RADIOApril 01, 2024

Why Boeing Should NOT Be Blamed for Plane Malfunctions

Is Boeing to blame for all the airplane malfunctions we’ve heard about recently? Or is there another culprit? Glenn recalls a conversation he recently had with a pilot who was tired of the federal government putting all the blame on Boeing. Instead, he argued, it’s the federal inspectors who certify the planes and a lack of pilot training, especially outside of America, that should be called out. But do other pilots agree? Is this yet another example of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s accidental or intentional incompetence? Glenn hears from members of his audience who have experience in the aviation industry and their answer was pretty clear …

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. Yesterday, I had a good friend come up to me. And he said to me, Glenn, I can't take the news on Boeing anymore.

And I said, why is that? And he said, well, you know, I was a pilot. And I said, that's right. For American pilots. For years.

He said, yes. So I kind of know something about the airline industry. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

And he said, aren't all planes that come from Boeing, don't they receive a final check?

Yes. Don't they also receive a final check, from the government, when -- when there is a -- when the plane comes in, and before it flies, do they not certify that, yeah. That plane is -- yeah. Now, whose job would that be.

By the way, when you buy a plane, and the screws are loose, you would think somebody that was signing off, would be held responsible, for I didn't see the screws.

Right? Once a plane comes down, they -- they have to check the plane. And if you saw some loose screws, then that would probably be, you know, the maintenance guy that would be like. Where is the maintenance guy that was supposed to check the screws?

He said, also, we have a minimum requirement sheet.

Like, if the engine falls off, well, we have another one.

So we can still fly it to land it, okay?

He said, it's like a door of a panel falls off, he said, we can still fly the plane.

We can still fly the plane. He said, we have a little checklist. Like if this goes wrong, that's trouble. If a panel falls off, eh, a panel falls off. We just adjust a little bit. We're fine.

STU: I mean, if you're on the ground, you might not be shrugging your shoulders as much. But generally speaking, the plane can keep going.

GLENN: Right. Right. And he said, panels from time to time will fall off. He said, but what I'm thinking is, there's a problem with maintenance, which would be a problem with the unions.

Because nobody has personal pride of ownership anymore.

And he said, so is it maintenance, is it -- is it the -- the press, that is -- is looking at all these things, and don't understand, that there's also an inspector that signs off on the plane.

That's an interesting -- because I believe that brings us back, to Pete Buttigieg.

STU: What a surprise.

GLENN: What a surprise. What a surprise.

STU: So is the theory basically, that Boeing is getting unfair blame on this?

GLENN: Yes. Yes.

It could be -- he's not saying they're innocent.

But he is saying, they're getting way more than their share of blame for this.

STU: Right. It's easy for you to point your fingers at them.

GLENN: Yeah. You got a panel. You have to screw the panel back on. You're inside, and doing something in maintenance with the panel. You've got to screw the panel back on.

STU: Right. They did come with all the descries loose, right? That would be weird.

GLENN: Right. And, you know, you check for screws.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: When you're on the ground, doing maintenance. You kind of give it a once over. And then the inspector looks for those kinds of things.

STU: Right. Now, obviously, part of this is because they had the issues with, you know, the one plane that they brought into -- everyone was using.

Was it -- the Air Max?

Yeah. Yeah. That -- on the -- on the heels of that. Right?

GLENN: But he said. He said, that doesn't make sense to him.

And I didn't -- he started talking, you know, airplane physics. And I don't think there's any physics that actually make a plane fly.

It's too heavy.

STU: Could you even keep your eyes open during this.

GLENN: No. I did.

I just couldn't understand it. He said, Boeing, for more fuel efficiency. He said, they're more powerful engines. And they lifted them. So they didn't suck a bunch of stuff from the ground. Okay?

So they lifted them higher.

He said, and when you go into a steeper incline, he said, that causes -- I don't know what you call it, but a wobble that hits your tail. Okay?

And he said, we've trained for that for 50 years. He said, there's no -- there's no excuse for an American pilot to have any problems with that.

STU: Right. These were foreign incidents.

GLENN: Correct.

STU: Right.

GLENN: Right. So he said, that's not -- that's a training problem. That's not a Boeing problem. That's a training problem.

STU: Hmm.

That's interesting. Well, that's not surprising that an institution would be taken down by the media. You know, maybe with a little bit of undeserved some, at least, undeserved.

GLENN: Maybe. I don't know. I don't know.

I would love to talk -- if you're a pilot. I would love to hear from you.

Does that make sense to you?

GLENN: I want to take some calls from last hour, we were mentioning that had a pilot friend, come into me yesterday. Saying, Glenn, this is not Boeing's fault.

And his name was Ron Boeing. But no, he said, it's not Boeing -- it's not Boeing's fault. He said, I think it's the mechanic's fault. And he explained why.

But I wanted to hear from other airline pilots. This guy was a pilot for I don't even know. Thirty years. Forty years. At American Airlines. And he knew what he was talking about. I couldn't translate what he was talking about. But I wanted to know if there were any pilots that agreed. Whose fault is it?

Is it Boeing?

Is it the FAA.

Pete Buttigieg. Secretary of Transportation. Is it the airline? Is it the mechanics? Michael in Kansas, you're a pilot.

CALLER: That's correct. I am.

GLENN: Okay. Whose fault is it?

CALLER: I'm a retired captain with United.

GLENN: Okay.

CALLER: You know, it's an issue -- I think your American friend was on target. I think it's pretty good too, as far as, I think it's just sloppiness.

I have friends who are retired. Boeing actually.

And they said, you know, sometimes when they would see things wrong, they would raise a flag and say, this or that. And they would kind of ignore it. And they had this whistle-blower a while back, that was found dead in his car.

But there's things -- there's just been some things like that. That -- there's an awful lot about to go. A lot of airplanes out there. There's a lot of, you know, things wearing out. Whether they're newer or not. They're putting a lot of hours on these things. And they do need some good scrutiny. And I think it just falls through the cracks. But I don't think it's Boeing. Whether it's a lack of leadership at the top on the federal end to put the focus in the right place, or exactly what is going on there, but obviously we've got a problem.

GLENN: He was telling me about, what was it? The 777 Max. And he said, hmm, that problem is caused when you are coming up at a sharp angle. He said, it will cause some sort of a wind turbulence on the tail. And he said, in America, we train for that.

CALLER: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And I think, like you said, the accidents that have happened, especially like with the -- the 737 Max, I think that was 100 percent training.

GLENN: How come we haven't heard that?

CALLER: Or lack thereof? I don't know. Third world country, we don't want to make them look bad. I don't know.

GLENN: Wow. Instead, we'll blame everything on Boeing, and make it look like Boeing has gone bad.

I mean, everything I've seen from the news, has made Boeing look bad. And it wasn't is, until I started noticing.

No. It's a lot of united planes, that are having a problem.

That made me think. Well, maybe it's the culture at United, or the mechanics on the ground.

CALLER: Well, you know, whether it's actually -- it probably is somewhat of a culture. Whether it's the DEI-type culture, I couldn't honestly say.

But there is a -- there certainly is a culture, that leads you away from, you know, perfection.

GLENN: Yeah, right. Thank you so much, Michael. I appreciate it. In Florida, we go to Robert. Hi, Robert. You're a former airline captain or pilot.

CALLER: Oh, no, no, no, Glenn. Good morning. And, no, I'm a former mechanic out of the Air Force.

