Blue Mountain Christian University is committed to educating students through a Christian worldview
>> Eduardo: For more than 150 years, Blue Mountain Christian University has been committed to educating students through a Christian worldview rooted in scripture and truth. Our close knit campus community, affordable degree options and dedicated faculty prepare students for lives of faith, leadership and service with on campus and online programs. BMCU meets students where they are without compromising what matters most. Learn more at BMC Edu and move mountains with Blue Mountain Christian University.
>> Fred Jackson: Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host Ed Vitagliano.
Steve Jordal is feeling under the weather so Chris Woodward will take third segment
>> Ed Vitagliano: And welcome back to Today's Issues. Ed Battagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon. This week I'm joined in studio by Fred Jackson and Tony Battagliano. Krish Woodward is going to take the third segment. Steve Jordal's feeling a little bit under the weather, folks.
>> Tony Vitagliano: I, thought Krish would change shirts.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He's not a clothes horse like Steve is. You can pray for Steve. I mean it's nothing serious, but I'm sure you appreciate your prayers as he feels, under the weather. So Krish, you're stuck with us again.
>> Chris Woodward: Your dad and I often wear the same shirts. Yeah, actually there were two days a week, 10 days ago where coincidentally your dad and I wore the same shirt back to back days.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, we have a lot of employees who we buy them ourselves. They're the afa, shirts. Nice collared shirts.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Fishing shirts.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I have four of them. I have, I have shirts of my own that I picked out and so I rotate them. But I do like, these are very comfortable and man they're stylish.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, and so you will wind up wearing the same shirt as other people. So. All right, Krish, get back at it.
JD Vance hosted state attorneys general to talk about efforts to stop fraud
>> Chris Woodward: All right, so Vice President J.D. vance months ago was put in charge of a task force to find and eliminate fraud, waste, fraud and abuse in these United States of America. Yesterday, JD Vance hosted a number of attorneys general, most of them Republican. A few Democrats were in the group, but he hosted state attorneys general to talk about their efforts to detect and stop fraud. Here's a little bit of JD Vance here. Clip 6 I'm particularly gratified here that this is not a partisan effort. I believe we have a couple of representatives from the Attorney Generals in Connecticut, and Oregon. And as I've said repeatedly, this does not need to be, this should not be a partisan effort. Everybody should care about fraud. Everybody should care about rooting out fraud. Everybody should care about saving the American taxpayers money. Now he talked about a couple of Dems being there. I Do know that yesterday, while this event was being held or just after it ended, a number of attorneys general from California, Hawaii, NewSong York, NewSong Jersey and Wisconsin had a webinar. And people like California Attorney General Rob Bonta claimed that they were invited at the last minute. They felt like they were considered an afterthought. They weren't welcome. And so they, quote, declined the invite, didn't want to be there. But they didn't go on. They went on to talk about all the things they've done to find and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in their state. and the interesting thing there is, while they claim they're on top of it, JD Vance has been going. We found a ton of stuff going on in these states, so there is something going on.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Who's the Attorney general in California?
>> Chris Woodward: Rob Bonta.
>> Ed Vitagliano: What a sissy. I'm just going to say, did he actually say we were invited at the last minute so it hurt our feelings? Did he say hurt his feelings?
>> Chris Woodward: He didn't say hurt his feelings, but he said they were invited at the last minute. Minute. They were. They felt like they were considered an afterthought, and they declined the invite.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm sorry. That's just so lame. Maybe I shouldn't have called him a sissy. It's. It's wrong. It's wrong to insult people. Yeah, but that is a lame excuse.
>> Chris Woodward: We know. Just.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm just like. I'm just like, suck it up, dude. Okay, maybe. Maybe they did invite you at the last minute. Maybe they didn't really want you there. But show up.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Your job.
>> Chris Woodward: Especially when there are people of your party there.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: This case, the ones from Connecticut and
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oregon, that was probably uncalled for, but, still.
>> Chris Woodward: It was.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That was.
