If people don't wake up now...when will they?

May 14, 2015

Writer

Have our hearts already grown too cold? Atheism is surging. The Amtrak crash was a madhouse. Homelessness on the rise in LA. Feds using immigration laws to harass citizens. The list goes on and on. And as Glenn found out yesterday, he can't even post an update on Facebook about his granddaughter going to the hospital without people attacking him. What is happening to the world? On Wednesday's TV show, Glenn delivered a message everyone needs to hear - before it's too late.

Below is rush transcript of this segment:

Because of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. It’s an ancient prophecy, but it seems more and more relevant with every passing day.

Every abuse of power is met with excuses, justification, and worst of all, apathy. If we don’t wake up soon, what will the world look like when we finally do? President Obama has the latest executive power play. It comes as he tries to force through a classified secret trade deal. This deal is on the scale of ObamaCare, and it basically would be a major coup for Japan and others to trade cheaply—we think; we don’t know.

Some say it’s good. Some say it’s bad. We don’t know. We do know Obama’s track record, so who do you trust? Progressives on the right and the left are the problem. There’s no transparency.

I talked to somebody last night about this trade deal and tried to get some information, somebody who had actually read it in classified form. Said Glenn, I don’t think there’s a problem with it, I don’t, but I don’t know. It’s the partisan politics that we play. Partisans on the right hammer me every time I pointed out, but it is true. Partisan politics run by the progressives in both the Democrat and the Republican Party is the problem. It’s why voting for the guy who can win has gotten us where it has taken us.

We’re being taken to the same place, bigger and bigger government with more and more control out of our hands. I used to think that one was driving us in a Ferrari and the other in a VW, but I think they’re both driving jets. There is no difference. What bothers me most is another abuse of power, and by and large, nobody seems to care. It just seems to come and go one after another, and we’re immune to the abuse.

It has happened so many times that we’re now desensitized to it, and we become apathetic or detached, cynical, because we have started to believe that we can’t change anything, and I’m here to tell you that’s a lie. We walk around now in almost a catatonic state. This is what it looks like in China. A two-year-old toddler wanders away from his mother and into an alley and gets hit by a car. The car proceeds to run over the child and then leave the scene. As if that wasn’t horrific enough, it was only the beginning of the tragedy. Person after person walks by, sees the child wounded, and keeps on walking by doing nothing.

A few years ago, I watched this. I looked at that tape and I marveled, how could that possibly happen? The answer is because their society has suffered for decades and decades of the individual doesn’t matter. It’s the collective, the heavy hand of communism. Don’t do anything yourself. You can’t do anything about it. And hearts grow cold.

Well, if we don’t wake up soon, we will suffer the same fate, and I think we might already be beginning to see the symptoms of it. The Amtrak derailment that happened last night, at least seven are dead, over 100 injured as the train and all of the cars completely derailed near Philadelphia. It was a horrific scene—mangled cars, people tossed into the luggage racks, awful.

But something caught my attention, former Congressman Patrick Murphy was on the train, and here’s how he described the aftermath of the wreck. He said, “[People] didn’t care about anyone else, so stepping over people and stuff.” We may be closer to the Chinese level of apathy and coldness than we thought.

Our culture today bombards us with over 300 messages per day that say you need to have this, you deserve that, it’s all about me, me, me, me. Combine that with incessant programming that appeals to and affirms our selfish desires with a growing perception of helplessness, and you have the perfect conditions for man’s love to grow cold. It’s all about me. I can’t do anything about what’s going on. You foster that mentality long enough, and of course people are going to be stepping over bodies to get out of trains. That’s what we’ve been conditioned to do.

Let me give you another example. I want to read something I just posted on Facebook about, I don’t know, an hour ago. My daughter had called me. My granddaughter just was taken to the hospital, and I just got back. I want to read this to you. This is what I posted on the way back.

