Marysville dad speaks about school shooting and the thing Glenn Beck did to change him

October 28, 2014

Writer

Glenn spoke with a dad from Marysville on radio today, in the wake of a deadly school shooting at the high school there. Lance Van Winkle’s daughter texted him as she hid under a desk, reporting that her friend was shot in the head, suddenly something changed in Lance. He explained on radio today.

WATCH:

Read a rough transcript of the segment below:

GLENN: On Sunday night, right before I turn off the lights, I wrote this on Facebook. I just said my prayers with the kids and tucked them in. Rarely do I remember my prayers with my family being so pleading. For me, the family, those in our military, those in our government, our neighbors, and all those around the world who have never even known hope. Please, Lord, help us. Please help us. I don't need or want any special favors. I don't need my prayers answered my way. Just please, please give us the strength to find joy and to find you in whatever is coming. We have endured many things, but hope to endure all things. And with you, we can and will.

I spent the weekend working on a series of episodes that are going to air on -- beginning November 10th. I'm writing every word of these episodes myself as it is really important to get this right because this is a very personal message from me and from my family. And something that has been coming for five years, but I haven't been able to share it. Haven't been willing to share it. And I didn't know exactly what it was going to mean for our relationship. And where, you know -- what we were going to do.

But because of our relationship, now comes the time that I need to share. And that episode is happening on November 10th on television.

But I wrote on Facebook after I had finished writing some more of those episodes, I wrote: You don't know how much you mean to me and how much you lift my family.

This afternoon, my daughter Hannah had her in-laws -- they were in town. They're so great. They asked us if we would go with them to the air show to see the thunderbirds. So we did.

When I got in, a woman and her son stopped me right at the gate at the air show and said, Glenn Beck, we're such huge fans.

Just that simple kindness brightened my day. She told me that her husband happened to work for the thunderbirds or work with the thunderbirds, and she invited us to go and meet and greet them. It was a thrill for me and the kids.

What happened however was a mini miracle for me. So many things had been verified and answered this weekend. I had been struggling with a few things and wondering what we are to do. Wondering if what we have done in the past has even mattered or if it's just in our heads. We all have jobs to do. How much do each of our jobs actually mean.

This woman told me about how she had volunteered for Restoring Honor, 8/28 in Washington, DC, how it changed her and her family. We spoke together with the jets rolling overhead with tears rolling down our faces about that day and the hope that we lived on and feasted on for so long. I think it's time to gather again.

What I have in my mind makes 8/28 look like a birthday party, but I would ask for you to pray and join me as I lay some ideas down at your feet soon.

But what I really want to tell you is I love you. And I really thank you for making my life so complete. We don't really have many friends. But it seems that no matter where we go, we're always surrounded by family.

I wrote that about 11 o'clock at night on Sunday. The next morning I get up and I see this from a guy named Lance Van Winkle.

Lance wrote and said, please, all of you, pray for us in Marysville, Washington. Glenn, I wish I could so sit and talk with you. I'm only one man, a man your recent reaffirming new direction has changed.

I'm moving away from divisiveness and moving towards God will. Your decision started me thinking the events in my town made me realize, it really is the only way. When my daughter called and then texted me and said she was under a desk hiding and that her friend had been shot in the head, I was really done. My son also goes to that high school. We didn't know where he was at. I was terrified.

I had the means to protect myself, and there was nothing I could do. I was utterly and totally helpless. I felt a little like I did in 9/11, except I had family and friends in the building. My kids were safe, but that tragedy made me think of Glenn and his solution. It's been there all along. Thy will, not mine be done. Pray all of you that you never have a day like we had in Marysville. Prayers and thoughts that those who have had that day, God bless you.

This has bothered -- not bothered me -- stuck with me since I read it. Early Monday morning. I thought of Lance last night as I was saying my prayers. We went to the football game here, the Redskins/Cowboys. It was about 11:30 by the time we got home. My son went upstairs to go to bed. Said our prayers. And Lance came to mind. He came to mind again this morning as I was saying my prayers. He said, I wish I could just sit and talk with you.

I asked Keith to get him on the phone. He's on the phone now.

Lance, how are you?

LANCE: I'm okay, Glenn. Good morning.

GLENN: How are things?

LANCE: Things are okay. It's just very emotional for me. And speaking to you and your audience, I never thought anything like this would happen. It was kind of funny. I was watching the game last night, and sorry about the deal, but I know that you were there. And I was thinking about you being there, and I almost mentioned it. I almost said, Glenn Beck is at that game. But everybody would have looked at me like, what? So I kept it to myself. But I was thinking of it there.

