Traditional values of marriage and family unit face increasing scrutiny and reinterpretation

>> Ed Vitagliano: In today's society, the traditional values of marriage and the family unit face increasing scrutiny and reinterpretation. Join us as a courageous group of speakers and leaders rise up to defend these foundational institutions from a biblical perspective. For more information and to reserve your spot, visit us at scs. Edu National Conference. The steadfast national conference on Christian apologetics and evangelism, where faith meets reason, culture, and community.

Welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network

Welcome to Today's Issues, offering a Christian.

>> Tim Wildmon: Response to the issues of the day. Here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of.

>> Ed Vitagliano: The American Family Association.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Today's Issues is the name of this here show, and we thank you for joining us on this Tuesday, September 9, 2025. It's already, man. Christmas is not too far away. We're sailing through 2025.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It's almost pumpkin spice time.

>> Tim Wildmon: Ed Battagliano. Good morning, Brother Ed.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning. I just thought I'd bring us all down.

>> Tim Wildmon: I want to talk about that. I want to bring that up. Wesley Wildmon, Good morning. You have anything to say about pumpkin spice, Wesley?

>> Wesley Wildmon: No, but I. I wonder why they call it pumpkin cake when it doesn't taste like pumpkin, but it tastes really good.

>> Tim Wildmon: Because the world's all a charade, Wesley. Good answer. It's all at the side, but I.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Like it, so I'm not complaining. I mean, pumpkin cake's really good, but it. Yeah, it doesn't taste like a pumpkin, at all.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, Fred Jackson, maybe you have answers for life like Wesley posing here, right? Pumpkin, Are you a pumpkin spice? I don't hear Fred in my earphones.

>> Fred Jackson: Am M I on now?

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, can you hear me in the back? So, Fred. So tell me, Fred, are you a pumpkin spice?

>> Fred Jackson: I've already had my first. First one for the season.

>> Tim Wildmon: First pumpkin or first spice?

>> Fred Jackson: Pumpkin spice.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Are you a pumpkin spice fan?

>> Fred Jackson: I love pumpkin spice.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Tim, just reach over there and get his wallet and take his man card. Take his man right now.

>> Tim Wildmon: You mean pumpkin spice everywhere? Like can candles and coffee.

>> Fred Jackson: No, I'm not talking. I'm talking drink.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, no, it's drink.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, it's, it's everywhere. It's in drinks. I'm surprised they don't have pumpkin spice Fruit Loops. It's just everything.

>> Tim Wildmon: It's a mystery. but we can. We can do that later. We need to have an expert on about that.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I will say this.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Christians in Nigeria and Sudan are Rolling their eyes at Christians in America complaining about pumpkin spice. You can always go spiritual. Always throw the guilt around.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wesley's. Wesley's looking at something.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I win. I'm looking at it. I couldn't help myself. The ingredients and pumpkin. Ah, cake has no pumpkin in it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No, it's got cinnamon and what?

>> Tim Wildmon: Guys, give me the top three ingredients in a pumpkin. Spice.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon. That's where you get. Yeah, that's what I like about it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Wesley Wildmon: You, got sea salt. Have your eggs, oil. And now at the very bottom, it says 15 ounces of pumpkin puree.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Puree.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, that's. That's pumpkin right there. That's pumpkin squashed all up till it's liquid.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay, well, 50. Okay, well, then you get three drops of that in there.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I'll tell you what. Cinnamon is good for you. So, folks, you're listening. Is it really good?

Ed: Very good for you, but probably not with all the sugar

>> Wesley Wildmon: Very good for.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Very good for you, but probably not with all the sugar that comes with.

>> Tim Wildmon: A cake, but all right. thank you, Ed, for bringing that subject up.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Triggering us.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's what I'm here for.

American Family Radio welcomes you to this hour's show

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. So, thank you for joining us, folks. As I said, Wesley, Ed, Fred, and Tim, who thank you for listening to American Family Radio. Dr. Alex McFarland will, be with us at the bottom of the hour. We look forwarding forward to visiting with brother Doctor. was that from a movie?

>> Ed Vitagliano: No, it's, Put the lime in the coconut.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, doctor, Doctor, give me the news I got a bad case of loving you M. Doctor, my eyes and call me anyway. Fred, I knew what you were talking.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm a big distraction today.

>> Tim Wildmon: I'm going to separate this show by two seconds of silence. Thousand one, thousand two. Fred, what's the first story?

