234 Pentecost 9: Let Another Take His Office
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.” ~ Psalm 23
Let Another Take His Office
You know the stories, right? What Specter do you fear? How many heads has the Hydra? Who built the White Tower? Who invented the Machines? Who serves the Accuser? How many spirits slip through the curves of a Paperclip? Tell me, if you know. Support the Cause! Join the Initiative! Get Your Limited Edition 2024 StarFall2029 Initiate's Pin from SOS Golgatha and show your support for the Cause! Get in on the ground floor of the greatest game on radioTVXlife. Step up. Stand Firm. And roll your Character for Righteousness, Wisdom and Patience! Wear your Limited Edition StarFall2029 Initiate's Pin on your satchel, book bag or anywhere you display where you take your stand. Let the world know that you aren't taking the great terror of A Poo Face sitting down. While the rest of the world is losing their minds, you are going to prepare God's Way: Burn fewer bridges. Patch more walls. Mend your net. Heal. Cleanse. Raise up. Cast out. Seek the Kingdom today.
Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
R.J.M.F
A week is a very long time in Washington.. Biden, Trump and the mess we’re in:
The Digital Age
A botched update from cybersecurity company, Crowdstrike brought airports, banks, hospitals and workplaces to a standstill last week. The outage brought Crowdstrike back into the limelight as a firm connected to the World Economic Forum and known for its pro-DEI policies. Whether malice or incompetence, it’s good to have the curtain pulled back from time to time to see what this machine is capable of and how fragile it can be. (USA Today, The Blaze)
Hackers stole almost all At&T customer’s call and text data from a 6 month period in 2022. The content of texts was not able to be accessed by the hackers, the telco said, but who was calling whom would be evident. (Not the Bee)
Hackers have reverse-engineering Ticketmaster’s method of generating tickets, enabling customers to on-sell their non-transferable tickets. Ticketmaster is suing. (404 Media)
X is reportedly building (or re-introducing) a dislike button which would act as a downvote for unpopular comments. (TechCrunch)
A “digital minimalist” writes about the challenge of device-free parenting: “Childhood is a precious, fleeting stage of life, and screens are a portal into a world of ugliness and vapidity that kids don’t need.” (After Babel)
Births, Deaths and Marriages
A new law in California bans schools from requiring that parents be notified when their children are “transitioning” to another gender at school. Some school districts had required that educators to let parents know if a student is changing dress or pronouns while at school. Related, Elon Musk says the law is the “final straw”, announcing he will move the headquarters of Space X and X out of California to Texas. (Washington Examiner, Reuters)
Crime and Punishment
Judge Aileen Cannon has dismissed the classified documents case against Donald Trump. Judge Cannon granted a motion to dismiss on the basis that prosecutor Special Counsel Jack Smith was not properly appointed. Legal experts say special counsels can only “be (a) nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, or (b) appointed to a position…by a congressional statute.” Smith was given this case by Attorney-General Merrick Garland. (Just the News, National Review)
Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has been found guilty on federal bribery charges, after he received money and gifts from foreign governments. (Axios)
A new analysis of gun crimes by Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment has found almost a quarter of deaths were “justifiable self-defense”. (Not the Bee)
“Drone as a First Responder”: Santa Monica police have arrested a man breaking into cars in a car park. A surveillance drone captured footage of the man acting suspiciously so police moved in. A brave new world. (Gizmodo)
From the Mad☧Tank
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Coming to America
A new report from the Justice Department says staff at the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children in the U.S. sexually abused and harassed children in their care repeatedly for at least eight years. (AP)
Money, Markets and Jobs
President Biden has announced he would introduce rent caps if he were to be re-elected in November (though it’s not clear what will happen now that he has stepped down). Critics say that “rent-control is an extremely harmful policy, because it reduces the quantity and quality of housing.” One commentator suggested this is a camel’s nose for bringing the entire rental market under government control. The President has also gone ahead with yet another round of student debt cancellation, totalling $1.2 billion. (WNG, Reason, CBS, Disaffected podcast via YouTube)
One investor believes the contents of peoples’ fridges can tell you a lot about global markets. (Wired)
