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When the NY Times Theater Section Says You've Gone Too Far, You've Gone Too Far

Et tu, Shakespeare in the Park? New York Public Theatre's summer season kicked off with a production of Julius Caeser that seems to have taken a page from the Kathy Griffin playbook. It's a modern interpretation that includes the lead role of Caesar dressed as Donald Trump. And, in case you skipped ancient history in high school or college --- spoiler alert --- Caesar doesn't survive a bloody assassination attempt.

The production, even according to The New York Times, crossed a line --- so much so that two major sponsors have ended their support. Delta issued a company statement that included the following:

No matter what your political stance may be, the graphic staging of ‘Julius Caesar’ at this summer’s free Shakespeare in the Park does not reflect Delta Air Lines’ values. Their artistic and creative direction crossed the line on the standards of good taste. We have notified them of our decision to end our sponsorship as the official airline of the Public Theater effective immediately.

Bank of America followed suit:

The Public Theater chose to present ‘Julius Caesar’ in a way that was intended to provoke and offend. Had this intention been made known to us, we would have decided not to sponsor it. We are withdrawing our funding for this production.

Jesse Green of The New York Times wrote this in his review:

Its depiction of a petulant, blondish Caesar in a blue suit, complete with gold bathtub and a pouty Slavic wife, takes onstage Trump-trolling to a startling new level. The “vividly staged” production hews to the traditional interpretation of Shakespeare’s work. Even a cursory reading of the play, the kind that many American teenagers give it in high school, is enough to show that it does not advocate assassination. Shakespeare portrays the killing of Caesar by seven of his fellow senators as an unmitigated disaster for Rome, no matter how patriotic the intentions.

"When The New York Times theater section says, 'Perhaps you've gone too far,' you've gone too far," Glenn said Monday on radio.

Enjoy the complimentary clip or read the transcript for details.

GLENN:  Hello, America.  Let me -- let me start with this.  Delta and the Bank of America have dropped their sponsorship of something that they have a long-term sponsor.

 

Now, is art political speech?  Yes.

 

Can it be political speech?  Yes.

 

Does it have to be political speech?  No.

 

Is Shakespeare political speech?

 

I've seen -- I've seen Shakespeare -- I've seen Macbeth done as they were all dressed as Germans, and they were Nazis.  Yes, it was political speech.  It was political speech when it came out.

 

Shakespeare In the Park has happened in New York City for a very long time.  Shakespeare in the park happens in almost every American city -- at least big city.  New York City has decided to put Shakespeare In the Park and Julius Caesar on.  And what happened was Julius Caesar instead of being dressed in a toga, is dressed in a blue suit and a very long tie.  And it's said in contemporary America, "And he's the president of the United States," and he looks like Donald Trump

 

PAT:  And his wife speaks with a Slovak accent.

 

GLENN:  Is that a problem?  I mena, I don't understand why you had to bring that up.

 

And so there's a scene in Julius Caesar that includes a very bloody murder, an assassination obviously.  It's Julius Caesar.

 

STU:  A spoiler alert.

 

GLENN:  Sorry.  Sorry.  I know it just came out and we're all flocking to it.

 

PAT:  Unreal.

 

GLENN:  Bank of America issued this statement:  Bank of America supports art programs worldwide, including 11-year-old.  An 11-year partnership with the public theater and Shakespeare In the Park.

 

Public theater chose to present Julius Caesar in such a way that it was intended to provoke and offend.  Had this intention been made known to us, we would have decided not to sponsor it.  We're withdrawing our funding from this production.

 

PAT:  Nice.

 

GLENN:  Wow.  That's unbelievable.

 

PAT:  That is.  That is.

 

GLENN:  Now, immediately, you say, nice.

 

PAT:  But we don't like boycotts.

 

GLENN:  I don't like boycotts for --

 

PAT:  Yeah.

