AFA offers biblical insight on issues that others aren't willing to touch
>> 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 Acctivate and sign up today at Acctivate.AFA.net welcome to today's Issues.
>> Fred Jackson: Join us for the next hour as
>> Ed Vitagliano: we offer a Christian response to the issues of the day.
>> Fred Jackson: Here's your host, Ed Vitagliano.
>> Ed Vitagliano: and welcome, to Today's Issues. Ed Battagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon. Today I am joined in the studio by Fred Jackson. Good morning, Fred.
>> Fred Jackson: Good day to you.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Wesley Wildmon and good morning.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And Krish Woodward. Good morning, Krish.
>> Chris Woodward: Hello. Thank you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It is, it is Wednesday, Wednesday, August 19th. And folks, you have one week before my birthday is here. My birthday is one week from today. All I'm asking year round. All I'm asking for are your prayers. That's all I'm asking for. No, I'm just, I'm just kidding. no, I, I do want your prayers, so I'm just teasing. I obviously do not expect, I don't expect my friends and co workers here to, to do anything special for my bir. Why should today be any different?
>> Wesley Wildmon: And you left out the year there, but 2026. But that's, but if you're still writing 20, 25 on your checks, you know, at this point, just keep doing it at this point. You know, if you, you know, it takes a couple weeks, maybe even a month and you're still right the year of the previous year.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know what, I gotta be honest. I've written one check this year.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And that was for my first visit from our air conditioning folks.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And I thought they, you know, everybody work, you know, do work at your house and they'd just take your debit card. Yeah, they have a little device. Well, they didn't. So they said we take check or cash.
>> Fred Jackson: And I said, well, I don't have the cash.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So I wrote a check.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And then you got the year, right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay, good.
>> Ed Vitagliano: But it's, it's weird, kind of weird remembering how to write out the amount in, in words, you know, what do I do? Yeah, what is this for?
>> Wesley Wildmon: But don't give them a blank check and tell them to fill it out for you, though. Don't do that.
>> Chris Woodward: No, a new thing is Venmo. I had a guy come and do work.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't think that's that new in our heart.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, a newer thing, because. And I was expecting to just pay this guy in cash and he was like, just Venmo.
>> Fred Jackson: Me?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, I was like, I was not expecting to hear that from you, sir.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You're, you're getting up into the, the older bracket of people.
>> Chris Woodward: I told him to get off my lawn.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Younger people are all just do this, use Apple pay. Just do that. And, and I just go. I'm. I don't think I trust it. And that's just an old person talking.
Former Democrat Byron Donalds faces former Democrat David Jolly in Florida governor's race
So, anyway, it is, it is Wednesday, and, we're gonna hit the news. We got, we had our story meeting this morning.
>> Wesley Wildmon: We hit it hard.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, we're hit it hard because there's some, There is stuff going on.
>> Chris Woodward: There sure is. let's begin with Florida, where they had a primary yesterday for all kinds of, seats. And when it comes to the gubernatorial race or the governor's race, we have former Democrat turned Republican Byron Donalds squaring off this November with a former Republican turned Democrat, David Jolly, in a race for governor. The winner of the November race will replace Ron DeSantis, a Republican governor who's been there two terms and unfortunately his term limited. Here is Byron Donalds, talking to media and praising, or talking up Ron DeSantis to the media after his win.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Clip 1 As a Republican Party, we have set the standard here in Florida. Ron DeSantis has done a great job as governor, and it's about keeping, the winds that he's brought to our state, going forward, but also building
>> Fred Jackson: for our future, making sure that we
>> Ed Vitagliano: can balance the growth with our agricultural lands and our conservation areas because Florida is the best state in America and we're not going to stop anytime soon. Well, listen, Fred, there's a lot of high hopes for, Byron Donalds if he wins, becomes governor of Florida. He's only 47 years old. He, could become a leading figure in the, in the Republican Party. Yep, you got conservative credentials. He, is a black conservative. That is probably a. I mean, that's, he's not unique in that way in the Republican Party. But if you're going to draw more from the black community to the Republican Party, it helps to have a conservative black voice, touting conservative ideas.
>> Fred Jackson: Exactly. And I think all Byron Donalds has to do is say, I'm going to continue on and do what Ron DeSantis has done.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: If he says that, he's going to have a good night on election night, that's where he is. I mean, when you follow up with a governor who has done as well as DeSantis has done that, you know, Florida is cooking. Yeah, it's, it's cooking. You know, you've got new, Yorkers that are streaming down the, the east coast to get away from Mamdani in NewSong York City, etc. Etc. DeSantis very sharp. Byron Donald's very sharp. I think he'll have a good night in November. It's kind of interesting Chris, mentioned the Democrat challenger. there is going to be David, Jolly, who was a Republican who turned Democrat. And he is going to try to convince in his speech he tried to say I'm pretty conservative too. I'm just going to read a little portion of what he had to say last night. he said he embraces capitalism and a lean government, but one that needs to do its part to fill the gaps such as education and housing. He calls himself, an old school Republican. So what he had to say last night is shaping up. What that campaign is going to be, is that I'm not one of these. Jolly's gonna say I'm not one of these DSA people.
>> Chris Woodward: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Although we are gonna talk about what happened last night with one DSA candidate, that's gonna run for US Senate. so Florida's gonna be really interesting to watch on election night. But you're going to have two people, Byron Donalds and David Jolley. You're gonna have two people that are going to economic policy, celebrate capitalism, et cetera, et cetera. so Jolly, I think is going to move further and further to the center and you know, with a few caveats in there to make him sound like a Democrat. But Byron Donalds I think is just going to say I'm going to continue on with what Ron DeSantis has been doing the last several years.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, Anne Wesley, Byron Donalds is going to also say Donald Trump. He's going to say Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. And in Florida, that is going to be. Those are two very popular names, to me, I would guess, as your dad says, if I were a betting man. This race is Byron Donald's to lose, but he's pretty politically savvy, I think, even though Jolly is trying to sound almost like a Republican. I, think those two names, Trump and Desantis, are pretty potent stuff in that state.
>> Wesley Wildmon: It is. And I'm a little more familiar with, Brian Donald's, Byron Donald's. The last couple, of days, knowing that this story was going to come up, did you realize it was new information for me? But he grew up in Brooklyn, NewSong York. And so I'm wondering how much of his experience with a very deep blue state in a really deep blue city, how much that has impacted his worldview.
>> Ed Vitagliano: because he was a Democrat, right? Yes, he was a Democrat. And you know, you get that sometimes Jon Fetterman, the senator from Pennsylvania, he's made noises, and sounds like it wouldn't take much to push him over the edge and either declare himself independent or maybe even become a Republican simply because of the whacked out ideas that he's trying to, you know, put out like a fire that's spreading in the Democratic Party. So that's a good point. Who knows whether his experiences up in
>> Wesley Wildmon: NewSong York has shaped his. Yeah, he also, seems to be, from what I'm reading, seems to be really good on education, children's kids education, public school education and wanting to make that a priority for him. And we've talked about this yesterday on the program, just how bad how far our education has in not all districts, not all schools, but overall the education is watered down and almost non existence and just pushing kids through in a lot of these big cities. And this is, and he seems to be making a big deal that that's a problem.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: You talk about Byron Donald. Byron, Donald, yeah, his wife works for one of the education watchdogs. So I would, I would be surprised if she didn't have some sort of education platform as a future first lady of Florida, should he be elected right, this November. Now it's, it's very important that everybody pay attention to Florida and Ohio this year, because if those states end up electing Democrats to be governor or for the Senate and stuff like that, that I think spells doom, for a J.D. vance or a Marco Rubio, should they decide to run for president in 2028, because their home states, which they would to get to the White House, have flipped politically. So these, these things are important. Even though you might live in Mississippi like we do or some other state, everybody should pay attention to and care about, the direction of states.
A Democratic socialist candidate is running for Senate in Florida next year
And I, I use that to segue into this, segment, for the show, a Democratic socialist candidate, by the Name of Angie Dixon is running for Senate in Florida next, I think. Yeah, yeah. Excuse me. Thank you. I had it, had it wrong on my sheet here. Angie Nixon is the Democratic Socialist candidate and, she is running in Florida here. So let's hear a little bit from the dsa. Angie Nixon to clip to.
>> Wesley Wildmon: People are demanding change.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They are tired of the billionaire and
>> Chris Woodward: corporations running this country. They are ready for hardworking everyday people
>> Ed Vitagliano: to get to decide what their economies and communities look like. Very, very.
>> Chris Woodward: She, she took a page out of the ELSaid playbook there. Or Bernie Sanders or.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, Fred, this, this. We're going to hear a lot of this kind of stuff and not just, not just this year, but going forward. This is going to be. And, and frankly, the reason why I think some of these DSA backed candidates when we're folks, we mean the Democratic Socialists of America, it's an organization that promotes candidates. The reason they're having some success is that there are a lot of people out there that that are feeling economically left behind. They are going to be susceptible to, this kind of messaging and other messages that the DSA candidates are rolling out.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I think a couple of things, as I think Krish was just pointing out, what happened in Florida last night with regards to this particular race for US Senate is pretty well a carbon copy of what happened in Michigan. the Democrat that was running against Angie Nixon was, well liked, was endorsed by the Democrat Party, and spent, he had $16 million in his coffers. Angie, Nixon had less than a million dollars, all right? But she still won. And she won, I think, because for the same reasons that Abdul EL Sayed won in Michigan. Tapping into mainly, young people. We've talked about this before. Abdul El Sayed, when he had his rallies up in Michigan, you saw a bunch of young people, university people, a lot of white females, who have bought into the socialist, way of, you know, that philosophy. it was really interesting. Alex Vindman, who was her opponent last night in that Democrat primary, they thought the party establishment thought he was a shoo in and.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He was the establishment candidate.
>> Fred Jackson: He was the establishment candidate.
