Crosstalk America

Episode

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  News Roundup and Comment 18.09.2026 53mnt

  The following stories highlight this edition of the Friday News Round-Up: --The Iranian government organized a massive rally in Tehran in an attempt to stress national unity during the war against the U.S. --An Iranian nuclear official declared that Iran has sufficient cards and options available despite its nuclear program facing pressure from the U.S. during Operation Epic Fury. --The U.K. Maritime Trade Operation Center said in a report that commercial shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily reduced. --The Saudi's are facing a potential energy crisis after an attack knocked out much of its critical East/West oil pipeline. --A building housing displaced Palestinian families collapsed in Gaza City Wednesday killing at least 20 people. --A funeral for Muhammad Abdul Saman Al-Yazouri, commander of Hamas' Kahn Younis brigade, erupted in chants threatening Israel and openly declaring that another October 7th attack would come. --The Trump administration is preparing a 2.8 billion dollar arms package for Israel, including several thousand 2,000 pound bombs in what could be the largest single U.S. sale of powerful munitions to Israel in recent years. --The House on Tuesday voted to approve a measure that would require President Trump to end the war with Iran --The U.S. military planned to completely withdraw from Iraq by the end of the month. --The U.S. military moved a step closer this week to acquiring a significant fleet of artificial intelligence enabled, pilotless fighter jets to fly right alongside human pilots in combat.
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  Marx & Moody 17.09.2026 53mnt

  Dr. Erwin Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church where he served as the Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is the speaker on the Running to Win radio broadcast. Dr. Lutzer is an award-winning author. Some of his titles include We Will Not Be Silenced, The Eclipse of God, When a Nation Forgets God, One Minute After You Die and many others. Dr. Lutzer is with us today discussing his newest book which he co-authored with Dr. Gregg Quiggle titled Marx and Moody: Two Contemporaries. Two Gospels. Two Tombstones. One Choice. These two names are the epitome of a contrast: Karl Marx and D.L. Moody. The contrasts between these men could not be greater. They made similar promises, promises of freedom and a better world. Yet the lessons they left behind are as divergent as night and day. One sought to liberate people but ultimately enslaved them. The other preached forgiveness from sin and set people free. It's important for you to listen intently today because the worldviews those two represented many decades ago are at full play in our present society.
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  Will Islam & Catholicism Unite Toward a Global Religion? 16.09.2026 53mnt

  This past June, Catholic Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit attended the grand opening of a mosque and the new headquarters of the Islamic Institute of America. Not only did he praise the building, but he also said that Muslims and Catholics worship the same God. He said he felt a "divine presence" as soon as he arrived at the mosque. He also offered a prayer that this Islamic Center will bring all of humanity "into a deeper communion with our one god." He said "We are members of the same human family. All churches, all mosques, all synagogues, all places where God reaches out and touches with his finger are sacred." Also this past June in Milan, Italy, a Catholic parish set aside space for young Muslims to engage in Islamic prayers during their summer program. One priest defended this by saying that Christians and Muslims "pray to the same God. A priest there said, "I imagine the prayer could conclude with the Islamic formula Bismillah, which invokes the name of God, the compassionate and merciful." He said, "It is always better to help young people to pray: we pray to the same God, certainly within different religious traditions. And recognizing the other's identity is in the spirit of the Gospel." It's been reported that a Muslim prayer room has been set up in the heart of the Vatican City's 500-year-old library. Islamic scholars visiting the Vatican Apostolic Library had requested a room with "a carpet to pray on" and staff heeded their request. Join us as we discuss the question, "Will Islam & Catholicism Unite Toward a Global Religion?" Our guest is Mike Gendron of ProclaimingtheGospel.org.
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  Dangerous Advancement of AI Pt. 2 15.09.2026 53mnt