Qatar condemns Israeli attack on Hamas headquarters in Doha

>> Fred Jackson: The Israeli Air force when downtown Doha this morning. Doha is the capital city of Qatar, or Qatar. And according to the Israelis, they took out two Hamas leaders. the Qatar leadership is not happy that the Israeli Air Force did that. Qatar condemned what it referred to as a cowardly Israeli attack on Hamas's political headquarters in Doha. Foreign Ministry spokesman called it a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms, end quote. And I would speculate that the Israelis say, we don't care what you think. You guys in Qatar have been harboring these Hamas terrorist leaders. They've been living there in luxury. And, Israel is serious when it wants. When it says it's going to take out the Hamas leadership wherever they are. And, Tim, you were saying just before we went on the air, probably connected to that attack on that bus in Israel, a couple of days or just yesterday, I guess it was. And, they showed, you know, if you're a Hamas leader, you've got to be a little bit nervous because Israel is going to find you and they will take you out, find you.

>> Ed Vitagliano: They already know where you are. listen, this is Israel sending and continuing to send a strong message to other countries around the Middle East. If you are going to harbor Hamas or Hezbollah and they attack us, don't complain when we come after them, wherever they are. And so this is the same thing we said about Hamas, after the October 7th attack. We, we said, Hamas complains that, Israel is pounding Gaza City and places around the Gaza Strip. Then give up, surrender. And if you don't surrender, this is what's going. This kind of pain is going to continue to come. And guess what? Your citizens are going to be amongst those who are suffering. So if you care about your citizens, give up. And if you're cutter, then, and you don't want your city, your main, city to be hit, stop harboring people who are butchers and your problems go away too.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, you know, Cotter has kind of a disputed reputation. they fly their airplanes into airports here in the United States. they were one of the places that President Trump visited there back a couple of months ago. But they're also known to give huge amounts of money to universities here in the United States in exchange for allowing students from those countries to come into our universities. And, and some people have blamed those students for the degree of anti Semitism that we see on our campuses. so we do business with them, but they're not, they don't have a problem in harboring terrorist leaders, etc. Etc. You know, the other thing that happened today, and you can read both of these [email protected] afn.net Israel, made it very clear this morning, that, they're going into Gaza City and they're taking down all the high rise buildings. Gaza City is a big city. Taking them down because they say Hamas leadership is housed in those buildings. They're telling the people to get out before this occurs, get out of town. But we're going to go in and we're going to take these buildings down because they believe that'll be a major step towards extinguishing Hamas's influence there.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I would, I want to let Wesley jump in here or Tim, you know, I, I don't. My guess would be that Hamas will not let people leave these buildings. They've done this in the past. No, you can't leave because we like to be able to say, look what Israel did, they killed these civilians. And this is why I say Hamas does not care about the people that it's in charge of as a political leadership.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, a couple of things here. CNN is reporting and maybe some other news agencies that President Trump and the White House were notified prior to the Israeli strike in Qatar because Qatar is a sovereign country. So Israel, that's a little dicey, you know, when you, fire a weapon to kill people that are housed inside a sovereign country. but I think Israel's reached their limit obviously of tolerance. And after the bus, attack the other day, that made it even more, likely, I guess, that Israel would, attack the, find the Hamas leaders wherever they are and take them out. And, and they will continue to do that. I don't know what they're going to do in God. You said they're bombing in Gaza again.

>> Fred Jackson: So they're going to take out the end of the high rise buildings because they say Hamas is housing there.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. All right, so, Israel's defending itself and taking, you know, they're finding their enemies and taking them out. All right, next story. Fred.

New poll shows majority of Democrats now favors Socialism versus Capitalism

>> Fred Jackson: Also on afn.net afn net today we have the results of a Gallup poll. The headline is New poll shows majority of Democrats now favors Socialism versus Capitalism. probably a poll that's going to make Senator Bernie Sanders very happy. Cut, number one.

>> Tim Wildmon: Apropos that question, I find it hard.

>> Ed Vitagliano: To understand how the major Democratic leaders in New York State are not supporting the Democratic candidate.

>> Tim Wildmon: One might think.

>> Wesley Wildmon: One might think that.

>> Ed Vitagliano: If a candidate starting at 2% in.

>> Wesley Wildmon: The polls gets 50,000 volunteers, creates enormous excitement, gets young people involved in the.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Political process, gets non traditional voters to.

>> Tim Wildmon: Vote, Democratic leaders will be jumping up and down.

>> Wesley Wildmon: This is our guy.

>> Tim Wildmon: So we got another fight on our hands.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And that is the future of the Democratic Party.

>> Tim Wildmon: We heard that yesterday. Yes, but you just wanted to play it again.

>> Fred Jackson: Play it again because he is, he's a big fan. He's out there campaigning with Zoran Mamdani, in New York. But it goes to this poll which the poll says, According to Gallup, 66% of the Democrats who were polled say they have a positive view of socialism.

>> Tim Wildmon: You meant my national poll.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, that doesn't surprise me. Does that surprise you?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Not a.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, good. Let's look in.

