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‘Truly a Great Man’: Glenn Remembers Jon Huntsman Sr.

February 08, 2018
Staff

WRITER

Jon Huntsman Sr. died last week at age 80, a generous and dedicated philanthropist and a hero to many.

“The world got a little bit dimmer because we lost truly, truly a great man,” Glenn said. “I’ve never met a greater man. I’ve never met a more giving man and a more forgiving man.”

Glenn took the opportunity to read a moving letter from a listener seeking help, encouraging the audience to follow Huntsman’s example by learning to forgive and by being honest with ourselves and others.

“Dedicate yourself to asking the hardest, most honest questions that you can,” Glenn said. “Be the opposite of what the world is.”

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: Something I haven't mentioned this week, and I'm going to address tomorrow. Over the weekend, the world got a little bit dimmer because we lost truly, truly a great man. His name is Jon Huntsman, Sr. If you are a -- a long-time listener of this program, he has appeared on my program several times. And the reason why I haven't talked about it is, I tend to get a little emotional.

He, in many ways, was a father figure in my life at exactly the time I needed a father figure. And it's -- it's just -- it's just a complex thing.

I'm going to his funeral on Saturday. And I -- we never had a funeral for my father. We weren't allowed to because of a family squabble. So we -- I never attended, neither did my sisters or anything, to memorialize my father's passing.

So I'm a little nervous about Saturday. Because I've never met a greater man.

I've never met a -- never met a more giving man and a more forgiving man.

That's one thing that we really have a hard time with, is forgiveness. I talked about it on Monday. Forgiveness -- forgiveness is hard because -- because we want other people to pay. You know.

I'm having a hard time right now with the press. Because, you know, they're questioning the president. Is he a racist? They're questioning the president saying, you know, is he a totalitarian dictator? All the things that we were afraid of under Obama. And we weren't allowed to say it. And now that they're saying it, I -- I am so -- I can't even get past it, and I have to. I can't get past the fact, are you kidding me?

And if I can't get past that -- but I want them to say it. And they're not going to. And that is -- that's the thinking of a madman, trying to -- I got to let go of the things that I can't control.

But forgiving each other and forgiving yourself is really hard. Really hard. Because as I pointed out earlier this week, forgiveness requires two things: self-worth and humility. Being humble enough to say, hey, I understand.

And having enough self-worth when it comes to you, that you -- you deserve forgiveness. They never go hand in hand. And they have to.

I talked about this. And then I got a -- I got a phone call at the end of the show, two hours later, from a former vet who was distraught. And said, you know, I only listen to you from time to time, and I didn't -- I never expected to get anything from you.

And thank you. He said, I realized -- and he had pulled his truck over. And he had sat there for about an hour and a half crying, and he said, I realize how much I hate myself. And I hate myself because I feel -- I don't feel useful. I feel worthless.

I served -- I was in the military, and I served. And now I come back and I'm not. And I hate myself.

I have gone through that. I'm a recovering alcoholic, and I hated myself so much because of the lies I told myself. You're weak. You're pathetic. You can't even make it a day without a drink. You promised yourself last night or yesterday morning, when you got up, that you weren't going to drink yesterday.

And then you did. You made some excuse. I know. I know. Well, I'm not going to drink today. And then I would drink. And I hated myself.

Actually, every time I walked into my bathroom, I had to open up my mirror so I didn't look myself in the eye anymore. I could not look myself in the eye.

That was the end. That was the end. And I didn't know how to get out of it. And I had no self-worth. And there was no forgiveness for me. I wasn't worthy, and I hated people.

No, I didn't. No, I didn't. I hated myself.

It's kind of what this veteran said when he called this week. And I understood. And we've gotten an awful lot of email on it.

One stuck out to me. And I want to read it to you.

Dear Mr. Beck, my name is Hannah Hastings. I'm engaged to an amazing man. Kyle listens to your podcast faithfully every single morning, to the point of sometimes, I just can't shut him up about his heroes Pat and Stu and you.

He's a huge fan of all of you. And on most days, your podcast moves him to tears. Kyle is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served four years and went on two deployments overseas, one of the two times to Iraq.

Today, he listened in. And he was moved -- he was moved at hearing that veteran speak because that's exactly the way he feels.

I think whether he'll address it or not, his wounds go a lot deeper than his pride will let him show. Kyle is an amazing, wonderful man. However, like the fellow veteran said on your show this morning, he feels useless now. He served. And now he feels as if he has nothing to show for it other than a couple of ribbons and a certification of completion. This veteran of mine is worth so much more than he knows.

I'm writing to you, hoping that maybe you'll give him a shout-out on the show one morning, just to let him know that you his hero knows that he exists and he is not alone. As I'm typing this in the other room, I'm listening to the strongest men sniffle and break down over somebody financially understanding exactly how he feels.

Thank you for your time. I want to acknowledge that you've made an impact on somebody else's life just by being you. Would you please keep him in your prayers? I hope God can touch you and others in the way he's touched me by gracing me with Kyle now in my life. Thanks, Hannah Hastings, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Kyle, I got this letter three days ago. And I've been writing back and forth with your fiancé. The first thing you need to do is marry that woman. She loves you.

I want you to know that while I can't relate to your military experience, and honestly I praise God for that, I do understand your feelings.

I want you to know, in the early '90s, I had a moment where I had to choose life or death. And my mom committed suicide.

And I was at about her same age, that when she committed suicide and I had to choose. And I had no idea how to live. I had no idea how to be happy. I had no idea to be a good man, a good father, none of it.

I was completely lost. And I knew that night it was a Christmas Eve. I knew that night that I would either live or die. That I either had to pick myself up and figure out how to live, or just lay down and die.

