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A comic book writer fought a social justice battle and appeared to win on Twitter after he pointed out something he saw as racism in action – an illustration on the back of a cereal box.
Kelloggs quickly apologized after Saladin Ahmed asked why “the only brown corn pop” on a cereal box was “the janitor.”
If you look hard enough for racism anywhere, you will find it. Glenn didn’t hold back as he lampooned this story on today’s show.
Read our full explainer of Kelloggs’ accidental “racism” here.
GLENN: Did you find yourself inexplicably offended this morning, or do you have that unsettled feeling, but you don't know why?
If this is you, I think I know the answer. Quickly, retrace your morning. What have you done? What were you when you got up? I'm guessing -- I'm only guessing here, but I think it's a pretty good guess that you probably ate a big bowl of corn pops for breakfast. I know, I know. It's uncanny. Glenn, how do you do it? How could you possibly know that I have corn puffs? Because you, my friend, are upset. And it's happened before.
A Marvel comics writer, Soledin HEP Ahmed -- I think I'm mispronouncing his name. I'm pretty sure I am. He suddenly found himself on Tuesday, feeling just as you are now. He was chowing down on a big bowl of corn pops, and he was wiping the sleep from his eyes. And he does what all of us do, read the back of the box.
Well, as he's gazing there be with the back of the cereal box, something caught his eye. There, in the midst of a cartoon depiction of little corn pops, playing and shopping in a mall, there was a darker corn pop, polishing the floor of the corn pop mall.
HEP Exkelsier, he thought to himself. I have found the reason why a sudden creep of offense has now ruined my morning routine. Ahmed sprang to action quicker than one of his superheroes. He needed to wield the power of Twitter. He tweeted. Hey, @KelloggsUS, why is literally the only brown corn pop on the whole cereal box the janitor? This is teaching our kids racism.
He sat by his phone, furiously refreshing his time line. The offense was boiling deep, somewhere deep in the pit of his soul. But there it came at 3:26 a.m. A response. There, on Ahmed's Twitter feed, a response from @KelloggsUS: Kellogg is committed to diversity and inclusion. We did not mean to offend. We apologize. The artwork is updated. And please leave us alone. It will soon be in stores.
Victory! Cue the slow motion superhero walkaway. What was now an exploding Twitter time line had changed the world for good.
So if you find yourself offended this morning, pull out your phone. Compose that tweet. Maybe you're not even offended by the same thing that triggered Ahmed. I mean, there is so much to be offended by. So much.
And your cereal box is only the beginning of a long arduous journey, into the land of offense.
Not only is the slightly darker corn pop apparently a janitor. He is also the only corn pop wearing clothes.
So why is it none of the white people, or corn pops, are wearing clothes? Is it possible that there is a Harvey Weinstein or worse yet, another very lightly tanned corn pop in a wheelchair, a George H.W. Bush corn pop that we can't see? And why do they hate all the janitorial arts? There is so much to be offended over these days. I don't want to kill your spirit. Just like Ahmed, there is a superhero in you. Take to social media. Cry racism. Cry sexism. Cry feminism. Cry transgenderism. Offensism. Whateverrism you've got in you. You too can manipulate a giant company, just as powerful as Kellogg's and bring them to their knees. To arms! To arms, America!
Disney is taking hit after hit at the box office and marked its first (non-pandemic) year since 2014 in which it failed to release a billion-dollar movie. And apparently, Hollywood workers are all too aware of what the issue is. Glenn speaks with Film Threat founder and publisher Chris Gore, who has spoken with Disney insiders, including animators and current and former employees as part of a series of stories called "The Disney File." He reveals some of his biggest finds: "All of the veteran talent has been driven from the company," he says, "starting with John Lasseter. And his departure was not what was described in the media." And they've been replaced by what many Disney insiders have described as woke "activists." Chris also describes a "toxic" work environment that pushes DEI and trashes the company's own movies. "I have never seen a company tube their credibility faster," Glenn says. So, will Disney finally take a hint?
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: It was another scandal for Disney. Only now Disney has I show you or another lost its ability to shed scandals with ease.
Disney is just dying on the vine. And it couldn't happen to a better group of people. It really couldn't.
I -- I wish them to receive all of the things and the seeds that they have planted.
You know, they used to be -- they used to be the company that would bring joy and magic. And now it's black magic. And, you know, just some corporate empire. That, you know, will do anything for a buck.
And now they believe that they are the guardians of culture. And they are going to change our culture.
Their latest example is wish.
It's a movie that supposedly is to serve as the celebration of the 100th year of Disney magic.
It is hackie and uninspiring. And really not worth your time. And everybody knows that. Nobody is going to see it.
We have -- we have an inside look now, at what is -- what is happening at Disney.
And can they ever bring it back?
Film threat, the founder and publisher of Film Threat. Chris Gore is with us now. Hi, Chris. How are you?
CHRIS: Hey, doing great, Glenn. Thanks for having me on the show.
