Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck's Network Attempts Conservative Daily Show Knock-Off

Jillian Rayfield | November 23, 2011, 10:24AM

Glenn Beck, comedy entrepreneur, is trying to tap into the market for a "nonpartisan" alternative to The Daily Show with a fake news show on his GBTV network, called The B.S. of A..

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Goldline

Goldline Execs Charged With Being Fraudsters

Jillian Rayfield | November 2, 2011, 1:21PM

Prosecutors in Santa Monica, CA have filed 19 criminal charges against the gold sellers Goldline International for allegedly running a "bait and switch operation" using prominent spokespeople like Fox News' Glenn Beck.

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Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Targeting Children With 'Liberty Treehouse' Show

Jillian Rayfield | October 3, 2011, 5:04PM

FOX's Glenn Beck

Hide your children.

Glenn Beck's online GBTV network is launching a "Liberty Treehouse" show aimed at our nation's youth.

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Tea Party Patriots

Tea Party Pressuring Schools To Teach Constitution Using Controversial Right-Wing Group's Materials

Jon Terbush | May 25, 2011, 1:42PM

America's kids don't know jack about the Constitution, and according to a national Tea Party group, the only way to save them is to have school's teach the nation's founding document with materials provided by a controversial conservative group whose founder is one of Glenn Beck's favorite historians.

Tea Party Patriots, the Georgia-based organization that counts around 1,000 chapters nationwide, is asking its members to pressure schools to teach the Constitution during Constitution Week in September, as they are required to do by a 2004 law. And when schools do teach the founding document, the group is suggesting that they use materials provided by the National Center for Constitutional Studies, a group that claims the country and Constitution were, "established by the hand of God."

NCCS's founder, W. Cleon Skousen, became a tea party favorite in recent years when Glenn Beck touted him on his program as an exemplary constitutional scholar. But Skousen's past is marred by accusations that his work is far from accurate, and at times rife with racism.

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Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Auctions Off His Obama-Bashing, Historical Paintings

Jon Terbush | May 17, 2011, 4:22PM

Ever thought that a visual representation of Glenn Beck's rhetoric would be the perfect thing to really tie your room together? Well, if you had an extra $10,000 lying around last weekend, you could have made that wish come true.

That's because Beck auctioned off six paintings over the weekend, several of which he painted solo or with the help of an artist, and one that was given to him as a gift. The paintings sold for up to $10,300 each, with the proceeds going to an as yet undisclosed charity.

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Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck To 'Transition Off' His TV Program

Eric Lach | April 6, 2011, 12:44PM

Glenn Beck

Fox News and Glenn Beck's production company have announced that Beck will "transition off" his daily television program later this year, and that the two companies plan to work together "to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News' digital properties."

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Anti-Defamation League

ADL: Beck Comparing Reform Judaism To 'Radicalized Islam' Is 'Bigoted Ignorance'

Jillian Rayfield | February 23, 2011, 3:37PM

Fox News host Glenn Beck

Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League has responded to Glenn Beck's comment on Tuesday which likened Reform Judaism to "radicalized Islam." Foxman said in a statement Wednesday that Beck's comments demonstrate his "bigoted ignorance."

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Stephen Colbert

Colbert On Glenn Beck Survival Food Kits: If The World Ends, Americans Will Still Be Fat (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | October 27, 2010, 10:14AM

Stephen Colbert was skeptical last night about Glenn Beck's advocacy of Food Insurance survival kits, which Colbert said provide "a bag of food to keep around just in case the world comes to an end, but will be all better in a couple of weeks."

The Food Insurance website advertises that "while your neighbors are struggling to find food, you will be dining on lasagna, beef stroganoff, and a variety of other delicious entrees." But Colbert was still not convinced: "Even the best food insurance cant truly makes you safe. What if it turns out the virus that wipes out mankind is transmitted via stroganoff?"

So Colbert himself recommended that you buy his "Food Insurance Insurance," which will "cover any damage to your Food Insurance." He added: "With Glenn Beck's Food Insurance and Stephen Colbert's Food Insurance Insurance, America as we know it will end, but at least Americans as we know it will still be fat."

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Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Hawking Survivalist Disaster Kits

Eric Lach | October 19, 2010, 8:39AM

Glenn Beck closes out the "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 2010

If you ever find yourself in a post-nuclear holocaust environment and come across people eating beef stroganoff, odds are they'll be Glenn Beck fans.

