The Daily Briefing highlights the news of the day and research that reveals the spirit of the day.
The Daily Briefing is a newsletter sent straight to your inbox every morning that provides biblical insight on today's news.
Top News
6. John Bolton, former Trump national security adviser, indicted (WaPo)
“Former national security adviser John Bolton was indicted Thursday following an investigation into his handling of classified and sensitive material, according to people familiar with the matter and public records. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
"A grand jury in Maryland indicted Bolton on 18 counts of transmitting and retaining national defense information. He allegedly included classified material in emails sent from his private AOL account while in government. That account was apparently hacked by the Iranian government. Bolton alerted the FBI in 2021, which then investigated. “There is one tier of justice for all Americans,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement after Bolton was charged. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law,” Bondi said.
“The investigation of Bolton for allegedly mishandling sensitive material is related to a Biden-era probe, and people familiar with the investigation have generally described the evidence against him as stronger than that backing the Comey and James indictments.”
Girls Just Want To Have Fun, and federal officials apparently just want to keep classified documents. This is known as classified spillage, which describes how classified government documents fall outside of protected places. You're probably familiar with the saga of Pres. Biden and former Pres. Trump, but you may not be aware of how a Defense Dept. contractor allowed classified info to sit unprotected in a commercial cloud for nearly 2 years. Or when the Army inadvertently handed classified material over to a private attorney.
These incidents reveal a potential normalization of deviance. This refers to a cultural drift, where behavior once deemed “not okay” is slowly reclassified as “okay.” Diane Vaughan coined the term and used the Challenger space-shuttle disaster as an example. Damage to a crucial O-ring was identified repeatedly but eventually determined to be an “acceptable risk.” Repeated over time, this behavior became routinized into what organizational psychologists call a “script.” Tragically, this script ended in disaster.
Time to tear some clothes. In the Scriptures, Hilkiah the high priest found the Book of the Law when doing renovations on the House of the Lord. He went before King Josiah and read from the book. Immediately, Josiah tore his clothes when he realized a normalization of deviance had taken place over the years. (2 Kings 22) We don’t need to tear our clothes literally, but federal officials do need to change their behavior quickly.
5. White House releases plan to broaden access to IVF, fertility drugs (WaPo)
“President Donald Trump on Thursday announced two initiatives that he said would make in vitro fertilization more accessible and affordable, casting the moves as part of his broader agenda to expand access to fertility benefits and lower drug prices.
“The Trump administration will soon issue guidance encouraging employers to offer fertility benefits directly to their employees, the president said. The president also described a new arrangement that he said would significantly reduce the cost of Gonal-F, a fertility medication used in IVF cycles.
“We’ll dramatically slash the cost of IVF and the treatment and many of the most common fertility drugs for countless millions of Americans,” Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office. “Prices are going way down, way, way down.” He called the announced a “historic victory for American women, mothers and families.” Trump on Thursday also provided details of the administration’s new pricing deal with EMD Serono, which would have drugs used in IVF cycles offered at a discount through the administration’s new website, “TrumpRx.gov,” starting next year."
God rejoices when infertility is conquered (Ps. 113:9, Ex. 23:26, Deut. 7:14, Is. 54:1, Gal. 4:27). Since 1996, more than 1 million babies in the US (2 percent of children) have been born through some form of artificial reproductive technology. However, I know that 1 in 6 people suffer from infertility…
When does life begin: implantation or fertilization? When an egg is fertilized by the sperm, an embryo is created. The resulting zygote must become implanted in the uterine wall for further development. Some will say life begins at implantation, arguing that this is an essential step to becoming a human. However, steps have already been taken, growth has already happened, at fertilization. When fertilization occurs, the embryo begins to grow, developing the chromosomal makeup of a distinct human being.
I often think of Flannery O’Connor when approaching topics like this, knowing that conviction without experience leads to harshness. In Luke 1, the good doctor writes how the baby John leaped for joy in the womb of his mother Elizabeth when he heard the greeting of Mary. That baby wasn't outside the womb, but he was a joyful person growing in the womb. Some estimate there could be at least 1 milllion frozen embryos here in the US. As Christians, we are called to be good stewards of the good gifts our gracious God has given to us – whether that is the embryos we create or the reproductive technology we devise. We should steward well, stand for life, and let the kids jump for joy.