My kids are doing well. My daughter is kind of taking a leadership role. She took some friends to the Space Needle last night. She's trying to help as many people as she can. Just talking to them. Being with them. It's -- you know, everybody seems to be doing well. The community has totally blown me away with the support and what they're doing to help everybody get through this.

I saw a thing with the Seahawks praying for our students, and I just found out last night that Pete Carroll invited the Marysville-Pilchuck high school football team and also the Oak Harbor football team that were supposed to play Friday night down to an extended practice at the Seahawk facilities. And I've never witnessed anything like this so close. I've seen it, of course, like everybody has in other situations.

But it's -- it's a beautiful thing, you know.

GLENN: I will tell you: Lance, I don't know you keep coming to mind, but I'm glad we have this chance to talk. When I read your letter and you talked about how your daughter had called and then texted that she was under a desk, did she -- and I don't need to get into anything you don't want to discuss, but did she see her friend shot? How far away was she?

LANCE: No. She didn't, thank God. I know some kids -- this is a community that's grown a lot, but it's a small hometown field community.

GLENN: I grew up in Mount Vernon, which is not far away. So I group up in Mount Vernon, and we used to pass Marysville. And Marysville was just this small little town. I'm not surprised that the community is reacting this way, but maybe it's changed -- it had to have. It's been 30 years. But it used to be just a small little town where everybody would treat you right.

LANCE: It's -- you know, the stories are starting to come out, and Maria didn't see anything. She was out of the lunchroom. Of course, it's also came out that this was planned and premeditated, which is just horrific to me.

You know, the reservation, the Tulalip Indian reservation is right across Interstate 5 from us. And it's tied to the community, I mean, in a real deep way. I know a lot of Native Americans over there. It's -- we're always doing things together as a community and everything else.

And so when this happened, of course, it -- who knows what -- what people think. I hear a lot of things. I read a lot of things that are just awful. I know some kids that were there and saw it happen. They're remodeling the lunchroom. The school shut down for a week because I know several kids that would never go back in there again.

GLENN: I can't imagine.

LANCE: Yeah. And I don't know what to think. I don't have any answers for this. It just totally -- I'm just one guy in the community that feels the same way. Of course, we have families that lost loved ones. They're still in the hospital. My prayers go out for them, you know.

GLENN: So, Lance, help me out on this. You wrote: I'm just one man, a man your recent, reaffirming new direction has changed. I'm moving away from divisiveness and moving towards God's will. You wrote that when the tragedy happened, you thought of -- you thought of what we've been talking on the program. Can you tell me a little about that?

LANCE: Sure. I had been listening to you for some time. And, you know, I got to be careful. I don't want to go off on some weird rant. But I love the United States of America. I love our country. I feel it's being attacked from every which direction. Culture, language, borders, everything. But I -- and I've listened to your show.

I've enjoyed the controversies and the, you know, calling different sides out on the carpet. Whatever. The whole back and forth thing that goes on. And I've listened recently -- of course, it's well-known you've changed a direction. And it stopped me. I went, wow. And at first -- and I heard -- I mean, I heard while people thought -- were calling Glenn Beck, well, now he's a traitor and all this stuff, you know. And I just thought that that was a huge honorable thing to do in such a public life that you have. And to apologize and to -- I mean, it was just humble.

And so this was going on in the back of my mind. And I've had a lot of rants myself on Facebook sharing posts about this, that, the other thing.

GLENN: Right.

LANCE: And then this school thing happened. And I was sitting at my desk looking out the window of our office. I'm a real estate agent. And I get this call that's kind of broken up. And then pretty soon, my daughter and I are texting. And, as you know, what was said, she had described where she's hiding under a desk. Nobody knew about it. There were no sirens yet. There were no helicopters overhead. Her mom didn't even know. Then she texted me that her friend was shot in the head. And my world just kind of collapsed.

It was -- the only thing I can liken it to is that 9/11 event. I remember that so clearly and how it felt. And so I'm heading up to the school. I get up there. And they've got a perimeter set up. Nobody is getting in. I call my daughter's mom. We meet around the other side. We walk to a church where they're already assembling. Things went pretty fast after that. The whole event took about four minutes. They were assembling in a church nearby. And I -- our daughter and her mother were already at the church. I parked four blocks away. And was walking toward the church, and the -- it seemed like half of Marysville was there.

