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. Nancy Guthrie case: Person released as search for 'armed individual' continues (ABC News)
“The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, with assistance from the FBI, detained and released an individual after questioning them in connection with the abduction of "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told ABC News. The individual was detained in a location south of Tucson, the source said, and law enforcement searched a location associated with the individual. In a statement on social media, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said deputies "detained a subject during a traffic stop."
“A court-authorized search was carried out by the sheriff's department, with assistance of the FBI's Evidence Response Team, at a location in Rio Rico, Arizona, about 60 miles south of Tucson, related to the investigation, the department said. The operation was expected to last several hours, according to the department…. The developments followed the first images released of a masked man approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door and as investigators continued to search in her neighborhood. However, there's no indication that the person who was detained is the figure seen in the newly released video footage.”
92 percent of victims are rescued from kidnapping, and we are praying that Nancy is among the 92 percent. There are 2 main areas relative to research on public cooperation with the police: reporting crimes (the "dark figure of crime") and active assistance (witnessing, identifying suspects, or community patrols).
Relative to the dark figure of crime, this refers to the significant gap between the number of crimes that actually occur and those that are recorded in official statistics. Then there is the active assistance, which concerns how witnesses, informed by the larger public, have the opportunity to provide help to those suffering.
When you see “scary things” in the news, Mister Rogers said to look for the helpers. “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” This morning, join me in praying for more helpers. As AB Simpson noted: “Our God has boundless resources. The only limit is in us. Our asking, our thinking, our praying are too small. Our expectations are too limited.” (Lk. 10:25-37)
5. Under fire for Epstein ties, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defends visiting his private island (NBC News)
“Facing bipartisan criticism over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that he had no personal relationship with Epstein but acknowledged visiting the late sex offender's island while on a family vacation. "I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person, okay?" Lutnick said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing focused on broadband funding.
“Lutnick said in a podcast interview last year that he first met Epstein in 2005 when they were neighbors and he was invited on a tour of Epstein's apartment, during which the financier made an inappropriate comment. Lutnick said he and his wife quickly excused themselves and left Epstein’s home. “And in the six to eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”“
"I was never in the room with him socially, for business, or even philanthropy,” he added. “If that guy was there, I wasn’t going ‘cause he’s gross. So I look back at it as a gift. He gave me a gift.”
This is a classic Motte-and-Bailey argument, which consists of making two arguments that seem similar but aren’t. In this style of argument, a person makes a big claim (“never in the room with him… he’s gross”) and then retreats to the safer claim (“didn’t have a relationship with him). This argument is named after a style of castle built on a mount called a motte, overlooking a courtyard known as the bailey. The bailey was hard to defend with its small walls, but the residents could retreat to the fortified motte when attacked…
There are two conflicting motivations that drive dishonesty, according to Dan Ariely in his great book entitled The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty: our desire to view ourselves as honorable and the desire to obtain the benefits of cheating. We exercise a significant amount of cognitive flexibility, rationalizing our actions in order to preserve our character. “Put simply, the link between creativity and dishonesty seems related to the ability to tell ourselves stories about how we are doing the right thing, even when we are not. The more creative we are, the more we are able to come up with good stories that help us justify our selfish interests."
Beware of the lying spirit… Ahab, king of Israel, was attempting to persuade Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to go to war with him to take Ramoth-Gilead from the Syrians. However, Jehoshaphat insisted on hearing counsel. Out of a desire to get him to go to war, Ahab called 400 prophets with a lying spirit to tell the king what he wanted to hear instead of what he needed to hear. Vance Havner put it well: “The greatest friend of truth is time. Error is always in a hurry, but God’s man can afford to await the vindication of time. And if he is not vindicated in his own lifetime, eternity will settle the score.” (1 Kings 22)
4. British PM Starmer vows to fight for his job after furor about former ambassador’s Epstein ties (AP)
“British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Monday to fight for his job as revelations about the relationship between the former U.K. ambassador to Washington and Jeffrey Epstein spiraled into a full-blown crisis for his 19-month-old government. The prime minister’s authority over his own Labour Party has been battered by fallout from the publication of files related to Epstein — a man he never met and whose sexual misconduct has not implicated Starmer.
“Some lawmakers in Starmer’s center-left party have called on him to resign for his judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson to the high-profile diplomatic post in 2024 despite his ties to the convicted sex offender. The leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, joined those calls Monday, saying “there have been too many mistakes” and “the leadership in Downing Street has to change.”
Integrity isn’t a luxury trait for an effective leader but an essential one, according to a classic study. It’s not extra; it’s baseline. Integrity is intricately tied to influence, with those who internalize ethics as part of their identity seeing greater levels of influence compared to those who treat it as a secondary guideline.
Why does integrity matter? A fascinating study identified 2 reasons why integrity is important for an effective leader: it provides certainty and offers fairness. With a proclivity for the familiar, followers desire integrity largely because it communicates certainty to those who tread into an inherently uncertain future. Then there is fairness. While an equal outcome isn’t always guaranteed in a meritocracy, integrity eases anxiety concerning potential situations (both positive or negative) that may lie ahead in the future.
Don’t be like Hophni and Phinehas. Inconsistency characterized these priests of God more than integrity, as they failed to live by the very words they shared. They abused their sacred leadership positions for personal gain and had "no regard for the Lord.” Their relationships kept them in their seats; their lack of integrity caused them to lose their seats. As Adam Grant rightly notes: “Friendliness isn't always a sign of trustworthiness. Warmth is easy to fake. The foundations of trust are reliability and integrity. What counts isn't courtesy in the moment—it's keeping commitments over time.” (1 Sam. 2)
Cultural News
3. Whatever You Do, Don’t Mess With Pittsburgh’s Parking Chairs (WSJ)
“The city’s sacred civic tradition is simple: If you shovel out a spot, you can save it with a chair. Anyone who moves the chair—no matter how long it’s been there—to park their own car risks an argument, bodily harm or a note on their windshield calling them a “jagoff” (defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as western Pennsylvania slang for “a stupid, irritating or contemptible person”).
“Corey O’Connor, who occupies Pittsburgh’s mayoral seat, put it more politely. “There’s a lot of chairs popping up on your street, so please respect the chair law—or whatever you want to call it—in the neighborhoods,” he told reporters last week.”
We as a society have moved from rules to boundaries, according to Michael Waters. He writes how there used to be a day when an etiquette film would share with children the importance of arriving promptly to dinner with hair combed and faces scrubbed. Daughters, the film instructs, should have changed from school clothes to “something more festive.” Now we have transitioned into a more fluid society, where it is less prescriptive about what to do and more “one-size-fits-all directive.”
What accounts for this change? Social Norms Theory. This refers to the collective beliefs about what kind of behavior is acceptable. Norms change when misperceptions abound. This is known as “pluralistic ignorance,” which consists of individuals incorrectly believing their peers hold different attitudes than they actually do.
Bill Kelly was right: "Good manners are just a way of showing other people that we have respect for them." As those who have been tasked to walk in love and be marked by grace, manners are a vivid way to consider others as more important than yourself. We should respect others’ chairs, and perhaps even be wiling to give up our own. (Eph. 5, Phil. 2)
News You Can Use
2. A Cow in the Kitchen…
Watch it here. “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” (Ps. 34:18)
1. This is my new favorite thing…
Watch it here. “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1).