GLENN: Ah. Okay.

CALLER: I know this stuff a little bit, and it's the mechanic's fault. It's also the government, and then the airline if you really think about it. That's where you take it that one step further. The FAA issues a license to the mechanic, that if the mechanic does something wrong, it's supposed to be on him as far as getting that license taken away. And if they're not doing that, they're just letting that slide, that's a problem. Like, I wouldn't get on an airplane right now.

GLENN: Yeah. It's an interesting -- it's an interesting time to fly.

STU: Right.

GLENN: We're pretty sure we'll get you there. Where we were on -- you mean, on time?

CALLER: No, we're just pretty sure we will get you there.

STU: Feel great -- I have several flights scheduled next week, and mechanics are calling me up and saying, hey, don't get on flights. Great.

GLENN: Thanks a lot, Robert. Dawn in Tennessee. Hello, Dawn.

CALLER: Hey, Glenn. Yeah, I agree with your previous caller. I'm a retired Air Force mechanic. And that's -- he's correct.

So these guys get airframe and power plant licenses from the FAA. And through a lot of the experience, you know, to get those tickets. To learn how to work on airplanes.

And I -- I agree with them. I think it's complacency.

And I also think it's the airlines, probably trying to get those airplanes back up in the air, as soon as possible.

You know, because they got, you know, routes that they have to fly.

And these guys are probably under pressure to fix those airplanes, as fast as possible.

And quality is slipping through the cracks.

GLENN: So, Don, why is Boeing getting the blame?

CALLER: Well, Boeing, because they're the manufacturer. They're the ones who actually create the airplane.

But as your previous caller said. Once -- once Boeing delivers the airplane to you to United Delta, American, whoever. It's on the airline at this point. I don't know why Boeing is -- I mean, they're the one that's easy to pick on. They're the person that built the airplane. But all those big maintenance hangars at Dallas/Fort Worth for American and Delta and Atlanta. Those are all -- those are all Delta employees.

And they are the ones who are fixing those airplanes. I think when it goes back to the manufacturers. When you have -- is when you have problems that recur. You know, you have trims. If you see the same thing happening over and over and over again. Then you go back and say, okay. We need to do a trend analysis. But these are isolated stuff. The wheels falling off. A door coming loose. Stupid things like that, that's sloppy maintenance, I think, on the mechanic's side. And that's an airline issue, which is what your friend told you.

GLENN: Hmm. Thank you so much, Don. John in Pennsylvania.

Hello, John.

CALLER: Hi, Glenn.

GLENN: Hi. Are you a pilot, a mechanic, what are you?

CALLER: I'm a retired pilot. Retired pilot. Regional airline level, and then I spent my last three and a half years at American Airlines. I'm agreeing with all the other pilots that have spoken. And it basically gets down to the floor of the maintenance hangar, as to the workers that are doing the work.

And these guys are certified. The mechanics are certified. And they go through a certification process, once the work is done. Sign off on the maintenance issues and everything else.

To say it's an airline fault, is true about trying to get the airplanes back and be rushed on that.

GLENN: Right. To blame Boeing, or to blame Boeing. I can't blame Boeing. And the MCAS system, which is what people are talking about.
737 Max.

You know, that's -- that was a system, that the domestic airlines, not just -- none of my airlines ever had any issues with that system. And/or fatalities, associated with it.

GLENN: John, thank you so much.

And it's crazy. That's exactly what my friend said. You know, you thought, how could Boeing design an airline -- an airplane, and have it that far out of whack.

That when you started to lift, it would fail on you.

And my friend said yesterday, that -- that -- that's because they're not trained.

He said, in America, we train.

That is something, he said -- we've been training for 50 years, on that.

And he said, it's not hard to correct. You just have to know. So why is Boeing getting that rap? Remember, they went through the software and everything else. No! It was the pilots weren't trained.

That's nuts. That's nuts. I mean, is somebody trying to kill Boeing?

STU: I mean, and every piece of the administration is echoing this.

We played the Buttigieg clip earlier.

But like, it's all focused on Boeing, and how bad Boeing is.

GLENN: Right, I haven't heard anything about the mechanics. I've heard people bring up United. And I think United is responsible for the mechanics, but you don't hear any of that.

STU: Sure. It's weird, especially because of how vitally important Boeing is to our economy. Like this is not just some little fly-by-night operation. They get taken down, and they are losing ground against their competitors, which there are only a couple.

GLENN: Yes. Let's go to line 11. And Jeff in Michigan. Hello, Jeff.

CALLER: Hello, how are you doing?

GLENN: Very good. How are you?

CALLER: All right. I think it's a multi-blame. Boeing on the design. MCAS is that with the Boeing design. They have an aerospace engineer, in addition to being retired airline pilot.

You go and look at that. The way they designed it. They shortcut stuff to save money.

But once it gets to the airline, and you have things falling off airplanes. Then it becomes a -- a maintenance issue. And that's where the -- you know, the blame lies. But the bottom line is, it's all about money.

MCAS was designed so that they could save money in getting away with introducing a new airplane, as a derivative. Where they didn't get it completely certificated with the new engine. That they would have to raise the airplane up. So they had to put on new gear, maybe a new wing. So they shortcut that. And then in production, you know, with the holes and that they filled up.

With the door plus. That sort of thing.
That's a production issue. Again, saving money. They outsource it.

And so it's not done as well as well as it should be. Once you get to the airlines. There's a very thin line between profit and loss with that.

GLENN: Sure.

CALLER: So they shortcut things to try and get stuff done as well.

GLENN: Is the FAA or -- I don't know.

Is the FAA under secretary of transportation?

I would assume it is.

Is the FAA responsible for certifying any of this stuff?

CALLER: Oh, yeah. The FAA is -- I've worked for -- alpha safety for a long time.

What I call the airline pirates association now for another reason.

They have a schizophrenic mission. They have to promote flying, at the same time they're enforcing rules. So they're kind of getting pulled in two different directions when they're doing this, and if you don't have the proper administrator over it, making sure that they're doing both jobs, then you're under a problem.

GLENN: All right. Jeff, thank you so much.

Doesn't that sound like maybe we wouldn't have the right person, in the federal position of like, hey, got to get the planes up.

But you also have to make sure that they're safe. You know. For some reason, I don't have a lot of confidence in the leadership of this administration.

No.

STU: No?

GLENN: No. I know. This is probably me.

STU: It's fascinating.

This is -- I've been thinking a lot about this. Because I'm mentioning. I'm going on flights next week. I'm working on a documentary for Blaze originals about air traffic control and the changes that have been going on within it.

And they're not comforting. It doesn't -- they're like, hey, can you take a flight, to do this interview? No! I'll drive!

GLENN: Wait. I've done all this research, and it shows that this is really not a good plan. And now you want me to fly there?

STU: Right. No!

We asked “60 Minutes” why they CHANGED Kamala’s answer on Israel

CBS News’ “60 Minutes” recently aired an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris about her 2024 presidential run. But keen-eyed social media users noticed that “60 Minutes” edited down her answer about Israel to cut out all the rambling and make her sound more coherent. However, it wasn’t just a simple edit. They appear to have copy-pasted an answer from another question! Glenn’s team reached out to CBS News for clarification, but has yet to receive a response. So, Glenn reviews what happened and how it appears to fit a growing trend: Kamala Harris is suddenly doing more interviews, but they’re more like propaganda pieces! Just this week, she had a beer with Stephen Colbert and was introduced as “the next president” by The View. But at least she answered one question honestly during that interview …

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. So yesterday, president Trump's campaign insisted that 60 Minutes. CBS News released an unedited transcript. They must release an unedited transcript, of vice president Kamala Harris' entire 60 Minutes interview.