GLENN: So first of all, tell people about Film Threat. Because I'm not sure they know about it.
CHRIS: Well, it's an independent film. We were a magazine in the '80s and '90s. Now it's a website, and a podcast. And we have remained, oddly enough, politically agnostic through all of these --
GLENN: How did you do that?
CHRIS: Well, first of all, I don't know why any -- all the entertainment media outlets should actually be this.
GLENN: Yes.
CHRIS: It's really bizarre.
I feel obligated. A movie comes out. It's an independent film.
Fritz one side of the aisle to the other. We will cover it.
That's not true for all my leagues, in the industry, who cover film.
It's unfortunate.
GLENN: I mean, you did Matt Walsh's what is a woman? And it was actually objective. And I assumed it would never happen in today's world.
Never.
CHRIS: Yeah. I think it's an important documentary. It's worthy of coverage. And I don't know why it was covered by every media outlet.
I think it's an important conversation. But, you know, we'll also cover documentaries about drag queens.
GLENN: Sure.
CHRIS: We're all over the place. And I think that that's our obligation.
You know, we also -- we also reviewed Candace Owens documentary, BLM.
Which did not get a favorable review.
But we look at everything. And we try to be objective.
And I -- you know, I would like to see more of that.
GLENN: Chris, I am the biggest Disney fan.
I mean, I have the original prospectus, hand-colored by Walt Disney. I have been a fan since I was a kid. I've always been a champion for Disney.
I have never seen a company, tube their credibility, faster, than the Disney corporation.
And I have gone from a fan to somebody who can't wait to see them burn themselves out of existence.
It's -- it's a remarkable thing that's happening with Disney.
CHRIS: Well, it is crazy to watch in real time.
How they've taken one of the greatest brands.
One of the greatest brands. A family brand.
And I think it really has to do with getting away from their core values.
When I'm talking about those values.
I'm talking about the values of Walt Disney, the man. At the company.
Walton Disney was a proud American, who -- who espoused family values through his art.
And we -- we see where the company is now. It's become very corporate.
Filled with middle management bloats. Micromanaging all of their artists.
And as I like to say, I think corporate cultured kills creativity. And that's where we are at. There's more to this story.
There's a lot more to this story, actually.
GLENN: You have -- you have an article coming out, where you've talked to many of the insiders, who are giving you a real deep look into what's -- what the culture is there.
And there's one story about when everybody came back from work after COVID, and they were having a meeting about which breakfast cereals, to put into the break room. And what happened?
CHRIS: Well, it's a funny story. This was on a Zoom call.
They were coming back from COVID, and restocking the break room with cereals, which devolved into a conversation about privilege.
And if you ate certain breakfast cereals, when you were a kid, you were privileged.
But if you ate generic breakfast cereals, that said something about your upbringing, and status.
There seems to be a bizarre obsession with -- with all of this nonsense.
Identity. You know, privilege. And the fact that a simple conversation about restocking the breakfast cereal in the break room, devolved into that, shows you how bad the rot is. Which is at every level.
And the key word that's come up.
I will just say this.
The article coming up on the FilmThreat.com website, which is being written by my colleague Allan Ing.
It's -- we're currently talking about a dozen current and former employees of Disney. And also people who work in animation.
We're calling the series of stories, the Disney File. But the stories we're hearing are fairly shocking. So also --
GLENN: Like -- like --
CHRIS: For anyone that's paying attention. Shocking.
GLENN: Like what?
CHRIS: Well, ultimately, there's more specifics to it.
But ultimately, all of the veteran talent has been driven from the company.
Starting with John Lasseter.
And his departure is not as described in the media.
There was much more to it.
I believe that certain people felt threatened by John Lasseter. Probably because he was the most talented person at the company.
Nearly every Pixar film was a home run.
I mean, even the lesser Pixar films.
Even the lesser Pixar films. When you look at what Disney is putting out today.
They're amazing.
So that was the beginning of the rock. Was his departure. And that veteran talent has been not replaced by veteran talent. It's been replaced by -- and I'm using words that are in the correspondences, a key word came up in every correspondence with every person.
And that is activism. The people that have been replaced. They've been replaced by activists.
And it's at all levels.
You can't necessarily blame upper management.
But the rot is from beyond up.
GLENN: Right.
So somebody described to me. And said, Glenn, Bob Iger.
Nobody else can fix it now.
They felt that Bog Iger was responsible for this.
But they said, they hired activists.
And allowed them at the bottom, to just infest the Disney culture, if you will.
Then it just kept growing stronger and stronger.
And now there's really nobody left. To hand the company. And say, okay. All you guys, shut up. Get out of here.
You can't do it anymore.
Do you believe that's true?
CHRIS: I believe that's 100 percent true. 100 percent.
GLENN: Wow.
CHRIS: And I think it's just a company culture that's been created.
And those that don't agree with the direction of the company.
Have to remain silent. And are reprimanded, even for espousing certain ideas.
