Transcript

Tim Wildman has some great tours lined up for 2026

>> Tim Wildmon: Hello, everyone. Tim Wildmon here. We've got some great tours lined up. 2026, Washington D.C. george Washington's Mount Vernon, Colonial Williamsburg, historic Jamestown, Boston, Massachusetts and that Greater area. So, so much to see and do in 2026. If you want information on any of these trips, go to wildmangroup.com wildmon group.com and we'll see you on, one of our tours in 2026.

American Family Radio Network offers Christian response to the issues of the day

>> Ed Vitagliano: Welcome to today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day.

>> Tim Wildmon: Here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association. Hey, good morning everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Today is Thursday, January 8th, 2026. Thank you for listening to AFR and in studio with me today is Ed Battagliano. Good morning, brother Ed.

>> Ed Vitagliano: What's up, dog? I've been wanting to say that for a long time.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, EDS has a future as a rapper, ladies and gentlemen.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm still probably 20 years behind. Behind the tunnel, I think.

>> Tim Wildmon: Dog went out about 10 ago. Also. Raising the roof.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, raising the roof. That's Yesterday's, that's 90s probably things.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wesley Wildmon. Good morning, Wesley.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Good morning.

>> Tim Wildmon: And Fred Jackson. Good morning, brother Fred.

>> Fred Jackson: Good morning, Tim.

>> Tim Wildmon: again folks, we thank you for listening to afr. As always, we don't take your listenership for granted. We could, I guess, but we don't. Right, Right. That's the way we look at it here.

If Ole Miss wins tonight, they could play for the national championship

All right, so much to talk about, in the news. Before we get to the serious, sobering news out of Minneapolis, Minnesota yesterday, I do want to say that there are, of course, we're based in Tupelo, Mississippi.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: And we have a lot of Ole Miss Rebel fans here. Yeah. In the building amongst our staff.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And they're all wearing their gear.

>> Tim Wildmon: They're wearing it, buddy. We got the red and blue going everywh, all over the building. We got, we got, you know, we don't screen, we don't discriminate here. Right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Just because otherwise a Notre Dame fan wouldn't be right, we let you in.

>> Tim Wildmon: So I say that because, some of us are Mississippi State. Right, folks. so. But, yeah, the Ole Miss Rebels, their football team made, the, now the semi semifinals for first time in history. Yes. And play tonight, played it well the first time, second time in history we've had quarterfinals. Right. But to make the playoffs. You're talking about to make playoffs. But we Got Ole Miss vs Miami tonight now in the 90s in the 2000s, Miami was the villain.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: The. You.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: They had a reputation for being. Being outlaws.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Being what?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Frank Gore.

>> Tim Wildmon: Frank Gore. Ah. I mean, we're not saying Frank Gore was an outlaw. No, we don't want to get sued.

>> Wesley Wildmon: That time is that time.

>> Tim Wildmon: And it was that time. That era. Yeah, that era. Yeah. When Frank Gore, the great NFL player, played. But anyway, yeah. Tonight in, Phoenix, Arizona, Ole Miss versus Miami. So that's the first one. And then tomorrow, Indiana versus Oregon. Right.

>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right. I coach, my son's basketball team here in town at a. At a Christian school here, and I had several Ole, Miss players that we have practice tonight, and they let me know that they couldn't be there. And of course, I was very accommodating. In fact, some of them are going to. They're at the game.

>> Tim Wildmon: Are they really going all the way out to Arizona and.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, what happened to.

>> Tim Wildmon: I tell you what, Alabama, Georgia and.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Ohio State aren't in the semifinals.

>> Tim Wildmon: Nobody's sad about that except their own fans. And they're not sad. They're. They're mad.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: so I was looking at the map, though. You talk about a national tournament here. We had Oregon.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep.

>> Tim Wildmon: Miami, Ole Miss and Indiana. So we have the West Coast.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's true.

>> Tim Wildmon: The east coast, the south and the Midwest represented here.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: In the last four games. So anyway, we will see what happens. Yeah. But Ole Miss and Miami tonight, then Oregon and Indiana tomorrow night.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Ah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And the reason a lot of Ole Miss fans are super psyched about that is that if. And this is big, all four of these teams left over are very good. But if Ole Miss wins tonight, they could play for the national championship. Now, let me just ask an ignorant question. Ole Miss has never been national champion, have they?

>> Wesley Wildmon: One time.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Were they really?

>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead and I will answer that my own way, Wesley, after you get through commenting. I thought.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I thought I saw. Could I look this up? I thought I saw they made the national championship like in the 40s or.

>> Tim Wildmon: The 20s or, 6, 59, 60. Right in there when they would have claimed a national championship. Now, I'm not going to argue.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: People about this.

>> Fred Jackson: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: I'm just going to tell you the way it was at the time. Back in the.

Back in the old days, there was no playoff system for college football

Back in the old days. Yeah. Before we had any kind of playoffs in college football, the. There was no. There was only the regular season. And then you had bowl games.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: And so after the bowl games were over, the Associated Press. The AP would name a national champion. Yeah, okay, with name a national champion. But it was not undisputed, Right, because you had you. There was no playoff.

