im Wildmon: Welcome to Today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day.
Tim Wildmon: Hi, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Today is Monday, October 26, 2026, so 26-26 today. I don't know what that means, but I found it interesting.
Tim Wildmon: Joining me in the studio is Fred Jackson. Good morning, Brother Fred.
Fred Jackson: Good morning to you, Tim.
Tim Wildmon: And Chris Woodford.
Chris Woodford: Good morning.
Chris Woodford: Two more months until Boxing Day.
Tim Wildmon: Boxing Day? What are you talking about?
Chris Woodford: Where you pack up all your Christmas stuff?
Tim Wildmon: It's a Canadian and British tradition, Boxing Day, right after Christmas.
Chris Woodford: Oh, boxing, not like this.
Tim Wildmon: So you have Christmas Day, which is a celebration of peace, love, and harmony, followed by, “Beat the stew out of the guy the next day.” That's the way Canadians celebrate.
Chris Woodford: That's kind of the way when you say, “I really didn't like this shirt that I got.”
Tim Wildmon: Right. “So I'm taking it back.”
Chris Woodford: “For the last time, get the right size.”
Tim Wildmon: But you're talking about boxing as in the sport of boxing, right? Not boxing up your gifts and taking them back to Walmart.
Chris Woodford: No, it has to do with boxes, not boxing. Boxes, not the sport of boxing. This is a tradition in, well, I think it's British, but Canadians still do it.
Tim Wildmon: What does it mean, though? What happens?
Chris Woodford: This is probably the thumbnail version of it. It's an extra day of vacation right after Christmas.
Tim Wildmon: Okay. Well, most Americans do that as a tradition, too.
Fred Jackson: Yeah, I think that's to get the can given how this election may go. You may have Boxing Day on Thanksgiving, when families get together for good times and arguments.
Tim Wildmon: All right, you're listening to Today's Issues. Again, Fred and Chris and me, Tim Wildmon. Ed Vitagliano will be along with us a little bit later in the program. Ed's out taking a little vacation.
Tim Wildmon: Ray Pritchard is with us this week, so we look forward to Ray coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Tim Wildmon: Speaking of Election Day, it's a week from tomorrow.
Fred Jackson: Sure is.
Tim Wildmon: Some big races that we're watching around the country, in particular the Senate races. Michigan, Texas, and Ohio are all very big. We tend to forget Maine, also. Susan Collins is the incumbent Republican senator there, but that race has actually tightened up for the Democrats. So these are about six Senate races. Alaska is in there also, and believe it or not, Minnesota. The Republican running there is an ex-sports caster, Michelle Dafoya. Michelle Dafoya is really doing well.
Tim Wildmon: This is going to be a fascinating election night, folks. You really want to be tuned in here to American Family Radio, starting at six o'clock Central on election night. We're expecting some really close races in all those that you mentioned, which will decide the makeup of the United States Senate.
Fred Jackson: Yes, sir.
Tim Wildmon: As I've mentioned many times here before, the Senate decides whether President Trump will be able to get his judges confirmed or not. To me, that's the most important thing. I know the Senate plays a role in a lot of issues, but confirming federal judges is at the top of my list of important reasons why you would want to see conservatives, or Republicans, hold the United States Senate.
Tim Wildmon: Now, the House of Representatives is a whole other matter. That's suspected to go over to the Democrats, but we'll see.
Fred Jackson: I remember we were supposed to have a red wave four years ago, and that never materialized. Sometimes the pollsters are wrong, but they're predicting that the House will flip hands.
Fred Jackson: As an encouragement to conservatives, I was telling you folks at our staff meeting in British Columbia, Canada, over the weekend that for the first time since 1933, the Conservative Party in the province of British Columbia is going to be in power with a supermajority. This is huge. This would be like a Trump-backed Republican Party taking control of the state of Washington.
Tim Wildmon: Wow. You're talking about something from another world.
Fred Jackson: They have gone from extreme social NDP in British Columbia to very conservative.
Tim Wildmon: Why is that?
Fred Jackson: Their economy is the big issue. The Conservatives had a winning message, but the NDP made a big mistake. They weren't supposed to hold an election for another two years, but they thought they had the Conservatives on the run. The premier up there called a snap election.
Tim Wildmon: “We'll call the election now and we'll win.”
Fred Jackson: Not so. They lost big time.
Tim Wildmon: So the premier can call an election just about any time?
Fred Jackson: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: Which is different from our system here in the United States, where you have dated primaries and dated general elections.
Wesley: Good morning.
Tim Wildmon: Good morning.
Wesley: You mentioned there was supposed to be a red wave four years ago, and it didn't happen. We're kind of expecting a blue wave this time. I want a poll of the pollsters for the last ten years to see how accurate they were after the fact.
Tim Wildmon: That's a good point.
Chris Woodford: You think the polls are going to poll themselves after the fact?
Wesley: I bet that's got to be out there somewhere.
Tim Wildmon: So, Fred, are there any polls out there that you trust, or do you take them all with a grain of salt?
Fred Jackson: I'm afraid most of the polls that the public gets, I don't trust. I haven't even been polled. I did get a couple of texts with a survey that I didn't respond to. The reason is that there are so many tricks and so many fraudsters out there in the text world, you don't know who you're responding to. That's the only reason.
Tim Wildmon: Let's give an example. Let's say The New York Times decided to do a poll. What's happening is they're drawing from Democrat areas versus Republican areas. There was a story about this last week.
Tim Wildmon: The other thing is, if you're a conservative and you get a phone call from The New York Times saying, “I want to talk to you about the election,” and you ask, “Where are you from?” “The New York Times.” “No, thank you. I don't want to talk to The New York Times.” You don't trust what they're going to do with it. That's why there's skepticism on the conservative side over polls right now.
Chris Woodford: I have never been asked to be part of a poll that I'm aware of, and I know for sure that I've never done a poll. I did tell a lady doing an exit poll one time, at an election in which I had just voted, that I worked in media and it might sway the results. I told her I would do a story on it and kept going.
Tim Wildmon: She approached you, though?
Chris Woodford: Yes, and I have hung up on a pollster before when they called.
Tim Wildmon: So they're real people, and it really happens. If you have received any calls, texts, or emails about polls, let us know.
Chris Woodford: I get a lot of annoying campaign text messages telling me that this is the last time I have to vote, that it's the most important thing ever, and that I'm a terrible person if I don't vote for them. I get those from candidates in various states, which is odd because I'm only supposed to vote for particular candidates. I don't know why you're approaching me when you're running for office in Kansas.
Tim Wildmon: I don't think telling somebody they're a terrible person is a way to get them to vote for you.
Chris Woodford: It's basically implied: “What is wrong with you?”
Tim Wildmon: “Why haven't you voted?”
Chris Woodford: And I get emails and campaign text messages from people on both sides of the aisle. I have no idea how they got my number.
Tim Wildmon: That may be because you're in media.
Chris Woodford: It could be.
Tim Wildmon: President Donald J. Trump is traveling the country campaigning for Republicans. He's scheduled to be near us tonight in Corinth, which is north of Tupelo by about an hour. I've been getting texts like all of you: “We have a seat reserved for you if you want it.” It's a campaign stop in Mississippi for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, who is in a race with a Democrat.
Tim Wildmon: Kamala Harris came and campaigned for him last week in Columbus, Mississippi, which is south of us near Starkville and the Golden Triangle. Tonight, Trump is scheduled to be in Corinth campaigning for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. It's at least the second time he's come to Mississippi to stump for her, because he came to Tupelo during his first term to ask for support for Cindy Hyde-Smith when she was in the Senate the first time.
Tim Wildmon: President Trump is traveling all over the country, speaking at various events.
Fred Jackson: He was back in Michigan over the weekend. Michigan has been getting a lot of press for a very good reason. The Democrats have decided to go with an Islamic candidate. If Abdul El-Sayed is elected, he will be the first Muslim in the U.S. Senate.
Tim Wildmon: The first one?