 

GLENN:  When it comes to -- when it comes to sponsorship of art, first of all, I don't agree with this.  I would have been offended by this.  I wouldn't have liked it.  I would have gotten up and gone, "Okay.  I get it."  But I would have also kind of expected it from New York, okay?  And I wouldn't have liked it.  And I'm torn because I'm glad somebody says, "You know, we have higher standards than Kathy Griffin holding on a a severed head of the president."  There's no place for that.

 

STU:  We are learning that there is a line of criticism of conservatives or Republicans or whoever.

 

GLENN:  Yeah.

 

STU:  Which basically is limited at the decapitated head of --

 

PAT:  Well, depictions of murdering the president is --

 

STU:  Is about it.  It's about all you can't do.

 

PAT:  That's not cool.  We've always said it.

 

GLENN:  We've always said that.  We said that under George Bush.  We've said that under Barack Obama.  We say that under Donald Trump.  You don't do that.

 

PAT:  You don't do that.

 

GLENN:  You don't even joke about it.  You don't get near any of that.  So I don't like any of it.  However, we're getting to a place to where if we keep ratcheting up these boycotts -- and these boycotts -- people are not -- companies are just not going to spend money on sponsoring things that you're going to like.

 

STU:  It leads to a very boring world.

 

GLENN:  A very boring -- because who is going to pay for it?

 

STU:  Right.  When there is something interesting or intriguing -- again, I don't think this is that.

 

GLENN:  I don't either.  That's why kind of putting this into good news category.  It's common sense.  You don't do that about the president.

 

PAT:  And you wouldn't expect Bank of America to join this boycott.

 

GLENN:  No.  No.

 

PAT:  That's completely -- Delta, I don't know.  I'm not sure of their political leanings.  But Bank of America, you would never expect that from them.  It's amazing.

 

STU:  So is it an organized boycott in which people are pressuring these companise to do it, or did they just happen to see --

 

PAT:  No, I think they just happened to pull out.

 

STU:  That's not a boycott.  That's just them saying --

 

GLENN:  Well, you know that -- I can't imagine that somebody --

 

STU:  Who would even know?  It's Shakespeare In the Park.  Who would even know that it occurred?  I mean, it had to be some Bank of America executive who went.

 

PAT:  Yeah.  Bank of America just said they withdrew its financial support.  There's nothing wrong with that.  That's great.

 

STU:  And I would guess that the next presentation -- production they have isn't about murdering the president.  They'll probably sponsor it.

 

GLENN:  I will tell you this, it doesn't say anything in here about an organized boycott at all.

 

PAT:  Yeah, it doesn't actually say that.

 

GLENN:  What it does say is Jesse Green, the New York Times co-chief theater critic wrote in his review:  Even a cursory reading of the play, the kind that many American teenagers give it in high school, does not advocate assassination.  He says that the killing is an unmitigated disaster for Rome, no matter how patriotic the intentions.  However, Green says, that the production may leave some theater goers, including those who loathe Mr. Trump, to wonder if perhaps they've gone too far.

(chuckling)

When the New York Times theater section says, "Perhaps you've gone too far," you've gone too far.

TV

Glenn Finally Gets a REAL Job: Cracker Barrel Biscuit Maker | Glenn TV | Ep 471

If this whole media thing doesn’t work out, Glenn can always fall back on his biscuit-making skills! Take a break from the apocalypse and enjoy some Cracker Barrel carbs made by everyone’s favorite son of a baker!

RADIO

Exposed: How Minnesota taxpayers are FUNDING Al Qaeda in Somalia

New reporting from Christopher Rufo and Ryan Thorpe provides evidence that Minnesota taxpayer dollars are being funneled by Somali immigrants to Al Shabaab, the East African branches of Al Qaeda. Glenn Beck reviews how these scams have worked and what we can do to stop them.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Let me take you to Minnesota now.

I don't want to talk to you about politics. Our elections.

Culture wars. But something far, far more dangerous.

