Rand Paul responds to hit piece over his "audit The Fed" stance

Earlier this week, Politico published a hit piece on Senator Rand Paul over his push to audit the Federal Reserve. The article claims that Sen. Paul isn't telling the truth and this is just a calculated way for him to energize the Libertarian base. Glenn invited Sen. Paul onto the radio show today to respond to the attacks one by one.

Below is a rush transcript of the interview

GLENN: Welcome to the program. Senator Rand Paul is joining us. We're excited to have him on. He was supposed to be on yesterday. There was a scheduling conflict. Misunderstanding. We missed him yesterday. We're glad to have him on today to respond to an article that was in Politico that I think was a massive hatchet job on him on -- in many ways. But they -- they bring up a lot of points that, unless you're really well-versed in The Fed, you might look at this and say, well, gosh, I don't know who to believe because this all makes sense. Maybe Rand Paul is lying. But they bring up very specific points that he should be able to answer. And if he can't answer them, then we know that it was an absolute hatchet job and it only makes his case stronger and we see the game that is being played.

Welcome to the program, Senator Rand Paul. How are you, sir?

SENATOR PAUL: Good morning, Glenn. Thanks for having me.

GLENN: You bet. So, Senator, I want to talk to you about the Politico article. But I really want -- how much time do we have with you?

SENATOR RAND: Oh, a couple hours. Whatever you need.

[laughter]

GLENN: So I want to just kind of go over exactly what they said so you can explain it. Because you're an expert on The Fed. I mean, you know, relatively speaking. And they bring up a lot of points that somebody like me looks at and says, well, gee, that kind of makes sense. What's Rand talking about? So let's go over these point-by-point. They say, The Fed has $4.5 trillion in assets, mostly treasury bonds, mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the federal government. It only has 57 billion in equity because it spends -- sends most of its profits to the US treasury, a total of around 500 billion over the past decade. So it actually has no leverage in the traditional sense of the word, meaning debt, because it doesn't borrow money like Lehman Brothers before it went bankrupt.

SENATOR PAUL: It kind of makes me laugh, a little bit, Glenn. They don't borrow money, they just create it. So they bought during the last several years, they bought trillions of dollars of assets. And you say, well, an asset should be good. Right? To have an asset. Well, they create the money to buy the asset. So on the liability side of the ledger, they have almost the same amount of liabilities. But they didn't borrow money from someone. They didn't go out and work and earn it. They just created a computer entry to pay the banks for these assets.

And the point I've been making is, who did they buy these things from, and what did they pay for them? So for example, let's say I'm the chairman of The Fed and my brother owns the bank, shouldn't the American public know if I buy my brother's bank and I pay 100 percent value when maybe it was only worth 10 percent? The whole idea during this crisis was that they forced private industry to mark to market. Meaning you had to immediately discount what your company was worth if it was losing value, whether you were selling it or not. The Fed doesn't do the same thing. The Fed has 4.5 trillion dollars' worth of so-called assets. We don't know what they are. We don't know what they're worth, what they paid for them. And are they marking them to market? And what would happen to The Fed and to the country if they were to mark them to market?

GLENN: They said in your op-ed, you claimed that The Fed has $4.5 trillion in liabilities, not assets, and $57 billion in equity. Donald Kohn, the former vice chair said, there's essentially no credit risk on the Federal Reserve's balance sheet right now. I don't know of any institution in the United States that is subject to more oversight than The Fed.

SENATOR PAUL: When they say there's no credit risk, they created four and a half trillion dollars to buy these bad mortgages. So is there no risk in creating it? If it's a great thing -- they brag they made 500 billion or whatever they made in interest over the last 10 years. Well, if it's good, why not create more money?

So if they bought 400 trillion dollars' worth of asset by printing up money or by computer entry, why not create, oh, I don't know, 9 trillion worth, and they can double their so-called profit. See, it's like the emperor has no clothes when people finally discover, yeah, they have a profit, but their profit is made by creating money out of thin air, or creating a computer entry and buying stuff. But then there's a whole question of favoritism. Is there any conflict of interest? Are any of these assets, so-called assets, which are sometimes bad car loans, bad home loans, are any of these assets owned by friends of theirs? You know, for about the last two decades, there's been a revolving door between the fed, the Treasury, and Wall Street again. And I frankly live and fly over America, and I'm tired of paying for it. I'm tired of bailing out these big banks when they make bad decisions.

STU: I think you're being rude to Lehman Brothers by comparing them to Lehman Brothers.

