Three Things You Need to Know - October 10, 2017

The Vegas shooting story is getting more complicated.

What is going on with the Las Vegas attack investigation? At this point, it’s getting harder to know the truth.

The first timeline for the attack given by police goes like this:

10:05pm - Stephen Paddock begins firing from his hotel room on the 32nd floor.

10:15pm - Paddock stops shooting.

10:17pm - Police arrive on the 32nd floor and encounter security guard Jesus Campos who had been shot, through the door, by Paddock.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo explained last Wednesday that Paddock stopped firing when he saw that the security guard was at his door because he:

Observed the security guard, and he was in fear that he was about to be breached, so he was doing everything possible to figure out how to escape at that point.

Yesterday, all that changed in a dramatic reversal. The new timeline released by police says the security guard encountered Paddock before the mass shooting even began. Jesus Campos arrived at Paddocks room at 9:59pm because he heard a “drilling” sound coming from inside. Paddock then shot him through the door, then broke out the windows and commenced firing at 10:05pm.

The security guard obviously showed up in the middle of Paddock’s preparations and forced his timeline forward ahead of schedule. Police say Paddock fired 200 rounds through the door and into the hallway trying to take out the security guard. That’s quite a bit of sustained fire that probably lasted around 5 minutes.

So, here’s a few questions. Did the security guard not radio for backup during this 5 minutes of hell? Ask anyone that’s ever been in a firefight. Five minutes is an eternity. If someone has a little too much to drink in a hotel casino, you’ll instantly see a platoon of security guards there to respond. But in this case, not a single person responded. No one would officially arrive in response for another 18 minutes.

Sheriff Lombardo has also changed the date that Paddock checked into the hotel. Originally it was stated that he arrived on the 28th, but now he’s saying that they now believe he arrived on the 25th. How can you not know the date he checked in? There are hundreds of cameras, front desk records and credit card charges. Checking just one of those three sources would tell you when he arrived.

What’s going on in Las Vegas? What is the truth?

Rapist gets joint custody with his victim.

The girls were giddy with excitement when the car pulled up.

It was an older boy one of their friends knew.

He asked if they wanted to go for a ride. The three girls jumped into the car.

They thought they were going to McDonald’s.

Their excitement turned to fear as they drove past the golden arches and up to a vacant house.

One of the girls, 12, was viciously raped. A month later, the child discovered she was pregnant with her attacker’s baby.

Despite pressure to abort or put her child up for adoption, the victim kept her child. She dropped out of school, went to live with relatives, and worked jobs to try and support her family.

Eight years later, the victim is being forced to face her rapist once again, this time at the state’s request.

This week, the state of Michigan notified the attacker that, as the biological father, he had joint legal custody, visitation privileges, and must start paying child support. As shocking as this sounds, this is routinely done by the prosecutor’s office when someone makes an application for state assistance.

The victim told the Detriot News that, “I think this is all crazy. I was receiving about $260 a month in food stamps for me and my son and health insurance for him. I guess they were trying to see how to get some of the money back.”

This is not a family, it’s a felony.

And it’s a twisted situation that is surprisingly not that rare in America.

There are 15 states in the U.S. that have no law in place to terminate a rapist's parental rights and of all 50 states, fewer than half have laws that allow the termination of parental rights to rapists without a conviction.

Those estimates put thousands of women at risk of a lifetime tethered to their rapists because they chose to keep their child. Because these brave women understood the circumstances of their child’s conception did not determine its worth.

Those women shouldn’t be forced to relive their nightmares over again. They should be protected and celebrated for turning a traumatic event into a blessing.

An epidemic rages behind the Weinstein case.

Harvey Weinstein has been thanked at the Oscars more than God.

Looks like Weinstein’s number of thank yous may take a serious hit now that he’s been fired from his own company for decades of sexually harassing numerous women.

Then again, this is an industry where people still fall over themselves to be in a Woody Allen film and never skip the chance to praise Roman Polanski.

It wouldn’t shock me if Harvey Weinstein wins an Oscar when he makes a comeback in a few years.

