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New Orleans Is ‘Ill-Prepared’ for Hurricane – Who Is at Fault?

People living on the southern coast are bracing themselves for the impact of Hurricane Harvey, but one key city is reportedly “ill-prepared.”

Despite enduring the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans is not equipped to deal with this new storm, with “many of the city’s pumps and turbines out of service,” according to an NBC News report. City officials are turning to emergency evacuation plans as the Category 2 hurricane strengthens and threatens to rise to a Category 3-level storm.

On radio Friday, Glenn encouraged Americans to prepare for the storm and come together as communities.

“As long as we remember we’re Americans; we make it,” he said. “When the chips are down, that’s when we’re at our best.”

Glenn blamed the lack of preparation in New Orleans on state corruption, saying that it’s not the federal government’s responsibility to make sure that states spend their resources wisely. He and the guys also talked about another state in financial trouble: Connecticut.

“We may have spent money on things we shouldn’t have spent money on,” Glenn paraphrased Connecticut officials’ explanation of the problem.

GLENN: So here's what's going to happen to the great state of Texas: Texas is going to be possibly pummeled with this storm. And Texans will gather together, and we will take care of each other. And we will heal each other. And we will rebuild. And then we'll move on with our life.

Because that's what Texans do. It's an interesting thing to watch Texas prepare for a hurricane. They know what to do. And they know that they can trust their neighbors and their friends. And nobody here is looking for the federal government to do anything.

Did you guys see -- who was it that said -- oh, it was Matt Drudge. May I ask what the hell happened with Matt Drudge and Donald Trump? What happened? Does anybody know?

PAT: No.

JEFFY: No.

PAT: No.

GLENN: Okay. Did you see -- the headline was, "First major test of Donald Trump."

JEFFY: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: And this was -- he was making a big deal out of, "Is Donald Trump even ready?"

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: You know what, New Orleans should have been ready. It was New Orleans' fault. It wasn't the president's fault. And I would have said that under -- under Barack Obama. It was foreseeable that Katrina was going to happen. In fact, a year before -- correct me if I'm wrong, Stu. Almost to death, wasn't it? I did an episode on radio of the ten most dangerous cities in America. And most of them were from all kinds of different things. But mainly, at the time, it was due to terror. And everybody was expecting New York was going to be number one.

I think we did it over a two or three-day period. Didn't we?

STU: Yeah. And the other one -- the other big one everyone was talking about was LA for the big earthquakes. That was another one.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

And it -- I remember, it took the audience by surprise because it took me by surprise when we did our homework. The number one most dangerous city in America was New Orleans. And I said, "It is way overdue for a major hurricane. The levies have never been repaired. They keep asking for, you know, more tax dollars to fix the levies. But they never fix the levies. It's a giant bowl."

We should post that, that episode. And it was a year later that Katrina happened. I only bring that up because I'm not a genius. All I did was, I got together with my research team and said, "Hey, guys, what's the most vulnerable? You know, with the power grid, with terrorism, with everything else, where are our vulnerable?"

Surprisingly, we found New Orleans. So whose fault was it? Was that George Bush's fault? No, that was the corrupt system in the city of New Orleans that constantly asked for more bond money, more money to fix the levies, then never fixing them right, and then waiting until the last minute.

What is Texas doing today? I can guarantee you that Texans are battening down the hatches, and they are ready. And if Galveston or Corpus Christi or anyplace else, God forbid, is damaged, we in Texas, all of us will be on the front lines to help them. And, federal government, we don't need your help. I don't need to see a FEMA truck. We don't need to see a FEMA truck.

STU: Though you will. Absolutely. I will assume if it does get as bad as they're saying it's going to be --

GLENN: Though you will. Correct. Correct.

But do you have any doubt that if the FEMA tracks didn't make it, Texans wouldn't survive?

STU: Oh, no. Of course.

GLENN: Yeah, Texans are going to survive. And I want to -- I just want to spread this message to you: So will we. We could be hit by the biggest hurricane. We could be hit by the biggest financial hurricane, we could even be hit with civil war and global war -- I told you yesterday, in 30 -- in the next three months, in the next 90 days, I do not believe it is probable, but it is possible that the United States is hit by a massive 2008 or worse-style economic crash. Say that happens in October.

