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Ed Vitagliano Eduardo.
Tim Wildman hosts Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network
Welcome to Today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day. here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.
Tim Wildmon Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. That's the name of this show, Today's Issues. This is Monday, February 9, 2026. We thank you for listening to AFR. Joining me in studio is Ed Battagliano. Good morning, Brother Ed.
Ed Vitagliano Good morning, Tim.
Tim Wildmon Chris Woodward.
Ed Vitagliano Good morning.
Tim Wildmon Good morning, Chris. Fred's off today, right?
Chris Woodward He sure is.
Tim Wildmon His rocker.
Chris Woodward And he's at home rooting on Team Canada in the Olympics.
Tim Wildmon Oh, hey, that's right. He's probably a big Winter Olympics fan.
Ed Vitagliano yeah, but the men don't start playing until Wednesday, I think.
Tim Wildmon Are you talking about hockey?
Chris Woodward Hockey? It's winter 13 months out of the year.
Tim Wildmon I was talking about the, just the general Winter Olympics.
Ed Vitagliano I like, I like the Winter Olympics. Most of the stuff.
Tim Wildmon You don't see it every four years. Most people, most Americans.
Ed Vitagliano And unless you can't get enough of that curling.
Tim Wildmon I watched a little bit last night after the, super bowl was over, which was really over in the first half.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon Far as it was going to win or not. But I did watch some, of the, downhill skiing. I would think, I would say those people, who do that are insane. who do that.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon That doesn't mean they're bad people. They're great athletes.
Ed Vitagliano Insane people are.
Tim Wildmon They're great athletes. But they. The reason I say that is I watched the. Sadly, that Lindsay Baughan.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon she wiped out, like.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano Broke her leg.
Chris Woodward We have the audio if you want to play it.
Tim Wildmon yeah, I think we will play that. But, but I. What? But, but they were show. The reason I bring this up, they were showing the vantage point of the skier, which I had not seen before. So they had the camera up there at the top of the mountain. And what I mean by insane is you look down there and I go, nobody who would do this. That's the insane part. I don't mean mentally ill. I mean just. You would be crazy nuts to do something like this. Of course. but that's, but man, they fly down there going 70. They were going 70 miles an hour.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon These downhill skiers.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah. And anyway, they had 70 miles an hour.
Tim Wildmon Yes, they do. 70 miles an hour. 70 miles an hour. Can you imagine?
Ed Vitagliano I did.
Tim Wildmon That's what you go on the interstate, you know, if you're legal.
Chris Woodward Unless you're in Texas and it's 100.
Tim Wildmon Right. Or Montana where they had no speed.
Chris Woodward Right, right.
Tim Wildmon But.
Lindsey Vaughn competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics despite a knee injury
Well, I do want to play this. this was, we were going to play it maybe later in the show, but, this is Lindsey Vaughn is, she's won gold medals in the past. Downhill.
Chris Woodward She's one of the great.
Tim Wildmon She's in her. Is she in her 40s?
Chris Woodward Early 40s.
Tim Wildmon Early 40s, which is phenomenal. She had qualified and was going to represent our country, the United States again. And then the other day she, tore her knee. an acl.
Chris Woodward Yeah. And she had, she's had a history.
Tim Wildmon Of knee injuries going into this despite a torn acl. I don't even know how you ski on that. but, she decided to try it again. And, again, remember, she's, she's going for the gold and she's, this is what happened right here.
Ed Vitagliano Oh, by the way, let me just give some of her pedigree here. she won four World cup overall championships with titles 2008, 9, 10 and 12. Won the gold medal in downhill, ski racing, I guess, at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The first one for an American woman. She also won a record eight world season titles in the downhill discipline, five titles in super G, three consecutive titles in the combined. Those are types of events.
Tim Wildmon You're telling me she, she, she skied in the 2010.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano Yes.
Chris Woodward She's been skiing for.
Ed Vitagliano She, she won, World cup overall championship starting in 2008. So she's been around, for a long time.
Tim Wildmon That's 18 years of world class competition.
Ed Vitagliano Yes. Lindsay Vaughn, a legend of the sport.
Lindsey Von broke her leg during a skiing accident yesterday
Tim Wildmon Okay, okay, so, so we're, we're about to hear what happened yesterday. And as she. Again, she's trying to basically ski 70 miles an hour down here on one leg. in essence, yeah. Okay, here's what happened.
Ed Vitagliano Lindsay Von, A legend of the sports. Here she goes. I saw today earlier a little interview with her.
Chris Woodward She, she said there's nothing to leave behind. She's going to.
Tim Wildmon Oh, no.
Ed Vitagliano Oh, goodness me. This is a disaster. A massive crash.
Tim Wildmon Oh, so she crashed.
Ed Vitagliano I have not seen it. I'm going to watch it. At lunch you said you saw.
Tim Wildmon Oh, it was. It was terrible. And I, thought she was more injured than she was. She broke her leg. I don't know if it's the ACL leg or, you know, the other leg. I don't know. But they had to airlift her now.
Ed Vitagliano And she, had surgery.
Tim Wildmon Yeah, airlift her, and helicopter. So I told Allison we were watching this. I thought, that's more dangerous than skiing. Yeah, to me, that would be more scary because she wasn't. But. So she's airlifted, from a helicopter to m. You know, to a hospital or to an ambulance or something like that. So you didn't see it?
Ed Vitagliano I. I did not. I knew about it. I read about it. Well, you know the, Remember the wide, Wide World of sports on ABC? That goes back a long time. Before 24. Seven sports channels. But you remember the intro to that? There was, Yeah, with the,
Tim Wildmon That was when they came off the.
Ed Vitagliano Ramp with the ramp and the guy.
Tim Wildmon That's the agony of feet.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah. The act, the AC.
Tim Wildmon Yeah. The thrill of victory, Agony of defeat.
Ed Vitagliano Now, I. I will say I've had the agony of defeat. Sometimes when I've been out in the yard too long or something, your feet begin to hurt.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano no, that guy, he face planted. And, these, like you said, these are extreme sports for, brave souls who have been doing all their lives. I'm guessing that Lindsey Vaughn didn't start off going down a big hill like that. She worked her way up, but I did not work her way up to go down 70 miles an hour. That's no wonder. People get seriously hurt when they wipe.
Chris Woodward I'm amazed by, like, the. The luge and the skeleton. Like, when the only, talk about.
Tim Wildmon That was actually a ride at Disney World.
Chris Woodward Well, that's like. I don't even know who dreamed that stuff up a long time ago.
Tim Wildmon Loads in the skeleton.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, that's from the Pirates of the Caribbean.
Chris Woodward When the only thing between you and Jesus is the cookie sheet that you'. Like skiing down the, the tube of ice with. That's. That's a bold move.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, the.
Tim Wildmon Anyway, the Winter Olympic. Yes, good point, Chris. the winter, Olympics are taking place, and, so the hockey, which.
Ed Vitagliano You'Re most interested in now, the girls hockey has. I've watched a couple of, the replays of the. The girls.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano the U.S. women's hockey team that's already started. The men start, I think, on Wednesday with, their hockey, is bad.
Tim Wildmon Bugs money going to Be in that, competition.
Ed Vitagliano Bad, Bad.
Tim Wildmon Bad Bunny.
Ed Vitagliano Bad Bugs Bunny.
Bad Bunny's controversial halftime show garnered 5 million YouTube viewers last night
Tim Wildmon All right, so last night, of course the super bowl took place in California.
Ed Vitagliano Wasn't all that super abs.
Tim Wildmon Ah, kind of a, kind of a dull game for the most part. Few big plays here and there.
Ed Vitagliano I, you know the old expression defense wins championships. It also makes for a pretty boring Super Bowl.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon All right, so, but sort of all eyes were on the halftime show, because it, it had been very controversial. I did not watch the halftime show. there was, it was a, a singer slash rapper named Bad Bunny, which most Americans had never heard of, I would say. but he was chosen by the NFL to do the halftime show. And because of his criticisms of, I guess, ICE and the immigration, laws of America, and his outspokenness on those things and the fact that he was not an English speaking person.
Chris Woodward Yeah. He often performs in a dress too.
Tim Wildmon Does he? But he didn't last night.
Chris Woodward I didn't. I'm not sure. I did not watch.
Tim Wildmon I did not watch either. Well, we would have heard about it.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, Yeah, I didn't watch it anyway.
Tim Wildmon So, that was the halftime entertainment for the super bowl, when this was announced. Now you know, we. The fact that he doesn't speak. Speak English to me is. No, he does. I take that back. I think he does speak some English, but he doesn't sing or perform in English, which I thought for an American event. Now granted, the super bowl is watched worldwide.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon And the NFL is trying to broaden their. They want to be more than the NFL. They want to be the International Football League in terms of. They want to grow their sport, have more eyes on their sport, make more money. Right. So I can understand that. But to have a performer when you're really trying ah, to appeal to the United States audience who doesn't sing in English was a real barrier, to me. But I guess people just wanted to watch him dance around. Anyway, the point is that the Turning Point usa, that is Charlie Kirk's organization, the late Charlie Kirk's organization, announced a couple months ago because of the, it was Bad Bunny and for all the reasons I just mentioned, his leftist politics and his criticisms, of the United States, particularly President Trump and immigration. They were going to offer an alternative. Right, Correct. And that alternative garnered 5 million.
Chris Woodward Plus viewers just on YouTube. It was on some other, platforms and networks. So the 5 million figure as I understand it, is just from YouTube alone. It might be more when you factor in the eyeballs that were on other products that were airing the same program.
Chris Woodward: I think the NFL made a mistake with the halftime show
Tim Wildmon Did you watch, Chris?
Chris Woodward I did. I watched. I watched it in its entirety. it was, it was interesting for me because, Kid Rock was one of the performers. Kid Rock was popular back in your day. Yes. Now, I did graduate high school in this century, but in the, in the late 90s, when I was starting high school, that's when Kid Rock entered the realm, you know, and became Kid Rock and. And all this other stuff. So it was, it was interesting for me when my teen and tween daughter were like, who's this guy again? And I said, it's a long story.
Tim Wildmon He. Kid Rock is 55 years old now. I mean, he's not a kid anymore. He's 55 years old. Anyway, he was sort of the headliner for this turning, Point USA alternative halftime show last night. I was in pr. I didn't, watch. I was eating my steak and Caesar. and, but Alison, my wife, she had it on YouTube.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon And, she. She had it on YouTube on her phone while we were eating dinner and just basically to support, their. Their event.
Ed Vitagliano Their effort to have a counter event.
Tim Wildmon Yeah. Because we didn't really follow any of the singers.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon That, that were on there. I told her last night, I thought Alison, I said. So, I said, I know every generation thinks that their music was the best.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon That's true of every generation. Right.
Ed Vitagliano And most of them are wrong. But.