>> Tony Vitagliano: It looks suspicious. It's me, like the CEO calling a meeting of his top executives. We're going to talk about embezzlement and misuse of funds. We're gonna address this within the company, and you don't show up to that meeting. Just looks.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, yeah, look a little.
>> Tony Vitagliano: I didn't see that invite until later, so I'm not gonna show up there.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Tony Vitagliano: I'm dealing with it, though. I'm addressing it.
California legislature is considering legislation to protect undercover investigators from lawsuits
>> Chris Woodward: What is, very interesting about Attorney General Rob Monta? There is a bill, and this is not the official name of the bill, but it's referred to as the Stop Nick Shirley Act. And it's to protect the identities of people from folks like Nick Shirley that are going.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Explain who he is, the undercover guy.
>> Chris Woodward: Nick Shirley is the guy that is largely responsible for all the things we know about fraud in places like Minnesota. He's the guy that exposed Quality Leering Center.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Chris Woodward: That's Nick Shirley. Now, there is a bill in California that's referred to by critics as the Stop Nick Shirley Act. Again, that's not the official name. That's what people call it. I'm not making this up. Rob Bonta's wife, who is a state lawmaker, is the author and sponsor of the so called Stop Nick Shirley act bill. while her husband is going around saying, I'm getting to the bottom of this, and I'm, I've been doing this the entire time I've been in office.
>> Ed Vitagliano: This is outrageous, but also hilarious because they're what, what the legislators of California are concerned about is stopping the person who's exposing fraud. I just. Fred, I, I, that's, that's a new one on me. And now, this kind of thing has happened before with undercover investigators. Okay. They, they under, they, they expose, you know, whether it's, Planned Parenthood or whatever the case may be, they expose what's going on, and then they're the ones who get in trouble. Okay. And they're the ones who are doing the undercover reporting because mainstream news media won't do undercover reporting.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay. So the Stop Nick Shirley Act. I'll tell you, this is an outrage. We are gonna stop the person who's exposing the fraud that we're letting happen.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. And it's interesting you bring the mainstream media into this. you know, the mainstream media. and there's been stories done about this. there is a lady that's interviewed on Fox quite a bit saying that, for instance, in Minneapolis, the mainstream media knew the fraud has been going on and did not cover the story because they're worried about being called racist because there's so many Somalis that are being fingered in this investigation so far. So they knew it was going on. But now Nick Shirley becomes the story and dare I say, the target of the left because he's exposing and the level of corruption. Vice President J.D. vance yesterday reviewed what they've uncovered so far. Yeah, this team has just been set up for a matter of weeks now, looking into fraud. And, one of the individuals who works in the Justice Department, I think there's been 400 and some people who have been identified so far in this investigation in various states that, and it's not confined. And they stress, as, Vice President Vance stressed this yesterday, this is not, nor should it be, a Blue, Red.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Exactly.
>> Fred Jackson: This. It's happening in Florida too, folks.
>> Chris Woodward: Exactly. Oh yeah,
>> Fred Jackson: the American taxpayer has been ripped off by very bad actors who set up medical offices without ever seeing a patient. But charge. Yeah, they charge for, you know, Medicare, for, you know, medical equipment that, that never sees a patient. Yeah, you know, this. And I think that was one of the Florida cases going on. So this, this is not a partisan effort. This is an effort and I really do believe this. I know politicians make political statements, but this really is an effort to stop the stealing right. From the American people.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah. You know, there are, there are, you could point out inconsistencies on both sides, for, for a lot of issues, but this is one to me that conservatives are consistent about no matter what. I, I don't want, I don't want a red. I don't want a red state ripping off the American taxpayers. I don't want a blue state ripping off the American taxpayers. I don't want a Democratic administration or a local Democratic government, you know, in allowing, fraud to happen. I don't want a Republican local government allowing fraud to happen. It's just, it, it doesn't matter to me. Fraud is fraud and should be addressed. Like you said, it shouldn't be. This shouldn't be a partisan issue. And, and I think a lot of what this comes down to, or some of what it comes down to is this is embarrassing for some of these politicians.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Tony Vitagliano: And human nature does not respond well. Embarrassment because it hurts your pride. You are the one who oversaw this. You allowed this to happen under your nose for a decade or however, sometimes longer, however long this has been happening. You allowed it to happen. And instead of taking ownership for it and being like, whoa, we, we did, we let this slip through. but we're going to turn around and address this, you know, with fervency and we're going to fix this. Instead of doing that, they turn around and try to say this is a, this is a partisan attack. You know, this is. Republicans pounce. That's always the expression. Right. They pounce on me for allowing, you know, fake learning centers to be set up all over our city. It's just, it's, it's crazy. It should be a no brainer, should be a win, win for both sides, honestly. They should be able to score political points.
