RADIODecember 01, 2022

THIS is why TikTok is a ‘NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT’

It’s not news that TikTok — owned by Chinese firm ByteDane — tracks data on U.S. users. But how dangerous is it REALLY for China to have your information if you’re doing nothing wrong? It’s extraordinary dangerous. In fact, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr joins Glenn to explain exactly why the social media app poses a ‘national security threat’ against America...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So this guy is the guy they -- they call him the FCC's 5G crusader. He's the guy who cut all of the red tape. And really pushed for the high speed networks to be built by private businesses.

He is -- he's also the guy who is rough the big forces behind telehealth. Mainly -- mainly for veterans and low income Americans, to be able to get to doctors on their smartphones or tablets or any other connected device, driving down the price, and driving up the access to medicine all around the country. And he also, like micro and I, believe in apprenticeships and everything else. This is -- I think this guy is a real warrior for what we believe are American truths. His name is Brendan Carr. He is a commissioner with the FCC. Brendan, how are you, sir?

BRENDAN: Glenn, so good to join you. Really appreciate the chance to be with you.

Big fan of everything you're doing. And listen, if you ever get in trouble at the FCC, if anybody files for profanity, or indecency complaint against you, just don't mention you know me. It will go a lot better for you.

GLENN: Yeah. I know.

BRENDAN: You and I never talked. That's your story going forward.

GLENN: I know. I know. I know how this works. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about two things. Let's start with TikTok. Everybody in the tech industry seems to be against Twitter. I mean, it's crazy by letting people talk, how they are being accused of destroying free speech.

It's an upside down world.

But TikTok, nobody seems to want to do anything about this. I've read your letter. I've read your report on this. TikTok is extraordinarily dangerous to Americans. Can you fill in, why it's a danger and why everybody in America seems to be focused on Twitter, including the White House, and not TikTok?

BRENDAN: Well, it's quite amazing. And you know TikTok is an example of this. And as we may get into Apple as well. When your product is, for better or worse, immensely popular with consumers. It's amazing what you can get away with, and I think TikTok is the prime example of this. It has millions and millions of Americans. They look at it like, well, it's just a fun platform for sharing videos and dance memes. And the reality is, that's just the clothing.

Underneath, it operates as a very sophisticated surveillance technology. Right in the terms of service, they reserve the right to get your biometrics, including face prints or voiceprints, searching browsing history, key stroke patterns. The list goes on from there. And for years, they said, don't worry, this is stored outside of Beijing. Not a big deal.

Even though our parent company is based in Beijing. And, well, that's been revealed as nothing more than gaslighting. It turns out that according to internal communications, quote, everything is seen inside of China. And that's a massive, massive problem.

In fact, their CEO was testifying in Congress, a couple weeks ago, and was asked point-blank. Do you transfer US user data to employees in Beijing, who themselves are members of the CCP. And the COO said she declined to answer that question. So that's troubling. There's also this question that came out, that they had this Beijing-based operation, that was attempting to surveil the location of specific Americans based on their usage of the TikTok application. And that's not to mention obviously, the concerns that come from the content side, where Americans, including children as young as ten years old, are being fed things like the blackout challenge.

That literally can convince them to kill themselves, and some have done that, and died as a result. So it's a national security threat, and it's something that parents should be worried about as well.

GLENN: So explain this to -- because I tried to explain this to my family. My kids were like, yeah. Right. Dad. Got it. What is China going to do with my face print or my fingerprint. Can you explain why that's dangerous?

BRENDAN: Yeah. It really is. And if you want to think about it, there's a version of TikTok itself is not available in Beijing.

But a version of it called Doiann (phonetic), a sister app run by the parent company, and that application shows his science experiments, museum exhibits, educational material. And then again, here in the US, it's showing kids, the blackout challenge. So that's where the real danger comes. Also, if you step back, what really happens when you're using TikTok. Every time you swipe or search, what you're doing is you're feeding, training, and improving China's artificial intelligence, their AI.

And China has said, we want to dominate the world in AI by 2030. And they will use it for authoritarian purposes. For surveillance. For exploiting their control. Even if you step back from your own self and your own kids. And you can TikTok itself. The idea that we're sending this data, these clips back to Beijing, it's improving their AI. And that will around and bite us in ways that are, again, unrelated to TikTok itself.

GLENN: So we have Google doing the same thing. That's why Google is free. Is they wanted all that information, to work on AI.

So you're saying, this is just another version of Google, if you will. That's here in America. To be able to mine for all of that information.