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Byron Williams

Accused Oakland, CA Shooter: Glenn Beck 'Blew My Mind'

Jillian Rayfield | October 11, 2010, 2:04PM

In audio interviews obtained by MediaMatters, accused shooter Byron Williams says Fox News host Glenn Beck "blew my mind" with "the things he exposed."

Williams is charged with allegedly opening fire on police on Interstate 580 in Oakland, California, while on his way to "start a revolution" by attacking members of the ACLU and the Tides Foundation. As we've reported, the Tides Foundation is a favorite punching bag of Glenn Beck's, and he counts the group among his cabal of liberals aiming to bring socialism to America.

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David Barton

Top Evangelical David Barton: Maybe Government Should 'Regulate Homosexuality'

Jillian Rayfield | October 6, 2010, 1:38PM

David Barton

David Barton, an evangelical and social conservative well known for his somewhat revisionist history and appearances on Glenn Beck's show, yesterday took the opportunity on his radio show to ask that age-old question: "Why don't we regulate homosexuality?"

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Goldline

Weiner And Waxman Holding Goldline Hearings Next Week

Jillian Rayfield | September 17, 2010, 8:42AM

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)

Reps. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) have announced a hearing next Thursday on Goldline International, a company that encourages consumers to convert their assets into gold to prepare for the supposedly inevitable market collapse. Goldline has been accused, by Weiner and others, of using "aggressive sales tactics and conservative spokespeople such as Fox News' Glenn Beck to sell overpriced gold coins."

The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will meet at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, September 23 " to discuss legislation that would regulate gold-selling companies, an industry who's relentless advertising is now staple of cable television," according to a statement.

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ACLU

NJ Library Removes LGBT Book After Complaint From Member Of Glenn Beck's 9/12 Movement

Jillian Rayfield | August 4, 2010, 8:40AM

A public library in Burlington County, New Jersey has ordered all of the copies of "Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology" removed from circulation, after a member of Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project complained about the book's content.

The library cited "child pornography" as its reason for removing the book.

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Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck: I Stand By Criticism Of Tides -- It's Not My Fault CA Gunman Targeted Them (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | July 30, 2010, 1:58PM

Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck denied yesterday that his long history of criticizing the Tides Foundation had anything to do with the alleged targeting of the group by Byron Williams, the anti-government gunman suspected of engaging in a shootout with police in Oakland, California, possibly while he was on his way to targeting Tides and the ACLU.

"I expose the Tides Foundation and show you what it is, and I am now responsible for terrorists attacks?" Beck asked.

As we've reported, the fairly obscure Tides Foundation has been brought up several times on Beck's show, characterized as part of what Beck sees as a conspiracy by President Obama and other left-wing people and organizations to spread socialism.

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Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Defends Bashing Non-Profit Targeted By CA Shooting Suspect (AUDIO)

Jillian Rayfield | July 26, 2010, 3:39PM

TV host Glenn Beck.

On his radio show today, Glenn Beck defended repeatedly trashing the Tides Foundation over the last year -- saying that he is just trying to "turn the light of day" onto the organization -- even after it was allegedly among the planned targets of an anti-government gunman in California.

Beck's focus on the Tides Foundation has been scrutinized in recent days, after it was reported as being among the targets of Byron Williams, the California gunman charged after a shootout with authorities on an Oakland, California highway. Williams allegedly planned to target Tides and the ACLU.

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Tides Foundation

Organization Targeted By Anti-Gov't CA Shooting Suspect Was Frequent Topic On Glenn Beck's Show (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | July 21, 2010, 4:40PM

TV host Glenn Beck.

The Tides Foundation, which prosecutors in California say was among the targets of the anti-government unemployed carpenter Byron Williams before he got into a chaotic shootout with several law enforcement officers Sunday, is also a favorite topic of Fox News host Glenn Beck.

Beginning in 2009 (and as recently as last week), Beck has repeatedly included the group -- along with ACORN, the SEIU and George Soros -- in his cabal of liberals and liberal organizations that are supposedly agents of President Obama's plan to spread Marxist and socialist ideas throughout the United States.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Beck necessarily inspired or influenced Williams' alleged plan to attack the Tides Foundation. But the group has been something of a whipping boy for Beck over the last year.