Now, this came after her word salad about Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was cut from Monday's broadcast.

And it looks as though, it was a cut and paste job.

The dramatic edit was made after 60 Minutes correspondent, Bill Whitaker noted that it seems like Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.

So her response to Monday night's show, was completely different. And far more coherent, than her rambling answer showcased in the preview clip that was released on Saturday.

So we wrote to 60 Minutes. We gave them until 9 o'clock Eastern to respond. We said, we want to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you edited the clip down for time.

As often happens, in these pretaped interviews, but we looked into it for ourselves.

And sure enough, the answer she originally gave, and then CBS aired on Face the Nation, doesn't match what made it into their final edit of 60 Minutes, and it wasn't due to time.

Listen, here's her original answer.

VOICE: Does the US have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?

VOICE: The aid that we have given Israel, allowed Israel to defend itself, against 200 ballistic missiles, that were just meant to attack the Israelis and the people of Israel.

And when we think about the threat that Hamas, Hezbollah presents, Iran.

I think that it is without any question, our imperative to do what we can, to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks.

Now, the work that we do diplomatically. With the leadership of Israel. Is an ongoing pursuit, around making clear, our principles. Which include the need for humanitarian aid. The need for this war to end.

The need for a deal to be done, which would release the hostages. And -- and create a cease-fire.

And we're not going to stop, in terms of putting that pressure on Israel, and in the region.

Including Arab leaders.

VOICE: But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.

KAMALA: Well, Bill, the work that we have done, has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel, that were very much prompted by -- or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.

GLENN: What? What does that -- okay.

STU: Huh.

GLENN: Now, here's what it sounds like, on air.

With their totally unbiased editing magic marker, a day later.

VOICE: Does the US have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?

KAMALA: The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel, is an ongoing pursuit.

Around making clear our principles.

VOICE: But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.

KAMALA: We're not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.

GLENN: Wow!

STU: That's from a different part of the interview.

VOICE: -- ally in Prime Minister Netanyahu?

KAMALA: I think with all due respect, the better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people?

And the answer to that is yes.

GLENN: Sound more coherent? Sound more certain. Sound more presidential.

Yes! That answer, by the way, Stu was right. Is from a different part of the interview.

What we ask 60 Minutes to explain, their apparent in kind contribution to the Harris campaign. We said, greetings. An X user noticed severe edits to VP Harris' answer to the 60 Minutes interview regarding Netanyahu from the time the clip aired on Face the Nation to the final export yesterday.

That we attached both the edited and unedited.

It doesn't appear to be edited for time. Rather, a cut and paste answer from a different question.

Can you provide an explanation to the Glenn Beck Program and Blaze news, as to why this edit was made?

There are claims of bias and selective edits to makes Vice President Harris' answer appear more coherent. Our deadline is 9:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. We have not received, surprise, surprise, a response, from CBS News.

So are you getting anything, that is real?

Well, JD Harris pointed out. Or J.D. Vance pointed out yesterday, that, yeah. You -- you did get an honest answer from The View. Listen to what he said.

VOICE: But she walks into The View, and you would think that would be an interview. And you think that would be an easy question.

Really, propaganda. They said, can you name a single thing, where you disagree with Joe Biden?

Now, let's back up for a second. Because remember, Kamala Harris' entire campaign is to pretend that she hasn't been the vice president for the past three and a half years. You know, she stands up before crowds. And she will say on day one.

We will tackle the affordability crisis. On take one, we will secure the border. And you listen to her for five minutes. And you think, Kamala, are you going to vote for Donald Trump? Because you've been president for 1400 days. You haven't done anything.

(applauding)
So you think, after all this time, all this time, of thinking about how she would do things differently from Joe Biden.

She would have a well-prepared answer, for the interviewers on The View.

Well, they ask her one thing you would do differently from Joe Biden. You know what she says? I can't really think of anything off the top of my head.

GLENN: Wow.

VOICE: Now, in her defense, I'm not sure she could think of anything off the top of her head, whether about Joe Biden's policies or anything else.

GLENN: That is an incredible statement, that she made.

Now, Brian Stelter, who strangely is back on CNN.

STU: Yeah. Yeah.

GLENN: Said that he called The View, before she went on. Here's what he said. Cut two.

VOICE: She's also on The View tomorrow, talking to producers of The View last night.

They have some sharp questions for her as well. And let's remember, sometimes it's these non-traditional formats, that actually reveal a lot about a candidate.

GLENN: Uh-huh. So here is the View introducing Kamala.

VOICE: Please, welcome back the next president of the United States.
(applauding)

GLENN: Very sharp.

STU: Oh, yeah. Very sharp question.

GLENN: Very, very sharp.

STU: I will say, I agree with Stelter on that point though.

Oftentimes, it's not some big adversarial interview, where you get these good moments. I mean, this is the best moment of any of the things she's done so far. The thing that J.D. Vance was just highlighting.

Her admitting that, which is a massive strength for her campaign.

So far, she's been able to avoid responsibility, for Joe Biden.

And the fact that she just threw that out there, with no exceptions.

I mean, I don't know.

I think partially because she feels like she's in a safe zone.

She's able to kind of just let down her hair a little bit.

And blurt out things that are really helpful to her opponent.

GLENN: But can I ask. She's. Most of America is not in a safe zone right now.

I mean, you have the results of one hurricane. And another one, coming tonight.

Massive. Could be one of the biggest ones that has hit Tampa, in Florida. Of all time!

And she's last night, on Steven Colbert.

STU: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: Drinking a beer with him. Listen to this.

GLENN: But elections are won on vibes.

They just want someone they can have a beer with.

GLENN: Would you like to have a beer with me, so I can tell people what that's like?

This was. Now, we asked ahead of time. I can't just be able to drink to the vice president of the United States. You asked for Miller High Life.

I'm just curious.

KAMALA: Okay. The last time I had beer was at a baseball game with Doug. Okay. Cheers.

VOICE: There you go.

There she is. Cheers for drinking a beer.

VOICE: It tastes like the city of Milwaukee.

KAMALA: The champagne of beers.
VOICE: There you go.

STU: How pathetic. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Like she's picking her beers based on swing states?

GLENN: Right. Right. Right.

STU: It's like, give me a break.

GLENN: But I really like that small brewery, right there in Nevada, and another one really in Arizona is very, very good.

STU: Don't sleep on Georgia and North Carolina.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Yeah. No. It's pretty pathetic.

GLENN: So what is -- you said this earlier.

What is the strategy change?

Why is it that she's suddenly doing all these interviews?

I think it is because they know they're in trouble.

I think there's been a shift in the polls.

And so she is doing all of these television shows, all friendly.

STU: Uh-huh. Not all -- well, yeah.

Look, there are -- nothing adversarial. You could argue 60 Minutes should be at least is a mainstream normal candidate type environment.

GLENN: Until they edit it.

STU: Until they edit it.

She did face the nation, I think too. Over the weekend. And then she did, of course, the podcast. She's done now the late night shows.

She did The View. She's going everywhere.

This is a massive change in strategy. They have been running this campaign for two or three months. The exact same way.