I have so much to learn. By the way, you’re not going to like this about me, but it’s true. I have so much to learn. Today, I learned how out of whack I was as a man while I was working in New York. Today, my granddaughter had a spill and had to go to Children’s Hospital. Mom and dad were both there. I was in a meeting when I found out and jumped into the car so I could be there for them. On the way, I was reflecting when my son, Raphe, was young and fell off the bed and broke his collarbone. I remember how upset Tania was. She felt like a bad mother. She’s the best. It wasn’t true.

As I was driving to the hospital today, I searched my memories for me at the hospital with Tania and Raphe. There weren’t any. He was in Connecticut, and I was in New York City working. “How,” I asked myself today, “as a husband and a father, did I put my broadcast ahead of me being there for my wife?” I thank God again today for an entirely new reason that I left FOX. Even when we think we’re doing all we can do, there’s more we can do if our priorities are right. I’ve changed so much in the last five years and more over the last twenty.

I spoke to a great businessman today who asked the same question that I’ve asked myself and others for years, “Would you be as good of a man as you are today if your life all ran smoothly?” I don’t think so. It’s our challenges, our faults, and our failures and the noticing of them that makes us better. 'I have this recurring nightmare that everyone loved me for who I was, and I missed the chance to be a better man.' That’s a line from Muse. I will ask forgiveness from my wife tonight and beg the Lord to help me be a better man, father, and husband. I take solace in the fact that I’m not the same man that I was, and I know my family can take care of themselves, but it’s my job to be there to protect, heal, and bless. Lorelai, by the way, is okay.

When I wrote this, within two minutes somebody responded well, I guess it’s your millions that allow you to do those things, and when you have millions of dollars, then you can do whatever you want. I didn’t know how to respond. I responded as Gandhi-like as I could, and I just said it’s not about the money. It’s about priorities, and when did we turn into this country where everything is about money, where we hate each other because of different classes?

Then, the very next thing was I posted Lorelai is all right, thank God. She was eating a Popsicle by the time I left. Somebody had written in the very next comment on that was but what about all the Iraqi children? Your idol, Bush, has more blood on his hands than Saddam. There is no God. Otherwise our leaders would be crapping themselves about murdering all those people. I just wrote to him, what about the children that are being beheaded and crucified today?

When we can’t even have a conversation about somebody’s child or grandchild when they’re humbling themselves and saying wow, I’m a broken person, I’ve got a lot to learn, when we as a society can’t say (A) praying for you, hope everything’s all right, don’t normally agree with you, but I know you’re struggling today—when we make everything about race, money, or politics, there’s no way out.

We have to turn away from ourselves, from our anger, from our bitterness, from our pettiness, and turn toward something bigger. We’re not the point of this life. We have to put others in front of us. This is not easy to do, and none of us will do it perfectly. I am the least of all of us that are gathered here every day, but if we don’t try, we’re going to end up in a place where we’re stepping over dying people on trains and ignoring wounded toddlers in the streets. We have some waking up to do.

Something else about the Amtrak crash that I’m not seeing really covered anywhere, and I want to be really careful because this could be just a nasty accident, and I hope it is. They’re still investigating the cause of the wreck. It happened around a curve, so it is possible that it was negligence on the conductor’s part, but so far, they’re saying he was going the speed limit. But a few details are now beginning to emerge that could suggest otherwise.

Septa, the local train in Philadelphia, reported that one of their trains was hit by a projectile just a short time before the crash on the same line within a few miles of where the Amtrak train derailed. Also, back in February, a freight train derailed in South Carolina. The FBI believes that that derailment was no accident. After the 9/11 attacks, several what are called “derailers” were reported stolen, nine of them. The only use for these are for train operators to intentionally derail trains. So, it is definitely possible that this was an intentional act, but the investigation continues.

