Transcript

Today's Issues features Steve Paisley Jordow battling neck pains

>> Ed Vitagliano: Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Tim, Ed. And now Steve Paisley Jordow joins us. Morning.

>> Steve Jordahl: Good morning and afternoon, everybody.

>> Tim Wildmon: Welcome back.

>> Steve Jordahl: I tell you, I've had a couple, rough days. I've been fighting some neck issues, some pain. doctors, are looking at it. I think we're going to get it under control. And,

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. So what's. Are you been experiencing that? I know you were out a couple days. he just asked folks to pray for you. It's a particular neck, a neck issue that you, you've been dealing with for quite some time, right?

>> Steve Jordahl: It's called, it's, it's called, Well, it's osteoarthrit that's, doing an impingement in my, nerves, in my neck and it's radiating down to my shoulder. So I have, certain things that I don't. If I'm sitting normal, I'm fine. Just a little bit of pain. If I turn a certain way.

>> Tim Wildmon: Like a crick in your neck?

>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah, it's like a big crick in.

>> Tim Wildmon: My neck that stays there.

>> Steve Jordahl: It doesn't go away.

>> Tim Wildmon: well, bless you, brother. And we hope that the doctors and the medicine and the, certainly the prayer can give you some relief.

>> Ed Vitagliano: and we do ask our listeners to pray for Steve, valued member of our team here, but also a friend. So I just remember the team.

>> Tim Wildmon: A valued member.

>> Ed Vitagliano: What's that?

>> Tim Wildmon: There are some people who are just members.

>> Steve Jordahl: I reached the valued portion of this.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And I, I think a lot of our listeners think of you and others on this show as, as kind of, you know, members of the family.

>> Tim Wildmon: Radio family.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Radio family. And so remember, Steve, when the Lord brings him mind.

>> Steve Jordahl: Thank you. I meet the listeners to this show. They come by our studio or else I'm out in the community and, someone, that I meet, they always come up and they're so kind and so friendly. I'm, always amazed that, that we have been entrusted with the, the privilege of speaking into the lives of people. I don't take it lightly. Yeah, I'm very grateful for it.

>> Tim Wildmon: What's your first story?

The FBI reports that it's disrupted a planned New Year's Eve terror attack

>> Steve Jordahl: All right. The FBI has uncovered a plot, a terror plot, that was, going to be timed for LA on NewSong Year's Eve. It disrupted it's a credible terrorist threat. Over the weekend, they've arrested four members of a pro radical Extremist group. they are saying, that, they are saying, free Palestine, free Hawaii, a free Puerto Rico. I didn't know that those were, you know, not on the list. Apparently they are. This is, this is Fox News talking about it cut, 14.

>> Christopher Woodward: The FBI now reports that it's disrupted a planned NewSong Year's Eve terror attack in Los Angeles. Four suspects in custody. The FBI identifying them as members of a pro Palestine extremist group. They're suspected of planning coordinated IED attacks targeting five different locations in Los Angeles. But based on the reporting now, that plot has been foiled. We will wait for more out of LA or out of Washington D.C. they.

>> Steve Jordahl: Say that the group is a radical offshoot of the Turtle Island Liberation Front.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Never heard of it.

>> Steve Jordahl: Turtle Island? You live on Turtle Island? You didn't know that?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I, I, I did not.

>> Steve Jordahl: For those.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I live on an island.

>> Steve Jordahl: You do. It's, it's, it's, it's actually live in the back of a turtle, according to the, the. So, before,

>> Tim Wildmon: I didn't understand the last 60 seconds, but go ahead.

>> Steve Jordahl: Before the evil Christopher Columbus, speaking out of the minds of some of these radical, you know, people. Before the evil Christopher Columbus came and America Vestige came and named this place America. Vestucci.

>> Tim Wildmon: Thank you.

>> Steve Jordahl: Italian, I believe, right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep.

>> Steve Jordahl: There you go. Well, he, named it, they named America after him. Yeah. And Christopher Columbus, later found it. I guess they misplaced it in the meantime. But, the, natives apparently had called this place we live Turtle Island. It's a way to refer to America without any colonialization. So they call it Turtle Islanders is what they say the Native Americans used to call this valued land of ours Turtle Island.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And this, this is the name of this revolutionary group that's Palestinian in nature.

