The Glenn Beck Program - Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Kelly Shackelford & Brad Polumbo ｜ 2⧸28⧸19

00:00:00.000 Holy cow, what a great show. I mean, if this is the only podcast that you can listen to today,

00:00:07.180 well, you've got the right podcast. Yeah, this would be the best one to listen to.

00:00:10.780 This would be the best one. This is a great, great podcast today. We start with, you know,

00:00:15.880 a little bit on Michael Jackson because there's a new documentary. This has taken us by complete

00:00:21.460 surprise. I know. They're saying he actually may have done some illegal things with children.

00:00:25.940 I can see that coming. And to find out on the same day that we find out that the Democrats are coming

00:00:33.840 for your guns. What? Well, that's incredible. Who would have thought that? We explain H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112

00:00:42.020 to common sense gun control measures on today's broadcast. What else do we have today?

00:00:50.780 Brad Palumbo on. He is a young, he's from Young Voices. He's a gay conservative trying to find

00:00:58.500 his way in the world. And it's interesting as he, as he talks about, I never understand my gay friends 0.97

00:01:06.020 who want, who say the powers, you know, of the government is so oppressive yet they want them

00:01:10.120 to come and take all of our guns, which is crazy. You know what he said when he said that? I was

00:01:14.460 thinking, you know, when Venezuela had their gun rights taken away? 2012. 2012. Of course,

00:01:21.840 socialists want your guns. Of course. So much on today's podcast. Let's get right to it.

00:01:33.460 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:01:37.540 Whatever charges get the highest amount of retweets, that means it's a crime. We've kind

00:01:48.260 of seen it with Bill Cosby, right? Like we've seen it with, uh, uh, with, um, there was another

00:01:53.060 one recently that the same sort of thing was, oh, it's kind of happening with R. Kelly, right? Like,

00:01:57.540 oh, these are good examples. No, no. Well, they committed crimes and we were like, shrug the

00:02:03.160 shoulders. Yeah. But then when we got the retweets, then we turned on the justice system.

00:02:08.380 Maybe we wait to activate the justice system until the retweet number gets to a certain amount.

00:02:13.520 I see what you're saying. I like that. It's the first layer of justice. Yes. Right? Like if someone,

00:02:18.860 if someone, so in other words, a police officer comes to your house and says, Hey, there's a body

00:02:24.440 laying there. And I just found this bloody person holding a knife over the body. They take a picture

00:02:30.600 selfie. The police officer should be a selfie with the body and the murderer alleged. And then just

00:02:38.060 says crime. Right. And then tweets it out. Tweets it out. If they get over like a hundred thousand

00:02:43.860 retweets, maybe you put it on the percentage of population for local crimes. And if it gets to a

00:02:48.540 certain amount of retweets, then we're like, all right, we walk over to the old justice machine and

00:02:52.080 we turn on the switch. Well, okay. So I was going to say, we shouldn't probably do it on the first round

00:02:57.380 because sometimes people get it wrong, you know, like they did in Covington. But then we all know

00:03:03.240 that that guy, if he isn't guilty of that, he's guilty of something. Well, you see his face. He's

00:03:08.960 got such a punchable face as we learned from every blue check mark on Twitter. Right. But I think this

00:03:13.220 is part of it, Glenn. Part of it is you take people who it's not about whether they committed the crime

00:03:19.860 or not. R. Kelly and Bill Cosby looks like they definitely did do really terrible things. And the

00:03:24.480 Covington kid didn't. But there's plenty of retweets. Put them in prison. That is, that's

00:03:29.220 the sort of justice system we need. If, look, if people are willing to take their time and invest

00:03:34.700 it in retweeting a possible criminal action. Yeah, you don't just do that without reading or

00:03:39.920 thinking about it. Exactly. Throw them in prison. Right. And then, at some point, Netflix will

00:03:48.880 release a documentary about their innocence. And when that gets enough retweets, they're freed.

00:03:53.240 I like it. I like it. I like it. It's basically automated. And our founders didn't see that.

00:03:58.460 No, they didn't see Twitter. No. How about this? A certain amount of tweets just unlocks

00:04:01.520 the door of the cell and they walk out. Like, we don't even have to have, we don't have to

00:04:04.180 tell them. Like it, like it, like it, like it. That way we can get, that way we can get

00:04:08.720 the capitalists out of the prison system. Yes. Yeah. Well, except for Jack. He'll make,

00:04:16.300 be essentially making all decisions on our justice system. No, but Jack is a Marxist with a

00:04:20.580 monocle. Now, I want you to think about this. Okay. There are, there are Marxists who actually

00:04:27.280 believe it. Okay. But most of the Marxists are the Marxist with the monocle, you know,

00:04:32.360 the monopoly guy monocle, right? Who are like, yeah, I mean, I am selling this Che shirt.

00:04:41.440 So I am making money off of that. I am using the capitalist system, but I'm a Marxist. Well,

00:04:47.940 I think one of the most important things about being a Marxist is to get all the capital from

00:04:54.000 the capitalist. So you can do the just things. Exactly right. It's a Marxist in a monocle.

00:04:59.540 There you go. And Jack is a Marxist in a monocle. There we go. All right. Here we go. I mean,

00:05:04.700 what it, it's the first break of the show. We've already solved the legal system.

00:05:07.300 What do you want to go next? You didn't even notice the connection to AOC. She's a Marxist 0.99

00:05:13.380 in a monocle as well. Oh, yes. Right. You put an arm. Now you'd have to have a really big,

00:05:18.280 weird, creepy sized monocle to cover one of her eyes. But she's a Marxist in a monocle as well.