Tim Wildmon Wrong. But, but, but, but, if it's not 70s m music from the 1970s or maybe early 80s, I'm really not interested in pop music right now. That, you know, I'm not judging anybody. I'm just saying for me, for. For most baby boomers, it's not going to get any better as far as pop music and rock and rock music than that era. Am I right?
Ed Vitagliano that's. That's my opinion.
Tim Wildmon Back me up.
Ed Vitagliano That's my opinion. I do like when I hear songs from later times. 90s, 2000s, even current music, I think. Oh, that's. That's nice. I like that. But in terms of, a decade's worth of music, I don't think you can top the 70s.
Tim Wildmon Right. But the problem is, if the NFL were to try to get some of those people, they can't walk, let alone listen.
Ed Vitagliano I'm still trying to wrap my mind around Chris Woodward statement that he started high school in the 90s.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano I'm sitting next to somebody who started.
Tim Wildmon You Know, I started all moving on down life's road is.
Chris Woodward Well.
Tim Wildmon And you can see the end of the Runway.
Ed Vitagliano Oh, I can see it. It's coming.
Chris Woodward It makes me feel better.
Ed Vitagliano It's coming like a downhill skier.
Chris Woodward Someone commented at the bottom of one of my news stories. This is a few years ago, but somebody commented at the bottom of my article, okay, Boomer. And I was like, hold on now.
Ed Vitagliano You're not a boomer.
Tim Wildmon I don't think most people care about who the halftime show is. People are going to watch the Super Bowl. Now, you do have, people, who are casual observers of football. They don't watch football necessarily, during the season, but the super bowl is an event. Right.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon It's an. It's a worldwide event. So they're going to watch. So they would be. I think. I think the NFL and I'm. I, think the NFL made a big mistake right here.
Ed Vitagliano I do. I do too.
Tim Wildmon But. But I, I don't think that, people tune in for the halftime show except for those casual observers, and the NFL wants to draw those people in. Okay. I'm not. I'm not exonerating the politics of the NFL. I'm just telling you the financial motivation for choosing somebody like this guy would be to broaden the horizons of their,
Ed Vitagliano Which. He's. He's incredibly popular.
Tim Wildmon Oh, yeah.
Jackson: I'm getting tired of politics invading sports
We don't know who he is, but I was like, he is. He is, like, the most strange, downloaded.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon artist in the world for like.
Ed Vitagliano Three or four years. And that probably has to do with the fact that his popularity go. Is outside the borders of the United States.
Tim Wildmon Yes.
Ed Vitagliano As well.
Tim Wildmon So he's from Puerto Rico. He's carrying them Puerto Rico flag during this, this event. I just think you. I don't. I'm not opposed to having an international artist, but I just think they got to be able to speak in singing English so that the people.
Ed Vitagliano And I will say this. And I haven't watched a halftime show for the super bowl or any. Any event. I don't, you know, in probably 10 years. so I. I don't. I couldn't even tell you who it was last year. I think what's becoming increasingly irritating, at least it is for me.
Tim Wildmon I'm with you, brother.
Ed Vitagliano Granted, I'm an old dude. Okay. Is. I'm getting tired of politics invading sports. It started in 2020, maybe goes further back than that 2020 with all the kneeling during the national anthem and all that kind. I'm not saying people don't have a right to their opinion and to express themselves. It's just getting irritating. And, honestly, I watched some NFL games this year because the team I root for, the Rams, had a good year. But I've drifted away from the NFL since 2020. I used to be an pretty avid NFL fan, but what they did starting in 2020 turned me off. And I'm not saying I'm morally superior to anyone who likes the NFL. I'm just saying I don't enjoy it as much.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano Because I don't want to hear what these. I don't want to hear what this guy Bad Bunny thinks about our country. And I don't like the fact that Roger Goodell, the, who leads the NFL, I don't know if he's president, CEO, whatever his position is ignoring the fact that this, this guy, Bad Bunny, whatever his real name is, is politically kind of toxic to a good percentage of the people in this country. And I don't think it's a smart business model for the NFL to be angering. You know, Bud Light and all these other corporations have caught on a little bit before the NFL. You don't anger half your audience, and probably more than that, when it comes to football, you don't anger half your audience with political nonsense. People don't want to hear it.
Chris Woodward I, I think 60 years into the super bowl now, let's do something different. Like don't even have a musical entertainer next year.
Tim Wildmon I think we bring back up with.
Chris Woodward People, do some games. I mean, like I. From the audience to do some kind of competition. And the winner gets to sit in the vip, suite for the rest of the game eating stakers. I mean, there's things you could do that are different, that are not going to offend. Somebody is going to be offended out there.
Ed Vitagliano What is, Up With People? You know, we had, we had an up with People, singer for people who remember that Stay with. When I was in high school, stayed with my family.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano You know, and because they were coming through to sing in Boston or something. So we had. And it was a girl from France who was in this Up With People thing. Man, she was pretty with Up With People, but that, that was, it was uplifting. I. You know what I think they ought to do?
Tim Wildmon What's that?
Ed Vitagliano Go back to marching bands.
Tim Wildmon Have some marching bands come out.
Chris Woodward I honestly think that would be fun. I would recommend if, if they're considering marching bands at any point in the future to get the Jackson State University marching band. The, Sonic boom of the South.
Ed Vitagliano I hope this doesn't sound very well known, racist in any way.
Tim Wildmon But you're not.
Ed Vitagliano No, I'm not.
Tim Wildmon Verified.
Ed Vitagliano You cannot beat a black college marching band.
Chris Woodward It is a ton of horns and drums.
Ed Vitagliano Very good saying. The choreography and the musical talent and the marching, all that.
Tim Wildmon You. You know a lot about that, don't you? I mean, you know enough to analyze it. All right.
Ed Vitagliano And critique it.
Tim Wildmon Oh, yeah.
Ed Vitagliano When it comes to dancing and marching, listen, they are just phenomenal. Jackson State, some of these others. Gram. Yeah, I would. I would watch that. Yeah, I would watch that all 30 minutes of halftime.
Tim Wildmon Okay? So, anyway, we'll move on here, but I think the NFL, if they want to come, back next year and do something that's widely popular with a lot of Americans, you have one of the top country acts. They haven't had a country act headline, and 20. Now, I'm not a huge country music fan, but I know enough to say. I know enough. This. They're looking for somebody that's. That's popular with the general public.
Last time somebody from country genre performed in the halftime show was Shania Twain
Okay.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon And, so, I think if they came back with somebody like Kenny Chesney or.
Ed Vitagliano You know, why? I don't think they will.
Tim Wildmon Why?
Ed Vitagliano Because, generally speaking. And I don't. I don't know much about country music, but I know people who do like it, and these are pro America people. I think the general feeling is the country music is too pro American. And two, I love America. Too patriotic. And I honestly think the NFL, the people running it, are too woke to allow a pro America singer.
Tim Wildmon That's terrible.
Chris Woodward The last.
Ed Vitagliano Seriously, I do think that.
Chris Woodward Oh, yeah. The last time somebody from the country genre performed in the halftime show was Shania Twain in the early 2000s. By the way, the last. The last, 70s act, was the who back in 2010. And then he's not. He's more or less known for 80s material. but Springsteen did the super bowl back. I think he did the super bowl halftime show the year the undefeated Patriots were defeated by the underdog NewSong, York giants back in 2007 or eight.
Tim Wildmon Yeah. All right, well, we'll, we'll see what they do, next year.
Ed Vitagliano But, more on how we hopefully.
Tim Wildmon That's not so critical of our country.
Ed Vitagliano Right. I don't like that.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano And I know. I know. I don't know if we're going to get to it today. There was some American athletes in the Olympics that. Yeah, listen, I don't want. We probably don't have time to deal with that right now because I'm going off on them, too.
Tim Wildmon Are you? Okay, we come back to that later. Well, that's.
Ed Vitagliano It's going to be ugly.
Chris Woodward Stick around.
Tim Wildmon Well, listen, we don't have to talk about what they said right now, exactly. But I just want to say this. if we're going to say that people have free speech, and Americans do have free speech, I just think people need to be more responsible with their speech. Right. Because we don't want people. Yes. Do these athletes have a right to speak? I mean, when some athlete praises Jesus Christ, I go, yay.
Chris Woodward Right?
Tim Wildmon You know, I do care. I do like that. But, when they talk about, you know, what, we're on stolen land, then I go, why don't you go find you some land that's not stolen out there in the. You know.
Ed Vitagliano See, now you're gonna make me say it. I'm gonna say, okay, say it. I'm gonna say it.
Tim Wildmon Just say it.
Ed Vitagliano And we had a couple athletes that were asked questions about ice and all that.
Tim Wildmon Not super bowl at the Winter Olympics. American athletes at the. At the Winter Olympics.
Ed Vitagliano Yes. And I think the policy. Listen, yeah, free speech, absolutely. But not on the taxpayer's dime. And the U.S. olympic Committee gets taxpayer money. I think the U.S. olympics Committee's policy should be, if you're asked a question after your event about US Politics, you decline to answer and, offer to answer any question related to the athletic event.
Tim Wildmon Yes.
Ed Vitagliano And if you break this rule, you're off the Olympic team. You're paying back all the money we've paid. Because that's not your job. We talked about the. This morning. Once the Olympics are done and you're out on your own, talk about it.
Tim Wildmon All you want, right? Then you're just a private citizen.
Ed Vitagliano You're a private citizen. But this goes to all the other stuff we're talking about. This is that you're getting taxpayer money to go over there, have a good time. Yes. You train, but you don't have a real job like a lot of people. you're being. You're being. You're, you're.
Tim Wildmon And you're representing all of us.
Ed Vitagliano Your dreams are being underwritten by everybody.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano So decline to answer or else.
Tim Wildmon Right. Don't. Don't.
Every athlete doesn't have to comment on the politics of the day
Yeah, don't. You don't have. Every athlete doesn't have to comment on the politics of the day in the United States.
Ed Vitagliano They're athletes. Why should their opinion matter more than the guy running a 7 11?
Tim Wildmon When these get like, these couple, three of them, I don't know which part of the Olympic team. They were all skiing, skiing us. And they're, they're back. They're, they're saying basically they're embarrassed to be Americans. Yeah, I'm going like, well, just quit then.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, no, they don't want to quit because they want to have their cake and eat it too.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano And frankly, I don't like their attitude.
Tim Wildmon They want money. They want the, celebrity and the money and the m potential for the gold medal.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon They don't mind that.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon But they're embarrassed of the red, white and blue.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon All right, we'll be back momentarily. Stay with us.
Ed Vitagliano The AFR app is a powerful tool, but it does have limitations. You can't use it to change the oil in your vehicle or get rid of carpet stains. It won't walk the dog, won't pick up the dry cleaning or take the kids to practice. But while you're doing those things, you can listen to your favorite AFR content through the app on your phone, smart device, or Roku. Just go to your app store or visit afr.net listen to AFR wherever you go with the AFR app.
