256 Christmas 2: Faith, Hope, Love
“Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;” ~ Psalm 119
Faith, Hope, Love
Three years ago, Rev Fisk wrote this:
“Rejection of downside on basis of preferred story is what the Bible calls idolatry.
None of us could have expected this a year ago.
Now it is time for those of us on whom the preferred myth is no longer working to stand up and recognize that we face a new animation of ideas - a new wind of teaching - like a hurricane - overshadowing us with threats to plunge us into utter confusion and darkness.
If you do not attend to your inner life now, rest assured the devil is already doing it for you.”
He was writing in the midst of pandemic madness. Now, we have something else unexpected: a reprieve. A time to build bulwarks against the godless ideologies that seek to swallow family, church and nation.
Because you have hope, you work.
Because you have faith, you build.
Because you have love, you sacrifice.
A new calendar year is an arbitrary time to make resolutions, it’s true, but there is rarely a better time than now.
God’s peace
Frisby
In this edition:
Madsplaining: terror for the New Year
New report on covid origins
Do we need more translations of the Bible?
and a few random bits and pieces to begin our new year.
Madsplaining
Crime and Punishment
Georgia’s state senate may subpoena Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis, according to a new court ruling. Willis was recently removed from a case against Donald Trump and associates by an appeals court, but she is now being asked by lawmakers to testify in an investigation into her own conduct. (AP)
The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s New York fraud case has set sentencing for January 10th. Judge Juan Merchan rejected Trump’s request to dismiss the case but indicated that a prison sentence was unlikely. (The Guardian)
In his end-of-year report about the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts has warned that the US’ highest court is losing its independence. Justice Roberts identified some examples of what he means, including threats to the lives of Justices, government bodies ignoring the Court’s rulings and inaccurate media reporting. (WNG)
“Guardian angels” are returning to New York subways. A citizen group which helped bring calm to the transit system in the 80s has return after calls from the public. (New York Post)
The FBI has raided the home of a Virginia man, finding a “stockpile of more than 150 homemade improvised explosive devices”, the largest in the Agency’s history. The man detained over the cache has no criminal record but reportedly used a picture of President Biden for target practice and expressed approval of political assassinations. (Epoch Times)
The US National Transportation Safety Board wants to install tech in vehicles to prevent anyone driving over 100mph. (Fast Company)
Politics
Speaker Mike Johnson has been reelected to his position in the US House. Various Republican lawmakers have expressed discontent with his speakership throughout his tenure so far, criticizing him for acceding to Democrat’s spending priorities. But differences seem to have been put aside, as Speaker Johnson retained his gavel after just one round of voting. Every House Democrat voted for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. (The Hill)
A judge has ordered President Biden to stop selling off building materials intended to complete border wall. (The Blaze)
A new investigative report claims that scientists knew early in the pandemic that covid was manmade and originated from a lab leak, but US intelligence agencies covered up the truth, even from President Biden. (Not the Bee)
A new report has uncovered evidence that White House staff were covering President Biden’s cognitive decline from “day 1” of his presidency. (New York Post)
Health, Medicine and Food
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) has warned that America’s vaccine reporting system is no longer serving Americans. (Just the News)
The US surgeon general Vivek Murthy has called for cancer warning labels to be displayed on alcoholic drinks. SG Murthy said Congress should update labeling laws given the “conclusive evidence” that alcohol is the third biggest preventable cause of some cancers (each of those words is doing a lot of work there...) The link between cancer and alcohol is not newly discovered, but as one physician noted years ago, there is a difference between raising awareness of a potential harm and issuing “dire warnings”. (CBS, New York Times)
New studies claim links between seed oil and some cancers. (ZeroHedge)
A new California bill aims to streamline food labeling, banning “sell by” dates, which inform retailers about stock rotation. The bill’s sponsors say a lot of food is wasted on account of confusing labels, if consumers believe their food has gone bad, but in reality it is still fine. (Los Angeles Times)
Sounds obvious, but sleep helps you make better decisions. (The Conversation)
The Digital Age
Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit which alleges that Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, “unintentionally” recording private conversations. “Siri routinely recorded private conversations that were then shared with third parties and used for targeted ads,” (ArsTechnica)
Meta plans to release a bunch of bot accounts which are “able to generate and share content powered by AI” on Facebook, Meta and other platforms. (Silicon Angle)
Money, Markets and Jobs
President Joe Biden has blocked the sale of US Steel to Japanese-owned Nippon Steel, saying the company must stay in American hands for the sake of supply chains and “national security.” Critics say that blocking the deal is meritless: “The question being asked in Japan is: why are we, America’s closest strategic ally in Asia, being treated like China, America’s greatest strategic competitor?” Donald Trump also opposes the sale. (CNBC, US Asia Law Institute)
