Glenn Beck: Media ignores Yusuf Islam's appearance at Stewart's rally



Related: Left Nearly Silent on Fatwa-Endorsing Singer‘s ’Sanity’ Rally Performance

GLENN: Now, there is something that the media missed over the weekend that I find fascinating.

PAT: What? The media missed something?

GLENN: The media missed something.

PAT: Hard to believe.

GLENN: On the Jon Stewart rally which, by the way, I thought was an absolute I mean, it was a high school production. It was a high school production, the comedy. And even Jon Stewart. I mean, he said it from stage several times. This didn't work. I mean, it was really bad. Colbert, I thought there were a couple of things

PAT: When he was off stage

GLENN: It was good.

PAT: Everything went pretty well.

GLENN: Yeah. When Jon Stewart was just talking, I thought, okay, this is going to go into you know, this will be good. And then Colbert would come out and it was awful. It was embarrassing.

PAT: It was.

GLENN: I was embarrassed not for Colbert.

PAT: Train wreck.

GLENN: It was beyond it. I was embarrassed for Jon Stewart because he's better than that. And the music was great. I mean, they had really great musical guests and everything else. And the message that Jon Stewart had after the concert was good. I mean, it was very similar to what I said. Just in different, you know, obviously different language. I framed mine in God, but we're better people than what we're allowing ourselves to become. Let's stop being used by, you know, red and blue. And so that was, you know, basically his message. And I think it was a success for him. I think if he wouldn't have given that message, it would have been jump the shark. I think it was jump the shark for Colbert. I don't think Colbert ever recovers from that. Just awful. No, it really was.

STU: It was that bad? I mean

PAT: It really was.

GLENN: You didn't see it?

STU: No.

PAT: Stu, you've got to watch it. It was really

GLENN: Awful.

PAT: It was painful to watch at times.

GLENN: It was awful.



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STU: It was interesting because when we were at the rally, there was a couple of times he said some sort of you know, there wasn't much comedy in our rally obviously but you said a couple of things that were funny and I remember thinking this is a tough convenient now oar comedy. It takes a long time for the voice to get there, it takes

PAT: It wasn't that, though.

GLENN: No, it wasn't that.

PAT: Because it translated fine on TV. You know, good comedy translates on TV.

STU: Sure, yeah, yeah.

PAT: It doesn't at the venue necessarily very but on TV if you are watching it

GLENN: It was awful.

PAT: There was nothing anywhere near approaching anything funny.

GLENN: It was awful.

STU: By Colbert?

GLENN: I really was no, by both of them. When they were both on stage.

PAT: When they were together, it was just a train wreck.

GLENN: They did a song that was, you know, I'm more American than you.

PAT: It was horrible.

GLENN: I mean it was high school I'm not kidding you, it was high school talent show stuff. It was awful.

PAT: We're like, these guys have like 70 writers between them?

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: This is what you got?

GLENN: It's really I mean, look, I can give somebody kudos. When they do a good job, they do a good job. Jon Stewart, you know, I could nitpick and say he doesn't notice the division that he causes. He just gets away, he gets a pass because he's doing COM did I and yet everybody takes my comedy out of context?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: It's the same stuff. I could nitpick. But his message was good in the end. And he was good. And the musical guests were good. The production value was good. That thing cost him $5 million had to cost them $5 million. If it cost them a dime, it cost them $5 million, you know, so it was good. The comedy, the actual show was awful. I was praying

PAT: It was.

GLENN: I was praying for the second coming of Christ. I'm like, look, this must be the Tribulation; Christ is coming. Because it was awful.

STU: But the message was good.

GLENN: The message was good. The message and Jon Stewart, much to in his defense, he knew it. He said it on stage.

PAT: Any good comedian would know that.

GLENN: Yeah, we felt bad for him because we're like, he knows. You could tell he knows. It's not working. He just wants to stop right now. Let's stop doing so much damage to our careers.

PAT: He did.

GLENN: He did.