Tim Wildmon We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr.
Speaker B This is today's issues.
Ed Vitagliano Email your comments to commentsafr.net Past broadcasts of today's Issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of, Today's Issues.
Bad Bunny performed 10 minute set at Super Bowl last night in Spanish
Tim Wildmon Okay, welcome back, everybody. As promised, we're going to play the 10 minute set from Bad Bunny last night at the Super Bowl. In case you missed it, we know that you will thoroughly enjoy it.
Ed Vitagliano Now it is in Spanish.
Tim Wildmon so.
Ed Vitagliano Our Spanish listeners will, will get a, get a kick out of it, I'm sure.
Tim Wildmon so anyway, not, not in the words of George H.W. bush, not Gundette. Right? It was just kidding. it's rare for me, but, I was just kidding around.
Turning Point USA's halftime show drew 5 million YouTube viewers
All right, so, we were talking about the halftime show at the, super bowl and the fact that the turning, point event got 5 million plus viewers just on YouTube.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon So I don't know, they maybe got 6 or 7 million total. So that's quite impressive. You're, not gonna be able to compete with a live performance at the super bowl, which is carried by NBC around the world.
Chris Woodward Yeah, yeah.
Tim Wildmon You know, and YouTube and probably everywhere else. That's. And that's not even a fair comparison. But I think most people were looking to see could the Turning Point event even draw a million or two. And the fact that they drew 5 million on YouTube, I think is quite impressive.
Ed Vitagliano Well, look at it this way. Does the NFL want those viewers back next year? Well, then you're going to have to ensure that you're not insulting part of your audience. Now, if you think 5 million is not that big a deal, fine. But the people who pay for ads during the halftime show may disagree.
Tim Wildmon And, I'm not totally, burst on this, but I do know in the corporate world, on TV ads, they want a demographic. They want like a, you know, 20, 25 to 50 year old demographic. That's what they're trying to appeal to, to get brand loyalty going into the future.
Ed Vitagliano Well, they don't care about me because they look at me saying, you don't have what you.
Tim Wildmon Yesterday, you know. Yeah. you're down to your last 20. And so, hey, I'm pulling for 20. You have disposable income. That's what I don't understand. Yeah, all right. What'd you say?
Ed Vitagliano I said that's what I'm pulling for. Another 20 at least.
Tim Wildmon All right, well, so anyway, good. Congratulations to the, people there at Turning Point USA for putting on that event and for getting that kind of an audience. and by the way, and for offering a pro patriotic, alternative. What do you say?
Ed Vitagliano I was gonna say, and congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks. As a Rams fan, I, I, It's hard to even say the words Seattle Seahawks. I despise them.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano As a team and as an organization.
Tim Wildmon Right. but winning.
Ed Vitagliano But they, they won. They did a great job. And there are, my understanding, a lot of Christians on that team.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano And so, so, listen, it's just favorable. No, no, listen, it's just football. When I say I can't stand the Seattle Seahawks, I'm just playing a role as a fan. congratulations. And congratulations to the NewSong England Patriots. They made all the way to the Super Bowl.
Tim Wildmon So again, you don't think, God cares?
Ed Vitagliano I do not.
Tim Wildmon Okay. Who wins?
Ed Vitagliano I also do not care. No, I do care. If it's my team. I know. I Don't think he cares about that. I think he cares about the people who play.
Chris Woodward I agree.
Ed Vitagliano You know, I don't think, listen.
Tim Wildmon maybe we'll have Scott, Lindsay on my friend from, Logos Bible Software.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon He sent me a picture last week, of a team, meeting that he was able to have with some of the Seattle, Seahawks. This has nothing to do with. With the. With the super bowl game. Okay. I'm just talking about he, he was able to. God opened some doors for him to do some ministry with a lot of the Seattle, Seahawks players during the season. During the season. And God's opened doors for him to go into other NFL teams, which has been to teach them the word of God and to reach them.
Ed Vitagliano And can I just say. And I know we have a guest actually sitting in studio waiting on us, but let me just say this. There are people out there, Christians who love God and they think sports doesn't. Is not important. I think culturally speaking, sports can be very important. And here's my theory on this. I think it drains away aggression. The natural aggression that humanity has doesn't, prevent wars, doesn't prevent crime, but I think it drains away some of that in a, kind of a community, something. A way that is important to communities.
Tim Wildmon You're going deep.
There may be something evil about some sports, but there's nothing evil
Well, I like into the psychological.
Ed Vitagliano I just think it. I think it's. I just think it. There's nothing evil about that. Maybe something. Now I'm going too far. There may be something evil about some sports. I'm not saying. I'm just saying, broadly speaking, friendly competition, even. Even, fiery competition between high schools and colleges. I, I think that a lot of people enjoy that. It's helpful to.
Tim Wildmon It's a, It's a. It's a bright. From the normal routine of life. I think that's why people enjoy sports.
Ed Vitagliano And obviously people can become. Can make it, you know, an idol. And I'm not talking about that. That can be true about almost anything. Yeah.
Tim Wildmon You can make an idol of fishing.
Ed Vitagliano Right. Which is.
Tim Wildmon Make an idolatoman. 8 pound bass. You know, some people. Do they frame it.
Ed Vitagliano Yes.
Tim Wildmon Put it in their house or they.
Ed Vitagliano Put antlers up on their wall when they, when they go hunting.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon All right.
Ed Vitagliano Looking at you, Brett Creely.
Tim Wildmon Don't talk to Wesley.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon He's got like a trophy case of these things. Got them all marked from year to year.
Ed Vitagliano I also, Think there's nothing wrong with that.
Tim Wildmon Well, having big bucks. Antlers up.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon In your man cave.
Ed Vitagliano You took its life in your man.
Tim Wildmon But you ate it. So I think that's biblical.
Ed Vitagliano Sorry, I got us off on it's biblical. A tangent.
American Family Radio welcomes Michael Dukes from Samaritan's Purse
Tim Wildmon That's all right. You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Tim, Ed and Chris, we're delighted to have in studio with us Micah Dukes from Samaritan's Purse. Of course, most everybody knows that's the ministry that, Franklin Graham started, humanitarian, relief and helping people who have suffered from the consequences of natural disasters. That's their specialty. And they do that in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as they share the gospel everywhere they go. And, Micah, is in town. He did, devotion for our staff this morning to join us. Good morning, Micah.
Speaker B Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks, appreciate you having me.
Michael Dukes is regional director for Samaritan's Purse
Tim Wildmon So, Micah Dukes, what's your role with Samaritan's Purse?
Speaker B I serve as regional director on our donor ministries team. I'm based in Athens, Georgia, and I serve our donor partners across Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
Tim Wildmon What are you doing in Tupelo today?
Speaker B Yeah, so, because I do serve our donor partners in this state and, and I'm here for the first, four days of this week just, connecting with those in which we're co laborers with.
Tim Wildmon Such as us?
Speaker B Yeah, such as you.
Tim Wildmon But, are you here too, in part because of what happened in North Mississippi relative to the ice storm?
Speaker B Not directly getting involved. However, this afternoon I will be taking part, in a press conference. The Mississippi manufactured, housing, association is, having a press conference this afternoon here in Tupelo. In 2023, when the tornadoes came through the delta, we worked alongside with several manufactured, home builders here in the state to help get families back in their homes then. And in 2024, there was several, a number of homes dedicated. and these are not just, the traditional manufactured homes that we put them into. They're reinforced, you know, even down to having the central bathroom in these mobile homes. Manufactured homes are steel reinforced. They use two by fours and sheetrock instead of just the particle board. They're, they're more sturdy. And so anyway, this afternoon, in acknowledgement of the partnership that we've enjoyed with mmha, we're going to have a homeowner, family that we, that we supported there. And it's just an opportunity.
How many states does Samaritan's Purse work in
Tim Wildmon How many states does Samaritan's Purse? How many states do you work in? You're international too, right?
Speaker B We are global. Yeah, absolutely. I think we've had a presence in, all but two of the US States, where we've, worked in.
Ed Vitagliano Okay, so that's. So those are obviously states that have not had natural disasters. I want to move there. Do you know what state those are?
Speaker B I'm going to guess it's probably a Dakota.
Ed Vitagliano It's awfully cold there, I think.
Tim Wildmon Listen to me. Cold weather is a natural disaster. That's my thoughts on that.
Speaker B I do want to correct one thing, and I always. I was brought up to respect my elders.
Ed Vitagliano Yes.
Tim Wildmon So is that me?
Ed Vitagliano You looking at me?
Speaker B I'm not looking anyone directly in the eyes right this moment, but, you know, so. Franklin is largely attributed as the founder of Samaritan's Purse. However, there's a gentleman named Bob Pierce who, back in the day started both Samaritan's Purse and, if you're familiar with world Vision, yes, Child sponsorship. Bob was, a West coast guy. Loved, the Lord, traveled the world and saw the impoverished conditions that especially the vulnerable, that women and children in particular were, a part of. And he started Samaritan's Purse.
Tim Wildmon I didn't know that. I'm sorry.
Speaker B He sure didn't know. Don't apologize. Not at all. He took a young Franklin Graham kind of under his wing at the time and, traveled the world with Franklin and exposed him there. And Franklin was deeply engaged in the ministry. And then Bob passed away with cancer in the late 70s. And it was 1979, when.
Tim Wildmon Franklin is the CFO now, or CEO. Right.
Speaker B He was in 1979, CEO. Today, no, Franklin is president. CEO.
Tim Wildmon Yep.
Ed Vitagliano now it's. I think what you guys do is really important. You taught. You addressed this this morning in our devotion. You know, I'm not saying go over it, but the body of Christ, sometimes people, Christians or even other people will say, well, afa, you guys are concerned with politics and culture. I think the church should be. I think you should doing this over here. The fact of the matter is, the body of Christ is really big. And it seems to me Christians ought to be busy doing what God has called them to do. And if everyone's doing that, the body. The body of Christ is going to be meeting all sorts of needs. Because what Samaritan's Purse does is hugely important for the testimony of Jesus Christ and the love of God. Because when you come and stand next to people who have nowhere else to turn, sometimes, most of the time, government can't help them or fails them, but to have the hands and feet of Jesus helping them in A moment of crisis and then sharing the gospel so they understand the love of God for them, even in the midst of trial. That is just such an important ministry.