>> Ed Vitagliano: There was no head to head.

>> Tim Wildmon: There's no head to head. There's no final decision like we have now on who the champion is. So it was, sort of in a way, opinion or arbitrated. So arbitrary, I should say, so, that, a lot of schools, if they tied, if they, if they found one poll out there, right. There were multiple polls, and if one poll showed them as they would claim, number one, they claim that as a national championship. You see what I'm saying?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?

>> Tim Wildmon: And many schools do this. I could name them Auburn, Ole Miss, and LSU and some other. Tennessee and some others. But I won't.

>> Wesley Wildmon: You're talking about the universe. Mississippi. Talking about the University of Mississippi, right?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, I am. Why?

>> Wesley Wildmon: So Chris just scared me. say the University of Mississippi.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Well, they, Ole Miss fans are going around here saying, we are the University of Mississippi, like the Ohio State University. Yeah, no, it's going to be, should be a fun game tonight. And it's. As a sports fan, I like seeing the little guy rise up, take on the big guy sometimes and win. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So we'll see what happens this evening. You're listening to Today's Issues, not espn. But we did have to acknowledge we.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Do have that in our blood. You know, this is exciting time for the state of Mississippi.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's right. That's right.

An ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis yesterday

All right, so Fred, we will whiplash here talking about fun things here, but, we did have a big story, out of Minneapolis yesterday. What happened? Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: If the rest of 2026 is anything like the first week of 2026, it is going to be a news event filled year.

>> Tim Wildmon: Good for our show.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Today's Issues, right, Ed?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, that's right.

>> Fred Jackson: Less than a week ago, we had, the United States military go in and arrest a dictator in Venezuela and his wife. And yesterday, as part of the ongoing effort of the Trump administration to go into states that are harboring thousands of illegal immigrants, our ICE agents were in Minneapolis yesterday carrying out what they do, going and trying to find these illegal immigrants, mixed into that group. Yesterday was a woman in a SUV who was tracking the ICE vehicles. And at one point she pulled in front of an ICE vehicle. The ICE agents attempted, to get her to move. She would not. They went up to the window of the car where she, the SUV she was driving asked her to get out, which is a lawful command, and she did not. And instead, what the video shows, she put her vehicle in drive. In front of her was, as part of this effort to stop her, was an ICE agent. When she started to move forward, this ICE agent shot, three times. One of those bullets hit, the woman, and she died. and so what we have yesterday, and of course, being a sanctuary state, sanctuary city, the leader, the mayor of Minneapolis, the governor of Minnesota, went ballistic over this, told ICE agents leave town. Some very colorful language was used by the mayor, Jacob Frey. But yesterday, Kristi Noem, the Homeland Secretary, she said her people have done an investigation. And she described yesterday, what they have found with this incident. What happened. Cut number one.

>> Fred Jackson: ICE officers and agents approached the vehicle of the individual in question, who was blocking the officers in with her vehicle, and she had been stalking and impeding their work all throughout the day. ICE agents repeatedly ordered her to get out of the car and to stop instructing obstructing law enforcement, but she refused to obey their commands. She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle, and she attempted to run a, law enforcement officer over. The ICE officer, fearing for his life and the other officers around him and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues.

>> Fred Jackson: All right, so that was Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem. I mentioned that. Almost immediately, the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, called a news conference. We cannot play in full his comments because of the language that he used. but we have tried to clean this up to get rid of some of that language. But he immediately called a news conference to basically totally denounce what ICE is trying to do there in Minneapolis.

>> Tim Wildmon: Cut number two, we do not want you here.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.

>> Fred Jackson: He went on to say much, much more about that. Basically, get out of our city. Get out of our state. constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, talks about the mayor's comments causing much more damage than any good. Cut number three.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It's reckless. and it's a repeat of what we've seen in the past, where these Democratic politicians rush to feed the rage, and the result is often riots. the fact is that under the standard of Tennessee versus Garner, this does appear to be a justified shooting. Doesn't mean that that's how it will work out. We need to see ultimate conclusions of the investigation. It'd be good to see some more videos, but what we have so far does seem to meet that standard. You can slow down the video. I mean, many of these people on the Internet are slowing it down, making it look like these officers had time to go get coffee, debate what to do, come back and shot the woman in the head. I mean, the fact is that this was a blink of time. It was a. Not a second. It was a fraction of a second. And the courts have said repeatedly, that they don't second guess these split second decisions. They look at whether an officer could reasonably believe that he was in danger.

