All Activity

Not as the Sabbath, the other six are for work or labor as it says, only one day is bless and made holy or sanctified as we see.. Genesis 2 King James Version 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

Here is from the EGW estate.. "ELLEN WHITE’S TRINITARIAN STATEMENTS: WHAT DID SHE ACTUALLY WRITE? By Tim Poirier Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. Introduction Certain opponents of the church’s second fundamental belief (“The Trinity”) argue that Ellen White’s supportive statements cannot be trusted as reflecting accurately what she wrote and taught. These persons claim to accept Ellen White’s prophetic writings, but they question the authenticity of her statements that affirm the church’s belief in three distinct, co-eternal, fully divine persons in the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This presentation will not attempt to fully define Ellen White’s concept of the Godhead nor discuss the question of whether there was any development in her views. Its interest is in the authenticity of Ellen White’s key statements in the light of available source documents. It should also be clearly stated that the church’s fundamental belief in the Trinity is not based on Ellen White’s writings, but on its understanding of biblical truth. “Third Person of the Godhead” For most Adventists, Ellen White’s published statements are conclusive as to her teaching on this question. In The Desire of Ages she writes that “sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power” (p. 671). This is how the text has read since its first publication in 1898. So how do opponents escape its natural interpretation that there are three distinct persons in the Godhead? First, by suggesting that the expression found its way into The Desire of Ages through the influence of Ellen White’s assistants and/or Herbert Lacey or W. W. Prescott.1 Second, by pointing out that the words “third person” are not capitalized in the original 1898 printing, signifying to them that the word “person” is used in a more “general sense.”2 Third, by suggesting that while there are in reality only two persons in the Godhead, “the net effect for us is that there are three divine beings,” since the Holy Spirit is called “another Comforter.” In this view, the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit (presence) of the Father and/or Christ,” and not in actuality a distinct third divine person.3 We will not pursue the third interpretation, except to look later at a further Ellen White statement that speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as “three distinct agencies” working together on behalf of humanity. But the first two observations are aimed at the authenticity of the text—our interest in this presentation. Can this passage in The Desire of Ages be trusted as representing what Ellen White actually penned? What does the original manuscript say? The White Estate often receives this type of inquiry from persons who question the reading or teaching of a published statement. Some are surprised when we tell them that Ellen White did not write out her chapters by longhand as they appear in books like Steps to Christ and those in the Conflict of the Ages Series. She was certainly the author of the text, but most of the material comprising the chapters as we have them was compiled from her many earlier works, including her sermons, letters, and articles.4 So to find the original manuscript for any given passage in a book like The Desire of Ages, we must determine the source document and whether a handwritten draft of that document is extant. What, then, is the source for this sentence on page 671 of The Desire of Ages? We find it in a letter Ellen White addressed to “My Brethren in America,” dated February 6, 1896. She wrote, “Evil had been accumulating for centuries, and could only be restrained and resisted by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power.”5 This letter was copied and sent from Australia to church leaders in Battle Creek, where the General Conference president, O. A. Olsen, published it the next year in a pamphlet circulated among church leaders and ministers (Special Testimonies, No. 10, pp. 25-33). This contemporary publication provides another evidence—beyond the obvious copyright date—that this passage in The Desire of Ages reads as it did when first published in 1898. Exhibit 1 is a scan of the first page of this letter, showing the key sentence in the second paragraph. The skeptic will ask how we know that this letter actually came from Ellen White. What does the handwritten original say? Unfortunately for us who live in 2006, Ellen White rarely preserved original drafts of her letters once they had been transcribed and received her approval. We will see that, in certain other instances, we are fortunate to have her original drafts, but for this letter the handwritten original is not known to be extant. But we do have other evidences of its authenticity. Pages 5, 6, and 7 contain Ellen White’s handwritten interlineations, which she often added after further reading of a document. Exhibit 2 is a scan of page 6, showing these interlineations and providing the evidence that this letter was indeed reviewed by Ellen White herself. So we are on sure ground in concluding that this key sentence in The Desire of Ages was not slipped past Ellen White’s eye into the manuscript of the book either by her assistants or other church leaders. What should we make of the second argument, that the words “third person” were not capitalized in the earliest printings? As we saw in Exhibit 1, the phrase was also not capitalized in the original letter. Further comparison between Ellen White’s letters and her published articles and books indicates that editorial style, not theological intent, governed such matters as to whether pronouns referring to deity should be capitalized. If the argument is to be made that the use of lower case characters in “third person” shows that Ellen White was not attributing deity-status to the Holy Spirit, then one has to explain why, in the same earliest printings, the personal pronoun “He” (referring to the Holy Spirit) is twice capitalized in the immediately preceding paragraph (671:1), and elsewhere in the same chapter. https://media2.whiteestate.org/legacy/issues/The-Trinity.pdf And there is more as you can see in the link..

