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Today's Issues offers a Christian response to the issues of the day
>> : Welcome to Today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day. Here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Today's Issues, the name of this program. My name is Tim Wildmon, and it's Wednesday, June 10, 2026. And joining me in studio is Ed Battagliano. Good morning, Brother Ed.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning, Tim.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wesley Wildmon.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Good morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: And Fred Jackson.
>> Fred Jackson: Howdy. Howdy.
>> Tim Wildmon: all right, let's see. Jenna Ellis will be joining us at the bottom of the hour, and then Steve Paisley Jordal is at work today, and he will join us, an hour from now.
You talking about the things people put in their windshield
so summertime's here.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's here.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's here where we live.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Got in my car last night, late afternoon after work. It said 96 degrees.
>> Tim Wildmon: In the car.
>> Ed Vitagliano: In the car. And I picked up one of those little reflectors, and I thought, oh, man, summer is here.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, the reflectors. You talking about the things people put in their windshield.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Windshield, yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: You know, and I'd finally. This is the first year I broke and got one, but I just don't know if it really makes that big of a difference. But I. But I'm in maybe.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: But I'm using.
>> Tim Wildmon: You're using it. See, did you think right there was. So you didn't ask Ed whether it works or not?
>> Wesley Wildmon: M. I just see everyone else. I see a lot of people doing it. It's hot.
>> Tim Wildmon: Let me ask you this. If somebody. If your friend jumped off a building.
>> Wesley Wildmon: See where we're going here?
>> Tim Wildmon: And. And would you do that just because he did?
>> Wesley Wildmon: I would like to think that the consequences of jumping off a building and putting a sunscreen, a sun shade up are two different things.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That is a good reply for a wise crack. That was a. That was a wise crack.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I wouldn't let that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wise cracking against the man who has you in. That's not exactly necessarily a good thing.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, wait, I Was just joking.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Fred Jackson: If you guys want a solution to hot weather.
>> Tim Wildmon: yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Go to Montana.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Why is it snowing up there?
>> Fred Jackson: It snowed there last week.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, wow.
>> Tim Wildmon: No, Montana.
>> Fred Jackson: In Montana.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That was June still. I mean, that was first week of June.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Wow.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yep. Hopefully you'll never hear me complain about hot weather because I don't want to be a hypocrite.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You do like, you like hot water, hot weather.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, hot water, you get in hot water a lot. But you like hot weather.
>> Tim Wildmon: I like hot weather, man.
Fred Kaplan: Drone penetrated side of Apache helicopter but did not explode
All right, summertime is here officially, is it?
>> Fred Jackson: no, I think 21.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. 21st.
>> Tim Wildmon: Not officially, but weather wise for most of the country it's summertime. All right, what's your first news story you got for us there, Fred?
>> Fred Jackson: A, ah, story that we thought was, we weren't going to discuss for a while, but here we are discussing it again because there have been developments overnight. So yesterday, I'm not sure when we were on the air whether we had the report of the. Yes, I think we did. The US Helicopter that was attacked by an Iranian drone. We got more details on that this morning was very interesting. This drone that hit the Apache helicopter, which is very well fortified. the drone penetrated the side of the helicopter but did not explode. And we're getting this by way of Trey Youngst, who is just the excellent correspondent for Fox out of Tel Aviv. He talked to President Trump, he said this morning this is. So the extra details come from the President. This drone buries itself inside the helicopter without exploding. Pilots reporting it was getting very hot in the cockpit. So they basically decide to land in the water. And then this drone controlled rescue vessel, US Navy vessel comes and picks them up, takes them to safety. So there's a lot to talk about there. These drone controlled things now are defining military.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, the world has changed rapidly in the military. We've seen this in the Russia, Ukraine, war. Yes, drones are, part of the wave of the future.
>> Fred Jackson: They are, anyway, overnight, here's what's happened. Because of that Iranian attack on this U.S. apache helicopter, President Trump gave the orders for several targets inside Iran to be hit. The Iranians responded. they aimed at missiles at several of the countries on the western side of the Persian Gulf, Bahrain, I think it was, and a few others. Those missiles from Iran were intersected. But that all prompted President Trump this morning on his truth social media to
>> Tim Wildmon: say, and the drama bills.
>> Fred Jackson: And the drama bills, because what, what
>> Tim Wildmon: is he going to say?
>> Fred Jackson: Go, says Iran will pay the price. For stalled talks.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Fred Jackson: We all are waiting to see if that happens. Mark Montgomery is a retired Navy rear admiral. Admiral, he says proportional strikes have run their course. Talking about what's happened during the ceasefire. And he says resumption of all out war may be next cut 3.