Speaker B One of the reasons why I believe the Lord's hand has remained so firmly upon, this ministry is because of just that. Every focus, centrally speaking, everything that we do. It's gospel centric, from Operation Christmas Child and those shoebox gifts that travel around the world into 100 plus countries every year, we call them gospel opportunities. It's easy to look at that and see the evangelistic aspects of that ministry. But how, how do you connect the gospel to giving a hive of honeybees to, a Northwestern family in Iraq? In northern Iraq. Right. How do you connect the gospel there? You're showing up in most times for us, it's in moments of great need, moments of desperation. And what has become typical for especially the American church is we're going to show up and we're going to be the Savior come riding in and we're going to fix it for you. Where we say, we're going to come in, we're going to show what compassionate and loving care looks like. We're going to be ultimate respecters of the law of the land that we're in, but unapologetically coming in Jesus name. And we're going to, through that care, through running to the ditch, show the love of Christ. And at some point the question will be asked, why are you here? Why would you give up your comfort and put yourself here? And when those questions come, boy, we're ready.
Ed Vitagliano And you don't back off that.
Speaker B No, not at all.
Tim Wildmon Unapologetic Micah Dukes from Samaritan's Purse.
Michael Dukes from Samaritan's Purse speaks about Mississippi winter storm
your home's in Athens, Ga. Right?
Speaker B That's correct, yeah.
Tim Wildmon How long you live there?
Speaker B Oh, goodness, we've been there for 13 years now.
Tim Wildmon Okay. That was after Herschel Walker.
Speaker B It was, it was a little bit after Herschel Walker. It was the end of the Mark Richt area era and, ushered in the Kirby Smart.
Tim Wildmon Kirby Smart era. It's been pretty good for Georgia.
Speaker B It's been a, it's been a good ride. It's been a good ride.
Ed Vitagliano Pretty good, not gonna lie.
Speaker B Yeah, it's been great.
Tim Wildmon I like Mark Rick too. Great Christian guy, wonderful guy.
Speaker B Hey, pray for Coach Rick. He's, you know, he's been battling and he, but he's, he's still just, I saw him at an, Christian Men of Athens event about a month ago and, still just is serving and loving and those players that had him. Oh, they. They'd still run through anything for him.
Tim Wildmon Talking about Mark Brigg, the former coach of Georgia and Miami.
Speaker B That's right. That's right.
Tim Wildmon All right, so Micah Dukes, is, from the Samaritan's Purse organization. And, of course, we support Samaritan's Purse. We support the, Eight Days of Hope or organization, too. And, we, you know, just the wonderful work of anybody doing,
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon Helping folks in the name of Jesus Christ. We support, Thanks so much. what. What is your, website, Micah, for folks who want more information?
Speaker B Yeah, if anybody wants to go out and get more information on Samaritan's Purse. Just, Samaritan's Purse. And, Yeah, I know not every listener is, here in North Mississippi, but certainly we are grateful that we have been on the ground 24 hours, after this winter storm came through. And we're active. We got a ton of, families that we are supporting here in north Mississippi and West Monroe.
Tim Wildmon I'll tell you what, there are a few things. I've never experienced an earthquake. now I felt an earthquake when I was 10 years old or whatever that was just for a few seconds. But I've seen the damage that a tornado can do. We all know what hurricanes can do to a big swath of land. But I'm telling you, an ice storm can do as much damage or worse when you consider how much land it covers. And this ice storm went from Louisiana all the way up to north Mississippi to parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama. But it seemed like the hardest part hit was our area here, north of here, north Mississippi. Because I'm telling you, people are just now getting power back. And that storm was what, two weeks ago? Yeah, or so. And some people are doing. Some people still don't have water. It's. It's, stunning, the. The, impact that. That.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon That an ice storm can have on a geographical area. All right, thank you so much, Micah. Appreciate it, my friend.
Speaker B Thank you, gentlemen.
Tim Wildmon Thanks for coming by. That's, Micah Dukes from the, Samaritan's Purse organization.
In Mississippi alone, 10,574 people still without power two weeks after storm
All right, I'm Tim with Ed and Chris. You're listening to the radio program Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. What's your next story over there, Chris?
Chris Woodward Well, just, to add to your, comment there about just Mississippi. I mean, thousands of, maybe even millions, of Americans were impacted by that recent storm. In Mississippi alone, 10,574 people are still without power today. Two plus weeks after that winter storm. 10,574 still now the. Yes, I'm looking at power outage US which has become a big source is updated M. Yeah, it's. It now that, that 10,000 plus is. Is down substantially from early, last.
Ed Vitagliano Hundred thousand or something. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Chris Woodward I mean, at one point it was pretty much, Issaquin, a county down here, in the Vicksburg area, all the way up, to extreme northeast Mississippi. The good news is fewer and fewer people, but still 10,000 plus people without power two plus weeks after a storm. So God bless, organizations, like the one we just interviewed that have helped people after, those situations and.
Ed Vitagliano power company responders and not all from, their own counties. They had help coming from elsewhere. Yeah, they worked very hard to get people up and running. Anyway, that's all I had to say about that.
President Donald Trump is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later this week
Tim Wildmon What's your next story, Chris?
Chris Woodward All right, President Donald Trump is going to be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later this week. They are supposed to talk about a number of things. Probably that peace deal between Israel and Hamas, but also the subject of Iran is supposed to come up. and you know, a lot of people have been watching and waiting to see what, if anything, President Trump might do to Iran based on the fact that a few weeks ago, he was, telling people in Iran to hold on, help is on the way. That was when they were protesting the Islamic regime in the streets and some people were being executed, for their demonstrations against the government. somebody that is, talking about this is President Trump himself. I've got a couple of bites. Trump and then Ambassador, Huckabee. let's do President Trump first. This is him on Air Force One talking about his upcoming meeting with Bibi. Clip 7 yeah, there's a deal that.
Ed Vitagliano Would be acceptable, but the one thing, and right up front, no nuclear weapons. if we could have made that deal two years ago, we would have made that deal, but they weren't willing to do that. Now they are willing to do it, so they're willing to do much more than they would have a year and a half ago.
Chris Woodward He's talking about, what, if anything, are you going to tell, or expect from Iran here. Somebody else that's weighed in on this is our US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. he told reporters that strikes on Iran are not inevitable, but there's still a possibility.
Ed Vitagliano Clip 8 I don't know that they're inevitable, but if Iran doesn't think President Trump will strike. If they keep just fooling around with these negotiations and they're not serious about taking them somewhere, they have a very short memory. Let's go back less than a year ago. If they stand behind that mule once again, there's going to be a resounding kick. So, Chris, let me ask you this. I've been trying to, in reading, trying to figure out what the president's end game is here. Is the president only talking about, Iran not getting nuclear weapons, or is the president talking about regime change? Do we know? I mean, maybe keeping those cards close to the vest.
Chris Woodward Well, a number of reports going back to, late last week when they had talks in Amman with Iranian officials, members of the Trump administration. I'm talking about a number of news reports going into and coming out of those meetings, talked about how the US does not want Iran to have nuclear weapon capabilities, which obviously is something they've been very interested in. They were doing research on that. We bombed some of those operations last year's, the clips we just heard. But, And it's hard to get into the mind of President Donald Trump. Okay, I'm guessing here, I would think he's probably also in favor of regime change, because much of the unrest we see today in the Middle east is because of the Islamic regime that's running Tehran. And, you know, you have a lot of the other countries over there that are, yes, Muslims, but they're Arabs, whereas the Iranians are Persians, and they're a different kind of m. Islam than, say, Saudi Arabia and some of the other countries. And a lot of the instability over there is due to the troublemakers, that are, you know, in Tehran versus Riyadh.
Ed Vitagliano And I will say this. Iran, in supporting terrorist organizations, to me and to some of the experts that I've read, seems to be driving for, m. Islamic revolution in countries that are favorable to the west or are not, radical enough, like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, some of these other places. That's why I think, even Muslim countries are not happy with Iran, because Iran wants the Arab street, so to speak, to erupt and create radical Muslim regimes rather than stable ones that are willing to work with the West.
Tim Wildmon Let me ask you this question. So are you for American bombing Iran?
Ed Vitagliano No, I. I'm. I'm. I'm. No. Oh.
Ed Vitagliano For regime change?
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano no, I. I'm not. I'm not for that.
Tim Wildmon That seems to be where we're headed.
Ed Vitagliano It does seem to be where we're headed now, I think good would come out of it because those mullahs are keeping that country enslaved. And like I said, they're keeping the radical, Islamic movement, alive with money. But I just, I am just very wary of just saying, well, we're going to overthrow your government. But I just. Consequences.
Tim Wildmon Do you not think that President Trump is boxing himself in sort of here, moving all these military assets to the Middle East? telling. Telling the Iranian people help is on its way.
Ed Vitagliano That was, I think that was a mistake. Telling was telling the, Iranian, Iranian people help is on the way while they were in the streets protesting.
Tim Wildmon That's what he told them.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, that, that, to me, that's a mistake. And, and here' I'm fine with sending aircraft carrier groups over there so that you leave all your options on the table. You've got, sufficient force in place to do whatever you want. I don't think we should have given the impression that we were going to militarily support the protests, because I think that encouraged the protesters and, and the Iranian leadership slaughtered them upwards. I've heard over 36,000 people have died at the hands of these butchers. I certainly would be okay with, if we had to bomb some more nuclear facilities to make sure that they do not get a nuclear weapon. To me, that's to protect the United States. I am very leery with overthrowing governments. We've done a lot of that in our past. So. Have a bunch of other people.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano Above a bunch of other countries. I think when President Trump said help is on the way, I think he should not have promised something he was not willing to commit to. And sometimes not saying what you're doing over there is even more, weighty.
Tim Wildmon But you heard what Mike Huckabee just said. My Huckabee, who is our friend, he's.
Ed Vitagliano The ambassador, he said it might Israel.
Tim Wildmon He said the, If you don't think Trump's going to use our, our military again against Iran, you better think twice.
Ed Vitagliano Well, the mullahs are not, they're not going to step down. They'll, they'll, they'll engulf.
Tim Wildmon They're not going to put themselves up for a boat.
Ed Vitagliano Right. That's, that's not going to happen. They're going to have.
Tim Wildmon Who's in favor of us staying? You think they're not going to do that? Whether they have a vote?
Ed Vitagliano Oh, yeah, no, they're not. They're not going to do that.
The United States is going to have to kill the mullahs to overthrow Iran
You're going to have to kill them.
Tim Wildmon And who's gonna have to kill who?
Ed Vitagliano The United States is going to have to kill the mullahs to. To, Or get the military over in Iran to perform a coup. I, The. The mullahs are not. Khomeini is not stepping down, and the Mullers are not giving up power. So that's where we're at. And what is the United States willing to do? I don't know.
Tim Wildmon All right, we'll be back momentarily with more of Today. You don't want to miss this next segment. By the way. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Blue Mountain Christian University invites prospective students and families to campus preview day
Chris Woodward Choosing a university is an important decision.
Speaker B And visiting campus can make all the difference.
Chris Woodward Blue Mountain Christian University invites prospective students and families to experience campus at our spring preview day on Wednesday, March 4th. During preview day, you'll meet faculty, explore academic programs, learn about scholarships, experience chapel, and see what life is like in a Christ centered campus community. Learn more and plan your visit at bmc.
