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. France shuts down nearly 900 schools as violent education protests escalate (NPR)
“Police fired tear gas to control crowds in Paris and elsewhere in France on Tuesday as more than a quarter of a million people rallied nationwide to support high school students demanding more education funding, according to government figures. The protests increased pressure on the administration of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron.
“As pupils blockaded high schools, large crowds waving flags and placards gathered in Marseille, Strasbourg and other cities. The demonstrations showed how protests that began at a high school in the Paris region in mid-September have grown into a nationwide movement — the latest of many that have marked Macron's nearly decade-long tenure.
“The Interior Ministry estimated that 266,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris, where small groups of protesters clashed with riot officers at a city square at the end of a largely peaceful march.”
Hank Williams Jr. has a Family Tradition, but the French have their own tradition… of protesting. Before they were taking down governments in the 1780s, angry mobs practiced on their neighbors using a tradition called the charivari. Groups of young men would gather outside the homes of moral offenders, banging pots and pans until the targets paid up or got chased out of town. It was crude, loud, and effective—a localized ritual of public shaming designed to enforce community rules.
Eventually, the French swapped bad neighbors for bad politicians. By the mid-19th century, those same noisy pot-banging mobs turned their attention toward corrupt officials, transforming a local shaming tactic into a weapon of political defiance. As Johannes Lindvall notes, this evolution of folk tradition into mass demonstration is precisely how protesting became a permanent, noisy fixture of French public life.
Not all protests are created equal. When the people of God protested against Moses and God, they ended up consuming a bitter drink — rightfully. When Daniel protested against the king, he was thrown into the lion’s den – wrongfully. Protests shine a light on perceived problems, which can be a good thing, but they are rarely a sufficient thing. (Ex. 12, Dan. 6)
5. Former CIA officer pleads guilty in gold bars case, admits to defrauding government of nearly $200M (ABC News)
“The former CIA officer arrested after authorities discovered roughly $40 million worth of gold bars in his Virginia home pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to a single count of wire fraud, admitting he defrauded the U.S. government out of nearly $200 million for his personal benefit. David Rush was previously described by prosecutors as a "master manipulator" who used his clandestine position to amass millions worth of gold bars and luxury watches -. though the government revealed in Tuesday's hearing the extent of his alleged deception far exceeded what was previously known to the public.
“The nearly $200 million in payments to Rush, which dwarfs previous amounts disclosed as part of his case, will likely only further draw public and congressional scrutiny to the intelligence community to provide more transparency regarding its methods in doling out taxpayer dollars to agents and the oversight that follows such exchanges.”
“One percent of people will always be honest and never steal," according to Dan Ariely in his book The Truth about Dishonesty. "Another one percent will always be dishonest and always try to pick your lock and steal your television. And the rest will be honest as long as the conditions are right - but if they are tempted enough, they'll be dishonest too. Locks won't protect you from the thieves, who can get in your house if they really want to. They will only protect you from the mostly honest people who might be tempted to try your door if it had no lock.” In this instance, it didn't appear any lock was going to stop Mr. Rush....
“The more cashless our society becomes, the more our moral compass slips,” according to Ariely. It is easier to rationalize stealing when you further away from it – like cash in a bank instead of cash in your hand. “Our sense of our own morality is connected to the amount of cheating we feel comfortable with. Essentially, we cheat up to the level that allows us to retain our self-image as reasonably honest individuals.”
Justifications abound when stealing, but you are doing more than taking from your government – you are robbing God of his glory and people of their due (Pro. 1:19). Like Eve in the garden, we downplay the significance and justify the action when we rationalize away stealing. When you steal, you lose long-term prosperity for short-term gratification. (Eph. 4:28, Ex. 20:15, Gen. 3).
4. Schools banned a record 12,000 books in a year, according to annual report (NBC News)
“Nearly 12,000 bans took place in public schools over the past year, according to a new study from PEN America, the highest total since the free expression organization began tracking removals five years ago. For the second straight year, Stephen King was the author most likely to have his work withdrawn.
“Many of the bans took place in Florida and Texas, where restrictive laws have been passed and both politicians and conservative activists have pushed for removals. PEN has also found that school district administrators rely increasingly on AI to determine which books should be pulled. Themes of race, racism, sexuality and gender identity remain the most common reasons books are challenged. In all, PEN found 11,982 cases of bans, affecting 7,370 individual works. Over 4,500 were on the list for the first time, ranging from the 19th century classic “Jane Eyre” to Sui Ishida’s “Tokyo Ghoul” manga series."
You can ban them, but what happens when students don’t even want to read them? Writing in The Atlantic, Rose Horowitch asserts that The End of Reading Is Here. “America, in other words, isn’t illiterate. It’s postliterate.” The stats are stark: fewer than half of all adults reported having read a book of any kind in 2022, while the proportion of Americans who read for pleasure on any given day fell from 28 percent in 2004 to 16 percent in 2023—making sports gambling (57 percent) officially more popular than cracking open a book.
Horowitch suggests the story of literacy has taken a sharp plot twist from progress to full-scale retreat. This migration from print to screen isn't just changing our media diet; it’s rewiring how we think. Writing originally transformed human consciousness by fostering linear, abstract logic—giving birth to “the grammarian, the logician, the rhetorician, the historian, the scientist.” Now, surrounded by video, we are losing higher-order cognitive capacities in exchange for fragmented text processing.
Be wise around strangers. Descartes described reading as a conversation with luminaries from the past. They teach us and shape us. We undoubtedly will talk to strangers every now and then, but we should exercise prudence when doing so. As Christians, we aren’t fearful of what is in the books, but we are considerate about when we introduce some books' content to kids. (Pro. 22:6, Deut. 6:7)
Cultural News
3. Apple News ‘even more politically lopsided’ under new CEO John Ternus, study finds (Fox News)
“Apple News "has taken a decidedly leftist turn" after one month under new CEO John Ternus, according to a study conducted by the Media Research Center (MRC). The MRC examined Apple’s news aggregator during the final month of former CEO Tim Cook’s tenure and compared its content during the first month since Ternus took control of the tech behemoth on Sept. 1.
“The study found that Apple News, which comes preinstalled on every iPhone in America, pushed stories from left-leaning outlets 65% of the time compared to just 2% from right-leaning outlets in August when Cook was still in charge. The news aggregator increased the percentage of stories from leftist outlets it promoted to 67% and decreased the percentage of stories from right-leaning outlets it shared to less than a percentage point in September, according to the MRC.”
Welcome to the post-journalism world, according to Martin Gurri. In this new world, the role of the press is not to inform its audience but to confirm what they already believe. Instead of educating the masses, they chased after a segment of it. “Post-journalism, in truth, is a business model concealed behind an ideological stance. It sells a creed, an agenda, to like-minded believers. It identifies the existential fears of a specific audience, then manufactures what that audience will buy.”
Are you familiar with the Fox News effect? This refers to the propensity of some media outlets to avoid featuring certain stories because Fox News is covering it. The latter’s emphasis on a story results in members of the former group disregarding it. So it is not just a framing problem; it’s a lack-of-coverage issue.
Time to get annoyed…In Acts 16, Paul was “greatly annoyed” by an enslaved fortune teller. As he made his way through Philipi, this woman trailed after him for days, repeatedly shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” What she said was right; the place from which she said it was wrong. Identifying the difference between those two ideas required discernment. Today, the shouting of the news hasn’t stopped, and the need for discernment hasn't waned.
News You Can Use
2. Midwest Nice Vs Canadian Nice
Watch it here. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph. 4:32)
1. People train to run 50K while eating Taco Bell
Watch it here. “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." (Heb. 12:2)
