Blog
LatestArticlesVideos
Radio
LivePodcastSerialsStations
TV
Podcasts
The Glenn Beck ProgramThe Glenn Beck PodcastThe Beck Story
Fine Art
Real Estate
Shop
More
AboutCharityBooksSponsorsContact
SEARCH
Live Radio

©2024 MERCURY RADIO ARTS.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Important health warning for those experiencing the 'worst headache of your life'

September 23, 2015
Staff

WRITER

Glenn told the story of Lisa Colagrossi, a well-known reporter in New York, who passed away last year from a ruptured brain aneurysm. Her husband, Todd Crawford joined Glenn on radio to discuss the condition, which is apparently just as prevalent as breast cancer and ALS, but practically unknown.

"The only way you find out about a brain aneurysm, whether you have one, is you rupture and die like my wife did," Crawford said. "Or you go in for another unrelated medical procedure that requires a CAT scan or MRA and the test results come back and say, 'oh, by the way, you have a brain aneurysm.'"

Crawford started a foundation in honor of his wife, LisasLegacy7.org, to promote awareness, education, research and support groups for brain aneurysm initiatives. As its first major initiative, the foundation recently launched a fund-raising campaign called the Lucky Seven Challenge.

"Number seven was Lisa's lucky number," Crawford said. "We're encouraging and making an appeal to everyone in the country to log on to LisasLegacy7.org, make a donation in an amount that has the number 7 in it. Just a minimum of $7. And then take to social media and nominate seven other friends to do the same thing."

Listen to the touching and informative conversation below.

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

GLENN: I want to introduce you to somebody. And I just -- I just want to explain just one day, just one day in your life how many times have you heard your wife or your husband say, "Oh, I got the worst headache in my life?" And you just take that in stride. Worse headache of my life. I know I've had the worst headache of my life too. And after she says it a few times, you say, "You know what, we should get that checked. But it's not a priority because it's just the stress of life. All the things are going on. You're not sleepings well, everything else. Just, I'll get to that tomorrow." Lisa Colagrossi, she was a reporter for WABC in New York. TV. And we've seen her a million times. If you've lived in the New York area, you'd recognize her face in a heartbeat. She goes to work one morning. She covers a fire. She's on her way home, and her son texts her from his school. And she texts him back. And little hearts and smiley faces.

He doesn't know. But that's one of the last things she does because she has a brain aneurysm. Her husband gets a call. He knows she's not going to make it. The kids never speak to their mom again. They have her on life support until everybody can be there to say their last goodbyes and turn the machine off.

This is a horror story. But I want to introduce to you Todd Crawford. His sons Davis and Evan are here. We had them on TV last night. And they told the story. And they're here for a reason. Because this is more prevalent and more likely to happen than you think. How are you, Todd?

TODD: Okay. Thanks.

GLENN: You said that, "Hey, honey, we should have this checked." And she thought it was just a really bad headache.

TODD: She knew it was the worst headache of her life. I mean, that's the way she would describe it. She would walk through the door twice three times a week for a period of about five weeks, leading up to her rupture the morning of March 19th and said, "My head is absolutely killing me. I have the worst headache of my life." And that's the way that everybody describes it the same way. They write that on the emergency room hospital charts, ER doctors do. WHOL because that's the exact same way everybody describes it.

PAT: So had she gone in, they could have detected that and prevented it?

TODD: Yeah. So, I mean, had we known then what we know now, I would have grabbed her by the arm and insisted that we go to the ER and have a CAT scan or MRA, which is a version of an MRI, done. And at that point, because her rupture was underway which is why she was experiencing these God awful headaches, it probably would have required an open brain surgery, craniotomy. There are less invasive procedures if you diagnose it and get it before it ruptures. But there's -- there's a good chance she would not have been able to resume her career either way.

PAT: What is it that ruptures? A vessel?

TODD: It's a good question. A brain aneurysm is a thinner of one of the walls of a blood vessel in the brain.

PAT: Okay.

TODD: As a result of the blood flow pounding over that weakening spot over time so that eventually the wall balloons out and the pressure keeps pounding against it until a rupture occurs.

PAT: So with a MRA, it's not hard to detect. They can spot that --

TODD: MRA or CAT scan. But, you know, insurance doesn't cover MRAs or CAT scans for this.

GLENN: Why?

TODD: There are no routine scans like breast cancer because of the numbers. Because nobody knows about it.

GLENN: Okay. But the numbers. Hang on. Let's get into the numbers. And this is the reason why I've invited you on radio is because there's a lot of people -- I don't mean to be callous, but there's a lot of people who die of a lot of different things and we feel bad about all of these. This one, actually, is really important for people to know. Because the numbers, there are more people that are affected by this than breast cancer.

TODD: So here's what we know today. There are 6 million people walking around with a brain aneurysm today.

GLENN: That we literally know of. That's not a guess. Literally have been diagnosed with.

