Glenn: Let’s get real

Last night on TV Glenn talked about the need to put down social media, ignore the noise, and just get real. There are so many things clouding our vision, causing us to lose touch with our common human bond. When college kids believe it’s ok to ‘post-abort’ a baby up to five years old, something has gone tragically wrong.

Below is a transcript of this segment

I want to give you some really good news, really good news. Do you remember Brittany Maynard? She’s the 29-year-old woman who has terminal cancer, and she was the woman who publicly said she wanted to die with dignity, and so she would take a suicide pill on November 1. Well, that’s Saturday. Update: She’s now released a new video where she says she’s feeling enough joy to continue to live for now. Watch.

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Brittany Maynard: So if November 2 comes along, and I’ve passed, I hope my family is still proud of me and the choices I’ve made. And if November 2 comes along and I’m still alive, I know that we’ll just still be moving forward as a family like out of love for each other and that the decision will come later. And I do it because I still feel good enough, and I still have enough joy, and I still laugh and smile with my family and friends enough that it doesn’t seem like the right time right now. But it will come because I feel myself getting sicker. It’s happening each week.

I think this is a miracle myself, and I’m still praying for a bigger miracle that she’ll continue not to lose hope, and she’ll find more and more joy, and she will see that life even…and maybe especially in the darkest of hours is precious. We are living in an amazing world, and we’re losing touch with our human connection.

You see the woman who says I don’t care, it’s me, me, I went over to serve, I’m the one, I went over there, and I know what’s right about Ebola, and you don’t have any rights. Wait a minute, you’re putting us all at risk…possibly. We don’t know. Then this woman, how can you condemn her? You can say it’s not right. I hope and I pray that she doesn’t do it, and that’s not the way I would choose to do it, but I don’t condemn her for it, because life is precious.

Now there’s a new poll out that says college students are beginning to think about postabortion. What does postabortion mean? It means you can kill a baby up to five years old. Man alive, we’d better start grabbing onto things that are true.

I was disturbed by Carol Costello earlier this week. That’s the CNN host who actually got some sort of weird, sick pleasure out of listening to Bristol Palin describe being physically assaulted. She hasn’t apologized for this on the air, and I don’t expect her to. In fact…well, I did hope that maybe, maybe somebody would see the pleas that we made in a reasonable sort of way and say hey, this isn’t right, and maybe somebody would join.

But you know what, in the end, it might just be us, but that’s okay. The only reason to mock a Palin or to mock the Obama children…if they were being assaulted, can you imagine what people would say, and we said hey, that gives me some sort of sick pleasure? My gosh…the only reason why you would do that is because you wouldn’t see them as human because they’re just a political prop. That’s got to stop.

This week, we tried to bring the human connection back into focus. We have a lot of things clouding our vision. Social media is such a misnomer. It is making us more antisocial, and here’s why, we’re not seen truth. We’re seeing an edited feed. It’s just like reality television, except we’re doing it ourself. We’re seeing the person that that person wants us to see.

I told my wife the other day, I said honey, I’m going to start just taking pictures of you and me at our absolute worst, my son with his finger up his nose and everything else, because I just think people need to start seeing real stuff. Because what we’re seeing is only partially real. We’re programming our brains with a completely false perception of reality.

None of us will be able to hit that standard ever, and social media is clouding us, but it goes a step further. We talked on the radio today. Social media, Facebook is really dangerous. We’re playing with fire if we’re not careful, because we just get on, and we just vent. We say whatever it is we want, and we don’t think about it. We have to stop that too, and then we have to be big enough—and this is me—I have to be big enough to forgive people and look past their faults, because I’ve already made all those mistakes. I’ll probably make more tomorrow.

So we’re clouded, and regular media is clouding us too. They edit our vision of reality as well. We see so much negative, we don’t see any of the positive. Are the problems really getting worse? We talked about this with Halloween candy. Remember when we couldn’t get out, you know, we were afraid that somebody’s going to put razor blades or poison? That never happened. In our childhood, that never happened. Do you think that crime on Halloween is worse or better than it was when we were growing up? I’ll bet you you think it’s worse. It’s actually better, but we don’t think that because media.

So we’ve tried to spend the week this week to try to reconnect to human, try to reconnect to hope, reconnect to those things that will bring us to a better place. The media is going to show you the horrors of human trafficking. This week, we wanted to show you Operation Underground Railroad. We brought some guys in that are doing absolutely amazing work. They brought the video in, not seen anywhere. Why is this not everywhere, people rescuing young boys and girls from a horrible existence of the sex slave industry?

Over 100 children were rescued in this mission alone. We told you about it. Where was the rest of the media? And more importantly, this happened because one man had a vision, proving one man makes a difference. You will, if you don’t listen to the media, if you don’t listen to the social media, and you don’t listen to the crazy things that are going on in your own head saying you’ll never make it.

We see in the media the highly sexualized clothing that society continues to push on our children on all fronts. This week, we featured a panel of feminists. We don’t agree on anything, except on this one issue. What does that say? There’s a few things, and it’s our children, we can come together, and we can come together and effect positive change. And if we can do it, anybody can.

Our vision has been clouded, and we spend our whole day doing this [looking down typing]. I used to get yelled at by my wife because I would walk around the house like this—[looking down at book] uh huh, uh huh…drove her crazy, crazy. Now she’s doing this [looking down typing]. Honey, put it down. I can’t. I’ve got to get this done. How do you expect me to…I don’t know, but I’m now doing the same thing, and we didn’t do it before, and we somehow or another made it.