>> Steve Jordahl: I think they, the Palestinian is the cause of the day. Okay, Whatever marginalized group you want, you put whatever makes America sound bad or look bad. They'll, they'll, lam onto that. As I said, their, their account posted Free Palestine, Free Hawaii. Free Puerto Rico, Hawaii.

>> Tim Wildmon: Where are you under captive of,

>> Steve Jordahl: Us, the colonial Americans. Freeing the world from American imperialism is the only way to a safe and peaceful future, they say. So, we can laugh at them, but they had bombs. They were built.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah, yeah. We're not laughing at that, obviously, but. So, so the FBI has, caught these people. They were unable to get through with their, plot.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Kudos to the FBI. Yeah, well, you know, we really have, we've said this all even under the Biden administration, when we were critical of the FBI, at times we said that we're pretty sure that the FBI, the rank and file men and women on the street who are doing the investigations are, Are no doubt keeping us fairly safe. And they, who knows how many of these kinds of plots they have, uncover.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right. You don't hear about, you know, ones that they.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Uncover a lot of times.

>> Steve Jordahl: Well, you do this one, but you only have to miss once. This is the scary thing.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's true.

>> Steve Jordahl: we'll be hearing a lot about it and it's a zero fail mission protecting this country like the president, like they say, with the President.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So our thanks to the FBI for doing their due diligence. This sounded like it could have been a horrific attack in Los Angeles.

>> Steve Jordahl: Indeed.

New House Committee report says D.C. police chief fostered toxic management culture

All right, do you remember when President Trump sent, the, sent troops from the national guard into, D.C. in Washington, D.C. yes. To, to calm down the raging crime that was going on there. And you heard from the left, you heard, oh, but crime is already going down. It's going down. We didn't need him. He's, he's overstepping. He just wants power. NewSong House Committee report, from the Republican House Oversight Committee claims there was an active effort to downplay crime in the nation's capital and that Washington D.C. police Chief Pamela Smith fostered a toxic management culture. She, the report comes as President Trump, as I'm reading from cnn, has sought greater control over law enforcement in the District, citing a public safety emergency. And, the left is saying, they don't need it, they don't need it. We're doing fine. But she has downplayed the numbers. She has put people in and demoted people, move people around if they refuse to cooperate. Apparently this report says, anything to put those numbers down to say that she's doing a good job.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Were there any official fraudulent, numbers as far as you know? By that I mean not just simply trying to color what's happened in D.C. to make it look like crime is down. Did they actually release fraudulent numbers?

>> Steve Jordahl: The numbers that they were using, and I don't know if this, the report goes, if it went into the federal FBI database or not, but the numbers that they were using when Donald Trump wanted to, put the D.C. put the National Guard in, were, based off these fraudulent numbers down, murders and violent crimes down or something? Yeah. They, do anything to, Well, there's two motives, I guess, if you can assign motives. One is that the D.C. chief wanted to make sure that everybody thought she was doing a good job.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Steve Jordahl: And the other is Donald Trump is a fascist and just wants control. He's sending these troops in for no reason. and so that's, that's typical.

>> Ed Vitagliano: what President Trump did in that situation was called for, it was needed. It worked. I think the mayor eventually said the Democrat mayor, Democrat mayor said it, you know, it worked. What's tragic is anyone trying to skew numbers to make it look like the crime is going down when the crime is affecting the people you're supposed to be taking care of. So you're not doing what needs to be done in order to protect the people who live in D.C. that's, it's bizarre. And listen.

>> Tim Wildmon: cities that are under Democrat, ah, control for many years at a time turn into terrible places to live and the quality of life depreciates greatly because violence turns up, homelessness grows, their businesses leave, businesses leave. I mean look at it all over the country that's happening and where Democrats sees control leadership of these big cities. And I don't see anything stopping that anytime soon because the people in these big cities keep voting for the same people to lead them. And I don't know if you expect a different result or don't care, I don't know. But it's like insane almost the way these, look what NewSong York did. They're ready for more homelessness and crime and bring it on.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It's so funny you said that because I was talking to Fred after, after the, you know, we, we broke for the news at the top of the hour. Fred goes back to his office. I was walking back that way. We were talking about all the crazy things that have happened and the election of a Muslim socialist in NewSong York City is already in the rear view mirror because of all the other stuff that's going on.

