Ed Vitagliano: And welcome, everybody, to Today's Issues. It is Monday, September 14th, almost halfway through the month of September. I'm sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week. Joining me in the studio is Wesley Wildmon. Good morning, Wesley.
Wesley Wildmon: Good morning.
Ed Vitagliano: Good morning to you, Tony Vitagliano.
Tony Vitagliano: Good morning.
Ed Vitagliano: And Chris Woodward, for the first hour, is going to be our news guy.
Chris Woodward: Usually a little more subtle today.
Ed Vitagliano: I changed it up.
Chris Woodward: You changed it up.
Ed Vitagliano: It's the proof-of-life thing to show that this is not prerecorded.
Chris Woodward: Oh, I see.
Ed Vitagliano: All right. So you have to tune in every day, if you still tune in.
Wesley Wildmon: Well, we do need to be able to find our audience.
Ed Vitagliano: This is live, and we make mistakes.
Wesley Wildmon: We do.
Ed Vitagliano: We make mistakes. We set up our program so that we could make several today. Tim's not here.
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, there's no accountability. He keeps us on track, doesn't he?
Tony Vitagliano: He knows he does. He's always the serious one. Here's one, ever in the weeds. And he's listening, and he's making notes right now.
Ed Vitagliano: All right. It is Monday. That means a lot of stuff happened over the weekend. By the way, I want to say that most of the guys around AFA here at our headquarters in Tupelo, Mississippi, AFA and American Family Radio, are big college football fans. I can say, for those here in the Deep South, the name Archie Manning and the name Manning were quite a finish to that game between Ohio State and Texas. I don't have hockey to talk about yet. That'll happen in October.
Chris Woodward: We have a couple of die-hard Ohio State fans. I haven't seen Ken Green in today.
Wesley Wildmon: I think he's here, but he's sitting in the back.
Tony Vitagliano: No, in all seriousness, Texas tried really hard several times. They did everything they could to lose that game.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, but they found a way to win because they really tried hard to lose that one.
Chris Woodward: I can tell you, we had a similar situation in Starkville last year, where State had a big lead over Texas going into the fourth quarter, and then they found a way to play football again. So I can relate to the heartbreak in Columbus.
Wesley Wildmon: But this early in the season, we joke about that, but there's obviously a lot of football left. Ohio State has a favorable schedule, and they have a couple of opportunities to redeem themselves. With the playoff system, you can afford a loss or two and still get in. Whereas five or six years ago, before the playoffs, if you lost a game, you might say, "It's over. No chance," because there were only two teams. You're done.
Ed Vitagliano: Both Mississippi teams are undefeated right now, right?
Tony Vitagliano: Let me go get my count.
Chris Woodward: There is peace inside our building for now.
Ed Vitagliano: I mentioned that because usually on Monday mornings, that's what people are talking about around here. They're not talking about what we're about to talk about.
Tony Vitagliano: That's why we're here.
Ed Vitagliano: That's why we're here, to talk about the news that happened over the weekend and that is currently happening. That's why, Chris Woodward, you are our go-to guy.
Chris Woodward: All right. No pressure.
Ed Vitagliano: One big story from over the weekend that's still being talked about today is this, and you can find the story on our website, AFN.net. U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany, a candidate for Wisconsin governor, wiped away tears and laughed while sharing how thankful he was Sunday to survive a harrowing late-night emergency landing in a lake in the small plane he was riding in. The pilot said, "Hey, everybody, we're about to go down." Tom Tiffany, who is a frequent guest on various shows here at AFR, was talking to the media about the situation.
Tom Tiffany: Len said to me, "We are going down. Pull your seat belt tight." About 10 seconds later, we hit the water. After the plane settled, probably a couple of seconds, we looked at each other. "Are you okay?" He said to me, "Are you okay?" And we were like, "Yeah, doing fine."
Ed Vitagliano: After they made the landing in the water, they then had to swim to shore in the lake. How big a lake was this?
Chris Woodward: I'm not sure. It was a big lake, though. It is in the Green Bay area, I believe, and the name of the lake is in our story, which I am going to find for you in a moment while you talk amongst yourselves.
Tony Vitagliano: I'm looking at the pictures of the lake, and it's very manageable. It's a big lake, but it doesn't look overwhelming to get to the shore.
Wesley Wildmon: Like Wausau?
Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, like Wausau. This is not the size I had in mind.
Ed Vitagliano: This is small.
Wesley Wildmon: This is really great radio, as we're looking at pictures.
Ed Vitagliano: Well, I will say this: thank the Lord.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, those are words you don't want to hear the pilot say: "No, we're going down."
Tony Vitagliano: Our own J.J. Jasper, who's a pilot, has landed a plane on the highway before. I was working that day and did that news story and had no idea that it was him.
Ed Vitagliano: Oh, you didn't know about the plane landing on the highway?
Tony Vitagliano: It was a good newscast. "A plane has landed on a highway in Mississippi," and then I found out that we knew the guy.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, it was, "Sources say we're coworkers."
Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, it was at night, too.
Wesley Wildmon: So you have to think, you had very low visibility.
Ed Vitagliano: You're talking about the story at Christmastime?
Wesley Wildmon: No, I'm sorry. I was talking about the Tiffany story.
Ed Vitagliano: Oh, okay. So the landing in the lake happened at night.
Wesley Wildmon: Yes.
Ed Vitagliano: His audio was the first time I heard him speak in response to that. It was not as dramatic as the videos and movies that you see.
Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, the way he described it, he said, "Hey, we're going down." They hit the water, but a few seconds later they were floating.
Wesley Wildmon: I don't visualize a plane landing in the water that calmly.
Ed Vitagliano: I have. As I've talked about on the show, J.J. and John Rowley went to Israel in August of last year. We were on a plane where you could see on the screen in front of you where the plane was. I thought we were going to be flying across the ocean, over Africa, and then hang a left at Egypt or whatever. But they actually went up, and we always had land near us. I thought, "Okay, well, good. We have a place to land if we need to."
Ed Vitagliano: Let me share a story real quick about water landings and planes. In 1999, I was on a school trip that went to parts of Europe. This was back in the day when everybody watched the in-flight movie. You didn't get to watch your own thing on demand. No kidding, the movie they showed everybody had a main character who died in a boating accident as we were flying over the ocean. To this day, I'm asking, "Who picked this movie?"
Wesley Wildmon: The timing was terrible.
Tony Vitagliano: With a plane this small, they wouldn't have had any type of ...
Ed Vitagliano: I'm looking at the picture now. This is what I was showing you.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, that's the plane there, Landon. They had plenty of room.
Ed Vitagliano: I was going to say, Brandon, our producer, just held up a sign: "I don't fly because of this." So he has a lot of ...
Chris Woodward: He doesn't. He bikes and rides horseback.
Ed Vitagliano: That's what he does.
Wesley Wildmon: And camels.
Ed Vitagliano: We're going to pull it. Let's get back on track and go to our next story.
Chris Woodward: Speaking of a plane situation, a U.S. pilot is speaking out for the first time since being shot down over Iran in April. The airman, whose call sign is Bravo, recalls in this audio the moment his fighter jet was shot down by a missile, forcing him to eject over enemy territory.
U.S. Pilot: I think the best way I've been able to describe that moment was getting hit by a freight train. Professionals think I hit the ground going somewhere between 70 and 100 miles an hour.
Interviewer: How did you survive that?
U.S. Pilot: A modern-day miracle. I believe that it's a testament to God's provision in my life to bring me through that moment in a way that didn't prevent injuries, but prevented any catastrophic injuries that would have affected my ability to survive.
Ed Vitagliano: Wow. He hit the ground anywhere between 70 and 100 miles an hour. He had ejected, though, right?
Chris Woodward: He did.
Ed Vitagliano: I know this is unfair to ask you, Chris. I just don't know the answer to it. You might not know the answer either. Is that typical for a pilot who is ejected?
Chris Woodward: I don't think so. I don't believe the canopy opens up, but they're usually still attached to their seat.
Wesley Wildmon: I don't know. The parachute, you would think, is slowing them down. I don't know whether they somehow get loose from the seat after the ejection. I don't know how that works, but that's fast. That was surprising to me to hear that number.
Tony Vitagliano: You see some people parachute out, and when they're landing, you can see how it could be kind of rough if you're not used to it, or maybe there's a gust of wind at the last second. But I couldn't imagine that to the degree of 70 miles an hour. That's different than being in a crash on the highway at that speed, where modern cars are built to crumple and the cage protects you from some of that impact.
Chris Woodward: I remember this story. A typical parachute landing, according to a quick search, is anywhere from 15 to 30 miles per hour. Even then, you have to be trained in how to properly land because you don't want to lock your legs like brakes.
Wesley Wildmon: The parachute was damaged?
Chris Woodward: He came in that fast, causing him to free-fall at an estimated 70 to 100 miles per hour.
Ed Vitagliano: Chris, this was the incident where the United States sent covert teams to rescue the pilot.
Chris Woodward: That was pretty extraordinary. When we covered this at the time, it was pretty extraordinary. They had ghost signals for transponders to throw the Iranians off while they went in search of him. It was a very well-done, Tom Clancy-esque action-thriller plot that we used on the Iranians to try to get our guy out.
