The Glenn Beck Program - Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Brian Fennessy & Mihail Neamtu ｜ 1⧸14⧸25

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00:00:30.000 Today is a sad day, quite honestly.

00:00:33.940 The day I return, the day I come back, Stu is mocking old people.

00:00:39.500 And a senator, quite frankly, who said, in his words, not mine, 0.96

00:00:46.420 Jill Wren looks like witchy poop from H.R. Puffin' Stuff. 0.99

00:00:49.600 And he said only old people will understand that.

00:00:52.500 It goes downhill from there.

00:00:54.180 You don't want to miss a second of today's podcast.

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00:02:12.620 You're listening to The Best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:02:23.240 Let me go into first what is happening in California.

00:02:30.340 The fires are still burning.

00:02:32.820 And, you know, good for them.

00:02:34.220 Good for them.

00:02:34.800 Meanwhile, we have Newsom talking about his Marshall Plan to rebuild Los Angeles.

00:02:44.500 And let's go cut three there, please. 0.97

00:02:47.140 Over the course of the next several years, Los Angeles will be host to the World Cup and then the Super Bowl and then the Olympics.

00:02:52.680 With this rebuilding effort needing to take place, is L.A. going to be ready for all of those global events?

00:02:58.580 All that opportunity and that pride and spirit that comes from not just hosting those three iconic games and venues, but also the opportunity, I think, to rebuild at the same time.

00:03:08.280 And that's why we're already organizing a Marshall Plan.

00:03:11.320 We already have a team of looking and reimagining L.A. 2.0.

00:03:15.000 And we're making sure everyone's included, not just the folks on the coast, people here that were ravaged by this disaster.

00:03:21.080 You just said you're organizing a Marshall Plan for the rebuilding of California.

00:03:24.460 What is that, Marshall Plan?

00:03:25.820 For this region, we're just starting to lay out.

00:03:28.040 I mean, we're still fighting these fires.

00:03:30.140 So we're already talking to city leaders.

00:03:32.100 We're already talking to civic leaders.

00:03:33.580 We're already talking to business leaders and nonprofits.

00:03:36.920 We're talking to labor leaders.

00:03:38.460 We're starting to organize how we can put together a collection of individuals on philanthropy for recovery, how we can organize the region, how we can make sure that we are seeking federal assistance for the Olympics more broadly, but also federal assistance for the recovery efforts.

00:03:53.940 And how we can galvanize the community.

00:03:58.380 Okay.

00:03:59.280 So I'm glad he's talking about the future.

00:04:02.540 This brings us to Mike Johnson, something that I haven't talked about, had a chance to talk about yet.

00:04:10.780 He wants to put some restrictions.

00:04:14.120 His aid proposal for California is that he's trying to put conditions on the aid sent to California.

00:04:20.840 And people are saying, that's insane.

00:04:23.700 You don't do that.

00:04:24.560 Where is your compassion?

00:04:26.640 I want to talk to you about how compassion is sometimes difficult.

00:04:31.520 Compassion, true compassion, is sometimes the hardest thing to muster.

00:04:37.520 Because you want to give until you can't give anymore.

00:04:43.380 You want to help.

00:04:44.980 You want to be there.

00:04:46.320 But you have an alcoholic in California. 0.95

00:04:51.240 California is the political system is an alcoholic.

00:04:56.740 And it is destroying the entire state.

00:05:03.220 And you don't say when an alcoholic is suddenly, you know, in the hospital or, you know, really, really down and, you know, out on the streets.

00:05:13.160 You know what?

00:05:13.720 I'm going to give you all the money you need to get back into your house.

00:05:17.980 Because the alcoholic will spend that and just end up in the same place, if not worse.

00:05:26.140 Sometimes you have to have tough love.

00:05:29.020 You know this with your family.

00:05:31.940 Any kind of aid that goes to California, I think it is only responsible to aid the people as quickly as possible.

00:05:41.800 Aid the homeowners as quickly as possible.

00:05:46.260 Help them make sure that they have a place to go.

00:05:50.520 Make sure that they, you know, like the government wasn't doing in North Carolina, making sure that they have hotel rooms for as long as they need them within reason.

00:06:02.120 Now, within reason, many of these people are wildly wealthy.

00:06:08.100 Some are very poor.

00:06:10.720 There needs to be some understanding that the wildly wealthy, you know, we're not going to put you up at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

00:06:18.960 That's just the way it is.

00:06:20.560 Sorry.

00:06:22.240 But we're going to help the people.

00:06:24.280 But when it comes to the state, if they cannot admit that this is not climate change, that this happened because of their policies, if they cannot admit that, they shouldn't get a dime.

00:06:42.340 I'm a taxpayer.

00:06:44.340 I want to help California, just like I want to help all the other states when they have a problem that they cannot handle, that is too big for their state.

00:06:55.780 But they took all of their resources.

00:06:59.280 And honestly, you could make the case.

00:07:02.860 I'm not.

00:07:03.860 But you could make the case.

00:07:05.720 This was intentional sabotage.

00:07:07.720 Now, I want to tell you about the three-fold problem in California as I see it.

00:07:18.960 There are three things that are happening in California.

00:07:22.640 One, the Santa Ana winds, low humidity, and uncleared brush always causes fires.

00:07:34.700 Always.

00:07:35.260 They are known to cause fires.

00:07:39.480 They have been known throughout history.

00:07:42.520 Do you know why the great redwoods and the sequoias have grown for a thousand years?