Keep her out of -- off TV. Just keep her on script, in front of an audience.

Get her in and out. Never have her face a question. The strategy was clear, for multiple months.

Now, all of a sudden, she's everywhere?

That is a massive change. This is a huge development in the campaign.

GLENN: So my gut would say, that the hurricane has changed an awful lot.

STU: Okay.

GLENN: But I'm not sure.

I haven't watched. I have been so busy, all over, everywhere.

I haven't watched mainstream media.

Are they even covering?

Or are they just debunking. Saying. No. FEMA is everywhere.

These are crazy Trump supporters that are saying that. Is there any -- is there any peek behind the curtain, from the mainstream media?

STU: My impression is that they are covering the hurricane. And what's happening to people.

But they are not associating it with a bad response for Kamala Harris.

Or Joe Biden, or anybody else.

I haven't seen that type of coverage. Outside of conservative media.

But they are covering it.

I don't think they're hiding.

I have seen a lot of coverage about it. I had some theories about it. Run them by you.

You pick one. You kind of already selected one. Let me give it to you already. Why has Kamala Harris, all of a sudden, on TV, all the time, doing interviews everywhere?

One, could be public pressure finally getting to the campaign. We've been talking about it for months. Why isn't she doing interviews?

Why isn't she doing interviews? She's even being asked in the occasional interviews that she does, why aren't you out there anymore?

Maybe that finally got to her campaign. Possibility one.

Possibility two. Could be a planned shift in strategy.

Could be that she said, at the outset of this campaign. Let's wait. Let me get up to speed. On all these things.

She wasn't planning on doing a million interviews.

Maybe she's slow walking it.

And doing a blitz in the last month.

It was a planned change in -- change in strategy from the beginning of the campaign.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Possibility number three.

Could be Kamala Harris.

Frustration behind the scenes. Now pushing back against her handlers.

We have seen this. We saw it with Joe Biden. Of course, it was the same strategy with Joe Biden, no. Don't go out there. Don't do anything. He was behind the scenes saying, I can do it. You're not letting me go out there. You're not letting Joe be Joe. And he pushed himself out there.

And, of course, wound up blowing up his campaign.

Could be the same type of thing from Kamala. She may be thinking, you're restraining me.

That's why I'm not winning by more.

Number four, could be that they're looking at internal polls and indicators. And thinking to themselves.

We're in real trouble here.

Something has changed in the past couple of weeks.

Maybe it's the hurricane. Maybe it's something else. We're in real trouble.

Another possibility.

I mean, I'm just kind of throwing these things out there.

GLENN: I've got one for you.

STU: Okay. You've got another one?

GLENN: Maybe the polls are so good. They don't care. They're internal polling.

Now, I don't believe that.

STU: You think it's so -- why would you change strategies, if things were so good?

GLENN: Because I agree with the one, you know, she's like, look, I could be winning by a large margin. You're restraining me.

STU: So kind of the sister of that one. Yeah.

GLENN: And they think they're safe. So why not?

I don't believe that. But that is another possibility.

STU: Another possibility for you, pressure from donors.

You know, maybe donors are like, look, we're not giving you more money, until you actually go out there and get your message out there. We think it's important. That does happen with donors sometimes. It's kind of like, you see this in foreign countries, when there's a war going on.

There's a bunch of people who are kind of pressuring the administration to do X, Y, and Z. Could be the donors are coming to the table. Hey, you're not blowing them out. Because you're sitting back there. And everyone knows you're hiding.

GLENN: Could be. Let me get your answer on this, here in just a second.

First, let me tell you about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

It has been a year since the October 7th mask in Israel. By Hamas. One year since 1200 Israelis were murdered.

And more than 250 were taken hostage.

Did you see that Hezbollah is now saying, okay. Okay. Okay.

We give. Uncle. Uncle. Uncle. And Israel is saying to Lebanon. Until you completely renounce Hezbollah. We're not stopping.

I mean, they are fighting to win. Unlike we have seen anyone do, maybe since World War II.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, is there, just purely as humanitarian. And letting the Israeli people know, that we are there.

And we are serving you. They have -- they have built bomb shelters.

They're providing flak jackets for people that are on neighborhood watch.

They're doing everything that they can, to support. Ambulances that are -- are bomb proof.

And bulletproof.

I can't believe you need those. But you do there. Let them know, you stand with them.

That we're not the same people, that, you know, we're around in the 1930s and '40s. Call to make your 100-dollar -- 150-dollar gift right now.

All of this will go right directly to help provide food and other necessities, to help these families survive.

Go online. SupportIFCJ.org. That's one word.

SupportIFCJ.org. Or call 888-488-4325.

Or call (888)488-4325. Ten-second station ID.
(music)

STU: So...

GLENN: Which one do you buy?

STU: The other one I put, the belief is maybe this campaign is actually hurting her.

And I certainly wouldn't select that one.

I think it's probably a combination.

But I do think that, they probably are seeing this, and seeing some internal indicators, thinking that they're seeing the beginning signs of trouble.

They probably are polling on the issue, and saying, and asking the question.

Internally.

Do -- is Kamala. You know, a version of essentially. Is Kamala Harris hiding?

Do you think Kamala Harris is not putting her positions out there?

Is she not speaking enough?

That stuff you can kind of test. And they might see negative reactions on this.

You look at this. You could say, it might be a tick ahead. You could say it's tied.

But they certainly don't believe that it should be tied.

They think Donald Trump is the worst person of all time.

GLENN: Right.

Well, here's another reason.

Here's Kamala Harris on Howard Stern. Listen to this. Cut 22, please.

KAMALA: To your point, I literally lose sleep. And have been over what is at stake in this election. I mean, honestly, I -- I end the day, pretty much every day, these days, asking myself, what can I do more?

STU: You know, there's a lot of reporting from inside the Kamala Harris campaign, about disappointment, that she is not doing more.

That she is not doing a lot of public events. That she is taking days off, all over the place.

Leading up to this campaign. And that also could be fueling this media blitz.

GLENN: Donald Trump is a machine, man.

STU: He's all over the place. And J.D. Vance is all over the place.

GLENN: Everywhere. Everywhere.

I mean, I went to North Carolina, then I went to Kansas City.

And I had to do the show in between all of those.

So I was just not getting much sleep. I was exhausted yesterday.

And I thought, how is Donald Trump holding this schedule for this long? And he's bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The guy has not slowed down. It's amazing.

STU: It's hard to argue that about Trump.

GLENN: He is a machine. He is a machine.

Sticker Mule CEO explains his GIANT “Vote for Trump” sign in New York

A judge has ruled that the company Sticker Mule can keep its giant “Vote for Trump” sign, which it recently unveiled in Amsterdam, New York. But why did it put the sign up in the first place? Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino joins Glenn to explain the decision, and much of it revolves around free speech. Constantino, who’s still technically a registered Democrat, argues that the modern Democratic Party’s attacks on free speech have gone far enough and Americans are waking up. “Really the best thing for the Democratic party is a massive loss,” he argues. Plus, he reveals who he believes the “biggest villain” in the tech world is, and it’s probably not who you think …

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I want to tell you a story about a guy up in New York.

He runs a company, called sticker mule.

He's the CEO.

And after a sniper almost took out Donald Trump, he wrote a message to say, I support Donald Trump.

And he called for an end to political hate.

He said, a lot of people support Trump, that I work with. Many support Biden.

And that's -- that's normal.

But we have to stop this hatred.

