>> Jeff Chamblee: AFA action takes attacks on the family seriously. The enemies of the family constantly employ new tactics to try to sneak past our radar. They know if we stand together, their evil plans will fail. Your gift to afa, action allows us to stay vigilant against their onslaught. And if you give this month, you'll receive access to the Cultural Institute video When youn Faith Is Illegal by Frank harbor on AFA Stream as our thanks. You can make your gift today@acaaction.net.
>> Sandy Rios: Welcome.
>> Jeff Chamblee: 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. Thanks for listening to afr. We like to thank you every day for listening to AFR. Today's Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in case you were wondering. I'm Tim Wildmon with Wesley Wyoming. Good morning, Wesley.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Good morning. Let me also say thank you, too, from. From where I'm sitting in the studio here on the left, but not on the left.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, you are to the left of me, but let me assure our listeners that's not the case politically.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's. That's right. That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm right wing, and then I look out and I see Wesley way, way down the road. Way down the road to my right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right. Christopher Woodward. Good morning, Chris.
>> Chris Woodward: I'm on the left, but I do not align with Zimra Mandani or whatever.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yeah, we're gonna get to that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Were you rapping right there?
>> Chris Woodward: Yes, yes. It's a skill.
>> Tim Wildmon: And, Ray Pritchard. Good morning, Ray.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, Tim. And coming to you from somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan here in.
>> Tim Wildmon: Kansas City now, you, I was listening to you and Brent Creeley, our producer, talk off air, obviously, before the show started, and you. You moved your equipment around, had to readjust it or something there, our sound equipment.
>> Tim Wildmon: I have this little Comrex, which is about the size of an old, you know, a cassette tape recorder, which our young listeners have no idea what that is, but that's what it's the size of a small thing. And I went over the weekend when I'm not on the radio, I move it into a closet for safekeeping, and somewhere in the dials got all. They got all finagled around, and we had to untwist them to. To make the broadcast go.
>> Tim Wildmon: There is a word you don't hear every day. Finagle.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Spell it Finagle.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Or if you could. Yeah, help us and put it in a rap song.
>> Tim Wildmon: Finagle. Chris, go ahead and spell it for us.
>> Chris Woodward: F, I, N, A, G, L, E.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, just like it sounds.
>> Tim Wildmon: Finagle.
>> Tim Wildmon: Just like it. Finagle.
>> Wesley Wildmon: unlike most words that are a little complicated, they're not like they. It's not spelled like it sounds.
>> Chris Woodward: Caddy wampus.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Got it. It's always got a silent letter in there.
>> Tim Wildmon: Caddy wampus. I hadn't heard that one in a while either, Chris.
>> Chris Woodward: We're gonna make old words great again.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, Fred Jackson, our colleague, our brother, who came to us from the Great White north, otherwise known as the 51st state.
>> Chris Woodward: Northern North Dakota.
>> Tim Wildmon: That was bad. Fred, Fred says make sure you wish everyone Happy Canada Day. Oh, so it's Happy Canada today, everybody. They do have a very pretty flag. Canada does, don't they?
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Maple leaf.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, the red maple leaf. on. With the red, red sides and the white middle. It's really a.
>> Chris Woodward: do you guys remember in the early 90s when the Braves were playing the Blue Jays in the World Series and there was a, quote, scandal, because the color guard, just before the game, was flying the Canadian flag upside down. They didn't realize it, and it was a big stink. And I remember somebody I was watching that game with went, well, that's the way the leaf hangs down from the tree. What's wrong with that?
>> Tim Wildmon: Wait, and now. Did they do this in Atlanta?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, it was when it was in Atlanta. The color guard from the armed services comes out with a different national flag.
>> Tim Wildmon: I didn't know.
>> Chris Woodward: And they. Yeah, they were flying the Canadian flag wrong way. The wrong way.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, that's a.
>> Chris Woodward: That's a bad for people that have never seen the Canadian flag. It's a maple leaf pointing upward. And they were flying it where the maple leaf.
>> Tim Wildmon: Does that mean Canada was in distress? Does that mean a couple rednecks didn't know the difference?
>> Wesley Wildmon: The redneck maybe a little redneck.
>> Chris Woodward: The Blue Jays did win that series, so maybe that was. Maybe that was what inspired them to beat the Braves.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. anyway, Happy Canada Day. Fred says, wanted everybody to know that.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Not from Canada, though. Where is he seeing. No, I'm sorry. Physically? Currently?
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, no, no, he's not in Canada right now.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: He's, let's see. Flew up.
>> Chris Woodward: He's about, 20 yards that direction.
