Three Things You Need to Know – February 6, 2018

The Dossier 'What If's'

The plotline reads crazier than a movie script. A possibly corrupted FBI director, biased agents manipulating investigations, partisan moles in the Justice Department, and the overall threat of hostile foreign intelligence services. Forget the movies, you’d never be able to dream this stuff up.

I wonder how those on the left would have reacted if everything I just described happened to Obama during his first election. Imagine for a second that a “dossier” describing domestic terrorist ties to Barack Obama leaked to the press. At first, most media outlets don’t want to touch it, but a lesser-known internet site pulls the trigger and opens the floodgates.

Leaks and damaging information begin to drop almost daily. CNN publishes a photograph with Obama and Louis Farrakhan, the New York Times reveals that Obama had ties to domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, Fox News plays sermons from Jeremiah Wright seemingly on repeat for a week straight. EVERYTHING appears to backup and corroborate the “dossier.”

A rumor begins to circulate that the FBI is surveilling the Obama campaign. HOW IN THE HELL DID THEY GET THE AUTHORIZATION FOR THAT?! MSNBC reports that the FBI director’s wife received a campaign donation from John McCain. Rachel Maddow claims that the FBI is partisan and compromised. Later we find out that two of the agents investigating Obama’s ties to Ayers and Farrakhan HATE Obama and really want to see a McCain presidency.

The pieces are starting to fall into place, but then the ultimate scandal drops. We find out that the “dossier” was actually opposition research paid for and directed by the RNC and McCain campaign. Not only that, but Bush appointees in the Justice Department are getting hand fed opposition research from family members that work at the firm that compiled the dossier. Those compromised members of the DoJ and the FBI used that information to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on members of the Obama campaign.

All of this is currently happening, but imagine if even a fraction - JUST A FRACTION - would have happened to Obama back in 2008. Democrats would have been out in the streets in force. It would have been mass chaos. But all of this actually COULD have happened. There was just enough evidence to look into Obama as Trump, but the media considered one beyond reproach. And the media wonders why no one trusts them anymore...

The Dow's Record Drop

Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,175 points. It was the largest single-day point drop on record. That performance came on the heels of the Dow falling 665.75 on Friday, which, when you round up is… 666. But don’t read anything into that.

Barely two weeks ago, the Dow peaked at 26,616. Then, between last Friday and yesterday, it lost over a month of gains. It’s the worst two days the Stock Market has seen in almost two years. However, the market is still up 26% in the last year. Typical annual growth is around 8%.

One director at a brokerage firm said, “This is the first time in a while I’d say it feels like borderline panic-type selling. We haven’t seen something like this since the Brexit vote.”

But a director at a different firm said, “The markets are just taking a bit of a breather, which I’d argue is somewhat healthy.”

So, which is it? Is this just a snowball, or is it the first snowball of an approaching avalanche?

Some bond investors are spooked about there being more inflation on the horizon than they originally forecasted. In its effort to slow down inflation, the Federal Reserve has caused a lot of problems in the past when it becomes overly jumpy and tweaks interest rates too much. Investors got nervous that the Fed might do its usual tinkering and make things worse.

A lot of this over the past couple days is psychology – the market has gone so high, people are worried that it doesn’t make sense for stocks and bonds to stay at the level they’re at, so they’re tapping the breaks. But what if the breaks are out and we’re headed downhill?

The government is borrowing more money than ever. Retirement funds are in crisis. Couple these conditions with the volatility in Europe as it deals with its own immigration issues and financial problems, and the world seems on the verge of a massive reset.

Fair Weather Babies

Climate change isn’t just bad for the environment, it’s bad for the womb.

Yesterday, the New York Times ran a story highlighting women who claim their decision to have children is directly influenced by climate change.

For example, Sara considered having another child, but that would mean moving to a bigger house that’s farther from her job. She is not sure she can justify the environmental impact of a larger home and a longer commute.

Allison is concerned about an apocalyptic future of extreme weather. “I don’t want to give birth to a kid wondering if it’s going to live in some kind of ‘Mad Max’ dystopia.”

Mariam shared her concern: “My instinct now is to shield my children from the horrors of the future by not bringing them to the world.”

Amanda actually decided to have more children because of climate change. Her reason? “Someday, my husband and I will be gone. If my daughter has to face the end of the world as we know it, I want her to have her brother there.”

So many women are bringing climate change into their reproduction decisions that the organization “Conceivable Future” was founded to help women make environmentally friendly reproductive decisions and navigate our doomed world.

To not bring a child into the world because you’re scared they’ll increase your carbon footprint or that they’ll live like moody drifters on a desert-like terrain is the very definition of insanity.

These women are deciding not to have children based on their fictional perception of their children’s quality of life.

The disgusting lie of an impending environmental wasteland and an overpopulated planet wasn’t true in the 1970’s and it isn’t true today.

In fact, the birthrate in the United States reached its lowest point in 2016 and the decline continues all around the world.

It’s almost criminal that these women are allowing 50-year-old unsubstantiated fears dictate whether or not they bring a human life into the world.

If these women want to be scared about something, they should be afraid of AI. Some report that artificial intelligence could wipe out the entire human race in 30 years.

We can only hope the robots replace this group first.

MORE 3 THINGS

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

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

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