We don’t look up from our screens anymore. We don’t survey reality for ourselves. People who are using Facebook…and look, I’m a big user of Facebook. I like Facebook. It helps me stay in touch with you. But people who use that, they see this image, and they start to go down. Their attitude goes down. They start to think I’m not good enough. I’ll never make it. Studies show that.

We’re listening and we’re seeing everything through a filter, and it’s a filter of what someone else is telling us is the truth. Technology is not bad. In fact, I had a guy sitting in my office today who’s from Argentina. The guy is just amazing. He grew up on a goat farm in Argentina. His family was wiped out three times by hyperinflation. He works in Silicon Valley now. He is one of the giants in Silicon Valley—amazing guy.

He didn’t have any of that technology until he moved here to the United States. I mean, you want to talk about a culture shock, he lived literally five people in the mountains 100 miles away from anybody else his whole life. He remembers when his dad built a ham radio and he could hear the outside world. The guy’s like 30. It’s incredible.

Technology is not bad. Technology just may save us if we get there with our soul. Technology is good. I started a media company based on technology. We just have to self-evaluate. Run from anyone telling you that they have all of the answers. Run from anyone who is saying those people, it’s those people, get ‘em. Run from yourself or that part of you that is angry.

There’s nothing wrong with righteous indignation, but we’ve got to be in control of it. We have to be better than we ever thought possible. And we can do it. We can do it. We just need to help each other with our kids and our family.

I want to provide you with stories of love and courage. I want to provide stories where the good guys win. I’m working on some things where I think our families will start to meet together again, and we’ll start to believe that people are good and that we’re going to make it, because we won’t make it if we don’t believe it. A lot of people just want to keep you latched to the TV set. I don’t.

At the end of the day, we have to see each other as people first. We have to do our own homework. We have to question absolutely everything. We have to find our own, our humanity, and then the humanity of others. Instead of saying yeah, see, that lady is chickening out, which I know somebody has probably said that, saying oh, what a miracle, what a miracle that is. Hopefully every step of the way, think of the change that could be wrought by her if she holds on until the end, somebody who believed in taking her own life, but in the end she held on the whole way.

And don’t think darkness isn’t going to be trying to get her to make another choice. Pray for her. This is really good. We just have to not be prepackaged. We have to not be reality television or reality Facebook or anything else. We have to be real, not the perfect mold of a person who knows everything. We need to see the real person. The thing about people, we’re all really alike, and you can put a happy face on whatever it is you’re struggling with, but I know you’re struggling, and I know you’re struggling because I’m struggling. So why put on a charade? Why not just be real with each?

That, I think, has been the lesson this week. It’s the lesson we’ve tried to do this week on this program, for me, trying to find it myself, just be real. Let’s be human. Let’s go find people that we don’t agree with, and let’s see if we can connect, even though that got a little dicey. Let’s see the human in the other fellow that we happen to be seeing on screen.

Civics isn’t optional—America's survival depends on it

JEFF KOWALSKY / Contributor | Getty Images

Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

I slept through high school civics class. I memorized the three branches of government, promptly forgot them, and never thought of that word again. Civics seemed abstract, disconnected from real life. And yet, it is critical to maintaining our republic.

Civics is not a class. It is a responsibility. A set of habits, disciplines, and values that make a country possible. Without it, no country survives.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Civics happens every time you speak freely, worship openly, question your government, serve on a jury, or cast a ballot. It’s not a theory or just another entry in a textbook. It’s action — the acts we perform every day to be a positive force in society.

Many of us recoil at “civic responsibility.” “I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I do my civic duty.” That’s not civics. That’s a scam, in my opinion.

Taking up the torch

The founders knew a republic could never run on autopilot. And yet, that’s exactly what we do now. We assume it will work, then complain when it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the people steering the country are driving it straight into a mountain — and they know it.

Our founders gave us tools: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections. But they also warned us: It won’t work unless we are educated, engaged, and moral.

Are we educated, engaged, and moral? Most Americans cannot even define a republic, never mind “keep one,” as Benjamin Franklin urged us to do after the Constitutional Convention.

We fought and died for the republic. Gaining it was the easy part. Keeping it is hard. And keeping it is done through civics.

Start small and local

In our homes, civics means teaching our children the Constitution, our history, and that liberty is not license — it is the space to do what is right. In our communities, civics means volunteering, showing up, knowing your sheriff, attending school board meetings, and understanding the laws you live under. When necessary, it means challenging them.

How involved are you in your local community? Most people would admit: not really.

Civics is learned in practice. And it starts small. Be honest in your business dealings. Speak respectfully in disagreement. Vote in every election, not just the presidential ones. Model citizenship for your children. Liberty is passed down by teaching and example.

Samuel Corum / Stringer | Getty Images

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Start with yourself. Study the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and state laws. Study, act, serve, question, and teach. Only then can we hope to save the republic. The next election will not fix us. The nation will rise or fall based on how each of us lives civics every day.

Civics isn’t a class. It’s the way we protect freedom, empower our communities, and pass down liberty to the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

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Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

Mark Wilson / Staff | Getty Images

Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE

The critical difference: Rights from the Creator, not the state

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When politicians claim that rights flow from the state, they pave the way for tyranny.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

John Greim / Contributor | Getty Images

Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.