Tony Vitagliano: That would make a good movie.
Wesley Wildmon: It's already in the works.
Ed Vitagliano: The one comment that he made there that really stood out to me was when he talked about it being God's provision. There are so many situations, and I think this might be why Representative and candidate Tiffany was as calm as he was. When you have your faith in God, death will be painful, it might hurt, and it might be sudden, but it's not the end. That's something I think all of us should be mindful of.
Tony Vitagliano: Sometimes God's people, especially in a military setting, do get seriously injured, and they do have life-altering injuries. It's not always easy to understand why God saves one person from any kind of catastrophic effects of a wartime situation, while other times God allows people to go through those kinds of struggles later on. I appreciate when you hear someone like him not dismiss the fact that it wasn't a perfect thing. He said, "I got hurt, but my injuries did not prevent me from being able to survive for the time that I needed to get help."
Wesley Wildmon: Sometimes you'll hear somebody so optimistic about how God saved them that they give the impression that it was all perfect. You're leaving out that there were some hardships along the way, but God still ...
Chris Woodward: The Iranians were hunting him.
Wesley Wildmon: They wanted the prisoner, and they wanted the aircraft. To evade them for as long as he did was also a miracle.
Ed Vitagliano: That would be an excellent movie. I remember Lone Survivor with Mark Wahlberg. I'm sure the language is pretty rough in that. I'm not recommending it, but that was a similar true story of someone getting out when others did not.
Ed Vitagliano: We are grateful for this man's testimony and grateful that God spared him. What's the next story?
Chris Woodward: When we pray this week and thank God for these positive stories and updates, we should also pray for our acquaintances over in the United Kingdom. In recent days, U.K. lawmakers rejected a bill that endorsed assisted suicide in England and Wales in a very narrow vote. The bill would have allowed people who are terminally ill to take their own lives.
Chris Woodward: I can tell you from having covered these kinds of efforts here in the States that this story is not over. Somebody will try to revisit the issue and get U.K. lawmakers to do this again at a date to be determined. The good news is that, for now, the U.K. is not going to allow terminally ill people to take their own lives with a doctor's help. But it is going to come up again.
Chris Woodward: One of the things we often hear from special-interest groups here in the States is that when governments allow this kind of thing, it creates the potential for it to be increased or added to in the future. Some people are concerned that this could lead to an effort to talk disabled people into taking their own lives as well.
Wesley Wildmon: It's a very difficult subject. I know we do need to be in prayer for it, which is why I bring it up.
Ed Vitagliano: Wesley, this is one of those issues that, 20 years ago, we heard a lot more about, physician-assisted suicide. We have states in our country that allow this, but this is one of those issues we don't hear about as much. We hear a lot about abortion, rightfully so, but this is as much of a pro-life issue as abortion is. It is at the other end of life, involving people who are older and people who are suffering through their years, decades even, into their lives.
Ed Vitagliano: It really does make a difference. This is why American Family Association and American Family Radio are pro-life. When you talk about being created in the image of God, it really does matter where your starting point is. If you start with the belief that we are made in the image of God, that is going to affect all kinds of other issues. This is why a worldview is important.
Wesley Wildmon: Absolutely. We work really hard here at AFA and AFR to provide you content. Our mission statement is to inform, equip, and activate. We try to inform, equip, and activate you to be able to answer these questions.
Wesley Wildmon: I remember when I first became aware, probably in my late college days, of euthanasia and that type of thinking. I thought that was just a concept out there that some evil person came up with. I didn't know at the time that it was taking place in different parts of the world and that it was trying to be brought to the United States and Canada.
Tony Vitagliano: Canada, it is.
Wesley Wildmon: That's a terrible, very sad, and evil way to look at human life, especially in the later years, when people are older. There's so much ... It's just wrong. It's biblically incorrect. It's evil. I think about how many people can be manipulated into that type of thinking.
Wesley Wildmon: Where was the story from again?
Chris Woodward: The United Kingdom.
Wesley Wildmon: The United Kingdom.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony, I would bounce off what Wesley said. The older I get, and this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm talking to my son, the more I can understand the pressure that would come to a person who is older and has some sort of physical problem that is not going away and is consuming resources and being a burden on the younger generation, the children.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm a Christian, so I'm not going to kill myself. I know it's wrong. But if I wasn't a Christian and lived in a state like Oregon, which I think was one of the first, or Washington and Oregon, where they passed physician-assisted-suicide bills, I can see where I would go to a physician and the doctor would say, "You're not going to get better. This is just going to go on. You're going to become a burden on your children. Here's a pamphlet."
Ed Vitagliano: I can see how, if you're not a Christian and don't understand that your life is not your own, people would say, "What's the point of languishing? Why don't I just get this over with? It would be easier on my kids?" This is the problem when you have a society and a nation that starts drifting away from its biblical foundation. The same thing applies to the United Kingdom. A lot of these Western countries had Christian roots.
Ed Vitagliano: It's what happens when you start shifting away from that. It changes society and eventually the government's view on life, the purpose of life, and the sanctity of life.
Wesley Wildmon: I forget if it was Chesterton or somebody else who said that life is precious even when it is sad. You shift from life being precious, with everyone made in the image of God and therefore having value and purpose, to the idea that your purpose and value are only wrapped up in what you contribute to society. If you're not contributing anymore, then you're of no value to us.
Ed Vitagliano: That's not what God says about us.
Wesley Wildmon: That's not what God says. He has a plan for everybody. Whether you choose to follow Him and live according to that plan is a decision everyone has to make. I'm speaking generally, but God has a purpose for people who might even be in those tough situations.
Wesley Wildmon: I understand I can't relate to being in a situation like that, but instead of society and the government telling you and enforcing the message that you're going to be a burden to your children, society, or the health care system, they should encourage people by saying, "I know things are hard. I know things are bleak, but you still have a purpose, value, and worth to the people around you." If that were the mindset, I think there would be a lot less focus and debate about physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Ed Vitagliano: I'll add this as my final thought. They use different words and change the definition. They soften it to what, before these bills were passed, would have been called murder.
Wesley Wildmon: That's exactly what it is.
Ed Vitagliano: We're saying physician-assisted suicide, when in reality it's murder. Any taking of human life is murder. That's exactly what this is.
Tony Vitagliano: All right.
Ed Vitagliano: We've got another couple of minutes. Can you get us a shorter story?
Chris Woodward: I do have an update real quick. If anybody's wondering when their $5,000 dividend is coming, I would recommend that you be patient because there is a story on our website, AFN.net. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump's $5,000 dividend needs congressional approval.
Chris Woodward: This is interesting because President Trump is of the opinion that we don't need Congress for something like this. But the House Speaker, who is in the same party as the president, says he is pretty sure the president needs Congress to weigh in on it. So we could potentially have a debate between President Trump and Mike Johnson over this.
Chris Woodward: Johnson does call it a creative idea, which may be an attempt to wade into the waters there.
Tony Vitagliano: So it's not guaranteed?
Chris Woodward: It's not.
Wesley Wildmon: Wait a minute. It is guaranteed if you get out and vote.
Ed Vitagliano: He said $5,000 worth of gasoline.
Tony Vitagliano: No, it's $10,000 if you're married. We have wives at home. We each get $5,000.
Ed Vitagliano: I told my wife, "You can spend yours, but you cannot spend mine."
Tony Vitagliano: I did not, folks. We're just kidding about that.
Ed Vitagliano: It's going to be a free Brutus game.
Wesley Wildmon: I would not spend that kind of money on a Brutus game.
Ed Vitagliano: Given a tax break to families, I can get behind that if it's the right approach. But giving out cash, I would have such a problem with that. If the other team, so to speak, the Democrats, were passing out $5,000 or $10,000, it sounds to me like you're buying a vote.
Tony Vitagliano: I'm MAGA, and I support Trump. I'm all in. But it sounds to me like you're buying a vote. I think that's the way most people think about it, and I have a problem with that.
Wesley Wildmon: It's a promise that Republicans are making. It's not technically buying a vote because you're not telling individuals who to vote for. You're saying that if Republicans win, you will receive this. I can see how it's trying to drive voters to the polls rather than have them stay home.
Ed Vitagliano: Or give a tax break.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, in a way. But even Congress has to approve that.
Chris Woodward: We're supposed to get a DOGE dividend, tariff rebates, and now this.
Wesley Wildmon: I like the way the president is thinking in that he wants to offer relief to people who are hurting from the cost of inflation. But the way you do that is maybe have Congress consider lowering the tax burden so people get to bring more of that money home.
Ed Vitagliano: All right, we're going to take a short break. You're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. We hope you rejoin us.
Ed Vitagliano: We used to be a nation of dreamers. Some of that's missing now, but we have it as part of our heritage. Our forefathers, those who founded our country, were dreamers. They dreamed of a country where man would be free, where he could live in dignity and hope and the promise of a better tomorrow.
Ed Vitagliano: They lived that dream and believed in it so much that they were willing to give their lives for it. Nothing could stop them from reaching out for that dream, not even all the combined power of the King of England. They took that dream, and with it they beat the unbeatable foe. They conquered the unconquerable land. They traveled the untravelable roads. What great dreamers they were.
