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The most powerful gift you can give a soldier

November 30, 2012
Wilson

Writer

Glenn interviewed Rose Tennent of Quinn and Rose fame about her book titled Thanking Our Soldiers, a compilation of letters from her radio listeners of inspirational stories that demonstrate some of the best ways we can thank our men and women who serve in the military.

Transcript of interview below:
GLENN: We have Rose Tennent on here with us. She is from Quinn and Rose mornings here in Pittsburgh and you guys, I just did an interview with you guys a few minutes ago and do a lot of interviews with a lot of radio people, as you can imagine, and you guys are two of the best morning people on the air in the country. You get it like nobody else gets it. You are really great.

TENNENT: What a compliment coming from you because we really have tremendous respect for you and what you're doing.

GLENN: Thank you very much. You wrote the book Thanking Our Soldiers: Random Acts of Gratitude and Generosity Towards Members of the Military and I wanted to talk to you about it because I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. This is just, these are letters sent to you saying this is what I did.

TENNENT: Right. I started a segment on this show and you know how things like that can just snowball, right?

GLENN: Right.

TENNENT: And I was talking, and I never talk about things that I do, if I gave to someone or ‑‑ I like to do that in private.

GLENN: Private.

TENNENT: But there was a particular story that I had to share with the audience because I thought it was humorous but at one time I was at one of my favorite restaurants and I saw two or three service guys being led to the back room and I thought, you know what, I'm going to pay for their lunch. I've done it before. So I told their waitress that. And she kept coming back to my table and asking me, are you sure you want to do this, are you positive. And I didn't understand why she kept asking that question and I assured her, "Yes, just give me the check when they're done." Well, it turns out that those two or three guys were being led back to a group of 15 other servicemen and women that I didn't know about. So it was a pretty hefty tab. So I just, I told the story simply because I thought it was amusing. But once I told that story, I started to receiving e‑mails and letters from our listeners telling me what they've done to thank a soldier and it became a regular part of the show, or segment.

GLENN: Give me the more unusual. What's the most common and what's the most unusual?

TENNENT: The most common is picking up a tab.

GLENN: Right.

TENNENT: And the most unusual, I thought this was very clever. A woman would drive the same route to work every day. And she actually worked in her own community. So at one point she noticed that at the four‑way intersection a home right there at the intersection had a large sign that said, "Welcome back from Afghanistan." And she thought, "You know what? I don't know those people but they're in my community. So she wrote a thank you note to them and she put in a little gift to them. But you don't even need to do that. She said, "Thank you for your service. You don't know me but you are taking ‑‑ you are protecting my freedoms. You are preserving my freedoms. You are making a sacrifice for me and my family. So you need to know about me."

GLENN: You weren't connected with people who are grateful for, as we are, grateful for our military. What has been the reaction here in Pittsburgh with people on Benghazi, that we let four guys die?

TENNENT: It's astounding, isn't it? I mean, this is ‑‑ that's why I love this book because while our government doesn't seem to have the back of those who serve and protect us, we need to make sure we have their back. But I've got to tell you something about Benghazi. I was having my hair done and I asked the girl that was washing my hair, what do you think about Benghazi? She goes, "I don't know who he is."

GLENN: Which reminds me, More‑On Trivia is coming up in about 25 minutes.

TENNENT: That's true.

GLENN: We had the More‑On Trivia, what was it, a couple of weeks ago where we talked about Benghazi?

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: And that was, somebody said somebody at Wal‑Mart.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: That's who Benghazi is, somebody at Wal‑Mart.

TENNENT: Oh, no.

GLENN: And they didn't know, they didn't know who he was as well.

TENNENT: Wow, that's amazing.

GLENN: It's ‑‑ since the election ‑‑ first of all, were you as shocked as we were that the election was going to ‑‑

TENNENT: Absolutely. I did not expect that at all. I didn't think it was going to be a landslide. Some were predicting a landslide.

GLENN: I was.

TENNENT: I never believed that. But I didn't think that Obama was going to win a second term.

GLENN: And were you shocked that less people went out and voted this time on our side?

TENNENT: No.

GLENN: Really?

TENNENT: I wasn't. I talked about that a lot. No, I think that there was ‑‑ I think that people were ‑‑ if you looked around Pittsburgh, the signs were, "Fire Obama." They weren't "Hire Romney." You know, and I think the enthusiasm level was way down. I don't think that we had a strong enough candidate and I don't think he was able to bring us through.

GLENN: Is it because he wasn't liberal enough? He wasn't liberal enough? Is that why? Because that's what the GOP will have us believe now.

