STAFF NEWS: Look Who Is ‘Movin’ On Up’ On The Hill This Week

Courtesy of Legistorm:

Eric Shalloway is moving up to Staff Assistant for Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), after serving the Florida representative as an Intern. Eric received his BA in public policy earlier this year from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Danielle Cohen (Screenshot from Facebook).

Danielle Cohen is the new Communications Director for Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Danielle previously was the acting CD for Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo) and before that was DeGette’s Digital Press Secretary. Danielle received an MA in media and communications in 2018 from George Washington University and a BA from GWU in 2017 in political communications.

Jessica Martinez takes over as Legislative Director for Rep. Mark Veazey (D-TX) following three years as a Special Adviser to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Member Jessica Rosenworcel. Martinez graduated in 2013 from the University of Utah with a BA in French studies and international and global studies.

Promoted from Legislative Director to Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) is James Hampson. He’s a 2012 graduate of Penn State with a BA in public relations and sociology.

Over on the Senate side of the Capitol, Maria Jeffrey has been promoted from Press Secretary to Director of Speech-Writing and Strategic Communications for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Maria is a 2011 graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati with a BA in classics and classical languages, literatures and linguistics.

LOOKING FOR A HILL JOB?

Check out this five-part HillFaith series by Bret Bernhardt, former chief of staff for Senators Don Nickle (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). Bernhardt has a wealth of experience, insider insight, how-tos and obscure terms (know what a “golden reference” is on the Hill?), plus lots of helpful links.

The Best Resources for Finding a Job On the Hill

Where Your Best Job Lead is on Capitol Hill May Surprise You

Getting in the Door on Capitol Hill

Here’s Nine Valuable Tips for Interviewing Well on Capitol Hill

Working on Capitol Hill is the World’s Best Job (Or at Least My Best Ever)

 

Democrats Dominate Top 50 House Members On Staff Spending; Check Out Major Position Average$

Democrats occupy 21 of the top 25 and 35 of the top 50 slots in a ranking of how much each member of the House of Representatives in the 116th Congress has spent through the first quarter of 2020 on salaries for staff members, according to data compiled by Legistorm.

Chart by Legistorm.

Rep. Ted Deutsch (D-Fla.) ranks number one in the ranking. Deutsch has spent $336,511 on 17 staff members, representing 87.4 percent of his total available office budget. The House average is 82.8 percent.

Deutsch has a seven-member staff in his D.C. office, with an additional nine working in three offices in his Florida district. Continue reading “Democrats Dominate Top 50 House Members On Staff Spending; Check Out Major Position Average$”

Are Moral Truths More Reliable Than The Claims Of Science?

The headline above no doubt strikes more than a few of its readers as impossible to prove or, worse, just plain non-sensical and therefore not worthy of serious consideration.

But, as Erik Manning asks in a recent post,  which of the following two statements put forth by Christian philosopher J.P. Moreland would you say is more certain to be the Truth?

  1. Electrons exist.
  2. Torturing babies is always and everywhere wrong.

Before you answer, did you know that there was a time not that long ago when the way electrons were described by reputable scientists would make no sense to today? Now ask yourself how that compares to the certainty that it is always and everywhere evil to torture babies?

Why should somebody working on Capitol Hill for a senator or representative ponder this stuff? Because you are part of the law-making process in this country and it is crucially important that those who make the law understand the nature of reality as fully and logically as possible.

So take a few minutes to read and ponder Manning’s analysis. It may even help you resolve the issue the next time your boss asks you “how should I vote when this issue comes to the floor?”

Go here for the full Manning.

Yes, Your Smartphone Illustrates Why Design Requires A Designer

“Have you ever composed a text message on your smartphone and had the app suggest the next word? It is amazing that, many times, the app is correct. How does it work? By sheer chance? Or by reading your mind?

After reading the linked article, this photo will make sense!

“The fact that technology can often predict the next word you are going to type is possible only because your text message comes from your mind. The sentence you type is informative and meaningful because it is intelligently designed and therefore predictable.

“Scientists have recently found similar predictability in biochemical systems. Does this similarity mean that biochemistry is also intelligently designed? Before answering this question, let us look at one way that mathematicians characterize information in the sentences we type.”

Those are the opening three graphs of a fascinating analysis on Reasons To Believe by Dr. Zachary Leung on biochemistry and the case for Intelligent Design of the universe. Some of it may be a little dense for general readers, but if I figured it out, odds are you will as well. Guaranteed to give you a lot to think about.

Go here for the rest.

No, God And The Flying Spaghetti Monster Are Not The Same

Among the most powerful ways of demoralizing or belittling an opponent is to mock their position. It’s not one I recommend, but it is the source of a particular kind of argument one hears from time to time from atheists in discussion with Christians.

“Believing in God makes about as much logical sense as believing in the Flying Spaghetti Monster,” is one form of mockery that, as cold-casechristianity.com’s J. Warner Wallace points out, was first heard in 2005 during debates in Kansas over whether to include Intelligent Design evidence as an alternative to evolutionary theory in public schools.

The most unfortunate aspect of this retort is the fact that Christianity, unlike any other world religion, is based on a fact in history for which there is significant evidence that can be assessed, verified and then accepted or rejected. And that makes all the difference:

 

‘Critical Theory’ Is A Disastrous, Unbiblical Worldview

This is a lengthy discussion between journalist Allie Beth Stuckey and Christian apologist/theoretical chemist Dr. Neil Shenvi on “Critical Theory.”