And the HR department at Disney, appears to work in an oppressive manner, creating a toxic work environment.
Where if you -- we're talking about innocuous posts on Facebook, from years ago.
An employee being dragged into HR, into HR. To have meetings at ungodly hours. You know, 6:00 a.m. or something.
With an attorney, sitting next to the HR person.
To discuss a social media post.
There is a fall in line attitude. And if you don't fall in line, you're not welcome at Disney.
Which has led to -- which has led to many of these people leaving have their own accord.
They're simply not welcome to think their own things.
GLENN: Well, I know creative people, and there's nothing that drives creative people more crazy. I mean, Walt would lose people from time to time. Because his management style was, keep them always guessing. You know, and it will make them sharper.
The animators hated that. But Walt was so good at what he did, that you're either in Disney or you're not.
Now that's not the case. No creative person is going to want to go to work every day, let alone be creative at work every day, if you're constantly looking at your DEI shoulder.
CHRIS: Well, that's 100 percent true. And on that note, interestingly enough, lecturers come to Disney often, to help animators. And discuss topics like how a giraffe runs. What does it look like when it runs. How do birds fly? Different type of birds. They have brought in lecturers to talk to all of the animators. And in our article, we will discuss the person who has been coming in with the animators.
Because not only was this DEI person saying, that based on your identity, you are -- you are racist, based on the way you look. You are just a racist person.
This DEI instructor. Instructor, lecturer, went on to critique all the Disney movies and why they're racist.
And why in particular, a movie called The Princess and The Frog is racist, which features a black princess.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh, that was to expose, to bring in African-Americans. And to expose people to a different culture.
That's what that whole movie was designed to do.
CHRIS: Well, yes. Absolutely. But this lecture pointed out, that because the -- the pretext to the film was to turn into a frog. And remained a frog for most of the movie. That that was racist.
And basically, this lecturer was telling the animators, everything you're doing wrong. Which erupted into a huge argument. Of some of the animators that stood up.
This is the problem. This is the big problem.
Is this is well-known throughout the animation industry. That Disney acts in this way.
There are other companies. For example, Illumination, you know, distributed by Universal. Their animated films. They avoided any sort of political messaging. They make movies that are entertaining.
Dominion's movies.
The Super Mario movie, which crossed the billion-dollar mark.
They're just making family entertainment, and they're well aware of that. Disney is the exception in this, where the messaging is a huge part of this. This is well-known in the industry.
It's become a whisper network.
Where animators, that have felt so betrayed, that these Walt Disney company's legacy is falling by the wayside. That they speak on private message groups about each other. About everything that is going on.
But here's the deal.
If people at the Disney company don't speak out, there won't be a company left to save. It's -- it's dire. When you look at the amount of money that they've lost this year. It's -- it's unbelievable. When you look at -- in the year 2019, Disney had seven movies, that crossed the billion dollar mark.
This year, it's zero.
GLENN: It's unbelievable.
It's the fastest. It's the fastest destruction of the greatest brand, ever. Of the 20th -- of the 20th century.
And you're right.
I'm not sure if it's going to make it.
Chris, I have to cut you short. But I apologize for that. I would love to have you on when the story comes out. And spend some real time with you because I think it's fascinating to see the price that they're paying. Chris Gore. The name of the website is filmthreat.com. Filmthreat.com.
Glenn has made a big discovery in the story of Colony Ridge, Texas. Up until now, reporting has suggested that the massive illegal immigrant settlement outside of Houston was cartel-infested, crime-ridden, and set up by developers who are immorally taking advantage of the illegal immigrants. But after visiting the community and speaking to one of its developers, Glenn now believes the story is much more complicated. Glenn's head researcher, Jason Buttrill, joins to explain their latest findings as they film BlazeTV's next documentary.
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: So we are in -- we're in Houston, and we've got our production team, our documentary, Blaze TV documentary team. And, of course, I brought my good friend and chief researcher, and head writer for my television program, Jason in. Who, Jason, tell me the story that we thought, we were going to find, and we still may find.
But tell me the story that you thought we were coming out for.
JASON: So just based on the reporting that's happening so far I was expecting basically almost what I saw in Iraq. Like UN tents type things.
Crime going all over the place.
The ultimate squalor that you can think of.
Mixed in with crime, visibly.
It was almost like Grand Theft Auto. You know the name.
But actually seeing it in real life play out.
I have to tell you, when we first showed up, I do not, I can't fathom how that's the story that you get, just by showing up, driving around. And saying, okay. This is what's going on.
Because this story is a lot more complicated than that. Obviously.
There's a lot more pieces moving here, than I think anyone has even talked about.
And you can't get to it, on the surface level.
You will have to go deeper. Which this amazing documentary team is doing.
And it's amazing.
GLENN: Yeah. I will tell you, we came yesterday.
And I was looking yesterday. We were told.
By several sources. Several sources.
