The Pour Over Today - Friday, January 14, 2022

Episode Date: January 14, 2022

Prince Andrew loses some Royal privileges, Omicron is running out of people to infect, inflation hits another high, and other top stories for Friday, January 14th. Stay informed, while remaining focused on Christ, with The Pour Over.If you’ve enjoyed or appreciated TPO, support our staff and mission in 2022 by choosing to pay! Options range from $1/month to a lifetime membership:https://link.thepourover.org/tpo-memberful-010322(Annual members get our just-released TPO Crewneck included)

Prince Andrew loses some royal privileges, Omicron is running out of people to infect, inflation hits another high, and other top stories for Friday, January 14th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Thanks for joining us. Here's the quote of the day. If you're not confident in the authority of the scriptures, you will be a slave to what sounds right. Matt Chandler

Let's get started with some espresso shots. Prince Andrew is being sued by Virginia Jufri, one of Jeffrey Epstein's most outspoken victims. Jufri alleges that Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her when she was 17 years old, but the prince adamantly denies the accusation, saying he doesn't ever remember meeting her. A widely circulated photo shows he did at least meet Jufri as a teenager. Prince Andrew attempted to get the lawsuit thrown out, arguing that the 2009 settlement agreement between Jufri and Epstein precluded action against him. However, a New York judge rejected the dismissal earlier this week, allowing the civil suit to proceed.

Prince Andrew's royally bad week continued when his mother, the Queen, stripped him of all military affiliations and royal patronages, saying he will defend his case as a private citizen. It's easy to become angry and indignant over world events and criminal trials, but much more difficult to live with the tension of desiring change while simultaneously loving everyone involved. Followers of Christ are called to live in that tension, loving the very people they work against. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5, 44 There's some encouraging pandemic news. Scientists say that Omicron is so wildly

contagious that just seven weeks after being named a variant of concern, it's running out of people to infect. Cases peaked in South Africa on December 17th, in the UK on January 5th, and cases are beginning to decline in New York. But to put a slight damper on that killer herd immunity party you're planning, health experts are reminding people that COVID has proven to be annoyingly unpredictable in the past. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court stopped the Biden administration's mandate that all employees of large U.S. businesses be vaccinated or tested regularly, saying the administration overstepped its authority. However, the Supremes

did allow a vaccine mandate impacting most healthcare workers to stand. A verse to consider when feeling like the pandemic has sapped all energy and kindness from you. Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up. Galatians 6 verse 9. 2021 was one for the inflation record books. The U.S. closed out the year with the Consumer Price Index, the most common measure of inflation, up 7%. That's a far cry from the Federal Reserve's target of 2% and the highest it's been since 1982. Prices of almost everything are up, but if you're looking for a few goats to scape, gasoline prices rose 50%,

boats to scape, gasoline prices rose 50%, used car prices rose 38%, and furniture prices rose 15%. The Federal Reserve is hoping 2022 will be better. They've already begun aggressively unwinding pandemic-era stimulus programs and plan to raise interest rates, which should slow inflation. However, some economists say current inflation is primarily the result of global supply chain issues and that the economy just needs time to work itself out. Averse to consider if inflation hitting a 39-year high has you stressing, the life of every living thing is in his hand, as well as the breath of all humanity. Job 12 verse 10 For many, 2021 was just re-2020.

While TPO covered a lot of the same topics both years, COVID-19, coronavirus, the pandemic, the coronavirus, and Elon Musk's Twitter account, 2021 was still quite unique. Last year, we sent 10 million of our newsletter emails, which had 4.7 million unique opens. We grew the newsletter subscribers from 35,000 to 115,000, and we were able to start this podcast in August, which now pretty consistently has 2,500 to 3,000 downloads per episode. Translation, we were super blessed and continue to be amazed at what God is doing to calm nerves and point people to Him through something as simple, yet often anxiety and anger-inducing, as the news. If you've enjoyed or appreciated TPO, support our staff and mission in 2022 by choosing to pay what you can get for

free. Options range from $1 per month to a lifetime membership. Click the link in our show notes if you'd like to give to the pour-over. By the way, our annual members get our just-released TPO crew neck included. In other brews, it's time for a rapid round of updates. The House passed federal voting rights legislation yesterday, sending it to the Senate where it faces an almost certain doom. Republicans plan to block it with a filibuster, calling the legislation a federal power grab of states' rights. Abolishing the filibuster would require all 50 Democrats, but Senators Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, and Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, are not on board. The House committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riot requested Kevin McCarthy, the top House Republican,

to voluntarily testify about the events of the day. McCarthy promptly declined, saying the committee's, quote, only objective is to attempt to damage its political opponents. Political opponents are calling on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign after he admitted to attending a party in 2020 that violated his own lockdown protocols. Boris says he went to thank staff for their 2020 that violated his own lockdown protocols. Boris says he went to thank staff for their hard work and, quote, believed implicitly that this was a work event, unquote, which the opposition leader called ridiculous. The Red Cross announced a national blood crisis for the first time in history. On Monday, an L.A. trauma center had to temporarily close its doors due to blood shortages,

and centers across America have less than a one-day supply of certain blood types. If you're able, please consider donating blood. The NFL's ratings are returning. The league saw a 10% boost in viewership over the 2020 season, which was marked by empty stadiums and social justice demonstrations and forced to compete against a presidential campaign for eyeballs. The 2021 season was their highest viewership since 2015. And that is all we have for today.

Thank you so much for joining us. If you think this podcast is helpful or encouraging, please consider giving us a five-star rating. If you're listening on the Apple Podcast app, drop a review as well. We do actually read them and take them to heart. Like this review from username Christy12Gregory. If you're listening on the Apple Podcast app, drop a review as well. We do actually read them and take them to heart. Like this review from username Christy12Gregory. I'm so thankful to be able to listen to the Monday, Wednesday, Friday inbox letters now.

Each episode is content-packed, concise, and has wonderful reminders of the eternity perspective Christians need to have when reviewing daily news sources. A huge thank you from all of us at TPO for writing this review. That's precisely our mission, and we are thrilled to be providing that for you. If you're listening on Spotify, there is an option to leave a rating, but it's a newer feature, and it's only doable on your phone, not desktop or browser yet. Once again, we sincerely appreciate all of your support, and we hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you on Monday.