BRENDAN: Yeah. You're right. China has a fundamental flaw, both in their system of government, obviously. But it carries through to AI. Which is they don't have feedback loops. They don't understand sort of Western-free thinking.

And so they need Americans to be on TikTok, to be observing their usage of data, in order to create their AI and make it a healthy system. So the sooner we cut off, data flows back to Beijing, the sooner their version of AI starts to atrophy, and go down a separate path. And it becomes less successful.

So I think we do need to think broadly, how do we stop training China's artificial intelligence. Again, that's a piece of it. It's used for blackmail. It's use for foreign influence campaign.

And where things are right now. Is this is in the court of the Biden information.

The Treasury Department has a group called Cepheus (phonetic), Committee on Foreign Investment. And they've been reviewing TikTok for over a year, at this point. And the New York Times reports that they've got a preliminary deal in place to allow TikTok to continue to operate. Frankly, I think this is a big IQ test for the administration. And it's sort of a pass/fail at this point.

And, in fact, you just had FBI director Chris Ray testify last week in Congress, that said, that the FBI had serious national security concerns.

So I don't see how the Biden administration can go forward and bless TikTok, continue to operate.

When you have the FBI, when you have Democrats, Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intel Committee saying that it is TikTok, that scares the dickens out of him. But we may very well be heading in that direction there.

GLENN: Google Play store. Apple app store. I know you wrote a letter to both of them. And said, drop. Drop this. This is really bad for the country.

BRENDAN: Yeah. I mean, putting aside the content of what's inside this application, Google and Apple have very clear terms of service to stay in the app store. And if data is being used for purposes that aren't being disclosed. Or if data is traveling the country, and being accessed from countries without that being properly disclosed.

There's precedent for Google and Apple to boot us off the app store for that reason.

So I wrote them a letter, and said, look, in light of the national security concerns, in light of these clearly surreptitious data flows that we're now learning about, just apply the terms of your app store policies, and boot them from the app store. Of course they didn't do that. And that's why you know it's obviously highly ironic. That there was at least the concern this week. That Apple might take action against TikTok. Because, look, if you're pulling advertising dollars, pulling support in Apple's case potentially from Twitter. While keeping your support or expanding your advertising on TikTok, you're sending quite the signal about your brand value. It's very different than the one you think.

GLENN: Oh, I know. Yeah. One last thing. Because I have something else, I want to talk to you about. One last thing. You just kind of brushed up on this. I think it was critical. There's a new survey out that showed, I can't remember. Six or eight out of ten children in China, want to be astronauts. And want to be scientists.

Here, eight in ten, want to be social media movers. Influencers. Yeah.

BRENDAN: Influencers.

GLENN: That's crazy. And part of that is because of TikTok. As you said, they're -- this same thing, under a different name over in China, is encouraging people to do crazy, great things.

And science. And knowledge. And education.

And this same platform, is programmed here, to really make you as dumb as a box of rocks. I don't think that's -- I don't think that's just -- oh, really. I didn't even notice that. That's intentional.

BRENDAN: Yeah. You're right. And this is why I talked about TikTok as China's digital fentanyl, because it is effectively a pipe directly from Beijing, from the CCP, into the ears and eyes and minds of millions and millions of America's youth. And what they're being served is divisive content. It's content that is increasing ADHD problem. Suicide ideations. Body image issues. This is what is being fed to us.

And that's -- that's deeply -- deeply concerning. And that's why I think, it's incumbent upon the Biden administration to step in and take some action here.

GLENN: Brendan Carr, FCC commissioner. If you don't mind, I need to take a one-minute break. Because I'm actually being funded by you know the private industry and market. But take one minute, we'll be back. With Brendan Carr. FCC commissioner.

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So, Brendan, I have a philosophical question. And I would like you, if you would, noodle this out.

I tried to contact you a few weeks ago. Because I was presented with a story, of a book that was in a school library. And being read to kids in school. And it was one of the most vile things, I have ever read.

And look, I've done this for 40-plus years. I know exactly what I can and can't say with the FCC. Okay?

And I've always understood those to be community standards. Et cetera, et cetera.

Here's my -- here's my problem. There are times, when things need to be heard by the general public. And I know we can go online and do it, et cetera, et cetera.

But why, when we are a community standards-based system, if -- if you can teach it to my children, and have it in the classroom, why can't I -- a program that is aimed at adults and during the day, when kids should be in school. Why can't I read that book on the air?

