Too Many Christmas Birds - Randy Lubas

Media Matters reviewed print and online articles from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, as well as weekday episodes of ABC's Good Morning America and World News Tonight, CBS' Mornings and Evening News, and NBC's Today and Nightly News and the networks' Sunday morning political talk shows (ABC's This Week, CBS' Face the Nation, and NBC's Meet the Press) from November 12 through December 8 for articles and segments about Jeffery Epstein. Out of 102 print and 194 online articles, we found that just 8% and 6%, respectively, mentioned any connection between Epstein and Bannon. For broadcast news, not a single segment out of 67 covering Epstein (amounting to just over 3 hours) mentioned his connection to Bannon at all.

During a Saturday service project at Casa de Dios church, a normal day of cooking, clearing the woods, and children playing soccer was shattered when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents moved in unexpectedly. As terrified congregants fled into the trees or hid inside, agents detained an El Salvadoran church member, deporting him ten days later and leaving behind his wife and adult children. "It was a normal day," recalled Pastor Victor Ramirez. "We heard the news about ICE, but we said, 'this is a safe place.' We were not doing anything; we are not criminals." The November incident was part of a broader enforcement sweep dubbed "Operation Charlotte's Web," which has ignited a firestorm in Charlotte's vibrant immigrant community and raised a profound crisis for faith leaders: Can the government freely pursue immigration enforcement within the walls of a church?

Over the past few Sunday mornings, I was part of a soul-care cohort at our church. Repeatedly, the pastor leading the class would ask, "How is your soul?" At the start, he gave us a self-assessment to take that left many of us feeling frantic, frazzled by our own answers and our sense of urgency around improvement. Pastor Steve, sensing the frenetic energy in the room, gently called us back to the present, reminding us to slow down, pay attention, and ask God what he wants us to see and how we can invite him here.

Homan to Catholic Leaders: Illegal Immigration Isn't Victimless Read more about Homan to Catholic Leaders: Illegal Immigration Isn't Victimless

In a campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania on Dec. 9, President Donald Trump honed a message of "lower prices, bigger paychecks" ahead of next year's midterm elections. Some of his talking points on the economy missed the mark. The president falsely claimed he had "inherited the worst inflation" in U.S. history and that it "stopped" since he returned to the White House. The worst inflation period occurred after World War I, and inflation was up 3% for the 12-month period ending in September. Trump was right to say that oil prices had declined, but the data are mixed for "energy prices," a phrase he also used. The national average for a regular gallon of gasoline is $2.94. Trump claimed it was at $1.99 in three or four states, but no state average is that low. Some individual gas stations advertised such prices in four states.

Striking an uncharacteristically bipartisan tone, the US president, Donald Trump, said that Republicans and Democrats could work together on healthcare, as insurance premiums look likely to soar in January. Speaking at last night's Congressional ball, Trump said: "I really believe we can work on healthcare together and come up with something that's going to be much better, much less expensive for the people, less expensive for our nation. But really, most importantly, better and less expensive for the people." Earlier on Thursday, the Senate rejected competing proposals by Republicans and Democrats to address a looming healthcare crisis, which could leave 24 million Americans vulnerable to significantly higher costs from 1 January, when insurance premiums through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, are on course to more than double.