00:05:25.800 You'd be using 30% of us glass output to get a monocle over that eye. Corning is like, wait,

00:05:31.740 wait, she needs a monocle. Quick, buy up the rest of the stock. 1.00

00:05:37.300 The best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:05:48.020 Hey, it's Glenn. And if you like what you hear on the program, you should check out Pat Gray

00:05:52.380 Unleashed. His podcast is available wherever you download your favorite podcast.

00:05:57.120 Do you remember when Michael Jackson called in on the show? This is years and years ago.

00:06:01.580 Oh, this was after Valentine's Day, wasn't it? It was Valentine's Day. And he wanted to,

00:06:05.880 you know, we did the, like we just did on Valentine's Day where we bailed the guys out

00:06:10.120 that, that, you know, missed it or couldn't get flowers or whatever. A couple of the year

00:06:13.960 program. Yeah. And, uh, and Michael Jackson wanted to participate in it. Yeah. This is

00:06:18.480 like the day after I think it was 10 or 12 years ago. He heard it initially and I think wanted to

00:06:24.100 get in on it the next day. Yeah. So here it is. Oh, you're on the Glenn Beck program. Hi,

00:06:29.200 Michael. Hello. Hey. Hello, Glenn. It's Michael. Michael, how are you? Well, I'm so sick of hearing

00:06:36.860 about all of these freaks in the news. Yes, I know you are. There are so many freaks all over the

00:06:43.220 media coverage. It's horrifying. I know. Are you in the hospital? I'm very sick. You're very sick.

00:06:48.760 What, what happened? I know you were taken right to the hospital. I was taken right to the hospital.

00:06:53.220 I'm here. I feel awful. At the, you're still at the hospital. I had a chance to listen to your

00:06:58.760 show yesterday. Uh, you did? It was wonderful. Really? Can I still get in on that couple of

00:07:04.900 the year thing? I love that. Uh, no, we're, we've pretty much closed the door on the couple of the

00:07:09.820 year thing. Well, I'd really like an opportunity to be involved. Well, this is where we would call,

00:07:14.320 you know, your wife and, you know, apologize. You didn't do anything for Valentine's Day?

00:07:20.320 Well, I hung out at the Chuck E. Cheese. It was wonderful. Yes. And, and then. I threw a private

00:07:26.900 party there. It was terrific. Right. I love children. Yeah. I would never hurt a child.

00:07:31.680 I know. Let me in. I have the form here. You'd have to fill out the form. Oh, I filled

00:07:36.720 out the form. You filled it out? You filled it out on the website? I'm ready to go. Okay.

00:07:40.680 Let's see. Uh, dear Mr. Beck, I've never entered a contest like this before. However, I felt I

00:07:45.780 had to tell you about my beautiful cancerous fan. I really can't express in words how uniquely

00:07:53.380 wonderful. The unnamed accuser. Truly is. Honestly, at first I thought I was attracted

00:08:00.440 to his age. I don't, I don't think this is going to work, Michael. Keep going. But as

00:08:09.320 time went on, it turned into so much more. I guess I knew it was true love the first time

00:08:14.280 we took the training wheels off his bike. Hello? Yes. And that trip to the secret room

00:08:24.940 behind the giant teddy bear. Wow. That was what a perfect time that was. I guess what sets

00:08:33.280 him apart is the distinctive way he isn't old. Unlike any other. Boy in the world of

00:08:41.480 amusement park owning pedophile victims. I'm sorry. Unlike anybody. What was that? Any

00:08:48.880 other boy in the world of amusement park owning pedophile victims. Anyway, I could go on forever,

00:08:54.740 but that would take away from my time with him. And I have to get back to work at the Neverland

00:09:00.260 Ranch. Where I molest children from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, and sometimes in the

00:09:06.980 overnights when they're sleeping. Everyone always tries to make love so complex, and that's why

00:09:12.220 I think we should be your Valentine's couple of the year. Because for me, it's simple. I

00:09:18.360 just love wine, coloring books, and Corey Feldman.

00:09:30.080 We should have seen it. We should have seen it. All the signs were there.

00:09:33.960 There really were hints. I don't want to be a detective here, but you hear it.

00:09:39.580 Yeah, but you don't want to make too much of those answers. No, no, no. He had a bad childhood.

00:09:48.360 This is the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:10:04.080 Kelly Shackelford, Esquire. I don't know what that means. Does that mean you're an attorney?

00:10:09.800 Is that what it means? Because it just sounds cool. Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of

00:10:16.820 First Liberty Institute, joins us. The First Liberty, in case you don't know, is the largest

00:10:21.260 legal firm in the nation. All they do is try to protect religious freedom in America, fighting 0.94

00:10:27.500 the good fight. You were in the Supreme Court yesterday, and First Liberty was defending

00:10:35.700 something that was a statue that has been around forever, commemorating those who lost their lives

00:10:42.460 in World War I. And a bunch of atheists got together and said, this is in the shape of a cross,

00:10:49.740 and the city is mowing the lawn around it. That's not right. And wanted it removed. What

00:10:57.020 happened yesterday, Kelly?