PAT: You could tell. Seriously, yeah.

GLENN: But, you know, his message was good. However, with that being said, one of the things that they did was

PAT: What did you think of the message?

GLENN: It was good.

PAT: It was good? Okay.



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GLENN: What they did that the media missed was they brought Yusuf Islam on stage. Now, do you know what that is?

STU: It's Cat Stevens?

GLENN: Cat Stevens. Cat Stevens did Peace Train. And then he went Muslim. Which, I don't have a problem, you go Muslim. But they brought on Yusuf Islam. Now, you'll notice here in the introduction, something is missing in the introduction. Here it is.

VOICE: We'll do the trick that could express some emotions that are difficult for us to express with words. Ladies and gentlemen, there's a very special person that I have asked to come here today and he has traveled an awfully long way to sing a song especially for you. You knew him as Cat Stevens.

GLENN: Okay, nobody in the audience knows Cat Stevens.

VOICE: His melodies have inspired millions of us to be better people. Ladies and gentlemen, Joseph, or as it is also pronounced, Yusuf.

GLENN: Yusuf what, Yusuf who? He's not Madonna.

PAT: Not anymore, that's for sure.

GLENN: He's Yusuf Islam. Okay. And that is just and maybe he just got I don't know. Maybe he forgot that his last name was Islam and he thought he was Madonna, or Elvis. I don't know. But that was a little odd. But here's the problem with Yusuf Islam. He's been on a no fly list. Now, you can say that it was for this or for that. But here's the truth in Yusuf Islam's own words: When Salman Rushdie had a fatwa on him because he wrote the Satanic Verses, a book, Yusuf Islam wanted him killed. In his own words this is from the BBC if I'm not mistaken, back in the day. Listen to Yusuf Islam.

(Audio playing).

GLENN: This is the interviewer.

(Audio playing)

VOICE: by taking their food between sunrise and sunset.

PAT: Now, he's setting up the question he's about to ask to Yusuf Islam who's part of this panel.

(Audio playing).

VOICE: You've completed your fourth prayer of the day. Time for supper? You go to eat at a little hallow restaurant near your Islamic center in Islington. As you're halfway through your meal, you suddenly recognize a man at a nearby table. He is an author. His name is Salman Rushdie. What do you do?

STEVENS: Depends on my mood that evening. I may concentrate more on my meal, I may concentrate on them. I can't answer that very clearly.

VOICE: You don't think that this man deserves to die?

STEVENS: Who? Salman Rushdie? Yes, yes.

PAT: Yes, he does.

VOICE: And do you have a duty to be his executioner?

STEVENS: No, not necessarily, unless we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered, say, by the judge or by the authority to carry out such an act, yes.

GLENN: Fatwa.

VOICE: Yes. Gets on the front page of the Independent. Weeks later nothing has happened. The book is still in stock. Behold, come to you and say we want to hold another demonstration, march to the town hall. This time we're going to burn an effigy. An effigy of the author. Is that all right?

STEVENS: We are going to be questioning the motives because it

PAT: This is a police officer now in England answering this question.

GLENN: But listen to Yusuf's answer about burning an effigy.

VOICE: We're going to peacefully club the effigy to death?

STEVENS: I would be looking at the demonstrations itself. I would be looking what a position has been

GLENN: So now we're going to burn it or club it.

VOICE: Would you go to a demonstration where you knew that an effigy was going to be burned?

VOICE: I would have hoped it would be the real thing but, actually, no, if it's just an effigy, I don't think I would be that moved to go.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: So there's your Peace Train, holy roller.

Last week, Glenn published his updated "Preparedness Quiz" to see how prepared his audience is for a big crisis—and the results are in! Thankfully, not very many of you are "Toast." In fact, most of you could survive a big disaster, and even some of you could survive a nuclear apocalypse—not very many could say that!

If you haven't taken the quiz already, you can take it HERE, and be sure to download Glenn's "Ultimate Preparedness Guide" filled with practical tips on how to keep you and your family safe for a future crisis.


