heard that, but thanks a lot for upsetting me.
>> Steve Jordahl: I think that. I think that you, do need to know something about the country you're going to topple. I think the required things you need to know are things that Senator Cruz knows. What is toppling it going to do to the world economy, to trade. If you're taking oil off of the market, that has ramifications. You need to know that stuff. Cruz, I'm sure, has thought through that. What percentage is Persian? If there's 80 million or 100 million people. No, that's just rude. That's just pointless.
Sam Altman reportedly in contest with Mark Zuckerberg for control of AI
All right, let's end here. I, spent some time working in the Silicon Valley in the tech industry at the height of the tech bubble. I never saw anything like this. This is the battle for AI. Sam Altman, who is, the, creator of OpenAI ChatGPT, is, is in kind of a contest with Mark Zuckerberg at Meta as to who's going to control AI. It's being reported that, and, Altman has confirmed this. Zuckerberg is offering $100 million signing bonuses to Altman's top engineers if they'll come over and work for him. None of them have yet taken the bait. I find that hard to believe because even at the heyday of $100 million is a lot of money, even in the Silicon Valleys, but can you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Believe that $100 million, when you first m. mentioned the story in our story meeting, earlier today, I thought it was a joke or, or a misprint or, or something of that nature, because a hundred million dollars for most people is just an unfathomable amount of money.
>> Steve Jordahl: That's just a sign.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's just a signing bonus to come and work. But I will say this. It does show, Sam Altman. Right?
>> Steve Jordahl: You said.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You said. It does show Altman's belief that. That this is the wave of the future, and it may be worth investing in top mines if you want to control that particular field. By the way, did you say that you used to work in Silicon Valley?
>> Steve Jordahl: I did.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Did you really?
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I thought that was kind of. I thought it was a joke.
>> Steve Jordahl: No, no. what did you do? I worked. I was a tech support engineer for, For an antivirus company. I was. I was doing pastor.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay.
>> Steve Jordahl: at a church.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Steve Jordahl: And this was my income.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I did not know that about you. All right, folks, that's. Guess what. That's all the time we have. by the way, if you want to apply here at AFA, you will not get $100 billion signing bonus. anyway, more great programming directly ahead on American Family Radio. Lord willing, we will see you tomorrow.
