Is there anything that would make you stop believing in America?

A person's true character emerges when they are tested. "Hard times made us". Our struggles, our hardships, our trials - these are the things that define us as people. Ask yourself, is there anything that the country could do to you to make you turn your back on the things you believe in? Could you be persecuted, imprisoned, and cast out of America's borders, yet still stand up when called upon to do your duty? On radio Tuesday morning, Glenn shared the story of a relatively unknown American hero who was asked to do just that: Charles Pomeroy Stone, the man who laid the foundation for the Statue of Liberty.

I want to tell you an American story. A story that will really take us to a place to say, who are we? Who are we as people? What is it that we really believe? What is our responsibility, and what is our duty? I want to bring this up because of what we're dealing with, with ISIS and what we're dealing with, with our economy and our belief in who we are, belief in our country.

What could possibly be done to you that would crush your belief in those principles that we have always held self-evident? What is it that could be done to you? Could your country imprison you, discredit you? Is there anything this country could do that could make you say, I no longer believe in these things?

I want to tell you a story about a guy that you might ever heard of before, but should because you know his work. His name is Charles Pomeroy Stone. He's he's really a kind of interesting guy because of what he went through in his life and what happened in his life.

He was a soldier in the Civil War. He had a -- he was a soldier in the Civil War, and he's really probably most well-known for something the Battle of Balls Bluff. It was a small engagement. But the war was going badly for the North. I don't know all the details, but there was a bad blunder, and he got the blame for it. Now, he wasn't even there. There's no evidence showing that he was even there.

"Charles P. Stone" by Unknown photographer, restored by Michel Vuijlsteke. "Charles P. Stone" by Unknown photographer, restored by Michel Vuijlsteke.

But the Republicans in Congress were looking for a scapegoat for this, and Stone was the guy because while he was a Union soldier, he was a member of the Democratic party, so he was a Democrat.

He was a Democrat because - I love this, the irony here is just so amazing - he was a Democratic because he was sympathetic to slave owners.

So he was fighting for the Union army, but he was a Democrat because he was friends of slave owners. In fact, not only had he been tolerant and courteous with his slave owners in Maryland, but he had also issued orders that fugitive slaves who were finding sanctuary within his area would have to be returned to their owners.

But he was doing his best to try to keep Maryland in the hands of Lincoln and the Union. But it really enraged the Republicans because the Republicans were rabidly antislavery.

And so here's this guy, and the battle goes poorly. Well, they need a scapegoat. And the Republicans see this guy and they say, 'you know what, let's pin it on him'. He wasn't even at the battle. 'Let's pin it on him because we can get him out. Because we don't want anyone who is sympathetic with the slave owners on our side, so let's get him out'.

Now, they did everything they could to get him out. In fact, they railroaded him. What happened is Congress established a Joint Committee on the Conduct of War, and the Republicans had control of it; and in secret proceedings, the committee gathered evidence against Stone and judged him without even hearing his defense. He didn't have a chance to even have a defense. They just deemed him guilty. Concentrated power.

So what happened next? Well, he is trying to clear his name. He finally gets a chance to speak in front of the Joint Committee. But by that time, everyone had made their own decision. So he was done. He was carried off to Fort Lafayette in New York harbor where he spent 18 months in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He had nothing to do -- he was now in prison until -- for 18 months until finally they said, 'okay, we don't really have any evidence' and and it was overturned.

But he had been so discredited, he couldn't find any work.

Now, let me throw in something else that he did.

At the same time he's being called a traitor, same time all of this stuff is happening and he's no friend of the North, even though he's in the Union Army. In late February, right before this happened, he heard a plot against Lincoln. He learned from detectives in Baltimore that rebel sympathizers planned to assassinate President Lincoln as he was coming in. As he passed through Baltimore to his inauguration ceremonies in Washington.

So Stone went and he not only warned his superiors, but he got Lincoln to change his travel plans. And then he actually posted himself next to the carriage during the inaugural parade. He supervised all of the security arrangements, which include posting riflemen at strategic locations along the parade route and had 50 armed men all around the president that nobody knew.

This is really kind of the first Secret Service operation. That's this guy.

He finds himself in prison. Wrongfully imprisoned. He gets out after 18 months, but his name has been so dragged through the mud, nobody will hire him. He is an absolute pariah. Well, he's a brilliant strategist.

Well, the French need help. The French needs help over in Egypt. Time goes by. He's got to have some work. So he goes and assists the French. He learns how to speak French. He learns how to work with the French. I mean, that's not an easy thing.

