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. GOP Sen. Thom Tillis won’t seek reelection after opposing Trump tax bill (WaPo)
“Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said Sunday that he will not seek reelection next year, a day after President Donald Trump threatened him with a primary challenge for opposing his massive tax and immigration plan. In a statement, Tillis, 64, said it has been “a blessing to go on a journey from living in a trailer park and making minimum wage as a young man to having the honor of serving as U.S. Senator for North Carolina.”
“Tillis — who has served two terms in the Senate — emphasized that what he is most proud of are the “bipartisan victories” that he was able to secure… Tillis was one of two Republican senators who voted Saturday night against beginning debate on the tax and spending bill that is Trump’s top legislative priority. Tillis said in a statement that he couldn’t support the measure in its current form because it “would result in tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities.” The version of President Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package Republicans are trying to push through the Senate would add at least $3.3 trillion to federal deficits over a decade, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.”
And I Run – Flock of Seagulls sings it but Sen. Tillis isn’t doing it. In his announcement, he shared about the absence of “leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking.” They are “becoming an endangered species,” victims of the “greatest form of hypocrisy” in American politics. “When people see independent thinking on the other side, they cheer. But when those very same people see independent thinking coming from their side, they scorn, ostracize, and even censure them.”
Like The Rolling Stones, Sen. Tillis Can’t Get No Satisfaction…so he is looking elsewhere. Arthur Brooks, in his book From Strength to Strength, proposes that “Satisfaction = What you have ÷ what want you want.” If “1” means fully satisfied, then what one has = what one wants. An S more than 1 represents more “have” than “want”, which is “abundance.” An S less than 1 represents less “have” than “want”, indicating scarcity. To achieve satisfaction, you either have to increase what you have or reduce what you want. In this instance, to get closer to achieving satisfaction, he is reducing what he wants (bipartisanship) by increasing what he has (more time with family and friends).
While Sen. Tillis started in a trailer park, Amos started down on the farm. The prophet was called up for a time to leave the fields to share God’s message with God’s people. After a few years of warning the people to return to their first love, Amos eventually heeded God’s call to return back to the farm. He wasn’t always successful at getting them to return, but he was faithful in calling them to. While there are instances of callings lasting a lifetime, including in ministry, this was not one of those. And at the end of the day, success isn’t rooted in the length of your calling but your faithfulness in the calling. (Amos 1, 3, 9)
5. Texas p0rn age verification law upheld by Supreme Court (CNN)
“The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law that requires age verification for porn0graphic websites in one of the most closely watched First Amendment cases to arrive at the high court in years. The adult entertainment industry had challenged the Texas law as violating the Constitution because it restricted the ability of adults to access protected online speech.
“Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion for a 6-3 court divided along ideological grounds with the court’s three liberals dissenting. “The statute advances the state’s important interest in shielding children from sexually explicit content,” Thomas wrote. “And, it is appropriately tailored because it permits users to verify their ages through the established methods of providing government-issued identification and sharing transactional data.”
“In other rulings handed down on Friday, the justices allowed parents to remove their elementary school children from classes where the books include gay characters. In addition, the Supreme Court did not address whether Trump's attempt to limit birthright citizenship was constitutional. The ruling blocks district judges from making nationwide injuctions against it.”
Leave Them Kids Alone – Pink Floyd and Texas. The average age of adult material exposure for males is around 13. Another study found that almost 1 in 4 teenage boys reported that they view this adult material every day — more than twice as high as 10 years earlier. A 2023 report from BYU estimated that the stuff could be found on 12 percent of websites.
This material functions as a form of cultural violence, according to Jonah Galtung. It is “an aspect of the symbolic sphere that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or structural violence.” A meta-analysis of 46 different studies found a correlation between watching the smut and a 22 percent increased risk of committing sexual offenses.
In the human experience, there is a legitimate and good desire to be known deeply and loved wholly. After all, in the garden God said it was not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18). However, this entertainment gives the illusion of intimacy but leaves the victim still feeling lonely. It is bad fruit in a poison ivy patch that affects everyone in close proximity.
