Join conversations that matter to you
Technology can make knowing the truth more difficult — but we should always have asked more questions about what we read Source
England saw its warmest June since records began in 1865 and the second warmest for the whole of the UK according to data just released by the Met Office
Great Books are back on everyone’s mind. Christopher Nolan is making a film about one. Many fear a sacrilege—with good reason: Nolan is reported to approve of Emily Wilson’s. The post Great Books Are Not Good for Everyone appeared first on First Things
Former special counsel Jack Smith believes the Trump administration will indict him, he said during congressional testimony on Thursday. Why it matters: Smith's prediction follows the Trump administration's repeated prosecution of the president's political enemies. President Trump has called Smith a criminal. Driving the news: Hours into the public hearing, Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) asked Smith if he thinks the Justice Department would "find some way" to indict him. "I believe they will do everything in their power to do that because they have been ordered to by the president," Smith said. Balint responded, "That is very concerning." Context: Smith's Thursday testimony was his first public defense of Trump's prosecution. He previously testified before the panel in an eight-hour, closed-door session but sought an open forum to defend the investigation. Friction point: Trump, earlier in the afternoon, wrote on Truth Social that he hoped Attorney General Pam Bondi was "looking at what he's done." "Deranged Jack Smith is being DECIMATED before Congress," Trump wrote. " The president added Smith "shouldn't be allowed to practice Law." The White House referred Axios to Trump's Truth Social posts. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. The latest: "Trump has a playbook for how he handles people who try to hold him accountable," Balint said in her exchange with Smith. "I think the statements are meant to intimidate me," Smith said. "I will not be intimidated. I think these statements are also made as a warning to others — what will happen if they stand up.""We followed the facts and we followed the law and that process resulted in proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed serious crimes," he added. "I'm not going to pretend that didn't happen because he's threatening me." Go deeper: Jack Smith makes first public defense of Trump indictments
In 2026, here's what you can expect from the AI industry: new architectures, smaller models, world models, reliable agents, physical AI, and products designed for real-world use
Bethany Christian Services, long described as the country’s largest Protestant adoption and foster care agency, will no longer allow LGBTQ couples to foster or adopt. In a press release posted Wednesday, the Michigan-based agency announced that its board voted to “clarify and reinforce” its Christian faith commitments. Those changes require staff and board members to Read more. The post Bethany Christian Will No Longer Allow LGBTQ Parents to Foster and Adopt appeared first on Christianity Today
Jenny Espino had bariatric surgery in 2006, when she was 20 years old and weighed 271 pounds. After the surgery, she lost over 100 pounds and maintained that weight loss until 2020, through the ups and downs of having children. Then, said the mom of four in southern California, “I got a back injury from Read more. The post Christians Debate Drugs vs. Discipline in the Age of Ozempic appeared first on Christianity Today
This piece was adapted from CT’s books newsletter. Subscribe here. John Anthony Dunne and Jeannine K. Brown, The Greatest Story Ever Retold: Envisioning Jesus Narratives from Gospels to Film (Baker Academic, 2026) In a bid to forestall the unthinking consumption of deceptively slick misrepresentations, many a pastor and parent issue knee-jerk prohibitions whenever the film industry Read more. The post What Makes a Jesus Movie Faithful to the Gospels? appeared first on Christianity Today
Yoko Li and Justine Moore speak with Ideogram founder and CEO Mohammad Norouzi about image generation models, design workflows, and the evolving relationship between AI and creative work. The conversation covers Ideogram's decision to release an open-weight model, the challenges of generating text and layouts within images, and why controllability has become an increasingly important area of research. They discuss prompting, customization, editing, and the tradeoffs between general-purpose mo...