GLENN: Okay. So here's Politico. Problem number one. They say problems with your bill. Problem number one. The article says the bank's finances are already subject to an audit by the GAO, the Government Accountability Office, the Federal Inspector General and outside audit firms.

SENATOR PAUL: There's a really great exchange, and your staff can find this. There was a committee hearing, and the congressman asked the auditor if he brought the auditor before the committee, he asked the auditor, during the crisis, you know, it was like four or five, six, $7 trillion had changed hands. I think the question and the point was: Do you know what was purchased with the $2 trillion?

And the auditor said, oh, we're not allowed to audit Federal Bank Reserve activities. So the auditor has no idea what they purchased. So really, I don't think that's a real audit. We have a bunch of fake audits. And the fake audits don't reveal any of the information we want to know. We want to know: Who are they buying the stuff from. What are they paying for it? Are they paying a fair market rate or because it's someone's brother-in-law, they're actually paying more for something than it's actually worth.

If your home is worth 150,000, that's the mortgage on it, but the market drops off by a third, shouldn't the Federal Reserve be able to buy that at 150,000? And what if it's their brother-in-law or cousin? We don't know any of that. So we don't really have an audit. It's appalling that something Congress creates is such an enormous creature -- a creature that creates its own money is now lobbying government. They should be forbidden from lobbying government and forbidden from trying to influence legislation. I think it's appalling that they're trying to stop any oversight of the Federal Reserve.

GLENN: Well, they're saying, again, back to the article, those interested in what is on the Fed's balance sheet can actually find out. Down to the individual bond on the website of the New York Federal Reserve.

SENATOR PAUL: I think that that's true and untrue at the same time. There are lists of what their assets are. But they aren't individualized. You can't tell who they bought them from or whether they were bought at fair market price or whether they were bought at a haircut and whether or not there were any conflicts of interests in the buying and selling. I mean, Bear Stearns is bailed out, Lehman Brothers isn't. Does that have anything to do with who runs the bank or who owned the banks? I mean, these are questions -- the bank was created by Congress. So they talk about independence from Congress. Well, no, Congress created the bank. Congress should be the one overseeing the bank. The independence we need is independence from the executive branch. The executive branch is always meddling in The Fed. And I frankly think that we need to break up some of the -- you know -- of the I guess intermingling of policy between Treasury and Fed and have more congressional oversight on what's going on.

GLENN: Let me -- this kind of goes right into problem number three, they say. Critics of the bill say that it's aimed much more directly at repealing a 1978 law establishing Fed independence on monetary policy decision. Paul's Bill, though vaguely written, would likely allow the GAO to investigate monetary policy actions and report back to Congress immediately.

SENATOR PAUL: You know, it's just a lookback provision. It's actually a one-time audit that looks back at the end of the year. And we think it would be a good idea. And basically what the bill does, it reveals prohibitions against auditing. So when they say there are being audited, there are four prohibitions that prevent full audits from occurring. All we do is repeal the prohibitions on full audits. And I think most American people have a little worry. We went to where people making $100 million a year on Wall Street ran their banks into the ground by poor decisions, buying derivatives and doing all this crazy trading, and what happens, those people don't miss a beat, and the next year they're making $100 million. But there's a lot of us living in middle America who are struggling. When we talk about the middle class still struggling, the rich getting richer, some of us want to know what the Federal Reserve is doing and whether they're bailing out their wealthy friends or -- and what are the consequences for the rest of us in middle America.

GLENN: Just off the subject here for a second. Have you seen the documentary, Money for Nothing?

SENATOR PAUL: I think so, or I've seen bits of it.

GLENN: It's really good. If you happen to be listening and want to know the history of The Fed and what some of the things is that senator Rand Paul is talked about. Watch this. You can find it on Netflix. It's from Liberty Streets Films. It's called Money for Nothing. And it's about The Fed and, quite honestly, many of the problems that they've caused. And part of it is because of this 1978 bill where they were also charged with -- and this to me makes so much sense, they were charged with also worrying now not just about inflation, but the unemployment numbers. And so now the balance is, do we care -- do the people care more about inflation, or do the people care more about the unemployment numbers? And so it's become wildly politicized. And you can't serve both of those masters. And right now, we're printing up the money because they're not concerned about inflation, and the pressure is, get the economy moving, get the jobs created. And they'll destroy our monetary base.