America’s Federal Reserve announced a fourth interest rate cut last month (ICYMI), but warned that it’s unlikely to be doing much more cutting this year. (CBS)
Homelessness in the US jumped significantly last year. (USA Today)
Americans love big houses, but there are signs that smaller ones are rising in popularity. (The Hustle)
Having a car to use increases satisfaction in life, but having to drive to most activities makes people unhappy, according to a new study. (Mens’ Journal)
Hot take: A case against gift cards! (The Hustle)
Births, Deaths and Marriages
Younger generations are choosing unique and gender-neutral names for their babies, along “hyper-localized trends”. "As society has shifted to prioritize individualism, we've seen increased name diversity" (Good Morning America)
Religion and the Church
DEI comes for doctrine.. We don’t really need any more Bible translations, especially not this one, whose authors believe that “God's voice is not one color, it's not one nation, it's not one gender…Exegesis is best done in a community and it's best done in a diverse community.” (Not the Bee)
A recently-deciphered Dead Sea scroll has revealed some communities in the region had a 364-day calendar. (Biblical Archaeology)
Arts, History and Sport
Dungeons and Dragons at 50 (Vulture)
Zildjian: 13 generations making cymbals. (Vermont Public)
The world record for the largest wave surfed may have just been broken. Alessandro “Alo” Slebir is waiting for experts to confirm whether his wave was indeed 108 feet tall as estimated. (Surfer)
Last week in history:
1521 Martin Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X. (Britannica)
1986 Britain phases out use of canaries in coal mines. (BBC)
1999 The Panama Canal given to Panama for the first time since it opened in 1914. (History)
2004 An earthquake underneath the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami, killing at least 230,000 people across a dozen countries. (AP)
Hearts and Minds
Monk mode: Is it possible to be “fully news sober”? One CEO has embraced the idea of “no news, no television, no articles, no social media” (although he does get his assistants to manage his social media..) If you’re hoping to balance peace of mind with staying informed, some advice from this article: “Read from a wide variety of sources. Talk to friends and family about it — not strangers on the internet. Get in the habit of asking engaging questions, making eye contact and putting away your phone while somebody else is talking. The news doesn’t have to be a chore, and it doesn’t have to cripple your morning. Just remember to consume it responsibly and intentionally, with a heavy dose of books [The Bible!] on the side.” (Inside Hook)
An interesting essay arguing that the age of ubiquitous digital metrics and data has hollowed out our ability to judge value, both our own worth and that of things we produce. Even “acts of pure leisure—photographing a sidewalk cat with a camera app or watching a video on how to make a curry—are transmuted into data to grade how well the app or the creators’ deliverables are delivering. If we’re not being tallied, we affect the tally of others. We are all data workers.” It’s almost like we need to look outside ourselves for a good measure.. (The Walrus)
Perpetually tidy folks think differently to the rest of us. (Upworthy)
Set some boundaries for you own peace of mind. (Time)
Science
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has survived its closest encounter with the sun so far. (WNG)
A new inflatable space station to replace the old one? (The Hustle)
Scientists investigate what makes a good hula hooper. (Futurity)
God’s Green Earth
A “grid-scale” nuclear fusion power plant is planned to be built in Virginia. (CNN)
Visualizing one of the biggest trees in the Amazon. (CTrees)
War and Rumors of War
Russia has said that it is underwhelmed with what it has heard about Donald Trump’s plan to end its war on Ukraine. (WNG)
Stories from Far Away
🇰🇷 South Korea’s presidential politics has entered unchartered territory. Supporters and security personnel for President Yoon Suk Yeo have resisted an attempt to arrest him at his compound, with police backing down after an hours-long standoff. (BBC)
🇨🇦 Canada has pledged more money to fight drug trafficking across the USA’s northern border. (WNG)
🇨🇦 Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has agreed to step down once his replacement is named. (Just the News)
🇻🇪 Venezuela’s Supreme Court has fined TikTok $10 million for not shutting down dangerous challenges which allegedly led to the deaths of three children. (CNN)
🇳🇬 Three people have been killed after a clash between members of two different Methodist denominations in Nigeria. (WNG)
🇬🇧 British prisons are banning drones flying over them after discovering inmates are taking drug deliveries by air. (The Guardian)
🇬🇧 A new report claims that almost two-thirds of male inmates in the UK who identify as women have been convicted for sexual offences. (Daily Mail)
🏊 What would happen if there was a pool on the moon?
Woodie Guthrie’s “New Years Rulin’s”
🌝 A cool interactive website about the moon
Conversational rules for gentlemen, 1875
✂️ Incredibly intricate paper sculptures
🧢 You can never be too careful.. “See you next year” jokes may lead to…dad jokes!
We thought we’d pass on this little Christmas gem made by RioForce. Mad Christians are a talented bunch!
Starfall2029 will return next week, Deo volente!
This Fortnight Preached:
Let us pray. Almighty God, You have poured into our hearts the true Light of Your incarnate Word. Grant that this Light may shine forth in our lives; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
You can also make a one-off or recurring donation here. Thank you!