RADIOFebruary 17, 2025

JD Vance ENRAGES European Elites by Denouncing CENSORSHIP?!

It seemed like Vice President JD Vance stood alone for free speech at the Munich Security Conference. The Conference’s chairman decried Vance’s critique of European "hate speech" laws, “60 Minutes” treated Germany’s “online hate speech” police raids as normal, and CBS News’ Margaret Brennan peddled the narrative even further, by suggesting that the Nazis “weaponized” free speech to orchestrate the Holocaust. “This is extraordinarily dangerous,” Glenn says. But if America must stand alone to defend free speech, so be it.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So last hour, I played a little bit of J.D. Vance's speech at the German -- or Munich Security Conference. And he talked about how free speech is under attack. In Europe!

And he didn't just point out that it was Europe, that was having this problem.

But he said, it had to end. But let's not stand here and point the finger at you. Pragmatism let's point it to ourselves as well. Cut seven.

GLENN: And in the interest of comedy my friends, but also in the interest of truth. I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship, have come not from within Europe. But from within my own country. Where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation.

Misinformation like, for example, the idea that contester had likely leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people, who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth.

So I come here today, not just with an observation. But with an offer. Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds. So the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that.

And Washington, there is a new sheriff in town. And under Donald Trump's leadership. We may disagree with your views. But we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square. Agree or disagree.

GLENN: Wow! Didn't go over well. In fact, here's the Munich Security Conference chairperson, closing out the convention. Listen to this.

VOICE: This conference started as a transatlantic conference after this speech of Vice President Vance on Friday. We have to fear that our common value base is not that common anymore. I'm very grateful to all those European politicians that spoke out, and reaffirmed the values and principles, that they are defending.

No one did this better than President Zelinsky. Let me conclude that this becomes difficult.
(applauding)

GLENN: He was applauded for crying. That we don't have the same values in common anymore.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: If this is the way Germany and the rest of Europe feels about freedom of speech, then, yes. We don't have the same values. And I don't care if we stand completely alone! We've done it before. And when it comes to freedom of the individual, if that's what it takes, that's what we must become. We have to square our shoulders and remember our principles. Yes! If you want to shut down free expression and free speech, which means you have to let the worst be said, so you can actually have dialogue, learn from one another, learn from the past, and not just become a zombie robot, with an out-of-control government that you can never speak against. Well, that's who we are!

That's what we stand against. I will tell you, that their own people -- I can guarantee you, are not for it. How do I know? Well, let me show you what happened on 60 minutes. Here's 60 minutes, joining a German police censorship raid.
(music)

VOICE: It's 6:01 on a Tuesday morning. And we are with state police as they rated this apartment in northwest Germany.

Inside, six armed officers search a suspect's home. Then seized his laptop and cell phone. Prosecutors say, those electronics may have been used to commit a crime. The crime? Posting a racist cartoon online.

At the exact same time, across Germany, more than 50 similar raids played out. Part of what prosecutors say, is a coordinated effort to curb online hate speech in Germany.

GLENN: Now, I don't like hate speech. I don't like seeing racist cartoons. But that is part of life! It depends on who is in power. On how you define hate. And when you have a government, able to take away inalienable rights, you have a real problem on your hand. Sixty minutes continues.

VOICE: Is it a crime to insult somebody in public?

VOICE: Yes, it is. Of course.

VOICE: And it's a crime to insult them online as well?

VOICE: Even higher, insulting someone on the internet.

VOICE: Why?

VOICE: Because in internet, it stays there. If we are talking face-to-face, you insult me, I insult you. Okay. Finished. But if you're on the internet, if I insult a politician.

VOICE: Then it takes around forever.

The prosecutors explain German law also prohibits the spread of malicious gospel, violent threats, and fake quotes.

VOICE: If somebody posts something that is not true. And then somebody else reposts it or likes it, are they committing a crime?

VOICE: In the case of reposting with, it's a crime as well. Because the reader can't distinguish between whether you just invented this or just reposted it?

VOICE: The punishment for breaking hate speech laws can include jail time for repeat offenders.

GLENN: Jail time. Jail time.

If you say something offense about a politician. Did anybody catch that? If you say something offensive about a politician. You can be charged with a height crime. You do it several times, and you will go to prison!

STU: That's a question of how much do we have in in common, before J.D. Vance's speech?

Apparently, not that much.

GLENN: Clearly not.

STU: If those are your laws, it's a crime?

You can't trust people to be able to decipher whether a quote is fake or not?

It's -- it's not their responsibility to -- to look it up themselves?

GLENN: Listen to cut three. CBS. Not pushing back.

VOICE: To build their cases, investigators scour social media, and use public and government data.

They say, sometimes social media companies will provide information to prosecutors, but not always. So the task force employs special software investigators to help unmask anonymous users.

VOICE: So this is suggest you kill people seeking asylum here.

VOICE: He says his unit has prosecuted about 750 hate speech cases over the last four years, but it was a 2021 case, involving a local politician, named Andy Groat, that captured the country's attention.

Groat complained about a tweet, that called him a pimmel. A German word for the male anatomy. That triggered a police raid, and accusations of excessive censorship by the government. As prosecutors explained to us in Germany, it's okay to debate politics online. But it can be a crime to call anyone a pimmel, even a politician.

VOICE: So it sounds like you're saying, it's okay to criticize a politician's policy. But not to say, I think you're a jerk and an idiot?

VOICE: Exactly. Like you're a son of a bitch. Excuse me for -- these words have nothing to do with a political discussions or a contribution of a discussion.