SENATOR PAUL: Here's another thing, Glenn. In the crisis of 2008, there are reports that The Fed bought 3 trillion dollars' worth of foreign bank securities. Really, we now have a bank created by Congress that is actually buying foreign banks and buying foreign debt. And that's really concerning, that this all goes on in secret, even after the fact. They don't want to tell us after the fact what they did. And it's very concerning. And it's too much power to have gravitated into one sort of secretive bank. And I think most Americans would like to see it audited. If you look at polling on it or look at the votes, in the House, every Republican voted for this. And 100 Democrats. 350 votes in the House twice now. And yet, now The Fed has come all out onslaught push against this. It should worry people that an individual bank that has the monopoly privilege granted to it by Congress is able to print money to be able to lobby against legislation that would cause more oversight. That should worry all of us.

GLENN: Real quick, two other things that need a quick comment on. One of them was kind of a smear on you. The whole piece was a smear. This one they just talked about how you were on my show on 2011. You said, I worry about the Weimar Republic. I worry about 1923 in Germany when they destroyed the currency when they elected Hitler. I don't want something like that to happen in our country. They're trying to make you sound like a nut job by saying that we could have hyperinflation. Do you stand by that worry?

SENATOR PAUL: Well, I think the question they have to answer to the American people is that, if create a computer entry for four and a half trillion dollars and you buy a bunch of stuff with it, is it really -- it's like the emperor has no clothes. They go around the world saying we're such a great and productive bank. We have all this profit. We created four and a half trillion dollars' worth of money. We bought some assets that bear interest. So we're making money. It's like, wow, that's great. Make more money then. Is there no limit? This is the question we should ask. Is there no limit to the amount of money that The Fed can create? And is there -- at some point, is there some ramifications? In Germany, it was hyperinflation. Right now, some of what they're doing worries people in the opposite direction because all this money that's being created, The Fed buys stuffs for the banks, distressed assets often, from the banks, but then the banks put it back in The Fed, and it doesn't get out into the system. And then The Fed pays them interest, which is a relatively new phenomenon. But as a consequence, there's enormous amount of money piling up. The banks are getting richer. Who are making -- you know, they're only making a quarter of a point of interest. But if you give some banks billions of dollars for assets that weren't worth much and then they're able to make easy money on it, is that really fair to the rest of the country that's struggling?

GLENN: The last point in the article, they say, this is only you. You don't believe any of this. You are smarter than this. You know that anybody can see, there's no use to the audit, and you're just playing to a dumb conservative or Libertarian base.

SENATOR PAUL: Well, that sounds like the people who call us Flyover America. They discount any knowledge. But they also discount any true belief and worry about our country. I think the one sincere thing that came out of the Tea Party movement and that still exists in the country is that there are millions of us that are worried about the future of the country. We're worried about the enormous death debt we're incurring. We're worried about the ramifications of the Federal Reserve simply creating money to pay for that debt. And, yeah, I'm very sincere in this. I do none of this for gamesmanship. I'm very concerned about the future of our country. Does that mean I think that it will end tomorrow in a Weimar Republic-type inflation? No one knows the future and when things will happen or if it will happen. But I am concerned about a bank that creates trillions of dollars of money, buys up distressed assets, and then says, hey, look how profitable we are.

GLENN: Last question on a different topic. The FCC net neutrality. We are so against net neutrality. There is a lot of confusion on this. A lot of people that just I think don't know what they're doing and don't know they're in bed with Marxists. I think this is a killer of the economy and a killer of freedom of speech. Is it going to pass?

SENATOR PAUL: You know, I think it won't get through the legislature. Like everything else, the president is doing it by executive Fiat. This is the biggest worry in our country right now, the president's usurpation of power. The checks and balances that our founders gave us, net neutrality is one example. Amending Obamacare is another. Immigration is another. Even going to war without Congress voting. All of these things are leading to an extraordinarily strong president and that's bad fort republic.

GLENN: Can you stop net neutrality if the FCC takes it on? Will you stop net neutrality?

SENATOR PAUL: Actually we might be able to. We couldn't when the Democrats were in charge, but there is a special rule called the Congressional Review Act. By a simple majority in the House or the Senate, we can overturn regulation when it comes forward. The only downside is that it would still have to be signed by the president. But I think we can actually in both houses turn enough numbers to overcome any terrible regulations that he does now. But the difficulty will be is that it still has to be signed by him, which he is unlikely to do.

GLENN: Senator Rand Paul, thank you so much. Thanks for clearing this up. I stand by, I think this was a bad smear job. By desperate, desperate people. And we wish you all the best.

SENATOR PAUL: Thanks, Glenn.

GLENN: Senator Rand Paul.

Featured image courtesy of the AP

Here are the TOP 5 things you NEED to know about Trump's potential indictment

Brandon Bell / Staff, Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images

Trump's potential indictment is one of the most historically significant events in our nation's history—and no, that is not a hyperbolic statement.

