Evangelical leader Franklin Graham had a very personal encounter with Ebola

October 02, 2014

Writer

Glenn was with Franklin Graham, son of the renowned evangelical preacher Billy Graham, at the opening of the Green Foundation Bible Museum in Oklahoma City. While they were at dinner, Franklin Graham explained that it was once of his doctors, Dr. Kent Brantly from Samaritan's Purse, that was infected with Ebola and brought back to the United States. The doctor has now made a full recovery, but how was Graham involved in getting him back to the U.S. for treatment? It's an incredible story, one that Glenn told on radio today.

Below is an edited transcript of this segment

GLENN: A couple of other people and Franklin Graham was sitting next to Tania. And Franklin Graham is Billy Graham's son and he runs Samaritan's Purse. And so we're talking about world events. And the program hadn't started yet, so what's coming in the world. What's happening. And, you know, the idea that I was from Dallas, and here's Ebola in Dallas. We started talking about that.

And that's when Steve Green said: Well, you know that was Franklin's doctor, you know, from Samaritan's Purse that was brought in on that plane. And I had completely forgotten.

And I said, oh, my gosh, Franklin, what was that like?

He began to tell the story. And we'll try to bring him in hopefully next week. I want him to tell the story because it was -- coming firsthand it was electrifying.

I said: So what happened?

He said: We had -- I don't remember how many -- 35 people over working and trying to help these people over in West Africa. And he said: So we have our people over there, and the doctor gets it.

Now the first thing that I asked him was: How did he get it? Because there's speculation. He's all suited up. How did he possibly get it?

He said: The problem over in Africa is, everybody is running a fever. He said, and that's one of the early signs, you get a fever and have flu-like symptoms. But everybody --

PAT: Because of malaria too.

GLENN: Right. So he said everybody has malaria at some point so everybody has a fever. So it's not something that's a warning sign there. And he said these doctors they go over and help the Ebola victims, and then we suit them up, we spray them down with chlorine. We put these giant trays down on the ground. When you walk into these bays, you have these giant trays with an inch of chlorine. So your feet walk through the chlorine and then they spray you down with that. So that kills the Ebola.

He said the problem is he didn't get it from those guys, he got it from working over in the hospital. They would take their suits off and they would spend extra time helping the people in the hospital. Well, you don't know who has Ebola and who doesn't. Apparently that's where he contracted it. So he gets it and has it bad and he's dying, and they start calling, is there anything anybody can do? What resources are available? Anything.

They get a call from this company in San Diego. And they say, we have an experimental drug. Never been tried on a human before, and apparently it involves mouse blood and tobacco leaves. I mean, it sounds crazy.

So they start talking about it. And it's decided not to give him this vial. But the company ships it over. Now, it's kept at, you know, super low temperatures. I don't know 200 or 600 degrees below zero. Some crazy temperature. And so he comes and it's shipped there and it's got to be kept that cold the whole time. And so it's sitting over there, and the doctor gets sicker and sicker and sicker. And they realize. We're going to lose him. We're going to lose him tonight. He's going to die. It's just violent.

They get back on the phone with this pharmaceutical company in San Diego, they get back on the phone with attorneys. And all the attorneys are like, 'you can't give him this. You don't know what it will do. It's never had a human trial. You have no idea.'

PAT: But if a guy is going to die anyway.

GLENN: Finally, They said, 'look, he's going to die. He's going to die tonight. He'll die maybe an hour earlier? What? How bad being it be? We know his outcome he's going to die tonight.' All the attorneys again in France and America they're all saying, don't give it to him. You can't do it. You can't do it.

Well, they do.

Now, he's so bad he's within hours of dying. Vomiting. You just, you're done. You're bleeding from your eyes. You're bleeding from every orifice of your body. What they do is they open up this refrigeration tank, these three bags of this ZMapp is in, it has to be put in intravenously. So there's three bags of it and you take one bag, I guess day number one. Next bag and then the next bag.

PAT: It's frozen solid though?

GLENN: Frozen solid, 200 degrees below zero. Whatever it is. They have to that you it out quickly. They have to get it in a liquid state. You can't put it in the microwave. What do you do?