>> Wesley Wildmon: It doesn't surprise me of the Democratic Party because that's right. If that's registered Democrats, 66% have a favorable view of socialism. You know that a lot of that comes, is going to come from your your, your public education, your college campus education, those types classes. Because a lot of that doesn't have a reality to the discussion. and they're proud most likely. When we heard a couple weeks ago, we heard from M, we played a testimony or a story of a lady who said that that that's not real. When, when they were presented to other countries that are living out socialism right now, they would say well that's not real socialism. And so they keep defending themselves. And so, you know, I'm, that's why I'm not, I'm not completely opposed to In fact I was considering doing an action alert for Zaron in favor of him winning.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, I'm dying, Mom.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Donnie, I say that tongue in cheek.

>> Tim Wildmon: Because that you want him to win.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I want him to win because a tongue in cheek. But in all seriousness, if he does win, you're going to get the 66% of the Democrats are going to get exactly what they're asking for. And then there, therefore there will be an example not just in another country, but we'll have one right here in New York City. Is it New York City, right?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Of New York City. Yes.

>> Wesley Wildmon: It'll be that'll be a real life on the ground in the United States. Example of what socialism looks like.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, sometimes we need to define as best we can, socialism versus capitalism. But the socialism that. What's his last name again he's proposing is beyond anything I'm aware of going on in the United States right now. He's talking about taking over basically. Socialism is when the government takes over almost every part of, of society.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Right. That's the end goal.

>> Tim Wildmon: And, and so free, so capitalism, or free enterprise is pushed to the side in the name of the great. They would say in the name of the greater good, such as health care for everyone, groceries for everyone, food for everyone. I don't know. Cheap housing, transit for everyone. Cheap housing. Ah, what they would call free housing or free free housing. Cheap housing. So is a, it's, it's basically you. A utopian ideology that, that somebody like this guy here, this one from Air, he wants to implement now socialism still has to be paid for some way somehow or the quality of life deteriorates for everyone. Right, all right. And it may not be instantaneous, but you will see it over time. That's why my dad always said this. He said, capitalism undergirded with Christian principles is the best economic system in the history of the world.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes, proven.

>> Tim Wildmon: And that's what America was founded on. A, capitalism, the free enterprise system, the competition, the idea that you can have an idea, put it into, put, make it work and you're rewarded financially. is, is. And others are rewarded financially. Jobs are provided, families are. That's why we, we've always, in the United States had the largest middle income. We have a mid, excuse me, middle, what do you call it?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Middle class.

>> Tim Wildmon: Middle class. Most of the world doesn't have a middle class. They either have the ultra rich or had the very poor. But the, the free enterprise system, the American that we've always known, allows for a middle class and the chance for advancement. And you're talking about, with socialism comes heavy taxation and heavy regulation. It, it sounds good in theory for a lot of people. It even sounds Christian in many ways. Take care of the poor, provide for, the needy. All those things that. I'm not mocking, I'm saying those are important things. But the question is, how do you do that? What's the best for the most?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. So think of it, think of it this way. And so going to have some shades of meaning here in terms of defining, if you go to Karl Marx and Communism, slash, true socialism, that is the state or the government owns the means of production and distribution. Okay? So there is no Walmart, there's a government store.

Stephen McDowell: Gallup poll defines socialism among young people as appealing

Okay. There's a government factory that produces all the products. Okay? Then you have socialism where the state controls the means of production and distribution but doesn't own it. So you have companies, but then the state tells them how to run their business and what prices you can charge. Okay? Then you have the kind of socialism that we're staring at right now, which is people saying, we want the government to tax middle class and companies to provide the services that we want provided for. And that's the kind of socialism you see in Europe, heavy taxation. But you do have private business and private enterprise that run their own businesses. There may m be some regulations from the government, but they have to kick over a lot in taxation. And that's, I think what, when this poll, Gallup poll defines socialism, especially among young people, that's what they're talking about. They're saying, listen, I can't make it. Somebody's going to have to help Me out. The government's going to have to take money from m these people over here that have more than enough and create safety net for everybody else. Let me just say just two other quick things, though. And then you have capitalism unrestrained by Christianity, which can be and has been, in my opinion, abusive towards people being exploited, exploit, exploitative. You have kids, you know, working rather than going to school. But what made our country great is capitalism that was restrained by Christian principles. And I think that's the best of all worlds because you have capitalism as the engine that drives prosperity. And like you said, Tim, the middle class is very important. But we also understand that it's not just about me, it's about us. We have to take care of our neighbors.

>> Tim Wildmon: I'll give you a prime example example of what socialism looks like. Joe Biden, our former president. Auto pin Joe, auto pin Joe. I don't know.