Ed Vitagliano: But they were not the greatest dreamers this world has had. There was a small group of men who had even greater dreams than the founders of our country. Nearly 2,000 years ago, there was a group of 11 men who had a dream, a great dream.
Ed Vitagliano: They dreamed that they could conquer the world without ever lifting a sword or firing a gun. They dreamed that one day every man, woman, and child could and would share with them the new faith they had found. They dreamed that one day this world would be ruled by love.
Ed Vitagliano: It was a great dream they had, so great in fact that the world laughed at them. The world killed them, even persecuted and killed them. The dream could not be destroyed. It lived on. They planted that dream of a world ruled by love in the hearts and minds of other individuals. The dream lived and grew. Soon that dream had conquered people of all climates, all classes, and all races.
Ed Vitagliano: There are those today who are still dreaming that dream. They are inspired by a carpenter who touched the hearts of common people as no other man. He planted that dream in their hearts, nursed it, and watched it grow.
Ed Vitagliano: It is the dream of a world where men are brothers, where we help instead of hurt, share instead of steal, and give instead of grab. It is a dream of a world ruled by brotherly love.
Ed Vitagliano: A foolish dream, an unrealistic dream, an illogical dream. Yes, it's been called all of those things, but that doesn't stop people from dreaming it and trying to make that dream come true.
Ed Vitagliano: It is, in a way, an unfulfilled dream, but many still search after it. The call goes out from this Galilean carpenter today for more dreamers. Few there are who dare to give themselves to that dream. It seems unreachable to most people. It is certainly a big dream and requires the best there is in a person.
Ed Vitagliano: For this reason, very few dare to dream that dream, for it is a challenge, the world's greatest challenge. It isn't a dream for sissies, weaklings, or the lazy. No, it's a dream for great people.
Ed Vitagliano: If you are a dreamer looking for a dream to give yourself to, there's none greater in all the world. One day, with His help, the dream will come true.
Ed Vitagliano: And welcome back to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week, joined in the studio by Wesley Wildmon, Tony Vitagliano, and Chris Woodward. For the remainder of this first hour of the program, Chris Woodward is our news guy.
Ed Vitagliano: What we mean by that, folks, is that Chris Woodward, usually along with Steve Jordahl, brings the news in. They bring the stories, hunt them down, and we discuss them at our Today's Issues story meetings.
Chris Woodward: They hunt them down.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm just telling you, they try to get away from these stories, but these guys are story rustlers.
Chris Woodward: People don't realize this, but on the weekends Steve and I are tag-team amateur wrestlers.
Ed Vitagliano: David and Goliath?
Chris Woodward: Because he's about seven feet tall, and I'm clearly nowhere near there.
Ed Vitagliano: How tall are you?
Chris Woodward: With shoes on, five-six.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm sorry.
Chris Woodward: I don't know why you and Steve complain. Tim Wildmon will stay up until almost midnight and send 15 stories.
Ed Vitagliano: He does.
Chris Woodward: That's the first thing I do when I get up in the morning. Even before my personal prayer time, I run through the stories. People may say, "You're not very spiritual," but I want to make sure I get through them so I'm prepared. Sometimes that's starting at four or four-thirty in the morning. I go through the stories, get an idea of what Tim wants to talk about, and then I have my devotions.
Tony Vitagliano: Mr. Tim is the reason I had to start putting my phone on Do Not Disturb at night. My wife kept elbowing me. She would say, "Your phone's lighting up." It wouldn't make a sound, but it would light up.
Chris Woodward: She's asking, "Is everything okay?"
Tony Vitagliano: The first couple of times I said, "Yes, it's just Mr. Tim sending us the ball, sending us the order again."
Ed Vitagliano: Because he's a night owl.
Chris Woodward: Yeah, he and Miss Allison.
Ed Vitagliano: Your mom is also a night owl, too, right?
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, and because I get up early, it's kind of a vicious circle. I go to bed pretty early. Of course, my wife is usually asleep by 7:30.
Ed Vitagliano: We do think about these news stories a lot and where we are hunting for stories that we want to bring to you. In fact, Chris, I'm going to ask you here in just a second to do a little pitch for American Family News because we know what our listeners are depending on us for.
Ed Vitagliano: We are trying to cover these news stories when it is appropriate from a Christian perspective. Not every story has a Christian perspective. Sometimes they're just stories.
Wesley Wildmon: We were talking about tax relief. I'm not sure there's a Christian view of how much tax is expected or required.
Ed Vitagliano: You could probably get some biblical ideas from the Book of Proverbs or something like that.
Wesley Wildmon: You could.
Ed Vitagliano: Chris, let our listeners know. They know they can come to American Family Radio and hear programs like this and hear the news stories at the top of the hour. But we also have a written version and a version with videos and all kinds of other stories from around the world, right?
Chris Woodward: Yes. AFN is the radio and print news service of the American Family Association. We have radio stories and print stories, and all of that ends up on our website and more at AFN.net.
Chris Woodward: As you often hear me say at the end of a newscast, it's not just the stories you hear about at the top of every hour, although those are important. Visit AFN.net for videos, columns, and a political cartoon. It's all there on AFN.net. There's a ton of stuff, and we update it throughout the day.
Chris Woodward: If anybody hasn't done so already, visit the website and click the Subscribe button at the top right-hand side of the page. Give us your email address. We'll keep that private, and once a day you'll get an email with about six or seven stories to keep you and yours informed.
Ed Vitagliano: These are videos from the Associated Press.
Chris Woodward: Yes. These are high-quality videos. We don't have staff members who fly to locations where something big is going on, but these are professionally done videos because we pay to use them from the Associated Press.
Ed Vitagliano: It is a legitimate news page, and a lot of the stories do have a Christian answer.
Chris Woodward: If I may, I would also like to applaud our brothers and sisters at the opposite end of the building who work for The Stand. They do great work. That's long-form print journalism and solid material. If my news stories get you down, check out The Stand Magazine, because that's going to be uplifting material to remind you that this is not the end.
Tony Vitagliano: I thought you were going to say, "If my stories get you down, check out The Stand for long versions of stories that will get you down with more words."
Chris Woodward: That is right. Those people have been a blessing to me, far more than they realize, because of the great work they do for the magazine.
Ed Vitagliano: Amen. All right, next story.
Chris Woodward: We were talking before the break about how many people might welcome a $5,000 dividend or more because of today's high gas prices. If you haven't looked at AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge reports, I'm going to tell you. Unfortunately, the average price for a gallon of regular in these United States of America is $4.31. Diesel is far worse at $6.23. You may not realize this, but diesel is almost $3 more today than it was a year ago.
Chris Woodward: I have some audio here from President Trump. He was asked about the price of diesel while he was in Ireland. President Trump said Ukraine takes some of the blame for the price of diesel fuel these days.
President Trump: He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he's causing a shortage of diesel fuel. This isn't done by the Middle East. It's done by what's happening with Russia, and there are plenty of other targets. Don't hit diesel fuel because that's hurting the world. We don't want him to hit diesel fuel.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony, I'll let you go first, then Wesley. Give us your take.
Tony Vitagliano: This is political dynamite right now, probably the wrong metaphor, but political hot potato, whatever. This issue of fuel prices and grocery prices is affecting people. My wife and I went grocery shopping Saturday morning. We usually try to avoid doing that on a Saturday because of the crowds. I don't usually go shopping. My wife does, and I do the finances. I'm constantly asking, "What is the deal? Why are we spending so much?" Then I went with her and asked, "How is everything so expensive?"
Tony Vitagliano: This is going to affect the midterms because you can't escape the cost of filling up your vehicle. I recently had someone come out and do some work at my house. He uses a truck and was complaining about the price of diesel. This is really hurting people. I'm not sure blaming Ukraine is going to save Republicans in the midterms.
Wesley Wildmon: I don't want to discourage people. We still need everybody listening to go out and vote.
Tony Vitagliano: We don't want to depress the vote.
Wesley Wildmon: I don't want people to get down and think, "I needed that reminder."
Tony Vitagliano: Sorry. That was a good time to throw that out there.
Wesley Wildmon: Welcome to war in the 21st century, where it's like, "We need you to hit these things, but not these things." The fact of the matter is, war is war. You're doing whatever you can, whatever you have to, to hurt the enemy. This idea that we need to avoid certain targets because it hurts the global economy is not a realistic request.
Wesley Wildmon: I understand the frustration, but we've kept this conflict in Ukraine going for a while now. If you know any history, you know wars eventually devolve beyond military targets into hitting infrastructure and economic targets because you want to inflict economic pain.
Wesley Wildmon: I'm not sure I'm on board with the idea that hitting some diesel-refining plants in Russia is causing all of this. We're just now starting to see the long-term effects of the disruptions of the war in Iran. The war in Ukraine has been going on since 2022, for four years now, so these disruptions and price increases are probably due to the war in Iran. People need relief.
Ed Vitagliano: That's the way I view it. Something has got to give.
Tony Vitagliano: We talk about this a lot on the show. There doesn't seem to be an off-ramp for the war in Iran. We've talked about it on this program. I think Tim might have said something, too. I think he did.
Wesley Wildmon: This is when we're getting up to the three-month turn, when you said we've got to end this or it's going to turn into something that will affect the midterms. Now we're almost halfway through September.
