RADIOAugust 05, 2024

6 Ways the Media is ABUSIVELY Lying to America

Politicians have lied forever. But now, our supposed "friend" and "ally," the mainstream media, is pushing the lies too. Glenn lays out how the media's lies are actually a form of mental abuse. Glenn reads an article from The M3ND Project, which provides resources for people hurt by abuse, that lays out 6 kinds of mentally abusive lies: black lies, white lies, half-truths, broken promises, forgetting, and denial. "Hard to know if that was an abuse site you were reading from or an internal Democratic campaign strategy memo," Glenn's co-host, Stu Burguiere, says. And just like any abusive relationship, the media's goal is the same: "power, money, status, or control."

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So, Stu, I found something on themendproject.com.

This is a place that helps people get away from mental abuse and physical abuse. And now I'm only reading it, just because, you know, I'm not tying this to anything. Because somebody said to me -- I read it here at home. My wife was like, I think I see what you're saying.

I said, I'm not saying anything. I'm talking about mental abuse. I'm talking about people unlike the people broadly in the United States of America. Being mentally abused. I'm just talking about people who are in a situation and need to get out. Okay.

Make no mistake -- this is from an abusive -- get away from abuse website. Make no mistake, lying is a type of abuse. We all lie sometimes, don't we? So when is it abusive?

Lying is one of the most common tactics an abuser uses to gain power and control over their victim. Lying confuses the victim's reality, while helping the liar to shrink from their responsibility in the situation.

Often shifting the blame to the victim. Bosses, significant others, friends, family, may use lying as a form of covert emotional abuse. Lying also paves the way for other types of abuse, such as physical abuse. While everybody makes mistakes, or even little lies. But they can quickly culminate into full-on manipulation of a person or situation. A central element to covert abuse is stressful confusion. You have an example maybe of that, Stu?

Stressful confusion. This is the emotion abusers want their victims to feel when lying to them. The covertly abusive tactic of lying, increases the victim's anxiety levels and their thinking to become clouded.

A confused victim is less likely to respond quickly, to go with their gut or confront the liar.

You know, that's the opening. Now, let me give you a few. And see if you can find any examples. I know you're not abused, Stu. But maybe you know somebody who is being abused.

Black lies, one. Black lies are bald-faced lies the abuser uses to gain something for themselves, at the cost of the one being deceived.

Think, for example, of a realtor who lies about the condition of underground plumbing into a home to get a higher price of its sale, and thereby gains a better commission. In other words, the realtor exploits the buyer's lack of current knowledge out of self-interest.

Similarly, a common lie used by abusers is, I deposited the check. However, if that check was deposited, into the abuser's personal account. Instead of the joint account.

The abuser has gained financial power over the victim. If the check was never deposited, the perpetrator then gains power of confusion.

And anxiety, when the victim wonders where the money went, or if the money ever existed to begin with.

Upon further inspection, some of these deceptions can be identified. However, at their core, these lies are statements used by abusers to gain something over the victim. Power, money, status, or control.

I'm sorry. You probably don't relate to any of this, Stu. Because I'm just talking to people who are being abused.

STU: Right.

GLENN: White lies. Everybody knows this type of deception, which is unfortunately common.

White lies are small, seeming dismissive obstructions of reality that are harder to disprove. They're sometimes used for food reasons such as telling a friend you like her new hair cut. When you don't. So you won't hurt her feelings.

Because white lies are less traceable, however, they carry greater power to manipulate others. Their most insidious use is when the abuser tells white lies about the victim to others.

Because those lies slowly influence others to view the victim in a different light.

Can you think of an example?

For an example, during particularly stressful times, an abuser may tell friends and family, that everything is good, we're just fine.

However, the victim's behavior makes him or her appear erratic, unpredictable. And at times, unstable to those close to the couple. Over time, this tactic effectively isolates the victim from others.

Each individual lie might be too small to notice or address it first.

But over time and with repetition. They will successfully shift other's perception of the individual.

Hmm. Three, half-truths.

Half-truths are versions of what happened that helped the abuser to avoid responsibility in a situation.

The liar relies on the fact that they are telling just enough of the truth, to seem credible. For example, recounting a disagreement by saying, he yelled at me, while leaving out the events which led up to the yelling. This omission of important facts paints a picture that is more favorable for the abuser.