BRENDAN: Well, you're right. We still have in place at the FCC rules that apply to broadcast radio and broadcast television that regulate profanity and decency. Similar content, like that. It obviously hasn't been enforced very much, in the last few years. But they're still in the books. There is a point at which, potentially, you reading things from across the broadcast airwaves. That may be found in a library, somewhere.

Could have issues, under the FCC's you know profanity. And decency regulations. Now, of course, there tends to be a newsworthy exception to a lot of that stuff. You can cover issues and stuff like that.

It's a challenge. And some people say, how you generally square this pro speech. Free speech view, with that type of stuff.

And I would say, look, what we can speak of, as adults. Is really different than the content that can be stocking the shelves for school libraries for kindergarteners.

GLENN: Yeah. My problem is, this is a show that is based on information and opinion. You may not like it. But we -- we take it seriously. We take our job seriously.

We try to be responsible. I've always been responsible with the FCC. And it's not a -- you know a 1990s Howard Stern kind of thing. Which we're way past that.

This is -- this is being read to our students, in many schools, all across the country.

And it is absolutely indecent.

And I know it's indecent. But why do I get in trouble, for exposing this indecency? And the way to expose it, is to make people understand, by hearing it, how unbelievably indecent it is.

BRENDAN: Yeah. Look, I think we've gone a long way recently in trying to address this issue by doing what you're doing. We've had instances where parents have tried to read books from their -- again, kindergarten Anna library. At school board meetings and city council meetings. And they have been shut down and said, we can't allow that content to be spoken at these city council meetings. Yet, there it is in the kid's classroom. And so I do think there's some progress in that.

You know, from my perspective, I remember growing up in high school. The famous Eminem song. "The FCC won't let me be." It's quite ironic after humming that song in high school, that I've ended up at the FCC. And, look, we try to be very pro-free speech about this stuff, but this is an issue that we're dealing with as a cultural matter right now.

GLENN: And I would not have a problem if it were me, possibly losing my license. But I -- I lose the license -- anything I do, could possibly jeopardize the license of every license in my chain. So there's no way. There's no way, I'm going to put people out of work to prove this.

BRENDAN: Right. Right.

GLENN: What do you recommend?

BRENDAN: Well, look, again, there's a newsworthy exception to discussing some of this stuff.

You know look, if you think it's -- it could be good or bad. I don't know. But if it's close to the line. There still are background indecency. Profanity rules to the FCC.

We do get complaints from time to time. We usually dismiss them or don't address them. And anything you do, potentially subject yourself, FCC scrutiny in those cases.

GLENN: My problem is, I had some of the best attorneys in Washington. On free speech and FCC. I always had -- for about 25 years. About three years ago, they called, they also represent Google and Apple. And Facebook.

And they dropped me, in the middle of a case. As a client. Because it made their other clients uncomfortable. And they had to make a choice.

So I'm not sure if you will see me and my attorney at some point.

Because I -- you know hard to get one. If you have to have my opinion today.

Brendan thank you so much.

I appreciate all you do at the FCC. God bless.

BRENDAN: Appreciate it, thank you.

GLENN: You bet. Brendan Carr, FCC commissioner.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

How to Find God in a Divided World | Max Lucado & Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck sits down with beloved pastor and author Max Lucado for a deep conversation about faith, humility, and finding unity in a divided world. Together, they reflect on the importance of principles over politics, why humility opens the door to true dialogue, and how centering life on God brings clarity and peace. Lucado shares stories of faith, the dangers of a “prosperity gospel,” and the powerful reminder that life is not about making a big deal of ourselves, but about making a big deal of God. This uplifting conversation will inspire you to re-center your life, strengthen your faith, and see how humility and love can transform even the most divided times.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Max Lucado HERE

Bill O'Reilly predicts THIS will be Charlie Kirk's legacy

Bill O’Reilly joins Glenn Beck with a powerful prediction about Charlie Kirk’s legacy. Evil tried to destroy his movement, Bill says, but – as his new book, “Confronting Evil,” lays out – evil will just end up destroying itself once more…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Mr. Bill O'Reilly, welcome to the program, how are you, sir?

BILL: Good, Beck, thanks for having me back. I appreciate it. How have you been?

GLENN: Last week was really tough. I know it was tough for you and everybody else.

But, you know -- I haven't -- I haven't seen anything.

BILL: Family okay? All of that?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Family is okay. Family is okay.

BILL: Good question good. That's the most important thing.

GLENN: It is.

So, Bill, what do you make of this whole Charlie Kirk thing. What happened, and where are we headed?

