World News

Israeli Hostage Releases Continue

Andrew Taylor

23 Feb 2025 — 6 min read

Under phase one of the Israel/Hamas deal, 33 hostages held by Hamas (women, children, elderly, and sick) will be released. So far, 25 have been freed. Hamas has made a spectacle of many of the releases, donning crisp, new uniforms and parading the hostages on stages, dressing them up in Hamas army uniforms and forcing them to thank their captors. Some of the released hostages have sparked outcry as they appear to have suffered badly under Hamas.

Our community in Israel continues to hold mobile fairs, more recently transitioning to holding them in settlements in the north where people who have been evacuated for 15 months are finally returning home. These same people met our brothers and sisters at fairs our church held in the past year. They are now asking our people to come to their kibbutz to help their people who were (and sometimes still are) scattered in the country to come back together as a community.

Vance Excoriates the E.U. at Munich Security Conference

Vice-President JD Vance took the mic at the Munich Security Conference to tell Europe that they face a threat “from within,” a “retreat” from the values they once shared with the U.S.

Vance called European Union officials "commissars" — a reference to the Soviet Union — and underlined their censoring of their citizens in the name of fighting disinformation and hate speech online.
He criticized Romania for annulling the results of its November 24 election, in which an obscure nationalist candidate rocketed to first place after a TikTok campaign that intelligence services blamed on Russia.
He condemned the legal convictions of a British man who prayed outside an abortion clinic, and of a Swedish man who participated in Quran burnings that led to his friend's murder.
Vance said that of all the challenges Europe faces, there's "nothing more urgent than mass migration" — and referenced an attack just before the conference by an Afghan asylum-seeker who rammed a car into a crowd.

An hour and a half later, Germany’s defense minister took the stage and pushed back against Vance’s remonstrations about free speech. “If I understood him correctly, he is comparing conditions in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regimes. That is unacceptable, and it is not the Europe and not the democracy in which I live and am currently campaigning.”

CBS 60 Minutes later released Sharyn Alfonsi’s recent interview with three German state prosecutors policing Germany’s hate speech laws. Transcript below:

INTERVIEWER: It's illegal to display Nazi symbolism, a swastika, or to deny the Holocaust. That's clear. Is it a crime to insult somebody in public?

SVENJA MEININGHAUS: Yes.

DR. MATTHÄUS FINK: [nods]

FRANK-MICHAEL LAUE: Yes, it is.

INTERVIEWER: And it's a crime to insult them online as well?

SVENJA MEININGHAUS: Yes.

DR. MATTHÄUS FINK: The fine could be even higher if you insult someone on the internet.

INTERVIEWER: Why?

DR. MATTHÄUS FINK: Because in internet, it stays there. If we are talking face to face, you insult me, I insult you, okay. Finish. But if you're in the internet, if I insult you or a politician…

INTERVIEWER: It sticks around forever?

DR. MATTHÄUS FINK: Yeah.

Trump Seeks Peace in Ukraine

President Trump has spoken with Russian President Putin, taking the first step in his attempt to end the war in Ukraine. Trump also spoke with Ukrainian President Zelensky.

At the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out a few requirements from the U.S. as the conflict relates to the E.U.

Ukraine won't become a NATO member.
U.S. troops won't help to enforce any postwar security guarantees.
Any European troops deployed to Ukraine for peacekeeping need to be on a "non-NATO mission," so that the U.S. would not be obligated to protect them.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff have now met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov in Riyadh in a meeting brokered by the Saudis.

President Trump has called Zelensky "a dictator without elections,” referring to the Ukrainian elections suspended by martial law and overdue by nearly a year. Zelensky fired back that Trump was in a “web of disinformation.”

Generally speaking, the plan on the table right now is to push for a ceasefire, then Ukrainian elections, then a final peace deal.

A map of the current conflict shows the portion of eastern Ukraine that Russia has taken. In any peace deal, Russia would likely keep at least the land they’ve taken so far.

Other News:

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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and five Pentagon officials out: “I want to thank General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family,” President Trump said on Truth Social. The president has also fired top Pentagon brass and counsel as he seeks to reinforce his vision at all levels of the government.
Musk’s Grok 3 AI model released: It may be better than all the competition, including ChatGPT and DeepSeek R1. However, it can’t yet read documents.
Most controversial picks confirmed: Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr. and Kash Patel have all been confirmed by the Senate and sworn into office, and all cabinet-level appointments have been confirmed. Elbridge Colby for undersecretary of policy at DOD remains the main controversial pick to still not be confirmed.
Egg prices continue to rise: Thanks to the H5N1 killing birds all over the country, the average price for a dozen Grade A large eggs reached $4.95 in January 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, marking a new record high and a 19.5% increase from December 2024’s $4.15. Eggs have historically been the cheapest form of protein. But with these prices, it’s now almost a better deal to have a burger for breakfast than an omelet! Another option: get chickens. 11 million U.S. households now have backyard chickens (making them the country's third most popular pet—if you consider them as such). This is a significant increase from 2018, when only 5.8 million U.S. households kept backyard chickens.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams controversy: Then-candidate Trump said on the campaign trail that he believed the federal charges of corruption against Adams were politically motivated. The DOJ has now moved to dismiss the charges. This move to dismiss sparked controversy, with allegations that it was a political deal related to immigration enforcement. The decision triggered resignations from both DOJ prosecutors and Adams's deputy mayors. New York Governor Kathy Hochul is considering taking action to remove Mayor Adams herself, and met this week in NYC with leaders to plan such a move.
Fogel released: Steve Witkoff, an envoy and negotiator for President Trump, has secured the release of Marc Fogel from Russia. Fogel, a U.S. citizen who taught in Russia, came home last week.
Conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair is now suing Elon Musk: She rocked the MAGA-world this week with the revelation that she’d given birth to the 13th known child of the billionaire a few months ago. It was shown that she’d planned for years to ensnare Musk, and she’s now suing to prove the paternity and get sole custody of the child (and likely to lock in child support, too).
Trucks are just too expensive: The average price of a new truck in January peaked at $59,684, and SUVs sold for an average of $47,667, according to Cox Automotive. Cars, meanwhile, sold for an average of $39,233.
Delta regional plane lands and flips upside down: Earlier this week a regional Bombardier CRJ-900 jet operated by Endeavor Air crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport after departing from Minneapolis. During landing, around 2:15 P.M. local time, under windy and snowy conditions, the plane touched down forcefully, skidded across the runway at over 100 mph, burst into flames, and flipped upside down, losing its right wing. Miraculously, all 80 people on board—76 passengers and 4 crew members—survived, though 21 were injured, three critically. Delta has offered each passenger $30,000 with no strings attached as compensation for the terrifying ordeal.
Some Random Local Waco BBQ News: Guess BBQ has closed, now only accepting catering orders. Helberg BBQ is reopening March 8-9, after being closed down when their facilities caught fire.
Whale of a tale: If you ever meet someone doubtful of the Biblical story of Jonah, you can show them this video of a whale swallowing a Chilean kayaker whole, then spitting him out. “I thought I was dead,” the boater reportedly said after his miraculous survival. “I thought it had eaten me.”