Four, broken promises. This form of lying is difficult for abusers to accept, when confronted. They will attempt to give themselves the benefit of the doubt. An abuser who promises to come by your work party, then breaks that promise, by refusing to show up at the last minute is a liar.

They will try to excuse their actions by claiming they had a hard day, or they didn't think you really wanted them to come. Like the white lie, broken promises can make the victim look bad in front of others. Remember, a broken promise is the same as a lie.

Forgetting, similar to broken promises, claiming to forget a commitment or an obligation, such as, oh, I forgot, you wanted me to be home early tonight is manipulation. It can convince the victim that the abuser made a simple mistake.

Constant forgetfulness should not be dismissed. And then finally denial.

Liars are so comfortable with telling lies, that they will do anything to avoid getting caught or taking responsibility. Even if that means, flat-out denying the truth, no matter how obvious it may be.

If someone denies the reality of facts and evidence when presented, they are likely a liar. Remember, emotionally healthy people do not habitually lie. Especially concerning relationships with loved ones. Transparency should be sought after.

Because that's what connects people. A genuinely loving partner, parent, sibling, friend, et cetera. Will not continually lie, and that is what divides people and prevents authentic relationships. Any combination and frequency of these types of lies, should be noted and addressed.

If this blog helps you see the lies, you're facing from a partner or another. Maybe a president -- I just lost my place here. Anyway, thought that was interesting, about how lies are mental abuse.

And gosh, I don't -- I don't know if you saw any use in any of your own life. But if you're constantly being lied to, you should make a concerted effort to avoid that liar because they are manipulating you.

My gosh, I just thought of this. This could be applied to the media. And to the left.

I -- holy cow. Because black lives, white lives. Half-truths. Broken promises. And I forget -- did I say that? I said that.

Huh. Interesting.

STU: Hard to know if that was an abuse site that you were reading, or an internal Democratic campaign strategy memo. It really does describe --

GLENN: Or the press.

STU: Yeah, the press for sure.

GLENN: Yeah. The press.

STU: That's the thing.

GLENN: The one thing about -- politicians lie.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Politicians have always lied, told half-truths. Et cetera, et cetera. The difference here now is it's a -- it's not just a politician.

It's the entire system around that politician.

It's the entire party, around that.

And then it's the one that is supposed be your friend.

If you had a friend, and you found out, they were in cahoots with the abuser, somebody who is lying to you, and they were telling you, it is you. It really is you. No. It's -- anybody who tells you that he's not a good guy, I'm telling you right now, they're part of the problem.

You know, they're probably abusive. You need to stay away from them. Because they'll abuse you.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: That's the real problem. Politicians lie all the time. We know that.

STU: And I don't know. There's something about this era, that makes it more difficult and the lies more toward the black lies than the white lies.

I was listening to somebody. Some analyst talking about this. It was in the realm of conspiracy theories. And they were saying, a lot of people online, that spread conspiracy theories, are more capable of doing it, because there's so much out there.

Like, they will -- they will make some crazy claim. This will happen at noon. You know, and it doesn't happen. But there's so much other stuff going on. So many other claims that person will wind up reading that day, so many other news stories, that in three days, they don't necessarily remember the guy who said something was going to happen at noon, and it didn't happen.

And so we get like immune almost to people making claims and being wrong. We don't discount them anymore.

We don't have that same process. You know, I constantly go back, and it's this antiquated history. But thinking that, you know, John Kerry arguably lost the election for the claim of, I actually did support the 87 billion dollars before I voted against it, or whatever that quote was. That was a big part of that.

It seemed like he -- he just was lying.

He had this stance. And he wanted to reverse it, to win this election. And the American people rose up. Like, that's crazy. We can't vote for a guy that does that.

Now that's so quaint. Like, saying that you voted for a policy.

GLENN: It's like a covered wagon.

STU: It feels like you're on the Oregon trail.

GLENN: Yeah, yeah.

STU: It's insane. And I think part of that is what's happening here.

They -- the media with I think the Trump era in particular, has taken the mask off, and said, we no longer can be this subtle force, leaning on the scale a little bit to push voters toward the thing we want.

It's -- this is too important. Donald Trump is too evil. Conservatives are too bad. We now have to straight-out be activists. We have to be left-wing partisan operatives. All the time.