Angie Nixon defeated Ashley Moody in Florida's Democratic primary
I think the only other thing to watch, I obviously didn't, look in on the Ashley Moody celebration on her side of things last night, but I think she's doing a happy dance this morning. Yeah, you're going to have Ashley Moody, who, was appointed by Ron DeSantis when Marco Rubio was appointed Secretary of State.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: They needed somebody to fill Marco Rubio's shoes, Ashley Moody was moving into that. Former attorney general, very popular in Florida.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And she's done a great job, up in Washington. So, she's going to be, completing that. That stay, Marco Rubio's day. So I think I would be totally shocked if Ashley Moody doesn't have a fairly easy walk in this because this,
>> Ed Vitagliano: the establishment, candidate for the Democrats, who. Nixon. Angie Nixon beat Alexander, Vindman, you mentioned he's a former army intelligence officer.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You have somebody who served in the military. That's always, a really good part of your credentials. If you're in a state like Florida or Texas, that's the kind of person that could have been a little bit
>> Fred Jackson: more trouble for a Republican like Ashley Moody and Nixon. I'll tell you, she's every bit the Abdul El Sayed playbook. DSA playbook. Does Florida really want that? No, she, does not like Israel. Accusing Israel of genocide. There's a fairly large Jewish population in Florida, especially in Cuban population. And Cuban. And Venezuela.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Doesn't like socialists.
>> Fred Jackson: I know. So I think she picked the wrong
>> Wesley Wildmon: state, but that's my opinion.
>> Fred Jackson: It's going to be interesting to see what the party does with her.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, that's the.
>> Fred Jackson: Do you want to start writing checks now for her campaign? because, remember, this was a Democrat primary. A Democrat primary is very different from a statewide election for a U.S. senator. So we'll keep an eye on this. but if I was a betting man. Yeah, I was a betting man. She's, got an uphill climb.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, Wesley, this is another case in which the Democratic Party establishment. This is. I'm looking at an article from the Guardian, that calls this an upset. This is an upset win for Angie Nixon over the establishment candidate. This is becoming a pattern inside the Democratic Party, I think, going forward. This. We talked about it, but more and more, we see evidence this is a real civil war. Civil war inside the Democratic Party. And who knows who's going to ultimately win?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. And, this is these types of stories, m. That lead me to believe that it's giving the Republicans a little more cushion. A little more cushion, because they have their own problems right now. They are not. Not a lot. But there are a few things that, as a Republican, when you voted for Trump, m. That you were expecting to get that you're not getting right now.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And that would otherwise be the top story for, Except for you're having several DSAs winning, and then now, the Democrats, like you said, have to, they have to decide pretty quickly how much they're going to go against them, versus Give them room. Because there is money in play here. I mean, because when for the, for the mass. For the mass of the Democrats that give to the Democratic Party, that money gets delegated out to DSAs unless they get involved and that. And that's where the Civil War becomes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, well, I think that's an excellent point. The Republicans do get some cushion here. I guess we'll wait and see, whether that dissipates. But going forward, the Republican Party, because after this election.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yep, Fred, we turned the corner.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We turned the corner and we're looking at the last two years of Donald Trump's administration. He can't run again. Then you start turning to, okay, well, who is going to succeed Donald Trump? What is the message going to be? What are the policies going to be? there's going to be a fight over how are we going to go back to wars. We're still in a war in Iran. you know, what are we going to do to, bring down the price of everything? Which is one of the messages that got Donald Trump elected in 2024. A lot of stuff going on here. And to Wesley's point, the victory of these radical DSA agents, may. Agents. I feel like they're agents, secret agents, it really does cloud the picture for the Democrats and give the Republicans some breathing room. What do they do with it?
>> Fred Jackson: Well, I think what the Democrats are trying to do right now, and if you watch Fox and some of these other programs, they invite Democrats on, and they're always asked the Democrats, you know, what about your DSA candidate? How can you support this guy? Is it a detriment to your party? And they tried to deflect right away. They, it's really interesting to watch. They go to their set of talking points right away. Yeah, they do not want to talk about, Abdul El Sayed. And they don't want to talk about, Ms. Nixon, Angie Nixon down there,
>> Ed Vitagliano: because these candidates are popular with young people.
>> Fred Jackson: Exactly.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The Democrats can't say, say anything that's going to drive those voters away.
>> Fred Jackson: Exactly. So they can't. And, you know, as was Haley Stevens in Michigan, she came right away. She was running against Abdul. I'm going to vote for him. I'm going to campaign for him. I'm sure Vitamin, if he hasn't said it already, will say, I'm going to help Nixon. Oh, yeah, it doesn't matter, because the Republicans are just going to point.
Fred Kaplan: The Republicans have some decisions to make on Iran ahead of midterm elections
And they don't have to exaggerate.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Republicans do not have to exaggerate how radical these people are. And the reality is these people, the DSA people, have found a home in the Democratic Party. there is a reason for that, because the Democratic Party has been moving in their direction.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: All right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: starting with the 2020 race.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: When they got Bernie Sanders to step aside for Joe Biden, I'm guessing promises were made to this side of the party.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. Now, for the Republicans, the Achilles heel continues to be Iran.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: they've got to decide. The president has to decide pretty soon what he's going to do to take that off the table. Because if. If we're still there and the Iranians are still putting out, mines and blowing ships up and they got the Houthis involved and, you know, their proxies that are involved, if all of that is still going on near election day, that's going to be a problem.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep.
>> Fred Jackson: And the prices of gas and groceries have got to start coming down and stay down. The American people have to see that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And I'm not sure there's enough time, frankly.
>> Chris Woodward: We're here.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I mentioned August 19th. We are less than three months away, two and a half months or whatever, from, from the midterms. I'm not sure there's enough time, even if we got out of Iran right now, for the voters minds to change.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And I got depressing viewpoints on this. Our cynical. I think if. I think if we were going to pull out, we would have already done it. I think, unfortunately, he's going to get this one wrong. Continue to get this one. He, meaning the President, Trump and his administration. I think they're going to continue to get this one wrong, unfortunately. But it goes back to if the DSAs weren't involved in the Democratic Party in winning.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Then I think. I think it would be a pretty big blow because of the war to the Republican Party. I think it'll be a little closer now, because of that. I think it kind of offset itself a little bit from a political standpoint.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Well.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And let me just say this one last thing, and you guys can, you know, tell me what you guys think as we move past the midterms. I was talking earlier about. The Republicans have some decisions to make. If you're going to. You're going to run for president. I think the war has been very, polling is clear. Very unpopular amongst even Trump supporters. Okay. You've got to Be careful, because President Trump is still hugely popular amongst Republicans and especially MAGA. Okay, so if you're a J.D. vance, Marco Rubio, whoever else is going to throw their hat in the ring, Fred, I'll toss it to you. First, you've got to decide what am I going to say about forever wars and do I criticize President Trump? Because then you risk the ire. Then you've got your kind of a mirror problem with the Democrats. You can't afford to anger your ground troops, which right now are MAGA voters. You can't alienate them, just like the Democratic Party establishment can alienate young voters who support socialists.
>> Fred Jackson: The ball is in President Trump's court. He has to make that decision on Iran. It will be a mistake if a decision is not made and we get ever closer to 28.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And I. I honestly believe that the President has to make a decision before Labor Day. Yeah.
President Trump needs to clean up mess before 2028 elections
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. that's a new deadline.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. Seriously, how many weeks? That's. Is that two weeks away?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, a couple of weeks away and a half. You have to come out and say, we are now satisfied that we have. They don't have a nuclear capability. We are satisfied. Our intelligence tells us we've. We've stung them badly on that front. we are going to continue, and I would suggest an announcement about some kind of international force. Saudis, Qataris, getting together with the United States to ensure that there is passage through the Strait of Hormuz, then you're going to see gas prices go down, gas prices go down. Groceries follow that. But that has to be done, I believe, in September, say Labor Day. But I think he has to make that decision, because if he doesn't and this continues to drag on, this becomes a real liability for 2028.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: If you leave it up to the candidate for 2028, whether it's the vice President or whether it's Marco Rubio or somebody else, you leave it up to them to decide. That is going to be a problem for people.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That puts them in a pickle.
>> Fred Jackson: It does. Yeah, it does. So he needs to clean up the mess. President Trump to make it clean for whoever going through it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Marco Rubio. Let's say it's Marco Rubio or J.D. vance, even if they start to say, well, we're going to stop with the forever wars, I'm just using it as a label. The media will question them. So do you disagree with what President Trump did and now you're having to dance? Yes. And, you know, like you said, you want that to be cleaned up before folks have to declare for 2028?
>> Fred Jackson: Yep.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, when we come back, Abraham Hamilton III will be on with us. And, he's the host of the Hamilton Corner. And we're going to take a short break. And when we come back, Abe will be in the house. Friend.
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>> Fred Jackson: Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and Earth. Psalm, 121, verse 2.
>> Ed Vitagliano: This is today's issues. Email your comments to commentsfrd. Past broadcast of today's issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of, today's issues.
American Family Radio welcomes back Abraham Hamilton III this morning
And welcome back. Ed Battagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon today, joined in studio by Fred Jackson and Wesley Wildmon and Krish, nephew of Bob Woodward.
>> Chris Woodward: Only. Only when it gets me somebody on the phone.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You're not really related.
>> Chris Woodward: No, I don't. I don't think I. Ah. Ironically, I do have a great uncle, I think, named Bob. But it's not that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Bob.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: It's not.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, not that. What about Bob?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And then Abraham Hamilton III is in studio with us, host of the Hamilton Corner, heard weekdays at 5:00pm Central Time on American Family Radio. Abe, this is second week in a row you're in studio with us.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yes. Good morning.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning. All right, so we have a couple of, kind of, I think important legal stories to Talk about. Otherwise we wouldn't bring them up. Not that we're, averse to talking about stuff that nobody cares about. We do that sometimes.