A woman in Minnesota got sentenced to 40 years for food fraud
>> Ed Vitagliano: But so question for Krish or Fred, if he, or Tony, if you, if you guys know anybody going to prison for these kinds of fraud investigations in California.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. And there was a woman in, this was last Week sometime. A woman in Minnesota got sentenced, I think, to 40 years. She was kind of overseeing an umbrella of various fraud actions. So she got sentenced, I think, just over 40 years.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. And two, her prosecution actually began under the Biden administration because according to the federal.
>> Fred Jackson: This was the food fraud.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, according to the federal government, she was basically claiming that she was in need of all kinds of funds to help feed kids during the COVID pandemic because schools weren't going on. some people think, that schools need to be in operation to feed people, and this might be the only nutritious hot meal a kid might get or whatever. So send me money and I'll make sure kids are being fed. Kids weren't being fed. and the feds found out about it and hauled her, into court. She got sentenced to almost the maximum. Prosecutors wanted 50 years, and she got 40 some odd years.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, she'll get plenty of free food now.
>> Fred Jackson: Very true.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. Part of the reason why. I'm gonna go off on a tangent here a little bit, so forgive me. I think part of the reason why government, politicians in general really don't care about spending so much is because it's just an endless supply. We're forced to pay it or we go to jail. And then they're like, man, you know, it's just. It's other people's money that's the influence.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And it's a lot of money. It's a lot of money to keep up with.
>> Tony Vitagliano: And the way we've set it up to, the way we've designed it is that if you don't spend it, you don't get as much next year.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tony Vitagliano: So there's no incentive to cut back because you want. You want to get as much money as you have. Of course, like Krish said, it's just. It's. It's magic money. It's just coming out. it's coming from the American taxpayer, and it's endless. Whereas, you know, a business, a company, they are always looking at the. Looking at the sheet, you know, like the balance sheet. All right? Where can we cut costs? What is this? You know, where's this revenue drain coming from? You know, we need to address that. you know, here at the Ministry of American Family Radio and American Family association, we are always going through and making sure that we are being the best stewards of, the money that God has provided through our, generous donors. So it's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And we have an independent audit.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Exactly. We have an independent audit every year. So it's not unrealistic to expect that your government should do the same thing. And just assessing. Do we actually need this? Where's this money going to? So.
Nick Shirley exposed fraudulent claims made to raise funds for Minnesota daycares
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, okay, now one last thing on this, Chris, because you did mention we all knew what you're talking about, a few minutes ago. The leering center.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, just explain what that is, because it's. Yeah, it's again, it's another one of these things where I go that's outrageous and hilarious at the same time.
>> Chris Woodward: So in Minnesota, which is kind of considered, the place where a lot. Zero. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. so there were a lot of people claiming they needed, funds to help create daycares or health care facilities, maybe even autism centers. prior to all of this fraud being, abused, exposed, a lot of people were claiming they needed money to treat kids in Minnesota for autism, which turned out to be bogus. but in the case of Quality Leering center, that was money for a daycare. And Nick Shirley finds out about this through government documents that are available out there for anybody, including, well, resourced news outlets to find and track down. But Nick Shirley goes out there with a cell phone and like the address on a printed piece of paper, it goes to this thing and realize not only is it, like, boarded up, but it literally has a misspelled word in the sign and it's a daycare, an educational institution called Quality Leering Center.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Supposed to be learning center.