And more fundamental. Because the city journal has uncovered not a fraud scandal. This isn't waste. It's not inefficiency. This is a pipeline directly from your wallet. And this -- what I'm about to tell you, is all based on Ryan Thorpe. And Christopher Rufo's reporting.

That is some of the best reporting, I have seen. And this -- this is -- this is crazy!

The largest single funder. The largest single funder of that pipeline today, from your wallet to a foreign terror group, according to multiple federal sources, is the taxpayer of the state of Minnesota. Let me repeat that. Because it's not a punch line. This is not hyperbole. This is not a claim thrown around on social media. According to federal counterterrorism sources, quoted by the City Journal, quote, the largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer. What is Al-Shabaab? In case you don't remember.

It is the east African branch of al-Qaeda. This is the same group that bombs hotels. They slaughter Christians. They massacre schoolchildren. They publicly behead those who defy their authority.

And that, the major funder is you, in Minnesota!

And this is what happens when you mix a naive wide open, no questions asked welfare machine, with a political class, terrified of being called a racist.

And then a police class that's actually in on it, as well.

And then you throw in a media terrified of reporting anything that challenges progressive dogma.

And then a community where Klan networks and overseas loyalties operate underneath the radar of government. Because governments are unwilling to look there!

That is the perfect storm.

That's Minnesota.

And it is drowning inside of that storm.

Now, it started with a program called HSS.

The Housing Stabilization Services. It was launched in 2020 to help people on the margins. The addicts. The elderly. The mentally ill.

Noble idea.

But it was designed with everything a criminal enterprise dreams of! Low barriers to entry. Minimal requirements for reimbursement.

Billions in Medicaid dollars, with almost zero verification!

Now, before the program even started, bureaucrats estimated it might cost $2.6 million a year.

In four years, it went from 2.6 to 21 million.

Then the next year, in court 22 million. The next year 74 million.

To over $100 million every year.

2.6, to over 100!

This year alone, 77 HHS providers have been terminated for credible allegations of fraud. Seventy-seven.

I don't know if you saw this. The acting attorney. US attorney said, quote, the vast majority of this program was fraudulent.

Not over billing. Not paperwork. No mistakes.

Fictitious companies. Empty story fronts. Ghost clients. Stacks of faked claims. Six of the eight defendants indicated that they were members of the Minnesota Somali community, but this is the first ripple.

There was another scheme. The 250-million dollar mega scheme. That came from Feeding Our Future.

Feeding Our Future is a nonprofit that went from $3 million to $200 million in federal food aid dollars, in two years!

Three million to a straight line up to 200 million! To help feed the hungry in Minnesota, in two years. Wow! Fake meal accounts.

Fake attendants. Fake invoices. Dozens of defendants. Primarily, members of Minnesota's Somali community. Some of them bought luxury homes, fancy cars, properties in Kenya and Turkey. And when the state raised any kind of concern, the group sued, claiming racism. And everybody was like, racism.
I don't know what I call that.

The investigators were chastised. The politicians stayed quiet. The media -- by the way, that's government you could have had as vice president right now. Everyone knew the rule. Don't question. You can't criticize, okay? If you want to survive politically, no!

So the cost $250 million stolen, right there, hung on the backs of taxpayers, who believed they were feeding hungry kids.

Now add on to that. So we've got two scandals. Now add on to that, the autism scam.

Days after those indictments, another scheme exploded. Autism services. A Somali woman already tied to feeding our future was charged with leading a 14 million-dollar Medicare fraud ring.

That was invented diagnosis. They bought parents with kickbacks. They created a network of fake autism centers, autism spending. In Minnesota, jumped from 3 million, to 399 million in just a couple of years.

Providers ballooned from 41 providers to 328.

One in 16 Somalia 4-year-olds were suddenly diagnosed. One in every 16 suddenly had autism. That's triple the state average. And nobody was -- nobody is looking into that? What's happening in the Somali community? This wasn't CAIR. This wasn't treatment. This was a racket. And it wasn't isolated.