00:07:49.000 Do you know how those trees got so big?

00:07:50.940 They're in California.

00:07:51.900 How is that possible?

00:07:53.060 How have they not been wiped out by fire?

00:07:55.920 We've got to protect the sequoias.

00:07:57.960 Do we?

00:07:58.500 Do you know that the sap in sequoias is fire retardant? 1.00

00:08:05.260 That's why they can grow for a thousand years.

00:08:08.940 God gave them.

00:08:11.020 God knew there'd be fires in California.

00:08:14.940 Those trees have fire retardant as part of their life's blood.

00:08:20.520 That's why they haven't burned down over and over and over again.

00:08:23.880 normal trees don't have that.

00:08:30.560 That's why fires burn all the time.

00:08:34.840 And if you don't have regular maintenance on your forests and on your property, you are going to have a brush fire.

00:08:46.860 And a brush fire turns into a forest fire.

00:08:49.800 And if you add 75 to 100 mile an hour winds, you could burn down the entire state.

00:08:57.660 Except it seems for the sequoias and the redwoods.

00:09:00.320 What this government of California has done has stopped people in the name of the good of the forest and the good of the land is to deny science.

00:09:15.680 They have been denying science for decades.

00:09:20.840 They have been playing God for over a century.

00:09:25.460 They want to tell you that a woman can be a man and a man can be a woman and a man can have a baby. 0.79

00:09:30.920 That's not true.

00:09:32.340 That's denying science.

00:09:35.360 To say that we can prevent the forest fires is a lie.

00:09:39.940 That is as arrogant as saying we can change the weather.

00:09:45.020 Now, don't think our government and governments all over the world aren't trying to change the weather.

00:09:51.140 But let me ask you honestly, how do you think that's going to work out in the end?

00:09:57.400 How do you think cloud seeding and putting gases and different things up into the atmosphere or giant shades in space to block the sun?

00:10:08.520 How do you think that's going to work out in the end?

00:10:12.620 Well?

00:10:14.100 Or will it end the same way our arrogance always ends?

00:10:22.220 There are things that we can do to mitigate natural occurrences.

00:10:28.580 For instance, if you were, let's say you got on December 2nd.

00:10:36.120 Can we get that weather warning up from the National Weather Service?

00:10:41.000 It's January 2nd.

00:10:44.080 Next Tuesday through Thursday, January 7th through the 9th.

00:10:48.740 A chance of moderate to strong Santa Ana winds.

00:10:52.300 This is from the National Weather Service.

00:10:56.280 Ready, set, go.

00:10:59.760 Ready for wildfire.org.

00:11:02.940 Impacts.

00:11:04.240 Extreme fire growth behavior possible if a fire starts and power outages.

00:11:10.920 Use extra caution with potential fire sources.

00:11:14.940 Now, this was added the week before the fires.

00:11:19.120 Now, that's the National Weather Service giving a warning to the people of California.

00:11:28.400 You can bet that government agency let other government agencies know at the same time.

00:11:36.280 It just didn't go out to your house.

00:11:37.980 It went out to everybody's house.

00:11:40.160 It went to the firehouses.

00:11:42.460 It went to the governor's house.

00:11:43.980 It went to the mayor's house.

00:11:46.880 They knew in advance.

00:11:49.860 So let me ask you, in a non-progressive state, what would somebody like Ron DeSantis do?

00:11:55.540 What do we do for hurricanes?

00:11:58.120 Hurricanes are like fires in California.

00:12:01.140 You know you're going to have them every single year.

00:12:05.540 Am I wrong?

00:12:06.720 Okay, if you have them and you get a warning, one is potentially coming that could be record-setting, what do you do?

00:12:19.460 Well, I'll tell you what a non-progressive state like Florida, with a governor who is embracing reality,

00:12:28.680 what he does is he pre-positions all of the utility trucks.

00:12:33.080 He pre-positions all of the life-saving trucks.

00:12:37.380 He makes sure that we have plenty of chainsaws.

00:12:41.780 He makes sure that the state is ready and literally waiting.

00:12:48.660 So what should Gavin Newsom have done?

00:12:50.820 When he got that warning, a hundred-year warning of a fire,

00:12:55.300 he should have said, make sure all the reservoirs are full.

00:13:02.220 Make sure that we have all of the fire trucks positioned.

00:13:05.940 Put them in the high-risk areas.

00:13:08.840 Just let them sit there.

00:13:10.560 Have the firemen sit there in really dangerous areas.

00:13:16.560 Make sure that if you see a fire or smoke, that thing is out right away.

00:13:21.160 You can't get up these hills with fire equipment quickly.

00:13:25.640 If you've ever been to California, it's honestly like navigating the Appalachia.

00:13:32.320 It's like going to North Carolina.

00:13:34.880 Why were so many people trapped?

00:13:37.000 Because it's impossible to navigate those hills and those mountains quickly.

00:13:42.580 The same thing in California.

00:13:46.500 Did they do that?

00:13:48.680 No.

00:13:48.980 Did they make sure that they had things in advance?

00:13:53.280 No.

00:13:54.060 What is the one given if you're living in California?

00:13:57.860 What is the one thing that you know is going to happen in California besides political insanity?

00:14:04.740 You know there's a chance of an earthquake.

00:14:07.840 So what do you do?

00:14:08.820 You build your building stronger, right?

00:14:11.720 You know that there's a chance of a mudslide.

00:14:14.760 So what do you do?