This is the link to the complete article https://maranathamedia.com/downloads/article-links/Response-to-David-Asscherick.pdf

Well take a look at this that I came across.."Ellen White and the Use of 'Three' Concerning the Godhead" There are a number of statements in the Spirit of prophecy on the Godhead and I came across this study of how and when it was presented with the use of 'three'. SOP uses 'three great powers of heaven' 'three highest powers' 'third person of the godhead' 'the threefold name' 'three living persons of the heavenly trio' 'three great worthies'. and the times of their usage... dates of first occurrence and number of times published for each expression: third person of the Godhead 1896, 1897, 1898,____________________1904, 1905,_____1908 the threefold name ________________1900 three great powers of heaven ____________________1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1907,_________1910 three highest powers ___________________________________1904, 1905, 1907, 1908, 1909 three great worthies, three holiest beings, three persons of the heavenly trio ___________________________________________1906' The scriptural support for there are 'three great powers' or 'three highest powers.' This is clearly revealed in Scripture. 1. 'The power of the Most High' Luke 1:35; 'the power of God' Rom 1:16 2. 'Christ the power and wisdom of God' 1Cor 1:24; 'the power of our Lord Jesus Christ' 1Cor 5:4 3. 'through the power of the Holy Ghost' Rom 15:13; 'power of the Spirit of God' Rom 15:19 Now here is the really interesting assertion in the study... The Dividing Line Inheritance versus Self-Originated Life While there is no dispute concerning the existence of the three highest powers, there is a difference of understanding on the relationship of these three powers. I submit to you for your consideration that there is an assumption in this question that these three powers are all self-originated powers with no possibility of inheritance. There is an assumption that inheritance would disqualify a person from being considered Divine. This assumption is unwittingly reflected in the slight misquoting of the statement 'three Living persons in the heavenly trio.' The statement actually says 'three living persons of the heavenly trio.' Is there a difference between in and of? The word in gives the sense of 'contained within' while of gives the sense of emerging or coming out of. This, for some, may not alter the meaning but in my mind it leans towards a relationship of the three powers of coming out from one source point. I will offer several considerations for the inherited Divinity of Christ as the most normal, literal and grammatical way of reading the Scriptures and Ellen White. A. Terms of Father and Son What is the normal, literal and grammatical meaning of these terms? Check this study Father and Son | Fountain of Living Waters to see the manifold expressions of Father and Son, Son of God, Father and His Son. All of these references speak to the reality of the Son coming from the Father. A careful reading of the latter section of Testimonies Vol 8 reveals clearly the identities of Father and Son. For instance: The Scriptures clearly indicate the relation between God and Christ, and they bring to view as clearly the personality and individuality of each. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?" Hebrews 1:1-5. God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels of God are opened to His Son. {8T 268} In the first paragraph Ellen White states the clear relation of Father and Son. In Paragraph two, she supports this relation and distinction with Heb 1:1-5 and then in paragraph 3 states plainly God is the Father of Christ, Christ is the Son of God. The normal, literal and grammatical meaning of this is straight forward. It is simply expressing the literal understanding of the terms Father and Son. As James White states 'The simple language of the Scriptures represent the Father and Son as two distinct persons. With this view of the subject there are meaning and force to language which speaks of the Father and the Son.' James White, Review and Herald, June 6, 1871 We might also mention Prov 8:22-30 with Ellen White's direct reference to being brought forth: The Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Son of God, existed from eternity, a distinct person, yet one with the Father. He was the surpassing glory of heaven. He was the commander of the heavenly intelligences, and the adoring homage of the angels was received by Him as His right. This was no robbery of God. "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way," He declares, "before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth" (Proverbs 8:22-27). Review and Herald, April 5, 1906 Once again: “Through Solomon Christ declared: 'The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth.' Signs of the Times Aug 29, 1900 And again: And the Son of God declares concerning Himself: "The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting. . . . When He appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." Proverbs 8:22-30. Patriarchs and Prophets p. 34, 1890 I see no reference to personification, metaphor or symbolism in the quotes above; such concepts did not arise until the 1950s.