  Without question, AI has been developing at lightning speed. AI leaders have warned of safety dangers and are advocating for guardrails. President Trump has said those warnings are a "sick conspiracy" and is opposed to the guardrails as he sees the United States being at risk due to China's advancement. Meanwhile, there are concerns over the dangerous advancement of AI. There are concerns that AI will be used to design new viruses. Humans are having romantic relationships and conversations with AI. AI is producing explicit sexual materials even of minor children. Just two weeks ago, a federal appeals judge in Wisconsin ruled the 1st Amendment protects a person's right to privately possess child sexual abuse material created using AI as long as it does not depict a real person and stays at home. In California, a father indicates AI turned itself into a confidant for his 16-year old son, and then became a suicide coach. In another case, a young teenager used ChatGPT for Murder Fantasies before taking the life of his mother and his brother. Criminals are using AI to advance their fraud. Keep in mind the Apostle Paul warned Timothy about the perilous times in the last days and warned in II Timothy 3:13, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. With President Trump believing that AI must keep moving forward and some AI experts calling for guardrails to be set up, who's right? What does AI itself say about its own consequences? What is the ultimate end of AI? Is this all about immortality and mankind taking the place of God? What do we know about the romantic relationships some people are having with AI?
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  Dangerous Advancement of AI Pt. 1 14.09.2026 53mnt

  Dr. Richard Schmidt is pastor of Union Grove Baptist Church and founder of Prophecy Focus Ministries. He is the speaker on the weekly TV program, Prophecy Focus and the radio broadcast, Prophecy Unfolding. He spent 32 years in law enforcement. He's authored several books including: Globalism: The Great World Consumption and Artificial Intelligence: Transhumanism & the De-Evolution of Democracy. The rapid advancement of AI has been staggering and is proving itself to be dangerous. Human data centers are being replaced by robots. Humans are even having romantic relationships and conversations with AI. AI is producing explicit sexual materials even of minor children. A young teenager used ChatGPT for murder fantasies before taking the life of his mother and his brother. Criminals are using AI to advance their fraud. It's reported that Chinese companies are stealing AI Tech on an "Industrial Scale." AI has been discovered going rogue...even causing its own attacks on other systems. It's as if it's thinking for itself. Researchers are now saying that AI has more than a 10% chance of killing all humans. One such researcher indicated it could kill everyone by the end of the decade. Where is this all headed? Does the cry from scientists and the media that "The sky is falling!" with respect to AI comport with Scripture? Find out on part-one of this critical Crosstalk discussion. More Information: Artificial Intelligence: Transhumanism & The De- Evolution of Democracy by Richard Schmidt is available for a donation of $18. Go to vcy.org or call 1-800-729- 9829. prophecyfocus.org
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  Remembering 9/11 - 25 Years Later 11.09.2026 52mnt

  Today marks the 25th Anniversary of 9/11, the day in which 19 individuals, each following the ideology of Islam, brought terrorism to the United States of America. 2,977 lives were taken. People were going about their day--getting up, going to work, involved in meetings--when terror struck. First it was American Airlines Flight 11 that hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. 17 minutes later American Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower. These were airliners fully fueled. Then American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. We aired the testimony on Crosstalk of Lieutenant Colonel Brian Birdwell who spoke at a VCY Rally. He was the only survivor of the Pentagon's E-Ring between corridors 4 and 5 which was directly in the path of Flight 77. Another airliner, United Airlines Flight 93, was also overpowered by Islamic terrorists. It was believed that the intended target was the White House. Aboard that flight was a man by the name of Todd Beamer. Todd used the Airfone to make a call. The person taking that call was Lisa Jefferson. 20 years ago on Crosstalk, nearing the 5th anniversary of 9/11, Jim interviewed Lisa, who went from being GTE Airfone supervisor, suburban wife and mother to being the listening ear to a nation shattered by tragedy. She tells the gripping account of 9/11 from her vantage point, recalling the moment when she took the call from Todd Beamer aboard United Airlines Flight 93 and when she heard the immortal words, "Let's Roll." We've gone back into the archives and have pulled out excerpts from that Crosstalk program, which was originally broadcast on August 14, 2006.
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  Trial by Fire 10.09.2026 53mnt

