Glenn: Why are we more outraged by the Indiana pizza parlor than by Christians slaughtered in the Middle East?

The Islamic State beheaded over 20 Ethiopian Christians in a video released last week - but how much coverage did you see about it on the news networks? It seems like the Indiana pizza parlor that refused to cater a (hypothetical) gay wedding generated more interest from the mainstream media and Christians alike than people being executed for their religious beliefs. Why is that? Glenn gave this important story the spotlight on Monday’s TV show.

RELATED: Don't miss 'The Root: Christian Holocaust' Thursday at 5pm ET on TheBlaze TV

Below is a transcript of the opening monologue of Monday's Glenn Beck Program

The video is 29 minutes long, carefully edited, but most importantly, it tells a story, a story that provides a window into the twisted, perverted vision behind the cold-blooded killers that call themselves ISIS.

When we said that they had a mission to end polytheism, what that means is Jesus and God, that is they don’t believe in the Trinity, and they believe that we are polytheists if you’re a Christian. And there is no arguing with them. I want to warn you, I’m going to show you something that is extremely graphic, but I think it is important that we watch at least a part of this video. We will see all kinds of things, but for some reason we always turn away, and that’s how the terrorists win.

For the second time this year, they have captured a group of 30 Christians, and they marched them straight into the seashore before shooting them. The text underneath labeled the captives worshipers of the cross, belonging to a hostile Ethiopian church. There it is there.

In February, ISIS labeled the murder of the 21 Egyptian Christians a message signed with blood to the nation of the cross. The latest video begins with a rant in Arabic about Muslim Christian history and then shows them destroying the Christian churches while declaring Christians will not be safe until they accept Islam.

VIDEO

M: And we swear to Allah, the one who disgraced you by our hands, you will not have safety even in your dreams until you embrace Islam. As Prophet Muhammad stated, our battle is a battle between faith and blasphemy, between truth and falsehood, until there is no more polytheism.

Why won’t we watch this? Why won’t we address this? We watch all kinds of stuff. We watch The Walking Dead, which is just as horrific as what I saw, but that’s not real. So, we watch The Walking Dead, but this is real. This is real. Good God.

The administration did mention Christians by name in their denouncement of the murders this time, something they failed to do in February, but then they called for a political resolution to the conflict in Libya. How do you find a political solution to people who just did that, considering that their goal is to end all worship of any other God besides Allah? That’s a final solution, not a political solution.

Despite the US airstrikes that have been going on for what, seven months now, ISIS continues to gain ground. Thousands of families have now fled Ramadi as US officials admitted the city is at risk of falling into the hands of the terrorists. The question that comes to mind for me is again, why doesn’t it seem that anyone cares? Why? Why does no one care?

When we talked about a Christian pizza parlor just the other day, Christians responded in large numbers when Christian-owned businesses are threatened for their beliefs. Here people are getting executed. Shouldn’t the response be exponentially greater when Christians are literally being beheaded and crucified, children being raped and killed every single day? Why is the response so mute? I don’t have an answer. I have this question, and I cannot find an answer that I’m comfortable with. I don’t know.

I know why China doesn’t care. They’ve been desensitized, trained not to value human life. We’ve seen the results of godlessness in their country. You remember this video? This child is hit by a car, killed, laying there in the streets forever. People walk by, drive by, and no one does anything. So, I get why China. The Middle East, I mean, they’re the perpetrators of this. Body parts are strewn about, chaos, poverty, death, murder, abuse, I mean, this is their everyday life. It’s been this way for thousands of years. They get this. This is what they live. This is nothing new for them.

Europe, why doesn’t Europe get it? Perhaps Europe is so secular, they’re worried so much about multiculturalism, and because they’re so far down that rabbit hole of offending somebody, God forbid Muslims, you’re in trouble. They rarely speak out against anything anymore, let alone Muslims rising up against Christians, or they’ll burn their cities to the ground.

So, I guess I can kind of see how the rest of the world doesn’t react to this, but I don’t understand us. It’s not an excuse. Christianity just isn’t their thing. Okay. I can explain the lack of major action from all of them, but what is our excuse? This is a really bad thought I had this weekend as I was sitting in a Greek Orthodox Church on Saturday. I met these wonderful Greek people, wonderful Greek Orthodox Christians, and I thought maybe we don’t react to these things because we don’t think of the Greek orthodox or the Coptic Christians. We don’t know what the Coptic thing is. Are they Christian?

Because would we care would we care if the victims were Methodist or Baptist or Catholic or Mormon? I guarantee you we would. Is the president right, is it race? If the victims were white instead of Arab or black, would we care more? I thought maybe it’s we’re too far removed from our creature comforts here in America. It’s just not even real to us, and we don’t have the energy to care about anything happening half the world away because our world is burning down here.