BILL: So my analysis is different for everybody else, and those that know me for so long. About a year ago, I was looking for a topic -- it was a contract to do another book. And I said, you know what's happening in America, and around the world. Was a rise in evil. It takes a year to research and write these books.

And not since the 1930s, had I seen that happen, to this extent. And in the 1930s, of course, you would have Tojo and Hitler and Mussolini and Franco and all these guys. And it led to 100 million dead in World War II. The same thing, not to the extent.

But the same thing was --
GLENN: Yet.
BILL: -- bubbling in the world, and in the United States.

I decided to write a book. The book comes out last Tuesday. And on Wednesday, Putin lobs missiles into Poland.

Ultra dangerous.

And a few hours later, Charlie Kirk is assassinated.

And one of the interviewers said to me last week, your -- your book is haunting. Is haunting.

And I think that's extremely accurate. Because that's what evil does.

And in the United States, we have so many distractions. The social media.

People create around their own lives.

Sports. Whatever it may be. That we look away.

Now, Charlie Kirk was an interesting fellow. Because at a very young age, he was mature enough to understand that he wanted to take a stand in favor of traditional America and Judeo Christian philosophy.

He decided that he wanted to do that.

You know, and when I was 31 or whatever, I was lucky I wasn't in the penitentiary. And I believe you were in the penitentiary.
(laughter)
So he was light years ahead of us.

GLENN: Yes, he was.

BILL: And he put it into motion. All right? Now, most good people, even if you disagree with what Mr. Kirk says on occasion, you admire that. That's the spirit of America. That you have a belief system, that you go out and try to promote that belief system, for the greater good of the country. That's what it is.

That's what Charlie Kirk did.

And he lost his life.

By doing it!

So when you essentially break all of this down. You take the emotion away, all right?

Which I have to do, in my job. You see it as another victory for evil.

But it really isn't.

And this is the ongoing story.

This is the most important story. So when you read my book, Confronting Evil, you'll see that all of these heinous individuals, Putin's on the cover. Mao. Hitler.

Ayatollah Khomeini. And then there are 14 others inside the book. They all destroy themselves.

Evil always destroys itself. But it takes so many people with it. So this shooter destroyed his own family.

And -- and Donald Trump, I talked to him about it last week in Yankee stadium. And Trump is a much different guy than most people think.

GLENN: He is.

JASON: He destroyed his own mother and father and his two brothers.

That's what he did. In addition to the Kirk family!

So evil spreads. Now, if Americans pay attention and come to the conclusion that I just stated, it will be much more difficult for evil to operate openly.

And that's what I think is going to happen.

There's going to be a ferocious backlash against the progressive left in particular.

To stop it, and I believe that is what Mr. Kirk's legacy is going to be.

GLENN: I -- I agree with you on all of these fronts.

I wonder though, you know, it took three, or if you count JFK, four assassinations in the '60s, to confront the evil if you will.

Before people really woke up and said, enough is enough!

And then you have the big Jesus revolution after that.

Is -- I hate to say this. But is -- as far gone as we are, is one assassination enough to wake people up?

JOHN: Some people. Some people will never wake up.

They just don't want to live in the real world, Beck. And it's never been easier to do that with the social media and the phones and the computers.

And you're never going to get them back.

But you don't need them. So let's just be very realistic here on the Glenn Beck show.

Let's run it down.

The corporate media is finished.

In America. It's over.

And you will see that play out the next five years.

Because the corporate media invested so much of its credibility into hating Donald Trump.

And the hate is the key word.

You will find this interesting, Beck. For the first time in ten years, I've been invited to do a major thing on CBS, today.

I will do it GE today. With major Garrett.

GLENN: Wow.

BILL: Now, that only happened because Skydance bought CBS. And Skydance understands the brand CBS is over, and they will have to rehabilitate the whole thing. NBC has not come to that conclusion yet, but it will have to.

And ABC just does the weather. I mean, that's all they care about. Is it snowing in Montana? Okay? The cables are all finished. Even Fox.

Once Trump leaves the stage, there's nowhere for FNC to go. Because they've invested so much in Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump.

So the fact of the matter is, the corporate media is over in America. That takes a huge cudgel out of the hands of the progressive movement.

Because the progressive movement was dependent on the corporate media to advance its cause. That's going to end, Beck.

GLENN: Well, I would hope that you're right.

Let me ask you about --

BILL: When am I wrong?

When am I wrong?

You've known me for 55 years. When have I been wrong?

GLENN: Okay. All right. All right. We're not here to argue things like that.

So tell me about Skydance. Because isn't Skydance Chinese?