4. JD Vance dismisses bipartisan outrage over racist and offensive Young Republican group chat (AP)
“The public release of a Young Republican group chat that included racist language, jokes about rape and flippant commentary on gas chambers prompted bipartisan calls for those involved to be removed from or resign their positions. The Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40, called for those involved to step down from the organization. The group described the exchanges, first reported by Politico, as “unbecoming of any Republican.”
“Republican Vice President JD Vance, however, has weighed in several times to speak out against what he characterized as “pearl clutching” over the leaked messages. After Politico’s initial report Tuesday, Vance posted on X a screen grab from 2022 text messages in which Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate in Virginia’s attorney general race, suggested that a prominent Republican get “two bullets to the head.”
“This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance wrote Tuesday. “I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”
Channeling Bonnie Raitt, these adults did Give Them Something To Talk About… However, VP Vance isn’t interested in talking about this. For Vance: “The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys — they tell edgy, offensive jokes. That's what kids do." For context, some of these “kids” were nearly 30…
Buckley or Walsh? Some subscribe to a No Enemies To The Right mentality, which refers to when your side does something wrong, you ignore it publicly. Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire epitomizes this with his response to these text messages. “If you're a conservative and you have a problem with someone on the Right, you can reach out to them privately and express your concerns. Performatively attacking and denouncing your own people in public is a bit** move.” Then there is the Buckley model, which is coined by William Buckley, founder of National Review. When the problematic John Birch Society started to grow in number, Buckley attacked and excommunicated them from the ranks of the right, asserting that their conspiratorial views didn’t represent the conservative movement.
Apologies are not contingent upon their acceptance but rather upon your wrongdoing. Some say you should never apologize. They insist it shows weakness and you will never be able to satiate the other side with your contriteness. That may be a winning strategy for some but it is a losing maneuver in the kingdom of God. (Acts 3:19, 1 John 1:9)
Cultural News
3. Obesity remains high in the US., but more states showing progress, a new report finds (ABC News)
“For the first time in more than a decade, the number of states with rates of obesity of 35% or more dropped, an encouraging sign that America's epidemic of excess weight might be improving. But cuts to federal staff and programs that address chronic disease could endanger that progress, according to a new report released Thursday.
“Nineteen states had obesity rates of 35% or higher in 2024, down from 23 states the year before, according to an analysis of the latest data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... The group’s analysis follows a CDC report last year that found that the overall rate of obesity in the U.S. is high but holding steady, affecting about 40% of the population. While the decline is positive, “it's too soon to call it a trend,” said Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, president and chief executive for TFAH.”
Sugar is Going Down, Fallout Boy… A fascinating survey found that 30 percent of Americans have lost a significant amount of weight in the past 2 years, with 4 percent saying they did so thanks to prescription medication. For example, the number of Ozempic prescriptions in the country has grown by more than 5,000 percent since 2018, up to about 20 million last year.
It’s harder to maintain the same weight as those more than 30 years ago did, even with the same levels of food intake and exercise, according to a recent study. Examining nearly 37,000 Americans, the researchers found a surprising correlation: A given person, in 2006, eating the same amount of calories and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher. Essentially, they would be about 10 percent heavier than people were in the 1980s.
Why is this? The researchers identified 3 potential factors: we are exposed to more chemicals that might be weight-gain inducing; the usage of prescription drugs has risen dramatically since the 1980s; microbiomes of Americans might have somehow changed between the 1980s and now (for example, some types of gut bacteria make a person more prone to weight gain and obesity).
In the Scriptures, we find at least 3 types of diets: Daniel only ate veggies (Dan. 1:12), Eglon ate pretty much everything (Judges 3), and Jesus often fasted (Matt. 4). Your body matters. God beautifully fashioned you, intricately knit you, and graciously sustains you. If happiness is tied to a certain weight, you can be certain happiness will not come when you hit that weight. But for the Christian, the goal isn’t to be skinny but to be healthy.
News You Can Use
2. Kids focus group vs pineapple pizza
Watch it here. “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” (Ps. 34:8)
1. Viral video of girl saving her brother shines a light on the importance of the Heimlich maneuver
Watch it here. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Gal. 6:9)