Ed Vitagliano: During the first two or three weeks of the war between the United States and Iran, you had the liberal media saying, "Here we go, endless wars. He said no wars." I was of the position of, "Wait a minute. If this is going to be two months and we have a plan and we're in and out, I don't look at that as a forever war."
Ed Vitagliano: I don't personally look at that as a contradiction to Trump saying we're not going to war. I think there's some nuance there, with nuclear weapons and Iran being a hub for terrorism around the world. I could justify why campaign Trump and his administration campaigned on no wars. I could give them a pass and agree. I can even support the actions against Iran for the reasons they gave. The year before, we used the B-2 bombers. All of that, I'm good with.
Ed Vitagliano: But by month two, I was thinking, "Okay, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I support it." I said sometime between the second and fourth month of our involvement in Iran, I would like to have a five-point exit plan. We don't need the liberals' approval or a list of accomplishments, failures, or what we could have done. We just need to have a plan to get out.
Ed Vitagliano: We're now seven, going on eight, months in. I have a very cynical opinion on this at this point. I believe we're going to be in Iran in 2028, and we'll be having the same conversation.
Ed Vitagliano: I've seen how this works historically. When you enter into something, if you don't get out early, the longer you're there, the more other things come up that weren't part of the original mission. Now you're involved, multiple countries are involved, and you're trying to provide cover for them. Iran is brilliant in this sense. They're attacking their neighbors and pointing at the United States, saying we caused this. So what are we supposed to do?
Ed Vitagliano: We have too many assets over there to be able to just leave. I understand the explanation of why it's going to take a year to get out, but that's why you should have gotten out earlier or should have had a plan. Unfortunately, we didn't have a plan for the Strait of Hormuz. I mentioned that before.
Ed Vitagliano: There is a silver lining here. As skeptical as I am about us being there in 2028, the left is so bad right now that we can tread water politically speaking.
Wesley Wildmon: Politically speaking, the left, with drag queen story hours, men in women's sports, socialism, and all their craziness, is in a strange place.
Chris Woodward: Well, talking about the left, there is reportedly an effort, according to Fox News and some other news outlets, for Democrats to make Abdul El-Sayed and James Talarico more macho. They're trying to appeal to men to get their votes ahead of the midterm elections.
Chris Woodward: El-Sayed is now mentioning that he played high school football. Talarico says he went to the University of Texas and regularly went to see his Longhorns. Someone who isn't buying it is Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway, who helped President Trump win his first term. She doesn't buy these men suddenly pretending to be macho and like football.
Kellyanne Conway: This is the third time you've asked about it. These are so cringey because Talarico and El-Sayed are so craven for votes among young men. It wasn't that long ago that El-Sayed referred in a Substack post to football, American football, as misogynist, sexist, and homophobic.
Kellyanne Conway: By the way, he also probably wants you to kneel for the flag before kickoff even happens. The reason Talarico and El-Sayed are throwing Hail Marys now and fumbling among young men is because their party's been intercepted by the DSA. It won't work.
Kellyanne Conway: It's like Hillary whipping out the hot sauce from her handbag. It's like changing accents and putting on ridiculous campaign gear. "Here's my camo hat. Here's me pretending I've ever been in a grocery store, let alone recently."
Tony Vitagliano: First of all, I'm kind of glad Kellyanne Conway is still around. I hadn't heard from her in eight years.
Ed Vitagliano: It's been a minute.
Tony Vitagliano: It may not have been that long.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony, we talked about this in our story meeting. Steve Jordahl and I were the only two who actually remember this live because we're older. Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis was running for president and having trouble drumming up support among men, so he got in a tank. The campaign showed that he supported the military, wearing a helmet and communications gear with his head sticking out of the tank. He was roundly criticized and panned for that. A lot of people think he lost the election because of it.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm not sure the same thing is going to happen here, but I will say that the American electorate has a lot of low-information voters who are just going to vote according to the R or D after a candidate's name. But there are also a lot of savvy people who aren't going to fall for people pretending to be something when they clearly aren't.
Wesley Wildmon: To your point, going back to college football, I was able to watch a little bit of it this weekend. I tell my kids, because on Saturdays they're always saying, "Dad, can we watch something else?" I'm like, "For the rest of the year and the rest of the days of the week, I'm watching whatever you guys want to watch. But on Saturdays, Daddy's watching this."
Wesley Wildmon: While I was watching, Republicans were doing a good job of keeping people informed about these candidates' positions as they pertain to social issues. I saw some good ads. They're not letting these candidates get away with what they're trying to do now by reaching out to voters.
Wesley Wildmon: They're reminding people that Talarico, for instance, said God was nonbinary. They're hammering home the point that he's for reaffirming transgender surgeries for minors. I don't think saying you watch football is enough to make up for the fact that you support sex-change surgeries for minors.
Wesley Wildmon: Republicans are staying on that issue, as I think they should. We'll see how it turns out.
Tony Vitagliano: Political ads like this from the left and from the right, and if there's one from the right, let me see it and I'll say the same thing, try to resonate with Middle America, the Midwest, or flyover country. When the far left tries to resonate with or be relevant to that group, it is so obvious that I believe it is actually counterproductive.
Tony Vitagliano: I think it would be more effective if they just rode their own calls out, went to the street, so to speak, or were proud of what they stand for. Go for it, stay with it, and have strong conviction about it. Don't apologize.
Tony Vitagliano: When you see stuff like this, I think it does more harm than good. I don't think someone watching a football game sees one of these ads and says, "Oh, great. Glad to know that."
Ed Vitagliano: One of the things I sometimes do around here, or anywhere where people are talking about cars and rebuilding engines, is make a joke out of the fact that I know very little. I'll mention, "Oh, that's near the flacker switch, right there by the Spencer valve," and just make stuff up.
Ed Vitagliano: But the point is, I'm not fooling anybody by doing that. If I try to pretend I can join in a conversation, people who really know about cars will figure that out from a mile away. Then you become the object of the joke.
Tony Vitagliano: You might actually garner more respect, at least among men, if you just admit, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ed Vitagliano: These two candidates are doing the opposite of that. They're saying, "I know exactly about that." When Brent Creeley, our producer, and Wesley are talking about hunting, I don't pretend to know. I don't say, "What kind of guns do you use? What bullet size are you using?"
Ed Vitagliano: I do know enough to say "magazine" instead of "clip," unless you're shooting an M1 Garand. Then it's really funny.
Ed Vitagliano: There's a scene from Mr. Mom where a man is trying to appeal to his wife's male boss. He comes in wearing overalls and carrying a chainsaw and says he's going to expand the place and do some new wiring. The boss asks, "Oh, you're going to make it 220?" He answers, "Yeah, 221, 222, whatever it takes."
Ed Vitagliano: I still use that line with my wife sometimes when we're talking about a project.
Tony Vitagliano: I can do some handy stuff. I just don't want to.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm not a Democrat.
Tony Vitagliano: There are a lot of blue-collar Democrats out there.
Ed Vitagliano: If I want to do something, she'll say, "Two twenty, two twenty-one, whatever it takes."
Tony Vitagliano: Exactly. But this analogy is what I think of when I see these types of ads from the left trying to resonate with Middle America.
Chris Woodward: I like to check "On This Day in History" from time to time. Britannica does a good job, and there are other websites where you can find things that happened on this day in history.
Chris Woodward: Today is important. On this day in 1814, a lawyer named Francis Scott Key was inspired to write what would become known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" after Fort McHenry successfully withstood a British attack during the War of 1812. The poem was officially designated the U.S. national anthem in 1931.
Chris Woodward: My question is, what is your favorite version or cover of "The Star-Spangled Banner" performed before a game?
Wesley Wildmon: What kind of question is that?
Chris Woodward: Who performed it?
Wesley Wildmon: It's probably going to be Whitney Houston. That's the first one that came to my mind. Incredible voice.
Tony Vitagliano: That was back in the time when people didn't try to do their own thing. You sang it in the key and melody it was supposed to be sung in, and you did it justice. She had one of the most beautiful and powerful voices I've ever heard.
Wesley Wildmon: That was a sad situation for her, but that's what I would say.
Ed Vitagliano: I like those kinds of things. By the way, I didn't know Francis Scott Key was a lawyer.
Tony Vitagliano: I was today years old when I learned that. Lawyers are useful every once in a while.
Ed Vitagliano: I look at me, Abe. He's somewhere around here.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, I am.
Ed Vitagliano: And so today is the day when he wrote it?
Chris Woodward: He was inspired to write it today.
Ed Vitagliano: Okay. Wow. I like that. Bring some of those "On This Day in History" facts every once in a while.
Ed Vitagliano: All right, folks, we're going to take a five-minute break for news. You're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. We hope you will join us in five.
Ed Vitagliano: And welcome, everybody, to Today's Issues. It is Monday, September 14th, almost halfway through the month of September. I'm sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week. Joining me in the studio is Wesley Wildmon. Good morning, Wesley.
Wesley Wildmon: Good morning.
Ed Vitagliano: Good morning to you, Tony Vitagliano.
Tony Vitagliano: Good morning.
Ed Vitagliano: And Chris Woodward, for the first hour, is going to be our news guy.
Chris Woodward: Usually a little more subtle today.
Ed Vitagliano: I changed it up.
