The Pour Over Today - Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

Testimony about the Afghanistan exit, the Met Gala returns, Apple announces the iPhone 13, and other top news for September 15th. Stay informed, while remaining focused on Christ, with The Pour Over.

Testimony about the Afghan exit, the Met Gala returns, Apple announces the iPhone 13, and other top news for September 15th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Thanks for joining us. Here's the quote of the day. We pray when there's nothing else we can do. Jesus wants us to pray before we do anything at all. Oswald Chambers. Secretary of State Blinken testified before House members about the Afghanistan evacuation 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, quote, several thousand green card holders in Afghanistan, unquote.

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. Their 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. 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 unloving beliefs or stances. Matthew 5, 44-45 says, But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. 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, quote, in America, a lexicon of fashion, unquote, led to a wide range of outfits, including AOC's Tax the Rich dress, which received predictably mixed reviews. It was the second red carpet in

days for Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and other singers fresh off wins at the VMAs this weekend. Meanwhile, tennis players left their post-match ice baths for the gala, including 18-year-old Emma Raducanu, who beat 19-year-old Leila Fernandez in the Women's U.S. Open Finals. 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, and remember, compared to spending eternity with God, most things don't matter. Colossians 3, verses 2 through 4 says, set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life

is now hidden with Christ in God. Every September, Apple unveils lots of new iStuff. Yesterday, the company announced new iPads, watches, and iPhones, now with a smaller screen notch and bigger battery. Groundbreaking stuff. It was a good distraction from their lawsuit with Epic Games, creators of Fortnite, which has been making headlines. To bring you up to speed, Epic made a workaround to avoid Apple taking 30% of in-app purchases. In retaliation, Apple pulled Fortnite from the App Store, Epic cried Monopoly, and sued Apple. The judge gave wins to both sides, ordering Apple to allow outside payments without officially naming

them a monopoly. And unfortunately for millions of 10-year-olds and choogy millennials, Apple was not ordered to return Fortnite to the App Store. Epic has already filed an appeal. In other brews, here's a rapid round of updates. appeal. In other brews, here's a rapid round of updates. 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 from 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 Labour 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. Labour's governing coalition partners will likely be the centre 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. And that's all we have for today. Thanks for listening and we will see you on Friday.