1.7% of Glenn's audience is TOAST! Thankfully, that's very few of you. 

There is little chance you'd survive repairing your kitchen table, not to mention enduring a massive economic crisis or natural disaster. With no money, food, or supplies stocked up, you will have to rely on the altruism of your more-prepared friends and family. But then again, if you can't even navigate to their house without your phone, you may still be TOAST.

13.8% of Glenn's audience could survive a little disaster. 

Congrats on having some of your finances set aside for emergencies... and some useful tools and skills tucked away in case of an emergency. You could potentially endure a "little disaster" of financial hardship. However, if you want to survive a massive financial crisis or natural disaster, you're going to have to start stockpiling some more money and supplies.

68.9% of Glenn's audience could survive a big disaster. 

Congrats on being more prepared than most! You have some investment in precious metals, an emergency fund, some food and supplies stockpiled, and maybe an extra generator. Even though you may not be a "prepper," you have taken steps to prepare for hard times, which will protect you and your loved ones for weeks... even months—which is way better than nothing!

14.7% of Glenn's audience could survive a nuclear apocalypse. 

Congratulations on being one of the few people in this world who could actually survive a nuclear apocalypse! Seriously... there are very few of you. Your bunker is stocked with food, water, and supplies to last you MONTHS. Your silver, gold, and emergency fund will help you cruise in times of financial distress. You can secure more goods because you have learned a bunch of "barter" skills. Congrats on being able to keep yourself and your loved ones safe!

On Monday, Biden exercised his veto powers for the first time to strike down a bill that would ban states from taking ESG into consideration when investing state pension funds. In his veto message, Biden said:

Retirement plan fiduciaries should be able to consider any factor that maximizes financial returns for retirees across the country. That's not controversial — that's common sense.

At the risk of using the loaded word "gaslit," it continues to be the operative word in describing the policies coming out of the Biden White House. It is painfully obvious that ESG itself inhibits investors from "maximizing financial returns." That was never ESG's goal in the first place. Yet Biden said the opposite.

ESG aims to incentivize investors to make "socially conscious" (a.k.a woke) investments, even if they are at odds with the greatest return on investment. It has enabled state governments and investment firms to use their monopoly over the investment space to force companies to choose between adopting their woke ESG standards and losing critical investment. Isn't there a word for that? Extortion? Or modern-day politics?

ESG enables state governments to force companies to choose between adopting their woke ESG standards and losing critical investment.

That is the sole reason why Republicans brought the bill to his desk in the first place: As Glenn said, "ESG poses a clear and present danger to the American way of life, the soul of our nation and every sector of our economy. ESG was never about ROI. It was always about pushing a leftist agenda.

And Biden knows this.

Why would he want to give up something that enables his political party and corporate elites to control and manipulate the political affiliations of their people? Who would want to give up that power? Biden certainly doesn't.

And he didn't.

Instead, he boldly asserts the exact opposite: that ESG itself "maximizes financial returns," relying on the divided American people to debate the policy into oblivion, while he gets exactly what he wants: the retention of power over the American consumer. Dare I say again that "gaslit" is the operative word here?

If one thing is clear, it is that we cannot rely on the federal government to act in the best interests of the American people. However, in this critical moment, the state governments are stepping up to do what the federal government refuses to: protecting the rights of the American consumer.

In a joint resolution led by Florida Governor Ron Desantis, 19 states have pledged “to protect individuals from the ESG movement" at the state level. This is critical.

We cannot rely on the federal government to act in the best interests of the American people.

Florida leads Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming in signing the historic policy agreement among all 19 states, pledging to ban ESG practices within their jurisdictions.

The anti-ESG alliance calls ESG what it is:

A direct threat to the American economy, individual economic freedom, and our way of life, putting investment decisions in the hands of the woke mob to bypass the ballot box and inject political ideology into investment decisions, corporate governance, and the everyday economy.