  For those of you who remember September 11th, 2001, where were you and what were you doing when you learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? While many were in complete disbelief, one individual was experiencing the horror of that day in the most intense way possible. On that day, Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell was at the Pentagon working at his desk, when American Airlines Flight 77 collided into the building just a few feet away from his 2nd story office. Burns consumed 2/3 of his body, and most of those were 3rd degree burns. After 92 days in the hospital and more than 39 surgeries, Lt. Col. Birdwell was on his way to a Christ glorifying recovery that he describes on this program, originating with his appearance at a VCY America Rally in March of 2005. He explains how God spared his life and prepared him and his wife for a new direction in ministry.
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  UN Pressures Countries for Action 09.09.2026 53mnt

  Paul Dragu is senior editor at The New American. He's an award winning reporter and host of The New American Daily. He is writer of Defector: A True Story of Tyranny, Liberty and Purpose. Increasing pressure is coming from the United Nations on countries around the world. They are fully vested in seeing Agenda 2030 fulfill its intended goals. It's they who want control and are targeting national sovereignty. It's they who want to call the shots on food, healthcare, gender equality, energy, housing, education and the list goes on. Of recent, the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination published a document calling for immediate "financial compensation, educational initiatives and institutional reforms to remedy what they refer to as the harms that persist today as a result of the transatlantic slave trade." Additionally, the UN is demanding immediate action be taken by the nations of the world as it pertains to so-called climate change. If the U.N. is "designed to be the nervous center of a world government" we shouldn't be surprised at Paul's conclusion, that the U.N. wants a complete overhaul of society. This includes micromanaging us, which involves cooperation between corporations and government as well as cooperation between individual governments. More Information: thenewamerican.com
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  Christianity Targeted by Court 08.09.2026 53mnt

  Imagine being 13 years old and told by a court that you cannot go to church, you cannot associate with your Christian friends, you cannot celebrate Christmas or Easter, and you cannot even read the Bible! If you think this is about Communist China today or perhaps even North Korea, think again. Join Jim Schneider and Mat Staver as they examine the details concerning a case (Bickford v. Bradeen) related to a girl named Ava in the state of Maine. Ava loves going to church. She misses her friends. She wants to worship with her mother. She wants to hear the Word of God, but the Supreme Judicial Court in Maine has told her NO. Commenting on this case Mat said, "In my 39 years of practicing law, I have never seen anything like this case." As a result, he will be taking this case to the United States Supreme Court.
 Other legal issues were discussed and listeners brought their thoughts to the discussion as well. More Information: LC.org
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  The Quest for Depopulation 07.09.2026 53mnt

  Alex Newman is an award-winning international freelance journalist, author, researcher, educator and consultant.  He is senior editor for The New American.  He is founder and CEO of Liberty Sentinel and a national syndicator of radio and TV programs including Behind the Deep State which airs on WVCY Television (Milwaukee, WI) and VCY.TV.  He's authored or co-authored numerous articles and books including: Indoctrinating Our Children to Death and Woke and Weaponized: How Karl Marx Won the Battle for American Education and How We Can Win it Back.
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  News Roundup and Comment 04.09.2026 53mnt

  Below are headlines from the first quarter hour of this week's broadcast. There's much more to follow when you listen in, including response from listeners. --The Trump administration has confirmed that a new oil company will drill across more than a dozen oil fields in Venezuela and the administration will take a 35% equity stake in that new company. --Five energy companies have now signed deals with Venezuela to rapidly increase oil and gas drilling with some new wells expected to begin as soon as this week. --Iran attacked American military positions across the Middle East Wednesday after the U.S. carried out its largest strikes against the Islamic republic since July, raising fears that the six month conflict is returning to full scale, regional warfare. --Iranian hackers are relentlessly trying to get into U.S. critical infrastructure. --More than a half-dozen commissaries on military bases in the continental U.S. reported refrigeration outages this week. --Russia has been secretly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles capable of threatening U.S. aircraft carriers and other warships in the Middle East. --Tuesday, Israeli forces captured a senior Hamas official during an operation to remove threats in the northern Gaza Strip. --Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Iran that should Tehran attack the country, Israel will respond with retaliatory strikes targeting energy and other infrastructure. --Israel Defense Forces said yesterday it had completed clearing a strategic Hezbollah underground facility in southern Lebanon, preparing the tunnel complex for demolition.
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  Pro-abortion Firebombers Linked to International ANTIFA Plot 03.09.2026 53mnt

