Transcript

Today's Issues features Federal Communications Commission Chairman Fred Jackson

>> Chris Woodward: I am thoroughly looking forward to our weekend with AFA coming up in October, where we're going to be able to meet our supporters like yourself, to fellowship, to visit our facilities here in Tupelo and to have everyone come together for a wonderful weekend.

>> Jeff Shreve: It's a weekend with AFA Thursday, October 2 through Saturday, October 4, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Speakers will include Abraham Hamilton III, Jenna Ellis, Tim Barton, Tim Wildmon and more. Register@AFA.net Weekend.

>> Chris Woodward: 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 Monday, July 28, 2025. Again, welcome to the program and thanks for listening to afr. Good morning. Fred Jackson, Good morning to you. TIM M. Good morning. Chris Woodward, Good morning. And again we thank everybody for listening, to Today's Issues. Fred, if they want to. Folks want to join us, via the Internet. How do they do that?

>> Fred Jackson: Why, there's all kinds of ways to do that. Can go to, af, well, afa.netafr.net right. And dial, us up there and listen in. I use the app a whole lot, Tim, when I'm traveling.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, me too.

>> Fred Jackson: That, that is just a wonderful tool. You know, as you drive along, you may kind of travel outside one of our towers. Bring up that app on your, on your, your phone, your smartphone. Put in most cars today, you can do that attachment, you can drive along and you never miss a second. American Family Radio.

>> Tim Wildmon: Absol. So check that out. Download the app and listen anywhere in the world, long as you have high speed Internet service to the afr. Get the AFR app. Well, we have a guest on that, we're delighted to have with us and he's only got a few minutes. So we're going to jump right in here and talk to Brendan Carr. He is the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. and he joins us, I'm not sure where he joins us from. Commissioner, chairman, welcome to the program. Thank you for joining us.

>> Jeff Shreve: Yeah, great to be with you. I'm in Washington D.C. at the FCC's headquarters. And listen, unlike most broadcasters, I think, I'm safe. I don't need to worry about any indecency or other issues where we have to find you for the segment. You guys should be good to go.

>> Tim Wildmon: Good. If we get fined because something the FCC chairman said, I don't know. The world's coming to any end or something.

>> Jeff Shreve: But anyway, I did get bleeped on one, program once. I got a little bit too excited and, let's go.

>> Tim Wildmon: But you know, we got a seven second delay here that we can put into order, but hopefully that won't be needed here. We're not trying to upset you for any reason here. but, thank you for being on with us on today's issues on the American Family Radio Network.

I'm curious about your background prior to becoming FCC chairman

By the way, what is your background? I'm just curious, prior to becoming the fcc, commissioner, Chairman.

>> Jeff Shreve: Yeah, I'm a lawyer by train. I actually started at the FCC as a staffer all the way back in 2012. So over a dozen years ago, I started in the general counsel's office. And I've had a lot of opportunities inside the building ever since then. I got to work for a commissioner as a legal advisor, and then I actually was general counsel of the agency during the first Trump administration. And then President Trump nominated me from there to be a commissioner. So I served in that job for about five or six years before President Trump tapped me at the beginning of this term to be chairman of the fcc. And so it's been a bit of a Forrest Gump like career for me, inside this building, but it's been a lot of fun, a lot of different jobs.

The FCC regulates traditional broadcast TV and radio

>> Tim Wildmon: tell our listeners, who may not know, I think people have a general concept of the fcc. And of course we deal with the FCC because we're in the radio business and have for, you know, since 1991 when we started. But tell our listeners, generally what, are you. What are two or three things that you guys are responsible for?

>> Jeff Shreve: Yeah, so the FCC regulates traditional broadcast TV and radio. That's probably our longest standing area. In fact, that's basically why the FCC was invented back in the 1930s, was to make sure that radio stations didn't interfere with each other. And obviously it's expanded over time. So we regulate, you know, mobile, wireless, we regulate to some extent, broadband and telecommunications issues. And we administer a $10 billion a year fund that's designed to, subsidize Internet builds in rural communities. So basically anything sort of tech or telecom related, effectively touches the fcc. And we're authorized for five commissioners total. Right now we have three, two Republicans, one Democrat. Right now, the majority of what we do is bipartisan, unanimous. But occasionally we do do things that get contentious and end up, breaking down on party lines.

>> Tim Wildmon: Like what?

>> Jeff Shreve: Well, the first one we had in this administration was we're engaged in a massive deregulatory initiative. So we have this proceeding called in raid Delete, delete, delete. We're looking at all of our rules and regulations and getting rid of ones that simply aren't necessary anymore. And my Democrat colleague, who I get along with well, thought that we were moving a little too fast or deleting too many rules at one time. And so we sort of broke waves there. Historically, probably the biggest partisan issue we had at the FCC was if you remember, net neutrality. Net neutrality was all the rage a couple of years ago and the Republicans on the fcc, myself included, eliminated these sort of Obama era net neutrality rules. And we were told that it was going to be the end of the world as we know it and that millions of people would die. Of course that did not happen. In fact the Internet is faster today than it was then. It's more affordable than it was back then. But it's a real interesting set of issues. And you know, one thing we're looking at now is I've laid out what I call a build America agenda which is trying to make it easier to get shovels turning and do permitting reform, get more spectrum out there for your cell phone. So it's an entire agenda designed to sort of get rural communities connected much faster than what we've seen over the last couple of years.

Fred Jackson: Federal Communications Commission approves Paramount-Skydance merger

>> Tim Wildmon: Fred, you had a question for.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes, Chairman, Carr. Fred Jackson here. boy, a lot in the news about the announcement. A merger between Paramount and Skydance. Media charges being laid. It was a bit of a quid pro quo that President Trump got 16 million from CBS on the Kamala Harris editing of that segment. In return, Stephen Colbert is gone. And you know what the left wing media is saying about all that. How do you respond to those charges that it was a quid pro quo and CBS just did this to kind of make this merger happen?

>> Jeff Shreve: Well, there was a lawsuit as you indicated, that was outside the FCC and was separate from us. You know, here at the agency we just ran our normal course review of this transaction. We had a lot of other transactions in the queue. We worked our way through that. We then got to this one. And the upshot of this transaction I think is going to be a good one because one of the things that CBS new owners have committed to doing is to bring more fact based, objective reporting to their news outlet. Similarly, they've agreed to end invidious forms of DEI discrimination that had got into the CBS ah, outfit. So I think those are good things. But more broadly, I do think President Trump deserves an awful lot of credit for what we're seeing right now. You know, when President Trump decided to run, he really took on the entire legacy media establishment, particularly the, the broadcast TV outlets, you know, cbs, abc, NBC. Because for, frankly for generations those companies got to dictate the political narrative and everyone just sort of lived within the reality constructed by those outlets. But President Trump did something different. He spoke directly to the American people and he was channeling this idea that the American people do not trust those legacy national and outlets. And so he smashed this facade that they are somehow, you know, the oracles of all truth. And once President Trump did that, we are now starting to see all of the consequences that flow from that. And frankly, I think Colbert leaving the Late show is a consequence that flows from President Trump calling out these traditional, corporations because it just doesn't make business sense anymore to run stuff like what Colbert was doing. And so I think we're in a real interesting moment of change where again people aren't trusting the legacy media, that undermines their business model. And again, I think that change all goes back to the decisions that President Trump has made.

>> Tim Wildmon: Fake, fake news. He's the one. You remember when he started that and that really resonated with millions and millions of people. We're talking to Brendan Carr, he's chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. did you see where Jay Leno commented on the Stephen Colbert situation with CBS announcing that they were terminating Colbert's the Late show is it and what it's called. but, but that's Jay Leno, I think, you know, who's followed Johnny Carson and a veteran of late night television, on end as in NBC. Anyway, he said basically that these late night talk show host on the networks now are, are just left wing, propagandists. I don't know if he said exactly like that, but that time interpreted it and they're, they're, they're by, they're driving away half their potential, viewing audience. Did you see this?

>> Jeff Shreve: Yeah, I think that's exactly right. I mean it, you know, reminds me of the old Michael Jordan line that you know, Republicans buy sneakers too. And there was an interesting op ed that I saw over the weekend that said, you know, we need court jesters, right? People that are going to make fun of those in power. But these late night shows have gone from court jester, to court cleric, meaning they're just sitting there. Oftentimes it Seems to enforce an orthodoxy that comes down from, the Democratic Party and like, make fun of Trump, go at it. Make fun of Democrats, go at it. But they weren't sort of going for joke lines anymore, they're going for applause lines. And that's a fundamentally different thing. We've seen Johnny Carson, we've seen Jay Leno, Stephen Colbert is no Johnny Carson. And I think that's why the business model simply doesn't make sense anymore. People have more choices, they have more options. I think that's the struggle that they ran into.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

CBS agrees to hire an ombudsman to investigate complaints of political bias

>> Fred Jackson: Chair, I find it very interesting that, just days before your decision on this merger, Paramount agreed to hire an ombudsman at CBS News with the mission of investigating complaints of political bias. And apparently in their letter to you, they said, in all respects, Skydance will ensure the CBS's reporting is fair, unbiased and fact based. How are you going to measure that?

>> Jeff Shreve: Yeah, a couple things. One, to your point, they've agreed to have an ombudsman in place. And this is something that, the concept exists in a lot of different places. For instance, newspapers used to have a public editor. So someone that's inside the operation that can help leadership their spot and call. I think that ombudsman, is going to be hired and that will be a step in the right direction. The other thing is when you have these licenses, these broadcast licenses, radio and tv, you have to operate in the public interest. And what CBS is saying is that they're defining the public interest as including fact based and unbiased reporting. And so there'll be mechanisms by which the FCC could potentially take actions if they don't live up to their commitments. So we're taking a, trust but verify approach right now. But I do think we're seeing some significant change, some change in the right direction. And so, yeah, at this point it's, it's a trust but verify posture for us. But we're, we're hopeful that things are going to turn around over there.

>> Tim Wildmon: We've been talking to Brendan Carr, he's the chairman of the fcc. And one other thing. You mentioned that, there are only three commissioners now. so, and there's people, there's five total. You're the chairman then when will the other two be appointed? And how does that work?

>> Jeff Shreve: Yes, we've had different numbers of commissioners over the years. We're authorized for up to five. And ordinarily we are five. But yeah, as you indicate, right now we're two to one. Which is enough. That gives us a quorum, which is all that we need to have votes. we have a Republican majority here now. We were 2, 2 for the first couple months of the Trump administration. Two Democrats, two Republicans. But now we're dropped down to 2 to 1. It's not clear when President, Trump is going to nominate a third, a fourth or a fifth commissioner. But right now we're in good shape. As you may have sort of seen in the news right now, there's a little bit of a backlog in the Senate right now when it comes to nominations. And, Leader Thune and his team are trying to work through that backlog. So I'm not sure that they're looking to put more into this end of the pipe at this point until we get some more out the other end. But we're perfectly fine and, making do with what we have right now.

>> Tim Wildmon: If I were the Senate, I would increase my work, load to five days instead of three. That might help. They fly in on, on Monday and fly home on Friday. All of them do this. Congressman of senators, Republican and Democrat. It's just like, come on.

>> Jeff Shreve: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, if you're backlogged on something, you stay over till you get it caught up. Anyway.

>> Jeff Shreve: Yep.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. Thank you, Chairman Carr, for being on with us here on American Family Radio. And we appreciate, your work and thank you so much, sir.

>> Jeff Shreve: Yeah. Good to be with you all. Appreciate it. Thanks.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, bye. Bye.

>> Fred Jackson: why, he sounds like an energetic guy.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: And, what a way to start into this with this, controversy over this merger. I am very anxious to see with CBS News hiring this ombudsman, how we going to see a manifestation of fairness and balance? Are we going to see more Republicans interviewed, that kind of thing, Conservatives interviewed? this is exciting to watch, to see how it unfolds.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. You know, I like Jay Leno. we were quoting him. He was saying, listen, these network late night tv, host. Yeah. Are. They're all liberal, they're all far lefties.

>> Fred Jackson: Quite frankly, and losing audience.

>> Tim Wildmon: And so they turn, they. So you immediately say, well, we don't even want to consider a drawing, middle America or conservatives to watch our shows. And so you're, you're, you're basically. Your business model doesn't work there. Yeah, go ahead.

>> Chris Woodward: That's why I think, people like Greg Gutfeld are doing as well as they are with their late night shows. Because while there is language and perhaps topics you don't want to hear or see Discussed on television. It is at least a center. Right. Perspective from Greg. whereas when you watch somebody like Colbert, it's just a Democratic rally.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. You got Colbert and then you got Jimmy Kimmel and then you've got. There. They're just virulently anti Trump, anti anti Republican. And then you got what's the other guy?

>> Chris Woodward: Fallon.

>> Tim Wildmon: Jimmy Fallon.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Of course I don't watch their shows, so I, I'm just basing this on their reputation. And I do see new. I see, I do see clips of their shows which are usually shown the day after or whatever. And there's so. But Fallon, Jimmy Fallon is not as hostile.

Chris Berman: CBS is merging with Skydance Media for eight billion dollars

>> Chris Woodward: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: As as the other two.

>> Chris Woodward: Kimmel comes out basically and gives like a DNC speech disguised as a comedic monologue every night and oftentimes so with a smirk. This is the guy that used to end the show with video, of girls jumping up and down on a trampoline. And then he wants to preach to America how we should live.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Fred Jackson: I, I just don't understand. And I, Chairman, Carr was kind of alluding to this. I don't understand how you're losing audiences because of your content. And they say but we're not going to change our content. These people are in the business. You, if you're losing audiences, you're going to make far less money because people aren't going to run ads on your program.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I think CBS has made a business decision that they're going to change that model.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Because they, they losing money with Colbert.

>> Tim Wildmon: And so they're going to try something different. Paramount. So Paramount, they're the, they're the parent company of cbs. True.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. And now it's merged into the, the other.

>> Tim Wildmon: What is it merging into now?

>> Fred Jackson: Well, it's going to be under this, the the new group, that's Skydance Media.

>> Tim Wildmon: Skydance.

>> Fred Jackson: Skydance Media. Obviously they have a lot of money somewhere.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: To do eight. It's an eight billion dollar merger, something like that.

>> Tim Wildmon: I've never heard of Skydance before this. Are they this a new company or what?

>> Fred Jackson: I think they've been around for a while. We'll get Chris to do so quick research.

>> Chris Woodward: It is owned by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, who is the founder of Oracle.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, okay.

>> Chris Woodward: he has some sort of connection.

>> Tim Wildmon: Are you involved, Chris, in full disclosure, you involved in this business transaction?

>> Chris Woodward: I am not.

>> Tim Wildmon: Are you invested in this?

>> Chris Woodward: I have all of my money still in Blockbuster and Beta Tapes. Yeah, they're making a comeback.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, by the way, let me check that.

>> Fred Jackson: Blockbuster stock has one great show, says live long and prosper.

>> Chris Woodward: I do want to point out that I, I do know who Johnny Carson is.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, that's good.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, that's good.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes. You know, and to be honest with you, like Johnny Carson, he made jokes, and sometimes they were political, but they were like good natured, ribbing kind of jokes.

>> Tim Wildmon: And he made fun of both parties.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. And Arsenio Hall, I mean, he had Bill Clinton on famously in 1992 to play the saxophone, but Arsenio was still fair and balanced in terms of his humor.

>> Tim Wildmon: Like, the famous quote that Chairman Carr used there from Michael Jordan, the famous basketball player. You know, they asked him, why don't you take more of a stand in politics? And he said, well, Republicans buy tennis shoes too. In other words, I, I want to reach as many people as possible. And so, anyway, we'll see what happens with this CBS merger. With who?

>> Fred Jackson: It's Paramount. And Skydance.

>> Tim Wildmon: Never heard of Sky. Should I have heard of Skydance? Yeah. You guys heard of Skydance company?

>> Fred Jackson: Well, I find it kind of interesting there's a connection with Oracle there in the family. while you're talking big bucks. Yeah, big bucks.

>> Chris Woodward: They're not, they're not, under, they're not lifting up the couch cushions to get changed for a value meal.

>> Tim Wildmon: Good points. Good point, Chris.

President Trump says he is shortening his deadline for Russia to end Ukraine war

Next story. Chris.

>> Chris Woodward: Well, we need to pray for the wisdom of President, Trump and other world leaders. and also we need to be in prayer, continuing to be in prayer over this whole war between Russia and Ukraine. And I say all this, because in a story that we have on our website, afn.net, president Trump now says he is shortening his 50 day deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine. He's now telling Russia and President Vladimir Putin, hey, Vlad, you need to do something about this in the next 10 days. So we have shortened a 50 day deadline which was just put in place in recent days to now. Hey, you need to put a stop to this stuff in the next week and a half.

>> Fred Jackson: I, I'm not sure. Vladimir Putin, I believe, is all in on the idea of accomplishing what he describes as mission. now what President Trump, we're kind of anxious to see. Okay, so what if Putin doesn't do anything at the end of your new deadline of 10 to 12 days from today, what are you going to do? There has been talk about more sanctions against Russia, but The reality is China is supplying a lot of what Russia is using offensively. And, you know, we've heard reports of Russia's now recruiting people from other countries, etc. Etc. So there's President Trump this morning. He says, he was asked about this. He's in Scotland right now. He's been negotiating deals, and we're going to talk about that in a minute. He's been negotiating a trade deal with the eu. But he was asked all about Russia this morning, and he says basically he's fed up with Putin. The violence that Putin, is displaying against the Ukrainian people, and he's showing no signs of relief, no signs of being interested in a ceasefire of any type. And basically, President Trump said this morning, that's it. You know, you're bombing civilian areas. Vladimir Putin, you obviously don't care about this at all. You don't care about human beings. Therefore, I'm backing off the 50 days and coming back down to 10 to 12 days. I guess we're all going to see what happens at the end of 10 to 12 days. What is President Trump going to do?

>> Chris Woodward: It's curious, it's interesting that all this tough talk and even the financial transactions. We're going to tariff you. We're going to do this. And that really has not had an impact on Putin and the war here, because going back to Biden's days in office, remember early on we were told in, like, weeks after the invasion, we were going to defund Putin's war machine. And the machine is still rolling through Ukraine today.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I don't know, quite frankly, what President Trump can do any more than he's already done. I mean, he tried his best to settle the war between Ukraine and Russia. He thought it would be easy, and it wasn't. and. And, you know, I, I think Russia is going to keep fighting this thing till they take over Ukraine, if that's possible. Because, President Trump says every time he gets off the phone with, Vladimir Putin, you know, it's a good conversation and they've had many of them, and then, then Putin doesn't do anything to change, he's just continuing to. And it really amazes me, though, there must be in some kind of a. They're in some kind of a, I wouldn't call it a stalemate, but a quagmire or a standoff over there in Ukraine, because we've been going on three years now. Is that right?

>> Fred Jackson: That started February.

>> Tim Wildmon: You don't hear much about. I mean, you Hear about Putin bombing Kiev, but, you don't hear much about, who's advancing, which army is advancing, which way or the other. Maybe I haven't been paying too much attention, but I think the only thing.

>> Fred Jackson: That might happen, we know now, and this was announced a couple of weeks ago, that the United States is going to sell, weapons, defensive weapons, to European countries, and they in turn are going to turn those over, sell them maybe to Ukraine. The other thing that, and we kind of mentioned it, last week, we wondered why, Saudi Arabia is buying oil from Russia. Remember we dealt with that last week. If President Trump could convince Saudi Arabia to stop buying Russian oil, that would hurt. I mean, the Russian economy is not doing well already. by the way, if you weren't hearing about that story last week, the Saudis, which is kind of strange, master producers of oil, but they could find that they could sell their own oil more expensively than what they were paying for Russian oil. So the only way to starve a country that's involved with war is to sanction people, stop buying their stuff. Maybe that'll work.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, but the world's too interconnected now.

>> Fred Jackson: It sure is.

>> Tim Wildmon: There's just no way, hardly any way to shut off a country altogether, as Russia has proven. they still show their oil to European countries.

>> Fred Jackson: I think even some European.

>> Tim Wildmon: You're right. And you know, so.

President Trump says he will do something about Syria, but nothing concrete

All right, you're listening to today's issues. Let's take a break right here. we'll see what happens there. I, I don't know that, you know, President Trump says 10 to 12 days he's going to do something, but I don't, quite frankly, I don't know what he can do if he's not going to get, involved militarily. But maybe, maybe he's got something I don't know about. All right, we got other stories in the news. Did you hear about this couple that were, murdered in a state park in Arkansas? Yeah. That happened over the weekend, right?

>> Fred Jackson: It did.

>> Tim Wildmon: Shocking.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: We'll talk about that and other news stories when we get back from the break.

Today, over 60% of abortions happen through the abortion pill

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>> Tim Wildmon: This is today's issues.

>> Chris Woodward: 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.

Arkansas police are searching for a murderer who killed a couple at state park

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. I'm, Tim with Fred and Chris, and we thank you for listening to afr. And Chris, I mentioned before the break, this terrible story out of Arkansas. You want to tell us about it?

>> Chris Woodward: Yes. Arkansas police are searching for a murderer who killed a couple at Devil's Den State park in Arkansas. and this is a really mysterious situation. authorities say, the person or people that killed this couple did so in front of the couple's children. The individual or individuals did not harm the children. Meanwhile, it's unclear as to how the couple was killed. Also, as the New York Post points out today in their own headline, the police did not alert the public about this double homicide for six hours. So, long story short, in Arkansas, couple was murdered at a state park in Arkansas in front of their kids. The kids were not harmed, on a walking trail. Yes. And the couple or the family had just moved to Arkansas right before this happened.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. The names of the couple, Clinton, Brink and Kristin Brink, early 40s. The kids who were with them, ages 9 and 7, they were not touched. And like you were saying, Chris, why are the police not saying how they died? what's going on here? The other reports that I have seen is that they're asking, the authorities are asking the public, for any pictures they may have. You know, other people in the park may have taken pictures where they see a car right behind driving away. What I understand also is that the license tag, on the Car was covered over with tape. So that, that tells me there was some planning went on here. And of course there's all kinds of speculation at this point. Okay. Did the perpetrator of this have something personal against this couple? is it, you know, an acquaintance of some type? so all of those things, all of those questions, need to be answered. But right now the suspect is still at large as of this moment.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes. And Devil's Den State park, for those not familiar with Arkansas or the park, it is south of Bentonville, northeast of Fort Smith.

>> Tim Wildmon: It's between Fort Smith and Fable.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And I've been on that road several, well, a couple of times.

>> Chris Woodward: Highway 49.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Very scenic drive there. But that, Okay, we were talking off the air that you're going to go on. Of course you don't think about walking up State park trail with your kids and you're going to need. Now you're going to. People are going to need weapons to defend themselves. That's what people are thinking. Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Broad daylight, just a family outing, obviously.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: That's all.

>> Tim Wildmon: Now there was one report here from CNN that I'll just read it said of course it's being investigated as a double homicide. This Washington county received a call from the visitor center said police radio audio captured by Broadcastify.com Two children are there. they advised that their parents were assaulted. So the kids evidently, you know, though well, they obviously would have seen this. Right. one was possibly stabbed. The parents are missing, end of quote. So anyway, we don't know any more than that. I guess police maybe will give it an update today. But you're saying Fred, that the who they think the perpetrator was here in this left the state park in an automobile captured on video camera.

>> Fred Jackson: Camera captured a video. Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: And the license tag was covered. Yes, as you say, which indicates premeditation.

>> Fred Jackson: There was planning. Yes.

Man accused of stabbing 11 shoppers at Michigan Walmart expected to face terrorism charges

>> Chris Woodward: So, in other news, from Arkansas to Michigan, where authorities seek to file terrorism and assault charges against a suspect in a weekend Walmart knife attack. A man accused of entering a Walmart in Michigan and randomly stabbing 11 shoppers before being detained by bystanders in the store parking lot in is expected to face terrorism and multiple assault charges. This is also on AFN net. Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Ah Shea said a motive behind the attack by 42 year old Brandon Gill of Afton, Michigan remains unclear. We do point out in our coverage here that the sheriff and other authorities are praising the Quick response by law officers who arrived within three minutes of receiving the call about the stabbing, as well as a group of bystanders, who intervened and detained Gill in the parking lot of the store.

>> Tim Wildmon: The.

>> Chris Woodward: The community of about 16,000 people is along Lake Michigan.

>> Fred Jackson: And the bystanders, and there's video of all of this happening, to two Marines, retired Marines. M. One guy. One guy had a shopping cart which he used to help pin this guy with the knife. The other guy, the other Marine, had a gun on him. And so they were able to subdue this guy out, in the parking lot.

>> Tim Wildmon: So let me get this correct. He stabbed 11 people.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Inside the Walmart?

>> Fred Jackson: That is correct.

>> Tim Wildmon: So he was just going crazy.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes, yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: And. And then he went outside and that's where they, subdued him. As you say, the citizens did. The police got there.

>> Fred Jackson: Thank God for Marines.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Well trained, right?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, that's right. A couple. Yeah. One of them had a gun, right?

>> Fred Jackson: That is correct.

>> Tim Wildmon: otherwise, you know, you. You, I mean, he had a. What? We've always said, you know, it's better to have people who are armed.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. Oh, yeah, yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Citizens who are allowed to be armed so that they can intervene in a situation like this and. Or protect themselves or defend themselves.

Are you allowed to carry a gun in a state park? Good question

I want to go back to this Arkansas story for just a minute because I have a question you guys may not know the answer to, and maybe this changes state to state, but are you allowed to carry a gun in, a state park?

>> Fred Jackson: Good question, Tim. I do not know what the.

>> Tim Wildmon: What it's, like in Arkansas.

>> Fred Jackson: I do not know.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know. You know, I don't know. I would think you could take it anywhere except for, like, in a church or a courtroom or a school or something like that. I would think outside you could. You would be allowed, state law would allow for you to take it. Take, it to be armed. Go ahead.

>> Chris Woodward: I am reading from the Arkansas Secretary of State's website. Public display of firearms is prohibited. Concealed handguns are allowed in some areas, but must be secure and it goes on from there.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. So you just wouldn't be able to flash a gun, but you could carry it, you know what I'm saying? Because there's a lot of campers out there. Surely many of them have guns. Right.

>> Fred Jackson: One would think, ah, with people with.

>> Tim Wildmon: RVs and they stop at state park and that kind of thing.

>> Fred Jackson: And I guess supposition on my part at this point, but Arkansas being one of those states, very conservative, it Would not surprise me if someone could be licensed to carry.

>> Chris Woodward: I mean there's probably people that are illegally carrying.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I've never understood. It's illogical to me. These blue states who outlaw guns everywhere and yet the only people who use guns are the outlaws.

>> Tim Wildmon: And that's not unique with me. I mean I've heard that before, but it just doesn't make any sense.

>> Chris Woodward: I have been in news now for almost 25 years and I have never done a story about a criminal deciding not to do a crime because of a gun free zone.

>> Tim Wildmon: There you go.

>> Fred Jackson: bad people, don't follow them.

>> Chris Woodward: I've also never covered psychic wins lottery, but that's another story.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right, Right.

Two Marines were stabbed in Michigan; all are expected to survive

All right. You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. But thank God these two Marines in Michigan. yeah. Were able to Nobody died. Right. I mean they were stabbed.

>> Fred Jackson: That's some of them, were as of last evening in critical condition, some in serious condition. But I think the word is that they all are expected to survive.

>> Tim Wildmon: See, was this guy on drugs or something? Do they know anything about this or what?

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, details have been kind of scarce, in terms of the motivation here. obviously mentally unhinged.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: What was his name?

>> Chris Woodward: it is Brandon. Bradford Gill. I think I said Brandon earlier. Bradford. Bradford Gill, 42 years old of Afton, Michigan.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Well unfortunately there are people out there among us who are mentally ill and they need to be.

>> Fred Jackson: And, and it also goes, it's another lesson. The weapon is not the problem, it's the person. You know, when, when we have these incidents where guns and it's in a Democrat run state, gun control, we have to have more gun control and everything will just be fine. This guy had a knife.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. We have knife control now.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Where's the knife control, crowd.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, it just points. It's the individual who commits the crime, not the weapon.

>> Tim Wildmon: Completely 100% degree. And as I said, I don't understand these states and cities that have where you're, you know, try to take disarm law abiding citizens and that way leaves only the criminals.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Who don't care about gun laws to to roam free.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. One of the other things about like you have liberal governors that will from time to time or liberal politicians, they'll put out, you know, statistics going, look at all these red states with a lot of gun fatalities. but one of the things that throws off these statistics here is that, you know, Tennessee has Memphis, Mississippi Has Jackson, Louisiana, has New Orleans. I mean, you're gonna have a lot of gun crimes and unfortunately gun fatalities. And that throws off, the, you know, statistics here. And it doesn't give Newsom and other people the argument that they think it does.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Next story. Chris?

Oregon facing second lawsuit over issue of males competing in female sports

>> Chris Woodward: All right, Oregon is facing its second lawsuit in a month over the issue of males competing in female sports, specifically high school sports. two of the state's girls track and field stars, Alexa Anderson and Reese Eckerd, have filed a lawsuit against the Oregon School Athletic Athletics association after an incident on May 31 when they refused to stand on a metal podium with a transgender competitor at a state title meet. Alexa says it's just a matter of fairness and common sense here. Boys should not be allowed to compete against females because they're taking our medals and spots.

>> Chris Woodward: Clip 1 After we placed at, the state track and field meet, me and Reese Eckert of Sherwood decided that we would step off of the medal podium in protest to, competing against a biological male. A lot of people were very confused and did not understand what we were doing. But after the fact, we did receive a lot of support mixed in with some hate. I was inspired to do this because I don't think that biological males in women's sports is fair to any girl out there just because they do have such a biological advantage that they're taking opportunities and chances from hard working girls. And that needs to be stopped.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, good for her and good for them. Those two young ladies, so they're, they filed a lawsuit against Oregon. Who?

>> Chris Woodward: Oregon, The Oregon School Athletics association or osaa.

>> Fred Jackson: And they're getting help from the White House in this too. The White House is starting to sue, whether it's a university suing states with these left wing policies when it comes to allowing boys, men to compete against girls or go into girls washrooms and change rooms, you know, it was a big issue in the election. It's one that helped certainly President Trump to be elected for a second time. Why in the world, these Democrat states can't read the writing on the wall, that when you allow these men to do these kinds of things, don't be surprised when it's Democrat families that will fight against you Democrats.

>> Fred Jackson: Because their daughters are being impacted by this. And I just, you know, I don't understand so. And I think, this young lady has a lawyer now. Jessica Steinman, I believe it is.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes. Jessica is the executive counsel At American First Policy Institute. We also have some audio of her. Clip 2.

>> Jeff Shreve: America First Policy Institute. We filed this lawsuit on behalf of Alexa and Reese against the Department of Education in Oregon for First Amendment violations. Title 9, which was meant to protect our girls, is now being weaponized against them. And thank you so much to brave girls like Alexa for standing up for what she knows is right. And any of our girls who dare to oppose or honestly even just question this, this woke movement are being reprimanded. I mean, instead of respecting Alexa's rights, she was sidelined by that official. She was told to get out of the field, did not get her medal, was not acknowledged and respected, and, again, her First Amendment viewpoint was suppressed.

>> Chris Woodward: I got to tell you guys, this obviously was an issue in the 2024 election. It was one of the reasons why you had people like Wriley Gaines and Paula Scanlon campaigning for Trump instead of Kamala Harris. Because Kamala Harris and Tim I want males and females sports walls was behind, the issue of males and female sports. And it's not just a West coast issue. Title 9 violations also happen on this side of the Mississippi. And I can say that because on Friday, the Department of Education, the U.S. department of Education found at least five schools in Northern Virginia were in violation of Title IX, not for males and female sports, but for allowing a male to use a girl's bathroom in a locker room based on gender identity rather than biological sex, which is a violation of something President Trump told schools not to do anymore upon his reentering office. I've got some audio now of, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin responding to, the Department of education's finding here. Clip 3.

>> Tim Wildmon: This is a huge day for students and parents. We've watched these school divisions violate federal civil rights law and of course, President Trump's executive order. They have purposely been neglecting their responsibility to protect children's safety, their privacy and their dignity, and of course, ignoring parents rights. And for the first three years of my administration, as we used every tool in our toolkit, we had the Biden administration protecting these bureaucrats and not protecting kids. And so this is a huge statement that boys will be in boys bathrooms, girls will be in girls bathrooms, boys will not play sports with girls. And common sense is finally back in the classroom in Northern Virginia.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, as you said, Fred, this was a issue, during the presidential campaign, and it was a loser for Democrats. Yeah, every time. Because the vast majority of Americans see the blatant, unfairness of this and also the violation. What's there's one is one issue to talk about the unfairness, of athletic competition. When you have boys, you know, who put on makeup and say, I'm a girl, and they want to race against the girls or, you know, do some kind of track and field or play basketball, whatever like that. everybody. That's just, blatantly unfair. Everybody knows that. However, what's little discussed is the fact that these same boys who say that they're girls, they, go into the changing rooms.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: And the showers with these girls who are, quote, teammates of theirs, and the girls don't know what to do. You hear about these stories in these, some of these places where this happened, where the girls just. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go in there and change. I'm not gonna go in there nude or semi nude or get in the shower, change them. Because of this, we got, guys in there. So anyway, their privacy is what I' talking about. Absolutely.

>> Fred Jackson: We had an incident. I'm not sure if this was in Virginia, where you had three boys in the males, change room and a girl saying that she's a boy was allowed to go in there. So they, they issued a complaint.

>> Tim Wildmon: I didn't hear. That's rare. Yeah, isn't it?

>> Fred Jackson: It's just a flip flop.

>> Tim Wildmon: Flip flop.

>> Fred Jackson: The same issue. Here's the thing, you know, we're coming up in midterms. I would say to people out there, check your candidates, Democrat and Republican. Where do you ask them? Where do you stand on this issue?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Because any politician that says, you know, I, I just feel if somebody feels they're a member of the opposite sex, we ought to go with that. Oh, really?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: You know, this is totally unscientific. Yeah, this is, this is throwing science Tim out the door.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, know that. Yeah, I know. The kind of feeling is allowed to exist, where you say, I'm such and such. And people say, oh, yeah, you are, because you feel like you are. So you say, okay, here's what the left wingers say. Okay. Because a boy feels like he's girl, he is a girl, and we need to treat him as such. Or they would say, treat her as such, even though you go, no, it's not a girl, it's a boy. you go, well, what other standard, what other, what am I looking for? The word. What other application do we have here? Do we say that a white, person can say, you know, I'm not Anglo, I'm Chinese. Yeah, okay.

Steve: There's no other part of society where we go, identify

No, you're not. You're Anglo. Yeah, no, I'm Chinese. Really? You know, am I supposed to demand that people treat me like I'm a. You know what I'm saying? I'm a Chinese person.

>> Fred Jackson: What do you think American Airlines would say if I went to American Airlines and I feel like a Boeing 737 pilot?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. They're going to say, no, I want.

>> Fred Jackson: To sit in that cockpit.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right. Because you feel like it.

>> Fred Jackson: they'd come and arrest me quickly.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Take me away.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. There's no other, part of society where we go, you can feel like something or identify something, and, therefore you must be treated as such.

>> Chris Woodward: Remember the, we don't have the audio, but last week we talked about how Rahm Emanuel of All Democrats went on, Megyn Kelly's podcast, and she asked him point blank all these questions. Do you support males and female sports? No. Can a man identify as a woman? No. And she was like, see, it's so simple. Why aren't there more people like you? And he said, because now I have to go into a witness protection plan program.

>> Tim Wildmon: I tell you what, to. Ed has, ah, a good, analogy here he often uses, and that is, this is like telling somebody who is a, who is, anorexic. Let's say you've got a young lady who's anorexic. Right. Okay. And then them coming to you and saying, I feel like I'm fat. Would you. You agree? And you, you having to say, yes, I agree you're fat. You know, you're way overweight. You need to cut back on eating. So you would say, no, you're not. You're. If you say you're overweight or you're fat, you're delusional because you're actually, skin and bones and you're going to die if you keep going down this road. So it would be, we're told, you know what I'm saying? So we're so to follow this analogy. You're told, well, you're supposed to, you're supposed to affirm that girl who says she has anorexia, or you're not agreeing with her. Identify, identifying with herself. So you see, what does that make sense?

>> Fred Jackson: I know. It's amazing to me. Remember when, Judge Jackson, nominated by Biden, go on the Supreme Court justice.

>> Tim Wildmon: She was judge and became justice. Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Became a justice on the United States Supreme Court. Remember the question she was asked?

>> Tim Wildmon: Marsha Blackburn.

>> Fred Jackson: Marsha Blackburn. What is that? Can a Man get pregnant.

>> Tim Wildmon: Do you know what? Can you define a woman?

>> Fred Jackson: Can you define a woman?

>> Tim Wildmon: Can you ask her? Can you define a woman? And she said, no, I'm not a biologist.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, she went blank.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. No, yeah, she knew what a woman was because she does.

>> Fred Jackson: Of course she does.

>> Tim Wildmon: And she didn't want to say it because, Pardon me. I don't know why she didn't want to say it. Well, I do know why she didn't want to say it, but, she didn't want to state the obvious, I guess.

>> Fred Jackson: well, she now sits on the United States.

>> Tim Wildmon: I know she's a Supreme Court justice.

>> Chris Woodward: Which here's cases involving gender.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's like saying, do you know what a tornado is? And me going, no, I'm not a meteorologist. I have no idea what you're talking about. All right. You're listening to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Chris, go ahead with your next story.

>> Chris Woodward: By the way, I do identify as six foot.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah, and you're five.

>> Chris Woodward: What, with shoes on. Five. Six on a good day, if the sun shines.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right. So you want to identify. Okay, well, you're six foot, Steve.

>> Chris Woodward: I also have jet black hair.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, whatever you say.

President Trump announced major trade deal with European Union ahead of August 1 deadline

>> Chris Woodward: All right. Hey, real quick. President, Trump has been wheeling and dealing, and getting trade deals, with countries now.

>> Tim Wildmon: Part of the deal, right?

>> Chris Woodward: Yes. You know, we were told by people in the mainstream media that he was going to ruin the economy and everybody was going to hate us and all of a sudden stuff's going to be more expensive and we're all going to starve to death. Well, that doesn't appear to be the case. And, actually, people in various parts of the country are going to benefit from the deals, including, one that was announced over the weekend with the European Union. President Trump announcing a major trade deal with the U.S. and European Union just days ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline to get a deal done. This represents 40% of the global trade economy. The EU has agreed to purchase $750 billion in U.S. energy products and an extra $650 billion investment into the U.S. i've got a 19 second clip here of President Trump and the head of the European Union Commission. Clip 6.

>> Jeff Shreve: It's great that we made a deal.

>> Fred Jackson: Today instead of playing games and maybe.

>> Jeff Shreve: Not making a deal at all, but.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think it's the biggest deal ever made.

>> Fred Jackson: Thank you very much.

>> Tim Wildmon: It will bring stability, it will bring predictability. That's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. It's a good deal. It's a huge deal.

>> Chris Woodward: That's a story.

>> Tim Wildmon: Who is that?

>> Chris Woodward: That was, Ursula von der Leslie. Yeah, that was Ursula. We go way back from her in a while. Ursula von der Lea for short. She is the president of the European Union Commission.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. And they're announcing, what, a trade deal or.

>> Fred Jackson: Yep. This is a terror. The EU will buy $750 billion in energy products from the U.S. and invest 600 billion in the U.S. let me see, what's, what's our deal?

>> Tim Wildmon: What's our. What do we got to do?

>> Chris Woodward: We are going to lower tariffs on European cars so Brent can get a Mercedes for cheaper now.

>> Fred Jackson: Can hardly wait.

>> Tim Wildmon: What's the top European car sold in the US Right now, huh?

>> Chris Woodward: I'd probably guess Volkswagen.

>> Tim Wildmon: I got like a Volkswagen maybe. Yeah, because it's German. Are they still German though? Volkswagen?

>> Fred Jackson: I'm trying to in origin, but you know, you mentioned Mercedes a lot. There's a number of Mercedes that are built, right here in the United States.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. What about Volvo, where are they? They still a big player out there in the car world.

>> Chris Woodward: I don't see them listed here.

>> Tim Wildmon: Volvo you talking about?

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. BMW is consistently ranked as the top selling European car brand. Following closely are Mercedes, Benz and Volkswagen. Yeah, Volvo is somewhere on this list, but nowhere near the top.

>> Tim Wildmon: they are on the list though.

>> Chris Woodward: according to Hanson's European.com, they are the fifth most popular.

>> Tim Wildmon: Which one do you own, Chris?

>> Chris Woodward: I had a Volkswagen once and I, I enjoyed it.

>> Tim Wildmon: Like a Beetle Bug or what?

>> Chris Woodward: No, it was a little wagon,

>> Tim Wildmon: like a pull behind.

>> Chris Woodward: Like a station wagon.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, station wagon.

>> Chris Woodward: Diesel. Diesel powered vehicle.

>> Tim Wildmon: They have station wagons?

>> Chris Woodward: well, it was a sporty looking station wagon, but it was, it was a station wagon. I mean, it's Volkswagen, so.

>> Tim Wildmon: You ever have a Volkswagen thread?

>> Fred Jackson: I did not. did not.

>> Tim Wildmon: I had a friend when I was younger, I was in high school. He had a Beetle Bug.

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, really?

>> Tim Wildmon: You know what I'm talking about?

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, sure, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Beetle Bug. Yep. That thing would take. That thing would take forever to get out there. You better make sure you got a mile and a half between you and a car coming down the road or you try to get that thing out there on the highway. Huh? all right, we'll be back momentarily. Stay with us. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.