00:14:15.440 You make sure that you have your foundations deep.

00:14:20.900 But then you also, when you buy it, know, I'm gambling here.

00:14:24.720 My house could slide down the side of this mountain.

00:14:28.860 You're charged extra for insurance.

00:14:30.900 But the one thing you know is going to happen every year is fire.

00:14:36.440 Why wouldn't California be the number one fire-ready and resistant area in the United States?

00:14:49.360 Let me tell you about Jace Medical.

00:14:51.060 It's kind of been a terrifying past several months, at least when it comes to summer blockbuster-level disasters,

00:14:57.220 from wildfires to hurricanes, sea to shining sea, we've witnessed the danger that nature and mismanagement can bring.

00:15:05.420 How many times last year and this year, so far, have people been stranded without access to medications that they might need?

00:15:12.740 That doesn't have to be your family or you.

00:15:15.280 Because you know about it, and hopefully you have the Jace case by now.

00:15:20.460 It is a simple, reliable emergency supply of life-saving medications to put the control into your hands.

00:15:27.560 There's no way to prepare for literally every single thing that can go wrong.

00:15:32.220 But there's lots of ways to prepare for everything you know could go wrong.

00:15:36.880 The Jace case is a must-have for that.

00:15:39.980 This isn't about fear.

00:15:41.200 It's about responsibility.

00:15:42.240 Being prepared, California, is the best way to protect your family and your future.

00:15:48.280 Don't wait for the next headline to wake you up.

00:15:50.720 Don't wait for the government to do the right thing.

00:15:53.700 You do it.

00:15:54.840 Go to Jace.com, enter the promo code BECK, make sure you have the right meds on hand the moment you need them.

00:16:01.000 That's Jace.com, promo code BECK.

00:16:03.820 Now, back to the podcast.

00:16:05.960 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:16:12.240 As the gods of the copybook headings limp up to explain once more that fire will certainly burn us

00:16:20.460 and water will wet us, they could learn that in California.

00:16:27.020 We have Brian Fennessy.

00:16:28.600 He is the Orange County, California fire chief.

00:16:31.700 To tell us a little about what's going on and how is Orange County doing, Brian?

00:16:37.420 Welcome to the program.

00:16:39.200 Thank you very much.

00:16:40.820 A little bit about the fires just across a few miles from here in L.A.

00:16:45.820 They, you know, they're not spreading as they were.

00:16:49.860 I think both are kind of at a stable position, but there's certainly a lot of heat, you know, in those and on those fires.

00:16:56.880 And the new wind event, albeit not, you know, 80 miles an hour, 100 mile an hour gusts, are still very concerning.

00:17:04.880 So those fires are going to be wind tested.

00:17:07.360 Here in Orange County, it's just howling.

00:17:09.040 It's blowing hard.

00:17:10.500 It was last week, and I think we here dodged a bullet, but we're expecting that for another couple days.

00:17:19.020 And I'm told there might be another Santa Ana wind event forecasted for next week.

00:17:22.860 So we sure can't stand much more.

00:17:27.220 Brian, this is totally predictable.

00:17:30.280 Was it not?

00:17:31.020 Totally predictable.

00:17:31.800 Oh, yeah.

00:17:32.580 Absolutely.

00:17:33.400 You know, when I started back in 1978, we'd usually have a few days' notice.

00:17:38.220 You know, meteorology is not what it is today.

00:17:41.300 We start to get notified about 10 days out, and then confidence builds at seven days.

00:17:48.940 And then when you're about four days out, we're pretty sure, you know, what's going to expect.

00:17:55.540 So, yes, forecasting and predicting is far better than it's ever been.

00:17:59.740 So what should have been done in those four days before the fire broke out?

00:18:05.540 Well, I'll tell you what was done.

00:18:07.080 And, you know, we have a program called pre-positioning that about six years ago, the fire chiefs in the state got the state of California to fund to put money behind this pre-positioning, meaning that if we go through a matrix, you know, county by county, and we meet certain criteria, I mean, there's a number of things.

00:18:26.180 We are approved for pre-positioning, which means I can bring on additional aircraft, additional bulldozers, engines, and the state will pay for them so that not only are all of my stations filled and ready to go, but I might have two or three more strike teams, strike teams, five engines.

00:18:45.800 I might have additional helicopters, dispatch staff.

00:18:48.700 So all of the Southern California counties were approved for pre-positioning.

00:18:53.520 And so we had, you know, definitely extra resources available should they be needed.

00:18:59.660 And certainly they were deployed very, very quickly.

00:19:02.820 So, but that's Orange County.

00:19:05.240 No, no, that's it.

00:19:06.040 That's every county.

00:19:06.780 Every county in the state is eligible for it, but each county has to go through this matrix to meet it.

00:19:14.940 And so I don't know for sure, but I would expect that Santa Barbara County South were all approved for pre-position funding.

00:19:22.460 And quite frankly, here in Orange County, and when I was the fire chief in San Diego City, we didn't wait for pre-positioning.

00:19:28.300 If this weather was going to surface, we're going to staff up.

00:19:31.540 And if we go over budget, we go over budget.

00:19:33.500 You know, our job is to protect our communities, and the mayor I worked for at the time understood that.

00:19:40.040 So it's nice to be reimbursed for it, but that's not a necessity.

00:19:44.060 We're going to staff up even beyond what the state approves if we believe we need to do that.

00:19:49.840 Yeah.