Because of my childhood, some would say it made it easier to lay down and die. But because of my childhood, I knew that suicide was not an answer. It was the most selfish thing that could happen.

And I was a coward. I couldn't do it. So I decided to stand. And I wish I could tell you that the next day, everything was great. But it wasn't. It was kind of the same.

Except for one thing: I had made a choice. And I was determined to find a way.

Question with boldness, even the very existence of God, for if there be a God, he must surely rather honest questions over blindfolded fear.

Dedicate yourself to asking the hardest, most honest questions that you can. Ask them of yourself. Ask them of others.

Be the opposite of what the world is. Don't try to win. Just try to find out the truth. Try to reconcile that truth with your life.

I will make you this promise, Kyle. That if you dedicate yourself to finding the truth with humility, by asking honest questions, a year from now, your life is going to start blossoming. You will see Hannah in an entirely new light. You'll see the world as it really is.

You have tremendous, tremendous value. I am a firm believer that we were all born at this time for a reason. And no matter who you are, your reason has not yet happened.

Spend every second of this short life, trying to make the best of it and the most of it. Because when you get to the other side, I think you'll be surprised, holy crap. It was that? That was my reason?

Wow. But look at all the other things that I got to do. And I experienced because I was honestly searching for a better way to live.

Is the U.N. plotting to control 30% of U.S. land by 2030?

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

A reliable conservative senator faces cancellation for listening to voters. But the real threat to public lands comes from the last president’s backdoor globalist agenda.

Something ugly is unfolding on social media, and most people aren’t seeing it clearly. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — one of the most constitutionally grounded conservatives in Washington — is under fire for a housing provision he first proposed in 2022.

You wouldn’t know that from scrolling through X. According to the latest online frenzy, Lee wants to sell off national parks, bulldoze public lands, gut hunting and fishing rights, and hand America’s wilderness to Amazon, BlackRock, and the Chinese Communist Party. None of that is true.

Lee’s bill would have protected against the massive land-grab that’s already under way — courtesy of the Biden administration.

I covered this last month. Since then, the backlash has grown into something like a political witch hunt — not just from the left but from the right. Even Donald Trump Jr., someone I typically agree with, has attacked Lee’s proposal. He’s not alone.

Time to look at the facts the media refuses to cover about Lee’s federal land plan.

What Lee actually proposed

Over the weekend, Lee announced that he would withdraw the federal land sale provision from his housing bill. He said the decision was in response to “a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies,” but also acknowledged that many Americans brought forward sincere, thoughtful concerns.

Because of the strict rules surrounding the budget reconciliation process, Lee couldn’t secure legally enforceable protections to ensure that the land would be made available “only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests.” Without those safeguards, he chose to walk it back.

That’s not selling out. That’s leadership.

It's what the legislative process is supposed to look like: A senator proposes a bill, the people respond, and the lawmaker listens. That was once known as representative democracy. These days, it gets you labeled a globalist sellout.

The Biden land-grab

To many Americans, “public land” brings to mind open spaces for hunting, fishing, hiking, and recreation. But that’s not what Sen. Mike Lee’s bill targeted.

His proposal would have protected against the real land-grab already under way — the one pushed by the Biden administration.

In 2021, Biden launched a plan to “conserve” 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. This effort follows the United Nations-backed “30 by 30” initiative, which seeks to place one-third of all land and water under government control.

Ask yourself: Is the U.N. focused on preserving your right to hunt and fish? Or are radical environmentalists exploiting climate fears to restrict your access to American land?

  Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor | Getty Images

As it stands, the federal government already owns 640 million acres — nearly one-third of the entire country. At this rate, the government will hit that 30% benchmark with ease. But it doesn’t end there. The next phase is already in play: the “50 by 50” agenda.

That brings me to a piece of legislation most Americans haven’t even heard of: the Sustains Act.

Passed in 2023, the law allows the federal government to accept private funding from organizations, such as BlackRock or the Bill Gates Foundation, to support “conservation programs.” In practice, the law enables wealthy elites to buy influence over how American land is used and managed.

Moreover, the government doesn’t even need the landowner’s permission to declare that your property contributes to “pollination,” or “photosynthesis,” or “air quality” — and then regulate it accordingly. You could wake up one morning and find out that the land you own no longer belongs to you in any meaningful sense.

Where was the outrage then? Where were the online crusaders when private capital and federal bureaucrats teamed up to quietly erode private property rights across America?

American families pay the price

The real danger isn’t in Mike Lee’s attempt to offer more housing near population centers — land that would be limited, clarified, and safeguarded in the final bill. The real threat is the creeping partnership between unelected global elites and our own government, a partnership designed to consolidate land, control rural development, and keep Americans penned in so-called “15-minute cities.”

BlackRock buying entire neighborhoods and pricing out regular families isn’t by accident. It’s part of a larger strategy to centralize populations into manageable zones, where cars are unnecessary, rural living is unaffordable, and every facet of life is tracked, regulated, and optimized.

That’s the real agenda. And it’s already happening , and Mike Lee’s bill would have been an effort to ensure that you — not BlackRock, not China — get first dibs.

I live in a town of 451 people. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, housing is unaffordable. The American dream of owning a patch of land is slipping away, not because of one proposal from a constitutional conservative, but because global powers and their political allies are already devouring it.

Divide and conquer

This controversy isn’t really about Mike Lee. It’s about whether we, as a nation, are still capable of having honest debates about public policy — or whether the online mob now controls the narrative. It’s about whether conservatives will focus on facts or fall into the trap of friendly fire and circular firing squads.

More importantly, it’s about whether we’ll recognize the real land-grab happening in our country — and have the courage to fight back before it’s too late.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

  

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

   USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

   Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

 

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.