Could rationing return in our lifetime? As Pastor Fisk has suggested previously, thinking ahead is wise in these uncertain times. (Epoch Times)
Thunderdome 2024
RFK’s son has come under fire for leaking a private phone call between his father and Donald Trump. On the call, Trump appears to be discussing vaccines and hints that he would like RFK on his team. Bobby Kennedy III appears to have wanted to protest the selection of J. D. Vance for Trump’s running mate, assuming a sarcastic tweet suggesting unvaccinated nurses should be fired was Vance’s actual opinion. (Not the Bee)
Religion and the Church
Joy Pullman: Jesus Christ is our security detail. (The Federalist)
Orthodox writer, Paul Kingsnorth meditates on experiencing the peace of God in a world that constantly churns out myths. “I can’t make sense of the world at all anymore unless I am stumbling about in prayer or standing before the chalice. I think this was how it was meant to be. I think this was how the Father shaped it. I think we always forget that. But we can repent. We can come home. There’s the joy. There’s the deepest story of all there have ever been.” (The Abbey of Misrule)
A demonic statue commissioned as a tribute to the late pro-abortion justice, Ruth Bader-Ginsburg has been beheaded after being toured in Texas. (Not the Bee)
A Muslim New York City cab driver has chopped off the head of a statue of Jesus. (Front Page Mag)
Archaeologists have uncovered more evidence that Jews were settled in modern-day Israel 3200 years ago. Ancient artifacts “may coincide” with the Bible’s account of Moses leading the Israelites from Egypt to the Promise Land. (Daily Mail)
Monday: What would Moses do?
Health, Medicine and Food
A new study shows that some women would delay having a mammogram if they were more informed of risks and benefits, especially those at low risk of cancer. “Although mammography may save lives, it also comes with certain risks, including false positives, unnecessary biopsies, and overdiagnosis.” (Epoch Times)
Dogs trained to sniff out PTSD patients managed 90% accuracy! (Good News Network)
Science
A “nuclear fusion experiment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has set a record for the strongest steady magnetic field.” (TechCrunch)
MIT researchers believe they’ve worked out how anaesthesia drugs knock you out. (Gizmodo)
The Parker Space Probe has just broken its own record for “fastest manmade thing”. The probe uses orbit of Venus to catapult it around the sun, reaching a speed of 394,736 miles per hour. (Science Alert)
A minimax problem: Math can tell you the best shaped luggage for efficient use of space, but it can’t pack the car. (Quanta)
Hearts and Minds
Is a king free if he has no self-control? “Freedom is not fundamentally about doing what you want to do. Rather…it is the capacity to do what is good for oneself and one’s neighbors.” (Intellectual Takeout)
Cal Newport’s “slow productivity”: do less things at one time, work at a natural pace and focus on quality. (Big Think via YouTube)
How to be “reasonably hard on yourself”. (Nat Eliason)
Power of attorney, wills and other documents adults should have in place. (Nice News)
Arts, History and Sport
Some of the earliest macrophotography was made by David and Marian Fairchild (who was the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell). The couple used cardboard tubes and other tricks to photograph insects in their garden. A book of their work in 1914 turned “bugs into fantastical beasts” in a way the public had never seen before. (Public Domain)
Trying to decode absent-minded squiggles may be taking doodling too seriously. “As much as they tell us about writing, doodles tell us about reading. They get at the heart of the critical act by seeming to solicit interpretation, then skittering away when we get down to the business of studying them...” (Paris Review)
Mongolia’s Olympians go viral for their snappy uniforms. (GQ)
Last week in history:
180 North African Christians are killed for their faith on the order of Marcus Aurelius. This is believed to be the earliest record of Christians on that continent. (Britannica)
1799 The Rosetta Stone is found. (British Museum)
1881 Sitting Bull surrenders to U.S. federal troops. (On This Day)
1969 Apollo 11 lands on the moon. (On This Day)
2006 Twttr (later Twitter, then X) launches, enabling groups of friends to update their status by texting a single number. (History)
God’s Green Earth
Our way of life (especially in the digital age) runs on randomly generated numbers. People turn to random numbers to make choices, determine fairness and protect sensitive information. Computers, as it turns out, aren’t that good at randomness, but nature is. (BBC)
Botanists have voted to change the names of 200 or so plant names deemed to be racist. (Nature)
Is glyphosate messing with our gut health? (Ambrook Research)
Mushrooms can pull heavy metals and pollutants out of soil. (Good News Network)
A seed oil that cleans waterways and could be used for jet fuel. (Star Tribune)
