by dap | Jul 13, 2025 | Fox News
Record-breaking
, submerging homes, displacing families, killing at least 100 people and prompting widespread evacuations.
Natural disasters often shake our deepest beliefs. It’s only human to cry out and ask why would a loving God allow such unrelenting suffering. Especially when it comes, not through human cruelty and free will, but from the forces of creation itself.
But paradoxically, it’s
that many rely on in the aftermath. Far from being a crutch, faith often becomes a critical lifeline, helping people cope, recover and rebuild.
Online, others shift the blame to politics.
, a version of Elon Musk’s AI chatbot blamed budget cuts to NOAA for the rising death toll. Some point to Texas’ energy policies or “Mother Nature’s revenge.”
These reactions mirror old religious blame – just with new villains. Same fire-and-brimstone tone. Same absence of comfort. It may offer outrage, but it rarely offers comfort. And it certainly doesn’t help the displaced rebuild.
Science backs this up. A study on survivors of the
found that “religious faith and practices” and “cultural traditions” significantly aided emotional recovery. In fact, the loss of faith itself was linked to worsened trauma.
As the researchers concluded, stripping away that spiritual framework left individuals without a “culturally rooted means of making sense of misfortune” – compounding their suffering instead of alleviating it.
I’ve seen this up close. My brother Asher is a Chabad rabbi on the island of St. Thomas. During
, he sheltered in a medical building with his kids as 185 mph winds snapped telephone poles and tossed trees like tumbleweed. A metal roof from a nearby resort crashed into their home. By all accounts, it was apocalyptic.
They survived. But much of the island’s infrastructure did not. He spent days providing food, generators and spiritual support to the displaced. And over and over, he saw the same thing: faith not just as comfort, but as fuel. A force that allows people to keep going, even when everything else has washed away.
This isn’t unique. After Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Dorian, Ida, Ian and now the latest flooding in Texas,
are often the first on the ground. Groups like the United Methodist Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, various Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas, and Chabad’s disaster relief fund don’t just pray, they mobilize.
USA Today once correctly described these religious groups as “integral partners in state and federal disaster relief efforts.”
That doesn’t mean you need religion to cope with trauma. Non-religious people find strength in community, love and meaning too. But faith offers a distinct framework – a spiritual map that helps people find direction when the terrain has suddenly collapsed. For some, belief in a higher purpose can be the difference between despair and resilience.
As
this catastrophe, many will draw strength not from outrage or blame, but from faith. We will never understand why – but faith gives us the tools to endure it. Politics points fingers. Faith extends a hand.
by dap | Jul 13, 2025 | Fox News
When I first walked away from years of voting Democrat and being atheist, I was desperate for voices to speak to the unexpected and organic transformation I was undergoing. One of the first voices I found was a Christian podcaster and commentator who espouses the goal of a great reconciliation between men and women, the ending of the seemingly never-ending battle of the sexes.
His voice and mission resonated with me as I stepped away from the incoherence of liberalism and back toward God. It made sense to me that the answers we seek wouldn’t be found in pointing fingers at the opposite gender, yet I rather quickly found that all too often — even among the Christian conservative right and especially online — that’s precisely what we do. This podcaster’s proposed great reconciliation between men and women — both of us working together to do our part to lay down arms and heal generations-old battle scars — truly seemed a breath of fresh air.
So, you can imagine my surprise when several months later I read a post from him claiming women who are unmarried and childless past age 30 have lived in willful rebellion against God’s design. Leaving aside the fact that, by all accounts, he himself is in his 40s, unmarried, and childless, this is a perversion of God’s word to us — one that we see too frequently among the recent resurgence of “trad” accounts run by people
who believe in
masculine men, feminine women, and who rail against the degeneracy of the modern West.
These are all aspirational ideals and perhaps a much-needed balm in the backwards chaos of the modern era, an era in which no small number of people (including a sitting Supreme Court justice) stumble incoherently when asked, “what is a woman?”, an era in which even those brave enough and sane enough to define “woman” biologically often have a challenging time articulating what a woman is spiritually and how her role in the home and in the world might be fundamentally different from a man’s.