BILL: No! It's Ellison. Larry Ellison, the second richest guy in the world. He owns Lanai and Hawaii, the big tech guy and his son is running it.

GLENN: Yeah, okay.

I though Skydance. I thought that was -- you know them.

BILL: Yeah.

And they -- they're not ideological, but they were as appalled as most of us who pay attention at the deterioration of the network presentations.

So --

GLENN: You think that they could.

BILL: 60 Minutes used to be the gold standard.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

BILL: And it just -- it -- you know, you know, I don't know if you watch it anymore.

GLENN: I don't either.

So do you think they can actually turn CBS around, or is it just over?

BILL: I don't know. It's very hard to predict, because so many people now bail. I've got a daughter 26, and a son, 22.

They never, ever watched network television.

And you've got -- it's true. Right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

They don't watch --

BILL: They're not going to watch The Voice. The dancing with this. The juggling with that. You know, I think they could do a much better job in their news presentations.

GLENN: Yeah. Right.

BILL: Because what they did, is banish people like Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly.

Same voices, with huge followings.

Huge!

All right?

We couldn't get on there.

That's why Colbert got fired. Because Colbert wouldn't -- refused to put on any non-progressive voice, when they were talking about the country.

GLENN: I know.

BILL: Well, it's not -- I'm censoring it.

GLENN: Yeah, but it's not that he was fired because he wouldn't do that. He was fired because that led to horrible ratings. Horrible ratings.

BILL: Yes, it was his defiance.

GLENN: Yes.

BILL: Fallon has terrible ratings and so does Kimmel. But Colbert was in your face, F you, to the people who were signing his paycheck.

GLENN: Yes. Yes.

BILL: Look, evil can only exist if the mechanisms of power are behind it.

And that's when you read the front -- I take them one by one. And Putin is the most important chapter by far.

GLENN: Why?

BILL: Because Putin would use nuclear weapon.

He wouldn't. He's a psychopath.

And I'm -- on Thursday night, I got a call from the president's people saying, would I meet the president at Yankee stadium for the 9/11 game?

And I said, when a president calls and asks you to meet them, sure.

GLENN: I'll be there. What time?

BILL: It will take me three days to get into Yankee stadium, on Long Island. But I'll start now.

GLENN: Especially because the president is coming. But go ahead.

BILL: Anyway, that was a very, I think that Mr. Trump values my opinion. And it was -- we did talk about Putin.

And the change in Putin. And I had warned him, that Putin had changed from the first administration, where Trump controlled Putin to some extent.

Now he's out of control. Because that's what always happens.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: It happened with Hitler. It happened with Mao. It happened with the ayatollah. It happened with Stalin. Right now. They get worse and worse and worse and worse. And then they blow up.

And that's where Putin is! But he couldn't do any of that, without the assent of the Russian people. They are allowing him to do this, to kill women and children. A million Russian casualties for what! For what! Okay?

So that's why this book is just in the stratosphere. And I was thinking object, oh. Because people want to understand evil, finally. Finally.

They're taking a hard look at it, and the Charlie Kirk assassination was an impetus to do that.

GLENN: Yeah. And I think it's also an impetus to look at the good side.

I mean, I think Charlie was just not a neutral -- a neutral character. He was a force for good. And for God.

And I think that -- that combination is almost the Martin Luther King combination. Where you have a guy who is speaking up for civil rights.

But then also, speaking up for God. And speaking truth, Scripturally.

And I think that combination still, strangely, I wouldn't have predicted it. But strangely still works here in America, and I think it's changed everything.

Bill, it's always food to talk to you. Thank you so much for being on. I appreciate it.

It's Bill O'Reilly. The name of the book, you don't want to miss. Is confronting evil. And he takes all of these really, really bad guys on. One by one. And shows you, what happens if you don't do something about it. Confronting evil. Bill O'Reilly.

And you can find it at BillO'Reilly.com.

The difference between debate and celebrating death

There’s a big difference between firing someone, like a teacher, for believing children shouldn’t undergo trans surgery and firing a teacher who celebrated the murder of Charlie Kirk. Glenn Beck explains why the latter is NOT “cancel culture.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I got an email from somebody that says, Glenn, in the wake of Charlie's assassination, dozens of teachers, professors and professionals are being suspended or fired for mocking, or even celebrating Charlie Kirk's death.

Critics say conservatives are now being hypocritical because you oppose cancel culture. But is this the same as rose an losing her job over a crude joke. Or is it celebrating murder, and that's something more serious?