But did you notice what Donald Trump said last night? Within moments of hearing it, he tweets about what a horrible accident. It’s because of our infrastructure. We don’t know if it’s our infrastructure. Yes, our infrastructure is dying, but we the people saw $1 trillion of our money be wasted on shovel-ready projects to fix our infrastructure. His next tweet is there’s only one guy in the world that can fix our infrastructure, and it’s me. Oh my gosh, the night of the accident you’re campaigning? How cold and callous do you have to be?

We’re entering perilous times. I’ve told you in the past, I have done my homework on Bonhoeffer and Gandhi, on Martin Luther King and Lincoln. I’ve looked at them. Why did they win, and why did Bonhoeffer fail? Bonhoeffer failed because the people stopped connecting with their heart. And this is going to be harder and harder as we go every day. People have lost almost all trust in our institutions, from Congress to businesses to churches.

There was even a new poll that showed 45% of people believe now that the military might try to take over the United States. That sounds crazy, but then again, that’s how frustrated and scared and unsure of the landscape that people are. We don’t trust anyone or anything anymore, and there’s not much less left to trust.

The TSA, the one that was set up to protect us, the citizens, is herding us like cattle and is groping citizens instead of protecting them. A Freedom of Information request has revealed some disturbing new details about a series of sexual assaults at airports all across the country, including one where a TSA supervisor laughed at a passenger who said I’ve just been groped. That was at Chicago O’Hare Airport, by the way, which Chicago has just been downgraded to junk bond status and the same city where most of the complaints have occurred.

The IRS targeted conservatives, conservative groups. We know that, but now they’re targeting small business owners, using a law intended to stop drug trafficking and money laundering. I want to show you just a quick video here, unbelievable. The IRS pounced on a rural North Carolina store that sells catfish, worms, and sandwiches. Watch.

VIDEO

Did anybody read that, what is it, the IMF today is talking now about digitizing all money, making cash, this is the proposal over in England, making cash illegal? So, when the collapse comes, they can just digitize everything, and that way they control exactly what you spend.

By the way, there are 3,554 new federal regulations that were born last year. That came with a $1.8 trillion price tag, but does anybody care? The EPA is now targeting public health concerns at nail salons. The list goes on and on and on.

The more abuses we have, the more that they come in and try to control our life, the more they screw up our life, the more things happen and we don’t notice, the more helpless we feel to change a darn thing. And the colder our hearts grow. Don’t let your heart grow cold. If it does, we will not recognize our country when we get out of the other side. Wake up. Wake up.

Washington Post EXPOSED: How Watergate editors almost published a fake Pulitzer Prize-winning story

Episode 6 of Glenn’s new history podcast series The Beck Story releases this Saturday.

This latest installment explores the history of Left-wing bias in mainstream media. Like every episode of this series, episode 6 is jam-packed with historical detail, but you can’t squeeze in every story, so some inevitably get cut from the final version. Part of this episode involves the late Ben Bradlee, who was the legendary editor of the Washington Post. Bradlee is legendary mostly because of the Watergate investigation that was conducted on his watch by two young reporters named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Bradlee, Woodward, and Bernstein became celebrities after the release of the book and movie based on their investigation called All the President’s Men.

But there is another true story about the Washington Post that you probably won’t see any time soon at a theater near you.

In 1980, Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee wanted to expand the Post’s readership in the black community. The paper made an effort to hire more minority journalists, like Janet Cooke, a black female reporter from Ohio. Cooke was an aggressive reporter and a good writer. She was a fast-rising star on a staff already full of stars. The Post had a very competitive environment and Cooke desperately wanted to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Readers were hooked. And outraged.

When Cooke was asked to work on a story about the D.C. area’s growing heroin problem, she saw her chance to win that Pulitzer. As she interviewed people in black neighborhoods that were hardest hit by the heroin epidemic, she was appalled to learn that even some children were heroin addicts. When she learned about an eight-year-old heroin addict named Jimmy, she knew she had her hook. His heartbreaking story would surely be her ticket to a Pulitzer.