Ed Vitagliano Eduardo.
Tim Wildman hosts Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network
Welcome to Today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day. here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.
Tim Wildmon Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. That's the name of this show, Today's Issues. This is Monday, February 9, 2026. We thank you for listening to AFR. Joining me in studio is Ed Battagliano. Good morning, Brother Ed.
Ed Vitagliano Good morning, Tim.
Tim Wildmon Chris Woodward.
Ed Vitagliano Good morning.
Tim Wildmon Good morning, Chris. Fred's off today, right?
Chris Woodward He sure is.
Tim Wildmon His rocker.
Chris Woodward And he's at home rooting on Team Canada in the Olympics.
Tim Wildmon Oh, hey, that's right. He's probably a big Winter Olympics fan.
Ed Vitagliano yeah, but the men don't start playing until Wednesday, I think.
Tim Wildmon Are you talking about hockey?
Chris Woodward Hockey? It's winter 13 months out of the year.
Tim Wildmon I was talking about the, just the general Winter Olympics.
Ed Vitagliano I like, I like the Winter Olympics. Most of the stuff.
Tim Wildmon You don't see it every four years. Most people, most Americans.
Ed Vitagliano And unless you can't get enough of that curling.
Tim Wildmon I watched a little bit last night after the, super bowl was over, which was really over in the first half.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon Far as it was going to win or not. But I did watch some, of the, downhill skiing. I would think, I would say those people, who do that are insane. who do that.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon That doesn't mean they're bad people. They're great athletes.
Ed Vitagliano Insane people are.
Tim Wildmon They're great athletes. But they. The reason I say that is I watched the. Sadly, that Lindsay Baughan.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon she wiped out, like.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano Broke her leg.
Chris Woodward We have the audio if you want to play it.
Tim Wildmon yeah, I think we will play that. But, but I. What? But, but they were show. The reason I bring this up, they were showing the vantage point of the skier, which I had not seen before. So they had the camera up there at the top of the mountain. And what I mean by insane is you look down there and I go, nobody who would do this. That's the insane part. I don't mean mentally ill. I mean just. You would be crazy nuts to do something like this. Of course. but that's, but man, they fly down there going 70. They were going 70 miles an hour.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon These downhill skiers.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah. And anyway, they had 70 miles an hour.
Tim Wildmon Yes, they do. 70 miles an hour. 70 miles an hour. Can you imagine?
Ed Vitagliano I did.
Tim Wildmon That's what you go on the interstate, you know, if you're legal.
Chris Woodward Unless you're in Texas and it's 100.
Tim Wildmon Right. Or Montana where they had no speed.
Chris Woodward Right, right.
Tim Wildmon But.
Lindsey Vaughn competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics despite a knee injury
Well, I do want to play this. this was, we were going to play it maybe later in the show, but, this is Lindsey Vaughn is, she's won gold medals in the past. Downhill.
Chris Woodward She's one of the great.
Tim Wildmon She's in her. Is she in her 40s?
Chris Woodward Early 40s.
Tim Wildmon Early 40s, which is phenomenal. She had qualified and was going to represent our country, the United States again. And then the other day she, tore her knee. an acl.
Chris Woodward Yeah. And she had, she's had a history.
Tim Wildmon Of knee injuries going into this despite a torn acl. I don't even know how you ski on that. but, she decided to try it again. And, again, remember, she's, she's going for the gold and she's, this is what happened right here.
Ed Vitagliano Oh, by the way, let me just give some of her pedigree here. she won four World cup overall championships with titles 2008, 9, 10 and 12. Won the gold medal in downhill, ski racing, I guess, at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The first one for an American woman. She also won a record eight world season titles in the downhill discipline, five titles in super G, three consecutive titles in the combined. Those are types of events.
Tim Wildmon You're telling me she, she, she skied in the 2010.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano Yes.
Chris Woodward She's been skiing for.
Ed Vitagliano She, she won, World cup overall championship starting in 2008. So she's been around, for a long time.
Tim Wildmon That's 18 years of world class competition.
Ed Vitagliano Yes. Lindsay Vaughn, a legend of the sport.
Lindsey Von broke her leg during a skiing accident yesterday
Tim Wildmon Okay, okay, so, so we're, we're about to hear what happened yesterday. And as she. Again, she's trying to basically ski 70 miles an hour down here on one leg. in essence, yeah. Okay, here's what happened.
Ed Vitagliano Lindsay Von, A legend of the sports. Here she goes. I saw today earlier a little interview with her.
Chris Woodward She, she said there's nothing to leave behind. She's going to.
Tim Wildmon Oh, no.
Ed Vitagliano Oh, goodness me. This is a disaster. A massive crash.
Tim Wildmon Oh, so she crashed.
Ed Vitagliano I have not seen it. I'm going to watch it. At lunch you said you saw.
Tim Wildmon Oh, it was. It was terrible. And I, thought she was more injured than she was. She broke her leg. I don't know if it's the ACL leg or, you know, the other leg. I don't know. But they had to airlift her now.
Ed Vitagliano And she, had surgery.
Tim Wildmon Yeah, airlift her, and helicopter. So I told Allison we were watching this. I thought, that's more dangerous than skiing. Yeah, to me, that would be more scary because she wasn't. But. So she's airlifted, from a helicopter to m. You know, to a hospital or to an ambulance or something like that. So you didn't see it?
Ed Vitagliano I. I did not. I knew about it. I read about it. Well, you know the, Remember the wide, Wide World of sports on ABC? That goes back a long time. Before 24. Seven sports channels. But you remember the intro to that? There was, Yeah, with the,
Tim Wildmon That was when they came off the.
Ed Vitagliano Ramp with the ramp and the guy.
Tim Wildmon That's the agony of feet.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah. The act, the AC.
Tim Wildmon Yeah. The thrill of victory, Agony of defeat.
Ed Vitagliano Now, I. I will say I've had the agony of defeat. Sometimes when I've been out in the yard too long or something, your feet begin to hurt.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano no, that guy, he face planted. And, these, like you said, these are extreme sports for, brave souls who have been doing all their lives. I'm guessing that Lindsey Vaughn didn't start off going down a big hill like that. She worked her way up, but I did not work her way up to go down 70 miles an hour. That's no wonder. People get seriously hurt when they wipe.
Chris Woodward I'm amazed by, like, the. The luge and the skeleton. Like, when the only, talk about.
Tim Wildmon That was actually a ride at Disney World.
Chris Woodward Well, that's like. I don't even know who dreamed that stuff up a long time ago.
Tim Wildmon Loads in the skeleton.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, that's from the Pirates of the Caribbean.
Chris Woodward When the only thing between you and Jesus is the cookie sheet that you'. Like skiing down the, the tube of ice with. That's. That's a bold move.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, the.
Tim Wildmon Anyway, the Winter Olympic. Yes, good point, Chris. the winter, Olympics are taking place, and, so the hockey, which.
Ed Vitagliano You'Re most interested in now, the girls hockey has. I've watched a couple of, the replays of the. The girls.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano the U.S. women's hockey team that's already started. The men start, I think, on Wednesday with, their hockey, is bad.
Tim Wildmon Bugs money going to Be in that, competition.
Ed Vitagliano Bad, Bad.
Tim Wildmon Bad Bunny.
Ed Vitagliano Bad Bugs Bunny.
Bad Bunny's controversial halftime show garnered 5 million YouTube viewers last night
Tim Wildmon All right, so last night, of course the super bowl took place in California.
Ed Vitagliano Wasn't all that super abs.
Tim Wildmon Ah, kind of a, kind of a dull game for the most part. Few big plays here and there.
Ed Vitagliano I, you know the old expression defense wins championships. It also makes for a pretty boring Super Bowl.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon All right, so, but sort of all eyes were on the halftime show, because it, it had been very controversial. I did not watch the halftime show. there was, it was a, a singer slash rapper named Bad Bunny, which most Americans had never heard of, I would say. but he was chosen by the NFL to do the halftime show. And because of his criticisms of, I guess, ICE and the immigration, laws of America, and his outspokenness on those things and the fact that he was not an English speaking person.
Chris Woodward Yeah. He often performs in a dress too.
Tim Wildmon Does he? But he didn't last night.
Chris Woodward I didn't. I'm not sure. I did not watch.
Tim Wildmon I did not watch either. Well, we would have heard about it.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, Yeah, I didn't watch it anyway.
Tim Wildmon So, that was the halftime entertainment for the super bowl, when this was announced. Now you know, we. The fact that he doesn't speak. Speak English to me is. No, he does. I take that back. I think he does speak some English, but he doesn't sing or perform in English, which I thought for an American event. Now granted, the super bowl is watched worldwide.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon And the NFL is trying to broaden their. They want to be more than the NFL. They want to be the International Football League in terms of. They want to grow their sport, have more eyes on their sport, make more money. Right. So I can understand that. But to have a performer when you're really trying ah, to appeal to the United States audience who doesn't sing in English was a real barrier, to me. But I guess people just wanted to watch him dance around. Anyway, the point is that the Turning Point usa, that is Charlie Kirk's organization, the late Charlie Kirk's organization, announced a couple months ago because of the, it was Bad Bunny and for all the reasons I just mentioned, his leftist politics and his criticisms, of the United States, particularly President Trump and immigration. They were going to offer an alternative. Right, Correct. And that alternative garnered 5 million.
Chris Woodward Plus viewers just on YouTube. It was on some other, platforms and networks. So the 5 million figure as I understand it, is just from YouTube alone. It might be more when you factor in the eyeballs that were on other products that were airing the same program.
Chris Woodward: I think the NFL made a mistake with the halftime show
Tim Wildmon Did you watch, Chris?
Chris Woodward I did. I watched. I watched it in its entirety. it was, it was interesting for me because, Kid Rock was one of the performers. Kid Rock was popular back in your day. Yes. Now, I did graduate high school in this century, but in the, in the late 90s, when I was starting high school, that's when Kid Rock entered the realm, you know, and became Kid Rock and. And all this other stuff. So it was, it was interesting for me when my teen and tween daughter were like, who's this guy again? And I said, it's a long story.
Tim Wildmon He. Kid Rock is 55 years old now. I mean, he's not a kid anymore. He's 55 years old. Anyway, he was sort of the headliner for this turning, Point USA alternative halftime show last night. I was in pr. I didn't, watch. I was eating my steak and Caesar. and, but Alison, my wife, she had it on YouTube.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon And, she. She had it on YouTube on her phone while we were eating dinner and just basically to support, their. Their event.
Ed Vitagliano Their effort to have a counter event.
Tim Wildmon Yeah. Because we didn't really follow any of the singers.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon That, that were on there. I told her last night, I thought Alison, I said. So, I said, I know every generation thinks that their music was the best.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon That's true of every generation. Right.
Ed Vitagliano And most of them are wrong. But.