TODD: That's have been diagnosed. We know about them. Of those 6 million, there will be 30- to 40,000 ruptures a year. And of those 30- to 40,000 ruptures, 50 percent are instantly fatal, and of the 50 percent who survive, two-thirds of them will walk around with a major neurological deficit the rest of their life. I got a note last night of a father in Georgia whose daughter-in-law experienced a rupture, has had two surgeries and she's now in a vegetative state. So this is -- and women and African-Americans are 50 percent more likely to develop brain aneurysms than anybody else. Don't know why because there's no research. There's no money being thrown at this to study it. So based on what we know, it's just as prevalent as breast cancer and ALS. And the only way you find out about a brain aneurysm, whether you have one, is you rupture and die like my wife did. Or you go in for another unrelated medical procedure that requires a CAT scan or MRA and the test results come back and say, oh, by the way, you have a brain aneurysm. So I guarantee that 6 million number is more like 12 to 15 million. Guarantee it.

PAT: All those people have it and nobody is studying it. How is that possible? Why? Why is there no money being spent on this?

GLENN: When he says no money, I want you to understand, the NIH and our government spends less than a million dollars. Less than a million dollars.

PAT: Gee.

GLENN: Now, think of that. It's bigger than breast cancer. Less than a million dollars.

TODD: Breast cancer receives by -- from the NIH every year, $6 million a year. ALS receives over 70 million. NIH appropriates over 20 million each for headaches and migraines to study those. By the way, neither one of those have ever killed anybody. Brain aneurysms, about a million dollars a year.

STU: If they do detect it, what can they do to treat it?

TODD: What they can do depends on various conditions and criteria. But there are two procedures that if they feel it needs to be treated, that are much less invasive, where they'll go up through your thigh, into the brain, and they will insert either a coil or a stent, much like a artery in the heart, to block the flow of blood and prevent it from further weakening the wall of the aneurysm itself. So that's -- you're not talking -- it is -- you're not talking about a cure here for this disease. Unlike breast cancer or heart disease. What you're talking about at best is the management of it.

GLENN: Well, there's not even really a cure of breast cancer. Until you wipe out cancer, I don't think that taking your breasts off is a cure. That's not -- you know, that's just slowing things down.

TODD: Right.

GLENN: Sometimes you can get away with, that's it. But, you know, that's what we're doing really with all medicines is just slowing things down, unless you're talking about things like polio, which we have cured.

So, first of all, what do you do for a living?

TODD: Well, I was in finance. But once Lisa passed away, I resigned from my position and have dedicated myself to this cause out of my -- out of the unconditional love that we shared for one another, our faith, and our two boys. To show them that -- how to address adversity head-on. And my mission is to create a parent organization in this country that represents this disease to save other lives. It's too late for their mom and my wife. But we can save countless lives of others across the country and around the world if we have support and raise awareness throughout the country.

GLENN: I wish I would have met your wife. Because just by looking at your eyes yesterday in the interview and again today, you're an exceptional man. Your kids are exceptional. And that's not easy to do in media, in New York, to keep faith and to keep yourself ground. She was a remarkable woman.

TODD: She was the best. I mean, absolutely amazing. And you can't get a sense for how incredible of a woman she was unless you were either married to her or you were one of her sons. And words just don't describe. And her faith meant a great deal to her and was deepening. And the void is huge. There's no question about that. And we're in the process of putting the pieces back together and trying to figure out what our new normal looks like and just adjusting to that.

GLENN: Yeah. Okay. So tell me -- we only have a couple of minutes. Tell me how people can get involved and helped.

TODD: So we've created the Lisa Colagrossi Foundation, which can be found at LisasLegacySeven.org. And we hope that that will become the largest private funder of brain aneurysm initiatives around the country in the areas of awareness, education, research, and support groups. And the foundation's first major initiative, we launched the first ever national fund-raising campaign a couple weeks ago called the Lucky Seven Challenge. Number seven was Lisa's lucky number. It happened to be the station she worked at in New York, ABC 7. And the Lucky Seven Challenge is a very simple concept. We're encouraging and making an appeal to everyone in the country to log on to LisasLegacySeven.org, make a donation in an amount that has the number 7 in it. Just a minimum of $7. And then take to social media and nominate seven other friends to do the same thing. It's that simple. If we just get 1 million -- find 1 million people in this country who love God, who have a good heart, who want to get involved with a cause where just a little can make a very big difference, we just need them to donate $7, we'll hit our goal. $7 million in the next seven months. Very aggressive, never been tried before, but God willing, we'll get there.

GLENN: LisasLegacySeven.org. I have a very good friend of mine who -- who wanted me to donate money to a hospital. And I said to him, "I'll do that if you'll do me a favor, and that is teach me how to be charitable. Teach me how to be a more charitable man." And he said, "I'll make that deal. Here's the first lesson, you have to care about all of it." He was at a cancer center. And he said, "You can't just care about cancer. You can't just care about breast cancer or brain cancer. You can't just care about the people that you're trying to save in the Middle East. You can't care about the kids that are being shot in the streets of Chicago. You can't care about people with brain aneurysms. You have to care about all of them." And for $7, that's an easy way. You have seven friends give $7. That's the price of a Starbucks cup of coffee. You have seven friends that this story will touch that you could get them to donate just $7. I want you to go to LisasLegacySeven.org. The number seven. If you would like to hashtag this, it's #lucky7. Take the lucky seven challenge. LisasLegacySeven.org. Thank you so much.

TODD: Thank you. God bless.

GLENN: God bless you.

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Bubba Effect erupts as America’s power brokers go rogue

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.