That we were looking at a situation, where this Colony Ridge. They were being sold. Being sold at usury-style interest rates of 20 and 30 percent.
Credit card rates. That's -- that is what we were told.
You were looking at a situation where there were gangs involved. The cartels were involved.
That is part of the story we will get into today. I am doing several interviews on that today.
But I will tell you, if the authorities don't have -- if they're not willing to go on camera, and say, yes.
This is what -- I mean, there was -- we -- we were talking about a story yesterday.
Where these two teenage kids, were shot in the head, at a mailbox area.
They were both in their car.
And somebody went to the mailbox of -- of -- you know, where all of the mailboxes are in this area.
And they saw this car, and these two guys, they thought were just sleeping. These two teenage kids were just sleeping.
They watch them. They come back and they see, they're still there.
Hey, something is not right.
So they went up to the window, and they were going to knock on the window. And they look in. And these two kids have been shot, I believe in the head, execution-style, it seems.
Well, now we're hearing that perhaps that didn't happen there.
That this was crime that was a body dump, and there are places in Houston. There is one very famous place that is a body dump.
That's really bad. But was this gang-related, and was it happening here?
There's only one truth, in the end.
But I'm -- and I'm really glad to say this.
We are doing everything we can, to get to that truth. Not our truth. Not the story we think people want to hear. But the actual story.
Not sure, I did several interviews yesterday, and walked away, believing parts of all of the interviews.
Walked away liking some of the people. You know, not necessarily loving some of the other people that we interviewed.
But thought there was truth, a little bit, in everybody.
And so our job now is to just piece this together.
Because this is something that will happen all over the country.
There is a lot of money being made here.
And you wonder. I mean, how long did we discuss this, Jason?
That we're not sure, if any of this is illegal.
Might be immoral.
Might be -- might not even be that strong. Might be something that you're like, I wouldn't do it.
I don't want my friends being involved in this.
But is it immoral, or is it illegal?
JASON: Oh, yeah, constantly. And, I mean, Glenn, you and I did a show, I believe it was last week. Where it was a Wednesday night special. And we picked up the top two issues, that the country is most concerned about.
Number one is the economy. People's finances.
And number two, the border. Those. And immigration.
The top two issues.
This story has elements of both on gigantic magnitudes.
Because if it's a border issue.
I mean, we have an area that is huge.
If people are getting mortgages, when they don't need Social Security numbers. When they don't even need traditional mortgages. They're able to come here.
And nobody is integrating. They're all riving in this one little area. I kind of want to know if this is the standard going forward. All over the country. Are these going to be popping up all over the place? Is that not the issue? I don't know. We've been scouring social media, including Spanish social media on the number one issue, on the economy and financing. We're not exactly sure the ins and outs of how these deals are made.
But it does look like there are people confused. There are multiple people confused. As they were in the 2008 financial crisis.
People didn't know what they were signing up for, for some of those adjustable-rate mortgages. I don't know if that's similar now, but we have got to get that story correctly.
Because the stories that have come out right now, I do not believe have.
But people need to know. Economically, financially. Are you getting into a good deal here?
Number two, the border. Is this making the border situation worse? Or is it not as connected as we've been led to believe it is?
GLENN: The other thing is, I mean, this is such a fascinating story.
Because these are people -- these are people that do not have a chance of getting a traditional loan.
Okay?
70,000. We were in the neighborhood. And it's not a neighborhood I would want to live in.
There were parts of it that seemed pretty eerie and sketchy.
But there are other parts of it, that were pretty nice. Pretty nice.
And these are people, that would not get a traditional loan.
So they are going out. And they are getting a loan.
We are told today, we're still verifying everything.
I told you yesterday, 20 to 30 percent.
That's what we had found online. And with some other sources.
But it appears, that maybe that is not true. We will have more, when we -- as we go, we have to lock these things in.
The guy who is selling it, told me yesterday. It's 12.7.
Well, 12.7, is very high. For a house loan.
But the United States, the federal -- the Federal Reserve charged 19 percent at one point.
You know. And if you don't have any credit at all, and you don't have any money to put down, that's actually not a bad rate, quite honestly.
Do you agree with that, or disagree?
JASON: Yeah. I think it sounds like not a great rate. But what I'm seeing from social media from people who have done this. I don't even know if they understand that.
Because once they start getting into these loans like a couple years down the road, some of them are abandoning them. Like, oh, this is not worth it.
Like, I don't think they were expecting to spend the amounts of money they were. It's just what it looks like from the confusion there.
GLENN: So there's a difference though, between them understanding it. And predatory loans.
And usury. You know what I mean?
And it -- you know, you can look at this story.
It's amazing. It's amazing. I wish -- well, you will be.
In January. I was going to say, I wish I was with you yesterday. I was so conflicted.
Not on crime. Not on any of that stuff.
But I went back and forth on, is this -- at first, I was -- it's probably illegal.
And it's absolutely immoral.
And I'm still not having an answer on either of those two.