00:19:50.500 So as we're watching this from Texas and all around the country, it seems as though it was, A, known that it was going to happen.

00:20:00.920 This is routine.

00:20:01.920 You expect the Santa Ana winds every year.

00:20:04.840 You expect forest fires and brush fires in California every year.

00:20:09.640 So this was just one of the really bad ones.

00:20:12.940 Then it seems like incompetence of cutting the funding for the fire agencies, not really truly being prepared.

00:20:20.080 And then on top of it, it seems incompetence to a level that is almost criminal.

00:20:27.720 And then the third part of this, as we see it, as I see it, is there might be some actors after the main fire started that are also setting fires.

00:20:40.360 What their motives are are yet unknown, but there are also some arsonists involved in that.

00:20:47.640 Do I have that picture right?

00:20:48.840 You know, partially.

00:20:52.360 Well, and maybe totally.

00:20:53.940 I don't know for sure.

00:20:55.120 But I will tell you this, that, you know, I've lived in – I grew up in Altadena, and that's one of the towns that's pretty well wiped out.

00:21:01.740 And so, you know, when you live that close to the foothills, you're used to Santa Ana winds.

00:21:06.140 You know they're common, and they can be brutal right there in the foothills.

00:21:10.000 And it's not uncommon for a strong – we'd consider a strong Santa Ana.

00:21:13.760 It'd be 40, 50-mile-an-hour winds, steady, with gusts maybe to 60, 70.

00:21:18.780 The event that was experienced last week, and you know this, was, you know, 60, 70, steady, with gusts to 90, 100, something like that.

00:21:28.140 I mean, we have a hard time dealing with the former.

00:21:31.180 Something like that, you know, we're trying to manage expectations is we can't stop that fire.

00:21:38.480 And I think, you know, many times, you know, the public – well, let me put it this way.

00:21:43.260 If this were a hurricane or tornado, firefighters aren't stopping those either.

00:21:48.480 Right.

00:21:48.780 And so why –

00:21:49.880 But they do pre-position.

00:21:52.380 You look at Florida, they've got the trucks lined up before that thing even comes ashore. 0.68

00:21:58.240 Yep, they're the best.

00:21:59.380 And, you know, they get disaster declarations in advance, and they get things moving.

00:22:03.540 Right.

00:22:03.920 Florida is an amazing model, and Texas is a good model as well.

00:22:08.820 But in terms of, you know, I can't speak for L.A. City.

00:22:13.380 I don't know what they pre-positioned or upstaffed, but I've said it to a number of people.

00:22:18.280 They could have had another, I don't know, 1,000 engines, and we weren't going to stop this fire.

00:22:23.740 Now, having said that, once the winds diminished and the fire – you know, this was no longer a wildland fire.

00:22:31.160 This became an urban conflagration, house-to-house spread.

00:22:35.340 The fuel was the structures.

00:22:37.680 And so, you know, once the wind diminished to a point where, you know, firefighters could get in there and start working on the structures, there were just so many.

00:22:47.500 I mean, I drove those fires, and it was – and I've been doing this since 1978.

00:22:52.140 I couldn't believe the structures, the businesses that were burning so far from the mountain that it came off of.

00:23:01.640 I mean, it was even incredible for me.

00:23:05.000 In terms of the water, you know, I think that's being sorted out.

00:23:08.220 I'm probably hearing the same things that you are, that reservoirs, you know, may not have been as filled as they needed to be.

00:23:15.040 Obviously, yes, a draw on the system can cause, you know, some decrease in pressure, but I've never heard of anything where there actually wasn't pressure.

00:23:25.040 I do know, and I've shared this with people, that in 2003 in San Diego, we had the – at the time, the largest fire in California history.

00:23:33.520 We lost pressure, but that was because pump houses, pump stations had been burnt, and we didn't know they existed.

00:23:39.940 Had we known, we would have protected those pump houses as much as we would protect a house to, you know, to ensure that we had pressure. 0.81

00:23:48.800 So I'm confident the city of L.A., and I'm hearing that the governor has, you know, ordered an investigation.

00:23:55.160 That's going to get sorted out.

00:23:56.360 That's going to get public, and yes, it could be quite embarrassing and life-changing for a few people involved in whatever decision-making took place.

00:24:07.040 Good. We have to learn from our lessons.

00:24:09.340 You know, learn lessons from our mistakes.

00:24:12.600 Totally agree.

00:24:13.680 You are being talked about of going into the Department of Interior.

00:24:19.120 Oh.

00:24:20.160 You had not heard that?

00:24:22.220 Well, I'm hearing rumblings.

00:24:25.460 People have asked if I was interested in perhaps even, you know, becoming the new U.S. Forest Service chief,

00:24:32.280 and I've shared with others that, you know, should I be approached at some point, I would certainly consider it,

00:24:38.080 because quite frankly, that agency is a mess when it comes to firefighting.

00:24:44.800 They, you know, the pay and benefits for their firefighters, their firefighters are leaving in droves.

00:24:50.140 They are so underpaid and under-benefited that they are leaving, you know,

00:24:55.340 to go to work for state and local government agencies like mine and like L.A. County's.

00:25:00.560 And this isn't anything new.

00:25:02.200 You know, I used to work for them for 13 years, both the USDA Forest Service and the Department of Interior, BLM.

00:25:09.220 And I left as a crew superintendent.

00:25:11.700 You know, I ran crews.

00:25:13.200 And back then, you know, we were significantly underpaid.

