RADIOJune 15, 2023

Why Daniel Penny’s arrest led THIS mom to WANT cowardly sons

Earlier this year, Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny was arrested for second-degree manslaughter after putting Jordan Neely — who allegedly was threatening Subway passengers — in a chokehold. Now, Penny has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury. The entire situation led Peachy Keenan, Contributing Editor for The American Editor, to speak about what she ‘begs’ her husband and teenage sons to do if they find themselves in a similar situation: ‘Get out of there…get away before it escalates.’ In fact, Keenan wrote in a recent op-ed that she regrets not teaching her sons earlier in life to be cowardly. She joins Glenn in this clip to explain why, for the men in her life, she’d much rather they watch the danger from afar than to get involved: ‘It’s really sad.’

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: In the Federalist, there is a great op-ed. The lessons of Jordan Neely. Your courage and sacrifice will be punished. I just want to give a few pieces of this. We have peachy keen on with us in just a second. She says, weakness is strength. Courage is hatred. In the aftermath, I tweeted strong men brave enough to intervene publicly when a deranged lunatic is terrifying people are going to be rounded up first. It's brilliant. It's a brilliant strategy for the regime.

Pick off the bravest and most selfless heroes first. Leave the cowards behind, who will all fall in line fast.

The worst is the Subway Vikings. The worst -- the Viking's fate -- the worst the Vikings fate is, the less likely any of us, the sane ones will be tempted to lift a finger, when they come for us, our friends, or our neighbors.

If the Viking gets 20 years on Riker's Island, plus a prison rate and beatings for good measure, as the guards look the other way. That will teach you boys a lesson.

She goes on to talk about in -- in this terrible, ugly, upside down zero trust society, I have been forced to raise a family. And I have developed a new survival rule.

I have instructed my husband and son, to be cowards. That's right. To do nothing if there are in a situation, where a dangerous psycho is threatening violence on a stranger.

I've begged with them to sit on their hands, to be one of the people who just watches, runs away, calls 911.

It goes against everything in their bodies. But I want them with me, not dead or in jail.

She said, I feel like I have failed as a mother, because I forgot to teach my sons to be cowards. I am hoping this is sarcasm. But Peachy Keenan is here with us. Hi, Peachy.

PEACHY: Hi, Glenn. How you are?

GLENN: I'm really good. Really good. You have a lot of fans here at the program. And also, at the Blaze. So keep it up.

PEACHY: Oh, thank you so much. Awesome. I love it.

GLENN: So tell me, I mean, you talk about in this op-ed, about your husband. He took on a guy much bigger. And this guy was bothering you, and he won the fight. And you guys got married.

PEACHY: Oh, right. Yeah. I did mention that, in that article. I think he -- he probably would rather I not bring that up.

Yeah. He did. I was in a situation like that in New York City. There was a very large, very drunk man, who was in my face, harassing me. Wouldn't leave me alone. We were outside a bar at night, you could imagine.

And my husband decided, he just acted.

And he took the guy down.

You know, he wasn't harmed that much. But, you know, he maybe got a little bloody nose.

And he left us alone. And we got out of there.

Yeah. At first, I was sort of horrified. My normal instincts.

You know, I used to be this sort of feminist. Liberal. So I was sort of horrified.

Oh, my gosh. You hurt him.

You're not supposed to do that. But then later. I kind of nursed his hand. I said, you know, that was kind of -- wow. That was very macho.

Like, okay. Yes. I will marry you.

It did sort of impress me a little bit.

This is a guy who can defend a woman. And that's in short supply these days.

GLENN: And that's what we're supposed to do.

But we have destroyed men so much, that most are not going to get up. They're not. They're going to look the other way. Hope someone else will deal with it.

And I remember after 9/11. I flew up to New York. I was on one of the first flights to New York. And there are only four of us on the plane. And one was this drunk bad guy.

And he stood up.

And he was arguing with the stewardess.

And the other two men, that were on board with me.

We got up. And walked to this guy. And the stewardess is like, no, no, no.

I've got it under control.

And we just looked at this guy, you don't sit down, we'll force you to sit down.

There was this feeling, like that's what you do.

What was his name? Todd Beamer.

Who ran and -- we don't do that now. Now we're being taught the exact opposite.

PEACHY: Yeah. I mean, for many years. You would get a plane. And, guys I know would tell me, every time I get on a plane, I'm looking around.

They're kind of ready. Just in case there was another situation. They were ready to do what they had to do to save their own lives. And to save stranger's lives.

But now you can't. Because you will be filmed.

And AOC will get the video, and she will post it, and she's going to call you a bad guy. So we live in an upside down world, where safety is -- you know, the only safety they care about now, is their constituent's safety from police.

From good guys. From good Samaritans. You know, they want to be safe from hate speech. From racism.

But your actual, physical safety. Just going about your daily life. Is no one cares.

Get pushed in front of a train. Violent psychopath a subway. Those people in a car, they made him.

People of color. You know, they said it was a situation like no other. They were so grateful he intervened.

Put, yeah. Like men can't intervene anymore.

People have been -- masculinity has been totally neutered. Literally, literally, and figuratively. Boys have been castrated.

Let's just. That's what it is.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

So tell me, what is. How do you think this is going to end?

TIM: You mean with Daniel Penny? Yeah.

PEACHY: Oh, my goodness. What is it, going to a grand jury in a few months. Based on a witness statement, it seems crazy that they would --

GLENN: Even go after him.

PEACHY: Yeah. There's no evidence, he did anything racist. Obviously.

Or intended to hurt him permanently.

Or obviously, you're just this kind of freak accident.

And he felt like he had no choice. His alternative was to sit there, while this guy punched someone in the face. Who knows what he would do. No one knew. You can't predict. And he had a split second to decide. And he acted. You know, New York City is so crazy. The fact that they arrested him, after the cops let him go, shows you how crazy he was. It's all ideological.