TENNENT: They keep telling, keep moving a little more to the left, keep going to the ‑‑ keep moving. We'll tell you when to stop and it's just a bunch of baloney.

GLENN: So what do you think people are actually saying? Do you think people ‑‑ A, do you think people have given up? Because quite honestly I am the ‑‑ I am the, "Let's go, keep go, let's going." I'm that guy.

TENNENT: I know. You're a cheerleader.

GLENN: Even I'm like, "What difference does it make."

TENNENT: I know. It's so hard to fight that, but you know what? We're Americans. That's what we do. We fight for liberty. Even if I go down fighting, I'm going to fight. I don't care what it takes, I'm not going to run away. I'm going to stand firm.

GLENN: But here's what it is. I have every intention. I'm not going to sleep, and I will, with my dying breath.

TENNENT: Yeah.

GLENN: The Constitution now and forever.

TENNENT: Amen.

GLENN: With my dying breath.

TENNENT: Amen.

GLENN: So I got that. But it's like now you're saying, "Hey, let's get all together and let's write our congressmen." Who was it, Rand Paul was on yesterday, right?

PAT: Yep.

GLENN: And he said, "You've got a right, congressman Boehner." And we looked, we got off the air and we looked at each other and we went, are you going to do that, Pat? Nope. Me, either. I was just like, it's not going to make a difference.

TENNENT: Right?

GLENN: These clowns, why do it?

TENNENT: Why?

GLENN: Do you think Boehner's going to change?

TENNENT: No.

GLENN: No.

PAT: He's not. But Rand's, Senator Paul's point was that if a million people did that, then ‑‑ but a million people were saying, "Are you going to do that?" "No."

GLENN: (Laughing.)

PAT: It's unfortunate but especially after ‑‑

GLENN: Because we don't believe in them anymore.

TENNENT: No, we don't.

GLENN: The Republicans are the Whigs.

TENNENT: When you look at the numbers, especially ‑‑ well, I'm thinking back to the midterm elections, that historic election. But there were so many people that felt that congress just did not represent them, that they did not have ‑‑ they said ‑‑ I remember reading the polls, that the TEA Party members had a better grasp on what was important for this country and what was needed for this country to move forward than those serving in congress right now. And they are absolutely, they were right. And it remains true to this day. They really don't ‑‑ they haven't got a clue.

GLENN: What do you think's going to happen ‑‑ go ahead.

TENNENT: Go ahead.

GLENN: What do you think's going to happen with the fiscal cliff?

TENNENT: I keep telling them walk away from the cliff, walk away from the cliff. Really. This is propaganda, this is a big event, this is fabulous for Obama, he's created it. You know, it's a big story. It's the big event. And I just, I want congress to move away from it. I don't want them to give in to this. Because it's been sensationalized. It's overdone. Walk away from the cliff.

GLENN: It's really, and it's amazing to me how the Republicans are always in a lose/lose situation. The left ‑‑

TENNENT: They are.

GLENN: ‑‑ is extraordinarily ‑‑

TENNENT: Smart.

GLENN: ‑‑ brilliant.

TENNENT: Yes. Clever, manipulative.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. Evil.

TENNENT: Evil.

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: The problem is they're also about three steps ahead of the Republican Party.

TENNENT: They are.

PAT: All the time. And the Republicans are in a, like you said, Glenn, a lose/lose situation right now. If they do something about it ‑‑

GLENN: They lose.

PAT: ‑‑ they lose. If they don't do something about it ‑‑

GLENN: They lose.

PAT: ‑‑ they lose.

TENNENT: And they've set him up. We've been set up.

GLENN: Yes.

TENNENT: You know, you're absolutely right.

GLENN: Every step of the way.

TENNENT: Look at Marco Rubio. The Democrats and the mainstream media, they recognize our rising stars before we do.

PAT: Oh, yeah.

TENNENT: Marco Rubio is a star.

PAT: Yes.

TENNENT: And they know that. So what do they do? The first thing that GQ asks him is how old do you think the Earth is? What? Are you freaking kidding me, how old is the Earth?

PAT: I know.

TENNENT: And then what does Jeb Bush, Jr. do? He weighed in on it.

GLENN: Wait a minute, wait a minute. She avoided the answer. She wouldn't give the answer: How old is the Earth?

TENNENT: How dare you ask me such a question when we're talking about some serious matters. You know, I'm one of those Christians and I think that, you know ‑‑

GLENN: I think it's four years old.