Fred Jackson: So it's a big deal. He is very controversial. Some have connected him to the Muslim Brotherhood. He has accused Israel of genocide. He has campaigned with a guy whose last name is Piker, who celebrated and basically said America deserved 9/11.
Fred Jackson: In the primary, El-Sayed defeated the incumbent. So that one is going to be really interesting to watch. He is a socialist. It's Medicare for all. Bernie Sanders was in town campaigning for him over the weekend. Barack Obama was there as well. He's one of the new Democrat socialists. He also happens to be the first Muslim with a chance to win a Senate seat.
Tim Wildmon: That's a big one.
Fred Jackson: Obviously, for a lot of our listeners, Texas is important. Talarico and Paxton are talking about polls that are even at 49 to 49 in the latest polling. In both cases, both El-Sayed and Talarico have been caught saying very controversial things in the past, which they have tried to deny or walk away from.
Tim Wildmon: Can Michigan go to a runoff?
Fred Jackson: No, it's just two of them, as far as I know. Alaska has a runoff because of the unusual system they have up there. So, anyway, it's a big day a week from tomorrow, Election Day. A lot of people are voting early. There are record numbers in Texas, right?
Tim Wildmon: About 27 million nationally have already voted, with over four million in Texas alone. There's a lot of interest. We are going to be here on election night on American Family Radio with our own coverage, so people can tune in.
Chris Woodford: Absolutely. Starting at six o'clock Central, folks, you're going to want to be here. The whole team will be here. I'll be updating our newscasts, and we'll be watching all of these races. We'll have special guests come in with analysis.
Chris Woodford: We've been doing election-night programming for a long time, and you can trust American Family Radio. We will give you the very latest, but also the analysis that really counts.
Tim Wildmon: Our coverage will be fueled by AFA coffee, AFA popcorn, and the Holy Spirit.
Chris Woodford: Not necessarily in that order.
Tim Wildmon: The Holy Spirit always comes first.
Tim Wildmon: Thanks for listening to American Family Radio, and we hope you'll join us on election night a week from tomorrow.
Chris Woodford: That will follow the daylight saving time change, which occurs this weekend.
Tim Wildmon: Saturday night, we in the United States will change the clocks. Do they do this in Canada, Fred?
Fred Jackson: They do daylight saving time, but it's sporadic. Now, British Columbia, which we were just talking about, has decided, “No, we're not going to do this change anymore,” like Arizona.
Tim Wildmon: The House here in the United States passed the idea of not changing the time, but it got stuck in the Senate. There are some senators who are concerned about kids taking school buses in the dark, so it's stalled there.
Fred Jackson: I don't like the change. I wish it would stay the same.
Tim Wildmon: Whatever it means to have more daylight, that's what I'm in favor of.
Chris Woodford: I don't know if different states do different things. You say Arizona doesn't change anything.
Tim Wildmon: Arizona has not changed its clocks as long as I've been alive.
Chris Woodford: The reason I asked is that I thought this was a federal law. It's a federal law being proposed, I guess, to keep the same time where there is more light during the daytime hours. But it would allow a state like Arizona to be grandfathered in. It's confusing for somebody like me trying to book an interview with somebody in Arizona. Based on how they do their clocks, sometimes it's specific and sometimes it's not. I've always put the windows for an interview in Pacific time and said, “You figure it out.”
Fred Jackson: In a combination of Arizona not recognizing daylight saving time and being in a different time zone, there are a couple of times a year, or six months out of the year, when they are two hours behind us instead of one.
Chris Woodford: That has been super confusing. I don't need this as another thing to confuse me.
Tim Wildmon: That's why some people want to say we're not doing this anymore.
Chris Woodford: What I don't like, and I've mentioned this here before, is leaving work when it's already dark. That's really annoying.
Tim Wildmon: That can be resolved.
Chris Woodford: By leaving early?
Tim Wildmon: No, by not changing the time.
Chris Woodford: Leaving the later time slot?
Tim Wildmon: Part of this we can't help, because the Earth tilts.
Chris Woodford: That's right. We can pass all the laws we want, but we're not going to be able to affect its tilting in the wintertime or the summertime.
Tim Wildmon: The spring forward and fall back. Well, it's fall back time.
Chris Woodford: Nowadays, with our clocks updating automatically on our phones, we don't have to worry about it. You do have to reset your clocks at home, but fall back and spring forward are coming up this week.
Tim Wildmon: We put the clocks back an hour, right?
Chris Woodford: That's correct. You get an extra hour of sleep this weekend, based on how the clock thing is structured.
Tim Wildmon: One thing that has really added to the confusion over the spring-forward, fall-back thing is that when you were Wesley's age, it was always the same time frame. It was this weekend and then this weekend later that year. When President George W. Bush was in office, he signed an energy bill that extended daylight saving time about four weeks in 2007 and put it on different weekends depending on the year.
Chris Woodford: I remember the confusion because I was working at a television station. People would call and say, “Is this the weekend the time changes?” We would say, “No, it's next weekend.” They would ask, “Why is it different?” The president signed a bill, and it caused confusion.
Tim Wildmon: You're referring to George W. Bush, not his father, the senior Bush, who famously said, “Read my lips, no new taxes,” and then reneged on that.
Chris Woodford: George W. Bush changed the week of daylight saving time. It used to be generally the same fixed time, up until 2007 when he signed that bill.
Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues. We hope you can adjust your own clocks and figure it out. It is this upcoming weekend.
Fred Jackson: When you talk about Canada and the northern part of the United States, it's going to get darker even sooner.
Tim Wildmon: It is. I remember when I would get out of school in Nova Scotia in the wintertime, at 3:30 on the way home on the bus, it was getting dark.
Chris Woodford: That's just downright depressing.
Fred Jackson: In Alaska, there are a couple of weeks or months out of the year when they don't see the sunrise.
Tim Wildmon: In the wintertime in Alaska, they may have only a couple of hours of daylight a day. In the summertime, it's the opposite. At the peaks of summertime and wintertime, it could be worse. We do have a station in the North Pole.
Chris Woodford: Don't keep saying it could be worse. I don't really need to hear that on a Monday morning.
Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. What's your next story, Chris?
Chris Woodford: Let's mention this real quick about the elections. There are stories and social media posts going around saying that polls may be inaccurate, and some polls may actually be fabricated. This has been playing out for a few days now.
Chris Woodford: It was a subject of discussion today on Fox News Channel. Cassie Smedley, a Republican strategist, was brought on to discuss it. She said Democrats may be overconfident because of these so-called inaccurate polls, flipping five polls, excitement, or believing their own hype.
Chris Woodford: I recall that just four years ago they said Florida was going their way, and Governor DeSantis won the night very early on by double digits. We have to be a little careful here.
Chris Woodford: President Trump, for his part, is making sure he leaves no stone unturned. Whether that's going to Mississippi or the perennial battlegrounds of Ohio, Iowa, and others, he's barnstorming the country. You cannot win if you cannot turn out your base. No one is more loyal to President Trump than the base, and he's making sure they turn out and are hyped up to vote.
Tim Wildmon: That's what we were talking about earlier. That's why I said it would be interesting to have a review of all the pollsters over the last decade to see what they look like.
Tim Wildmon: I'd like everybody to raise their hands if you'd like to see more political ads on television.
Tim Wildmon: I'm looking out across the country here at our listeners, and I don't see anybody's hand raised. Who wants more? I was watching football over the weekend, and I watched two or three games. Every commercial break was an ad.
Chris Woodford: The television stations love that.
Tim Wildmon: The sales manager hates the day after an election because revenue plummets. That's big money. Election season is big money for television stations and radio stations, I'm sure.
Chris Woodford: By the time you get to Election Day, you're sick of watching television ads.
Tim Wildmon: You like them?
Chris Woodford: The same one over and over and over again.
Tim Wildmon: It's always funny to me because each negative ad makes you think the person in the profile is the devil. “My opponent is the worst person in the universe.”
Fred Jackson: Remember that ad, from whatever election it was, where the Democrats had a grandmother in a wheelchair?