The only thing that I come up with that I’m comfortable with is that we feel helpless, and we don’t know what to do, and so we do nothing. A, that’s not an excuse, not from Americans. Necessity is the mother of invention. We’re told all the time, “can’t go to the moon,” “oh, you can’t do that,” “can’t have the internet.” We always think our way out of the box. We’re always told we can’t do it, and we do it. What are you talking about?

There are soldiers right now, we’ve shown you soldiers, American soldiers who have joined the fight, not for ISIS, but against ISIS, going over there on their dime risking their life because they just couldn’t take it anymore. There are churches that are clothing and feeding the Christians over there, people, I’ve talked to them just in the last week. So, I don’t buy into the fact that we don’t know what to do, because—I’m sorry to out my wife on this, and I don’t lecture her on this because she’s the normal one; I am the oddball. She won’t watch those videos.

I can guarantee you if the TV were on at my house today and she was at home, she turned it off before we got to that video. I don’t want to put that in my head. And yet, well watch The Walking Dead. They win if we don’t watch it. They want you to look away. They need you to look away. Did you hear what he said? We will haunt you even in your dreams.

I don’t know why we don’t care. But I don’t believe in coincidence, so let me share a story. Yesterday, I taught Sunday school. It was Matthew 15. Jesus feeds 4,000 people, and prior to that, he has an interaction with a Canaanite woman. Canaanite woman, Gentile, not even supposed to be in that area, just don’t talk to the Jews. Gentiles didn’t talk to Jews back then. So, she comes up to Jesus and she says hey, I need a miracle. The disciples tried to chase her away. She says Jesus, just heal my daughter.

Jesus responds in a really un-Jesus sort of way. I mean, he’s not the Jesus that I know. First, he’s silent. He ignores her, and she’s like hey, dude, I need a miracle. He’s, I guess, testing to see if she would push a little harder. She did, and so then he pushes back. And he reminds her of his primary mission which was tending to the house of Israel. I’m here for the Israelites. That doesn’t sound like Jesus.

And then she persists again. She pushes back, and then he really pushes back, and he says it’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. Is that Jesus calling this woman a dog because she’s not a Jew? What? Why is Jesus treating her this way? And as usual, the answer is he’s teaching us a lesson—not her, not her, the disciples. Have you ever seen anybody treat somebody really horribly and you’re like, “Dude, what are you doing?” And then you realize oh crap, that’s what I’ve been doing the whole time.

He’s teaching the lesson to the apostles. That’s what you’re saying. You’re calling her a dog; chase her away. She’s not a dog. And her faith was even greater than the disciples and the Pharisees. Her answer to him was even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table. Jesus honors this woman that he’s not even supposed to talk to. He heals her daughter, and her story is etched in the Bible. And she becomes one of the first Gentiles to enter the kingdom, something that at the time Jews didn’t even think was possible.

Later in the chapter, he’s being followed by 4,000 Gentiles. They’ve come a long way. They’re exhausted. Many are sick, they’re seeking healing. He’s like oh geez, the doctor is in, but he says I’ve got to feed them. The apostles were like we don’t have stuff. Are you kidding me? I’ve already fed 5,000. How much do you got? What do you got? Show me what you got. We’ll feed 4,000. The disciples doubt that he can feed so many. They still didn’t get it, but again, he does a miracle and feeds them.

One thing about Jesus is economy of miracles; he just doesn’t waste miracles. There’s always several layers of a point in his miracles. He’s already fed. Why is he doing the same magic trick? He’s already fed 5,000. It’s not as great. He fed 4,000 this time. Last week it was 5,000. Why did he do it? Because last time he did it to the Jews. This time he did it to the Gentiles. The whole point is to see people who are completely different than you, to reach out beyond your comfort zone, to reach out to the outsiders, in some cases people who society considers dogs.

So often we cry out for justice. We raise our hands on Sunday. We call for the enemy to be crushed, but then we retreat into our humble abodes, castles by global standards, and go about our daily lives. And we get busy, honestly busy, wrapped up in our own day and our own chaos, honestly busy, and we forget that the second part of justice is mercy and compassion. That’s our job, to show mercy, to have compassion, to kindle it in our heart and the hearts of others.

ISIS sent a message to the followers of the cross. You want to know the worst reason? I mean, I’ve come up with some really bad reasons on why we don’t hear it, but I just want to ask you, could it possibly be that the deafening silence is precisely due to that reason? It’s a message for those who actually follow the cross and not those who just say they’re following the cross.

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

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The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

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If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

How private stewardship could REVIVE America’s wild

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The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images

Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.