The 'ALL NEW! BIGGER! NICER!' Glenn Beck?!?! You've been missing out mainstream media

January 24, 2014

Writer

The media has had a lot to say about Glenn's recent interview with Megyn Kelly. Piers Morgan and Joe Scarborough praised Glenn for being introspective and took it as a moment to do a little self-reflection of their own on the heated rhetoric that takes place on cable news. Others, like a CNN panel on Thursday, were left wondering where this "new" Glenn Beck was coming from and why he was suddenly standing up for gay rights (or to use a better term, human rights) and uniting principles.

Well, clearly the media hasn't really been paying attention as this "ALL NEW! BIGGER! NICER!" Glenn Beck has been around for a while now (although Glenn has managed to redefine the term bigger through the growth of TheBlaze...and his waistline). Glenn hasn't really changed, he's just been living by the principles and values he's been espousing for years, people are just now paying attention.

Glenn opened the TV show today catching the media up on what they may have missed over the past few years:

The below is based off the transcript to the opening monologue of 1.23.2013 episode of The Glenn Beck Program

Hello, America, and welcome to The Glenn Beck Program and to TheBlaze. This is the network that you are building, and I want to start with something that is referred to as the seven national crimes. And here they are: I don’t think, I don’t know, I don’t care, I am too busy, I leave well enough alone, I have no time to read and think of these things, I’m not interested.

Okay, these are the seven national crimes. This was written by a guy from Germany around the turn of the century, and if these are true, and I think they are, this is what’s gotten us here. If these are true, then the opposite of these must be virtues – thinking, knowing, taking the time to read, become interested, right? Speaking out, becoming interested, educating yourself, and then speaking out, those should be treasured. Okay?

This really is not a new concept. This is just one of those uniting principles. We should be able to agree that all of those are national crimes because if the entire country says those things, bad. Not new thinking, 2,500 years ago, you go to Euripides, and he said this: “This is slavery, not to speak one’s thought.” That’s pretty good. That’s slavery. You’re a slave if you can’t say what you’re thinking.

Fast-forward, 1700s, Voltaire said, really important phrase, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” That one I think I have quoted over and over again. I don’t have to agree with you, but you have a right to say it. This is really, because of this kind of language where you really meant I’ll fight till the end for your right to say something, this is where tenure came from.

You can’t have people who are talking about science or they’re talking about God or they’re talking about politics or anything, they cannot be afraid that you’re going to kill them or fire them, right? And it goes against everything that is in our makeup, our DNA, as a country. The founders made this really, really clear in their commitment to free speech. That’s why it’s amendment number one.

You have a right to believe in God or not believe in God. You have a right to speak and not fear that you’re going to be thrown in jail. And the implications of a society without free speech, well, it’s clear, it’s North Korea. Okay, so now let me do a health check on our freedom of speech and if we’re even thinking anymore. Let me give you a few stories.

Actress Maria Conchita Alonso, she was fired just this last week because she openly supported a Tea Party candidate. I know, crazy. Now, first of all, she’s going to be on Dana’s show tomorrow night, but I find that astounding. Is that not Hollywood blacklisting, except it’s not with Communists; it’s with small government people?

Andrew Cuomo said Conservatives are not welcome in New York. I said earlier this week isn’t that what they said to Martin Luther King and the freedom riders, you’re not welcome in this state, go read a book? That was the quote from the governor. Well, Bob Beckel called me names, I guess yesterday, because I called Cuomo out on this and compared him to the governors of the South in the 60s.

Bob Beckel: That may be the most foolish, ridiculous, disgraceful…no wonder the son of a bitch is off the TV.
Q: Why?
Bob Beckel: Because he equates Andrew Cuomo with one of the most racist governors there were who allowed black people to be lynched in his state, who never put together a jury, never allowed any blacks on a jury, and he, Glenn Beck, is equating him with Cuomo, Governor Cuomo. It’s ridiculous. He ought to leave the state.

I don’t know why people even would think about putting him on television or want to be around him. Bob, life does not have to be so angry all the time. It’s not surprising that somebody like Bob Beckel would resort to name calling because, not anything to do with Bob Beckel, but because of Cuomo’s position. It is absolutely indefensible to say if you’re pro-life you’re not welcome in this state.

Okay, there’s some bad news. Let me give you some good news. Bill Nye the Science Guy, I think he’s really offensive on the way he treats people of religion because he doesn’t believe in creationism. He believes in evolution. And that’s fine, whatever, to each his own, but now, here’s the good news, he is willing to actually have a debate with Ken Ham and debate their positions, the merits of evolution versus creation. That’s fantastic. This is the way we’re supposed to be.