July 24, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. The Trump administration has imposed new tariffs on goods from more than 80 countries. The tariffs, along with the war in Iran, are threatening the U.S. economy. We have more on that below. But first: Yesterday was a big day for mathematics — particularly for four young mathematicians. I enlisted my colleague Evan Gorelick, The Morning’s best number cruncher, to explain their achievements. In Philadelphia. Erin Blewett/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Do the math By Evan Gorelick The Fields Medals are a quadrennial happening, like the Olympic Games and the World Cup. Each comes with 15,000 Canadian dollars (about $10,600) and a gold coin emblazoned with the bearded face of Archimedes, the Greek polymath who lived in the third century B.C. Nobody really knows what he looked like, so the artist took a swing. The medals, awarded in Philadelphia yesterday to four scholars, are sometimes called the Nobel Prizes of mathematics. But while the actual Nobels can be notoriously tardy — awarded decades after major work — the Fields are conferred at the dawn of a mathematician’s career. You have to be under 40 to be considered. That’s younger than the median age of first-time American home buyers. This year’s winners include two people born in China, one of them the third woman to receive a Fields in the 90 years they’ve existed. Another of the four medalists solved a geometry puzzle that’s a whole lot harder than it looks. The last says he’s leaving pure math and pivoting to artificial intelligence. (#awkward!) Kenneth Chang, a science reporter who has covered the Fields Medals five times since 2006, spoke to each of this year’s winners. Take a gander, and fight the urge to feel inadequate. Meet the mathletes Yu Deng Simons Foundation Yu Deng, 37, University of Chicago Maybe you remember learning about Newton’s laws of motion in school. Those laws describe the behavior of individual objects — think one billiard ball ricocheting off another. But in huge systems with billions or trillions of objects, it’s impossible to calculate the precise interactions among them. So mathematicians use statistical equations to model collective behavior. Deng managed to bridge the gap, working backward to derive one of those statistical models from Newton’s laws. It’s called the Boltzmann equation. Find out more. John Pardon Simons Foundation John Pardon, 37, Stony Brook University Pardon works at the intersection of geometry (rigid shapes) and topology (bendy shapes). He has focused specifically on the nature of knots, which you can think of as tangled loops of rope that can only be untangled by cutting the rope. While an undergrad at Princeton, he answered a question that Mikhael Gromov, a Russian-French mathematician, had asked nearly 30 years earlier, in 1983: Can all knots, no matter how tangled, fit within a certain measure of how bendy the rope is? Pardon proved that they could not. Jacob Tsimerman Simons Foundation Jacob Tsimerman, 38, University of Toronto Tsimerman, who was born in Russia, is a number theorist. He’s best known for his work on the André-Oort conjecture, which helps describe higher-dimension objects called “Shimura varieties.” Those shapes are closely connected with “Diophantine equations,” including the one from Fermat’s last theorem: aⁿ + bⁿ = cⁿ. He admits that it’s tricky to explain what a number theorist does. But soon it won’t matter: He’s changing the focus of his research to artificial intelligence. He wants to make sure powerful A.I. models don’t run amok. Hong Wang Simons Foundation Hong Wang, 35, New York University Wang spends a lot of time thinking about long, thin tubes — not unlike uncooked spaghetti, she said. That’s because she works on a problem called the Kakeya conjecture, which ponders a set of needles pointing in all possible directions. You can’t change where needles point, but you can slide them around. Kakeya refers to Soichi Kakeya, a Japanese mathematician who started thinking about the problem in 1917. Building on his work, experts came to believe — but could never prove — that in three dimensions, the needles’ fractal dimension (a measure of pattern complexity) had to be exactly three. Wang showed last year that the conjecture is correct. Read more about her. Awkward timing The unusual age limit on the Fields means it is both a tribute to winners’ work and a bet on their future. These are the mathematicians to watch. Right now feels like a tough time to place such a bet: A.I. is mastering the sorts of projects that math prodigies have traditionally used to launch academic careers. This past Sunday, a mathematician disproved an 87-year-old conjecture using an A.I. model from Anthropic — while simultaneously watching the World Cup final. It’s hard not to catastrophize. A group of mathematicians published a public declaration last month acknowledging the benefits of A.I. while warning that it could threaten the discipline. Tsimerman, for one, says A.I. has doubled his math productivity. “I think,” he said, “it will very shortly become more capable than mathematicians in the act of mathematics.” THE FREE PRESS The New York Times building. Lucia Vazquez for The New York Times Under pressure from a federal judge, the Justice Department withdrew subpoenas that had sought phone records and grand jury testimony from Times journalists who reported on security issues related to Air Force One. Judge Arun Subramanian gave the government’s lawyers a stark choice — “Either we can quash the subpoenas, or you could withdraw the subpoenas” — and then proceeded to grill them for more than an hour about their zealousness, sloppiness and the request for records from one reporter’s mother and another’s spouse. The judge’s demeanor at times resembled that of a teacher scolding his pupils. He asked few questions of The Times’s lawyers; at one point, he even apologized to one of them. “We won,” our executive editor, Joe Kahn, wrote in an email to