Three Things You Need to Know - September 28, 2017

UC Berkley is a circus.

There are only a couple of situations in life where you need a tent.

When you’re camping.

When you’re setting up a circus.

And that’s about it. 

But the tent that was put up during the latest protest at UC Berkeley was totally different.

This tent was an “Empathy Tent.” Doesn’t that make you feel so warm inside? The “empathy tent” was designed to give opposing forces a “safe space” to flesh out their political disagreements in a peaceful environment.

Right-wing group “Patriot Prayer” was speaking on campus when leftist groups “By Any Means Necessary” and Antifa showed up to protest.

What could go wrong?

It wasn’t long before representatives from both sides were placed in the tent to talk it out. Of course, talking turned to yelling, which turned to pushing, which turned to fighting.

Almost immediately, the brawling escalated to the point that the tent was nearly toppled. Police officers rushed to the scene.

Four people were arrested, including an activist for “By Any Means Necessary” named Yvonne Felcara. Yvonne has an interesting profession for an extreme left-wing activist. She’s a middle school teacher. Don’t you feel confident in the future of our country? She was arrested on suspicion of rioting, obstruction and battery. This was not her first arrest.

And this nonsense does not come cheap.

This protest comes after UC Berkeley preemptively spent $600,000 to ensure protests didn’t turn violent when Ben Shapiro spoke on campus.

We live in a world where apparently people with different opinions cannot talk to each other in a civil fashion. At all.

We live in a world where it costs $600,000 to stop middle school teachers from becoming violent.

We live in a world where “empathy tents” exist. 

And our inability to be considerate human beings is making our world worse.

UC Berkeley has shown, once again, that it is not a bastion of education. It is a circus.

So maybe a tent is appropriate after all.

Helping people in times of crisis should never be a partisan issue.

If there was ever a moment when Democrats and Republicans could truly collaborate, you’d think it would be working together on something like the disaster in Puerto Rico.

Last Sunday, Hillary Clinton tweeted unsolicited advice to President Trump that he should send the USNS Comfort a U.S. Navy hospital ship, to Puerto Rico now.

“These are Americans citizens,” she tweeted helpfully.

Turns out the Navy was already preparing to send the Comfort. There are also three other U.S. Navy ships already in Puerto Rico working on relief. And 5,000 active-duty U.S. service members on the ground. And 13 Coast Guard ships working to fix ports and launching search-and-rescue missions.

Hillary did not have all the facts when she pleaded for Trump to #SendtheComfort.

The Pentagon discussed sending the Comfort to Puerto Rico as early as last weekend, but decided against it because the damaged Puerto Rican ports weren’t able to accommodate a ship that large, and because the Puerto Rican government requested help in getting the island’s 60 hospitals operational instead. So, the Pentagon sent a fleet of Air Force jets with supplies, generators and medical personnel.

Hillary’s tweet didn’t mention those things. The President’s critics aren’t interested in hearing about his actual relief efforts because his approval rating rose after hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The Left can’t have that.

Priority number one for the Left isn’t helping Puerto Rico. It’s trying to make America think Donald Trump doesn’t care about helping Puerto Rico. It sounds like they’ve already got their main talking point picked out.

Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez said it: "This is going to turn [out] to be Mr. Trump’s Katrina."

President Trump brings a ton of criticism on himself, but this is not one of those times. He seems to be trying to help Puerto Rico, and Democrats, if they truly cared about Puerto Rico, should help him.

Divide and conquer.

That’s what our enemies are doing to us, and it’s happening right under our noses. Chaos is the name of the game, and we’re falling for it time after time after time.

Facebook revealed this month that Russia purchased $100,000 worth of political ads during the 2016 presidential campaign. The way this has been reported lately, you’d think all those ads would be pro-Trump. But, yesterday, details started to emerge on what Russia was actually doing and who they were really supporting. The answer is: everyone, no one, everything and whatever stirred up the most chaos.

As early as 2015, Russian Facebook ads have both supported and condemned Black Lives Matter. Some ads were pro Muslim and pro-immigration. The next day, those same groups would post negative Muslim ads and anti-immigration rhetoric. Trump, Hillary, Right and Left. They’ve been playing both sides.

Do you think the Russians actually cared who became president? In terms of heads of state, the President of the United States is one of the weakest authority figures in the world. The founding fathers made it that way on purpose. The Russians know this. They were preparing to divide us, regardless of who became president.

This goes a lot deeper than just the election. As early as this past week, Russian intelligence was using the NFL “take a knee” controversy to continue their chaos campaign. Senator Lankford of Oklahoma said in a hearing yesterday that Russians were “taking both sides of the argument” on social media to inflame divisiveness.

We’re being played like a fiddle. And while the collusion narrative continues in the media, a foreign intelligence service is actively trying to split us apart. The Russians have been doing these types of things for decades but never on this scale and this magnitude. Technology has opened up an entirely new era in espionage, and the scary part is that this has only just begun. Look how easily we have been turned against one another. Imagine how much worse this will become in 2 to 5 years.

It’s divide and conquer. Chaos is the name of the game. It’s time to wake up.

MORE 3 THINGS

Civics isn’t optional—America's survival depends on it

JEFF KOWALSKY / Contributor | Getty Images

Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

I slept through high school civics class. I memorized the three branches of government, promptly forgot them, and never thought of that word again. Civics seemed abstract, disconnected from real life. And yet, it is critical to maintaining our republic.

Civics is not a class. It is a responsibility. A set of habits, disciplines, and values that make a country possible. Without it, no country survives.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Civics happens every time you speak freely, worship openly, question your government, serve on a jury, or cast a ballot. It’s not a theory or just another entry in a textbook. It’s action — the acts we perform every day to be a positive force in society.

Many of us recoil at “civic responsibility.” “I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I do my civic duty.” That’s not civics. That’s a scam, in my opinion.

Taking up the torch

The founders knew a republic could never run on autopilot. And yet, that’s exactly what we do now. We assume it will work, then complain when it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the people steering the country are driving it straight into a mountain — and they know it.

Our founders gave us tools: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections. But they also warned us: It won’t work unless we are educated, engaged, and moral.

Are we educated, engaged, and moral? Most Americans cannot even define a republic, never mind “keep one,” as Benjamin Franklin urged us to do after the Constitutional Convention.

We fought and died for the republic. Gaining it was the easy part. Keeping it is hard. And keeping it is done through civics.

Start small and local

In our homes, civics means teaching our children the Constitution, our history, and that liberty is not license — it is the space to do what is right. In our communities, civics means volunteering, showing up, knowing your sheriff, attending school board meetings, and understanding the laws you live under. When necessary, it means challenging them.

How involved are you in your local community? Most people would admit: not really.

Civics is learned in practice. And it starts small. Be honest in your business dealings. Speak respectfully in disagreement. Vote in every election, not just the presidential ones. Model citizenship for your children. Liberty is passed down by teaching and example.

Samuel Corum / Stringer | Getty Images

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Start with yourself. Study the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and state laws. Study, act, serve, question, and teach. Only then can we hope to save the republic. The next election will not fix us. The nation will rise or fall based on how each of us lives civics every day.

Civics isn’t a class. It’s the way we protect freedom, empower our communities, and pass down liberty to the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

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Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

Mark Wilson / Staff | Getty Images

Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE

The critical difference: Rights from the Creator, not the state

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

When politicians claim that rights flow from the state, they pave the way for tyranny.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

John Greim / Contributor | Getty Images

Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.