Glenn shares message of hope following the tragic shooting of a Chicago police officer

September 02, 2015

WRITER

In the wake of the shooting death of yet another police officer, Glenn decided to channel his frustration into a message of hope to his radio listeners on Wednesday.

"I want to tell you the story of the widow's mite," Glenn said before recounting the famous biblical tale of a poor widow who gave up all the money she had. Although the monetary value was practically worthless, her gift was cherished above all others by God.

Glenn went on to tell a similar story in his own life, when his team was trying to raise money to meet in Washington, DC for 8/28. Not knowing how they would ever come up with the money, Glenn said he received a very special contribution that was completely unexpected.

"The guy who was sitting on the plane next to me handed me an envelope," Glenn said. "There were eight pennies inside of this envelope. They're here on my desk now. I started crying because it was the greatest donation we had ever received."

Then, Glenn related this story to the police officers who are being shot.

"We don't have the ability to stop this. We're not equipped. We don't really even know what to do. I don't even know what the answer is. The hatred and the anger has been buried so deep in our society," Glenn said.

The solution, Glenn suggested rests with us, in doing whatever small thing we can do.

"They need to know that somebody appreciates them," Glenn said. "I would suggest to you that the best thing we can do is stand in our own communities. If you don't go to a church, then get your kids to make a card. To bake some cookies."

He went on:

"May I suggest that you gather together and you go arm in arm, hand in hand, and you ring those police departments all across the country, and you cover them with a blanket of prayer. A lot of people will think this won't matter, but I think it will," Glenn said.

Listen or read the full segment below.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.

GLENN: We had another shooting of a police officer yesterday in Illinois. There are hundreds that have joined the manhunt for these three people that have killed the police officers. I want to tell you the story of the widow's mite. A woman who came and gave all that she could. The widow's mite is the smallest amount of money you could possibly give. And that's the one that the Nazarene said had given the most.

I have on my desk eight pennies. I had them framed. Eight pennies. They came from Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Smith. All they had to give. We were trying to raise money so we could meet in Washington, DC. And the pressure was on like nobody's business. It was -- it was about eight days before 8/28. We were I think about half a million dollars behind in paying for it. And then we were supposed to raise money for the Wounded Warriors on top of it. And as it was turning out, we weren't going to be able to raise any money for the Wounded Warriors. And we were going to take all of that money and just pay for the event. And that Friday, I got a call from Washington, DC. And they were asking us to provide more security. And it was the Justice Department. And they were doing it because they were trying to bankrupt us.

And we had to pony up with another 500,000 dollars' worth of security. And we were securing ourselves against the Black Panthers, if you remember right. If you look at any of the pictures that you might have taken on the mall, if you took any pictures of anybody speaking and behind us, on top of the Lincoln Memorial, you'll see black clad figures. Those were snipers.

The security was intense and overwhelmingly expensive. The same thing happened here in Birmingham. You didn't see them. But there were snipers on the rooftops. We want to make sure that if we go and do something in this crazy world, we're prepared.

Well, we were now over a million dollars in the hole. And I went down to a fundraiser in Florida, and I had been promised by the people who were doing this that they would raise a million dollars for us. And I got on the plane, and that fundraiser it only raised $75,000. Because everybody there wanted a political solution. And they wanted to be able to see something tangible for their money. And I understand that. But I had wasted 36 hours on the ground because they didn't want me to just come in. I had to go in, speak, then I had to go have breakfast, then I had to have meet-and-greets. And I could have done speeches and made more money. And I got on the plane and I said, what's wrong with us? $75,000, I've just wasted all of this time.

And the guy who was sitting on the plane next to me handed me an envelope after a three-hour flight in complete silence. Because when I heard that we had only raised $75,000, I looked up to the -- to the fan -- to the little air vent in the airplane and I was mad at God. And I said, what else do you want from us? We're willing to risk our lives. We're willing to lose our business. We're doing exactly what you tell us to do, to the best of our ability. What else do you want from us?

There was silence on the plane for about three hours as we flew back to New York. As we were getting to land into the airport, the guy who was with me handed me a letter and said, this might make you feel better. And I read the letter and it said, this is all we have to give. We don't have anymore. But we can't let this go without us making our contribution to make it happen.

And there were eight pennies inside of this envelope. They're here on my desk now. I started crying because it was the greatest donation we had ever received. I understood the story of the widow's mite. It's the small stuff that's the most meaningful, not the million dollars from a bunch of people who are standing around at a cocktail party. But people who search their soul and search the cushions of their couch. That's what makes the difference. Those who are willing to give it all.