staff last night. “We will undoubtedly face new legal challenges in this volatile era. But today is a day to celebrate the role of a free press in a robust democracy and the legal structure that protects us.” THE LATEST NEWS In Washington The Trump administration’s 10 percent global tariffs expired at midnight — but new tariffs of around the same amount immediately replaced them on goods from more than 80 countries. A member of Vice President JD Vance’s security detail is under investigation on suspicion of compromising sensitive information, the Secret Service said. F.D.A. scientists advised against the widespread use of several peptide injections, before a panel voted to allow broad production of four. A showdown with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, may follow. Across the Country The government dropped a request for a list of Jewish people at the University of Pennsylvania, which it had said was part of a battle against antisemitism. ICE plans to open a detention center at a long-dormant North Carolina prison by the end of December, according to documents obtained by The Times. Since Andrew and Tristan Tate, manosphere influencers, were arrested in Miami this past weekend, many of their former right-wing allies have gone quiet. The two deny accusations against them including rape and sex trafficking. Middle East A day after signing a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, Trump added a new condition that may make it fall apart. The president said the deal was “totally subject to” Saudi willingness to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. Officials in the kingdom have long said that would require a pathway toward Palestinian statehood. The price of oil hit $100 a barrel after the Iranian-backed Houthis attacked two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea. Stocks plunged. Notes: Data is as of 4:30 eastern Thursday. Source: FactSet. The New York Times Democratic lawmakers are urging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide “a full and accurate accounting” of all U.S. casualties in the Iran war. Two of Iraq’s border crossings, into Iran and Kuwait, were attacked yesterday, according to officials and videos verified by The Times. It wasn’t clear who by. The House voted a second time to direct Trump to end the war or seek explicit authorization to continue it. “We’re trapped in hell”: Iranians say the war has upended their lives. Meet some of them. Around the World At Sensoji temple in Tokyo on Tuesday. Issei Kato/Reuters It’s so hot in Japan that the weather agency coined a new word — kokushobi, or “cruel heat day.” As Gen Z protests spread across India, videos and photos of a woman blocking a police van have become a national symbol. OPINIONS The New York Times Morris Katz, a strategist who’s advised Graham Platner and Zohran Mamdani, talks to Ezra Klein about Democrats, populism, and where it all went wrong in Maine. Haiti is a war zone. Deporting hundreds of thousands of Haitians from the United States will only destabilize the nation further, Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré writes. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. MORNING READS We’ve made these links free for you. Vows: It took him three years (and their wedding) to respond to her email. Euro summer: Visitors are changing plans because of rising temperatures. Should you skip summer in the Mediterranean? Shooting ranges: A few in Los Angeles are going upscale, with sleek interiors, plush lounges and four-figure membership fees. Some are calling them “guntry clubs.” Your pick: The most clicked story in The Morning yesterday was about killer whales making 2,000 pound fish explode. CORN CADDIES Emma Rose Milligan for The New York Times Themed popcorn buckets — more formally known as collectible concession vessels — have become big business. Special-edition snack receptacles designed for major movies sell for as much as $70. Nicole Sperling, who covers Hollywood, reports: All the studios and theater chains want in on them, because for somewhat inexplicable reasons, they have become astonishingly lucrative. AMC Theatres estimates that this year, buckets will generate $100 million in revenue, nearly double the level of 2023. Cinemark Theatres, the country’s third-largest chain, says bucket sales helped its merchandise revenue increase 40 percent from 2024 to 2025. I’ll say this: They hold a lot of popcorn. TODAY’S NUMBER 14 — That is how many Times articles the word “bollard” has appeared in this year. Can you use it in a sentence? SPORTS The World Cup failed to deliver the massive tourism windfall that host nations expected, though luxury travel and beer sales thrived. Good throw: A teenage English soccer player’s long throw-in went viral, highlighting how a once-mundane part of the game is becoming a key attacking weapon. See it here. RECIPE OF THE DAY Kelly Marshall for The New York Times Hari means “green” in Hindi and sees its apotheosis in hari chutney — a verdant, spicy blitz of cilantro, garlic and lemon juice. Combine that with butter and Parmesan to coat a pound of pasta, and you have hari chutney spaghetti, a candidate for your new favorite week-ending meal. SPIRITUAL POP Maiwenn Raoult for The New York Times Willow Smith, daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, is releasing a new album this week called “The Thread.” It’s her eighth solo album in 11 years, and the second of 2026. She’s 25. “I went into this album wanting the official genre to be ‘devotional,’” she told Jon Pareles, who covers pop music. “Each and every song, I’m singing to the holy mystery and giving praise.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Take the next step in your “Odyssey” journey — read these books. Cook outside, all the time, with the best gas grill tested by the pitmasters at Wirecutter — I was one of them! Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were cofounded and confounded. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren

THIS DAY IN HISTORY July 24 1911 American historian encounters Machu Picchu ruins American archeologist Hiram Bingham gets his first look at the ruins of Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca settlement in Peru that is now one of the world’s top tourist destinations. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1847 Religious pioneers settle Salt Lake Valley American Revolution 1779 Massachusetts begins ill-fated Penobscot Expedition 1776 John Hancock scolds Major General Philip Schuyler Arts & Entertainment 1998 “Saving Private Ryan” opens in theaters 1901 Short story writer O. Henry is released from prison 1982 “Eye Of The Tiger” from “Rocky III” tops the U.S. pop charts Cold War 1959 Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev have a “kitchen debate” Early 20th Century U.S. 1915 Hundreds drown in Eastland disaster European History 1567 Mary Queen of Scots deposed Space Exploration 1969 Apollo 11 safely returns to Earth Sports 2005 Lance Armstrong wins seventh Tour de France World War II 1943 Operation Gomorrah is launched 1945 Truman hints to Stalin about a new weapon “of unusual destructive force”

🌊 Parting shot! Photo: Alex Fitzpatrick/Axios A foggy morning at Acadia National Park's Otter Point on July 15, captured by Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick.

👉 House's Senate marching orders House GOP leaders are turning up the heat on Senate Republicans, calling on them to move quickly on the House's $95 billion reconciliation package despite resistance from Thune. Why it matters: Before they split town, House leaders left some instructions for their Senate colleagues. ⚡️ "The Senate needs to move on reconciliation before November, and I think the pressure from the American people is going to be unbearable if they refuse to act," NRCC Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) told us today. "For the Senate to sit on their hands and do nothing, I think, will be unsustainable." Driving the news: Thune poured cold water on the House's timeline, telling reporters this week that he plans to wait until government funding is resolved before taking up the budget resolution. The reconciliation measure would give billions for the war in Iran, farm assistance and include components of the SAVE America Act. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told us in a pen-and-pad session today that he expects the White House to ramp up pressure on the Senate. ☄️ "They can say all day long, you know, 'It's going to be hard.' Everything's hard. Give me a lecture about how hard things are. That's what I do every day. They've got to figure out a way to get it done," Scalise told us of his colleagues in the Senate. Scalise said the reconciliation package — because it only requires a simple majority — means Senate Republicans won't have the "excuse of the filibuster" to avoid passing the stalled SAVE Act. 🔥 White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump's "patience is running out" with Thune during a press briefing today when asked about SAVE. "Well, maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes," Thune told reporters when asked about the comments. 🎯 Between the lines: Thune has become a favorite target of House conservatives, who have spent months trying to shame him into taking up the SAVE Act. Thune has repeatedly said he doesn't have the votes. "He seems to be doing his best to try to pretend he's working on the SAVE America Act while not working on the SAVE America Act," Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) told us. — Kate Santaliz

