Hand-Knitted Baby Cardigan Tells a Story of Survival and Healing From the Middle East

December 01, 2016

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In the Middle East, both mental illness and rape carry an inescapable stigma. So when Mercury One, with the help of generous donations from supporters, rescued a mother and two of her three daughters from a life of sex slavery with ISIS, caregivers on the ground came up with an ingenious way to offer counseling and recovery care.

"We're working through this other organization . . . these women take off their doctor's clothes, and they just go in regular clothes with yarn and knitting needles. They've got a little van, you know, Knitting Is Us or something, and they go to these houses and say to all the neighbors and everybody, Oh, we're teaching her how to knit.

While the women knit, they also receive counseling on how to deal with the loss of their children, the rapes they endured and anything else needed.

The sweater Glenn held on air Thursday was made during counseling by the mother rescued from ISIS.

"I want you to know how grateful we are, and more importantly, how grateful they are to you, for saving their life and the lives of their children," Glenn said.

To date, donations made to Mercury One's Nazarene Fund have helped save and relocate nearly 4,000 Christians and Yazidis. Visit Mercury One online to learn more about these rescue efforts or to make a donation to The Nazarene Fund.

Enjoy this complimentary clip from The Glenn Beck Program:

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:

GLENN: Hello, and welcome to the program. I -- I want to share a story. And especially if you're watching us on TheBlaze TV or on the podcast at GlennBeck.com or however you're watching us, if you happen to be viewing us, I'll describe it here in a second. But this is so much more than a sweater.

I think -- is this not one of the most beautiful children's sweaters you've ever seen?

JEFFY: Yes. And --

STU: It's great.

JEFFY: And the other items in the story that surround this was fascinating.

GLENN: Fascinating.

So this is something Tania and I bought for my grandson. He's never going to get it. This is one of the most beautiful sweaters I've ever seen. In fact, I was talking to my son-in-law about it. He just brought it in. He said, "Where did you get this?"

And I said, "I'll tell you later. Why?" And he said, "This is some of the most beautiful work I've seen." He said, "This would cost 500 bucks."

PAT: Oh, and he knows fashion.

GLENN: He knows fashion. He's like, "This is a 500-dollar sweater easy." And you can tell it's all handmade. And it's just beautiful.

PAT: Was it Bergdorf Goodman he worked at for a long time?

GLENN: Yeah, which is like the Neiman Marcus times ten in New York.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: And so it's a beautiful handmade sweater for a little child. The story behind this sweater is so -- I just don't ever want my grandson to ever wear it. I just want to keep it, you know.

This sweater was made by a woman that Mercury One, through you and the Nazarene Fund, saved.

She was kidnapped, along with her three daughters, by ISIS. And sold into sex slavery. I think she was able to -- wasn't she able to keep two of the children with her. Is that right, Jeffy?

JEFFY: The original story was that she had two of the three with her now. I don't know how they got those two.

GLENN: So part of the thing that the Nazarene Fund is doing, is we're going in and we're trying to find these women and these children that have been captured and been used as sex slaves and bring them out.

But there's a problem in the Middle East with -- mental health problems are looked at in the Middle East kind of like they were looked at maybe in the 1930s. They're shameful. And nobody wants to know about sex slaves. Nobody wants to know about mental health problems.

And so there's -- there's nothing you can do to help rehabilitate these people, if you expect them to come to a hospital and get counseling. It's just not going to happen.

So we found this -- we found all these women. We rescued all these women. We rescued this woman and I believe two of her children. And her 13 is still missing. And we're still looking for the third. And we've moved them way up north into a safe area. And because it's just in this normal community, she can't go to get mental help. Now, imagine being raped six times a day and then standing there while some guy is raping your daughter. Imagine what your life is like.

Well, you can't get anybody to go to a doctor, and you certainly can't -- you can't get them to go to a foreigner. So -- and a man.

So what we have done is we're working through this other organization that has dressed these -- these trucks up as -- you know, these women take off their doctor's clothes, and they just go in regular clothes with yarn and knitting needles. And they've got a little van. You know, Knitting-is-Us or something.

And they go to these houses, and they say to all the neighbors and everybody. "Oh, we're teaching her how to knit."

And so while they knit, so no one knows what they're doing, they're giving her counseling on how to deal with the loss of her children and the rapes that she endured and everything else.

So this was made by a survivor of the ISIS sex slave while she was getting counseling. And we just had a big fundraiser for Mercury One. And a bunch of this stuff was sold.

JEFFY: Yeah. They were -- while that sweater is beautiful. There were other items there that were unbelievable.

GLENN: Unbelievable.

JEFFY: Mittens and socks and -- because we originally walked up, and we were talking about how our grandmothers used to give us these knitted hats and mittens for Christmas when we were little kids.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

JEFFY: And then we found out how these were made, and it was like, "Well, these are a lot better."

