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⚠️ Climate catastrophe risk rising Houses lie deluged in sludge after massive floods in Nepal this week. More than 390 people have been killed along the Nepal-China border, with more than 1,400 missing. Photo: Prabin Ranabhat/AFP via Getty Images Scientists have long warned that the world will experience more intense extreme weather events, including heat waves, storms, floods and droughts. But scenarios that once seemed like the realm of fiction are now discussed as a possibility, even an inevitability, AP writes. "The risk is that people just think you are exaggerating," said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the California Institute for Water Resources. "It's the 'Boy Who Cried Wolf' problem. Sometimes wolves are real. If it's outside the door, wouldn't you want to know?" Keep reading.

🦁 Software roars back Data: Financial Modeling Prep. Chart: Emily Peck/Axios AI was going to obliterate the software sector, or so investors believed earlier this year, but it turns out that this stuff is hard to quit, Axios' Emily Peck writes. State Street's Software and Services ETF, which tracks about 130 software and IT stocks, rose 5.2% yesterday, hitting a new all-time high. 📈 Zoom in: Investors really liked Salesforce's second-quarter earnings report Wednesday. The company, arguably the SaaS master, announced an expansion of a deal with Anthropic, which was taken as a sign that AI would be a complement to its business — rather than its death knell. Salesforce stock soared 22.6% yesterday, and is now trading close to where it was before the whole SaaSpocalypse got underway.

🏔️ Driving the day: All eyes on Warsh Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Fed chair Kevin Warsh will step up to a lectern beneath elk antler chandeliers this morning to deliver the most consequential public appearance of his young chairmanship, Axios' Neil Irwin writes. Warsh's address in Jackson Hole, Wyo., comes amid a surge in longer-term interest rates worldwide and U.S. Treasury interventions in bond and currency markets — and ambiguity about the Fed's relationship with the Treasury. Go deeper ... Watch Warsh speak at 10 a.m. ET.

📺 GOP convention runs into NFL openers Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Republicans will have some stiff competition for eyeballs when they hold their first-ever midterm convention on Sept. 9-10 in Dallas: The NFL, American television's undisputed champion of ratings, will be kicking off Week 1. Some GOP operatives are privately incredulous that a convention designed to draw attention to the party's fall candidates was scheduled opposite the NFL, Axios' Alex Isenstadt writes. They fear the GOP will struggle to persuade voters — particularly men, who powered President Trump's 2024 comeback — to choose politics over football. 👀 What to watch: The convention's opening night will overlap with the New England Patriots playing the Seattle Seahawks in a Super Bowl rematch. In Dallas that night, Vice President Vance will deliver the convention's keynote speech. The convention's second night will coincide with a rivalry matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams. Trump is the keynoter that night. 📱 Convention planners tell us they're well aware of the competition from the NFL. But they argue they'd be fighting for eyeballs even without football, given how dramatically Americans' media habits have changed. So they're planning a faster-paced, social media-focused convention designed to produce moments that can break through online, whether or not voters are watching live. Social-media influencers will be distributing content on Facebook, X, TikTok and more. Organizers plan commemorations to mark the one-year anniversary of pro-Trump activist Charlie Kirk's assassination and the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Entertainers and sports figures, including UFC fighters, will be spotlighted.

🇮🇷 U.S. strengthens Hormuz hand Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images Today marks six months of the Iran War, which began Feb. 28. Axios' Barak Ravid reports the U.S. is improving its position in the waterway at the center of the quagmire: The Strait of Hormuz has been Iran's most powerful card since the start of the war in late February. U.S. officials say that over the past six months, the American military has steadily eroded Iran's leverage over the crucial waterway. Why it matters: What began six months ago with the goal of degrading Iran's missile capabilities and destroying what remained of its nuclear program has evolved into an open-ended fight over the world's most important energy chokepoint. U.S. officials say they've turned the tide in the strait and believe it could be a watershed moment in the war, bringing gradual relief to the world economy and a better deal with Iran. "The Iranian response is very mild," President Trump told Axios in a phone interview yesterday. "They don't want us to go back at them. That's the whole ball game. The rest doesn't matter." 🚢 Zoom out: The number of ships crossing the strait — and the amount of oil exported through it — remain far below prewar levels. But Iran has lost much of its control over the strait, U.S. officials said. Iran is still firing at ships. But its ability to target them accurately is limited. More than 200 mine-like objects have been swept from the main lane of the strait. U.S. officials say only 11 of them were actual mines and just a few were properly deployed. In recent weeks, traffic through the southern channel has grown to 20 to 30 tankers every night, carrying an average of 9 million to 10 million barrels, per U.S. officials. That's roughly half the prewar volume. 🛢️ Yes, but: Oil experts and tanker trackers are skeptical that the actual figures are that high. U.S. officials say they're undercounting. Periodic reports of oil tankers being struck by projectiles also raise questions about the safety of commercial shipping through the strait, despite U.S. assurances. Trump told Axios: "That sucker is open."

