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. Iran hits Gulf energy sites, escalating war, as U.S. mulls sanctions rollback (WaPo)
“Iran’s escalating strikes on energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf are stoking fears of a full-blown energy crisis, sending already high oil and gas prices surging and widening the scope of a war that has spilled across the region and upended the global economy. Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said last week that at least 1,348 civilians had been killed since the start of the war. A Washington-based human rights group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, reported that at least 1,369 civilians had been killed. The number of Lebanese killed rose to more than 1,000, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Thursday.
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday would bring "the largest strike package yet" against Iran, as Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said the military is continuing to attack deeper into Iranian territory. The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is asking for an additional $200 billion for the war. Hegseth said "that number could move" and "it takes money to kill bad guys."
What is happening in Iran is without modern precedent, according to John Spencer of the Madison Policy Forum. “Entire layers of leadership, networks, institutional knowledge, and personal authority have been eliminated simultaneously. This is not the loss of a single leader. It is the destruction of interconnected systems of control, decision-making, and coercion.”
Abandon, not replace. Spencer argues that the “United States is not seeking to replace the Iranian system of governance. It is seeking to force that system to abandon the behaviors that threaten core U.S. national interests, including preventing nuclear proliferation, protecting global commerce, and ensuring stability in a critical region.”
Won’t someone new just step in? “This is not decapitation as historically understood. This is the systematic removal of entire echelons of leadership across political, military, intelligence, and internal repression structures… It is not accurate to assume that replacements will simply step in and think, act, and perform exactly like those who were removed. That assumption reflects a static view of individuals and organizations that does not hold under conditions like this, especially at a scale never before tested.”
While the US is pursuing behavior change, Israel is creating conditions for that change (and something more) to happen. “Israeli operations have targeted not only external military capabilities but also the internal mechanisms of regime control. Basij leadership, checkpoints, internal security nodes, cyber control centers, and the regime’s repression infrastructure have been systematically dismantled. These are the tools the regime uses to control its population.”
Old habits die hard, like the persecution of Christians. Open Doors reports that as the conditions deteriorate in Iran, their treatment of Christians in prisons follows suit. Roughly 50 believers in Jesus have been imprisoned in the country because of their faith. However, despite being held captive, many are holding to Psalm 94, which acknowledges despair yet clings to hope. The situation is bleak for the psalmist, but his faith illuminates the horizon. “I’m stressed taking my mobile phone with me when I exit my house because of arrests. But I know that God is at work.” While the US is winning the war in the moment, God has secured the ultimate victory for eternity.
5. Over a third of TSA officers call out at 3 major U.S. airports in single day as funding standoff continues (CBS News)
“A top TSA union leader warned Thursday that airport security risks linked to the ongoing government shutdown are set to "get worse," pointing to a critical issue he says has largely gone unaddressed. "TSA has been under a . . . hiring freeze since last year, so when you look at what we had in the fall, the 50 days that we had off of shutdown, we have people that left, that retired," TSA union leader George Borek told "Varney & Co."
“More than 40% of TSA officers called out of work earlier this week at an airport in Houston – one of three major airports in the U.S. where over a third of workers called out that day… At William P. Hobby Airport in Texas, 40.8% of TSA workers called out earlier this week. At Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, nearly 36% of TSA officers called out, while more than 34% called out at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to TSA data."
Isn’t It Ironic, Don’t You Think: The majority of TSA officers are working despite not getting paid, while Congress is getting paid but there are questions around their work. The 118th Congress (2023-2024) was one of the most unproductive (if measured by the number of bills signed into law) since at least the 1980s, according to research. Just under 150 bills passed both chambers and made their way to the president’s desk. While the 119th (2025-2026) isn’t finished, it also isn’t off to a great start. As of January, only 40 bills had been signed into law.
Congress rarely passes all spending bills on time, according to a Pew study. In 1974, Congress passed the Congressional Budget Act, which established the modern process by which Congress creates and enforces a federal budget. Since then, Congress has passed all its required appropriations measures on time only 4 times: fiscal 1977 (the first full fiscal year under the current system), 1989, 1995, and 1997. The budget resolution has been adopted late – or not at all – in 45 of the past 51 fiscal years, including fiscal 2026.