>> Speaker G: At some point this is going to probably escalate back up to full, to you know, to a full opera, full scale like 400 strike day in the near future. If this back and forth keeps going at some point. You can't just keep doing proportionate strikes back and forth. If they continue to, to reach out and try to hit ships that are transiting through the southern scheme, which is what was going on last week, or they strike at our allied partners bases, you know, in the Middle East, Kuwait, Bahrain, ones that are much harder to defend because of their proximity than say Jordan, where we have a lot of warning. if that continues, at some point the President is going to have to do real cost imposition on him in what's called a disproportionate or escalatory strike. but I think the President is trying hard not to do that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, well, Iran can certainly continue to do these proportionate, strikes because they're, they're stringing, they're stalling. You guys remember, you got, you're not old enough, Wesley, to remember it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Tim.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I know. Does Fred. I don't know if you ever paid attention to stall ball in basketball. you remember stall ball? Yeah, yeah. When there wasn't a shot clock. You're just going to stall the game until you win because you or haven't
>> Tim Wildmon: have a chance to win. Oh yeah. If you got a 10 point lead, you're just going to stall mode, you
>> Ed Vitagliano: know, so I, I think that's what Iran's doing. They're, they're happy to fire a couple missiles here and there and try to take down this or that. They're not on the clock. The President is under the political pressure of, you know, we got midterms coming
>> Tim Wildmon: up and I don't understand President Trump's comments. I'm getting tired of him. The reason I was sarcastic while ago, he, every day, he told us two days ago, we, we're on the verge of a deal and complete and total victory within the next, what, two weeks? Okay. And then we have this happen and you go, where is the evidence for what you're saying to be true? I want to see it. I think everybody's, we're tired of the.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You mean that we want to see A peace deal. If there's a peace deal.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. And he keeps saying it's imminent. Right. You know, am I right?
>> Fred Jackson: He has said that over the last three weeks. He's repeated that several times.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. And then the evidence contrary to that is happening in real time now.
>> Tim Wildmon: And you're going. I don't know who to believe in this. because President Trump, is he just being snookered? He's not one to be snookered much. You know what I'm saying? He's pretty worldy and pretty wise. worldly. By that I mean, he's a lot of. It's been around. He's been around the block a few times. Okay. In life. And. But it just appears to me like he's being played. and, and it's just getting embarrassing. I say embarrassing. That's how Southerners say it.
Two pilots were injured in Ukraine drone operation, but they were recovered
Anyway, Wesley, what's going on here?
>> Wesley Wildmon: I have no comment on President Trump, but I do have a comment on the story.
>> Tim Wildmon: Go.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I'm thankful that the two, pilots were not, injured and they were recovered.
>> Tim Wildmon: Amen.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And tell us a little bit about how they recover. This is interesting.
>> Fred Jackson: This is the, drone vessel. Ukrainians actually have this drone vessel, but it's the first time it was used in this kind of operation. I guess there is somebody at CENTCOM probably that sits with control over satellites that control these unmanned vessels. And I saw film or video of it this morning. These things move along at a pretty good clip and they just have a kind of satellite receiver on the top. There's no human beings on board. And they. Somebody at CENTCOM says this is the coordinates for this helicopter. Go get them.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And there must be some kind of camera too.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: On the vessel. So that the person who's controlling it can see from ground level, sea level or whatever.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: you know where, where they're going and so you don't run anybody over.
Iranian drone fired at an Apache helicopter, but it didn't penetrate
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so let me get let m. Me make sure I understand what happened here. We had an Apache helicopter that I guess had left a, a ship somewhere out in the.
>> Fred Jackson: OR one of the bases in the
>> Tim Wildmon: Persian Gulf for some reason. We, we don't know the purpose or the mission of the helicopter. Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Probably just on a patrol.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So the Iranians fire a drone which doesn't penetrate.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It penetrated but did not explode.
>> Tim Wildmon: That is. I've never heard of that before. that is. Must have been. That's. Is that, is that captured on film?
>> Fred Jackson: Oh, I'm not sure.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Wesley Wildmon: But if it adds. It's not Released yet.
>> Tim Wildmon: So a, helicopter, you said these things are made out of titanium.
>> Fred Jackson: Parts of it for sure, but they're tough. Tough.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. These are not flimsy. No helicopters. They're. They're built for the battlefield.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Well, the. Can you imagine the jar, though, that hit those guys?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, they probably thought their life was over.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And it didn't explode. But they're sitting there going, we have a undetonated drone that could explode at any moment.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And they. They decide to ditch or, put the craft in the sea. And then they're out there at sea waiting on a, drone rescue view. Let me ask you this, then. Had the drone been successful and blown the Apache helicopter out of the sky, killing two American, would it be. Would that make a difference, you think, on any level, in terms of our response or. We did. We did respond.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so thank God you said, Wesley. Nobody was. None of our soldiers were our navy, sailors or whatever their role was. There were airmen, I should say were, hurt or killed, certainly. But, army aviators, so. But in response to that, the US Hit some targets in. Yes. As we get ready to have a deal.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Am I right?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. Well, no.
