This American is fighting ISIS - and there’s footage to prove it

April 09, 2015

Writer

TheBlaze obtained exclusive video of volunteer civilians taking the fight directly to ISIS. Watch as Chris Toney and his squad are pinned down by ISIS sniper fire and forced to retreat. Even more amazing than the video itself is the personal stories of regular citizens sick and tired of watching evil rise and nothing done about it. Toney talked to Glenn on radio today.

Watch Toney's video below, via TheBlaze. The full story is a must read and can be found HERE.

Below is a rush transcript of Toney's conversation with Glenn:

GLENN: And Chris Toney is on the phone with us now. He's a U.S. Navy veteran. And he's over there on his own. He's over there because he believes in the cause. We wanted to talk to him about it. Why are you there, Chris?

CHRIS: I'm there, Glenn, because ISIS is killing innocent, women, children, men, taking over villages. And, by the way, it's nice to talk to you. Thank you for having me on your show.

GLENN: You're welcome.

CHRIS: I've been a big fan of you for a long time. And years ago, you talked about principles. And you talked about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And he said, silence in the face of evil is itself evil. We will not be held guiltless before God. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. We always grow up in the American educational system starting off with the Holocaust and what the Nazis did to the Jews. And we say as people, we will never allow that to happen again. Well, it's happening. It's happening right now. There is a Holocaust occurring in the Middle East against Christians, against Yazidis, and against Muslims. And the world is sitting back and wanting to play politics. They're saying, we don't want to get involved because we've been involved in too many wars. And it doesn't sound good politically. It doesn't help someone win an election campaign. It doesn't help someone keep their elected seats. So they don't want to get involved. They want to do the bare minimum. When an atrocity like this is occurring, we can't do the bare minimum. We have to step up and put an end to it. We have a thing on our team, what do real men do when Nazis kill Jews? Do you sit back and say that's someone else's problem. Or do you wait and hope that someone else is going to do it. When that doesn't happen, do you forget about it. No, you step up and be a man and try to do the right thing and help people.

GLENN: Chris, are you just a good American warrior. Or are you led by God?

CHRIS: I'm led by God. Now, I don't mean to say that in some sort of like crazy zealous kind of meaning. I guess it's a little bit of both, Glenn. The big question is, how do you get to this? What makes you want to go? A lot of prayer is involved. And when God calls you -- I'll kind of make a joke. When God calls you to go do some work in the Nineveh plain, you better go, or he'll get you there one way or the other. And I prefer not to go the belly of the whale, you know.

GLENN: So you're going. And, you know, you're pretty much on your own, you and your friends. When I read this story and it talks about air cover, the military doesn't have to give you air cover because you're -- you're not part of the military.

CHRIS: No. We're actually there volunteered alongside the Kurdish Peshmerga. The Peshmerga is the Kurdish regional government's official army. Technically, they're outlied alongside Iraq, and they're outlied alongside the United States. So in this fight against ISIS, the Peshmerga, the Kurdish Peshmerga are some of the abrasive people I've ever met. Glenn, I hope you get the chance to visit these people sometime. They're the most Kinds, warm hearted people you'll ever meet. They're very westernized. Their cities are more developed than my own here in Kentucky. Their shopping center is better than what I have. And they're very civilized people. The world talks about, where is the moderate Muslim standing against ISIS. I said to Jason when he interviewed me. They're in Kurdistan. The majority of the Kurdish people are Muslim. But they were so welcoming to me even, though I was a Christian and talked about my Christianity. They never treated me differently. They treated me just like a brother.

GLENN: I would be more concerned about you saying you're an American after we have turned our backs on the Kurds over and over and over again.

CHRIS: No. The Kurdish people, they -- they're smart. They don't group everyone together. They are very thankful to have us Americans there. When American volunteers show up, it is a big morale booster to their troops. And they know that we, the American people, support them. They sometimes have conflicts with the American government. And they separate the two.

Part of this conflict, from what I see, Glenn, is -- you know, ISIS is a world problem. But the Kurdish people are the ones that stepped up to the plate and are actually taking on that world problem on behalf of the world. And it's like the world is not properly supporting them. The Kurdish government is very poor. When I was there, many of their troops had not received their payroll for four months. Yet, they get up day in and day out and go to the front lines every day and they fight. They're severely underweaponized with ammo and guns. The guns they have are really outdated AK47s, RPKs, Dragunovs, some without scopes. The ammo situation is extremely low. Most of the guys I was with were former U.S. Army veterans, served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they're used to going out on the lines outside the wire with 400-plus rounds on them. Every Kurdish Peshmerga soldier and ourself, we only rolled with anywhere between 90 and 120 rounds on us to a frontline battle.