But as I’m reading the article today, here’s what caught my attention, Richard Dawkins and other atheists are begging Nye not to do the debate. Why? Because they say it gives the idea of creation credibility and, I want to quote, “creationism is a worthless and uneducated position to hold in our modern society and Nye is about to treat it as an equal, debatable controversy.” Now, this is Richard Dawkins.

Now, that’s quite a claim, because nobody can prove how the world began, right? We know that. So how does Richard Dawkins think the world began? Because if you’re saying look, to treat, you know, there is a God, and he created people through intelligent design as equal, debatable, it’s ridiculous. But what does he believe? How does he say the world began? Look at this clip from Ben Stein’s Expelled, an interview with Richard Dawkins.

It’s amazing because remember, uneducated and worthless opinion to say God did it. It has no credibility, but what is the possibility that Dawkins is entertaining as the origin of life?

Stein: So you have no idea how it started?
Dawkins: No, nor has anybody.
Stein: Nor has anyone else. What do you think is the possibility that intelligent design might turn out to be the answer to some issues in genetics or in evolution?
Dawkins: Well, it could come about in the following way, it could be that at some earlier time somewhere in the universe, a civilization evolved by probably some kind of Darwinian means to a very, very high level of technology and designed a form of life that they seeded onto perhaps this planet.
Now, that is a possibility and an intriguing possibility, and I suppose it’s possible that you might find evidence for that if you look at the details of biochemistry, molecular biology, you might find a signature of some sort of designer.

Come here. Okay, let me ask you a question, what did he just say? He said God, it’s ridiculous, God created things. There’s no evidence of God at all. It’s ridiculous. You have no place in even a debate in real conversation, you know? If you want to have an intelligent conversation about who created life here on this planet, I mean, aliens, we could go to the aliens. Really? Do you have any evidence of aliens? Do you have the evidence of anything? No, we don’t know.

The point is here, I believe in God. I believe he created the heavens and the earth. I got it. That’s where I am. Now, I may die and wake up in a void of blackness or not wake up as the case may be, and I may go crap, the whole time there’s been no God. Oh well, that belief in God made me a better person. I don’t have any idea how God creates. I’ve no idea.

This is the most ridiculous argument because we’re not going to figure it out, but to act like you do know that that’s ridiculous, and you’re saying well, the alien thing makes a lot of sense – come on, man. Come on, really? Can’t we just be comfortable enough to say I don’t know the answer? You don’t know the answer either. He said it there. He was there. Nobody knows. Good, so why can’t we hear out each other’s opinions?

Why can’t we…why is it so surprising to say hey, gay people shouldn’t be put into the ovens like that fascist in Russia says? Why is that surprising to say, hey, I think we should all get together and stand against that one? Why is it wrong to say hey, if gay couples want to get married, cool, dude, whatever, but don’t tell me that I have to change my church? If I want to marry you in my church, cool. If I don’t, cool. Can’t we just get along?

Apparently no. Why? Because we have a growing ruling class. Let me give you the story from the IRS. The IRS is harassing a low profile conservative group called the Friends of Abe. Who are the Friends of Abe? These are Hollywood actors and writers and producers. I met with them, and I’m telling you, when I met with them, you go through all kinds…I had to go through the back of a restaurant, through the kitchen, in by the bathroom to this other holding room while other like six or seven of them started to slowly walk into one room. And then I walked in at the end. It’s crazy. It’s crazy. It’s an underground meeting.

Now, for two years they’ve been trying to get 501(c)(3) status for the Friends of Abe, but the IRS said nope, we need your list of members. Listen to this, the government is saying we want the names. Gee, have I heard that someplace before, we want the names, Hollywood? Well, they’re not going to release the names because they’re afraid of blacklisting. Now, I know that sounds crazy, but remember what happened to Maria? Remember, Maria?

She was fired because she was for the Tea Party guy, and every time this stuff happens, it ends in exactly the same way. And the parallels to the 1950s, we are seeing them right now. You just heard me tell you a story, the Friends of Abe, the government is saying give us the names of people who are in the Tea Party or are against this government. Watch this.