Russia sanctions breakthrough Democrats are indicating to their Republican counterparts that they are prepared to vote as early as next week on a Russia sanctions package that includes an 11th-hour demand from President Trump that the bill also include Iran, according to people familiar with the matter. Why it matters: It would mark a rare bipartisan breakthrough on legislation to help end the war in Ukraine in a Senate that has spent much of the year engaged in partisan combat. 🤝 It also would show that Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can work together weeks before Election Day — a dynamic that could prove critical as the Senate works to avoid a third government shutdown this year. Tuesday's Capitol memorial for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will serve as an emotional backdrop to the Senate's consideration of the bill he spent his final days trying to shepherd across the finish line. 🚨 "I'm optimistic we'll be able to move forward soon," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said. "Ukraine has the momentum on the battlefield, and the Kremlin's position is increasingly precarious. It is vital that we move as quickly as possible." Zoom out: The bill, which has more than 60 cosponsors, has been revised twice since Graham's sudden passing on July 11. First, senators lowered the overall rate of secondary tariffs from 500% to 100% and narrowed the scope of the bill, allowing Trump to tariff no more than five countries. In one of his last acts, Graham secured the Trump administration's blessing for the deal, according to his Senate colleagues. 'This is a big effing deal," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said, quoting Graham. Then, on July 19, Trump demanded that the legislation be expanded. "Republicans should add Iran to the Russian Sanctions Bill. That's what Lindsey wanted to do, and it was going to happen," he said on Truth Social. 🔎 Zoom in: At first, there was confusion about what Trump actually meant, but senators appear to have addressed his concerns by including noncontroversial sanctions on Iran that were set to expire at the end of the year. Thune indicated today that his conference was comfortable with the Iran additions. "I think everybody's fine with it, because we would do it anyway," Thune said. The other side: Some Democrats oppose the overall notion of giving Trump another tool to impose tariffs. They may attempt to slow consideration of the bill, but they don't have the numbers to derail it. "The problem with the Russian sanction bill — because I very much support Ukraine — is that Trump is doing everything he can to just expand his reach into tariffs, and that's what he lives for," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). "I think Leader Thune is getting ready to start moving procedurally. People have asked me, and I said I'm not giving up any procedural rights right now." ⏰ The bottom line: Thune and Schumer still need to reach a time agreement on the sanctions legislation. But with Thune indicating that the crypto bill — the CLARITY Act — won't get finished this work period, the Senate may have more floor time to consider the legislation and pay tribute to their late colleague. — Hans Nichols and Stef W. Kight