Let me tell you what the US attorney Joseph Thompson said. He said, these schemes form a web, that has stolen billions of dollars.

So why did nobody ask where that money went.

Where did the money go. Oh. You're not going to like the answer.

Somalia depends on remittances from abroad. $1.7 billion sent to Somalia last year alone. That is more money than the country's entire government budget!

Imagine somebody sending us $6 trillion.

That's what happened in Somalia. Investigators told Chris Rufo and the city journal that welfare recipients in Minnesota, were sending the money overseas.

Called Hawalla money transfer networks. They were moving tens of millions of dollars all the time.

And Al-Shabaab, the terrorist organization, takes a cut of every dollar entering the Somali clan channels. One terrorism task force investigator said, every cent, sent back to Somalia, benefits Al-Shabaab in some way. It's not speculation. It's not theory. It's not conjecture. This is the conclusion of multiple federal investigators, who have spent years tracking the money flow.

They said Minnesota Somali community runs a sophisticated money pipeline, directly from the pockets of US taxpayers, directly to Somalia!

Welfare dollars. Fraudulently obtained. Transferred to Somalia. Al-Shabaab benefits every single time, and here's the part that should terrify everybody. They warn that if one terrorist attack could be traced back to these funds.

The entire country will discover overnight.

That we were financing the very groups sworn to destroy us.

Gang, you're going to find this in Epstein. You're going to find this -- we already did with USA ID. You're going to find this everywhere. The greatest heist of human history, the largest robbery of wealth has been happening right under our noses and we didn't even know the bank turned off the alarms!

All of our wealth being transferred out. Why didn't Minnesota stop this. Why didn't the journalists investigate this?

Why didn't the officials sound the alarm?

Well, here's the reason. If you don't win the Somali community. You don't win Minneapolis. If you don't win Minneapolis, you don't win the state. That's it!

You're going to say anything about it.

Of course not.

Of course, you won't say a damn thing about it.

Ilhan Omar staff. Advocated for the later groups later charged with fraud.

State officials were looking the other way. Democratic leadership, refused audits. Oversight. Even any kind of scrutiny. Because the political cost of calling out fraud, if it occurred inside that Somali community, was considered higher than the cost of losing billions of your dollars. So they let it grow.

They let it metastasize. They let it intertwine with criminal and terrorist networks overseas.

You're just an Islamophobe. It's not about ethnicity. This is about a system that refuses to protect its own citizens. Enough is enough!

Is every Somali Minnesotan responsible? No, that's absurd!

But ignoring the fact that organized fraud rings have emerged inside a specific community, that doesn't have loyalty! Many times, to the United States of America, when nobody would look into it.
The FBI, investigative journalists.

That's not tolerance. It's negligence. It's cowardice.

And it's allowed billions of dollars meant for the poor of our nation. Your hard-earned money. To become an international money laundering system that helps finance the second largest al-Qaeda franchise on planet earth.

This is what happens when ideology replaces oversight. When equity replaces accountability.

When fear of being labeled a racist overrides the responsibility to protect -- to protect taxpayers or safeguard national security!

Minnesota didn't just mismanage welfare programs. It didn't just lose money.

It didn't just fall asleep.

It built through fear and politics and continual. The perfect getaway through which billions of our dollars could pour from American safety net programs, into overseas networks that feed, support, and expand the reach of violent jihadist organizations.

Wow.

I think it was the US attorney that said, it should take your breath away.

It does. It does.

Now, here's the -- here's the thing. I started talking to you today, about the Bubba Effect. You're seeing the Bubba Effect happening now in Dearborn. You have a guy who is wrapping a Koran in bacon, and all kinds of trouble is happening because of it. And I don't know any common sense individual on either side of the aisle, that thinks that's a good idea.

Okay?