VIDEO
Narrator: Calling the House Un-American Activities Committee to order, Chairman J. Parnell Thomas of New Jersey opens an inquiry into possible Communist penetration of the Hollywood film industry. The committee is seeking to determine if Red Party members have reached the screen with subversive propaganda.
A long list of prominent motion picture witnesses appear before the committee. Speaking for the films, Eric Johnston, President of the Motion Picture Association, talks frankly concerning the attitude of the producers.
Johnston: We are accused of having Communists and Communist sympathizers in our employ. Undoubtedly there are such persons in Hollywood as you will find elsewhere in America, but we neither shield nor defend them. We want them exposed. We’re not responsible for the political or economic ideas of any individual.

Okay, stop. This is one of the worst times in American history. Everybody knows this, worst time. I hate the idea of Communism, but if I target and blacklist people because of their Communism, am I any better than the brutal communist dictator? The answer is no. If you hate Fascism, but you’re willing to go after people and demand a list of names, I’m sorry, that makes you a, say it with me, Fascist.

When I went after Van Jones to expose who he was, if you remember right, if you watched the show back then, I said don’t fire him, don’t fire him, what are you doing firing him? I was the only one standing up, the White House shouldn’t be firing this dude. I just wanted people to know who he really was and who the president had working around him.

The same right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness applies to Communists. Van Jones has a right to get a job. That’s fine, but it also applies to me and you. My position on this has been clear and consistent from the very beginning, and my position on things has not really changed. In fact, it has gotten deeper; however, the methods might have changed a little bit because I think, I hope, I’m smarter.

I hope I’m a better person than I was, and I’m really quite baffled because the press today is, like, it’s crazy. It’s crazy. They are still talking about what I said to Megyn Kelly earlier this week, reminder.

VIDEO
Kelly: How do you remember it now?
Beck: I remember it as an awful lot of fun, and that I made an awful lot of mistakes. And I wish I could go back and be more uniting in my language because I think I played a role unfortunately in helping tear the country apart.

Stop. Now, the media is all over this today because they really, truly cannot understand why the always angry, always crazy Glenn Beck is now suddenly introspective and calm. What is happening to him? How is he changing? He’s changing his views now, you know? Well, no, I’m not. I haven’t changed any of my views. You’re discovering some of my views. CNN had a panel segment today talking about this, and the banner said Beck changes his tone on gays. I looked at that, and I went, “I have? When?”

Hey CNN researchers, show your audience the times when I was harsh on gays. I’ll spare you the research which you’re never going to do, it doesn’t exist. The funny thing is the media acts as if they’re always the enlightened one. Glenn Beck has evolved, and evolution is a good thing. I caught that one today. I thought that was great. I was divisive. I didn’t mean to be. I tried not to be, but it’s the system that just pits people apart.

And he’s divisive, and he’s finally admitting it. No, I’m willing to take responsibility for my part and yet, their warped view of me proves that they have been perpetuating this problem all along. They are shocked today because they think I’m some anti-gay, racist nut job, and they think the same thing about you. Now, why do they think that? Because the only time they ever reported on me or on you was when some leftist with an agenda at Media Matters sent them some ridiculous out-of-context Glenn Beck alert.

And that’s the only thing that’s ever been newsworthy to them. That’s it. They didn’t see the CNN or MSNBC report on the Restoring Love event in Dallas. Oh, that’s right, CNN, MSNBC, and FOX, nobody did a report on that. Do you remember that? And we had truckloads of relief. In fact, it was one of the biggest armies of volunteers that America has seen – not a peep from the media.

I haven’t changed. They’re just seeing it. I didn’t see them report on Mercury One’s donations and the work in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy or any of the other numerous tornadoes and other tragedies that you have done. Because of you, Mercury One has been able to give $14 million to victims of tragedy in under two years, $250,000 to the NYPD. I think it was like their union or something because they didn’t have any money to be able to help on their emergency relief for their families.

The union guys were like what, I don’t know what to…because that’s who we are, dude. You just didn’t think so. Five hundred thousand dollars we gave to a struggling hospital in New York City. Joe, was it 500? Yeah, $500,000 to New York City so they could help continue to treat people in New York City that are not welcome in any place, and it’s great that we’re helping them because I got news for you, apparently I’m not welcome in New York either.

I don’t think they even saw the beginning let alone the end of Man in the Moon.

VIDEO
And the Man in the Moon was woken from his deep slumber by a faint and gentle tapping, one that he had not felt ever before. It was his beasts, and when he looked closer, he saw them. He saw them dancing and jumping up on his face. They were dancing together in the glow of the great lights. They had done it. They had found their way. They had used their machines to reach toward him, and now they were one.