Chris Woodward: You changed it up.
Ed Vitagliano: It's the proof-of-life thing to show that this is not prerecorded.
Chris Woodward: Oh, I see.
Ed Vitagliano: All right. So you have to tune in every day, if you still tune in.
Wesley Wildmon: Well, we do need to be able to find our audience.
Ed Vitagliano: This is live, and we make mistakes.
Wesley Wildmon: We do.
Ed Vitagliano: We make mistakes. We set up our program so that we could make several today. Tim's not here.
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, there's no accountability. He keeps us on track, doesn't he?
Tony Vitagliano: He knows he does. He's always the serious one. Here's one, ever in the weeds. And he's listening, and he's making notes right now.
Ed Vitagliano: All right. It is Monday. That means a lot of stuff happened over the weekend. By the way, I want to say that most of the guys around AFA here at our headquarters in Tupelo, Mississippi, AFA and American Family Radio, are big college football fans. I can say, for those here in the Deep South, the name Archie Manning and the name Manning were quite a finish to that game between Ohio State and Texas. I don't have hockey to talk about yet. That'll happen in October.
Chris Woodward: We have a couple of die-hard Ohio State fans. I haven't seen Ken Green in today.
Wesley Wildmon: I think he's here, but he's sitting in the back.
Tony Vitagliano: No, in all seriousness, Texas tried really hard several times. They did everything they could to lose that game.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, but they found a way to win because they really tried hard to lose that one.
Chris Woodward: I can tell you, we had a similar situation in Starkville last year, where State had a big lead over Texas going into the fourth quarter, and then they found a way to play football again. So I can relate to the heartbreak in Columbus.
Wesley Wildmon: But this early in the season, we joke about that, but there's obviously a lot of football left. Ohio State has a favorable schedule, and they have a couple of opportunities to redeem themselves. With the playoff system, you can afford a loss or two and still get in. Whereas five or six years ago, before the playoffs, if you lost a game, you might say, "It's over. No chance," because there were only two teams. You're done.
Ed Vitagliano: Both Mississippi teams are undefeated right now, right?
Tony Vitagliano: Let me go get my count.
Chris Woodward: There is peace inside our building for now.
Ed Vitagliano: I mentioned that because usually on Monday mornings, that's what people are talking about around here. They're not talking about what we're about to talk about.
Tony Vitagliano: That's why we're here.
Ed Vitagliano: That's why we're here, to talk about the news that happened over the weekend and that is currently happening. That's why, Chris Woodward, you are our go-to guy.
Chris Woodward: All right. No pressure.
Ed Vitagliano: One big story from over the weekend that's still being talked about today is this, and you can find the story on our website, AFN.net. U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany, a candidate for Wisconsin governor, wiped away tears and laughed while sharing how thankful he was Sunday to survive a harrowing late-night emergency landing in a lake in the small plane he was riding in. The pilot said, "Hey, everybody, we're about to go down." Tom Tiffany, who is a frequent guest on various shows here at AFR, was talking to the media about the situation.
Tom Tiffany: Len said to me, "We are going down. Pull your seat belt tight." About 10 seconds later, we hit the water. After the plane settled, probably a couple of seconds, we looked at each other. "Are you okay?" He said to me, "Are you okay?" And we were like, "Yeah, doing fine."
Ed Vitagliano: After they made the landing in the water, they then had to swim to shore in the lake. How big a lake was this?
Chris Woodward: I'm not sure. It was a big lake, though. It is in the Green Bay area, I believe, and the name of the lake is in our story, which I am going to find for you in a moment while you talk amongst yourselves.
Tony Vitagliano: I'm looking at the pictures of the lake, and it's very manageable. It's a big lake, but it doesn't look overwhelming to get to the shore.
Wesley Wildmon: Like Wausau?
Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, like Wausau. This is not the size I had in mind.
Ed Vitagliano: This is small.
Wesley Wildmon: This is really great radio, as we're looking at pictures.
Ed Vitagliano: Well, I will say this: thank the Lord.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, those are words you don't want to hear the pilot say: "No, we're going down."
Tony Vitagliano: Our own J.J. Jasper, who's a pilot, has landed a plane on the highway before. I was working that day and did that news story and had no idea that it was him.
Ed Vitagliano: Oh, you didn't know about the plane landing on the highway?
Tony Vitagliano: It was a good newscast. "A plane has landed on a highway in Mississippi," and then I found out that we knew the guy.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, it was, "Sources say we're coworkers."
Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, it was at night, too.
Wesley Wildmon: So you have to think, you had very low visibility.
Ed Vitagliano: You're talking about the story at Christmastime?
Wesley Wildmon: No, I'm sorry. I was talking about the Tiffany story.
Ed Vitagliano: Oh, okay. So the landing in the lake happened at night.
Wesley Wildmon: Yes.
Ed Vitagliano: His audio was the first time I heard him speak in response to that. It was not as dramatic as the videos and movies that you see.
Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, the way he described it, he said, "Hey, we're going down." They hit the water, but a few seconds later they were floating.
Wesley Wildmon: I don't visualize a plane landing in the water that calmly.
Ed Vitagliano: I have. As I've talked about on the show, J.J. and John Rowley went to Israel in August of last year. We were on a plane where you could see on the screen in front of you where the plane was. I thought we were going to be flying across the ocean, over Africa, and then hang a left at Egypt or whatever. But they actually went up, and we always had land near us. I thought, "Okay, well, good. We have a place to land if we need to."
Ed Vitagliano: Let me share a story real quick about water landings and planes. In 1999, I was on a school trip that went to parts of Europe. This was back in the day when everybody watched the in-flight movie. You didn't get to watch your own thing on demand. No kidding, the movie they showed everybody had a main character who died in a boating accident as we were flying over the ocean. To this day, I'm asking, "Who picked this movie?"
Wesley Wildmon: The timing was terrible.
Tony Vitagliano: With a plane this small, they wouldn't have had any type of ...
Ed Vitagliano: I'm looking at the picture now. This is what I was showing you.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, that's the plane there, Landon. They had plenty of room.
Ed Vitagliano: I was going to say, Brandon, our producer, just held up a sign: "I don't fly because of this." So he has a lot of ...
Chris Woodward: He doesn't. He bikes and rides horseback.
Ed Vitagliano: That's what he does.
Wesley Wildmon: And camels.
Ed Vitagliano: We're going to pull it. Let's get back on track and go to our next story.
Chris Woodward: Speaking of a plane situation, a U.S. pilot is speaking out for the first time since being shot down over Iran in April. The airman, whose call sign is Bravo, recalls in this audio the moment his fighter jet was shot down by a missile, forcing him to eject over enemy territory.
U.S. Pilot: I think the best way I've been able to describe that moment was getting hit by a freight train. Professionals think I hit the ground going somewhere between 70 and 100 miles an hour.
Interviewer: How did you survive that?
U.S. Pilot: A modern-day miracle. I believe that it's a testament to God's provision in my life to bring me through that moment in a way that didn't prevent injuries, but prevented any catastrophic injuries that would have affected my ability to survive.
Ed Vitagliano: Wow. He hit the ground anywhere between 70 and 100 miles an hour. He had ejected, though, right?
Chris Woodward: He did.
Ed Vitagliano: I know this is unfair to ask you, Chris. I just don't know the answer to it. You might not know the answer either. Is that typical for a pilot who is ejected?
Chris Woodward: I don't think so. I don't believe the canopy opens up, but they're usually still attached to their seat.
Wesley Wildmon: I don't know. The parachute, you would think, is slowing them down. I don't know whether they somehow get loose from the seat after the ejection. I don't know how that works, but that's fast. That was surprising to me to hear that number.
Tony Vitagliano: You see some people parachute out, and when they're landing, you can see how it could be kind of rough if you're not used to it, or maybe there's a gust of wind at the last second. But I couldn't imagine that to the degree of 70 miles an hour. That's different than being in a crash on the highway at that speed, where modern cars are built to crumple and the cage protects you from some of that impact.
Chris Woodward: I remember this story. A typical parachute landing, according to a quick search, is anywhere from 15 to 30 miles per hour. Even then, you have to be trained in how to properly land because you don't want to lock your legs like brakes.
Wesley Wildmon: The parachute was damaged?
Chris Woodward: He came in that fast, causing him to free-fall at an estimated 70 to 100 miles per hour.
Ed Vitagliano: Chris, this was the incident where the United States sent covert teams to rescue the pilot.
Chris Woodward: That was pretty extraordinary. When we covered this at the time, it was pretty extraordinary. They had ghost signals for transponders to throw the Iranians off while they went in search of him. It was a very well-done, Tom Clancy-esque action-thriller plot that we used on the Iranians to try to get our guy out.
Tony Vitagliano: That would make a good movie.
Wesley Wildmon: It's already in the works.
Ed Vitagliano: The one comment that he made there that really stood out to me was when he talked about it being God's provision. There are so many situations, and I think this might be why Representative and candidate Tiffany was as calm as he was. When you have your faith in God, death will be painful, it might hurt, and it might be sudden, but it's not the end. That's something I think all of us should be mindful of.