Tim Wildmon Wrong. But, but, but, but, if it's not 70s m music from the 1970s or maybe early 80s, I'm really not interested in pop music right now. That, you know, I'm not judging anybody. I'm just saying for me, for. For most baby boomers, it's not going to get any better as far as pop music and rock and rock music than that era. Am I right?
Ed Vitagliano that's. That's my opinion.
Tim Wildmon Back me up.
Ed Vitagliano That's my opinion. I do like when I hear songs from later times. 90s, 2000s, even current music, I think. Oh, that's. That's nice. I like that. But in terms of, a decade's worth of music, I don't think you can top the 70s.
Tim Wildmon Right. But the problem is, if the NFL were to try to get some of those people, they can't walk, let alone listen.
Ed Vitagliano I'm still trying to wrap my mind around Chris Woodward statement that he started high school in the 90s.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano I'm sitting next to somebody who started.
Tim Wildmon You Know, I started all moving on down life's road is.
Chris Woodward Well.
Tim Wildmon And you can see the end of the Runway.
Ed Vitagliano Oh, I can see it. It's coming.
Chris Woodward It makes me feel better.
Ed Vitagliano It's coming like a downhill skier.
Chris Woodward Someone commented at the bottom of one of my news stories. This is a few years ago, but somebody commented at the bottom of my article, okay, Boomer. And I was like, hold on now.
Ed Vitagliano You're not a boomer.
Tim Wildmon I don't think most people care about who the halftime show is. People are going to watch the Super Bowl. Now, you do have, people, who are casual observers of football. They don't watch football necessarily, during the season, but the super bowl is an event. Right.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon It's an. It's a worldwide event. So they're going to watch. So they would be. I think. I think the NFL and I'm. I, think the NFL made a big mistake right here.
Ed Vitagliano I do. I do too.
Tim Wildmon But. But I, I don't think that, people tune in for the halftime show except for those casual observers, and the NFL wants to draw those people in. Okay. I'm not. I'm not exonerating the politics of the NFL. I'm just telling you the financial motivation for choosing somebody like this guy would be to broaden the horizons of their,
Ed Vitagliano Which. He's. He's incredibly popular.
Tim Wildmon Oh, yeah.
Jackson: I'm getting tired of politics invading sports
We don't know who he is, but I was like, he is. He is, like, the most strange, downloaded.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon artist in the world for like.
Ed Vitagliano Three or four years. And that probably has to do with the fact that his popularity go. Is outside the borders of the United States.
Tim Wildmon Yes.
Ed Vitagliano As well.
Tim Wildmon So he's from Puerto Rico. He's carrying them Puerto Rico flag during this, this event. I just think you. I don't. I'm not opposed to having an international artist, but I just think they got to be able to speak in singing English so that the people.
Ed Vitagliano And I will say this. And I haven't watched a halftime show for the super bowl or any. Any event. I don't, you know, in probably 10 years. so I. I don't. I couldn't even tell you who it was last year. I think what's becoming increasingly irritating, at least it is for me.
Tim Wildmon I'm with you, brother.
Ed Vitagliano Granted, I'm an old dude. Okay. Is. I'm getting tired of politics invading sports. It started in 2020, maybe goes further back than that 2020 with all the kneeling during the national anthem and all that kind. I'm not saying people don't have a right to their opinion and to express themselves. It's just getting irritating. And, honestly, I watched some NFL games this year because the team I root for, the Rams, had a good year. But I've drifted away from the NFL since 2020. I used to be an pretty avid NFL fan, but what they did starting in 2020 turned me off. And I'm not saying I'm morally superior to anyone who likes the NFL. I'm just saying I don't enjoy it as much.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano Because I don't want to hear what these. I don't want to hear what this guy Bad Bunny thinks about our country. And I don't like the fact that Roger Goodell, the, who leads the NFL, I don't know if he's president, CEO, whatever his position is ignoring the fact that this, this guy, Bad Bunny, whatever his real name is, is politically kind of toxic to a good percentage of the people in this country. And I don't think it's a smart business model for the NFL to be angering. You know, Bud Light and all these other corporations have caught on a little bit before the NFL. You don't anger half your audience, and probably more than that, when it comes to football, you don't anger half your audience with political nonsense. People don't want to hear it.
Chris Woodward I, I think 60 years into the super bowl now, let's do something different. Like don't even have a musical entertainer next year.
Tim Wildmon I think we bring back up with.
Chris Woodward People, do some games. I mean, like I. From the audience to do some kind of competition. And the winner gets to sit in the vip, suite for the rest of the game eating stakers. I mean, there's things you could do that are different, that are not going to offend. Somebody is going to be offended out there.
Ed Vitagliano What is, Up With People? You know, we had, we had an up with People, singer for people who remember that Stay with. When I was in high school, stayed with my family.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano You know, and because they were coming through to sing in Boston or something. So we had. And it was a girl from France who was in this Up With People thing. Man, she was pretty with Up With People, but that, that was, it was uplifting. I. You know what I think they ought to do?
Tim Wildmon What's that?
Ed Vitagliano Go back to marching bands.
Tim Wildmon Have some marching bands come out.
Chris Woodward I honestly think that would be fun. I would recommend if, if they're considering marching bands at any point in the future to get the Jackson State University marching band. The, Sonic boom of the South.
Ed Vitagliano I hope this doesn't sound very well known, racist in any way.
Tim Wildmon But you're not.
Ed Vitagliano No, I'm not.
Tim Wildmon Verified.
Ed Vitagliano You cannot beat a black college marching band.
Chris Woodward It is a ton of horns and drums.
Ed Vitagliano Very good saying. The choreography and the musical talent and the marching, all that.
Tim Wildmon You. You know a lot about that, don't you? I mean, you know enough to analyze it. All right.
Ed Vitagliano And critique it.
Tim Wildmon Oh, yeah.
Ed Vitagliano When it comes to dancing and marching, listen, they are just phenomenal. Jackson State, some of these others. Gram. Yeah, I would. I would watch that. Yeah, I would watch that all 30 minutes of halftime.
Tim Wildmon Okay? So, anyway, we'll move on here, but I think the NFL, if they want to come, back next year and do something that's widely popular with a lot of Americans, you have one of the top country acts. They haven't had a country act headline, and 20. Now, I'm not a huge country music fan, but I know enough to say. I know enough. This. They're looking for somebody that's. That's popular with the general public.
Last time somebody from country genre performed in the halftime show was Shania Twain
Okay.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon And, so, I think if they came back with somebody like Kenny Chesney or.
Ed Vitagliano You know, why? I don't think they will.
Tim Wildmon Why?
Ed Vitagliano Because, generally speaking. And I don't. I don't know much about country music, but I know people who do like it, and these are pro America people. I think the general feeling is the country music is too pro American. And two, I love America. Too patriotic. And I honestly think the NFL, the people running it, are too woke to allow a pro America singer.
Tim Wildmon That's terrible.
Chris Woodward The last.
Ed Vitagliano Seriously, I do think that.
Chris Woodward Oh, yeah. The last time somebody from the country genre performed in the halftime show was Shania Twain in the early 2000s. By the way, the last. The last, 70s act, was the who back in 2010. And then he's not. He's more or less known for 80s material. but Springsteen did the super bowl back. I think he did the super bowl halftime show the year the undefeated Patriots were defeated by the underdog NewSong, York giants back in 2007 or eight.
Tim Wildmon Yeah. All right, well, we'll, we'll see what they do, next year.
Ed Vitagliano But, more on how we hopefully.
Tim Wildmon That's not so critical of our country.
Ed Vitagliano Right. I don't like that.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano And I know. I know. I don't know if we're going to get to it today. There was some American athletes in the Olympics that. Yeah, listen, I don't want. We probably don't have time to deal with that right now because I'm going off on them, too.
Tim Wildmon Are you? Okay, we come back to that later. Well, that's.
Ed Vitagliano It's going to be ugly.
Chris Woodward Stick around.
Tim Wildmon Well, listen, we don't have to talk about what they said right now, exactly. But I just want to say this. if we're going to say that people have free speech, and Americans do have free speech, I just think people need to be more responsible with their speech. Right. Because we don't want people. Yes. Do these athletes have a right to speak? I mean, when some athlete praises Jesus Christ, I go, yay.
Chris Woodward Right?
Tim Wildmon You know, I do care. I do like that. But, when they talk about, you know, what, we're on stolen land, then I go, why don't you go find you some land that's not stolen out there in the. You know.
Ed Vitagliano See, now you're gonna make me say it. I'm gonna say, okay, say it. I'm gonna say it.
Tim Wildmon Just say it.
Ed Vitagliano And we had a couple athletes that were asked questions about ice and all that.
Tim Wildmon Not super bowl at the Winter Olympics. American athletes at the. At the Winter Olympics.
Ed Vitagliano Yes. And I think the policy. Listen, yeah, free speech, absolutely. But not on the taxpayer's dime. And the U.S. olympic Committee gets taxpayer money. I think the U.S. olympics Committee's policy should be, if you're asked a question after your event about US Politics, you decline to answer and, offer to answer any question related to the athletic event.
Tim Wildmon Yes.
Ed Vitagliano And if you break this rule, you're off the Olympic team. You're paying back all the money we've paid. Because that's not your job. We talked about the. This morning. Once the Olympics are done and you're out on your own, talk about it.
Tim Wildmon All you want, right? Then you're just a private citizen.
Ed Vitagliano You're a private citizen. But this goes to all the other stuff we're talking about. This is that you're getting taxpayer money to go over there, have a good time. Yes. You train, but you don't have a real job like a lot of people. you're being. You're being. You're, you're.
Tim Wildmon And you're representing all of us.
Ed Vitagliano Your dreams are being underwritten by everybody.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano So decline to answer or else.
Tim Wildmon Right. Don't. Don't.
Every athlete doesn't have to comment on the politics of the day
Yeah, don't. You don't have. Every athlete doesn't have to comment on the politics of the day in the United States.
Ed Vitagliano They're athletes. Why should their opinion matter more than the guy running a 7 11?
Tim Wildmon When these get like, these couple, three of them, I don't know which part of the Olympic team. They were all skiing, skiing us. And they're, they're back. They're, they're saying basically they're embarrassed to be Americans. Yeah, I'm going like, well, just quit then.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, no, they don't want to quit because they want to have their cake and eat it too.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano And frankly, I don't like their attitude.
Tim Wildmon They want money. They want the, celebrity and the money and the m potential for the gold medal.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon They don't mind that.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon But they're embarrassed of the red, white and blue.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon All right, we'll be back momentarily. Stay with us.
Ed Vitagliano The AFR app is a powerful tool, but it does have limitations. You can't use it to change the oil in your vehicle or get rid of carpet stains. It won't walk the dog, won't pick up the dry cleaning or take the kids to practice. But while you're doing those things, you can listen to your favorite AFR content through the app on your phone, smart device, or Roku. Just go to your app store or visit afr.net listen to AFR wherever you go with the AFR app.
