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What is the real state of our union?

January 29, 2014
Radio Clips

The Glenn Beck Program

As expected, last night’s big address sounded more like a campaign stump speech than an honest assessment of the state of our union. Both President Obama and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), who delivered the Republican rebuttal, offered nothing more than platitudes and sound bites that would appease their respective bases. On radio this morning, Glenn decided to offer his own evaluation - but instead rattling off hyperbolic rhetoric, Glenn decided to focus on the 'real' state of the union.

So what is the state of our union? Not according to the President, his party, or the Republicans. What is the state of our union? Not those who lied, passed blame to everyone else, but just according to a man – a man like any other man; a man who has no power; a man who is a husband, a father, a brother, a son, a neighbor, a citizen – the state of the union from that perspective.

From my perspective – as somebody who is just looking at it, trying to do his best, trying to figure out what is happening in the world, what is happening to our country, just sharing the truth as I understand it – the state of the union is sorry.

If you happen to be a lying politician with an agenda for power, the state of the union's never been better. Or if you're one of the elite, if you're one of the well-connected, the cronies pulling the strings of the lying politicians so you too can gain even more power, then the state of your union is fabulous. If you fit in one of those two categories, the state of the union is exactly where you want it to be…

Based on the reaction from the press to that nightmarish address from Caesar, you know that we have a complicit media. The politicians know, the crony capitalists know they've got a complicit media, and they're at our beck and call. The media will spring into action for you if anyone – even if they are normally on your side, even if they are a friend – if they step out of line, if they say even one thing remotely contradictory, that complicit media will attack like a pack of rabid wolves…

We've witnessed that now in action. Look at what they've just done to venture capitalist Tom Perkins. A guy from San Francisco. A man who voted for Jerry Brown. It doesn't get any more extreme left than Jerry Brown. He considers Jerry Brown a friend. He voted for him for the governor of California. He said he'll vote for him again. He's a man who's close to Al Gore, considers him a friend. I don't know Tom Perkins at all, but just based on those two pieces of information, he's obviously a liberal. And I don't think Tom and I are going to be having dinner anytime soon. But actually I would like to shake that man's hand because Tom dared to step out of line, just for a minute. Just to warn about the consequences of demonizing people who have become successful, and he experienced the wrath of hellfire raining down on him. The media tore into him… His own company, one he helped create, tore into him.

A few months ago a friend and a supporter of this president, somebody who campaigned, somebody who helped raise funds for him to get reelected, Paula Deen, was nearly exiled from our civilization, was literally put down on the ground, put to her knees. I'm surprised somebody didn't step on her throat and actually put a brand on her forehead ‘Racist’ because she admitted using a word in jest years ago. And no one who participated in stoking up the flames of her branding iron has ever mentioned that, ‘Oh, by the way, has anybody noticed the fact that the president of the United States is black and she supported, she helped raise money, she helped elect him? He's black? How is she a racist?’

What kind of game is going on? Don't you see the insanity? It's madness! The state of the union is insanity! It makes no sense. The state of the union is dark and dismal, and it needs to reconnect with reality. The state of our union is upside down.

If you're over 30, you might remember a song, and I am positive – because I've done this with Muse before – that this group is going to hate me for even ever listening to them… But it is appropriate now. If you just change a couple of words, it is so appropriate. The band was called Supertramp. The song was “The Logical Song.” Let me just quote the lyrics:

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,

a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.

And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,

joyfully, playfully watching me.

But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,

logical, responsible, practical.

And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,

clinical, intellectual, cynical.

There are times when all the world's asleep,

the questions run too deep

for such a simple man.

Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned

I know it sounds absurd

but please tell me who I am.

Now watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical,

liberal, fanatical, criminal.

Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're

acceptable, respecable, presentable, a vegtable!

At night, when all the world's asleep,

the questions run so deep

for such a simple man.

Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned

I know it sounds absurd

but please tell me who I am.

Now, that's what Supertramp thought then… but I think you change that one word and it applies today. The Glenn Beck version would be:

Watch what you say or we'll be calling you a radical, conservative, fanatical, criminal.

I know it sounds absurd, but please, dear listener, please, dear friend, who has been with me on this journey for how many years now. Some of you have been with me since I was in Connecticut. Some remember listening to me when I was in Phoenix, and I was an awful morning deejay. Could you please tell me who I am? Can you please tell me who we are? Are we the people who are going to let the media force us to cower in a corner someplace? Are we a people that are going to let the president and his elitist friends, his allies, his union thugs – and if it's not them, it will be the Republicans and their business thugs – are we going to let them reshape the image of America in their image? Are we the people who are going to allow them to send our children off to be taught how to be sensible, logical, responsible, practical, and accept that the debate is over, that the science is settled – sit down, shut up?