And the streams of people heading to the church and the frantic women and just the whole thing. I get there and we haven't seen our son yet. We had word that he was okay. So I waited outside for him to get out of the bus. And he's 6'4" and 15 years old, so he's not hard to spot. But he comes -- we're in the middle of this huge crowd of people being reunited with their children, and all this thing going on, I just realized, there's no answer for it. I don't have an answer for it. I don't have an explanation. I read all the posts. I see the anger, the frustration the hate. I see the tribal members come forth and they're talking about forgiveness and love. There are families and victims of the shooting have forgiven the person that shot their family members. And it started to sink in. It just hit me that the only answer is not on this earth.

And I've been a spiritual person for a long time. I believe in the Lord, but it never sunk in like this, that that's the only way. There is no other way. And, you know --

GLENN: Lance, I have to tell you. It's an honor to talk to you. And I'm so glad that you wrote and you posted that on my Facebook page. And you're one of the good guys, and you're now -- now your responsibility to be a force for good because you're awake. I'm sorry it took this to really have it set in, but thank goodness it did. Thank goodness it did. God bless you, lance. You and your whole community.

LANCE: Glenn, can I say something. It means a lot to me that I know you're bombarded with everything all the time. And it means a lot to me to know that you picked it up and listened. It's an honor to speak with you. I love you guys. You guys crack me up. I'm one of the guys driving down the road and people are looking at me as I'm laughing and talking to myself when I'm listening to your show. I've enjoyed it for a long time and believe you're a force of good in this world and you're making a difference in a big way. And so thank you also.

GLENN: Thank you God bless you. Thanks, Lance. Good people. We are surrounded by good people.

Glenn: Pay attention to what the State Department's RADICAL reset is signaling

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For years, the U.S. State Department operated on inertia—an institution locked into a cycle of caution, consensus, and risk aversion.

Speeches were careful, strategies were diluted by committees, and action was often defined by what couldn’t be done. The language was always the same: "nuance," "complexity," "stakeholders." Rarely was it about results.

That has changed.

What’s come out of the State Department in the last hundred days is a complete departure—not just in tone, but in structure.

Under Secretary Rubio, the department isn’t just adjusting tactics. It’s undergoing a philosophical reset.

The most telling shift is this: the department is no longer preoccupied with managing decline or defending abstractions. It’s operating from the premise that U.S. foreign policy must serve actual national interests, not vague global norms or ideological missions.

Look at the key decisions. The Global Engagement Center—an office that claimed to combat disinformation but increasingly acted as an internal censorship tool—is gone. Not repurposed. Not renamed. Eliminated. Aid programs that masked themselves as diplomacy while undermining core U.S. positions have been cut. Contracts to NGOs with open hostility toward U.S. policy goals? Revoked.

This isn’t cosmetic. It’s structural.

The department’s reorganization is consolidating power downward—removing bureaucratic silos, emphasizing merit over ideology, and restoring clarity to diplomatic goals. This isn’t about optics. It’s about removing friction between strategy and implementation. On immigration and border enforcement, there’s now a foreign policy posture that treats visa privileges as exactly that—privileges, not entitlements. Visa holders who break laws or support terrorist groups lose their status. Period. No press conference required. Just enforcement.

Regional partnerships are now framed by expectations, not entanglements.

Countries that allow mass illegal migration into the U.S. are being held accountable. Agreements are being structured around reciprocity. When those agreements are ignored, consequences follow. China’s influence in the Western Hemisphere, long treated as inevitable, has been directly challenged. Beijing’s role in Panama, particularly regarding the canal, has been dismantled through diplomacy backed by leverage, not lectures. That wasn’t done through press statements—it required statecraft, pressure, and the willingness to say no.

In Europe, there’s been a reframing of NATO obligations. Not as symbolic unity, but as measurable responsibility. The benchmark is no longer two percent. The conversation is now five. That changes the nature of the alliance. In Africa, the posture is shifting from dependency to commercial engagement. Trade, not aid. Access, not assistance. Diplomacy with terms, not with guilt.

The contrast is stark.

This isn’t a matter of tone or branding. This is a systemic shift away from a model that rewarded process over outcomes, toward one that is rediscovering the purpose of diplomacy: to secure advantage, resolve conflict, and protect national interests.

This recalibration will not be popular in foreign capitals used to ambiguity, or in institutions comfortable with drift. It’s also not universally admirable. It’s direct. It’s unambiguous. And it signals something rare in modern American foreign policy: conviction.

That alone is worth paying attention to.