00:10:59.400 Well, it's kind of surreal, as you say, that we're even at the Supreme Court on this. I mean,

00:11:04.160 this is the Peace Cross in Maryland, right outside of D.C. It was put up almost 100 years ago by

00:11:11.120 mothers who lost their sons in World War I, along with the American Legion. And we, at this point,

00:11:18.220 you know, before the Supreme Court makes its decision, we are at a point where the Court of

00:11:22.920 Appeals said, it's unconstitutional. After 100 years, we're going to have to tear it down. In fact,

00:11:28.040 one of the judges on the appellate court said, why don't we just cut the arms off the cross? Won't

00:11:33.420 that take care of any offense? And so I can't even believe we're in this battle, but I think it might

00:11:41.500 be something that you could turn something really bad into good. We'll see. There's an approach,

00:11:47.620 Glenn, that has been used now for many decades by the Supreme Court that has created just chaos in

00:11:54.160 this whole area of the law, the Establishment Clause. Congress shall make no law respecting

00:11:58.820 the establishment of religion. It's called the Lemon Test. Lemon Test. That's right. And the Lemon

00:12:02.840 Test has no, there's no parameters, right, on the Lemon Test. We don't really know what that even

00:12:09.000 means, do we? No, they added to it. And part of the test now is that if a person in the community

00:12:16.640 were to walk by a memorial and they were to see that it's religious and it made it feel like an

00:12:22.800 outsider in the community, then that's a violation of the Establishment Clause.

00:12:26.620 What?

00:12:28.280 Yes. And so it's kind of the, it's what's called the offended observer gets to bring a lawsuit. And

00:12:35.420 it's like Justice Gorsuch yesterday made clear, he said, we don't allow this in any area of the law,

00:12:41.080 somebody to come forward and say they're offended and therefore they have a right to, you know,

00:12:45.540 bring lawsuits under the Constitution because they're offended. And, but that's where we are with

00:12:50.980 this. They, they're a group of people, a small group of people that don't want this memorial.

00:12:56.760 And so they want to tear it down. And so again, bad news is what happened below. Good news is we

00:13:04.220 have a shot here and there was a lot of discussion about this yesterday. And this was our goal to get

00:13:09.220 rid of this bad Lemon Test that has created so much trouble in our country. And really it's created

00:13:14.940 hostility to religion, which is not what the founders ever wanted.

00:13:18.060 Right. So why do you think that this went so well yesterday?

00:13:23.820 Well, I think it's clear that there, some people would say there might even be up to seven

00:13:28.800 justices who agree that there's nothing wrong with this memorial. Again, it, the facts are so solid

00:13:35.020 in this case. I mean, the reason the cross was, I mean, they're trying to say, well, they use the cross

00:13:40.160 because they're supporting one religion over another and they're, they're doing all this stuff.

00:13:44.740 The cross was used. If you look at any history, you go back at World War I, millions of young men

00:13:50.860 died and they were, they were putting them in graves overseas so quickly. And they were just

00:13:55.640 slapping a cross in front of everybody just to make sure they knew there was a person. And the

00:14:00.700 pictures that came back were row after row after row of crosses as far as you can see. And there were

00:14:06.580 poems written about this and everything else. So that was the universal symbol they picked

00:14:11.100 to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. And so the idea of tearing down this memorial after

00:14:19.320 a hundred years would just be a disgrace and it would be unfathomable. And I think the court realizes

00:14:25.540 that. So I think the only issue that is coming out of this is going to be, are they going to change

00:14:31.940 the test? This test that's been used to kind of create these attacks on religious symbols and monuments

00:14:37.700 and things around the country. And I, there were a number of justices, including the chief justice,

00:14:43.580 uh, who made clear that this thing is a mess. Uh, this test, Glenn, this tells you something they

00:14:51.660 use it when they want to knock something down, but then they ignore the test completely when they

00:14:57.340 have to uphold something that the founders clearly thought was okay. So there was a case just a few years

00:15:02.780 ago about, can you have prayer to open city council meetings? Well, the founders had prayer to open

00:15:07.780 their meetings. They even paid a chaplain. And so they couldn't say that that's unconstitutional

00:15:13.100 under the establishment clause, but if they had applied the lemon test, they'd have had to strike

00:15:17.080 it down. So they didn't apply the test. So, uh, they talked about this yesterday and said, this is,

00:15:23.780 I mean, we can do what we want as a Supreme court, but we're forcing all the lower courts. They have no

00:15:28.320 idea what the law is, what things to apply. And I think they know they need to do something. And I,

00:15:33.840 I think there's a really good shot that they're going to get rid of what has created a really a

00:15:39.620 catastrophe in this area of the law. Kelly, if I'm not mistaken, the way the court is ruling on things,

00:15:46.420 it, there is a change, uh, in the court. And I, is it just the addition of, of Gorsuch, uh,

00:15:55.360 uh, that is happening? Cause there seems to be, and when it comes to religion,

00:16:00.380 that the Supreme court is starting to, uh, define those boundaries a little bit clearer

00:16:07.600 and actually protect. Haven't we had several cases this, uh, this session where they are

00:16:13.700 protecting religious liberty? There's some huge signals coming out when, um, this case is one of

00:16:21.080 them. I think we now have five justices for the first time, maybe since the 1920s, um, who actually

00:16:27.800 believe in following the written word of the constitution. Holy cow. And that's, that's going

00:16:32.340 to result in things changing because they're going to say, it's not about what we want. It's about what

00:16:37.800 the framers said, what the constitution said, what it means. And I think when it comes to religious

00:16:43.300 freedom, we have five that are really pretty solid on religious freedom. I think Kavanaugh is a guy

00:16:49.260 who, I mean, he don't, uh, Kavanaugh as a young attorney donated his time on a case with me,

00:16:54.440 you know, almost 20 years ago. He's been committed to religious freedom his whole life.

00:16:58.380 He understands it. And I think the same about Roberts, who's considered a swing boat a lot of

00:17:03.060 times. So I think we're going to start to see some clarity and some good decisions come out. And

00:17:07.920 we're talking about the establishment clause. We have another case, the coach Kennedy case,

00:17:12.580 the coach got fired for going to a knee after the football game to say 20 minutes, silent prayer.

