235 Pentecost 10: Everyone is Angry
“The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.” ~ Jeremiah 18:7-8
Everyone is Angry
And we’re all trying to keep it in because we’ve been duped into believing that anger is bad. We’re all trying to pretend we’re not angry by depressing it. The primal experience of natural man is "the flesh," a beastly heart filled with contradiction, the refusal to acknowledge personal blight, and an unavoidable restlessness symbiotically knit of destiny and shame in an ever-driving need for more. Despair is the result of this law. In animal man, there is no path to grace. There is only the belly, and such spirit is never satiated for long. The easier your life gets, the more discontent you will become. You are not unhappy because life is too hard. You are angry that your life is too easy. There is not enough risk in your equation. The unseen negative consequences of being a project of the modern world have your soul tied up in psychological knots. You are in a hopeless scenario and conditioned by vice of the times you live in. There are no other options, and there is only one solution: We must be saved. Repentance of this is easy. Holiness in this is hard.
Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
R.J.M.F
Thunderdome 2024
First, Vice President Kamala Harris’ transformation:
After breaking up with the Americans by text and ghosting them for a few days, President Biden finally addressed his leaving the presidential race in a short broadcast from the Oval Office. The President did not give reasons but rather pointed to the need to “unite his party” around “new voices” and of course, to save democracy. He said he’s aiming to pack a lot in the last few months of his term including bringing peace to the Middle East, more climate goals, continuing his “cancer moonshot” and “reforming” the Supreme Court. (WNG, Firstpost)
Who’s the threat to democracy? Investigative journalist Sy Hersh says his sources claim that President Obama pressured Biden to step down or be pushed out using 25th Amendment. The suspicion that President Biden did not step aside willingly teamed with the rapid promotion of Vice President Kamala Harris to presumptive nominee seems rather “undemocratic”, as a number of outlets have noted. (ZeroHedge, The Federalist)
Births, Deaths and Marriages
During a recent interview with Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk says he was “tricked” into signing up to allow his son to start taking puberty blockers. Musk says he believed the lie that the drugs are reversible and was unaware of harmful side effects. “They call it deadnaming for a reason. The reason they call it deadnaming is because your son is dead. My son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind-virus,” Musk said. (Mirage News, Outkick via X)
The Supreme Court of Arkansas has ordered a signature count for a pro-abortion ballot initiative. A group challenging the state’s 18-week abortion ban say they have collected enough signatures to put a pro-abortion measure to Arkansas voters. (WNG)
While J. D. Vance is being dragged for pointing out that anti-life policies lead to “childless cat ladies”, a new Pew survey seems to be proving his point. A new report found that 47% of Americans under 50 say they are unlikely to have children. 31% of those say the main reason is that they just don’t want to. (Pew)
A newborn baby was rescued from dumpster hours after his mother apparently abandoned him. (Not the Bee)
Crime and Punishment
After refusing to resign over the Secret Service’s failure to protect Donald Trump from a near-assassination, director Kimberley Cheatle did decide to step down. Both sides of the House expressed frustration at her obfuscation and lack of answers during a hearing about the shooting days before. There are many questions Director Cheatle must answer, but taking some responsibility by stepping down is a good start. (The Federalist)
The U.S. House has agreed unanimously to investigate the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. (WNG)
F.B.I director Christopher Wray questioned whether Donald Trump was really shot, but changed his mind after pushback, agreeing that Donald Trump was actually shot with a bullet, not hit with shrapnel. (Hot Air, Red State)
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has convened a panel to review whether medals of honor should be stripped from 20 soldiers who fought in the infamous Battle of Wounded Knee. (Red State)
Coming to America
Mexican cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and a son of “El Chapo” have been arrested in Texas. Zambada was reportedly tricked into boarding a plane, believing it was going somewhere else. The 76 year-old Zambada is a leader of the well-known crime syndicate, the Sinaloa drug cartel and has had a U.S. bounty on his head for years. (AP)
Politics
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed congress for the fourth time, thanking America for its support in its campaign against Hamas. He also praised America in a way we don’t hear from our own leaders very often – America is “the guardian of Western civilization,” he said. In addition, he proposed an international alliance, built on the Abraham Accords to combat Iran-sponsored terror. Almost half of Democrat Reps and Senators boycotted the speech as well as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky) who said he didn’t want to be a “prop” for Israel. Speaker Johnson had taken a “zero-tolerance policy”, saying he would have anyone disturbing the speech arrested. Protestors outside defaced property, injured police and shouted Muslim slogans. (Axios, WNG, USA Today, ZeroHedge)