So they take turns actually sitting on these IV bags and they start to thaw it out from their body warmth. They get it into this guy's arm.

As this thing is going into his system, by the time that bag is finished, he gets up by himself and goes to the bathroom. He was so sick just a few hours before. He was going to die and couldn't do anything.

PAT: He was literally at death's door. And now, he's getting and up going to the bathroom.

GLENN: As soon as he gets this bag of this serum, he gets up and goes to the bathroom himself. It happens that fast. So they finish the three bags. They put him on a plane and bring him over here, and he's fine.

Now, here's where this story gets interesting. He said opening up that refrigeration tank was like a sci-fi movie. We opened that refrigeration tank and the smoke is coming out. It was a spooky sci-fi movie. While they're doing all of this, Franklin is on the phone, and he's trying to get a plane to bring the doctors to the United States and trying to get them help.

There's only one plane I guess that the United States has perhaps in the world, but there's one that the United States has. It's a G3, Gulf Stream 3. And it is specially equipped to contain, you know, I guess this is Level 5 or something disease. So, in other words, I got the impression this is a plane that can crash, and the compartment is sealed. So nothing is coming out of this. And there's only one plane. And I can't remember whose responsibility in the government it is. I want to say it was the State Department's plane, but I'm not sure.

And Franklin is calling and trying to get a plane, and he realizes nothing can fly this guy unless it's this Level 5 plane. So he finds out and he's calling John Kerry. He's calling the White House. Calling everybody trying to get this plane. Nobody will help. Nobody will help. He finally gets a hold of somebody at the I think it's the State Department, and he said, 'do you know about this plane?' And he said, 'yes, I do.' And he explained the situation. And he said, 'well, today is your lucky day because I'm in charge of that plane.' And Franklin said, 'who do I have to call above you to get this signed off.' He said, 'nobody. Me. I'm in charge of it.' He said 'I can't pay for it.' He said, 'you're going to have pay for it, but I'll okay the plane to fly over if you pay for it.' He said, 'fine we'll play for it.'

So it cost him a couple hundred thousand dollars to fly over to Africa, pick him up, fly back. Problem. That plane now has been taken by the CDC so now the CDC is the only one that has that plane. And they apparently don't like to share.

The CDC is also, I get the impression, way out of control and way over their head on this.

When Franklin got the doctor to the hospital, it was in [Atlanta]. Right? When he gets him over into the hospital, they come in and they quarantine this guy. Now, there are, I think, 35 others that have returned from Africa that were working in that hospital, the same as this doctor. They've been around this doctor. They've been around the hospital. They've been in the Ebola places. They bring him to the hospital. The CDC is there and everybody is there. And we all saw the caravan, but what we didn't see is this: Franklin says, 'okay, we've got 35 people. Where do we keep them for 21 days?'

The CDC says, 'oh, don't worry just send them home.'

Now, here's Franklin not a doctor. 'I don't think that's a good idea. I don't think sending them home is a good idea. What are we doing sending them home? What do you mean send them home? They should be in the quarantine for 21 days. We don't know if they have the Ebola.'

'Yeah, they're fine. Send them home.'

So Franklin decides to find a place right around this hospital and quarantines the people himself and says, everybody is staying here for 21 days and it's close to the hospital, so if we start to see symptoms, you just pop in and go over to the hospital.

Well, apparently, several days into this, the hospital finds out that they've done this. And the hospital is upset because of PR. How is this going to look? That we've got 21 people right around this hospital? PR. This goes to exactly to what Rand Paul was saying yesterday: Political correctness.

We've got -- we've got to stop the political correctness. We've got to stop this. Political correctness is stopping us from restricting air travel to West Africa. There is no reason why we have people traveling to and fro to West Africa. Now, I know that you can't stop all air travel. It's impossible, but if you have anything around West Africa on your passport, you should also be quarantined.

If you've been to West Africa in the last 21 days, you need to be quarantined. We used to do that -- what do you think Ellis Island was for? We would quarantine people. The president and the White House yesterday came out and said, 'well, we've got safety measures at the border now. We make sure that if all the border guys' -- really? You don't even have -- most people aren't even coming across the border. But our political correctness is stopping us from quarantining people. Our political correctness -- the president stopped all air travel to Israel on the threat of a missile almost possibly, maybe, might, shoot down a plane over Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. He shut it down for a week. And they did it that fast.