00:17:17.240 Yeah. Um, they issued a statement, the four conservative justices, uh, last month on that

00:17:24.500 case that sent shockwaves throughout the country. And that is at the end of the decision, uh, that

00:17:30.800 they had laid down, they, they actually said, you know, we've noticed that you brought a free speech

00:17:36.180 claim first, not a free exercise of religion claim. And they said that might be because of this

00:17:41.820 decision, which is called the Smith decision that has created such damage to the free exercise of

00:17:47.500 religion. And they said, but we haven't been asked to overturn that yet. So that's not a subtle hint

00:17:54.120 that they're ready to, to go after some of these really bad cases that have really hurt religious

00:18:00.600 freedom for the last, you know, four or five decades. And so both on the establishment clause

00:18:06.560 and the free exercise clause, both the religion clauses, we're really excited.

00:18:10.960 You know, it's amazing, Kelly, the, the press is so focused on Donald Trump. I mean, he is the

00:18:17.920 ultimate red herring. Um, no comment on his hair. Uh, he, he really is. I mean, they, they are so

00:18:25.440 focused on him that you could go in and say, every baby gets an automatic weapon, uh, through the

00:18:34.300 Supreme court or through Congress. And I don't think that the press would even focus on it because

00:18:39.920 they're so focused on him. We, we feel like we're losing the battles almost every day because we see

00:18:47.100 these, these huge leaps of power, uh, for the left that we're not seeing or hearing because nobody's

00:18:54.620 reporting on these victories in the court and what's really happening in the court. It's game changing,

00:19:01.720 isn't it? It is. I can't, I can't agree with you more. Uh, this is, I mean, I've been doing

00:19:08.280 religious freedom work my entire life and, uh, you know, been working hard and I feel like

00:19:14.800 everything we've all been working for for the last 30 years is beginning to happen and, and not in

00:19:21.300 small ways. And I think this is, this is going to be a huge return of power to the people, um, getting

00:19:28.420 the government out of, uh, sort of being the, the religious monuments police. And, uh, you know,

00:19:35.020 uh, part of the things we're talking about just from the case yesterday, you know, think of all

00:19:38.640 the, you know, the menorahs that have been said, well, you can't put that menorah up in public around

00:19:43.300 Hanukkah or you can't do the, the nativity scene, or you can't, uh, you know, we can't have that 10

00:19:48.800 commandments or, I mean, Oh my gosh, you've got a steeple on your city seal wall, you know? And so

00:19:54.880 all that stuff is ridiculous. If you're talking to the founders and I think, I mean, this case could

00:20:01.240 end all of that and it'll affect much more, but that's just real life things that people are used

00:20:07.040 to seeing. And so I think both the establishment clause and the pre-exercise clause, there's great

00:20:12.280 hope. We'll have to wait and see what the decisions are, but I think it's going to be a really, I mean,

00:20:17.860 we're talking about decades changing sort of the hinge point of history. Like we've had decades of some

00:20:23.280 really bad law. And I think we're about to move towards some decades of some really good law and

00:20:28.740 religious freedom and the first amendment. I will tell you that, uh, David Barton told me

00:20:33.360 that he said, Glenn, if the things come out the way they're feeling, he said, by the end of this

00:20:40.140 session, he said, we may have more religious freedom than any time since the founding of the

00:20:46.860 nation. He said, they, they've been screwing it up for so long. He said, I think we're going back to

00:20:53.360 the way things were originally intended. Would you agree with that? Or is that too far?

00:20:58.100 No, I do. I mean, it's kind of, it's kind of silly, you know, most nonprofit groups like our legal

00:21:03.900 firm, uh, have a vision statement and, uh, they're kind of pie in the sky. You know, uh, if, if, if this

00:21:11.300 happens, this would be nirvana, right? And ours is to return the country to the religious freedom.

00:21:17.440 That was the vision of our founders. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime, but I think

00:21:23.560 that's now what we're going to see because we actually have justices who want to follow what

00:21:28.720 the constitution and the founders were doing. And, and that's just unique. We haven't seen that in our

00:21:34.820 lifetime. And so I think we're going to start to see decisions go back to what that founding vision

00:21:40.620 was and the religious freedom that this country was built on. And I think that's only going to be

00:21:45.080 a blessing for the country and the future, uh, of everything we do. Wow. Kelly, thank you so much.

00:21:50.340 And thank you for the hard work that you've put in for so long, uh, chief counsel, First Liberty

00:21:54.680 Institute. If you want to be involved, you want to donate. I mean, they are doing amazing work,

00:22:00.180 uh, right now. First liberty.org first liberty.org Kelly, thank you so much. God bless.

00:22:05.940 Thank you, Glenn.

00:22:06.960 You bet.

00:22:07.240 This is the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:22:23.040 Like listening to this podcast. If you're not a subscriber, become one now on iTunes.

00:22:27.780 And while you're there, do us a favor and rate the show.

00:22:31.020 I'm going to bring on, uh, Brad Palumbo. He is the assistant editor for young voices,

00:22:35.080 online contributor for the national review. And he's written an essay for Quillette. If you haven't

00:22:40.680 gone to Quillette.com, you need to, um, there isn't a single time I've checked that website that I

00:22:46.320 haven't found something really fascinating. His essay is one of those, the political homeless life

00:22:52.440 of a gay conservative. Um, and, uh, he joins us now. Hello, Brad, how are you? 0.88

00:22:58.080 Hey, Glenn. Thanks for having me on.

00:23:00.440 You bet. Thanks for being so honest, um, in your Quillette story. Um, can you take us through,

00:23:07.680 maybe, maybe start here. The, the guy who broke up with you because he was crying and said he just

00:23:16.600 couldn't date a Republican anymore.