>> Tim Wildmon: He's right down the hall.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, go see anytime today or tomorrow. all right, so this Canada Day. And then we got July 4th, you know, the Independence Day for the US coming up on Friday. Well, again, we appreciate you listening to American Family Radio. A lot to talk about today. What's the first story, Chr.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, I want to begin with some breaking news and Fox has this. Some other news outlets have something similar as well. So I'm reading from Fox News, which I've posted this on our Today's Issues Facebook page. According to Fox 2, Chinese nationals face serious charges after they allegedly acted as agents of the People's Republic of China's government to collect Intelligence about U.S. navy service members and bases while also recruiting other military members to carry out tasks for China's main foreign intelligence service, otherwise known as the Ministry of State Security, or mss. The Department of Justice says Chinese nationals, traveled to Houston on a tourist visa in April 2025 and they were arrested a few days ago. Both individuals face charges of overseeing and carrying out various clandestine intelligence tasks in the US on behalf of the communist Chinese government. This guy's comes, just a few weeks after Chinese nationals were charged with conspiracy and smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen into the US for their work at a University of Michigan laboratory. So long story short, the Chinese Communists are up to no good, it would say.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, they, the, it was the FBI arrested these two. there's Chinese nationals, meaning they are Chinese and they came here on a tourist visa and then they were busted by the FBI today. I guess it was maybe yesterday's story is just breaking and they wanted to raise.
>> Tim Wildmon: You read this just before we went on the air.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And they, they, they, they did something called a, Now I don't know if how these guys were being monitored or somebody spill the beans on them who were, who was work. Who they were trying to, work with to get information on our military bases. Isn't that the way it goes? So, anyway, we'll see what the, what, what else happens today. They, they are also accused of a dead dry. I don't know what that means. A dead drop payment of at least $10,000. So they're trying to bribe people to get information, right?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. And I'm looking.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Isn't it, isn't that like the, the old spy movies where you. Right where there's a box somewhere. You know, it's, it's, it's like you go to a park and then there's this little box, you know, and you go, you go put the, you put the $10,000 in there. Wrapped up and you walk away and then somebody else comes and picks it up. I mean, that's, that's old school.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. This involved a backpack with cash.
>> Wesley Wildmon: The picture, the backpack and the cash. Doesn't look like they're going shopping either. It's a ziploc bag with 100.
>> Tim Wildmon: I say this. If I'm going to sell out my country, you're going to have to give me more. 10. That's right. It's gonna have to be more than a down payment on a house. You know what I'm saying?
>> Wesley Wildmon: And, another picture. One, of the pictures I'm seeing here is a picture that appears to be. They have two children. Yep. And so they look like they have a, They come over here. It looks like they have come. Come over here posing. Came over here posing as a family. Yeah, as a.
>> Tim Wildmon: But work anyway.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Government.
>> Tim Wildmon: We don't know any more about this story than then, what we just mentioned, but, that's the headline on Fox News. Chinese nationals caught after $10,000 cash drop in covert military operation Casper Tails.
>> Wesley Wildmon: You got a quote right here.
>> Tim Wildmon: What is.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Individuals charged with acting on behalf of a hostile foreign intelligence service. Part of the Chinese Communist Party. broader effort to infiltrate and undermine our institutions. Thanks for the outstanding coordination of our partners, including the ncis. We, we disrupted those efforts and sent a clear message. United States will not tolerate espionage on American soul. Final Senate.
>> Tim Wildmon: I had no idea Gibbs was involved.
>> Wesley Wildmon: What? Gibbs?
>> Chris Woodward: I, wasn't the only one. I was today years old when I found out NCIS is real.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. Yeah, right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Who played Gibbs?
>> Tim Wildmon: Mark Harmon. Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's okay. I was thinking of Mark Harmon. Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: I got to tell you, all these years of read, Reading news stories.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: This is the first time I've actually seen NCIS mentioned in a real story. Yeah, I know they're a real entity and they do work. Naval Criminal Investigative Service. But, I think Ed said, before NCIS came on. I'm talking about the original one with Gibbs and. And Mark Harm. Mark Harmon starring as Gibson. All the other characters there. I think he had said he had no idea so many sailors died around Washington, D.C. yeah, all the time. Because that's what they were investigating.
>> Chris Woodward: and now they've got, like, spin offs in other parts of the world. They have.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: Ah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Down in Miami.
>> Tim Wildmon: Los Angeles. NCIS Los Angeles. NCIS New Orleans. NCIS Australia. NCIS Hawaii.
>> Chris Woodward: I think I saw, Sandy Rios and her husband Bruce one time at an event and we were having dinner and I asked Bruce, I said, hey, you worked for the FBI. Do you watch shows that are like. That involved FBI and plots and stuff? You know, is it real? And he was like, no. You know, first of all, they. You know, they walk into the scene of a. What is supposed to be a bombing, and they're like, oh, it was a dirty bomb. And they know, like, right off the bat, he was like, truth be told, you would be on your hands and knees looking at stuff with, like, tweezers.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Show that for an hour. People wouldn't watch. You know what I'm saying?
>> Chris Woodward: They solve a crime in 45 minutes. With commercials, right?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, with commercial commercials. That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: I've watched that FBI show on, I guess it's cbs. The show called FBI. Of course, it's a reboot if. Well, I don't know if they call it a reboot. The FBI show from the 70s, was that Everett's Zimbalist? remember him? Wasn't that his name? Anyway, he was a major star in the 760s or 70s with that FBI show. But the new FBI show, I watch it, I watched it a few times, and, Every other show is about a white supremacist group, right? I'm just going, come on, guys, let's come up with a new.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Can we come up with a new storyline? I mean, do one. You could do one white supreme busting one white supremacist group. But like every other show, really? Go ahead. What are you gonna.