Remember King Jehoiakim… During a time of national economic distress (Judah was already paying a large tribute to Egypt), Jehoiakim embarked on a massive renovation of his palace. The prophet Jeremiah confronted him for building this "grand house" through unpaid labor. Jeremiah shared how Jehoiakim was "making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor," directly contradicting Lev. 19:13, which required that a laborer be paid by sunset. It wasn’t just a bad look, but a poor reflection of the character of God. (Jer. 22)
4. California moves to rename Cesar Chavez Day after recent sexual abuse allegations (The Guardian)
“California legislative leaders are moving to rename Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day in light of sexual abuse allegations against the late labor leader. California was the first state to designate Chavez’s birthday, 31 March, as a day to honor the civil rights leader nearly 30 years ago. In 2000, the state legislature passed a bill to make it an official paid day off for state employees and require the state to start teaching students about his legacy and his involvement in the labor movement in California. In the wake of shocking allegations that Chavez sexually abused girls and the co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America union, Dolores Huerta, there have been calls to rename institutions, events and memorials across California and the US honoring the farm worker labor organizer.
“The California Museum said it will remove Chavez from the state’s hall of fame – something it has never done before. Some local and state leaders in both parties urged their communities not to celebrate Chavez’s birthday on 31 March, and to rename buildings and streets named for him. Celebrations for Chavez in California, Texas and in his home state of Arizona have been canceled at the request of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.”
The more power someone holds, the quieter their surroundings become… While the research is mixed as to whether leaders face more threats to their integrity, it is clear that individuals are less likely to call out the leader for problematic behavior. But why?
Only this person (though problematic) can achieve the desired goal? Enter moral rationalization. This refers to an individual’s ability to spin their immoral actions as morally necessary. While an internal conflict stirs within them (which is illuminated in Rom. 7), the desire to be seen as moral wins out. This undoubtedly creates cognitive dissonance, which describes the discomfort you feel when your beliefs don’t match your actions, but self-affirmation functions as Tylenol for a troubled soul.
You don’t play with the Nazis; you defeat them. The same can be said of temptation. When writing about temptation, CS Lewis put it well: “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it.” (2 Tim. 2, 1 Cor. 10)
Cultural News
3. See which jobs are most threatened by AI and who may be able to adapt (WaPo)
“As artificial intelligence becomes more capable, some jobs may remain in demand while others decline. Web designers and secretaries are more at risk than janitors, according to one recent study. But there’s another dimension to the picture. Some workers will find it easier to adapt, the researchers argue, based on factors like their savings, age and transferrable skills. Most web designers will be fine. Many secretaries will not. The most vulnerable occupations are largely held by women.
“They concluded that many people most at risk if AI transforms work are also the best placed to find new jobs... But history shows that economists and researchers have been terrible at predicting the effects of new technologies on work and workers, so take forecasts like this one seriously but not literally. Even researchers cranking out studies of AI in workplaces caution that they’re making useful but fallible best guesses.”
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future,” according to Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist and Nobel laureate. Today, we find ourselves in the midst of a significant transition. Former Sen. Ben Sasse often asserts that there have only been 4 kinds of economics in the world: we started as hunter-gatherers, transitioned to agrarian communities, shifted to the industrialization or big tool economies, and now we are in this disruptive, unique moment.
Beware of a classic economic fallacy called the “Lump of Labor.” Scott Wolla both describes and debunks this in his recent study. The lump of labor fallacy is the assumption that there is a fixed amount of work to be done. If this were true, new jobs could not be generated, just redistributed. “Those who believe the fallacy have often felt threatened by new technology or the entrance of new people into the labor force. These fears are rooted in a mistaken zero-sum view of the economy, which holds that when someone gains in a transaction, someone else loses.” However, according to Wolla’s research, demand for labor isn’t fixed. Changes in one industry can be offset, or overshadowed, by growth in another.
Market disruptions aren’t unique, with the idol industry being upended in Acts 19. And in this new world, disruptions will continue with innovation creating jobs and automation taking away jobs. But take heart: 2/3 of jobs in the US today did not exist in 1940. While the marketplace will change, one thing won’t change – God (Heb. 13:8). He has tasked us to use his skills to make products or offer services for the world’s good… including our local communities. So while AI will thankfully do more work in the future, we will have new work to do as well. (Gal. 1:17, Rom. 8:28, Heb. 10:24-25).
News You Can Use
2. Construction crew brightens hospital stay for 4-year-old patient across the street
Watch it here. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10)
1. High Point student radio call of the game is what it is all about
Watch it here. “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” (1 Thess. 5:14)