A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general suing social media giant Meta
so Chris, set up the first story, for us. We want to talk a little bit about Meta.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You better explain who that is and then talk about the case. I think you have some sound. And then we'll get Abe's take Bob wife.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. All right, so Meta is the company that owns Facebook and Instagram and other social media apps. Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and the CEO of Meta, which again, is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. the reason we're talking about this is because yesterday in Oakland, California, in a federal court, a case brought by a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general, they've taken Meta to court, claiming that Meta has contributed to the addiction of young people on social media. And to make matters worse, the attorneys general, including Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman of Kentucky, say that Meta, knew about the problem and didn't do anything about it. They may have actually taken steps to get kids more hooked on Facebook or Instagram. Social media in general. I do have some audio here of Russell Coleman, again a Republican, as part of this, coalition. Clip six.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We are going after, the addiction machine that is TikTok, the preferred platform for predators, that is Roblox or character AI. This, this is a narcissistic program that, that hurts our kids. Absolutely. We're going to go. We in law enforcement, we go to
>> Abraham Hamilton III: where the threats are and social media is the threat to our kids.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's the opioid fight of our generation.
>> Chris Woodward: A lot of people have also compared this to something that happened in the 90s where states took on big Tobacco and got a huge settlement. Penalties for this case could top over a trillion dollars. But Coleman, Attorney General Rob Bonta of California and others say they're really just trying to get Meta to change their policies.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, so, Abe, I don't. I have no idea, really. I haven't polled the panel, haven't. I have not talked to you about this. I personally have a problem with using addiction language for problems that stem from a lack of accountability or responsibility. I don't know how to put it. While I am sympathetic to the frustration of parents and the fear, the parents anxiety the parents may feel about social media swallowing up their kids. So start with the legal, angle here. If this is a wise or a wise approach, and then you're a pastor, you're a father, you know how many kids you have?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Six.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Kids, Six kids. Then tell us your pastoral parental view on these kind of issues.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, oh man, I have lots of thoughts and I think it should be pointed out that this lawsuit that's currently pending in Oakland follows a previous lawsuit earlier this year where, the young lady's acronyms are used as a plaintiff. KGM first M name is Kaylee. where she sued initially, TikTok, Snapchat, Face, I mean Meta and Google for YouTube, for personal injury, for mental distress, body dysmorphia and other things. And she won 4, $.2 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages from Meta and 1.8 million from YouTube. And there's another lawsuit she won? Yes. And she's 20 years old at the time of the lawsuit. But the, the allegations based on her own testimonies that she started using social media when she was six years old. Spending hours and hours and hours on social media. Use it using the features, using the filters to hide our insecurities and all of these things. While I am, as you mentioned, I'm a parent, I live in this world. We're fighting tech beasts like everybody else. But I'm very concerned, about what you said. Using litigation to address an accountability issue. I have a problem with a child that's 6 years old being allowed to be on social media for hours a day.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: And, and then when she's negatively affected by it, the parents end up getting a financial windfall and not dealing with the accountability aspects of it. I do believe that, you know, being in the free market as a corporation, you should employ responsibilities, you should do certain things. And I, I do believe that these companies are a bit different from like Roblox and other places, which, you know, my children are not allowed to use. Roblox.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Because having learned about the things that, that, that they do M. I'll go a little bit further. My children don't have cell phones, which I've said before that it's not a phone, it's a pocket rocket super computer.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You know, that most people even used to call. And so the thing I'm concerned about is this is indicative of our accountability less society to where when we have problems, we're looking for somebody external to blame and then want to be compensated for it instead of, you know, not letting our six year old scroll for hours on social media.
>> Wesley Wildmon: is it, am, I oversimplifying it when I say it feels to me like this is criminalizing the word addiction because you could slap this on Anything. because there. If there's a criminally criminal activity done on social media, if you send a death threat, there's. That's a. That's a. You're getting trouble for that. But how can you, I just don't see how you can criminalize someone who is willfully doing something that they know that their. Their actions in and of themselves is not criminal.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, well, it's civil, so it's not. It's not criminal. So money is only going to table.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You know, and so the main distinctions criminal issues deal with, if you're in violation, you lose your liberty, you know, freedom. Civil is money damages. And I do think there's space to require corporations to operate responsibly. If, you know, these things exist, you know, are you creating your product to, you know, to retain, attention and to do all of these different things? I do think fail Safes need to be put in place to, protect children. I agree with that. But you know what? The primary God ordained fail Safe is to protect children. Parents.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. M. Parents.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: I don't think corporations should be allowed to run wild and be irresponsible. Don't misconstrue what I'm saying. But where is the accountability for. For us as. And I'm concerned that this is rewarding it. And because of the KGM lawsuit, there are lawsuits all over the country right now over this. M. You know, to the. And. And. And Ag Box is saying, oh, we don't really want $1.4 trillion in damages.
There are thousands of lawsuits over addictive substances pending across the country
Well, probably end up around 200 billion. But this is one case.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: And there are thousands of cases pending all over the country.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Let me. Let m. Me put this in boomer terms, okay? So some of the baby boomers will understand exactly what you guys are saying about parents being the first stopgap. So when I was probably four years old, maybe my parents, my mom caught me chasing my sisters around. Well, one sister at that time, around the house with a hammer. Because I'd seen it on the Three Stooges. Okay? I'm dead serious. I'm running, you know, with a hammer to hit my m. Because I saw them hit each other with hammers. And. And, you know, nobody got hurt. My parents banned me from watching the Three Stooges. They said, well, this is negatively affecting our idiot son who's chasing his sister with a hammer. So they banned me from watching it. And because parents are responsible, what would have happened if they turned around and sued whoever. I forget who produced the Three Stooges and said it's your fault because m m, my son learned the wrong lesson.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's the concern, I have with this, is that where does this stop if you redefine or add to the simple definition of addiction? I mean, because I can't stop going back to the popcorn machine because that salt on there tastes really good. But I keep going back. But, like, at some point I, I can, I can stop, but I can't hide behind it.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You have a case against Orville Red
>> Wesley Wildmon: for that, for that kind of, that kind of money?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah. I mean, any. Like, in the KGM case, she sued because she said the social media companies and YouTube caused her personal injury, including body dysmorphia and thoughts of self harm. That's. That's what she argued and she was compensated for that. And that's what these Attorney Generals are doing. And again, don't misconstrue what I'm saying. I'm not. What if, if, you know, Meta and others have evidence that this isn't addictive, they need to put various things in, in place. But I, I think it's a little bit, disingenuous to say, well, we don't. We're not really here for money. We really want Meta to make changes.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Well, then why are you suing for money if you want them just to make changes?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Why not work with them to implement the changes that you think need to be made instead of saying, hey, by the way, we're going to have this, this coalition of 29 attorneys generals. Yeah. And we all want to get our, our forks into, a small pot of $200 billion.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, let's go.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Let's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We want to keep, Abe the whole time. Let's, throw this second story his way.
ABC suing communications commission on First Amendment grounds over broadcast license review
>> Chris Woodward: In other news, ABC has taken the rare step of suing communications commission on First Amendment grounds, saying the FCC's demand for early review of its broadcast licenses pose an existential threat to the network. Little bit of background here. The Trump administration doesn't like how it's been treated by abc. It doesn't like what some people on ABC are saying. And as a result of that, the fcc, which has people appointed by President Trump and other presidents, on the fcc, the FCC is saying, hey, we're going to consider pulling your broadcast license. So what do you think about ABC's claim?
>> Ed Vitagliano: So, so, Abe, how is this different? You know, we complained about the Biden administration weaponizing the federal government.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: We did more than complain. We sued them.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. So Are we wrong to. I can't believe I'm saying this. Are we wrong? I'll say. I don't know what everyone else thinks. Am I wrong to say I'm signed with ABC on this one?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Well, this is where you have to distinguish, public relations from the actual court of the investigation, because Disney is attempting to say this is a First Amendment issue. But if you actually look into what the FCC is looking into, they are acquiring Disney concerning their DEI policies that they've been operating within over a year. They're not doing anything concerning the First Amendment. It has any. Nothing to do from the FCC side. Nothing to do with content regulation.
>> Chris Woodward: Oh, is that right?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: That's exactly right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: That's why it's like, Disney has lawyers that are very smart and they know that they can win the PR campaign by saying that this is nothing more than a First Amendment challenge, or this is a veiled effort to crush us because of viewpoint discrimination, things of that nature. while they represent kind of absurd things like saying the View is a news program, a hard news program, really. but the query. And I'm not, you know, I, I'm a constitutionalist. I'm not a big government, you know, I'm suspicious of government action generally. That's my disposition. And I maintain that suspicion now. But I, I think it's disingenuous for Disney to say that what, what, what the FCC is attempting is to cause them to change the content of their broadcast.
The FCC is investigating allegations that Disney has been violating internal policies
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, so what is the core of the investigation? Slash challenge.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yes, the core of the investigation is because federal law under the Trump administration made changes concerning DEI policies. And for the previous year, there were allegations that Disney has been violating that in terms of their inner workings and how they're operating internally as a corporation. And the FCC is seeking to review that before they renew their licenses.
>> Fred Jackson: Okay.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Now, again, there still could be some untoward things going on, but it's a little bit of bait and switch in terms of what's happening in the public discourse. Because Disney, I think shrewdly so, is trying to say, ah, they just don't like what we say. The Trump administration just doesn't like us. They don't like what we say. This has nothing to do with anything else. When the FCC is like, you've completely mischaracterized what we're doing here. We're saying you guys have been violating federal law in terms of your internal DEI operations in violations of federal law.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, so let me just ask one, one additional thing, and then we'll let you go. And this is why we have you on to help us work through these legal issues. So when you say the dei are ah, you talking about the policies in terms of hiring or ah, and or slapping a muzzle on, on people who work at ABC and want to be forced to say X, Y or Z?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: The latter. Yes, absolutely right, the latter. Those who don't want to be compelled to convey certain messages because the bosses are saying that we have to satisfy this various quota and all these other kind of things. That's what the FCC is querying. Now you could still make some challenges and questions on that front, but it's disingenuous to say that the, the, the query that the FCC is involved in is specifically concerning the First Amendment freedoms. That's not what's on the table at all.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's good. That is good to know. That is helpful information.