But a lot of people including me, at times, is like, look what he's saying though. It's not about the bacon. It's about the Koran. Look at what's he's saying. This is out of control.

And nobody is saying it. At least he's saying it. No, no, no. That's the Bubba Effect.

No! He's wrong in what he's doing. He's not necessarily wrong in what it is highlighting.
But we can't be part of the Bubba Effect.

Let's just highlight the real stuff!

But people get so frustrated, it takes bacon and a Koran to make people pay attention again.

This is not a Minnesota story.

This is not even a story about Somalia. This is a story about USAID. This is a story about Epstein.

All of our money. And this is a story about silence. And fear. And institutional corruption and surrender.

And unless we confront it honestly. Unflinchingly. Immediately. With truth!

We're all going to be poor.

We will all end up being Somalia. Because in the end, every last time that we have, will be taken.

And shipped some place else, and used against us for our own demise.

RADIO

Witnessing a SpaceX Launch & Predicting Elon Musk's Legacy in 50 Years

Glenn Beck recently witnessed a SpaceX rocket launch from hours away, and the raw power of it sent him into a passionate breakdown about the wonder of space travel, the brilliance of Elon Musk, and the insanity of a culture that’s turning on its greatest innovators. From the days of the Space Shuttle to Musk’s Starship and self-driving Tesla vehicles, Glenn argues that Elon isn’t just a tech founder, but rather a once-in-history mind, a modern Edison who revived an American spirit we had forgotten.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Last night, here in Florida, Tania said SpaceX is going to launch another missile. About 15 minutes. Let's go outside and see if we can see it. And we live right on the coast. And all of a sudden, you know, we're watching it, ten, nine, eight, seven, six. And about 45 seconds after the launch. We're like, oh, but we can't see it. Then all of a sudden, over the top of the trees, we just see this flame coming up. And it was absolutely. I posted it on the Instagram last night. On my Instagram page. It was absolutely one of the most amazing things I've seen.

From a distance. I've seen it once before. I've seen the last space shuttle lift off in the middle of the night. And I really close. I was across the water. I was just right across from -- what is it?

Cape Kennedy.

And I could not believe, it was a wonder of the world. 3 o'clock in the morning. All of a sudden, it was just day light.

And now, I'm -- oh, I don't even know.

Three hours away. Two, three hours away?

And it's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.

It just starts coming up. And then, you know, you see the rocket. The boosters detach.

The -- the first stage rockets go out. They turn blue. Then they go out.

And then you see them. And it just picks up so much speed. And just racing through the sky.

It is incredible. It's incredible.

If you've never seen a rocket launch, I can't wait to see his -- what is the -- that was a falcon.

What's the big, big heavy one that he's working on.

Nobody knows.

VOICE: Falcon Heavy, isn't it?

VOICE: Is it the Falcon Heavy?

I don't know.

I don't think so.

I think -- somebody look this up.

Starship. That's it.

I think it's based on the original Soviet design. The Soviets, the reason why we beat the Soviets up in space, is they had this great design of like 24 rockets.

Where we had like four, big, huge ones for lift.

They had like 24, 25 rockets, at the bottom of it.

But they couldn't synchronize them.

You know, this was when computing was really, really bad.

They couldn't synchronize them.

So they couldn't keep it level.

So it would take off. And spiral out of control and blow up.

That's the reason why we beat them into space.

I saw the bottom end of one of these rockets in a video. And I think -- I think it's the original Soviet design. I'm not sure. Because now we have the ability to synchronize everything. But I can't wait to see that thing. Because it's bigger than a Saturn rocket. Bigger the ones that we send to the moon.

JASON: At some point, I don't know if the wonder of space travel left.

JASON: We get bored with things.

JASON: It's so weird. But Elon Musk just brought it back. I mean, we're doing just amazing stuff.

GLENN: It's like everything.

We did it. We mastered it. We put people on the moon. Everybody was crazed about it. I remember sitting in class and seeing the astronauts, you know, on the moon. We would go in. They would bring in an old TV.