GLENN: Wow. Holy cow.

CHRIS: You didn't have a lot of extra ammo to engage in a blind shoot firefight with ISIS. You had to pick your shots, which was tough. Something that I noticed was fighting ISIS is a lot like fighting ghosts. Glenn, on the Kurdish Peshmerga side very much remind me of something you would see on World War I. There's a lot of open fields. That you have to cross without any cover. As the line advances, the blows are still following you. It will actually push dirt up making a reverse trench for us to use as cover. ISIS's side reminds me a touch of Vietnam in that they dig spider holes in the ground and have underground tunnels all over their defenses. So they'll pop up in one area and engage you. Then when you're engaging them, they disappear. And you don't see where they went. Basically, they go down that hole. And they're crossing the battlefield underground. Then they'll pop up somewhere else unexpectedly and engage you from your flank or even behind you in different areas. It's very dangerous. It's like fighting ghosts.

GLENN: How, well-equipped are they? And how much of their equipment is our old equipment?

CHRIS: They are very well-equipped. They obviously have a lot of ammo. The big battle that we engaged in, they had four T62 tanks that were rolling up to start pounding where we were at, so they have tanks. They are very well-trained soldiers, Glenn. That was -- that was some of the discussion that myself and the guys that I was with. The guys were telling me that these were not like fighting the insurgents that they fought in Iraq before. That they just picked up a gun and fought them.

PAT: Where are they getting the tanks, Chris?

CHRIS: I honestly don't know exactly where they got them. A lot of them were left by the Iraqi army when ISIS first started invaded. And the Iraqis dropped their weapons and left their Humvees and left these tanks and ran away. ISIS just took them over.

GLENN: You in your article said that France is actually doing a better job, and I'm seeing this every single time, France has picked up almost the position of the big dog in the world, where we used to be. And we've become France. You said in the article that France is doing a better job than the United States is.

CHRIS: Yes. Absolutely. As a matter of fact the big operation on the 18th of March that the United States was supposed to provide the air support, we had another big op two days prior on the 16th where we were liberating two people. And France was providing the air support that day. They did an amazing job. They blew up whatever tanks were in the area. They took out all the trucks that had the DShK guns on the back of them. They took out all the hardened bunkers and whatever -- if there was a group of ISIS guys clumped together, they would take them out. They leveled those villages before our advance. Which that saves a lot of lives.

And what happens is, you know, France is providing that. And we knew that. But when you get the news stories that come out here in the United States, it's always U.S.-led coalition forces did this. That's saying that the United States is getting the credit. Because it's the U.S.-led coalition. Not France.

GLENN: We're running out of time here. You're fascinating to talk to. I hope we can have you back. And I would like to join you sometime. I'm trying to get over to the Middle East this summer. And I would love to meet these people.

I want to ask you a kind of two questions. If you combine your answer into one. It is this, do you see more people coming like you -- more, you know, soldiers and former soldiers coming over and joining the fight because we're just dropping the ball and they can't sleep at night, you know, seeing this go on and somebody has to stop it, and what can the average person do to assist you?

CHRIS: Yes. A lot more men and women are going over to volunteer. They're -- it's becoming more common. I'm personally aware of at least six people. More people that have volunteered and joined the unit that I was part of over the last two weeks. And there's about five more that will be there in another week. So more people are doing this.

I would say this, Glenn, is that, there's a lot of ways to get involved. You can get involved in funding by meeting these people online. That are actually over there and making donations to help them buy the equipment --

GLENN: How do we do that?

CHRIS: There's different ones. There's not a centralized location for that, Glenn, right now. A lot of these guys, they started GoFundMe pages with their photos on there. They show the photos of them over there. If you see those, those are good guys to support.

GLENN: I tell you what, can you do me a favor? Because I don't want to be taken by a scam or something and give it to the wrong guys. Will you be willing to send me an email or get us information on maybe whose pages we can trust and which GoFundMe and we'll post it and make sure -- that way we're not giving our money to somebody we shouldn't be giving our money to.