For many, this isn't about cancellation it's about trust. If a teacher is entrusted with children or a doctor entrusted with patients, publicly celebrates political violence, have they not yet disqualified themselves from those roles? Words matter. But cheering a death is an action. Is there any consequence for this? Yes. There is.

So let's have that conversation here for a second.

Is every -- is every speech controversy the same?

The answer to that is clearly no.

I mean, we've seen teachers and pastors and doctors and ordinary citizens lose their job now, just for saying they don't believe children under 18 should undergo transgender surgeries. Okay? Lost their job. Chased out.

That opinion, whether you agree or disagree is a moral and medical judgment.

And it is a matter of policy debate. It is speech in the public square.

I have a right to say, you're mutilating children. Okay. You have a right to say, no. We're not. This is the best practices. And then we can get into the silences of it. And we don't shout down the other side.

Okay? Now, on the other hand, you have Charlie Kirk's assassination. And we've seen teachers and professors go online and be celebrate.

Not criticize. Not argue policy. But celebrate that someone was murdered.

Some have gone so far and said, it's not a tragedy. It's a victory. Somebody else, another professor said, you reap what you sow.

Well, let me ask you: Are these two categories of free speech the same?

No! They're not.

Here's the difference. To say, I believe children should not be allowed to have gender surgeries, before 18. That is an attempt, right or wrong. It doesn't matter which side you are.

That is an attempt to protect life. Protect children. And guide society.

It's entering the debate about the role of medicine. The right of parents. And the boundaries of childhood. That's what that is about. To say Charlie Kirk's assassination is a good thing, that's not a debate. That's not even an idea. That's rejoicing in violence. It's glorifying death.

There's no place in a civil society for that kind of stuff. There's not. And it's a difference that actually matters.

You know, our Founders fought for free speech because they believed as Jefferson said, that air can be tolerated where truth is left free to combat it.

So I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, at all. I don't think you do either. I hope you don't. Otherwise, you should go back to read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Error can be tolerated where truth is left to be free to combat it.

But when speech shifts from debating ideas to celebrating death, doesn't that cease to be the pursuit of truth and instead, just become a glorification of evil?

I know where I stand on that one. Where do you stand?

I mean, if you go back and you look at history, in colonial matter -- in colonial America, if you were to go against the parliament and against the king, those words were dangerous. They were called treason. But they were whys. They were arguments about liberty and taxation and the rights of man.

And the Founders risked their lives against the dictator to say those things.

Now, compare that to France in 1793.

You Thomas Paine, one of or -- one of our founder kind of. On the edges of our founders.

He thought that what was happening in France is exactly like the American Revolution.

Washington -- no. It wasn't.

There the crowds. They didn't gather to argue. Okay? They argued to cheer the guillotine they didn't want the battle of ideas.

They wanted blood. They wanted heads to roll.

And roll they did. You know, until the people who were screaming for the heads to roll, shouted for blood, found that their own heads were rolling.

Then they turned around on that one pretty quickly.

Think of Rome.

Cicero begged his countrymen to preserve the republic through reason, law, and debate. Then what happened?

The mob started cheering assassinations.

They rejoiced that enemies were slaughtered.

They were being fed to the lions.

And the republic fell into empire.

And liberty was lost!

Okay. So now let me bring this back to Charlie Kirk here for a second.

If there's a professor that says, I don't believe children should have surgeries before adulthood, is that cancel culture, when they're fired?

Yes! Yes, it is.

Because that is speech this pursuit of truth.

However imperfect, it is speech meant to protect children, not to harm them. You also cannot be fired for saying, I disagree with that.

If you are telling, I disagree with that. And I will do anything to shut you down including assassination! Well, then, that's a different story.

What I teacher says, I'm glad Charlie Kirk is dead, is that cancel culture, if they're fired?

Or is that just society saying, you know, I don't think I can trust my kid to -- to that guy.

Or that woman.

I know, that's not an enlightening mind.

Somebody who delights in political murder.

I don't want them around my children! Scripture weighs in here too.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Matthew.

What does it reveal about the heart of a teacher who celebrates assassination?

To me, you go back to Scripture. Whoa unto them that call good evil -- evil good and good evil.

A society that will shrug on speech like this, say society that has lost its moral compass.

And I believe we still have a moral compass.

Now, our free speech law doesn't protect both. Absolutely. Under law. Absolutely.

Neither one of them should go to jail.

Neither should be silenced by the state.

But does trust survive both?

Can a parent trust their child to a teacher who is celebrating death?

I think no. I don't think a teacher can be trusted if they think that the children that it's right for children to see strippers in first grade!

