Archive · The Second Question

Archive

One page every 24 hours. Each one is written so that it’s still worth reading long after its headline is gone.

Published

No. 56 The game you cannot play in28 Oct 2026 · Yahoo Sports and MLB.com reported the Rays’ twelve-inning win in Game Four of the World Series on Tuesday night, with the Brewers still ahead three games to one. What a result a fan cannot touch does to him, and what the psalmist says about the war horse.
No. 55 The ballot you are not holding27 Oct 2026 · Israel National News and NBC News reported on election day that nearly a third of eligible Israelis had voted by noon, ahead of the 2022 pace. The hope a reader hangs on a stranger’s count, and what Psalm 146 says about princes.
No. 54 The argument that came before the shots26 Oct 2026 · NBC News and ABC News reported twelve people hurt near the stadium at Florida A&M University on Saturday night, with a fifteen-year-old arrested on Sunday. The fight a reader is still having, and what the Lord said to Cain at the door.
No. 53 What the clergy were told to say25 Oct 2026 · The AP reported on Saturday an eight-hundred-million-dollar settlement between the Archdiocese of New York and about thirteen hundred people who say clergy sexually abused them. The sentence a churchgoer keeps for the day his own church is in the news, and what Paul asked the church in Corinth.
No. 52 The column marked eighty-five and over24 Oct 2026 · The AP reported on 22 October an Imperial College London and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine estimate of 50,391 heat deaths in 854 European cities this summer, with 22,502 of the dead aged eighty-five or older. What the age column lets a reader off, and the man of eighty-five who asked for a hill.
No. 51 The mother outside the Supreme Court23 Oct 2026 · South Korea’s Supreme Court made final four years for the chief executive of Aricell on 20 October, after a fire that killed twenty-three workers. What the sum of years does to a reader before the reasons arrive, and the psalm on a price no one can pay.
No. 50 The teacher Russia let go22 Oct 2026 · Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a retired schoolteacher from Michigan, on 21 October after more than four years in custody. What the argument over who gets the thanks does to a reader’s gladness for a stranger, and the older brother who would not go in to the feast.
No. 49 The pledge with a date on it21 Oct 2026 · The White House repeated on 20 October that no attack on Iran will come before the midterm elections on 3 November. What a date on a war does to the reader who starts counting, and what Jesus told the disciples to do when they heard of wars.
No. 48 The fire a kilometre away20 Oct 2026 · A grass fire the training leaders knew of reached a Canadian infantry range in Alberta on 17 October, and four soldiers died. What the verdict about who should have acted does to the reader before the inquiry reports, and what Job’s friends got wrong.
No. 47 The roof that fell in at Limoges19 Oct 2026 · Masked groups burned the city hall in Limoges on 17 October at the end of a march of about 550,000 across France over living costs. What the footage does to the reader watching, and what Jesus said about the Galileans Pilate killed.
No. 46 The post he took down18 Oct 2026 · A professional dancer wrote a TikTok line about the Oscars slap after a judge flagged a lift in his wife’s samba, then deleted it and apologized on 15 October. What the reply does inside a reader, and the question Jesus asked the officer who struck him.
No. 45 The family at the end of the list17 Oct 2026 · A sixteen-year-old shot three children and a teacher at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, on 15 October, and two adults stopped him. Whom the reader stands beside and whom he looks down on, and the king who wept for a son who made war.
No. 44 The classroom under the second roof16 Oct 2026 · A school roof fell on a classroom in Peshawar on 15 October, and a hospital official counted thirty-three dead. What the hunt for a name does inside the reader, and what the LORD told Job’s friends about the reasons they supplied.
No. 43 The result that arrived during the operation15 Oct 2026 · The Vatican said on 13 October that Pope Leo XIV has lung adenocarcinoma, confirmed during an operation in Rome. What a stranger’s diagnosis stirs up in the reader’s own dread, and the king who turned his face to the wall.
