The Daily Briefing highlights the news of the day and research that reveals the spirit of the day.
The Daily Briefing is a newsletter sent straight to your inbox every morning that provides biblical insight on today's news.
Top News
6. Trump fires Noem as frustrations build among White House officials, GOP lawmakers (WaPo)
“Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem is being replaced, President Donald Trump said Thursday, after more than a year leading some of his administration’s most controversial missions to remove undocumented immigrants from the United States and dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Trump announced the decision on social media and said Noem would be replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma)
“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security,” Trump wrote. “The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas.”
While change is situational, transition is psychological – the former often happens to you; the latter requires something of you. In his exceptional book Transitions, William Bridges writes how “we resist transition not because we can't accept the change, but because we can't accept letting go of that piece of ourselves that we have to give up when and because the situation has changed.” Transitions, according to Bridges, are critical. “Without a transition, a change is just a rearrangement of the furniture. Unless transition happens, the change won’t work, because it doesn’t “take.””
There are 3 stages to a transition, according to Bridges: endings, the neutral zone, and the new beginning. Counterintuitively, every transition starts with an ending. This phase involves identifying what must be left behind and processing the associated loss, anger, or disappointment. “To become something else, you have to stop being what you are now.” Then there is the neutral zone, the messy middle where the old situation is gone but the new is not yet fully formed, requiring internal "repatterning." Finally, there is the new beginning, which is where individuals develop a new identity, find new energy, and establish a fresh purpose. “It isn’t the changes that do you in, it’s the transitions.”
While Cabinet officials serve at the pleasure of the president, we all serve to please the King (Rom. 12:1-2, Eph. 5:10-11). Our positions throughout our career will vary, but our ultimate goal should not: to work with excellence and share his glorious excellencies through word and deed.
5. Hegseth says US has enough munitions to continue Iran war 'as long as we need to' (ABC News)
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday sought to tamp down growing alarm that the U.S. is overtaxing its arsenal of missiles and other munitions, as American forces pressed a sixth consecutive day of strikes against Iran with no defined endpoint and no clear public accounting of what victory would require. "We've got no shortage of munitions," Hegseth told reporters Thursday. "Our stockpiles of defensive and offensive weapons allow us to sustain this campaign as long as we need to." Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. commander for forces in the Middle East, told reporters that Iranian missile attacks have decreased 90% since the first day of the war. He added that drone attacks have fallen 83%.
“Iran has delayed the naming of a successor to its slain supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, out of security concerns following American and Israeli comments that the new leader could also be targeted, according to two Iranian officials. Ayatollah Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, has emerged as a top contender for the post.
“Israeli strikes continued to bombard Lebanon's capital on Thursday, as the U.S.-Israel war with Iran widens, further embroiling Iran's proxy force in Lebanon, Hezbollah. The Israeli military on Thursday afternoon expanded its warning to residents of the densely populated southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, which has long been a Hezbollah stronghold but is also a major residential and commercial hub — home to many civilians.”
Are you familiar with asymmetric endurance? This refers to the theory that a country will accept initial damage to preserve the ability to potentially escalate later. Essentially, the goal isn’t necessarily to thrive the entire time, but to survive until the end of time. In this instance, Iran is betting that Israeli, American, and Gulf defenses become stretched too thin, and the political costs grow too great, that they relent before Iran taps out.
Is it possible to “win” by relying on strikes from the air? Col. Phillip Meilinger, in his influential U.S. Air Force booklet called Ten Propositions Regarding Airpower, wrote: “In reality, the attainment of air superiority has not yet brought a country to its knees. Therefore, the proposition remains that air superiority is a necessary but insufficient factor in victory. It is the essential first step.” This is largely due to the complexity of today’s societies. “More often battles were bloody and indecisive; wars were exercises in attrition or exhaustion. As wars became more total, armed forces larger, and societies more industrialized, the dream of decisiveness usually became an unattainable chimera.”