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. It's just -- it was just heart-wrenching and beautiful. And I just wanted to show you today -- I wanted to bring this in and show you the beauty of what you have done.

Out of the horror, the beauty that you have done. Please, don't dismiss what you have been a part of, if you helped free some of these people in Iraq, these Christians and the Yazidi women. Don't dismiss that.

I want you to know how grateful we are, and more importantly, how grateful they are to you, for saving their life and the lives of their children.

Featured Image: Baby sweater hand-knitted by an ISIS sex slave survivor, as featured on The Glenn Beck Program.

Who is Pam Bondi, Trump's new AG pick?

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With Matt Gaetz out of the picture, President Trump has already named former Florida AG Pam Bondi as his latest pick as his US Attorney General.

As US Attorney General, Bondi will be placed at the head of the Department of Justice, the most crucial role in Trump's plans to root out the deep state. As Glenn discussed on his radio show, the Biden White House has weaponized the Department of Justice, against President Trump in an attempt to thwart his 2024 re-election. The Department of Justice is crooked to the core, and it will take a herculean effort to bring enduring reform to this pivotal government agency.

Does Pam Bondi have what it takes to lead the Department of Justice? What does her resume look like? Does she have any skeletons in the closet that the Democrats could use against her? Here's everything you need to know about Pam Bondi below:

Bondi's Resume

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Bondi started her career as a prosecutor working for the Hillsborough County Attorney's Office where she handled countless cases that ranged from domestic violence to murder. In 2010 Bondi made history by becoming Florida's first female attorney general. She spent her time in office fighting back against Florida's opioid crisis and openly challenged Obamacare.

Bondi worked with the first Trump administration, using her experience fighting the opioid crisis in Trump's Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission. After Trump was impeached for the first time, Bondi joined the team of defense lawyers fighting back against the prosecution's allegations.

Bondi has spent the last four years working for a Florida-based lobbying firm, but she still showed support for President Trump by making appearances alongside him during the New York City hush money trial.

Bondi's Dedication to fix the DoJ

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Judging by her track record and the testimony of her colleagues, Bondi is more than capable of tackling the Department of Justice. Bondi has a record of following and enforcing the rule of law and has spent much of her career making communities safer. Bondi has firsthand experience with political elitists and corruption, having worked at nearly every level of the government from the bottom to the top.

Bondi stood by Trump as he faced impeachment and stayed by his side as he faced waves of lawfare after 2020. It's clear that Bondi has great respect for President Trump and is deeply familiar with the weaponization of the Department of Justice. It seems like she has what it takes to fix the system.

Bondi's Potential Controversies

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The Mainstream Media wasted no time digging up dirt on Bondi, looking for anything that might stand between her and a Senate confirmation.

The biggest story circulating the media involves a 2013 case about "Trump University," a now-defunct company that offered courses in real estate, entrepreneurship, and other similar courses. In 2013, the New York Attorney General's office went after Trump University due to reports that the program was a "scam." Bondi began a similar investigation, which allegedly came to a halt after she received a $25,000 check from the Trump Foundation for her re-election campaign. Bondi has never been formally accused of illegal activity, but now that she is under the national spotlight, she could face serious scrutiny.

Bondi's tenure as a lobbyist has also been called into question. She was registered as a lobbyist for several foreign and corporate entities, which could be seen as a potential weakness or conflict of interest—or at the very least bring her dedication to fighting corruption into question.

AI Jesus and other INSANE new uses of Artificial Intelligence

Glenn has repeatedly warned about the dangers artificial intelligence poses to humanity. Yet, it seems like every week, some new AI project seems to inch us closer to that worst-case scenario.

It's not all bad. Even Glenn could resist the urge to buy an AI-powered, flamethrower-wielding, robotic dog to accompany him on his ranch. The future is here, and these are threeinsane new ways the power of AI is being harnessed — for better or worse.

AI Jesus

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Many have wished to have a face-to-face conversation with Jesus, but this probably isn't what anyone had in mind. A church in Lucerne, Switzerland recently teamed up with scientists and computer experts from the nearby Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts to create a digital duplicate of Christ designed to listen to confessions and give scripture-supported advice to those who ask. The computer even creates a hologram image of Jesus that talks to people in real time. The AI was trained with the New Testament and "religious information found online," and is fluent in over 100 languages.

While some are impressed with his answers to moderately complex theological questions, many are skeptical, claiming that giving a machine the face and name of God is a form of idolatry. Others worry that it will turn Jesus into a "woke warrior."

