Christian Nationalism and Public Education: The Cost of Disinformation (Warren Throckmorton; The Christian Past That Wasn’t: Formerly Telling Jefferson Lies podcast)

The episode begins with a role play of a teacher presenting a history lesson right out of the Christian nationalist playbook. Mrs. Johnson's students try to help her with questions but she doesn't take the help. Her disinformation campaign continues until slavery comes up and then the lesson abruptly ends. Could this happen? A better question is, what do we do now that it is happening in some schools around the nation.

In this segment, I present another excerpt from the Texas State Board of Education which illustrates how Christian nationalist disinformation permeates opposition to public education. In this scenario a parent brings in David Barton's discredited book, The Jefferson Lies, as an authority and refuses to address a challenge to it. The parent appears not to know the book was pulled from publication due to historical errors.

There is a long history of conflict in public schools over religious differences. However, if religion is kept out of public education, this conflict could be avoided. A robust doctrine of separation of church and state is beneficial for public schools and should be enforced.
Interview: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/christian-nationalism-and-public-education-the/id1720424853?i=1000776082608

Psychology of People Who Don't Believe in God

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWERmvriSYY

The administration has a new climate change office. It’s headed by a climate critic. - POLITICO

Previous versions of the assessment have warned Americans about the danger of rising temperatures, increased flooding or deadly wildfires. Drawing on hundreds of peer-reviewed studies, they show how warming temperatures are quickly changing some parts of the country. These assessments are used to help inform infrastructure spending, planning and risk mitigation. Shortly after the program was created in 1990, one of its early successes was to reveal how a depleted ozone layer harmed Americans, which led to regulations that addressed the issue. 

It remains to be seen how the Trump administration will approach the newly reconstituted office. But White House Budget Director Russ Vought has long viewed it as a source of “climate alarmism” that the White House should have more control over, as he wrote in the Project 2025 conservative policy handbook organized by the Heritage Foundation…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/09/the-administration-has-a-new-climate-change-office-its-headed-by-a-climate-critic-00990916 

 

US stock markets fall amid Iran strikes and potential higher interest rates

Dow down 1.09%, or 500 points, as S&P 500 sees a small loss and tech-heavy Nasdaq rises slightly…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/08/us-stock-markets-iran-interest-rates

 

Keep Small Notes Always In Reach On Your Mac With Stickies

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD5xgdK1EXQ

NEW Details About Trump's Relationship with Israel Exposed in SHOCKING Report

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcKHY8fJoIg

You Won't Look At Apple's Siri AI The Same Way After Watching This

For five months, there was one story about Apple and AI. Apple fell behind. Apple panicked. Apple cut a deal with Google. When a much smarter Siri showed up at WWDC, the explanation was obvious: Apple outsourced the whole thing. Siri was now just Gemini with an Apple logo. The narrative was everywhere. It was also wrong. 

I was in a room at WWDC that the public never saw. A closed-door technical briefing with Craig Federighi and his team. No cameras. No stream. And in that room, Federighi said something that should have been the headline all along: "The amount of Google Assistant we use is none." Apple built five of its own foundation models. It used Gemini to help train them. It did not put Gemini inside Siri. There is no Google code running on your iPhone when you talk to Siri. The whole thing is a lot more interesting than the story everybody agreed on. 

In this video, I walk through the whole architecture: the five Apple Foundation Models, the System Orchestrator that decides where every request goes, the on-device model that runs on your phone without killing your battery, and the encryption system that keeps your data private even when it touches Google's hardware. The Gemini wrapper story made for a good tweet. The truth is a better video.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87e13yQbJSM

US Food and Drug Administration rejects petition to set Pfas limits in food

While regulators have focused on reining in Pfas in water, the chemicals are widely used throughout the food system, and there was hope that the agency under Robert F Kennedy Jr would take the threat more seriously. Kennedy leads the “make America healthy again” (Maha) movement, of which eliminating toxic chemicals from food is a cornerstone. 