I'm sorry. It's beyond reason. You should not be around my children!

But you shouldn't go to jail for that. Don't we, as a society have a right to demand virtue, in positions of authority?

Yes.

But the political class and honestly, the educational class, does everything they can to say, that doesn't matter.

But it does. And we're seeing it now. The line between cancel and culture, the -- the cancellation of people, and the accountability of people in our culture, it's not easy.

Except here. I think it is easy.

Cancel culture is about challenging the orthodoxy. Opinions about faith, morality, biology.
Accountability comes when speech reveals somebody's heart.

Accountability comes when you're like, you are a monster! You are celebrating violence. You're mocking life itself. One is an argument. The other is an abandonment of humanity. The Constitution, so you understand, protects both.

But we as a culture can decide, what kind of voices would shape our children? Heal our sick. Lead our communities?

I'm sorry, if you're in a position of trust, I think it's absolutely right for the culture to say, no!

No. You should not -- because this is not policy debate. This is celebrating death.

You know, our Founders gave us liberty.

And, you know, the big thing was, can you keep it?

Well, how do you keep it? Virtue. Virtue.

Liberty without virtue is suicide!

So if anybody is making this case to you, that this is cancel culture. I just want you to ask them this question.

Which do you want to defend?

Cancel culture that silences debate. Or a culture that still knows the difference between debating ideas and celebrating death.

Which one?

Shocking train video: Passengers wait while woman bleeds out

Surveillance footage of the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, NC, reveals that the other passengers on the train took a long time to help her. Glenn, Stu, and Jason debate whether they were right or wrong to do so.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I'm -- I'm torn on how I feel about the people on the train.

Because my first instinct is, they did nothing! They did nothing! Then my -- well, sit down and, you know -- you know, you're going to be judged. So be careful on judging others.

What would I have done? What would I want my wife to do in that situation?

STU: Yeah. Are those two different questions, by the way.

GLENN: Yeah, they are.

STU: I think they go far apart from each other. What would I want myself to do. I mean, it's tough to put yourself in a situation. It's very easy to watch a video on the internet and talk about your heroism. Everybody can do that very easily on Twitter. And everybody is.

You know, when you're in a vehicle that doesn't have an exit with a guy who just murdered somebody in front of you, and has a dripping blood off of a knife that's standing 10 feet away from you, 15 feet away from you.

There's probably a different standard there, that we should all kind of consider. And maybe give a little grace to what I saw at least was a woman, sitting across the -- the -- the aisle.

I think there is a difference there. But when you talk about that question. Those two questions are definitive.

You know, I know what I would want myself to do. I would hope I would act in a way that didn't completely embarrass myself afterward.

But I also think, when I'm thinking of my wife. My advice to my wife would not be to jump into the middle of that situation at all costs. She might do that anyway. She actually is a heck of a lot stronger than I am.

But she might do it anyway.

GLENN: How pathetic, but how true.

STU: Yes. But that would not be my advice to her.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Now, maybe once the guy has certainly -- is out of the area. And you don't think the moment you step into that situation. He will turn around and kill you too. Then, of course, obviously. Anything you can do to step in.

Not that there was much anyone on the train could do.

I mean, I don't think there was an outcome change, no matter what anyone on that train did.

Unfortunately.

But would I want her to step in?

Of course. If she felt she was safe, yes.

Think about, you said, your wife. Think about your daughter. Your daughter is on that train, just watching someone else getting murdered like that. Would you advise your daughter to jump into a situation like that?

That girl sitting across the aisle was somebody's daughter. I don't know, man.

JASON: I would. You know, as a dad, would I advise.

Hmm. No.

As a human being, would I hope that my daughter or my wife or that I would get up and at least comfort that woman while she's dying on the floor of a train?

Yeah.

I would hope that my daughter, my son, that I would -- and, you know, I have more confidence in my son or daughter or my wife doing something courageous more than I would.

But, you know, I think I have a more realistic picture of myself than anybody else.

And I'm not sure that -- I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. I know what I would hope I would do. But I also know what I fear I would do. But I would have hoped that I would have gotten up and at least tried to help her. You know, help her up off the floor. At least be there with her, as she's seeing her life, you know, spill out in under a minute.

And that's it other thing we have to keep in mind. This all happened so rapidly.

A minute is -- will seem like a very long period of time in that situation. But it's a very short period of time in real life.

STU: Yeah. You watch the video, Glenn. You know, I don't need the video to -- to change my -- my position on this.

But at his seem like there was a -- someone who did get there, eventually, to help, right? I saw someone seemingly trying to put pressure on her neck.