>> Chris Woodward: I was gonna say you. You nailed it with the name Ephraim Zimbalist Jr. Was the guy on the original.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, he's a major star. Major television star. Back in. When did that. When did that original FBI.
>> Chris Woodward: I looked it up. It said it aired from 1965 to 1974.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, well, I was right about that era. I remember my dad watched that show. It was called FBI. That and Dragnet. Yeah, that. Dragnet. What's the famous line from Dragnet, Ray? Sergeant Friday. Come on, man. Sergeant Friday. What would he say? Okay, here, I'm gonna give the answer. Yeah. What do you know?
>> Chris Woodward: Just the facts.
>> Tim Wildmon: Just the facts, ma' am.
>> Tim Wildmon: Just the facts.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, just sell that on, like, Nick at night or something.
>> Tim Wildmon: Just.
>> Chris Woodward: In fact, I've seen some of those old ones.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, those. Those two guys, those two detectives, they were just party animals. So that's where that, wild and crazy guy right there.
>> Wesley Wildmon: All right, all right, we've gotten off.
>> Tim Wildmon: Next story. Next story.
>> Chris Woodward: Chris we are learning more about.
>> Tim Wildmon: Learning more, Chris.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes, we are learning more about the man. Police in Idaho say open fire on firefighters that were responding to a fire he may have set. yesterday, I think our Steve Jordan was the first to bring in the name of the accused, gunman. that would be 20 year old Wes Rowley. now the update with this is. According to The Associated Press, 20 year old Wes Rowley, was actually, at one point in his life aspiring to be a firefighter. and 20 year old man's life appeared to have begun to unravel in the months before. Authorities say he fatally shot two firefighters and severely. When. Yeah, third, over the weekend.
>> Tim Wildmon: This was a horrific story that happened over the weekend where what happened was the somebody, started a fire. This is in Coeur d' Alene.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes, he started the fire.
>> Tim Wildmon: Who?
>> Wesley Wildmon: I know, I believe he started.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, allegedly. Yeah. Yeah, but it has to be. It'll be proven. But yes, he started the fire. But you have to say allegedly, till it's, documented or proven. May have been already, I don't know. But. So this fella, started the fire. Turns out there's this 20 year old we're talking about here. And then. So he drew the firefighters to the scene and then he shot two.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: And you're wondering why he shot more than two. Yeah, he killed two. Killed two. And you're wondering what in the world would motivate somebody to do such a heinous thing? I mean, who, who has an axe to grind with firefighters? You're wondering. And as it turns out, if the story is true, his motivation would be. He was obviously a deranged person, 20 years old. So he was denied, getting into the firefighting.
>> Chris Woodward: Correct.
>> Tim Wildmon: business, so to speak. That's not the way you phrase it. But, and so he, he had a vendetta against firefighters for that reason. Is that true?
>> Chris Woodward: Correct.
>> Tim Wildmon: What they're saying.
>> Chris Woodward: The AP interviewed a former roommate of Wes's, by the name of T.J. franks Jr. And he told the AP that Wes shaved off his long hair and started to, quote, kind of go downhill in the last few months.
>> Tim Wildmon: I didn't know, one of my best friends was a firefighter for many years, but I didn't know Ray or Chris or Wesley that firefighters. Maybe this is an Idaho or a Coeur d' Alene rule. You, have a height. Is that what they were saying? That's what I was reading.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's what I read.
>> Chris Woodward: Some people wouldn't like it if you have long hair.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, but there was some thought he was too short.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, but I just never heard of that before as a qualification for a firefighter. Huh?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, I've got no, I've got friends of the same that are that height, that are firefighters here locally and cheap loads. That's new information to me. There was a third firefighter that was, that he shot also, that is injured and is, I think, in the hospital. In the hospital. So there's that. And then he ended up taking his own life.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right? Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, that's. We were waiting on what the motivation was for this, guy, again, deranged.
>> Tim Wildmon: here's your first thought. Maybe, you know, terrorism.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, something, something.
>> Tim Wildmon: But it's not that. This is. Derangement is a good word for it, Tim. Here's a. He's, a young guy to 20. He's. He's got a lot of his life in front of him. So he tries out to be a firefighter and they turn him down. Who knows, who knows what the height thing, how that figured into it. But there, there are guys who are turned down for police and for firefighters who come back and who make it later, second time around, third time around. So there's something must have, right, Tim? Something must have snapped inside his brain to this particularly evil thing to do, to set a, to set a fire.
>> Tim Wildmon: A trap.
>> Tim Wildmon: A trap. And then to kill two firefighters, the very people you said you wanted to be part of.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know, usually, and I'm not blaming anybody here, but usually in cases like this, there are tips that people who, know the people who commit crimes like this see happening in their lives. And of course, you can't have somebody arrested or committed on, on, you know, a hunch or, you know, observing somebody acting strangely. I guess it's just, you know what I'm saying. But after the fact, a lot of people go, yeah, that guy was acting weird or strange or saying crazy things, you know. you're listening to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. Next story. Chris?
>> Chris Woodward: I do not have any sound from the President himself, but President Donald Trump is in Florida today.
>> Tim Wildmon: He doesn't talk. Yeah, you're not going to get much out of him.