00:25:17.700 I left in a municipal department in 1990, went to San Diego because of it, and it's gotten worse.

00:25:24.960 And it's not managed or organized like a fire department.

00:25:29.540 And if they're going to be in the fire business, you know, they need to be organized and led like a fire department.

00:25:35.580 Yes, they're a resource agency, and yes, they have things beyond fire.

00:25:40.680 But if you look at the Forest Service budget, you know, primarily now it's fire that's being funded.

00:25:47.060 And they definitely need some help.

00:25:49.580 And they're firefighters.

00:25:51.200 Quite frankly, Glenn, they're going to be without a fire department very, very soon.

00:25:56.560 Jeez.

00:25:57.460 I have to tell you, it was the National Forest Service that helped save my neighbor's ranch and probably mine.

00:26:03.860 If we would have had high winds, it would have been over.

00:26:06.580 But the local fire came out, and immediately the Forest Service had already positioned.

00:26:13.980 They looked at my canyon and went, this is dry.

00:26:17.320 This is just a disaster waiting to happen.

00:26:19.540 And they were ready for it, and they saved it.

00:26:22.180 I mean, they did a great job there.

00:26:24.640 They have amazing firefighters.

00:26:26.900 Yeah, they do.

00:26:27.520 I spent 13 years on a hotshot cruise.

00:26:30.660 So I know the business.

00:26:32.720 And, you know, I know the people that are out there now.

00:26:35.640 Their firefighters are amazing.

00:26:37.220 Their smoke jumpers, their hotshots, their engine crews, their helitack.

00:26:40.400 Unfortunately, you know, again, they're organized in such a way that national, they don't, it would take too long to speak to.

00:26:51.080 But it's just sad to see.

00:26:52.940 I mean, here in California, I'm told that they're, we're only able to staff their stations at 60%.

00:26:59.120 In my own county, I have three Forest Service stations, and they could only staff one of those stations, two on occasion, eight to ten hours a day all summer.

00:27:10.640 Holy cow. 0.89

00:27:11.060 We had a fire.

00:27:12.020 We had a fire, the airport fire, earlier this summer that burned over 100 homes.

00:27:16.960 And the station closest to that fire was not staffed.

00:27:20.120 And so, you know, I made Congress aware and others aware.

00:27:25.120 And right now, I don't think the Forest Service is happy with me because I'm being very public about things that they should be very public about.

00:27:32.880 So would it be the Forest Service or the Department of Interior that would be responsible for getting underbrush cleared?

00:27:43.520 Well, I think it's both.

00:27:45.180 You know, I've worked for both the USDA and the USDI, and let's face it, or, you know, at least out here in the West, you know, firefighters for decades have done such a great job at suppressing fires quickly that it's caused this growth, and we've got an unhealthy landscape out there.

00:28:02.760 And, you know, we need to start putting beneficial fire back on the landscape.

00:28:06.940 We need to clear the brush.

00:28:08.120 But here's another thing, Glenn.

00:28:09.860 Those same firefighters that we're losing, those are the people that are going to do the work.

00:28:14.620 I know.

00:28:15.380 And so if you don't have the workforce to do the work that needs to be done, how do you get it done?

00:28:21.780 It doesn't matter how many millions or billions of dollars you throw at the problem if you don't have the people there to do the work.

00:28:31.360 But, yes, I mean, we need to do something about this unhealthy forest.

00:28:35.580 And people are working hard at it.

00:28:37.100 Certainly, Cal Fire is showing amazing, incredible success with it.

00:28:43.480 But we're years behind, man.

00:28:46.580 Oh, no.

00:28:47.300 It's been decades of not treating, you know, the fuels and the landscape.

00:28:52.780 And it's going to be decades to fix it.

00:28:55.160 But we've got to do something, and we've got to have a workforce to be able to do it.

00:29:00.660 And like I say, if asked, and I haven't been asked by anybody officially, but just informal people have suggested and asked, is that something I would consider?

00:29:10.860 And absolutely.

00:29:12.840 And, you know, certainly pay is less of an issue.

00:29:17.240 It would be a pay cut for me.

00:29:19.480 But it's not about that.

00:29:20.660 Yeah.

00:29:20.800 It's about, you know, what we as firefighters, you know, have sworn to do.

00:29:27.800 And we need to fix that organization.

00:29:31.540 Quickly, can I ask you, I'm up against a network break.

00:29:34.680 Can I just ask you about the safety inspections of the Oregon fire trucks and everything?

00:29:38.400 That was not to make sure of emissions.

00:29:40.520 That was to make sure that they could function, correct?

00:29:43.880 Which seems insane, too, but go ahead.

00:29:46.600 I'm unaware of that, of what you're talking about.

00:29:51.320 But I know that we do inspect, not we, but the state or the feds will inspect, you know, engines and whatnot when they arrive and then before they leave to make sure they're safe.

00:30:02.100 So I'm not familiar at all with the situation you're talking about.

00:30:06.380 All right.

00:30:07.300 Brian, thank you so much.

00:30:08.400 I hope you're I hope you're called up because we need to take all of our agencies and especially all of our services that are protecting us.

00:30:18.880 Seriously, again, we haven't for quite a long time.

00:30:21.420 Brian, thank you so much.

00:30:22.920 Yep.

00:30:23.180 We need change.

00:30:24.160 So thank you.

00:30:24.780 You bet.

00:30:25.040 Brian Fennessy, Orange County Fire Chief.