GLENN: Yeah. And tried to give her CPR.

STU: You know, no hope at that point. How long of a time period would you say that was?

Do you know off the top of your head?

GLENN: I don't know. I don't know. I know that we watched the video that I saw. I haven't seen past 30 seconds after she --

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: -- is down. And, you know, for 30 seconds nothing is happening. You know, that is -- that is not a very long period of time.

STU: Right.

GLENN: In reality.

STU: And especially, I saw the pace he was walking. He certainly can't be -- you know, he may have left the actual train car by 30 seconds to a minute. But he wasn't that far away. Like he was still in visual.

He could still turn around and look and see what's going on at that point. So certainly still a threat is my point. He has not, like, left the area. This is not that type of situation.

You know, I -- look, as you point out, I think if I could be super duper sexist for a moment here, sort of my dividing line might just be men and women.

You know, I don't know if it's that a -- you're not supposed to say that, I suppose these days. But, like, there is a difference there. If I'm a man, you know, I would be -- I would want my son to jump in on that, I suppose. I don't know if he could do anything about it. But you would expect at least a grown man to be able to go in there and do something about it. A woman, you know, I don't know.

Maybe I'm -- I hope --

GLENN: Here's the thing I -- here's the thing that I -- that causes me to say, no. You should have jumped in.

And that is, you know, you've already killed one person on the train. So you've proven that you're a killer. And anybody who would have screamed and got up and was with her, she's dying. She's dying. Get him. Get him.

Then the whole train is responsible for stopping that guy. You know. And if you don't stop him, after he's killed one person, if you're not all as members of that train, if you're not stopping him, you know, the person at the side of that girl would be the least likely to be killed. It would be the ones that are standing you up and trying to stop him from getting back to your daughter or your wife or you.

JASON: There was a -- speaking of men and women and their roles in this. There was a video circling social media yesterday. In Sweden. There was a group of officials up on a stage. And one of the main. I think it was health official woman collapses on stage. Completely passes out.

All the men kind of look away. Or I don't know if they're looking away. Or pretending that they didn't know what was going on. There was another woman standing directly behind the woman passed out.

Immediately springs into action. Jumps on top. Grabs her pant leg. Grabs her shoulder. Spins her over and starts providing care.

What did she have that the other guys did not? Or women?

She was a sheepdog. There is a -- this is my issue. And I completely agree with Stu. I completely agree with you. There's some people that do not respond this way. My issue is the proportion of sheepdogs versus people that don't really know how to act. That is diminishing in western society. And American society.

We see it all the time in these critical actions. I mean, circumstances.

There are men and women, and it's actually a meme. That fantasize about hoards of people coming to attack their home and family. And they sit there and say, I've got it. You guys go. I'm staying behind, while I smoke my cigarette and wait for the hoards to come, because I will sacrifice myself. There are men and women that fantasize of block my highway. Go ahead. Block my highway. I'm going to do something about it. They fantasize about someone holding up -- not a liquor store. A convenience store or something. Because they will step in and do something. My issue now is that proportion of sheepdogs in society is disappearing. Just on statistical fact, there should be one within that train car, and there were none.

STU: Yeah. I mean --

JASON: They did not respond.

STU: We see what happens when they do, with Daniel Penny. Our society tries to vilify them and crush their existence. Now, there weren't that many people on that train. Right?

At least on that car. At least it's limited. I only saw three or four people there, there may have been more. I agree with you, though. Like, you see what happens when we actually do have a really recent example of someone doing exactly what Jason wants and what I would want a guy to do. Especially a marine to step up and stop this from happening. And the man was dragged by our legal system to a position where he nearly had to spend the rest of his life in prison.

I mean, I -- it's insanity. Thankfully, they came to their senses on that one.

GLENN: Well, the difference between that one and this one though is that the guy was threatening. This one, he killed somebody.

STU: Yeah. Right. Well, but -- I think -- but it's the opposite way. The debate with Penny, was should he have recognize that had this person might have just been crazy and not done anything?

Maybe. He hadn't actually acted yet. He was just saying things.

GLENN: Yeah. Well --

STU: He didn't wind up stabbing someone. This is a situation where these people have already seen what this man will do to you, even when you don't do anything to try to stop him. So if this woman, who is, again, looks to be an average American woman.

Across the aisle. Steps in and tries to do something. This guy could easily turn around and just make another pile of dead bodies next to the one that already exists.

And, you know, whether that is an optimal solution for our society, I don't know that that's helpful.

In that situation.