193 Pentecost 17: Double Down
"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." ~ Psalm 27
Double Down
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Odds and Ends
Politics
Attorney General Merrick Garland has testified before the House Judiciary Committee that he could not recall whether he spoke to FBI headquarters about Hunter Biden. He also fielded questions about heavy-handed tactics of the Department of Justice against parents, Catholics and pro-lifers. (Daily Wire, Fox)
Hunter Biden is suing the IRS for invading his privacy by releasing tax information during whistleblower testimony. A third IRS agent has testified that a federal prosecutor blocked investigations into the First Son's tax fraud. (AP, New York Post)
A Democratic senator and his wife have been charged with bribery and corruption.(Justice Dept)
President Biden will set up an Office for preventing gun violence. (The Hill)
A German family who were granted asylum to live in America 15 years ago are facing deportation after a review of their situation. The Romeike left Germany after being fined for homeschooling their children. (WBIR)
Economy, Markets and Jobs
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has backtracked on his promise to leave Ukrainian aid out of a proposed Pentagon spending bill. Congress will debate and vote on four separate bills before the end of the month in order to avoid a government shut down. Speaker McCarthy agreed to keep spending bills to single issues when he was elected to the role. (The Hill, Roll Call)
Auto manufacturers have begun laying off workers amid strikes orchestrated by the United Auto Workers union. Ford boss Jim Farley said the company has done what it can to meet worker demands, making four solid offers which have not been met with any counteroffers. The strike has now expanded to include parts and distribution centers. President Biden has said he will go to Michigan and join the picket line, but as commentators noted, the push for “green” electric vehicles is one of the main threats to the auto industry as it stands. The President’s “full-throated support for the unions is drowning in irony. He is offering the striking workers his strong backing... so they can cope with problems he created.” (Daily Mail, CNBC, The Telegraph)
Stanford University says it will return all donations from disgraced crypto bro Sam Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried's parents, who are both law professors at the University's law school, are also facing a lawsuit after it was revealed they enriched themselves through their son's scheme. Prosecutors are hoping to recover money for victims of the fraud. (Edition, The Verge)
Covid unemployment fraud was actually almost triple what was reported last year, between $100bn - $135bn. (The Federalist)
The US national debt is a very big number. (Treasury)
Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as Fox CEO. (Spectator)
Disney plans to spend $60B on expanding parks and cruises. (Hollywood Reporter)
J6
Ray Epps, the man at the center of January 6th speculation has pled guilty to a charge of being disorderly on that day. (The Hill)
The House Judiciary Committee has heard testimony from a former FBI agent that there were so many paid Bureau informants at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 that they had to perform an audit later to work out the exact number. (New York Post)
Former Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio, who was not in the capital on that day, received a sentence of 22 years, the longest related to J6. (BBC)
Members of Antifa planned to firebomb federal buildings on January 6th. (Epoch Times)
Military
The debris field of crashed F-35B Lightning II fighter has been located in South Carolina, around 60 miles from where the pilot ejected. The Joint Base Charleston called on the public to help locate the plane which has stealth capabilities. No further details have been released, but the memes were awesome. (ZeroHedge, Not the Bee)
Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. was confirmed as Joint Chiefs chairman by the Senate last week, despite a blockade from Senator Tommy Tuberville (R- AL). Tuberville is holding back his vote as a protest over the military's policy of funding travel for personnel seeking abortions. Military promotions requiring Senate confirmation are usually carried out in blocs by unanimous consent, as confirming one by one takes a long time! Democrats have accused Tuberville of "jeopardizing national security" but he tweeted his defiance:" As long as the Pentagon keeps the unlawful elective abortion policy in place, my holds will remain." (CBS News)
An unassuming tank museum in the UK makes a quarter of its income from YouTube after becoming a social media hit. (BBC)
Technology
Et tu, Alexa? Wi-fi technology has long been able to able to see through walls, using electromagnetic waves from the router to roughly make out shapes of objects in a room, kind of like a sonar does underwater. However, combining the power of AI computing, the tech is proving to be a potential surveillance tool. (ZME Science, ZeroHedge)
Elon Musk's brain-computer interface (BCI) tech, Neuralink, has been approved by the US' Food and Drug Administration to begin human trials. A number of other companies have already started studying BCI's implanted into humans. (BBC)
The "polarizing design" of Tesla's Cybertruck may not be as unpopular as we've been led to believe, with reservations and pre-orders suggesting as many 2 million customers are waiting to get their hands on one. They'll probably have to wait a little longer though, as Elon Musk says the faceted design will need a precision overhaul with "single-digit micron” tolerance. (Electrek, Electrek)
A widow is suing Google after its maps app allegedly sent her husband over a bridge which had collapsed years before. (Not the Bee)
Marriage, sex and family
California governor Gavin Newsom has puzzled everyone by vetoing a bill which would give custody to whichever parent want to trans their confused child. (Post Millennial)
NARAL has gone full Orwellian, dropping "pro-choice" from its name in order to glean support. It's now known as "Reproductive Freedom for All". (WNG)
Study finds that 50% of Americans are open to the idea of signing a pre-nuptial agreement. (Axios)
Religion and the church
Exodus’ account makes it clear that God made Moses an equal to Pharaoh. (Biblical Archaeology)
The implosion of popular evangelical teacher Andy Stanley is almost complete. (Not the Bee)
A manmade religion? The Empire State building was lit up last week to celebrate the release of Pfizer's new booster, then again, the building has often been used to celebrate the spirit of this age. (Not the Bee)
Science and the natural world
A NASA spacecraft has returned to earth with a small collection of rock rubble it nabbed from asteroid Bennui, during a 7 year quest. (AP)
Two cameras orbiting the moon have provided images to make a composite photo of its southern pole. The photo reveals greater detail of the dark side than previously available. (NASA)
Genetically-engineered silkworms produce thread 6 times stronger than Kevlar bulletproof vests. (Cosmos)
A rare “Dumbo” octopus has been filmed during deep sea live stream. (BBC)
Flamingos spotted in Wisconsin. (AP)
Canada in the news
There’s a bit goin’ down north of the border..