It might be illegal. It might be immoral. But I had a swing yesterday, back and forth to these.
To where I'm like, well, I don't know.
I don't know.
This might be something good for somebody, who can't start in America.
JASON: What does that sound like? It sounds like every documentary that you've ever watched.
I watched this documentary about aliens. They started out debunking them.
Then in the middle of it, they kind of go back and forth. Maybe not.
At the end, they're like, wait a minute. Are aliens real?
That's how I felt yesterday. Not on aliens. On this.
It was exactly the same. Back and forth and back and forth. This is an amazing story. It really is.
GLENN: Yeah. And it has huge ramifications. At the very least. At the very least.
And I don't know if we will have time to cover this.
The thing I went to bed with last night was, is this the future of America?
It is a community. It's enormous.
About the size of Miami.
I was told by the developer, 130,000, to 150,000 residents, when they're done.
I heard close to a quarter of a million, from other sources.
It's a lot of people.
Right now, it's anywhere between 40 and 70.
And it -- it's a huge area.
And it is in this small, little, sweet little town.
Where they're -- nobody is rich there. I mean, there's trailers. You know, people living in trailers on their land there.
But it's like my grandparent's farm when I was growing up.
It was this little quiet, sleepy town.
And all of a sudden, boom. Right in the center of it, are, you know, going to be 100 thousand plus people that don't speak English.
Generally, don't speak English.
That is a shock to the community. And that doesn't necessarily make it wrong. Where, you know, everybody is into -- not in my neighborhood.
But it is shocking for that neighborhood. And can vastly change it.
And the problem is, just down the road, a little bit. Are these very nice, very, very nice wealthy neighborhoods.
That if you didn't know, you're coming into Houston. You're getting off the freeway. And you would buy the house. You would see these places, like this is great.
But you would have no idea that the slums, literally the slums are right behind your house. Right on the other side of the woods.
Right down the street.
And that becomes a Brazil situation. Which is -- which is not good. Not good.
So anything you're left with?
JASON: Just on how a lot of these stories, there's a lot more than meets the eyes. And you will really not get into it, if you operate how the mainstream media does, how they do it right now. They take a story, and they run a narrative. And that's what gets pushed out to the entire country. And you never learn any further. You never go deeper. That's what I love about what we're doing now, we're going deep.
And I can't tell you, like that documentary about aliens. How many times I will be flip-flopped on this story, by the end of it.
I don't know at this point.
We have, I believe two or three interviews today. Tomorrow, we're interviewing another three or four, including something that goes late into the night. And I think the day after that, is another four.
So, I mean, we are going both sides. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.
Where we end up, I have no idea.
But it will be a whole lot of fun to do it. And for the audience to watch it play out.
GLENN: Yeah. And it's -- you know, the one thing I took away yesterday.
And I mentioned this earlier.
Is -- it's very easy to be like the mainstream media. I went into this. We had all kinds of information. We have the information. We have the sources.
But we don't necessarily have everybody on record.
It's going to be interesting to see in the next few days, who is willing to say, no, no, no. Say that to the camera. You know what I mean?
And who -- who is -- figures and stories stand up. And whose stories don't. And we walked in yesterday. I walked into the afternoon.
To an interview, I thought, absolutely, just going to chop this up into little teeny bite-sized pieces.
And walked away, saying, I'm not sure we have the story.
Not -- not saying that anybody is -- that I believe anybody right now.
That's -- I think that's the -- the thing I walked away with.
I walked away believing one thing. I walked out not believing anything.
And, you know, it's -- we are grateful to Blaze TV.
For spending all of this money. It's an incredible expense to do documentaries like this. And investigations.
It takes a whole team of people. My gosh, this documentary team is unbelievable. I mean, honestly, it's -- they are remarkable, at what they do.
And you'll be able to see this on Blaze TV. Your support means the world.
It's the only way that we can do this, is if we go to BlazeTV.com/Glenn.
Use the promo code Glenn Plus. And you'll save $30 off your annual subscription.
This documentary, warts and all. And let the chips fall where they may.
And I mean, there's one politician that we can't get a hold of. And we've offered to fly to him, at any time.
Nothing.
He's stonewalling us. And that is Greg Abbott. And it says -- it says a lot, that his campaign received $1.4 million.
I mean, I know I paid 10 percent of what I -- what I make. In tithing.
So I know what I get from my church, I know what God has done for me lately, what has -- what -- what is the person that gave Greg Abbott $1.4 million? What are they getting out of this?
The answer to me was, well, nothing.
Is it? Is it?
The stock markets had a good month in November. But Glenn warns, "enjoy it while it lasts." Glenn reviews how the Federal Reserve's actions — especially its quick pivot from allowing debt to pile up to slamming on the breaks — could likely lead to a massive crash. "We are running out of options," he says, as the yearly interest on our national debt skyrockets toward $1 trillion. So, Glenn gives you the real stats while the Fed says it has everything under control ...
