Chris Kyle’s family needs your help

Chris Kyle is an American hero. He saved countless American lives while on the battlefield. And when he came home, he gave everything he had --- including his time -- to his foundation and other returning military vets. He probably thought he had plenty of time to worry about saving for college, etc, but as it turns out he was robbed of that chance. Chris Kyle stepped up for America, it’s time for America to step up for him.

Here’s a couple really cool ways you can help: buy 1791’s Heroes shirt or donate directly through Mercury One.

You can also send a check to Mercury One by mail at: Mercury One, PO Box 140489, Irving, TX 75014. Be sure to put "Chris Kyle Fund" in the memo line.

On radio, Glenn called for listeners to help the Kyle family. You can watch the video at the top of the page, and the full transcript of the segment from radio is below.

Radio Transcript:

GLENN: This week has been a very, a very bizarre week. It started on Sunday for us. Sunday morning I got up and my wife said to me, "Honey, Marcus called," Marcus Luttrell. She said, "Marcus called, or texted me late last night." And I said, okay, I'll call him today. Then I go out to the front and our security detail is there getting ready to take us to church and I said good morning to the boys. And I said, good morning, guys. And they said, sir, have you heard the news? And I said, what news? And they said, the American sniper Chris Kyle was killed. And I said, oh, my gosh. Marcus texted late last night; that must be what it's about. I said, how did he die? And he said, he was at a gun range and he was apparently helping out a vet and he was shot to death on the gun range.

And my shock of that, I think the first thing I said is, what the hell is happening to us? Here is an American hero, a guy who is ‑‑ really will be talked about for 50 years. He is ‑‑ he really is our red baron. Everybody knows the red baron. The only reason why you know the red baron at this point is he was some sort of a flying ace. But this is our red baron. This is our defy who is a ‑‑ who has done stuff that nobody else in the history of man has ever done. The best sniper to ever live. And he makes it back, he writes a best‑selling book, it's a huge best seller, everybody reads it, he's everywhere. He doesn't take any of the money from that book. None of it. And what happens? He comes home, he takes that money, and he, instead of taking it, he gives it to an organization to help vets who are returning and are having a hard time adjusting.

I mean, here's a guy who really put his money where his mouth is. He takes his time. He's traveling, in three years that he's back from the Service, he travels all the time to speak and to help vets. He's constantly on the frontline of helping now. He spent his time in the military killing to protect. Then he comes back and he spends his time out of the military trying to protect. Trying to help. He gives all of his time and all of his money. Now he's a young guy. So he thinks, I'm going to be around for a long time. It's almost kind of the Tesla story where he gives up everything because he's like, you know, there will be something else. And then his time runs out.

So now his family is not protected. Now his family is in the position to where they don't have any money. And I suppose you could say, "Well, that was irresponsible of him," or you could say, "That guy just knew they would be taken care of." Our founders did similar things. They spent all of their time away from their children. I mean, John Adams was gone, gosh, I mean, how long was he away from his kids?

PAT: 14 years.

GLENN: 14 years he was away. And it's not like he's getting, you know, leave where he can come back. I mean, he's gone for 14 years. His kids didn't even know him. And our founders, because we've talked about it an awful lot, because we work very hard to do what we do. And if we were doing it for money, we'd be despicable people. We would. Because of the way we have ‑‑ the time that we have spent away from our family.

My sister is in town and she just ‑‑ I started to talk to her and she's like, stop it. Stop. I get it. And I said to her, I started to say to her, "I think about you every day and I love you so much and I want to call you every day. I want to talk to you. I want to spend time with you. I just don't have any time." And we have talked about, especially when we were in New York, that the Lord will make it up. Somehow or another he'll make up whatever deficit. As long as we're doing the right thing. As long as we're on his work. And we also have to keep things in perspective. And we've done all that we can do. He will make up the deficit.

Well, Chris did do all that he could do. Now, the Lord doesn't ‑‑ you know, all of a sudden it's not like, "Oh, my gosh. Hey, kids, money from heaven." That's not the way it works. We're his hands. Each of us. We were sent here for a reason. And we're his hands.

So I would like to ask, and I did earlier this week, and this audience is so amazing. I asked this week, can we help this family? Can we raise some money to honor his family, to help his family? Because Jesse Ventura is coming and suing the family because Chris said he punched him in the face and Jesse said that never happened. And all of the SEALs and everybody else that was there said, "Oh, it absolutely did happen," but Jesse Ventura's crazy. So once Chris dies, Jesse goes after the family and says, "I'm going to take the money from the estate." There is no money.

So Mercury One put together a fund, and Marcus Luttrell, the Lone Survivor, is putting together a trust so nobody can get this money except the kids. I asked you this on I think Tuesday. Here it is Friday and this audience in $10, $20 bills, has raised $375,000 ‑‑ $381 now ‑‑

STU: $383,000 now.