CHRIS: I'll be happy to do that, Glenn. Number one thing for Americans to understand. And this is something I came to learn -- you know, when I watch your show, I didn't take your word for things. I read books and started studying things like you told us to do. And what I've learned is, Americans have got to stop thinking that they can't do something. We can do something. We're Americans. We're not Americannots. And we have to stop waiting for someone else to do it all the time. This next election coming up, whoever the president will be, it may make some things better. But we can't expect them to magically make something perfect. And it's the same thing with God. When we pray to God to do something, we can't expect God to do it for us. God will give us the wisdom and the intelligence and the passion and the courage and the strength to do it ourselves. And we have to step up as Americans and start doing more. If you want to go over and fight, if that's what your calling is, you can go do it and you can find a way to get there. You can find a way to support a family while you're there. You can make that happen. If you want to help support the people that are there, and I'll help you out, Glenn, and get you a list of people that you can help there.

GLENN: We will post that at GlennBeck.com by the end of the day today and post it up on my Facebook page as well. Chris, we will pray for you. We wish you all the best. Please stay in contact with us. Let us know how we can help you. God bless you.

CHRIS: Thank you, Glenn. God bless you as well.

The Deep State's NEW plan to backstab Trump

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

We cannot make the same mistake we made in 2016 — celebrating victory while the deep state plots its next move.

In 2016, Donald Trump shocked the world by defeating Hillary Clinton. Conservatives cheered, believing we’d taken back the reins of our country. But we missed the bigger battle. We failed to recognize the extent of the damage caused by eight years of Barack Obama and decades of progressive entrenchment. The real war isn’t won at the ballot box. It’s being waged against an insidious force embedded deep within our institutions: the administrative state, or the “deep state.”

This isn’t a new problem. America’s founders foresaw it, though they didn’t have a term for “deep state” back in the 1700s. James Madison, in Federalist 48, warned us that combining legislative, executive, and judicial powers in the same hands is “the very definition of tyranny.” Yet today, that’s exactly where we stand. Unelected bureaucrats in agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Justice hold more power than the officials we vote for. They control the levers of government with impunity, dictating policies and stifling change.

This is the fight for the soul of our nation. The founders’ vision of a constitutional republic is under siege.

We’ve felt the consequences of this growing tyranny firsthand. During COVID-19, so-called experts ran our lives, crushing civil liberties under the guise of public safety. Our intelligence agencies and justice system turned into weapons of political warfare, targeting a sitting president and his supporters. Meanwhile, actual criminals were given a pass, turning American cities into lawless war zones.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1816 that “the functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents.” Today, we see Jefferson’s prophecy fulfilled. The deep state exercises unchecked power over our freedoms, and information itself is controlled by the fourth branch of government: the legacy media.

Even when we win elections, the deep state doesn’t concede defeat. It switches to survival mode. Trump’s first term proved this. Despite a historic mandate to dismantle the bureaucracy, the deep state fought back with everything it had: leaks, investigations, court rulings, and obstruction at every turn. And now, with the possibility of Trump returning to office, the deep state is preparing to do it again.

Progressives are laying out their attack plan — and they’re not even hiding it.

U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) recently boasted about forming a “shadow cabinet” to govern alongside the deep state, regardless of who’s in the White House. Nickel called it “democracy’s insurance policy.” Let’s be clear: This isn’t insurance. It’s sabotage.

They’ll employ a “top down, bottom up, inside out” strategy to overwhelm and collapse any effort to reform the system. From the top, federal judges and shadow officials will block Trump’s every move. Governors in blue states like California and New York are gearing up to resist federal authority. During Trump’s first term, California filed over 100 lawsuits against his administration. Expect more of the same starting January 20.

From the bottom, progressive groups like the American Civil Liberties Union will flood the streets with protesters, much as they did to oppose Trump’s first-term immigration reforms. They’ve refined their tactics since 2016 and are prepared to unleash a wave of civil unrest. These aren’t spontaneous movements; they’re coordinated assaults designed to destabilize the administration.

Finally, from the inside, the deep state will continue its mission of self-preservation. Agencies will drag their feet, leak sensitive information, and undermine policies from within. Their goal is to make everything a chaotic mess, so the heart of their power — the bureaucratic core — remains untouched and grows stronger.

We cannot make the same mistake we made in 2016 — celebrating victory while the deep state plots its next move. Progressives never see themselves as losing. When they’re out of power, they simply shift tactics, pumping more blood into their bureaucratic heart. We may win elections, but the war against the deep state will only intensify. As George Washington warned in his Farewell Address, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force; and force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

This is the fight for the soul of our nation. The founders’ vision of a constitutional republic is under siege. The deep state has shown us its plan: to govern from the shadows, circumventing the will of the people. But now that the shadows have been exposed, we have a choice. Will we accept this silent tyranny, or will we demand accountability and reclaim our nation’s heart?