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Here's a -- here's an interesting story. Remember from investors.com. Can we just remember who got us here? Okay.
Listen to this.
The ten-year Treasury yield set off roaring alarms about the US budget. When it surged to 5 percent last month.
Now those warnings look like a fire drill. Federal Reserve rate hikes seem to be over for now.
Giving the bond market a reprieve, and allowing powerful S&P rallying to resume. But enjoy it while it lasts.
The next debt scare may be the real thing, and it could rock the US economy and stock market.
Here's why: The fed's historic turnabout from enabling massive budget deficits to directing the sharpest rate hikes in 40 years. Has seemingly broken the budget.
The Treasury market stress is almost certain to return.
And the era of fed quantitative easing and near zero interest rates, promoted care-free fiscal policies, that led to the US racking up $20 trillion in federal debt since 2008.
Exhibit A in the case of the broken federal budget. It's the deficit surge in fiscal 2023. Which ended September 30th.
Unemployment was near a record low. And GDP growth was strong.
Under those conditions, the budget deficit usually shrinks.
But this year, it doubled. To $2 trillion. And that's only if you ignore accounting for Biden student loan forgiveness that was struck down.
The Federal Reserve's fingerprints are all over the red ink. Fed spent more than 100 billion in interest on its bond portfolio to the Treasury in fiscal 2022.
It had to halt those payments last year as bond prices fell. Having let inflation out of the bag at an 8.7 cost of living adjustment stoked a 130 billion-dollar increase.
In Social Security checks. Another $100 billion, went to FDIC bailouts for the Silicon bank.
To top it off, the Fed hiking is the key rate, past 5 percent. Forced Uncle Sam to pony up an extra 177 billion in interest, on the debt.
Here's the thing: Interest on the debt was 711 billion dollars.
Went up in 2023. 711 billion dollars. Up from 534 billion, in 2022. 413 billion in 2021.
We're now running at a rate for this month, which will total 825 billion.
So we have doubled the interest payments. Now, we're probably 12 months. Twenty months away from a trillion dollars, in debt interest only.
Remember, the entire budget that we can pay for, cover our bills. If we are living within our means, is $2 trillion. The rest of it, we borrow.
What are you willing to cut, by a trillion dollars. Just to pay the interest?
We are running out of options.
The fed says they have it all under control.
Nobody is buying our bonds.
The fed is buying our bonds. So when you hear, oh, S&P 500.
Deutsche Bank just said it will go up. We will have a surge. Enjoy it while it lasts.
The problem is: Only the ones who have tons of money in the stock market. And those are the ones who usually get all the bailouts.
And they get all the government contracts, and everything else.
They're the ones in the stock market. They're the ones making all of the money.
If you have money in investment, good for you.
Good for you. But it is eventually going to go away.
And guess who will win?
All of those who are connected.
All of those who are connected. You know, I like it in -- I like the old days, when companies did something. And you could go, oh, that's really good.
I want to invest. And their stock would go up. Oh. And that's really bad. And their stock would go down.
Oh, the economy is really bad. Stock would go down. Now it doesn't work that way anymore.
Nothing. Nothing.
The only one I've seen Walt Disney. Walt Disney marked its 100th anniversary with Wish.
Cost them $200 million to produce. It brought in over the five-day weekend, $19.5 million.
Wow. Now, by contrast, Frozen brought in 125. Frozen 2. Not even Frozen 1. Frozen 2, brought in $125 million over the same period.
Indiana Jones, the dial of destiny, gone. The Little Mermaid, nothing. The Marvels, worse than The Hulk. How is that possible?
And the only thing worse than that is Haunted Mansion. The only thing worse than that is Wish! It couldn't happen to a nicer group of people.
These are the kinds of things that we used to see in America. You disconnect from reality, you lose.
I don't know when we're going to see the first government bailout of Disney.
But I'm waiting for it.
A massive illegal immigrant settlement has sprung up right outside of Houston, Texas, and Glenn is on the ground to investigate. Glenn calls in live from Colony Ridge, which he has dubbed "the world's largest and most dangerous trailer park." This community, which is about the size of Miami, has become a hotbed for the cartel after developers started selling flood-prone plots to illegal immigrants. Prosecutors have refused to prosecute crimes, police officers see no point in keeping the law, and the developers are rigging the entire housing market, Glenn claims. And shockingly, Glenn has found ties between the community's developers and the Governor of Texas. But this kind of shady activity is not just happening in Texas. Glenn warns, "it's happening all over the country."
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
PAT: Pat and Stu for Glenn today. Because Glenn -- I guess he didn't realize, that the show actually happens. On Mondays now. On Mondays. About this time, every Monday.
STU: Where is he supposed to be on Mondays? Anywhere at once?
PAT: Sitting where I am right now.
STU: In this room? On Mondays.
PAT: Yeah. Isn't that weird? I guess it's fairly new. And he's not used to it, yet. Is that what happened you're not used to the new schedule change?
