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. DOJ announces $1.7B 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' as part of Trump IRS lawsuit settlement (ABC News)
“The Justice Department on Tuesday expanded the agreement it reached this week with President Trump to resolve his extraordinary lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service to include a provision that would bar the agency from pursuing tax claims against the president, his family or his businesses. In a one-page document signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and quietly posted on the department’s website, officials vowed not to pursue any matters, including those involving Mr. Trump’s tax returns, that are currently pending.
“The Justice Department announced Monday that as part of a settlement agreement in President Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, the attorney general is establishing an $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to compensate those who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration."
There is nothing new under the sun… What the Trump administration is doing directly, past administrations have done indirectly. Are you familiar with the sue-and-settle strategy? This refers to when an interest group sues a friendly federal agency, then agrees to a settlement to create rules and priorities outside the normal rulemaking process. One study noted that between 2009 and 2012, the EPA deployed this strategy more than 60 times, resulting in more than 100 new regulations and costing tens of billions of dollars.
2 wrongs don’t make a right…but it does make it easier to propagate wrong. Psychologist Albert Bandura defined this as moral disengagement, describing how individuals and groups rationalize questionable behavior to bypass their own ethical standards. It's the mental process that allows people to do questionable things without feeling guilty.
A need for Amos... A shepherd from Judah, Amos was sent to the northern kingdom of Israel during a time of prosperity and strength. On the surface, everything seemed great. However, corruption lingered under it all. Instead of just enjoying the good times, Amos called for his friends to be better all the time. Calling out the opposition is expected; calling out your own side requires courage, believing that the arrows from a friend are greater than the kisses from an enemy. And in this instance, just because others have done something similar is an illuminating explanation, but still a poor excuse. (Pro. 27:6).
5. Health worker shortage will worsen with federal loan limit, 25 states say in suit (WaPo)
“A coalition of 25 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia sued the Education Department on Tuesday over new graduate student loan limits, arguing the restrictions will worsen the health care workforce shortage. “Higher education is expensive, and our health care system is already under immense strain. This rule will shut talented people out of critical professions and leave communities with fewer healthcare providers they desperately need,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the coalition, said in a statement.
“The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Maryland, comes nearly three weeks after the Education Department finalized rules that lower the amount of money graduate students can borrow from the federal government. The rules, which take effect July 1, are a feature of the One Big Beautiful Bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last summer. They implement borrowing caps based on whether students are pursuing a degree in what is designated as a professional or graduate program… Students in professional programs can borrow up to $50,000 a year and $200,000 total, while those in graduate programs will face annual limits of $20,500 and a lifetime limit of $100,000.”
Drop It Like It’s Hot – Snoop Dogg sings it, and the Trump administration did it with the federal loan limit. But could this be a good thing? Consider 3 factors: tuition increases, crowding out, and lower returns.
In 1987, then-Education Sec. William Bennett argued that “increases in financial aid in recent years have enabled colleges and universities blithely to raise their tuitions, confident that Federal loan subsidies would help cushion the increase.” His thesis, since then, has been proven correct. A 2017 study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that the average tuition increase associated with expansion of student loans is as much as 60 cents per dollar. That is, more federal aid to students enables colleges to raise tuition more.
Then there is the crowding out effect. This refers to the phenomenon where an expansion in government (in this case, financial aid via grants or federal loans) unintentionally causes private student lending or institutional scholarships to shrink. A study examined how the federal Grad PLUS loan program affected private lending. It found that over 60 percent of student borrowers could obtain a private loan with a lower interest rate than those on Grad PLUS loans, saving them at least $4,100 over the life of their loans.
Then there are lower returns. Some estimate that roughly 38 percent of graduate borrowers would need to take out more loans due to the cap, causing students to reconsider pursuing a graduate program, which, from a financial standpoint, could be a good thing. A recent AEI study found that a contingent of degree programs have a negative return on investment. Essentially, they cost more than any anticipated increased earnings. 77 percent of bachelor's degrees have a positive ROI; just 57 percent of master’s degrees do.
