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. British police arrest Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct (ABC News)
“Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor -- formerly known as Prince Andrew and the younger brother of King Charles III -- was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office. In a statement, Thames Valley Police said it had "arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk."
“In a statement issued on Thursday, Charles said, "I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office... What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation," Charles added. "Let me state clearly: the law must take its course. As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter. Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all."
You can have morals, but that doesn’t mean you hold to them, according to Albert Bandura. His theory of moral disengagement explains how someone’s public life can differ from their private life. Individuals can commit harmful acts without experiencing guilt by deactivating their internal moral standards. There are 4 factors (loci): behavior, agency, effect, and victim.
Behavior refers to the ways someone can transform something harmful into something acceptable. This can be done through moral justification (interpreting it as a worthy cause), euphemistic labeling (sanitizing the language to make it acceptable), or advantageous comparison (“at least I’m not…”). Agency obscures the perpetrator's personal role, either through the displacement of responsibility or the diffusion of responsibility. Effect refers to minimizing or distorting the actual harm, failing to accurately represent or convey the consequences. Finally, there is the victim, which usually consists of either dehumanizing the one who has been wronged or blaming them for their own suffering.
“Hypocrisy is a tribute that vice pays to virtue,” according to Rochefoucauld. In the Scriptures, we read how God has a tendency to quickly reveal duplicity. Ezekiel saw such behavior through a hole in the wall, David heard it through Nathan’s story, and Ananias felt it in the weather. Because Jesus Paid It All, forgiveness is available to all. However, you will still have to pay for the crime. (Ez. 8, 2 Sam. 12, Acts 5, 1 Jn. 1:9)
5. Eight skiers killed in deadliest avalanche in modern California histoy (WaPo)
“With eight people confirmed killed by the massive snow slide — described as the length of a football field — it is now the deadliest avalanche in modern California history. It surpasses the toll of seven killed in a March 1982 avalanche at the Alpine Meadows — now Palisades Tahoe — ski resort, in the same general region.
“Officials initially believed there were 16 people in the skiing group, but that number was later revised to reflect 15 people who actually went on the trip, the sheriff’s office said in an update late Tuesday local time. At their Wednesday morning news conference, the office reported there were nine women and six men in the group.
Death, the last enemy, is a wicked thief. Former Sen. Ben Sasse repeated these ideas on a podcast released earlier this week. In December, Sasse shared that he was diagnosed with stage 4, metastasized pancreatic cancer. He was given 90 days to live. “Obviously, death is a wicked thief. I don’t want it to happen… This is not news to me that I had numbered days. It just became a more precise number. We all have numbered days.”
When asked about God, the former president of the University of Florida shared: “Is God surprised by the fact that Ben Sasse’s torso is chock full of tumors? … A God who’d be surprised by it is way too small to be interesting. God is not surprised by the fact that I’m gonna die. We’re all gonna die. And the question is, what’s the use of that phase?” For Sasse, he is committed to “redeeming the time” by living “a life of gratitude to God by doing stuff that tries to benefit your neighbor…. We don’t build any storehouses that last. The things that matter and endure are human souls and things way bigger than any of my projects.”
To live is Christ and to die is gain... For Sasse: “I would never want pancreatic cancer to exist, but I also wouldn’t go back to a phase in my life where I hadn’t known the prayer of pancreatic cancer.” Tragically, 8 skiers died unexpectedly, yet, as Ben Sasse notes, we are all dying. But as Sasse quipped: “Time is the great equalizer, but not all time is equal — you can play a lot of basketball in the last 60 seconds.” (Ps. 90)
4. Rep. Tony Gonzales had affair with aide who lit herself on fire, lawyer alleges (WaPo)
“A staff member for Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) who died last year after lighting herself on fire had allegedly had an affair with the congressman, according to the staffer’s estranged husband. Gonzales, who faces a tough primary challenge from the right in his sprawling district along the border, has denied any improper relationship with the aide, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles. Addressing the matter at an event last year, the married father of six said the “rumors are completely untruthful.” His office did not respond to repeated requests for comment Thursday.