The battle is just beginning. We can’t afford to lose.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Drone mystery exposes GLARING government incompetence

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

The drone issue is getting way out of hand.

Earlier this month, Glenn first reported on the mysterious drones stalking the night sky over New Jersey, but the situation is increasingly concerning as the sightings have escalated. Not only have drones been seen across the Northeast Coast, including over New York City, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, but recently, they have been spotted over the night skies of San Diego and other parts of Southern California.

It doesn't take an expert to identify the potential dangers and risks that dozens of undetectable, unidentified six-foot or larger drones pose to national security. Yet, our government's response has been one of unimaginable incompetence, leaving us to speculate on the origin and intention of these drones and wonder in astonishment at the government's ineptitude. Here are three examples of the government's lackluster response to the mystery drones:

Iranian Mothership and Missing Nuclear Warheads

- / Stringer | Getty Images

After several weeks of hubbub, New Jersey Representative, Jeff Van Drew gave an interview on Fox News where he claimed that the drones originated from an Iranian "mothership" off the East Coast of the United States. This theory has since been disproven by satellite images, which show that all Iranian drone carriers are far from U.S. shores. Another theory suggests that drones may be equipped with sensors capable of detecting nuclear material and that they are looking for a nuclear warhead that recently went missing! With these apocalyptic theories gaining traction in the absence of any real answer from our government, one can't help but question the motive behind the silence.

Pentagon's Limp Wristed Response

Alex Wong / Staff | Getty Images

In a recent press conference, national security spokesman John Kirby responded to reporters demanding answers about the government's lack of transparency, which has caused increasing public anxiety. He insisted that the drones did not pose a threat and were not assets of a foreign power, such as from Iran or China--even though he is still uncertain about their identity and origin. He also claimed that many of the sightings were simply misidentifications of normal aircraft.

This lackluster answer has only further inflamed national anxieties and raised even more questions. If the government is unsure of the identity of the drones, how do they know if they are a threat or if they aren't foreign assets? If they aren't foreign, does that mean they are U.S. assets? If so, why not just say so?

The Pentagon has also stated that they are leaving it up to local law enforcement to spearhead the investigation after concluding that these drones pose no threat to any military installation. This has left many feeling like the federal government has turned a blind eye to a serious issue that many Americans are very concerned about.

Where's Pete Buttigieg?

Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images

We are in the closing weeks of the Biden administration, and with the finish line in sight, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg probably figured nothing else could go wrong on his watch—but boy was he wrong. As Secretary of Transportation, Buttigieg is in charge of the FAA, the agency responsible for managing all air traffic across the nation. One would think that mysterious, 6-foot-long, seemingly intractable drones are invisible on radar and flying above major cities would pose a serious threat to the myriad of legal aircraft that traverse our skies. Yet, Buttigieg has been silent on the issue, adding another failure to his resume which includes: malfunctioning airplanes, the train derailment in Ohio, and the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse, just to name a few.

Glenn: How Alvin Bragg turned hero Daniel Penny into a villain

Michael M. Santiago / Staff | Getty Images

We cannot allow corrupt institutions to punish those who act to protect life and liberty.

America no longer has a single, shared understanding of justice. Two Americas now exist, each applying justice differently depending on who you are and where you live. One America, ruled by common sense and individual courage, praises heroes who stand up to protect others. The other, driven by political agendas and corrupted institutions, punishes those same heroes for daring to act.

This stark division couldn’t be clearer than in the case of Daniel Penny, the Marine whose trial in New York City this week drew strong reactions from both sides across the divided line of justice.

If we let this slide, we accept a world in which heroes are treated as criminals and the law is a weapon for ideological warfare.

Penny was on a subway train last year when Jordan Neely — a man suffering from severe mental illness and reportedly high on drugs — began threatening passengers, saying, “I’m going to kill you all.” The fear on that subway car was palpable, but nobody moved. Nobody, that is, until Penny did what needed to be done. He took action to protect innocent lives.

In the America many of us used to believe in, Penny’s response would be heralded as heroic. His actions mirrored the courage of Todd Beamer on Flight 93, who, on September 11, 2001, rallied others with the words, “Let’s roll,” to prevent further tragedy. But in New York, courage doesn’t seem to count anymore. There, the system turns heroes into villains.

Penny subdued Neely using a chokehold, intending only to restrain him, not kill him. Tragically, Neely died. Penny, filled with remorse, told the police he never meant to hurt anyone. Yet, instead of being recognized for protecting others from a clear and present threat, Penny stood trial for criminally negligent homicide.