Hello? How about the reaction from the crowd of 25,000 people who saw that? How about just one reaction of somebody who sure doesn’t look like she should be a fan of Glenn Beck’s?

VIDEO
I would love to tell Glenn Beck thank you very much. I heard something today that I didn’t know I needed to hear until I heard it, and so it hit very close to home with me. And now I know that every day the sun will rise, and I can look up to see the moon to remind me that I know the sun will come up.

That’s our job. That’s what we’ve been trying to do, but they never covered it. They didn’t report on the 9/12 Project that brought people together on principles and values. They mocked it. They didn’t look at it. They didn’t believe it. They were cynical. They didn’t report on any of this and what you’ve done. They’ve just selectively decided to paint all of us in a certain way.

May I humbly suggest that the media stop gawking at my introspection and start maybe doing a little introspection of their own? Piers Morgan, now this is a record, Piers Morgan had a response I have to commend. Watch.

VIDEO
Morgan: Let’s talk seriously about the polarization of political debate in America, because Glenn Beck was quite brave I thought to say what he said. And if I’m being self-reflective, doesn’t happen very often, but I may as well throw it out there. You know, we mentioned guns there. When I’ve done the guns debate, I can tell that when I get over angry and get a little bit abusive to the gun people, that it actually doesn’t help the debate, that actually all it does is intensify the polarization.

How fantastic is that? How fantastic is that? Okay? He took this as an opportunity to look inward and upward, not just at you. Kudos, Piers. Joe Scarborough, not a friend of this program, responded this way on MSNBC today:

VIDEO
Scarborough: You know, he came out this past week and also said if you are anti-gay, if you don’t like a person because they’re gay, you have no place in this country, and don’t call yourself a fan of mine. I think what’s so fascinating about this is that if Glenn Beck were saying all of this from a position of weakness, that would be one thing.
Glenn Beck from what I saw made like $90 million last year. He has done on the Internet what the largest corporations in America have tried to do on the Internet. I mean, he has somehow brought together TV and Internet, and he’s had an extraordinary year financially. So I think that’s what’s even more telling about this is that he’s making these admissions from a position of strength.

Okay, stop. I just want to show you that because Joe Scarborough is not a friend of this not work. In fact, let me show you what Joe Scarborough said when I left FOX.

VIDEO
Scarborough: I’m just saying it outright that Roger Ailes was right that all of those people that showed up at Glenn Beck’s rally were FOX people, were Roger Ailes people, and not Glenn Beck’s people. And Glenn Beck will find that out in the coming years. Roger Ailes has built a remarkable platform for conservative speakers, and Glenn Beck got plugged in at five o’clock and did better than anybody else at five o’clock, but he also did better than he will for the rest of his career.

Here is a guy who had that opinion and now was able to realize that he was wrong. And I would like to take this moment and ask the media aren’t we all a little wrong about something? Haven’t we all done things that we are saying oh man, if I just would’ve known then? Really? Haven’t we all just made mistakes? I mean, none of us are perfect. What is that he without sin cast the first stone thing?

Unfortunately, that’s not how the media is set up. I’ve asked Tiffany to run as a documentary maybe the Christmas meeting that we had as a company and show you who we are on the inside. They won’t understand. They won’t even get it. I think you’ll even be shocked at a lot of the stuff, probably not, the way we run our company and what we think we are and we stand for and what we strive to be.

In the rest of the media, admitting a mistake, oh, that’s horrible. I’ve always told you I lead with my mistakes, and I’ve always told you we can disagree, but I will defend you. I will defend. And I’m not going to defend a mistake because I’m afraid I’ll lose an argument. Don’t be afraid, and don’t fall into the trap of the seven crimes. Don’t be afraid to think, to know, to care.

D-Day, the Bedford Boys, and earning it

Wikipedia

Today is the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the largest amphibious invasion in history.

The Allied invasion force included 5,000 ships and landing craft, 11,000 planes, and almost three million allied soldiers, airmen and sailors. Despite such numbers, the location and timing of the invasion was still an enormous gamble. The Nazis fully expected such an invasion, they just didn't know precisely when or where it would be.

Despite the enormous logistics involved, the gamble worked and by the end of June 6, 1944, 156,000 Allied troops were ashore in Normandy. The human cost was also enormous – over 4,900 American troops died on D-Day. That number doubled over the next month as they fought to establish a foothold in northern France.