>> Wesley Wildmon: There you go.

>> Tim Wildmon: Because he didn't know what, he didn't know what was going on. He, he. And this is why socialism can be appealing because it sounds good to a lot of people. It's very enticing. What I mean by that. Well, I tell you what let's do. Let's just cancel a trillion dollars of student debt that is owned by people all over America.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Now you got my attention.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, yeah, that's what I'm saying. A lot of people who have student.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Loans, I don't, but I get the idea.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. So let's just, we'll just cancel, their loans and, get their vote. yes, so that I can get the votes of people, people who, have their loans canceled and maybe their families, and we'll just transfer that trillion dollars to the American taxpayer. Right. Okay. Now, we don't talk about that much, but we just say, hey, I'm Joe Biden, I'm a Democrat. I care about people. I don't want them have been burdened by loans. So what do I do? I cancel them. Well, he didn't tell you that that loan must be paid for by somebody. So what does he do? He takes it from the individual who owes the loan, who signed up for the borrow the money. He just says, no, I'm going to give that to the American taxpayer to pay. That's what socialism. That's socialism right there. So it's appealing to a lot of people, but, in the end, somebody has to pay for socialism.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Y' all think that the 66%. Do you think the majority of those understand the Democrats of the Democrats understand the reality of what we're talking about.

>> Tim Wildmon: No, no, I think, I don't think so. They only, they only hear the, the enticing part of it. Like I said.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Let me make a plug here on that. Because while we did a phenomenal job, y' all too did a phenomenal job. Who needs Dave Ramsey when y' all just did what y' all did? Fantastic.

>> Tim Wildmon: That was good.

>> Wesley Wildmon: It was really good.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It was stellar.

>> Wesley Wildmon: In all seriousness, it was as good as it was. We have, an entire section on this on Activate, by Stephen McDowell.

>> Ed Vitagliano: He covers this.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And so if you go to activate.afa.net we have our own training curriculum on this with the workbook included. And Stephen McDowell covers this and more. And he also covers, he, It covers social capitalism, from a biblical worldview.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, that's. That is excellent. Because there are Christian principles that support capitalism and the free enterprise system, but there are biblical principles that support caring for the poor and the needy and looking after those who are less fortunate. There's that too. So there is both. But, but statism, or true socialism slash communism is not Christian.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No, it's not always atheistic.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Because the state has to be God.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's, that's, that's the problem.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I've, I've likened it, and written a couple articles on this for our magazine several years ago. There's the Romans 13 view of biblical government, and then there's the Revelation 13 view of government that becomes God in a culture or in, you know, the world or whatever. And in between that are all sorts of different shades. And Americans, and especially American Christians had better be paying attention because sometimes that pendulum can swing all the way over to the Revelation 13 type of government and that becomes very antagonistic towards Christianity.

>> Fred Jackson: Give you an example, and I've talked about this before, is socialized medicine, which is what Obamacare would be. It never reached that stage or hasn't at least yet. But in Canada, socialized medicine, what happens is the medical, offerings get big and big and big and big to the point where, oh, we're getting out of money here. We're out of money. So we have to start cutting services.

Medically assisted suicide is now one of the leading causes of Death in Canada

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Fred Jackson: And guess who suffers the most? It's your over 65s.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.

>> Fred Jackson: You know, we can't do that hip replacement this year. Maybe next year. Just hold on.

>> Fred Jackson: all those things. And also right now, I'm not sure we talked about it on the air, but, suicide is now one of the leading causes of Death in Canada, Medically assisted suicide.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Because these people, and it's not just the elderly in that case, sometimes it's people with, chronic pain, chronic pain or fatal diseases or depression. They're encouraged, they're saying, listen, you're a drain, a financial drain on your family.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Maybe you ought to think about this.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yep. All right. You're listening to Today's Issues. Wesley, where can people go and get that, that, study on, communism, socialism versus capitalism?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Go to afa.net I'm sorry. Activate. That's activate.aca.net we have a whole course on capitalism versus socialism by Stephen McDowell.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. And it's excellent.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yep.

Over 38,000 babies saved through Ministry of Preborn this year alone

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. We're going to take a short, short timeout right here. Dr. Alex McFarland will be with us after this short break. Stay with us.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Finally, some Good news. Over 38,000 babies saved and more than 4,000 commitments to Christ through the Ministry of PreBorn this year alone. Here's Dan Steiner, president of PreBorn.

>> Alex McFarland: If we can get a mom into.

>> Ed Vitagliano: One of our clinics and show her.

>> Alex McFarland: Her baby and she has that close.

>> Ed Vitagliano: encounter of the best kind in.

