In a nation ravaged by war and loss, it's only natural that the Jewish people would mark this year's Days of Remembrance and Independence with a somber, almost apprehensive mood. The weight of a year and a half long conflict - and rows of fresh graves - sit heavily on a people who have a history of sorrow unlike any other. Then, as if to punctuate the sadness, thousands of acres of flames burned through an area near Jerusalem, a wildfire that made even the rare moments of celebration bittersweet.
Have you ever belted out, "I once was lost, but now I'm found," and felt a shiver down your spine? Or sung, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love," with a lump in your throat, as if the lyrics were ripped straight from your heart's deepest struggles? Why do these worship songs keep pulling us back to the gut-wrenching themes of straying, being redeemed, and clawing to stay on the path? Well, because they echo the raw, relentless reality of the Christian fight.
We may be well past 100 days into the Donald Trump presidency, but Democrats are still hard at work doing post-mortems on why they lost so profoundly in the 2024 election. While some high-profile Democrats like Gavin Newsom have rightly acknowledged many of the issues that plagued their party during the last cycle, others continue to appear oblivious.
A Senate resolution (SJR 49) rejecting President Trump's imposition of worldwide tariffs nearly succeeded on Wednesday, but an unexpected absence let Vice President J.D. Vance cast a tiebreaking vote to defeat the measure. The surprising drama reveals uncharacteristic chaos in the U.S. Congress's upper chamber.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz will step down from that position to become President Trump's nominee as U.N. Ambassador, Trump announced Thursday. "From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress, and as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation's Interests first," the president posted to social media. "I know he will do the same in his new role."
A comprehensive new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has concluded that there is no strong evidence to support "gender-affirming" procedures that block puberty, mutilate the sexual organs of, and sterilize children for life. Experts say the report is a welcome affirmation of the grievous harms that gender transition procedures inflict on minors - which much of Europe has already acknowledged, marking a stark reversal of the pro-gender transitions for minors position of the previous Biden administration.