A lot of meta lawsuits are driven by plaintiffs attorneys, Abe says
Abe, before we let you go, anything you want to let your listeners know in advance, stuff we're gonna be covering.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: What? Not necessarily. I'm gonna dig in a little bit more on this, these meta lawsuits because there was another case in NewSong Mexico where a 576 million dollar verdict was was rendered.
>> Ed Vitagliano: These are huge numbers, man.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: These are huge numbers. And, and a little behind the scenes information. I hate to say this, but this is true. A lot of this is driven by plaintiffs attorneys.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Looking for big wins like in the, the KGM case, Snapchat and TikTok settled out of court. People don't talk about that.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: So the 4.8, $4.2 million jury award, and the $1.8 million jury award, are in addition to what was already settled for out of court with Snapchat and TikTok. And so that kind of thing has led the floodgates to be open to now. You have plaintiffs attorneys that kind of sense chum in the water and they're trying to get their portion of these billion dollar corporations.
Abe Hard: I don't think there's any legal liability here
>> Chris Woodward: I have a quick question. so in addition to this trial that just kicked off yesterday in Oakland, in the near future, there is a film coming out called the Social Reckoning.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Uh-huh.
>> Chris Woodward: which follows Facebook engineer Frances Hogan as she teams up with a Wallnua Street Journal reporter to leak internal documents, that aimed to show senior leadership ignored platform harms to teen mental health and fueled political violence. So at a time this is playing out in public court, the court of public opinion is going to get the meta is bad, movie from Hollywood does that.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: I'm sure it's all coincidental, Krish.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: Does that run the risk of influencing the judge who is an Obama appointee by the way?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: To act as if judges are not human beings and not subject to societal pressures is to ignore the reality of the human condition. Those things will have an impact. How much of an impact remains to be seen. And it is true that judges are supposed to be objective and not swayed by external pressures. But it would be a bit naive to suggest there's not somebody out there that would willing to say yes, these evil big corporations, including those are like these social media corporations that's hooking all of our children on this addictive social media which gives a convenient out.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: From parents unfortunately to say I probably should do something different than allow my child to sit six hours a day scrolling with the infinite scroll, not dismissing responsibility. You have evidence that you know this is addictive. You need to make adjustments, you need to make internal controls. But I, I think a worse communication in my estimation is that it's allowing an expansion of the unfettered lack of accountability that's rife in our society.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay, I know, I don't want. I know we need to wrap this up. but I, I still have the marketing. I went to business school. The whole idea is to try to get people's attention. So I don't understand how we, how there can be any legal. But apparently there are. But I just don't think there should be. I don't think you should punish and I think it should be on the parents saying that particular. Let's use one, Instagram that as an example that one is more addicted than these. Therefore this one's excluded in this one. The parents should be navigating through that obviously individually. I've got, I'm with you. There's none. My kids are 10 and under so that's not an option. but you get the idea I'm having a hard time legally seeing that this is being a thing because advertising, it's a whole.
>> Ed Vitagliano: What's the difference between this is an
>> Abraham Hamilton III: advertising or it's like advertising just get you to use a product. They're arguing now since they're using the product.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You get you're causing people to be addicted to your product. And that's, that's the loaded term they're using. Addicted to. To the product. And, and there's, there's some indications that some of these companies were aware of some of these things that were happening.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Either did not. They were not forthcoming about them. They did not explain them properly. And all of that is legitimate worth being challenging and questioning. But I still think we're missing a huge component. You know, if you're going to have a negligence case, there's a concept called contributory negligence that would minimize the type of damage recovery you can get. Because if I see you for being negligent, but you can show, yeah, but I was negligent too. That's going to reduce the scope of what I would recover in the event that the negligence combined end up harming me. You know what I'm saying?
>> Fred Jackson: Okay.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Personal responsibility is what I like.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: It's just unfortunate but that we're at this place, I think it's a bigger problem, bigger than what the social media companies are doing. It's a bigger problem that we have parents that allowing children to be on devices for.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think some parents are afraid of the confrontation with their kids once they have opened that barn door and the horses escaped. I'm mixing metaphors probably so.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: But again that's a problem that, that precedes other things.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: By the way, breaking news. After saying on the air that he was kind of understanding where ABC was come from, Ed has been invited to co host the View tomorrow.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well hey, that's a hard news.
>> Chris Woodward: We'll have audio on Friday Hard news show.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We'd love to host the Hard News View. All right, Abe, before we think of something else to ask you, thanks guys. Thanks for being on.
>> Fred Jackson: See ya.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well folks, that's, that's why we have specialists on the program sometimes to help the lay, the lay person to sift through some of these issues. So make sure you listen to Abraham Hamilton, the third host of the Hamilton Corner. He, you can hear him today at 5pm Central Time and then tomorrow and Friday every weekday, you can listen to Abe very we're blessed to have him.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
Darlene Graham was asked about national security during a debate last night
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, next story. We still have a few minutes here.
>> Chris Woodward: Your segment, this one may actually result in a conversation that carries past the break. So do stick around listeners. Just as Democrats have a problem with Democratic socialists, the Republican party may want to have a conversation with the people advising Senator Darlene Graham. she was appointed to fill in for her brother after he passed away unexpectedly how many ever weeks ago and last night during a debate with other Republicans that want to fill his seat in the long term, Darlene Graham was asked this question about national security.
>> Fred Jackson: Clip 14 Senator, are Taiwan and the
>> Ed Vitagliano: South China Sea national security issues for the United States? If so, why I'm sorry, could you repeat the question? Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? And if so, why or how? I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security, that I'm not that informed on national security security, so. But I do support the military. Hey, Fred. Oh, now listen, I, I'm sure her name's Darlene, right?
>> Chris Woodward: Darlene Graham.
>> Wesley Wildmon: You don't have to do this. We. We know she's a good person.
>> Fred Jackson: Okay.
>> Chris Woodward: I'm just going to be honest.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I'm just going to be honest. That may be one of the worst answers I've ever heard in a debate she's done.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: There's no recovering from that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't know how you recover from that.
>> Fred Jackson: I just found out about this this morning and I was sitting in my chair, like at 6 o' clock in the morning, and I winced.
>> Wesley Wildmon: 6am 6am did you have to play it back? Well, like, wait a minute.
>> Fred Jackson: No, I read it first and then Krish found the audio of this.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's worse. Having to read that.
>> Fred Jackson: And, you know, Joe Biden came to mind. You know, it was a Joe Biden moment. and here you are. Bless her heart.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: You know, she's a nice lady. She really is. She was appointed to that President Trump after Lindsey Graham, her brother died suddenly.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: She was appointed to that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, it's a way to honor Lindsey Graham.
>> Fred Jackson: Honor her. The story is compelling. He helped bring her up, you know, all of it. It's a wonderful story. Family story. And then the, governor of South Carolina appointed her to fill in.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Rest of his term because Lindsey Graham had won the earlier nomination. But, you know, I'm trying to think, what about her handlers? Normally people are going to debates are practice a bit.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And she was around Lindsey Graham. National security was his bivouac.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And to come up and say at the debate, I'm really not up on this for Taiwan.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's the major issue.
>> Fred Jackson: I know it was a bad night. It's a bad response. It likely will cost her greatly.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: If that's not on a campaign ad today, Ralph Norman's people have done it wrong.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, it will be. Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Listen, this is going to be, one of those moments that people will replay for years to come. We'll be back in five minutes.
>> Fred Jackson: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
AFA offers biblical insight on issues that others aren't willing to touch
>> 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 Acctivate and sign up today at Acctivate.AFA.net welcome to today's Issues.
>> Fred Jackson: Join us for the next hour as
>> Ed Vitagliano: we offer a Christian response to the issues of the day.
>> Fred Jackson: Here's your host, Ed Vitagliano.
>> Ed Vitagliano: and welcome, to Today's Issues. Ed Battagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon. Today I am joined in the studio by Fred Jackson. Good morning, Fred.
>> Fred Jackson: Good day to you.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Wesley Wildmon and good morning.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And Krish Woodward. Good morning, Krish.
>> Chris Woodward: Hello. Thank you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It is, it is Wednesday, Wednesday, August 19th. And folks, you have one week before my birthday is here. My birthday is one week from today. All I'm asking year round. All I'm asking for are your prayers. That's all I'm asking for. No, I'm just, I'm just kidding. no, I, I do want your prayers, so I'm just teasing. I obviously do not expect, I don't expect my friends and co workers here to, to do anything special for my bir. Why should today be any different?
>> Wesley Wildmon: And you left out the year there, but 2026. But that's, but if you're still writing 20, 25 on your checks, you know, at this point, just keep doing it at this point. You know, if you, you know, it takes a couple weeks, maybe even a month and you're still right the year of the previous year.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know what, I gotta be honest. I've written one check this year.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And that was for my first visit from our air conditioning folks.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And I thought they, you know, everybody work, you know, do work at your house and they'd just take your debit card. Yeah, they have a little device. Well, they didn't. So they said we take check or cash.
>> Fred Jackson: And I said, well, I don't have the cash.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So I wrote a check.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And then you got the year, right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay, good.
>> Ed Vitagliano: But it's, it's weird, kind of weird remembering how to write out the amount in, in words, you know, what do I do? Yeah, what is this for?
>> Wesley Wildmon: But don't give them a blank check and tell them to fill it out for you, though. Don't do that.