>> Alex McFarland: Her womb, she will choose life.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Preborn's networks of clinics provide hope, love, free ultrasounds and the gospel in action across America. This is Ed Vitagliano. Will you join PreBorn and AFR as we rescue 70,000 babies lives this year? For $28, you can sponsor an ultrasound and help save a baby's life. To donate, dial 250 and say the keyword baby. That's £250 baby. Or donate securely at preborn.com 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 m and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of today's Issues.

American Family Radio wants your listener testimonies for its fall share a thon

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody to Today's Issues on American Family radio. Today's Tuesday, September 9th. Thank you for listening to AFR. Wesley, you have an announcement?

>> Wesley Wildmon: I, do. In addition to. We can give the address to mail in any type of pumpkin spice, but.

>> Tim Wildmon: And yes, we need, we need pumpkin spice from around.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I wanted pumpkin cake, but I don't know. I wouldn't want that mailed in. If you want to drop it off, that's fine. In addition to that, we also have our fall share a thon coming up and we'd like to hear from you for our listener testimonies. the listener testimonies when you call in and leave those, we're able to play those and share with our, with our audience how we are impacting individuals across this country. And you can call in and give your testimony. Please keep it to one minute, two minutes max. One minute, maybe two minutes max. That way we can be able to play that over the radio. During our share a thon, you can call in at, 876-8893. The storyline to call in is 877-876-8893. And we would like to hear how Jesus Christ has impacted you through the work and the mission and the content of American Family Radio. So thank you for doing that.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Because during our share a thon, folks know if they listen, they hear people call in from around the country and leave messages on how AFR has impacted their lives. And we pre record those now so that we can play them during our October share a thon. So, if you we. All you need to do is say, you know, like this, for example. Hello, this is Tim from Tupelo. this is me as, if I were calling, this is Tim from Tupelo, Mississippi. And I just want to say whatever I was listening to this show or this song or I heard this person say this and that, that ministered to me, whatever, like that. So that's all you need to do. You don't need to leave your credit card or Social Security number.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, none of that.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, your, your rap sheet, nothing. We don't care about that.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And the number to call is 877-876-8893.

American Family Radio welcomes Dr. Alex McFarland on today's show

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, you're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Joining us now is our colleague and good friend Dr. Alex McFarland, host of Exploring the word. Each, weekday afternoon on American Family radio heard from 3 to 4 o' clock Central Time and with, he co hosts that with brother Bert Harper. Very popular show here on afr. Ah, Alex, good morning to you.

>> Alex McFarland: Good morning, everybody.

>> Tim Wildmon: Thanks for how's the weather there in North Carolina today?

>> Alex McFarland: It is beautiful. I'm in Greensboro, very near where my family has been Pleasant Garden for a long time. And I was, you know, the testimonies. I just emailed Brent Creely and Jonathan Coker one yesterday because I was in Little Rock, Arkansas over the weekend and met just lots and lots of people that love afr. And I was going to say I really like it when testimonies, they'll say, hi, this is, you know, this is Alex from North Carolina. And my Favorite show is exploring the word. Yeah, I like that kind.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I understand the glory. You like the glory. I understand we're all human and, you know, we want the attention. so. I'm just kidding. People don't. Don't email me. Say I was mean to Alex.

A man stabbed a young woman to death on a Charlotte-area train

Let's go on a more serious note here, and a somber note. There is a story that's got some national attention. Alex out of North Carolina, particularly in Charlotte. Brad, do you want to lay this out for us and then get Alex to talk about it?

>> Fred Jackson: Back On August, 22nd, there was a young lady who had come to this country from Ukraine, hoping to escape, the violence in that country brought on by the war with Russia. She was on a. A train, a kind of a commuter train, heading, I guess, into the Charlotte area. And, she was sitting in a seat. There was a guy behind her. And this guy gets up. We now know his name, and he proceeds to stab her. Now, the story I mentioned, when the murder took place, August 22, he stabbed her to death. He did.

>> Tim Wildmon: With a pocket knife.

>> Fred Jackson: That's right. And quite frankly, the mainstream media across this country really didn't talk about it very much, not until the video was released of this happening. There were video cameras on that particular mobile, that car, and it caught this whole tragic incident on tape. Then some media came out, and they've been like Fox News. And we've been talking about it here at American Family Radio. But the reaction, Alex, to it has been varied. Especially people like the Democrat mayor of Charlotte. Oh, you know, this guy is really the victim. The guy who carried out this horrible thing. He's the victim because he's been in and out of, you know, court system 14 times over the last 10 years. And then you have other media saying it's terrible that the media is playing this. and we think the media people that are doing this, they're a bunch of racist.

>> Tim Wildmon: I tell you what, that's hard to watch. Of course it doesn't. What the public is seeing is not the whole murder, and I understand that, but it's when this guy sitting right behind this girl, and she is tiny, and this guy. What's his name? To Carlos.