Tim Wildmon We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr.
Speaker B This is today's issues.
Ed Vitagliano Email your comments to commentsafr.net Past broadcasts of today's Issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of, Today's Issues.
Bad Bunny performed 10 minute set at Super Bowl last night in Spanish
Tim Wildmon Okay, welcome back, everybody. As promised, we're going to play the 10 minute set from Bad Bunny last night at the Super Bowl. In case you missed it, we know that you will thoroughly enjoy it.
Ed Vitagliano Now it is in Spanish.
Tim Wildmon so.
Ed Vitagliano Our Spanish listeners will, will get a, get a kick out of it, I'm sure.
Tim Wildmon so anyway, not, not in the words of George H.W. bush, not Gundette. Right? It was just kidding. it's rare for me, but, I was just kidding around.
Turning Point USA's halftime show drew 5 million YouTube viewers
All right, so, we were talking about the halftime show at the, super bowl and the fact that the turning, point event got 5 million plus viewers just on YouTube.
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon So I don't know, they maybe got 6 or 7 million total. So that's quite impressive. You're, not gonna be able to compete with a live performance at the super bowl, which is carried by NBC around the world.
Chris Woodward Yeah, yeah.
Tim Wildmon You know, and YouTube and probably everywhere else. That's. And that's not even a fair comparison. But I think most people were looking to see could the Turning Point event even draw a million or two. And the fact that they drew 5 million on YouTube, I think is quite impressive.
Ed Vitagliano Well, look at it this way. Does the NFL want those viewers back next year? Well, then you're going to have to ensure that you're not insulting part of your audience. Now, if you think 5 million is not that big a deal, fine. But the people who pay for ads during the halftime show may disagree.
Tim Wildmon And, I'm not totally, burst on this, but I do know in the corporate world, on TV ads, they want a demographic. They want like a, you know, 20, 25 to 50 year old demographic. That's what they're trying to appeal to, to get brand loyalty going into the future.
Ed Vitagliano Well, they don't care about me because they look at me saying, you don't have what you.
Tim Wildmon Yesterday, you know. Yeah. you're down to your last 20. And so, hey, I'm pulling for 20. You have disposable income. That's what I don't understand. Yeah, all right. What'd you say?
Ed Vitagliano I said that's what I'm pulling for. Another 20 at least.
Tim Wildmon All right, well, so anyway, good. Congratulations to the, people there at Turning Point USA for putting on that event and for getting that kind of an audience. and by the way, and for offering a pro patriotic, alternative. What do you say?
Ed Vitagliano I was gonna say, and congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks. As a Rams fan, I, I, It's hard to even say the words Seattle Seahawks. I despise them.
Tim Wildmon Right.
Ed Vitagliano As a team and as an organization.
Tim Wildmon Right. but winning.
Ed Vitagliano But they, they won. They did a great job. And there are, my understanding, a lot of Christians on that team.
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano And so, so, listen, it's just favorable. No, no, listen, it's just football. When I say I can't stand the Seattle Seahawks, I'm just playing a role as a fan. congratulations. And congratulations to the NewSong England Patriots. They made all the way to the Super Bowl.
Tim Wildmon So again, you don't think, God cares?
Ed Vitagliano I do not.
Tim Wildmon Okay. Who wins?
Ed Vitagliano I also do not care. No, I do care. If it's my team. I know. I Don't think he cares about that. I think he cares about the people who play.
Chris Woodward I agree.
Ed Vitagliano You know, I don't think, listen.
Tim Wildmon maybe we'll have Scott, Lindsay on my friend from, Logos Bible Software.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon He sent me a picture last week, of a team, meeting that he was able to have with some of the Seattle, Seahawks. This has nothing to do with. With the. With the super bowl game. Okay. I'm just talking about he, he was able to. God opened some doors for him to do some ministry with a lot of the Seattle, Seahawks players during the season. During the season. And God's opened doors for him to go into other NFL teams, which has been to teach them the word of God and to reach them.
Ed Vitagliano And can I just say. And I know we have a guest actually sitting in studio waiting on us, but let me just say this. There are people out there, Christians who love God and they think sports doesn't. Is not important. I think culturally speaking, sports can be very important. And here's my theory on this. I think it drains away aggression. The natural aggression that humanity has doesn't, prevent wars, doesn't prevent crime, but I think it drains away some of that in a, kind of a community, something. A way that is important to communities.
Tim Wildmon You're going deep.
There may be something evil about some sports, but there's nothing evil
Well, I like into the psychological.
Ed Vitagliano I just think it. I think it's. I just think it. There's nothing evil about that. Maybe something. Now I'm going too far. There may be something evil about some sports. I'm not saying. I'm just saying, broadly speaking, friendly competition, even. Even, fiery competition between high schools and colleges. I, I think that a lot of people enjoy that. It's helpful to.
Tim Wildmon It's a, It's a. It's a bright. From the normal routine of life. I think that's why people enjoy sports.
Ed Vitagliano And obviously people can become. Can make it, you know, an idol. And I'm not talking about that. That can be true about almost anything. Yeah.
Tim Wildmon You can make an idol of fishing.
Ed Vitagliano Right. Which is.
Tim Wildmon Make an idolatoman. 8 pound bass. You know, some people. Do they frame it.
Ed Vitagliano Yes.
Tim Wildmon Put it in their house or they.
Ed Vitagliano Put antlers up on their wall when they, when they go hunting.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon All right.
Ed Vitagliano Looking at you, Brett Creely.
Tim Wildmon Don't talk to Wesley.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Tim Wildmon He's got like a trophy case of these things. Got them all marked from year to year.
Ed Vitagliano I also, Think there's nothing wrong with that.
Tim Wildmon Well, having big bucks. Antlers up.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon In your man cave.
Ed Vitagliano You took its life in your man.
Tim Wildmon But you ate it. So I think that's biblical.
Ed Vitagliano Sorry, I got us off on it's biblical. A tangent.
American Family Radio welcomes Michael Dukes from Samaritan's Purse
Tim Wildmon That's all right. You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Tim, Ed and Chris, we're delighted to have in studio with us Micah Dukes from Samaritan's Purse. Of course, most everybody knows that's the ministry that, Franklin Graham started, humanitarian, relief and helping people who have suffered from the consequences of natural disasters. That's their specialty. And they do that in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as they share the gospel everywhere they go. And, Micah, is in town. He did, devotion for our staff this morning to join us. Good morning, Micah.
Speaker B Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks, appreciate you having me.
Michael Dukes is regional director for Samaritan's Purse
Tim Wildmon So, Micah Dukes, what's your role with Samaritan's Purse?
Speaker B I serve as regional director on our donor ministries team. I'm based in Athens, Georgia, and I serve our donor partners across Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
Tim Wildmon What are you doing in Tupelo today?
Speaker B Yeah, so, because I do serve our donor partners in this state and, and I'm here for the first, four days of this week just, connecting with those in which we're co laborers with.
Tim Wildmon Such as us?
Speaker B Yeah, such as you.
Tim Wildmon But, are you here too, in part because of what happened in North Mississippi relative to the ice storm?
Speaker B Not directly getting involved. However, this afternoon I will be taking part, in a press conference. The Mississippi manufactured, housing, association is, having a press conference this afternoon here in Tupelo. In 2023, when the tornadoes came through the delta, we worked alongside with several manufactured, home builders here in the state to help get families back in their homes then. And in 2024, there was several, a number of homes dedicated. and these are not just, the traditional manufactured homes that we put them into. They're reinforced, you know, even down to having the central bathroom in these mobile homes. Manufactured homes are steel reinforced. They use two by fours and sheetrock instead of just the particle board. They're, they're more sturdy. And so anyway, this afternoon, in acknowledgement of the partnership that we've enjoyed with mmha, we're going to have a homeowner, family that we, that we supported there. And it's just an opportunity.
How many states does Samaritan's Purse work in
Tim Wildmon How many states does Samaritan's Purse? How many states do you work in? You're international too, right?
Speaker B We are global. Yeah, absolutely. I think we've had a presence in, all but two of the US States, where we've, worked in.
Ed Vitagliano Okay, so that's. So those are obviously states that have not had natural disasters. I want to move there. Do you know what state those are?
Speaker B I'm going to guess it's probably a Dakota.
Ed Vitagliano It's awfully cold there, I think.
Tim Wildmon Listen to me. Cold weather is a natural disaster. That's my thoughts on that.
Speaker B I do want to correct one thing, and I always. I was brought up to respect my elders.
Ed Vitagliano Yes.
Tim Wildmon So is that me?
Ed Vitagliano You looking at me?
Speaker B I'm not looking anyone directly in the eyes right this moment, but, you know, so. Franklin is largely attributed as the founder of Samaritan's Purse. However, there's a gentleman named Bob Pierce who, back in the day started both Samaritan's Purse and, if you're familiar with world Vision, yes, Child sponsorship. Bob was, a West coast guy. Loved, the Lord, traveled the world and saw the impoverished conditions that especially the vulnerable, that women and children in particular were, a part of. And he started Samaritan's Purse.
Tim Wildmon I didn't know that. I'm sorry.
Speaker B He sure didn't know. Don't apologize. Not at all. He took a young Franklin Graham kind of under his wing at the time and, traveled the world with Franklin and exposed him there. And Franklin was deeply engaged in the ministry. And then Bob passed away with cancer in the late 70s. And it was 1979, when.
Tim Wildmon Franklin is the CFO now, or CEO. Right.
Speaker B He was in 1979, CEO. Today, no, Franklin is president. CEO.
Tim Wildmon Yep.
Ed Vitagliano now it's. I think what you guys do is really important. You taught. You addressed this this morning in our devotion. You know, I'm not saying go over it, but the body of Christ, sometimes people, Christians or even other people will say, well, afa, you guys are concerned with politics and culture. I think the church should be. I think you should doing this over here. The fact of the matter is, the body of Christ is really big. And it seems to me Christians ought to be busy doing what God has called them to do. And if everyone's doing that, the body. The body of Christ is going to be meeting all sorts of needs. Because what Samaritan's Purse does is hugely important for the testimony of Jesus Christ and the love of God. Because when you come and stand next to people who have nowhere else to turn, sometimes, most of the time, government can't help them or fails them, but to have the hands and feet of Jesus helping them in A moment of crisis and then sharing the gospel so they understand the love of God for them, even in the midst of trial. That is just such an important ministry.