>> Chris Woodward: No, a new thing is Venmo. I had a guy come and do work.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't think that's that new in our heart.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, a newer thing, because. And I was expecting to just pay this guy in cash and he was like, just Venmo.
>> Fred Jackson: Me?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, I was like, I was not expecting to hear that from you, sir.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You're, you're getting up into the, the older bracket of people.
>> Chris Woodward: I told him to get off my lawn.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Younger people are all just do this, use Apple pay. Just do that. And, and I just go. I'm. I don't think I trust it. And that's just an old person talking.
Former Democrat Byron Donalds faces former Democrat David Jolly in Florida governor's race
So, anyway, it is, it is Wednesday, and, we're gonna hit the news. We got, we had our story meeting this morning.
>> Wesley Wildmon: We hit it hard.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, we're hit it hard because there's some, There is stuff going on.
>> Chris Woodward: There sure is. let's begin with Florida, where they had a primary yesterday for all kinds of, seats. And when it comes to the gubernatorial race or the governor's race, we have former Democrat turned Republican Byron Donalds squaring off this November with a former Republican turned Democrat, David Jolly, in a race for governor. The winner of the November race will replace Ron DeSantis, a Republican governor who's been there two terms and unfortunately his term limited. Here is Byron Donalds, talking to media and praising, or talking up Ron DeSantis to the media after his win.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Clip 1 As a Republican Party, we have set the standard here in Florida. Ron DeSantis has done a great job as governor, and it's about keeping, the winds that he's brought to our state, going forward, but also building
>> Fred Jackson: for our future, making sure that we
>> Ed Vitagliano: can balance the growth with our agricultural lands and our conservation areas because Florida is the best state in America and we're not going to stop anytime soon. Well, listen, Fred, there's a lot of high hopes for, Byron Donalds if he wins, becomes governor of Florida. He's only 47 years old. He, could become a leading figure in the, in the Republican Party. Yep, you got conservative credentials. He, is a black conservative. That is probably a. I mean, that's, he's not unique in that way in the Republican Party. But if you're going to draw more from the black community to the Republican Party, it helps to have a conservative black voice, touting conservative ideas.
>> Fred Jackson: Exactly. And I think all Byron Donalds has to do is say, I'm going to continue on and do what Ron DeSantis has done.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: If he says that, he's going to have a good night on election night, that's where he is. I mean, when you follow up with a governor who has done as well as DeSantis has done that, you know, Florida is cooking. Yeah, it's, it's cooking. You know, you've got new, Yorkers that are streaming down the, the east coast to get away from Mamdani in NewSong York City, etc. Etc. DeSantis very sharp. Byron Donald's very sharp. I think he'll have a good night in November. It's kind of interesting Chris, mentioned the Democrat challenger. there is going to be David, Jolly, who was a Republican who turned Democrat. And he is going to try to convince in his speech he tried to say I'm pretty conservative too. I'm just going to read a little portion of what he had to say last night. he said he embraces capitalism and a lean government, but one that needs to do its part to fill the gaps such as education and housing. He calls himself, an old school Republican. So what he had to say last night is shaping up. What that campaign is going to be, is that I'm not one of these. Jolly's gonna say I'm not one of these DSA people.
>> Chris Woodward: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Although we are gonna talk about what happened last night with one DSA candidate, that's gonna run for US Senate. so Florida's gonna be really interesting to watch on election night. But you're going to have two people, Byron Donalds and David Jolley. You're gonna have two people that are going to economic policy, celebrate capitalism, et cetera, et cetera. so Jolly, I think is going to move further and further to the center and you know, with a few caveats in there to make him sound like a Democrat. But Byron Donalds I think is just going to say I'm going to continue on with what Ron DeSantis has been doing the last several years.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, Anne Wesley, Byron Donalds is going to also say Donald Trump. He's going to say Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. And in Florida, that is going to be. Those are two very popular names, to me, I would guess, as your dad says, if I were a betting man. This race is Byron Donald's to lose, but he's pretty politically savvy, I think, even though Jolly is trying to sound almost like a Republican. I, think those two names, Trump and Desantis, are pretty potent stuff in that state.
>> Wesley Wildmon: It is. And I'm a little more familiar with, Brian Donald's, Byron Donald's. The last couple, of days, knowing that this story was going to come up, did you realize it was new information for me? But he grew up in Brooklyn, NewSong York. And so I'm wondering how much of his experience with a very deep blue state in a really deep blue city, how much that has impacted his worldview.
>> Ed Vitagliano: because he was a Democrat, right? Yes, he was a Democrat. And you know, you get that sometimes Jon Fetterman, the senator from Pennsylvania, he's made noises, and sounds like it wouldn't take much to push him over the edge and either declare himself independent or maybe even become a Republican simply because of the whacked out ideas that he's trying to, you know, put out like a fire that's spreading in the Democratic Party. So that's a good point. Who knows whether his experiences up in
>> Wesley Wildmon: NewSong York has shaped his. Yeah, he also, seems to be, from what I'm reading, seems to be really good on education, children's kids education, public school education and wanting to make that a priority for him. And we've talked about this yesterday on the program, just how bad how far our education has in not all districts, not all schools, but overall the education is watered down and almost non existence and just pushing kids through in a lot of these big cities. And this is, and he seems to be making a big deal that that's a problem.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: You talk about Byron Donald. Byron, Donald, yeah, his wife works for one of the education watchdogs. So I would, I would be surprised if she didn't have some sort of education platform as a future first lady of Florida, should he be elected right, this November. Now it's, it's very important that everybody pay attention to Florida and Ohio this year, because if those states end up electing Democrats to be governor or for the Senate and stuff like that, that I think spells doom, for a J.D. vance or a Marco Rubio, should they decide to run for president in 2028, because their home states, which they would to get to the White House, have flipped politically. So these, these things are important. Even though you might live in Mississippi like we do or some other state, everybody should pay attention to and care about, the direction of states.
A Democratic socialist candidate is running for Senate in Florida next year
And I, I use that to segue into this, segment, for the show, a Democratic socialist candidate, by the Name of Angie Dixon is running for Senate in Florida next, I think. Yeah, yeah. Excuse me. Thank you. I had it, had it wrong on my sheet here. Angie Nixon is the Democratic Socialist candidate and, she is running in Florida here. So let's hear a little bit from the dsa. Angie Nixon to clip to.
>> Wesley Wildmon: People are demanding change.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They are tired of the billionaire and
>> Chris Woodward: corporations running this country. They are ready for hardworking everyday people
>> Ed Vitagliano: to get to decide what their economies and communities look like. Very, very.
>> Chris Woodward: She, she took a page out of the ELSaid playbook there. Or Bernie Sanders or.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, Fred, this, this. We're going to hear a lot of this kind of stuff and not just, not just this year, but going forward. This is going to be. And, and frankly, the reason why I think some of these DSA backed candidates when we're folks, we mean the Democratic Socialists of America, it's an organization that promotes candidates. The reason they're having some success is that there are a lot of people out there that that are feeling economically left behind. They are going to be susceptible to, this kind of messaging and other messages that the DSA candidates are rolling out.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I think a couple of things, as I think Krish was just pointing out, what happened in Florida last night with regards to this particular race for US Senate is pretty well a carbon copy of what happened in Michigan. the Democrat that was running against Angie Nixon was, well liked, was endorsed by the Democrat Party, and spent, he had $16 million in his coffers. Angie, Nixon had less than a million dollars, all right? But she still won. And she won, I think, because for the same reasons that Abdul EL Sayed won in Michigan. Tapping into mainly, young people. We've talked about this before. Abdul El Sayed, when he had his rallies up in Michigan, you saw a bunch of young people, university people, a lot of white females, who have bought into the socialist, way of, you know, that philosophy. it was really interesting. Alex Vindman, who was her opponent last night in that Democrat primary, they thought the party establishment thought he was a shoo in and.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He was the establishment candidate.
>> Fred Jackson: He was the establishment candidate.
Angie Nixon defeated Ashley Moody in Florida's Democratic primary
I think the only other thing to watch, I obviously didn't, look in on the Ashley Moody celebration on her side of things last night, but I think she's doing a happy dance this morning. Yeah, you're going to have Ashley Moody, who, was appointed by Ron DeSantis when Marco Rubio was appointed Secretary of State.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: They needed somebody to fill Marco Rubio's shoes, Ashley Moody was moving into that. Former attorney general, very popular in Florida.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And she's done a great job, up in Washington. So, she's going to be, completing that. That stay, Marco Rubio's day. So I think I would be totally shocked if Ashley Moody doesn't have a fairly easy walk in this because this,
>> Ed Vitagliano: the establishment, candidate for the Democrats, who. Nixon. Angie Nixon beat Alexander, Vindman, you mentioned he's a former army intelligence officer.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You have somebody who served in the military. That's always, a really good part of your credentials. If you're in a state like Florida or Texas, that's the kind of person that could have been a little bit
>> Fred Jackson: more trouble for a Republican like Ashley Moody and Nixon. I'll tell you, she's every bit the Abdul El Sayed playbook. DSA playbook. Does Florida really want that? No, she, does not like Israel. Accusing Israel of genocide. There's a fairly large Jewish population in Florida, especially in Cuban population. And Cuban. And Venezuela.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Doesn't like socialists.
>> Fred Jackson: I know. So I think she picked the wrong
>> Wesley Wildmon: state, but that's my opinion.
>> Fred Jackson: It's going to be interesting to see what the party does with her.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, that's the.