You know, they had Jordan Neely the other guy, with Al Sharpton in the golden casket, just like I predicted. This thing is so predictable. How this will play out. Floyd II. It makes me very worried. But, you know, luckily he has, what two and a half million dollars of legal aid. So we'll have to see. But it's terrifying.

GLENN: So do you think a jury even in Manhattan, the people of his peers will be people that have run the subways.

Been on the subways recently. And the subways are terrifying right now. Terrifying.

GLENN: Do you think they would convict him?

PEACHY: Yeah, it really depends who he gets. The whole notion, the jury of your peers.

Like, that's such a myth. That's just gone.

Think of who is living in Manhattan these days.

And his only hope is people who maybe -- typical liberal -- Biden voters or whatever.

But there are people also in the real world, who are dealing with these people in the subways. And they may reject the prosecution's argument totally. But these people are real dirty. They play real dirty.

And if they -- they sort of make it about, they want to put all white people on trial.

They want to put all race -- anything racist that's ever happened, on trial. And this one guy is the fall guy.

Sort of like reverse O.J.

GLENN: But do you think this is racist? Do you think the city was afraid of the protesters?

Or do you think is this racist, or that they are sending a message to everybody, you have no choice, but to sit down and to take it?

PEACHY: Probably a little of both. But I think primarily, it's about distracting people from the real villain here. Which is the city's total neglect of their giant homeless schizophrenic population, and their complete inability to do anything about it. So this is their way of pointing the finger at the guy whose fault it is.

Whereas -- meanwhile, Penny is just another victim in all of this, and so is the -- so is Jordan Neely. And the real -- the real villain, the person who should be literally in prison, for multiple murders. Are the authorities who let this happen. Who let Michelle go get pushed in front of a train last year in New York City. Who let -- who lets women get raped and stabbed in New York City, on subways in their apartments, by men who they know about. They have long records. They just let them go. You know, these are the people -- these are the crimes that they should be held accountable. But they never will. So instead they just -- they found a convenient fall guy.

GLENN: We're talking to Peachy Keenan. She is the American editor, contributing editor, author of a book that comes out next month called Domestic Extremist.

One last question: Are you -- were you being serious about telling your husband and your son to sit down and don't do anything?

PEACHY: You know, we've had this exact discussion. It's something I live in fear of, whenever my teenage sons leave the house. They're driving around. We live in a big city. You know, God forbid, they run into the wrong person. You know, they -- they're Boy Scouts. You know, they've gone. They're almost to eagle level. Their instinct is to defend and protect. Be good.

They're Catholics. They're Christians. They're moral. And I've actually had this discussion with them. And just like, if there's a situation, that is going sideways, get out of there. Get out of there.

And my sons push back. Well, they're hurting someone. I will do something. Well, look, if it's your little sister, if it's a little kid, like yes. That's a situation where maybe you should put yourself in grave danger. But in situations between adults, like you just -- go away, before it escalates. You know, why risk the rest of your life? I mean, it's really sad. It's one of the reasons that it's scary to live in a Soros DA-run city. I mean, it's very terrifying.
GLENN: Thank you so much, Peachy. I appreciate it. We'll talk to you when your book comes out. You bet. Peachy Keenan.

That's a little terrifying, that -- and I understand that. I understand what she just said.

STU: Yeah. I know I have that same instinct at times. And my thought is always let me fight that stuff in a larger level. If you're in the middle of one of these situations, again, if you have to protect someone's life it's another story. Sometimes these situations are going sideways, and you're in a situation of risk, got to remove yourself from that risk. We'll try to remove society, at another moment. But live to fight that battle tomorrow. It's an understanding instinct from a parent, I'll tell you that.

GLENN: You remember Bernie gats?

STU: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: What mayor -- was that Ed Koch maybe?

STU: Ed Koch. I don't remember.

GLENN: I mean, it's interesting that we deal with these. Every time the city goes crazy, every time there's a Democrat that is in office, and they -- and they destroy the city, crime goes through the roof. And eventually somebody says, enough is enough.

I'm -- I'm not taking it. And Bernard Goetz Was the last time. When you had Rudy Giuliani in office, that wasn't happening.

STU: Yeah. It was Ed Koch, by the way. 1984.

GLENN: Yeah. And what did he -- did he go to jail or not?

STU: It's been so long.

GLENN: I know. I don't remember.

STU: I thought he didn't.

GLENN: That's what I thought. That's why I asked the question this time. Is the jury of his peers, will they put him in jail?

And I don't think they did. And his was pulling a gun on a guy. This one is I think even harder to send someone to jail.

STU: I'm looking back. He did serve time in prison, but for something else.

He had some other -- not -- it wasn't for the actual shootings of that day. It's a little -- I would have to read back on it. It's been a long time.

But it's one of the situations where, look, again, don't try to mug somebody on a subway.

You know, this is the best way to avoid such things.

Could passengers have SAVED Iryna Zarutska?

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

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

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

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

GLENN: Yeah, they are.

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

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

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

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

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

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

But she might do it anyway.

GLENN: How pathetic, but how true.

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

GLENN: Uh-huh.

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

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

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

Unfortunately.

But would I want her to step in?

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

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

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

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

Hmm. No.

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

Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GLENN: Yeah. And tried to give her CPR.

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

Do you know off the top of your head?

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

STU: Yeah.

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

STU: Right.

GLENN: In reality.

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

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

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

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

Maybe I'm -- I hope --

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STU: Yeah. I mean --

JASON: They did not respond.

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

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

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

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

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

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

GLENN: Yeah. Well --

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

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

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

In that situation.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

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

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

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

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

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