By Christmas, we could be in a global conflict because our enemies would see our weakness and our distractions. We could be in a global conflict.

And because our enemies are with -- inside the gates, between the neo-Nazis -- the white supremacists and the black supremacists, we could be in civil war. By Christmas, it is not probable, but it is possible for a reasonable person to think, major economic downturn, civil war, and global war -- that could happen.

Are we going to make it? Yeah. Should we choose. Yes.

As long as we remember who we are, as long as we remember, "We're Americans, we make it. We pull through it. We come together. In the end, when the chips are down, that's when we're at our best."

That hasn't been lost in Texas. You know what the other story on the hurricane is? That if it turns, it could -- it could actually hit corpse, then go back into the gulf, get some more strength and then come back and hit Galveston. But it also could hit New Orleans.

And what are the -- and what's the story on New Orleans? New Orleans sorely prepared. What?

PAT: How is that possible? How is it even possible?

GLENN: Corruption. Horrible government. That's why.

PAT: Gee.

GLENN: And it has nothing to do with the federal government. It has nothing to do with the last eight years of Barack Obama. It has everything to do with a horrible, corrupt state and local government. Period. That's what it is. The local government of New Orleans wants to spend their money elsewhere.

Did you see in Connecticut they're having problems making payments on all the loans?

JEFFY: Hmm.

GLENN: And now Connecticut bonds are starting to look bad. Really? I would have thought Connecticut would always be able to pay their bills. I mean, they weren't wasting money.

STU: Yeah. I remember they had a big controversy a couple decades ago, because they didn't have an income tax. And they said, if they just passed this income tax, then we would solve all of the problems financially of Connecticut. And then they passed it. And it went into effect.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So how could they possibly be in trouble?

So here's what the state government said this week -- I love this -- we may have spent money on things we shouldn't have spent money on. No!

STU: No! I won't hear it.

GLENN: Shut up. Shut up. Yeah. They say we're just -- we're just finishing paying for prisons that we're closing down.

PAT: Huh. That's great.

GLENN: I mean, just crazy. Just crazy.

So all you have to do is just recognize who we are. And also, I want to -- I want to throw something else in there. Going to take a quick break and then going to come back. The other part of that is, know who you're standing with. Know who you're standing with.

Because there is an amazing thing going on, that people sound pretty reasonable. I'm going to play -- I'm going to play some incredible audio, where the guy sounds pretty reasonable in this little clip that I heard. And then all of a sudden, something comes out, and you're like, he said, what?

I hate to say the word "most incredible" anymore because, I mean, every day something is the most incredible whatever. But holy cow, this -- if this doesn't, you know, in a very scary, slash, hysterical way show you, you better open your eyes because it's -- it's not what you think it is, it's just not what you think it is, nothing will.

RADIO

Shocking train video: Passengers wait while woman bleeds out

Surveillance footage of the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, NC, reveals that the other passengers on the train took a long time to help her. Glenn, Stu, and Jason debate whether they were right or wrong to do so.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I'm -- I'm torn on how I feel about the people on the train.

Because my first instinct is, they did nothing! They did nothing! Then my -- well, sit down and, you know -- you know, you're going to be judged. So be careful on judging others.

What would I have done? What would I want my wife to do in that situation?


STU: Yeah. Are those two different questions, by the way.

GLENN: Yeah, they are.

STU: I think they go far apart from each other. What would I want myself to do. I mean, it's tough to put yourself in a situation. It's very easy to watch a video on the internet and talk about your heroism. Everybody can do that very easily on Twitter. And everybody is.

You know, when you're in a vehicle that doesn't have an exit with a guy who just murdered somebody in front of you, and has a dripping blood off of a knife that's standing 10 feet away from you, 15 feet away from you.

There's probably a different standard there, that we should all kind of consider. And maybe give a little grace to what I saw at least was a woman, sitting across the -- the -- the aisle.

I think there is a difference there. But when you talk about that question. Those two questions are definitive.

You know, I know what I would want myself to do. I would hope I would act in a way that didn't completely embarrass myself afterward.