Cooke wrote her feature story, titling it, “Jimmy’s World.” It blew away her editors at the Post, including Bob Woodward, who by then was Assistant Managing Editor. “Jimmy’s World” would be a front-page story:

'Jimmy is 8 years old and a third-generation heroin addict,' Cooke’s story began, 'a precocious little boy with sandy hair, velvety brown eyes and needle marks freckling the baby-smooth skin of his thin brown arms. He nestles in a large, beige reclining chair in the living room of his comfortably furnished home in Southeast Washington. There is an almost cherubic expression on his small, round face as he talks about life – clothes, money, the Baltimore Orioles and heroin. He has been an addict since the age of 5.'

Readers were hooked. And outraged. The mayor’s office instructed the police to immediately search for Jimmy and get him medical treatment. But no one was able to locate Jimmy. Cooke wasn’t surprised. She told her editors at the Post that she had only been able to interview Jimmy and his mother by promising them anonymity. She also revealed that the mother’s boyfriend had threatened Cooke’s life if the police discovered Jimmy’s whereabouts.

A few months later, Cooke’s hard work paid off and her dream came true – her story was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. Cooke had to submit some autobiographical information to the Prize committee, but there was a slight snag. The committee contacted the Post when they couldn’t verify that Cooke had graduated magna cum laude from Vassar College. Turns out she only attended Vassar her freshman year. She actually graduated from the University of Toledo with a B.A. degree, not with a master’s degree as she told the Pulitzer committee.

Cooke’s editors summoned her for an explanation. Unfortunately for Cooke and the Washington Post, her resume flubs were the least of her lies. After hours of grilling, Cooke finally confessed that “Jimmy’s World” was entirely made up. Jimmy did not exist.

The Pulitzer committee withdrew its prize and Cooke resigned in shame. The Washington Post, the paper that uncovered Watergate – the biggest political scandal in American history – failed to even vet Cooke’s resume. Then it published a front-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning feature story that was 100 percent made up.

Remarkably, neither Ben Bradlee nor Bob Woodward resigned over the incident. It was a different time, but also, the halo of All the President’s Men probably saved them.

Don’t miss the first five episodes of The Beck Story, which are available now. And look for Episode 6 this Saturday, wherever you get your podcasts.

5 Democrats who have endorsed Kamala (and two who haven't)

Zach Gibson / Stringer, Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

With Biden removed from the 2024 election and only a month to find a replacement before the DNC, Democrats continue to fall in line and back Vice President Kamala Harris to headline the party's ticket. Her proximity and familiarity with the Biden campaign along with an endorsement from Biden sets Harris up to step into Biden's shoes and preserve the momentum from his campaign.

Glenn doesn't think Kamala Harris is likely to survive as the assumed Democratic nominee, and once the DNC starts, anything could happen. Plenty of powerful and important Democrats have rallied around Harris over the last few days, but there have been some crucial exemptions. Here are five democrats that have thrown their name behind Harris, and two SHOCKING names that didn't...

Sen. Dick Durbin: ENDORSED

Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images

High-ranking Senate Democrat Dick Durbin officially put in his support for Harris in a statement that came out the day after Biden stepped down: “I’m proud to endorse my former Senate colleague and good friend, Vice President Kamala Harris . . . our nation needs to continue moving forward with unity and not MAGA chaos. Vice President Harris was a critical partner in building the Biden record over the past four years . . . Count me in with Kamala Harris for President.”

Michigan Gov. Whitmer: ENDORSED

Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images

The Monday after Biden stepped down from the presidential VP hopeful, Gretchen Whitmer released the following statement on X: “Today, I am fired up to endorse Kamala Harris for president of the United States [...] In Vice President Harris, Michigan voters have a presidential candidate they can count on to focus on lowering their costs, restoring their freedoms, bringing jobs and supply chains back home from overseas, and building an economy that works for working people.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ENDORSED

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

Mere hours after Joe Biden made his announcement, AOC hopped on X and made the following post showing her support: "Kamala Harris will be the next President of the United States. I pledge my full support to ensure her victory in November. Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy. Let’s get to work."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi: ENDORSED