>> Chris Woodward: he's a big, beautiful, quiet man. But President, Trump is in Florida today touring what is being referred to as Alligator Alcatraz. This is a facility that was already in existence in the Everglades area of Florida. And, there's a partnership between the federal government and the state of Florida. Through Governor Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeyer, to which, people that are illegals apprehended in the country are going to be sent to this facility in Florida, which James Uthmeyer would say is actually going to be one of several operations they plan to announce or roll out later this year. I've got some audio though of Caroline, Levitt, the White House press secretary, talking about Trump's trip to what is being called alligator Alcatraz. Clip 1.
>> Pam Bondi: Trump will travel to the great state of Florida to attend the opening of a new illegal alien detention center located at Dade Collier Training in Transition Airport. Alongside Secretary Kristi Noemi, Governor Ron DeSantis, Congressman Byron Donalds and other state and local leaders. We hope to see many of you there. The facility is in the heart of the Everglades and will be informally known as Alligator Alcatraz. There is only one road leading in and the only way out is a one way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. The facility will have up to 5,000 beds to house, process and deport criminal illegal aliens. This is an efficient and low cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I'm in.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, so is this going to take the place of sending them to El Salvador?
>> Chris Woodward: This is basically where you're going to go until we actually fly you. It's going to be like a temporary process center.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, well, Jenna Ellis, our own Jenna Ellis is got an, had an invitation and she went down there for this and should be as like a reporter. It should be on to tomorrow. She'll be on, yeah, she'll be on with us tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. She went, she got an invitation I think from Governor DeSantis office to attend.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Cool.
>> Tim Wildmon: To see this facility in south Florida again. The president of states is down there two and it's more or less a photo op to emphasize his administration's commitment to deporting people who are here illegally, namely criminals who are here illegally. And I guess you want to send them to a place to where they can't escape.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And if you've got the Everglades all around you with one way in and one way out, you're, you're not going to escape, you know. Well maybe you could even if you.
>> Tim Wildmon: Even if you do not going to see. Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: You're putting your life in your own hands. Right. When swimming with the alligators. literally.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And the, and the crocodiles.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Listen, I went to the Everglades, I guess, Allison. I went down there two years ago, maybe. We had to go down to a conference, ironically, at Trump's hotel, down there. Doral. Doral. Doral. I think I got that right. Doral. I think so. we did a day excursion over to the Everglades, which is only about, like, an hour from our hotel. And, did. Did the, you know, you get on the airboat?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Go out there like Gentle Ben.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right, right, right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Crocodile Dundee.
>> Tim Wildmon: he did the airboat, too, so. So the fellow took us about 20 minutes out on the airboat through the Florida Everglades, and. And we saw the alligators in the wild, and that's a. That's something to behold.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And you're just staying the boat.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. You stand there. That's right. That's all I care about.
>> Wesley Wildmon: You keep me inside the boat at all times.
>> Tim Wildmon: Keep your hands inside. Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. And no sudden turns, please.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: okay, this. This guy's going out the boat and never to be heard from again. So, you know, it was. What I'm saying is that Everglades is daunting as. As far as a, A place in nature that's, intimidating. I guess you could say you're a.
>> Tim Wildmon: Lot safer if you're. If you're an illegal alien down there. You're a lot safer inside, right. Inside that facility than you are on the outside.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Have you ever done that? Have you ever been on a.
>> Tim Wildmon: Been to the Everglades and been on those airboats? And, you know, they took us down and showed us a, zooming, you know, and as you know, Tim, those airboats, they zoom.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right through. Yeah. I mean, you're really going fast. Keep your hands inside. Alligators, crocodiles, snakes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Is it the, What is it the, Burmese python?
>> Tim Wildmon: That's Burmese. Burmese python. Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: The Burmese python, which is not, native to South Florida. No, it was brought over here from Burma, I guess. I don't know. But it's a real problem because they are top, of the food chain, and there's no predators to devour them.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Except an occasional alligator, you know, who wins that fight. But, so it's been a real problem as far as the ecosystem there in South Florida.
>> Chris Woodward: I'm looking at some of the other animals that are in the Everglades. You got the panther, you got a black bear. Mean, so you might survive the gator, but God help you. The other.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And you heard us, right? We're sending our own jenna Ellis down there. So I hope she's listening now because I don't know if we told her all there.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: I know. I don't know who's going to be the movie star to, make the movie Escape from Alligator Alcatraz. But it's coming, you know, coming.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Well, she's going to be on tomorrow.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. To talk about this.
>> Wesley Wildmon: She's going and she's going to give us her first hand, report there.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I saw on the television, Governor, Ron DeSantis of Florida. I saw obviously President Trump and Secretary, of Homeland Security, Christy Noem. Is that what it's called? Secretary.
>> Chris Woodward: Secretary, yeah. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Christy Noem.
>> Tim Wildmon: and then, some other dignitaries were on hand there. All right, we'll be back after this timeout. Sandy Rios, will be joining us as well. Coming up momentarily. You're listening to the radio program Today's Issues on the American Family radio network.
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>> Jeff Chamblee: 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 archive@afr.net now back to more of, Today's Issues.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Tim M. Wesley, Chris and Ray. And we thank you for listening to afr. I was told, during the break, the A training, that's. That's not what you call it. The firefighter. To be a firefighter, you have to go through rigorous, Rigorous, what would you call it?