>> Wesley Wildmon: No comment.
President Trump says he has a good relationship with Iran's leader
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, President says he has a very good relationship with the Iranian leader. Why are you laughing?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Has he said that? He hasn't said that. Is he.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes, he did, actually.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He said he had a good relationship with the Iranian leader.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, here's part of the problem when we talk about this war is that there are levels of authority within Tehran.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: There, there are, apparently, there's the Islamic theologians.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: And then there is the military, and then there are some negotiators. Now, according to reports, there's conflict within that, those three groups as to how to move forward. It is believed that the military wing, they want to continue the battle. No surrender, no white flags, nothing. Whereas the more civilian negotiators are apparently saying, a lot of damage done to our economy. We're losing hundreds of millions of dollars every day because of the blockade. And, we need to settle this down. So I, think Trump is talking to one group and he keeps saying a, ah, deal is close, next couple of days. But then the military continues these strikes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Because they're in control of the weaponry.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So they can almost sabotage any deal that.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes. And that's kind of the sense that we're starting to get from this. whereas for Israel, they are living real time with missile threats from Hezbollah, which is funded by Iran. Hezbollah in Lebanon and of course, Israel was fired upon by Iran last week. so you've got that dynamic.
>> Tim Wildmon: And Israel fired back. They did, they did, yeah. So. And for that, President Trump said, NASA, stop it.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. Nasty things about Netanyahu.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, no, President Trump, I can't find the exact article, but he did. It was a, it was an interview. He did a television interview. He said he has a very good relationship with Iran. You didn't see this?
>> Wesley Wildmon: No. Yeah. But he also said that about North Korea's leader, too, in China. I mean, you know what?
>> Fred Jackson: I.
>> Ed Vitagliano: There's an explanation for that. Kind of, you know, same thing with Putin. Okay. In. And that is that President Trump, he. When he says he has a good relationship, that means he, he's communicating and they can talk about things, and there's always the possibility of some sort of deal. I'm guessing that's what he means, by that, rather than saying, hey, we're all. We're both on the same page.
>> Wesley Wildmon: We're on the same.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. I think he's, he's, you know, saying, we can talk. We can talk through this and get, get, our differences.
>> Tim Wildmon: Biden said he had a very good relationship with, Iran. And we're in the middle of a war, sort of a malware war. We would say that's nuts, would we? Not?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Not, not. Not based on the. What Edge saying there.
>> Tim Wildmon: No edge talking about Trump.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, but, but, yeah, but you okay with the alternative is you say you have a terrible relationship with them.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: To me, I'm not sure it helps to publicly say anything about whether you got a good relationship or not. And that's typically what politicians don't do. They don't talk publicly about that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Donald Trump talking about Israel.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We. Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: In which case you need to slap them around a little bit.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. but in the case of Donald Trump, even though he is politically astute, he is a, businessman. So he is going to apparently publicly say things. I don't think Biden would ever say that. I don't think. You know.
>> Tim Wildmon: my point. My point is that we need to try to be consistent with our analysis and criticism and Complimentary, complimentary.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Trump has been consistent on this. He said this about other leaders in order to get them to sit down at the table.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, Trump apologists. Go ahead. Go ahead.
>> Wesley Wildmon: No way.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm crazy.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm with. With Wesley on this. I think we've said that's what he does.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. I think what frustrates you is that when he does that, but then Turn around and he takes some of our Republicans and he calls them names and says that they're bad people.
>> Tim Wildmon: My frustration with President Trump is I don't think he's telling the truth.
Ryan: I think President Trump is putting a good spin on Iran deal
>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yeah, well, that's true.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That he's got a good relationship.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay. That's different. Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I'll just say this. A good relationship, if you define it as, Ryan shooting our Apache helicopter out of the sky.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: And we're good, then, I don't understand what he's talking about. And when he, when he keeps saying we're within days or weeks of a, total, complete victory in a deal, and it seemingly, it's the same story every day now, maybe I'll have to come back and apologize a week from now when Iran surrenders, but until then, I, he, he just doesn't seem to be shooting straight with, with us as the American public. That's my opinion. You guys have a different one. You guys are buying it, you know, you guys are buying the good relationship.