If Trump is federally prosecuted, by a state-level District Attorney no less, then America may be entering a new territory past which there is no return: the weaponization of our judicial system against the top political opponents to the ruling class. As Glenn has said, weaponizing our judiciary is something we see in banana republics. Is America about to become one?

With all of the news and hype around Trump's potential indictment, it is easy to lose sight of the core issues that truly give this story historical significance. Here are five core aspects of this story that have the potential to transform our nation going forward.

1. Trump committed a misdemeanor, NOT a felony. 

The allegations against Trump pertain to "hush money" given to the porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 Presidential Campaign. Trump's advisor Michael Cohen gave Daniels $130,000 of his own money after Daniels threatened to publicize her alleged affair with Trump just days before the 2016 election. Cohen wrote off the money as "legal fees" under his campaign finance funds. Trump then reimbursed Cohen for the expenses once he was in the White House.

Trump has maintained that he never had an affair with Daniels and that he is the victim of an extortion scheme. But that is besides the point. New York DA Alvin Bragg is potentially indicting Trump based on mislabeling the "hush money" as "legal fees" under campaign finance laws.

Even NBC acknowledges that mislabeling campaign finances is a "misdemeanor," not a felony, yet Trump is being prosecuted as if it were. The only way the "crime" could be turned into a felony is if the mislabeling was done to cover up another crime. Yet, as NBC admits, it is unclear whether Bragg has evidence of another crime that Trump was trying to cover up.

If you are thinking, "Wait, this is old news, right?" you would be correct. There is a reason why no one has prosecuted Trump based on the Stormy Daniels hush money in the seven years since it occurred—because there simply is no federal case. So why has Alvin Bragg decided to prosecute Trump now? Well, for one thing, Trump announced he is running for President again in 2024, and the Left simply can't let that happen.

2. Hillary Clinton committed the SAME crime. 

The double standard of Trump's potential indictment is made even more clear when compared with Hillary Clinton, who committed the same misdemeanor.

Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential campaign "misreported" funds received from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) that went towards the infamous Steele Dossier, which aimed at linking Trump to collusion with the Russian government (which was proven to be a complete farce). Clinton's campaign wrote off the Steele Dossier funds as "legal services"—sound familiar?

She and the DNC paid the Federal Election Commission $113,000 to the Federal Election Commission, and the issue was swept under the rug. Yet Trump is being accused of the SAME misdemeanor—mislabeling campaign finance funds—and he is being threatened with federal prosecution.

3. Trump's possible indictment is "very conveniently" timed to overshadow the Biden family's corruption. 

On March 16, 2023, the House Oversight Committee released a scathing memorandum detailing the illicit business dealings between the Biden family and the Chinese state-owned energy company, State Energy HK Limited.

According to bank records subpoenaed by the committee, the Chinese energy company wired $3 million to Delaware-based Robinson Walker LLC two months after Biden left the White House in 2017. At the time of the wire transfer, the business account only had $159 thousand. Now it had over $3 million.

The very next day, Robinson Walker LLC wired over $1 million to a company associated with James Gillar, a business partner of Hunter Biden’s.

Over the next 3 months, Robinson Walker LLC would send incremental payments to multiple members of the Biden family and their companies, including Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's brother, James, and Beau Biden's ex-wife, Hallie. The transfers included another "mysterious" recipient titled simply, “Biden." Who could that possibly be?

Let's get this straight: Trump's potential misdemeanor-turned-felony is making front-page news while Biden's DOCUMENTED business dealings with a foreign entity and enemy to the United States are being swept under the rug. How "convenient" for Biden.

4. Weaponizing judiciary 

This week, we published a poll to see what YOU think of Trump's potential indictment, and most of you overwhelmingly believe our judiciary is being weaponized against anyone on the right side of the aisle—and you are absolutely correct.

Glenn aptly pointed out that using the judiciary to attack political opponents is something we see in banana republics, but now we are witnessing it in the U.S. before our eyes. As Glenn said, the strategy in banana republics is, "Show me the man, and I will find you the crime." They want Trump GONE, and now they are trying to conjure up the crime to do it.

It is very telling that conservatives are fearful of protesting Trump's potential indictment. As Glenn said, we all want a peaceful response. However, conservatives are now taking pause before peaceful protest after seeing the DOJ ruthlessly prosecutethousands of individuals on January 6, even those who never reached the capitol grounds. Is protesting Trump's indictment worth the risk of arrest?

The fact that this question arises in people's minds is extremely indicative of our current political climate. Our judiciary has been weaponized against conservatives, and now we have to think twice before publicly standing up for our beliefs. Sounding more like a banana republic?