00:30:28.760 You're listening to the best of Glenn Beck.

00:30:30.940 Need a little more?

00:30:31.940 Check out the full show podcast anywhere you download podcasts.

00:30:36.380 Welcome.

00:30:37.740 I'm just watching some of this coverage of the Pete Hegseth hearings.

00:30:43.820 I saw Megyn Kelly.

00:30:45.040 She was right behind like the second row of the hearing. 0.89

00:30:48.420 We saw that earlier.

00:30:49.900 We're watching this visually.

00:30:51.640 We're not hearing all of it.

00:30:53.460 Yeah.

00:30:53.640 And then I walked in during the commercial break.

00:30:56.920 Yeah.

00:30:57.220 And the audio was up and I was like, that voice is familiar.

00:31:00.680 Who is that?

00:31:01.360 It was one of those irritating voices from the past.

00:31:03.660 Uh-huh.

00:31:04.960 And then I looked up and I was like, oh, no, maybe not.

00:31:08.860 I'm not sure who that is.

00:31:10.160 And watched the commentary for a couple of minutes and then looked down at the nameplate.

00:31:16.160 Yeah.

00:31:16.940 And realized that was apparently Kirsten Gillibrand.

00:31:20.560 Which I think that is the nicest telling of that story, Sarah, wouldn't you say?

00:31:25.540 I think that was a...

00:31:26.420 That's exactly what happened.

00:31:27.760 ...original, I mean, you know, an original tale there.

00:31:31.720 That is exactly precisely what happened.

00:31:33.420 In my mind.

00:31:34.460 I don't know what I said.

00:31:35.320 In your mind.

00:31:35.520 That is precisely... 0.99

00:31:36.220 You said, who the hell is that hag on TV? 1.00

00:31:38.320 I never said that. 0.99

00:31:39.480 You know I didn't say that.

00:31:40.220 Which is what I heard.

00:31:40.960 I mean, really, honestly, Sarah, he didn't say those words, but that's what he was saying.

00:31:46.460 Oh, definitely what I said.

00:31:47.260 Definitely what he was saying.

00:31:48.260 I don't...

00:31:49.280 He's like, witchy-poo, witchy-poo. 1.00

00:31:50.860 I didn't say those words, first of all.

00:31:53.180 I may have implied them.

00:31:56.500 Because I will say...

00:31:57.660 I mean, Washington takes a toll on you, man.

00:31:59.800 Do you know...

00:32:00.240 Here's a fact of the day.

00:32:01.720 Yeah.

00:32:02.320 That person up there, Kirsten Gillibrand, younger than you.

00:32:06.860 Wow.

00:32:08.340 Ah! 0.99

00:32:08.900 That was him saying she's a hag! 1.00

00:32:11.220 Did you hear that reaction, Sarah? 0.99

00:32:13.260 Yeah, we got you.

00:32:13.920 Wow.

00:32:14.400 She is holding herself together very well.

00:32:18.040 No, that is not what you just said with that noise.

00:32:22.060 That noise expressed a lot of emotion and surprise.

00:32:26.040 Yeah, wow.

00:32:26.440 And not in a positive way for dear Kirsten.

00:32:29.000 Yeah.

00:32:29.220 Because she was running for president relatively recently. 0.99

00:32:31.920 She was always invited on, like, Stephen Colbert.

00:32:35.020 She was a New York senator. 0.50

00:32:37.020 She was kind of a mini celebrity for a while running for president. 1.00

00:32:40.440 Didn't make much of an impact in her race. 0.98

00:32:42.900 It was never really close.

00:32:43.860 But it feels like the pictures look like they were 25 years ago.

00:32:49.260 Yeah.

00:32:49.440 I don't know what's going on.

00:32:50.860 So she was questioning Hegseth, and it was...

00:32:53.820 Oh, don't try to move to the actual content of her remarks.

00:32:58.200 That's not the important part?

00:32:59.180 No.

00:32:59.600 No.

00:32:59.940 Okay.

00:33:00.180 What happened?

00:33:01.380 We always say this about presidents, and it's okay to say it about guys.

00:33:05.720 Oh, look, he came into office and his hair was black, and now it's totally gray.

00:33:10.300 Oh, that's totally fine to say about guys.

00:33:13.720 The same things happen, apparently, to dear Kirsten here.

00:33:17.160 No, that's not true.

00:33:18.120 That's not true.

00:33:19.720 She just stopped dying her hair. 1.00

00:33:22.420 That's what happened.

00:33:23.760 She hasn't...

00:33:24.480 Like, in four years, it hasn't been like, oh, my gosh, look at her.

00:33:27.960 Gray hair, all that stress.

00:33:29.860 She stopped putting a box of chemicals in her hair.

00:33:32.760 I will say that may very well have occurred.

00:33:34.340 Yeah.

00:33:34.640 She's only 58, but that may very well have occurred.

00:33:38.400 What I would add to that, though, is it looks like maybe she stopped doing other things.

00:33:46.000 Because ladies, and you back me up on this, Sarah, right? 0.99

00:33:49.780 Ladies tend to do things to improve their appearance. 1.00

00:33:53.080 Maybe wear makeup.

00:33:55.200 Maybe there's some things that are injected into faces.

00:33:59.660 I am hearing, like, hag cackles from him right now, aren't you? 0.99

00:34:02.460 Maybe there's bathing.

00:34:04.220 There's all sorts of things that they do, and she seemed to have stopped all of them.