He comes back to the country years later, it's now in the late 1870s. He still can't find a job. No one wants to hire him in America. He's still a pariah.

Now, where would you stand at this point?

This started in the 1860s. It's now been 20 years. You spent almost 20 months in a prison wrongfully accused. You saw your Congress, your politicians, gather together and hold secret meetings. You weren't even allowed to present your side of the story. They so destroyed your life. You cannot have a life here.

And that's when the government come knocking at his door. It's now 1883.

The government comes knocking at his door and says, 'We need your help because a few years ago we had some boxes show up, and we don't know what the hell we're even doing with those boxes. They've been sitting in a park. We've opened them up. We've raised some money, but we don't know what we're doing and, of course, all the instructions are in French. You know how to do it. Will you help us?'

On my desk, from the office of the American Committee of the Statue of Liberty.

He says, 'Yes, I'll help you build the Statue of Liberty.'

This is a purchase order signed by him for 8,000 cubic yards of stone that need to be delivered to the wharf of Liberty Island.

Purchase order signed by Charles Pomeroy Stone for 8,000 cubic yards of stone that need to be delivered to the wharf of Liberty Island. Purchase order signed by Charles Pomeroy Stone for 8,000 cubic yards of stone that need to be delivered to the wharf of Liberty Island.

I had no idea that the guy who helped build the Statue of Liberty, who oversaw the erection of the Statue of Liberty was a guy this country maligned, wrongfully imprisoned, ran out of the country. A guy who could not find a job. But was the only guy that could actually put this together.

How ironic that the man who was friendly to slave owners, who was maligned and destroyed because he was friendly to slave owners, he was maligned and discredited and went wrongfully to prison would be the one who fastened the feet with the broken chain onto the stone that he assembled.

This is just one of the items that is being looked at now to be put into the Museum. We're doing a Museum here for two days only. Here in Dallas, Texas. Stories like this, you've never heard before.

What do clay pots have to do with to preserving American history?

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Editor's note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Why should we preserve our nation’s history? If you listen to my radio program and podcast, or read my columns and books, you know I’ve dedicated a large part of my life and finances to sourcing and preserving priceless artifacts that tell America’s story. I’ve tried to make these artifacts as available as possible through the American Journey Experience Museum, just across from the studios where I do my daily radio broadcast. Thousands of you have come through the museum and have been able to see and experience these artifacts that are a part of your legacy as an American.

The destruction of American texts has already begun.

But why should people like you and me be concerned about preserving these things from our nation's history? Isn’t that what the “big guys” like the National Archives are for?

I first felt a prompting to preserve our nation's history back in 2008, and it all started with clay pots and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 1946, a Bedouin shepherd in what is now the West Bank threw a rock into a cave nestled into the side of a cliff near the Dead Sea. Instead of hearing an echo, he heard the curious sound of a clay pot shattering. He discovered more than 15,000 Masoretic texts from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D.

These texts weren’t just a priceless historical discovery. They were virtually perfect copies of the same Jewish texts that continue to be translated today. Consider the significance of that discovery. Since the third century B.C. when these texts were first written, the Jewish people have endured a continued onslaught of diasporas, persecutions, pressures to conform to their occupying power, the destruction of their temple, and so much more. They had to fight for their identity as a people for centuries, and finally, a year after the end of the Holocaust and a year before the founding of the nation of Israel, these texts were discovered, confirming the preservation and endurance of their heritage since ancient times — all due to someone putting these clay pots in a desert cave more than 2,000 years ago.

I first felt a prompting to preserve our nation's history back in 2008, and it all started with clay pots and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

So, what do these clay pots have to do with the calling to preserve American history? I didn’t understand that prompting myself until the horrible thought dawned on me that the people we are fighting against may very well take our sacred American scriptures, our Declaration of Independence, and our Bill of Rights. What if they are successful, and 1,000 years from now, we have no texts preserved to confirm our national identity? What kind of new history would be written over the truth?

The destruction of American texts has already begun. The National Archives has labeled some of our critical documents, like our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, as “triggering” or “containing harmful language.” In a public statement, the National Archives said that the labels help prepare readers to view potentially distressing content:

The Catalog and web pages contain some content that may be harmful or difficult to view. NARA’s records span the history of the United States, and it is our charge to preserve and make available these historical records. As a result, some of the materials presented here may reflect outdated, biased, offensive, and possibly violent views and opinions. In addition, some of the materials may relate to violent or graphic events and are preserved for their historical significance.

