Today's Issues continues on AFR with Ed Vitagliano and Fred Jackson
>> Ed Vitagliano: Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Ed Vitagliano. And welcome back to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano and Fred Jackson in studio. This is our last segment for the day on this show. And of course, that means Steve Paisley Jordal.
>> Steve Jordahl: Hey.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Is in the house, everybody.
>> Steve Jordahl: Good afternoon. If you're on the West east coast, good morning. for everybody else.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And that does make a difference.
>> Fred Jackson: Fred.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'll turn away from Steve right now. He doesn't care about hockey. My team. so I just got muted. Muted by Brent Creeley as soon as I mentioned the word hockey. They're on the west coast for go, heading west for a road trip. That means they play late. Oh, and I'm just too old to stay up.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I agree with you. We go through the schedule. We have that channel. I don't know if you. Do you have a selection of hockey games. Yes, you can watch any time. And, one of our teams is Winnipeg. And so we get the schedule. We can watch a home game for Winnipeg. But if they're playing Vancouver or Seattle or la, forget it. Yeah, I'm not going to make it even to the, to the first, period at all.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You and I both get up early. Now, you get up early because you, you're here at work early. I get up early just because my mind is fresher. And I do writing and studying and stuff early, morning. But that means I can't do like I used to when I was younger, which is to stay up, lay up.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Steve will now. We'll now draw you into the conversation. How late do you stay up?
>> Steve Jordahl: Oh, man, I tell you, my wife is a talker.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And let me just stop you right here, like Tim always does when I start to drift towards dangerous territory.
>> Steve Jordahl: Danger, Will Robinson, Danger.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Just be careful.
>> Steve Jordahl: She knows.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, all right.
>> Steve Jordahl: She knows.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay.
>> Steve Jordahl: I will often find myself deep in conversation at one in the morning, not thinking or. I'm thinking. We're not really, considering my alarm goes off at 5, so. Yeah, that's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's brutal when you get to be our age. How old. How old are you?
>> Steve Jordahl: I'm 65.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, you're. We're all. We're all in the same boat.
>> Fred Jackson: I would want to hear myself in a conversation at one o' clock in the morning.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, folks, that's probably more information than you wanted, so we will move on. Steve, what's, what's your first news story?
Zoran Mamdani is considered a socialist running for New York mayor
>> Steve Jordahl: All right, well, it looks at the moment like the next mayor of New York City is going to be Zoran Mamdani, who, if he doesn't call himself a communist, actually is Democrat, ah, socialist. And he, consented to an interview yesterday on fox with Martha McCallum. It was pre recorded, I believe. And he has, ah, not changed a whole lot of position. He's not moving to the center for anything. So I wanted to go through just a couple of the things that he said. he has, as a socialist, of course, his thing is he's got 18 million things he wants to give everybody for free. Right? So, he wants to give, free bus rides to everybody. There's free lunch, free housing, as you know, just a whole bunch of free stuff that he's going to.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Who doesn't want that?
>> Steve Jordahl: I want that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That'd be awesome.
>> Steve Jordahl: I know. How's he going to pay for it? Well, that's the question. Well, let's find out how he's going to pay for it.
>> Joseph Parker: Cut 13, I believe these are the most straightforward ways that we can actually fund universal childcare. Making buses fast and free. And I've said that the two clear ways to do so, raising personal income taxes on the top 1% by 2% and raising the corporate tax to match that of New Jersey's corporate tax of 11.5%.
>> Joseph Parker: What would you cut? What would you draw from to do it?
>> Joseph Parker: I don't think we have to cut. I've spoken about raising taxes on the wealthiest. If you're making a million dollars in New York City or more than that, you can afford to pay 2% more.
>> Steve Jordahl: Are you going to though? Are you going to pay it or are you just going to move to Florida?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, listen, this is the way they all make it sound attractive. Top 1%, just pay 2% more. Fred, that sounds reasonable. Okay, this is. But this is not. This is not. It never stays that way. There's always a fine print. there, I remember there's some. I don't know what state it was. This goes back probably five years ago. Might have been California. They, they always seem to lead the league in wackiness. But they were going to, Maybe it was New York, I don't remember. They were going to, tax your net worth, not your income. They were going to go actually, I don't know if they were going to physically go into your home. They wanted to, look at the artwork you had, your furniture, find out what it was all worth even though you'd already paid for it, and tax you on your net worth. Now that didn't finally make it. But this is the mindset of those who are socialist leaning, certainly who are communist. And the problem is, the more you tax companies and corporations, the more you tax people, the faster they leave. And then you make these promises for all this free stuff, and then you've got nowhere to pay for it. And, and then you're asking the federal government, hey, we're too big to fail. You got to bail us out.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. this is what communists do. They, they sell you with free stuff. You just heard him. Free universal health care, health care, daycare, free bus rides. we're going to give you,
>> Ed Vitagliano: State run, I mean, city run grocery stores.