I'm not the president of the United States. I am still the guy I was in 1999 when I couldn't afford my rent. I am a guy who, somehow or another, found that ladder that doesn't exist and crawled beyond who I always was taught I am. And there are those who are still trying to force me down and tell me that I'm not educated enough. I didn't get their certificates. I didn't pass through their gates. I didn't do it their way and so I'm nothing. I'm nothing more than a hoax. I don't really exist. I'm an aberration. I'm a radical. But I refuse to be a vegetable. I know it sounds absurd, but please tell me who we are.

Front page image courtesy of the AP

Swedish town that banned church bells has approved a mosque’s call to prayer

Natalia Y/Unsplash

A town in Sweden is under fire after denying requests to ring church bells in the 1990s and the 2000s but recently approving a mosque's request to conduct a weekly Islamic call to prayer.

RELATED: Media's anti-Israel, pro-Islam bias sweeps THIS fact under the rug

Authorities in the town of Vaxjo in southern Sweden have given the local mosque a one-year permit to recite the call to prayer every Friday for about four minutes. But Fr. Ingvar Fogelqvist of St. Michael's, the local Catholic church located about a mile from the mosque, says similar requests to ring church bells were denied.

On today's show, Pat and Jeffy talked about this story and favorable bias toward the Muslim faith. The issue isn't that the Islamic call to prayer is allowed; it's that all religions are not being treated equally.

Trump is following through on his campaign promises. Here are the top 10.

Somebody might want to check the temperature in hell, it might be just a tad chillier than normal.

If you missed Friday's episode of The Glenn Beck Program, you missed something you probably never thought you'd see in this timeline or any other. Glenn actually donned President Trump's trademark red "Make America Great Again" hat and laid out the case for why he thinks Trump will win in a landslide in 2020.

RELATED: The media's derangement over Trump has me wearing a new hat and predicting THIS for 2020

Bottom line: Nancy Pelosi and the mainstream media may have pushed Glenn to this point, but believe it or not, Trump's record will make this next election a walk in the park for number 45. At this point, the sitting president has done enough to earn even Glenn's vote.

Glenn broke down what he thought were the 10 biggest campaign promises that — unlike those made by most politicians — Trump actually kept.

10. Impose a 10% repatriation tax to bring jobs back to America

Not all of Trump's promises were good ones, but regardless of what the consequences may be — he did keep this one.

"Now, I think this one is dangerous," Glenn said on radio Friday. "He did it. Ten percent. Bring all of your money back into the United States. It will create jobs. Yes. It will also create inflation. But it's creating jobs."

9. Withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

This has been one of Trump's most passionate issues.

"The stop the TPP. Uh-huh. Right. Sure you are. Uh-huh. Yes. He did," Glenn admitted.

8. Withdraw from the disastrous Paris Climate Accord

Glenn found himself eating crow on this.

"I'm on record saying he will never do that because his daughter is a huge global warming person and he only listens to the family. Eh. Wrong," Glenn said with a puff of crow feathers coming from his mouth.

7. Bring North Korea to the table and rein them in

This looked impossible. Not so.

"'I'm going to bring North Korea to the table.' Are you? Everybody has tried to do that," Glenn said. "Now, they're at the table. We don't know what's going to happen. So the result of that is unknown. But has anybody else done that?"

6. Stop over-regulation and jump-start the economy

It's the economy, stupid.

"Does anybody feel like America is beginning to get on track somewhat economically? You know why? Because he fulfilled another promise," Glenn said. "Stop over-regulating the American people. Give them their money. Give the companies the opportunity to expand and bring their money back into the country, and maybe they'll build buildings. Maybe they'll build offices. Maybe they'll build new products. Maybe they'll build new factories. Maybe they'll hire a bunch of people."

Glenn went on.

"Now, I know Seattle is trying to do everything they can to make sure everybody in their city is homeless and unemployed, but the rest of the country is enjoying the feeling of, wow, maybe things are going to be okay."

5. Reverse Obama's executive orders

If you're like Glenn, you've gotten used to politicians promising "no new taxes," but you can really tell they're lying if their lips are moving. Guess what? That's apparently not Trump.

"The executive orders? Yeah. He's reversed a lot of Obama's executive orders," Glenn said. "These are outrageous promises."