AI Coca-Cola Ad

The holiday season is upon us, and Coca-Cola has released its newest Christmas ad campaign. These latest commercials feature shiny, Coca-Cola red semi-trucks driving through an idyllic winter wonderland on a mission to deliver soda to a festively decorated town — standard holiday ad fare. But this year, Coca-Cola decided to put a "futuristic spin" on their ad campaign — the commercials are all AI-generated. It doesn't take a detective to spot the tell-tale AI hallmarks, from truck wheels that don't spin as the truck is driving to the eerie expressions of the people in the ad that twist and contort in creepy ways. The holiday magic is lost.

AI Grandma

A British telecom company, Virgin Media O2, unveiled Daisy, an AI chatbot designed to scam the scammers. Daisy is designed to sound and talk like an elderly woman and is tasked to deliberately connect with telephone scammers (who typically target older people) and waste their time with heaps of meandering chatter so that scammers have less time to target real people. Daisy has already proved capable of fooling scammers into long phone conversations, which ultimately end up fruitless. Can you think of a better use of AI?

The THREE ways RFK Jr. will Make America Healthy Again

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One of President Trump's most popular campaign promises was to "Make America Great Again," and he has employed the help of his former opponent, RFK Jr., to make that promise come true.

In an interview with NPR, RFK Jr. revealed the three directives Trump has tasked him as the new head of the Department of Health and Human Services. These directives aim to cut out the "cancer" that Glenn exposed in his latest TV special that has spread throughout theentire federal government.

Here are the three directives Trump gave RFK Jr.:

1. Rid health agencies of corruption and conflicts.

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It is no secret that the departments that fall under the HHS, such as the FDA, NIH, and CDC, are rife with corruption. After the COVID lockdowns raised suspicion that these federal agencies did not have the American people's best interests at heart, Americans have been increasingly distrustful of these institutions. Glenn exposed several instances of corruption across the HHS, from Dr. Fauchi's Covid powertrip to the insidious relationship between private entities like Big Food, Big Pharma, and the federal agencies that regulate them.

RFK Jr. has been one of the most vocal critics of the corruption that has turned these federal agencies against the very people they were created to protect and is the best person to reform these institutions.

2. Return agencies to the gold standard of empirically based, evidence-based science and medicine.

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Under Biden, the HHS has degraded even further than it had before. Scientific methodology and empirical data are no longer the backbones of these institutions. They have been replaced with DEI and other woke agendas. The Department of Health and Human Services is the second largest federal agency, only behind the Pentagon, with a budget of 1.7 trillion dollarsand over 83 thousand employees. The opportunity for waste and negligence is monumental.

Biden appointed former California Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, to the head of HHS, along with Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, as the Assistant Secretary for Health. Before long the second-largest federal agency started looking like a university DEI office, with hundreds of DEI hires adding to government bloat. Instead of battling the diseases and sicknesses that plague our country, the HHS spent the past four years going after pro-life investigators who were exposing how Planned Parenthood sells body parts of aborted babies, opposing the merger of religious-based hospitals to protect transgender and abortion "rights," and wrestling over Obama-era contraceptive mandates with a group of Catholic nuns. This is quackery and waste on an unprecedented scale.

RFK Jr. is tasked with rooting out the corruption that sprang forth with the Biden administration's DEI agenda and put science back in our health policy.

3. End the chronic disease epidemic with measurable impacts within two years.

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Today, despite our modern technology, Americans are sicker than ever before. 129 million Americans have at least one chronic disease, 42 percent have two or more, and 12 percent have more than five. Life expectancy is at a twenty-year low despite the fact that we are spending more than ever on health care. Even our children are sick, with a staggering 40 percent of school-aged kids having at least one chronic disease. One in nine kids has ADHD, and one in 54 has autism, both representing a steep increase over past decades.

America is sick, and Big Pharma is just rolling in the profits. This is where RFK Jr. comes in. He aims to find the cures and preventions to these diseases and make Americans healthy instead of lifelong patients.

POLL: Is Matt Gaetz in trouble?!

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Trump is assembling a dream team to take on the deep state that has burdened the American people for far too long.

It's no surprise Democrats have been pushing back against Trump's nominations, but one person in particular has been experiencing the most resistance: Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump's pick to serve as his Attorney General. The controversy centers around a years-long House ethics probe regarding sexual misconduct allegations made against Gaetz several years ago. Despite the FBI conducting its own investigation and refusing to prosecute Gaetz, his nomination re-ignited interest in these allegations.

Democrats and some Republicans demand the House Ethics Committee release their probe into Gaetz before his Senate confirmation hearing. Conveniently, earlier this week, an anonymous hacker obtained this coveted report and gave it to the New York Times, which has yet to make the information public.

Glenn is very skeptical about the entire affair, from the allegations against Gaetz to the hacker's "anonymity." Is it another case of lawfare by the Democrats?

Glenn wants to know what do you think. Did Gaetz commit the crimes he's accused of? Will he still be appointed attorney general? Let us know in the poll below:

Glenn's Show Prep