And it doesn't matter if we just said Kamala Harris was actually abusive to her staff. And couldn't get anything done. And failed on the border.

And as the border czar. We now have to just say, she was never the border czar.

And she's wonderful, and everyone around her loves her. And this is Camelot. And we just have to reverse ourselves. And that's it. We just push through it. And that is a -- it is a -- it's not that much different. In goal. But it is totally different in approach. And it's so in our phase.

And yet, a good chunk of the American people don't see it. Because they don't want to see it. They want to believe their side is right. They want to believe their side is just.

That they're fighting this moral crusade. And so they just go along with it.

And I don't know. Is it going to work? It didn't work in 2016. Joe Biden is currently somehow president of the United States. So I guess maybe it did work in 2020.

Does it work again in 2024? The media did seem to control this election in a way that I didn't think was possible. They got the candidate thrown out. The guy who won the primary, is no longer the candidate. Because largely the media decided to become journalists for two weeks.

GLENN: It was a coup. It was a coup.

It was an orchestrated coup.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: And if they can do whatever they want, with the laws and the media and everything else, we know that there's all kinds of plotting and planning. Otherwise, the White House would have said, what they were doing to get all new registered voters. Which was the first one. I think the first executive order that he signed, was an all hands on deck register voters for the next four years.

All government-wide. And they won't disclose what that means or what they have been doing, which is an abuse, again, of our money and of our trust.

But they won't abuse that.

If they can fix the election, they will fix the election. And they will feel justified, because the threat is too big.

The ends always justify the means

The ONE “forever war” Glenn Beck supports

This Fourth of July, Glenn Beck reveals the only “forever war” he supports. It’s the war Americans have been fighting since our nation’s founding, and we must continue the fight…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Two hundred forty-nine years ago, I think it is tomorrow. Right? Is tomorrow the second, or is it the first?

What day is it today?

So it was 200 -- 249 years ago, tomorrow, that somebody sat alone, in a -- in a one-room hotel room.

And scratched out the words, when in the course of human events. Those are the first six words of a document that is so dangerous!

Still today, so revolutionary.

It was whispered in those candle lit rooms by men who knew. Knew. That if I signed this document, that's a death warrant.

I'm dead!

I'm dead.

But in the course of human events, shh.

Jefferson wrote them!

33 years old. Adams would later say, you do well to revere Jefferson. But he didn't write alone. Basically, I was there too.

And so was Ben Franklin. The ideas were forged in the minds of men like Franklin, who is old enough to know better. And Adams, who was stubborn enough, not to care. And they weren't perfect men. But I love this about the left. They try to make you think.

That you think are perfect. I don't think they were perfect! I mean, Ben Franklin used to walk around naked in his house a lot. That shows, I mean, for as smart as that guy was. It shows, maybe he had a lack of mirrors. But they weren't perfect!

They owned slaves. They argued. They compromised.

How does that make them different than us?
I mean, we should be able to relate to them!

What is it that we tolerate right now?
What is it that we compromise on?

What is it -- what are our failures that future generations are going to go, these people just didn't get it? Perhaps what we should notice is that they, unlike most of us. They were willing to gamble their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

For something that had never, ever been done before. Something entirely new!

The idea that rights don't come from a government, or from a king, or from a parliament.

They don't come from the majority voting. Everyone has certain rights.

You know, for all these people who are, you know -- going in Macy's, and burning down towns. And then stealing clothing. And they're like, because I've been oppressed!

And you can't -- I've got rights, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.

You know who the first people were, to articulate those rights?

You know the only country that actually has stood for those rights?

And we're imperfect!

That idea came from the Founders, that you say you hate.

But the actual rights come from God, which you dismiss!

Think of this. Just ponder this for a second.

That all men are created equal! That their rights are given to them, by a creator.

It's not a political assertion. It's a genius. That's eternal truth!

That's theological dynamite, lobbed straight in to the thrones of Europe.

All over the world, it's still dynamite.

They knew what they were doing.

And I don't mean like, they knew what they were doing.

They had it. No. They knew that the British crown had the largest military force in the world. And these guys, they were farmers. They were printers. They were lawyers. They were a ragtag collection of intellectual and idealists, facing down an empire, where they said, the sun never set on the British empire. Meaning, the colonialism was everywhere!

You could not escape England. And yet, they declared it. We're leaving, without apology!