No. 42 The companion with a sale date14 Oct 2026 · Character.AI filed for bankruptcy with roughly twelve million active users and a sale expected by early December. The sneer, the grief, and where God sent Elijah when he thought he was the only one left.
No. 41 The earthquake nobody died in13 Oct 2026 · A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck central Panama on 9 October, and officials counted twenty-seven injured and no dead. What a loss without a funeral does to the reader, and the kingdom Hebrews says cannot be shaken.
No. 40 Eight passports at one airport12 Oct 2026 · Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority counted twelve dead and 309 wounded at Riyadh’s main airport on Saturday, and listed the dead by passport. What a list of nationalities does to the reader, and the prophet who wanted a city to get what was coming.
No. 39 A verdict ahead of the footage11 Oct 2026 · A federal immigration officer shot a man in his car in New York on 8 October, and ICE and the city police describe the seconds before the shot differently. Why the verdict arrives before the footage, and the answer Joshua got at Jericho.
No. 38 One o’clock on the third of December10 Oct 2026 · The Army has set a firing squad execution at Fort Hood for 3 December, and the Pentagon says the public can watch it live. What a date and a start time do to the reader who is invited to look.
No. 37 The flat she was carried out of9 Oct 2026 · An eighty-seven-year-old woman evicted from her Madrid apartment died in a hospital two weeks later, and her lawyer gave no cause. What her name is being used for, and what the pull to take a side does to the reader.
No. 36 The bus stop in Kramatorsk8 Oct 2026 · A bomb hit a bus stop in eastern Ukraine, and officials count at least thirty dead. What the figure does to the reader who reaches for a verdict, and to the one who wants the other side to pay.
No. 35 The search the Coast Guard called off7 Oct 2026 · A medical jet from Bermuda lost contact off Nantucket on 3 October and the Coast Guard searched for sixty-six hours. What the radio call does to the reader afraid for his own mother, and to the one who wants the cause settled.
No. 34 The outbreak that hasn’t reached you6 Oct 2026 · CDC calls the Ebola outbreak in Congo the second-largest on record and the risk to Americans low. What the news does to the reader who checks his forehead and to the one who feels nothing.
No. 33 The degree you were counting on5 Oct 2026 · Gallup found a record-low 31% of Americans calling a college education very important, down from 70% in 2013. What the number does to the parent who saved for one and the graduate who owes for one.
No. 32 The people who fall for it4 Oct 2026 · Pew found 87% of Americans saying the internet and social media have made people easier to manipulate with false information. The picture a reader has in mind when he agrees, and what it is doing to him.
No. 31 Nine in the letters, fourteen in the ground3 Oct 2026 · A Milwaukee boarding school wrote the government about nine dead girls, and researchers found fourteen graves. What a late count does to the people reading it.
No. 30 The sentence that did not finish2 Oct 2026 · Tennessee tried to execute Christa Pike on 30 September and she left the prison in an ambulance. The story gets at the people who wanted it done and the people who wanted it stopped.
No. 29 The storm that came ashore smaller1 Oct 2026 · Hurricane Polo peaked at 180 miles an hour and came ashore at 110; its rain went on into the Southwest, and so did the verdicts on the warning.
No. 28 The question the court left open30 Sept 2026 · Texas’ highest criminal court ended the Crystal Mason voting case on 24 September without saying what she knew, five judges to four
No. 27 Born somewhere between Taiz and Aden29 Sept 2026 · About 130,000 displaced in Yemen in a few weeks; more than 2,700 pregnant, some 300 due within two weeks
No. 26 The base down the road28 Sept 2026 · Five arrested near RAF Fairford and about 85 households evacuated; police have named no sponsor
No. 25 The bet you placed to cover it27 Sept 2026 · More than half of sports bettors say they’ve wagered hoping the payout would cover a bill, a U.S. News survey found, and a fifth were betting toward rent.
