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Hollywood personalities Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, George Clooney, and Jeff Katzenberg each pledged $500,000 last week to support the high school kids who are walking out, sitting in, and generally protesting against guns, President Trump, and conservative policies in general. Late Friday, Hollywood philanthropist Eli Broad said, "I'll double that," pledging an additional $1,000,000 to help the kids march---on March 24. And beyond.
Meanwhile, CNN was caught red-handed scripting questions for high school kids to ask at CNN's live "Forum" against guns last Thursday--presenting the student's questions as though they were authentically the student's questions.
What is the press and the far-Left up to?
At best the press and the far-Left are using these kids to push an agenda they themselves have not been successful in achieving.
At worst, they are abusing these kids at a very, very vulnerable time following the massacre in the Florida school last Wednesday.
Children across the country are scared---some of them afraid to go to school for fear of being killed.
We are in a crisis.
However, Robert Peck wrote an article this weekend that helps put the mass school shootings in perspective.
He notes that "a listing of each mass shooting from 1982 to 2018 reveals that 14% of those shootings took place at schools (including colleges) giving us an expected annual average of fewer than 10 deaths per year coming from school campuses."
"To put these numbers into perspective, in a country of 327 million," Peck says, "60 killed per year in all mass shootings is 1 per 5.5 million."
The shooting of 1 person is too many. The shooting of a child in a school classroom is unthinkable, but in the hysteria of the moment---driven by the far-Left---it's wise to actually be informed of the facts.
Peck has done his homework on the data. I encourage you to read his article.
I personally believe what these so-called celebrities are doing is predatory, self-serving and unconscionable.
And it appears that at least some in the press are outright misleading the public, using kids who have been touched by these tragedies.
As of last night, 5 Hollywood types have pledged $3,000,000 toward the March on March 24 in Washington DC, and the rising protest against guns and conservatism in general.
Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Broad joined the big donors late Friday boosting the Hollywood total to $3 million toward the Florida shooting.
Broad told Deadline, "No one should have to endure what these students and families of Parkland suffered last week, or what too many Americans suffer daily from our country's gun violence epidemic."
He said, "This must stop. I'm personally donating a million dollars to Everytown and joining the courageous students of Parkland and millions of Americans demanding commonsense solutions to end the gun violence crisis."
What's happening on our government-run school campuses is beyond unacceptable. It is barbaric. It must stop.
But can Hollywood money provide the fix? Particularly, when it's directed toward using the children as a front or shield for a political agenda that the Left has been pushing for more than a generation.
And if they can incrementally confiscate all guns, would that stop the killing? Most clear minded people know it wouldn't. The people who should not have the guns would find a way to get them---or find another way to kill.
Dr. Ben Carson, in a speech back in 2015, made reference to how the Nazis used control and confiscation in their agenda during their rise to power and the execution of millions of Jews.
The far-Left press immediately jumped on Carson claiming he was lying and that gun control was actually initiated in the 1920's by the Weimar authorities---"and" the press declared, "the Nazis actually loosened gun control laws."
Let's take a closer look at the truth.
The press inverted this issue, much as they do Jefferson's promise to the Danbury Baptists that a "wall" would protect them from the government interfering in the affairs of their church. We know how that has been inverted.
The National Review has published some excellent background on the history of gun control.
I would strongly encourage you to read, "How the Nazis Used Gun Control." It documents how the Weimar Republic's possibly well-intentioned gun registry became a tool for evil.
In 1931, Weimar authorities discovered plans for a Nazi takeover in which Jews would be denied food and persons refusing to surrender their guns within 24 hours would be executed. They were written by Werner Best, a future Gestapo official. In reaction to such threats, the government authorized the registration of all firearms and the confiscation thereof, if required, for "public safety"---promising the people the government would not allow the registration records to "fall into the wrong hands."
In 1933, the ultimate extremist group led by Adolf Hitler, seized power and used the records to identify, disarm, and attack political opponents---and Jews.
Hitler's police revoked the gun licenses of those who were thought to be "politically unreliable."
Five years of social repression, purging and cleansing followed. By 1938, Hitler had killed or imprisoned most of the "enemies of the state," so he publicly announced he was signing a new slightly liberalized gun law.
The press always references this relaxing of gun laws when undermining conservatives who say what Dr. Carson said---or what I'm writing at the moment.
However, it did not apply to Jews.
They were still considered the enemy of the state. All their firearms were confiscated using the records of gun ownership mandated by the Weimar authorities some years earlier under the guise of "public safety."
This was followed up by what we know as "Kristallnacht," or "The night of the Broken Glass"---a night of terror against the German Jews where their homes were ravished and their places of business were physically destroyed by the Nazis. A night of reaction that was manufactured by Hitler and his information minister, Josef Goebbles.
Although the hysteria of these shootings reflect something beyond reality, I am not suggesting that the current crisis on school campuses is "manufactured" or "made up," nor do I believe for a moment that the United States in 2018 is Germany and Hitler in November of 1938.
However, deception is being carefully and purposely woven into the current narrative of how to protect our children.
CNN, under the guise of an open, authentic Forum on the tragic shooting last week, put their camera on a number of students from the Florida high school while the students asked their questions and shared their concerns.
The problem, we learned the next day, was that some, perhaps all of the students were scripted. It wasn't their questions or statements--it was scripted statements and questions from the producers at CNN.
When called out on it, CNN suggested that we ordinary people out here don't really know how the media works, etc., etc., etc.
Actually, we do know how it works, we're on to it and many of us aren't buying it.
The answers for these perilous times are not found in advancing the gun confiscation agenda of the Left.
Mankind is inherently evil.
The Bible is clear about that. Our disposition is toward evil, not toward good, outside of the amazing, redeeming grace of Jesus Christ, we are all lost and have a propensity toward evil.
Our Founders recognized that and painstakingly wove that truth into the fabric of this new nation---making it a nation under God---with checks and balances on power and authority.
Those same wise Founding Fathers also knew the life and death importance of people being able to protect themselves---thus, the Second Amendment.
As for the press... generally, they loved Hitler during his rise to power, his "youth movement" and his promise of safety.
Only God knows the heart of the Hollywood donors. However, George Clooney and his wife are promising they will personally join in the March 24 march in DC with the kids. Clooney is also hinting he is considering a run for the US presidency in 2020.
I doubt Oprah will miss the march either. She's been out of the spotlight lately. And for the others--my bet is they will all show up to "march" with the kids.
The press will feature the "March" in March, as a movement of normal people against the crazies---the far-Right---the outdated ideas of the Founders and those who "cling to their guns and Bibles."
They will cast those who believe in the Second Amendment as those who do not care about the children and those who hold to old outdated religious codes and biases.
Public education, the entertainment industry, and the state-run education complex have all been preparing our children for such a time as this---to be used to further a far-Left agenda.
America needs to figure out how to stop these shootings at public schools and elsewhere.
But the course the press and the far-Left Hollywood Millionaires are calling for may make them feel good about themselves, but it's a path that our Founders, commonsense, and history all reject.
Benjamin Franklin famously wrote in the Historical Review of Pennsylvania (1759), "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
And Noah Webster, Franklin's colleague and Father of America's public education system, said in 1787 in explaining the federal Constitution, "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe."
The same people who told us domestic partnerships were not about same-sex marriage, are telling us this isn't about gun confiscation---it's merely about tightening the rules, making our country more safe.
Be Wise. Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful. Be Bold.