10% of world’s energy is used to cool things down. Dehumidifying technology may make that process far more efficient. (Wired)
Two rare parrots have been introduced to each other in a high-stakes romance. Two zoos have loaned their red-fronted macaws to a breeding program in a bid to save the species, with only 200 left in the wild. (Good News Network)
Drone footage over Mount Everest. (DJI Global via X)
Tom Waddington, who is rowing solo across the Atlantic Ocean, captured his encounter with a pod of whales. NPR)
War and Rumors of War
Yemen's Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a drone strike on a Tel Aviv apartment building near the U.S. embassy. Reprisal strikes from Israel have hit sites in Yemen, including oil storage facilities, according to reports. (France 24, CBS)
The U.S. has agreed to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Germany for the first time since the Cold War. An agreement with Russia banning such sales fell apart a few years ago. (BBC)
Aeroflop? Russia is setting up to manufacture its own parts for Boeing planes, according to reports. Sanctions have cut Russia off from accessing spare parts and servicing for Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Russia stole around 400 airplanes leased from Western companies in retaliation and is breaking international safety laws to keep them in the air. (Politico)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been found guilty of espionage by a Russian court. Gershkovich faces 16 years in prison. (Just the News)
Stories from Far Away
🇬🇧 Britain has approved the use of lab-grown meat in pet food. Biotech company, Meatly says the green light will assure “pet parents” that their product is safe and better for the planet. (BBC)
🏴 Mobs of rioters have set a bus on fire and flipped over a police car in the English city of Leeds. Unrest broke out after police removed children from a Romani family, following suspicions of child abuse. A baby in the home had suffered head trauma after apparently being dropped by one of the older children. Child protective services are urgently reviewing the case to ease tensions. (Daily Mail, The Guardian)
🇧🇩 Over 30 people have been killed during student-lead protests in Bangladesh. Several universities were shut down as students clashed with police who fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Student organizers are calling for an end to quotas which reserve 30% of government jobs for the relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. Quotas were paused in 2018 when similar protests broke out, but high courts reinstated the practice soon after. (Reuters)
🇦🇷 The “drastic austerity package” implemented by Argentina’s President Javier Milei appears to be achieving its goal, with the country posting fiscal surpluses in June, according to the economic ministry. (Reuters)
🇧🇩 Bangladesh is poised to make electric rickshaws legal. Millions of e-rickshaws are already being used, but Prime Minister will allow them on compassionate grounds. (Rest of the World)
🇬🇧 Princess Kate has made a rare public appearance since she announced she had begun treatment for cancer. The princess handed the champion trophy to Carlos Alcaraz, the winner of this year’s Wimbledon grand slam. (AP)
🇰🇵 A diplomat from North Korea has defected South with his family, citing “disillusionment with North Korea’s political system”. (AP)
🇬🇧 The United Kingdom’s new Labour government looks set to ban puberty blockers for children. (The Telegraph)
🇫🇷 The mayor of Paris has taken a dip in the Seine River to prove that it is clean enough for Olympic swimming events. Swimming in the river has been banned for over a century. The Paris Olympic Games kick off this week. (AP)
🇰🇷 The voluminous amount of ramen noodle broth being dumped by hikers is creating problems on a South Korean mountain. (Now I Know)
🪩 Pinball has never not been cool
👀 Tarsiers: cutest little predators
🦈 What to do if you encounter a shark
🚀 Trip Advisor user posts an out-of-this-world review
🇮🇳 A Punjabi tradition: Novelty water tanks
🐘 Life-sized elephant sculptures have arrived in Rhode Island
🇹🇭 Nine-year old guitar prodigy loves the blues
🐳 A Moby Dick-inspired hedge
🍔 McBoat: the only McDonalds’ float-thru
🏗️ A crane’s-eye view
Jonathan and Meridith discussed Trump and liberalizing conservatism and fighting better. Rev Fisk was also excited about his plan for a four-year lectionary. Watch on YouTube or Rumble, or listen here (better audio is on its way later this week!).
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Our disclaimer: These are some resources the Fisks have found edifying, but when dealing with human-authored texts, apply discernment liberally!
This Week Preached:
Podcast Release:
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, though we do not deserve Your goodness, still You provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may acknowledge Your gifts, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience; 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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