00:23:18.660 Yeah. So I, I worked on this piece for a long time, right? Because I wanted to combine my personal

00:23:24.940 experiences with people I interviewed with broader trends that I observed in the progressive world

00:23:30.040 and in the LGBT media. And it eventually all found its way back to one place. If you identify as

00:23:36.100 conservative, but you also happen to be gay life in neither side of the aisle is particularly

00:23:40.920 comfortable for you. So for me, that meant that I have experienced honestly widespread intolerance 0.71

00:23:46.680 from other people in the LGBT community who should understand more than anyone that it's okay to be

00:23:51.660 different. Largely, they don't. So that includes a boyfriend of multiple months who broke up with me

00:23:56.680 in part because he was uncomfortable with my political views, which are by no means radical.

00:24:02.220 They're just not liberal. And that's just another example of intolerance that I've experienced

00:24:06.280 honestly too many times to count from left-wing gay people.

00:24:10.540 Now, Brad, I mean, as a guy who, you know, just was never good on the dating scene,

00:24:16.460 at all. Um, that sounds like something that somebody could have said, uh, to me, uh, and

00:24:23.980 really they didn't know anything about my politics. They were just like looking for something,

00:24:28.520 you know, it's not, it's not you, it's me kind of stuff. Are you sure it wasn't,

00:24:32.500 you know, I'm just throwing this one out here. Uh, you're just not my speed.

00:24:38.800 I, I really don't think so. We had some pretty intense conversations about that. Um, and it's been a

00:24:44.480 recurring theme. You know, when I first started, uh, putting myself out there on the dating scene

00:24:49.260 in college, I would have people who would match with me on, on dating apps or on websites just to

00:24:55.120 tell me to go and kill myself or off myself or that I was disgraced to the community. Right. Um,

00:25:00.440 because I, I was a little bit well-known around campus for my conservative viewpoints and those

00:25:04.860 sorts of things. So because it's being, been a reoccurring trend, I can tell you that I'm,

00:25:09.520 I'm pretty confident it was, uh, not just, not just another excuse. So tell me about, because I

00:25:15.080 think there's a lot of people that feel like they don't have a home anywhere. Um, and you know, when

00:25:20.580 it comes to, uh, gay people, you would think that it's a clear match because a conservative

00:25:28.560 should be about the constitutional principles that we have, which basically say, leave me alone.

00:25:34.780 I'm different. And I thought we were supposed to celebrate that I'm different and you're different

00:25:38.960 and we're supposed to get along. That's what the constitution says. It protects people to be who

00:25:44.940 they are so they, so they can be who they are. Um, and yet somehow the Republicans and, and it comes

00:25:54.200 from a lot of religious, uh, uh, conservatives have made gay people feel very, very unwelcome. So 0.56

00:26:01.800 well, is that changed? Is that different? How do you deal with the difference between the two

00:26:07.920 parties? Well, so first off, Glenn, I totally agree with you. I think that I'm not personally

00:26:13.840 a huge social conservative, but I do identify as a constitutional conservative for the reasons that

00:26:18.620 you just mentioned, you know, what does the first amendment do if it doesn't protect your right to

00:26:22.900 think differently, to be different, to have freedom of conscience. Um, and so that's one of the

00:26:28.300 reasons I find the left-wing movement that's moving in on all these freedoms, uh, so unappealing.

00:26:33.160 But what I'll say is that it's a combination of two things that creates this political homelessness.

00:26:38.200 In part, it is what you have identified that there's some lingering intolerance among the

00:26:42.940 conservative movement. I will say among young Republicans, I've really had extremely welcoming

00:26:49.020 and accepting experiences, but you know, the reality remains that half of Republicans don't believe

00:26:54.780 in gay marriage. And I don't think that that makes them terrible people or evil or anything,

00:26:59.200 but it does make me, um, obviously not fully comfortable with the people who I would otherwise

00:27:05.020 politically largely agree with. And the same thing is true. I'm sorry. No, go ahead. Go ahead.

00:27:10.880 Yeah. The same thing is true, um, on the opposite side of the spectrum, right? Because the progressive

00:27:15.320 LGBT media ecosystem essentially acts like gay people who aren't liberals don't exist. You know, 0.96

00:27:22.220 you go to these websites, queert.com, LGBT, um, advocate and out magazine, and they have articles

00:27:30.000 praising gun control and bashing Ivanka Trump. And they call this the gay agenda, right? They're 1.00

00:27:35.160 basically acting like all gay people think with their body parts and we're not individuals. So 0.71

00:27:39.600 they're trying to erase the 20% or so of LGBT people who don't think like that. And for me,

00:27:45.240 that's a huge problem. So, uh, let me ask you this, uh, Brad, um, my stance on gay marriage has

00:27:53.540 been the same since the nineties. Um, uh, I don't care. I mean, it's, it's not my business

00:28:00.700 constitutionally. The government only got into the marriage business to make sure that, uh, whites 0.99

00:28:07.580 didn't marry blacks or blacks marry white. So we couldn't mix the races. And later it became about 0.64

00:28:15.320 undesirables, making sure that we don't create any more undesirables. The reason why government

00:28:21.640 got into marriage in the first place, they're all bad and they have no place in anybody's marriage. 0.82

00:28:27.920 But as long as if you want to get married, I don't care. If I want to get married, I, you shouldn't

00:28:34.600 care, but we shouldn't be in people's lives. The problem with conservatives, I think is there are

00:28:41.260 some that are just like, it's wrong. And God says it's wrong. And that's all there is to it. But