Paging Abram… When the quarreling started between Abram and his nephew, Abram refused to let it continue. So he approached Lot and shared how the land wasn’t big enough for both of them. He asked Lot for his preference and gave him his choice of... lots of land. Though he had the right to assert his preference, he showed deference. Sometimes, just because you can do something, like offer student loans, doesn’t mean you should do something. (Gen. 13)
4. Investigators probing San Diego mosque shooting suspects’ possible writings (NBC News)
“Investigators looking into the motivations of two men accused of killing three people at a San Diego mosque Monday are trying to authenticate a document posted online that purportedly details their motivations, three senior law enforcement officials said. The writings are filled with extremist material espousing anti-Islamic, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ views. The authors refer to accelerationism, a white supremacist ideology that promotes violence to speed the formation of a white ethnostate.
“The material under review includes Nazi iconography, extreme misogyny and racist sentiments about Black people and other minority groups, law enforcement officials said. The authors blame the Jewish community for what they say are the problems of the modern world. The document also contains views that are hostile to President Donald Trump, and the authors describe themselves as anti-MAGA, according to the law enforcement officials.
“The authors list XXX— the man who carried out the 2019 shooting at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand — as one of their “heroes.”
There are 3 foundational components to every mass shooting: an available gun, someone with the will to use the gun to kill, and a way to put the two together, according to Steven Levitt.
First, there is the availability of the gun. In his book Fist Stick Knife Gun, Geoffrey Canada notes how throughout most of history, even on the streets of the US through the 50’s and 60’s, personal disputes were settled hand-to-hand or hand-to-knife. However, the introduction of the gun drastically transformed the power dynamics. “Kids with guns often see no limits on their power.”
Then there is the person with a gun. Research out of Northeastern has found that mass killers are often driven by a constellation of motivations, but above all else, revenge. “They seek payback for what they perceive to be unfair treatment by targeting those they hold responsible for their misfortunes.”
So, how do you stop that person from putting the two together? According to Levitt, you show them empathy, both personally and through societal structures. Research has shown the power of empathy among those who have experienced victimhood, keeping them from spreading their hurt and hurting others. Like David with Saul at the mouth of the cave, empathy struck to the heart of Saul’s victim mentality. He realized he was wrong, which kept him in the moment from doing more wrong. (1 Sam. 24)
Cultural News
3. Which Stores That No Longer Exist Do People Miss Most? (MarketBeat)
“We asked more than 3,000 Americans aged 45+ a simple question: which long-gone retail chains would you bring back if you could? Blockbuster is clearly the most missed brand. You can almost feel why. It wasn’t really about films; it was about the ritual around them. The wandering, the indecision, the last copy panic. Of course, we know that streaming ended the hassle, but it also stripped out the build-up. What people seem to miss is that sense of occasion — that feeling of making an effort, choosing a movie that everyone could agree on.
“The results point to a growing gap between efficiency and engagement. Modern retail has optimized heavily for speed, price comparison, and convenience — but in doing so, it has reduced the amount of time and attention consumers spend within the shopping experience itself. What this data suggests is that those “inefficiencies” — browsing, discovery, even indecision — were actually part of the value.”
I Like It, I Love It, I Want Some More Of It…. unless my movie is out of stock. To a certain degree, the Blockbuster answer reveals the fading affect bias. This refers to how our negative emotions fade more quickly than those associated with positive emotions. In addition, this illuminates retrieval-induced forgetting, which refers to how we may remember the good times more than the bad times because we more frequently recall the former instead of the latter.
There are 3 orders of nostalgia, according to Fred Davis. In his classic Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia, Davis highlights how there is simple nostalgia, reflexive nostalgia, and interpreted nostalgia. The first-order form (simple) is a basic feeling that things were better then than they are now. The second-order is more analytical in nature, which introduces a healthy skepticism about the accuracy of memory. Then the third-order (interpreted) asks why they are experiencing this feeling at this moment.
And God said, let there be Blockbuster? While God could have created the universe in the snap of a finger, he took 6 days, rested, and then called it good. It wasn’t the most efficient process, but it was a good one. Blockbuster had inefficiencies that likely contributed to its demise, but it also revealed that efficiency isn’t everything… Whether it was running into a friend at the store or taking a chance on a movie you didn’t intend to rent but were glad you did, Blockbuster revealed the graces of inefficiencies. Its value wasn’t just what it provided for us but how it surprised us with grace upon grace. (Gen. 1-2)
News You Can Use
2. School principal retires, but returns as a handyman: "I'm contributing meaningfully"
Watch it here. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” (Col. 3:23)
1. Veterans reunite with their vintage war planes
Watch it here. “Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” (Rom. 13:7)
