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POLITICS

Dueling Interviews

Only 18 more days of election ads (*pause for Lamaze breathing*).

On Wednesday, Fox aired a town hall with former President Trump before an all-female audience, where he answered questions on crime, the economy, and abortion. He promised to expand child tax credits, defended the overturning of Roe v. Wade, called Republicans “the party for IVF,” and warned of “the enemy within” (Democrats). 

Later, VP Harris and Fox’s Bret Baier talked over one another during a heated 26-minute interview.

She was pressed on border security and crime––which she blamed on Trump’s opposition to a bipartisan border security bill––and broke (a little) with her current boss, saying, “My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.” Reactions were predictably partisan; Republicans called it a “train wreck,” while Democrats called it a “masterclass.”

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ABOVE ALL, LOVE
It’s easy to only show compassion for people who vote like you, but Christians don’t have the privilege of stopping there; we’re called to love everyone. That means loving people that you believe have un-loving beliefs/stances.

“Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 (CSB)

U.S. NEWS

Additives

Two major food manufacturers are cooking up some headlines. 

Tuesday, protestors gathered outside Kellogg’s headquarters, armed with a 400,000-signature petition, to demand that Kellogg cut the chemicals. Kellogg has started dying Froot Loops (which are apparently colorless in nature) with fruit and vegetable juice in other countries but has kept artificial dyes in the States despite pledging to remove them from their ingredient bushel by 2018. 

Activists say there’s evidence that artificial ingredients can cause behavioral problems in children; Kellogg maintains that its foods are safe.

Meanwhile, Pepsico is responding to slumping sales by adding chips back into their Tostitos and Ruffles bags. It’s faced backlash for “shrinkflation,” putting fewer chips in bags for the same price. Now, it’ll offer “bonus bags” with 20% more chips for the same price as the airier bags.

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Verse to consider whether your bags of chips are full or empty… “Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food… yet I will celebrate in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! The Lord my Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!”
Habakkuk 3:17-19 (CSB) (read full passage)

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WORLD NEWS

Simulations

China staged record war games around Taiwan on Monday.

Taiwan—an island democracy China has long claimed as its own and threatened to take by force—celebrated National Day last week, during which the Taiwanese president reaffirmed his commitment to “resist annexation.”

Four days later, China’s military simulated a blockade of Taiwan, surrounding the island with 153 aircraft plus 25+ aircraft carriers and ships. The large-scale drills were meant to warn against “separatist acts,” demonstrating China’s ability to choke access to food and fuel, as well as block Taiwan’s allies from coming to its aid. Then, Wednesday, Chinese President Xi made a rare visit to a Chinese island facing Taiwan, where he encouraged officials to bolster the “national identity of Taiwan compatriots.” 

Taiwan says the Red Dragon’s flex backfired, only making “the international community more supportive of Taiwan.”

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ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
There may be good reasons to be worried about the future of your community or the global one. God does not promise good days, but he does promise his presence and a great eternity with him. Stay focused on him; it changes everything.

“Therefore we do not give up... For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (CSB) (read full passage)

Former One Direction star Liam Payne tragically died Wednesday after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Police responded to reports of an aggressive man, believed to be under the influence, before the fatal incident. The 31-year-old’s death sparked an outpouring of tributes from fans, some of whom gathered outside the CasaSur hotel to sing his songs.  
 

Israel has killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Three Hamas militants were killed in a “heavy gun battle” in Gaza Wednesday, one of whom was tentatively identified as Sinwar, the architect of October 7. Israel then used dental records and fingerprints it had on file from Sinwar’s time in an Israeli prison (he was released in a 2011 prisoner swap) to confirm. 
 

Prosecutors are reviewing new evidence in the case of the Menendez brothers, who were sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of fatally shooting their parents 28 years ago. The 53-and-56-year-old men’s family rallied at an LA courthouse to advocate for their release; a Netflix series has public opinion on the brothers’ side, and they’re “cautiously optimistic” about re-sentencing. 
 

The NFL has unanimously approved Tom Brady’s bid to buy a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders… which means the GOAT-quarterback-turned-Fox-announcer is committed to retirement for real (players can’t be owners). The team, which has been haunted by Brady since the Patriots’ win in 2002’s famous “Tuck Rule” game, hopes he’ll help choose and mentor future QBs. 
 

Italy has expanded its opposition to surrogacy. After a seven-hour debate, the Senate voted 84-58 to officially criminalize Italian citizens leaving the country to have children through a surrogate; violators face up to two years in prison. The Vatican has strongly opposed surrogacy in Italy and abroad; same-sex advocates have criticized any ban on surrogacy as "discriminatory."

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