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Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Defends Shirley Sherrod: It's Possible 'This Woman Deserves Her Job Back' (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | July 20, 2010, 6:44PM

Shirley Sherrod may have found an unlikely ally: Glenn Beck.

Beck defended the USDA appointee, who resigned after Big Government posted a controversial video clip of a speech she gave to the NAACP earlier this year. In the clip, she described an incident when she debated how much to help a white farmer in need of assistance, though she has said that her remarks were taken out of context.

Beck said today that it's possible she "deserves her job back."

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Glenn Beck

Good As Goldline: Congress And CA Law Enforcement Probing Glenn Beck's Favorite Gold Seller

Jillian Rayfield | July 20, 2010, 1:31PM

Fox News Host Glenn Beck

Authorities in California have opened an official investigation into Goldline International, which urges consumers to buy gold to protect themselves from the supposed inevitable devaluing of American currency -- and features Glenn Beck in some of its advertisements.

A House Commerce subcommittee also announced today that it's planning a hearing on Goldline, which "uses aggressive sales tactics and conservative spokespeople such as Fox News' Glenn Beck to sell overpriced gold coins."

According to the Santa Monica City Attorney's office, the investigation was opened after it received more than 100 complaints from customers, some of whom alleged that gold was sold to them under false pretenses, and others who claimed they did not receive the gold as advertised.

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Glenn Beck

Will Beck's Fundraiser For The Troops Actually Support The Troops?

Rachel Slajda | July 9, 2010, 11:52AM

Fox News personality Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is holding a much-hyped rally next month in front of the Lincoln Memorial -- a rally he has promoted by saying it will be remembered as a turning point in American history for hundreds of years. He is also promoting the rally as a fund-raiser for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a charity which gives scholarships to the children of Special Ops soldiers killed in combat, and financial assistance to wounded troops.

It's a respectable cause, and the charity has been rated highly by Charity Navigator.

But read the fine print (as pointed out by Bill Press) on Beck's site, and one wonders exactly how much of the donations Beck is soliciting will make it into the charity's coffers.

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Jenny Beth Martin

Tea Party Patriots Leader Named To Time's Top 100

Zachary Roth | April 30, 2010, 10:21AM

Jenny Beth Martin

Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck have gotten more coverage for it, but another conservative member of Time's 100 most influential people is a more interesting inclusion...

That's Jenny Beth Martin, the Georgia-based co-leader of the Tea Party Patriots -- perhaps the Tea Party faction with the strongest claim to grassroots authenticity.

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Right-wing extremism

Going To Extremes: The Obama Era's Top Ten Anti-Government Flare-Ups

Zachary Roth | April 1, 2010, 6:35PM

Clockwise from top left: David Stone, Sr., John Patrick Bedell, Joseph Stack and James von Brunn

The charges filed this week against nine members of the Hutaree Christian militia group have re-focused attention on the resurgence over the last year or so of the broader militia movement.

That resurgence has been driven in part, say experts, by the election of President Obama. But during the Obama era, threats of anti-government violence -- and even the real thing -- have become more widespread. In fact, with disaffected Americans from Massachusetts to California freaking out against the Feds en masse, it sometimes seems that going postal has become all the rage. Of course, in some cases, that anti-government animus long predates the election of our current president. But there seems to be something about the current climate that's contributing to the rash of incidents.

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Eric Massa

Gibbs Calmly Takes Down Massa Over Allegations Of Dem Plot (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | March 9, 2010, 9:59AM

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

With former Rep. Eric Massa appearing on Glenn Beck tonight and slinging charges of a Democratic conspiracy to force him out of Congress, the White House clearly wants to get out in front of this story.

Enter Robert Gibbs.

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Media

The Right-Wing Extremist Writer Behind Glenn Beck's Worldview

Zachary Roth | September 16, 2009, 12:09PM

Glenn Beck

We weren't aware that Glenn Beck's unique brand of conservative messianic zeal and conspiracy-minded racial paranoia required any particular intellectual underpinning.

But a fascinating article in Salon reveals that a book by a Mormon "historian" deemed too extreme even by the modern conservative movement -- which argues that the U.S. constitution is based primarily on natural law -- has played a major role in Beck's "thinking."

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