5. This is the FIRST time a U.S. President has been federally prosecuted. 

If Trump is federally indicted, it would solidify the judiciary's ability to become a weapon against political opponents, even up to the position of a U.S. President. This should give all Americans grave concern. This issue is much bigger than Trump; it is about whether we want to live in a nation whose ruling power can use its judicial system to go after its opponents.

Consider, for a moment, if the tables were turned. What if a Trump-appointed DA federally indicted President Obama for a state-level misdemeanor that resulted in throwing him in prison? Is that the "America" you would want to live in? It would arguably cease to be "America" as we know it and devolve into an ungovernable shell of what it once was.

This harrowing possibility is materializing beneath our very noses. There were many events that led up to the fall of the Roman republic into an empire, but it was the singular event of Caesar crossing the Rubicon that tipped the republic past the point of no return. Could this be our Rubicon moment? Are we, like Cicero, witnessing our republic mutate into something unrecognizable before our very eyes?

Though prosecuting Trump may yield some political vengeance and satisfaction for one side of the aisle in the short term, it poses an insurmountable threat to both sides of the aisle in the long-term trajectory of our country.

On Thursday's radio program, Glenn mentioned how important this week's stories are concerning the trajectory of our nation. From growing fears of bank collapses to the possible indictment of a U.S. President, the way these events unfold will have a seismic shift in the future of our country.

Glenn wants YOU to be informed with all of the news stories that are unfolding so that YOU can prepare for the future. Glenn considered his show prep from Thursday so important, he wanted all of his listeners to have it. That's why we're making Glenn's Morning Brief newsletter from March 23, 2023 available to you now. Scroll down to view all of the stories.

Glenn's Morning Brief newsletter contains all of the stories he reviews every morning before his radio show, even the stories he isn't able to get to while on-air. As Glenn said, having access to these stories is vital for you to be able to prepare for what comes next. That's why he has encouraged his audience to sign up for this newsletter so you can get access to ALL the stories that matter. Enter your email below to get Glenn's Morning Brief delivered to your inbox every morning.

Below is a copy of the stories featured in Glenn's Morning Brief newsletter sent March 23, 2023.

Domestic News...

FBI Informant Was Embedded In Jan. 6 Defense Team, Lawyers Allege
At least one Proud Boys member on trial over the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol had a previously-concealed FBI informant set to appear as a witness in their case, a defense attorney said Wednesday.

Hunter Biden used FBI mole named ‘One-Eye’ to tip him off to China probes: tipster
The House Oversight Committee is investigating the claims by Dr. Gal Luft, a former Israel Defense Forces lieutenant colonel with deep intelligence ties in Washington and Beijing, who says he was arrested to stop him from revealing what he knows about the Biden family and FBI corruption.

Emails: VP Biden ‘Signed Off’ on Statement to Press About Hunter’s Burisma Position Despite Claims of No Involvement
Biden approved an official statement in December 2015 about Hunter Biden’s position on a Ukrainian energy company’s board despite claims he was not involved with the family’s business, emails obtained from the National Archives show.

Anarcho-tyranny in the USA
Law and order in the United States have now descended to a level of anarcho-tyranny in which the government funds rioters with the tax money of their victims.

The media desperately want to make maternity wards closing about abortion bans
It’s the perfect headline for the major media’s preferred narrative, and it’s mostly bogus. “So many doctors are being driven away by Idaho abortion ban that this hospital can’t deliver babies anymore,” one headline about Bonner General in Bonner County, Idaho, declared.

Democrat ran Milwaukee has a car theft epidemic
So their answer? To sue car makers for making their cars too easy to steal.

Lab-grown ‘GOOD Meat’ receives clearance from FDA
The lab-grown cultivated meat is made from animal cells that are provided nutrients, grown in steel vats, and then processed into various cuts of meat.

Virginia inmates use toothbrush to dig tunnel out of jail, head to IHOP
The prisoners were captured at the pancake joint’s location about seven miles away from the jail they escaped from hours earlier.

Politics...

Video: Joe Biden gets laughed at as he has another senior moment
"Jill, the First Lady...the first full-time lady...the First Lady who works full time in addition to being the First Lady."

Jean-Pierre refuses to comment on the Bidens receiving money from Chinese energy company
“And I don’t even know where to begin to even answer that question,” Jean-Pierre added. "Because, again, it’s been lies and lies and inaccuracy for the past couple of years and I’m just not going to get into it from here."