 The FDA’s decision is “disappointing”, said Sandra Daussin, an attorney for the Tucson Environmental Justice Task Force (TEJTF), which in November 2023 filed the legal petition. The group is planning to sue and ask a court to order the FDA to set thresholds. 

If it’s important enough to regulate in water then we need to regulate it in food – that’s a no-brainer,” Daussin said…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/08/us-food-and-drug-administration-rejects-petition-to-set-pfas-limits-in-food

 

 

Fact-checking Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens in MI Democratic Senate primary debate - PolitiFact

Throughout the July 7 debate hosted by WOOD-TV Channel 8 in Grand Rapids, the candidates attacked one another over campaign finance, criticizing what they painted as each others’ questionable funding sources. We fact-checked some of the major points...

 https://www.politifact.com/article/2026/jul/08/michigan-debate-el-sayed-stevens-campaign-finance/

US launches strikes on Iran for a second day after Trump says agreement to end the war is ‘over’

Attacks on three locations across Iran came after three tankers in the strait of Hormuz were targeted on Tuesday…

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/08/us-carries-out-another-wave-of-strikes-on-iran

 

So, is faith without works dead? (Dan McClellan and Dan Beecher; Data Over Dogma podcast on YouTube)

The Epistle of James might be the most quietly radical book in the New Testament — it insists that faith without works is dead, that mercy triumphs over judgment, and it may be pushing back directly on Paul.

This episode, we dig into who actually wrote it (probably not Jesus's brother), why nobody quoted it until the third century, why "James" is really "Jacob," and why Martin Luther wanted to demote it to an "epistle of straw."

Chapters: 

• 0:00 Cold Open
• 0:44 The Epistle of James
• 2:17 It's Actually "Jacob"
• 4:01 Which James Wrote This?
• 6:07 Nobody Quotes It for 200 Years
• 7:45 Was James Really the Author?
• 10:20 James vs. Paul on Faith
• 12:06 Chapter 1: Wisdom Literature
• 13:45 The Rich, the Poor, and the Law
• 17:12 Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment
• 20:06 What "Chesed" Really Means
• 22:36 Faith Without Works Is Dead
• 28:49 Abraham, Isaac, and Works
• 31:16 Luther's "Epistle of Straw"
• 32:56 Pure Religion: Orphans and Widows

Interview: 

https://youtu.be/lCM1pO-SpyQ?si=oOWEWujonmPCPK1p

EPA proposes weakening heavy-duty truck pollution rules : NPR

According to the EPA's analysis, the changes would save the trucking industry between $4,130 and $6,152 per diesel engine affected. Compared to the current emissions rules, the change would increase ozone-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from heavy duty trucks by 4.2% in 2030 and by 11.6% by 2055. 

The EPA did not model the resulting effect on air quality or human health, but noted that the modifications would likely reduce the benefits of prior rules changes in 2023.

 https://www.npr.org/2026/07/09/nx-s1-5886354/epa-heavy-duty-truck-emissions

 

Planned Parenthood to target GOP with $47 million midterm blitz - POLITICO

“For millions of Americans, abortion is not a hypothetical election issue, it is part of their everyday lives,” Standiford said. “Abortion and defunding Planned Parenthood are not just highly mobilizing, they are in fact dealbreakers for voters across the political spectrum, and that’s how we’re going to be talking to voters about this issue.”…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/08/planned-parenthood-to-target-gop-with-47-million-midterm-blitz-00991419 

License to drill? How a Trump-linked Texas oil company is elbowing its way into Greenland

Greenland Energy says billions of barrels of crude could lie beneath territory and claims it has permission to bring drilling kit ashore – a claim denied by Nuuk…

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/09/licence-to-drill-trump-linked-texas-oil-company-elbowing-into-greenland

 

MIT Proved AI Has Been Lying to Your Face

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AodgeFEBD2w

New 'do no harm' test targets low-earning college degrees : NPR

"We know we need nurses. We know we need journalists. We know we need early childhood educators," he said. "We don't know how many artists we need, but I can guarantee that if you eliminate access, we will impoverish our cultural life nationally."…

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/30/nx-s1-5835631/turner-camhi-do-no-harm-college-loans 

The Iran war is pushing some countries to move away from oil faster : NPR

Countries are forging a new energy path with renewable and electric vehicle technologies sourced from China. In March, Chinese exports of solar panels were up more than 80% compared to last year, according to energy think tank Ember. China exported more than 2 million electric passenger vehicles between January and May, with nearly half of those exports occurring in April and May, according to a recent analysis note from SIA Energy, an oil and gas consultancy. 