>> Fred Jackson: Do you want to start writing checks now for her campaign? because, remember, this was a Democrat primary. A Democrat primary is very different from a statewide election for a U.S. senator. So we'll keep an eye on this. but if I was a betting man. Yeah, I was a betting man. She's, got an uphill climb.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, Wesley, this is another case in which the Democratic Party establishment. This is. I'm looking at an article from the Guardian, that calls this an upset. This is an upset win for Angie Nixon over the establishment candidate. This is becoming a pattern inside the Democratic Party, I think, going forward. This. We talked about it, but more and more, we see evidence this is a real civil war. Civil war inside the Democratic Party. And who knows who's going to ultimately win?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. And, this is these types of stories, m. That lead me to believe that it's giving the Republicans a little more cushion. A little more cushion, because they have their own problems right now. They are not. Not a lot. But there are a few things that, as a Republican, when you voted for Trump, m. That you were expecting to get that you're not getting right now.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And that would otherwise be the top story for, Except for you're having several DSAs winning, and then now, the Democrats, like you said, have to, they have to decide pretty quickly how much they're going to go against them, versus Give them room. Because there is money in play here. I mean, because when for the, for the mass. For the mass of the Democrats that give to the Democratic Party, that money gets delegated out to DSAs unless they get involved and that. And that's where the Civil War becomes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, well, I think that's an excellent point. The Republicans do get some cushion here. I guess we'll wait and see, whether that dissipates. But going forward, the Republican Party, because after this election.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yep, Fred, we turned the corner.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We turned the corner and we're looking at the last two years of Donald Trump's administration. He can't run again. Then you start turning to, okay, well, who is going to succeed Donald Trump? What is the message going to be? What are the policies going to be? there's going to be a fight over how are we going to go back to wars. We're still in a war in Iran. you know, what are we going to do to, bring down the price of everything? Which is one of the messages that got Donald Trump elected in 2024. A lot of stuff going on here. And to Wesley's point, the victory of these radical DSA agents, may. Agents. I feel like they're agents, secret agents, it really does cloud the picture for the Democrats and give the Republicans some breathing room. What do they do with it?
>> Fred Jackson: Well, I think what the Democrats are trying to do right now, and if you watch Fox and some of these other programs, they invite Democrats on, and they're always asked the Democrats, you know, what about your DSA candidate? How can you support this guy? Is it a detriment to your party? And they tried to deflect right away. They, it's really interesting to watch. They go to their set of talking points right away. Yeah, they do not want to talk about, Abdul El Sayed. And they don't want to talk about, Ms. Nixon, Angie Nixon down there,
>> Ed Vitagliano: because these candidates are popular with young people.
>> Fred Jackson: Exactly.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The Democrats can't say, say anything that's going to drive those voters away.
>> Fred Jackson: Exactly. So they can't. And, you know, as was Haley Stevens in Michigan, she came right away. She was running against Abdul. I'm going to vote for him. I'm going to campaign for him. I'm sure Vitamin, if he hasn't said it already, will say, I'm going to help Nixon. Oh, yeah, it doesn't matter, because the Republicans are just going to point.
Fred Kaplan: The Republicans have some decisions to make on Iran ahead of midterm elections
And they don't have to exaggerate.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Republicans do not have to exaggerate how radical these people are. And the reality is these people, the DSA people, have found a home in the Democratic Party. there is a reason for that, because the Democratic Party has been moving in their direction.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: All right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: starting with the 2020 race.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: When they got Bernie Sanders to step aside for Joe Biden, I'm guessing promises were made to this side of the party.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. Now, for the Republicans, the Achilles heel continues to be Iran.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: they've got to decide. The president has to decide pretty soon what he's going to do to take that off the table. Because if. If we're still there and the Iranians are still putting out, mines and blowing ships up and they got the Houthis involved and, you know, their proxies that are involved, if all of that is still going on near election day, that's going to be a problem.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep.
>> Fred Jackson: And the prices of gas and groceries have got to start coming down and stay down. The American people have to see that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And I'm not sure there's enough time, frankly.
>> Chris Woodward: We're here.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I mentioned August 19th. We are less than three months away, two and a half months or whatever, from, from the midterms. I'm not sure there's enough time, even if we got out of Iran right now, for the voters minds to change.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And I got depressing viewpoints on this. Our cynical. I think if. I think if we were going to pull out, we would have already done it. I think, unfortunately, he's going to get this one wrong. Continue to get this one. He, meaning the President, Trump and his administration. I think they're going to continue to get this one wrong, unfortunately. But it goes back to if the DSAs weren't involved in the Democratic Party in winning.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Then I think. I think it would be a pretty big blow because of the war to the Republican Party. I think it'll be a little closer now, because of that. I think it kind of offset itself a little bit from a political standpoint.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Well.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And let me just say this one last thing, and you guys can, you know, tell me what you guys think as we move past the midterms. I was talking earlier about. The Republicans have some decisions to make. If you're going to. You're going to run for president. I think the war has been very, polling is clear. Very unpopular amongst even Trump supporters. Okay. You've got to Be careful, because President Trump is still hugely popular amongst Republicans and especially MAGA. Okay, so if you're a J.D. vance, Marco Rubio, whoever else is going to throw their hat in the ring, Fred, I'll toss it to you. First, you've got to decide what am I going to say about forever wars and do I criticize President Trump? Because then you risk the ire. Then you've got your kind of a mirror problem with the Democrats. You can't afford to anger your ground troops, which right now are MAGA voters. You can't alienate them, just like the Democratic Party establishment can alienate young voters who support socialists.
>> Fred Jackson: The ball is in President Trump's court. He has to make that decision on Iran. It will be a mistake if a decision is not made and we get ever closer to 28.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And I. I honestly believe that the President has to make a decision before Labor Day. Yeah.
President Trump needs to clean up mess before 2028 elections
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. that's a new deadline.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. Seriously, how many weeks? That's. Is that two weeks away?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, a couple of weeks away and a half. You have to come out and say, we are now satisfied that we have. They don't have a nuclear capability. We are satisfied. Our intelligence tells us we've. We've stung them badly on that front. we are going to continue, and I would suggest an announcement about some kind of international force. Saudis, Qataris, getting together with the United States to ensure that there is passage through the Strait of Hormuz, then you're going to see gas prices go down, gas prices go down. Groceries follow that. But that has to be done, I believe, in September, say Labor Day. But I think he has to make that decision, because if he doesn't and this continues to drag on, this becomes a real liability for 2028.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: If you leave it up to the candidate for 2028, whether it's the vice President or whether it's Marco Rubio or somebody else, you leave it up to them to decide. That is going to be a problem for people.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That puts them in a pickle.
>> Fred Jackson: It does. Yeah, it does. So he needs to clean up the mess. President Trump to make it clean for whoever going through it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Marco Rubio. Let's say it's Marco Rubio or J.D. vance, even if they start to say, well, we're going to stop with the forever wars, I'm just using it as a label. The media will question them. So do you disagree with what President Trump did and now you're having to dance? Yes. And, you know, like you said, you want that to be cleaned up before folks have to declare for 2028?
>> Fred Jackson: Yep.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, when we come back, Abraham Hamilton III will be on with us. And, he's the host of the Hamilton Corner. And we're going to take a short break. And when we come back, Abe will be in the house. Friend.
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>> Fred Jackson: Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and Earth. Psalm, 121, verse 2.
>> Ed Vitagliano: This is today's issues. Email your comments to commentsfrd. Past broadcast of today's issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of, today's issues.
American Family Radio welcomes back Abraham Hamilton III this morning
And welcome back. Ed Battagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon today, joined in studio by Fred Jackson and Wesley Wildmon and Krish, nephew of Bob Woodward.
>> Chris Woodward: Only. Only when it gets me somebody on the phone.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You're not really related.
>> Chris Woodward: No, I don't. I don't think I. Ah. Ironically, I do have a great uncle, I think, named Bob. But it's not that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Bob.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: It's not.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, not that. What about Bob?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And then Abraham Hamilton III is in studio with us, host of the Hamilton Corner, heard weekdays at 5:00pm Central Time on American Family Radio. Abe, this is second week in a row you're in studio with us.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yes. Good morning.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning. All right, so we have a couple of, kind of, I think important legal stories to Talk about. Otherwise we wouldn't bring them up. Not that we're, averse to talking about stuff that nobody cares about. We do that sometimes.
A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general suing social media giant Meta
so Chris, set up the first story, for us. We want to talk a little bit about Meta.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You better explain who that is and then talk about the case. I think you have some sound. And then we'll get Abe's take Bob wife.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. All right, so Meta is the company that owns Facebook and Instagram and other social media apps. Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and the CEO of Meta, which again, is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. the reason we're talking about this is because yesterday in Oakland, California, in a federal court, a case brought by a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general, they've taken Meta to court, claiming that Meta has contributed to the addiction of young people on social media. And to make matters worse, the attorneys general, including Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman of Kentucky, say that Meta, knew about the problem and didn't do anything about it. They may have actually taken steps to get kids more hooked on Facebook or Instagram. Social media in general. I do have some audio here of Russell Coleman, again a Republican, as part of this, coalition. Clip six.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We are going after, the addiction machine that is TikTok, the preferred platform for predators, that is Roblox or character AI. This, this is a narcissistic program that, that hurts our kids. Absolutely. We're going to go. We in law enforcement, we go to
>> Abraham Hamilton III: where the threats are and social media is the threat to our kids.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's the opioid fight of our generation.
