The Pour Over Today - Monday, January 3, 2022

Episode Date: January 3, 2022

Fire and snow hit Colorado, COVID cases surge to record highs, a verdict in a high-profile trial, and other top news for Monday, January 3rd. Stay informed, while remaining focused on Christ, with The Pour Over. -- Boulder County Community Foundation Host emergency stays through Airbnb -- For many, 2021 was just re-2020. While TPO covered a lot of the same topics both years (COVID-19, coronavirus, the pandemic, and Elon Musk’s Twitter account), 2021 was still quite unique. Last year we: Sent 10 million emails …which had 4.7 million unique opens Grew from 35,000 to 115,000 subscribers 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! Options range from $1/month to a lifetime membership. (Annual members get our just-released TPO Crewneck included.)

Fire and snow hit Colorado, COVID cases surged to record highs, a verdict in a high-profile trial, and other top news for Monday, January 3rd. What would you do if you were falsely accused of murder? For Hannah Overton, that question isn't hypothetical. Hannah was a regular mom of four in Texas, when out of the blue, she was falsely accused of murder. Hannah was shocked by the lies, and as a firm believer,

she knew that God would come to her rescue and never let those rumors spread. But the exact opposite happened. Hannah eventually stood before a jury of her peers and heard them sentence her to life in prison. This was a terrible mistake. How could God have let her down? But Hannah would soon discover that God had a plan all of his own.

Listen to Hannah's entire story on episode number 16 on The Compelled Podcast, titled Falsely Accused of Murder and Sentenced to Life in Prison. Listen on your podcast app or at compelledpodcast.com. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Here's the quote of the day. Faith involves trusting in the future promises of God and waiting for their fulfillment. R.C. Sproul. Let's get started with some espresso shots.

Welcome to day 733 of the year 2020. The U.S. has hit a new record high of 580,000 COVID cases on Thursday, breaking its record for the second consecutive day and nearly doubling last winter's all-time high. Over the holiday week, COVID-related hospitalizations for children increased by 66%. But before you start doom scrolling, a UK report revealed that Omicron is half as likely to require hospitalization as previous variants, and one-third is likely to require emergency care. This is playing out in real life. Hospitalizations are growing much more slowly than cases, and COVID-related deaths actually declined last week. In other COVID news, the Marine Corps announced Thursday that it kicked out more troops for declining to get vaccinated,

bringing the total number of discharges to 206. With all the focus on Omicron, we almost forgot about how holiday plans are normally disrupted. The center of the U.S. was hit with heavy snow, forcing 1,000 flight cancellations out of Chicago airports alone and putting an end to the Windy City's snow drought, nine months without measurable snow. Colorado has had an especially bad time. Their largely snowless winter allowed for an unseasonable wildfire on Thursday, which tore through the suburbs between Boulder and Denver, destroying at least 991 buildings, mostly homes. Two people are still missing. The fire was extinguished by single-digit temps and 10 inches of snow on Saturday.

But the winter storm is hampering rescue efforts and presenting a new battle for thousands without power. Thousands of people have lost homes. If you're looking to help, consider donating to the Boulder County Community Foundation, which is coordinating emergency relief efforts, or consider signing up to host emergency stays through Airbnb. The links are in our show notes. Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith. Galatians 6, 9, and 10.

Last week, the jury finally reached a verdict in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and close confidant to Jeffrey Epstein. After Epstein's arrest and death, attention turned to Maxwell's role in Grooming Girls for Assault. The federal jury deliberated for six days after her three-week trial ended before finding Maxwell guilty on five of the six charges. She now faces the potential of the six charges. She now faces the potential of life in prison. Her defense argued that she was a scapegoat for Epstein's crimes, while the prosecution argued she was just as involved. Maxwell's attorneys promised to

appeal the verdict, but commentators speculate that Maxwell may now be more open to a plea deal in exchange for information, including opening her infamous Little Black Book, which contains the names of high-profile Epstein associates. One of the hardest pills to swallow is that our sins are no less damning than anyone else's. We're called to love everyone. Yes, this includes Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, because apart from God's grace, we're no better. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3, 23, and 24. For many, 2021 felt like a repeat of 2020. And while TPO covered a lot of the same topics both years, 2021 was still pretty unique. In terms of the pour over newsletter, last year we sent 10 million emails,

which had 4.7 million unique opens and grew from 35,000 to 115,000 subscribers. Translation, we were super blessed and continue to be amazed at what God is doing to calm nerves and point people to himself through something as simple, yet often anxiety and anger inducing as the news. If you've enjoyed or appreciated TPO, please consider supporting our staff and mission in 2022 by choosing to pay for what you could get for free. There's a link in our show notes that allow you to support us for as low as $1 a month. You can also sign up to be an annual member, and annual members get a recently released TPO crew neck. In other brews, we've got a rapid round of updates.

neck. In other brews, we've got a rapid round of updates. Truck driver Rojel Aguillero-Moderos was sentenced to 110 years in prison for a deadly Colorado interstate pileup in 2019 caused by his brakes failing. Following widespread outrage from both regular schmoes and people like Kim Kardashian, Colorado Governor Jared Polis commuted the sentence down to 10 years, calling 110 years highly atypical and unjust. Twitter permanently banned Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's personal account after five violations of its COVID-19 misinformation policies. Her official account remains unblocked. She took to the messaging app Telegram to call Twitter an enemy to America. Dozens of U.S. cities shattered their annual homicide records in 2021. Chicago ended the year as the homicide capital of the country with 797 murders, its highest in a quarter century.

Other major cities that surpassed yearly homicide records are Philadelphia, St. Paul, Portland, Tucson, Toledo, Baton Rouge, Austin, Rochester, and Albuquerque. Low- and middle-income households reportedly spent around 7% more on products in 2021. High inflation and supply chain shortages are sticking around as we enter 2022 and are hitting millennials where it hurts the most. IKEA raised their prices 9%. An economic bright spot is that jobless claims dropped to 198,000, the lowest since 1969. Beloved comedian Betty White passed away on New Year's Eve, just 17 days shy of her 100th birthday. Tributes to the golden girl who enjoyed a seven-decade Hollywood career flooded in, including from the U.S. Army, for whom she was a volunteer during World War II.

in, including from the U.S. Army, for whom she was a volunteer during World War II. The college football championship game is set. Spoiler alert, it's a rematch, and the NFL playoff picture is forming. But the biggest sports news is that Tampa Bay wide receiver Antonio Brown took off his uniform and skipped off the field, mid-game. Brown, who recently returned from suspension for using a fake vaccination card, is no longer a Buck, according to Tampa's coach. Well, thanks so much for listening today. If you found this podcast valuable or informative or even just a little bit encouraging, we would really appreciate it if you gave us a five-star review on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And as always, please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. We hope you have a great rest of your day, and we'll see you back here on Wednesday.