>> Chris Woodward: And what's funny is he's now embraced that and even kind of monetized it. You can order a Quality Leering hoodie from Nick Shirley and his growing team of video journalists.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and because the media has been so lax and absolutely absent from covering this, he's. If you buy one of those sweatshirts, you're probably going to have some person come up and say, by the way, do you know your. Your sweatshirts misspelled. Who never even heard about the Quality lyrics?
>> Chris Woodward: Yes, that's one of the. That's one of the saddest parts. in my almost 25 years of working in news, there's. There is somebody I've encountered that had no idea about that, even though we've talked about it for like 10 years. And a part of me kind of dies. But, that's. That's another story.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, let, me just tell you, as someone who pastored for. For many, many years, I also experienced that kind of little piece of you die when you preach a long series for four or five weeks on a topic and then six months later, someone comes back and said, hey, we just said this conference and it was about such and such, and man, it was so inspiring. I said, dude, I preached on that for six weeks. Oh, you did. Listen, if, if, if, if you're in it for the pats on the back.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And that's, very true. Yeah, you're, you're going to be severely disappointed.
>> Chris Woodward: I do it for you folks, whether you're paying attention to or not.
Democratic New York City Mayor Ryan Mamdani lays out housing policy
Okay, next story. All right, let's go to NewSong York, to NewSong, York City, where Democratic NewSong York City Zo Rhyen Mamdani is at it again. So, Rollin. Anyway, so now, he's, laying out his housing policy, because he wants everything to be free or for the people and stuff like that. And in this particular case, it would appear that Mayor Mamdani is just going to completely ignore property rights. clip nine. Through our new citywide campaign, Fix the City, we will focus on the worst landlords in NewSong York City. When necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers. And for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we will work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards. Now, a lot of that is vague. He doesn't go into detail. And he never explains to the uninformed people that voted for him. He never explains to them, like, what exactly falls unto negligent owners. Is it just, I don't like the paint? I mean, like, we don't know. So it would appear that he literally wants the city to just take over properties willy nilly when it wants to.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And it's called social.
>> Fred Jackson: It's called social.
>> Chris Woodward: Now, to go with this, before we get anybody's reaction, we could play a little bit of a response this morning from NewSong Yorker Miranda Devine.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Go for it.
>> Chris Woodward: Who had this to say in a very British voice clip. 10.
>> Eduardo: I don't think he cares because he's an ideologue and he's been, I guess, brainwashed from birth by his lefty parents, to be like this. And he's been rewarded. He was, he was cultivated by the Democratic Party and he's now the mayor at a young age. And he just feels this is the way to win.
>> Ed Vitagliano: By the way, let me ask you, this is Miranda Devine. Is that her real name?
>> Chris Woodward: I have no idea.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Just. It just sounds fake.
>> Chris Woodward: All right, so, my name is fake too. I'm really Joseph McGillicuddy.
Zoran Mamdani says he will transfer ownership of apartment buildings to tenants
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, so, Fred, Zoran Mamdani's Eat the Rich Campaign. very, very vague on specifics. and we talk about this, in our show prep meeting. None of us can find out or figure out the specifics of what he's saying because it sounds as if when he says, you're going to transfer ownership to the tenants, first of all, you can't get any more commie than that. All right? We're taking. If you've. If you've seen Dr. Zhivago.
>> Chris Woodward: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right. years ago, folks, that's exactly what the communists did. I remember this scene in the movie where the doctor. Dr. Zhivago, the Communists take over. He has a big house. Whatever you think about big houses, okay? to me, you get big house. Good for you. I'd like everybody to have a big house. That's what I think about big houses. All right? But they take his house and they tell him all these families moved into. Every family gets a room in his house. He says, you should. I'm paraphrasing. It's been years since I've seen it. You shouldn't have owned a house this big. all these families could have lived there. And of course he was forced to say, you're right. but this is such a commie thing to do. it is, but it's also so illegal. How in the world is he going to take ownership of a building and, and give it to the tenants? What, what would that look like?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, Responsible stewards. Was that the phrase that he used? Responsible stewards? Listen, he can write into those words anything that he wants.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?