>> Fred Jackson: City run grocery stores. We're going to freeze rents, all this sort of thing. And, that sounds so good. But the history of socialism, the history of communism is once they start offering all of this stuff, they capture you. They capture you, and then the fist of communism comes out.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: we can't afford to do this for you anymore. This is what you're going to get. And you become super dependent on the government.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Mamdani has been quoted as saying, the answer to everything is to decommodify. All right, let me read you a definition of decommodify, and he's basically described what this is. Decommodify is the process of reducing the market's influence over essential goods, services, or aspects of life, treating them as rights rather than commodities to be bought and sold. Read into that. We want the government to own your house. All right? We don't want people buying and selling our houses. We want to own those properties. All right? He goes on. It involves shifting the perspective of value from monetary worth to inherent social and economic ecological worth, aiming to ensure equitable access and protect certain aspects of life from market forces. Basically, we're going to get rid of free enterprise.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?
>> Fred Jackson: All right, we're going to get rid of free enterprise. The government is going to, own everything. Examples include, Listen to this, folks in. Examples include providing universal health care, creating community land trusts for affordable housing, government buying up, you know, apartment buildings, etc. Or establishing free public transportation. All right? That is the definition of decommodify. You just heard him say, this is what we want to offer you folks.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And that's just what you just described and what Mamdani was talking about. That's just the nose of the camel under the tent.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And then the rest of it follows.
>> Steve Jordahl: And what is the rest of it?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, he has Also talked about some of his policies.
Zoran Mamdani calls Donald Trump a threat to democracy
let's. He's. He's got. He's Muslim, I believe.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes, yes.
>> Steve Jordahl: And, he has no love for Israel.
>> Fred Jackson: That's right.
>> Steve Jordahl: I'm would go as far as to say he's fairly anti Semitic. and this is. This is how I know he was asked by Martha McCallum last night, yesterday if he would denounce the terror group Hamas, the. The ones that brutalized Israel on October, on October 7th. And this was his answer. Cut 14.
>> Joseph Parker: You won't say that Hamas should lay down their arms and give up leadership in Gaza.
>> Joseph Parker: I don't really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel beyond the question of justice and safety and the fact that anything has to abide by international law. And that applies to Hamas, that applies to the Israeli military, applies to anyone you could ask me about.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, Fred. I will say this about Zoran Mamdani. He is very slick.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes, he is.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He's a great communicator. He's very smart. And that's the kind of answer you're going to get out of this guy. You're never going to find out what he really believes or what he really thinks until he is in power. Now, fortunately, it's just New York City. Fortunately, he's not running for president, although that might come yet.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Later on down the road. so that I've listened to him carefully. You're never going to trap him. You're never going to trap him like you could Kamala Harris, or some of these other politicians who can sometimes be blindsided. He is. He is very, very slick, very smart. And that's the problem is when you have excellent communicators, what happens is they make. They sell you this over here, and then when you buy in, they take control and you get more than you bargained for, and then it's too late.
>> Fred Jackson: He's 33 years old.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: All right. he's been an assemblyman in New York. But, I hear a lot of Barack Obama in his speeches.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Also a great communicator.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes, but those types of individuals you mentioned, How did you describe him? Slick.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Slick.
>> Fred Jackson: I remember when Barack Obama was running for president. Do you remember the debate he and John McCain. It wasn't a debate, really, with, Rick Warren.
>> Steve Jordahl: Ah, yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: You remember the questions Rick Warren asked Barack Obama, about how do you feel. Homosexuality, I believe marriage between a man and a woman.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Steve Jordahl: So Bible says it. And I'm a Christian, so that's what I believe.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. He gets elected. Guess what? 180 degrees evolved.
>> Steve Jordahl: Fred.
>> Fred Jackson: The far. Yeah, the far left sees lying and deceiving as a tool to be used.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's a means to an end.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. Here's the other scary part. I listened to a speech that M. Mamdani gave on Monday night this week. It was a rally, okay. And he started talking about, you know, there's power in this room. Big bunch of people. There's power in this room. And he even went as far as to say, we are the new spirit of the Democratic Party. He's right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Absolutely right.
>> Fred Jackson: You know, he's talking about aoc, the far left of the Democratic Party. Add in Bernie Sanders if you want into all of that. They are the new.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The squad.
>> Fred Jackson: The squad. And to that point, you're going to have these big demonstrations this Saturday, the no Kings demonstration they're talking about, and you're going to have every left wing group in communities big and small across this country out there describing Donald Trump as a threat to democracy. And we represent the new freedom for America.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Meanwhile, the guy is a communist. Yes, Mamdani, you talk about a threat to democracy. Let me also just toss this one other thing in. We can continue.