STU: And it's up to him to decipher whether it contributes or not.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Boy, you better be careful if you're going over to Germany any time soon.

GLENN: 60 Minutes finally asks about some free speech issues. Listen to this.

VOICE: That this feels like the surveillance that Germany conducted 80 years ago. How do you respond to that?

VOICE: There is no surveillance.

VOICE: (inaudible) is a CEO of Hate Aid, a Berlin-based human rights organization, that supports victims of online violence.

VOICE: In the United States, a lot of people say, this is restricting free speech. It's a threat to democracy.

VOICE: Free speech needs boundaries.

GLENN: Hmm.

STU: Ah.

VOICE: In the case of Germany. These boundaries are part of our Constitution. Without boundaries, a very small group of people can rely on endless freedom to say anything that they want.

GLENN: Endless freedom.

STU: Oh, my gosh. It's scary.

VOICE: And your fear is, if people were freely attacked online, that they will withdraw from the discussion?

VOICE: This is not only a fear. It's already taking place. Already half of the internet users in Germany are afraid to express their political opinion. Many participate in public debates online anymore, half of the internet users.

STU: Of course. You're putting them in prison. When they say the wrong thing.

GLENN: I mean, it is Gestapo, with today's technology.

I've warned you. With today's technology, and what is right around the corner, you put a Hitler in charge of it.

STU: And there's not a Jew left in the world.

There's no place to hide in the entire world. This is extraordinarily dangerous.

Now, that's -- that was the extent of the CBS pushback on the Germans.

STU: That was a lot though.

GLENN: Then you get Marco Rubio. And they go to Marco Rubio, to ask him about this. Listen.

VOICE: Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide. And he met with the head of a political party, that has far right views. And some historic ties to extreme groups. The context of that, was changing the tone of it.

GLENN: Changing the tone.

VOICE: Well, I have to disagree with you. No. I have to disagree with you.

Free speech is not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by authoritarian Nazi regime, that happened to be genocidal, because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they hated those -- the list of people they hated. But primarily the Jews. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none.

There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany. They were the sole and only party that governed that country. So that's not an accurate reflection of history.

STU: Obviously.

GLENN: The free speech caused the Holocaust.

STU: Amazing.

GLENN: Free speech.

You couldn't speak out against the Nazis.

Who doesn't learn that in school? Well, probably most Americans. And clearly the journalists here in America. You had no free speech! How do you get everybody to give the Heil Hitler salute?

You don't do that by becoming popular. They didn't. They did it by beating people in the streets.

You will do this, when we salute. If you don't, we'll beat you to death in the streets. And we can get away with it. Because our guy is in power. There was no free speech! This is insanity! Now, I want to show you what -- what J.D. Vance said, that made the guy cry.

In Germany!

Now, I want you to remember that the Munich security conference chair cried at the closing of the conference.

Cried!

Because he realized the United States was no longer on the same side as Germany and Europe!

Now, that seems crazy. But, no. I'm not on the same side of people who want to silence anyone.

I am not for the silencing of people on the left here, I am not for silencing the people in the middle. Or the right.

Even to the extreme. Free speech is an absolute!

Unless you're calling for violence and it actually turns into violence. No! But you can say whatever it is you want. I know that sounds extreme. It didn't used to. But apparently, it does now.

Here's what J.D. Vance said. And if you think that Germany is the problem. Listen to this from J.D. Vance. Listen to this.

VOICE: I look to Brussels where the EU commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest. The moment they spot what they've judged to be, quote, hateful content.

Or to this very country prepare police have carried out raids against citizens, suspected of posting antifeminist comments online. As part of, quote, combating misogyny on the internet.

A day of action. I look to Sweden, where two weeks ago, the government convicted a Christian activist for participating in Koran burnings that resulted in his friends' murder.

And as the judge in his case chillingly noted, Sweden's laws to supposedly protect free expression, do not, in fact, grant, and I'm quoting, a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief.

And perhaps, most concerningly, I look to our very dear friends, the United Kingdom. Where the backslide away from conscience have put basic liberties of religious Britains in the crosshairs.

A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith conner, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and Army veteran. With the heinous crime of sanding 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes. Not obstructing anyone.

Not interacting with anyone. Just silently praying on his own.

After British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for. Adam replied, simply it was on behalf of the unborn son he and his girlfriend had aborted years before.

Now, the officers were not moved.

Adam was found guilty of breaking the government's new buffer zones law, which criminalizes silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person's decision within 200 meters of an abortion facility.

He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution. Now, I wish I could say this was a fluke, a one-off crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person.

But no, this last October, just a few months ago. The Scottish government began distributing letters to citizens, whose houses lay within so-called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes, may amount to breaking the law.

Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizen suspected guilty of thought crime. And Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear is in retreat.

GLENN: What part of that, did you disagree with.

What part of that makes you want to embrace the European Union?

For me, it's quite the opposite. I've always believed that Europe, our brothers and sisters, and we're fine.

And we should help one another. But I have to tell you, I no longer am comfortable with a single dollar going over to Europe, to defend those kinds of policies.

You're not on the same side.

We are not on the same side! If you violate freedom of speech, that way.

And remember, this is why Klaus Schwab told Europe, just believe in the system.

Well, what is the system?

We found out, the system is, if the people vote for a candidate that is not going to play ball. If they are at all in line with freedom of speech, they're a radical, need to be shut down.

And we cancel that election. Until the people get it right!

That's a dictatorship! We are seeing the hatred of the old Germany. And Europe. Start to grow again. And Europe could become a very large foe of freedom.

Shocking train video: Passengers wait while woman bleeds out

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.