>> Fred Jackson: now, there have been laws on the books across various states with, when it comes to landlords.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: There are bad landlords, right. And they let their properties go. And the properties, rightly, many times are condemned.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: They're called slum landlords.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: All right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Slum lords.
>> Fred Jackson: All right. However, we have a right to be suspicious about mermaidani because he is a communist.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Self admitted.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes, self admitted. So what communists do at, the front end of their agenda. Look what we're going to do for you, right? All right. Watch the preposition change. Now this is what we're going to do to you, right? This is how they work. He's got his little cheer, his little choir behind him saying, yippee. Right? You know, we're going to have really nice apartments. We're not going to pay anything for it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Somebody, I think Miranda Devine pointed this out a little bit later in that interview. Here's the problem. He's going to put out standards there for apartment buildings that he expects the landlords to do this. This A, B and C to bring the apartments up. But they're going to say. The landlords are going to say, wait a minute, we know you're going to take over my building anyway. I have no incentive to go in and spend more money. Right, because you're not going to allow me to raise the rents to help pay for these improvements. So these landlords are basically going to walk away. This is what's going to happen, but
>> Ed Vitagliano: they're going to walk away. They're not going to be able to sell their property because who wants to buy it and be under a communist?
>> Fred Jackson: And guess what? That's when Mom Donnie and the team move in and say they can't find a buyers. It's just sitting there. We're just going to take it over.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And then who's going to pay for the. For the improvements? It's got to be the city and the taxpayer, of course. So this is the kind of thing. There's an old quote, I looked up to make sure I've got it right. I don't recognize the person who said it. I recognize the quote. Our listeners will recognize this. You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And this is exactly why we've been very critical of Mom Donnie and NewSong York City for electing communists. so, Tony, you. You got to. When your mom and I were raising you and your sister, okay, every parent out there knows exactly what I'm saying here. You can teach your kids to do things the easy way. Listen to us. Or kids can learn things the hard way. I think NewSong York City is going to learn the hard way. You don't vote for a socialist as a mayor.
Mom Donnie has a wish list of things that are bad for you
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, Mom Donnie at this point is starting to sound like if my kids were put in charge of the house and they're enacting their policies, you know, I mean, we will have an allowance every day, not just once a week or once a month. there will be no bedtimes. we will have ice cream for supper, every night. It just. It's just a wish list of, of,
>> Ed Vitagliano: things that are bad for you.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And. And, what, what they never talk about what m. What Mom Donnie has not talked about yet is, fixing some of these issues by maybe lowering taxes, on business owners and people who own the building, maybe lowering stringent, you know, insurance, cost. I mean doing, taking measures to cut cost for the business owners and the landlords so that they in turn might be able to pass those savings on to their, or reinvest into the business itself. So it's always, it's like, like communism always does. It wants to point out the problem, and offer government, as the solution. But, we know that's just, that's, that's never going to fix.
Jackson, Mississippi, elected a democratic socialist mayor and none of it fixed
>> Chris Woodward: now there's a big difference between Jackson, Mississippi and NewSong York City or Seattle. But to prove to people that electing a democratic socialist to be your mayor and then re electing that person, it never fixes your city. Case in point, Jackson, Mississippi, starting in 2013 through the last couple of years, elected a democratic socialist mayor. Jackson still has problems now to his, to his defense. Jackson had problems before he was elected, but he ran on all kinds of things, none of which got fixed. So all the stuff that a Democrat socialist is telling you in a campaign never becomes reality and it never fixes the problem.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Mamdani's the guy who watches like the Dark Knight Rises. Bane is the good guy. See, he gave the city back to the people. He took over.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You will. You will be free. I do like that movie. Critics don't like it, but I like that movie the Dark Knight Rises because the socialists lose at the end. Batman saves the day. Well, Batman's not coming to NewSong York City, folks, even though you need them.
No more Batman references. No more, um, banging on the commie drum
All right, folks, that's all the time we have. No more Batman references. No more, banging on the commie drum. but we can do it tomorrow. We'll see you then.