Tim Wildmon: The Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Fred Jackson: They showed an elderly woman in a wheelchair with a Republican pushing her off a cliff.
Tim Wildmon: They did.
Fred Jackson: It's a metaphor for Republicans wanting to slash and cut social services for elderly people, which is not true, but that's what they always bring out.
Tim Wildmon: Let's take a break right here. We'll take our standard break and be back. There's more news to discuss. Chris is prepared, and even I have brought many sound bites to the show.
Chris Woodford: There's also a big election in Israel that we're paying attention to. We have sound on that as well.
Tim Wildmon: I can't stress enough: go vote. If you don't vote early, make sure you go vote, and get your friends, family, and church members to go vote. Pester them if you need to, but everybody needs to go vote.
Tim Wildmon: We'll be back momentarily.
Tim Wildmon: Welcome back to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to AFR. I'm Tim, with Wesley, Fred, and Chris. This is Monday, October 26. We are eight days away from Election Day, and we will be here with coverage on election night right here on American Family Radio. It's a big day across the country, and we are anticipating the results.
Tim Wildmon: I don't know how many of you pay attention to college football.
Wesley: I stopped after Saturday.
Tim Wildmon: You're a Mississippi State fan.
Wesley: This is State football, man.
Tim Wildmon: I am too busy looking forward to baseball.
Chris Woodford: Baseball generally starts at the end of September for us.
Tim Wildmon: On the general college football landscape, nobody wants to win. Nobody wants to be number one.
Chris Woodford: Apparently, if you have a big win in college football nowadays, you lose the next weekend.
Tim Wildmon: That's the way it seems to be going. BYU beats Notre Dame, and then they go down to Central Florida and can't beat the Knights. Tennessee beats Alabama like a drum, then goes to South Carolina and gets it handed to them by the Fighting Chickens.
Tim Wildmon: About four weeks ago, Texas was number one. Then they proceeded to lose two games in a row, one to Oklahoma and then to Florida at home. They beat Ole Miss on Saturday, which was a great college football game.
Chris Woodford: That was a great effort by Ole Miss because they were down 24 to 3. They did not panic. They fought hard, and it literally came down to the last play.
Tim Wildmon: I thought Ole Miss was going to win. Texas fans were saying, “Here we go again.”
Chris Woodford: That was a crazy ending to that Ole Miss-Texas game. You rarely ever see an onside kick work, because everyone knows it's coming. Ole Miss had an onside kick, and it was successful. That was bizarre.
Chris Woodford: I do have the current poll, if you want it.
Tim Wildmon: Who's number one, Chris?
Chris Woodford: Currently, it's Miami of Florida.
Tim Wildmon: Miami of Florida.
Wesley: Nobody likes Miami of Ohio.
Tim Wildmon: Who's number two, Chris?
Chris Woodford: The Ohio State University. They lost their starting quarterback, and he's gone for the year, so we'll see how that goes. Georgia is number three, followed by Indiana, Notre Dame, Utah, UCLA, which has come out of nowhere in recent years, and BYU is eighth. Kentucky is now ninth.
Wesley: I still can't get used to Indiana being mentioned in the top ten in football.
Tim Wildmon: Two years in a row.
Wesley: I think you'll find that as a prophecy in the book of Revelation.
Chris Woodford: You're talking about basketball, right?
Wesley: No, I'm saying that Indiana being ranked in the top ten in football means the end of the world.
Tim Wildmon: We have a lot of listeners in Indiana.
Chris Woodford: They're saying positive things about the news.
Wesley: They are just as surprised as we are, but their school is doing well in football.
Tim Wildmon: Speaking of basketball schools doing well in football, Kentucky is number nine in America. What a difference a new coach makes. We'll see how it all goes. Every time a team like Auburn beats Georgia, they get handed to them by LSU at home. It's just crazy in college football.
Chris Woodford: The Fighting Kiffins are 15th.
Tim Wildmon: What's your next story?
Chris Woodford: In the first half hour, we spent a lot of time talking about the U.S. elections, which are a week from tomorrow. Tomorrow, in the nation of Israel, people will be going to vote in their parliamentary elections.
Chris Woodford: Israel doesn't do elections like the United States. Its government is structured differently. Voters in Israel will be choosing members of the Knesset, which is their congress, if you will. Those members will then pick the next prime minister.
Chris Woodford: Benjamin Netanyahu is not on the ballot. Depending on how things go, it could determine whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains prime minister. If his Likud Party wins, Netanyahu will remain prime minister. But if Gadi Eisenkot, who is with the Yesh Atid Party, wins a majority, Gadi will replace Benjamin Netanyahu.
Tim Wildmon: Much like an election in a state like California, where it can take weeks to decide who actually won something, we could be talking about the Israeli election through Thanksgiving.
Fred Jackson: When we're talking about parliamentary government elections, Americans ask, “Why do you do this? Why don't you just do it like we do?” That's just the American way. We have two parties, everybody votes, and we decide it.
Fred Jackson: Parliamentary systems of government are the norm in Western democracies. The way we do it here in the United States is unusual. Most of Europe has parliamentary governments. I know Israel has the same system that Canada has.
Tim Wildmon: Fred, without making our listeners' eyes glaze over, can you explain what's going on here with Benjamin Netanyahu? He's the prime minister. Is he being challenged?
Fred Jackson: He is being challenged. This is the first election since the Hamas massacre of October 2023. Since then, many people regard Netanyahu as a hero, but some people in Israel blame him. They say he should have known that Hamas was planning the attack.
Fred Jackson: Many people are calling this a referendum on Netanyahu. In Israel, there are 12 parties. So, even if Likud, Netanyahu's party, were to get the most seats in the Knesset, they would have to reach out to several of these parties and ask them to join him so he could continue as prime minister.
Tim Wildmon: They have to get to a certain point to have a majority.
Fred Jackson: They have to solicit support from the other parties. That's why it's going to take a little while. After the voting is done, the negotiations will happen. One side may not have enough seats, and the party of the other candidate, the retired military man, may have support. Netanyahu still has his supporters. Some say he's a hero because of what has happened. Others say he should have known Hamas was planning it.
Tim Wildmon: In my opinion, setting aside the internal politics of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is the very best spokesperson that Israel has ever had. It's kind of an odd and superficial reason, but it matters. Most Israelis can speak English. However, as someone said the other day, Benjamin Netanyahu not only speaks English, he speaks American.
Tim Wildmon: He is very articulate and persuasive with his arguments. He speaks perfectly fluent English as if he grew up in the United States. I think that's a big asset for him when he makes appeals to America.
Fred Jackson: Absolutely.
Tim Wildmon: Netanyahu represents the conservative side of thinking in Israel, like Donald Trump represents the conservative side of thinking in this country. For the most part, they get along well.
Tim Wildmon: But there is a liberal element in Israel. Sometimes you read The Jerusalem Post and think it's The New York Times. In a big city like Tel Aviv, that element is there. You also have the conflict between Palestinians and Jewish people. We have to remember that there are Palestinians who are Israeli citizens, and they have representation in the Knesset.
Chris Woodford: There was a story on Friday about a shooting in Hebron. According to the Associated Press and others, it may have been an issue between Arabs and Israelis fighting and shooting at one another. The story said that Israel's Arab population is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to 22 percent, which is a huge voting block for people who might not be in favor of somebody like Netanyahu.
Tim Wildmon: We'll see what happens there. It's a big deal in Israel who they select to be their leader going forward. Because it's a parliamentary system of government, they have to put together coalitions to come up with a majority among 12 parties.
Fred Jackson: Like the 12 tribes of Israel.
Tim Wildmon: How about that?
Chris Woodford: Our John Riley is in the nation of Israel right now visiting various people. He goes to Israel once or twice a year because he has family there. While he's in Israel, he spoke with Daniel Cohen. Daniel Cohen is a name and voice people might recognize from programs like Washington Watch, which is on AFR in the afternoons. Daniel is the news director of Real Life Network and is living in Israel for his job.
