The Pour Over Today - Monday, November 14, 2022

Episode Date: November 14, 2022

Today, we’re talking about big election results, the impact of fake-but-verified tweets, President Biden’s meeting with Chinese President Xi, and other top news for Monday, November 14th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Sponsored by The Bible Memory Project. Use code: "TPO" to get your first month completely free.

Today, we're talking about big election results, the impact of fake but verified tweets, President Biden's meeting with Chinese President Xi, and other top news for Monday, November 14th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Here's the quote of the day. God doesn't want our success, he wants us. He doesn't demand our achievements, he demands our obedience. Chuck Colson. Let's get started with some espresso shots.

One chamber called, one to go. The Associated Press projects that incumbent Democratic Senators Mark Calley of Arizona and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada have both narrowly won re-election, giving Democrats the 50 seats required to control the Senate, with VP Harris' tie-breaking vote. There remain 20 uncalled House races. Republicans are favored to win a narrow majority and currently lead 211-204. Here are some other notable election updates. Nevada Republican cop-turned-elected Sheriff Joe Lombardo ousted Democrat incumbent Governor Steve Sisolak. Democrats gained trifectas, that's the governor, House, and Senate in both Michigan and Minnesota, allowing them to pass laws without any support from Republicans. Former President Trump has promised a, quote, big announcement tomorrow at Mar-a-Lago, which is widely expected to be the start of a 2024 presidential campaign.

And we have a correction. Georgia's Senate runoff election is December 6th. We incorrectly said it was December 3rd on Friday. It's easy to feel anxious about politics. As Christians, it's not only our duty, but our joy to put our trust and our hope fully and completely into God and nothing else. He is our light. He is our salvation. Nothing else is more important than that. Psalm 27.1 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Whom should I dread? Twitter's paused its Twitter Blue Pay for Verification subscription. Any guesses why? Fake but verified accounts exploded last week.

Targets included former Presidents Bush and Trump, the Pope, LeBron James, and high-profile brands. Some accounts didn't try to seem authentic. Fake Pepsi tweeted, Coke is better, while others successfully tricked Wall Street. A fake Eli Lilly account announced it would no longer charge for insulin, and a phony Lockheed Martin declared it was halting weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the U.S. to investigate human rights abuses. Stock of both companies dropped 5%,

amounting to losses of $15 billion and $6 billion, respectively. Elon Musk said Twitter hit, quote, an all-time high of active users on Friday, but also warned employees that bankruptcy is definitely on the table. Executives continue to resign, including the heads of cybersecurity and safety last week. Here's a verse to consider when wading into the Twitterverse. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12, 18. Air Force One is logging some miles. President Biden has gone from a UN climate summit in Egypt to a meeting with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia, to Bali for a G20 summit with the leaders of the world's largest economies.

Tomorrow, he's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time as president. Relations between the U.S. and China are a bit, um, rocky, and expectations for this meeting are low. The two superpowers are conflicting over economic sanctions, human rights violations, data privacy insecurity, Taiwan, the war in Russia, and more. President Biden has said he's unwilling to make any fundamental concessions and expects none from Xi, but hopes the two can understand each other's, quote, red lines and build a, quote, floor for the relationship. It's easy to feel helpless when reading about foreign policy meetings, but the Bible promises that prayer is powerful and effective, that it causes things to happen that would not have happened otherwise. Pray for wisdom for world leaders. James 5.16 says,

The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. This podcast is brought to you by The Bible Memory Project. We know of a few methods to memorize Bible verses. You can pray for it to happen miraculously, or you can use good old-fashioned repetition. The Bible Memory Project is making option number two easier. Every month, they select four verses to memorize, and they mail you the resources to help, including beautifully designed bookmarks, postcards, and stickers, and sleek wristbands with the verses acronym. That's the first letter of each word. The acronym is a huge help, but honestly, so is having the verses selected and put in front of you. Use the code TPO to get your first month

completely free and start or restart memorizing the Bible today. We've got a link for you in our show notes. In other brews, here's a rapid round of updates. Jubilant Ukrainians celebrated in the streets of Kyrgyzstan after Russian forces completely pulled out of the city on Saturday. Russia is reportedly fortifying its position on the other side of the nearby Dnieper River. Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced another $400 million weapons package, bringing the total military aid sent to Ukraine to just over $19 billion. President Biden's student loan forgiveness initiative has been struck down by a federal judge in Texas who ruled that the president has not been granted the proper authority by Congress. The Biden administration said it will

appeal, but the loan forgiveness website stopped accepting new applications, asking visitors to quote sign up for updates instead. Two World War II vintage planes collided in midair and crashed in Dallas during an air show Saturday afternoon. The B-17 Flying Fortress had five crew members while the Bell P-63 King Cobra had a single occupant and all six perished. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board have said they'll be investigating the cause of the crash. Things keep getting worse for crypto exchange FTX, but there's not much further to fall. Since Friday, they've filed for bankruptcy, CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has resigned, and at least $1 billion in consumer funds are reportedly missing. FTX's rapid collapse has dragged down all of

crypto. Bitcoin is down 75% in the last 12 months. No sophomore slump for Marvel's Black Panther franchise, as sequel Wakanda Forever became the highest-grossing debut for a November release at $180 million, despite the challenge of losing its former star Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020. The film has been a hit with critics as well, earning an 84% Rotten Tomatoes rating. That's all we have for today. Thanks so much for listening. If you're thinking, I'd like to help more Christians stay informed while remaining focused on Christ, here's how you can support us. If you're listening on the Apple Podcasts app, give us a five-star rating and drop a review. If you're listening on Spotify,

give us a follow and hit that notification bell to never miss a new episode. And finally, the simplest way to help us grow is to send this episode to a friend. We hope you have a great rest of your day and we'll see you back here on Wednesday.