Nvidia almighty Data: S&P Capital IQ Pro. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals Nvidia made billions selling AI's essential ingredient: chips. Now the company is plowing those riches straight back into the AI ecosystem, betting on a buildout that craves ever more compute, Axios' Madison Mills writes. Why it matters: Nvidia has become the AI industry's supplier, banker and kingmaker, feeding a self-reinforcing cycle in which chip profits finance the next wave of chip demand. State of play: Already the world's most valuable company, Nvidia is now worth more than five of the 11 sectors that make up the S&P 500. The chipmaker reported nearly $60 billion in quarterly profit Wednesday, prompting The Kobeissi Letter to call the results "the most impressive earnings in history." Nvidia believes its reign is far from over, telling investors to expect roughly 70% revenue growth even from today's extraordinary heights. 🔭 Zoom out: Nvidia's vast chip windfall has enabled the company to take on a new role as financial patron of the entire AI industry. Nvidia is involved in more than $750 billion worth of AI investments, financing deals and partnerships, according to PitchBook — a staggering footprint for a company whose core business is still selling chips. That figure does not include this week's reported $13 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, which would give Nvidia control over one of the industry's most important model-distribution hubs. CEO Jensen Huang has enlisted Wall Street to mobilize more than $500 billion for AI infrastructure, channeling outside capital toward the data-center buildout that drives more than 90% of Nvidia's quarterly revenue. 🎡 Between the lines: The strategy creates a powerful flywheel: The more money Nvidia helps pour into AI, the more compute the industry builds — and the more chips it needs. Reality check: Critics say Nvidia's flywheel looks uncomfortably circular. The company is helping finance customers and infrastructure projects that then spend heavily on its own hardware, raising questions about how much demand is being supported by Nvidia's own balance sheet. Huang has dismissed those concerns, telling CNBC Wednesday that Nvidia's investments will generate "tremendous returns" and that "the risk is low." Threat level: The cozy relationship between Nvidia and its biggest customers is becoming increasingly competitive. OpenAI, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others are pouring billions into custom chips designed to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. OpenAI claims its new Jalapeño chip outperforms Nvidia hardware on some workloads. Nvidia, meanwhile, is spending billions developing its own open-source AI models, aiming to become the American champion in a field increasingly dominated by Chinese models. The bottom line: The result is an unusually tangled ecosystem in which Nvidia is simultaneously supplier, investor, partner — and increasingly competitor — to AI's biggest players.

Federal aviation officials are reportedly working to fire two air traffic controllers who left work an hour early on the day a jet crashed into a firetruck at LaGuardia Airport; the March 22 collision killed two pilots and injured six other people (More)

> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.7%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq +1.6%) as tech stocks rally | CrowdStrike shares close up 20% in their best day ever after the cybersecurity firm beat Wall Street's expectations (More) > South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix breaks ground on more than $4B advanced memory-chip packaging and research hub in Indiana—its first US facility (More) | How do microchips work? (More) > House Oversight Committee releases transcript of former Barclays CEO Jes Staley's testimony over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein; see takeaways (More)

> Largest-ever map of gene mutations linked to autism reveals hundreds of previously unknown protein interactions that impact brain development (More) | Why autism diagnoses expanded to include Asperger's in 2013 (More, w/video) > Engineers create reconfigurable electronic devices that keep working as they change shape, with potential applications in robotics, disaster response, and more (More, w/image) > Electrically charged raindrops found to corrode metal surfaces treated with Teflon, like that of the Eiffel Tower, helping explain why the iconic structure needs frequent repainting (More) | How water droplets generate electricity (More)

> Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese pop artist known for her polka-dot designs, dies at age 97 (More) | Scroll through a gallery of her life and artwork (More) > Voice actor Peter Cullen dies at age 85; the Canadian star voiced Optimus Prime in "Transformers" and Eeyore in several "Winnie the Pooh" projects (More) | Listen to over 45 of his character voices (More) > UEFA is reportedly preparing a criminal complaint against FIFA president Gianni Infantino for alleged financial mismanagement over his dead $20B plan to sell stake in the World Cup (More)

Spanish Museum Heist A group of men raided the so-called Treasure of Villena from a museum in eastern Spain yesterday. The four-minute heist deprives Europe of its most extensive prehistoric treasure, a roughly 3,000-year-old collection valued at over $2M. The robbery took place between 5:20 am and 5:24 am local time, with thieves luring police to a sports center at the town’s outskirts minutes before the raid. In that time, they took all but seven of the collection’s 66 artifacts—bracelets, bowls, bottles, and other pieces made of gold, silver, mixed metals, and amber (see photos). The robbery is the latest in a series of museum heists culminating in a Europol warning last week. Villena's Bronze Age collection was discovered in 1963, when archaeologist José María Soler found the pieces in the town's dry riverbed (watch an archival newsreel; click "settings" for English captions). While the inclusion of two iron pieces stumped researchers for decades, a 2023 study found the metals originated from a meteor.

What Does the Bible Say About Dogs? What does the Bible say about dogs? What roles did they play in the New Testament? https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/what-does-the-bible-say-about-dogs/?

We know Christs answer when asked, and even to even before giving gifts to God before the altar and reconcile with their brother, to say nothing of what He declared to Zacchaeus. So my question is, if someone is stealing from you or taking what rightly should be yours, lets say your brother takes over your elderly fathers accounts and drains them before he even dies, do we just forgive and let it go, as your parents fade away, no longer able to understand the injustice being done them? What should a Christian do to forgive and right such a wrong and how far should he go, just forgive and forget, or what?

Dolly Parton may have sung about working “9 to 5,” but the country queen clocked a six-decade shift that leaves behind a massive $450 million empire. Her meticulously crafted estate plan is set to determine who gets the keys to the kingdom — and what happens to the fortune she spent a lifetime building. The music legend’s assets include a 3,000-song catalog estimated at $120 million, an estimated $165 million stake in Dollywood, a sprawling Tennessee property valued at roughly $10 million and, potentially, decades’ worth of personal possessions, including her famously extensive wardrobe and memorabilia. How that fortune will be divided, and who ultimately controls the pieces of Parton’s empire, could remain private for some time. --------------------------------- Seems like a lot of money for a christian singer. I wonder if she left any of it to a church?

Norwegians were gathering on Saturday to say goodbye to King Harald in front of the royal palace, where he lies in state, with many well-wishers remembering his sense of inclusiveness and tolerance. Europe’s oldest monarch, who emerged ‌from the shadow of his well-loved, extrovert father to become a reformer during more than three decades on the throne, died on Friday at the age of 89. Late on Friday, throngs pressed the streets of Oslo under the pouring rain to watch the funeral cortege as it left Oslo University Hospital, where Harald passed away, to reach the royal palace.

Subscriber Exclusive The post The Fracturing of Reynolds: Why America’s Oldest Marriage Precedent Is on Shaky Ground appeared first on ReligiousLiberty.TV. View the full article