00:34:07.680 You think she stopped bathing?

00:34:10.440 I mean, I'm not there to smell me.

00:34:11.960 We can ask Megan.

00:34:12.680 She's in the second row. 0.71

00:34:13.640 Maybe she would know.

00:34:14.460 I don't know.

00:34:15.260 Well, I think you should call Megan.

00:34:16.340 No, definitely not.

00:34:17.440 I don't want to get her involved in this.

00:34:18.320 I know.

00:34:18.480 I think Megan would be happy to answer all of these questions for you.

00:34:22.200 I'll drag you into the depths of a conversation like this.

00:34:25.200 Why is that?

00:34:25.400 I don't want to do that to her.

00:34:26.320 Yeah.

00:34:26.900 Huh.

00:34:27.380 Yeah.

00:34:27.600 So you don't want to talk about the policies.

00:34:30.200 I think Hegseth is handling himself extraordinarily well.

00:34:34.120 Oh, my gosh.

00:34:35.640 Oh, my gosh.

00:34:36.500 Well, I thought that would be typical of me.

00:34:38.740 You did just do that?

00:34:40.600 I did.

00:34:41.120 Well, I did just Google something that we don't necessarily have to talk about.

00:34:44.500 I think we need to.

00:34:46.160 I think we need to.

00:34:47.280 Stu just Googled.

00:34:48.560 I don't think we need to talk about that.

00:34:50.080 That was an off-the-air conversation.

00:34:52.820 You didn't say that prior to.

00:34:54.180 I said it off-the-air.

00:34:55.300 I think America needs to know.

00:34:56.820 What you're Googling about Christian Gilderbrand?

00:35:00.160 You don't even know her name.

00:35:01.180 I don't.

00:35:02.900 I don't care.

00:35:04.720 I really don't care.

00:35:05.820 Okay.

00:35:06.140 Well, then let's move on, then.

00:35:08.460 But I care now because of what you – because –

00:35:11.300 I didn't.

00:35:11.840 It wasn't anything bad.

00:35:12.960 I was concerned.

00:35:13.960 It wasn't anything bad.

00:35:15.440 It wasn't anything bad.

00:35:16.500 No, well, it was –

00:35:18.240 Poor Kirsten is crying her little eyeballs out right now. 1.00

00:35:21.160 No, that's not true. 0.76

00:35:22.300 First of all, I mean, to state the very clear and obvious, both of us are hideous.

00:35:27.840 So this is not – that is – we're not judging. 0.73

00:35:30.880 I wasn't the one that said, what the hell happened to her?

00:35:34.440 Oh, the American people absolutely heard you say that with that noise you made when I said she was 58 years old.

00:35:40.900 They heard it.

00:35:42.000 They heard every little bit of it.

00:35:43.340 But what I just – I Googled something because I became concerned.

00:35:48.100 About her health.

00:35:50.400 Well, I – yes.

00:35:51.720 I mean, that is one way of stating what happened.

00:35:53.960 How did you Google it?

00:35:55.040 How did you Google?

00:35:55.940 What did you Google?

00:35:56.600 I Googled if Kirsten Gillibrand had disclosed a disease or long-term illness.

00:36:03.760 Because I became concerned for her.

00:36:05.280 She gets gray hair and you think that she's – 1.00

00:36:09.240 Well, I will say the real thing that happened there is after I made jokes about it, I figured, oh, God, she probably has some terrible disease. 1.00

00:36:18.420 And now everyone's going to yell at me because I made fun of her appearance. 0.95

00:36:22.000 You think she looks so bad with gray hair that you think she has some horrible disease. 1.00

00:36:26.160 You stop saying with gray hair.

00:36:27.260 That's not what it's about.

00:36:28.260 You have gray hair.

00:36:29.700 You're –

00:36:30.000 I don't have gray hair.

00:36:31.180 I have white hair.

00:36:32.860 Yes.

00:36:33.220 Well, yes.

00:36:34.640 Yes, that's true.

00:36:35.660 You have white hair.

00:36:36.340 Have you – did you Google does Glenn Beck have some horrible disease? 0.98

00:36:38.760 You have every disease in the book.

00:36:40.080 Look, there's nothing I can Google that you don't have.

00:36:45.600 Every two days you're like, hey, it's Glenn Beck live from the hospital.

00:36:51.060 They're going to build you a podcast studio inside of Baylor.

00:36:58.440 But I will say I just – it really – like it wasn't really concerned about her, if I'm being honest.

00:37:04.260 It was concerned about me because I didn't want to call her name.

00:37:08.260 So first you made it about women getting older, and then you thought, oh, dear God, I could be in trouble.

00:37:17.300 It's not women getting older. 1.00

00:37:18.300 She was like – she looked like a celebrity on Stephen Colbert like six months ago. 0.95

00:37:22.460 She's like having some reverse Benjamin Buttons thing going on. 1.00

00:37:25.880 There's something happening.

00:37:27.780 Reverse Benjamin Buttons, which would be normal aging.

00:37:31.920 I just got to – he's got to go to reverse Benjamin Buttons.

00:37:39.880 Oh, in the movie it seemed like it went really fast at times.

00:37:42.740 Right.

00:37:43.240 Okay.

00:37:43.500 Maybe you're right.

00:37:45.060 Maybe that's a long way to get to normal aging.

00:37:48.340 But I don't think – my point is maybe she's spending a lot of time in the sun, right?