The U.S State Department says that “systemic inequality” is a threat to national security and that diversity hiring is the solution. (The Federalist)
Rightwing internet commentator Raw Egg Nationalist has discussed his recent doxxing by journalists and the way government intelligence seeks to out anonymous posters and generally disrupt conservatives’ lives. (American Mind)
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order that homeless encampments across the state be cleared out. The order comes after the Supreme Court ruled that bans against sleeping outside are not cruel or unusual. Who knows where they will be sent, but some Californians remember the scrapping of the Homeward Bound program, which helped reunite homeless from out-of-state with their families. (ZeroHedge, San Francisco Examiner)
Global law firm Hogan Lovells has set up a “microagression hotline”, where employees can anonymously report things such as being ignored, having their name pronounced incorrectly or having assumptions made about their abilities. (Daily Mail)
The Digital Age
Meta announced last week it had removed over 60,000 Nigerian accounts that attempted to “engage in financial sexual extortion scams.” The exploit involves threatening users, usually men and teen boys, with the “release of compromising photos, either real or faked, if they do not pay to stop them.” (Reuters)
Microsoft is blaming 2009 European Union laws regarding interoperability between computer systems for the disastrous CrowdStrike outage which brought airports, banks and grocery stores to a halt two weeks ago. While some commentary said Microsoft was overstating the burden that E.U. requirements place on it in mandating third-party software access to its operating systems, “kernel panic” is a real thing, and allowing apps to work too close is a genuine problem. The outage cost companies $5.4 billion. (The Register, Tedium, The Guardian)
Switzerland now requires that all government software be open-source. With Open Source Software, anyone can access the original code but potential insecurities can be reported by users. (ZDNet, Ruby Garage)
Benedict Evans on A.I.: “Hundreds of millions of people have tried ChatGPT, but most of them haven’t been back. Every big company has done a pilot, but far fewer are in deployment.“ While doomers raise potential alarming scenarios, Evans says A.I. will take time to be developed into something truly useful. “It looks like product, but it isn’t.” (Ben Evans)
Money, Markets and Jobs
Congressional Republicans have failed to keep their promise to pass 12 appropriations bills before breaking for recess. Speaker Johnson had said the House would not take a break until they had passed the funding measures, putting it off ‘til September 9th. The House must pass a continuing resolution by October 1, so brace for another shut down panic. (Just the News)
Religion and the Church
The artistic director of the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony has confessed he thought it would be “inclusive” to create a tableau based on Da Vinci’s The Last Supper populated with drag queens and homosexuals. Rick Moran wrote at PJ Media, they won’t mock Mulisms or Hindus; Christians are the “most eligible target” for mockery. But as with many attempts to be subversive or edgy by ridiculing our faith, it is they who look ridiculous. God is not mocked. “The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.” (Not the Bee, PJ Media, MadPxM)
“Trad Catholics” are in the hot seat again after the beheading of a statue of Mary in Austria. The offensive representation of Mary giving birth to Jesus was created by three feminists who claim their “art” empowers women and stands against The Patriarchy. Reports about the vandalism blamed “Tradcaths” with one publication saying they are a “Trojan horse for the global spread of extremist reactionary politics.” Feminism is at its toxic worst when it takes such a womanly work as giving birth and makes it political and sexual. (The Federalist)
A historic Baptist church in Dallas, Texas has burned down, although remarkably, the pulpit survived. (Not the Bee, The Blaze)
Contributors at Mockingbird have nominated their favorite paintings of Jesus. We like some more than others, but if you’d like to share your own favorite with us, we’d love to publish it! Just reply to this email. (Mockingbird)
Arts, History and Sport
Jesus Christ, the gate to all good adventure: A reflection on Lewis’ That Hideous Strength. (Lutheran Witness)
Archeologists have discovered mosaics on the sea floor off the coast of Italy. (Art Net)
Olympic medals will have pieces of the Eiffel Tower in the them. (Nice News)
The first Olympic medal for America has been won by Cook ‘n’ Bacon. (Not the Bee)
The balance between staying relevant and becoming ridiculous? The International Olympic Committee has voted to launch an esports event starting next year, though they haven’t finalised what games will qualify. (PC Gamer)
Last week in history:
1789 The U.S. State Department is established. (Ballotpedia)
1911 The ruins of Machu Pichu discovered. (History)
1956 Egypt seizes the Suez Canal. (Britannica)
1978 The world’s first “test tube baby” born. (NCBI)
Health, Medicine and Food
Covid 2.0? A new government amendment issued by Health and Human Services “creates the legal conditions for a blanket Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) declaration” for strains of bird ‘flu. Been there, got the t-shirt, no thanks! (Bailiwick News)