Chris Woodford: John caught up with him to talk about the Israeli election and Netanyahu. Netanyahu, much like Donald Trump, is somebody that some people like and other people do not. Daniel Cohen seems to think Netanyahu is the right person for the job.
Daniel Cohen: The one constant in Israel is a man named Benjamin Netanyahu, and he is the prime minister. He leads a party called Likud. When we go to vote, it's all paper ballots for a party, not for a person, so we don't actually vote for Netanyahu.
Daniel Cohen: Prime Minister Netanyahu gets the same treatment in Israel that Donald Trump gets in the United States of America, which means it's not a lot of favorable press. Daniel 2:9 says God raises up kings and deposes others. He has raised up Prime Minister Netanyahu, and he has raised up Donald Trump, two imperfect men, very imperfect men, but for such a time as this.
Daniel Cohen: Netanyahu's ability to reach Americans and speak to Americans could be due to the time he spent in the United States. He went to high school in the Philadelphia area. I believe he went to one of the Ivy League schools. Either way, he speaks very fluent English without a distinctively foreign accent.
Tim Wildmon: He speaks English better than I do.
Chris Woodford: I don't know what to say about you, Tim.
Tim Wildmon: I speak one language, and not very well.
Chris Woodford: Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't speak Southern English.
Tim Wildmon: I'm trying.
Chris Woodford: Again, there's a big election in Israel. We'll see what direction that country goes in, whether it sticks with Benjamin Netanyahu or goes away from him.
Chris Woodford: Benjamin Netanyahu is fixing to go to Hebron. I wonder sometimes when Benjamin Netanyahu has a sit-down conversation with Mike Huckabee, does Netanyahu say, “Excuse me?” Mike is one of us.
Chris Woodford: Ilhan Omar is still in serious legal trouble. She did resurface and make some public appearances toward the end of last week, but people are still saying she is in very hot water for possibly falsifying documents.
Chris Woodford: There were stories last week from Fox News and other outlets claiming Omar might not even be her real last name, and therefore anything she signed or perhaps voted on as Ilhan Omar might be illegitimate. Greg Jarrett, a Fox News legal contributor, was brought on Fox News Channel to talk about this, and he said Omar is in serious legal trouble.
Greg Jarrett: I think she's in serious trouble because Judge Rachael, a Democrat judge in Washington, D.C., authorized the search warrant after examining, apparently for hours, what had to have been compelling evidence of criminality. That evidence raises serious questions: Is Omar the person she purports to be? Was her citizenship obtained through false statements or fraud? Did she engage in a sham marriage to her own brother?
Greg Jarrett: She didn't help herself the other day when she said, “Not to my knowledge,” which was a real head-scratcher. The feds have reportedly obtained DNA. DNA doesn't lie, and it may answer the ultimate question.
Greg Jarrett: What I find so bewildering and suspicious is that Omar has always had the ability to produce exculpatory evidence, but she hasn't done it. Instead, she issues this blanket condemnation of the investigation, blames Trump, and is now fundraising off of it. But it's going to take a lot more than that if she's indicted.
Tim Wildmon: So what's the accusation here, Fred?
Fred Jackson: She's the congresswoman who is a member of the Squad. She originally lived in Somalia and immigrated to Minnesota.
Chris Woodford: When this story broke about three weeks ago, it had to do with when she came to this country and how old she was. Was she 17 or 18?
Tim Wildmon: Why is that important?
Chris Woodford: If she came here while she was 17, she could be naturalized under her father. If she was 18 when she came here, she couldn't do that because she would be considered an adult and would have to complete the naturalization process herself.
Chris Woodford: Authorities have found documents where she had one birth date on one document and a different birth date on another document. There is also a story that surfaced years ago claiming she married her brother in order to bring him into the country, then later divorced him and married somebody else.
Tim Wildmon: Does that really happen? Is there any confirmation of this?
Fred Jackson: When she was asked about it last week, I think her response was, “As far as I know.”
Tim Wildmon: That's what Greg Jarrett was talking about. “Not to my knowledge.” I thought that was an odd answer.
Fred Jackson: If somebody asked us whether we had married our sister, we would say no. That's an easy answer. She said, “Not to my knowledge. I don't remember.”
Chris Woodford: As Greg Jarrett pointed out, a liberal Democrat-appointed judge granted a search warrant on Ilhan Omar's house in Washington, D.C.
Chris Woodford: With some of these people who come here from overseas and immigrate into the United States, how would you ever know their birth certificates are correct in the first place? Who could verify it? In Somalia, do they even keep records like that? That's been one of the criticisms of inviting people over here. If they don't have a system, how do you know that a person is not a terrorist or doesn't have a record?
Fred Jackson: In Canada, you have a birth certificate. We've probably had them for a hundred years. They establish dates for all kinds of reasons. You get your driver's license, you can vote, and you can buy things like a house or a car, but you have to prove you're of age.
Chris Woodford: I haven't seen any type of marriage certificate, but everybody I follow on the conservative side has been making the claim as a fact that she married her brother.
Tim Wildmon: What claim?
Chris Woodford: The fact that she married her brother. That doesn't seem to be in dispute.
Tim Wildmon: Is that illegal?
Fred Jackson: It is illegal to marry your brother in the United States.
Chris Woodford: The accusation is that she married him so she could bring him into the United States. When you marry somebody who is an American citizen, that person can move here. That's the idea.
Tim Wildmon: I know it's illegal to marry your brother in the United States. This is a weird conversation.
Chris Woodford: But if you marry your brother back in your country, in this case Somalia, and then come over and say you're married, that would be under false pretenses too. You're trying to beat the system.
Chris Woodford: I want to mention the hard work of Steve Jordahl. I posted his story on the Today's Issues Facebook page. He interviewed Jenna Ellis about what happens to Ilhan Omar's House seat if this continues to be a problem.
Chris Woodford: Jenna Ellis said, quote, “She should just step down now, even before reelection, so they can have somebody else on the ticket and potentially retain that seat.”
Tim Wildmon: I think this may hurt her. She's from Minneapolis, right? There is a job opening she could take. If she left Congress, she could be in charge at the Leering Center. They have an opening for an executive director, with better hours, and you don't have to mess with all of this.
Chris Woodford: For the small percentage of listeners who remember that story, they just got a good laugh.
Tim Wildmon: To be honest, as sad as this is, Jenna is right. She should step down for the sake of the district and everything else. But people there will still vote for her, much like people would have voted for Bill Clinton again in 2000 if they had the opportunity.
Tim Wildmon: We've got about two minutes. Is there any happy news, Chris?
Chris Woodford: I can tell you this. Let's talk about candy for a moment. We've got all the fall festivals and candy treats, and some people go door to door to beg for candy treats.
Tim Wildmon: There was a recent poll that determined the most overrated Halloween candies. What do you think is an overrated Halloween candy?
Wesley: Easy. Candy corn.
Tim Wildmon: Candy corn.
Wesley: That's awful.
Tim Wildmon: It's everywhere during Halloween. Are you a candy corn person?
Chris Woodford: I can take a few at a time, but what is that made of?
Wesley: Sugar.
Tim Wildmon: Straight sugar.
Chris Woodford: You didn't hesitate.
Wesley: It may be somebody's favorite candy.
Tim Wildmon: It may be, and I don't apologize.
Chris Woodford: According to Consumer Reports and others who looked into this, Twizzlers, Tootsie Rolls, and Bit-O-Honey have been deemed overrated Halloween candies. Many people also don't like Almond Joy, saying coconut does not belong in chocolate.
Tim Wildmon: That's fair. I agree with that.
Chris Woodford: That's in the same category as pineapple on pizza.
Tim Wildmon: If there's a vote, I vote for Snickers.
Wesley: Snickers is a big candy.
Chris Woodford: Yes.
im Wildmon: Welcome to Today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day.
Tim Wildmon: Hi, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Today is Monday, October 26, 2026, so 26-26 today. I don't know what that means, but I found it interesting.
Tim Wildmon: Joining me in the studio is Fred Jackson. Good morning, Brother Fred.
Fred Jackson: Good morning to you, Tim.