>> Wesley Wildmon: No, no, that's not. Now, that's definitely not true. I've been on, I've been on the last two weeks. I've said many times that we're, that we've got, we're being misled. This is who by the, by the, by the, Trump administration, the America, the military, whatever. I mean about us not it being over in two weeks. It's not going to be over in two weeks.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, guys, are you guys, are you guys new to politics here? You remember George W. Bush on the aircraft carrier with Mission Accomplished? Politicians always put the best possible spin on. I remember, LBJ saying we're just going to. And maybe even, JFK and any other initials I can use. Jon F. Kennedy. We're just sending soldiers who are just going to. They're basically consultants for the South Vietnamese. We are not getting involved. And this is what politicians do until they're forced, forced by the realities that are evident to everyone to come clean about, George W. Bush saying, we're going to make the Middle east safer democracy first. First we're going in after weapons of mass destruction. And then when we found there were none or they'd been moved and we couldn't find them. No, we're going to make this a democratic regime. this is what politicians do.
>> Fred Jackson: I.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, but I shocked that you guys. I was told Trump was different. He is a straight shooter and everything. Anyway, I understand what you're saying. You're right. Politicians of all stripes, Democrats, Republicans, presidents, they spin they spin, they spend, and Trump spins, too. Yeah, that's what you're saying.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And, But, But, you know, it just gets a little frustrating when you hear things that. And it crossed, which is why I
>> Wesley Wildmon: said I'm not commenting on it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, but we keep dragging you in when the evidence doesn't seem to support what you're saying, and you keep telling us things that we don't see any.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think, I think President Trump has been trying to put a good spin on this because he wants gas prices down. I, I, There's been a lot of political pressure on him and his party, and it's not going away, and it's not going the way. I don't think he should have been saying anything. We should have just bombed the slap out of Iranians. We should have broken bridges and power plants and devastated things within the first two weeks of this. And when they said, we're not surrendering, we keep blowing more stuff up until they, until they surrender.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, is that what Jesus would do?
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's what Wesley would have done, wondering. That's what I would have done. They should have never stopped.
President Trump says he has a good relationship with Iranian leader
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, let's move on here.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We told ourselves we wouldn't do this. We told ourselves we were not going to talk about Iran again.
>> Wesley Wildmon: You know
>> Tim Wildmon: when I said. When I said, and you were out last week on the beach frolicking,
>> Ed Vitagliano: frolicking
>> Tim Wildmon: baby while you were gone, I said Trump said that he had a very good relationship with the Iranian leader. The Iranians. I don't know if he'd say so. That's what I was referring to. And you were in disbelief.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, because I was frolicking.
>> Tim Wildmon: That he said that. And I had to. I had to say that. He did. He did say that. He did say exactly that. And that's what I'm saying. That there's, To say something like that when there's no evidence to support you makes me question anything he says on this issue.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Especially since you never know.
>> Tim Wildmon: We may offenders lie. And that's supposed to be the end of it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You say you have a good relationship with the Iranians, and maybe tomorrow he sends a cruise missile into your kitchen while you're eating cornflakes.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Good news is I'm, not on today's issue tomorrow.
>> Tim Wildmon: The good news is hopefully. Well, I don't know. I. I'd hope that this would. We all hope that this would be resolved one way or another by now. but President Trump and his team
>> Wesley Wildmon: got several things wrong. They didn't consider the Straight of Hormuz.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's one thing that they consider when they started this.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: they also. They also pulled up, Oh, and we're not. We apparently change a regime change. No nuclear or they can't get all the uranium. Yeah. So we got a lot of problems here. You like my criticism of President Trump?
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, President Trump says they will have no nuclear weapon. That's. He did draw that red line in the sand yesterday or the day before again. And I'm going. Okay, well, we'll see how that turns out.
Captain Miller: Iranians tried to shoot our helicopter out of the sky
Let's go ahead and take our short break here.
>> Ed Vitagliano: But, folks, we want you to know we are not talking about this war again. Until we have a solution.
>> Tim Wildmon: We're going to have to form a pact.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We formed a pact.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, the Iranians tried to shoot our helicopter out of the.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's true.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That was a great story. If I'm one of those two recovery pilots, I'm. I'm thanking Jesus.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That drone didn't blow up.
>> Tim Wildmon: Let me ask you this. What about the next two pilots who were scheduled to go out on patrol? We think they got, their. Went down in their back.
>> Wesley Wildmon: My back.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm sorry, Sarge. Sorry.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm sorry.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Sorry. Captain Miller.
>> Tim Wildmon: Captain, I'm gonna have to bail out on you right here. I don't mind if Leroy goes in my place.
>> Ed Vitagliano: These pilots are probably already.