Dr. Neil Shenvi, shenviapologetics.com

If you have a pulse, active brain waves and have watched TV or participated in social media in recent months, you’ve been surrounded by commentary and analyses derived from Critical Theory or one of its derivatives, most likely Critical Race Theory.

Shenvi is one of those rare academics who excels in the sciences and also has a voluminous understanding of philosophy, apologetics and politics. Yes, it’s a lengthy discussion, but I guarantee you will come away challenged to think more critically — no pun intended — about Critical Theory:

All about clouds!

Bet you didn’t know clouds were so prominent in the world’s oldest and most widely read book:

The End Time

By Elizabeth Prata

Clouds. They’re there.

Every day.

They’re beautiful. They make the skies dynamic. They are a landscape all their own which changes every day, sometimes every minute. Maybe we should call them an ‘airscape.’ In the Hebrew, the ancient root of the word cloud meant ‘covering’, which is apt.

Have you ever noticed how often clouds are mentioned in the Bible? And not just related to the weather, though there are those references too. No, when clouds are mentioned, they mean different things, spiritual things. Let’s take a look.

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THINK ABOUT THIS: Friday’s Poached Egg

Then Jesus said:

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die — ever.” John 11:25.

And C.S. Lewis said:

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

“You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

 

STAFF NEWS: Look Who’s Movin’ On Up The Hill This Week

Courtesy of Legistorm:

Jeffrey Bozman takes over as Counsel to the House Armed Services Committee, working for the chairman, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA). Jeffrey was formerly a lobbyist working for Covington & Burling. Jeffrey earned his law degree in 2012 from the College of William & Mary Law School and his BA in public and international affairs in 2005 from Princeton University.

Will Henrichs (Screenshot from Facebook).

Making the big move from the Senate side to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue is now former Press Assistant to Sen. Roy Blount (R-MO), Will Henrichs. Will is assuming the duties of Associate Travel Manager in the Executive Office of the President. Will is a 2018 Liberty University graduate with a BA in Government and International Relations.

Kate LaBorde is now Chief of Staff to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), after serving for three years as the Arizonan’s Legislative Director. Kate’s BS in political science was awarded in 2009 from Spring Hill College.

Joe Rizzo moves up to Chief of Staff for Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) after a stint as Reed’s Adviser. Joe received a BA in English in 1986 from the State University of New York in Buffalo and his law degree in 1989 from the University of Buffalo Law School.

LOOKING FOR A HILL JOB?

Check out this five-part HillFaith series by Bret Bernhardt, former chief of staff for Senators Don Nickle (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). Bernhardt has a wealth of experience, insider insight, how-tos and obscure terms (know what a “golden reference” is on the Hill?), plus lots of helpful links.

The Best Resources for Finding a Job On the Hill

Where Your Best Job Lead is on Capitol Hill May Surprise You

Getting in the Door on Capitol Hill

Here’s Nine Valuable Tips for Interviewing Well on Capitol Hill

Working on Capitol Hill is the World’s Best Job (Or at Least My Best Ever)

 

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY: Is Porn Just Harmless Entertainment?

Colson Center’s latest “What Would You Say” video explodes the common idea that pornography is harmless because it’s either a victimless crime or merely another form of entertainment.

Screenshot from “Porn Is Just Harmless Entertainment”

In fact, there is such a thing as porn addiction, no less so than there are alcohol, cocaine and gambling addictions. The physical evidence of porn addiction is measurable in the brain.

It gets comparatively little media coverage these days, but there are millions of Americans who are thoroughly addicted to porn, with disastrous social, emotional and economic consequences. Here are three solid reasons porn is nothing to play around with:

DON’T MISS ANDREW KLAVAN EXPLAINS HOW HE MET MESSIAH

 

Former Agnostic Andrew Klavan On How He Met The Messiah

Andrew Klavan is known to millions of Americans as a best-selling author (“Empire of Lies” and much, much more), as well as host of a superb series of video commentaries for PJ Media, “Klavan on the Culture.”

I’ve long been a Klavan fan because he invariably makes me think in unexpected ways, he breaks me up with his wonderfully peculiar humor, and he’s just such an irresistibly articulate, thoughtful guy.

In the following video, Klavan reveals a side of himself that may come as a complete surprise to many, and perhaps a shock to quite a few as well.  And in the process of doing so, Klavan shares the deepest, most important thing he ever could:

 

THINK ABOUT THIS: All Religions Can Be False But They Can’t All Be True

How often have you heard or thought “all religions are essentially true, they all say the same basic stuff, and in the end, when all is said and done, they all lead to God?

In fact, if you know the core beliefs of the world’s five most popular religions, you know there are a bunch of claims that just plain flat out contradict each other. Buddhism, for example, teaches there is no personal God, while Christianity insists there is and His name is Jesus.

Biola University Professor Sean McDowell takes up the claim that all religions are true, shows a bunch of the contradictions among them, then provides the solution to knowing which one is the only one that can be true for all eternity:

 

The Moment: Confronting The Prospect Of Death By COVID – An Update

If you read this last week, you may be interested to know this: The test came back negative. You bet I am praising God!

See below for video of HillFaith staff upon receiving the news:

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While You’re Here, Check Out Latest ‘I Am Second’

I AM SECOND: Next Time You Think You’ve Got It Bad

Everybody has tough days, bad days, days we’d rather just forget.

Then there are folks like Darrin Ray who has had more than his share of such days, beginning before his birth even. Inevitably, the time came when he just wanted to die.

But this story is unlike any you’ve ever heard before. And be forewarned, there’s a lot of Darrin’s story that is hard to listen to without tears, disbelief and anger: