The month of June has been hijacked by the anti Christian culture
>> Ed Vitagliano: The month of June has been hijacked by the anti Christian culture to show their pride in something God calls an abomination. When you support afr, you help us continue to stand for godly values and provide the resources for you to stay in the know about the enemy's tactics. To say thank you for your gift this month we'll give you the booklet.
>> Chris Woodward: Inside the LGBTQ push of the 1990s. To help strengthen your convictions, just go.
>> Ed Vitagliano: To afr.netoffers afr.net offers welcome to today's Issues. Join us for the next hour as we offer a Christian response to the issues of the day. Here's your host, Ed Battagliano. And welcome everybody to, Today's Issues.
June 19th marks the end of slavery in the United States
Today, Today's Issues. It is Thursday, June 19th. I'm joined in studio by Fred Jackson. Good morning, Fred.
>> Fred Jackson: Good morning. Welcome to the down under version of today's issue.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Down, Down Under. I did watch a, a Crocodile Dundee movie here this week. I think that must be okay. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles or something. Pretty harmless flick the guy was getting. Paul Hogan's getting pretty old. But anyway, so my wife knows if I watch, by the way, Chris Woodward. Good morning, Chris.
>> Chris Woodward: Good morning.
>> Ed Vitagliano: But my wife knows if I watch a, movie that has something, the accent, you know, it's a Boston accent or you know, a mob movie with, Hey, you. What are you guys looking at? I will for the next day or two, walk around the house talking that way. So if I watch a Crocodile Dundee or probably anything with Australian or British accent, I'll walk around.
>> Chris Woodward: I am always amazed at how easily a person from the UK can come over here and portray an American in a movie and just nail our accent.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's weird, isn't it?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. And then we do it and we sound like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. And it's offensive like how we, you know, I mean, it's, it's, I don't know, like Jude Law come. He, he was in Cold Mountain years ago, nailed a southern accent. But then there's like Americans that try to do a southern accent in a movie and it's terrible.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Isn't Tom Holland the guy, Young guy who plays Spider Man?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He's from Britain. Is.
>> Chris Woodward: He is, yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And it is weird. You hear them interviewed and they start talking to that British accent and you go, wow, he was imitating us all this time.
>> Chris Woodward: The guy from House is from the UK as well.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Oh yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, by the way, it is Juneteenth. This is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. And, listen, that was a. A great accomplishment to try to solve a terrible, time in not just American history, but human history. we, ended slavery in this country and the British Empire, with the tip of the hat to the British, William Wilberforce and others, ridding the entire British Empire of slavery. A lot of things continued to happen after the ending of slavery in this country, especially down here in the south, with the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and, segregation. All kinds of things continued. But, it is important to note the ending of slavery. And some people. A lot of people celebrate that. And we have a federal holiday today. So for those of you who are typically at work, working for the federal government, but you're at home, enjoy the day off and remember, I think just a great moment in human history as countries, began because so many countries had slavery back 100, 200 years ago. but also, folks continue to pray because slavery continues, human trafficking continues. it's interesting, by the way, I didn't intend to start this. I want to mention Juneteenth, but, at the end of the book of Revelation, there is a list, or it's. It may be talking about, Babylon, but it talks about the fact that, Babylon, the great, trafficked in human souls. Very interesting wording there as part of the iniquity of whatever you think Babylon represents in the book of Revelation. That was something, obviously, that God abhorred.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So, anyway, happy Juneteenth to those of you who mark this holiday.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes. My daughter works for a bank. I'm not bitter. She's off today.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, you know, I could talk to leadership for next year.
>> Fred Jackson: All right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: See if we could, have Juneteenth off.
>> Fred Jackson: All right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: There's all kinds of federal holidays we don't get off here.
>> Fred Jackson: I know.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm aware of that President's Day when you worked up in Canada for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which was public broadcasting. Right. I mean, you got all. You had all those federal holidays off. I mean, the ones that Canada had. Right.
>> Fred Jackson: And they've increased since I left Canada. Yeah, I think there's one every month now.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, that would be nice. That would be nice.
>> Fred Jackson: I've been Family day. They have. You know, province has a birthday. they get a lot of time off there.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, we could have. We could celebrate my birthday in August. We could have that. We could have that. As a holiday here, we need. We need. Here at afa, we need a holiday once a month. Because you go. You go through that, that January, February, March time at the beginning of the year with nothing.
>> Chris Woodward: January feels like six months. Like, it takes forever to get through January for some reason.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And that if Easter is later, if it's in April, you go through all of March without something.
If AFA does start taking off more holidays, the news department will be here
>> Fred Jackson: All right, so make some placards, Ed. We'll stand up front. Yes, we'll welcome Tim back next week.
>> Chris Woodward: I will say that, if anybody's concern, if AFA does start to take off more holidays, the news department will be here and covering things.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, we don't care about the news department.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, I know. 15 years I've been here, and not once have I been given off for Arbor Day.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Arbor Day. Well, I will say this. Kudos to our news department, because a lot of times when we have a Monday off, like a Memorial Day or something like that here at work, we will. We've kind of gotten into the habit of, closing, the offices at noon on Friday just to give people a head start for the long weekend. But you guys in news have to stay. You guys don't get to do that.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, it's because the news never stops.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: It really doesn't. And as we have found out, strangely enough, since Donald Trump was reelected, President gotta watch Friday afternoons because he really likes Friday afternoon executive orders.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And they're usually pretty big, big items.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: So, we can't go home until President Trump is through.
>> Chris Woodward: Sometimes we've had newscast from my living room, slash, home office for people we're not aware. If you can pull it off and nobody knows, you know.
Airstrikes continue between Israel and Iran over nuclear threats
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, well, let's get started with the news of the day. There's plenty of it, Chris.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. Airstrikes continue between Israel and Iran. This, of course, has been going on for a week now. and in one of its most recent attacks on Israel, missiles from Iran hit an Israeli hospital that did pretty significant damage there, injured patients inside the hospitals and staff there. And, this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at the site of the hospital attack in Beersheba. and he had this to say.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Clip 1 I think it says everything about Israel and about Iran. Israel is fighting to remove the nuclear and missile threat aimed at our annihilation. We're targeting military sites, we're targeting nuclear sites, we're targeting missile sites. They're targeting a hospital. In this hospital, there are patients who are immobile. They can't even move. Right next to it is a children's ward, a baby's ward, infants. They target it. Well, Fred, this is a difference between the two nations. Now, I know there are a lot of people in this country and throughout the west that are just hammering Israel and have been since their response to the attack. The attack on October 7, 2023, from, Hamas.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: out of Gaza. Everything Israel does, they're being criticized. But that is a distinctive, a clear demarcation between these two regimes. Israel is targeting military installations, and they're going after, Iran's capability to develop nuclear weapons. Which Iran has promised to use against Israel.
>> Fred Jackson: That's right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay. And that is. And Iran, in response, is just letting missiles fly into populated areas in order to kill as many civilians as possible. Which makes doubly clear the fact that in their ideology and worldview, the elimination, the extermination of the Jews and the elimination of the nation of Israel is what they are trying to accomplish.
>> Fred Jackson: No question. Unless some people are saying out there, wait a minute. Hasn't, Israel, attacked hospitals in Gaza? Folks, there is a huge difference, because we now know Hamas has made their headquarters in places like hospitals and schools. All right, so there is a huge difference. And Israel, in order to take out the Hamas terrorists, has had to deal, with sites like hospitals in Gaza. However, here's the difference. Israel, and it's continuing in this war, warns. They warn people. We're going to have to go into this particular area to root out Hamas terrorists. They, they give warnings in advance. They're doing the same thing in Iran.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: We're planning to bomb this area. If you're a civilian, it's wise for you to get out.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: And right from the beginning, I remember prime, Minister Netanyahu, when this all started last week, his first speech was to the Iranian people saying, we're not against you. we want you, to be allies, with us in this. No, they're going after the leadership, the Islamic regime leadership, which is exactly what they have done. And by the way, Israel is being very successful. in these first seven days, they've been able to take out two thirds of the missile launchers that Iran has. They have about 100 left. So it's not over yet. I think the thing we're going to be watching is the United States. This, this. The speculation is building more and more as to whether the United States will get involved. As we sit here right now, there is another security meeting at the White House in the Situation Room. There was a headline this morning in the Wall Street Journal that said President Trump has made the decision to go into Iran and do what we been talking about. This is with the bunker buster bomb.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: That only our B2s can carry and deliver.
>> Ed Vitagliano: In other words, Israel can't drop it.
>> Fred Jackson: No, Israel does not have the aircraft capable of doing that. So, this morning President, Trump kind of said, well, the Wall Street Journal doesn't know what I'm thinking, but that's not a denial, right. Of the fact that there is a plan in place. And I think if they're going to take out this facility, this one major facility in Iran that is used to enrich that uranium and is almost at the point, if not at the point of having it ready for a nuclear weapon, if that is going to be done. Because this facility is deep inside a mountain in Iran. The only way to get at that would be with this bunker buster bomb. And so, I continue to say maybe within two or three days we may see that. And of course the world will condemn the United States. You should stay out of it. There will be politicians in the United.
>> Ed Vitagliano: States, There will be even people in the MAGA community.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That will be critical of the President.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. That you shouldn't get involved. But let us remember the Islamic regime as it is. They not only hate Israel, but they hate the United States.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We're the Great Satan. Yes, they call us.
>> Fred Jackson: They want to wipe, Israel and the United States off the face of the earth. That is their goal. So, this would, in my mind if, if the United States gets involved, it would be an, interpreted as an offensive, but in my mind it's a defensive. To stop this horrible evil regime.
Fred Cannon: Israel is preparing to launch B2 bombers against Iran
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, you have, you have more sound on this subject.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, we do have some sound again on the bunker busting bombs. I know yesterday we had a Top Gun pilot who' call sign was whiz, talking about these, bunker buster bombs. Fox and other news outlets continue to, cover this. not just the Wall Street Journal. I've got some audio this morning of a guy, he's retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Dave Burke, a Top Gun instructor, talking about these bombs.
>> Speaker D: Clip 5 Our ability to launch from the United States if we choose to, or A4 deployed base. Getting the targeted back is absolutely in the wheelhouse of the capability of that of this aircraft. And I would expect to see multiple aircraft on this mission. There's a lot of challenges. Obviously, anytime you take an American aircraft, American air crew, American systems, and flying into Enemy territory, there is risk. The great thing about these B2 crews, they've been practicing and preparing for this their entire careers. They are more than capable of doing this. This is things they've prepared and trained for. So once the mission starts, their focus on that there are certainly risks associated with the mission itself. But these are highly trained, highly capable people that are more than ready to do this.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and Israel, I think has kind of laid some of the groundwork by going after these surface to air missile sand batter. obviously some of that has been to protect their own aircraft, but I think they have tried to degrade the capability of Iran to protect itself from these bombers. Now the B2 is a stealth bomber, and so they do have protections against radar detection, but it's not foolproof. So you want to try to increase your odds. I, think it can also, you can also launch from B52, bombers. One thing that's interesting is that I was looking at, an article on Fox, where Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the idf, Israeli Defense Forces have been instructed that Khomeini should not continue to exist. Now that's, that's the dictator of the, the religious dictatorship over Iran. now that is not an explicit threat that Israel will take out Khomeini. Maybe it's encouraging pro democratic forces within, Iran to do the dirty work. But it is interesting that statement came after the hospital was bombed that, Fred, that is Israel. you've made this point on a number of occasions that after the, October 7th attack, it was like something flipped within Israel. And Benjamin Netanyahu and others on his leadership team, that, that they're not gonna, they're not putting up with this anymore. Yeah, that they are going to clean house. They degraded Hamas's capability to continue being a threat. Hezbollah and of course, Iran, who has funded those two terrorist organizations. Now it's like they're saying they're not, they're not going to continue to exist in their current form either. I wouldn't be surprised to see Israel try to take Khomeini out. Yeah, that, that would garner a lot of condemnation. But I think at this point Israel just doesn't care because they cannot allow that country to get atomic weapons and launch them against Israel. This is, an existential threat that Iran poses. I think the fact that some of the other Muslim countries in the region, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, some others, I think Syria also allowed Israel to use its airspace. Okay. I think they all understand that a nuclear Capable Iran is bad for everyone in that region.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, it destabilizes the whole region. You know, I think what has happened is that Israel, for years now, they would have these skirmishes with Hamas and Hezbollah and, you know, there would be some kind of mediation talks and they would back away from it. And it only allowed Hezbollah and Hamas to rearm and to do the same thing again and again and again. And I think what happened in October of 2023, as you say, Israel just said enough is enough. They have proven they cannot be trusted. Certainly Iran has proven it cannot be trusted. It's not interested in peace. It has made no, no statements to the world that we only want peace with Israel.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: It's 180 degrees to that. Can you imagine if, you know, we're sitting here in the United States, if you were sitting in Texas and there was a terrorist group just on the other side of the border, whose, goal in life, whose raison d' etre in life is to destroy the United States and that they had cells in various places around that were threatening, the stability of this nation all the time. We would not put up with that, not for a second. Yet. Here's the thing. Yet the world expects Israel to, to put up with that. And Netanyahu has just said, no, we're not going to do that anymore. It's as simple as that. This war cannot end unless something is done with the leadership there in Iran.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Because this, this is. Even if you completely eliminate the nuclear threat from Iran for now, if, if Khomeini and the others in charge want to reconstitute that, they'll continue to do so.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: by the way, folks, we do have also an article on American family news, that's afn.net that talks about this, Iranian missile that damaged the, hospital, in Beersheba. And also it does mention, the fact that, ah, Trump has, addressed the plans. Actually, the article here from the Associated Press says that President Donald Trump this week had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Allie Khamenei. Trump vetoed that plan. and then Trump later said there were no plans to kill him, at least not for now.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So Trump very wisely, it seems to me, has kept every possibility still on the table. You know, he's, he has said, well, we may strike, this nuclear, installation and we might not. Yeah, there's no plans to kill Khomeini right now, but he's leaving it on the table. And at some point he may tell the Israelis. Go ahead.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, yeah.
According to President Trump, Vladimir Putin has offered to mediate Ukraine crisis
Some people, steeped in things like Bible prophecy might be watching this and wondering, well, where is Russia on all this? Because you have, things in the Bible like ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, gog and magog I'm talking about. And therefore some people might wonder, where is Russia on all this? Well, according to Donald Trump, President Trump, Vladimir Putin has offered to get involved here. But according to President Trump, I told Vladimir, you focus on Russia. Don't take my word for it. Clip 12 and I spoke to him.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yesterday and I said, you know, he.
>> Fred Jackson: Actually offered to help, mediate. I said, do me a favor, mediate your own. Let's mediate Russia first.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay?
>> Fred Jackson: I said, vladimir, let's mediate Russia first.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You can worry about this later.
>> Chris Woodward: Apparently they're on a first name basis.
>> Fred Jackson: I wonder if he calls them Vlad. Hey, Vlad.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Hey Vlad. Vlad.
Chris: I think China is using this as a distraction
Listen, by the way, Chris did mention Bible prophecy and I do want to let you know I hope this is okay to do on the air. We were planning on having Jan Markel on at the bottom of the hour, but she has some health issues. And so I just wanted to ask, our listeners to pray for Jan Markell. And many of you love her program, on the weekends, Understanding the Times, by the way, that's heard. Saturdays, at 1:00pm Central, Sunday at 12:00pm Central Time here on American Family Radio. But if you've enjoyed her ministry, just pray for her. Pray for her health and pray that she gets well. And so I hope she doesn't mind me sharing that about prayer.
>> Fred Jackson: no, absolutely. we have talked to Jan about this, early on in the last week or so and a lot of people are asking, you know, is this Ezekiel 38 and 39? And Jan's response was she doesn't think so, for a couple of reasons. those chapters in Ezekiel talk about a coalition of countries.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: Coming after us. I don't think we are there yet. China is saying nothing about this.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: I think I, in my, you know, I think China is using this as a distraction, to keep the world's attention there while they're up to other things. Yeah, I think their focus is really, in the Pacific Rim right now.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: And they, I think they've got stuff going on there and they're quite glad for the world to be looking at what's going on in the Middle east while they're up to other things.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: I don't trust China for a second. Russia's got its hands full with Ukraine and I think, you know, President Trump is exactly right. So those are the countries that many people feel, plus a few others, Turkey, that would be involved in Ezekiel 38, 39.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: So, that's why I think Jan says no. She believes that is likely to occur at. She is in her eschatology, she believes in the tribulation period and 38 and 39 would occur at the end of that, that period. I think for now, we are at the point where it's Israel and Iran and possibly the United States.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
American Family Radio takes a short break to discuss today's featured news
All right, well, let's go ahead and take our break, now. And, do you have any other stories related to this for after the break, Chris? Yes, we can, Okay, well, if, if we've got more news regarding it, we can cover that after the break. But there are also other things happening. We'll get to those, ASAP as soon as possible. And, but we are going to take a short break. You're listening to today's issues here on American Family Radio. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week. Fred Jackson joins me, Chris Woodward. And when we come back after our break, we will get back to the news.
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Iranian missiles strike Israeli hospital, wounding more than 200
Chris, I know we got a couple other angles just to take on this Israeli Iranian conflict.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, for those just now joining us, our top story that we started the show with, was about Iranian missiles damaging a hospital in Israel and wounding more than 200. We played some audio of Benjamin Netanyahu. Israelis are naturally upset about this and vowing, Iran is going to pay. Here I've got more sound on this topic, beginning with IDF international spokesman Nadav Shoshani, if I said the name correctly, this, person says Iran's targeting of the hospital is why Israel cannot let up here in this war. Clip 3.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, this is an ongoing operation and our goals are very clear to remove these existential threats from the civilian of Israel. And we're seeing. This is a preview. This morning we saw a preview of what could happen if we let Iran.
>> Fred Jackson: Keep going this way.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And their goal was to have thousands and thousands of these ballistic missiles on Israeli civilians and on top of that, nuclear weapons. All right, so, this is, we kind of talked about this, before the break. it does appear that, Fred, that, Iran may be running out of some of their missiles. However, to this gentleman's point, had Israel not engaged at this point, that number of missiles that could be launched against the, nation of Israel would have only gone up.
>> Fred Jackson: Yep. as I think I mentioned, they only have about 100 left. Israel has been successful so far in these first seven days of taking out two thirds of Iran's missile launcher capability. again, we're amazed by the Israeli intelligence, there right now. There are no secrets in Iran.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Israel knows where you are and what military equipment you're moving and where you're moving it to.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and you mentioned, I think yesterday or the day before, it's all the days kind of melting into, into each other, but that the, military leader that had gotten taken out by the Israelis was replaced by another military leader and four days later he was taken out.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So the Israelis know, like you said, who's, who's where.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I wouldn't want to be the guy in Iran when you're approached by the leader that says, do you want this job? No, no, no, no. Don't want it at all. By the way, Just before coming into the studio, the sirens were going off in a Haifa, which is that port city up in the north, which is a little change in tactic because the Iranians have been attacking after dark. this is broad daylight, kind of late afternoon, eight hours. so they're about 6:00 clock at 6:30 in the evening there. so this is a, it may be a sign of desperation, that they're getting down to the last of the equipment that they have. And maybe this is part of where Israel is with this. Iran is going to run out of ordinance.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: they have been firing everything they've got, and they only have a little bit left because the Israelis, once again, are very good. They know where the weapons are being stored.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: And so, they're taking care of all of that, the Israelis, at this moment. by the way, we have another story on our website, afn.net, that the US has started evacuating some of its diplomats from the embassy there in Jerusalem. we're not sure how they're getting out. We understand some of these people are going to Amman, Jordan, being flown out of there. I mentioned that there was, an El flight that left Tel, Aviv, I think, early this morning, around 11, o' clock in the morning, Israeli time, and it went to Cyprus. Cyprus is trying to help people who want to get out of Israel right now get out of harm's way. So there are some flights that are going to Cyprus and. And, people are evacuating through there.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, it seems clear. And then Chris will pitch it to you if you've got anything else here on this topic. It seems clear that it seems to me that the US Is preparing to bomb this nuclear facility.
>> Fred Jackson: M. I will not be surprised.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Ah, I would not be surprised either. And that they expect that, that to, maybe ramp up Iran's desperation. but President Trump's always full of surprises. You never really know what he's thinking. And that's part of the deterrence factor in terms of other countries wanting to take advantage of a weak leader like Joe Biden clearly was. You, don't get that from Trump. So a lot of nations, you know, may hesitate to do something, not really knowing what Trump might do.
>> Fred Jackson: And yeah, Defense Secretary Hegseth was, before, I think it was a Senate panel this week, was asked obviously about this, and he was very coy, but he did say, we have plans in place for whatever President Trump, wants to do.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: So they were ready for this.
>> Chris Woodward: M. Yeah, I Mean, there were a couple of sound bites I saw on Fox yesterday. Senator Rand Paul was expressing concern that, you know, he didn't want Trump to just rush into something here, because as Rand Paul went out, I don't have this sound bite, Brent, but as Rand Paul said on Fox, that if we were to go this route where we nuke them, or at least this facility, that's going to make it difficult, if not impossible, that we're going to bring them to the table to talk about nuclear research and then they bring out John Cornyn to respond to Senator Ball's comments. And Cornyn said the time for negotiation is over.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Listen, I like Rand Paul on a lot of issues, but that's just kind of. That strikes me as naive. I don't think, I think any time Iran has, quote, unquote, negotiated, I think in reality they were just stalling for time.