>> Tim Wildmon: Captain, it's not funny. I'm not laughing because the war is funny. I'm just saying that these two, pilots got shot out of the sky and they were on patrol and you wonder about they gonna keep sending patrols out. we'll be back momentarily. Jenna Ellis will be with us.
American Family Radio is celebrating America's 250th birthday with two tours
>> Ed Vitagliano: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time, she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial 250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr America's 250th birthday.
>> : It's a great excuse to have some extra cake and ice cream, but we can help your celebration go well beyond that. Show your patriotism with America 250 apparel that will become a memento of this special year. We also have special episodes on AFA Stream to help underscore that America is a Christian nation and help you find God in the Constitution. Find all of this and more in one place. Afa.net topics250 hello, everyone.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm Tim Wildmon, president of American Family association and American Family Radio. Hey. We are announcing two tours coming up in 2027. March of 2027. We're going to Greece and we're going to Italy. The Greece tour we call the Footsteps of, Paul. And you're going to follow the footsteps of St Paul in the country, of Greece and then the Italian, tour. The tour of Italy, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome. We're calling the Make Lasagna Great Again tour. And these are coming up in March of 2027. And if you want to read all about them, the itinerary, the cost, everything you need to know about these tours coming up in March of Greece and Italy, go to tours.afa.net that's t o u r s.afa.net we're going to have a lot of fun, a lot of good fellowship, and see some of the most historic and iconic sites in the world.
>> Jenna Ellis: It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. Psalm 118, verse 8.
>> : This is today's issues. Email your comments to commentsfr.net Past broadcasts of today's issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of today's issues.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network.
>> Jenna Ellis: Foreign
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm Tim Wildmon with Ed Vitagliano, Wesley Wildmon and Fred Jackson. And, we're moving on to our next story here, which is out of Texas, pardon me, bobbing two teenagers. One of them stabbed another one and killed him. And it's, it's a national news story because it involves, it's white on black, black on white. You know, the news media love that, try to stir up racial animosity in our country. And, we're going to talk about this story for just a few minutes with Jenna Ellis.
President Trump loves this shirt. You love this shirt? I think Ed writes for President Trump
Jenna, good morning to you.
>> Jenna Ellis: Good morning. Good to be with you.
>> Tim Wildmon: Jenna is our host on the morning show, current events talk show called, Jenna Ellis in the Morning. That was my idea to name it that. Jen Ellison.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, it was a brilliant, brilliant move.
>> Tim Wildmon: I thought about that a long time.
>> Jenna Ellis: I think it was brilliant. I'm very grateful for it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Thank you, Jenna. Thank you, Ed, for.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, absolutely.
>> Tim Wildmon: Acknowledging my brilliancy.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You bet, boss.
>> Tim Wildmon: Mr. President, somehow I think I'm being pandered to.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Never.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, Jenna, we're not pandering.
>> Jenna Ellis: We only speak truth.
>> Tim Wildmon: All Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We're not pandering to you, but by the way, I love that shirt.
>> Tim Wildmon: You love this shirt?
>> Fred Jackson: I think Ed writes for President Trump.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Greatest shirt I've ever seen.
>> Tim Wildmon: There's never. Nobody's ever seen a shirt like this.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I've never seen anything like it.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: What are those? Dolphins.
>> Fred Jackson: And he's got a deal on a new shirt.
>> Tim Wildmon: Ah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Did you get that shirt from Florida?
>> Tim Wildmon: Florida, I don't know. And, it's, I don't know. I got it at a golf course. I got it at a golf course I went to.
>> Jenna Ellis: So Mexico paid for it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So, so easy to get you off.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I see what you're doing here.
Fred West: Why has this story become a national news story
All right, so let's reset here for just a moment. Fred, if you would give us the facts of this case here. And then Jenna, our lawyer is going to talk about it here some.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right.
>> Fred Jackson: Yesterday jury, in McKinney, Texas, only, deliberated for a couple of hours after summations, yesterday morning. And they convicted, a young man by the name of Carmelo Anthony in the stabbing death, convicted him of murder of stabbing another young man, Austin Metcalfe. What had happened was that Carmelo Anthony, during a sporting event there in McKinney, Texas, went and sat down in a tent occupied by, a team of young athletes. He was not a member of that team, but he went down and sat down. He was asked to leave. He did not. Instead, Carmelo Anthony had a knife and he stabbed young Austin Metcalf m, in the chest. Austin Metcalfe died almost instantly. during the past three or four days they've had the trial and Carmela Anthony, who is black, Austin Metcalf white. And it became a race related story, even though the prosecution, the dad of Austin Metcalfe, said don't make this a racial issue. It was an act of violence by a young person. But outside the courthouse, there in McKinney, Texas, dozens of protesters, most of them for Carmelo Anthony, held signs saying they wanted justice for him. Another element of this story was a GoFundMe account which was set up to help, Carmelo Anthony's defense. There were reports that. And it was $600,000, I think, had been raised. And there was a report over the last couple of days that Carmelo Anthony's family have used some of that money to move into a very nice neighborhood. So there's a lot of elements to this story, but the bottom line, you have a young teenager, Austin Metcalfe, who is dead and you have Carmelo Anthony, who has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, Jenna, we have murders all over the country every day, sadly, tragically. Why has this become a national news story?