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is arguably one of the most influential democrats, backed Harris's campaign with the following statement given the day after Biden's decision: “I have full confidence she will lead us to victory in November . . . My enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for President is official, personal, and political.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: ENDORSED

Drew Angerer / Stringer | Getty Images

Massasschesets Senator Elizabeth Warren was quick to endorse Kamala, releasing the following statement shortly after Harris placed her presidential bid: "I endorse Kamala Harris for President. She is a proven fighter who has been a national leader in safeguarding consumers and protecting access to abortion. As a former prosecutor, she can press a forceful case against allowing Donald Trump to regain the White House. We have many talented people in our party, but Vice President Harris is the person who was chosen by the voters to succeed Joe Biden if needed. She can unite our party, take on Donald Trump, and win in November."

Former President Barack Obama: DID NOT ENDORSE

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Former President Barack Obama wasted no time releasing the following statement which glaringly omits any support for Harris or any other candidate. Instead, he suggests someone will be chosen at the DNC in August: "We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges. I believe that Joe Biden's vision of a generous, prosperous, and united America that provides opportunity for everyone will be on full display at the Democratic Convention in August. And I expect that every single one of us are prepared to carry that message of hope and progress forward into November and beyond."

Prominent Democratic Donor John Morgan: DID NOT ENDORSE

AP Photo/John Raoux

Prominent and wealthy Florida lawyer and democrat donor John Morgan was clearly very pessimistic about Kamala's odds aginst Trump when he gave the following statement: “You have to be enthusiastic or hoping for a political appointment to be asking friends for money. I am neither. It’s others turn now . . . The donors holding the 90 million can release those funds in the morning. It’s all yours. You can keep my million. And good luck . . . [Harris] would not be my first choice, but it’s a done deal.”

How did Trump's would-be assassin get past Secret Service?

PATRICK T. FALLON / Contributor | Getty Images

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday was targeted in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It occurred just after 6:10 p.m. while Trump was delivering his speech.

Here are the details of the “official” story. The shooter was Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was 20 years old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He used an AR-15 rifle and managed to reach the rooftop of a nearby building unnoticed. The Secret Service's counter-response team responded swiftly, according to "the facts," killing Crooks and preventing further harm.

Did it though? That’s what the official story says, so far, but calling this a mere lapse in security by Secret Service doesn't add up. There are some glaring questions that need to be answered.

If Trump had been killed on Saturday, we would be in a civil war today. We would have seen for the first time the president's brains splattered on live television, and because of the details of this, I have a hard time thinking it wouldn't have been viewed as JFK 2.0.

How does someone sneak a rifle onto the rally grounds? How does someone even know that that building is there? How is it that Thomas Matthew Crooks was acting so weird and pacing in front of the metal detectors, and no one seemed to notice? People tried to follow him, but, oops, he got away.

How could the kid possibly even think that the highest ground at the venue wouldn't be watched? If I were Crooks, my first guess would be, "That’s the one place I shouldn't crawl up to with a rifle because there's most definitely going to be Secret Service there." Why wasn't anyone there? Why wasn't anyone watching it? Nobody except the shooter decided that the highest ground with the best view of the rally would be the greatest vulnerability to Trump’s safety.

Moreover, a handy ladder just happened to be there. Are we supposed to believe that nobody in the Secret Service, none of the drones, none of the things we pay millions of dollars for caught him? How did he get a ladder there? If the ladder was there, was it always there? Why was the ladder there? Secret Service welds manhole covers closed when a president drives down a road. How was there a ladder sitting around, ready to climb up to the highest ground at the venue, and the Secret Service failed to take it away?

There is plenty of video of eyewitnesses yelling that there was a guy with a rifle climbing up on a ladder to the roof for at least 120 seconds before the first shot was fired. Why were the police looking for him while Secret Service wasn't? Why did the sniper have him in his sights for over a minute before he took a shot? Why did a cop climb up the ladder to look around? When Thomas Matthew Cooks pointed a gun at him, he then ducked and came down off the ladder. Did he call anyone to warn that this young man had a rifle within range of the president?