TENNENT: Yeah. Uh‑huh. But then Jeb Bush, Jr. weighs in: That was kind of a weird answer to that question. I mean, they're already ‑‑

PAT: Oh, yeah. They're trying to set up Jeb Bush.

TENNENT: He hasn't ‑‑ Obama hasn't even been sworn in yet for a second term.

PAT: Yeah.

TENNENT: And already they're setting it up.

PAT: They're giving us another false choice.

TENNENT: They are. They are.

PAT: Between Biden or Hillary and whoever their nominee is and our farthest left‑leaning candidate. And it would ‑‑

TENNENT: You're right.

PAT: ‑‑ be Jeb Bush. Unacceptable.

TENNENT: Just such a thing.

GLENN: When we were in New York, I sat in very powerful meetings with the media and they ‑‑ the people in the media on the right, they were all for Jeb Bush. And I'm sitting there going, "Are you out of your mind?"

PAT: The worst.

GLENN: Jeb Bush?

PAT: No.

GLENN: Can we stop with the Bush trilogy? Stop.

PAT: Let's hope it doesn't become a trilogy.

GLENN: We've seen the first two. I don't want to buy a ticket for the other one.

PAT: No.

TENNENT: That's enough. You know, can I just tell you about this real quick?

GLENN: Yes. Yes, yes.

TENNENT: I just want to encourage people because even just saying thank you is a very, very strong act of kindness toward our military. One man in particular. Because there was a section also in the book about you how the ‑‑ those on the receiving end feel about receiving those acts of kindness and gratitude. And one man in particular was on a 15‑hour flight from Germany to Chicago coming back from some time that he spent in Bosnia and they had offered him an upgrade and he offered it to a family of six because he thought, when are those four kids ever going to have a chance to sit in first class. So for 15 hours he said he watched that family and the kids giggling and laughing and running around first class. He said that was a blessing to him. He didn't mind that at all. He said but God had another blessing for him. When he got off the plane in Chicago, this little girl, he watched as a little girl jumped off her seat, 5 years old he said, came running towards him and, of course, the mother's running behind her wondering what the heck is going on, ran up to him, curled her finger at him and so he got down on one knee, put his ear to her mouth and she said, "Thank you." Threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.

GLENN: Wow. That happened in Chicago?

TENNENT: That happened in Chicago. He said that that was one of the best days of his life second only to the birth of his child. And then when he talked to the mom, she said that the grandfather who served in Vietnam had told this little girl, whenever you see a soldier, tell them thank you. He said that meant more to him than any other act or any other gift could possible mean.

PAT: What a phenomenal story.

TENNENT: Just those words, two words, "thank you." Unbelievable. So there's a lot in this book. It's very moving. But you know what it does? It gives you ideas and encourages you to give. And this is the season of giving, right? And we can never repay the debt. Never repay it. But we can start to make some payments.

GLENN: The name of the book is Thanking Our Soldiers: Random Acts of Kindness, Random Acts of Gratitude and Generosity Towards Members of the Military. I have told my kids since they were that small as well. Every time you see a soldier, you go up and thank them. And when my kids were smaller, they would. Now they're in that, you know, that awkward ‑‑

TENNENT: There's an awkward stage.

GLENN: That awkward stage where some of them are like, I'm not ‑‑ Dad, that's embarrassing. But it's true, and it makes a difference.

TENNENT: It does.

GLENN: And thank you so much.

TENNENT: Yeah, thank you so much for letting me talk about it.

GLENN: Available on Amazon.

TENNENT: Yes.

GLENN: You can just order it now, Thanking Our Soldiers by Rose Tennent. Thank you very much, Rose.

TENNENT: Thank you.

GLENN: God bless.

        Is the U.N. plotting to control 30% of U.S. land by 2030?
    

        Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images
    
A reliable conservative senator faces cancellation for listening to voters. But the real threat to public lands comes from the last president’s backdoor globalist agenda.
Something ugly is unfolding on social media, and most people aren’t seeing it clearly. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — one of the most constitutionally grounded conservatives in Washington — is under fire for a housing provision he first proposed in 2022.
You wouldn’t know that from scrolling through X. According to the latest online frenzy, Lee wants to sell off national parks, bulldoze public lands, gut hunting and fishing rights, and hand America’s wilderness to Amazon, BlackRock, and the Chinese Communist Party. None of that is true.
Lee’s bill would have protected against the massive land-grab that’s already under way — courtesy of the Biden administration.
I covered this last month. Since then, the backlash has grown into something like a political witch hunt — not just from the left but from the right. Even Donald Trump Jr., someone I typically agree with, has attacked Lee’s proposal. He’s not alone.
Time to look at the facts the media refuses to cover about Lee’s federal land plan.
What Lee actually proposed
Over the weekend, Lee announced that he would withdraw the federal land sale provision from his housing bill. He said the decision was in response to “a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies,” but also acknowledged that many Americans brought forward sincere, thoughtful concerns.
Because of the strict rules surrounding the budget reconciliation process, Lee couldn’t secure legally enforceable protections to ensure that the land would be made available “only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests.” Without those safeguards, he chose to walk it back.
That’s not selling out. That’s leadership.
It's what the legislative process is supposed to look like: A senator proposes a bill, the people respond, and the lawmaker listens. That was once known as representative democracy. These days, it gets you labeled a globalist sellout.
The Biden land-grab
To many Americans, “public land” brings to mind open spaces for hunting, fishing, hiking, and recreation. But that’s not what Sen. Mike Lee’s bill targeted.
His proposal would have protected against the real land-grab already under way — the one pushed by the Biden administration.
In 2021, Biden launched a plan to “conserve” 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. This effort follows the United Nations-backed “30 by 30” initiative, which seeks to place one-third of all land and water under government control.
Ask yourself: Is the U.N. focused on preserving your right to hunt and fish? Or are radical environmentalists exploiting climate fears to restrict your access to American land?
  Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor | Getty Images
As it stands, the federal government already owns 640 million acres — nearly one-third of the entire country. At this rate, the government will hit that 30% benchmark with ease. But it doesn’t end there. The next phase is already in play: the “50 by 50” agenda.
That brings me to a piece of legislation most Americans haven’t even heard of: the Sustains Act.
Passed in 2023, the law allows the federal government to accept private funding from organizations, such as BlackRock or the Bill Gates Foundation, to support “conservation programs.” In practice, the law enables wealthy elites to buy influence over how American land is used and managed.
Moreover, the government doesn’t even need the landowner’s permission to declare that your property contributes to “pollination,” or “photosynthesis,” or “air quality” — and then regulate it accordingly. You could wake up one morning and find out that the land you own no longer belongs to you in any meaningful sense.
Where was the outrage then? Where were the online crusaders when private capital and federal bureaucrats teamed up to quietly erode private property rights across America?
American families pay the price
The real danger isn’t in Mike Lee’s attempt to offer more housing near population centers — land that would be limited, clarified, and safeguarded in the final bill. The real threat is the creeping partnership between unelected global elites and our own government, a partnership designed to consolidate land, control rural development, and keep Americans penned in so-called “15-minute cities.”
BlackRock buying entire neighborhoods and pricing out regular families isn’t by accident. It’s part of a larger strategy to centralize populations into manageable zones, where cars are unnecessary, rural living is unaffordable, and every facet of life is tracked, regulated, and optimized.
That’s the real agenda. And it’s already happening , and Mike Lee’s bill would have been an effort to ensure that you — not BlackRock, not China — get first dibs.
I live in a town of 451 people. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, housing is unaffordable. The American dream of owning a patch of land is slipping away, not because of one proposal from a constitutional conservative, but because global powers and their political allies are already devouring it.
Divide and conquer
This controversy isn’t really about Mike Lee. It’s about whether we, as a nation, are still capable of having honest debates about public policy — or whether the online mob now controls the narrative. It’s about whether conservatives will focus on facts or fall into the trap of friendly fire and circular firing squads.
More importantly, it’s about whether we’ll recognize the real land-grab happening in our country — and have the courage to fight back before it’s too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

        URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!
    

         MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images
    
By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.
For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm. 
He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?
Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.
  
This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check: 

            
                Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids
            
            
        
Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

            
                Establish basic liability laws
            
            
        
Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

            
                Pass increased whistleblower protections
            
            
        
Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

            
                Prevent AI from having legal rights
            
            
        
Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

            
                Oppose the state moratorium on AI 
            
            
        
Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

        Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises
    

         Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images
    
The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.
The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.
Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.
We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.
It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.
Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.
The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.
The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.
Operation Midnight Hammer
The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.
   USAF / Handout | Getty Images
To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.
As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.
They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.
If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.
This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.
What comes next
We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.
Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.
That would be catastrophic.
The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.
The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?
Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.
Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.
Now we pray
We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.
The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.
He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

        Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America
    

         Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images
    
If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.
It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”
Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?
Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.
Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.
Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.
If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.
Rising Islamism
But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.
   Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images
 
This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.
Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.
Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.
Blending the worst ideologies
And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.
If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.
This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.
Call out radicalism
We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.
The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.
This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.