And they said that when a government becomes destructive of the ends of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness, it's not only the right of the people, it's their duty to throw it off!

Wow. And you know what is amazing? That's not rebellion.

That's -- that's not revolution. That's -- that's responsibility.

That -- that kind of language today, that would have you flagged, shadow banned. Labeled an extremist. In most countries, disappeared!

But that is the foundation of what we call America. The American experiment. And it's that. The American experiment.

And it's just that, an experiment. We didn't know if we could get it right. And we haven't gotten it right. But isn't it worth experimenting?

Isn't it worth trying to get that concept right?

When you fail on that concept, you're like, eh. That's a stupid idea.

That's not a stupid idea. That's the greatest idea of all time.

Why are so many people willing to just quit?

The experiment is self-rule. It's not perfect.

Never has been. Slavery. Jim Crow. Internment camps. Assassinations.

My God! Forgive us, for what we have done.

But at the same time, what nation has done more to correct its own errors?

What people have shed more blood, not for conquest, but for freedom.

Twice in the last century, we crossed oceans. Not to claim territory. But to liberate that territory!

Our sons and daughters fought and bled on foreign soil to push the darkness back, to fight against Naziism and fascism and Communism. And here we are. Here we are today.

After 249 years tomorrow of that experiment, standing at the lip of the very abyss, those men feared.

A godless chaos, rising in the east and a cold atheistic utopia, clawing at the foundations of the Western world. Islamism and Communism, two ideologies that have killed tens of millions of people. Now dressed all in new robes, selling old lies.

And we can't even teach a child where their rights come from. We have replaced Jefferson and Adams with TikTok influencers and bureaucratic groupthink.

We're raising generations to not even know the truth about their own identity.

But to question their identity. And they could be, oh, you're a funny, funny colored unicorn today. What do you want to be tomorrow?

We don't teach them anything about truth, or their inheritance, most importantly. Their inheritance. What good are hot dogs and fireworks, if the soul of the nation is up for auction? What is the meaning in Fourth of July, if we have forgotten the why? If we don't even call it Independence Day anymore. Most people don't even know who we fought against for independence.

They think we fought for its independence! Most people think we fought the South!

And yet, we'll light the sparklers, or blow our fingers off, because we're just that stupid.

This Independence Day weekend, would you do me and yourself and your country a favor, and read the words out loud. Speak the words out loud.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with one another.

And to assume among the powers of earth, the separate, but equal station, to which the laws of nature.

And nature's God entitle them.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes, which impair them to the separation.

What are they saying?

Look, we want to be decent people.

We want to be decent people.

And we have to separate them.

But we believe it's only right that we tell you why we have to separate. And it's not because of all the bad things you've done. We'll get to those later. It's because we're different. And you don't understand. You have been telling us all of these things, we no longer believe in. We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, and they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable. Unchangeable rights.

And just among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, government are his instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

My gosh. Read those words. And let your children hear what thinking and courage sounds like.

That to secure these rights, I'm telling you, the king, who thinks that your government was given to you, by God.

And you are the ruler.

And you will tell everybody what to think, what to do. What to buy. What to sell. What to tax. What not to tax. Who gets land. Who doesn't get land.

No, no, no. Government are his instituted among men, deriving their powers, their just powers, from the people. And that government is only there, established by those men to protect the rights that God has given each of those men.

Let them feel the chill, that runs down the spine, when Jefferson writes, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government, or from the governed. Let them hear the words, of -- of responsibility. What responsibility sounds like, with courage and freedom. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

And to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their a lot of and happiness.

In other words, you have the right, you have the responsibility to stop tyrants. And if the government has gone bad, to throw that government off.

But reconstitute a government, that will do a better job at protecting those rights. Not to form a communist government.

Not to do anything else. But you want a new government?

Fine! Let's find the way to make men more free. This is not a metaphor. This is a declaration of war on tyranny in all of its forms.

I mean, I said, yesterday, freedom isn't free.

It was paid for by somebody's blood. But you have to remember, they paid for their freedom, not for our freedom, necessarily.

We -- there comes a time, we have to pay for our freedom. And God forbid, that it comes down to blood.

But at least shake off the apathy. We -- we must renew this promise of this experiment of America.

We need to fight for it as well. An out-of-control government that seeks to rope us into forever wars, over and over again. We're all against forever wars. I'm against it.