Babylon Bee: Democrats Vow To Arrest As Many Political Opponents As It Takes To Defeat Fascism
"Fascism is a clear and present danger in this country," began Senator Chuck Schumer, "and the only way to defeat it is with a corrupt, all-powerful police state that can imprison anyone who disagrees with us politically. If we don't do this, fascism will win."

Democrats’ Banana-Republic Persecution Of Donald Trump Must Meet A Republican Response
This is the equivalent of a nationally televised jaywalking arrest to humiliate a person due solely to personal hate.

Bill O'Reilly makes prediction that the Trump trial won't make it to a jury
O'Reilly said the reason he speculates this case won't go far is due to the statute of limitations in New York.

A Double Standard on Decorum in White House Briefing Room
The White House press corps is a microcosm of the national media. It is overwhelmingly liberal, stuffed with Joe Biden voters. So, it was downright weird when former press secretary Jen Psaki told the LA Times she sometimes thought, “I am an orderly in an insane asylum.”

Ted Cruz introduces bill blocking Fed from adopting central bank digital currency
Republicans cited privacy concerns as a reason for opposing a central bank digital currency for consumers.

Ted Cruz To Reintroduce Constitutional Amendment To Lock Supreme Court At Nine Justices
Cruz originally introduced the amendment in 2021.

Economy / ESG...

Fed hikes rates by a quarter percentage point, indicates increases are near an end
Along with its ninth hike since March 2022, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee noted that future increases are not assured and will depend largely on incoming data.

Janet Yellen Says Government Won’t Offer ‘Blanket Insurance’ Of Bank Deposits
“I have not considered or discussed anything having to do with blanket insurance or guarantees of deposits,” Yellen responded.

Elizabeth Warren Calls for Fed Chair Powell’s Ouster – He Is ‘Trying to Drive’ U.S. into Recession
"Well, what he’s trying to do is get two million people laid off. And one of the things that we need to understand, he wants to raise the unemployment rate by more than a point within a single 12-month period."

Coinbase: We asked the SEC for reasonable crypto rules for Americans. We got legal threats instead.
Today’s Wells notice does not provide a lot of information for us to respond to. The SEC staff told us they have identified potential violations of securities law, but little more.

Coinbase warned by SEC of potential securities charges
The notice is the second warning from the SEC to a crypto entity after a February notice to stablecoin issuer Paxos.

The IRS plans to tax some NFTs as collectibles
Collectibles carry a top long-term capital gains rate of 28%. Other assets like stocks and cryptocurrency generally carry a maximum 20% federal rate.

Job-listing company Indeed to lay off 2,200 employees
The company anticipates that job listings, which are the company’s bread-and-butter, will continue to decline in fiscal years 2023 and 2024.

WAR News...

A nuclear war with the US is more likely than ever, Russia warns
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that the risk of a nuclear clash was at its highest level in decades, warning that Moscow was in a "de-facto" open conflict with Washington over the war in Ukraine.

China, Russia turn up the heat on US after Xi, Putin meet in Moscow
US bio-military and nuclear activities raise ‘serious concerns’ about security of other nations, joint statement says.

Europe should detain Putin, give him to ICC if he visits, Blinken says
“Would you encourage our European allies to turn him over?” Republican Sen. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina asked Blinken during a budget hearing. “Anyone who is a party to the court and has obligations should fulfill their obligations,” Blinken said.

World Bank puts cost of rebuilding Ukraine at $411 billion
The report details some of the toll of Russia's war in Ukraine: at least 9,655 civilians confirmed dead, including 461 children; nearly 2 million homes damaged; more than one out of five public health institutions damaged; and 650 ambulances damaged or looted.

Chinese media: China supports UN-led Nord Stream investigation
Chinese experts stressed the importance of promoting the UN-led investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage while noting that launching such a probe under the existing UN mechanism could be very difficult because the US would obstruct or object to the investigation proposal.

Online Sleuths Untangle the Mystery of the Nord Stream Sabotage
Open source intelligence researchers are verifying and debunking opaque claims about who ruptured the gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

Russia is dusting off antique tanks from the 1940s, group says
It said that the images show T-54 tanks, which the Soviet Union started producing in 1947, moving west from the far east of Russia.

Ukrainian official accuses Putin of sending a body double to Mariupol
Conspiracy theories regarding Putin’s use of body doubles have persisted for years.

COVID-19...

Federal biosecurity board cut back meetings as US resumed gain-of-function research funding
A federal committee that advises the government on "biological research that has the potential for misuse" met only once between 2017, when a 3-year moratorium on federal funding of gain-of-function research was lifted, and 2022

Rand Paul confronts Moderna CEO about myocarditis risk from COVID vaccine
Then reveals what Moderna's president secretly told him.