According to this statement, our founding documents are either “outdated, biased, offensive,” “possibly violent,” or a combination of these scathing descriptions. I’m sorry, the Declaration of Independence is not “triggering.” Our Constitution is not “outdated and biased,” and our Bill of Rights certainly is not “offensive and possibly violent.” They are glorious documents. They should be celebrated, not qualified by such derogatory, absurd language. Shame on them.

These are only the beginning stages of rewriting our history. What if they start banning these “triggering” documents from public view because they might offend somebody? Haven’t we torn down “triggering” statues before? What if we are no longer able to see, read, and study the actual words of our nation's founding documents because they are “harmful” or “possibly violent”? A thousand years from now, will there be any remnant to piece together the true spirit behind the nation that our founders envisioned?

The Declaration of Independence is not “triggering.”

That is why in 2008, I was prompted to preserve what I could. Now, the American Journey Experience Museum includes more than 160,000 artifacts, from founding-era documents to the original Roe v. Wade court papers. We need to preserve the totality of our nation’s heritage, the good, the bad, and the ugly. We need to preserve our history in our own clay pots.

I ask you to join with me on this mission. Start buying books that are important to preserve. Buy some acid-free paper and start printing some of the founding documents, the reports that go against the mainstream narrative, the studies that prove what is true as we are continually being fed lies. Start preserving our daily history as well as our history because it is being rewritten and digitized.

Somebody must have a copy of what is happening now and what has happened in the past. I hope things don’t get really bad. But if they do, we need to preserve our heritage. Perhaps, someone 1,000 years from now will discover our clay pots and, Lord willing, be able to have a glimpse of America as it truly was.

Top 10 WORST items in the new $1.2 TRILLION spending bill

Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Images

Biden just signed the newest spending bill into law, and Glenn is furious.

Under Speaker Johnson's leadership, the whopping $1.2 TRILLION package will use your taxpayer dollars to fund the government through September. Of course, the bill is loaded with earmarks and pork that diverts money to fund all sorts of absurd side projects.

Here is the list of the ten WORST uses of taxpayer money in the recently passed spending bill:

Funding venues to host drag shows, including ones that target children

David McNew / Contributor | Getty Images

Money for transgender underwear for kids

Funding for proms for 12 to 18 year old kids

Bethany Clarke / Stringer | Getty Images

Border security funding... for Jordan and Egypt

Another $300 million for Ukraine

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

$3.5 million for Detroit's annual Thanksgiving Day parade

Icon Sportswire / Contributor | Getty Images

$2.5 million for a new kayaking facility in Franklin, New Hampshire

Acey Harper / Contributor | Getty Images

$2.7 million for a bike park in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, a town with a population of less than 2,300 people

$5 million for a new trail at Coastal Carolina University

$4 million the "Alaska King Crab Enhancement Project" (whatever that means)

FRED TANNEAU / Stringer | Getty Images

There is no doubt about it—we are entering dark times.

The November presidential election is only a few months away, and following the chaos of the 2020 election, the American people are bracing for what is likely to be another tumultuous election year. The left's anti-Trump rhetoric is reaching an all-time high with the most recent "Bloodbath" debacle proving how far the media will go to smear the former president. That's not to mention the Democrats' nearly four-year-long authoritarian attempt to jail President Trump or stop his re-election by any means necessary, even if it flies in the face of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Biden is doing worse than ever. He reportedly threw a tantrum recently after being informed that his polls have reached an all-time low. After Special Counsel Robert Hur's report expressed concerns over Biden's obviously failing mental agility, it's getting harder for the Democrats to defend him. Yet he is still the Democratic nominee for November, promising another 4 years of catastrophic policies, from the border to heavy-handed taxation, should he be reelected.

The rest of the world isn't doing much better. The war in Ukraine has no clear end in sight, drawing NATO and Russia closer and closer to conflict. The war in Gaza is showing no sign of slowing down, and as Glenn revealed recently, its continuation may be a sign that the end times are near.

One thing is clear: we are living in uncertain times. If you and your family haven't prepared for the worst, now is the time. You can start by downloading "Glenn's Ultimate Guide to Getting Prepared." Be sure to print off a copy or two. If the recent cell outage proved anything, it's that technology is unreliable in survival situations. You can check your list of supplies against our "Ultimate Prepper Checklist for Beginners," which you can find below:

Food

  • Canned food/non-perishable foods
  • Food preparation tools
  • Go to the next level: garden/livestock/food production

Water

  • Non-perishable water store
  • Water purification
  • Independent water source

Shelter

  • Fireplace with a wood supply
  • Tent
  • Generator with fuel supply
  • Go to the next level: fallout shelter

