The Pour Over Today - Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Episode Date: October 20, 2021

Remembering Colin Powell, Contempt of Congress, and other top news for Wednesday, October 20th. Stay informed, while remaining focused on Christ, with The Pour Over.

Remembering Colin Powell, contempt of Congress, and other top news for Wednesday, October 20th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Thanks for joining us. Here's the quote of the day. A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil. St. Dominic. Let's jump in with some espresso shots. Our congressional committee is flexing its subpoena muscles

and has compelled testimony from several high-profile individuals believed to be involved in the January 6th Capitol riot. Steve Bannon, a former President Trump advisor, refused the subpoena. The committee voted last night to hold Bannon, quote, criminally contempt, unquote, which kicked off a Department of Justice grand jury, though it's very unlikely Bannon will actually go to jail. Trump filed a lawsuit this week arguing the committee filed, quote, an illegal, unfounded, and overbroad records request to the Archivist of the United States. The Archivist is either the chief administrator

of the National Archives or a new Marvel superhero. On the flip side, President Biden has said his administration will comply and produce anything the committee requests. Regardless if we find ourselves on one side of this tug of war, or being yanked back and forth in the middle, we Christians can't forget that our primary allegiance must be to Jesus, rather than a political party. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3.20. General Colin Powell passed away Monday morning at the age of 84. Powell is one of those people whose accolades are too long to list, but here are a few.

He was the recipient of 11 military decorations. He was the first Black National Security Advisor, under Reagan. He was the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, under Bush. And he was the first Black Secretary of State. Powell became a household name for his leadership during the Gulf War and was so popular, about 71% favorability rating, he received decades of requests to run for president. Despite this, Powell never ran for office, citing a lack of passion for electoral politics. Powell himself admitted there was at least one blot on his record. As Secretary of State,

Powell championed the idea that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, presenting intelligence that was later found to be incorrect, before the United Nations to garner international support for the U.S. war. Speaking of the event in his memoir, Powell said, quote, I am mad mostly at myself for not having smelled the problem. My instincts failed me. Unquote. After serving under three Republican presidents, Powell became critical of the party's direction and endorsed Democrats in the past four presidential elections, starting with Obama.

In the end, he said he did not identify with either party, calling himself, quote, just a citizen. His family announced he passed due to COVID complications on Facebook, noting that he was fully vaccinated. He had been receiving treatment for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that weakens the immune system over the past few years. Defense Secretary Austin called him, quote, Death is not part of God's design, and we can look forward to a day where it will be no more. Revelation 21, 4 says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more,

grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. In other brews, it's time for a rapid round of updates. Apple unveiled the new iPhone hardware on Monday, including Gen 3 AirPods and two new MacBook Pros. In very un-Apple fashion, they added back ports, HDMI, and SD card slot missing from previous MacBook generations. But in very Apple fashion, the laptops are priced between $1,999 and, uh, much more than that. This week, the SCOTUS unanimously upheld qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that helps protect police officers from being sued. Some Democrats have sought to repeal the protection, saying it allows officers to abuse authority, but Republicans overwhelmingly disagree, saying officers should not be sued for every tough call they have to make.

The FDA plans to allow Americans to receive a different flavor of COVID vaccine for their booster shots than their initial dose. Preliminary data suggests this mix-and-match approach may increase protection against the Delta variant. Netflix's Dave Chappelle problem isn't going away. Today, employees are staging a walkout with a list of demands motivated by the comedian's new comedy special, released exclusively on Netflix, which they say is transphobic. Company leadership has defended the special, saying the off-color jokes, quote, won't lead to real-world harm, unquote. Adele's new song, Easy On Me, her first single in five years, broke the record for most streams

on Spotify in 24 hours. Easily. She received 24 million streams, shattering the record of 20.9 million set by BTS' song Butter in May. And that's all we're going to have for today. Thanks so much for listening, and a special thank you to our TPO Baristas who make this podcast and our newsletter possible. TPO Baristas are those who choose to pay for what they could get for free, and if you'd like to become a barista and support this podcast at a deeper level, go to thepourover.org slash barista. And if you've made it this far into the episode, we think it's safe to assume that you've enjoyed it at least a little.

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