00:28:45.260 there's a, I think a bigger majority of conservatives that say, look, that's them, whatever you want to

00:28:53.320 do, go ahead. But they're afraid that the gay agenda just wants to shut down all religion, 0.81

00:28:59.140 that it's not really about love. Does that make sense? 0.53

00:29:03.920 Yeah, it does make sense. I think the position that you're articulating is very intellectually

00:29:08.320 honest. Um, and I think that the people who are still holdouts against gay marriage,

00:29:13.260 I hope that they can kind of come see the light, especially because I try to make the gay marriage

00:29:17.460 argument from a case for family values, right? Almost to appeal to conservatives. But I think you hit on

00:29:23.220 something that I do think is partly the own fault of the LGBT community, right? When you have an LGBT 1.00

00:29:29.760 advocate class that does target religion entirely, right? They're not just seeking freedom for to be

00:29:37.160 who you are, to have kids, to get married. They're seeking freedom to force other people, right? Like,

00:29:42.500 for example, Jack Phillips, the baker who didn't want to bake the gay cake, right? The LGBT advocate

00:29:47.280 class has really forced some conservatives to kind of dig in into their trenches, because they're not just

00:29:52.840 looking for freedom. They're looking to force their views on other people. And that's where I think

00:29:57.460 both sides get it wrong. Because a society that's truly tolerant, but you have the right to be

00:30:01.780 Christian, and me have the right to be gay, and we all just live our lives in peace.

00:30:05.360 And we all we all get along. We I mean, you know, we all get along. One other thing, Brad, is how is it

00:30:11.100 and I say this really was socialists, but also, you know, gay people as well. A group of people,

00:30:19.640 socialists in Hollywood, that had to were blacklisted, were tried, when someone went to prison,

00:30:28.180 had to live in the closet, either because of their sexuality or because of their political beliefs.

00:30:34.260 Is it just vengeance? Or why can they not see they're doing this? They're becoming the monster

00:30:43.220 that they fought against. I'm not sure, honestly, the causes of this kind of veil of intolerance that's

00:30:50.800 sweeping the progressive movement and kind of the LGBT far left crowd. I'm not sure exactly what the

00:30:56.400 cause is. I will say that we have a tendency across our society when there was historic kind of

00:31:02.460 oppression or anything to try to swing back to the not to the middle, but too far to the other side.

00:31:07.120 And I think that the LGBT advocacy class has no has not been an exception to that rule.

00:31:12.860 They've absolutely done that because we have to acknowledge the fact that for a long time, LGBT people

00:31:17.780 have really faced some terrible conditions in American history. And I think largely that's not true today.

00:31:23.700 And that's great. But that is probably why I think a lot of these people have swung far to the other extreme.

00:31:29.920 And that's understandable, but it's still fundamentally misguided.

00:31:32.860 And Brad, it seems like the lesson learned a lot of times from these longer struggles with groups that

00:31:37.620 have had tough times in America is to pick a group that they think is helping them, whether it's

00:31:45.340 whatever group in the government, Democrats, Republicans, that they think is helping them and

00:31:49.780 then kind of stick to that side for a long period of time afterwards. But it seems to me the decision

00:31:55.160 should be made in a way of thinking about collectivism versus individualism.

00:32:01.260 And if you're a minority group or a group that's had troubles with the government in the past, the last thing

00:32:07.340 to me you would want is the government to have more power in a centralized place where whenever X, Y, or Z group

00:32:15.780 decide, you know, the country decides that they're the enemy next time, they're again going to be vulnerable.

00:32:20.300 If we empower people who are individualists, who believe in small government and limited

00:32:25.080 government to be able to do these things and run the country without making these decisions

00:32:29.800 as to what groups they don't like, isn't that just better for everybody?

00:32:34.360 Yeah, I could not agree with you more there because one thing that drives me crazy is the

00:32:39.320 same LGBT progressive advocates who will tell you the government is viciously oppressive are 0.62

00:32:44.060 the same ones who want to take everyone's guns away.

00:32:46.060 To the point that it makes perfect sense to me, right? If you really think that the government

00:32:51.360 has a history of being oppressive to certain groups, and I do, then you should want that 1.00

00:32:55.700 government to be as small as possible because clearly it's shown that it can't handle widespread

00:32:59.740 power. So I would love to see more LGBT people applying the lens of their experiences really

00:33:07.340 to the question of today of how much can we really let the government start running people's

00:33:11.480 lives? Because individualism really is the ethos of my personal philosophy. And honestly,

00:33:17.260 it should be that for more gay people.

00:33:19.980 So how can people like us or just, you know, regular people who are just listening, who are

00:33:26.520 not members of the gay community? How can we help bridge a gap? What what can we do?

00:33:33.860 Well, so it starts with a couple things. It can be hard at times to reach the other side when

00:33:39.100 they feel trapped into this us versus them mentality, which is in part driven by kind

00:33:43.960 of the identitarian dogma of intersectionality on the left. But it's also, I think, driven

00:33:50.020 by when you have high profile conservatives, who will say or high profile conservative media

00:33:57.060 who will sometimes say or make comments or take positions about LGBT issues that are just

00:34:02.180 either inflammatory and unfair or needlessly controversial. For example, I mean, if you're

00:34:09.400 going to have traditional views about gender, I can respect that position. But if you go out of your

00:34:14.540 way to whenever you're debating it with somebody, tell them that they're mentally deranged, right, 0.84

00:34:18.920 with a transgender person, you're being needlessly antagonistic, and you're turning other people 1.00

00:34:23.880 off from, I think, just your entire political movement with that. So I think you can have the