“But the aide’s husband, Adrian Aviles, said Santos-Aviles confessed the affair to him in June 2024, according to an account relayed by his lawyer, who said he has also seen texts that he says confirm the affair. Upon arriving home one day, Aviles said he noticed his wife texting Gonzales and asked to see her messages.
“When he took the phone and began to scroll, she allegedly told him, ‘You’re not going to see what you like or what you find,’” Barrera said in an interview. Aviles’s account was first reported by the San Antonio Express-News. Barrera said she was subsequently ostracized within Gonzales’s office and had experienced depression before her suicide.”
Love in an affair is measured by the extent of its jealousy, according to Graham Greene. Instead of selflessly giving, this distorted love only seeks to take more and more from its object. But why? One study found that emotionality is a key part of infidelity for most people. When the partner attempts to connect but is ignored repeatedly, they go elsewhere to take, and take, and take…
Even vacancy is crowded in an affair, according to Greene. He writes how an affair consumes the thoughts of the person, eventually forcing them to confess. One study found that 57 percent of individuals confessed independently, but 21 percent were caught by their partner.
In his book The End of the Affair, Graham Greene chronicles such an affair, but perceptively notes that it is “a record of hate far more than love.” Like Amnon discovered, hate disguises itself as an overwhelming infatuation. Compelled by their passions and shackled to their desires, the unfaithful individual, as Solomon keenly noted, drinks “their fill of love… All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to slaughter. . . . He does not know that it will cost him his life.” (Pro. 7)
Cultural News
3. No Views, No Hikes, Just Zzzs: Welcome to the Sleepcation (WSJ)
“A growing cohort of Gen Z and millennial travelers are choosing REM-fueled trips they’ve dubbed the “sleepcation.” For them, the ultimate vacation luxury isn’t a nice view—it’s a mattress. Hotels are leaning in. Rosati, 35, signed up for a special sleep package that, for an extra $99, kitted her room out with CBD gummies, skin-care products, bath bombs, weighted blankets and satin lavender eye masks. She got to choose her pillow from an extensive menu. Would it be bamboo charcoal memory foam, a C-shaped full body or a honeycomb hole? Maybe one with an adjustable height for neck support? In the end, Rosati opted for a medium-support pillow with “a touch of down.”
“For the hospitality industry, the sleepcationer is a dream demographic. A guest in bed isn’t wearing down the lobby or requiring a concierge. Instead, they’re bringing in extra money with the charcoal bedtime lattes they’re ordering from room service and the upgrades for AI-powered beds that analyze sleep quality and hotel-offered sleep doctors.”
The Lion Isn’t The Only On Who Sleeps Tonight… Contrary to popular belief, Americans are sleeping more today than they did 20 years ago. We are sleeping more (28 minutes) today than we did in 2003. This includes sleep at night and naps during the day. This increase may be due to the increasing prevalence of taking PTO simply to sleep (37 percent).
Have you fallen victim to revenge bedtime procrastination? This refers to intentionally staying up late to enjoy personal time, even knowing it will negatively affect sleep. The average American will lose roughly 332 hours of sleep per year due to this, with revenge bedtime happening on average 3.5 times per week. With each occurrence, the person will stay up roughly an hour and 50 minutes later than usual.
In the biblical narrative, we read about a God who appreciates order, providing a rhythmic pattern for life (1 Cor. 14:33, Gen. 1). Rest stops us but also reminds us of the One who sustains us (Mark 2:27, 1 Pet. 5:7, Ps. 73:26). If you struggle with sleep, you can count sheep or you can claim a promise from God: “…for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Ps. 127:2)”
News You Can Use
2. Parenting at Home VS. Airplane
Watch it here. “Train up a child in the way he should go…” (Pro. 22:6)
1. An Overtime Goal Against A Rival To Win A Gold Medal… Glorious
Watch it here. “...the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” (Pro. 13:4)
