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. Obama rips into Ramaswamy over attack ad: ‘There’s no line he won’t cross’ (WaPo)
“Former president Barack Obama said Saturday that Ohio Republican Vivek Ramaswamy showed desperation for the spotlight and a lack of decency by airing a campaign ad that featured the long-estranged mother of his Democratic rival Amy Acton. “We’ve seen there’s no line he won’t cross, no low he won’t sink to, to try to get in the limelight,” Obama said of Ramaswamy at a Cleveland rally. “I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behavior have gotten so low that someone can run an ad like that. There’s got to be something inside you where you say no office is worth stooping that low,” he said.
“Ramaswamy has faced scathing criticism, including from some Republicans, for the ad that shows Amy Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter “a liar.” Arthur and her daughter have not had contact since 1978, when Arthur’s second husband, Cledith Arthur, was indicted and charged with raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter. Acton and her brother were removed from the couple’s home.”
Johnny Cash Walks the Line, but it seems like everyone else is crossing the line this campaign season. Last week, a Democratic group put out a documentary highlighting 3 male escorts who claimed the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham paid them for sexual encounters, including one who says he was 17 at the time.
I’m Sorry, Ms. Jackson… Before there was Amy Acton or Lindsey Graham, there was Rachel Jackson. Rachel became subject to a smear campaign during her husband’s (Andrew) run for the presidency. She was considered a “profligate woman” due to being a divorcée, in addition to the rumor that she and Andrew had lived together before she was legally separated from her first husband. The papers called her a bigamist, an adulteress and a whore. Andrew ended up winning the election, but tragically lost his wife before he assumed the White House. Jackson would always claim that her death was the result of his political opponents. He engraved this on her tombstone: “A being so gentle and so virtuous, slander might wound but could not dishonor.”
Why are some crossing the line? Because Celine Dion Loved Me… Augustine noted that rightly ordered love was a virtue and disordered love was a vice. As beings created by the God of love, we naturally love. The weight of our love carries us and compels our actions. However, problems emerge when we love things the wrong way, in a disorderly fashion. When I love food and drink like I love God, I’m a glutton. When we love political victory over brotherly love, we fail to honor fellow image bearers of the divine. In this moment, there is nothing wrong with wanting to win, but there is something wrong when wanting to win comes at the expense of those you have been called to love and respect. (1 Jn. 5, 1 Cor. 13)
5. Blanche defends DOJ lawsuit blocking Alaska Senate results if Republican loses (NPR)
“U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche Sunday defended his department's lawsuit seeking to stop Alaska from automatically certifying the results of its Senate election if the Republican incumbent there loses. Earlier this week he had said the Justice Department could get involved in the vote certification process in a "doomsday" scenario.
“Pressed on CNN about whether the suit was setting the stage for President Trump to challenge the outcome of next week's midterm elections, Blanche denied it. The seat is seen as one vital for Republicans if they are to maintain control of the Senate for the second half of President Trump's term in office. The Justice Department claims that potential confusion over candidates with similar names is the reason for the suit, though some Democrats have argued that it is actually an attempt to interfere in the democratic process.”
What type of decision maker are you? David Brooks recently highlighted 3 types: heroic-visionary, technocratic, and trimmer. The heroic-visionary “sees further into the future than everybody else. He goes with his instincts. He takes big risks and makes bold choices.” Like Napoleon, this person seems incredible until you end up in Russia for the winter.
Then there is the technocratic model. “The technocrat is taught not to go with his gut but instead to use reason, amass data, and weigh evidence using a formal and impersonal decision-making methodology, like a decision tree, matrix, or spreadsheet.” But like Secretary McNamara in Vietnam, this person’s brilliance is steady yet insufficient when you realize that you don’t know what you don’t know.
Then there is the trimmer, who “understands that reality is more complicated than any single person can comprehend, and therefore he insists that no decision be taken until there has been a collision of diverse views.” Like the British aristocrat George Savile, their “greatness comes in the art of holding his nation together, not in the exercise of arbitrary power.”