>> Ed Vitagliano: well, okay, so first of all, it is, it is a tragedy that this woman, Renee Nicole Good, died. She's, a mother of three. I don't know if she's married or not. so that's always a tragedy when someone dies in a situation like this. I always ask two questions. I ask, could this have been avoided on the part of the person who got shot? And that is clearly the case. I constantly see on social media these videos of people who refuse to obey lawful orders from law enforcement. I know sometimes it is very frustrating if you get pulled over. You don't think you did anything wrong. Things can get heated, but you have to obey lawful orders. And even if it's not a lawful order, I have talked to attorneys and they always say you can protest, you obey, and then later on you can sue. Okay, that's with just regular law enforcement. With ice, when you have people like apparently Renee Nicole Goode had been doing, stalking these ICE agents and then doing anything fast in a vehicle. It looked at first to me when I saw this video that she was trying to get away, she didn't want to get arrested. She backed up and she started to, drive to turn her car and get away. But then if you look closely, you see this other ICE agent in, in her way. And according to reports from Kristi Noem and others, he was actually hit by the car. And so it, to me, it looks like it was a valid shooting, although a terrible thing. But it is. I blame, Frey, the mayor, Tim Walsh, the governor and others in these blue cities and blue states who say, well, you're not getting any help from law enforcement. Law enforcement should have been out at these arrests, keeping the public away, keeping protesters away, so ICE agents can do their jobs. And because they've been told by their mayors, no, don't help them, you're going to have more of these things happen. Especially when you have political leaders ramping up the rhetoric, like Mayor Frank Wesley.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. In Situations like these, any type of officer shootings or things of this nature, you're going to have more and more evidence. You're gonna have more and more personal, testimonies, more and more people, I guess eventually.

Woman ran over an ICE agent and got away scot free

Is there body cam footage? I don't know if there's that yet.

>> Fred Jackson: The ICE agents, involved did not have body cam, but we've got.

>> Wesley Wildmon: We do get footage, so you'll get more and more information. But just based on what we've got so far, we have what y' all described. You have an agitated protester who has been at multiple scenes, causing multiple problems. And she was asked to move out of her vehicle, get out of her vehicle. And she didn't. She backed up and proceeded to go forward. You know, ran over an ICE agent and, Or at least. At least run over, not flat to the ground, but attempted to. And the officer had to move. And so they did their training. I don't know what else there is. I think the problem here is you got like, as we mentioned, you got Fry and Walls and others who are making this a bigger deal than it was. Because if the roles were reversed and the ICE officer lost its life, his life, then. And then she would have got. Got away squat, scot free. And I don't think it would have been. I don't know if they would have been as sympathetic or as,

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know.

>> Wesley Wildmon: For the ice age. Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: So, yeah, this woman was looking for trouble and she got it. I'm sorry she lost her life, but she put herself in a bad position. And, I watched the video of the. One of the, It was a woman. M. Many people have seen it. It was a woman with her cell phone. And she was. She was capturing what was happening. And sounded like to me she too was out to protest the ICE agents being there. Yeah. You know, let's go back for just a moment and realize why this, happened. First of all, let me just say this, and I've said this before. It's never a, It's never a comfortable video when you have to watch police officers, or in this case, ICE agents confronting people. Police work by its, In that way, by its definition is. Is. Is. Is confrontational, aggressive. sometimes violent is.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Is happened here, depending upon the person they're addressing. Because it doesn't have to be that way.

>> Tim Wildmon: No, it doesn't have to be that way. But I'm saying that when. When it is that way, when you have people resisting arrest.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: When you have people Resisting arrest, for example, are physically, interfering themselves, on, they would say on behalf of somebody else. We've seen that happen too. Then the officers are trained to defend themselves and to protect their own lives and that of their fellow, law enforcement officers. So, and I. And then, and then it's kind of like sometimes too when you, you know how you go into a grocery store and you're, you're, you know, you're rolling your buggy or basket.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: And on what part of the country you're from.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: We roll our buggies here in the South. But the, the basket, rolling basket. And you come down an aisle and you're going to get the cereal and some, mom is just taking her kid and shaking them. Right. Or whapping them on the behind or whatever like that. Their four year old. Well, and you go, man, that's. Wow, that's aggressive. You know, that's.

Fred Seibert: I watched the video of the Minneapolis incident

Well, you didn't see what happened led.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Up to that, right?

>> Tim Wildmon: You didn't see what happened for the last 15 minutes leading up to them getting their little tails whipped.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so, are, but, so that's that. But your initial reaction is one of, wow, that's too much. They shouldn't be treating that little child like that. Right. Okay, so, that kind of thing goes on when they turn on the camera on the police officer.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. I'm not talking about the body cam. I'm talking about the public flipping on somebody who has an agenda and they want to flip on the video camera. That's, let's videotape the police officer. Now, the police officer, or in this case the ICE agent should still act professionally. Right. And do as they're trained. But they're also human, okay? They're also human beings and they have emotions too. Now they, they're trained psychologically in other ways to control themselves. But in this case, I watched that. This woman, number one, as we've said here, she was out all day looking for trouble. She was trying to physically bought with her car the work of the ICE agents in the city, the lawful work of the ICE agents in the city of Minneapolis. All right? And as you guys have said, encouraged to do so basically by the left, including the, mayor, and others, in this particular case, and we've heard leading Democrats in Washington, you know, talk about resisting the ice, agents and confronting them. Okay? That's not, that's never going to end well for the, if you're, if you're going to get into that kind of situation. So this woman, while she was 39 years old and she was interfering. And what happened on the video, the officer told her. Now, Fred, was it you telling me somebody told me that there was a ICE vehicle that was stuck in the snow?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, about, I'd say about 12ft back.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So. So. And. But the. We. I watched the video, the cell phone video, and the officer tells her to get out of the vehicle, which is a lawful order. Okay. Get out of the vehicle. And the officer, knows he's being filmed. I mean, there's other people around. So get out of the vehicle. She does not get out of the vehicle. And I think he tried to open.