>> Chris Woodward: A lot of people have also compared this to something that happened in the 90s where states took on big Tobacco and got a huge settlement. Penalties for this case could top over a trillion dollars. But Coleman, Attorney General Rob Bonta of California and others say they're really just trying to get Meta to change their policies.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, so, Abe, I don't. I have no idea, really. I haven't polled the panel, haven't. I have not talked to you about this. I personally have a problem with using addiction language for problems that stem from a lack of accountability or responsibility. I don't know how to put it. While I am sympathetic to the frustration of parents and the fear, the parents anxiety the parents may feel about social media swallowing up their kids. So start with the legal, angle here. If this is a wise or a wise approach, and then you're a pastor, you're a father, you know how many kids you have?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Six.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Kids, Six kids. Then tell us your pastoral parental view on these kind of issues.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, oh man, I have lots of thoughts and I think it should be pointed out that this lawsuit that's currently pending in Oakland follows a previous lawsuit earlier this year where, the young lady's acronyms are used as a plaintiff. KGM first M name is Kaylee. where she sued initially, TikTok, Snapchat, Face, I mean Meta and Google for YouTube, for personal injury, for mental distress, body dysmorphia and other things. And she won 4, $.2 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages from Meta and 1.8 million from YouTube. And there's another lawsuit she won? Yes. And she's 20 years old at the time of the lawsuit. But the, the allegations based on her own testimonies that she started using social media when she was six years old. Spending hours and hours and hours on social media. Use it using the features, using the filters to hide our insecurities and all of these things. While I am, as you mentioned, I'm a parent, I live in this world. We're fighting tech beasts like everybody else. But I'm very concerned, about what you said. Using litigation to address an accountability issue. I have a problem with a child that's 6 years old being allowed to be on social media for hours a day.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: And, and then when she's negatively affected by it, the parents end up getting a financial windfall and not dealing with the accountability aspects of it. I do believe that, you know, being in the free market as a corporation, you should employ responsibilities, you should do certain things. And I, I do believe that these companies are a bit different from like Roblox and other places, which, you know, my children are not allowed to use. Roblox.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Because having learned about the things that, that, that they do M. I'll go a little bit further. My children don't have cell phones, which I've said before that it's not a phone, it's a pocket rocket super computer.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You know, that most people even used to call. And so the thing I'm concerned about is this is indicative of our accountability less society to where when we have problems, we're looking for somebody external to blame and then want to be compensated for it instead of, you know, not letting our six year old scroll for hours on social media.
>> Wesley Wildmon: is it, am, I oversimplifying it when I say it feels to me like this is criminalizing the word addiction because you could slap this on Anything. because there. If there's a criminally criminal activity done on social media, if you send a death threat, there's. That's a. That's a. You're getting trouble for that. But how can you, I just don't see how you can criminalize someone who is willfully doing something that they know that their. Their actions in and of themselves is not criminal.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, well, it's civil, so it's not. It's not criminal. So money is only going to table.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You know, and so the main distinctions criminal issues deal with, if you're in violation, you lose your liberty, you know, freedom. Civil is money damages. And I do think there's space to require corporations to operate responsibly. If, you know, these things exist, you know, are you creating your product to, you know, to retain, attention and to do all of these different things? I do think fail Safes need to be put in place to, protect children. I agree with that. But you know what? The primary God ordained fail Safe is to protect children. Parents.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. M. Parents.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: I don't think corporations should be allowed to run wild and be irresponsible. Don't misconstrue what I'm saying. But where is the accountability for. For us as. And I'm concerned that this is rewarding it. And because of the KGM lawsuit, there are lawsuits all over the country right now over this. M. You know, to the. And. And. And Ag Box is saying, oh, we don't really want $1.4 trillion in damages.
There are thousands of lawsuits over addictive substances pending across the country
Well, probably end up around 200 billion. But this is one case.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: And there are thousands of cases pending all over the country.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Let me. Let m. Me put this in boomer terms, okay? So some of the baby boomers will understand exactly what you guys are saying about parents being the first stopgap. So when I was probably four years old, maybe my parents, my mom caught me chasing my sisters around. Well, one sister at that time, around the house with a hammer. Because I'd seen it on the Three Stooges. Okay? I'm dead serious. I'm running, you know, with a hammer to hit my m. Because I saw them hit each other with hammers. And. And, you know, nobody got hurt. My parents banned me from watching the Three Stooges. They said, well, this is negatively affecting our idiot son who's chasing his sister with a hammer. So they banned me from watching it. And because parents are responsible, what would have happened if they turned around and sued whoever. I forget who produced the Three Stooges and said it's your fault because m m, my son learned the wrong lesson.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's the concern, I have with this, is that where does this stop if you redefine or add to the simple definition of addiction? I mean, because I can't stop going back to the popcorn machine because that salt on there tastes really good. But I keep going back. But, like, at some point I, I can, I can stop, but I can't hide behind it.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You have a case against Orville Red
>> Wesley Wildmon: for that, for that kind of, that kind of money?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah. I mean, any. Like, in the KGM case, she sued because she said the social media companies and YouTube caused her personal injury, including body dysmorphia and thoughts of self harm. That's. That's what she argued and she was compensated for that. And that's what these Attorney Generals are doing. And again, don't misconstrue what I'm saying. I'm not. What if, if, you know, Meta and others have evidence that this isn't addictive, they need to put various things in, in place. But I, I think it's a little bit, disingenuous to say, well, we don't. We're not really here for money. We really want Meta to make changes.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Well, then why are you suing for money if you want them just to make changes?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Why not work with them to implement the changes that you think need to be made instead of saying, hey, by the way, we're going to have this, this coalition of 29 attorneys generals. Yeah. And we all want to get our, our forks into, a small pot of $200 billion.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, let's go.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Let's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We want to keep, Abe the whole time. Let's, throw this second story his way.
ABC suing communications commission on First Amendment grounds over broadcast license review
>> Chris Woodward: In other news, ABC has taken the rare step of suing communications commission on First Amendment grounds, saying the FCC's demand for early review of its broadcast licenses pose an existential threat to the network. Little bit of background here. The Trump administration doesn't like how it's been treated by abc. It doesn't like what some people on ABC are saying. And as a result of that, the fcc, which has people appointed by President Trump and other presidents, on the fcc, the FCC is saying, hey, we're going to consider pulling your broadcast license. So what do you think about ABC's claim?
>> Ed Vitagliano: So, so, Abe, how is this different? You know, we complained about the Biden administration weaponizing the federal government.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: We did more than complain. We sued them.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. So Are we wrong to. I can't believe I'm saying this. Are we wrong? I'll say. I don't know what everyone else thinks. Am I wrong to say I'm signed with ABC on this one?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Well, this is where you have to distinguish, public relations from the actual court of the investigation, because Disney is attempting to say this is a First Amendment issue. But if you actually look into what the FCC is looking into, they are acquiring Disney concerning their DEI policies that they've been operating within over a year. They're not doing anything concerning the First Amendment. It has any. Nothing to do from the FCC side. Nothing to do with content regulation.
>> Chris Woodward: Oh, is that right?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: That's exactly right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: That's why it's like, Disney has lawyers that are very smart and they know that they can win the PR campaign by saying that this is nothing more than a First Amendment challenge, or this is a veiled effort to crush us because of viewpoint discrimination, things of that nature. while they represent kind of absurd things like saying the View is a news program, a hard news program, really. but the query. And I'm not, you know, I, I'm a constitutionalist. I'm not a big government, you know, I'm suspicious of government action generally. That's my disposition. And I maintain that suspicion now. But I, I think it's disingenuous for Disney to say that what, what, what the FCC is attempting is to cause them to change the content of their broadcast.
The FCC is investigating allegations that Disney has been violating internal policies
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, so what is the core of the investigation? Slash challenge.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yes, the core of the investigation is because federal law under the Trump administration made changes concerning DEI policies. And for the previous year, there were allegations that Disney has been violating that in terms of their inner workings and how they're operating internally as a corporation. And the FCC is seeking to review that before they renew their licenses.
>> Fred Jackson: Okay.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Now, again, there still could be some untoward things going on, but it's a little bit of bait and switch in terms of what's happening in the public discourse. Because Disney, I think shrewdly so, is trying to say, ah, they just don't like what we say. The Trump administration just doesn't like us. They don't like what we say. This has nothing to do with anything else. When the FCC is like, you've completely mischaracterized what we're doing here. We're saying you guys have been violating federal law in terms of your internal DEI operations in violations of federal law.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, so let me just ask one, one additional thing, and then we'll let you go. And this is why we have you on to help us work through these legal issues. So when you say the dei are ah, you talking about the policies in terms of hiring or ah, and or slapping a muzzle on, on people who work at ABC and want to be forced to say X, Y or Z?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: The latter. Yes, absolutely right, the latter. Those who don't want to be compelled to convey certain messages because the bosses are saying that we have to satisfy this various quota and all these other kind of things. That's what the FCC is querying. Now you could still make some challenges and questions on that front, but it's disingenuous to say that the, the, the query that the FCC is involved in is specifically concerning the First Amendment freedoms. That's not what's on the table at all.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's good. That is good to know. That is helpful information.
A lot of meta lawsuits are driven by plaintiffs attorneys, Abe says
Abe, before we let you go, anything you want to let your listeners know in advance, stuff we're gonna be covering.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: What? Not necessarily. I'm gonna dig in a little bit more on this, these meta lawsuits because there was another case in NewSong Mexico where a 576 million dollar verdict was was rendered.
>> Ed Vitagliano: These are huge numbers, man.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: These are huge numbers. And, and a little behind the scenes information. I hate to say this, but this is true. A lot of this is driven by plaintiffs attorneys.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Looking for big wins like in the, the KGM case, Snapchat and TikTok settled out of court. People don't talk about that.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: So the 4.8, $4.2 million jury award, and the $1.8 million jury award, are in addition to what was already settled for out of court with Snapchat and TikTok. And so that kind of thing has led the floodgates to be open to now. You have plaintiffs attorneys that kind of sense chum in the water and they're trying to get their portion of these billion dollar corporations.
Abe Hard: I don't think there's any legal liability here
>> Chris Woodward: I have a quick question. so in addition to this trial that just kicked off yesterday in Oakland, in the near future, there is a film coming out called the Social Reckoning.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Uh-huh.