Well, he started getting death threats, people telling him to kill himself.

Or threatening to kill him. And it got ugly.

It got ugly. He decided to put a sign up. Vote for Trump, on the top of his building.

Now, the city said, it was going to cause problems with people. You know, on the how, because they were going to look. And I guess freak out.

I don't know what the problem was. But he built this sign.

But then kept it covered. Because the city said, he can't have a sign there.

Well, a judge yesterday, said no. He can have a sign there.

He unveiled it last night. In front of a big rally. Just took him a couple of hours, to gather a bunch of people. He turned the sign on. And he have been is upset about it, apparently.

He is with us, now.

Anthony Constantino. Anthony. How are you?

ANTHONY: Hey, wonderful to be here.

GLENN: Yeah. Thank you.

ANTHONY: Actually, I want to say to be honest, I think everyone in love with Biden, two or three people that are upset about it in my hometown. Someone told me the other day, I was talking to a local journalist, and he said, I got to be honest with you. I never saw you unite people, like this. I never seen anyone unite everyone like you did. He said, everybody is on your side. Democrat, Republican.

GLENN: Because.

ANTHONY: The local committee, they all want the sign, because they all know, look, I'm sticking up for free speech and free expression. And I'm trying to end this epidemic that's been bad, really, for both sides.

People have to be comfortable, to say they like President Trump, who did tremendous things for the country. Tremendous things really, for the world.

In his first term. And that's all I'm doing with this sign. People in the local community get it.

Except for two or three people. Mainly. Unfortunately, mainly Democrats who are sadly, you know -- I actually -- I guess -- somebody told me today.

I'm still a registered Democrat. So --

GLENN: Wow.

ANTHONY: Look badly to Democrats. In the direction of being very opposed to free speech.

And I don't follow this closely.

But I'm seeing very horrible things, lately about free speech. Hillary Clinton saying horrible things about not wanting free speech anymore.

Tim Walz saying horrible things about it, as well.

And we all saw what Jack Dorsey did with Twitter. What Mark Zuckerburg did with Facebook during the pandemic. You know, this, I think people don't like this.

And so people in the local community. You know, I haven't seen -- people in the local community are -- I think 99.9 percent of people like it. And, you know, maybe three people, three people --

GLENN: Right. So wait. You were a Democrat.

Have you ever voted for Trump?

ANTHONY: You know, yeah, Trump. I believe was the first Republican I voted for.

GLENN: Really?

And why -- why did you switch? I mean, you still call yourself a Democrat, right?

LARA: Yeah. I'm registered that way. I don't really affiliate. You know, I don't really affiliate with anything, in particular.

You know, I don't like dishonest people. And a friend of mine said, he's not a April had person either.

Really, a very big, strong guys. And this is a battle. Real versus fake.

And he said, Donald Trump is a real authentic person. And these other people are fake.

And, you know, from what I see, there's a lot of dishonesty in politics. I'm not too involved in it.

I'm involved a little bit recently. There's a lot of dishonesty. But Donald Trump is a real, authentic person. He sacrificed. He can do what's right for the country. And, you know, right now, I can see what it's like, myself.

Because the upside down for me, in this whole thing, has been -- very little, other than I made myself very interesting, I guess.

But I've had to deal with a lot. In the situation.

And Donald Trump is doing a lot more than me. Well, I like people that try to make the world a better place. I like people who are honest and authentic.

And I think people don't understand. You have an existing organization, called the US government, and no organization likes when somebody new enters the organization.

GLENN: I know.

ANTHONY: So there was a rebellion.

Your listeners probably understand it. Unfortunately, a lot of people who hate Trump.

Don't understand what was happening. And it was really a rebellion from the people inside the existing organization. Which is called the US government.

Nobody likes that.

You see it every time there's a turnaround situation in business.

You see the same thing. You see the rebellion against Elon Musk, when he bought Twitter was insane.

GLENN: Right.

ANTHONY: Because people don't want new leaders coming in and fixing corrupt systems.

But similar to the US government. Twitter was very corrupt.

They were doing horrible things, for the world.

And they were behaving in a very unethical manner. And Elon came in, and he had 80 or 90 percent of the people, and they were all members.

I remember listening -- there's a news article about Elon Musk is going to destroy it.

And all of his -- that Joel, whatever his name was, there are all these guys, ranting and raving to their buddies in the news medias. Saying all these horrible things about Elon Musk.

And now, some months later, X has only become better and stronger. And really, less permissive because it's a much more friendly -- bringing back free speech. Roger Stone is back on the platform.

That was tragic. I said, one of the first things that really turned me against Twitter and the Democrats in the poll. Anti-free speech movement. Was when they banned Roger Stone from Twitter.

And I said, whether you like Roger Stone or not, he's a personal adviser to Trump. A friend to Trump as far as I can understand. In my opinion, a historically relevant person.

And why would we want to ban historically important individuals, from doing -- an opportunity to speak?

GLENN: Quite honestly.

Anyone. People say, well, it's gotten worse on Twitter.

And I've seen stuff on Twitter.

But I dismiss it, when I see, you know, see people saying crazy things.

I just block them, or just say, all right. Dismiss that.

Move on with your life. When no one is filtering, you have to expect, the crazy people will say things too.

We've all lived in neighborhoods, where there's a crazy guy that lives somewhere on the street.

You know who he is. You avoid him. This is just the cyber neighborhood now. And we've got crazy people living on our street. That's okay.

Ignore them.

ANTHONY: I've been involved for 14 years now. I've been involved in Twitter and all these things.

You know, anecdotally, I can tell you, to me, it feels like it's gotten tremendously better. The algorithm has changed.

And it's favoring intellectual conversation. If you go on there. You look at textbooks. Articles that trend now. Or posts that trend.

They're more interesting. Intellectual and informative in nature.

There are posters. There are people that post interesting stuff, before it was structured.

So if you said horrible things, you know, that was what was favored. And so Twitter was making people become nasty little by little, by saying, look, if you write something really mean, we're going to make you popular. That was the way Jack Dorsey had his structure.

And I think he was a disgusting human to the world, and owed an even bigger apology than Mark Zuckerburg. Because I took major issue -- he had misinformation.

When he had -- he was blocking people left and right for -- for saying things that he didn't like them saying.

GLENN: Right.

ANTHONY: But then I went on there, one day. And then there were things trending, and he can control a trending topic. And it says, I like to punch Nazis. And he had the whole universe of Twitter, saying, I like punching Nazis. I like punching Nazis.

And, of course, Nazi meant Trump supporters.

So Jack Dorsey was inciting violence against all Trump supporters.

I felt that was disgusting. I think it was disgusting. He owes the world a big apology. Mark apologized in a small way. Mark started to say nice things about Trump now.

But Jack really is the biggest villain in the whole tech world.

And now he's hiding. He doesn't even use Twitter anymore.

He's hiding on the Internet. Strange beard. Hiding on an island.

Similar to other people going on, to islands.

GLENN: The -- the idea that they will ban speech, this administration. I don't think they could be more clear, about that.

Especially, their actions show, I mean, our government was helping Brazil, try to get rid of X. And Elon Musk.

When he said, the other day, they won't stop, with me.

And they're not going to stop until they get me.

I believe that. 100 percent. You think more people are waking up to this?