Tony Vitagliano: Sometimes God's people, especially in a military setting, do get seriously injured, and they do have life-altering injuries. It's not always easy to understand why God saves one person from any kind of catastrophic effects of a wartime situation, while other times God allows people to go through those kinds of struggles later on. I appreciate when you hear someone like him not dismiss the fact that it wasn't a perfect thing. He said, "I got hurt, but my injuries did not prevent me from being able to survive for the time that I needed to get help."
Wesley Wildmon: Sometimes you'll hear somebody so optimistic about how God saved them that they give the impression that it was all perfect. You're leaving out that there were some hardships along the way, but God still ...
Chris Woodward: The Iranians were hunting him.
Wesley Wildmon: They wanted the prisoner, and they wanted the aircraft. To evade them for as long as he did was also a miracle.
Ed Vitagliano: That would be an excellent movie. I remember Lone Survivor with Mark Wahlberg. I'm sure the language is pretty rough in that. I'm not recommending it, but that was a similar true story of someone getting out when others did not.
Ed Vitagliano: We are grateful for this man's testimony and grateful that God spared him. What's the next story?
Chris Woodward: When we pray this week and thank God for these positive stories and updates, we should also pray for our acquaintances over in the United Kingdom. In recent days, U.K. lawmakers rejected a bill that endorsed assisted suicide in England and Wales in a very narrow vote. The bill would have allowed people who are terminally ill to take their own lives.
Chris Woodward: I can tell you from having covered these kinds of efforts here in the States that this story is not over. Somebody will try to revisit the issue and get U.K. lawmakers to do this again at a date to be determined. The good news is that, for now, the U.K. is not going to allow terminally ill people to take their own lives with a doctor's help. But it is going to come up again.
Chris Woodward: One of the things we often hear from special-interest groups here in the States is that when governments allow this kind of thing, it creates the potential for it to be increased or added to in the future. Some people are concerned that this could lead to an effort to talk disabled people into taking their own lives as well.
Wesley Wildmon: It's a very difficult subject. I know we do need to be in prayer for it, which is why I bring it up.
Ed Vitagliano: Wesley, this is one of those issues that, 20 years ago, we heard a lot more about, physician-assisted suicide. We have states in our country that allow this, but this is one of those issues we don't hear about as much. We hear a lot about abortion, rightfully so, but this is as much of a pro-life issue as abortion is. It is at the other end of life, involving people who are older and people who are suffering through their years, decades even, into their lives.
Ed Vitagliano: It really does make a difference. This is why American Family Association and American Family Radio are pro-life. When you talk about being created in the image of God, it really does matter where your starting point is. If you start with the belief that we are made in the image of God, that is going to affect all kinds of other issues. This is why a worldview is important.
Wesley Wildmon: Absolutely. We work really hard here at AFA and AFR to provide you content. Our mission statement is to inform, equip, and activate. We try to inform, equip, and activate you to be able to answer these questions.
Wesley Wildmon: I remember when I first became aware, probably in my late college days, of euthanasia and that type of thinking. I thought that was just a concept out there that some evil person came up with. I didn't know at the time that it was taking place in different parts of the world and that it was trying to be brought to the United States and Canada.
Tony Vitagliano: Canada, it is.
Wesley Wildmon: That's a terrible, very sad, and evil way to look at human life, especially in the later years, when people are older. There's so much ... It's just wrong. It's biblically incorrect. It's evil. I think about how many people can be manipulated into that type of thinking.
Wesley Wildmon: Where was the story from again?
Chris Woodward: The United Kingdom.
Wesley Wildmon: The United Kingdom.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony, I would bounce off what Wesley said. The older I get, and this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm talking to my son, the more I can understand the pressure that would come to a person who is older and has some sort of physical problem that is not going away and is consuming resources and being a burden on the younger generation, the children.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm a Christian, so I'm not going to kill myself. I know it's wrong. But if I wasn't a Christian and lived in a state like Oregon, which I think was one of the first, or Washington and Oregon, where they passed physician-assisted-suicide bills, I can see where I would go to a physician and the doctor would say, "You're not going to get better. This is just going to go on. You're going to become a burden on your children. Here's a pamphlet."
Ed Vitagliano: I can see how, if you're not a Christian and don't understand that your life is not your own, people would say, "What's the point of languishing? Why don't I just get this over with? It would be easier on my kids?" This is the problem when you have a society and a nation that starts drifting away from its biblical foundation. The same thing applies to the United Kingdom. A lot of these Western countries had Christian roots.
Ed Vitagliano: It's what happens when you start shifting away from that. It changes society and eventually the government's view on life, the purpose of life, and the sanctity of life.
Wesley Wildmon: I forget if it was Chesterton or somebody else who said that life is precious even when it is sad. You shift from life being precious, with everyone made in the image of God and therefore having value and purpose, to the idea that your purpose and value are only wrapped up in what you contribute to society. If you're not contributing anymore, then you're of no value to us.
Ed Vitagliano: That's not what God says about us.
Wesley Wildmon: That's not what God says. He has a plan for everybody. Whether you choose to follow Him and live according to that plan is a decision everyone has to make. I'm speaking generally, but God has a purpose for people who might even be in those tough situations.
Wesley Wildmon: I understand I can't relate to being in a situation like that, but instead of society and the government telling you and enforcing the message that you're going to be a burden to your children, society, or the health care system, they should encourage people by saying, "I know things are hard. I know things are bleak, but you still have a purpose, value, and worth to the people around you." If that were the mindset, I think there would be a lot less focus and debate about physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Ed Vitagliano: I'll add this as my final thought. They use different words and change the definition. They soften it to what, before these bills were passed, would have been called murder.
Wesley Wildmon: That's exactly what it is.
Ed Vitagliano: We're saying physician-assisted suicide, when in reality it's murder. Any taking of human life is murder. That's exactly what this is.
Tony Vitagliano: All right.
Ed Vitagliano: We've got another couple of minutes. Can you get us a shorter story?
Chris Woodward: I do have an update real quick. If anybody's wondering when their $5,000 dividend is coming, I would recommend that you be patient because there is a story on our website, AFN.net. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump's $5,000 dividend needs congressional approval.
Chris Woodward: This is interesting because President Trump is of the opinion that we don't need Congress for something like this. But the House Speaker, who is in the same party as the president, says he is pretty sure the president needs Congress to weigh in on it. So we could potentially have a debate between President Trump and Mike Johnson over this.
Chris Woodward: Johnson does call it a creative idea, which may be an attempt to wade into the waters there.
Tony Vitagliano: So it's not guaranteed?
Chris Woodward: It's not.
Wesley Wildmon: Wait a minute. It is guaranteed if you get out and vote.
Ed Vitagliano: He said $5,000 worth of gasoline.
Tony Vitagliano: No, it's $10,000 if you're married. We have wives at home. We each get $5,000.
Ed Vitagliano: I told my wife, "You can spend yours, but you cannot spend mine."
Tony Vitagliano: I did not, folks. We're just kidding about that.
Ed Vitagliano: It's going to be a free Brutus game.
Wesley Wildmon: I would not spend that kind of money on a Brutus game.
Ed Vitagliano: Given a tax break to families, I can get behind that if it's the right approach. But giving out cash, I would have such a problem with that. If the other team, so to speak, the Democrats, were passing out $5,000 or $10,000, it sounds to me like you're buying a vote.
Tony Vitagliano: I'm MAGA, and I support Trump. I'm all in. But it sounds to me like you're buying a vote. I think that's the way most people think about it, and I have a problem with that.
Wesley Wildmon: It's a promise that Republicans are making. It's not technically buying a vote because you're not telling individuals who to vote for. You're saying that if Republicans win, you will receive this. I can see how it's trying to drive voters to the polls rather than have them stay home.
Ed Vitagliano: Or give a tax break.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, in a way. But even Congress has to approve that.
Chris Woodward: We're supposed to get a DOGE dividend, tariff rebates, and now this.
Wesley Wildmon: I like the way the president is thinking in that he wants to offer relief to people who are hurting from the cost of inflation. But the way you do that is maybe have Congress consider lowering the tax burden so people get to bring more of that money home.
Ed Vitagliano: All right, we're going to take a short break. You're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. We hope you rejoin us.
Ed Vitagliano: We used to be a nation of dreamers. Some of that's missing now, but we have it as part of our heritage. Our forefathers, those who founded our country, were dreamers. They dreamed of a country where man would be free, where he could live in dignity and hope and the promise of a better tomorrow.
Ed Vitagliano: They lived that dream and believed in it so much that they were willing to give their lives for it. Nothing could stop them from reaching out for that dream, not even all the combined power of the King of England. They took that dream, and with it they beat the unbeatable foe. They conquered the unconquerable land. They traveled the untravelable roads. What great dreamers they were.
Ed Vitagliano: But they were not the greatest dreamers this world has had. There was a small group of men who had even greater dreams than the founders of our country. Nearly 2,000 years ago, there was a group of 11 men who had a dream, a great dream.
Ed Vitagliano: They dreamed that they could conquer the world without ever lifting a sword or firing a gun. They dreamed that one day every man, woman, and child could and would share with them the new faith they had found. They dreamed that one day this world would be ruled by love.
Ed Vitagliano: It was a great dream they had, so great in fact that the world laughed at them. The world killed them, even persecuted and killed them. The dream could not be destroyed. It lived on. They planted that dream of a world ruled by love in the hearts and minds of other individuals. The dream lived and grew. Soon that dream had conquered people of all climates, all classes, and all races.