>> Jenna Ellis: Well, unfortunately, it's because the left has politicized it and made it about race, which is just yet another example of the cultural Marxism that is implicit in our nation. And it's not that there is systemic racism like they would suggest, it's that there is systemic Marxism where they categorize people, human beings, based on our immutable characteristics. Whether it's the patriarchy versus, women, whether it is whites who oppress blacks, whether it's the rich who oppress the poor. There's always the oppressor versus the oppressed. And if you fall into that category, you are of an oppressor, then you have no other identity than an oppressor. And if you are in the oppressed category, you are perpetually the victim, regardless of whether or not you are in fact an aggressor of harm. And so what this is story exemplifies is that cultural Marxism is still running rampant in our society. Because the outcome of this case, if you don't look at race, you simply look at the overt act, which was the absolutely unjustified killing of a 17 year old young man by a perpetrator, then obviously he deserves to be convicted of murder. I think he deserved life in prison or even the death penalty, but he got 35 years. That's justice. But what the left and across the country, but even some of these protesters outside the courthouse in Texas are suggesting is that simply because Carmelo Anthony is in the category, the Marxist category of oppressor, simply because of the color of his skin, he is a victim, regardless of his life choices, to murder another young man. And that Austin Metcalfe, because of his skin color being white, he is an oppressor and therefore can't be a victim. And so this story exemplifies again why we need to reject these stratifications and we need to go back to the dignity of every human being made in the image of God has inherent dignity and worth, regardless of skin color, gender, any age, any of the immutable characteristics or differences that God allows.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I just that's a great explanation for why this became a national news story. And you're right, the political left on this country frame everything on race, on identity politics. Right.
>> : And
>> Tim Wildmon: the things you've just mentioned. Westy, did you want to say Something
>> Wesley Wildmon: I was just going to ask. Identity politics in the last 20 years, it's only been one direction, though. They'll usually leave out the color of the person's skin if it doesn't fit their narrative.
>> Jenna Ellis: Right, right, right. And imagine if this had been a white young man who had stabbed to death a black young man, then of course they would be calling for the death penalty and it would be, you know, ultimate justice is, is the, is the death penalty for the aggressor. And it just fits into their narrative of oppressor and. And again, it's all about their Marxist narrative instead of simply looking at the facts and, and actual justice, which, which is that justice is blind to the identity of the person. It's all about their personal responsibility for their own life choices.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Ed, your thoughts?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I was first of all just going to toss out, Remember the. Irina Zarutska? She was the Ukrainian girl who was stabbed on a train. Nobody, nobody on the left stabbed to death. And nobody on the left really wanted to talk about that in terms of race either. I do have, agenda.
Just a quick question, uh, about the sentence of Carmelo Anthony
Just a quick question, about the sentence of Carmelo Anthony. Is. Is this something. I know it's 35 years. Is this something where, since he didn't get death penalty of life in prison, where he can get parole?
>> Jenna Ellis: Yes. And this is why I personally don't think that it was a harsh enough sentence. And maybe the jury was sort of trying to balance, the racial politics. I mean, perhaps. And there were a lot of, complaints on social media that the jury, didn't contain, minorities, which isn't true. It wasn't just a jury of white people. there were minorities on the jury. And so maybe they were cognizant of this and so struck kind of a middle ground. But, yes, unfortunately, he may be eligible for parole, you know, as early as when he's age 50.
>> Tim Wildmon: It sounds like to me this young man who, was convicted of murder, Morello Anthony, I don't know what happened to him that day. I don't know anything about his background. But if you're taking a knife, you're taking a knife with you to. By the way, knife was. This was a knife free zone that he went into. and you got athletic competition. Is this going on? And, he's been asked to leave the tent. He's. He went to the tent of the. One of the opposing teams.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: What I understand. And engaged them and wouldn't leave. And so he. It appears to me, he went there looking for trouble, you know, and then, this Austin Metcalf young man on the other side confronted him or told him to leave. And that's when. This jury found that Carmelo Anthony just stabbed him to death. He bled out before, he could be taken to the hospital and have any chance.