ANTHONY: Everybody here is manning up in support for Trump. People are telling me, we're in New York. It's supposed to be guaranteed blue state. And people told me, because I said to them, I think everyone that is listening and hearing this, you have to get everyone to vote for Trump. It doesn't matter what state you are in. We need a show of strength for Trump. Because really, the best thing for the Democrat Party is a massive loss. Because if they lose by a hair, they are going to keep playing to these crazy ideas. They censor people. That's the path to victory.

They need massive laws. So they look inwards. And remember what it means, remember what it means, to really, at this point, a decent human.

I built my company on the basis of the golden rule. And treating people, in the way, I want to be treated.

Nobody wants duct tape being put on their mouth. Nobody wants their right to speech, taken away. Nobody wants that. And for one side of the country to want to do that to the other side is really wrong.

But the only way they will win is if there's a massive loss. And it doesn't matter if it's a red state or a blue state, you have to go vote Trump. People tell me, they will vote Trump.

They have been planning on doing that. Because they thought all is lost here. But who knows. Maybe New York votes for Trump this year.

GLENN: That would be crazy. Anthony, thank you so much.

Really appreciate it.

And good for you, for taking a stand, and not having fear.

Thank you so much.

ANTHONY: Can I say one last thing really quick? I'm doing everything I can, to try to fix this issue.

And one of the things I'm doing is called stickerP-A-C.com. It's a political action committee. We're giving away free uplifting Trump stickers.

So everybody go, right now, stickerP-A-C.com. And get your free Trump stickers. And give them out to friends, and tell people you like Trump in a nice, happy, fun way.

And let's fix the situation.

GLENN: I love that.

Stickers. Pac. P-A-C.

ANTHONY: Sticker. Sticker. PAC.

GLENN: Sticker Pac. Okay. I love it. (thank you so much.

Appreciate it. Anthony Constantino, from New York.

STU: StickerPAC.com.

And I will say, if I'm getting some stickers, you're doing some custom printing today, I think I will get a sticker mule. That's where I'm going.

PROOF: You WOULD be CENSORED under a Kamala Harris regime

Elon Musk recently warned that if Donald Trump doesn’t win the 2024 election, it will be the end of free speech as we know it. Is there any evidence of this? YES. Yes there is, Glenn says, and he has the receipts. Glenn rolls the tapes to prove that leftist elites in Kamala Harris’ elitist circle want to crack down on free speech: Hillary Clinton said social media could cost them “total control”; In 2022, Tim Walz said “misinformation” and “hate speech” are not protected under the First Amendment (they are); and John Kerry called the First Amendment “a major block” to combatting “misinformation.” Yet real misinformation, like Kamala’s praise of President Biden’s mental acuity even AFTER his disastrous debate, is SPREAD by the media?!

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So, Stu, last night, you were watching the 60 Minutes interview. How was it?

STU: I did watch that. It was not good. There were a lot of different things, I much rather be watching football.

So the couple things about it. Number one was pitched as a Kamala Harris interview. And it wasn't really that. You got some Kamala Harris. A bunch of Tim Walz. And then an excruciating long piece about whether the election in Arizona was stolen in 2020.

Which I -- we've got four weeks until the election. Why?

Again, like, you could absolutely make a case, that would happen in 2020 in Arizona is important.

Nothing can be done about it, from now until the election. What's important now is 2024 election. You can get past 2024. You can start fixing problems you think exist in all these states. Once again, should have been done between 2020 and 2024.

But there's just no relevance to this whatsoever, at this point.

Whatever, they're trying to make Donald Trump look bad. A lot of it is tilted that way, including puff questions to Kamala Harris.

About, so why didn't you think Donald Trump didn't want to do this interview? Good, tough questions in 60 Minutes. Really tough question there.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. Oh.

STU: There were a couple of questions that were adversarial, I guess you could say.

There was the typical, hey. You flip-flopped on 943 issues.

Let me list three of them. And let me give you a generic answer about your principles. That hasn't changed.

GLENN: So let me play one. This is cut three. This is her being pressed on her nomination. Listen to this.

VOICE: Was democracy best served by President Biden stepping down.

And basically handing you a nomination. He must have to go through a primary process. He didn't have to fight off other contenders.

That's not really the way our system was intended to work.

KAMALA: President Biden made a instigation, that I think history is going to show is rare among leaders, which was to put country before self.

STU: Stop it. He didn't want to do it.

KAMALA: And I am proud to have earned the support of the vast majority of delegates. And to have been elected the democratic nominee.

I am proud to have received the endorsement, of leaders around this country, from every background and walk of life.

STU: Nobody voted for you.

KAMALA: To fight in this election, over the next month.

GLENN: Please say there's a follow-up --

KAMALA: For our democracy.

VOICE: But I think this truncated process is why people think or say, they don't really know who you are.

KAMALA: Look, I've been in this race for 70 days.

GLENN: Right. Right. Yes. And nobody voted for you.

STU: I mean, that's a -- a fair question, that you're right. Though, the lack of follow-up is difficult.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: Right. It's tough to take. Because you know they would sit on this and press on it.

And say, wait a minute.

You're saying you won the votes.

You won the votes of the delegates. After the sitting president endorsed you and you pushed everybody else out of the race.

GLENN: And after you sat on the information, that he was almost a vegetable table.

For four years. Three and a half years.

You said, trust me. I am there with him.

He is fine.

And then, we find out, he's not. The night we find that out. You say, it was just a bad night.

He's fine.

STU: Yeah. You went on Anderson Cooper.

And said everything was fine.

You see him behind closed doors.

He's incredible. He's getting all these things done.

He's dealing with these leaders in these amazing ways.

She was lying after the debate about this.

And still, we really haven't had her pressed on what the hell happened there.

How did you -- why did you not tell people about this in advance?

Why did you continue to lie after everyone else already knew?

GLENN: So why didn't he ask that question? Cut eight, please. Here's Hillary Clinton.

HILLARY: If the platforms, whether it's Facebook or Twitter, X, or Instagram, or TikTok, whatever they are. If they don't moderate and monitor the congratulations, we lose total control.

STU: Uh-oh.

GLENN: We lose total control.

HILLARY: And it's not just the social and psychological effects. It's real harm.

GLENN: Uh-huh. It's real harm. So why wasn't the question pressed over and over again, the way it would be done for anybody else?

Cut nine. Here's Tim Walz.

VOICE: I think we need to push back on this. There's no guarantee on free speech on misinformation. On hate speech. And especially around our democracy.

STU: That's an incredible clip, largely because he then repeated it during the actual debate.

He -- that was in 2020, that clip. He had multiple years. That clip went viral in between.

And he still thought, that -- that there's -- that the hate speech is banned by the First Amendment.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: And that you can't say fire in a crowded theater.

Things that anybody who studied this issue, know immediately are wrong.

And he knows nothing about them.

GLENN: Why didn't CBS ask the tough question? Why is no one really pushing Kamala on FEMA and the response to this hurricane, which is devastating?

I don't know.

Cut ten.

VOICE: And I think the dislike of, and anguish over social media is just growing and growing and growing.

And it's part of our problem, particularly in democracies.

In terms of building consensus around any issue.

It's really hard to govern today.

You can't -- you know, there's no -- the referees we used to have to determine what's a fact and what isn't a fact.

Kind of -- you know, have been eviscerated to a certain degree.

And people go -- and people self-select. Where they go for their news or for their information.

And then you just get into a vicious cycle. So it's really, really hard. Much harder to build consensus today, than at any time, of the 50 years I've been involved in this.