>> Chris Woodward: which follows Facebook engineer Frances Hogan as she teams up with a Wallnua Street Journal reporter to leak internal documents, that aimed to show senior leadership ignored platform harms to teen mental health and fueled political violence. So at a time this is playing out in public court, the court of public opinion is going to get the meta is bad, movie from Hollywood does that.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: I'm sure it's all coincidental, Krish.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: Does that run the risk of influencing the judge who is an Obama appointee by the way?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: To act as if judges are not human beings and not subject to societal pressures is to ignore the reality of the human condition. Those things will have an impact. How much of an impact remains to be seen. And it is true that judges are supposed to be objective and not swayed by external pressures. But it would be a bit naive to suggest there's not somebody out there that would willing to say yes, these evil big corporations, including those are like these social media corporations that's hooking all of our children on this addictive social media which gives a convenient out.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: From parents unfortunately to say I probably should do something different than allow my child to sit six hours a day scrolling with the infinite scroll, not dismissing responsibility. You have evidence that you know this is addictive. You need to make adjustments, you need to make internal controls. But I, I think a worse communication in my estimation is that it's allowing an expansion of the unfettered lack of accountability that's rife in our society.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay, I know, I don't want. I know we need to wrap this up. but I, I still have the marketing. I went to business school. The whole idea is to try to get people's attention. So I don't understand how we, how there can be any legal. But apparently there are. But I just don't think there should be. I don't think you should punish and I think it should be on the parents saying that particular. Let's use one, Instagram that as an example that one is more addicted than these. Therefore this one's excluded in this one. The parents should be navigating through that obviously individually. I've got, I'm with you. There's none. My kids are 10 and under so that's not an option. but you get the idea I'm having a hard time legally seeing that this is being a thing because advertising, it's a whole.
>> Ed Vitagliano: What's the difference between this is an
>> Abraham Hamilton III: advertising or it's like advertising just get you to use a product. They're arguing now since they're using the product.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You get you're causing people to be addicted to your product. And that's, that's the loaded term they're using. Addicted to. To the product. And, and there's, there's some indications that some of these companies were aware of some of these things that were happening.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Either did not. They were not forthcoming about them. They did not explain them properly. And all of that is legitimate worth being challenging and questioning. But I still think we're missing a huge component. You know, if you're going to have a negligence case, there's a concept called contributory negligence that would minimize the type of damage recovery you can get. Because if I see you for being negligent, but you can show, yeah, but I was negligent too. That's going to reduce the scope of what I would recover in the event that the negligence combined end up harming me. You know what I'm saying?
>> Fred Jackson: Okay.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Personal responsibility is what I like.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: It's just unfortunate but that we're at this place, I think it's a bigger problem, bigger than what the social media companies are doing. It's a bigger problem that we have parents that allowing children to be on devices for.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think some parents are afraid of the confrontation with their kids once they have opened that barn door and the horses escaped. I'm mixing metaphors probably so.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: But again that's a problem that, that precedes other things.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: By the way, breaking news. After saying on the air that he was kind of understanding where ABC was come from, Ed has been invited to co host the View tomorrow.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well hey, that's a hard news.
>> Chris Woodward: We'll have audio on Friday Hard news show.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We'd love to host the Hard News View. All right, Abe, before we think of something else to ask you, thanks guys. Thanks for being on.
>> Fred Jackson: See ya.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well folks, that's, that's why we have specialists on the program sometimes to help the lay, the lay person to sift through some of these issues. So make sure you listen to Abraham Hamilton, the third host of the Hamilton Corner. He, you can hear him today at 5pm Central Time and then tomorrow and Friday every weekday, you can listen to Abe very we're blessed to have him.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
Darlene Graham was asked about national security during a debate last night
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, next story. We still have a few minutes here.
>> Chris Woodward: Your segment, this one may actually result in a conversation that carries past the break. So do stick around listeners. Just as Democrats have a problem with Democratic socialists, the Republican party may want to have a conversation with the people advising Senator Darlene Graham. she was appointed to fill in for her brother after he passed away unexpectedly how many ever weeks ago and last night during a debate with other Republicans that want to fill his seat in the long term, Darlene Graham was asked this question about national security.
>> Fred Jackson: Clip 14 Senator, are Taiwan and the
>> Ed Vitagliano: South China Sea national security issues for the United States? If so, why I'm sorry, could you repeat the question? Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? And if so, why or how? I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security, that I'm not that informed on national security security, so. But I do support the military. Hey, Fred. Oh, now listen, I, I'm sure her name's Darlene, right?
>> Chris Woodward: Darlene Graham.
>> Wesley Wildmon: You don't have to do this. We. We know she's a good person.
>> Fred Jackson: Okay.
>> Chris Woodward: I'm just going to be honest.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I'm just going to be honest. That may be one of the worst answers I've ever heard in a debate she's done.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: There's no recovering from that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't know how you recover from that.
>> Fred Jackson: I just found out about this this morning and I was sitting in my chair, like at 6 o' clock in the morning, and I winced.
>> Wesley Wildmon: 6am 6am did you have to play it back? Well, like, wait a minute.
>> Fred Jackson: No, I read it first and then Krish found the audio of this.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's worse. Having to read that.
>> Fred Jackson: And, you know, Joe Biden came to mind. You know, it was a Joe Biden moment. and here you are. Bless her heart.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: You know, she's a nice lady. She really is. She was appointed to that President Trump after Lindsey Graham, her brother died suddenly.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: She was appointed to that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, it's a way to honor Lindsey Graham.
>> Fred Jackson: Honor her. The story is compelling. He helped bring her up, you know, all of it. It's a wonderful story. Family story. And then the, governor of South Carolina appointed her to fill in.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Rest of his term because Lindsey Graham had won the earlier nomination. But, you know, I'm trying to think, what about her handlers? Normally people are going to debates are practice a bit.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And she was around Lindsey Graham. National security was his bivouac.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And to come up and say at the debate, I'm really not up on this for Taiwan.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's the major issue.
>> Fred Jackson: I know it was a bad night. It's a bad response. It likely will cost her greatly.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: If that's not on a campaign ad today, Ralph Norman's people have done it wrong.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, it will be. Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Listen, this is going to be, one of those moments that people will replay for years to come. We'll be back in five minutes.
>> Fred Jackson: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
A major multistate lawsuit against Meta takes center stage as Abraham Hamilton III joins the program to discuss allegations that Facebook and Instagram were designed with addictive features that harmed children. Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman weighs in on the case, and Annie McGrath shares the devastating story of her son’s death after participating in a social media challenge.
The program also looks at Florida’s primary results, including Byron Donalds winning the Republican nomination for governor, Angie Nixon’s upset Democratic Senate primary victory, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz defeating socialist challenger Elijah Manley. Jamie Metzl and GOP strategist Cory Ruth respond to the rise of democratic socialist candidates.
Other topics include growing opposition to data center development, Timothy Snowball on a Portland mother’s lawsuit involving her child’s elementary school, General Jack Keane’s warning about Iran, Darlene Graham’s comments on national security, and Jeremy Dys of First Liberty on the legal challenge to Texas’ Ten Commandments law.
Chapters:
(00:00) AFA offers biblical insight on issues that others aren't willing to touch
(03:06) Former Democrat Byron Donalds faces former Democrat David Jolly in Florida governor's race
(10:14) A Democratic socialist candidate is running for Senate in Florida next year
(13:04) Angie Nixon defeated Ashley Moody in Florida's Democratic primary
(19:06) Fred Kaplan: The Republicans have some decisions to make on Iran ahead of midterm elections
(22:48) President Trump needs to clean up mess before 2028 elections
(25:00) 80% of abortion vulnerable women choose life after seeing baby on ultrasound
(26:47) American Family Radio welcomes back Abraham Hamilton III this morning
(27:46) A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general suing social media giant Meta
(34:38) There are thousands of lawsuits over addictive substances pending across the country
(37:25) ABC suing communications commission on First Amendment grounds over broadcast license review
(39:40) The FCC is investigating allegations that Disney has been violating internal policies
(41:37) A lot of meta lawsuits are driven by plaintiffs attorneys, Abe says
(42:40) Abe Hard: I don't think there's any legal liability here
(47:28) Darlene Graham was asked about national security during a debate last night
A major multistate lawsuit against Meta takes center stage as Abraham Hamilton III joins the program to discuss allegations that Facebook and Instagram were designed with addictive features that harmed children. Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman weighs in on the case, and Annie McGrath shares the devastating story of her son’s death after participating in a social media challenge.
The program also looks at Florida’s primary results, including Byron Donalds winning the Republican nomination for governor, Angie Nixon’s upset Democratic Senate primary victory, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz defeating socialist challenger Elijah Manley. Jamie Metzl and GOP strategist Cory Ruth respond to the rise of democratic socialist candidates.
Other topics include growing opposition to data center development, Timothy Snowball on a Portland mother’s lawsuit involving her child’s elementary school, General Jack Keane’s warning about Iran, Darlene Graham’s comments on national security, and Jeremy Dys of First Liberty on the legal challenge to Texas’ Ten Commandments law.
Chapters:
(00:00) AFA offers biblical insight on issues that others aren't willing to touch
(03:06) Former Democrat Byron Donalds faces former Democrat David Jolly in Florida governor's race
(10:14) A Democratic socialist candidate is running for Senate in Florida next year
(13:04) Angie Nixon defeated Ashley Moody in Florida's Democratic primary
(19:06) Fred Kaplan: The Republicans have some decisions to make on Iran ahead of midterm elections
(22:48) President Trump needs to clean up mess before 2028 elections
(25:00) 80% of abortion vulnerable women choose life after seeing baby on ultrasound
(26:47) American Family Radio welcomes back Abraham Hamilton III this morning
(27:46) A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general suing social media giant Meta
(34:38) There are thousands of lawsuits over addictive substances pending across the country
(37:25) ABC suing communications commission on First Amendment grounds over broadcast license review
(39:40) The FCC is investigating allegations that Disney has been violating internal policies
(41:37) A lot of meta lawsuits are driven by plaintiffs attorneys, Abe says
(42:40) Abe Hard: I don't think there's any legal liability here
(47:28) Darlene Graham was asked about national security during a debate last night
Live
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