Why are we not shutting down the airspace? Why are we not saying, you cannot enter the United States of America. You cannot fly to West Africa. You cannot return unless you've been quarantined, period.

STU: Wouldn't you say thought that the impulse to isolate countries may make the Ebola epidemic worse?

GLENN: No, I wouldn't say that.

STU: That's what the CDC director said. "The impulse to isolate the country --

PAT: So the impulse itself -- like if I feel like isolating it, that will make it worse?

STU: Right. Ebola will get much worse.

PAT: Does Ebola know my intention?

GLENN: That's ridiculous. The CDC is out of control. Everything. Look at the woman who just resigned from the secret service yesterday. If this isn't political correctness, how did this woman get her job? And, by the way, she wasn't fired yesterday because the secret service is out of control.

PAT: Of rampant incompetence.

GLENN: She was fired because of optics. She didn't let the administration know that there was a problem.

STU: Yeah, the elevator incident, she did not inform them of until it got out to the press. They weren't able to fight the PR battle on that.

PAT: So it wasn't because they allowed an armed criminal with the president of the United States-

GLENN: It was because of political correctness. It was because of the press. It was because of the optics. This is literally going to kill all of us. This is why we're -- I'm telling you we're going to be humbled because we won't recognize reality anymore. And when you won't recognize reality, reality has a way of sneaking up behind you.

Front Page image courtesy of the AP

Media cover-up: Why Clinton deported six times more than Trump

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MSNBC and CNN want you to think the president is a new Hitler launching another Holocaust. But the actual deportation numbers are nowhere near what they claim.

Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews, in an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta, compared Trump’s immigration policies to Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust. He claimed that Hitler didn’t bother with German law — he just hauled people off to death camps in Poland and Hungary. Apparently, that’s what Trump is doing now by deporting MS-13 gang members to El Salvador.

Symone Sanders took it a step further. The MSNBC host suggested that deporting gang-affiliated noncitizens is simply the first step toward deporting black Americans. I’ll wait while you try to do that math.

The debate is about control — weaponizing the courts, twisting language, and using moral panic to silence dissent.

Media mouthpieces like Sanders and Matthews are just the latest examples of the left’s Pavlovian tribalism when it comes to Trump and immigration. Just say the word “Trump,” and people froth at the mouth before they even hear the sentence. While the media cries “Hitler,” the numbers say otherwise. And numbers don’t lie — the narrative does.

Numbers don’t lie

The real “deporter in chief” isn’t Trump. It was President Bill Clinton, who sent back 12.3 million people during his presidency — 11.4 million returns and nearly 900,000 formal removals. President George W. Bush, likewise, presided over 10.3 million deportations — 8.3 million returns and two million removals. Even President Barack Obama, the progressive darling, oversaw 5.5 million deportations, including more than three million formal removals.

So how does Donald Trump stack up? Between 2017 and 2021, Trump deported somewhere between 1.5 million and two million people — dramatically fewer than Obama, Bush, or Clinton. In his current term so far, Trump has deported between 100,000 and 138,000 people. Yes, that’s assertive for a first term — but it's still fewer than Biden was deporting toward the end of his presidency.

The numbers simply don’t support the hysteria.

Who's the “dictator” here? Trump is deporting fewer people, with more legal oversight, and still being compared to history’s most reviled tyrant. Apparently, sending MS-13 gang members — violent criminals — back to their country of origin is now equivalent to genocide.

It’s not about immigration

This debate stopped being about immigration a long time ago. It’s now about control — about weaponizing the courts, twisting language, and using moral panic to silence dissent. It’s about turning Donald Trump into the villain of every story, facts be damned.

If the numbers mattered, we’d be having a very different national conversation. We’d be asking why Bill Clinton deported six times as many people as Trump and never got labeled a fascist. We’d be questioning why Barack Obama’s record-setting removals didn’t spark cries of ethnic cleansing. And we’d be wondering why Trump, whose enforcement was relatively modest by comparison, triggered lawsuits, media hysteria, and endless Nazi analogies.