>> Ed Vitagliano: He does. He tries to open her door.

>> Tim Wildmon: He tries to open her door. It's locked, I guess. And it's at that point that she starts to try to leave. I get. I'm assuming she's trying to leave the scene because she sees they're about to arrest her. Okay. And so she. And when she tries to leave the scene, that's when she runs over. Or. Okay, they're showing the video. I'm, watching it now. She starts to move her vehicle towards an officer who's standing in front. Now, as I went. You. When you go looking for trouble, and you're going to get it, and you get it, and. And this is the worst way. Her. Her life. Yes, her life has ended. she. Because she does he. She's resisting him. Open the door and she pulls her. Now, she's not going 50 miles an hour. She's trying to turn around. She's turning around to leave in the street. So she.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Vehicle is aimed straight at that ICE agent when she starts to accelerate.

Jen Stohl: The left is agitating over ICE raids

>> Tim Wildmon: Ma', am, M. May I offer a, an observation that may or may not be true here on this situation. She may not have seen him. Right. I'm talking about the officer that was in. That had then taken the position in front of her car. She may not have seen him because she was probably looking at the guy walking up to her door. You see. What.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You understand that think that makes sense.

>> Tim Wildmon: So. So she may not have been, maliciously trying to run over this officer, but it. As it was a result. Again, this is my observation, and I may be wrong. She may have tried to run over him intentionally, but it. But she. She could. But. But it happened nonetheless because she put herself in a position to.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And she refused to obey a lawful order.

>> Tim Wildmon: There you go.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Now, hasn't, Governor Tim Walsh, who's in enough hot water over the Somalian fraud situation. Hasn't he threatened to call up the National Guard?

>> Fred Jackson: Yes, he has. We're going to call up our National Guard. And I'm paraphrasing here. They'll take care of us. Paraphrasing.

>> Tim Wildmon: What does that mean?

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's a threat. That's a threat against federal agents.

>> Fred Jackson: That's how some people are reading it. You know, Tim, to your point, what happened yesterday as part of a much larger political chaos that's going on in this country because we have President Donald Trump in office, he has ordered a crackdown on, illegal immigration. Democrats as a whole, you know, whether it's the mayor of Minneapolis, the governor of Minnesota, they're all against this. They are painting the Trump administration.

>> Tim Wildmon: They're for illegal immigration.

>> Fred Jackson: They are for illegal immigration. They are painting the Trump administration and Homeland Security, the ICE agents, as the enemy. I want you to listen to this montage of Democrats, which include AOC and Schumer responding to this yesterday. Cut number five.

>> Fred Jackson: At the end of the day, what we saw today is a murder. And, murders in cold blood need to be prosecuted.

>> Ed Vitagliano: The bottom line is very simple, Jen. We should not have ICE agents patrolling our streets.

>> Ed Vitagliano: They're not needed. They create chaos and they even create deaths.

>> Wesley Wildmon: This officer not only needs to be.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Fired and suspended, but based on the.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Video, he needs to, to be charged with murder. So I would say that the left, in language like that, makes them an accomplice to anything that happens like this, because they're the ones that. Saying that.

>> Tim Wildmon: They're agitating it. Again. I know it's a worldview type situation that I don't, I can't. These people like you just heard, if it were up to them, we would let the world into America. And they don't care.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?

>> Tim Wildmon: They don't care. They don't care how much gang activity, they don't care how much drugs they bring in. They don't care how much human trafficking there. They don't care. Let them all in terrorism. And don't. And don't. And don't vote Democrat and get rid of ice. Yeah, yeah. And they'll. It's, it's. You would think you're, you're voting against your own country, your own self interest. You're voting against law and order and, and all these things. And they don't care. They don't care. they want it. Joe Biden let 15 million people walk into our country. he didn't care. We'll be back.

Preborn needs your help to provide ultrasounds for pregnant women

>> Fred Jackson: We would like to Take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro Life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial £250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com afr.

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

>> Ed Vitagliano: Email your comments to commentsfr.net Past broadcasts of today's issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back.

Ole Miss fans have a cheer they do at ball games

>> Tim Wildmon: To more of today's issues. Hotty Toddy. That's all we can say. It's Christian radio.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It's true.

>> Tim Wildmon: Our, Ole Miss friends have a cheer they do at ball games.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And it is not a family friendly cheer, let's just put it that way.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, a couple of cuss words in there, but, anyway, the Hottie Toddies that if you say hottie toddy to an Ole Miss fan, they know. Yeah, that's all it needs to get them fired up.