But I also think, when I'm thinking of my wife. My advice to my wife would not be to jump into the middle of that situation at all costs. She might do that anyway. She actually is a heck of a lot stronger than I am.

But she might do it anyway.

GLENN: How pathetic, but how true.

STU: Yes. But that would not be my advice to her.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Now, maybe once the guy has certainly -- is out of the area. And you don't think the moment you step into that situation. He will turn around and kill you too. Then, of course, obviously. Anything you can do to step in.

Not that there was much anyone on the train could do.

I mean, I don't think there was an outcome change, no matter what anyone on that train did.

Unfortunately.

But would I want her to step in?

Of course. If she felt she was safe, yes.

Think about, you said, your wife. Think about your daughter. Your daughter is on that train, just watching someone else getting murdered like that. Would you advise your daughter to jump into a situation like that?

That girl sitting across the aisle was somebody's daughter. I don't know, man.

JASON: I would. You know, as a dad, would I advise.

Hmm. No.

As a human being, would I hope that my daughter or my wife or that I would get up and at least comfort that woman while she's dying on the floor of a train?

Yeah.

I would hope that my daughter, my son, that I would -- and, you know, I have more confidence in my son or daughter or my wife doing something courageous more than I would.

But, you know, I think I have a more realistic picture of myself than anybody else.

And I'm not sure that -- I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. I know what I would hope I would do. But I also know what I fear I would do. But I would have hoped that I would have gotten up and at least tried to help her. You know, help her up off the floor. At least be there with her, as she's seeing her life, you know, spill out in under a minute.

And that's it other thing we have to keep in mind. This all happened so rapidly.

A minute is -- will seem like a very long period of time in that situation. But it's a very short period of time in real life.

STU: Yeah. You watch the video, Glenn. You know, I don't need the video to -- to change my -- my position on this.

But at his seem like there was a -- someone who did get there, eventually, to help, right? I saw someone seemingly trying to put pressure on her neck.

GLENN: Yeah. And tried to give her CPR.

STU: You know, no hope at that point. How long of a time period would you say that was?

Do you know off the top of your head?

GLENN: I don't know. I don't know. I know that we watched the video that I saw. I haven't seen past 30 seconds after she --

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: -- is down. And, you know, for 30 seconds nothing is happening. You know, that is -- that is not a very long period of time.

STU: Right.

GLENN: In reality.

STU: And especially, I saw the pace he was walking. He certainly can't be -- you know, he may have left the actual train car by 30 seconds to a minute. But he wasn't that far away. Like he was still in visual.

He could still turn around and look and see what's going on at that point. So certainly still a threat is my point. He has not, like, left the area. This is not that type of situation.

You know, I -- look, as you point out, I think if I could be super duper sexist for a moment here, sort of my dividing line might just be men and women.

You know, I don't know if it's that a -- you're not supposed to say that, I suppose these days. But, like, there is a difference there. If I'm a man, you know, I would be -- I would want my son to jump in on that, I suppose. I don't know if he could do anything about it. But you would expect at least a grown man to be able to go in there and do something about it. A woman, you know, I don't know.

Maybe I'm -- I hope --

GLENN: Here's the thing I -- here's the thing that I -- that causes me to say, no. You should have jumped in.

And that is, you know, you've already killed one person on the train. So you've proven that you're a killer. And anybody who would have screamed and got up and was with her, she's dying. She's dying. Get him. Get him.

Then the whole train is responsible for stopping that guy. You know. And if you don't stop him, after he's killed one person, if you're not all as members of that train, if you're not stopping him, you know, the person at the side of that girl would be the least likely to be killed. It would be the ones that are standing you up and trying to stop him from getting back to your daughter or your wife or you.

JASON: There was a -- speaking of men and women and their roles in this. There was a video circling social media yesterday. In Sweden. There was a group of officials up on a stage. And one of the main. I think it was health official woman collapses on stage. Completely passes out.

All the men kind of look away. Or I don't know if they're looking away. Or pretending that they didn't know what was going on. There was another woman standing directly behind the woman passed out.

Immediately springs into action. Jumps on top. Grabs her pant leg. Grabs her shoulder. Spins her over and starts providing care.

What did she have that the other guys did not? Or women?