Yesterday, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Kate Winslet and Judi Dench spoke out condemning Weinstein. But the men of Hollywood seem to be keeping their mouths shut for some reason. In fact, Sharon Waxman revealed that in 2004 she was working on a similar report for The New York Times about Weinstein sexually harassing women, but she says Matt Damon and Russell Crowe called her to vouch for Weinstein. The Times dropped the 2004 story after pressure from Weinstein. His company was a big advertiser for the newspaper.

Weinstein is a creep and he’ll have to deal with the consequences of his gross behavior. But let’s not kid ourselves. Sexual harassment goes on in every industry.

This story reveals so much about America’s politics and hypocrisies. While it’s fun to give Hollywood a taste of their own medicine for a change, we shouldn’t miss this opportunity to have a national dialogue about the objectification of women in our culture and what helps fuel this problem.

You can’t have a national epidemic of male addiction to pornography and expect sexual harassment to decrease. It used to be considered sleazy to go to an X-rated movie theater. Now our kids are growing up with an X-rated theater on the phone in their back pocket. You think it’s bad now. Wait until the 24/7 porn generation become the bosses at work.

Combatting our porn epidemic is a cause that men and women, liberal and conservative, could work on together. It may sound old-fashioned and prudish to some, but if we don’t think this is affecting us, we’re delusional.

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The West is dying—Will we let enemies write our ending?

Harvey Meston / Staff | Getty Images

The blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, and soldiers built our civilization. Their sacrifice demands courage in the present to preserve it.

Lamentations asks, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”

That question has been weighing on me heavily. Not just as a broadcaster, but as a citizen, a father, a husband, a believer. It is a question that every person who cares about this nation, this culture, and this civilization must confront: Is all of this worth saving?

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

Western civilization — a project born in Judea, refined in Athens, tested in Rome, reawakened in Wittenberg, and baptized again on the shores of Plymouth Rock — is a gift. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t purchase it. We were handed it. And now, we must ask ourselves: Do we even want it?

Across Europe, streets are restless. Not merely with protests, but with ancient, festering hatred — the kind that once marched under swastikas and fueled ovens. Today, it marches under banners of peace while chanting calls for genocide. Violence and division crack societies open. Here in America, it’s left against right, flesh against spirit, neighbor against neighbor.

Truth struggles to find a home. Even the church is slumbering — or worse, collaborating.

Our society tells us that everything must be reset: tradition, marriage, gender, faith, even love. The only sin left is believing in absolute truth. Screens replace Scripture. Entertainment replaces education. Pleasure replaces purpose. Our children are confused, medicated, addicted, fatherless, suicidal. Universities mock virtue. Congress is indifferent. Media programs rather than informs. Schools recondition rather than educate.

Is this worth saving? If not, we should stop fighting and throw up our hands. But if it is, then we must act — and we must act now.

The West: An idea worth saving

What is the West? It’s not a location, race, flag, or a particular constitution. The West is an idea — an idea that man is made in the image of God, that liberty comes from responsibility, not government; that truth exists; that evil exists; and that courage is required every day. The West teaches that education, reason, and revelation walk hand in hand. Beauty matters. Kindness matters. Empathy matters. Sacrifice is holy. Justice is blind. Mercy is near.

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If this is worth saving, we must know why. Western civilization is worth dying for, worth living for, worth defending. It was built on the blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, pilgrims, moms, dads, and soldiers. They did not die for markets, pronouns, surveillance, or currency. They died for something higher, something bigger.

MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images | Getty Images

Yet hope remains. Resurrection is real — not only in the tomb outside Jerusalem, but in the bones of any individual or group that returns to truth, honor, and God. It is never too late to return to family, community, accountability, and responsibility.

Pick up your torch

We were chosen for this time. We were made for a moment like this. The events unfolding in Europe and South Korea, the unrest and moral collapse, will all come down to us. Somewhere inside, we know we were called to carry this fire.

We are not called to win. We are called to stand. To hold the torch. To ask ourselves, every day: Is it worth standing? Is it worth saving?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Pick up your torch. If you choose to carry it, buckle up. The work is only beginning.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Stop coasting: How self-education can save America’s future

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

Coasting through life is no longer an option. Charlie Kirk’s pursuit of knowledge challenges all of us to learn, act, and grow every day.

