Halls of Congress

Secretary of State Blinken testified about the Afghanistan evacuation before House members yesterday.
 
Blinken was unwavering in his defense of the Biden Administration’s actions, but faced harsh criticism after saying the State Department believes there are “​​several thousand green-card holders in Afghanistan.” Blinken attempted to shirk some responsibility for the chaotic and bloody withdrawal onto the Trump Administration, saying, “we inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan.”
 
Across the hall, House Democrats proposed new tax hikes to fund their endangered $3.5 trillion social spending package. The proposal raises the corporate tax rate from 21% to 26.5% and raises the top individual tax rate (income over $518,401) from 37% to 39.6%. It’s expected the hikes would raise $3 trillion.
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ABOVE ALL, LOVE
Followers of Christ are not identified by their political affiliation, but by their love for others. And yes, that means loving people that you believe have un-loving beliefs or stances.
 
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:44-45

The Met Gala

Famous people are staying busy.
 
After taking 2020 off, the $35,000-per-plate Met Gala returned Monday to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and remind us that the line between fashion and trick-or-treating attire is quite thin. The theme “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” led to a wide range of outfits (see some highlights) including AOC’s “Tax the Rich” dress, which received predictably mixed reviews.
 
It was the second red carpet in days for Justin Bieber, Billie Ellish, Olivia Rodrigo and other singers fresh off wins at the VMAs this weekend (see complete list of winners).
 
Meanwhile, some tennis stars left their post-match ice baths for the Gala, including 18-year-old Emma Raducanu who beat 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez in the Women’s U.S. Open Finals.
 
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ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
The world has different priorities than God does, and many eternally insignificant things are compelling for a season. Stay focused on Christ and Kingdom goals; compared to spending eternity with God, most things don’t matter.
 
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:2-4

California’s gubernatorial recall vote was yesterday. Early results showed that Governor Newsom is unlikely to be ousted, but those results included a large portion of the mail-in ballots that were expected to skew in his favor. If he is recalled, the candidate with the most votes would win - a majority is not needed.


Hurricane Nicholas left at least 400,000 Texans without power before weakening to a tropical storm and trudging off to dump rain on Louisiana and Mississippi, which are still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Ida two weeks ago. 


Three days after 13 U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan, U.S. airstrikes were ordered against an alleged ISIS-K car bomber. Reports now indicate the target was actually a humanitarian aid worker, the alleged explosives were likely water jugs, and the airstrike also killed the man’s seven children.


Norway’s Labor Party won Monday’s elections, beating incumbent Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s Conservative Party for the first time since 2013 with promises to improve public services and allow the country's oil industry to continue drilling for decades. Labor’s governing coalition partners will likely be the “Center” and “Socialist Left” parties.


Things are still getting more expensive… but slightly more slowly. The Consumer Price Index (a common measure of inflation) rose 0.3% in August and 5.3% annually. This was below expectations but still near the highest level since 2008.

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