Speaker B One of the reasons why I believe the Lord's hand has remained so firmly upon, this ministry is because of just that. Every focus, centrally speaking, everything that we do. It's gospel centric, from Operation Christmas Child and those shoebox gifts that travel around the world into 100 plus countries every year, we call them gospel opportunities. It's easy to look at that and see the evangelistic aspects of that ministry. But how, how do you connect the gospel to giving a hive of honeybees to, a Northwestern family in Iraq? In northern Iraq. Right. How do you connect the gospel there? You're showing up in most times for us, it's in moments of great need, moments of desperation. And what has become typical for especially the American church is we're going to show up and we're going to be the Savior come riding in and we're going to fix it for you. Where we say, we're going to come in, we're going to show what compassionate and loving care looks like. We're going to be ultimate respecters of the law of the land that we're in, but unapologetically coming in Jesus name. And we're going to, through that care, through running to the ditch, show the love of Christ. And at some point the question will be asked, why are you here? Why would you give up your comfort and put yourself here? And when those questions come, boy, we're ready.
Ed Vitagliano And you don't back off that.
Speaker B No, not at all.
Tim Wildmon Unapologetic Micah Dukes from Samaritan's Purse.
Michael Dukes from Samaritan's Purse speaks about Mississippi winter storm
your home's in Athens, Ga. Right?
Speaker B That's correct, yeah.
Tim Wildmon How long you live there?
Speaker B Oh, goodness, we've been there for 13 years now.
Tim Wildmon Okay. That was after Herschel Walker.
Speaker B It was, it was a little bit after Herschel Walker. It was the end of the Mark Richt area era and, ushered in the Kirby Smart.
Tim Wildmon Kirby Smart era. It's been pretty good for Georgia.
Speaker B It's been a, it's been a good ride. It's been a good ride.
Ed Vitagliano Pretty good, not gonna lie.
Speaker B Yeah, it's been great.
Tim Wildmon I like Mark Rick too. Great Christian guy, wonderful guy.
Speaker B Hey, pray for Coach Rick. He's, you know, he's been battling and he, but he's, he's still just, I saw him at an, Christian Men of Athens event about a month ago and, still just is serving and loving and those players that had him. Oh, they. They'd still run through anything for him.
Tim Wildmon Talking about Mark Brigg, the former coach of Georgia and Miami.
Speaker B That's right. That's right.
Tim Wildmon All right, so Micah Dukes, is, from the Samaritan's Purse organization. And, of course, we support Samaritan's Purse. We support the, Eight Days of Hope or organization, too. And, we, you know, just the wonderful work of anybody doing,
Ed Vitagliano Right.
Tim Wildmon Helping folks in the name of Jesus Christ. We support, Thanks so much. what. What is your, website, Micah, for folks who want more information?
Speaker B Yeah, if anybody wants to go out and get more information on Samaritan's Purse. Just, Samaritan's Purse. And, Yeah, I know not every listener is, here in North Mississippi, but certainly we are grateful that we have been on the ground 24 hours, after this winter storm came through. And we're active. We got a ton of, families that we are supporting here in north Mississippi and West Monroe.
Tim Wildmon I'll tell you what, there are a few things. I've never experienced an earthquake. now I felt an earthquake when I was 10 years old or whatever that was just for a few seconds. But I've seen the damage that a tornado can do. We all know what hurricanes can do to a big swath of land. But I'm telling you, an ice storm can do as much damage or worse when you consider how much land it covers. And this ice storm went from Louisiana all the way up to north Mississippi to parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama. But it seemed like the hardest part hit was our area here, north of here, north Mississippi. Because I'm telling you, people are just now getting power back. And that storm was what, two weeks ago? Yeah, or so. And some people are doing. Some people still don't have water. It's. It's, stunning, the. The, impact that. That.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah.
Tim Wildmon That an ice storm can have on a geographical area. All right, thank you so much, Micah. Appreciate it, my friend.
Speaker B Thank you, gentlemen.
Tim Wildmon Thanks for coming by. That's, Micah Dukes from the, Samaritan's Purse organization.
In Mississippi alone, 10,574 people still without power two weeks after storm
All right, I'm Tim with Ed and Chris. You're listening to the radio program Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. What's your next story over there, Chris?
Chris Woodward Well, just, to add to your, comment there about just Mississippi. I mean, thousands of, maybe even millions, of Americans were impacted by that recent storm. In Mississippi alone, 10,574 people are still without power today. Two plus weeks after that winter storm. 10,574 still now the. Yes, I'm looking at power outage US which has become a big source is updated M. Yeah, it's. It now that, that 10,000 plus is. Is down substantially from early, last.
Ed Vitagliano Hundred thousand or something. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Chris Woodward I mean, at one point it was pretty much, Issaquin, a county down here, in the Vicksburg area, all the way up, to extreme northeast Mississippi. The good news is fewer and fewer people, but still 10,000 plus people without power two plus weeks after a storm. So God bless, organizations, like the one we just interviewed that have helped people after, those situations and.
Ed Vitagliano power company responders and not all from, their own counties. They had help coming from elsewhere. Yeah, they worked very hard to get people up and running. Anyway, that's all I had to say about that.
President Donald Trump is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later this week
Tim Wildmon What's your next story, Chris?
Chris Woodward All right, President Donald Trump is going to be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later this week. They are supposed to talk about a number of things. Probably that peace deal between Israel and Hamas, but also the subject of Iran is supposed to come up. and you know, a lot of people have been watching and waiting to see what, if anything, President Trump might do to Iran based on the fact that a few weeks ago, he was, telling people in Iran to hold on, help is on the way. That was when they were protesting the Islamic regime in the streets and some people were being executed, for their demonstrations against the government. somebody that is, talking about this is President Trump himself. I've got a couple of bites. Trump and then Ambassador, Huckabee. let's do President Trump first. This is him on Air Force One talking about his upcoming meeting with Bibi. Clip 7 yeah, there's a deal that.
Ed Vitagliano Would be acceptable, but the one thing, and right up front, no nuclear weapons. if we could have made that deal two years ago, we would have made that deal, but they weren't willing to do that. Now they are willing to do it, so they're willing to do much more than they would have a year and a half ago.
Chris Woodward He's talking about, what, if anything, are you going to tell, or expect from Iran here. Somebody else that's weighed in on this is our US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. he told reporters that strikes on Iran are not inevitable, but there's still a possibility.
Ed Vitagliano Clip 8 I don't know that they're inevitable, but if Iran doesn't think President Trump will strike. If they keep just fooling around with these negotiations and they're not serious about taking them somewhere, they have a very short memory. Let's go back less than a year ago. If they stand behind that mule once again, there's going to be a resounding kick. So, Chris, let me ask you this. I've been trying to, in reading, trying to figure out what the president's end game is here. Is the president only talking about, Iran not getting nuclear weapons, or is the president talking about regime change? Do we know? I mean, maybe keeping those cards close to the vest.
Chris Woodward Well, a number of reports going back to, late last week when they had talks in Amman with Iranian officials, members of the Trump administration. I'm talking about a number of news reports going into and coming out of those meetings, talked about how the US does not want Iran to have nuclear weapon capabilities, which obviously is something they've been very interested in. They were doing research on that. We bombed some of those operations last year's, the clips we just heard. But, And it's hard to get into the mind of President Donald Trump. Okay, I'm guessing here, I would think he's probably also in favor of regime change, because much of the unrest we see today in the Middle east is because of the Islamic regime that's running Tehran. And, you know, you have a lot of the other countries over there that are, yes, Muslims, but they're Arabs, whereas the Iranians are Persians, and they're a different kind of m. Islam than, say, Saudi Arabia and some of the other countries. And a lot of the instability over there is due to the troublemakers, that are, you know, in Tehran versus Riyadh.
Ed Vitagliano And I will say this. Iran, in supporting terrorist organizations, to me and to some of the experts that I've read, seems to be driving for, m. Islamic revolution in countries that are favorable to the west or are not, radical enough, like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, some of these other places. That's why I think, even Muslim countries are not happy with Iran, because Iran wants the Arab street, so to speak, to erupt and create radical Muslim regimes rather than stable ones that are willing to work with the West.
Tim Wildmon Let me ask you this question. So are you for American bombing Iran?
Ed Vitagliano No, I. I'm. I'm. I'm. No. Oh.
Ed Vitagliano For regime change?
Tim Wildmon Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano no, I. I'm not. I'm not for that.
Tim Wildmon That seems to be where we're headed.
Ed Vitagliano It does seem to be where we're headed now, I think good would come out of it because those mullahs are keeping that country enslaved. And like I said, they're keeping the radical, Islamic movement, alive with money. But I just, I am just very wary of just saying, well, we're going to overthrow your government. But I just. Consequences.
Tim Wildmon Do you not think that President Trump is boxing himself in sort of here, moving all these military assets to the Middle East? telling. Telling the Iranian people help is on its way.
Ed Vitagliano That was, I think that was a mistake. Telling was telling the, Iranian, Iranian people help is on the way while they were in the streets protesting.
Tim Wildmon That's what he told them.
Ed Vitagliano Yeah, that, that, to me, that's a mistake. And, and here' I'm fine with sending aircraft carrier groups over there so that you leave all your options on the table. You've got, sufficient force in place to do whatever you want. I don't think we should have given the impression that we were going to militarily support the protests, because I think that encouraged the protesters and, and the Iranian leadership slaughtered them upwards. I've heard over 36,000 people have died at the hands of these butchers. I certainly would be okay with, if we had to bomb some more nuclear facilities to make sure that they do not get a nuclear weapon. To me, that's to protect the United States. I am very leery with overthrowing governments. We've done a lot of that in our past. So. Have a bunch of other people.
Chris Woodward Yeah.
Ed Vitagliano Above a bunch of other countries. I think when President Trump said help is on the way, I think he should not have promised something he was not willing to commit to. And sometimes not saying what you're doing over there is even more, weighty.
Tim Wildmon But you heard what Mike Huckabee just said. My Huckabee, who is our friend, he's.
Ed Vitagliano The ambassador, he said it might Israel.
Tim Wildmon He said the, If you don't think Trump's going to use our, our military again against Iran, you better think twice.
Ed Vitagliano Well, the mullahs are not, they're not going to step down. They'll, they'll, they'll engulf.
Tim Wildmon They're not going to put themselves up for a boat.
Ed Vitagliano Right. That's, that's not going to happen. They're going to have.
Tim Wildmon Who's in favor of us staying? You think they're not going to do that? Whether they have a vote?
Ed Vitagliano Oh, yeah, no, they're not. They're not going to do that.
The United States is going to have to kill the mullahs to overthrow Iran
You're going to have to kill them.
Tim Wildmon And who's gonna have to kill who?
Ed Vitagliano The United States is going to have to kill the mullahs to. To, Or get the military over in Iran to perform a coup. I, The. The mullahs are not. Khomeini is not stepping down, and the Mullers are not giving up power. So that's where we're at. And what is the United States willing to do? I don't know.
Tim Wildmon All right, we'll be back momentarily with more of Today. You don't want to miss this next segment. By the way. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Tim and Ed talk with Chris on top news headlines of the day including a discussion on the Superbowl Halftime show. Also, Michael Dukes joins the program to discuss the latest with Samaritan's Purse.
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