Money

  • Emergency cash savings
  • Precious metals

Medicine

  • Extra blankets
  • Basic first aid
  • Extra prescriptions
  • Extra glasses
  • Toiletries store
  • Trauma kit
  • Antibiotics
  • Basic surgery supplies
  • Potassium Iodate tablets

Transportation

  • Bicycle
  • Car
  • Extra fuel

Information

  • Birth certificates
  • Insurance cards
  • Marriage license
  • Immunization records
  • Mortgage paperwork
  • Car title and registration
  • House keys, car keys
  • Passports
  • Family emergency plan
  • Prepping/survival/repair manuals
  • Go to the next level: copy of the Bible, the U.S. Constitution, and other important books/sources

Skills

  • Cooking
  • Gardening
  • Sewing
  • First Aid
  • Basic maintenance skills
  • Go to the next level: farming/ranching
  • Self-defense training

Communication

  • Family contact information and addresses
  • HAM radio

Miscellaneous

  • Flashlights and batteries
  • Lamps and fuel
  • Hardware (tools, nails, lumber, etc)
  • Extra clothes
  • Extreme weather clothes and gear
  • Gas masks and filters
  • Spare parts for any machinery/equipment

Is Trump's prosecution NORMAL?  This COMPLETE list of ALL Western leaders who served jail time proves otherwise.

PhotoQuest / Contributor, The Washington Post / Contributor, Win McNamee / Staff | Getty Images

Mainstream media is on a crusade to normalize Donald Trump's indictments as if it's on par with the electoral course. Glenn asked his team to research every instance of a Western leader who was jailed during their political career over the past 200 years—except extreme political turmoil like the French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Irish Revolution, etc.—and what we discovered was quite the opposite.

Imprisoning a leader or major political opponent is not normal, neither in the U.S. nor in the Western world. Within the last 200 years, there are only a handful of examples of leaders in the West serving jail time, and these men were not imprisoned under normal conditions. All of these men were jailed under extreme circumstances during times of great peril such as the Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War.

What does this mean for America? Are Trump's indictments evidence that we are re-entering times of great peril? Below is a list of Western leaders who were imprisoned within the last 200 years. Take a look and decide for yourself:

Late 1800s

The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

Jefferson Davis: The nearest occurrence to a U.S. President to serve jail time was in the case of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America. Jefferson was captured in Georgia by Northern Soldiers in 1865 and locked up in Fort Monroe, Virginia for two years. He was offered a presidential pardon but refused out of his loyalty to the confederacy.

Early 1900s

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Eugene V. Debs: Debbs, a Midwestern socialist leader, became the first person to run for president in prison. He was locked up at a federal penitentiary in Atlanta having been convicted under the federal Sedition Act for giving an antiwar speech a few months before Armistice Day, the end of World War I. Many of his supporters believed his imprisonment to be unjust. Debs received 897,704 votes and was a distant third-part candidate behind Warren G. Harding, the Republican winner, and James M. Cox, the second-place Democrat. Harding ordered Debs’s release from prison toward the end of 1921.

Nazi sympathizers and collaborators: After the end of World War II in 1945, several European leaders who had "led" their countries during the Nazi occupation faced trial and imprisonment for treason. This list included Chief of the French State Philippe Pétain, French Prime Minister Pierre Laval, and Minister-President of Norway Vidkun Quisling. The latter two were also executed after their imprisonment. President of Finland Risto Ryti and Prime Minister of Finland Johan Wilhelm Rangell were also tried and jailed for collaborating with the Nazis against the Allied Powers.

Late 1900s

The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

The end of the Cold War: The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was one of the pivotal moments that brought the Cold War to a close and marked the end of Communist East Germany. With the fall of the wall and the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), the former leaders were brought to trial to answer for the crimes committed by the GDR. General Secretary Erich Honecker and General Secretary Egon Krenz were both put on trial for abuse of power and the deaths of those who were shot trying to flee into West Germany. Honecker was charged with jail time but was released from custody due to severe illness and lived out the rest of his life as an exile in Chile. Krenz served 4 years in jail before his release in 2001. He is one of the last surviving leaders of the Eastern Bloc.

Lyndon LaRouche: Larouche was a Trotsky evangelist, public antisemite, and founder of a nationwide Marxist political movement, became the second person in U.S. history to run for President in a prison cell. Granted, he ran in every election from 1976 to 2004 as a long-shot third-party candidate. When he tried to gain the Democratic presidential nomination, he received 5 percent of the total nationwide vote. Even though in 2000 he received enough primary votes to qualify for delegates in a few states, the Democratic National Committee refused to seat his delegates and barred LaRouche from attending the Democratic National Convention.