>> Chris Woodward: Training.
>> Tim Wildmon: The physical qualifications are tough, really tough. J.J. jasper out in the hall said it's one level under being an AV seal, basically. It's that hard to pass that, that physical exam because you have to carry stuff. You have to be able to maneuver and go around and go up and be smart. I mean, there's a lot of things that go into being a fire.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Getting played and getting some spaces where it's not very easy to get in. So.
>> Tim Wildmon: And you got to deal with the natural, inhibition to go into a fire.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, you know, that's. You got to overcome that psychologically. But, we were talking about this because the story from Coeur d' Alene, Idaho was that this man, 20 years old, who shot and killed the firefighters. He shot and killed two of them after drawing them into a fire he created and then injured, what, one or two more. What other, what the story was that he was. M. You wondered what the motivation was. It was that he was denied entry into the, firefighting profession for whatever reason. And he had an axe to grind, for that reason, as I mentioned. And Ray said, I use the right word, deranged. The guy obviously crazy, in the head doing something like this, which what the range means. But, anyway, so have you ever known firefighters, Ray?
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah, and it's exactly what JJ said. Best of the best, toughest of the tough, bravest of the brave.
>> Tim Wildmon: Especially, especially the guys who out west, you know, to fire the wildfires, you know. Well, you know, you could say the same thing about city, firefighters. I mean, they have to go into buildings that can collapse on them. So it's the same kind of dangerous situation. But, those wildfires out west, you know, you read about them, they have to be careful about not getting trapped. M. You know, when they get, when they go into the.
>> Tim Wildmon: The wind starts blowing. The wind can. The wind can push the fire right over you in a moment's notice.
>> Chris Woodward: This particular fire in Idaho, at the bottom of the story, it said, it burned about 26 acres. Now the good news is by late yesterday afternoon, the fire was reasonably contained, and that firefighters had stopped forward progress. But 26 acres is a chunk of land.
>> Tim Wildmon: Sure.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, you're listening to today's issues. Joining us now is Sandy Rio, Sandy's host of Sandy Rios, 24 7, a very popular podcast that we host at afr.net afr.net of course, Sandy was on the air with us for 10 years. In the morning with Sandy Rios, in the morning on American Family Radio. Sandy, how are you this morning?
>> Sandy Rios: Oh, I'm good. I'm good. Thank you for asking. I just finished doing a really interesting interview with Professor Robert George from Princeton on truth. He's written a new book on truth, and how we've come into we're an Age of Feelings and Not Truth. It's just a really interesting discussion. So that's what I was doing this morning and enjoying it.
>> Tim Wildmon: that's an interesting concept. So you mean feelings as opposed to truth? What's the idea there?
>> Sandy Rios: Well, you know, kind of in History of Man, there was, like, in the Middle Ages, like, the age of Faith, where faith was growing Christianity, and then the next was the age of reason. And they thought that, they didn't mix. But the truth is that, it is faith and reason that helps us to come to the truth. But now we're kind of in an age of feelings, you know, that. Remember that woman that after President Trump won in 2016, in this bright green, just screeching on her knees on a street corner? Do you guys remember that?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yeah.
>> Sandy Rios: I think that's, like, a quintessential example.
>> Chris Woodward: It's still a meme.
>> Wesley Wildmon: It's still a meme.
>> Sandy Rios: Yeah. It's still a meme. She became Famous Enemy. But we are. I mean, I think we'd have to agree that we are. I, think that comes. It probably applies to all groups of people, including Christians, where we are. We're living in an age of feelings where we're supposed to be listening to our feelings a lot. And we all know that, we think about it. It's really dangerous. So that was my discussion with him.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I got you. by the way, this story involving the Chinese, like, spies, these two guys that were arrested today. Did you see that?
>> Sandy Rios: You talking to me?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, Sandy.
>> Sandy Rios: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: You sound like Ed, from his Boston days. You're talking to me. You're talking to me. Yes, I'm speaking with you, yes.
>> Sandy Rios: Yeah, I did see that. The. The FBI arrested two guys on Friday, and there are two different ones, and they have been spying on U.S. navy personnel and bases, and they were exchanging something like $10,000, on behalf of the Chinese, Communists, to do whatever it was they were doing. But I think the thing that struck Me about this article is that, you know, just a few days ago the FBI has arrested a whole host of Iranians, including a sniper I believe in Arizona. They're really, they're, they're, they're doing some good work right now. The FBI is. That's, I think that's great.
>> Tim Wildmon: The, yeah, the there was a story is. Maybe it's the same story about the Iranians who were, came into our country illegally.
>> Sandy Rios: That's what I, Yeah, that's what I.
>> Tim Wildmon: During the Biden years, how many of them came in? So we don't, you know, they could be this part of you know, the, what do you call, sleeper sales.
>> Sandy Rios: Exactly like the guy and I think Arizona who was a sniper and they, he actually, his ID said he was part of the the Iranian. I think it's the irgc, something like that. I think it's the irgc. So he had his like identity on him to be part of that terrorist operation.
>> Wesley Wildmon: We covered that last week. The ICE agent, ICE agents last week arrested 11 Iranian national illegals over the weekend. That was last weekend. I remember covering that last week.