Media...

For Five Straight Years, The Pulitzer Prizes Have Rewarded Misinformation
While the Pulitzer Prizes have always been little more than self-dealing masquerading as journalistic beauty pageant, it was a lot easier to believe in this manufactured prestige back when journalism was at least slightly more competent and concerned with the appearance of objectivity.

A huge new scandal rocks Fox News and Tucker Carlson
Part of a new lawsuit claims that Tucker Carlson's team plastered photos around the office of Nancy Pelosi in a bathing suit 'revealing her cleavage' because they thought it was funny because she looked bad.

DirecTV reaches deal to distribute Newsmax after dispute
Newsmax will again be available to DirecTV subscribers on Tuesday.

Canada...

Justin Trudeau: Online Disinformation Fuels ‘Flat-Earthers’ and ‘Anti-Vaxxers’
The internet also does things like allow people to easily find pictures of Trudeau in blackface.

Middle East...

Iran is preparing for the day after an Israeli strike, US should, too
Aware of Israel’s determination to stymie its nuclear ambitions, Iran has prepared for the day after such a strike. Just last month, details emerged that Tehran has been “mapping” Diaspora Jewish communities for future retaliatory assassination campaigns in case Israel were to execute such an attack.

Iran-Saudi deal shifts regional power - and the US emerges as a loser
The Iran-Saudi deal doesn’t necessarily signal a whole new ball game in the Middle East, however, there has been a shift in the balance of power among regional and global players, following the post-Ukraine era.

Environment...

Humanity has 'broken the water cycle,' UN chief warns
"We are draining humanity's lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use, and evaporating it through global heating."

Climate protesters cut credit cards outside Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America
Protesters gathered in DC, outside several major banks, where they cut up their credit cards and called for the institutions to stop spending money to promote the fossil fuel industry.

Chevy kills the gas powered Camaro
The Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro have soldiered on as what could possibly represent the last two vehicles of their kind.

Dodge resurrects 'controversial' Challenger SRT Demon for final year of V8 muscle cars
Dodge says the new car will deliver 1,025 total horsepower, 945 foot-pounds of torque and reach 60 mph from a rolling start in 1.66 seconds.

Electric cars are creating a new economy — and leaving some towns behind
Workers and small businesses in Belvidere, Ill., are dealing with the aftermath of mass layoffs, after Stellantis idled its Jeep factory.

Museum highlights climate change with tilted paintings
The powerful display will feature 15 paintings hung at an angle to bring attention to the earth warming 1.5 degrees Celsius...

LGBTQIA2S+...

Leftist pundit draws outrage for saying she doesn't want to be referred to as 'person who menstruates'
Ana Kasparian wrote, "I'm a woman. Please don't ever refer to me as a person with a uterus, birthing person, or person who menstruates. How do people not realize how degrading this is? You can support the transgender community without doing this s---."

Education...

Just three in 4 support schools having parents' consent before changing kids gender identity, poll
Nearly the same percentage of voters also support legislation requiring schools to tell parents whether their child wants to change their gender identity – with 71% in favor of this requirement.

Newsom silent on LA schools strike after 500,000 kids forced to stay home for second day
LA labor union demands 'pause in educator evaluations during this unprecedented time'.

Striking Los Angeles school support staff earn $25,000 on average
School support staffers, such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and teacher aides, earn about $25,000 a year in Los Angeles, one of the most expensive cities in America.

Health...

Rising Rate of Drug Shortages Is Framed as a National Security Threat
A Senate homeland security committee examined growing health care shortages amid reports of rationing within hospitals.

CDC: Artificial Tears Products Linked to Drug-Resistant Infection
The CDC wrote that the strain, called VIM-GES-CRPA, had not previously been seen in the US but has now been identified in 68 patients across 16 states.

Religion...

Russell Brand ‘I Need God or I Cannot Cope in this World’
“Like many desperate people, I need spirituality,” Brand said. “I need God, or I cannot cope in this world. I need to believe in the best in people.”

Technology...

Dems Fear TikTok Ban Could Makes The Kids Mad
Democratic New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a progressive member of “The Squad,” is leading the party’s fight against banning TikTok.

Bill to prevent spying by smart fridges advances to Senate floor
The bill would give the FTC the power to force the designers of internet-connected devices to disclose whether recording hardware is installed into smart devices.

Science...

US politicians 'shown top-secret videos of UFOs flying close to aircraft'
An investigative reporter working in the field of UFOs has claimed that there is now "incontrovertible evidence" key Congressmen and women in the US government are being given "top-secret" briefings.