>> Alex McFarland: To Carlos Brown Jr. Yeah.

Fred Augustine: Charlotte built light rail that goes from inner city to upscale suburb

>> Tim Wildmon: So, first of all, tell us about this public train she's on.

>> Alex McFarland: Well, you know, it's interesting. when I was president of Southern Evangelical Seminary, Angie and I lived in Charlotte for almost six years when they, pushed through and, built this light rail. And it's a one way train that goes back and forth, inexplicably, from the inner city out to a very upscale suburb called Pineville. And I, well remember the fight that went on for years. It was like nobody really seemed to want it and there was really not a lot of need for it. But somehow another, you know, some of the powers that be in Charlotte, wanted public transportation. Like Atlanta has the MARTA and New York City has the subway. you know, and I still to this day. And like I say, I lived there for almost six years, but Charlotte didn't need light rail. And you've got these two disparate. I mean the inner city is what inner cities are. and the upscale suburbs are, you know, large homes and nice cars and it's, it's sad. I mean it is so sad. I would never want to make light of this. I mean it's tragic. This 23 year old young woman had come from the Ukraine to seek a better life. She had told some people that she was going to make a better life for herself here in America. And she winds up getting stabbed by a felon that a magistrate Teresa Stokes had put back on the street.

>> Tim Wildmon: How many times had he been, Fred, what was the rap sheet?

>> Alex McFarland: 14 times.

>> Fred Jackson: 14.

>> Tim Wildmon: Arrested 14 times. And what were some of the crimes that he committed?

>> Fred Jackson: Some of them were assault, some of them were stealing, robbery.

>> Tim Wildmon: His mom called the police and said he's crazy, he's schizophrenic and he needs.

>> Wesley Wildmon: To be locked up.

>> Tim Wildmon: He needs to be locked up.

>> Alex McFarland: Yeah, but, yeah, and he was let walk. he had a six year prison sentence. And you know, he was released in 2020. a few months after getting released, he assaulted his sister. And so, you know, the word is, let's see the recidivism rate. I mean the revolving door of getting locked up but then being let out. And you know, I will say this all around the country, I've interviewed enough people that many voters want judges, these activist level judges that they release back to the street, known felons. some are saying that the most recent judge that lets these murderous people back out when they commit crimes or murder again, that the judges should be held as complicit like this Theresa Stokes.

>> Tim Wildmon: But it's very Teresa Stokes. that's the judge in Charlotte, the last judge that told this guy he could go, as long as he promised to come back for his court date.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, he had signed something to promise.

>> Tim Wildmon: He signed something Piece of paper said, I promise to be back, so go free. And then he goes out and slashes this young lady to death on the train.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Alex, let me just ask you this. We say on this show frequently more than one thing can be true at the same time. Okay? Absolutely. In our country, we need more prisons. We need, criminals to be kept in those prisons if they commit crimes. And we need better. This is my opinion. I'm not speaking on behalf of afa. We need more and better drug treatment centers, places to try to get the homeless back into society, mental health help. Okay, all of that is true. But the first job of government is to protect the citizens.

>> Alex McFarland: Amen.

>> Tim Wildmon: Ah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And keep them safe. So while all those things may be lacking and we may need to build up that infrastructure and those services for people, you can't let the Carlos Brown back on the street while we're waiting, because you're letting potentially dangerous criminals back on the street to continue to wreak havoc. And the government is therefore failing to do at least one of its most important tasks.

>> Alex McFarland: Exactly. Exactly. I mean, you know, everyone from Augustine to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Has said that the role of a just government is to look after the welfare and the rights of the taxpaying citizens. And this idea that, the victim is to blame and the perpetrator, is to be coddled and should never face the consequences of their actions, it's just, It's unjust. It's wrong and must stop.

Mayor Lyles says suspect had mental health issues before committing attack

>> Tim Wildmon: The mayor of Charlotte. What's her name?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Mayor Lyles.

>> Tim Wildmon: So. So do you have her quotes, Fred?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, she basically described, him. He said. She noted that the suspect, who is homeless and has a litany of previous offenses, has struggled with mental health issues and seemed to have suffered a crisis when he carried out this crime. She went on to say, the mayor. The mayor. she went on to say, sometime before he swung a knife at her as she sat with her phone, Lyles released a new statement thanking media partners and community members who have chosen not to repost or share the footage out of respect for the victim's family.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't believe that.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Not only that, she also said that we should treat someone like him and with the same compassion we would treat somebody that has cancer to make the murderer is what. Is also what she said.

>> Tim Wildmon: This is just typical bleeding hard liberal nonsense, okay? And as Ed said earlier, I don't want my mayor if I'm in Charlotte. I don't need my mayor being a psychologist or.