Tim Wildmon: And Chris Woodford.
Chris Woodford: Good morning.
Chris Woodford: Two more months until Boxing Day.
Tim Wildmon: Boxing Day? What are you talking about?
Chris Woodford: Where you pack up all your Christmas stuff?
Tim Wildmon: It's a Canadian and British tradition, Boxing Day, right after Christmas.
Chris Woodford: Oh, boxing, not like this.
Tim Wildmon: So you have Christmas Day, which is a celebration of peace, love, and harmony, followed by, “Beat the stew out of the guy the next day.” That's the way Canadians celebrate.
Chris Woodford: That's kind of the way when you say, “I really didn't like this shirt that I got.”
Tim Wildmon: Right. “So I'm taking it back.”
Chris Woodford: “For the last time, get the right size.”
Tim Wildmon: But you're talking about boxing as in the sport of boxing, right? Not boxing up your gifts and taking them back to Walmart.
Chris Woodford: No, it has to do with boxes, not boxing. Boxes, not the sport of boxing. This is a tradition in, well, I think it's British, but Canadians still do it.
Tim Wildmon: What does it mean, though? What happens?
Chris Woodford: This is probably the thumbnail version of it. It's an extra day of vacation right after Christmas.
Tim Wildmon: Okay. Well, most Americans do that as a tradition, too.
Fred Jackson: Yeah, I think that's to get the can given how this election may go. You may have Boxing Day on Thanksgiving, when families get together for good times and arguments.
Tim Wildmon: All right, you're listening to Today's Issues. Again, Fred and Chris and me, Tim Wildmon. Ed Vitagliano will be along with us a little bit later in the program. Ed's out taking a little vacation.
Tim Wildmon: Ray Pritchard is with us this week, so we look forward to Ray coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Tim Wildmon: Speaking of Election Day, it's a week from tomorrow.
Fred Jackson: Sure is.
Tim Wildmon: Some big races that we're watching around the country, in particular the Senate races. Michigan, Texas, and Ohio are all very big. We tend to forget Maine, also. Susan Collins is the incumbent Republican senator there, but that race has actually tightened up for the Democrats. So these are about six Senate races. Alaska is in there also, and believe it or not, Minnesota. The Republican running there is an ex-sports caster, Michelle Dafoya. Michelle Dafoya is really doing well.
Tim Wildmon: This is going to be a fascinating election night, folks. You really want to be tuned in here to American Family Radio, starting at six o'clock Central on election night. We're expecting some really close races in all those that you mentioned, which will decide the makeup of the United States Senate.
Fred Jackson: Yes, sir.
Tim Wildmon: As I've mentioned many times here before, the Senate decides whether President Trump will be able to get his judges confirmed or not. To me, that's the most important thing. I know the Senate plays a role in a lot of issues, but confirming federal judges is at the top of my list of important reasons why you would want to see conservatives, or Republicans, hold the United States Senate.
Tim Wildmon: Now, the House of Representatives is a whole other matter. That's suspected to go over to the Democrats, but we'll see.
Fred Jackson: I remember we were supposed to have a red wave four years ago, and that never materialized. Sometimes the pollsters are wrong, but they're predicting that the House will flip hands.
Fred Jackson: As an encouragement to conservatives, I was telling you folks at our staff meeting in British Columbia, Canada, over the weekend that for the first time since 1933, the Conservative Party in the province of British Columbia is going to be in power with a supermajority. This is huge. This would be like a Trump-backed Republican Party taking control of the state of Washington.
Tim Wildmon: Wow. You're talking about something from another world.
Fred Jackson: They have gone from extreme social NDP in British Columbia to very conservative.
Tim Wildmon: Why is that?
Fred Jackson: Their economy is the big issue. The Conservatives had a winning message, but the NDP made a big mistake. They weren't supposed to hold an election for another two years, but they thought they had the Conservatives on the run. The premier up there called a snap election.
Tim Wildmon: “We'll call the election now and we'll win.”
Fred Jackson: Not so. They lost big time.
Tim Wildmon: So the premier can call an election just about any time?
Fred Jackson: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: Which is different from our system here in the United States, where you have dated primaries and dated general elections.
Wesley: Good morning.
Tim Wildmon: Good morning.
Wesley: You mentioned there was supposed to be a red wave four years ago, and it didn't happen. We're kind of expecting a blue wave this time. I want a poll of the pollsters for the last ten years to see how accurate they were after the fact.
Tim Wildmon: That's a good point.
Chris Woodford: You think the polls are going to poll themselves after the fact?
Wesley: I bet that's got to be out there somewhere.
Tim Wildmon: So, Fred, are there any polls out there that you trust, or do you take them all with a grain of salt?
Fred Jackson: I'm afraid most of the polls that the public gets, I don't trust. I haven't even been polled. I did get a couple of texts with a survey that I didn't respond to. The reason is that there are so many tricks and so many fraudsters out there in the text world, you don't know who you're responding to. That's the only reason.
Tim Wildmon: Let's give an example. Let's say The New York Times decided to do a poll. What's happening is they're drawing from Democrat areas versus Republican areas. There was a story about this last week.
Tim Wildmon: The other thing is, if you're a conservative and you get a phone call from The New York Times saying, “I want to talk to you about the election,” and you ask, “Where are you from?” “The New York Times.” “No, thank you. I don't want to talk to The New York Times.” You don't trust what they're going to do with it. That's why there's skepticism on the conservative side over polls right now.
Chris Woodford: I have never been asked to be part of a poll that I'm aware of, and I know for sure that I've never done a poll. I did tell a lady doing an exit poll one time, at an election in which I had just voted, that I worked in media and it might sway the results. I told her I would do a story on it and kept going.
Tim Wildmon: She approached you, though?
Chris Woodford: Yes, and I have hung up on a pollster before when they called.
Tim Wildmon: So they're real people, and it really happens. If you have received any calls, texts, or emails about polls, let us know.
Chris Woodford: I get a lot of annoying campaign text messages telling me that this is the last time I have to vote, that it's the most important thing ever, and that I'm a terrible person if I don't vote for them. I get those from candidates in various states, which is odd because I'm only supposed to vote for particular candidates. I don't know why you're approaching me when you're running for office in Kansas.
Tim Wildmon: I don't think telling somebody they're a terrible person is a way to get them to vote for you.
Chris Woodford: It's basically implied: “What is wrong with you?”
Tim Wildmon: “Why haven't you voted?”
Chris Woodford: And I get emails and campaign text messages from people on both sides of the aisle. I have no idea how they got my number.
Tim Wildmon: That may be because you're in media.
Chris Woodford: It could be.
Tim Wildmon: President Donald J. Trump is traveling the country campaigning for Republicans. He's scheduled to be near us tonight in Corinth, which is north of Tupelo by about an hour. I've been getting texts like all of you: “We have a seat reserved for you if you want it.” It's a campaign stop in Mississippi for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, who is in a race with a Democrat.
Tim Wildmon: Kamala Harris came and campaigned for him last week in Columbus, Mississippi, which is south of us near Starkville and the Golden Triangle. Tonight, Trump is scheduled to be in Corinth campaigning for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. It's at least the second time he's come to Mississippi to stump for her, because he came to Tupelo during his first term to ask for support for Cindy Hyde-Smith when she was in the Senate the first time.
Tim Wildmon: President Trump is traveling all over the country, speaking at various events.
Fred Jackson: He was back in Michigan over the weekend. Michigan has been getting a lot of press for a very good reason. The Democrats have decided to go with an Islamic candidate. If Abdul El-Sayed is elected, he will be the first Muslim in the U.S. Senate.
Tim Wildmon: The first one?
Fred Jackson: So it's a big deal. He is very controversial. Some have connected him to the Muslim Brotherhood. He has accused Israel of genocide. He has campaigned with a guy whose last name is Piker, who celebrated and basically said America deserved 9/11.
Fred Jackson: In the primary, El-Sayed defeated the incumbent. So that one is going to be really interesting to watch. He is a socialist. It's Medicare for all. Bernie Sanders was in town campaigning for him over the weekend. Barack Obama was there as well. He's one of the new Democrat socialists. He also happens to be the first Muslim with a chance to win a Senate seat.