GLENN: Oh, my gosh. No. Some of us have been working this weekend. We're working through the night. I am actually down in Liberty County, Texas.
We're doing a new Blaze documentary for January. And the researchers and Jason has been down here. And they're going to be here for a week. I'll be back on the air tomorrow.
But I'm just getting -- I'm just getting ready for a full day of looking at world's largest trailer park. The world's most dangerous trailer park.
It's a -- it's an area called colony ridge.
You might have read about it. There's been a couple of stories out, about this unbelievable cartel-run community, if you can.
It is the size of Miami. And it's all illegals. And I know nobody is illegal.
What's happening here is, you've got a county of about 70,000 people.
And in the middle of it, it's 30,000 acres. It's in a flood zone.
And some developers bought it all up.
And they are selling it to illegals.
And here's -- this is -- I mean, you're talking about a change in elections, just with this county.
You're talking about corruption at gangs. They've had body dumps there.
Massive drugs going on. For a community now, of 70,000, there are only six to eight police officers.
And beyond that, the prosecutor for some reason, won't prosecute, any -- anybody in Colony Ridge.
So cops don't have a reason to go in. Because nobody is going to jail.
We don't know why.
We have a place where the developers have dumped 40,000 gallons plus of raw sewage into the local creeks.
Nobody does anything.
They're charging credit card interest rates. So it's $500 down.
For 300,000-dollar house.
It's $500 down. And then your monthly payment. But here's the good news.
You have an interest rate between 20 and 30 percent.
The more defaults happened in Colony Ridge, than any place else.
And what happens? They default. The developer, which is providing all the loans at such a low, low price, he then repossesses the house and sells it again.
It is an absolute nightmare. And it's happening, not just here.
It's happening all over the country.
This -- this community, is almost, and will be in a few months, almost the size of Grand Rapids.
STU: Wow. And, Glenn, something of that scale does not pop up overnight. It's not like, okay. A few people have come across the border.
This is something that has gone on for a while. Why hasn't anyone done anything about it so far?
PAT: It's an interesting question. I -- we have reached out to the governor, we have asked for an interview with the governor.
This isn't going to make us more popular with our own Texas governor, but we have reached out.
We can't seem to coordinate our schedules, darn it.
But what's interesting is, the brother is -- it's two brothers that are running this. I will be doing an interview today, with the main brother. The guy who is really responsible for this.
But his partner. His other brother happens to be one of the governor's biggest donors.
Given our governor in Texas, over a million dollars in his campaign.
Which is I'm sure a complete coincidence!
PAT: How far is this -- how far is colony ridge from Houston?
It's fairly close, right? Within a --
GLENN: Oh, no. It's closer than that. How far are we from Houston? We're about 20 miles.
PAT: Amazing.
GLENN: Yeah.
So the -- the county -- the people who lived in that county, it's very, very red.
And this has brought in so much danger to the community.
I mean, honestly, body dumps. You're just out in the field.
You're like, oh, there's a dead body.
It's being run by the cartels.
But don't worry. The -- the Colony Ridge is hiring their own police. They're going to -- they're going to hire some of the police.
Which sounds very Chicago 1930s.
But the people who lived there, are so angry about this. They won't vote. And I wouldn't either.
They won't vote for a single bond measure. Here's the problem: You have the school growing ten students a day.
They've built -- the state has built these beautiful facilities.
But they can't hire the teachers.
They can't do anything, because the -- the former residents. The ones who live there now.
While they still live there.
I'm talking to a group of people who lived there for generations.
They're moving now. Because they can't take the crime. They can't take the problems.
They won't vote for any new teachers or anything else.
So now what happens?
I mean, this is a -- an absolute nightmare, the size of Miami.
PAT: And you mentioned that a lot of the illegals that get into these homes, lose the help me.
Then what happens to them?
Where do they wind up after that?
GLENN: That, I don't know. I will ask. That, I don't know yet. I haven't met with any of the principals yet. That's what I'm doing this morning and the rest of the day, and tomorrow.
I'll be doing the show tomorrow from Houston.
But then, I have to go back in, and interview some more -- some more people. Including Dan Patrick.
I will ask Dan Patrick.
PAT: Yeah.
GLENN: He's the head of our Senate.
And he's very upset about this.
PAT: I bet he is.
GLENN: He can't get anyone to do anything.
You know, the problem is, everything this developer is doing, is legal.
It's just immoral.
PAT: Jeez.
GLENN: Absolutely immoral.
He is building roadways that look like it's just a veneer.
I mean, we -- for a state that doesn't have hard freezes.
And then, you know, really hot temperature.
Then another hard freeze. I can't tell you why, after a year, the roads look the way they do.
They are completely broken up.
He's not -- he says, he's building them, to state standards.
And my guess is, he probably is, to the very lowest grade.
But he's then giving those roads, God bless his heart, over to the county, to maintain after two years.
I've seen the roads that have been there for a year. They will just have to be bulldozed and repaved by the county.