>> Alex McFarland: Exactly.

>> Tim Wildmon: Or some kind of therapist.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's a good point.

>> Tim Wildmon: I need the mayor to enforce the laws. The laws on the books, to make my city safer. Or she should be saying, this is why we need to lock these people up who are repeat offenders, because it makes citizens of Charlotte unsafe. That's my job as mayor. That's what I'm going to push for. Not, you know, poor fella, he had schizophrenia. And, and he committed. He could slash this. I don't know. if you've seen it, you have a. By the way, just an aside. If you go on, somewhere, public transit or something like that, your head needs to be on a swivel.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: This young lady, from the Ukraine, as I said, she's. She was tiny, person. That's what she looks like in the, In the video. She's sitting there playing on her phone with this, decarlos. Brown is right behind her. And I would have. I would have moved if I were her, but she's. He's right behind her and she's not even paying attention. And he. Then he brings out this pocket knife and just starts bludgeoning her and slashing her in the throat. I hate to be so graphic. And then he's walking down the aisle, the bus or the transit, and you just dripping blood. It's like something out of a horror movie.

I want to ask you about race. And this is a sensitive issue

And the other thing is here we mentioned. I want to. I want. I want to ask you about this. And this is a sensitive issue because once you talk about race, you know, people go into their camps. Okay? So, So I want to say that I believe what the Bible says, that every man is a sinner needing to be saved by Jesus Christ. And it doesn't matter what your background is, what color skin you got, what ethnicity you are, what. Whatever like that.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Our favorite football team.

>> Tim Wildmon: Favorite football team or, your wealth or non. Wealth. It doesn't matter. We're all, as they say, even before the cross. Okay, so that being said. And And I don't believe. I believe people's, actions are not inherently because of their. Maybe that's not the right word. They. People don't act based on their skin color. People act based on their life experiences and their environment and how they're raised or not raised. And that influences their behavior in addition.

>> Wesley Wildmon: To their sinful nature.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. That we all are born with.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: That is true. So that being said, I don't believe people, when you. When you talk about what I'm about to talk about, it's it's looking at the reality and the causes, not because of skin color. So now, that being said, am I clear?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Clear.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. I'm a clear. Okay.

52% of murders are committed by young black males, Alec says

So I want to say that, you have, young black males are committing violent crimes in this country way out of proportion to their numbers.

>> Wesley Wildmon: 52% of murders were made up by 12% of the population.

>> Tim Wildmon: No less than that because the African American population is about 12 to 13%.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: males are about 6 to 7%.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Young black male, that I forgot. That's right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Young black males, we would be down to about 1 or 2% of the population. By young black, I'm talking about like 14 to 30. Okay, so that, that demographic, it's not the young black ladies.

>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right.

>> Tim Wildmon: It's not young, it's not, it's not the older, black folks, white, male or female. It's that demographic that don't have fathers in their home.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: and fatherlessness is chronic in the African American community. You're talking about 75, 80% of the babies are born out of wedlock. So you have these males that are naturally aggressive. like white males are naturally aggressive. Males as a species are naturally aggressive. So that would distinguish them from the females.

>> Wesley Wildmon: That's a good point.

>> Tim Wildmon: So you have all these, you have all these young black males who are raised with no daddies in the home. No, hardly any guidance. A lot of them times. So they join gangs, they get involved in things they shouldn't be. They wouldn't do that if they had a stable home life. amen. M. The vast majority of them wouldn't, but they do for the reasons I've mentioned. So I think that that dynamic, unless that changes, I don't know how you're going to stop seeing, young black males on the news every night. because of their involvement in crime, particularly violent crime. so how do you. Who can address that issue, Alec? Because when white people talk about it, they go, you're racist. Well, no, I'm not racist. I'm just analyzing the facts of the matter.

>> Alex McFarland: That's right.

>> Tim Wildmon: but can, can this come from inside the African American community itself? Because unless things changes, you're going to. 20 years from now, you're going to have the same, you're going to have the same problem. You're going to have the same population in jail and in prisons and the state penitentiaries and such. Go ahead, comment on that, if you will.

>> Alex McFarland: Well, and again, you know, let me say, and I speak for myself and I know all of the people around the microphone. The Lord knows that we are not racist. We're all sinners. We need Jesus. People are people. But look, we've had several things, decades of the breakdown of the black family that really was subsidized by LBJ beginning in the late 60s.

>> Tim Wildmon: how do you mean subsidized? What do you mean?