Tim Wildmon: That's a big one.
Fred Jackson: Obviously, for a lot of our listeners, Texas is important. Talarico and Paxton are talking about polls that are even at 49 to 49 in the latest polling. In both cases, both El-Sayed and Talarico have been caught saying very controversial things in the past, which they have tried to deny or walk away from.
Tim Wildmon: Can Michigan go to a runoff?
Fred Jackson: No, it's just two of them, as far as I know. Alaska has a runoff because of the unusual system they have up there. So, anyway, it's a big day a week from tomorrow, Election Day. A lot of people are voting early. There are record numbers in Texas, right?
Tim Wildmon: About 27 million nationally have already voted, with over four million in Texas alone. There's a lot of interest. We are going to be here on election night on American Family Radio with our own coverage, so people can tune in.
Chris Woodford: Absolutely. Starting at six o'clock Central, folks, you're going to want to be here. The whole team will be here. I'll be updating our newscasts, and we'll be watching all of these races. We'll have special guests come in with analysis.
Chris Woodford: We've been doing election-night programming for a long time, and you can trust American Family Radio. We will give you the very latest, but also the analysis that really counts.
Tim Wildmon: Our coverage will be fueled by AFA coffee, AFA popcorn, and the Holy Spirit.
Chris Woodford: Not necessarily in that order.
Tim Wildmon: The Holy Spirit always comes first.
Tim Wildmon: Thanks for listening to American Family Radio, and we hope you'll join us on election night a week from tomorrow.
Chris Woodford: That will follow the daylight saving time change, which occurs this weekend.
Tim Wildmon: Saturday night, we in the United States will change the clocks. Do they do this in Canada, Fred?
Fred Jackson: They do daylight saving time, but it's sporadic. Now, British Columbia, which we were just talking about, has decided, “No, we're not going to do this change anymore,” like Arizona.
Tim Wildmon: The House here in the United States passed the idea of not changing the time, but it got stuck in the Senate. There are some senators who are concerned about kids taking school buses in the dark, so it's stalled there.
Fred Jackson: I don't like the change. I wish it would stay the same.
Tim Wildmon: Whatever it means to have more daylight, that's what I'm in favor of.
Chris Woodford: I don't know if different states do different things. You say Arizona doesn't change anything.
Tim Wildmon: Arizona has not changed its clocks as long as I've been alive.
Chris Woodford: The reason I asked is that I thought this was a federal law. It's a federal law being proposed, I guess, to keep the same time where there is more light during the daytime hours. But it would allow a state like Arizona to be grandfathered in. It's confusing for somebody like me trying to book an interview with somebody in Arizona. Based on how they do their clocks, sometimes it's specific and sometimes it's not. I've always put the windows for an interview in Pacific time and said, “You figure it out.”
Fred Jackson: In a combination of Arizona not recognizing daylight saving time and being in a different time zone, there are a couple of times a year, or six months out of the year, when they are two hours behind us instead of one.
Chris Woodford: That has been super confusing. I don't need this as another thing to confuse me.
Tim Wildmon: That's why some people want to say we're not doing this anymore.
Chris Woodford: What I don't like, and I've mentioned this here before, is leaving work when it's already dark. That's really annoying.
Tim Wildmon: That can be resolved.
Chris Woodford: By leaving early?
Tim Wildmon: No, by not changing the time.
Chris Woodford: Leaving the later time slot?
Tim Wildmon: Part of this we can't help, because the Earth tilts.
Chris Woodford: That's right. We can pass all the laws we want, but we're not going to be able to affect its tilting in the wintertime or the summertime.
Tim Wildmon: The spring forward and fall back. Well, it's fall back time.
Chris Woodford: Nowadays, with our clocks updating automatically on our phones, we don't have to worry about it. You do have to reset your clocks at home, but fall back and spring forward are coming up this week.
Tim Wildmon: We put the clocks back an hour, right?
Chris Woodford: That's correct. You get an extra hour of sleep this weekend, based on how the clock thing is structured.
Tim Wildmon: One thing that has really added to the confusion over the spring-forward, fall-back thing is that when you were Wesley's age, it was always the same time frame. It was this weekend and then this weekend later that year. When President George W. Bush was in office, he signed an energy bill that extended daylight saving time about four weeks in 2007 and put it on different weekends depending on the year.
Chris Woodford: I remember the confusion because I was working at a television station. People would call and say, “Is this the weekend the time changes?” We would say, “No, it's next weekend.” They would ask, “Why is it different?” The president signed a bill, and it caused confusion.
Tim Wildmon: You're referring to George W. Bush, not his father, the senior Bush, who famously said, “Read my lips, no new taxes,” and then reneged on that.
Chris Woodford: George W. Bush changed the week of daylight saving time. It used to be generally the same fixed time, up until 2007 when he signed that bill.
Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues. We hope you can adjust your own clocks and figure it out. It is this upcoming weekend.
Fred Jackson: When you talk about Canada and the northern part of the United States, it's going to get darker even sooner.
Tim Wildmon: It is. I remember when I would get out of school in Nova Scotia in the wintertime, at 3:30 on the way home on the bus, it was getting dark.
Chris Woodford: That's just downright depressing.
Fred Jackson: In Alaska, there are a couple of weeks or months out of the year when they don't see the sunrise.
Tim Wildmon: In the wintertime in Alaska, they may have only a couple of hours of daylight a day. In the summertime, it's the opposite. At the peaks of summertime and wintertime, it could be worse. We do have a station in the North Pole.
Chris Woodford: Don't keep saying it could be worse. I don't really need to hear that on a Monday morning.
Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. What's your next story, Chris?
Chris Woodford: Let's mention this real quick about the elections. There are stories and social media posts going around saying that polls may be inaccurate, and some polls may actually be fabricated. This has been playing out for a few days now.
Chris Woodford: It was a subject of discussion today on Fox News Channel. Cassie Smedley, a Republican strategist, was brought on to discuss it. She said Democrats may be overconfident because of these so-called inaccurate polls, flipping five polls, excitement, or believing their own hype.
Chris Woodford: I recall that just four years ago they said Florida was going their way, and Governor DeSantis won the night very early on by double digits. We have to be a little careful here.
Chris Woodford: President Trump, for his part, is making sure he leaves no stone unturned. Whether that's going to Mississippi or the perennial battlegrounds of Ohio, Iowa, and others, he's barnstorming the country. You cannot win if you cannot turn out your base. No one is more loyal to President Trump than the base, and he's making sure they turn out and are hyped up to vote.
Tim Wildmon: That's what we were talking about earlier. That's why I said it would be interesting to have a review of all the pollsters over the last decade to see what they look like.
Tim Wildmon: I'd like everybody to raise their hands if you'd like to see more political ads on television.
Tim Wildmon: I'm looking out across the country here at our listeners, and I don't see anybody's hand raised. Who wants more? I was watching football over the weekend, and I watched two or three games. Every commercial break was an ad.
Chris Woodford: The television stations love that.
Tim Wildmon: The sales manager hates the day after an election because revenue plummets. That's big money. Election season is big money for television stations and radio stations, I'm sure.
Chris Woodford: By the time you get to Election Day, you're sick of watching television ads.
Tim Wildmon: You like them?
Chris Woodford: The same one over and over and over again.
Tim Wildmon: It's always funny to me because each negative ad makes you think the person in the profile is the devil. “My opponent is the worst person in the universe.”
Fred Jackson: Remember that ad, from whatever election it was, where the Democrats had a grandmother in a wheelchair?
Tim Wildmon: The Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Fred Jackson: They showed an elderly woman in a wheelchair with a Republican pushing her off a cliff.
Tim Wildmon: They did.
Fred Jackson: It's a metaphor for Republicans wanting to slash and cut social services for elderly people, which is not true, but that's what they always bring out.
Tim Wildmon: Let's take a break right here. We'll take our standard break and be back. There's more news to discuss. Chris is prepared, and even I have brought many sound bites to the show.