00:34:28.240 views you're going to have. But it's about taking an approach where you can try to meet people in

00:34:31.960 the middle and try to make arguments that will appeal to them and won't lock activate their us

00:34:37.400 versus them mentality. I tell you, Brad, I don't know if you've ever read this. My dad made me read

00:34:42.180 it when I was in high school. And I just I read it begrudgingly. And I picked it up recently. And it

00:34:47.920 has it has all of the answers we need. It really does, even though it was written in in, you know,

00:34:53.680 the Great Depression. It's how to win friends and influence people. And basically, it just said what

00:34:58.900 it says what you just said, just said, why, why, why, why not listen to other people, see what they're

00:35:06.120 feeling, see what they need, see how you can help and just help them help them. And, you know, and be

00:35:15.460 comfortable with that. And then all of a sudden, you'll notice, wait a minute, my life has changed

00:35:21.220 somehow or another, because you're just being cool with everybody and really listening to them.

00:35:29.060 Brad, thank you so much for your article. And thanks for being on the program.

00:35:33.880 And thanks for having me. You bet. Hope we can talk again. Thank you so much.

00:35:41.720 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:35:51.220 I want to take you back in time to a story that you know. But I'm going to put all the pieces

00:35:59.380 together. Let me take you back to September 25th, 2017. A man checked into a room on the

00:36:06.300 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. He had made several trips. He had timed it out. He

00:36:14.040 made sure nobody had noticed that he was taking 10 range bags full of guns and ammunition up into that

00:36:20.720 room. He did it over six days. And on the sixth day, he opened fire on people that were at the Route 91

00:36:31.900 Harvest Music Festival. He killed 85 people. He wounded 851 others, the deadliest mass shooting committed

00:36:42.960 by one person in U.S. history. Then he turned the gun on himself.

00:36:53.540 When police investigated his room, they found 23 rifles and one handgun.

00:36:59.520 They found 14 .223 caliber AR-15 type rifles, eight .308 caliber AR-10, one .308 caliber bolt action,

00:37:12.040 one .38 caliber revolver. And on the kitchen counter next to his hotel room, there were four credit cards.

00:37:20.680 That's really what this story is about. Not the guns, but the credit cards. To understand what is coming now, you have to

00:37:34.140 understand Andrew Ross Sorkin and what he saw when he saw the credit cards. Listen.

00:37:42.400 After Parkland, the shooting in Parkland and trying to look at the role that banks and credit cards play in

00:37:49.360 these things, I really decided to take a deep dive into this. The article is called Devastating

00:37:55.300 Arsenals Bought with Plastic and Nary a Red Flag. It is a New York Times investigation that looks at

00:38:00.780 mass shootings, every single major mass shooting in America since Virginia Tech in 2007. And it really

00:38:06.320 reveals how credit cards have become such a crucial part of the planning of these massacres in a way that

00:38:11.540 I have to say I did not even appreciate myself. The article is written by Andrew Ross Sorkin, works for

00:38:21.620 the New York Times. Now something tells me he's never fired a gun in his life. But when he wrote the

00:38:27.620 article, how banks unwittingly finance mass shootings in the New York Times, it's time to pay attention.

00:38:36.180 He starts by pointing out that there have been 13 shootings that have killed 10 or more people in

00:38:42.200 the last decade. And in at least eight of them, the killers financed their attacks using credit cards,

00:38:47.540 Virginia Tech, Binghamton in 2009, Fort Hood, Aurora, San Bernardino, Orlando, Sutherland Springs,

00:38:55.220 and Vegas. And he pointed out that over the course of eight months before the Pulse nightclub

00:39:00.660 shooting in Orlando, the shooter opened six new credit card accounts just 12 days before the

00:39:06.880 shooting. He spent $26,532 on a Sig Sauer MCX .223 caliber rifle and a Glock 17 9mm semi-automatic

00:39:18.380 pistol and several large magazines. He also bought thousands of rounds of ammunition. And then he

00:39:25.000 went out and bought a $7,500 ring for his wife that he bought on a jewelry store card.

00:39:29.240 Should the bank have allowed him to do that? Because before that month, he spent about $1,000,

00:39:39.700 $1,500 a month. The difference was so dramatic that two days before the shooting, the killer frantically

00:39:48.980 searched Google for credit card unusual spending and credit card reports all three bureaus. He searched FBI

00:39:56.960 and why banks stop your purchases. So should Google have alerted anyone? The killer in Aurora,

00:40:06.460 Colorado, the movie theater, spent $11,000 on guns and ammunition all on a credit card.

00:40:12.220 The issue now has revealed a split between the banks and credit card companies. On one side,

00:40:20.740 there are companies that support monitoring as a form of public safety. Following the shooting in

00:40:25.980 Parkland, Florida, Citigroup adopted a new code of conduct for gun dealers and manufacturers that the

00:40:33.080 bank does business with. It requires retailers to impose age limit restrictions on gun sales.

00:40:39.680 That is against the Constitution. There is no law. But Citigroup has said, well, you know what?

00:40:47.400 This is what we want to do as a company. And have they received any pushback from the general

00:40:54.140 population? Check your credit cards. Do you have a city card? Do you do business with Citibank?

00:40:59.800 Do you think the left would be doing business with Citibank if this was reversed? If Citibank said,

00:41:05.960 we're not going to do any transactions or any financial services with any doctors that will not

00:41:12.580 support abortion. Do you think the left would have Citibank's attention yet?

00:41:21.760 CEO Michael Corbat said the policy, quote, is intended to preserve the rights of responsible gun

00:41:27.520 owners like myself while relying on best sales practices to keep firearms out of the wrong hands.