This alliance takes aim at two specific practices used by left-leaning states to force companies to adopt ESG-approved practices.

First, the alliance promises to protect "taxpayers from ESG influences across state systems."

While other states are using YOUR taxpayer dollars to fund pro-ESG corporations, these states pledge to BAN this practice to ensure "that only financial factors are considered to maximize the return on investment."

The chief factor behind any investment should be determining whether that investment yields the maximum return on their investment. However, many states are using YOUR taxpayer-funded pension and retirement funds to invest in ESG-approved businesses. This not only forces businesses to consider adopting ESG standards in hopes of obtaining investment. Moreover, states are using YOUR taxpayer dollars to fund them! Would you want your government to invest your hard-earned money for partisan purposes?

The anti-ESG alliance is taking the politics out of investment and putting consumer power back in the hands of the American people. These state governments pledged to make investment decisions based solely on maximizing the return on investment, not in using your taxpayer dollars to fund their political agendas.

Second, the alliance promises to protect "citizens from ESG influences in the financial sector."

ESG standards force businesses to consider the political leanings of their customer base. For example, Discover announced they will begin tracking its customers' gun-related purchases. One of the leaders behind this push is Amalgamated Bank, which boasts on their website that their institution "supports sustainable organizations, progressive causes, and social justice." Amalgamated Bank CEO Priscilla Sims Brown said:

We all have to do our part to stop gun violence and it sometimes starts with illegal purchases of guns and ammunition The new code will allow us to fully comply with our duty to report suspicious activity and illegal gun sales to authorities without blocking or impeding legal gun sales.

This virtue signaling at the cost of your privacy is earning both Discover and Amalgamated ESG brownie points.

There are countless stories of Americans, like YOU, getting locked out of their bank accounts, dropped as clients, tracked and targeted, all because their personal political beliefs don't align with big corporations' ESG goals. Their individual privacy and dignity as a consumer aren't worth the risk of lowering the company's ESG score.

That's why the anti-ESG alliance is pledging to protect the residents in their states from this corrupt ESG exploitation. The alliance promised to ban "so-called social Credit Scores' in banking and lending practices aimed to prevent citizens from obtaining financial services like loans, lines of credit, and bank accounts."

They also promised to stop "financial institutions from discriminating against customers for their religious, political, or social beliefs, such as owning a firearm, securing the border, or increasing our energy independence."

In short, they have targeted the political extortion hidden behind the virtuous ESG veil to protect citizens from being discriminated against based on political affiliation.

It's time to step up.

Biden may have struck down the effort to restore the freedom of the American consumer at the federal level. However, these states are taking it upon themselves to do what they ought: to ban practices that threaten the freedoms and privacy of their citizens.

If your state did not joining the anti-ESG alliance, it's time to demand that they step up and do their job to protect you and the rest of your fellow citizens from corrupt ESG practices. As Glenn said, "The conservative movement is best when it moves in unison." We must act and unison and push our states to protect our economic freedom and our way of life.

How prepared are YOU to weather a future crisis? We recently published a brand new quiz so you can find out exactly how prepared you are. Whether you're a "prepper" with a bunker fit for the apocolypse or just want to feel more secure for the future, there is always something more to learn. That's why Glenn wants to give his newsletter subscribers his "Ultimate Preparation Guide," filled with practical tips for building a solid foundation to weather future crises. And let's face it—in our crazy world right now, who couldn't use a bit more peace of mind?

Enter your email below to get "Glenn's Ultimate Preparation Guide" sent straight to your inbox!

Editor's Note: Arizona House Bill HB2770 has since been shut down! AZ Rep. Rachel Jones tweeted that the AZ Freedom Caucus shut down the bill before it could reach the board. It is encouraging to see states stepping to protect the American people from getting one step closer to a Central Bank Digital Currency. Hopefully, Arizona will be a precedent for the other states!

On today's radio broadcast, Glenn warned about dangerous Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) language being smuggled into routine legislation in REPUBLICAN-led states. This is unacceptable, and as Glenn said, we can't let this legislation pass as it now stands.