Chris Woodford: There's also a big election in Israel that we're paying attention to. We have sound on that as well.
Tim Wildmon: I can't stress enough: go vote. If you don't vote early, make sure you go vote, and get your friends, family, and church members to go vote. Pester them if you need to, but everybody needs to go vote.
Tim Wildmon: We'll be back momentarily.
Tim Wildmon: Welcome back to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to AFR. I'm Tim, with Wesley, Fred, and Chris. This is Monday, October 26. We are eight days away from Election Day, and we will be here with coverage on election night right here on American Family Radio. It's a big day across the country, and we are anticipating the results.
Tim Wildmon: I don't know how many of you pay attention to college football.
Wesley: I stopped after Saturday.
Tim Wildmon: You're a Mississippi State fan.
Wesley: This is State football, man.
Tim Wildmon: I am too busy looking forward to baseball.
Chris Woodford: Baseball generally starts at the end of September for us.
Tim Wildmon: On the general college football landscape, nobody wants to win. Nobody wants to be number one.
Chris Woodford: Apparently, if you have a big win in college football nowadays, you lose the next weekend.
Tim Wildmon: That's the way it seems to be going. BYU beats Notre Dame, and then they go down to Central Florida and can't beat the Knights. Tennessee beats Alabama like a drum, then goes to South Carolina and gets it handed to them by the Fighting Chickens.
Tim Wildmon: About four weeks ago, Texas was number one. Then they proceeded to lose two games in a row, one to Oklahoma and then to Florida at home. They beat Ole Miss on Saturday, which was a great college football game.
Chris Woodford: That was a great effort by Ole Miss because they were down 24 to 3. They did not panic. They fought hard, and it literally came down to the last play.
Tim Wildmon: I thought Ole Miss was going to win. Texas fans were saying, “Here we go again.”
Chris Woodford: That was a crazy ending to that Ole Miss-Texas game. You rarely ever see an onside kick work, because everyone knows it's coming. Ole Miss had an onside kick, and it was successful. That was bizarre.
Chris Woodford: I do have the current poll, if you want it.
Tim Wildmon: Who's number one, Chris?
Chris Woodford: Currently, it's Miami of Florida.
Tim Wildmon: Miami of Florida.
Wesley: Nobody likes Miami of Ohio.
Tim Wildmon: Who's number two, Chris?
Chris Woodford: The Ohio State University. They lost their starting quarterback, and he's gone for the year, so we'll see how that goes. Georgia is number three, followed by Indiana, Notre Dame, Utah, UCLA, which has come out of nowhere in recent years, and BYU is eighth. Kentucky is now ninth.
Wesley: I still can't get used to Indiana being mentioned in the top ten in football.
Tim Wildmon: Two years in a row.
Wesley: I think you'll find that as a prophecy in the book of Revelation.
Chris Woodford: You're talking about basketball, right?
Wesley: No, I'm saying that Indiana being ranked in the top ten in football means the end of the world.
Tim Wildmon: We have a lot of listeners in Indiana.
Chris Woodford: They're saying positive things about the news.
Wesley: They are just as surprised as we are, but their school is doing well in football.
Tim Wildmon: Speaking of basketball schools doing well in football, Kentucky is number nine in America. What a difference a new coach makes. We'll see how it all goes. Every time a team like Auburn beats Georgia, they get handed to them by LSU at home. It's just crazy in college football.
Chris Woodford: The Fighting Kiffins are 15th.
Tim Wildmon: What's your next story?
Chris Woodford: In the first half hour, we spent a lot of time talking about the U.S. elections, which are a week from tomorrow. Tomorrow, in the nation of Israel, people will be going to vote in their parliamentary elections.
Chris Woodford: Israel doesn't do elections like the United States. Its government is structured differently. Voters in Israel will be choosing members of the Knesset, which is their congress, if you will. Those members will then pick the next prime minister.
Chris Woodford: Benjamin Netanyahu is not on the ballot. Depending on how things go, it could determine whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains prime minister. If his Likud Party wins, Netanyahu will remain prime minister. But if Gadi Eisenkot, who is with the Yesh Atid Party, wins a majority, Gadi will replace Benjamin Netanyahu.
Tim Wildmon: Much like an election in a state like California, where it can take weeks to decide who actually won something, we could be talking about the Israeli election through Thanksgiving.
Fred Jackson: When we're talking about parliamentary government elections, Americans ask, “Why do you do this? Why don't you just do it like we do?” That's just the American way. We have two parties, everybody votes, and we decide it.
Fred Jackson: Parliamentary systems of government are the norm in Western democracies. The way we do it here in the United States is unusual. Most of Europe has parliamentary governments. I know Israel has the same system that Canada has.
Tim Wildmon: Fred, without making our listeners' eyes glaze over, can you explain what's going on here with Benjamin Netanyahu? He's the prime minister. Is he being challenged?
Fred Jackson: He is being challenged. This is the first election since the Hamas massacre of October 2023. Since then, many people regard Netanyahu as a hero, but some people in Israel blame him. They say he should have known that Hamas was planning the attack.
Fred Jackson: Many people are calling this a referendum on Netanyahu. In Israel, there are 12 parties. So, even if Likud, Netanyahu's party, were to get the most seats in the Knesset, they would have to reach out to several of these parties and ask them to join him so he could continue as prime minister.
Tim Wildmon: They have to get to a certain point to have a majority.
Fred Jackson: They have to solicit support from the other parties. That's why it's going to take a little while. After the voting is done, the negotiations will happen. One side may not have enough seats, and the party of the other candidate, the retired military man, may have support. Netanyahu still has his supporters. Some say he's a hero because of what has happened. Others say he should have known Hamas was planning it.
Tim Wildmon: In my opinion, setting aside the internal politics of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is the very best spokesperson that Israel has ever had. It's kind of an odd and superficial reason, but it matters. Most Israelis can speak English. However, as someone said the other day, Benjamin Netanyahu not only speaks English, he speaks American.
Tim Wildmon: He is very articulate and persuasive with his arguments. He speaks perfectly fluent English as if he grew up in the United States. I think that's a big asset for him when he makes appeals to America.
Fred Jackson: Absolutely.
Tim Wildmon: Netanyahu represents the conservative side of thinking in Israel, like Donald Trump represents the conservative side of thinking in this country. For the most part, they get along well.
Tim Wildmon: But there is a liberal element in Israel. Sometimes you read The Jerusalem Post and think it's The New York Times. In a big city like Tel Aviv, that element is there. You also have the conflict between Palestinians and Jewish people. We have to remember that there are Palestinians who are Israeli citizens, and they have representation in the Knesset.
Chris Woodford: There was a story on Friday about a shooting in Hebron. According to the Associated Press and others, it may have been an issue between Arabs and Israelis fighting and shooting at one another. The story said that Israel's Arab population is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to 22 percent, which is a huge voting block for people who might not be in favor of somebody like Netanyahu.
Tim Wildmon: We'll see what happens there. It's a big deal in Israel who they select to be their leader going forward. Because it's a parliamentary system of government, they have to put together coalitions to come up with a majority among 12 parties.
Fred Jackson: Like the 12 tribes of Israel.
Tim Wildmon: How about that?
Chris Woodford: Our John Riley is in the nation of Israel right now visiting various people. He goes to Israel once or twice a year because he has family there. While he's in Israel, he spoke with Daniel Cohen. Daniel Cohen is a name and voice people might recognize from programs like Washington Watch, which is on AFR in the afternoons. Daniel is the news director of Real Life Network and is living in Israel for his job.
Chris Woodford: John caught up with him to talk about the Israeli election and Netanyahu. Netanyahu, much like Donald Trump, is somebody that some people like and other people do not. Daniel Cohen seems to think Netanyahu is the right person for the job.
Daniel Cohen: The one constant in Israel is a man named Benjamin Netanyahu, and he is the prime minister. He leads a party called Likud. When we go to vote, it's all paper ballots for a party, not for a person, so we don't actually vote for Netanyahu.