  Reverend James Harden is president and CEO of CompassCare Pregnancy Services in New York. They are saving lives in places like Buffalo, Rochester, Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island, New York. He's a dedicated pro-life advocate that became a victim of an ANTIFA off-shoot's firebomb attack in 2022 in wake of the Dobbs decision. Last week, the U.S. State Department and the Treasury Department corroborated key findings that Rev. Harden has advanced since his pro-life center was firebombed in 2022. It was discovered that Jane's Revenge is basically a front-group for an international Marxist insurgency known as ANTIFA. This was learned only because CompassCare had to hire private investigators to do the job that the Biden era FBI and DOJ refused to do. According to Reverend Harden, ANTIFA stands for "anti-facism." However, the definition of facism that they employ is based on a Marxist one. In other words, they're anti-capitalist and anti-free market, but they're also atheistic with the ultimate goal of destroying the current nation-state system. So what does this have to do with abortion? Reverend Harden noted that ANTIFA doesn't actually care about left-wing causes, but they do like to "piggyback" off of them. One of those causes is abortion. They will use this debate to "gin up the grassroots base and then engage in what they call direct action targeting to destabilize society." The result of their efforts has been a "prairie fire of violence against pro-life Christian pregnancy centers and churches."
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  Flock Cameras & Data Centers: Any Concerns? 02.09.2026 53mnt

  Tom Deweese is president of American Policy Center. Tom is one of the nation's leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education, American sovereignty and independence and protecting our constitutionally guaranteed rights. A growing concern is building across the country about the use and the abuse of Flock camera systems. From small towns to large metropolitan areas, the public is increasingly becoming aware of the growing use of these cameras and that their whereabouts are being tracked through the license plate reader system. As such, some communities are putting bags over the cameras to keep them from capturing images. Some states and communities are placing restrictions on them, while others are removing all Flock cameras from state roads. The next area of concern surrounds the growing number of data centers to facilitate the storing of your contacts, photos, text messages, emails, financial reports and anything you will put in the cloud. In some places electric rates are skyrocketing. In other communities the power of eminent domain is being used to take people's property for the establishment of data centers. Are these two, unconnected issues or is there something larger that's building before our eyes? You decide when you review this broadcast which features plenty of input from listeners as well.
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  The Systematic Advancement of Islam in the U.S. 01.09.2026 53mnt

  Usama Dakdok is the founder of the Straight Way of Grace Ministry. He's the speaker on Revealing the Truth About Islam and founder of The Straight Way of Grace Ministry. Usama speaks fluent Arabic and has translated the Qur'an in English. He is the author of Exposing the Truth About the Qur'an and Exposing the Truth About Jihad as well as the booklets, The Violent Truth About Islam and The Straight Way to Eternal Life. JihadWatch recently reported that "Islamic organizers are advancing a nationwide plan to back Muslim and other Islamic-friendly candidates with financing from a potential political war chest of more than $140 million a year in mosque and other donations from the swelling Muslim-American community." Indeed there is a surge of Islamic candidates representing Islamic interests as the Islamification of the United States is underway. Communities across the country are in controversy regarding the establishment of more mosques and Islamic Centers. It's important to listen to what Muslims are saying such as Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a former vice president of the Islamic Society of North America. He said: "Democracy will crumble, and there will be nothing, and the only thing that will remain will be Islam." He went on to say: "Muslims in America are the most strategic Muslims on Earth. If you get involved in politics, you have to be very careful that your leader is for Allah. You don't get involved in politics because it's the American thing to do. You get involved in politics because politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.
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  Faithful Church Ministry in Turbulent Times 31.08.2026 53mnt