"If China's car industry were handing out a salesman of the year award for 2026, President Trump would be a leading contender," the SIA Energy note says...

 https://www.npr.org/2026/07/09/nx-s1-5872786/iran-war-evs-solar-energy-transition

 

40,000 people got foreclosed on in the month of January. Economic numbers are at Covid levels.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TIc9RI-SAg

Photo of bound Palestinian detainee corroborates Israeli torture reports, say rights groups

Israel’s military confirmed the authenticity of the photo. “The incident does not align with IDF values and regulations,” a spokesperson said, adding that an inquiry was under way. 

Holding and photographing the man semi-naked also broke international law, said Sari Bashi, the executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. “There is no security justification for holding a detainee in his underwear,” she said. “Forced nudity followed by capturing and sharing sexualised images on social media is a form of sexual violence and also a war crime.”…

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/08/photo-palestinian-prisoner-corroborates-israeli-torture-claims

 

LIVE DEBATE [Your God is Fiction] 4-8-2026 (Justin at DZ Debates on YouTube)

TIMESTAMPS

• 12:23 Servant of Yeshua [Philbro] - Marci joins; Does truth exist? Caller runs the Transcendental Argument for God; Caller runs 
• Skipped some non-calls and a troll 
• 46:35 jakobii_drumming - How does the Holy Trinity make sense? If Jesus is God, does that mean that people have seen God (John 1:18)? Is Jesus 100% God?
• 1:07:35 (jakobii_drumming) - When Jesus died, did that mean that God lost part of himself? 
• 1:38:35 (jakobii_drumming) -Would we expect natural disasters to exist if God is all good? Caller can't restate Justin and Marci's position and we get stuck in a loop 
• 2:21:45 Leo Blanton - What happened prior to and directly after the Big Bang? Caller gets kicked because they are driving
• 2:43:15 Minty Bum Bum - How should caller handle same-sex attraction as a deconstructing Muslim? 
• 3:09:00 mikha'il [Muslim] - M's joins; The Quran is divine revelation from Allah; "Whatever doesn't make sense, you claim is metaphorical"; Caller doesn't really argue back
• 3:45:01 Sam - Quantanaut joins; Does the universe have a beginning? How does the law of the thermodynamics play out on the scale of the universe?
• 4:13:00 (Sam) - If we say something created the universe, why would it be a God? Does God give everyone a purpose?
• 4:30:00 (Sam) - Does Isaiah 53 show that Jesus is the messiah? Full breakdown of Isaiah 53 
• 5:07:20 (Sam) - What made Christianity popular?
• 5:46:40 Darius - Divine Command Theory; If Zeus was God, does it make it wrong for him to grape women?
• 5:58:30 (Darius) - Does God ordain grape? Caller can't defend it but points to the natural law; Could we know if God was evil? Caller: taking war brides is evil but we have to trust God 6:27:08 (Darius) - If Christianity isn't true, why do we have so many old laws based off Christian laws (e.g. Magna Carta)? Even if God is illogical, why shouldn't we just trust in God? What if we ignore what Paul said and just follow Jesus?
• 6:51:55 (Darius) - Does religion offer societal benefits? Is there a way to cut out the pro-slavery arguments but keep the Bible? What does the Bible say about slavery?
• 7:40:05 Superchats and wrap up

Interview: 

https://www.youtube.com/live/flF7VufXm9Y?si=kzzlrGivPYHiXPLW