January is Pro Life Month, and life begins at conception

All right, so, you're listening to Today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. Tim, Ed and Wesley, as always, we thank you for listening to our, radio station and American Family Radio. Well, this is Pro Life Month. January is every, every year, Pro Life Month. We are a pro life organization and ministry. Why? Because the Bible says so. It's as simple as that. God cares about human life, each individual human life, and he tells us to care about human life. And yes, life begins at conception. All right? That's what the Bible teaches. conception, that's when life begins. And it will not stop until natural death, unless it's artificially killed. Does that make sense?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Artificially ended. Yeah, artificially ended. Ah. A baby will grow from the moment of conception to be a child, to be an adolescent, to be a teenager, and then to be an adult. So that's the way God created us humankind. I know everybody knew that, but I wanted to re. Emphasize why we champion, pro, life causes here. And one of them is adoption. And so I would just say this, if you know somebody that they may not even listen to this show, but they're very interested in adopting, or they're talking about it, or maybe they are a couple that for some reason, you know, can't have children and they want to adopt and they're looking maybe for a Christian organization to go through. That's what we're about to talk about here on this program right now. So joining me in studio is, Jeremy and Jody Edwards.

Jeremy and Jody Edwards work at New Beginnings Adoption Agency

Joining us in studio, Jeremy and Jody Edwards. Jeremy, is president, and Jody is executive director at NewSong Beginnings Adoption Agency. I'll just say good morning to the lady first. Good morning. Good morning, Jody. Toddy again. That's all we can say right now on this show. Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: Hey, we do have an edited cheer that we say in front of.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, we'll say that. Go ahead. An edited family friendly hottie is what?

>> Fred Jackson: So we say hottie Toddy. Gosh almighty, who are we?

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: Flim Flam bim bam, Ole Miss.

>> Tim Wildmon: I am. That's what I'm. There you go. Turn up. Turn a lemon into lemonade. There we go. So where. Where what. What is your role? Jodi, at the. At the new, Beginnings Adoption Agency.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, so I am the executive director, which is just a fancy title to say I do whatever needs to be done to get the job done. But, I oversee all of the social services, so home study services, domestic adoption services, and international adoption services.

>> Tim Wildmon: And, Jeremy, welcome to you, brother.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Thank you. Thank you.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Where did you go to college?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Indiana Bible College in Indiana.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So do you have a cheer?

>> Wesley Wildmon: I don't. I grew up in a family that did not know anything about football.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Wesley Wildmon: So this is all new to me.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, all right. It's new to the people of Indiana, too.

>> Fred Jackson: That's true.

>> Tim Wildmon: With all due respect to, our. Who's. Your friends, they're, like, going, what? We're in the football playoffs. What's football?

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. When does hoops start?

>> Ed Vitagliano: See, I got us off track.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, My apologies. No worries. You guys are, a couple. Married couple, but you also work together at the ministry. So you're the president, Jeremy, right?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes, sir.

>> Tim Wildmon: And Jody is executive director. Now, when you get home. Is she the president and you're the executive director?

>> Wesley Wildmon: I let her think so. Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Good man. Right there.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Happy wife, happy life.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about.

New Beginnings primarily does infant adoption, but we also have international programs

Okay, Jeremy, tell us what you do. You got. You guys are a, an adoption agency that. You're licensed in Mississippi and Arkansas, right?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes, sir.

>> Tim Wildmon: But you can help people all over the country, right?

>> Wesley Wildmon: We can.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so tell us what you do.

>> Wesley Wildmon: So we do domestic adoptions. We work with birth mothers who are wanting to make an adoption plan for their babies. For some reason, they just feel like they're not able to do it. So we walk them through that every step of the way. And we also have international program. We place children from Europe, that are in the orphanages there. And then we also have an orphanage in Nepal that we work with as well.

>> Tim Wildmon: So. So you do adoptions? You do. You do, so, Jodi, I see this question. So you guys do baby adoptions. and you also do, like, adoptions from. How do you do? How does that work?

>> Fred Jackson: Yes, so we, primarily do infant adoption. Mothers contact us who are pregnant and interested in placing their preborn child for adoption. so once the babies are born, they're placed with the adoptive family right away. So typically, infants. Now, that's not to say, you know, we have had women call us that have older children a few months old that say, you know, I thought I would have more sport, or more help. I don't. And this would be the best option. But typically, newborn infants.

>> Tim Wildmon: So if I'm listening out there and. And I want to. I'm think I want to talk to you about how you can help me adopt. What do people need to do? Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: So for couples interested in adopting, the first step would be to fill out a preliminary application. And then if they were interested in domestic, our domestic director.

>> Tim Wildmon: You say domestic, talking about the U.S. that's correct, yes.

>> Fred Jackson: if they're interested in domestic, our domestic director walks them through every step, which is just more paperwork, a home study, and then a waiting period.

>> Tim Wildmon: What do they need? Do you have a website?

>> Fred Jackson: Yes, it's, WWE www.newbeginnings adoptions.org so it's beginnings with an S and adoptions with them.

>> Tim Wildmon: Say that again.

>> Fred Jackson: New beginnings.

>> Tim Wildmon: Adoptions.org Adoption plural or singular? Plural.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I do have a. A real world question.