  Pastor Wayne Van Gelderen, Jr., is senior pastor at Falls Baptist Church in Menomonee Falls. Under his leadership, several hundred members have been trained to serve the Lord and are engaged in ministry. He also started Falls Baptist Academy High School and Baptist College of Ministry & Theological Seminary to train the next generation of laborers for the harvest field. He's the speaker on the radio broadcasts, The Bible Stands and On to Victory, and this week is celebrating 40 years of ministry on VCY and also at this church. At VCY America, our main purpose in bringing glory to God, is "to serve as a resource for and extension of the Church of Jesus Christ, God's chosen agency, partnering with local churches in reaching the lost, edifying the body of Christ, and advancing the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by every biblically legitimate and effective means." God ordained the establishment, the work and the ministry of the local church. Many times on our Friday News Roundup we have stated that the Lord's Day is coming and trust you'll be in a Bible-believing, Bible teaching local church. It's important we do that even as the writer of Hebrews stated, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Indeed, believers in Christ are to come together in worship and glorifying God, in using the talents and gifts He has blessed us with, in encouraging believers, and in giving to support the ministry and outreach of the church.
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  News Round Up and Comment 28.08.2026 53mnt

  The news of the week, collected for you and viewed from a Christian perspective. It's the News Round-Up & Comment broadcast. Here's a sample of what was featured this week: --The World Council of Religious Leaders is meeting in New York City this weekend. --A Birmingham, Alabama, Methodist female church pastor excoriated the authority of the Bible, claiming it's full of mistakes and contradictions. --The FBI has arrested an Ohio man after he allegedly made explicit threats against a Jewish republican congressman and against President Trump. --The FBI has taken a dangerous madman off the streets who wanted to kill President Trump. The man raged on TikTok that leftists have no choice but to grab guns, rush the White House with the intention of killing the president and the entire Secret Service. --Due to a landslide, people raced to escape a 20 foot wall of water in Nepal. Hundreds have been killed. --Nurse N'kiyla Jasmine Thomas was victorious in the Democratic Senate Primary runoff in Oklahoma, carrying yet another win for the Democratic Socialist wing of the party. --One of the Democratic Socialists most dangerous proposals involves a national wealth registry. This involves a centralized government database containing information about how much you own, what you are worth and every asset you possess. It's all in the name of taxing the wealthy. --Florida is becoming the first state to impose sweeping new limits on how welfare cash can be spent. --Florida students, including kindergartners, must receive anti-communism education under a bill signed by Governor DeSantis. --President Trump signs executive order directing Lake Ontario be renamed
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  Surgeon General’s Warning on the Harms of Screen Use 26.08.2026 53mnt

  Bonnie Gasper is the chairman of Child Protection League. They educate the public and expose issues that harm children in our schools and in our culture. Through the years, the U.S. Surgeon General has issued various warnings and advisories. Perhaps the one we're most familiar with is the one on the use of tobacco and nicotine. The Surgeon General has also listed a warning on opioids along with addiction and substance abuse. In more recent years such as 2021, we saw a warning on youth mental health, a warning in 2023 on "Social Media and Youth Mental Health," and another warning that year on "Loneliness and Social Isolation." In 2024 there was a warning on "Parents' Mental Health and Well-Being," in 2025 it was a warning on "Alcohol and Cancer Risk," and now in 2026 a "Warning on the Harms of Screen use." In this latest report, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy, Jr. indicated that, "...while screen use can have some benefits, the evidence of a range of risks to children's overall mental and physical health is mounting. These negative outcomes are related to harmful use, including use by children with vulnerable medical conditions, along with the ubiquity of devices and features deliberately built into many tech platforms to promote 'engagement,' a positive sounding word that, for too many young people, is a path to addiction-like behavior." This broadcast looks more specifically at the numerous facets of this topic that Kennedy pointed to . For example, Bonnie mentioned how today's modern devices promote "skimming." This motivates users not to deeper learning, but instead to rely on simply looking things up on the internet.
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  Combatting Biblical Illiteracy 25.08.2026 53mnt