Ed Vitagliano: There are those today who are still dreaming that dream. They are inspired by a carpenter who touched the hearts of common people as no other man. He planted that dream in their hearts, nursed it, and watched it grow.
Ed Vitagliano: It is the dream of a world where men are brothers, where we help instead of hurt, share instead of steal, and give instead of grab. It is a dream of a world ruled by brotherly love.
Ed Vitagliano: A foolish dream, an unrealistic dream, an illogical dream. Yes, it's been called all of those things, but that doesn't stop people from dreaming it and trying to make that dream come true.
Ed Vitagliano: It is, in a way, an unfulfilled dream, but many still search after it. The call goes out from this Galilean carpenter today for more dreamers. Few there are who dare to give themselves to that dream. It seems unreachable to most people. It is certainly a big dream and requires the best there is in a person.
Ed Vitagliano: For this reason, very few dare to dream that dream, for it is a challenge, the world's greatest challenge. It isn't a dream for sissies, weaklings, or the lazy. No, it's a dream for great people.
Ed Vitagliano: If you are a dreamer looking for a dream to give yourself to, there's none greater in all the world. One day, with His help, the dream will come true.
Ed Vitagliano: And welcome back to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week, joined in the studio by Wesley Wildmon, Tony Vitagliano, and Chris Woodward. For the remainder of this first hour of the program, Chris Woodward is our news guy.
Ed Vitagliano: What we mean by that, folks, is that Chris Woodward, usually along with Steve Jordahl, brings the news in. They bring the stories, hunt them down, and we discuss them at our Today's Issues story meetings.
Chris Woodward: They hunt them down.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm just telling you, they try to get away from these stories, but these guys are story rustlers.
Chris Woodward: People don't realize this, but on the weekends Steve and I are tag-team amateur wrestlers.
Ed Vitagliano: David and Goliath?
Chris Woodward: Because he's about seven feet tall, and I'm clearly nowhere near there.
Ed Vitagliano: How tall are you?
Chris Woodward: With shoes on, five-six.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm sorry.
Chris Woodward: I don't know why you and Steve complain. Tim Wildmon will stay up until almost midnight and send 15 stories.
Ed Vitagliano: He does.
Chris Woodward: That's the first thing I do when I get up in the morning. Even before my personal prayer time, I run through the stories. People may say, "You're not very spiritual," but I want to make sure I get through them so I'm prepared. Sometimes that's starting at four or four-thirty in the morning. I go through the stories, get an idea of what Tim wants to talk about, and then I have my devotions.
Tony Vitagliano: Mr. Tim is the reason I had to start putting my phone on Do Not Disturb at night. My wife kept elbowing me. She would say, "Your phone's lighting up." It wouldn't make a sound, but it would light up.
Chris Woodward: She's asking, "Is everything okay?"
Tony Vitagliano: The first couple of times I said, "Yes, it's just Mr. Tim sending us the ball, sending us the order again."
Ed Vitagliano: Because he's a night owl.
Chris Woodward: Yeah, he and Miss Allison.
Ed Vitagliano: Your mom is also a night owl, too, right?
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, and because I get up early, it's kind of a vicious circle. I go to bed pretty early. Of course, my wife is usually asleep by 7:30.
Ed Vitagliano: We do think about these news stories a lot and where we are hunting for stories that we want to bring to you. In fact, Chris, I'm going to ask you here in just a second to do a little pitch for American Family News because we know what our listeners are depending on us for.
Ed Vitagliano: We are trying to cover these news stories when it is appropriate from a Christian perspective. Not every story has a Christian perspective. Sometimes they're just stories.
Wesley Wildmon: We were talking about tax relief. I'm not sure there's a Christian view of how much tax is expected or required.
Ed Vitagliano: You could probably get some biblical ideas from the Book of Proverbs or something like that.
Wesley Wildmon: You could.
Ed Vitagliano: Chris, let our listeners know. They know they can come to American Family Radio and hear programs like this and hear the news stories at the top of the hour. But we also have a written version and a version with videos and all kinds of other stories from around the world, right?
Chris Woodward: Yes. AFN is the radio and print news service of the American Family Association. We have radio stories and print stories, and all of that ends up on our website and more at AFN.net.
Chris Woodward: As you often hear me say at the end of a newscast, it's not just the stories you hear about at the top of every hour, although those are important. Visit AFN.net for videos, columns, and a political cartoon. It's all there on AFN.net. There's a ton of stuff, and we update it throughout the day.
Chris Woodward: If anybody hasn't done so already, visit the website and click the Subscribe button at the top right-hand side of the page. Give us your email address. We'll keep that private, and once a day you'll get an email with about six or seven stories to keep you and yours informed.
Ed Vitagliano: These are videos from the Associated Press.
Chris Woodward: Yes. These are high-quality videos. We don't have staff members who fly to locations where something big is going on, but these are professionally done videos because we pay to use them from the Associated Press.
Ed Vitagliano: It is a legitimate news page, and a lot of the stories do have a Christian answer.
Chris Woodward: If I may, I would also like to applaud our brothers and sisters at the opposite end of the building who work for The Stand. They do great work. That's long-form print journalism and solid material. If my news stories get you down, check out The Stand Magazine, because that's going to be uplifting material to remind you that this is not the end.
Tony Vitagliano: I thought you were going to say, "If my stories get you down, check out The Stand for long versions of stories that will get you down with more words."
Chris Woodward: That is right. Those people have been a blessing to me, far more than they realize, because of the great work they do for the magazine.
Ed Vitagliano: Amen. All right, next story.
Chris Woodward: We were talking before the break about how many people might welcome a $5,000 dividend or more because of today's high gas prices. If you haven't looked at AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge reports, I'm going to tell you. Unfortunately, the average price for a gallon of regular in these United States of America is $4.31. Diesel is far worse at $6.23. You may not realize this, but diesel is almost $3 more today than it was a year ago.
Chris Woodward: I have some audio here from President Trump. He was asked about the price of diesel while he was in Ireland. President Trump said Ukraine takes some of the blame for the price of diesel fuel these days.
President Trump: He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he's causing a shortage of diesel fuel. This isn't done by the Middle East. It's done by what's happening with Russia, and there are plenty of other targets. Don't hit diesel fuel because that's hurting the world. We don't want him to hit diesel fuel.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony, I'll let you go first, then Wesley. Give us your take.
Tony Vitagliano: This is political dynamite right now, probably the wrong metaphor, but political hot potato, whatever. This issue of fuel prices and grocery prices is affecting people. My wife and I went grocery shopping Saturday morning. We usually try to avoid doing that on a Saturday because of the crowds. I don't usually go shopping. My wife does, and I do the finances. I'm constantly asking, "What is the deal? Why are we spending so much?" Then I went with her and asked, "How is everything so expensive?"
Tony Vitagliano: This is going to affect the midterms because you can't escape the cost of filling up your vehicle. I recently had someone come out and do some work at my house. He uses a truck and was complaining about the price of diesel. This is really hurting people. I'm not sure blaming Ukraine is going to save Republicans in the midterms.
Wesley Wildmon: I don't want to discourage people. We still need everybody listening to go out and vote.
Tony Vitagliano: We don't want to depress the vote.
Wesley Wildmon: I don't want people to get down and think, "I needed that reminder."
Tony Vitagliano: Sorry. That was a good time to throw that out there.
Wesley Wildmon: Welcome to war in the 21st century, where it's like, "We need you to hit these things, but not these things." The fact of the matter is, war is war. You're doing whatever you can, whatever you have to, to hurt the enemy. This idea that we need to avoid certain targets because it hurts the global economy is not a realistic request.
Wesley Wildmon: I understand the frustration, but we've kept this conflict in Ukraine going for a while now. If you know any history, you know wars eventually devolve beyond military targets into hitting infrastructure and economic targets because you want to inflict economic pain.
Wesley Wildmon: I'm not sure I'm on board with the idea that hitting some diesel-refining plants in Russia is causing all of this. We're just now starting to see the long-term effects of the disruptions of the war in Iran. The war in Ukraine has been going on since 2022, for four years now, so these disruptions and price increases are probably due to the war in Iran. People need relief.
Ed Vitagliano: That's the way I view it. Something has got to give.
Tony Vitagliano: We talk about this a lot on the show. There doesn't seem to be an off-ramp for the war in Iran. We've talked about it on this program. I think Tim might have said something, too. I think he did.
Wesley Wildmon: This is when we're getting up to the three-month turn, when you said we've got to end this or it's going to turn into something that will affect the midterms. Now we're almost halfway through September.
Ed Vitagliano: During the first two or three weeks of the war between the United States and Iran, you had the liberal media saying, "Here we go, endless wars. He said no wars." I was of the position of, "Wait a minute. If this is going to be two months and we have a plan and we're in and out, I don't look at that as a forever war."
Ed Vitagliano: I don't personally look at that as a contradiction to Trump saying we're not going to war. I think there's some nuance there, with nuclear weapons and Iran being a hub for terrorism around the world. I could justify why campaign Trump and his administration campaigned on no wars. I could give them a pass and agree. I can even support the actions against Iran for the reasons they gave. The year before, we used the B-2 bombers. All of that, I'm good with.