>> Chris Woodward: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And they were stringing along the west. All while. This is the same thing with Hamas. With Hamas all this time, aid, international aid flowing in there. And what Hamas was doing was taking that and building tunnels, you know, tearing up pipes that carried water and using materials, for, you know, to help with launching missiles. You're dealing with an ideology that insists that Israel must cease to exist as a nation and that the Jewish people must be obliterated and there is no negotiating with that. I understand what Rand, Senator Paul is saying. When you're. If you're dealing with rational people, then maybe you can, negotiate and get them to take a step back. But this is what the Ayatollah Khomeini and the rest of those mullahs live for. M. And I, I agree with. Was it, Was it corny?
>> Chris Woodward: Corny, Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I agree with Senator Cornyn of Texas. The time for negotiation is over. And whether it's Israel or Israel and the US Iran's nuclear research has to come to an end.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. And to your point here, we'll put a kind of rep. A bow on this segment here. I've got some, audio. This will be our last clip on this topic, but it's the Israeli special envoy, who says Iran is not going to give up its nuclear program no matter what people say. Clip 4.
>> Speaker E: So thank you, Carly, for having me on. And I would say the chances are zero, voluntarily giving up. And we have seen systematically this genocidal Islamic regime in Iran utilize billions of its resources, fueled by the very same anti Semitism that saw the annihilation of Jews in a final solution before their eyes. Even as the allies were nearing. That is what we are experiencing now. As you mentioned, the largest hospital in Israel's south was targeted deliberately. And as Iran continues to target civilians, children, people sleeping in their beds, and as we said, a, hospital this morning that of course, services and, employs Arabs and Jews side by side, we know that the only mission that they have continues to be not just the annihilation of the state of Israel, the small devil, but the big devil, the destruction of the United States and our shared civilization.
Republicans are trying to get at story involving Joe Biden's mental decline
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, let's, move on. What else you got?
>> Chris Woodward: Something else that has been, I think, buried, in the news coverage. And don't get me wrong, Israel, Iran is the story. It's the biggest story in the world because it impacts everybody, whether they know it or not. But something in America that has gotten lost in the news is an ongoing effort from members of the House and Senate, specifically Republicans, to get at the story involving who in the Biden White House knew Joe Biden was not all there mentally, and what were those people doing to run the country and prop him up as the president? I've got audio here from Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt. He wants transparency from members of the Biden White House.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Clip 9 When the president signs something, whether it's a bill or a treaty or a letter, it's a. He is speaking on behalf of the American people. Clearly, Joe Biden's decline in his inability to do those things was on full display.
>> Chris Woodward: Somebody else that weighed in on this this morning on Fox was Miranda Devine, frequent, Fox News contributor. She said, look, you know, some people are kind of dismissing this, but this situation is very serious. We have to know what was going on here.
>> Speaker F: Clip 10 they don't have any excuse for allowing an adult president to stay in that role and endanger the country. So they're just walking out, making a big show of it, pretending that they're virtuous when they're not. they had a duty to protect the country and they failed to exercise it. It was obvious to all of us that there was something wrong with President Biden, and it must have been crystal clear to them because they met with him. And, if they weren't meeting him as regularly as they should have, that also was a clue. So they failed. And now they don't want to be shown up because they're embarrassed. And this is an important issue. It's not just looking in the back, you know, rear view mirror. It's not armchair diagnosing. It's not gossip. It's Serious, because we need to know who was running the country.