Mamdani says if Benjamin Netanyahu comes to New York, he'll arrest him
Steve, I'm not sure what else you may have on Mandani, although I do want to ask about his threat to Benjamin Netanyahu. is I Islam? The number of Muslims in this country represents only 1% of the population. Now, for a long time, my thoughts have been when people say, is, you got to watch Islam. It's a threat. My thought has been, one, percent is not a threat. You should worry about France. You should worry about some of these countries in Europe. However, let me say this. This wedding, this melding of socialism slash communism with Islam that we find in Mamdani actually makes me think, you know, what, what if. What if people started converting to Islam following Mamdani because they want socialist policies enacted that could pose a serious threat to our country going forward. Now, Steve, wasn't it Mamdani who said that if Benjamin Netanyahu comes to New York City, he'll arrest him?
>> Steve Jordahl: It was, he is trolling this, war crimes, trope that Israel is doing genocide and everything. And he says, well, we, let you listen to this is cut 15. He says, we are going to abide in New York City by international law. Cut 15.
>> Joseph Parker: I've said that this is a city that believes in international law, and this is a city that wants to uplift and uphold those beliefs. The Prime Minister.
>> Joseph Parker: The United States doesn't stand by the International Criminal Court.
>> Joseph Parker: It hasn't signed the treaty for the International Criminal Court. The International Criminal Court, however, has issued a warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu, as it has.
>> Joseph Parker: How many crowns in the United States could you arrest him on, as it.
>> Joseph Parker: Has for Vladimir Putin? I've said that I believe that we should uphold arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court and that we would. You should do so only in abiding with all of the laws in front of us. I'm not going to make a new law.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, that's outrageous, Fred, That. That statement. I don't think he could get away with it. He would start an international incident. I'm not sure the New York City Police Department would arrest someone who, for example, if Netanyahu was in New York City to make a speech at the United Nations. He's got diplomatic immunity. All right? You cannot. The federal government can't arrest Netanyahu. But here's. Here's the thing that he, the cat, he lets out of the bag. He's going to comply with the International Criminal Court, with the United nations, even though we haven't signed on to the icc. He is thinking globalist because this guy is a communist, and he's using communism, I think, to insert Islam in a big way in this country. But it's an outrageous thing for a mayoral candidate, an outrageous statement for a mayoral candidate to make. And it seems to me the people of New York City, either are not thinking when it's coming up to the time to vote, or they are thinking and they've switched camps and are going full socialist.
>> Fred Jackson: I think America should be very, very concerned. Because if anybody thinks that, Mamdani doesn't have national aspirations, think again. and if you think this is New York, they're really stupid in New York. They're gonna let this guy mayor? No, no, no. This is just the first step for this guy.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Because I, believe he wants to be president. And if he became president, he would be a globalist on steroids. And America's independence, America's, way of life would change so dramatically. And here's the scary part. There are millions of university students right now who believe in him.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. They've been brainwashed on college campuses on globalism. Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And to hate Israel.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: That's what we saw in the wake of October 7, 2023, when were all shocked. Within 48 hours, campuses across this country, were out there pro Hamas. So this, this has been going. He is coming into an environment. And Milus, as some people say, he's coming into an environment that actually likes what he's saying.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and I'll say this too, and then we'll toss it back to Steve. Rudy Giuliani went from mayor of New York to a candidate for president. And Zoran Mamdani is much younger. he's good looking guy. I'm not saying Rudy Giuliani wasn't. Don't, don't accuse me of that. He's charismatic, as we said. He's an excellent communicator. He's tapped into like you're saying, the, the milieu m. The atmosphere, the zeitgeist. Okay. The spirit of the age for a lot of young people. I think he would be formidable. Whether he skips running for governor of New York and jumps into a presidential campaign here on down the road, I think he would be formidable. But it's clear, Steve, that this is the direction that the Democratic Party is going. That's why you see people like Schumer, who. Chuck Schumer, who are frankly running scared. They don't want to get primaried by young radicals and lose their spot.
>> Steve Jordahl: Mamdani has a certain je ne sais quoi. I had to come up with something. If you're going to do the, you're going to do a zeitgeist. I'm going to have to get something to keep up. Hey, you know what? Let me go back to his, support of this trope of the Palestine, Israel being war crimes and everything. Do you remember what one of the charges was against Israel was that they were starving the Gazans.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh yeah.
