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. Stephen Colbert says CBS blocked interview with Texas Democrat over FCC concerns (WaPo)
“CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert rebuked his own network Monday night, claiming that lawyers for parent company Paramount Skydance prohibited him from airing an interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D), a U.S. Senate candidate, over concerns it would violate the Federal Communications Commission’s equal time rule. In response, the studio audience booed.
“In a statement Tuesday, Gomez wrote that CBS’s decision is an example of “corporate capitulation in the face of this Administration’s broader campaign to censor and control speech” and said that the FCC has “no lawful authority to pressure broadcasters for political purposes.”
“CBS is fully protected under the First Amendment to determine what interviews it airs, which makes its decision to yield to political pressure all the more disappointing,” she said.”
What do coyotes have to do with Barbra Streisand? I’m so glad you asked… First, let’s consider the Funny Girl. The Streisand Effect describes how an attempt to hide or remove information can backfire, leading to its further publicization. In this instance, approximately 2.3 million people on average tune in to watch The Colbert Show each night. As of this morning, more than 10 million have watched this interview online.
Then there are those coyotes, more specifically Coyote’s Law. This refers to being careful to empower the government, largely because one day your political enemies could be in power over the government. While the right allegedly used the agency to influence the message, the left, starting with FDR in 1934 to JFK to Lyndon Johnson, used the FCC to "selectively enforce regulations for radio stations airing right-wing programs," as the historian Paul Matzko has detailed.
There is nothing new under the sun…including calls to abolish the FCC. In his classic 1959 article, Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase advocated for its abolition. “The situation in the American broadcasting industry is not essentially different in character from that which would be found if a commission appointed by the federal government had the task of selecting those who were to be allowed to publish newspapers and periodicals in each city, town, and village of the United States. A proposal to do this would, of course, be rejected out of hand as inconsistent with the doctrine of freedom of the press.”
Fast forward to National Review today. “The FCC is no longer needed, if it ever was. Rather than fantasizing about using government power to punish the left, leaving open the invitation to be punished again when Democrats regain power, Republicans should foreclose the possibility of future suppression by shutting down the FCC.”
A child’s heart and a grown-up’s head… In Mere Christianity, CS Lewis asserted that prudence is a combination of wisdom and morality. He noted how God wants someone with a “child’s heart and a grown-up’s head.” Channeling Mt. 10 and Lk. 16, Lewis wrote on the importance of acting shrewdly in this dark time yet doing so with innocence in this broken world. In this instance, some want to abolish the FCC, but we would all be wise in how we use the power of the FCC.
5. RI hockey shooter threatened to go ‘BERSERK’ in trans-rights rant day before mass shooting (NY Post)
“The crazed transgender dad who shot up a high school hockey game in Rhode Island threatened to go “BERSERK” in a trans-rights rant just a day before he massacred two family members and injured three others. XXX, who also identified as XXXX, killed himself after opening fire at the Pawtucket ice rink where his son was playing on Monday afternoon — less than a week after another transgender gunman shot up a school in one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings.
“The night before the bloodshed, the 56-year-old dad — who underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2020 — made an ominous post on X in anger at someone calling trans Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride a man. “Keep bashing us. But do not wonder why we Go BERSERK,” XXX wrote in the chilling post.
“Police believe XXX, too, was targeting his own family when he wreaked havoc at the ice rink following years of heated court disputes over his identity. The fatal victims of Monday’s shooting include the mother of Dorgan’s hockey player son and the student athlete’s sibling, multiple sources told WPRI.”
Was this the result of a bad person or a suffering person in a bad environment? In his insightful book Unforgiving Places, Jens Ludwig highlights how the conventional wisdom on both sides of the debate fail to fully address the issue. One side blames the bad people who aren’t afraid of the repercussions, another side blames bad places with desperate people, but Ludwig argues that our focus shouldn’t be on the type of people or the various environments but rather on the decision-making capacities leading up to the act of violence.
Ludwig draws on Daniel Kahneman’s concepts of System 1 and System 2 thinking. The former is automatic and instinctual and the latter is more careful and slow. Most gun violence, Ludwig explains, does not stem from calculated decisions but rather from impulsive altercations that escalate into tragedy. Citing the Stroop test, Ludwig highlights how difficult it is override automatic cognitive process.