Ed Vitagliano: But by month two, I was thinking, "Okay, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I support it." I said sometime between the second and fourth month of our involvement in Iran, I would like to have a five-point exit plan. We don't need the liberals' approval or a list of accomplishments, failures, or what we could have done. We just need to have a plan to get out.
Ed Vitagliano: We're now seven, going on eight, months in. I have a very cynical opinion on this at this point. I believe we're going to be in Iran in 2028, and we'll be having the same conversation.
Ed Vitagliano: I've seen how this works historically. When you enter into something, if you don't get out early, the longer you're there, the more other things come up that weren't part of the original mission. Now you're involved, multiple countries are involved, and you're trying to provide cover for them. Iran is brilliant in this sense. They're attacking their neighbors and pointing at the United States, saying we caused this. So what are we supposed to do?
Ed Vitagliano: We have too many assets over there to be able to just leave. I understand the explanation of why it's going to take a year to get out, but that's why you should have gotten out earlier or should have had a plan. Unfortunately, we didn't have a plan for the Strait of Hormuz. I mentioned that before.
Ed Vitagliano: There is a silver lining here. As skeptical as I am about us being there in 2028, the left is so bad right now that we can tread water politically speaking.
Wesley Wildmon: Politically speaking, the left, with drag queen story hours, men in women's sports, socialism, and all their craziness, is in a strange place.
Chris Woodward: Well, talking about the left, there is reportedly an effort, according to Fox News and some other news outlets, for Democrats to make Abdul El-Sayed and James Talarico more macho. They're trying to appeal to men to get their votes ahead of the midterm elections.
Chris Woodward: El-Sayed is now mentioning that he played high school football. Talarico says he went to the University of Texas and regularly went to see his Longhorns. Someone who isn't buying it is Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway, who helped President Trump win his first term. She doesn't buy these men suddenly pretending to be macho and like football.
Kellyanne Conway: This is the third time you've asked about it. These are so cringey because Talarico and El-Sayed are so craven for votes among young men. It wasn't that long ago that El-Sayed referred in a Substack post to football, American football, as misogynist, sexist, and homophobic.
Kellyanne Conway: By the way, he also probably wants you to kneel for the flag before kickoff even happens. The reason Talarico and El-Sayed are throwing Hail Marys now and fumbling among young men is because their party's been intercepted by the DSA. It won't work.
Kellyanne Conway: It's like Hillary whipping out the hot sauce from her handbag. It's like changing accents and putting on ridiculous campaign gear. "Here's my camo hat. Here's me pretending I've ever been in a grocery store, let alone recently."
Tony Vitagliano: First of all, I'm kind of glad Kellyanne Conway is still around. I hadn't heard from her in eight years.
Ed Vitagliano: It's been a minute.
Tony Vitagliano: It may not have been that long.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony, we talked about this in our story meeting. Steve Jordahl and I were the only two who actually remember this live because we're older. Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis was running for president and having trouble drumming up support among men, so he got in a tank. The campaign showed that he supported the military, wearing a helmet and communications gear with his head sticking out of the tank. He was roundly criticized and panned for that. A lot of people think he lost the election because of it.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm not sure the same thing is going to happen here, but I will say that the American electorate has a lot of low-information voters who are just going to vote according to the R or D after a candidate's name. But there are also a lot of savvy people who aren't going to fall for people pretending to be something when they clearly aren't.
Wesley Wildmon: To your point, going back to college football, I was able to watch a little bit of it this weekend. I tell my kids, because on Saturdays they're always saying, "Dad, can we watch something else?" I'm like, "For the rest of the year and the rest of the days of the week, I'm watching whatever you guys want to watch. But on Saturdays, Daddy's watching this."
Wesley Wildmon: While I was watching, Republicans were doing a good job of keeping people informed about these candidates' positions as they pertain to social issues. I saw some good ads. They're not letting these candidates get away with what they're trying to do now by reaching out to voters.
Wesley Wildmon: They're reminding people that Talarico, for instance, said God was nonbinary. They're hammering home the point that he's for reaffirming transgender surgeries for minors. I don't think saying you watch football is enough to make up for the fact that you support sex-change surgeries for minors.
Wesley Wildmon: Republicans are staying on that issue, as I think they should. We'll see how it turns out.
Tony Vitagliano: Political ads like this from the left and from the right, and if there's one from the right, let me see it and I'll say the same thing, try to resonate with Middle America, the Midwest, or flyover country. When the far left tries to resonate with or be relevant to that group, it is so obvious that I believe it is actually counterproductive.
Tony Vitagliano: I think it would be more effective if they just rode their own calls out, went to the street, so to speak, or were proud of what they stand for. Go for it, stay with it, and have strong conviction about it. Don't apologize.
Tony Vitagliano: When you see stuff like this, I think it does more harm than good. I don't think someone watching a football game sees one of these ads and says, "Oh, great. Glad to know that."
Ed Vitagliano: One of the things I sometimes do around here, or anywhere where people are talking about cars and rebuilding engines, is make a joke out of the fact that I know very little. I'll mention, "Oh, that's near the flacker switch, right there by the Spencer valve," and just make stuff up.
Ed Vitagliano: But the point is, I'm not fooling anybody by doing that. If I try to pretend I can join in a conversation, people who really know about cars will figure that out from a mile away. Then you become the object of the joke.
Tony Vitagliano: You might actually garner more respect, at least among men, if you just admit, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ed Vitagliano: These two candidates are doing the opposite of that. They're saying, "I know exactly about that." When Brent Creeley, our producer, and Wesley are talking about hunting, I don't pretend to know. I don't say, "What kind of guns do you use? What bullet size are you using?"
Ed Vitagliano: I do know enough to say "magazine" instead of "clip," unless you're shooting an M1 Garand. Then it's really funny.
Ed Vitagliano: There's a scene from Mr. Mom where a man is trying to appeal to his wife's male boss. He comes in wearing overalls and carrying a chainsaw and says he's going to expand the place and do some new wiring. The boss asks, "Oh, you're going to make it 220?" He answers, "Yeah, 221, 222, whatever it takes."
Ed Vitagliano: I still use that line with my wife sometimes when we're talking about a project.
Tony Vitagliano: I can do some handy stuff. I just don't want to.
Ed Vitagliano: I'm not a Democrat.
Tony Vitagliano: There are a lot of blue-collar Democrats out there.
Ed Vitagliano: If I want to do something, she'll say, "Two twenty, two twenty-one, whatever it takes."
Tony Vitagliano: Exactly. But this analogy is what I think of when I see these types of ads from the left trying to resonate with Middle America.
Chris Woodward: I like to check "On This Day in History" from time to time. Britannica does a good job, and there are other websites where you can find things that happened on this day in history.
Chris Woodward: Today is important. On this day in 1814, a lawyer named Francis Scott Key was inspired to write what would become known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" after Fort McHenry successfully withstood a British attack during the War of 1812. The poem was officially designated the U.S. national anthem in 1931.
Chris Woodward: My question is, what is your favorite version or cover of "The Star-Spangled Banner" performed before a game?
Wesley Wildmon: What kind of question is that?
Chris Woodward: Who performed it?
Wesley Wildmon: It's probably going to be Whitney Houston. That's the first one that came to my mind. Incredible voice.
Tony Vitagliano: That was back in the time when people didn't try to do their own thing. You sang it in the key and melody it was supposed to be sung in, and you did it justice. She had one of the most beautiful and powerful voices I've ever heard.
Wesley Wildmon: That was a sad situation for her, but that's what I would say.
Ed Vitagliano: I like those kinds of things. By the way, I didn't know Francis Scott Key was a lawyer.
Tony Vitagliano: I was today years old when I learned that. Lawyers are useful every once in a while.
Ed Vitagliano: I look at me, Abe. He's somewhere around here.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, I am.
Ed Vitagliano: And so today is the day when he wrote it?
Chris Woodward: He was inspired to write it today.
Ed Vitagliano: Okay. Wow. I like that. Bring some of those "On This Day in History" facts every once in a while.
Ed Vitagliano: All right, folks, we're going to take a five-minute break for news. You're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. We hope you will join us in five.
Ed Vitagliano sits in for Tim Wildmon with Wesley Wildmon, Tony Vitagliano and Chris Woodward to discuss a narrow UK vote rejecting an assisted suicide bill. The hosts consider the pro-life and biblical questions surrounding human dignity, suffering and the value of life. The program also examines a U.S. pilot’s account of surviving ejection over Iran, Representative Tom Tiffany’s emergency plane landing, and the role of faith in surviving dangerous circumstances. The hosts discuss President Trump’s proposed $5,000 dividend, House Speaker Mike Johnson’s view that Congress must approve it, and rising fuel prices. Additional topics include the war involving Iran, concerns about a clear exit strategy, reports that Democratic candidates are trying to appeal to male voters through sports-related messaging, and the history of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Live
Did you know American Family Radio is listener-supported? Your monthly financial support will allow us to continue upholding Godly values through our numerous channels, like American Family Radio, One Million Moms, The Stand magazine, and many more.
Become a Great Commission Partner TODAY to help AFR transform culture by rebuilding the family. When you donate today, you’ll get access to:
