Today on his Facebook page, David Barton made a video pitch on behalf of Mercury One, Glenn Beck’s personal charity. Barton is the president of the board for Mercury One. In the appeal, he held up shirts which are being sold to help support Christians who are targeted by ISIS. Barton said Mercury One has helped 12,000 Christians avoid ISIS.
I would really like to believe this. But here’s where it gets real. I can’t trust Barton, so I don’t readily accept that 12,000 people have been helped. In fact, I am posting this with the hope that someone who is associated with Mercury One will offer proof. I also hope my friends in the non-profit oversight sector will look into this.
Why am I skeptical?
Wallbulders was a direct recipient of over $100,000 from Mercury One in both 2013 and 2014. See the 2014 segment of Mercury One’s 990 form below. When Mercury One raises money, Barton gets some of it.
Furthermore, these stories of playing basketball at ORU, getting carried to class by police officers at ORU, having an earned doctorate degree without saying where he got it and then taking down the video evidence add up to a skeptical public. It doesn’t seem like a great marketing campaign to have someone who tells stories and then fails to back them up raising money for your charity.
Tag: glenn beck
Post Ted Cruz, Is It Time for Glenn Beck to Reconsider David Barton?
On his show today, conservative pundit Glenn Beck became irate with Ted Cruz over Cruz’s endorsement of Donald Trump. Right Wing Watch gets the hat tip and has some clips. Watch:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNjgAUzUwCI[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BshqMopwv2E[/youtube]
It is must watch TV. Beck nailed Cruz on his endorsement and demanded to know what new information Cruz had which allowed him to endorse Trump. Cruz had none (in fact, Cruz allowed Trump to use his mailing list before the endorsement) In the second video, Beck rails against Cruz and the two parties.
If Beck is this angry over Cruz’s turn around, what must he think of his old buddy David Barton?
Barton believes Christians must put aside their complaints and vote for Trump (link, link, link). Barton believes Trump is God’s choice and that Christians have a biblical duty to vote for him. Barton has been pushing Trump for weeks.
How is it possible for Glenn Beck to excoriate Ted Cruz without comparable ire being directed toward David Barton?
Perhaps this will motivate Beck to really examine the claims Barton makes about historical matters (and even Barton’s own educational status). Beck has a mutual friend who reached out to him in 2012 about Barton’s history. Perhaps, Mr. Beck, you could reach out to that person and reexamine the evidence.
David Barton Claims "Doctorate in Education"
Not the first time. Is this a severe case of “degree envy?”
It appears to be a matter of great importance to Glenn Beck for David Barton to have an “actual doctorate.”
RWW’s Kyle Mantyla reports that Glenn Beck and David Barton were talking on Beck’s show and got into a conversation about Barton’s doctorate. Watch:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpaIQJmJZiM[/youtube]
As Mantyla points out, Barton’s education is spelled out on his website bio.
David holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oral Roberts University and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Pensacola Christian College.
Ordinarily honorary doctorates are not considered “actual doctorates” because there is no program of studies which lead to the award of the degree. The degree is an honor but should not be relied on to communicate expertise.
If Barton has an earned doctorate, good for him. Now he needs to disclose where he earned it. Otherwise, he and Beck should admit and repent of their academic fraud.
This one ranks up there with Barton’s claim that he played Division One basketball in college and translated for Russia’s Olympic gymnastic team.
Of course, the book Beck was promoting with the segment is entitled “Liars: How Progressives Exploit Our Fears for Power and Control.” And Beck says I am the “liberal bastard.”
With David Barton as Principal Officer, Non-Profit Mercury One Again Gave $100k to Barton’s Wallbuilders For Disaster Relief
Deja vu all over again. As was true in 2013, Mercury One with David Barton as principal officer and one of three board members gave $100k to David Barton’s Wallbuilders non-profit. Again in 2014, Barton is listed as Mercury One’s principal officer:
And as last year, Barton is one of three board members along with Beck associate Joseph Kerry and Beck’s wife Tania.
This year Barton got a 4% raise:
See last year’s post for the possible problems with this.
Last year the funds were given to Wallbuilders because of their mission related to history. This year the 990 says “proceeds were used to provide help and resources to individuals affected by unforeseen disasters.” I took a quick Google look for something Wallbuilders did in 2014 or 2015 to help people through “unforeseen disasters” (other than Donald Trump, what disasters are foreseen?) and I couldn’t figure out what Wallbuilders did to help people with disasters (do bad history lessons count?).
Mr. Barton or Rick Green, if your catching up on your Throckmorton blog reading, could you do a Wallbuilders’ program where you outline how Wallbuilders spent over $100k on disaster relief?
Ted Cruz Is Out: Did God Make A Mistake?
One pitfall of claiming to speak for God is that God doesn’t always cooperate.
Glenn Beck once said Ted Cruz had the best chance of winning the GOP nomination because God was on Cruz’s side. Now that Cruz has dropped out, is God disappointed?
Beck wrote a post for his website where he downplays the fact that Cruz is out.
What is happening in this election is normal. If you think it’s abnormal, you aren’t looking back far enough into history. Civilizations go through this. Societies aren’t a straight line of growth. There are down waves for every up wave.
Tomorrow is just Wednesday.
It’s another day where each of us has an opportunity to be a moral person. To defend Liberty. To protect our neighbor’s rights, and count on him to defend our own.
No big deal. When Cruz was in the race, Beck and his fellow Cruz crew breathlessly reminded us that the nation was at the abyss, going to hell in a hand basket. Cruz was the answer.
Now, tomorrow is just Wednesday.