I told that story on the air the following Monday. And I don't know how much we raised, but it was well over the million dollars that we were then in the hole. And I believe we ended up for Wounded Warriors, giving them about $3 million in that week, and it all happened because of these 8 cents. It all happened because of these people who gave everything they had.

Now, let me relate this to the police officers that are being shot. You and I don't -- we don't have the ability to stop this. We're not equipped. We don't really even know what to do. I don't even know what the answer is. The hatred and the anger has been buried so deep in our society.

We have opened up wounds that, quite honestly, should have been lanced a long time ago. But they've sat there and they've festered. And then we've had people in our own country that have encouraged it and added to the poison. We in our own homes haven't done enough. We've listened to the so-called experts, and we've given our kids trophies when they didn't deserve it. We didn't teach them our true history. We haven't had to really, truly struggle in our life. And even the poorest among us haven't really, truly struggled. We don't know what real poverty is. The first time I ever saw real poverty, I went to Mexico City, it was just outside of the city limits where people were living in cardboard boxes, and they didn't even have clothing. That's poverty. And that was right across our border.

So we haven't really even struggled. All we're being asked to do is to give whatever we can. And I'm not talking about money. We have been racking our brains to try to figure out, what are we going to do? How can we help support Houston, the police department there, and let people know that we're behind them?

Now, there's going to be thousands of people that I think that are going to show up for this funeral. I'm going to be there for the funeral on Friday. There's going to be people from Houston that will go to this funeral. People that will just go stand outside of this church. You'll probably have to park a ways away. They're worried about how many people are going to come. And I know there will be people within the sound of my voice that will want to be there, that will want to join hands, and they will want to pray.

But may I suggest that we consider something else. That those of us in communities all over the country that know that there are bad cops, but the lion's share, the vast majority are good men and women who risk their lives every single day. Whether they're standing at a gas pump and they get shot in the back of the head or they're chasing people and they get shot while they're trying to arrest them. Or they're just approaching a car for speeding, and they get shot. These people risk their lives every day.

May I suggest that you call your church, you call your friends, I would like to see us all over this country ring our police departments, standing hand in hand, praying a blessing over the people that work in that building, the people who leave those buildings in every community. This isn't going to be solved on the national front. This isn't going to be solved by a president, especially a president who refuses to call evil by its name. But it's not going to be solved by any president. It's going to be solved at the local level.

And our police department, they're being hunted. They need to know that somebody appreciates them. Because I don't care where the police officers are. You don't have to be in Chicago or Houston to feel this. You don't have to be in Chicago or Ferguson or Baltimore to feel that you're being hunted. You don't have to be in any of these cities where we have lost police officers, to have your wife or your husband look at you as you're putting on your uniform and saying, let's -- why are you doing? Nobody appreciates it. It's not worth it. I want you to come home to me.

I suggest that there's going to be a lot of people in Houston. And if you're in Houston, you stand. There's going to be a march next week. We'll tell you about it, in Houston.

But I -- I would suggest to you that the best thing we can do is stand in our own communities. If you don't go to a church, then get your kids to make a card. To bake some cookies. In today's world, they probably will throw them in the trash, but it's the thought that counts. In the sick world we live in, cops probably won't eat a tray of cookies or cupcakes that have made for them to say thank you. We can't just go into our local police station because some sicko would probably poison it and they can't trust it, so they probably won't eat it. But they will notice. Because we live that and we notice it when people do it to us.

May I suggest that you gather together and you go arm in arm, hand in hand, and you ring those police departments all across the country, and you cover them with a blanket of prayer. A lot of people will think this won't matter, but I think it will. And even if you think there is no God, it's the gesture that we're standing behind them and we worry about them and we appreciate them, that I think needs to be said.

And because I believe in God, I do believe that our prayers can help give them the armor that is beyond the body armor that they currently wear.

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

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

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

That has changed.

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

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

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

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

This isn’t cosmetic. It’s structural.

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

Regional partnerships are now framed by expectations, not entanglements.

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

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

The contrast is stark.

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

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

That alone is worth paying attention to.

Glenn: Why Memorial Day is not just another holiday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Honor the fallen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They are the best of us.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Trump exposes Left’s habeas corpus hijack in border crisis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Habeas corpus, rightly understood

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

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

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

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

This is not compassion. This is national sabotage.

Weaponizing due process

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

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

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

Abandon the Constitution?

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

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

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

That’s not authoritarian. That’s leadership.

The path forward

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

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

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Betrayal of trust: Medicare insurers face lawsuit over kickback scheme

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

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

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

The Kickback Conspiracy

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

Discrimination Against the Vulnerable

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

False Claims and the Pursuit of Justice

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

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