There were five beach landing zones on the coast of northwestern France, divided among the Allies. They gave each landing zone a name. Canada was responsible for "Juno." Britain was responsible for "Gold" and "Sword." And the U.S. had "Utah" and "Omaha."

The Nazis were dug in with bunkers, machine guns, artillery, mines, barbed wire, and other obstacles to tangle any attempt to come ashore. Of the five beaches, Omaha was by far the most heavily defended. Over 2,500 U.S. soldiers were killed at Omaha – the beach so famously depicted in the opening battle sequence of the 1998 movie, Saving Private Ryan. The real-life assault on Omaha Beach included 34 men in that first wave of attack who came from the same small town of Bedford, Virginia. The first Americans to die on Omaha Beach were the men from Bedford.

amp only placement

America has a national D-Day Memorial, but many people don't know about it.

America has a national D-Day Memorial, but many people don't know about it. Maybe that's because it wasn't a government project and it's not in Washington DC. It was initiated and financed by veterans and private citizens. It's tucked away in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in the small town of Bedford, Virginia. Why is the memorial for one of the most famous days in modern world history in such a tiny town? Because, as a proportion of its population of just 3,200 at the time, no community in the U.S. sacrificed more men on D-Day than Bedford.

There were 34 men in Company A from Bedford. Of those thirty-four, 23 died in the first wave of attacks. Six weeks after D-Day, the town's young telegraph operator was overwhelmed when news of many of the first deaths clattered across the Western Union line on the same day. Name after name of men and families that she knew well. There were so many at once that she had to enlist the help of customers in the pharmacy's soda shop to help deliver them all.

Among those killed in action were brothers Bedford and Raymond Hoback. Bedford was the rambunctious older brother with a fiancée back home that he couldn't wait to return to. Raymond was the quieter, more disciplined younger brother who could often be found reading his Bible. He fell in love with a British woman during his two years in England training for D-Day. Like in that opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan, Bedford and Raymond barely made it down the ramp of their Higgins Boat in the swarm of bullets and hot steel before they were cut down in the wet sand.

Bedford and Raymond Hoback's mother, Macie, learned of both their deaths from two separate telegrams, the first on a Sunday morning, the second the following day. Their younger sister, Lucille, remembered her mother's devastation, and her father walking out to the barn to cry.

The day after D-Day, the killing field of Omaha Beach was already transforming into the massive supply port that would help fuel the American drive all the way to Berlin over the next year. A soldier from West Virginia was walking along the beach when he saw something jutting out of the sand. He reached down and pulled it out. He was surprised to find it was a Bible. The inside cover was inscribed with: "Raymond S. Hoback, from mother, Christmas, 1938." The soldier wrote a letter and mailed it with the Bible to Raymond's mother. That Bible, which likely tumbled from Raymond's pack when he fell on D-Day, became Macie Hoback's most cherished possession – the only personal belonging of her son that was ever returned.

Of the 23 Bedford men who died on Omaha Beach, eleven were laid to rest in the American cemetery in Normandy.

These men, many of them barely out of their teens, didn't sign up to march to the slaughter of course. They had hopes and dreams just like you and I. Many of them signed up for adventure, or because of peer pressure, and yes, a sense of honor and duty. Many of the Bedford Boys first signed up for the National Guard just to make a few extra bucks per month, get to hang out with their buddies, and enjoy target practice. But someone had to be first at Omaha Beach and that responsibility fell to the men from Bedford.

Over the last several years, the D-Day anniversary gets increasingly sad. Because each year, there are fewer and fewer men alive who were actually in Normandy on June 6, 1944. The last of the surviving Bedford Boys died in 2009. Most of the remaining D-Day veterans who are still with us are too frail to make the pilgrimage to France for the anniversary ceremonies like they used to.

It's difficult to think about losing these World War II veterans, because once they're all gone, we'll lose that tether to a time when the nation figured out how to be a better version of itself.

Not that they were saints and did everything right. They were as human as we are, with all the fallibility that entails. But in some respects, they were better. Because they went, and they toughed it out, and they accomplished an incredibly daunting mission, with sickening hardship, heartbreak, and terror along the way.

So, what does the anniversary of D-Day mean in 2019?

In one sense, this anniversary is a reprimand that we've failed to tell our own story well enough.