In such a state of confusion, with men and women seemingly all but interchangeable, with birth and marriage rates plummeting, and divorce and suicide rates rising, it’s no wonder there’s a growing sect of people who yearn to revolt against the modern world. I myself would identify as a woman with
and — although I’m not yet homesteading on a farm knee-deep in toddlers and sourdough starter — I strive to be a feminine woman.
There’s nothing wrong with traditionalism or with exalting families or worrying about the
in the West. But traditionalism without God is dead. And far too often in the “trad” circle, traditionalism supersedes God.
There is nothing in the Bible suggesting singleness is a scourge, a necessarily transitory state, or something you must suffer through in order to get to the “real gift” of marriage. In God’s eyes, singleness is not a second-class state — even for a woman, even past 30.
According to Paul (a man with a horrible past who went on to become one of the greatest examples of Christianity — and incidentally remained single),
As he points out in 1 Corinthians 7, it’s better to remain single — if you can commit to celibacy. Most people cannot or will not commit themselves to this — and marriage is also good for those people. But singleness (meaning, in this case, the state of being both unmarried and celibate) is no less good.
Paul goes on to call men with wives to “live as though they had none” (1 Corinthians 7:29), which isn’t an encouragement to neglect one’s spouse but rather to focus oneself on Jesus in the same manner that a single person can. Unmarried people are able to devote themselves wholly to God. There is no spouse or children demanding their time. Spouses and children are good and obligations to them–approached correctly–can sanctify you and bring you closer to God. But so too can singleness.
As John Piper points out in a sermon titled, “Single in Christ; A Name Better than Sons and Daughters,” “single people in Christ have zero disadvantage in bearing children for God, and may in some ways have a great advantage.” Single people often have more time, money, and other resources to devote to advancing God’s kingdom on earth. Married people with families necessarily put their time and resources to the family.
Single people — or “those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven” — are good in Jesus’ eyes (Matthew 19:11-12). He promises them “a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; [He] will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever” (Isaiah 56:4-5).
Indeed, throughout the gospel, Jesus — who came to establish a family of believers — emphasizes
over biological. When a woman exclaims that Jesus’ mother is blessed for bearing him, he responds that those who hear God and obey are more blessed (Luke 11:27-28). Motherhood sanctifies, but women who cannot or will not be biological mothers are no less sanctified; likewise for women who may never be wives.
Just look at C.S. Lewis’ Sarah Smith in “The Great Divorce:” “Every young man or boy that met her became her son … Every girl that met her was her daughter. … Her motherhood was of a different kind. Those on whom it fell went back to their natural parents loving them more.”
Clearly, spiritual parenthood is not reserved only for a blessed few or only for women under 30. Not all of us will be married by a certain age or at all, but all of us are called to be spiritual mothers and fathers. That can be done in singleness. That can be done by choosing Christ right where we are now, for — whether or not anyone else ever chooses us — the one who matters most already has.
Oftentimes, well-meaning folks will point to Genesis 2:18 and the fact that it’s “not good for man to be alone” as if that’s condemnation of singleness. It’s true that God gave Adam his Eve, when he saw that he was lonely. It’s also true that God sent Jesus no wife, and that was also good. Jesus — the new Adam and the perfect man, the Son of God — knows firsthand the full gamut of human emotions and is no stranger to loneliness, and yet he never had a wife.
It is possible for us too to know deep and profound loneliness and perhaps never get married or get married much later. It’s also worth noting that God gave Eve to Adam in marriage before sin entered the world — which isn’t to say that marriage after the fall is sinful but rather that the world after the fall is sinful, and in our fallen state, not everyone will find a suitable spouse before the age of thirty or ever.
Perhaps most significant of all: if you’re saved, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you and so, while you may feel at times desperately lonely, you are never truly alone (John 14:16).