>> Steve Jordahl: Remember?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Steve Jordahl: All these people that were a death's door. Well, Gaza has been liberated and you've seen a lot of things in Gaza. You've seen some people celebrating. We've seen some horrific murders and.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
The American media should be held to account for covering COVID, right
>> Steve Jordahl: And lawless executions. You know what you haven't seen? Starving people.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Steve Jordahl: They all got fed the first day. It's amazing. Yeah. and I think there's some, of the American media that won't but should be held to account.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Nobody. I'm getting kind of cynical. I don't think it's just my old age because I know people younger than me who have reached this level of cynicism. Nobody seems to be held to account for anything. Whether it's politicians, whether it's medical, members of the medical community. With all the COVID stuff that went on the media. Nobody seems to pay for anything they do. I don't know what the cause of that is, a lack of will or what have you, but you are right. The media should be held to account. Remember, they were using a photo,
>> Steve Jordahl: Of an Israeli, hostage.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I. Oh, no. The young man who had a disease. That's why he was. That's why his condition looked so grim. They said it was because he was being starved.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So, no, the media is not going to be held to account except for the fact that they are hemorrhaging viewers and listeners and readers. I guess maybe that's a.
There is, uh, by the way, speaking of there is,
>> Steve Jordahl: There is, by the way, speaking of there is, I was talking with, Media Research center yesterday, and we're starting to get our end of year, stories. Year review stories together. And I was asking, one of their guys, what his takeaway was from 2025. And it is the year that we started seeing the stranglehold of the liberal stranglehold on the mainstream media. Loosen up. Yeah, things are happening. We've got a. An, independent journalist who's been very fair and balanced and coming, into, cbs. Cbs. The Washington Post.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Is that Barry Weiss.
>> Steve Jordahl: Barry Weiss. Washington Post is, owned by a, conservative. The Los Angeles Times is owned by a conservative.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Time magazine. There's a kerfuffle over the fact that Time magazine chose as the COVID photo for Donald Trump. Something the least flattering photo you could pick. And I was. I, I just glanced at an article saying the billionaire owner of Time magazine is upset that that was the kind of, editorial decision that was made.
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, I think that there's change afoot. There's change afoot.
Terry Pendleton asks Nancy Pelosi about January 6th controversy
I want to end with this because I just. I don't want to get away without doing this. you, you want to know how to get under Nancy Pelosi's skin?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Not. Not really, no.
>> Steve Jordahl: Ask her. Or in her head, ask her about January 6th. She was, asked by a reporter from, Mike Lindell's TV out, her name was Alison Steinberg, about January 6th. And you know, there's a January 6th committee. The second one, the Republican one, now is finding a whole bunch of stuff that happened on January 6th, and she was asked about some of it. I want you to hear this. this did not go over very well with her. Cut nine. Cut, eight.
>> Joseph Parker: Responsibility, Terry.
>> Steve Jordahl: Cut eight. I'm sorry, Brett. I called the wrong congresswoman.
>> Speaker G: Pelosi, are you at all concerned that the new January 6th committee will find you liable for that day? Are you at all Concerned about the new January 6th committee finding you liable for that day. Why did you refuse the national guard on January 6th?
>> Fred Jackson: Shut up.
>> Joseph Parker: I did not refuse the National Guard. The president didn't send it. Why are you coming here with Republican talking points as if you're a serious journalist?
>> Speaker G: The American people want to know. We still have questions. Thank you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Thank you. Thank you. Pelosi.
>> Steve Jordahl: Shut up.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Hey, now, this. This young lady who's asking that. This is from Mike Lindell's. This is the Pill. My pillow guy.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah, my pillow guy has a, a news.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Is this still the. Is this the young lady? This is an unfair question because you don't know who I have in mind. But she's been popping up in a lot of stories on X and so on and so forth. She's a young, lady, and she is bold as all get out.
>> Steve Jordahl: I'm sure this is.
>> Ed Vitagliano: She goes. She acts. She goes to protests and does these interviews. I don't know if it's the same person.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah, I'm sure it is. That video, ah, as, ah, the camera leaves and she says thank you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: She.
>> Steve Jordahl: She turns around and, boy, you should see the grin she gets to the camera. I got her.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, Fred, I gotta say, that response from Nancy Pelosi for old people, like, I'll just say for me, I recognize that. Snapping at a young person, get off the grass, that kind of thing. Nancy Pelosi has officially reached the, hey, you kids, get off the grass stage.
>> Steve Jordahl: I think she's been there for a while.
Keep your eye on New York City ahead of the November election
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, well, listen, I'm glad we ended with something a little bit, funny. Folks. Keep your eye on New York City. And that's coming right down the pipe. That. That is a November election, right?
>> Fred Jackson: That is correct.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So, we'll be watching to see if a communist takes over New York City without a shot being fired.
>> Fred Jackson: Yep.
>> Ed Vitagliano: all right, folks, that's all the time we have for today's issues. there is more great programming directly ahead on American Family Radio. Just want to remind you that tomorrow Trivia, Friday will be here, and we're not talking about Zoron Momdani, Nancy Pelosi, or any other grouchy old people. So anyway, we'll see you then, Lord willing.