I hate them.

But there is one forever war, that is required in a free society. A different kind of forever war.

A war against ourselves, a war against human nature in each of us. Because of human nature, we get fat. We get lazy.

We get tolerant of abuses. Let your children hear you speak these words. And when you speak them, ponder them yourself.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils are sufferable than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms in which they're accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a sign to reduce them under absolute despotism.

It's their right. It's their duty. To throw off such government. And provide new guards for such future security.

In one paragraph, we make the point twice. And they tell us, look, we've studied people.

We know you're going to get fat and lazy and apathetic. And you won't want to do stuff for transient causes. Because this is really not good.

But when push comes to shove. And everything is moving towards absolute despotism. Absolute tyranny. Then you must stand up.

I ask you to ponder this. This particular part, when a long train of abuses and usurpations. Prudence will indeed dictate that governments long established should not be exchanged for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils suffer, than to right themselves.

Aren't we exactly the same people, that their experience was talking about?

Aren't we the people that are more disposed to suffer, than to right ourselves? Because we're too comfortable. Or we're too afraid, just to stand up and simply say no to lies.

No!

There is a difference between men and women.

No! Communism is to be feared. It's killed over 100 million people, in the last 100 years.

No!

Muslims aren't bad. Islamism is!

It's evil. No!

You can peacefully protest, any time, any place. And I will fight to the death for your right to do that.

But when you start burn cities down to the ground, no!

We're just a few days away. And we have marked our 249th birthday. Maybe. Just maybe, this year, can we stop asking what America was, and start deciding what America will be?

Where it just slips quietly into history. In the dark of apathy and ignorance.

Because the only thing more dangerous than tyranny is the people who have forgotten what it took to break its chains.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

We need REAL jobs in America — Trump should do THIS now!

It is clear we need to create more productive, high-paying jobs for American citizens. But that doesn't mean bringing back the same exact jobs of the past in massive numbers. It means creating and supporting jobs of the present and future that will better the lives of Americans. Glenn Beck and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts break down exactly what this entails and how President Trump can make it a reality.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts HERE

The most INCREDIBLE World War II story you’ve NEVER HEARD

One of the biggest American World War II cemeteries in Europe is in a small town in the Netherlands, where thousands of Dutch people continue the tradition to this day of “adopting” a fallen US soldier and checking in on his family. “The Monuments Man” author Robert Edsel joins Glenn Beck to tell this incredible story, which he documents in his new book, “Remember Us.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Robert, welcome back to the program. How are you, sir?

ROBERT: Great to talk to you!

GLENN: It's great to talk to you.

Can you remind me? You were on with us, after Monuments Men. And you talked about this great service that is still going on, where people that -- they were still looking for paintings and pieces of art, that had been taken by the Nazis.

And if I remember right, didn't somebody in our -- our own audience reach out to you, and say, I think we found one of those paintings?

ROBERT: Yes, sir. Absolutely.

The Glenn Beck audience. And Glenn Beck, you yourself deserve a lot of credit.

Because I hadn't walked out of your studio last time. You know, in Dallas at Las Colinas.

Headed back to our office at Monuments Men and Women Foundation office, before someone in my office contacted me and said, we've already had a lead, as a result of your interview with Glenn. And it turned out someone whose aunt had been given two paintings during World War II.

She had worked for the government overseeing Germany, and these two paintings were missing.

We were able to identify who the rightful owner was, and get them back.

So it's a great thing that you performed. And, you know, it's a magnificent conclusion, though obviously a very difficult part of history.

GLENN: What was it like to give that back to the family?

ROBERT: It was a deeply moving experience. We -- the foundation found and returned more than 30 works of art, from paintings to documents, ancient books. Tapestries, to museums. Individual collectors, and so on.

And, you know, when we see, oftentimes, the people just stand there, and they cry.

They don't even know what to say. Because they may have worked 50 or 60 years, trying to find some work of art that's been missing. And they haven't had leads. And to -- to see us standing there, with something that belongs to them.

Not asking for anything in return. Don't charge anybody for doing it. Because we feel like everybody who went through World War II already paid enough.

Words -- words just fail. It's just pure gratitude.

GLENN: I can't wait for you to tell this new story.

Tell me the story of the care takers. The care takers of --

ROBERT: Well, it's a story that found me, just as Monuments did.