>> Tim Wildmon: But we'll see if he increases the quality of life and makes things safer and more prosperous. And we'll see if that happens. It's, it's a test tube here on

>> Steve Jordahl: I want, I'd like to be the realist here to caution you that, that Mamdani and his scheme can operate a very long time on other people's money.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That is true.

>> Steve Jordahl: You may not see, appreciation immediately. And when you do see decline, the first thing, well, we can.

>> Tim Wildmon: All you need to do is look at the prosperity and quality of life in Chicago right now. San Francisco, Los Angeles. I mean these Democrat strongholds are booming. Huh? Huh? Am I right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: It's tongue in cheek. I know you're what you're, what you're doing. But, but, to Steve's point, and this kind of goes to what you're talking about, Tim, is that these cities like San Francisco and Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, he's put Baltimore. This wasn't one election, and your city falls apart. This has been decades of lousy policy.

>> Tim Wildmon: They vote for it, though, and they vote for it over and over again.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Mamdani, to Steve's point, Mamdani could like win reelection and you would not necessarily see what happens under his policies for maybe a decade. Who knows how long it would take.

>> Steve Jordahl: There's a little bit of a chicken and an egg thing going on here too, in that as long as Democrats are offering free stuff to people and getting them hooked on the welfare system, the poor people, they're going to keep electing them. And so, the, whether the Democrats cause the poverty or they're just taking advantage of it to, you know, by piling more bad money after. Good.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Steve Jordahl: it's not good. And I think the Republicans would probably do better. I'd love a test case. I'd love for. Well, they did have a Republican in NewSong York.

>> Tim Wildmon: Cases called Texas, Florida, Tennessee. There you go. Versus California, NewSong York and Illinois.

>> Steve Jordahl: Yep, seems to work.

>> Tim Wildmon: See how we're doing there.

Donald Trump's popularity among Hispanics may be sagging, according to CNN

All right, next story, Steve.

>> Steve Jordahl: All right, the redistricting battle that's going on now across the country.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I can't get enough of this story.

>> Steve Jordahl: I know, right?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I love me some redistricting news. Bring it on, Steve.

>> Steve Jordahl: Okay, well, Republic ready, Eddie? I'm ready. Buckle up. Republicans plan to pick off about five Democrat held seats in Texas, because of the redistricting that they, are trying to do there. However, what they're saying is because Donald Trump's popularity among Hispanics may be sagging a little bit, they might not pick up the seats that they're looking for. In other words, they can redistrict, but they might stay Democrat seats. Trump's standing among Latinos, according to again, cnn, has fallen dramatically nationwide.

>> Tim Wildmon: Why is that?

>> Steve Jordahl: Second term?

>> Tim Wildmon: you believe that? And why, if so, why is that?

>> Steve Jordahl: Ah, maybe because of true, social posts like you read earlier.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think you mean self inflicted.

>> Steve Jordahl: I think yes, I think most. See most of it. the economy is doing.

>> Tim Wildmon: Careful now. You got.

>> Steve Jordahl: I know.

>> Tim Wildmon: You got your Trump worshipers out there.

>> Steve Jordahl: I know.

>> Tim Wildmon: say anything critical, you're of the devil.

>> Steve Jordahl: The economy, the economy generally is doing better. But what Happens when that, what happens to the thinking when that happens is that people put it in the rearview mirror and it's no longer an issue for them. So it's off of the critical issues.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Things kind of like the gas prices coming down.

>> Steve Jordahl: I don't have to complain about gas.

>> Tim Wildmon: Gas prices are coming down though.

>> Steve Jordahl: I know. Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: But what he's saying is once that happens, people are happy about it, they move on and they forget that, hey, that was a good thing.

>> Tim Wildmon: What have you done for me lately? Yeah, I like college football coaches.

>> Steve Jordahl: It's a whole other discussion.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I would, I would say, I don't, I don't think this is self inflicted for President Trump with Hispanics. I think it's true that if it's.