In one sense, this anniversary is a reprimand that we've failed to tell our own story well enough. You can't learn about the logistics of the operation and above all, the human cost, and not be humbled. But as a society, we have not emphasized well enough the story of D-Day and all that it represents. How can I say that? Because of an example just last weekend, when common sense got booed by Democratic Socialists at the California Democrats' State Convention. When Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper said during his speech that "socialism is not the answer," the crowd booed loudly. When did telling the truth about socialism become controversial?

Sure, socialists, and communists and other anti-American factions have always been around. America certainly had socialists in 1944. But the current socialists trying to take over the Democratic Party like a virus don't believe in the D-Day sacrifices to preserve America, because they don't believe America is worth preserving. They are agitating to reform America using the authoritarian playbook that has only ended in death and destruction everywhere it is followed.

Ask a Venezuelan citizen, or an Iraqi Christian, or a North Korean peasant why D-Day still matters in 2019.

The further we move away from caring about pivotal events like June 6, 1944, the less chance of survival we have as a nation.

At the same time, the D-Day anniversary is a reminder that we're not done yet. It's an opportunity for us to remember and let that inform how we live.

Near the end of Saving Private Ryan, the fictional Captain Miller lays dying, and he gives one last instruction to Private Ryan, the young man that he and his unit have sacrificed their lives to rescue in Normandy. He says, "Earn it."

In other words, don't waste the sacrifices that were made so that your life could be saved. Live it well. The message to "earn it" extends to the viewer and the nation as well – can we say we're earning the sacrifices that were made by Americans on D-Day? I cringe to think how our few remaining World War II veterans might answer that.

Honor. Duty. Sacrifice. Gratitude. Personal responsibility. These used to mean a lot more.

Honor. Duty. Sacrifice. Gratitude. Personal responsibility. These used to mean a lot more. I don't want to believe it's too late for us to rediscover those traits as a nation. I want to believe we can still earn it.

The challenge to "earn it" is a lot of pressure. Frankly, it's impossible. We can't fully earn the liberty that we inherited. But we can certainly try to earn it. Not trying is arrogant and immoral. And to tout socialism as the catch-all solution is naïve, and insulting to the men like those from Bedford who volunteered to go defend freedom. In truly striving to earn it, we help keep the flame of liberty aglow for future generations. It is necessary, honorable work if freedom is to survive.

The end of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is remarkably relevant for every anniversary of June 6, 1944. This is what D-Day still means in 2019:

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Letter from Corporal H.W. Crayton to Mr. and Mrs. Hoback – parents of Bedford and Raymond Hoback who were both killed in action on June 6, 1944

Álvaro Serrano/Unsplash

July 9, 1944 Somewhere in France

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Hoback:

I really don't know how to start this letter to you folks, but will attempt to do something in words of writing. I will try to explain in the letter what this is all about.

While walking along the Beach D-day Plus One, I came upon this Bible and as most any person would do I picked it up from the sand to keep it from being destroyed. I knew that most all Bibles have names & addresses within the cover so I made it my business to thumb through the pages until I came upon the name above. Knowing that you no doubt would want the Book returned I am sending it knowing that most Bibles are a book to be cherished. I would have sent it sooner but have been quite busy and thought it best if a short period of time elapsed before returning it.

You have by now received a letter from your son saying he is well. I sincerely hope so.

I imagine what has happened is that your son dropped the Book without any notice. Most everybody who landed on the Beach D-Day lost something. I for one as others did lost most of my personal belongings, so you see how easy it was to have dropped the book and not know about it.

Everything was in such a turmoil that we didn't have a chance until a day or so later to try and locate our belongings.

Since I have arrived here in France I have had occasion to see a little of the country and find it quite like parts of the U.S.A. It is a very beautiful country, more so in peace time. War does change everything as it has this country. One would hardly think there was a war going on today. Everything is peaceful & quiet. The birds have begun their daily practice, all the flowers and trees are in bloom, especially the poppies & tulips which are very beautiful at this time of the year.

Time goes by so quickly as it has today. I must close hoping to hear that you receive the Bible in good shape.

Yours very truly,

Cpl. H.W. Crayton

After boycotting Georgia over 'heartbeat' bill, Disney finds new production home

Travis Gergen/Unsplash

It's not as easy as it used to be for billion-dollar entertainment empires like The Walt Disney Company. It would be more streamlined for Disney to produce its major motion pictures in its own backyard. After all, abortion in California is readily available, as well as a protected, cherished right. And since abortion access is critical for movie production, right up there with lighting equipment and craft services, you would think California would be the common-sense choice for location shooting. Alas, even billion-dollar studios must pinch pennies these days. So, in recent years, Disney, among other major Hollywood studios, has been farming out production to backwater Southern lands like Georgia, and even Louisiana. Those states offer more generous tax breaks than Disney's native California. As a result, Georgia for example, played host to much of the shooting for the recent worldwide box office smash Avengers: Endgame.