Uncivil Law (Al Drago / Bloomberg / Getty)   View in browser When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina in September 2024, it left behind it a trail of death and destruction—and a huge number of legal headaches. Residents struggled to understand the process of receiving help from FEMA, people were beset by scams and price gouging, and tenants whose homes had been destroyed or made uninhabitable puzzled over their rights. Pisgah Legal Services, a nonprofit that provides civil legal aid in the region, had 120 staffers, and all of them were somehow affected, Jaclyn Kiger, Pisgah’s executive director, told me. Within about a week, though, Pisgah Legal had hosted three clinics; it ultimately helped thousands of Helene victims. Civil legal services like these may not be well understood, but they serve an essential role in ensuring that everyone has access to justice. The Supreme Court’s landmark 1963 decision in Gideon v. Wainwright established that any criminal defendant has a right to legal counsel. But most legal issues are civil, not criminal. This includes any number of disputes between parties, but also issues such as evictions, scams targeting senior citizens, and domestic-violence protective orders. Recourse to courts in such cases can be lifesaving, but they are not free, and they are not easy for ordinary people to handle on their own. Since 1981, every state has created programs to fund civil legal services with Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts. It’s an elegant solution: Lawyers frequently hold money in accounts for clients, accruing interest that doesn’t truly belong to any party. IOLTA-funded programs use that interest to provide legal support without any cost to taxpayers. Kiger told me that Pisgah Legal received nearly $2 million in fiscal year 2025; overall, NC IOLTA provided clients roughly $12 million for civil legal services that year. But in a budget passed this month, the Republican-dominated North Carolina General Assembly effectively cut this funding off. The budget permits $2 million in IOLTA funding in the coming fiscal year for civil legal aid, but that will sunset in the future. (Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, signed the budget—the first that the state has managed to pass in more than a year—while criticizing elements of it, including the IOLTA cut, which he said “cruelly punishes low-income people who need access to justice.”) Most IOLTA money will be redirected to criminal legal services for indigent defendants, which the state is already constitutionally required to fund. Providers I’ve spoken with recently are crestfallen but also baffled. Although they all support funding for public defenders, they note that civil legal aid gets no other state money. “Hundreds of thousands of low-income people in the mountains are going to suffer,” Kiger said. Civil legal services have historically been a bipartisan priority, popular among both parties and lawyers as well. Last year, a coalition of leaders of some of the state’s biggest law firms wrote a letter to the state supreme court backing IOLTA funding for civil legal services. “We believe a fair and functioning court system is not a partisan goal—it is a constitutional one,” they wrote. “By enabling litigants to participate effectively, IOLTA-funded legal aid strengthens both the efficiency and fairness of judicial proceedings.” But some North Carolina Republicans have objected to the fact that some of the state’s biggest providers of civil legal aid also engage in progressive political advocacy or do legal work related to immigration or social-justice issues. The driving force behind the change in this month’s budget is state House Speaker Destin Hall, who is also an attorney in private practice. “IOLTA funds were shifted to ensure they’re not being utilized to bankroll progressive political pet projects like the NC Justice Center or provide government services to illegal immigrants. Instead, those funds will be used to provide legal services to underserved communities,” he said in a statement in June. To that end, the general assembly placed political limits on a small portion of civil legal aid. The budget allows IOLTA money collected before July 2025 to be distributed, but only $2 million a year until the funds run out, and only to providers who don’t engage in political advocacy or take cases involving transgender health care or federal immigration law. This is less a way of removing politics from legal aid and more a way of instituting a different set of ideological priorities, and in any case, it applies only to this small and disappearing pot of money. The overarching goal appears to be not just going after progressive groups, but ensuring reductions in civil legal aid per se. This has led providers to speculate that the general assembly is less worried about “wokeness” and more interested in defending business interests. “I think it comes down to who we serve,” Kiger said. “We are serving the most vulnerable among us.” When I contacted Hall’s office to try to understand the decision, a spokesperson asked me for detailed questions but never replied when I sent them. Ashley Campbell, who leads Legal Aid of North Carolina, the state’s largest civil-legal-aid firm, told me that she sought meetings with Hall but was rebuffed. In a statement, the executive director of the North Carolina State Bar lamented that “months of good-faith efforts” by the bar and NC IOLTA leaders had failed to sway the general assembly: “This loss of funding will prove devastating to the tens of thousands of low-income North Carolinians facing legal concerns that threaten their housing stability, income, access to health care and benefits, and safety from domestic violence and human trafficking.” The defunding of IOLTA in North Carolina is a major event in the state, but it could have national implications. As I have been reporting for more than a decade now, many of the major currents in national politics have originated in the Old North State. The state has also been used as a proving ground, including for Donald Trump–style attacks on elections. Right now, the partisan warfare over civil legal aid in North Carolina is an outlier; Texas GOP legislators even strengthened IOLTA funding in 2023. But a failed Montana bill last year tried to weaken IOLTA, and Trump has proposed eliminating or drastically reducing funding for the Legal Services Corporation, a national civil-legal-aid group established by Congress. People I spoke with in North Carolina worry that the state budget could provide a template for other states as well. If that happens, access to justice could become just another luxury good. Related: North Carolina is a warning. (From 2022) North Carolina is the canary in the election coal mine. (From 2025)

Nun speaks out for first time about being detained by ICE while walking to Mass in Texas A nun who was taken into immigration custody last month in Texas said Thursday that she went into a cold sweat as two armed men approached her while she walked to Sunday Mass in her habit, thinking about the day's Bible readings and carrying little more than her rosary and cellphone. Read More.