The blood continues to cry out… In Genesis 4, we read how Abel’s blood cries up to the Lord. In the Hebrew, brothers and bloods is plural in the text, signifying the continual cry for justice for all – and not just Abel’s blood in that moment. Ludwig may explain the rationale as to why this evil act happened, but it does not excuse it or silence the cry. (Pro. 16:2).
4. Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, dies at 84 (ABC News)
“The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, Baptist minister and pioneering politician who launched two bids for the U.S. presidency, died on Tuesday morning at the age of 84, his family said in a statement. Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Jackson, whom he married in 1962, and six children.
“Beginning his career as a protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson quickly rose to become one of the nation's most prominent and influential civil rights leaders. In 1971, he formed the nonprofit Operation PUSH – People United to Save/Serve Humanity – to advocate for social and economic parity for Black Americans.
“Jackson ran for president twice, both times as a Democrat, placing third for the party's nomination in 1984 and second in 1988, marking the most successful presidential runs of any Black candidate prior to Barack Obama's two decades later.”
He was a voice for the voiceless, and a masterful one at that. In the 1970s, Jackson spoke out passionately against abortion, equating it with genocide. In 1977, he shared: “The question of “life” is The Question of the 20th century… I was born out of wedlock (and against the advice that my mother received from her doctor) and therefore abortion is a personal issue for me. From my perspective, human life is the highest good, the summum bonum…. There are those who argue that the right to privacy is of higher order than the right to life. I do not share that view. I believe that life is not private, but rather it is public and universal. If one accepts the position that life is private, and therefore you have the right to do with it as you please, one must also accept the conclusion of that logic. That was the premise of slavery.”
Then there was his way with words. Commenting on his convention speech in 1988, conservative writer P. J. O’Rourke noted: “He is the only living American politician with a mastery of classical rhetoric. Assonance, alliteration, litotes, pleonasm, parallelism, exclamation, climax and epigram — to listen to Jesse Jackson is to hear everything mankind has learned about public speaking since Demosthenes. Thus Jackson, the advocate for people who believe themselves to be excluded from Western culture, was the only 1988 presidential candidate to exhibit any of it.”
Lions and lambs… I didn’t always agree politically with Rev. Jackson, but I don’t think there is a political litmus test at the gates of heaven… and he knew that. In his 1988 convention speech, he noted: “The Bible teaches that when lions and lambs lie down together, none will be afraid and there will be peace in the valley. It sounds impossible. Lions eat lambs. Lambs sensibly flee from lions. Yet even lions and lambs will find common ground.” That ground is at the foot of the cross. (Mt. 25)
Cultural News
3. New Survey Finds Americans Are Ordering Less Takeout (WBZ News Radio)
“A new survey polling more than 2,000 Americans found that 41% said they are ordering takeout less often. Additionally, 40% of the respondents also said they cook more often. “I go to school downtown [and] it’s very expensive,” one local resident told WBZ NewsRadio. “I do not want to spend that every single day when I go to class.”
Many attributed the cut back to higher menu prices. “We see a lot of quote-on-quote added taxes and gratuity,” Anita added. Meanwhile, 76% of the participants reported they cook at least a few times per week. “I’m not going to say it’s going to stop me from going out, but it’s just more of do I want to go out or do I really want to do another activity,” another Bostonian said.”
Apparently Michael Bublè isn’t the only one who wants to Go Home… Interestingly enough, the NY Times published a story back in January about the state of food delivery in America, highlighting how a data worker earning $50,000 in San Diego spent as much as $300 a week on food delivery. That’s $15,000 a year of his roughly $40,000 in annual take-home pay.
However, anecdotes don’t equate to reality. In 1989, Americans allocated 6.3 percent of their spending to food away from home. In 2024, that number was just 5 percent. However, as Mike Konczal points out, this is largely due to Americans earning more (15.1 percent of spending went toward all food in 1989; 12.9 percent in 2024).
NT Wright once observed that when Jesus’ disciples were troubled, and the Son of God himself faced the prospect of death, he didn’t share a theory but rather offered them a meal. Essentially, answers rarely ease a broken soul, but hospitality can bring comfort to a weary one. And while eating at home can be a prudent thing, opening up your home to share a meal with friends can be a glorious thing. (1 Pet. 4:8)
News You Can Use
2. Delilah on Valentine’s Day in 2002
Watch it here. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” (Pro. 18:21)
1. Clever toddler reportedly climbed inside a claw machine while his parents were momentarily distracted at their other son's soccer game.
Watch it here. “After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.” (Lk. 2:43)