Americans are getting less bang for their buck according to a new data analysis when it comes to health spending. Life expectancy in other wealthy nations was several years longer despite lower spending. The report nominates U.S. red meat consumption as one of the culprits, but we suspect there’s more under the hood. (Visual Capitalist)
President Carter’s wish that he would live to see the end of guinea worm may come true. (Semafor)
New studies have investigated structural differences between brains of men and women when it comes to “decision-making, memory processing and handling emotions.” The researchers hope to shed light on why particular mental diseases afflict the sexes partially. (Medical Express)
In 1911, well-heeled diners “courageously” partook of the first “cold-storage” banquet in Chicago. Nascent refrigeration technology was still viewed with suspicion. The banquet was declared a success, but one acerbic critic saw a downside to refrigerating food: “The one silver lining is that soon everyone who can remember what food is supposed to taste like, pre-refrigeration, will be dead, and we’ll all just be used to this.” (Atlas Obscura)
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Hearts and Minds
Teach us to number our days! A new rat study out of University of Nevada lends weight to the adage, “time flies when you’re having fun” (or at least, when you’re busy). “The brain is not a clock; it acts like a counter.” (UNLV)
Why you should learn to repair your own furniture. (Art of Manliness)
God’s Green Earth
Don’t you love it when God’s amazing world stumps scientists? “Something is pumping out large amounts of oxygen at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean", puzzling scientists how such a thing could occur without sunlight. (Nature)
Could Komodo dragons be any more gangster? Scientists have discovered their teeth are coated with a thin veneer of iron. (The Guardian)
Science
Scientists are excited by the discovery of a cave under the surface of the moon. (BBC)
A nasal spray purports to clear away toxic tau protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease from inside brain cells, leading to improved memory, according to a new paper. (New Atlas)
Technology used to study brainwave patterns can “detect conscious awareness and even communicate with some patients who appear to be comatose in the ICU following a serious brain injury”. (Western News)
War and Rumors of War
Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of five hostages from the Gazan city of Khan Younis. “The IDF has now confirmed the deaths of 44 of the remaining 116 hostages held by Hamas since October 7.” (WNG, Times of Israel)
International diplomats are hopeful that Israel and Hezbollah can avoid all-out war as tit-for-tat strikes continue. (The Guardian)
Stories from Far Away
🏴 A high court in England has ruled against a teacher who was fired from his job for refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a female student. Joshua Sutcliffe was appealing his two-year ban from teaching. (Christian Daily)
🇫🇷 Attacks on French rail network have created headaches for passengers trying to get to Olympic events. Saboteurs are being blamed for cut signal lines and setting fire to signal boxes. (ZeroHedge)
🇭🇹 Forty people have perished after a boat caught fire, after fleeing Haiti. Humanitarian organisations say gang violence is causing Haitians to take desperate measures to leave the island nation. (The Guardian)
🇲🇾 Hit and run: Malaysia’s coast guard have detained an oil tanker which collided with another ship and left the scene. The tanker is believed to be “part of the sanctions-busting ‘dark fleet’ that transports oil from countries under sanctions.” (The Independent)
🏋🏼 A senior power lifter
🚗 Chevy dealership goes viral with their “Office”-like campaign
👰🏻 Pilot buckles up passenger’s wedding dress in the cockpit after it was unable to be fit into overhead locker
✂️ Sweet: 17th-century paper cuttings have been found beneath the floorboards of an English girl’s school house
🧴 Power washer art driveway art
🌪️ What storm chasers actually do
We don’t mean to brag, but we have some pretty illustrious readers! Rhett wrote in to tell us about his participation in a world championship sport:
My grandpa is 100% Belgian and plays a game called rolle bolle. Look it up on Wikipedia. It’s played in the following locations:
Belgium (Flemish speaking areas), Victor (Iowa) and surrounding towns, Geneseo (Illinois) and surrounding towns, Ghent (Minnesota) and surrounding towns.
The “World” tournament happened on Sunday, July 14 in Geneseo. My team got beat out in 3 games. Champions were Carl, Chris and Leroy Suhr. Tune in again for more sports news.
On Starfall2029 last week, Jonathan started to reveal some categories and characters you should look out for. Meridith offered great observations about the trap of feminism and how it destroys relationships. Watch on YouTube or Rumble, or listen here. Show links:
Get your Starfall pin and join the tribe!
Pastor Fisk’s handy post regarding the chronology of Jeremiah
and Dr Koontz’ article on imitation:
If you missed it, Meridith put out a call for anyone who would like to make a quilt for men who stay at the Hebron Collegium. If that is something you would be interested in helping out with, please reply to this email or send a message through madpxm.com/contact.
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. Almighty and most merciful God, the protector of all who trust in You, strengthen our faith and give us courage to believe that in Your love You will rescue us from all adversities; 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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