And they would sit the TV. Before these things were even on the little -- you know, wheel, you know, AV kind of things.

It was just a big old TV.

And we all went into the regular -- you know, the gym, and we watched it on a regular TV.

And them walking around, on the moon. And that must have been in the early '70s.

And then after that, everybody was like, yeah. So we've been to the moon. Now, nobody believes we've gone to the moon ever.

Now we're going back up. And, I mean, it's amazing. It's amazing to watch. Because you just think, I just watched it last night. I'm like, my gosh. Look at the power of that thing.

I could -- how far are we away?

Three hours?

Two hours?

You could hear it. You could hear it. It got to a certain place. Where my wife said, you can see it on the tape on Instagram. My wife at one point said, can you hear that?

You could! You could hear the crackle of it. It is -- I mean, it's incredible. Just incredible.

I really want to go see a liftoff in person, again. Just amazing.

STU: Yeah. We should. To be clear, we should excommunicate him out of our society. Because you wore a red hat a few times. That, I think is a smart -- it's a smart move.

GLENN: I know. What a dummy.

STU: Yeah. He's an idiot. And obviously, we don't need him helping our country, right now.

Why?

Because he voted for lower taxes or something.

We -- that's a good way to run our society.

GLENN: Hate that guy. Hate that guy.

STU: Amazing.

GLENN: What a dope.

We have just -- we have just become morons.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: We really -- really have.

History will look back and go, at what point, they just became morons. You know.

STU: Do you find it interesting, Glenn. He was at this turn with the Saudi Arabian, you know, delegation, I guess.

Trump did a turn and invited a bunch of VIPs to it.

I thought a good sign from the perspective of the relationship between Trump and Elon Musk, that he was invited in, was there.

Right?

Remember, they had a total falling out. It was over the Epstein files. If you --

GLENN: No. They made nice at Charlie Kirk's funeral.

STU: Yeah. So that's what you think earlier repaired. Somewhat repaired at this point?

GLENN: Yeah. Somewhat repaired. And, you know, if you're trying to showcase the best of America. Who better to have at the table than Elon Musk?

I mean, he is the Tesla or the Edison of our day. There's nobody -- is there anybody in the world that everybody, with an exception of those who are just so politically, you know -- I don't know.

Pilled. That they just can't stand anybody that votes differently than them.

I mean, be even when he was -- we thought he was a real big lefty.

I still wanted to meet the guy.

I still wanted to be, man, I would give my right arm to sit and listen to that guy in the same room.

You know what I mean?

It would be great.

This is a guy who will be remembered for hundreds of years.

After Jesus comes.

Well, we may not have history books at that point.

But he's going to be remembered for hundreds of years, as one of the greatest human beings ever. When they were still human beings.

So, I mean, who doesn't want to meet that guy?

How is it that we have half of our -- we have half of our country now just hating on that guy?

It's genius. Would you be happier if he was Chinese.

STU: Thank God, he's here.

GLENN: Thank God.

STU: And wants to be here.

And wants to be in this environment.

I think that, you know, you look at everything.

And it's going to be a great biopic.

The movie on Elon Musk's life. Is going to be absolutely incredible. Because he is a somewhat complicated figure at times.

There's a lot to discuss on the Elon Musk front.

GLENN: Oh.

STU: Just think of the fact that this guy has put, I don't know.

You know, hundreds of thousands. Millions of cars on the road right now.

That are, you know, capable and are driving themselves.

Think of -- that's like -- an incredible accomplishment!

This is a guy who is putting cars that are -- you know, have full self-driving. You can sit in there.

The thing will drive itself from point A to point B. Without you touching really anything.

And that is -- think about the fact that that's just being said. That even people are allowed. You know, that governments are just like. Yeah. We trust this guy. To let all these cars drive themselves.

It's an amazing accomplishment. That's just one of many.

It's really an amazing life.