The beginning of this episode has Philip and Matthew talking about learning Tora as they walk. Philip shines as a teacher, or what many call a sage. The term sage is used by some eastern religions and some non-religious philosophical groups to describe someone that is wise, enlightened (or highly educated) with a reputation of a strong ethical character. A sage focuses on teaching and caretaking (shepherding). They are not known for leading out in worship or leading movements to reform a religious body or political institution. This scene takes Philip and Matthew to Mary Magdalene and Ramah who also also interested in learning more Tora. The campfire scene transitions as it becomes dark. Philip participates in the discussion as the sun is setting. He doesn't take part after dark. Before the sun sets, the discussion was about becoming famous. Philip points out that it isn't always easy and it creates enemies. When Matthew mentions he has had a lot of enemies, Philip points out that Matthew had protection and those enemies didn't have power. After dark the discussion becomes dominated by Thomas, Peter, Big James and John and develops into an argument focused on Matthew's sin of being a tax collector. That is the part where Peter says he will never forgive Matthew. There are two schools of thought in the disciples in Season 2. One is that of Philip, groomed to be a sage by John the Baptist. The other school of thought is that of Big James, John and Peter. They are fighters and quick to lose their temper. The role of Philip completely changes in Season 4 but it is worth following in Season 2 and 3 and thinking about how that role plays in the church today. In the laity (which are church members that are not ordain clergy) there are some that want to be up front, lead and dominate church board meetings. Those act more like pastor-want-to-bes than sages. Sages do not typically seek the spot light. They tend to hold positions as head of a ministry department like Sabbath School Superintendent, Pathfinder director, men's ministry director, laymen ministries director, prison ministries, etc. They tend to get roped into these positions and would be quite content simply teaching a Sabbath school class or facilitating a small group Bible study. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul uses the metaphor of the church and the various parts of the body. The church needs people like Philip, those like Peter and those like John. In this discussion it is also important to remember that the term pastor is taken from the word shepherd. It refers to a member of the clergy but is a humble title. Some denominations use the term reverend which is a more esteemed title. Pastors sometimes have to rope the sages into leadership roles and help guide over zealous paster-want-to-bes into learning humility. The pastor has a role that is distinctly different from the leadership roles filled by laity. In The Chosen, the disciples are much like the laity of today while Christ was with them. They transition to be more like pastors and denominational leaders after the ascension. Modern chaplains are ordained clergy but many work in hospitals, prisons and military and may be more like a sage than a traditional pastor.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY August 28 1955 Emmett Till is murdered Emmett Till, a Black 14-year-old from Chicago, is brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1869 Three leave Powell’s Grand Canyon expedition 1980s 1987 HIV-positive Ray brothers’ home burned down African History 1879 Zulu king captured Arts & Entertainment 2003 Britney Spears and Madonna kiss at the VMAs Black History 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivers “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington 1963 Mahalia Jackson performs at March on Washington, prompts MLK Jr. to improvise “I Have a Dream” speech Cold War 1952 “Red Scare” dominates American political news Crime 1990 Murdered students are discovered at the University of Florida European History 1996 Charles and Diana divorce 1988 Air-show accident burns spectators Religion 1774 St. Elizabeth born in New York City U.S. Presidents 1917 President Woodrow Wilson picketed by women suffragists World War II 1941 Mass slaughter in Ukraine

Why shielding state-funded operations from the public eye represents a dangerous retreat for civil liberties. The post Public Funds, Public Scrutiny: The Constitutional Case Against AB 2624 appeared first on ReligiousLiberty.TV. View the full article

Judge again blocks Trump mail ballot executive order in ruling that’s likely to be swiftly appealed A federal judge on Thursday halted — at least for now — attempts to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting. https://apnews.com/article/trump-voting-mail-ballots-democrats-lawsuits-15cf1ec7dcdb8211bf6b624b75a7f4ab?

What to know about the Lindsay Clancy murder trial Lindsay Clancy's murder trial is in the hands of a jury after a month of searing testimony about the deaths of her three children in 2023 and the psychiatric problems she experienced before she killed them. Closing arguments concluded Thursday in the case, which has sparked debate online and demonstrations outside the courthouse over maternal well-being and the mental health system. The jury was sent off to deliberate at around 12:30 p.m. Here are some basics about the case. Read More.

As midterm elections approach, Republican candidates weigh how closely to align with Trump “AIR FORCE VETERAN. SMALL BUSINESSMAN. TRUMP CONSERVATIVE.” Read More.

Florida grand jury finds DeSantis administration misused $10 million, but no charges filed A Florida grand jury found that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration “misappropriated” $10 million in taxpayer money it diverted to a charity connected to his wife, but it declined to file criminal charges due to a lack of evidence indicating who specifically was responsible. Read More.

Zambia opposition leader sought refuge following disputed elections. Now he's accused of treason Police in Zambia detained the country's main opposition leader Thursday over alleged treason after he handed himself over for questioning after having sought refuge at a United Nations building following a disputed election two weeks ago. Read More.