From The Marketplace: Back-to-School small business gift guide

Can you believe summer is nearly over? School will be back in session before we know it, so take advantage of this opportunity to shop for some quality back-to-school products provided by some of the finest small businesses in America. Whether you’re homeschooling or getting your little ones ready for the school year, this gift guide will help you navigate academic achievement. All of these products are provided by hardworking entrepreneurs tirelessly working to earn your trust. Support them in The Marketplace by TheBlaze and help keep American ingenuity alive and well.

Vintage Family Game Set

game set

Price: $32.00 (Save 30%)

Photo courtesy Legends Library

Get those brain juices flowing ahead of the school year with these two mind-stretching games, designed to make you think on your feet. Take advantage of the short time you have left to spend together as a family before school starts up again. Invented in the early 1920s, these games have withstood the test of time, promising countless hours of brain-growing fun for groups of all ages.

History and Biography Pack for Kids

history book

Price: $31.35 (Save 40%)

Photo courtesy Library and Educational Services

Just because school is starting doesn’t mean you can’t still be part of your child’s education. With this pack of four inspiring books, you’ll be able to introduce kids to people who are worthy of emulation. Young people will learn the value of hard work, responsibility and integrity.

Solmate Mismatched Kids Cotton Socks

socks

Price: $20.00

Photo courtesy Mountain Laurel Mercantile

No kid wants to be late for school because they couldn’t find matching socks. Well now, they can put those worries aside. These cheerful socks are perfect for kids. With bright colors and funky patterns, each set come with three socks, a pair with a spare!

ABCs Around the World Gift Set

ABCs

Price: $64.95

Photo courtesy Kids Heritage

With this gift set, a child can take a trip around the world, while learning the alphabet! Complete with the book, poster, puzzle and coloring book all inside a beautiful tote, children (and parents) will get a peek into 26 different countries, while reinforcing the ABCs through fun, rich and colorful worldwide topics.

West End Hand Bag – Houndstooth

hand bag

Price: $69.00

Photo courtesy Kensington House

Send your scholar to school in style! With this handbag’s deep interior and three pockets, she’ll be able to carry all of her personal items wherever she goes. Beautifully made in America, you can be sure this quality handbag will be reliable the whole school year and beyond.

Red Apple Necklace

red apple

Price: $12.00 (Save 50%)

Photo courtesy Heritage Jewelry

This beautiful red apple necklace is the perfect gift for anyone who works at a school. Measuring 13 x 20 mm, the apple is hand-carved from cherry quartz gemstone and comes on a handmade 18″ silver chain.

Teacher’s Pet Educational Software Bundle

cd

Price: $19.99

Photo courtesy Textbooks Heaven

Give your child a head start on classes this year with this fun and interactive educational software. Made especially for kids between 8 and 12 years old, this bundle includes five different software titles on one DVD-Rom.

Bullet Pen – Nickel

pen

Price: $30.00

Photo courtesy Shallus Pens

Made in America from a genuine nickel 30.06 shell casing, this quality ball point pen is rugged and ready to be put to the test. A great pen makes all the difference when composing a handwritten letter or even just doodling. A terrific gift for students and teachers alike.

JackieTop

jackie

Price: $48.00

Photo courtesy Mary Helen Clothing

Everyone wants to look their best on the first day of school. Give her something that’s made in America with true American quality and style. This dual patterned green and navy top with a green bow makes a perfect outfit that’s cheerful, stylish and cute.

Figure 8 Stitched Belt

belt

Price: $41.95

Photo courtesy Buffalo Billfolds & Belts

Nothing beats a great belt, especially for school. Beautifully crafted in America, this quality cowhide leather belt is oiled and waxed for a supple feel, ready to provide years of service. This 1 1/2″ wide belt is stitched with a classic figure eight pattern with heavy nylon thread.

Love Milk Honey Gift Set

bath

Price: $23.00

Photo courtesy The Charleston Soap Chef

Smell sweet and feel great with these two great all-natural skin care products, made in the USA. The Hand & Body Wash and Moisturizing Lotion go together like two peas in a pod. The set makes a great hostess gift, teacher gift or surcee for someone special. While you’re at it, go ahead and treat yourself too!

To learn more about these and other incredible small-business products and shop owners, sign up for The Marketplace email newsletter.

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