Daniel Cohen: Prime Minister Netanyahu gets the same treatment in Israel that Donald Trump gets in the United States of America, which means it's not a lot of favorable press. Daniel 2:9 says God raises up kings and deposes others. He has raised up Prime Minister Netanyahu, and he has raised up Donald Trump, two imperfect men, very imperfect men, but for such a time as this.
Daniel Cohen: Netanyahu's ability to reach Americans and speak to Americans could be due to the time he spent in the United States. He went to high school in the Philadelphia area. I believe he went to one of the Ivy League schools. Either way, he speaks very fluent English without a distinctively foreign accent.
Tim Wildmon: He speaks English better than I do.
Chris Woodford: I don't know what to say about you, Tim.
Tim Wildmon: I speak one language, and not very well.
Chris Woodford: Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't speak Southern English.
Tim Wildmon: I'm trying.
Chris Woodford: Again, there's a big election in Israel. We'll see what direction that country goes in, whether it sticks with Benjamin Netanyahu or goes away from him.
Chris Woodford: Benjamin Netanyahu is fixing to go to Hebron. I wonder sometimes when Benjamin Netanyahu has a sit-down conversation with Mike Huckabee, does Netanyahu say, “Excuse me?” Mike is one of us.
Chris Woodford: Ilhan Omar is still in serious legal trouble. She did resurface and make some public appearances toward the end of last week, but people are still saying she is in very hot water for possibly falsifying documents.
Chris Woodford: There were stories last week from Fox News and other outlets claiming Omar might not even be her real last name, and therefore anything she signed or perhaps voted on as Ilhan Omar might be illegitimate. Greg Jarrett, a Fox News legal contributor, was brought on Fox News Channel to talk about this, and he said Omar is in serious legal trouble.
Greg Jarrett: I think she's in serious trouble because Judge Rachael, a Democrat judge in Washington, D.C., authorized the search warrant after examining, apparently for hours, what had to have been compelling evidence of criminality. That evidence raises serious questions: Is Omar the person she purports to be? Was her citizenship obtained through false statements or fraud? Did she engage in a sham marriage to her own brother?
Greg Jarrett: She didn't help herself the other day when she said, “Not to my knowledge,” which was a real head-scratcher. The feds have reportedly obtained DNA. DNA doesn't lie, and it may answer the ultimate question.
Greg Jarrett: What I find so bewildering and suspicious is that Omar has always had the ability to produce exculpatory evidence, but she hasn't done it. Instead, she issues this blanket condemnation of the investigation, blames Trump, and is now fundraising off of it. But it's going to take a lot more than that if she's indicted.
Tim Wildmon: So what's the accusation here, Fred?
Fred Jackson: She's the congresswoman who is a member of the Squad. She originally lived in Somalia and immigrated to Minnesota.
Chris Woodford: When this story broke about three weeks ago, it had to do with when she came to this country and how old she was. Was she 17 or 18?
Tim Wildmon: Why is that important?
Chris Woodford: If she came here while she was 17, she could be naturalized under her father. If she was 18 when she came here, she couldn't do that because she would be considered an adult and would have to complete the naturalization process herself.
Chris Woodford: Authorities have found documents where she had one birth date on one document and a different birth date on another document. There is also a story that surfaced years ago claiming she married her brother in order to bring him into the country, then later divorced him and married somebody else.
Tim Wildmon: Does that really happen? Is there any confirmation of this?
Fred Jackson: When she was asked about it last week, I think her response was, “As far as I know.”
Tim Wildmon: That's what Greg Jarrett was talking about. “Not to my knowledge.” I thought that was an odd answer.
Fred Jackson: If somebody asked us whether we had married our sister, we would say no. That's an easy answer. She said, “Not to my knowledge. I don't remember.”
Chris Woodford: As Greg Jarrett pointed out, a liberal Democrat-appointed judge granted a search warrant on Ilhan Omar's house in Washington, D.C.
Chris Woodford: With some of these people who come here from overseas and immigrate into the United States, how would you ever know their birth certificates are correct in the first place? Who could verify it? In Somalia, do they even keep records like that? That's been one of the criticisms of inviting people over here. If they don't have a system, how do you know that a person is not a terrorist or doesn't have a record?
Fred Jackson: In Canada, you have a birth certificate. We've probably had them for a hundred years. They establish dates for all kinds of reasons. You get your driver's license, you can vote, and you can buy things like a house or a car, but you have to prove you're of age.
Chris Woodford: I haven't seen any type of marriage certificate, but everybody I follow on the conservative side has been making the claim as a fact that she married her brother.
Tim Wildmon: What claim?
Chris Woodford: The fact that she married her brother. That doesn't seem to be in dispute.
Tim Wildmon: Is that illegal?
Fred Jackson: It is illegal to marry your brother in the United States.
Chris Woodford: The accusation is that she married him so she could bring him into the United States. When you marry somebody who is an American citizen, that person can move here. That's the idea.
Tim Wildmon: I know it's illegal to marry your brother in the United States. This is a weird conversation.
Chris Woodford: But if you marry your brother back in your country, in this case Somalia, and then come over and say you're married, that would be under false pretenses too. You're trying to beat the system.
Chris Woodford: I want to mention the hard work of Steve Jordahl. I posted his story on the Today's Issues Facebook page. He interviewed Jenna Ellis about what happens to Ilhan Omar's House seat if this continues to be a problem.
Chris Woodford: Jenna Ellis said, quote, “She should just step down now, even before reelection, so they can have somebody else on the ticket and potentially retain that seat.”
Tim Wildmon: I think this may hurt her. She's from Minneapolis, right? There is a job opening she could take. If she left Congress, she could be in charge at the Leering Center. They have an opening for an executive director, with better hours, and you don't have to mess with all of this.
Chris Woodford: For the small percentage of listeners who remember that story, they just got a good laugh.
Tim Wildmon: To be honest, as sad as this is, Jenna is right. She should step down for the sake of the district and everything else. But people there will still vote for her, much like people would have voted for Bill Clinton again in 2000 if they had the opportunity.
Tim Wildmon: We've got about two minutes. Is there any happy news, Chris?
Chris Woodford: I can tell you this. Let's talk about candy for a moment. We've got all the fall festivals and candy treats, and some people go door to door to beg for candy treats.
Tim Wildmon: There was a recent poll that determined the most overrated Halloween candies. What do you think is an overrated Halloween candy?
Wesley: Easy. Candy corn.
Tim Wildmon: Candy corn.
Wesley: That's awful.
Tim Wildmon: It's everywhere during Halloween. Are you a candy corn person?
Chris Woodford: I can take a few at a time, but what is that made of?
Wesley: Sugar.
Tim Wildmon: Straight sugar.
Chris Woodford: You didn't hesitate.
Wesley: It may be somebody's favorite candy.
Tim Wildmon: It may be, and I don't apologize.
Chris Woodford: According to Consumer Reports and others who looked into this, Twizzlers, Tootsie Rolls, and Bit-O-Honey have been deemed overrated Halloween candies. Many people also don't like Almond Joy, saying coconut does not belong in chocolate.
Tim Wildmon: That's fair. I agree with that.
Chris Woodford: That's in the same category as pineapple on pizza.
Tim Wildmon: If there's a vote, I vote for Snickers.
Wesley: Snickers is a big candy.
Chris Woodford: Yes.
Tim Wildmon, Fred Jackson, Chris Woodford and Wesley discuss the 2026 Senate races that could determine the balance of power in Washington and affect President Donald Trump’s ability to confirm federal judges. They examine contests in Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Maine, Alaska and Minnesota, along with Trump’s campaign stop in Mississippi for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.
The program also considers skepticism about election polling, early voting and the role of turnout. The hosts discuss Israel’s parliamentary election, Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future and Daniel Cohen’s perspective on the country’s coalition system.
The broadcast closes with discussion of reports and allegations involving Representative Ilhan Omar, including questions about citizenship documents and a reported investigation. The hosts also share lighter conversation about college football and overrated Halloween candy.
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