>> Jenna Ellis: And according to some of the reports, they didn't know each other. There wasn't prior history. But there, According to some reports, there was some prior history of, aggression, at least within the context of Carmelo, Anthony's family. And that doesn't surprise me. I mean, when you have someone who is so willing to, perpetuate such hatred towards someone simply because, of the color of their skin, you know, you have to wonder. And Sheldon Daniels, who is a Texan, he's a young black man as well, who's, actually running for, What is her name? The one lady who. Who lost for Senate. Jasmine, Crockett, who, you know, is now. She lost her primary, but he posted this on social media. I practice law in Collin County, Texas, where the story took a place. Carmelo, Anthony will be convicted as he should be. He murdered that boy because he was raised to hate white people and to view himself as a victim in every situation. It's a culture thing.
>> Tim Wildmon: Who said that?
>> Jenna Ellis: This, is Sheldon Daniels. I've actually had him on my program before. I've met him in person. He's great, he's a great Christian. And he is, running for Congress in, Texas for Jasmine Crockett's former seat.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, listen, the political left in this country, and, a lot of them, for the reasons you mentioned when we first started conversing here with Jenna, they want to stir up racial animosity in this country. And, it's just, Listen, we all know I think the Bible teaches you take people, as Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Would say, by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. So we all have to be guarded against stereotyping too, because we're all prone to do that instead of taking people and seeing them as individuals. Now, now I will say this. You know, there is a
>> Wesley Wildmon: reputation that people create.
>> Tim Wildmon: There's a reason stereotypes develop, and there is a. We mentioned this before. well, I won't get into that. It's not related to this story necessarily.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I'm kind of hoping you would, because I was thinking.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, okay, I'll just say this. There is a real problem, within the young black male population in this country that is undeniable. Undeniable and must be addressed by the black community. And I don't know how exactly, but when you have every day in the newspaper, every day on the television news and the majority of the violent crime is being committed by a tiny percentage of the population. And you go, because between, I'm guessing between the ages of 14 and 30, black males commit half the violent crimes out, of 330 in this country. You're going, there's something, there's a reason for that. Okay, why is that? Is it because, because of their skin color? Well that's ridiculous.
>> Jenna Ellis: Right, okay, well a lot of people.
>> Tim Wildmon: Let me finish, let me finish. I thought you were, I'm sorry, it's my show.
>> Jenna Ellis: It is.
>> Tim Wildmon: And you have your show and you can finish on your show.
Jen: 75% of black children are born out of wedlock
Okay.
>> Jenna Ellis: Not, not if Steve Dase is on.
>> Tim Wildmon: But I'm just, I don't mean to say. I'm not snapping it, Jen. I've just, if I lose this thought, it'll never come back to me during this hour. so you have to say why is this? It's not because of their skin color, because that's. We all know good and bad people exist at all, skin colors and ethnicities. And we all know this to be true. So there must be another dynamic there that's causing this demographic to be such high at risk for violence and crime. It's because they don't have dads in the home. And I'm talking broadly and generally. We all know cases where single moms, black, white, Hispanic, whatever, raise wonderful kids and they turn out great. But if you keep going and increasing the numbers, you're going to see what the Bible says to be true. And that is, ah, that children need leadership and mentorship, both male and female in the home. And when you have 75, 80% of the black children in this country born out of wedlock and then the moms have multiple babies, then they don't get any guidance from the males, what's going to happen? They're going to join gangs, they're going to drop out of school, they're going to be angry again, broadly and generally. So that's why you see, and to the mothers, the six 17 year old mothers who have two children, they're going to drop out of school, they're not going to get an education, they're going to continue to be in poverty. You see what I'm saying? So until, and the white community I think is the numbers are at 45%. Maybe something like that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They're closing in.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, no, they're not closing in. They're like a 30 point margin.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, but it's growing. The problem that you're talking about is growing amongst the white population.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, here's what, here's the statistical, agreement, with what you're saying. The white population is about 60%. And if you're nearing the half, if you, if in the white community, because they're so much larger than the black community, population wise, if you have 43% start being born out of wedlock, then you're going to see the numbers, you're going to see the same things happen in the white community.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm just simply saying this is a hard and fast rule that God is the black community.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's not shamed anymore.
>> Speaker G: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: And that some in the white community, not broadly and generally, again, it's just a way of life that in the black community today, they, they don't, they don't think anything of having, not getting married to have babies.
>> Fred Jackson: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: You see what I'm saying? And until that changes, nothing is going to change. Wesley, you want to go just adding to what.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I agree with everything you said, but the, also the culture within the black community of the young men, of these fights that you see them on video
>> Tim Wildmon: all the time, fighting among themselves.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Fighting among themselves. Streets, drugs.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: It's a, it is, it's that. But it's also a growing cultural thing too. That would have to be changed. Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And you see the, the rap music, music, the lifestyle and anyway, it's a real problem that can't be solved by white people. And it's not, you have to solve those problems within your own community. Go ahead.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And it's not being addressed by the political left or they're exploiting it.