4. Pull out of the Iran nuclear deal

No big deal...

"'I'm going to cancel the Iran Deal.' Yep. None of these are small. You know, I've got maybe ten minutes. I think we can get that done in the first term. And they did," Glenn said.

3. Give tax cuts to middle-class Americans

Maybe this could have been better, but we'll take it.

"I don't like the tax cut. I think he could go a lot further," Glenn said. "But that's not even his job. His job is to sign things that Congress puts in front of him. Not to design it. You Republicans in Congress, you disgust me. You disgust me. 'Imagine what we could do if we had the House and the Senate and the White House.' I can imagine what you'll do — nothing. You'll do nothing."

2. Change strategy and defeat ISIS

The mainstream media have been radio silent on this.

"How about the president's — well, I know I can defeat ISIS. I know I can do it. I'll defeat ISIS. He did," Glenn said. "And did you notice no one in the press even talked about it? All of a sudden, we're not talking about ISIS anymore. How come? Oh, I know. President Trump. That's why."

1. Recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate the US embassy

This one is a true game-changer.

"Now, every president will say to you, when he's running, 'I'm going to make Jerusalem the home.' Well, really? The home of the embassy. Really, are you? Because everybody says that, nobody does it. He did it," Glenn said. "And I think that's going to go down as the biggest game-changer possibly in my lifetime. This is going — it already is — it is changing the game in Iran."

Glenn continued.

"And when it does, this president is going to come out and say something directly to those people, that we support them," he said. "And that's going to add fuel to the fire. And you might see a regime change and a collapse of the Islamic regime in Iran. And it will be 100 percent Donald Trump that made that responsible. One hundred percent. You're going to see changes because of this. He kept that promise. A promise I said, he's not going to do that. Nobody is going to do that. He did."

One chapter of ISIS has ended, but another may be starting

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

For the most part, ISIS has fallen in Syria and Iraq. But before we celebrate the demise of this awful terrorist group, before we let our guard down, we should zoom out a bit, because ISIS is spreading. ISIS has largely just scattered out of the region as if someone turned on the kitchen lights and they scrambled.

RELATED: It IS About Islam: This Is a War Against Evil

The Wall Street Journal spoke with Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the Nanyang University in Singapore. “Although Islamic State's ideology has suffered, it still has a huge potential," he told them. “Islamic State has entered a phase of global expansion, very much the same way al Qaeda extended globally in late 2001."

ISIS has spread into West Africa, and throughout much of Southeast Asia, and, as is typical of ISIS, they have done it violently, with a sick venom.

The world is their potential rubble, and their fight is endless.

Again, from the Wall Street Journal: “One chapter of ISIS has finished and another is beginning," said Hassan Hassan, a specialist on Islamic State at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington. “Their resurgence is coming sooner than expected."

The world is their potential rubble, and their fight is endless.

'The Handmaid's Tale' got it right, just with the wrong religion

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Just in case The Handmaid's Tale's heavy-handed message wasn't already heavy-handed enough, a recent episode made it clear there's always room for further hysteria. Particularly, in relation to depictions of a “patriarchal society" run by Christian doctrine and determined by men — oh those dastardly men.

RELATED: Christian privilege is the new white privilege

The show appropriates Margaret Atwood of the same name, depicting a totalitarian society led by Christian doctrine in which women's bodies are controlled, and they have no rights. The story sounds familiar, but not in the same way Atwood and the show's creators have so smugly assumed.

Just as tone-deaf as 4th wave feminism itself, and tone-deaf in all the exact same places. Most notably, the show's heavy-handed indignation toward Christianity. Toward the patriarchy. Toward conservatives and traditional values. And just like 4th wave feminism, the show completely overlooks the irony at play. Because there is a part of the world where women and children are being raped and mutilated. In fact, in this very real place, the women or girls are often imprisoned, even executed, for being raped, and they are mutilated in unspeakable ways.

Theirs is a cruel, bloody, colorless life.

There is a place, a very real place, where women are forced to cover their entire bodies with giant tarp-like blankets, which is all the more brutal given the endless heat of this place. There is a place where women literally have one-third of the rights of men, a place where women are legally, socially and culturally worth less than men.

They cannot drive cars. They cannot be outside alone. They cannot divorce, they cannot even choose who they marry and often, they are forcibly married at a young age.

They are raped. A lot. Theirs is a cruel, bloody, colorless life. This is the life of tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of women. And, I'll tell you, their religion isn't Christianity.