But now it looks like it's Georgia's endgame. The state recently passed what is known as a "heartbeat" bill – a vicious, anti-woman law that would try to make pregnant women allow their babies to be born and actually live. It's a bridge too far for a major studio like Disney, which was largely built on creating family entertainment. How can Disney possibly go about making quality movies, often aimed at children, without access to unfettered abortion? It's unconscionable. Lack of abortion access makes it nearly impossible to shoot movies. So, what's a major studio to do? Disney might have considered migrating its business to Louisiana, but that state too has now signed a heartbeat bill into law. It's utter madness.

These monstrous anti-abortion bills, coupled with having to live under President Trump, has led Disney to seek a new home for its legendary movie magic. Last week, Disney's CEO, Bob Iger, announced that all future Disney movies will now be filmed on location in the Sub-Saharan African nation of Wakanda.

"Disney and Wakanda are a match made in heaven," Iger told reporters. "Wakanda was, until recently, a secret kingdom, much like our own Magic Kingdom. With this new partnership, we'll not only get to continue our legacy of making movies that parents and children everywhere enjoy together, but we'll get to do so in a safe space that reveres abortion as much as we do."

Wakanda is one of only four African countries (out of 55) that allow unrestricted abortion.

As home to the most advanced technology in the world – and with the planet's highest per-capita concentration of wokeness – Wakanda offers women painless, hassle-free abortion on demand. As the Wakandan health ministry website explains, the complete absence of any white-patriarchal-Judeo-Christian influence allows women in Wakanda to have complete control of their own bodies (with the exception of females who are still fetuses). As winner of the U.N.'s 2018 Golden Forceps award (the U.N.'s highest abortion honor) Wakanda continues its glowing record on abortion. That makes it an ideal location for Disney's next round of live-action remakes of its own animated movies in which the company plans to remove all male characters.

Iger says he hopes to convince Wakandan leadership to share their top-secret vibranium-based abortion procedure technology so that American women can enjoy the same convenient, spa-like abortion treatment that Wakandan women have enjoyed for years.

Wakanda is one of only four African countries (out of 55) that allow unrestricted abortion. Disney plans to boycott and/or retaliate against the other 51 African nations, as well as any U.S. states, that restrict abortion. Specific plans are being kept under wraps, but sources say Disney's potential retaliation may include beaming Beverly Hills Chihuahua into the offending territories on a continuous, indefinite loop.

When asked how Wakanda's futuristic capital city and distinctly African landscape would be able to double for American movie locations, Iger said, "I guess America will just have to look more like Wakanda from now on."

One potential wrinkle for the Left-leaning studio is the fact that Wakanda has an impenetrable border wall-shield-thing designed to keep out foreign invaders as well as illegal immigrants. Iger said he understands Wakanda's policy of exclusivity, adding, "After all, not everyone gets into Disneyland. You have to have a ticket to get in. Anyone is welcome, but you have to go through the process of getting a ticket." When one reporter pointed out that Iger's answer sounded like the conservative argument for legal immigration under the rule of law, Iger insisted that the reporter was "a moronic fascist."

What if the unthinkable happens and Florida also enacts its own "heartbeat" law? That would be problematic since Walt Disney World is located in Florida. Iger responded that Disney would "cross that bridge if we get to it" but that the most likely scenario would entail "dismantling Disney World piece-by-piece and relocating it to the actual happiest place on earth – Wakanda." As for whether Disney would ever open character-themed abortion clinics inside its theme parks, Iger remained coy, but said, "Well, it is the place where dreams come true."

With the Wakanda solution, Disney may have found a place where Minnie Mouse can finally follow her heart and have true freedom of choice.

When pressed about the cost of ramping up production in a secretive African kingdom that has no existing moviemaking infrastructure (which could easily end up being much more expensive than simply shooting in California) Iger said, "You can't put a price tag on abortion freedom. Wakanda Forever and Abortion Forever!"

With the Wakanda solution, Disney may have found a place where Minnie Mouse can finally follow her heart and have true freedom of choice. And that will be welcome relief to traditional families all over the world who keep the Walt Disney Company in business.

*Disclaimer: The preceding story is a parody. Bob Iger did not actually say any of the quotes in the story. Neither is Wakanda an actual nation on planet Earth.