Last year, my wife and I made a commitment: to stop coasting, to learn something new every day, and to grow — not just spiritually, but intellectually. Charlie Kirk’s tragic death crystallized that resolve. It forced a hard look in the mirror, revealing how much I had coasted in both my spiritual and educational life. Coasting implies going downhill. You can’t coast uphill.

Last night, my wife and I re-engaged. We enrolled in Hillsdale College’s free online courses, inspired by the fact that Charlie had done the same. He had quietly completed around 30 courses before I even knew, mastering the classics, civics, and the foundations of liberty. Watching his relentless pursuit of knowledge reminded me that growth never stops, no matter your age.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures.

This lesson is particularly urgent for two groups: young adults stepping into the world and those who may have settled into complacency. Learning is life. Stop learning, and you start dying. To young adults, especially, the college promise has become a trap. Twelve years of K-12 education now leave graduates unprepared for life. Only 35% of seniors are proficient in reading, and just 22% in math. They are asked to bet $100,000 or more for four years of college that will often leave them underemployed and deeply indebted.

Degrees in many “new” fields now carry negative returns. Parents who have already sacrificed for public education find themselves on the hook again, paying for a system that often fails to deliver.

This is one of the reasons why Charlie often described college as a “scam.” Debt accumulates, wages are not what students were promised, doors remain closed, and many are tempted to throw more time and money after a system that won’t yield results. Graduate school, in many cases, compounds the problem. The education system has become a factory of despair, teaching cynicism rather than knowledge and virtue.

Reclaiming educational agency

Yet the solution is not radical revolt against education — it is empowerment to reclaim agency over one’s education. Independent learning, self-guided study, and disciplined curiosity are the modern “Napster moment.” Just as Napster broke the old record industry by digitizing music, the internet has placed knowledge directly in the hands of the individual. Artists like Taylor Swift now thrive outside traditional gatekeepers. Likewise, students and lifelong learners can reclaim intellectual freedom outside of the ivory towers.

Each individual possesses the ability to think, create, and act. This is the power God grants to every human being. Knowledge, faith, and personal responsibility are inseparable. Learning is not a commodity to buy with tuition; it is a birthright to claim with effort.

David Butow / Contributor | Getty Images

Charlie Kirk’s life reminds us that self-education is an act of defiance and empowerment. In his pursuit of knowledge, in his engagement with civics and philosophy, he exemplified the principle that liberty depends on informed, capable citizens. We honor him best by taking up that mantle — by learning relentlessly, thinking critically, and refusing to surrender our minds to a system that profits from ignorance.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures. Every day, seek to grow, create, and act. Charlie showed the way. It is now our responsibility to follow.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins TPUSA tour to honor Charlie Kirk

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If they thought the murder of Charlie Kirk would scare us into silence, they were wrong!

If anything, Turning Point will hit the road louder than ever. On Monday, September 22, less than two weeks after the assassination, Charlie's friends united under the Turning Point USA banner to carry his torch and honor his legacy by doing what he did best: bringing honest and truthful debate to Universities across the nation.

Naturally, Glenn has rallied to the cause and has accepted an invitation to join the TPUSA tour at the University of North Dakota on October 9th.

Want to join Glenn at the University of North Dakota to honor Charlie Kirk and keep his mission alive? Click HERE to sign up or find more information.

Glenn's daughter honors Charlie Kirk with emotional tribute song

MELISSA MAJCHRZAK / Contributor | Getty Images

On September 17th, Glenn commemorated his late friend Charlie Kirk by hosting The Charlie Kirk Show Podcast, where he celebrated and remembered the life of a remarkable young man.

During the broadcast, Glenn shared an emotional new song performed by his daughter, Cheyenne, who was standing only feet away from Charlie when he was assassinated. The song, titled "We Are One," has been dedicated to Charlie Kirk as a tribute and was written and co-performed by David Osmond, son of Alan Osmond, founding member of The Osmonds.

Glenn first asked David Osmond to write "We Are One" in 2018, as he predicted that dark days were on the horizon, but he never imagined that it would be sung by his daughter in honor of Charlie Kirk. The Lord works in mysterious ways; could there have been a more fitting song to honor such a brave man?

"We Are One" is available for download or listening on Spotify HERE