>> Tim Wildmon: You get.

>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, Now, I'm. I'm 67 years old.

>> Tim Wildmon: I know you want to adopt.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't. Look, I'm not gonna say how old my wife is, but let's say I go home today after work, and I tell my wife I want to adopt an Italian baby. Okay. I want specifically an Italian baby.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Can. Can we do that?

>> Fred Jackson: So NewSong Beginnings, our international program is through Poland, so we could not help you with it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'd have to have a Polish baby.

>> Fred Jackson: Polish, yes, yes. But in Poland, we work with orphanages over there, so the children are older. And they do have a rule that there can't be an age difference of than 45 years between you and the child.

>> Tim Wildmon: So you're out.

>> Fred Jackson: You would have to adopt a Much older child.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, you know how Tim was saying how, life, life ends at natural death or when someone kills you. If, if I had gone home and actually told my wife that wanted to adopt, my life would be over.

>> Fred Jackson: That would be it for you.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Thankful for the. I'm thankful for the 45 year.

>> Fred Jackson: There we go.

>> Ed Vitagliano: limit.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I've had a handful of friends of mine that have gone through NewSong Beginnings to adopt, and some recently and some in years past, and they've had a wonderful experience. Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Amen.

New Beginnings Adoption Agency helps birth mothers place their babies for adoption

So we're talking to Jeremy and Jody, Edwards, who are with the NewSong Beginnings Adoption Agency here. You guys, serve people all over the country, but you're based here in, our hometown. how many adoptions do you do a year? Do you facilitate?

>> Wesley Wildmon: it really varies. last year I think we worked with 70 to 80 birth mothers. Not all of them placed, but that's about normal.

>> Tim Wildmon: What's the primary reason for people giving their baby up for adoption?

>> Fred Jackson: So birth mothers have multiple reasons they choose adoption, whether that be financial reasons, if the baby was a product of rape, or they don't feel ready to parent. You know, there is.

>> Tim Wildmon: But they don't want to get an abortion.

>> Fred Jackson: Correct.

>> Tim Wildmon: They know abortion's wrong, but they're pregnant, so they, the best thing to do is have the baby and then give the baby, to parents who want them.

>> Fred Jackson: That's correct, yes. Birth mothers honestly do the most selfless thing and the hard thing for them, which is to place for adoption. It's very emotional, it's very difficult, and we tell them what to expect as far as the emotional rollercoaster ride. But, part of our services is we offer ongoing counseling for as long as they should need it, and that's no charge to them. so we're here to help them every step of the way in that.

>> Tim Wildmon: So you, you. I called the word. I use the word facilitate. You guys facilitate 70 to 80 adoptions a year?

>> Wesley Wildmon: No, sir. That's how many birth moms we work with. And not all of them end up placing.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Wesley Wildmon: But they are. That's how many receive our services. It varies. We normally do around.

>> Fred Jackson: Can we average about 10 to 15 a year domestically?

>> Tim Wildmon: I mean, how much does it cost the whole process to adopt?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, so we, we do have, an adoption fee because we are, we're not affiliated with the state at all, so non profit. and our fees, our board is so great about making sure that our fees are lower than the national average. So we stay under that. our total adoption fee is38.5. And I know that's a big number, but another benefit of NewSong Beginnings is we have so many financial resources for our adoption to families.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: we have several organizations that we work with that offer grants, and we've had several families who have fully funded their adoption fee through grants, so.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And it's actually never been more affordable than right now because there's actually a federal tax credit if you adopt that I believe now is. Is it 15,000 now, Jody?

>> Tim Wildmon: Wow.

>> Fred Jackson: it changes every year. I'm not sure what it is for 20, 26. And part of that. So it's a credit, but now part of it is actually refundable, so.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And then the state has another $10,000 credit.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, so do you get a discount if you take a Polish baby? I probably should just get off.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think that question was inappropriate. You want to retract that?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I do. I retract it. I retract that question.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: We are big. I know.

>> Tim Wildmon: Child buying. Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: That's a training we have to do.

>> Tim Wildmon: And my question would be for an Italian adoption options.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Probably going to be placed right next to the Polish.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Your wife's, gonna put you up for a doctor.

>> Tim Wildmon: Does Gerber baby food have pizza? flavor? That was inappropriate, too.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I probably deserve that.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. All right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's fine.

Jeremy and Jody Edwards have a seven birth mother hotline and website

>> Tim Wildmon: Listen, what Can. Can. I know you guys are very busy. Can somebody talk to y' all on the phone or no?

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. they can call us. So we have a go to the.

>> Tim Wildmon: Website first, I would say, because.

>> Fred Jackson: Website.

>> Tim Wildmon: A lot of questions will be answered there.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, sure. And. And, we do have a seven birth mother hotline. so if anybody, you know, is needing to reach out any day of the week, anytime, that number is, 662-507-1389. that's our birth mother line. Our office number is 662-842-6752.

>> Tim Wildmon: Give that one more time.

>> Fred Jackson: 662-842-6755. And then also the website www.new beginnings adoptions.org.