>> Chris Woodward: I gotta tell you, if somebody was running the country while Joe Biden was somewhere not being the president, it calls into question anything he signed, any executive order, any bill, the. And I'm using air quotes, Inflation Reduction act, all these things that caused inflation, are possibly or might have possibly been signed by somebody other than Joe Biden with his name.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, Fred, I, remember famously, President Harry S. Truman, a Democrat, said the buck stops here. I think he had a little, sign on his desk and said that because the Constitution invests executive authority in the President. Now the President can have a staff and can have a cabinet members who help him or at some point a her, but who help him carry out his constitutional duties. But those duties and that authority resides in the President and it cannot be usurped and it cannot be handed off. There is no constitutional authority for a subordinate to sign a bill on behalf of the President. The President, it says specifically must sign. So to Chris's point and to Miranda Devine, is that how you pronounce, to the points being made here, what was done by people acting on behalf of a president who was not competent, mentally able to carry out his duties? then they have no authority to do it. And it calls into question whether those things were actually done. If they don't have the authority to do it. Was it legally done?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. The Democrats want this to go away and so does the mainstream media. Yesterday the Democrats boycotted a hearing on this. Now, my understanding is in the next few days, perhaps early next week, there will be officials from the Biden White House that have been subpoenaed to come before a hearing on this. it's pretty scary stuff. And you can see why the Democrats would like this to go away, because there is the potential here, as kind of Chris has alluded to, that there were people making decisions in the White House, in the Oval Office, without the knowledge of President Joe Biden and using the so called auto pen to put his name on documents. I, was watching a piece on Fox News this morning and this was out of California. there was the arrest of this guy who was in the country illegally from El Salvador. He is a convicted murderer there, it's been in this country. but he says, I want a lawyer. Because, and he was saying this to the ICE officials. There was a Fox reporter along with the crew from ICE when they arrested this guy. This guy turns to the camera, the Fox camera, and says, you cannot do this, the United States government cannot boot me out of the country because I have a document signed by the federal government in December that says I have a special status, I cannot be thrown out of the country. Which was really interesting because it followed a story about this auto pen. Did somebody in Washington, D.C. sign with the auto pen, Joe, Biden's signature that allowed this guy, who is a convicted murderer in El Salvador, to stay in this country. This is the kind of stuff that we're talking about here. It is really important to get to the bottom of this.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and I think the Democrats, I think the Democrats don't want to get to the bottom of it, as you're saying, Fred, because it seems to me, again, I'm not an attorney, no one here in the studio is an attorney. But it seems to me if somebody without President Biden's permission, knowledge or permission, signed, let's say, a piece of legislation, I don't think that's passed.
>> Fred Jackson: That's right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't think that should be in effect. I'm, I'm not even sure. Maybe this is something that has already been established. But if we had an attorney in here, we had Abe Hamilton or Jenna Ellis or someone, I'd like to ask, if it's an auto pen, is that legal? I mean, it's one thing for a non binding resolution or something to be signed with an auto pen because you're handing out multiple copies, that's one thing. But the president is supposed to sign it with his hand and his handwriting. If he does not do that, is this a legally binding document? And if it's a bill that was passed by the House and the Senate and went to the President to be signed, but he didn't actually sign it, to me, that's not signed.
>> Fred Jackson: That's right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And whatever law was quote, unquote passed is not applicable anymore.
>> Fred Jackson: And who knew this was going on? Here's the other question that this investigation by the Republicans, may get an answer to this. Was Kamala Harris, the vice president, aware of this? And did she approve of what potentially could have been this recklessness in the auto pen? And if she was aware of it and she didn't say anything or even encouraged it to happen, if she plans to run for president a, few years from now, this is the kind of thing that she would hope would stay under wraps?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: So this is, this is far bigger. It's being put on the back page of a lot of media coverage, if being covered at all right now. But The Republicans are right. They need to get to the bottom of this.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, all I know is that the Internet is forever and people have a long memory. If something gets stuck in their head and kind of calcifies there as this is true. You look at Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, and him being in support of these riots in Los Angeles and him being in support of illegal, immigrants coming into the country and it being a sanctuary state, people are going to remember that forever. If he decides to run same thing on this issue with Kamala Harris. This is going to be something that sticks in people's minds. If the Republicans, if they get members of the Biden administration to admit before this committee now, I don't know, some of them may, take the Fifth Amendment, plead the Fifth if what they did was illegal. But at the very least, if you get mounting evidence that everybody knew that Biden wasn't in charge and they had other people fulfilling his duties, I don't know whether heads will roll. It doesn't seem like heads roll ever in D.C. but people aren't going to forget it when it comes to electing someone like Kamala Harris.
Supreme Court rules in favor of Tennessee ban on gender mutilation of minors
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, one other thing I want to make sure we have some time to go over. We did discuss this a little bit, y but I've got some audio to bring in to continue our coverage, and discussion. yesterday, as we've reported on the show, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in favor of Tennessee's ban on the gender mutilation of minors. Tennessee, like a lot of states, says you cannot have, things done to your body, to alter your so called gender, if, you were under the age of 18. It's dangerous. Many of these things are not proven to be, effective. Many people go on to regret them. They have suicidal thoughts even after undergoing a transition, all these kinds of things. So Tennessee sought to ban that. The Biden administration tried to sue them and take them to the court over that. And yesterday the U.S. supreme Court again, in a 6 to 3 decision, said, Tennessee is fine here, there's nothing wrong with their ban. We have been covering this ever since that ruling came out. And one of the people that I talked to was Trey Dillinger with AFA Action. Now, I bring this up because, as Fred or Ed Rather, mentioned on the show, American Family association and AFA Action filed a brief at the US Supreme Court saying, hey, Justices, you need to side with Tennessee here. They're, they're perfectly fine what they're doing. It's a. Okay we want you to rule in their favor. And it would appear that things that AFA argued in its brief at the US Supreme Court were things that Justices brought up in their opinions. Justice Amy Coney Barrett as one example here. And so I've got some audio of AFA actions. Trey Dellinger talking about the brief at SCOTUS. Clip 15.