>> Tim Wildmon: If it's true that his numbers are down.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. And, and it's typical for a president's numbers to go down between election and then, the midterms. Okay, that's, that's normal. Okay. Because you make promises when you get, when you're campaigning, you get elected, you can't always keep every promise. I'm thinking about like when President Trump said, you know, Russia, Ukraine, war, 24 hours, I'll solve it, prices will come down, day one, that kind of thing. But I will say this. If it is true that his, numbers are falling with Hispanics, I would liken that to two things. one would be the general dissatisfaction, and I think this is just a fact, on the prices for groceries, etc. everything kind of going, everything's going up, pretty much either staying the same, which was too high for a lot of people, or even going up. And I'm not saying that that's President Trump's fault, any more than gas, prices going down would be to his credit. and also I think the constant banging of the drum on deportations has probably, unnerved a lot of Hispanics, which for most people who voted for President Trump, that was one of the major reasons. And he's been doing a phenomenal job on trying to get people who don't belong in this country, who came here illegally, who are committing violent crimes out of the country. but I would guess those, those two things probably would have contributed to some of the fall off, if that is in fact true and if it'll stay true, going, leading up to the midterms. But you're saying in Texas some of the redistricting plans might not come to fruition.

>> Steve Jordahl: I'm saying that they could get the districts, changed, but the districts Might not vote the way that they anticipate them voting, and everything, so. Hey, can we. You want to talk a little college football? You mentioned.

>> Tim Wildmon: I want to stay with redistricting.

>> Steve Jordahl: I'm sorry.

>> Tim Wildmon: Can you give me five or ten more minutes of redistricting?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Nothing's better than a good discussion on gerrymandering.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, sir. Let's go to Indiana. California. All right. No, go ahead, Steve. What's your next story?

>> Steve Jordahl: The Heisman Trophy winner, this year is Fernando, Mendoza.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.

>> Steve Jordahl: Who is a quarterback at Indiana, and I believe it's the first time. Indiana.

>> Tim Wildmon: A lot of Fernando's in Indiana.

>> Steve Jordahl: Abba, I think was. Was from.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Ah, Terre Haute.

>> Steve Jordahl: Terre Haute.

>> Tim Wildmon: A lot of people thought they were from Sweden.

>> Steve Jordahl: No, no, no.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Hold the phone. M. Are you saying that Abba, Fernando, they were from Indiana?

>> Steve Jordahl: Oh, yes, the group. Oh, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. You didn't know that?

>> Ed Vitagliano: To this day, I was 67 years old before I found out that Abba was not from Sweden.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. we just punked you bad man. I can't let this go on. You're gonna.

Indiana's Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy this year

You're gonna go from embarrassing to humiliating. I'm sorry. No, Abba was.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Dogs.

>> Tim Wildmon: Abba. Fernando was from, From Sweden. You were correct.

>> Steve Jordahl: You.

>> Tim Wildmon: You were misled.

>> Ed Vitagliano: They wanted your misled.

>> Tim Wildmon: Stephen, we were joking. We thought you were in on the joke, but evidently you were, victimized.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No, I'm a trusting person, Tim. You are.

>> Tim Wildmon: You have a good heart.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I have a. I have a good heart. I thought you. Anything you say, I'm going to believe right off the bat. But now, not so much. I'm not going to get Steve.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, back to the story.

>> Steve Jordahl: Well, the, the actual Indiana Fernando, Mendoza, won the, Heisman Trophy this year. And, everybody's talking about his demeanor and his speech afterwards and how he was, talk. His mom is his hero. And he. He gave a brilliant speech.

>> Tim Wildmon: It was a great speech.

>> Steve Jordahl: Great speech to his mom. It was very moving.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Some are saying the greatest Heisman speech ever.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right? That's what Trump said.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Is it?

>> Steve Jordahl: It might be. I don't know. Don't believe again.

>> Tim Wildmon: I'm kidding. That's what Trump says. Oh, well. Am I right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Show is going to be my Waterloo.

>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead. I'm sorry.

>> Steve Jordahl: You did there.

>> Tim Wildmon: Trump didn't say that. Not that I know. I'm just saying that's what he says about a lot of stuff. It's the greatest. But anyway, yeah, this is Fernando.