  In many nations around the world, people are longing for the Scriptures. Many nations have forbidden the Bible and it's a crime to possess a copy or to even have a Bible app on one's phone. Here in the United States, the Scriptures are readily available, Bibles are plentiful, and you can go to many bookstores or chain retail stores and obtain a copy. But amidst this land of plenty there is actually a spiritual famine in the land which has resulted in great biblical illiteracy. Jesus says in Luke 6:46, "And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" But friends how can we do what God wants if we neglect His Word? An important question must be asked at this point: "When was the last time you read from the Bible?" Some of you can readily say, "I did so this morning," or "I did so last night." Others may say, "Well, I listened to my pastor read it this past Sunday. Does that count?" Yet others, if you're being truthful will say, "Jim, it's been a long time." At the same time, many have fallen into the habit of no longer carrying a Bible to church. Some folks just pull out their phones and there it is. Yet, their minds get distracted as a text, an appointment reminder, or a news bulletin comes in. Dr. Woodrow Kroll, the former Bible teacher at Back to the Bible once said, "I remind you that God wrote a Book; and He only wrote one. I wonder what we'll say to Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ if He asks us, "Did you read My Book? I mean one time in your entire life did you read My whole Book?"
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  Punished for Praying in Jesus Name 24.08.2026 53mnt

  Chaplin Gordon James Klingenschmidt is a former elected Colorado State Representative and also a TV show host. He served honorably as a 20-year veteran who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Political Science and made national headlines as the former Navy Chaplain who dared to pray "in Jesus' name." He is an ordained minister with an earned PhD in Theology, and founded the Pray in Jesus' Name Project. It was 20 years ago on Crosstalk when we first introduced you to Chaplain Klingenschmidt, who came under attack by a commander who punished him in writing on three occasions because he dared to quote Bible verses in church that claim Jesus is the way to heaven. He was downgraded in his evaluations for praying "in Jesus' name" on the ship's microphone, for obtaining Kosher meals for a Jewish sailor, and for refusing to support mandatory attendance quotas for a homosexual church. He was told repeatedly to stop praying in Jesus' name. This left him with a choice; to deny Jesus Christ or to take a stand. He chose to take a stand which cost him his career and related pension. He is now reaching out to President Trump seeking a presidential pardon that could reinstate him to the military for one day so that he can retire and have his pension and back pay restored. Don't miss this opportunity to hear his testimony and learn how these 20 years later, you can push this effort, as Chaplain Klingenschmidt put it, "across the finish line." More Information Resources to help you intervene for Chaplain Klingenschmidt: White House Comment Line—202-456-1111 The Pentagon--703-571-3343 prayinjesusname.org
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  News roundup and comment 21.08.2026 53mnt

  Here are some headlines that were presented during the first quarter hour: --FBI Director Kash Patel announced yesterday that his bureau has arrested a woman who was allegedly planning to bomb the New York State capitol in Albany in an ISIS inspired attack. --An Illinois Islamic scholar indicated he wants Islamic believers at all levels of our government. --A pastor accuses Dearborn, Michigan, of operating under Sharia. --In an official state proclamation, Josh Stein, North Carolina governor, seems to communicate that citizens should celebrate Ramadan. --A Pakistani cleric who admitted he forced his 13 year old niece into marriage will no longer appear at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention. --Islamic state terrorists have claimed the killing of at least 130 Christians in three weeks of violence across Ituri Province, north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. --President Trump vowed Wednesday to conduct the most crushing economic operation ever taken against the Iranian regime amid the frustration that the two nations have failed to reach a deal to end their war that began in late February. --The United Arab Emirates suspended all trade with Iran Wednesday after the UAE said it had come under renewed fire from the country. --President Trump's administration plans to prevent Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from traveling to New York next month to speak before the United Nations General Assembly. --Nuclear material has been discovered in Syria and placed under International Atomic Energy Agency oversight.