And, you know, there's a lot of discussion now, about how you curbed those entities.

In order to guarantee that you're going to have, you know, some accountability, on the facts, et cetera.

But look, if people go to only one source. And the source they go to is sick.

And, you know, has an agenda. And they're putting out disinformation.

Our First Amendment stands as a danger block to the ability to be able to just, you know --

GLENN: Notice. Notice, they are not talking about who the final arbiter is.

On mis and disinformation.

The arbiter, that they are asking for, is them!

That they will alert social media and everybody else. This is not true. This is true. Just like they did with the Hunter Biden laptop.

This is not true.

This is Russian disinformation.

When they knew the truth.

You're seeing what they want to do.

They are telling you, what they will do.

Now, we have to choose.

Did a Black Hawk helicopter TARGET a hurricane aid depot?

Footage has gone viral of an unmarked Black Hawk helicopter blowing over tents and supplies at a Hurricane Helene aid depot in Burnsville, North Carolina. So, are the rumors true? Who piloted the helicopter? Was it just an accident? Was it meant to send a message? Is FEMA or another federal agency involved? Glenn speaks with United Cajun Navy Vice President Brian Trascher, who tells Glenn that this looks more like a “hotshot” who accidentally came in too close than governmental revenge. However, he also spoke to people who claim they saw the pilots wearing standard Department of Defense gear. Brian also addresses what the United Cajun Navy is doing to prepare for Hurricane Milton. Plus, Glenn hears from a caller who says he was a Blackhawk pilot in the military and has personal experience with these incidents …

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Brian Trascher is on, the vice president of the Cajun Navy. The United Cajun Navy. Brian, thank you for everything you guys are doing. You are absolute heroes.

BRIAN: Glenn, thanks so much for having us. And really just want to take a minute to thank you and JP, the team over at Mercury One for the tremendous support and generosity they've been giving us throughout this deployment in North Carolina. And we hope to continue to keep working together in Florida. So thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you, Glenn.

GLENN: Yeah. Please, it's the audience, not me.

BRIAN: Right.

GLENN: Please, don't let me forget, before we go, to talk about Florida, and what we have to do in Florida. But first, can you talk to me.

Are supplies meant for Hurricane Helene? Are they purposefully being thwarted?

And what happened with the helicopter?

BRIAN: So, you know, you know, I think I made the mistake of asking for new conspiracy theories for Christmas. Because all the ones I asked for last year, came true.
(laughter)

BRIAN: So, you know, we -- we were on the ground pretty early in Florida. You know, we always say that people have to understand that FEMA and the National Guard are not first responders. They're second responders. The first responders locally -- the local first responders are also victims, so they're not always fully up to speed.

So that's why we put people on the ground to get to work right away.

The good thing about the United Cajun Navy, is we don't to have ask our lawyers permission to do anything, we just ask them to show up to the bond hearing later, and we'll deal with it.

So anyhow, when we first got down there, we were hearing reports about people getting -- getting stopped. And getting, you know -- impeding the relief efforts. It didn't happen to us.

You know, we have an existing relationship with FEMA and the Red Cross and a lot of agencies.

So they know who we are, and so we weren't really experiencing it like other people were.

We were getting reports of it, for sure. But then, we were -- we started getting frantic calls and texts, and pictures, and stuff. Sent to us. From our volunteers. Over at that site.

Saying, you know, what the hell is happening?

You know, they said that -- that this Blackhawk did a little pass. Like he was going to land. He started giving us the X signs with his arms, saying it was a no land zone.

And he kept coming down. You know, look, I wasn't there myself. But I watched a video a bunch of times. I am a pilot. I'm a fixed wing pilot, not helicopter.

But it does look to me, that, first of all, he was flying too low. They have to stay 500 feet over any structure or person. That's just the day one rule.

But it looks like he does a left bank, and then aft pitch, which increased, in my opinion, the strength of the rotary wash, that you saw blowing all the materials in the tents everywhere.

And then he pitched forward and took off. So I really don't -- you know, everybody has been sending us information on the aircraft. They're saying, you know, I don't want to say, because we don't know for sure. But they think they know who it belongs to. And where it came from.

Nobody knows, including myself, what the intent was. Some people are telling me, oh, the pilot just lost situational awareness and made a mistake. I'm like, listen, Blackhawk pilots are the Top Guns of the rotary wing.

The only Blackhawk pilots that make mistakes are the dead ones. You know, these guys are some of the best helicopter pilots in the world.

Seems like, either we had just a rogue hotshot, or they were trying to send some kind of message. I hate to go down that rabbit hole. Everybody saw the video now.

I'm happy to hear what anybody thinks.

GLENN: So do -- I -- I know somebody who has a Blackhawk. Believe it or not. I didn't know you could buy them, but you can strip down apparently.

Do we know if this was private? At least.

BRIAN: That was. Okay. So my first instinct was -- because you're right. If you've got money, you can buy anything. Right? You can rent a congressman pretty cheap these days, including with inflation.

But somebody -- one of our followers was really good with video. And they were able to close up on it, and see. The two pilots in the cockpit.

It takes two pilots to fly a cockpit. And they said, they were wearing standard DOD headgear. The aircraft does -- if we think we've identified the right one, does appear to be -- does appear to be registered to the military.

It was not armed. So I thought maybe it was -- it belonged to an agency. You know, I don't know. There's so many possibilities.

GLENN: There was no marking on it?

BRIAN: Not that I'm aware of. We've looked at everything, that we could, as far as with the video and pictures available.

GLENN: I mean, that's illegal, isn't it?

BRIAN: Yeah. We just didn't see any.

GLENN: Huh.

BRIAN: And so people have been using Flight Tracker and things like that, to see who was flying missions in that area. And, again, they have come up a few possibilities.

We're trying not to jump the gun. And even, let's say, it was military, the last thing I want people going and trying to find out who the pilots were. And start harassing them.

You know, I don't want all of that.

GLENN: Yeah. You know, and I just said on the air, anybody who is threatening any government official, is a problem.

And it should -- it should stop. However, you know, standing there, in a place, like you're at now.

I assume you're at our base camp there, by the Harley-Davidson dealer.

BRIAN: Yeah. Adam Smith, one of the baddest dudes in North Carolina.

GLENN: Yeah. And he has politely told them. Go away.

Because we have a system down. And it's been working. And it's saved a lot of lives.

And you can go do your thing.

But you're not shutting us down. There's no problem with saying, thank you. But, no, thank you. As we are the first responders.

But you cannot take it out on the people.

You can't. Please, be kind. If you --

BRIAN: And I'll tell you, Glenn. It just so happened, that the week before Helene hit. We had some prescheduled meetings in DC. And one of those meetings was at FEMA. They had us up at the Incident Command Center, which is like their war room.

And they had done a level one activation, and they were watching Helene.

And they were talking to all the local emergency managers, and making plans.

And I did not meet anybody in the entire building. When I was at FEMA. That was not a passionate, dedicated person that cares about their job. And cares about helping people in trouble.

So FEMA is -- as a -- as a entity, seems like, just another F-word.

And you can say what you want about the leadership of FEMA and the political appointee.

But the people on the ground. And there are people on the ground in North Carolina. Has been since I got there. But, yeah, don't be ugly to those people. They're just employees. Their job is to do this, and they do care about it.

GLENN: Yeah. By the way, I don't know how they can say, that they've got this covered.