Remember Jericho… The Israelites quietly walked around the walls for 6 days, with some Jewish theologians believing that the command to be silent was directly tied to their complaints as they wandered through the wilderness. God asked them to be patient, trusting his timing relative to the attack. I don’t know how long this war lasts, nor if Iran is trying to wait us out, but I do know Thomas Watson is right: “A Christian without patience is like a soldier without arms.” (1 Tim. 1, Josh. 6)
4. Rep. Gonzales drops reelection bid after admitting to affair with aide (WaPo)
“Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) on Thursday dropped his bid for reelection after acknowledging that he had an affair with a staff member who later set herself on fire and died. “After deep reflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district,” Gonzales said in a late-night statement posted on X, days after advancing to a primary runoff against a conservative challenger.
“House Republican leaders had called on Gonzales to resign over the scandal earlier on Thursday. In a statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson (Louisiana) and other GOP leaders also said the House Ethics Committee had opened an investigation into the affair. Under House rules, lawmakers are not permitted to engage in sexual relationships with staff members.”
Feedback is like money: we enjoy receiving it but don’t necessarily like to give it. Research has repeatedly shown how we have an aversion to sharing constructive criticism, yet we have a strong desire to receive such criticism. Consider smudges. 212 people were surveyed on whether and why they give feedback. The kick: the researcher had a smudge on his face. Out of the 212, only 4 people told him he had an embarrassing smudge. Even when they had little to lose, they still withheld needed feedback from those who could use it… and a napkin.
How can someone get over the hump and deliver the necessary feedback -- like Speaker Johnson did to Gonzales? Consider the other person. In another study, researchers tested 2 interventions: one included asking the feedback giver to be someone else giving the feedback; another entailed asking the giver to imagine how they would feel if they were the receiver. The latter proved to be significantly more effective at compelling feedback. “People tend to focus on the discomfort of delivering feedback, and underestimate the value of the feedback to the other person.”
Wounds from a friend are far greater than kisses from an enemy… Stephen Charnock noted that we often learn more of God under the rod that strikes us than under the staff that comforts us. By refusing to address the wrong, you add to it. When thinking on the topic of reproof, John Chrysostom put it well: “Correct him, but not as a foe, nor as an adversary exacting a penalty, but as a physician providing medicines.” (Pro. 27:6)
Cultural News
3. Scientists pinpoint why resisting a donut can feel impossible — even when you’re full (NY Post)
“More than 70 volunteers were monitored using Electroencephalogram brain scans while playing a reward‑based learning game with food such as sweets, chocolate, chips and popcorn. Halfway through the task, participants were given a meal of one of the foods until they were full, no longer desiring or valuing the food. But their brains were telling a different story.
“The electrical activity in areas associated with reward continued responding just as strongly to images of the now‑unwanted food — even after participants were completely full. “No amount of fullness could switch off the brain’s response to delicious-looking food,” lead researcher Dr Thomas Sambrook, from UEA’s School of Psychology, said in a press release. “This suggests that food cues may trigger overeating in the absence of hunger,” he added. “It’s a recipe for overeating.” Another culprit of overeating could be simply getting distracted during meals, feeling dissatisfied and turning to “hedonic compensation” — making up for the loss of pleasure by seeking extra gratification elsewhere.”
Simply Irresistible – Robert Palmer sings it, and I say it around donuts – especially on Friday. Recent research shows people will pay money to avoid having to exercise self-control. In experiments where dieters could pay to remove tempting food from their presence, most did; and they paid more when stressed or when temptation was stronger.
Self-control, especially around donuts, is just empathy for your future self, according to Ed Yong. “Self-control is essentially the same skill, except that those other shoes belong to your future self—a removed and hypothetical entity who might as well be a different person. So think of self-control as a kind of temporal selflessness. It’s Present You taking a hit to help out Future You.”
Don’t break the ox… In Jewish tradition, self-control is likened to an ox. The goal isn’t to break the ox but rather to subdue it. You don’t want to rob the ox of its strength but harness it to effectively plow the field. The true definition of strength isn’t what you can achieve but rather what you can withhold from doing… like eating donuts when full. (Pro. 25)
News You Can Use
2. McDonald's CEO's viral burger review sparks other CEOs to do same
Watch it here. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)
1. Bill Withers Recording Just The Two Of Us….
Watch it here. “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” (Pro. 17:22)