In Alvin Bragg’s New York, justice bends to ideology. The Manhattan district attorney has made a career of weaponizing the law, selectively prosecuting those who don’t fit his narrative. He’s the same prosecutor who twisted legal precedent to go after Donald Trump on business charges no one had ever faced before. Then, he turned his sights on Daniel Penny.

A jury may have acquitted Penny, but what happened in New York City this week isn’t justice. When the rule of law changes depending on the defendant’s identity or the prosecutor's political motives, we’re no longer living in a free country. We’re living in a state where justice is a game, and ordinary Americans are the pawns.

The system failed Jordan Neely

It’s worth asking: Where were activists like Alvin Bragg when Neely was suffering on the streets? Jordan Neely was a tragic figure — a man with a long history of mental illness and over 40 arrests, including violent assaults. The system failed him long before he stepped onto that subway train. Yet rather than confront that uncomfortable truth, Bragg’s office decided to target the man who stepped in to prevent a tragedy.

This isn’t about justice. It’s about power. It’s about advancing a narrative where race and identity matter more than truth and common sense.

It’s time to demand change

The Daniel Penny case — and others like it — is a wake-up call. We cannot allow corrupt institutions to punish those who act to protect life and liberty. Americans must demand an end to politically driven prosecutions, hold DAs like Alvin Bragg accountable, and stand up for the principle that true justice is blind, consistent, and fair.

If we let this slide, we accept a world in which heroes are treated as criminals and the law is a weapon for ideological warfare. It’s time to choose which America we want to live in.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

CEO Brian Thompson's killer reveals COWARDICE of the far-left death cult

Jeff Swensen / Stringer | Getty Images

Early on the chilly morning of Wednesday, December 4th, Brian Thompson, CEO of health insurance giant, UnitedHealthcare, was walking through Midtown Manhattan on his way to a company conference. Suddenly, a masked and hooded figure silently allegedly stepped onto the sidewalk behind Thompson, drew a 3-D printed, silenced pistol, and without warning fired multiple shots into Thompson's back before fleeing the scene on an electric bicycle. After a multiple-day manhunt, a 26-year-old lead suspect was arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania after being recognized by an employee.

This was not "vigilante justice." This was cold-blooded murder.

As horrific as the murder of a husband and father in broad daylight in the center of New York City is, the story only gets worse. Even before the murder suspect was arrested, left-wing extremists were already taking to X to call him a "hero" and a "vigilante" who "took matters into his own hands." Even the mainstream media joined in on the glorification, as Glenn pointed out on air recently, going out of the way to show how physically attractive the murder suspect was. This wave of revolting and nihilistic fanfare came in response to the findings of online investigators who surmised the murder suspect's motives to retaliate against healthcare companies for corruption and denied coverage. The murder suspect supposedly underwent a major back surgery that left him with back pain, and some of his internet fans apparently viewed his murder of Thompson as retribution for the mistreatment that he and many other Americans have suffered from healthcare companies.

me liking tweets celebrating the assassination of the united healthcare ceo pic.twitter.com/N41w51ZuZR
— 🔻 (@pegasustits) December 5, 2024

The murder suspect and his lackeys don't seem to understand that, other than depriving two children of their father right before Christmas, he accomplished nothing.

The murder suspect failed to achieve his goal because he was too cowardly to try.

If the murder suspect's goals were truly to "right the wrongs" of the U.S. healthcare system, he had every tool available to him to do so in a constructive and meaningful manner. He came from a wealthy and prominent family in the Baltimore area, became the valedictorian at a prestigious all-boys prep school, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a master's in engineering. Clearly, the murder suspect was intelligent and capable, and if he had put his talent into creating solutions for the healthcare industry, who knows what he could have accomplished?

This is the kind of behavior the far-left idolizes, like communists on college campuses who wear shirts that celebrate the brutal Cuban warlord, Che Guevara. Merchandise celebrating the UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect is already available, including shirts, hoodies, mugs, and even Christmas ornaments. Will they be sporting his face on their T-shirts too?

A liberal TikToker is selling a t-shirt that glorifies the recent assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in NYC.
“deny , defend, depose” was reported to have been on the shell casings. pic.twitter.com/IWpHYkx2lF
— SteveSant66 🇺🇸 (@SSant66) December 8, 2024

This macabre behavior does not breed creation, achievement, success, or life. It only brings death and risks more Americans falling into this dangerous paradigm. But we still have a chance to choose life. We just have to wake up and take it.

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