The First 3-D Printed Rocket Fails Shortly After Launch
Relativity Space, a private company with ambitions for sending people to Mars, made it off the launchpad, but the vehicle experienced problems during the second stage of its flight.

Big asteroid impacts may be more damaging than we thought - study
Massive asteroids that have impacted the Earth in the past million years may have had a far more devastating effect on the planet than previously realized, according to a new study.

Travel...

TSA chief: Eventually, biometrics won’t be optional
This article flew under the radar last week as they buried the lead in an article titled, 'TSA chief says biometrics and tech could lower the stress of traveling'.

FAA: Lithium Battery Incidents On Planes Now Happening More Than Once Per Week
Spirit Airlines flight from Dallas to Orlando was diverted to Jacksonville earlier this week after a lithium battery in a personal device caught fire in an overhead bin.

Sports...

Multiple NHL teams have opted out of 'Pride Night' jerseys, as resistance grows despite media pressure
Behind the scenes, multiple teams have decided that ditching the controversial theme altogether was a smarter move, either because of player refusal or to avoid a public relations black eye.

Why Bulls’ Patrick Beverley won’t have sex before games
“I want to have fresh [legs,] you know what I’m saying?"

Animals...

There’s a new invasive mosquito species in Florida
An invasive mosquito with a curved mouth and a striped body is the latest addition to a growing list of nonnative mosquito species bridging the gap between the tropics and Florida.

Chinese scientists grow antlers on mice in hopes of one day regenerating human limbs
Can you imagine how cute a miniature Christmas display would be if you had mice with antlers pulling a little Santa's sleigh?

New species of ‘giant’ spider discovered hiding underground in Australia, experts say
Hiding underground and only emerging at night, a creepy crawly creature in the woodlands of Australia remained undetected. Not anymore.

The big news item of the week is Trump's potential indictment from New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg. According to our recent poll, most of you think that Trump's potential indictment is NOT about holding Trump accountable for a crime—most of you think it's a weaponization of our judicial system against the Left's number one enemy.

On Wednesday's episode of Glenn TV, Glenn dove into the details behind Trump's potential indictment and suggested even more nefarious intentions behind the indictment—to distract from the House Oversight Committee's bombshell memorandum revealing Biden's illicit business dealings with China.

Do your own homework

Glenn's email subscribers get EXCLUSIVE access to the research documents that went into this episode, from the details behind Trump's potential indictment to the inside scoop behind Biden's illicit business dealings with China. Not a subscriber yet? Enter your email below to get INSTANT ACCESS to this resource.

Watch the full special below (or watch on BlazeTV here):


Last week, Glenn published his updated "Preparedness Quiz" to see how prepared his audience is for a big crisis—and the results are in! Thankfully, not very many of you are "Toast." In fact, most of you could survive a big disaster, and even some of you could survive a nuclear apocalypse—not very many could say that!

If you haven't taken the quiz already, you can take it HERE, and be sure to download Glenn's "Ultimate Preparedness Guide" filled with practical tips on how to keep you and your family safe for a future crisis.


1.7% of Glenn's audience is TOAST! Thankfully, that's very few of you. 

There is little chance you'd survive repairing your kitchen table, not to mention enduring a massive economic crisis or natural disaster. With no money, food, or supplies stocked up, you will have to rely on the altruism of your more-prepared friends and family. But then again, if you can't even navigate to their house without your phone, you may still be TOAST.

13.8% of Glenn's audience could survive a little disaster. 

Congrats on having some of your finances set aside for emergencies... and some useful tools and skills tucked away in case of an emergency. You could potentially endure a "little disaster" of financial hardship. However, if you want to survive a massive financial crisis or natural disaster, you're going to have to start stockpiling some more money and supplies.

68.9% of Glenn's audience could survive a big disaster. 

Congrats on being more prepared than most! You have some investment in precious metals, an emergency fund, some food and supplies stockpiled, and maybe an extra generator. Even though you may not be a "prepper," you have taken steps to prepare for hard times, which will protect you and your loved ones for weeks... even months—which is way better than nothing!

14.7% of Glenn's audience could survive a nuclear apocalypse. 

Congratulations on being one of the few people in this world who could actually survive a nuclear apocalypse! Seriously... there are very few of you. Your bunker is stocked with food, water, and supplies to last you MONTHS. Your silver, gold, and emergency fund will help you cruise in times of financial distress. You can secure more goods because you have learned a bunch of "barter" skills. Congrats on being able to keep yourself and your loved ones safe!