>> Sandy Rios: Yeah. And so, and so now they're, they're on to the Chinese and I'm sure that, you know, it's innumerable the amount of people, ah, you know, in the country that are doing terrible things. But it is really good. Is it not encouraging to hear that our law enforcement agencies are doing really doing some active, dangerous stuff to protect us.
>> Tim Wildmon: So Bruce Rather, your husband, we've had him on before but just so his, his overview, his overall viewpoint is the he served in the FBI for many years that the FBI is now back on track with President, Trump and Cash Patel and the new administration.
>> Sandy Rios: I think he would say that they're doing some really good things. Whether they're really fully back on track yet. Probably the jury's out. But I think they, they're doing, you know, they've fired a lot of bad people, and they are changing the rules and regulations and they're just tightening the ship. And I, from our, from our perspective right now, it's really a great move in the right direction and we'll just see. I mean the deep state and the FBI is really deep. It's really deep and there's a lot of resistance and when we don't know about all the ins and outs of that. So I just pray they can prevail and keep their spine, you know. And then also, you know, we don't know how long they're going to be in charge, so, but for right now, they're headed in a really good direction.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, when you got Cash Patel and you got Don Bongino.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Dan, Dan Bangino. I mean, either number, he's like the number two guy there at, the FBI. that's a couple of dynamos.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's like 1A and 1B.
>> Sandy Rios: Yeah, yeah, that's true. I mean, Dan's kind of the enforcer.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Sandy Rios: You know, so, so Cash is the executive, you know, overseeing everything and Cat and Dan, is his enforcer. So I wouldn't want to, but can't.
>> Tim Wildmon: Get things straightened out, those two guys, and I don't know, they can be done. Of course. I know what you're saying. The deep state is deep for a reason. And there's a lot of people, you have to find out what their motivations are and so forth inside the FBI. after what happened with, James Comey and that whole situation, we don't want to relive that again.
>> Sandy Rios: Well, and I'm sure you guys talked about this, but they, they are, they have discovered a whole cachet of, the actual writings and records of the bad actors, including Comey. And I think, also Chris Ray is implicated now. They found a whole bunch of stuff that they had thought they had hidden and they, they discovered it all. He's. And I remember, I think Cash said, yeah, the irony is they, they felt the need to write down everything they did because they were kind of boasting and we found it. So we haven't heard anything, you know, yet on that, but, I thought that was pretty cool. They destroyed everything.
>> Tim Wildmon: I say, I don't want to relive that again, but it brings up memories that. I gotta tell you, the one thing that the FBI did that, that I thought was just awful during that whole, situation. When President Trump came into office and James Comey, you know, he took one for the team defending Hillary Clinton. Remember that?
>> Sandy Rios: Oh, yeah, yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: When she, the team being the deep state, she had obviously violated the law. I mean, she had a, she had a server that she was using for, for State Department emails that she didn't want monitored. So she put it in her house and, and, and tried to hide it from Congressional, oversight, I guess you could say, or people who would keep them, would monitor it perhaps. but when they went into, with A.B. and the FBI went into, I call it entrap, General Michael Flynn.
>> Sandy Rios: Remember that Mm, I sure do.
>> Tim Wildmon: That was just awful. That whole story was just the way that was told and the way that went down was just awful.
>> Sandy Rios: it is, it was terrible. And also that, you know, Tim, you remember that really started with that meeting the day that President Trump was being inaugurated in the White House.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Sandy Rios: with, Barack Obama and Joe Biden and I think Valerie Jarrett, John Brennan. I'm not sure who else that was.
>> Tim Wildmon: The Hillary Clinton team you're describing there.
>> Sandy Rios: Yeah, well. Or the Barack Obama team.
>> Tim Wildmon: General Michael Finn. What was going to be his role in the, White House?
>> Sandy Rios: he was the national security advisor.
>> Tim Wildmon: National Security advisor. He didn't even have time to put new drapes up. And, they sent two FBI agents into. I, call again, I call it entrapment in questioning him about something, and he gets to a point where he goes, do I need a lawyer? and they said, no, you don't need a lawyer. and so anyway, well, remember, Tim.
>> Sandy Rios: Just put fuel on the fire of that. Remember Comey was interviewed after he got out, after he was fired, and maybe, I don't know, sometime in the last. Since he was fired, and he was, doing this interview and he said, the interviewer asked him, well, how did, what did. Why did those FBI agents go to the White House to talk to him? And he said, I sent them.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Sandy Rios: And the audience, he's bragging. And then they all laughed. But. And the thing of it was, he knew these agents, these guys. It was Peter Strzok and another agent.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, they were politically motivated and they.
>> Sandy Rios: Were, they were doing something that senior agents in their position don't do. Yeah, they don't do interviews. And so the whole thing was a setup. And, General Flynn knew them, and so he just was completely caught unaware when they called him last minute, said, can we come over? Sure, guys, come on over. And so.
>> Tim Wildmon: And General Flynn, he basically lost his life savings over that whole.
>> Sandy Rios: Oh, his home, everything is. Everybody threatened his son, their family lost, their very close family. They. They tried to help their dad and they, they all lost a lot. It's horrible.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, you're listening to today's Issues. Right. Did you have anything to ask? You want to ask Sandy?