Democrats say Social Security boss’ message pushed misleading statements on Trump tax law’s benefits Some Democrats are squaring off with President Donald Trump’s administration over one of the most potent political issues in the country ahead of this year’s midterm elections: Social Security. https://apnews.com/article/social-security-bisignano-message-taxes-democrats-bb6a1a4f0c9d18f5ece322068c920f8b?

What experts are saying as Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda kills more than 1,000 people The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history has killed more than 1,000 people in eastern Congo as health officials race to contain a virus with no approved vaccine or treatment. Read More. By the Numbers: This year’s Ebola outbreak has spread faster than the worst on record The Ebola outbreak in Congo has killed over 1,000 people, reaching the grim milestone nearly three times faster than the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic that is considered the worst on record. Read More.

EU hits Google with $1 billion fine over its Play app store and search The European Union on Thursday hit Google with a fine of 890 million euros ($1 billion) after it said the technology behemoth broke digital antitrust regulations by setting up Google Play and its ubiquitous search engine to corral consumers towards its own services and apps to the detriment of competitors. Read More.

Making ends meet A growing number of workers at some of the nation’s largest companies are relying on food stamps and Medicaid, a recent report found. The findings highlight the affordability challenges facing many American households.

Secret keeping A little-known court tasked with handling highly sensitive deportation cases against alleged alien terrorists had lain dormant for 30 years. A first-of-its-kind case filed by the Trump administration sprang it back to life. Trump will welcome the World Series champion Dodgers to the White House President Donald Trump is welcoming Shohei Ohtani and the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to the White House on Thursday with a Rose Garden event celebrating their second title in as many years. Read More. New tariffs Dozens of America’s trading partners, from Europe to China to India, now face new tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on goods shipped to the United States, according to the office of the US Trade Representative. The new duties will apply to nearly all US imports. Read more Saudi deal upended Less than 24 hours after the deal's signing, President Donald Trump abruptly announced that a US-Saudi civilian nuclear agreement was subject to a new condition: Saudi Arabia must normalize its diplomatic stance toward Israel. The long-awaited deal had been greeted by negative reviews. Read more

This Won't End Well for Windows: LegacyHive Points to a Troubling Future In the latest escalation of a public feud with Microsoft, security researcher Nightmare Eclipse released the LegacyHive zero-day vulnerability shortly after a major Patch Tuesday update. Expect future attacks. https://www.pcmag.com/news/this-wont-end-well-for-windows-legacyhive-points-to-a-troubling-future

by Seth Pierce Throughout history, human beings have communicated with one another in ways other than the simple use of words. Saying a word in one of the thousands of languages in existence on planet Earth is good, but how we say our words can be more important. For example, we can say “We love you,” and mean that we truly care about the other person; but we can say the same words in a sarcastic tone of voice that really means We don’t love you. We can scream our words, use sarcasm, say them sweetly, sensually, or in a scared manner with a shaky inflection. https://www.signstimes.com/?p=article&a=40086446656.739

The Rapture: Is It True? by Samuele Bacchiocchi https://www.signstimes.com/?p=article&a=40086446656.645

Does Prayer Make a Difference? by Mark Finley https://www.signstimes.com/?

Vertical Morality vs. Horizontal Morality: What does God expect from us? How is our morality grounded? The following article will challenge your thinking. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vertical-morality-maga-christians_l_68dc8386e4b0b11989f00fb8 Thr following is a shorter, summarized version of the above article. https://us.headtopics.com/news/vertical-morality-might-describe-why-maga-christians-seem-74000915#google_vignette

Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Foe? by Miguel Valdivia https://www.signstimes.com/?

by Steve Wolhberg https://www.signstimes.com/?

Beware of Ghosts by Steve Wolhberg https://www.signstimes.com/?