>> Tim Wildmon: new beginnings with an S. Adoptions with an S dot org.

>> Fred Jackson: That's correct.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Orgs doesn't have an S. Right?

>> Fred Jackson: No.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Mississippi it does.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, a lot of people understood you there, Jody, when you said www. I know I did. All right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Thank you very.

>> Tim Wildmon: Thank you very much for the work and ministry you do, Jeremy and Jody Edwards. And thank you for coming in with us.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Thank you.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Thank you so much for having us.

>> Tim Wildmon: Bye. Bye.

>> Fred Jackson: Bye.

Christian community is supportive of adoption, whether foster care or adoption

>> Tim Wildmon: All Right. You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Have you ever known anybody that's adopted?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Going back all the way to, my wife and I, our first ministry, years in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ah. I mean, not with NewSong Beginnings, because. Oh, yeah, yeah. listen, the Christian community is, Much of it is dedicated to, not only protecting innocent human life, in the abortion fight, the fight against abortion, but in giving, young people and babies a chance, whether that's through foster care or adoption. So I'm sure that like with foster care, you know, the need is far greater than those who are willing to participate. But the Christian community, by and large does try to be supportive of that.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And there's a lot of couples, you know, find out they can't have children for some reason, some physical reason, and then they want to adopt. And, you know, they want to adopt from a Christian ministry.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, and this is what NewSong Beginnings is. They're a Christ based or a Christian based, adoption agency. Yeah. So anyway, God bless them and wanted to have them in and talk about their work.

>> Wesley Wildmon: One of my best friends just, adopted through them.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, is that right?

>> Wesley Wildmon: About a couple weeks. About two, three weeks ago. And they've had a wonderful experience and it has absolutely filled, fulfilled a prayer of theirs, because they were unable to have, anymore. So that sort of prayer for them.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, sometimes, I was kidding about my wife and I. Obviously we're far too old. We're hanging in just when we babysit our grandkids. Okay. But, there are some, you know, start parents who, who are like in their early 40s or something, and their kids are.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, grown and getting out of the house and they go, you know, let's, let's give another kid or two a chance.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And yeah, I have known people like that. Yeah, you have to. That God bless them, if you can do that.

Reports say the United States is considering taking control of Venezuela's oil industry

All right, Tim, Ed and Wesley here. We're back in studio. Or we're in studio. We never left studio, but we're back, with Fred Jackson now our news director here. And, Fred, what's the next story?

>> Fred Jackson: Well, tomorrow at the White House, there's going to be a big meeting and it follows up on what happened last weekend with the Trump administration. Our military going in and arrested, arresting, Maduro, the dictator of Venezuela. A lot of people say, okay, what next? Well, what next appears to be, that the United States would like to take control of the oil industry in Venezuela, to that point. Tomorrow there is a meeting of the, heads of the major oil companies in this country. They're going to meet at the White House. The Wall Street Journal this morning has this story, the headline, trump team works up sweeping plan to control Venezuelan Oil for years to Come. According to this, the goal is to get oil down to $50 a barrel. The plan under consideration envisions the US exerting some control over Venezuela's state run oil company, including acquiring and marketing the bulk of the company's oil production. People familiar with the matter say if successful, the plan would effectively give the US Stewardship over most of the oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere. Caroline Levitt, the White House spokesperson, had this to say about all this yesterday. Cut number 10.

>> Fred Jackson: Secretary Wright and the Department of Energy are working with the interim authorities and also with the private oil industry to execute, on this historic energy deal that's not only good for the United States, but it's also going to revive the prosperity, the safety, the security of both the United States and Venezuela as well. They are absolutely eager to invest, they're eager about these opportunities. and Secretary Wright is a very well knowledgeable guy when it comes to oil and energy.

>> Tim Wildmon: well, that's very interesting. so we, the United States are taking over the oil. to the victor go the spoils. Is that what they say, Ed?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I'm just going to say I don't like this. I, I don't, I don't think this is.

>> Tim Wildmon: You're not in, you're not invested in Exxon, and Chevron then, I guess.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No, no. I don't know.

>> Tim Wildmon: And I'll.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Seriously, am I, Yeah, I'm being serious here. I don't know how this is. I don't know how this is legal. Okay.

>> Tim Wildmon: To.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Now, if we're working in cooperation with the Venezuelan government and, and, and they say, hey, listen, you guys develop the infrastructure, we invite U.S. oil companies to come and help us do that, and we will make sure the US has oil and part of the profits go to these American companies. That's fine. I don't know how they sell.

>> Fred Jackson: That's how it's being sold by the White House.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay. All right.

>> Fred Jackson: They're working with the, new leadership there. And the sell on this plan is Venezuelans will benefit from this. They will work, with the American oil companies to bring it back to life and then have very well paying jobs.

>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, that makes me feel better. It sounded like from what was being said, pillaging, it sounded like we took out Maduro and we're taking over.

>> Fred Jackson: That would never happen. Donald Trump.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, listen, and this has nothing to do with President Donald Trump. This has to do with. We have done this before.