No. 24 The warning nobody passed on26 Sept 2026 · British Columbia sues OpenAI over Tumbler Ridge; the company banned the shooter’s account and did not call police
No. 23 The call you don’t pick up25 Sept 2026 · A third of Americans with private health insurance are still paying off medical debt, and about one in four of them already has it with a collection agency.
No. 22 What they found in his hair24 Sept 2026 · DNA from Jefferson’s own hair adds to the evidence he fathered Sally Hemings’s children
No. 21 The license you didn’t hand over23 Sept 2026 · A dark web listing advertised 153 million stolen driver’s license scans this month, from a company most people have never heard of.
No. 20 The worry that clocks in with you22 Sept 2026 · A new PNC survey found workers spend 3.5 hours a week worrying about money on the clock, and only a third could back up their own confidence with real financial knowledge.
No. 19 The war you stopped counting21 Sept 2026 · A drone kills a mother and two toddlers near Kyiv the same night drones hit Moscow
No. 18 The lettuce you already ate20 Sept 2026 · CDC closed the largest outbreak of its kind on record on 11 September, 12,883 cases and 2 deaths, weeks after most people had already eaten what made them sick.
No. 17 The bill you can’t argue with19 Sept 2026 · Utilities filed a record $9.2 billion in rate increase requests this spring, on top of $31 billion last year, and 80% say they feel powerless to control any of it.
No. 16 The rule you want someone else to make18 Sept 2026 · The EU proposes keeping under-13s off social media; 65% of U.S. parents back an under-16 ban
No. 15 The payment that only covers the interest17 Sept 2026 · The Fed raised rates Tuesday for the first time since 2023, on top of $1.26 trillion in credit card debt already near a record.
No. 14 The four who became an argument16 Sept 2026 · Pennsylvania counts four measles deaths this year; the federal count does not match
No. 13 The grandchild who never called15 Sept 2026 · Elder fraud losses hit $7.7 billion last year, and the newest version of the scam uses a voice cloned from something already online.
No. 12 The years everyone needs you at once14 Sept 2026 · A quarter of US adults are now caring for an aging parent and a child at the same time, and it peaks above half in your 40s.
No. 11 The one who does the worrying13 Sept 2026 · A widening gap in who can afford care by sex, and the one person in most houses who ends up carrying the fear alone.
No. 10 The boy on top of the hull12 Sept 2026 · A fifteen-year-old found on an overturned boat in the Bering Sea; two others died
No. 9 The password your spouse doesn’t have11 Sept 2026 · A bank survey finds 59% of adults scared or embarrassed to talk money with a partner, and 30% have hidden a financial decision.
No. 8 The net underneath a job you still have10 Sept 2026 · The August jobs report was solid. Days later, fear of a bad economy hit its highest point since a pandemic shut the country down.
No. 7 Ten minutes, twice a day9 Sept 2026 · Nearly half the country says it is cutting back on the news, and the anxiety numbers say that is not holding yet.
No. 6 The form your son will never fill out8 Sept 2026 · Automatic draft registration arrives by December; no draft has been called
No. 5 When your family stopped talking about anything else7 Sept 2026 · About a third of Americans have ended a relationship over politics, and the midterms are 8 weeks out.
No. 4 The appointment you did not make6 Sept 2026 · Insurers have filed for another double-digit increase, and a quarter of adults have already put off treatment over the cost.
No. 3 The child you cannot reach6 Sept 2026 · New phone rules meet a new school year. The argument is about attention, and the fear underneath it is about being able to reach your child.
No. 2 The thousand you scrolled past5 Sept 2026 · A glacier collapse on the Nepal-China border; 1,300+ dead, 5,000+ missing, three pulled alive from a tunnel
No. 1 The layoff that hasn’t come4 Sept 2026 · AI job fear hit a record high in the same month that layoffs fell to their lowest level in 4 years.

Scheduled

ScheduledPraying for a country you are angry atHeld for the week after the midterms. On praying for people you are angry at, and what that does to the anger over time.

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