She was a sheepdog. There is a -- this is my issue. And I completely agree with Stu. I completely agree with you. There's some people that do not respond this way. My issue is the proportion of sheepdogs versus people that don't really know how to act. That is diminishing in western society. And American society.

We see it all the time in these critical actions. I mean, circumstances.

There are men and women, and it's actually a meme. That fantasize about hoards of people coming to attack their home and family. And they sit there and say, I've got it. You guys go. I'm staying behind, while I smoke my cigarette and wait for the hoards to come, because I will sacrifice myself. There are men and women that fantasize of block my highway. Go ahead. Block my highway. I'm going to do something about it. They fantasize about someone holding up -- not a liquor store. A convenience store or something. Because they will step in and do something. My issue now is that proportion of sheepdogs in society is disappearing. Just on statistical fact, there should be one within that train car, and there were none.

STU: Yeah. I mean --

JASON: They did not respond.

STU: We see what happens when they do, with Daniel Penny. Our society tries to vilify them and crush their existence. Now, there weren't that many people on that train. Right?

At least on that car. At least it's limited. I only saw three or four people there, there may have been more. I agree with you, though. Like, you see what happens when we actually do have a really recent example of someone doing exactly what Jason wants and what I would want a guy to do. Especially a marine to step up and stop this from happening. And the man was dragged by our legal system to a position where he nearly had to spend the rest of his life in prison.

I mean, I -- it's insanity. Thankfully, they came to their senses on that one.

GLENN: Well, the difference between that one and this one though is that the guy was threatening. This one, he killed somebody.

STU: Yeah. Right. Well, but -- I think -- but it's the opposite way. The debate with Penny, was should he have recognize that had this person might have just been crazy and not done anything?

Maybe. He hadn't actually acted yet. He was just saying things.

GLENN: Yeah. Well --

STU: He didn't wind up stabbing someone. This is a situation where these people have already seen what this man will do to you, even when you don't do anything to try to stop him. So if this woman, who is, again, looks to be an average American woman.

Across the aisle. Steps in and tries to do something. This guy could easily turn around and just make another pile of dead bodies next to the one that already exists.

And, you know, whether that is an optimal solution for our society, I don't know that that's helpful.

In that situation.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266

Disclaimer: This episode was filmed prior to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But Glenn believes Max's message is needed now more than ever.
The political world is divided, constantly at war with itself. In many ways, our own lives are not much different. Why do we constantly focus on the negative? Why are we in pain? Where is God amid our anxiety and fear? Why can’t we ever seem to change? Pastor Max Lucado has found the solution: Stop thinking like that! It may seem easier said than done, but Max joins Glenn Beck to unpack the three tools he describes in his new book, “Tame Your Thoughts,” that make it easy for us to reset the way we think back to God’s factory settings. In this much-needed conversation, Max and Glenn tackle everything from feeling doubt as a parent to facing unfair hardships to ... UFOs?! Plus, Max shares what he recently got tattooed on his arm.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Demonic Forces to Blame for Charlie Kirk, Minnesota & Charlotte Killings?

This week has seen some of the most heinous actions in recent memory. Glenn has been discussing the growth of evil in our society, and with the assassination of civil rights leader Charlie Kirk, the recent transgender shooter who took the lives of two children at a Catholic school, and the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, how can we make sense of all this evil? On today's Friday Exclusive, Glenn speaks with BlazeTV host of "Strange Encounters" Rick Burgess to discuss the demon-possessed transgender shooter and the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. Rick breaks down the reality of demon possession and how individuals wind up possessed. Rick and Glenn also discuss the dangers of the grotesque things we see online and in movies, TV shows, and video games on a daily basis. Rick warns that when we allow our minds to be altered by substances like drugs or alcohol, it opens a door for the enemy to take control. A supernatural war is waging in our society, and it’s a Christian’s job to fight this war. Glenn and Rick remind Christians of what their first citizenship is.

RADIO

Here’s what we know about the suspected Charlie Kirk assassin

The FBI has arrested a suspect for allegedly assassinating civil rights leader Charlie Kirk. Just The News CEO and editor-in-chief John Solomon joins Glenn Beck to discuss what we know so far about the suspect, his weapon, and his possible motives.