Glenn: Why Memorial Day is not just another holiday

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They wore the uniform so you could live free. This holiday, ask yourself if you're living in a way that honors that sacrifice — or cheapens it.

Your son has been a Marine for what feels like an eternity. Only those who have watched their children deploy into war zones can truly understand why time seems to freeze in worry. What begins as concern turns to panic, then helplessness. You live suspended in a silent winter, where days blur and dread becomes your constant companion.

Then, in an instant, it happens. What you don’t know yet is that your child — your most precious gift — fell in combat 60 seconds ago.

This is a day for sacred remembrance, for honoring those who laid down their lives.

While you go about your day, unaware, military protocol kicks into motion. Notification must happen within eight hours. Officers are dispatched. A chaplain joins them. A medic may accompany them in case the grief is too much to bear.

Three figures arrive at your door. One asks your name. Then, by protocol, they ask to enter your home. You already know what’s coming. You sit down. He looks you in the eye and says:

The commandant of the Marine Corps has entrusted me to express his deep regret that your son John was killed in action on Friday, March 28. The commandant and the United States Marine Corps extend their deepest sympathy to you and your family in your loss.

This moment has played out thousands of times across American soil. In 2003 alone — just two years after 9/11 — 312 families endured it. In 2007, 847 American service members died in combat. In 2008, 352. In 2009, 346. The list goes on. And with every name, a family became a Gold Star family.

Honor the fallen

For most Americans, Memorial Day means backyard barbecues, family gatherings, maybe a trip to the lake or a sweet Airbnb. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying these things. But we must never forget why we can.

Ask any veteran who lived when others did not, and you’ll understand: Memorial Day is not just another holiday. It is a solemn day set apart for reverence.

So this weekend, reach out to a Gold Star family. Acknowledge their pain. Ask about their son or daughter. Let them know they’re not alone.

This is a day for sacred remembrance, for honoring those who laid down their lives — not for accolades but for love of country and the preservation of liberty. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

They died for the Constitution, for our shared American ideals, and the worst thing we could do now would be to betray those ideals in a spirit of rage or division.

We cannot dishonor their sacrifice by abandoning the very principles they died to protect — equal justice, the rule of law, the enduring promise of liberty.

This Memorial Day, let us remember the fallen. Let us honor their families. Let us recommit ourselves to the cause they gave everything for: the American way of life.

They are the best of us.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Trump exposes Left’s habeas corpus hijack in border crisis

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Democrats accused the president of declaring war on civil rights. In reality, he’s defending habeas corpus while they drown it in delays and legal loopholes.

Tuesday’s congressional testimony from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem turned heads for all the wrong reasons. Pressed to define “habeas corpus,” she stumbled. And while I respect Noem, this moment revealed just how dangerously misunderstood one of our most vital legal protections has become — especially as it’s weaponized in the immigration debate.

Habeas corpus is not a loophole. It’s a shield. It’s the constitutional protection that prevents a government from detaining a person — any person — without first justifying the detention before a neutral judge. It doesn’t guarantee freedom. It demands due process. Prove it or release them.

Bureaucratic inertia, activist judges, and political cowardice have turned due process into a slow-motion invasion. And the left knows it.

And yet, this doctrine — so essential to our liberty — is now being twisted by the political left into something it was never meant to be: a free pass for illegal immigration.

The left wants to frame this as a matter of compassion and rights. Leftists ask: “What about habeas corpus for migrants?” The implication is clear: They see any attempt to enforce immigration law as an attack on civil liberties.

But that’s a lie. Habeas corpus is not an excuse for indefinite presence. It doesn’t guarantee that every person who crosses the border gets to stay. It simply requires that we follow a process — a just process.

And that’s exactly what President Donald Trump has proposed.

Habeas corpus, rightly understood

Habeas corpus is the front door to the courtroom. It simply requires the government to justify why someone is being held or detained. It’s not about citizenship. It’s about human dignity.

America’s founders knew this — and that’s why they extended the right to persons, not just citizens. Habeas corpus isn’t a pass to stay in America forever — it’s a demand for legal clarity: “Why are you holding me?” That’s it.

If the government has a lawful reason — such as illegal entry — then deportation is a legitimate outcome. And yet, the left treats any enforcement of immigration law as a betrayal of American ideals.

The danger today isn’t that habeas corpus is being ignored; it’s that it’s being hijacked. The system is being overwhelmed with bad-faith cases, endless appeals, and delays that stretch for years. Right now, the immigration courts are buried under 3.3 million pending cases. The average wait time to have your case heard is four years. In some places, people are being scheduled for court dates as far out in 2032. Where is the justice in that?