GLENN: $383,158 ‑‑ 300 ‑‑

STU: $383,158.

GLENN: $383,158. It's almost incredible what you've done, almost $400,000. My goal was to raise $500,000 and that's an incredible number. I'd really like to make a million because a million would take care of everything that they have, including the taxes, take care of everything that they would need to take care of, put their kids ‑‑ put his two kids through school and they wouldn't have to worry. His kids are 6 and 8. Could we be the Lord's hands here? Because the government's not going to do it. In fact, they are holding his funeral at Dallas Cowboys stadium on Monday and everybody's going to be there. Everybody's going to be there... except one. I don't believe the president of the United States is coming.

Now here we have an American hero. Here we have a guy who has saved countless Americans. He comes home. He self‑sacrifices. He dies at the hands of a guy he's trying to help: And our president isn't going to be there. I don't think he would be welcome anyway, but that's saying something.

We tried. We were going to cover and carry the live coverage on TheBlaze and ‑‑ but it's far too expensive for us to do it at this point. We felt it would be better because we made donations and we felt it would just be better to cover it not live but cover it in many different ways than spend all that money. We'd rather put ‑‑ I think we put $50,000 in towards the family, and I would like to ask you if you had $5 or $10 if you would go to MercuryOne.org and donate.

Now, there's something else. I'm taking my signed copy of his book, American Sniper. I collect rare books and signed books, and this one is signed by a legend, and he died. This one will be a definite collector's item, and I've taken it off of my library shelf, I only have one, and I am putting it up for auction on Monday, proceeds for the family. And I would ‑‑ I would ask on Monday that you would bid on it if you're interested, with all the proceeds going to them.

The other thing I asked my team last night, if we could make ‑‑ if 1791 could make ‑‑ because they make the best T‑shirts. They are just the greatest T‑shirts. And I asked 1791 if they would make a Navy SEAL heroes T‑shirt. All of the profits will go to the family, and that's available now. Just went up a few minutes ago at 1791.com. It's a blue T‑shirt, says "American Heroes" and has the SEAL triton on it. And that will go to Chris Kyle's family and also a portion of it goes to FITCO Cares foundation. That is his foundation to help Navy SEALs. I think the best way to honor him is to continue his work. Take care of his family first but also continue to take care of veterans. He believed in it so much, he died trying to do it. The T‑shirt is available right now at 1791.com, or you can make a direct donation at MercuryOne.org, or you can ‑‑ you can wait on ‑‑ until Monday and bid on that book as well. But we'd like to ask you to get involved.

You think the president ‑‑ I mean, I think I would be, quite honestly, you know, if this, if this president, if I would die ‑‑ and he wouldn't, but if I were his ‑‑ if this would happen to me and this president decided to show up, I think my family would ask him to leave. Because they would be like, "We don't want you here," only because it would become a circus and he would use it. He would use my death to wrap himself into it. And now I'm not saying that he would ever do it with me. I'm just saying if I were ‑‑ if I were Chris.

STU: Right.

GLENN: This president would come in there and use this funeral to make himself look good.

STU: Sure.

GLENN: So I don't even know if he would be welcome. I'm sure ‑‑ I can't speak for the family at all but I mean, I know there's a lot of guys ‑‑ I know there's a lot of guys in the SEAL community that, you know, are like, yeah ‑‑

PAT: Hard fans.

GLENN: Not really a big fan of this guy.

STU: I think the appropriate thing to be would be to let the family make that decision. If you want me there, I'm there.

GLENN: Right.

STU: I mean, if you're the president of the United States and this guy's done what this guy did for this country, I mean, you left that up to them. And you don't feel offended if they say no, but you're more than happy to be there if they want you there.

GLENN: You remember when the SEALs ‑‑ you remember when the transport went down and all those SEALs died and one of them, in his will, said I want Ted Nugent to play at my funeral?

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: And the president decided that he was going to come and so he just went, and he then said, "I don't want Ted Nugent at this funeral" and so he overrode the family and the dying wishes of the SEAL? It was in his will: I want Ted Nugent to play. And Ted was ready. Ted chartered a plane and he was like, I'm there. I'm there. As soon as he found out: I'm there. The president shows up and disinvites Ted Nugent and overrides the family. Can you imagine that? The balls this guy has.

If you're in Texas, come. If you're not in Texas, we'll ‑‑

PAT: Is it just open to ‑‑

GLENN: I think it's ‑‑

PAT: ‑‑ anybody?

GLENN: It's a funeral. So I think it's pretty open. It's not like they have 50,000 friends that are ‑‑

STU: Right. If you're going to Cowboys Stadium, I would assume you would, you know ‑‑

GLENN: I don't know if I'm ‑‑ I'm not involved in this at all. So I just know that it's at Cowboys ‑‑ I know that I'm going to be there and that's all I know. So I just assume that, you know, it's not like all the other churches were booked. But I don't know if there's another place, a smaller place in Cowboys Stadium that you could use? I don't know how that's going to work.