As of Monday yesterday, only 9 percent of FEMA's personnel or 1200 people, were available to respond to the hurricane or other disasters.

They are having a hard time. They don't -- they say, this is the busiest year in the past decade.

And the staffing reserves, at this point, were 19 percent.

That is -- obviously, not good.

And they are -- they are having a difficult time, getting people in to help.

So I don't know how the government can have it both ways.

By the way, this is coming from the New York Times.

I don't know how they can have it both ways. Look, we don't. You know, we don't need help.

And, you know, we're here to take over.

And then at the same time, be short people, especially with Milton on its way.

BRIAN: Right. And what's worse having being short people.

And this was something that was intimated to me, from some FEMA management people.

That obviously won't be named. But it's not just not having the bodies, again.

They are more experienced staff elsewhere.

And you know where I'm talking about. And so they have people, but they're kind of fairly new hires, still carrying around the employee handbook, trying to figure out what is going on. So they've requested it, to their credit. These people have requested from their higher-ups, to bring in some of these more senior experienced people and my understanding is that hasn't happened yet.

GLENN: I -- I can't thank you and every single veteran, that is on the ground.

I mean, the American people are really good people.

But we don't have the experience, per se, that you guys do.

The veterans.

And especially, Special Forces guys.

You guys sprung into action. And set these systems up.

Like only really military can do.

You just -- you had what you had. And you made good with that.

And you set it up. And you organize. And I think you made the difference between life and death with a lot of people.

So thank you.

BRIAN: Yeah. And, well, just to be clear.

I, myself, am not a military veteran. But I am a pilot. I'm a boat captain. I'm a diver. I just did all these types of skill sets on my own. And it turned out to be useful. But, yeah, you're right. We have a ton of veterans. And they do make the best volunteers.

And they just -- you can't freak them out. You can't make them. You can't make them woozy.

GLENN: I know.

BRIAN: They can handle anything. And I think one of the things that helped us out, as an organization. With regards to local. Or local or federal officials trying to stop relief efforts. That we put it really early. Anybody getting in our way, we're offering an all-expense paid free swamp tour back in Louisiana. So sign up, please.

GLENN: All right. Thank you so much. Before you go, talk to me about Milton.

BRIAN: We are. So Milton is -- you know, one of the lowest center of pressure in terms of millibars that we've seen in the last century. We have our own meteorologist on staff, the Navy that are making sure that we are putting out accurate information.

And it's -- it's bearing down. The NHC track, looking to stay right in that Tampa area. Unfortunately, it will hit. It's a very strong hurricane. We are prepositioned.

We have assets in Destin and Ocala.

And we're moving more into the area. We will have boat assets, supplies, and air assets just like we did in North Carolina. So nobody has to worry about whether we're coming, we're already there. We will help as many people as we can. The good thing about Florida is, they do such a good job with these hurricanes as a state. That usually we're just there for maybe a few days or a week. Handling the life-threatening emergency stuff. And then the state comes in and starts running their show. And, you know, they take over. And they have a tremendous game.

GLENN: Yeah. Ron DeSantis is absolutely incredible. Just incredible with the system.

BRIAN: Everybody should have a Navy SEAL as a governor. I mean, we love Jeff Landry, don't get me wrong. He's a bad dude. But they're on another level.

GLENN: Brian, is there anything you need in help?

BRIAN: If anybody wants to find out more about us, we're on all the socials. United Cajun Navy. Our website is UnitedCajunNavy.org. Sign up to volunteer. Donate.

We always say, time, talent, treasure. If you've got the time to give, the talent to offer, or the treasure to donate, we appreciate it all. One thing everybody can do for free, is go to our social media posts and share them. That helps us grow, and grow our mission. This is Mercury One and all our listeners.

So again, thank you so much. And we're very grateful.

GLENN: Thank you, Brian. We're glad to partner with you. Thank you. Brian Trascher from the Cajun Navy. He's the vice president.

STU: He's awesome.

GLENN: Yeah, he's awesome, and very funny.

GLENN: These guys, they've been through these things, over and over again.

Like he said, they're just unflappable.

And there's nothing better in an emergency, than have a group of people who say, we got it. Don't worry. We've got it. Don't worry.

Especially when they're grappling down from a helicopter, as they were over the mountains.

And, you know, pulling people up in the helicopter.

When I saw Cory Mills do that, I'm like, who does -- well, I mean, you do that. But I don't ever want to do that. I don't want to have to do that.

I don't want somebody to have to pick me up like that.

I'm just going to tie a rope around you.

We will just head on out.

No, thank you. No, thank you.

All right. More in just a second.

By the way, you can help. MercuryOne.org. Now with Milton on the way. We really need to pull together.

And know that we will be there for you.

That is kind of the thing that you learn, if you're a farmer. Or you live in a small town.

When the neighbor's farm has trouble. You go over and help.

Because you know at some point, you will have problems.

And they'll have to help you.

So it's -- it's not transactional. But it's required, that we all help each other.

We're the first responders, not the government.

GLENN: Let me go to Dallas.

And -- Dallas is -- I just looked up. I thought it was Dallas, Texas.

But Dallas is his name.

He is from Texas.

Hi, Dallas.

CALLER: Hi, how are you, Glenn. Long-time listener, first time caller.

GLENN: Thank you.

CALLER: I -- I am a retired Army aviation major. And I've got more than 1200 in Blackhawk, 1,200 hours in Blackhawks, and a couple hundred hours in Chinooks. And after hearing your conversation, I went to look at the videos of the Blackhawk dusting off your supply area.

And having done something very similar myself, more than once, it is -- I don't think it was on purpose.

GLENN: Good.

CALLER: It looked -- it looked to me, that as soon as they realized what they were doing, they were pulling away.

And I've seen more stuff than I can tell you, blown over, including one of my soldiers was blown over by an Apache. Actually sent him tumbling.

Many years ago, in Korea, a lieutenant and I were flying a Hawk, and we were tactically flying the riverbeds. And it just so happened, it was also the vacation season in Korea. And the Koreans set up these canopies, and easy ups on the river and floating in the water.

And we were following the riverbed, not going real fast. And I thought I was high enough, until I looked out and I saw canopies tumbling and flying every which direction.

GLENN: Oh, you were popular.

CALLER: Yeah, yeah, I was real popular.

GLENN: Yeah. Well, I'm glad to hear that. And I hope you don't think that we accused, because we said we didn't know. We would like to know who owned the helicopter.

You know, it didn't have a tail number on it.

And so who -- who was it?

And just to not take it out on the pilots or even the service, but just to ask the questions. What happened there? What happened there?

CALLER: I can't tell whether it's a civilian-owned Blackhawk or whether it's a government --

GLENN: No. Neither could we.

CALLER: There's a lot of agencies that have them. Once again, at Fort Hood, I got accused of flying over a neighborhood. While I was at my house, having a lunch. And I actually looked out and saw the Blackhawk. And I don't know if it was a customs or who it was. But after they found out that I was actually at my house and not flying, I got -- I got redeemed on that one.

But, no. If they had wanted to really cause some -- cause some damage, they would have come in a lot lower. It looked to me, that as soon as they realized, oh, crap.

GLENN: Yeah. That's good.

CALLER: It was light stuff. From looking at the video.

GLENN: Yeah.

CALLER: So I really -- in my heart of hearts, I don't think it was done on purpose.

GLENN: I'm glad to hear that, Dallas. Thank you so much.