This is not compassion. This is national sabotage.

Weaponizing due process

The left uses this legal bottleneck as a weapon, not a shield. Democrats invoke due process as if it requires the government to play a never-ending shell game with public safety. But that’s not what due process means. Due process means the state must play by the rules. It means a judge hears a case. It means the law is applied justly and equally. It does not mean an open border by procedural default.

So no, Trump is not proposing the end of habeas corpus. He’s calling out a broken system and saying, out loud, what millions of Americans already know: If we don’t fix this, we don’t have a country.

This crisis wasn’t an accident — it was engineered. It’s a Cloward-Piven playbook, designed to overwhelm the system. Bureaucratic inertia, activist judges, and political cowardice have turned due process into a slow-motion invasion. And the left knows it.

Abandon the Constitution?

Remember, the Constitution is not a suicide pact. But how do we balance the Constitution and our national survival without descending into authoritarianism? Abandon the Constitution? No. Burn the house down to get rid of the rats? Absolutely not. The Constitution itself gives us the tools to take on this crisis head on.

The federal government has clear authority over immigration. Illegal presence in the United States is not a protected right. Congress has the power to deny entry, enforce expedited removals, and reject bogus asylum claims. Much of this is already authorized by law — it’s simply not being used.

President Trump’s idea is simple: Use the tools we already have. Declare the southern border a national security emergency. Establish temporary military tribunals for triage. Process asylum claims swiftly outside the clogged court system. Restore “Remain in Mexico” so that the border is no longer a remote court room. Appoint more immigration judges, assign them to high-volume areas, and hold streamlined hearings that still respect due process.

That’s not authoritarian. That’s leadership.

The path forward

Trump is not trying to destroy habeas corpus. He’s trying to save it from being twisted into a self-destructive parody of itself. Leftists have turned due process into delay, justice into gridlock, and they’re dragging the entire country into their chaos.

It’s time to draw the line. Protect habeas corpus. Use it lawfully. Use it wisely. And yes — use it to restore order at the border. Because if we lose that firewall, we lose the republic.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Betrayal of trust: Medicare insurers face lawsuit over kickback scheme

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Editor's note: This article is sponsored by Chapter.

The U.S. government has filed a major lawsuit under the False Claims Act, targeting some of the biggest names in health insurance—Aetna, Elevance Health (formerly Anthem), and Humana—along with top insurance brokers eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote. The allegation? From 2016 to at least 2021, these companies funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks to brokers to steer seniors into their Medicare Advantage plans.

If the allegations are true, it means many Americans may have been steered into Medicare Advantage plans that weren’t necessarily the best fit for their needs—not because the plans were better, but because brokers were incentivized by illegal kickbacks.

The Kickback Conspiracy

Navigating Medicare Advantage’s maze of plan options is daunting, so beneficiaries rely on brokers like eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote, who claim to be unbiased guides. But from 2016 to 2021, insurers Aetna, Humana, and Elevance Health allegedly paid brokers millions in kickbacks to favor their plans, regardless of quality. Disguised as “co-op” or “marketing” deals, these payments were tied to enrollment targets. Internal emails revealed executives knew this violated the Anti-Kickback Statute, with one eHealth leader joking that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would miss a $15 million Humana deal for minimal enrollments. Brokers used call routing to prioritize high-paying insurers, betraying beneficiaries’ trust.

Discrimination Against the Vulnerable

The scheme wasn’t just about profits—it targeted vulnerable beneficiaries. Medicare Advantage must accept all eligible enrollees, including disabled people under 65. Yet Aetna and Humana allegedly pressured brokers to limit their enrollment, as these beneficiaries were deemed to be less profitable. Brokers complied, rejecting referrals and filtering calls to favor healthier enrollees, incentivized by bonuses. This violated federal anti-discrimination laws and CMS contracts, undermining the founding principles of Medicare by discriminating against the very people it was created to aid.

False Claims and the Pursuit of Justice

The schemes led to false claims to CMS, with insurers certifying enrollments as “valid” despite kickbacks and discrimination. The government paid billions, unaware of the fraud. Examples include Humana’s $12,477 for a 2016 enrollment and Aetna’s $79,047 for a 2020 case. On May 1, 2025, the U.S. filed suit, seeking treble damages and penalties under the False Claims Act. Aetna and others deny the allegations, per May 2025 reports, promising a fierce defense. The case, demanding a jury trial, seeks justice for beneficiaries and taxpayers.

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