STU: Just as far as the fundraising goes, you might need to be a little diligent. I've been trying to do a donation here as we've been sitting here and it was not going through for much of that time because everybody's been pounding this website. So just, you know, it might take you a little time.

PAT: That's a great sign.

STU: I mean, that's a great sign. I mean, this audience does this every time we talk about these sort of things.

GLENN: Yeah, but this is different. My understanding, this is a faster raise of money than any of the hurricane stuff that we did, any of the stuff that we've done in the history of Mercury One. This is the fastest raise of money for anything. And I think it's because we relate to this guy and we appreciate not just him but all of the Navy SEALs. And we want them to know that we love them. You know, it's not just this guy.

You know that Marcus has buried 67 of his friends? Can you imagine that?

PAT: Yeah, it's incredible.

GLENN: In, like, five years that you have attended 67 funerals of people that you knew and loved and work with? My gosh, it just never ends. Never ends. Show this community that while the government may fail us, while the government isn't paying attention to our vets, while the government has a whole bunch of red tape, there's no red tape with us. And if you need ‑‑ if you want something that is a reminder of this, get the American heroes T‑shirt at 1791.com. Get the book off my shelf, my copy, only one I have. Get my copy on Monday. Or you can just make a donation at MercuryOne.org.

VP debate recap: A Vance victory

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This might have been the most consequential VP debate in recent memory.

For those of you who missed the debate, it was a decisive victory for J.D. Vance and the Trump-Vance team as a whole. Vance presented a calm, collected, and considerate side of the Republican party that compliments Trump and helps to make their platform more palatable. Meanwhile, Tim Walz had a lackluster, though certainly not catastrophic, night. He had a few embarrassing gaffes and came across as overly nervous, but like Vance, kept it civil.

Both VP candidates entered the stage as relative unknowns to most Americans, and by the end, both men had given an accurate representation of their characters. Here is a brief recap just in case you missed the debate:

J.D. Vance looked great

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Vance came out of the gate swinging, with a stellar opening statement that helped set the stage for the rest of the debate. He delivered a concise yet compelling recap of his life, which framed him as everything Walz claims to be: a relatable veteran from humble beginnings who earned his position through hard work and service. He then went on to deliver a clear and palatable defense of Trump's platform and mission while cooly drawing attention to the failures of the Biden-Harris administration.

Overall, J.D. Vance looked incredibly presidential. He presented himself not just as a capable vice president, but as a strong successor to Trump and as a valid replacement if anything should happen to the former president between now and the end of his hypothetical second term. Vance also successfully dispelled the notion that he is "weird" as Walz called him, and if anyone looked strange during the debate, it certainly wasnot Vance.

Tim Walz's gaffes

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While Tim Walz certainly didn't have an awful night, he did not stack up well against Vance. Walz had a major gaffe around halfway through the debate when asked to explain the change in his position on assault weapon bans. Walz then claimed that he had befriended school shooters during his time in office. While that was clearly not the intention of what he was saying, it was embarrassing nonetheless.

Another weak moment was when the moderators asked Walz to explain a claim he had made regarding being in Hong Kong during the infamous Tiananmen Square protest in 1989, which has since been proven false. Walz gave a long-winded, rambling answer about taking students to visit China and how Trump should have joined in on those trips, before being called out by the moderator for dodging the question.

Vance fact-checked the fact-checkers

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One of the conditions of the CBS debate was that the moderators would not fact-check the debaters live, but instead rely on after-the-matter fact-checking. But, CBS couldn't keep to its own rules. While Vance was describing the migrant crisis that has swelled during the Biden-Harris administration, one of the CBS moderators, Margaret Brennan, chimed in with a "fact check." She claimed that the Haitian migrants in Ohio have legal status, to which Vance clapped back by calling Brennan out for breaking the rules of the debate, then proceeded to correct her, explaining that they only had legal status due to overreach by the Biden-Harris administration.

Dockworker strike: Everything you need to know

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At midnight on September 30th, dockworkers across the East Coast went on strike, effectively cutting the country's import and export capabilities in half.

Don't go out and panic buy a pallet of toilet paper and instant ramen just yet. It's going to take some time for the full effects of the strike to be felt and hopefully, the strike will be good and over by then. But there are no guarantees, and this election cycle could get significantly more insane as we draw near to the election. And even if the strike is settled quickly, it shows growing cracks in our infrastructure and industrial capacity that needs to be addressed if America wants to maintain its global dominance.

Here is everything you need to know about the dockworker strike:

What do the dockworkers want?