But facts don’t drive this narrative. The villain does. And in this script, Trump plays the villain — even when he does far less than the so-called heroes who came before him.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Can Trump stop the blackouts that threaten America's future?

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If America wants to remain a global leader in the coming decades, we need more energy fast.

It's no secret that Glenn is an advocate for the safe and ethical use of AI, not because he wants it, but because he knows it’s coming whether we like it or not. Our only option is to shape AI on our terms, not those of our adversaries. America has to win the AI Race if we want to maintain our stability and security, and to do that, we need more energy.

AI demands dozens—if not hundreds—of new server farms, each requiring vast amounts of electricity. The problem is, America lacks the power plants to generate the required electricity, nor do we have a power grid capable of handling the added load. We must overcome these hurdles quickly to outpace China and other foreign competitors.

Outdated Power Grid

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Our power grid is ancient, slowly buckling under the stress of our modern machines. AAI’s energy demands could collapse it without a major upgrade. The last significant overhaul occurred under FDR nearly a century ago, when he connected rural America to electricity. Since then, we’ve patched the system piecemeal, but it’s still the same grid from the 1930s. Over 70 percent of the powerlines are 30 years old or older, and circuit breakers and other vital components are in similar condition. Most people wouldn't trust a dishwasher that was 30 years old, and yet much of our grid relies on technology from the era of VHS tapes.

Upgrading the grid would prevent cascading failures, rolling blackouts, and even EMP attacks. It would also enable new AI server farms while ensuring reliable power for all.

A Need for Energy

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Earlier this month, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt appeared before Congress as part of an AI panel and claimed that by 2030, the U.S. will need to add 96 gigawatts to our national power production to meet AI-driven demand. While some experts question this figure, the message is clear: We must rapidly expand power production. But where will this energy come from?

As much as eco nuts would love to power the world with sunshine and rainbows, we need a much more reliable and significantly more efficient power source if we want to meet our electricity goals. Nuclear power—efficient, powerful, and clean—is the answer. It’s time to shed outdated fears of atomic energy and embrace the superior electricity source. Building and maintaining new nuclear plants, along with upgraded infrastructure, would create thousands of high-paying American jobs. Nuclear energy will fuel AI, boost the economy, and modernize America’s decaying infrastructure.

A Bold Step into the Future

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This is President Trump’s chance to leave a historic mark on America, restoring our role as global leaders and innovators. Just as FDR’s power grid and plants made America the dominant force of the 20th century, Trump could upgrade our infrastructure to secure dominance in the 21st century. Visionary leadership must cut red tape and spark excitement in the industry. This is how Trump can make America great again.

POLL: Did astronomers discover PROOF of alien life?

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Are we alone in the universe?

It's no secret that Glenn keeps one eye on the cosmos, searching for any signs of ET. Late last week, a team of astronomers at the University of Cambridge made an exciting discovery that could change how we view the universe. The astronomers were monitoring a distant planet, K2-18b, when the James Webb Space Telescope detected dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, two atmospheric gases believed only to be generated by living organisms. The planet, which is just over two and a half times larger than Earth, orbits within the "habitable zone" of its star, meaning the presence of liquid water on its surface is possible, further supporting the possibility that life exists on this distant world.

Unfortunately, humans won't be able to visit K2-18b to see for ourselves anytime soon, as the planet is about 124 light-years from Earth. This means that even if we had rockets that could travel at the speed of light, it would still take 124 years to reach the potentially verdant planet. Even if humans made the long trek to K2-18b, they would be faced with an even more intense challenge upon arrival: Gravity. Assuming K2-18b has a similar density to Earth, its increased size would also mean it would have increased gravity, two and a half times as much gravity, to be exact. This would make it very difficult, if not impossible, for humans to live or explore the surface without serious technological support. But who knows, give Elon Musk and SpaceX a few years, and we might be ready to seek out new life (and maybe even new civilizations).

But Glenn wants to know what you think. Could K2-18b harbor life on its distant surface? Could alien astronomers be peering back at us from across the cosmos? Would you be willing to boldly go where no man has gone before? Let us know in the poll below:

Could there be life on K2-18b?