>> Alex McFarland: Well, the Great Society program, that really the creation of the welfare state and really more and more subsidies for babies born out of wedlock. And I really do believe that it was a concerted effort on the part of liberal utopian Democrats to capture the black vote. And one of the ways that they would do that is through entitlement programs. I mean LBJ was on record saying that through welfare and entitlement programs they would essentially buy the black vote for decades. And I realize what I'm saying is very volatile. But then you've got like the University of Chicago and other colleges, that University of Chicago has a course called the Problem with Whiteness. And so the woke DEI stranglehold that is on academia, it really creates a reverse racism against white people. You've got rap culture where rather than be a moral, self restrained person, there's really the glorification of violence. So all of these things coalesce and let me say the lack of fathers and not all. I know many godly two parent black families, I know many ungodly single parent white families. But I'm just saying kids need a mother and a father. Kids need a moral foundation that is reinforced throughout the trajectory of life. Kids need education that is not woke indoctrination. Kids need to be told that they're accountable to God and that murder is a sin. And so when the law is broken, we need responsible elected officials and judges that lock people up that are criminals. We're a culture that needs to find our way back to God and truth.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. You know also the statistics show that poverty, because I know the inner cities of America as it were, the where a large segment of that population is African American, is economically ah, challenged to say the least. But poverty leads to No, no, okay, the, the the having babies out of wedlock, especially multiple children leads to poverty.

>> Alex McFarland: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Because the mothers can't, can finish their education or they can't get a good job because of the situation. Two or three children that they have, there's nobody to help them. There's no dad there in a stable home environment. So it repeats the Cycle repeats itself over and over again. So you have people, living in poverty for generations because of the circumstances I've just mentioned.

Why are repeat criminals out on the streets after committing crimes

Anyway, the other thing is here with. We've talked, we talked about this, is that George Soros and people who believe in the so called social justice, part they're going to tell you, correct me if I'm wrong, guys, they're going to tell you that because of past injustices to black Americans, they need to be given a break when it comes to paying for, punishment for crimes committed in today's world. Is that, Was that. Would that be an accurate statement?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, that's what the mayor of Charlotte was. Okay, so flying to.

>> Tim Wildmon: So if you wonder why do these guys get out on the street time and time and time again after committing crimes? The social justice crowd will tell you because, they, they have had a, unfair, life. And so they need to be. They don't need to go to jail.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Until you asked the. Carlos, his mom, and she says he needs to be there.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, because he had schizophrenia, sure. Yeah. What she would say. And he was a violent person. He threatened his sister. Anyway, all those things combined to the, to the problems that we see today. but it's just like, listen, take. You can take that, the, the ethnicity of the skin color out of it, dudes, look at the cohort stats and you go, why are repeat criminals out on the streets again and again and again committing the same crimes? Why can't they be locked up and have to pay, have to be and protect society from these violent criminals? If we would have done this in this case with this guy being arrested 14 times, this young lady from the Ukraine would still be alive today. Right.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And the question I would ask for, vowels, no vowels, is the mayor, who was Lyles.

>> Tim Wildmon: Mayor Lyles of Charlotte.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Vi Lyles.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Villa. What was the, what was the judge's name? Stokes. Teresa Stokes. Okay, so let's ask Stokes what? No, now, we all know the answer to this, but rhetorically, what would be your number of arrests before you say, now this is the one we got to stop here on this.

>> Alex McFarland: That's a good question.

>> Wesley Wildmon: You know, is it 14? Is it 18?

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I was told yesterday about somebody who was on our staff here who worked in law enforcement, not as a judge, but, that a lot of cities and municipalities don't want to fork out the money to pay to house prisoners.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: So that's on. You know, this is one of those. You can't have it both ways.

>> Ed Vitagliano: In other words, it's better to make them promise to show up for their court date and rather than us take care of them. Another prisoner to take care of until his trial.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, the city jails, the county jails, the state pen, they don't want anybody else right there. They're full. they're over. They're overwhelmed. They're overloaded as it is. So they just, they're maxed out. So they just say, hey, you don't have to come to this prison because, because, we don't have any room for.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Listen, if you want quality of life to increase Right. This country, you're going to have to build more prisons.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You're going to have to have programs for drug addiction and to help people who are mentally ill. Until we can get all socialism control. Well, no, you're just going to have to pay for that. and the problem is you got to do that instead of having another aircraft carrier.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And then you beget weaker vis a vis China. But that's the, that's what happens. The consequence of moral decay.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And if you're built. And if you're a female or elderly, you need to consider practicing your Second Amendment and carrying a firearm.

>> Ed Vitagliano: There you go. At least where they let you.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: This young lady in that. That got butchered on that, train in Charlotte. She was not even paying attention.

>> Wesley Wildmon: No, she wouldn't had a chance. But in other cases.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right. We'll be back in a minute. Stay with us. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Tim, Ed and Wesley talk with Fred on top news headlines of the day including a discussion on Capitalism vs. Socialism.