How is it the Secret Service has a female bodyguard who doesn't even reach Trump's nipples? How was she going to guard the president's body with hers? How is it another female Secret Service agent pulled her gun out a good four minutes too late, then looked around, apparently not knowing what to do? She then couldn't even get the pistol back into the holster because she's a Melissa McCarthy body double. I don't think it's a good idea to have Melissa McCarthy guarding the president.

Here’s the critical question now: Who trusts the FBI with the shooter’s computer? Will his hard drive get filed with the Nashville manifesto? How is it that the Secret Service almost didn't have snipers at all but decided to supply them only one day before the rally because all the local resources were going to be put on Jill Biden? I want Jill Biden safe, of course. I want Jill Biden to have what the first lady should have for security, but you can’t hire a few extra guys to make sure our candidates are safe?

How is it that we have a Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, whose experience is literally guarding two liters of Squirt and spicy Doritos? Did you know that's her background? She's in charge of the United States Secret Service, and her last job was as the head of security for Pepsi.

This is a game, and that's what makes this sick. This is a joke. There are people in our country who thought it was OK to post themselves screaming about the shooter’s incompetence: “How do you miss that shot?” Do you realize how close we came to another JFK? If the president hadn't turned his head at the exact moment he did, it would have gone into the center of his head, and we would be a different country today.

Now, Joe Biden is also saying that we shouldn't make assumptions about the motive of the shooter. Well, I think we can assume one thing: He wanted to kill the Republican presidential candidate. Can we agree on that at least? Can we assume that much?

How can the media even think of blaming Trump for the rhetoric when the Democrats and the media constantly call him literally worse than Hitler who must be stopped at all costs?

These questions need to be answered if we want to know the truth behind what could have been one of the most consequential days in U.S. history. Yet, the FBI has its hands clasped on all the sources that could point to the truth. There must be an independent investigation to get to the bottom of these glaring “mistakes.”

POLL: Do you think Trump is going to win the election?

Kevin Dietsch / Staff, Chip Somodevilla / Staff, Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Image

It feels like all of the tension that has been building over the last four years has finally burst to the surface over the past month. Many predicted 2024 was going to be one of the most important and tumultuous elections in our lifetimes, but the last two weeks will go down in the history books. And it's not over yet.

The Democratic National Convention is in August, and while Kamala seems to be the likely candidate to replace Biden, anything could happen in Chicago. And if Biden is too old to campaign, isn't he too old to be president? Glenn doesn't think he'll make it as President through January, but who knows?

There is a lot of uncertainty that surrounds the current political landscape. Trump came out of the attempted assassination, and the RNC is looking stronger than ever, but who knows what tricks the Democrats have up their sleeves? Let us know your predictions in the poll below:

Glenn's Show Prep

If people don't wake up now...when will they?

Washington Post EXPOSED: How Watergate editors almost published a fake Pulitzer Prize-winning story

Readers were hooked. And outraged.

5 Democrats who have endorsed Kamala (and two who haven't)

Sen. Dick Durbin: ENDORSED

Michigan Gov. Whitmer: ENDORSED

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ENDORSED

Rep. Nancy Pelosi: ENDORSED

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: ENDORSED

Former President Barack Obama: DID NOT ENDORSE

Prominent Democratic Donor John Morgan: DID NOT ENDORSE

How did Trump's would-be assassin get past Secret Service?

POLL: Do you think Trump is going to win the election?

Is Trump going to win the election?

Did the assassination attempt increase Trump's chances at winning in November?

Did Trump's pick of J.D. Vance help his odds?

Did the Trump-Biden debate in June help Trump's chances?

Did Biden's resignation from the election hand Trump a victory in November?

Do the Democrats have any chance of winning this election?