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As with most strikes, pay is the driving factor behind this situation the country now finds itself in. The longshoremen want more pay, and with rising inflation who can blame them? After all, working the docks is hard and dangerous business, and fair compensation only seems... fair. But when you compare the wage of a dockworker, which is around $100,000 to $200,00 a year to the average income in America of $56,000, suddenly they seem significantly less sympathetic.

How much money are they asking for? For most Americans, a three percent raise is considered high, but the unions are asking up to 15 percent, depending on location. On top of that, they are asking for a 77 percent raise over the next six years. The West Coast dock workers recently made off with a 36 percent raise and were considered lucky. These increases in costs are just going to be transferred to the end consumer, and we'll likely see a jump in prices if these terms are accepted.

The other major ticket item is protection against automation. Autonomous ports are quickly becoming a reality, with major ports in China that are capable of handling vast amounts of cargo being run by a single office, not an army of dock workers. Naturally, the longshoremen are concerned that their jobs are at risk of being replaced by machines that can work harder, longer, for cheaper, and without risk of injury.

How will it affect Americans?

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Don't panic yet!

It is going to take some time for consumers to feel the effects of the strike and it is possible that a resolution could happen at any time.

Week one should be pretty much business as usual. It might be a good idea to stock up on fruit and other perishables, but there is no need to go COVID-lockdown-crazy yet.

Week two is when you'll first start feeling the pinch. Fresh fruits and veggies will become scarce, along with other imported goods like shoes, toys, and TVs. Prices will start to creep up as the shelves will start to look a little sparse. The supply of tools, lumber, and other hardware materials will also begin to dry up.

By week three, the cracks in the system will really start to show. Entire industries will begin to slow down, or even stop. Factory workers will get furloughed and sent home without pay. Stores will have to ration items, prices will be sky-high, and online orders will come to a standstill. At this point, the strike will have escalated into a full-blown crisis, and even if it was resolved immediately, it would still take weeks to restore everything to working order.

At the four-week mark, the situation will have developed into a national security crisis, and as Glenn describes, a poly-crisis. Small business will be closing their doors, entire brands will be out of stock, and everything that remains will be so expensive it is unaffordable. By this point, the holiday season will be drawing near and there will be a rush on any sort of gift or decor items left. At this point, irreparable damage to our economy will have occurred and it will be months if not years before it can be mended.

While that sounds bleak, with the election just around the corner, it seems unlikely that the Biden-Harris administration will let it get that bad. That being said, their administration has not been characterized by good decision-making and reasonable policy, so there are no guarantees.

What can be done?

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The big question is "Why hasn't Biden already done something?"

President Biden, who ran on the image of a blue-collar, union-worker, has been uncharacteristically absent from the issue. Despite his earlier involvement in a train strike, Biden has declared that involvement in union fights is not a presidential issue unless it getsreally bad.

So where's the line? At what point will he step in? He has to understand that an economic crisis right before the election will reflect poorly on Kamala.

Join Glenn TONIGHT for BlazeTV's exclusive VP debate coverage!

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Join Glenntonight for Vice Presidential debate coverage you do not want to miss!

Tonight is the first (and only) Vice Presidential debate, and it will be hosted by CBS News. But don't be reliant on CBS News or any other mainstream media channel for their biased coverage. Join the BlazeTV live stream tonight to get the uncensored truth alongside top-quality commentary from Glenn and the rest of the world-class panel.

Glenn is joined by Megyn Kelly, Liz Wheeler, Allie Beth Stuckey, Steve Deace, Jill Savage, Dave Landau, and more to cover the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate. Blaze Media subscribers gain access to live chat with the fantastic panel of hosts! If you subscribe today by visiting BlazeTV.com/debate you will get $40 off of your annual subscription with code DEBATE. This is the largest discount ever offered, so take advantage NOW!

See you TONIGHT at 8 PM ET for an event you do NOT want to miss it!

POLL: Can the VP debate affect the election?

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The first (and likely only) Vice President debate will be held on CBS News on Tuesday, October 1st.

The debate takes place at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and will be the first time we see J.D. Vance and Tim Walz face off in person. Typically, the VP debate is little more than a formality, and rarely does it affect the election in any significant way. But this is no ordinary election. The stakes are higher than they have been in years, and Trump and Harris are still in a razor-thin race, according to the polls. Both Vance and Walz are relative newcomers to the national stage and still have room to make an impression on the American people, and with the race as tight as it is, that might make all the difference.

So what do you think? Can this VP debate make an impact on the election? Are you going to tune in? And what sort of questions and issues need to be brought up? Let us know in the poll below:

Will this VP debate be important in the overall election?

Are you going to watch the VP debate?

Should the debaters be asked about the Biden-Harris administration's failing economy?

Should the debaters be asked about climate change and energy policy?

Should the debaters be asked about the rise of globalism?