>> Steve Jordahl: This is. This is Fernando. Fernando Mendoza, when he won the award cut 12.

>> Tim Wildmon: The winner of the 2025 Heisman Trophy is.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Fernando Mendoza.

>> Speaker E: Mommy. This is your trophy as much as it is mine. You've always been my biggest fan. You're my light. You're my why, you're my biggest supporter. Your sacrifices, courage, love, those have been my first playbook and the playbook that I'm gonna carry through my side through my entire life. You taught me that toughness doesn't need to be loud. It can be quiet and strong. It's choosing hope. It's believing in yourself when the world doesn't give you much reason to. Together, you and I are rewriting what people think is possible.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I love you.

>> Steve Jordahl: Okay.

>> Tim Wildmon: So he also there, talked about the fact that when he was in high school in Florida, he was not recruited.

>> Steve Jordahl: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: By colleges. I mean, he had said he had, like, one offer or two offers, so. And he almost quit. Like, when he was in 9th or 10th grade, he almost quit football, but his. His mom wouldn't let him or his parents wouldn't let him or something like that.

>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah. By the way, in the speech, he did start by thanking his teammates and his coaches, all the appropriate.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It was a longer speech than that.

>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, but. But it was very touching. Moving as a lot of Heisman Trophy speeches are, they give credit to their family and their teammates and so forth. But, I just thought to myself, well, here's a guy who you may have never heard of him had in ninth grade. His parents said, okay, move on to horseshoes or whatever else you want to do. They say, saw that he needed to stick with it and stay with it. And he did. And here he is, standing in NewSong York City with the Heisman Trophy.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Now he'll be on those Heisman Trophy ads next.

>> Steve Jordahl: He will in the car going to wherever the Heisman house is going.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And you guys remember the. The. During the season, that finish against Penn State? That. Oh, yeah, that.

Since Notre Dame was brutally excluded from the College Football Playoff

That's. Yeah, that's one of the greatest moment. That's one of the greatest football plays in college football history. And, he said, what heritage, what ethnicity?

>> Tim Wildmon: Is it Cuban? I think it's Cuban.

>> Ed Vitagliano: He is.

>> Steve Jordahl: He spoke Spanish in part of his speech. Yeah, I think it is Cuban.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think his family came, here from. I think his grandparents, I think, came here from Cuba.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. So he did, I read that that it was his grandparents, because there were. There were some wise guys saying, deport his mother. And then the answers underneath it, people with a little more sanity were saying, she's an American. She was born here. It was the grandparents that. That immigrated.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, he's a phenomenal quarterback. you know, and then hurt to be 6, 4 to 20 with a arm. Arm, by God.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: I get armed given right arm. Given to you by the Lord.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, that and belief in yourself and trust in your teammates, and not a lot of hard work, but, you got to have the talent, and he obviously has the talent.

>> Steve Jordahl: He does. He does.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And I'm. Since Notre Dame was brutally excluded from the College Football Playoff, I'm going to be rooting for Indiana to win a national, win the title, the playoff.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think a lot of Americans are.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Because it's about time. I don't. It's. It's kind of. There's some brutal competition with Ohio State, Georgia, etc. but I want to see.

>> Tim Wildmon: You want to see the little guy win for.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I have my underdog picked out. I think it would be good for college football. Again. Notre Dame was brutally excluded from the College Football Playoff.

>> Steve Jordahl: Indiana has to go through either Oklahoma or Alabama.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Steve Jordahl: And then, they could face a.

>> Tim Wildmon: Lot of red and white right there. Ole Miss is, You know, a lot of. We have.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, yeah, I'm rooting for Ole Miss.

>> Tim Wildmon: Ole Miss is in the playoffs, too.

>> Steve Jordahl: And they're gonna be Tulane and then Georgia two lane.

>> Tim Wildmon: Poor James Madison University.

>> Ed Vitagliano: They got.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I say poor. They made the playoffs.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: But their reward is going to Oregon.

>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: And play the Ducks, huh? What kind of reward is that? All right. Thank, you for joining us today on the program. We appreciate it very much. Keep listening to afr. We'll see you back here tomorrow.