>> Trey Dillinger: They did echo several of the arguments that we made in the brief that were pretty clearly, influenced by the brief that we wrote. The majority opinion said basically that the law did not violate equal protection because it did not discriminate against, the children who were the petitioners through their parents and through the Biden administration. It did not discriminate against them because of their transgender status. Rather, the law, classified on the basis of their age and on the basis of their medical condition, gender dysphoria. It was not a regulation based on their transgender status. And so for that reason, the Court said that it was not discrimination on the basis of sex, which is a protected class. We made those arguments in our brief. Other people and the petitioners made those arguments as well. The arguments that we made in our brief seem to have convinced at least Justices Barrett, Barrett, Thomas and Alito that they're not a protected class.
>> Chris Woodward: Now, that's huge, because this was a 6 to 3 opinion. So AFA had an effect here on a Supreme Court case, possibly even influencing three votes on the Supreme Court.
>> Ed Vitagliano: yeah, and I mentioned this yesterday because I wanted our listeners to understand that, you know, we talk about a lot of national things on this program and some of our other talk, talk, AFR talk programs. But, AFA and AFA Action do a lot of things at the state level that our listeners often don't know about. And being involved in this Tennessee law and the fight to preserve it is one of those. And Fred, I was very glad to hear that the Supreme Court made this ruling and said, stated that legislatures are the ones who have the ability to sift through and sort through these kinds of issues, not judges, despite the activist judges who seem to love to legislate from the bench and try to issue policy, for both the executive and legislative branches. This was a smart ruling on the part of the Supreme Court. It's a constitutional ruling.
>> Fred Jackson: no question. It's a common sense ruling.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: That, unfortunately we have states in this country, I think most, if not all Democrat run states that want to give a child m the right to say, to go to the counselor at their school who would refer them To a doctor to say, a little boy who says, I feel I want to be a girl, I need to start transitioning. And they start prescribing things.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: To put in their bodies. Listen folks, there is a reason why a 12 year old doesn't get a driver's license.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: They're not ready. They're not tattoo or a tattoo. So we put, we put those places because of common sense that says a 12 year old probably is not ready to drive a car. But we have states that say they are ready to make a decision that could change their bodies for the rest of their lives.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And guess, and guess who has to help bear the cost and the burden of those decisions made at 12 and 13 years old? The parents.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: this is what, this is one reason why AFA and other pro life groups are opposed to schools being given the right to take a kid, to take a girl, to go get an abortion without the parents knowledge. Something goes wrong with that abortion, which is not uncommon. Where there is, it's life threatening. Where an injury occurs and bleeding occurs. Guess what? The parents have to pick up the pieces.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And this is why parents have a God given right to raise their children and protect them from the ideological brainwashing that sometimes leads to these kids saying, I am a boy trap. I am a, boy trapped in a girl's body and I want to start transitioning my body to fit what I think in my mind. And the parents have no clue that's going on. And this is what Tennessee tried to protect children and parents from.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So kudos. second day in a row we wanted to mention kudos to the Supreme Court for getting this right. Shame though on the three leftists on the Supreme Court who thought that parents don't have this right. Yeah, that's the kind of ideology that inhabits the minds of those on the left.
>> Fred Jackson: You know, we have midterm elections coming up next year. People ought to be asking these politicians who advocate for the, for kids to be able to make these decisions, hold them accountable.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Is that the kind of politician that you want to elect to be a lawmaker in this country making these kinds of crazy laws like in California? Yeah, let the kids decide and don't tell the parents.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, look, the left continues to double down on these kinds of issues. Immigration, protecting the rights of criminals rather than the victims. This kind of ideology regarding transgender matters, the anti Semitic, all of that, they continue to double down on and they are going to own it in the 2026 election. We'll see what happens. Boy, can't wait to start talking elections again. Hey, folks, we're going to take a five minute break for news. We will come back after that. We hope you'll join, Us. The views and opinions expressed in this.
>> Speaker E: Broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The American Family association or American Family Radio.