None of the above is meant to excuse being single due to vanity, pride or worldly desires. If you’re unmarried because you’ve been putting yourself first and not God, that’s not good, and it’s probably not blessed. But only you and the Lord know if that’s the cause for your situation; random men on X (formerly Twitter) who are unmarried themselves don’t — and frankly, they’d do well to account for their own singleness before accounting for others.
I’m not dismissing very valid concerns over declining marriage and family rates. Particularly here in the states, strong families are foundational to our freedom and American way of life. This is a crisis not to be ignored. But nor are we to remove God from the crisis.
We are not to pass judgment when we have planks in our own eyes. We are not to pretend we know better than him or to add addendums to his unchanging word. We are not to add arbitrary, secular cut-offs of 30 years when no such specifications exist in the Bible, nor are we to scapegoat women for all our problems when God’s command for marriage and for sex is the same for men and women both.
The world may go easier on unmarried, promiscuous men. God does not. And biological realities exist, of course, and they’re different for women than they are men. But there’s a difference between acknowledging biological realities and putting words in God’s mouth. Singleness isn’t a curse, a sin, or a failure. In the eyes of the world, it might be — especially for women. But not in the eyes of God.
If we’re ever to right this sinking ship in which we find ourselves all jostled about, it’ll be by pointing to God instead of pointing fingers at each other. Marriage is good. But it’s not required for repentance, salvation or to be in obedience to him. And the only real and lasting marriage is the one we find in him.
by dap | Jul 13, 2025 | Fox News
History pivots on moments measured in millimeters and July 13, 2024, was no exception. On that summer afternoon in Pennsylvania, an
struck President
, tragically killed Corey Comperatore, and grievously wounded David Dutch and James Copenhaver. What could have been a catastrophic rupture in the trajectory of our country instead became the moment that inspired a nation and rallied an electorate. Bloodied but unbowed, President Trump’s survival demonstrated the resilience that would define his path back to the White House and change the course of American history.
But this was no random act of violence. It was an assault on the very foundation of our republic—the premise that Americans can disagree without destroying each other. That the ballot box, not a bullet, determines our leaders.
As we commemorate the
of this defining moment, we do so with clear-eyed determination and steeled resolve. We honor the bravery of law enforcement officers, first responders, and medical personnel, whose swift actions on that day saved countless lives. We also unequivocally condemn political violence.
But acknowledgment without action is hollow. That is why we introduced a resolution to solemnly mark the one-year anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Trump. This resolution not only condemns the multiple attempts against the President’s life, but also all those who incite violence against political officials. This resolution also honors the victims of the shooting.
Political violence and divisive rhetoric targeting elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, contradict American values, undermine the democratic process, and endanger the lives of public servants. Recent violent attacks against Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Minnesota State House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, and Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman are reprehensible and underscore that this is not a partisan problem—it is a national crisis.
In 2024 alone, the U.S. Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section investigated 9,474 threats and concerning statements directed at Members of Congress, their families, and staff. These are staggering statistics. In response, the Capitol Police recently launched a new Protective Intelligence Operations Center to better receive, process, and address this alarming volume of threats against Members of Congress. While this is a start in the right direction, we can and must do more to protect our members, families, staff, and all visitors on Capitol Hill.
House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil’s bipartisan efforts to fortify
are a great start to resolving this safety problem. This effort is about more than protecting our elected officials—it’s about preserving the institution itself.
In the wake of the day that nearly upended the free world, the Secret Service’s “no fail” mission takes on renewed urgency. That’s why Congress enacted, and President Trump
, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This historic legislation provides over $1 billion in critical funding to the Secret Service for personnel, training facilities, and technology. It also allocates $300 million to reimburse state and local law enforcement for the costs associated with protecting any nongovernmental residence of the President. The Secret Service is the lead agency for events designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security as National Special Security Events. The 2028 Summer Olympics have already been designated as a National Special Security Event and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocates $1 billion dollars for security, planning, and other costs associated with the 2028 Games.
Every political rally, every town hall, and every public gathering now carries the weight of that July afternoon. That day is a stark reminder that we must do everything we can to prevent political violence. The stability and future of our great nation are at stake.
Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican, represents Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional District and serves on the Ways and Means Committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Tax.
by dap | Jul 13, 2025 | Fox News
President Trump once famously quipped that he could shoot a man on 5th Avenue and his strongest supporters would stay with him. For nearly a decade this has seemed true, but today, the president may have stumbled on the exception, in the sickening form of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
It turns out that Epstein is a major test for Trump in the eyes of his MAGA warriors. They want real answers from this administration, not fumbled document dumps and dismissive comments from the president himself, as we saw this week.
Now, we have FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino who is apparently
over the debacle, if
doesn’t go first and a bewildered MAGA base that feels it is being insulted and lied to by its government, again.
To be sure, Epstein was an awful human being who preyed on poor underage girls for decades, according to testimony from the Ghislane Maxwell trial (which I covered in the courthouse), as well as a wealth of other evidence. But for most Americans, his crimes and suspicious death are a mere curiosity at this point.
It is much, much more for hard-core MAGA. For them, it is nothing less than a test to determine whether or not the Swamp that has lied to our faces for decades is still in control.
This week, Steve Bannon said the only way the Epstein story goes away is if “the 5 to 10 to 15 percent of the Trump movement, the Pepes and hardcores,” finally just say, “I’ve had enough of it.” He added that the basic question is, “who is running the country?”
Likewise, at the TPUSA convention in Florida this weekend, which is led by Trump ally Charlie Kirk and is as pure a distillation of the core MAGA movement as exists, my sources tell me that Epstein is very much the top topic of concern.
But why did this curious case of this infamous creep and his private island become a synecdoche for all government lies in the mind of MAGA? In other words, how did Epstein become the symbol of deep government corruption?
For one thing, the notion Epstein was allowed to kill himself inside a federal prison has always strained credulity. From missing video to conflicting medical exams, there have been legitimate questions about how a man rumored to have damaging information on powerful people and ties to the intelligence community could turn up dead in federal custody. While officials assured the nation there was nothing to see, MAGA seethed. “Epstein didn’t kill himself” became not just a meme and a mantra, but a declaration that we’ve been gaslit by our government.
There is also the matter of Bondi seeming to indicate that there was an Epstein client list in a Fox News Channel interview, only to now say it doesn’t exist. She says she was talking about the file writ large, but it didn’t sound that way at the time.
Bongino, in recent weeks, along with FBI Director Kash Patel, told us that a video from the prison is proof positive that this was suicide, but it turns out there was a missing minute of footage, and the video may have been doctored.
This was after Bondi all but hijacked a group of influencers in the spring at the White House, handing out binders purporting to share new bombshell information that turned out to be as exciting as a list of grandma’s baking recipes.
On top of all of this, we have President Trump himself,
, this week when asked about Epstein, “Are you still talking about this guy…this creep?” Trump asked. Well, yes, Mr. President, they are.
All in all, the administration’s handling of the Epstein case has been about as transparent as a brick wall, one that appears to be crumbling.
Trump has expressed concern in the past about innocent people being listed in Epstein documents, as happened to attorney Alan Dershowitz and others, and according to Elon Musk, both Trump and Bannon appear in this evidence, though
of this.
This may be a reasonable concern, but after decades of blatant lies and stalled prosecutions of Epstein, Trump’s hardcore supporters want more than assurances. They want to see the documents. They want to see everything.
And this is a central part of Trump’s appeal, his promise to open up the hood and expose the broken-down, deep-state engine of government. But promises are not enough. Where are the results? When are we going to Fort Knox as promised, for example?
A breathtaking hallmark of the second Trump term has been extreme transparency. The president takes questions almost daily, and answers with candor. Except, it seems, when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein.
For a quarter-century now, the Epstein case has been a combustible cocktail of power, greed, private islands and sexual abuse. It has ushered in both careful examination and wild conspiracy theories, and the only way to separate the two is with complete sunlight onto the evidence.
For President Trump, this may be the first time he is risking the loyalty of his longest, strongest supporters, and for a populist political movement that is pure poison.
The time to release everything is now, the future of MAGA may depend on it.