I have written about -- in the Monuments Men, I told the story of two Monuments Officers who were killed in combat, one British soldier and one American, Walter Huchthausen. And Huchthausen was killed. He once did a last casualty at war. He was killed in the last month of World War II, and is buried in the American benevolence, American cemetery, in Margraten in the Netherlands. I knew that story, and I had made mention of a young girl who was harbored in September '45, asking for the address of his mother, wanting to write her and tell her, that she walked 5 miles, several times a week, from her house to the American military cemetery. It was called then. To put flowers on his grave. Because her family knew them. And they were grief-stricken to know that they were killed.

And I knew that story too. I mentioned that. And then in 2015, the nephew of Huchthausen wrote me and included a photograph of this elderly lady with this crown of white hair. And he said, here's a photo with Frida, and I couldn't place who this was.

I had no idea who it was. And I realized, my God, this is that 19-year-old girl that is still alive. So I flew to England. She married a British soldier after the war. And I went to meet with her. She started showing me photographs of when the American -- Americans liberated her area of the Netherlands.

And all these American soldiers that they knew.

And she said, you know about the American military cemetery.

She said, have you been there?

And I said yes. And she said, so you know about the great adoption program?

And I said, what? She said, the great adoption program.

I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. So I started doing some research on this. And learned, at the end of World War II, our largest World War II cemetery in Europe, was not Normandy. It was the Netherlands American cemetery, where 17,800 boys and a few women buried at this cemetery by May 1946.

And by that time, every single grave had a Dutch person, a local person, who volunteered to be an adaptor of that brave.

Go out there on the first death date of the soldier, Veterans Day, Memorial Day.

And if they had the contact information for the next of kin, send them a photograph of the grave.
And a letter.

Because they realized, it was okay to adopt the bodies of dead boys.

But where the real need was, was to reach across the ocean, into the American homes and try to assuage the grief of the families.

And they knew some of these boys. And I found it the most heartwarming, uplifting, and certainly unique conclusion to a World War II story that I think has been written.

GLENN: So are they still some of them still doing this?

ROBERT: Not some. In fact, there were about -- in 1940, 748.

American families were given the choice to have their loved ones sent home, or to be left overseas in a military cemetery.

The Army had no idea, how many -- how many families would want their boys sent home, and as a consequence, they couldn't tell how many cemeteries they would need.

We thought almost everybody would want to have the families sent home. But it turned out not to be the case. So about 61 percent came home. About 39 percent stayed in Europe, which was about the numbers from World War I.

Although, the numbers in this area, in the Netherlands were higher.

The -- the graves that are there now.

There are 10,000 boys there. And four women.

8300 graves. 1700 names on the walls of the missing.

Every one of them has an adaptor for 80 years.

All those graves have been adopted, without interruption.

There's a waiting list of almost a thousand people in the Netherlands, to become a doctor. This is a -- not just a --

GLENN: This is --

JASON: A privilege. Because they take their kids out to the cemetery. They turn the cemetery into a classroom. And you go out there. And, yes, there's a somber element. They're instilling in their kids, you're able to think, and say what you want to. Because of the freedom that was given to you, by this American girl or boy. And we don't do that in our country anymore.

GLENN: So this is one of the most incredible stories that I've -- I've ever heard.

And I'm shocked that the world doesn't know this!

Is -- have you -- is there anything like this, anywhere else in the world?

JASON: No. We couldn't even find a comp of any nature.

There are -- that is not to say, the people in Normandy area, don't care about Normandy and other cemeteries. They do, of course. As do the Belgians in other cemeteries.

But there's no place that created an organic great adoption program, during the war, in January 1945!

These people in this area of the Netherlands were so grateful, having been neutral in World War I.

And having not lost their freedom for 100 years!

And they didn't like it!

And when the Americans liberated them in September 44. I'll never forget this woman Freda. This elderly woman I met, looked at me, the first time I interviewed her. I knew her for eight years. The last eight years of her life.

I delivered a eulogy two summers ago. She looked at me, there were the eyes of the 19-year-old. And she said, when I saw that first tank over the hill and I realized, we were saved.

I looked at my dad, and I said, Papi, these American boys come all the way across the ocean to say this. And there were tears in her eyes.

Because they didn't -- they couldn't imagine how we could have moved that equipment across -- across the ocean.