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Sandy.
>> Sandy Rios: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, how you doing?
>> Sandy Rios: Good.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, you know, the whole thing about. I, want to ask you about Elon Musk and, President Trump. You know, it looks like we're going into round two. I mean, Elon Musk is the richest guy in the world. Right. Worth. I don't know. Couple of hundred billion dollars, 300 billion. I don't know.
>> Tim Wildmon: He's already. He doesn't need to make a House note.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's right. He's unbelievably rich. Right. Everything's taken care of. Okay. She's got the richest man in the world going up against Donald Trump over this big, beautiful bill that they're arguing about in the Senate and has yet to be reconciled with the House. What do you make of, what do you make of the, of round two of the. Elon Musk, Donald Trump? Is it. Is it a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing important at all, or is there, is there, is there something important at stake here?
>> Sandy Rios: Well, I think it's important. not that it's going to change the trajectory of our country, but I think what you have. I heard someone put it this way, and I think it makes a lot of sense. We have an idealist in Elon Musk. He really is an idealist. he's a huge thinker. He really wants things to be right. He has a real sense of right and wrong, except in morality. Doesn't seem to. He hasn't caught that one up yet, but he does. he wants things to be right. And he spent so much time and sacrificed so much to start doge and get this going and get into government, thinking that on the other side of it, he would be. They would be successful. And so he is truly committed to saving this country, pulling it back from the brink of a financial, disaster. And we're close to that. I don't think we really understand how much on the cliff we are teetering, whether it's the value of the dollar, whether it's our national debt. And then you've got President Trump, the pragmatist, who knows all of that, but he also has all of these other political and other issues that he has to deal with and personalities and world. you know, he's got a million things buzzing in his mind. Elon does, too, about his own work. But we've got an idealist and a pragmatist, and I think that Elon, that whole business and this, this is hard. It was hard for me when I went to D.C. it was hard for me to compromise on things, because I just. It's. This is not right. It's not right. but you can't almost. You can't. You almost can't operate in that world and be that powerful in your idealism. so President Trump is overriding him with his pragmatism. But I think that both are right. I mean, I think, we've got. I think, there's, like. We're in $38 trillion in debt right now. 37. 37 trillion. And the Senate budget just has added, in its current form. They're still debating it. It's almost a trillion. they're adding in, more of our debt. And so there's a big fight going on about that. And Elon is upset. Now, the other factor is he's upset about the, electric car subsidies, because they're going to go away. And he's really, suffered a lot financially because of coming in to help his car company. As you know, all these attacks on the, on his cars. And the. The stocks went down. The, the stock of the company went down. Tesla. That's what I'm trying to say. And, so he's paid a huge price. And now to lose these subsidies, can you imagine how angry he must be? So I. I see both sides. I do understand.
>> Tim Wildmon: Think of a. President Trump is. Sometimes his words help, and then sometimes I'm going, what are you doing? Okay, why. Why are you saying this? Of course, we've all. I call it good Trump, bad Trump. I've said that before. And, you know, as far as being a president, overall, I would. President Trump, I gave him five stars. Okay. Five out of five right now, maybe 4.8. Okay. But I mean, as far as his, the decisions he's made in terms of personnel and policy have been excellent. for the most part. But things that he does sometimes that you just go, don't. Don't do that. He. He said this about Elon Musk. And to your point, right, I mean, President Trump could just say, I have no comment on that. Okay. He could just say, I wish Elon the best, whatever the case may be. But instead he was asked about this, and he said, doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn't that be terrible? he was talking about, you know, he's down at the Everglades, you know.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Basically. So, and then he said, he gets a lot of subsidies. But Elon was very upset that the EB Is his Trump talking. EB mandate is going to be terminated. His response following a question regarding whether to deport Musk, who is originally from South Africa, Trump responded, I don't know. We'll have to take a look. Look, end of quote. See that. That right there. That just. That that just is getting gasoline and pouring it on the fire because then Elon Musk is going to come back and get it. It's just going to be, get uglier, it appears to me if, but this is a case where Trump needs to just, you know, say, listen, I deal with a million people. Elon Musk was one of them. He did a great job while he was here. I have no comment on, on this and we're certainly not going to take a look at that deporting him.
>> Sandy Rios: Tim, I totally agree with you. I totally agree with you.
>> Tim Wildmon: You just can't say stuff like, go ahead, Wesley.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Well, and that's. That definitely potentially get ugly. But let's talk about the big beautiful bill.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, let's move over the big. Listen folks, this, that's the official title of this. It is the big beautiful bill. And to President Trump's, defense, what Sandy was talking about with him having to deal with Congress, the Republicans only have like a three or four.
>> Chris Woodward: Vote margin in the Senate for.
>> Tim Wildmon: No, in the House they have a six, a six vote lead in the Senate, but in the House it's very narrow. Go ahead, Weston.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Well, I was going to ask Sandy. So, is it true that in this bill for all intensive purposes it would defund abortion providers? Yes or no or can you elaborate on that?