Joseph the trimmer… As the second-most powerful man in Egypt, Joseph held absolute power over the brothers who had sold him into slavery. When they stood terrified before him during the famine, he had the power to imprison them. Instead, driven by deep humility and self-control, he wept, choosing mercy over retaliation. In this fragile and partisan moment, we all desire justice, but those with power have to be careful how we get there. (Gen. 45, 50)
4. Venezuela opposition leader Machado returns after months in exile (Fox News)
“Opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado reappeared in Venezuela Sunday for the first time since December, returning from exile at a time when doubts about the country's democratic future — and the role of the U.S. — are growing. It was her first appearance since the U.S. military deposed the country’s then-President Nicolás Maduro in January, replacing him with an interim president who has exceeded the time she was authorized to serve, with no election scheduled.
“Since Maduro’s ouster, Venezuela has been run by acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro ally who received the Trump administration’s blessing to succeed him. Rodríguez was initially supposed to serve only 90 days as acting president, but has remained in office and has made no move to call an election.”
Backstreet aren’t the only ones back… Machado demonstrated the power of presence, also referred to as a competence cue. This is when a leader uses their presence to highlight a particular issue or situation. While the leader may have addressed the issue before showing up, their presence brings added value to it, elevating it on the priority list.
This is a form of incarnational leadership, leveraging the power of presence to influence a person or group toward a particular end. Not only does the leader wisely steward their presence, they also have the capacity to ask other leaders to share their presence, a form of convening power, to tackle significant problems.
A good leader settles the room; a great leader electrifies it. Such is incarnational leadership. Their position holds weight, and their presence shows support. Like Paul in Jerusalem and Boaz at the city gate, she used her appearance to prioritize the issue. Ms. Machado showing up doesn’t guarantee a solution, but it does indicate the significance of the problem (Acts 15, Ruth 3-4).
Cultural News
3. How to Make a Friend: Tell the Whole World You’re Looking for One (WSJ)
“The classifieds-like posts open candidly: “This is going to seem sad, but I really need to find some friends” or “I’m tired of being lonely.” Some draw internet trolls. Far more garner dozens of supportive replies. And a surprising number yield real-world best friends.
“Putting out a plea turns on someone’s friendship “taxi light,” said Jaimie Krems, director of the Center for Friendship Research at the University of California, Los Angeles. The posts are an invitation to strangers who might otherwise feel too sheepish to reach out first. “While admitting you needed friends used to carry a social stigma, people have become more honest about their loneliness, Krems said. She sees this as a positive.”
Friends in Low Places? Sing it louder, Garth. But in reality, Americans just have fewer friends. The percentage of US adults who report having no close friends has quadrupled to 12 percent since 1990. The percentage of those with 10 or more close friends has fallen by nearly threefold.
David Brooks, in his book How to Know a Person, asserts: “I’ve come to believe that the quality of our lives and the health of our society depends, to a large degree, on how well we treat each other in the minute interactions of daily life.” He distinguishes between illuminators and diminishers. “Diminishers are so into themselves, they make others feel insignificant. They stereotype and label. If they learn one thing about you, they proceed to make a series of assumptions about who you must be.” Then there are illuminators. They have a "persistent curiosity about other people… They know how to ask the right questions at the right times — so that they can see things, at least a bit, from another’s point of view. They shine the brightness of their care on people and make them feel bigger, respected, lit up.”
Being a friend is helpful when searching for friends. E.M. Forster calls this inverse charisma. Epitomized by Jesus, this selflessness is compelled by curiosity about others and care for others. Forster put it like this: “To speak to him was to be seduced by an inverse charisma, a sense of being listened to with such intensity that you had to be your most honest, sharpest, and best self.” (Phil. 2)
News You Can Use
2. Forgot My Portfolio
Watch it here. "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ." (1 Cor. 11:1)
1. Where are the drums
Watch it here. “Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!” (Ps. 149:3)