Could there be an alien civilization thriving on K2-18b?

Will humans develop the technology to one day explore distant worlds?

Would you sign up for a trip to an alien world?

Is K2-18b just another cold rock in space?

Big Pharma’s role in rising neurological disorders: Will RFK Jr. uncover the truth?

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Our children are sick, and Big Pharma claims to be the cure, but is RFK Jr. closer to proving they are the disease?

For years, neurological disorders in our children have been on the rise. One in nine children in the U.S. has been diagnosed with ADHD, and between 2016 and 2022, more than one million kids were told they suffer from the disorder. Similarly, autism diagnoses have increased by 175 percent over the past decade. RFK Jr. pledged to investigate the rising rates of neurological disorders as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and this week, he announced a major initiative.

Earlier this week, RFK Jr. announced that the HHS has embarked on a massive testing and research effort to uncover the root causes of autism and the sharp spike in recent diagnoses. The HHS Secretary vowed that the results will be available by September of this year, leaving many skeptical about the study's rigor. Conversely, some speculate that the HHS may have unpublished studies revealing critical insights into these disorders, just waiting to see the light of day.

Glenn brought up a recent article by the Daily Wire referencing a New York Times piece in which experts questioned the legitimacy of ADHD diagnoses. Glenn agreed and suggested that people are just wired differently; they learn, work, and study differently, and the cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all school system simply fails to accommodate everyone.

New York Times' ADHD Admission

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Earlier this week, the New York Times published an article that made a shocking admission: there are no concrete biological markers for ADHD. The clinical definition of ADHD is no longer supported by the evidence, and there are no physical, genetic, or chemical identifiers for the disorder, nor is there any real way to test for it. The paper also admitted that people diagnosed with ADHD would suddenly find that they no longer had any symptoms after a change of environment, profession, or field of study. This suggests that "ADHD" might simply be a matter of interests and skills, not a chronic brain sickness.

The most horrifying implication of this admission is that millions of people, including children, have been prescribed heavy mind-altering drugs for years for a disorder that lacks real evidence of its very existence. These drugs are serious business and include products such as Adderall, Ritalin, and Desoxyn. All of these drugs are considered "Schedule II," which is a drug classification that puts them on the same level as cocaine, PCP, and fentanyl. Notably, Desoxyn is chemically identical to methamphetamine, differing only in its production in regulated laboratories rather than illegal settings.

Worse yet, studies show that these medications, like Desoxyn, often provide no long-term benefits. Testing demonstrated that in the short term, there were some positive effects, but after 36 months, there was no discernible difference in symptoms between people who were medicated and those who were not. For decades, we have been giving our children hardcore drugs with no evidence of them working or even that the disorder exists.

RFK Jr's Autism Study

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Autism rates are on the rise, and RFK Jr. is going to get to the bottom of it. In the year 2000, approximately one in 150 children was diagnosed with autism, but only 20 years later, the rate had increased to one in 36. While some claim that this is simply due to more accurate testing, RFK Jr. doesn't buy it and is determined to discover what is the underlying cause. He is an outspoken critic of vaccines, asserting that the true scope of their side effects has been buried by greed and corruption to sell more vaccines.

RFK Jr. doesn't plan on stopping at vaccines. Similar to ADHD, RFK Jr. suspects other environmental factors could increase of autism or exacerbate symptoms. Factors like diet, water quality, air pollution, and parenting approaches are all under investigation. It's time to bring clarity to the neurological disorders that plague our nation, cut through the corruption, and reveal the healing truth.

Neurological Intervention

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Big Pharma has been all too happy to sit back and watch as the rate of neurological disorders climbs, adding to the ever-growing list of permanent patients who are led to believe that their only choice is to shell out endless money for treatments, prescriptions, and doctor visits. Rather than encouraging lifestyle changes to improve our well-being, they push ongoing medication and costly treatments.

All RFK Jr. is doing is asking questions, and yet the backlash from the "experts" is so immense that one can't help but wonder what they could be hiding. Both Glenn and RFK Jr. have their suspicions of Big Pharma, and the upcoming HHS study might be one of the most important steps to making America healthy again.

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