>> Sandy Rios: Well, well, it's course it's in. It's not final, as you well know. It's. The House version was sent to the Senate and now they're, they are. I don't think they're still in debate. When I got on with it was 20 hours. They're in debate. So it's a moving target. And then it has to go back to the House. So I want to make it clear. But yes, at this point my understanding is it has to do with, different states have the. Will have the ability to, you know, I hope I'm not accused in confusing this with a court decision, but, Planned parent. Different states, if it's a court decision or that it's in the bill, can defund Planned Parenthood. The states can.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, yeah. Yes, they can't. Excuse me for interrupting, but the way I understand it is they can. That is the states can now, according to the Supreme Court, don't, don't have to pay for abortions with federal tax dollars.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, that was the South Carolina case.
>> Tim Wildmon: That ADF was including Medicaid, dollars. So Planned Parenthood is not going to get money from certain states because they do, abortions Right. And so this was a big success in the Supreme Court, and I think it's going to be legislative. It's in this legislature.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And there's other things that it does. It permanently funds the, finishing of the wall.
>> Sandy Rios: Yes. there's enough money to do that. It also pays for a lot new ICE agents and Border Patrol agents. It really gives it. What's happened is that Tom Holman and his team have deported so many people and arrested so many people that they have run out of money and space and the means to actually do what they need to do. Everything they need to do.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes.
>> Sandy Rios: Right. Yes. So this. It's in the bill and that's. That's really, to me, the, that's huge. The one thing that, is in flux. And I wish I could be more specific with you. It's just it. Its, its benefits for Medicare, benefits for illegal immigrants. There's arguments over that the House bill had removed those, and now they're playing with that in some way. and also SNAP and all kinds of benefits to illegal immigrants. That's still, being messed with. So, but the. But it will, you know, re, or, ah, discontinue President Trump's tax cuts from m. His first term. And that is important because my understanding is, I've heard different figures that for the average family, your tax would. Taxes would go up $3,000 in a year.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Sandy Rios: If this doesn't get passed. And that's a big deal.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, Sandy, by the way, we just learned that Jimmy Swaggart, the, evangelist, he passed away this morning. What age? 90.
>> Chris Woodward: 90 years old.
>> Tim Wildmon: 90 years old. Jimmy Swaggart, very, popular television preacher in the m. Basically in the 80s is kind of. It was his heyday, 80s and 90s. Then he got into a scandalous, sad. Sad and tragic. Scandalous situation that he got himself into with a prostitute, I think. And it was, it was tawdry.
>> Sandy Rios: remember he was either a first cousin or a brother to Jerry Lee Lewis.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Sandy Rios: Who was not constrained by moral issues, but he was a wild man. And they're both, you know, very musical, but, just kind of a famous, part of their family.
>> Tim Wildmon: We wild man. Resent you lumping us in there with.
>> Sandy Rios: Oh, that's right. Our name is A wild man.
>> Tim Wildmon: Her name does not always describe us. So please be careful there. so. So anyway, my grandmother. I've told this story before. My grandmother. This is back in the 20s. Yeah, 1920s. my grandmother then got married. She married a while A wild man. That was his last name, my granddaddy's last name, Wildmon. And then she decided, I don't want to carry this on for the rest of my life. All the jokes that come with it, like, I hadn't heard them. And so she just started writing our name different.
>> Sandy Rios: Oh, really? That's funny.
>> Tim Wildmon: No, she didn't. She didn't register with the government or anything. She just started writing it different and it changed. And, you know. So from then on, our name changed. yeah, I know that. So I don't know. I may be. I may be undocumented. For all I know.
>> Wesley Wildmon: You just told on yourself.
>> Tim Wildmon: There's ice at the alligator door.
>> Tim Wildmon: Get ready for it.
>> Chris Woodward: Deportation.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know. But, you know, Jimmy Swaggart, he did, you know, repent of his sin, and he kind of went away. He didn't make many public appearances after, those scandals back then. And, So, listen, he was a very. I, I enjoyed watching him preach back in, you know, in the. When he was in the 80s, basically in the 80s. He was a very, very powerful, dynamic, television evangelist. I went to see him one time in person in, Birmingham. He and the whole coliseum there was full. I'm talking about 15 or 20,000 people there. So that shows you the height of his popularity back in the. Back in the day. Well, listen, Sandy, what's coming up on your podcast? When's the next one?
>> Sandy Rios: Well, the, the next one is tomorrow, and it will be the one with Robbie George that I just mentioned, Professor Robbie George of Princeton, talking about truth. And then on Friday, I'm gonna do something light for a change. No, actually, actually, that's not true. To, Friday, I'm, Actually, because of 4th of July, we're gonna replay. We did a real long expose, or I think. Cool, I loved it, of the 250th anniversary of the army, which happened a couple of weeks ago, three weeks ago. And we're going to replay that because it's full of music and fireworks and it'll be a great way to celebrate. So that's this week.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, goat folks, if you want to get Sandy's three times a week podcast, they're excellent. Go to afr.net click on the podcast and you'll see the banner for Sandy Rio's 2024 7. All right, we're going to take a short time out right here, and Steve Paisley Jordal will be in studio in five minutes. Stay with us. The views and opinions expressed in this.
>> Sandy Rios: Broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of.
>> Tim Wildmon: The American Family association or American Family Radio.
