The Pour Over Today - Shutdown Averted, Potential TikTok Ban, & More | 03.11.24

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

Today, we’re talking about Congress passing a spending bill, TikTok claiming it's about to be banned, a big announcement from an electric car maker (that’s not Tesla), and other top news for Monday, March 11th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over Today. Please support our TPO sponsors! A Jew and a Gentile Discuss: https://links.thepourover.org/JewGentileDiscussPod Men's Daily Bible: https://links.thepourover.org/MensDailyBiblePod TUVU: https://www.tuvu.com/tpo 

Today, we're talking about Congress passing a spending bill, TikTok claiming it's about to be banned, a big announcement from an electric car maker that's not Tesla, and other top news for Monday, March 11th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over today. Here's the verse of the week. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. Romans 6, 13. Let's get started with some espresso shots.

Congress swerved on another government shutdown, for now. Lawmakers pass a $460 billion spending bill, which President Biden signed into law on Saturday. The bill is part of an effort to set the budget for this fiscal year, which started in October, and funds half of the government's major agencies, including agriculture, veteran affairs, housing and urban development, and transportation, through the fall. affairs, housing and urban development, and transportation through the fall. Senate Majority Leader Schumer landed the efforts of divided government in the bipartisan package. Democrats got wins in rent assistance, weak food program funding, and pay for infrastructure employees, air traffic controllers, and railway inspectors. Republicans' victories included provisions for veterans' gun rights and funding

cuts to the EPA and FBI. The second set of budget bills, including defense and homeland security, is being negotiated ahead of a March 22 deadline, the next date for a potential shutdown. If our hope in life is based on whether a political party can win against its opponent, then our mood will always depend on the news, and our spiritual houses are being built on sand. But if our hope is based solely on the eternal security provided by Christ, then we can weather any storm. Matthew 7, 24 and 25 says, Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice

is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house. Yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. TikTok is warning its American users the app may be shut down. The Call Your Representative notification came after a bill requiring ByteDance, TikTok's Beijing-based pairing company, to sell the app or face a U.S. ban advance out of committee in a rare 50-0 bipartisan vote. Lawmakers have expressed concerns about TikTok's potential

to surveil and choreograph Americans for years, but TikTok denies that the platform and China are dance partners. The bill's authors called TikTok's notification a propaganda campaign, emphasizing the app would only be banned if ByteDance refused to sell. The full House is expected to vote on Wednesday, and President Biden promised to sign the important bill if it reaches his desk. Until then, his campaign will keep talking. Aiming to reach young voters, the president made his TikTok debut on Super Bowl Sunday.

Our goal is to keep the big things big and the small things small. It's not that TikTok isn't important. It's just not God of the universe important. Stay focused on eternity. It changes everything. Hebrews 13, 8 says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Economists gave the latest jobs report a golf clap. The U.S. added a better-than-expected 275,000 jobs in February. But the jobs skewed

towards part-time roles, and unemployment ticked up to 3.9%. Wages rose, but less than expected. Meanwhile, a couple of individual companies had investors giving full-throated cheers. Electric car maker Rivian unveiled a compact SUV on Thursday for a mass-market-friendly $45,000. Rivian quickly raked in 68,000 reservations and saw its stock surge over 17%, a much-needed win as demand for EVs has cooled in recent months. Novo Nordisk's stock jumped 8% after it announced positive early data on a new weight loss pill and that its popular weight loss injection, Wegovi, received FDA approval to reduce the risk of heart disease. Novo is now the 12th most valuable company in the world,

surpassing Tesla. Here's a verse to consider whether you're gainfully employed or pounding the pavement. And God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will be abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9.8 Sometimes it feels like money doesn't stretch very far these days, but when you sponsor a child through Compassion International, just $43 per month is crazy powerful.

Sponsorship means education, clean water, healthy food, medical care, and most importantly, hope. Through local churches in the area, sponsored children build relationships with Jesus-loving adults who can offer the specific support kids need to thrive. Not sure where to start? specific support kids need to thrive. Not sure where to start? Go to compassion.com slash tpo or find the link in the show notes and search by birthday to see if there's a child with your birthday that needs a sponsor. In other brews, here's a rapid round of updates. The former president of Honduras was convicted of drug trafficking in a U.S. federal court on Friday. Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was considered an Uncle Sam ally during his 2014-2022 presidency, now faces life in prison for accepting bribes from drug traffickers

and using the Honduran military to smuggle around 500 tons of cocaine into the States. A lawsuit brought by two Jewish students alleges MIT has approved anti-Semitic activities and tolerated harassment towards Jewish students and faculty, some of whom have deferred graduation dates or left the university. The lawsuit mirrors similar actions against Harvard and Penn in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. MIT said it does not comment on pending litigation. The Pentagon says ET isn't hiding in the basement.

Following an investigation into classified files, witness interviews, and even an alleged alien craft sample, the DOD found no evidence of UFO sightings or encounters. Instead, they said that the real events and highly classified programs were often misunderstood and misinterpreted, sometimes even among government officials. sometimes even among government officials. George Santos, only the sixth person ever expelled from the House of Representatives,

is not letting his ouster keep him down. He announced a campaign for a different district in New York after attending the State of the Union. Santos has pleaded not guilty to defrauding donors during the 2022 campaign. A federal criminal trial is tentatively scheduled for September. And that's all we have for today. Thanks so much for listening. If you're listening on the Apple Podcast app, give us a five-star rating and drop a review.

If you're listening on Spotify, give us a follow and hit the notification bell to never miss a new episode. We appreciate your support and hope you have a great day. We'll see you on Wednesday.