4. Hegseth announces USNS Harvey Milk is being renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson (ABC News)
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday the USNS Harvey Milk is being renamed the USNS Oscar V. Peterson, after he ordered the Navy to strike the name of the pioneering gay rights activist from the ship. "We are taking the politics out of ship naming," Hegseth said. "We're not renaming the ship to anything political. This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration. Instead, we're renaming the ship after a United States Navy Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, as it should be."
There are culture wars and then there are real wars. Chief Watertender Oscar Verner Peterson was in charge of a repair party on the USS Neosho. This ship survived the attack on Pearl Harbor on that December 1941 day, however, it wouldn’t be the only attack it faced…
During the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, the USS Neosho came under attack by Japanese carrier aircraft. The 17-minute bombing run sunk her escort, the USS Sims, and incapacitated Peterson’s crew in an upper-level fire room. However, Peterson somehow regained enough strength and managed to close 4 bulkhead steam line valves to keep the ship operational and afloat. While doing this, he suffered third-degree burns on his face, arms, shoulders, and hands. “For the (commanding officer) to save as many men as possible for a potential rescue by another ship … was in part available because Chief Peterson closed those main steam line bulkhead stop wells isolating the steam in the engine room.”
Chief Peterson gave his life so that we might have richer ones. We will never know the depths of his service, but we should never stop trying to express our appreciation for it. He paid it forward with his sacrifices, and we should do likewise with our gratitude. (Rom. 13:7)
Cultural News
3. US cities cap Pride Month with a mix of party and protest (ABC News)
“At Pride parades from New York City to Budapest over the weekend, communities around the world celebrated and also demonstrated for LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion during the last days of Pride Month. In addition to waving rainbow flags, many held protest signs, amid increasing political attacks in the U.S. by Republicans and President Trump's administration. "Our joy is our resistance," read one sign held by a reveler wearing samba feathers at New York City's Pride parade, the oldest and largest such event in the U.S. This year, the New York event's theme was "Rise Up: Pride in Protest."
“Large throngs of New Yorkers celebrated as the parade traveled down Fifth Avenue to downtown. Many of them also demonstrated against President Trump's recent executive orders and policies targeting transgender people and recognizing only two unchangeable sexes, male and female. Trump's orders have also banned "gender ideology" and dismantled diversity, equity and inclusion programs. "At a time when trans youth are under attack, queer art is being erased, and the clock is being rolled back on LGBTQIA+ rights across the country ... NYC Pride remains focused on advocating for our community as we face an onslaught of attacks," NYC Pride media director Chris Piedmont wrote in a statement posted on social media.”
This movement has come a long way, but has it gone too far? Writing in The NY Times, Andrew Sullivan, an early advocate for gay marriage, believes so. “Far from celebrating victory, defending the gains, staying vigilant, but winding down as a movement that had achieved its core objectives — including the end of H.I.V. in the United States as an unstoppable plague — gay and lesbian rights groups did the opposite. Swayed by the broader liberal shift to the ‘social justice’ left, they radicalized.”
They once only had free speech, but now they squelch dissenting speech. “This little community used to champion all manner of expression or argument or speech, eccentrics and visionaries. Now it’s fearful, self-censored and extremely uptight. Debate has been all but snuffed out; total uniformity of thought is demanded.”
He concludes: “In the gay rights movement, there had always been an unspoken golden rule: Leave children out of it. We knew very well that any overreach there could provoke the most ancient blood libel against us: that we groom and abuse kids. You can bring up your children however you like, we promised. We will leave you alone. We will leave your children alone. So what did the gender revolutionaries go and do? They focused almost entirely on children and minors.”
Remember Abimelech. When Abraham and Sarah were journeying through foreign lands to a promised land, they encountered King Abimelech. Perhaps out of fear, Abraham lied about his relationship with his wife and offered Sarah to the king, yet God’s restraining grace kept the king from doing anything with her. As the old hymn goes, we are prone to wander, inching further and further away. Yet there are moments in history when God’s grace restrains us from moving further. This was evident with the King; this is lacking with this movement. (Gen. 20)
News You Can Use
2. Still Waiting at Daycare
Watch it here. “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Rom. 8:25)
1. Jeopardy contestant gets emotional as she reveals that the Final Jeopardy answer was her great, great, great-aunt, the woman she was named after.
Watch it here. “A good name is more desirable than great riches, and high esteem, than gold and silver.” (Pro. 22:1)