>> Tim Wildmon: I believe if you looked at world history, it's been done since the dawn of time.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I was gonna say it's not just us who have done this kind of thing. However, we have tried to hold up a different standard. And if we were just going in because why stop there? You know, let's just start taking over. Let's, let's invade Greenland, you know, that kind of thing. I just want, I'm happy to hear what you just said, Fred. So I, I withdraw my objection. Second time today on the show. I've withdrawn.

>> Tim Wildmon: We'll just have to wait and see what happens because we don't know what's happened. What's going to happen yet in the streets of Venezuela? Are they going to be able to govern themselves without this falling into some kind. You know, a lot of times when you take the strong man out or the dictator out, while that in itself standalone is a good thing. I mean, the world, the free world at least, and the people in that, of that region in South America, Central America, we cited the polls all over, just cheering that the brutal dictator is out. what's the, witch is dead. Ding dong, ding dong, the witch is dead.

>> Ed Vitagliano: The wicked witch is dead.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, that's the way the people feel, in that part of the world, especially in Venezuela for this guy being gone because, I mean, he was a killer.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Every family member of the church. Yeah. So my point is that, there's a vacuum oftentimes when the dictator or the strongman is taken out. And then you have to say, well, what's going to happen next? That's when you get into nation building sometimes and you don't want to do that like we tried to do in Afghanistan somewhat.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And in Libya when Muammar Gaddafi was taken out, that's essentially a failed state.

>> Tim Wildmon: Libya.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And then the Assad regime in Syria, that ended. And now you have an ISIS linked group running Syria. So yeah, you do have to be careful on that. Maduro was a bad guy.

>> Tim Wildmon: well, Trump gave him an opportunity to, yeah, ex. Go into exile and he could be living a pretty good life right now. Not in a federal prison, in, well, federal holding cell, at least up in, the state of NewSong York. Now if you go to NewSong York, I don't care who you are, your life is in danger. So I don't know if.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Whether you're in handcuffs, I don't know.

>> Tim Wildmon: If he'll come out of this alive or not if he's let loose on the streets of said city.

President and his administration meeting with oil companies to discuss Venezuela oil reserves

All right, you're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Yeah, we'll just. So the story is the president and his administration meeting with the oil companies, the American oil companies, I guess, talking about what's going to happen with the old oil reserves that they have in Venezuela. I don't know if this is on land or most. Does anybody know? Is it most of this oil on land or is it out offshore, in Venezuela?

>> Fred Jackson: I'm not. I'm not.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know.

>> Fred Jackson: I can't answer that.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, no. Anyway, All right, so, what's the next story, Fred?

Bill Asalieu is a federal district attorney in Southern California

>> Fred Jackson: All right, we've heard about the fraud investigation going on in Minnesota. Well, the Trump administration is now apparently turning its attention to California. We've heard reports about $9 billion worth of fraudulent activity. that's primarily amongst the Somali community in Minneapolis. Well, listen to this. the estimate is that we're hearing this morning $250 billion worth of fraud in California. Bill Asalieu is a federal district attorney in Southern California. He had this to say this morning on fox cut number 13.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm uniquely situated. I served in the legislature there in California before the president appointed me to be the U.S. attorney down in Los Angeles. The first thing I did was create the Homeless Fraud and Corruption Task Force. California has spent $24 billion in the last five years on homelessness. And no one can account for where that money has really gone for. so the first thing I did was set up that task force, and all we did is follow the money. We already charged millions of dollars in fraud. I can tell you more charges are coming probably as soon as this month. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Nobody has looked at the fraud in California because every level of government has been owned by the Democrats here in the state of California. California's annual budget is $300 billion. Nobody does any accountability in the state of California. When is the last time you saw an oversight hearing or you saw the attorney general indicting people for fraud? It does not happen in California. So we really don't know. So that's why the first thing I did, I said, we got to start looking at this.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, listen, the word is that President, Trump is, got, some military boats stationed off San Francisco. And the capture of Gavin Newsom is imminent. M. And he will be extradited.

>> Ed Vitagliano: By the way, since you went back to Venezuela, Maduro, for just a second, I looked up the answer to your question. Venezuelan oil resources include both onshore and offshore reserves. But I think the majority of Venezuelan oil is onshore, so it's on land.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. And they have, the most beautiful waterfalls, arguably. Arguably in the world. That the famous. I want to go there one day. Probably never will.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I wouldn't go now. You might want to.

>> Tim Wildmon: Good travel advice, Ed. So the Ed Intagliano has issued a travel advisory against going to Venezuela right now for American citizens.

>> Fred Jackson: All right.

>> Tim Wildmon: we will return. Wesley. Fred, you gone, Fred? Right. I'm gone to your office. so Steve Paisley Dordo is coming in.

>> Fred Jackson: No, no, it'll be Chris.

>> Tim Wildmon: Chris Woodward. Steve. Steve's off.

>> Fred Jackson: He's off.

>> Tim Wildmon: Off today. All right, so Chris Woodward will be with us in a minute. We'll continue looking at what's happening in our country and around the world when we get back from this short time out.

>> Fred Jackson: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.