Below are this week's Articles of Interest as compiled by Mr. Van Baker. This collection of articles is cultivated by Mr. Baker with the goal of highlighting some of the trends, upheavals, and things to watch for in our society. These articles are not necessarily the express views of the United Church of God, Mr. Baker, or me as the pastor, but they are informative of what is occurring in our nation and culture. In accordance with Christ's warning to correctly discern the times (Matthew 16:1-4), it is wise to be aware of what is going on around us. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Treasury just [sort of] declared the U.S. insolvent – The U.S. government is insolvent. That’s not hyperbole — it’s the conclusion drawn directly from the Treasury Department’s own consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2025, released last week to near-total media silence. The numbers: $6.06 trillion in total assets against $47.78 trillion in total liabilities as of September 30, 2025. Importantly, the $47.78 trillion in reported liabilities does not include the unfunded obligations of social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare — those are disclosed separately in the off-balance-sheet Statement of Social Insurance (SOSI).
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/treasury-just-declared-u-insolvent-151425143.html

What Do Americans Consider Immoral? – Republicans and Democrats differ sharply on whether abortion, homosexuality and the death penalty are morally wrong.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/19/what-do-americans-consider-immoral/

New Study Reveals 28 More Mysterious “Gilgal Refaim [wheel of giants]” in Golan – For decades, the Gilgal Refaim — the Wheel of Giants — stood as one of the ancient world’s great riddles, a colossal circle of 40,000 tons of basalt rock on the Golan Heights that seemed to belong to no known civilization and served no agreed-upon purpose. Scholars called it "unique." They were wrong. A new study published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE has entirely upended that assumption. Using high-resolution satellite imagery collected over two decades — from 2004 through 2024 — a multidisciplinary team of Israeli and international archaeologists and physicists identified 28 large circular stone structures within a 25-kilometer radius of Gilgal Refaim, all sharing striking architectural similarities with the famous site. This discovery forces a fundamental rethinking of who built these structures, why, and what they tell us about the people who walked this land thousands of years before the modern world arrived. The Bible itself offers a clue hiding in the name. The Hebrew Gilgal Refaim carries enormous weight in Scripture. The Refaim were a race of giants who inhabited Canaan before the Israelites arrived. Og, the king of Bashan — the very region where Gilgal Refaim stands — is described in Deuteronomy 3:11 as the last survivor of this race. If a nation of such giants once dominated the Golan — building massive stone structures across a 25-kilometer radius — the archaeological record now being uncovered through satellite imagery fits that biblical picture with startling precision. A single monument built by an unknown people is a curiosity. Twenty-eight such monuments concentrated in one region are the signature of a civilization.
https://israel365news.com/416963/new-study-reveals-28-more-mysterious-gilgal-refaim-in-golan/

Who Were the Babylonians? – The Babylonians are certainly one of the Bible’s biggest "baddies," but they were also one of history’s greatest empires. So, who were the Babylonians?
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/who-were-the-babylonians/

CBS News Radio will be winding down its operations over the next several weeks – The news was shared via an internal memo from CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski. The memo confirms that May 22 will be the final day for the nearly century-old news service.
https://radioink.com/2026/03/20/cbs-news-radio-to-cease-operations/

San Francisco is sinking at a rapid pace, NASA data shows – NASA is out with a dire warning about San Francisco. The city is sinking at a rate so fast, it could put human life at risk. Scientists used satellite data to study vertical land motion from 2015 to 2023. Findings revealed that regional studies substantially underestimate sea level rise. NASA projects more than double the expected rise by 2050. Experts say environmental changes and frequent extreme weather could increase that even more. [The article about San Francisco sinking is at ABC’s Bay Area affiliate; in 2008, their parent company’s news division predicted that Manhattan would be underwater — by 2015]
https://abc7news.com/post/san-francisco-is-sinking-rapid-pace-due-sea-level-rise-nasa-data-shows/18730957/

British House of Lords Votes for Abortions Up to Birth – [An] amendment to overturn [an] extreme abortion up to birth clause was rejected by Peers who voted 185 to 148 against it; and [another] amendment to reinstate in-person consultations with a medical professional prior to an abortion taking place at home was also rejected by Peers who voted 191 to 119 against it. The clause that [the] amendment was seeking to remove would result in one of the most significant changes to abortion legislation since 1967, when abortion was first made legal. As part of the Bill, the clause will make it more likely that healthy babies are aborted [or murdered after birth] at home for any reason, up to birth.
https://www.lifenews.com/2026/03/18/british-house-of-lords-votes-for-abortions-up-to-birth/

Transgender women banned from Olympics by new IOC policy – LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Transgender women athletes are now excluded from the Olympics after the IOC agreed to a new eligibility policy on Thursday which aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order on women's sports ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. "Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females," the International Olympic Committee said, "determined on the basis of a one‑time SRY gene screening."
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/48311534/transgender-women-banned-olympics-new-ioc-policy

CYBERATTACK ON IOWA BREATHALYZER COMPANY IMPACTS DEVICES IN 45 STATES – A Des Moines-based breathalyzer test company is recovering after a cyberattack impacted drivers in 45 states. Intoxalock makes ignition devices that people use to start their vehicles after an OWI. People with the devices have to provide a breath sample to prove they have not been drinking before the car starts. The company said many customers [were] locked out of their devices or that the device [gave] misread calculations.
https://www.kcrg.com/2026/03/20/cyberattack-iowa-breathalyzer-company-impacts-devices-45-states/

Survey finds Gen Z is the most alcohol‑averse generation. – The report, which surveyed drinking habits among Americans, found that Gen-Z is the most alcohol-averse generation, with 53% reporting they don’t drink. Gen-Z’s choice to put the bottle down was followed by Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, with 47% of both generations opting out.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/alcohol-gen-z-health-lending-tree-sobriety/