And why we would have cared so much.

So there isn't anything like it.

But January 45, these people in this little town of Margraten.

A mile from the cemetery, organized a meeting of the town leaders. The town who got 1200 people.

And they were trying to find an answer to the question: How do you thank your liberators, when they're no longer alive to thank? And they came up with this idea of this great adoption program, and it's a story that I tell, following the lives of about 12 different American combat soldiers.

Bomber recipients.

Tankers.

Because we don't know that story.

We don't what knows to an American story, when they're killed on the field of battle.

Because it's depressing.

We move on to the next scene in a movie.

Well, I want people to know, you started your program with freedom is not free.

It's ugly.

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about what the cost is.

Let's talk about the stripping line that the body goes through, and the removal of dog tags, one being put in the mouth, if there's still a head. And the other being nailed to the cross, because they don't have time to stencil the names on yet.

Let's talk about that, and let people know, it's not just a Marvel movie. Or a gang war.

This is real. This is painful. And, of course, at the end of the war, when we Americans declare victory, and move on with our lives, there's millions of family members in the United States, whose lives will never be the same.

So it is -- it's still happening today. It's still happening today.

GLENN: The name -- the name of the book is Remember Us.

And take us -- I mean, because that's really kind of the -- the -- the beauty of it.

Take us through the rest of the book, just briefly.

It starts with what?

ROBERT: Well, I follow -- I began what a nice life was in the Netherlands. Until May 10, 1940.

And the Netherlands does not get much attention from World War II, and yet everybody has heard of Battle of the Bulge. And Battle -- those are all within 50 miles of what we're talking about.

They happened around there. Of course, World War II, in western Europe, begins right here in this area. Because the German tanks roll across the border.

So I cover the life of these 12 different Americans. I interviewed all their family members. Some make it through the war. Some don't.

You read the book, you realize who makes it, who doesn't. But their lives converge around this area of the Netherlands. And when post-world War II stories end, with the war being over, remember us kicks into a transcendent moment when the Dutch come up with this idea of this great adoption program. The Americans refuse to provide the names and addresses of the next of kin.

So they're foiled with trying to achieve their ultimate objective. Which is to try to contact all the American families.

And frustrated, there was -- one of the key figures of the book.

A woman who is the mother of 12 children.

Who takes it upon herself. She's a woman of action.

She writes president Truman. And pleads for him to get involved.

When that doesn't work. She gets on the first airplane, she's ever flown on. She leaves her kids behind.

She flies to New York. Lands in LaGuardia Field.

She goes to Washington, and meets the members of Congress. Including a young guy from Texas, named Lyndon Johnson.

Who says, young lady, you need to go to Texas. Because there are so many military bases there.

She flies to our hometown. And lands in Lovefield.

In June of 1946. And is met by two family members. And for five weeks, she lives with American families, that lost somebody during a war.

And to each of them she says, leave your boys with us. When the election comes.

We will watch over them, like our own forever.

And they have done that. Now, today, these 10,000 Dutch doctors only have contact information for 20 percent of the American families.

They couldn't ever get the others.

GLENN: You're kidding me. Where is the list? Do you have a list?

ROBERT: Yeah. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation entered into a joint venture with the Dutch Foundation for Adopting Graves.

Not charging anybody for this. And we have created a website called foreverpromise.org.

And on that website is a list of all 10,000 men and women, more women that are buried at the cemetery, or whose names are on the walls missing.

And it's a searchable database. We're asking people to go and see. Do you have someone you know, or a relative, who is buried there.

And if so, we have a short questionnaire. What's your relationship? Are you aware of this great adoption program? Are you in contact with your adopter? Would you like to be? Would you allow us to share your contact information?

I connected a lady from Richmond, Texas. Saturday night. To her -- to this young Tammy, that's the adopter of her brother.

She's 93 years old.

She was in tears. At the thought when she leaves this world, there will be someone there to watch over her brother.

And that's what we're all about is this connecting.

GLENN: Rob, I have to tell you.

You've really done something with your life. I mean, I know you don't need me to say it.
But what a great job you have. And what a great service you have done for so many years.

Thank you so much.

Please, look this up.

The forever promise project.

You can find it at foreverpromise.org. Foreverpromise.org. Robert Edsel is the author's name. The book is Remember Us. It's a perfect read for this week.