Understanding the cry for mercy: I share my 'Journey of Faith' with Paula Faris

"Journeys of Faith with Paula Faris," is a podcast featuring conversations about how faith has guided newsmakers and celebrities through their best and worst times. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a much maligned religion so Glenn joined the podcast and took the time to explain what it means to him and how it changed his life.

From his suicidal days and his battle with drugs and alcohol, it was his wife Tania and his faith that saved him. All his ups and downs have given him the gift of empathy and he says he now understands the "cry for mercy" — something he wishes he'd given out more of over the years.

You can catch the whole podcast on any of the platforms listed below.

- Apple Podcasts
- Google Podcasts
- TuneIn
- Spotify
- Stitcher
- ABC News app

Mending fences: Yes, being good neighbors requires building a wall

Patrick Baum/Unsplash

One of these times I'm going to go on vacation, and I'm just not going to come back. I learn so much on a farm.

You want to know how things work, go spend a summer on a farm. You're having problems with your son or daughter, go spend a summer on a farm.

My son changed. Over two weeks.

Getting him out of bed, getting him to do anything, is like insane. He's a 15-year-old kid. Going all through the normal 15-year-old boy stuff. Getting him on the farm, where he was getting up and actually accomplishing stuff, having to build or mend fences, was amazing. And it changed him.

Our society does not allow our kids to grow up, ever. I am convinced that our 15-year-olds could be fixing all kinds of stuff. Could be actually really making an impact in a positive way in our society. And what's wrong with our society is, we have gotten away from how things actually work. We're living in this theoretical world. When you're out on a farm, there's no theory here. If it rains, the crops will grow. If it rains too much, the crops won't grow.

If there's no sun, they won't grow. If there's too much sun, they'll shrivel up and die. There's no theory. We were out mending fences. Now, when I say the phrase to you, mending fences, what does that mean? When you think of mending fences, you think of, what?

Coming together. Bringing people together. Repairing arguments.

I've never mended a fence before until I started stringing a fence and I was like, "I ain't doing this anymore! Where is it broken? Can't we just tie a piece of barbed wire together?"

Let's stop talking about building a wall. Because that has all kinds of negative imagery. Mending fences is what we need to do.

That's called mending fences.

And why do you mend fences? So your animals don't get out and start to graze on somebody else's land. When your fence goes down, your cow is now on somebody else's land. And your cow is now eating their food.

We look at the phrase, mending fences as saying, hey. You know, we were both wrong. Mending fences has nothing to do with that.

Mending fences means build a wall. My neighbors and I, we're going to get along fine, as long as my cows don't go and steal their food, or their cows don't come over and steal my cow's food.

We're perfectly neighborly with each other, until one of us needs to mend a fence, because, dude, you got to mend that, because your cows keep coming over and eating my food.

You know what we need to do with Mexico? Mend fences.

Now, that's a phrase. You hear build a wall. That's horrible.

No, no, no. We need to mend fences.

In a farming community, that means putting up an electric fence. That means putting up barbed wire.

So the cows — because the cows will — they'll stick their head through barbed wire. And they'll eat the grass close to the road. Or eat the grass close to the other side of the fence. And they'll get their heads in between those fences. And they can't get out sometimes. Because the grass is always greener on the other side. You look at these damn cows and say turn around, cow — there's plenty of stuff over here.

No. They want the grass on the other side of the fence.

So you mend it.

And if it's really bad, you do what we do. We had to put an electric fence up. Now, imagine putting an electric fence up. That seems pretty radical and expensive.

Does it really work? Does it shock them? What does that feel like to a cow?

The cows hit it once, and then they don't hit it again. They can actually hear the buzz of the electric fence. There's a warning. Don't do it. Don't do it. They hear the current and they hit it once and they're like, "I'm not going to do that again."

So you mend fences, which means, keep your stuff on your side. I like you. We're good neighbors. You keep your stuff on your side and I'll keep my stuff on my side and we'll get together at the town hall and we'll see each other at the grocery store. Because we're good neighbors. But what stops us from fighting is knowing that there is a fence there.

This is my stuff. That's your stuff. But we can still trade and we'll help each other. But let's stop talking about building a wall. Because that has all kinds of negative imagery. Mending fences is what we need to do.

You can have a tough fence. It could be a giant wall. It could be an electric fence. But you need one. And that's how you come together.

The side that's having the problem, mends the fence.

Glenn's Show Prep