Canadians have turned out, reportedly in large numbers to protest transgender ideology, especially in schools. (The Distance)
A pro-euthanasia group in Canada is set to open houses where people can go to be killed. The aim is to provide for people who want to die in a "non-clinical" setting, perhaps while "watching a movie or drinking wine". The amount of deaths due to euthanasia have increased since the Trudeau government threw its support behind "Medical Assistance in Dying". In the latest government report, 17% of people cited “isolation or loneliness” as a reason for wanting to die. "In 35.7% of cases, patients believed that they were a 'burden on family, friends or caregivers'." (Life News)
Jewish groups in Canada have demanded an apology after Parliament honored and applauded a Nazi who had fought for Ukraine. One man, who was present during the ovation said he did not realise the man was a Nazi. "Now I’ve learned he was a volunteer member of an SS unit, I feel sick to my stomach." (CTV News, Twitter)
Stories from far away
Armenians living in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory have been fleeing after Azerbaijan seized control of the region last week. The conflict between largely Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis is long and complicated. (Politico, Religion Unplugged)
Canada and India have expelled each other's diplomats after PM Justin Trudeau said his government were investigating "credible allegations" that India had a role in the killing of Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Singh was a Sikh separatist who lived in Vancouver. India has previously accused Canada of harboring terrorists. (AP, AlJazeera)
Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki has announced his country will need to leave off arming Ukraine to focus on its own defences. (ZeroHedge)
Would Ukraine survive without stream of American funding? "Without that sort of aid, I think Ukraine would've been probably overrun, defeated", says retired general, Ben Hodges. Reports say that "American taxpayers are financing more than just weapons. We discovered the U.S. government's buying seeds and fertilizer for Ukrainian farmers… and covering the salaries of Ukraine's first responders – all 57,000 of them." (CBS)
Tech giant, Huawei is finding ways around US bans on Chinese-made chips. (Reuters)
Stolen Israeli tank found in a scrapyard. (Huffington Post)
Your favorite pixilated hero will return when EDH has returned from a well-earned rest..
John Michael Jones Gets a Life is produced for Mad ⳩ Mondays by E. Darwin Hartshorn. Episodes can also be found on Tuesday, along with previous episodes, on Bunny Trail Junction at bunny-trail.com.
Quick Hits for the Eyebuds
🍅 How much garden space do you need to survive?
📏 How far apart are stars?
🗓️ A correction 60 years in the making
🇬🇧 What's inside Big Ben?
🧳Johnny Cash has been everywhere, man
➡️Spotify in chronological order
🤖Passing the Turing test? An AI-generated spiralling medieval village
❤️Aww..mini highland cows
🪥The world’s biggest toothpaste collection
😧The Las Vegas Sphere is freaking people out
🐾Missing Michigan toddler found sleeping in the forest with her dogs as a pillow and a guard.
🇯🇵Japan’s Restaurant of Mistaken Orders helps those with dementia find some joy
A Good Word: Links from the Show Notes
This week's Stop the White Noise saw the Fisks discuss getting outdoors, paganism, dying and the wonder that is Lutheran liturgy. There weren’t many books mentioned but..
Find connections between Romans and Hebrews
Why stop there? James, Jude, and The Epistles of John are all 🔥
And a little Proverbs 30 as a reminder to observe the ants and be wise!
“Open Air Life” by Linda Åkeson McGurk (Norse theology, so deploy discernment!)
Sweetness You May Have Missed
This Week Preached: You Are Not Alone
Podcast Release: BHoP#163 Q&A – The Renegade Act and other Sundry Segues
Let us pray. Lord God, heavenly Father, since we cannot stand before You relying on anything we have done, help us trust in Your abiding grace and live according to Your Word; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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