00:41:33.620 The new policy does not restrict Citigroup customers from using the company's cards

00:41:38.740 from gun purchases. Bank of America took similar approach. They stopped giving loans to gun manufacturers.

00:41:53.120 Overwhelmingly, however, good news is banks and credit card companies have refused to take part

00:41:57.680 part in any kind of monitoring. So you have Bank of America and Citigroup. Do you do business with

00:42:04.540 either of those? Remember, the left, if they were told, no, no, no, it's not the whole doctor thing. No,

00:42:11.300 it's just if they say that a minor can have an abortion, I mean, after they're 18 or 21, that's fine.

00:42:22.200 But if they if those people are saying they can have an abortion without their parents permission

00:42:27.660 under 18, why we're not going to do any financing for that organization. Do you think the left would

00:42:34.000 put up with that? Now, even if the banks and the credit card companies agreed to start monitoring

00:42:41.220 purchases, gun sales are tough to track because they many times appear on statements as, you know,

00:42:47.540 sporting goods or retail shop purchases, you know, places like retailer like Walmart, et cetera, et cetera.

00:42:53.580 Sometimes discount stores, it'll just be marked variety. So who knows what that is. And then there

00:43:00.000 are stores like Dick's Sporting Goods that imposed restrictions on their gun sales. How'd that work out

00:43:05.320 for them? Now, Joseph Moreno, he's a former federal counterterrorism prosecutor, staff member of the

00:43:13.820 FBI's 9-11 Review Commission. He says this is easy to fix. He said they have all the infrastructure

00:43:20.160 in place. They can deal with suspicious activity. It would just be tweaking it a bit to consider

00:43:26.840 firearm related information. And information is the key word information. Why does Google have anything

00:43:35.980 in your house with a microphone for information? You think you're getting information? No, they're getting

00:43:43.400 much more information about you. Facebook. It's all about information. We are living in surveillance

00:43:52.300 capitalism times. Information is the key word. Now, there's lots of things that already happen. For

00:44:01.440 instance, a bank has to report anytime a single person makes a transaction over $10,000. I'm going to put

00:44:07.640 $10,000 cash into my account. I'm going to take $10,000 out. Whether the transaction is legal or not,

00:44:13.900 they have to report it. And banks must report the transactions over $5,000 if somebody just has a

00:44:20.280 feeling that's suspicious. There are also laws that restrict gun purchases. Under the Gun Control Act

00:44:27.060 of 1968, firearms dealers must report if someone buys two or more handguns in a span of five business

00:44:35.640 days. There's also a lot of official blowback from the idea that the banks could monitor

00:44:40.220 our purchases, effectively compiling a list of all the gun owners. Last year, John Kennedy,

00:44:49.120 not that John Kennedy, a Republican senator from Louisiana, introduced the No Red and No Blue

00:44:56.420 Banks Act. The bill would prohibit the federal government from giving contracts to banks

00:45:02.220 that would discriminate against lawful businesses based solely on social policy considerations.

00:45:11.360 Even the ACLU has come out against monitoring by credit card companies, saying that those efforts,

00:45:17.940 they are afraid to prevent mass shootings could infringe on individual rights. Do you think?

00:45:24.740 Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the ACLU, the Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project,

00:45:33.360 he says, quote,

00:45:34.500 the implications,

00:45:36.360 the implication of expecting the government to detect and prevent every mass shooting is

00:45:43.140 believing the government should play an enormously intrusive role in American life, end quote.

00:45:48.680 Which brings us back to Andrew Ross Sorkin's New York Times article. Sorkin doesn't seem convinced by

00:45:57.060 any of this stuff. He would prefer if the government stepped in and forced credit card companies to

00:46:03.660 start monitoring their customers, or at least the credit card companies that, you know, made that

00:46:11.180 choice of their own volition. Listen to this and interview with him on PBS.

00:46:16.660 So right now, legally, you decide you're going to send $10,000 anywhere. That gets reported to the

00:46:22.800 government instantly. Instantly. Already does. So we could instantly have reported this person just

00:46:28.400 stockpiled $40,000 worth of weapons and grenades. Absolutely.

00:46:31.800 Hmm. Now, he then starts to take it in a strange direction. Listen.

00:46:40.100 By the way, the credit card industry has, on its own volition, decided that there are certain things

00:46:44.540 they don't want to finance. So if you want to buy Bitcoin, you can't. Marijuana, in many states, is legal.

00:46:50.660 You can't. MasterCard, interestingly, recently went to a website that had some hate speech on it

00:46:57.500 and said, we're no longer going to allow you to use credit card transactions using MasterCard

00:47:02.100 because of this hate speech. So there are companies that are taking positions, if you will,

00:47:07.920 on some of these things. And the question is how that can work in relation to guns.

00:47:11.940 Now, so he's, I guess he's all for the hate speech. By the way, that hate speech was not hate speech.

00:47:18.220 That hate speech came from a friend of mine and a friend of this program.

00:47:22.120 That hate speech was speaking out about the Muslim Brotherhood and not in hateful ways.

00:47:28.480 A guy who used to brief Bill Clinton and George W. Bush on what Islamicists really want. 1.00

00:47:40.300 Now he's called a hater. And so now they're not going to do any transactions for him.

00:47:46.220 That's hate speech.

00:47:47.180 Sorkin's article quotes a number of experts who more or less repeat a version of the same thing.

00:47:56.020 Card, credit card companies should bear responsibility for mass shootings.

00:48:01.620 The Blaze Radio Network.

00:48:06.260 On demand.

The Glenn Beck Program - February 28, 2019

Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Kelly Shackelford & Brad Polumbo ｜ 2⧸28⧸19

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