The legislation being used to smuggle in this CBDC language is the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), a routine piece of legislation passed on the state level that helps standardize commercial and business transactions. However, a new round of UCCs being deliberated RIGHT NOW amongst a swath of Republican-led states anticipate the use of "electronic money." In a public letter sent to the Republican states currently deliberating this legislation, the Pro-Family Legislative Network said this can only refer to the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) under consideration and testing by the Federal Reserve. Biden's Executive Order 14067 issued in March of 2022 started the push for CBDC, and now these states, knowingly or unknowingly, are laying the legislative groundwork for making CBDC a reality.

There is absolutely no reason why Republican-led states should aid in laying the foundation for CBDC, yet 12 of them are deliberating it RIGHT NOW, with one UCC bill already on one GOP governor's desk! We have to act NOW to stop these UCCs in their tracks and demand our lawmakers amend the bills without the "electronic money" language.

If your state is listed below, contact your representative NOW to put an end to CBDC language.

1. North Dakota

North Dakota House Bill HB1082 passed BOTH chambers and is now sitting on Governor Burgum's desk. Burgun has 3 DAYS to veto this bill once it's placed on his desk—if not, it will pass automatically. If you are a North Dakota resident, it is absolutely CRUCIAL that you contact Governor Burgum's office NOW and demand that he veto this bill and re-introduce it without the "electronic money" language.

2. Arizona

Arizona House Bill HB2770 has been SHUT DOWN! See the above editor's note for more details.

Arizona House Bill HB2770 passed the House majority and minority caucuses. Arizona residents, contact your representative's office NOW so that they amend this bill without the "electronic money" language.

3. Arkansas

Arkansas House Bill HB1588 is in committee, and if passed, will head to the House floor. Though the bill is only in its beginning stages, it's important for Arkansas residents to stop this bill in its tracks and amend it without the "electronic money" language.

4. Missouri

Missouri House Bill HB1165 is also in its beginning stages in committee. That means it's important to contact your representative as soon as possible to amend it without the "electronic money" language.

5. Oklahoma

Oklahoma House Bill HB 2776 passed the House Committee and will go to a chamber vote soon. If passed, it will go to the Senate, then the governor's desk. If you are an Indiana resident, contact your representative's office NOW to amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

6. Indiana

Indiana Senate Bill SB0486 passed the Senate and is headed to the House. Republicans control Indiana's executive office and BOTH chambers of the legislature. There is no excuse for this bill to pass. If you are an Indiana resident, it's vital you contact your representative NOW and demand they amend this bill without the "electronic money" language.

7. Kentucky

Kentucky Senate Bill SB64 passed the Senate and is now being deliberated in the House. If you live in Kentucky, contact your representative's office to amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

8. Montana

Montana Senate Bill SB370 passed the Senate and was sent to the House on March 3rd. If you are a Montana resident, contact your representative's office NOW so that the bill doesn't without changing the "electronic money" language.

9. Nebraska

Nebraska's Legislative Bill LB94 passed committee and the first floor vote. As Nebraska only has one legislative chamber, this bill is dangerously close to passing the legislature and being sent to the governor's desk. If you are a Nebraska resident, contact your representative's office NOW and demand they amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

10. New Hampshire

New Hampshire House Bill HB584 is currently in House committee deliberations and has not yet reached the House floor. If you are a New Hampshire resident, contact your representative's office NOW to amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

11. Tennessee

Tennessee House Bill HB0640 didn't successfully pass the House. However, it was deferred to a Senate committee and has now taken the form of Senate Bill SB0479, which is now in committee. This bill is still alive, and it's important for you, Tennessee residents, to stop it before it reaches the floor! Contact your representative to amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

12. Texas

Texas House Bill HB5011 was filed and is ready to be taken up by committee. Fellow Texans, let's not let this bill progress any further! Contact your representative and demand they amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.