00:37:55.580 Like they say that that's something you shouldn't do.

00:37:57.960 Yeah.

00:37:58.420 You know?

00:37:59.080 Not recently because she looked very pale.

00:38:01.540 But at some point –

00:38:03.100 At some point.

00:38:03.500 Maybe there was all –

00:38:04.200 She was out in the sun.

00:38:05.020 Out in the sun too long.

00:38:06.140 I'm just – I'm trying to help.

00:38:07.880 Right.

00:38:08.480 What are you doing?

00:38:09.740 What are you judging is what he's doing?

00:38:11.280 No, I'm – you know what I'm doing?

00:38:12.420 I'm rubbernecking right now.

00:38:13.800 I'm just driving by a car accident, just slowing down to watch it.

00:38:17.780 That's all I'm doing.

00:38:21.480 Who is the one person here who cared enough about her health to make sure she's doing okay?

00:38:27.360 Me.

00:38:28.540 I'm the only one.

00:38:29.900 What did you do?

00:38:30.700 All right.

00:38:30.980 You sat here and did – you were just – you didn't care if she had a long-term illness or disease.

00:38:35.180 She just closed it off.

00:38:36.980 I didn't think she had one.

00:38:38.400 I just thought she was aging like people do. 0.98

00:38:42.240 No, you are so shameless. 0.99

00:38:46.140 Shameless. 1.00

00:38:46.500 You are shameless. 1.00

00:38:47.500 Shameless. 0.95

00:38:48.000 Everyone in this audience heard moments ago – can we pull the audio?

00:38:52.420 Hey, Glenn, she's younger than you. 0.98

00:38:54.020 Oh! 0.60

00:38:55.540 I didn't even want the noise.

00:38:57.060 There was like several different emotions in that noise.

00:38:59.520 That's not true.

00:39:00.400 That you expressed.

00:39:01.400 Not true.

00:39:01.820 I mean, it was disdain.

00:39:03.760 I'm looking out for her health.

00:39:05.640 What are you doing, sir?

00:39:07.440 I was just trying to talk, you know, about what's happening to poor Pete.

00:39:10.820 That's all I was doing.

00:39:12.180 Poor Pete.

00:39:12.900 That's all I was doing.

00:39:13.640 You know, and let's – you're right.

00:39:15.820 Let's get back to Pete Hex.

00:39:16.700 Hey, Pete Hex is the nominee.

00:39:19.280 Now I don't really care to talk about it.

00:39:21.540 Nominee for Descents.

00:39:22.720 I don't – you know, look.

00:39:24.920 I think we've covered everything we need to cover on Kirsten Gillibrand.

00:39:29.520 I just had a moment of legitimate shock.

00:39:33.020 And sometimes human beings are fallible.

00:39:36.600 I, you know, and I maybe misjudged what could happen in such a short time.

00:39:43.680 The aging process, we should do something.

00:39:45.720 Medicine should fight that.

00:39:47.120 We should go – longevity science should be invested in heavily.

00:39:50.940 So you didn't have to look at aging women. 1.00

00:39:54.600 That's what you're saying?

00:39:55.460 Is that what –

00:39:55.940 That's not what I'm saying at all.

00:39:56.920 I'm just saying I was shocked.

00:39:58.960 It's a weird segue.

00:40:00.380 I was shocked, and I think that, you know, can't science do something is what I'm saying.

00:40:06.580 So you don't have to look at aging women. 1.00

00:40:08.260 No.

00:40:08.660 It has nothing – why do you keep saying that?

00:40:10.620 You keep saying it.

00:40:11.460 I'm not saying it.

00:40:11.780 Is this not a logical place to go?

00:40:13.720 It is not a logical place to go.

00:40:15.220 Why would he – go ahead, sir.

00:40:16.800 I'm not getting involved.

00:40:17.780 Okay.

00:40:18.500 Wow, you've even scared her away.

00:40:19.940 Wow.

00:40:20.960 Wow.

00:40:22.260 Well, she knows.

00:40:23.380 She knows what you would say, so she can't take you on because she knows exactly what

00:40:27.620 kind of horrible, insensitive comments you would make about her.

00:40:31.560 And I have gray hair.

00:40:33.100 Do you – do you want to make that comparison?

00:40:36.240 No, I didn't think so.

00:40:37.140 No?

00:40:37.400 No.

00:40:37.880 She doesn't.

00:40:38.500 Nobody does.

00:40:39.360 Okay.

00:40:39.820 Nobody does.

00:40:40.520 So I would like to talk about – because this is a logical segue, Stu.

00:40:47.220 A logical segue is not, oh, wow, she looks horrible. 1.00

00:40:51.640 Science should do something about the standard aging process.

00:40:54.860 That's not a normal –

00:40:56.040 And she was utilizing it apparently with hair dye. 0.99

00:40:59.600 Okay.

00:41:00.740 Here's a logical one.

00:41:04.540 Biden puts taxpayers on the hook for 15,000 debtor student loans.

00:41:09.220 Here's a guy who – we've been talking about fires all day.

00:41:13.300 Here's a guy who is setting our government on fire just before he leaves.

00:41:20.180 In every way possible, they are sabotaging the presidency of Donald Trump.

00:41:27.020 And I really hope these are the things that come to an end beginning next week.

00:41:33.420 Na-na-na-na.

The Glenn Beck Program - January 14, 2025

Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Brian Fennessy & Mihail Neamtu ｜ 1⧸14⧸25

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