How is the county going to pay for that?
Because the people that are living there, don't have any money. They're not paying taxes.
STU: God. And it's really an amazing -- amazing thing.
And it's just hard to imagine, that we haven't heard more about this.
You're doing this documentary. What's the schedule on this?
I know these things take a while to put together.
PAT: So this is -- we will release it in January. This is why it's important for you to subscribe to Blaze TV.
This is not a Glenn Beck documentary.
I'm involved in this one.
But this is a Blaze TV documentary.
This is all of TheBlaze money.
And we are -- we are -- we brought in the best of the best.
To help us put this together.
They have been doing research on this, for months.
Including some members of my research staff, as well.
Helping them.
And they've got it so well buttoned up. You'll see it in January.
Only on Blaze TV. But it is -- I -- let me say this.
Can I say this?
STU: Usually, probably not.
GLENN: Security -- let's say. Yeah. Let's just say this.
Security on the team, is unlike anything I've seen before.
This -- this is something that a lot of people are not going to be happy, is erring.
And it's going to happen -- because this guy is doing this legally. Because he's found a way to get around everything that really matters, this is the most immoral legal thing I think I've ever seen.
And it's going to happen all over the country.
There are -- by the end of the Biden administration, there will be 10 million illegals.
In Houston, 10 percent of the population, is illegal.
10 percent.
PAT: Well, that's only -- that's only like a million people though.
That's not that many.
STU: That's it?
PAT: Just in Houston. Wow.
GLENN: Here's the other side of this. And I haven't gotten into this yet. We'll get into it next year when this documentary goes. But this is the way Texas is going to become, deep, deep blue.
PAT: Hmm.
GLENN: This -- just this population, if somebody figures out how to register or how to just collect votes from unregistered people, this would have meant just this community, could have meant that Beto was our senator, not Ted Cruz.
PAT: Frightening.
STU: Wow. It's amazing.
And I have seen the -- some of the schedule of what they're planning to do with these documentaries over the next year. It's aggressive. This is something you will really want to be involved in.
You will want to see these things.
It's BlazeTV.com/Glenn. Go ahead, Glenn.
GLENN: Yeah. And I will tell you, when I started Blaze TV. This is why I wanted to have the subscribers and everything else.
So we could have the money to be able to do all this.
Blaze has built itself into such a workhorse now. And really, pretty darn bulletproof. That we can actually afford to do these things. And finally, we're able to be the investigative arm. We're no longer going to wait for ABC, NBC, CBS, whatever.
They're useless. They're going to have to start answering to us.
Why aren't you covering this?
Beyond that, they keep saying, we're -- you know, oh, the right is only engaged in conspiracy theories.
Really?
More people will end up watching this, than will be watching anything on 60 Minutes.
Because people will know that this is the truth. And they will have to respond to us.
And it's about time.
STU: It is about time.
BlazeTV.com/Glenn. Is the place to go to subscribe.
If you use the code Glenn. You'll save 20 bucks off your subscription.
I think already Blaze TV is worth it.
Well worth your money. If you have the extra to spend.
It's getting better and better and better by the day.
This project from Glenn, is one of many that are coming.
I've seen some of the summaries of them.
It looks like there will be some really incredible stuff. Yeah.
GLENN: It's shocking.
This alone is shocking. And we're the first to go in, and actually do an interview with all of these people.
That are living there. Living around it.
And the guy who is responsible for it.
STU: Hmm.
PAT: Yeah. I mean, I've heard very little of this. Very little of Colony Ridge.
STU: Used to do a show in Houston.
PAT: Yeah. This is just on the outskirts. There's an inner loop in Houston. There's an outer loop. And there's a really outer loop. It's just beyond that. It's so bad.
GLENN: So, Pat, this whole place is a flood zone.
PAT: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
GLENN: Already, with just the heavy Houston rains, it's almost up to your knees. People are defaulting, because they have to repair their house from the rain. Not hurricane.
From the rain.
PAT: I'm sure. I'm sure.
Well --
GLENN: This is a disaster of Biblical proportions waiting to happen.
PAT: Well, first of all, if you spit in Houston, it floods your house.
So you don't want to do that.
It's bad enough.
I can imagine the catastrophe that this place could be.
Amazing.
GLENN: So imagine, Pat. You've seen hurricanes here. You've seen what it's done. Imagine a brand-new community that floods during the rains, being hit by a hurricane. 90,000 people, out of a house.
PAT: Unreal.
GLENN: All illegal. Don't speak English. What's going to happen?
PAT: All right. Appreciate it.
GLENN: By the way, the fire department is a volunteer fire department for the county. It's got like seven guys.
One truck.
PAT: Jeez.
STU: Amazing. All right. Glenn, it's -- by the way, BlazeTV.com/Glenn. Promo code is Glenn.
And, Glenn, if you need us to send you a copy of the show's schedule on an ongoing basis, just let us know.
GLENN: See you tomorrow.