>> Jenna Ellis: They don't want to. Yeah. Because this, and this is what, you know, and Tim, talked over me as I was interrupting him with the same point. So I just like to put that out there because Commissioner Jack Brewer speaks about this prolifically, that this is because of fatherlessness.
>> Tim Wildmon: It is.
>> Jenna Ellis: But also the left has an incentive, especially within the black community because even the problem as well is not only with, illicit out of wedlock sex, but so they're not forming families in that community. But also, women are incentivized to have even more and more children because then they get more welfare.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Jenna Ellis: And so the, and the left wants to keep people on welfare and in poverty. Because then they continue to vote Democrats. So this is, I, think fatherlessness is the key issue that needs to be addressed by the church, but it also needs to be addressed even more broadly because these kids just don't have parents who are discipling them at all.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, this is from AI, so take it for what it's worth. Okay. On, AI generated answer, it says that, from, from the year 2018 to 2020, 28% to 29% of babies born to white mothers were born out of wedlock. So I thought it was higher than that. That may be, maybe these statistics are wrong. But I'm just saying that the, if you want to know, if, if you don't, if you don't have a mother and a father raising the children again, you can find exceptions. We all know that there are exceptions. but broadly and generally, if you extract out the numbers, you're going to have real problems. And we're seeing that show up in the young African American male population, when they don't have any male leadership in their home.
>> Ed Vitagliano: point I was making is that it's a hard and fast rule, the way that God has created humanity, that the family is the basic biological mom and dad with the children. That is the building block of human society. And so it doesn't matter, like you said, doesn't matter your skin color. Nothing else matters. If you break that mold, all these pathologies we're talking about, crime, poverty, lack of education, all that stuff, it becomes a reality wherever you break that model. which is why Asians who come to this country, who are very family centric, excel. It's got nothing to do with their skin color. It is because whether they are Christian or not, they are playing by the rules of the way God is being people, human beings.
>> Tim Wildmon: According to this same statistic, 70, 73% of black babies in this country are born out of wed lock. So, and it's been about that rate for a while. So unless that changes, you're not going to see changes in the numbers in terms of the, criminal activity that the young black males get in trouble for.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And I loved Jenna's point. I mean, I like your points, Tim, but I love Jenna's points that she made about the Democratic Party and the left. They have every incentive to keep this system in place. Oh yeah, and to not fix it. Which is why they're opposed to school choice, etc. Etc.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Because they have a ready voting bloc and constituency of people who are dependent upon The Democratic Party for feeding their children.
>> Fred Jackson: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: And you know, what's interesting is if you look historically, the black and white community were the same, up until the, social welfare programs kicked in big time in the 1960s. The Great Society. Up until then, basically, I'm looking at the numbers. Basically blacks and whites, you really didn't have a lot of Hispanics like you do now in America. But blacks and whites were basically the same in terms of babies out of wedlock.
Janet Cannon: Welfare programs incentivized discrimination against African Americans
And then that was incentivized by federal government through the big welfare programs in the name of basically making up for the wrongs that, had been committed against the African American community in our country, which were, historical and real. But they just. You know, there were some people who warned, hey, maybe we shouldn't be giving. Because what they started doing was they started saying, hey, if you got a dad, if you're a married couple, you don't get any help, but if you will go unmarried, we'll send you a check. Okay? that's what happened. And again, you extract that out over time. Human nature being what it is, you'll see what, And when Bill Clinton, by the way, I think he did try to reform that. He was one of the ones, remember, he got called a racist because he. Bill Clinton, a Democrat, because he tried to do some reforming there and that. but anyway, so, it's a problem that unless, it's addressed within the African American community itself, I'm sorry to say, the numbers of, young black males involved in criminal activity is not going to change. Because human nature being what it is, and because the Bible is true, and it has nothing to do with ethnicity, skin color. It has to do with either you follow the biblical model for marriage and family, or you don't. And if you don't, you pay the consequences.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Correct?
>> Tim Wildmon: both individually and society. All right, Janet, thanks so much.
>> Jenna Ellis: Thank you, guys. Great to be with you.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm gonna talk now, and you feel free to interrupt me. Go ahead. Okay.
>> Jenna Ellis: Oh, yeah, you're giving me the last 10 seconds. Thanks so much.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Enjoy your 10 seconds.
>> Tim Wildmon: Thanks for interrupting me. All right, thank you, Jenna. We'll be back in five minutes with more of today's issues on American Family Radio.
>> Jenna Ellis: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
