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Current Events

Options for keeping up with current events. These resources have been compiled for your convenience; AO's inclusion of a link on this or any other page does not imply an endorsement of every single idea on the linked site.

News Sources

World Magazine - an excellent weekly news magazine written from a Christian worldview. This is by far our best recommendation in this category. A subscription to World is a worthwhile curriculum expenditure for high school students. While the other reading selections in this Year teach students to understand the past, this is the best tool currently available for preparing a student to comprehend and interpret the age they live in. Although having the magazine in print is recommended, World is also available online for those who prefer it that way or want a 'budget' form of the magazine. They also have a podcast: The World and Everything In It.

World Watch - for junior high and high school. "Daily news produced by Christian journalists." They post cautions, usually for stories regarding abortion, trans issues, or like today, references to and video of the holocaust. Other news stories may go over the head of younger ones - such as those pertaining to the economy or some politics. There are also regular features for things like careers, word origins, science, etc. Previewing is wise; some fast forwarding may be needed for younger or sensitive students. $6.99 a month.

The Briefing - Albert Mohler's "daily worldview analysis about the leading news headlines and cultural conversations." This is a podcast, but transcripts are posted later each day. "Cultural commentary from a Biblical perspective." Dr. Mohler is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky. He has been described as "one of America's most influential evangelicals."

Student News Daily - "Our goal is to build students' knowledge of current events and strengthen their critical thinking skills. This is done by providing comprehension and critical thinking questions along with published news articles and other current events items from various news organizations. We provide resources that will enable students to become informed viewers and readers of the news." Conservative.

Breakpoint - Founded by Chuck Colson, BreakPoint "features Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet commentaries as well as columns and feature articles by leading Christian writers, and 'Youth Reads,' which offers a Christian perspective on books for teens and preteens. On 'BreakPoint This Week,' John Stonestreet and co-host Ed Stetzer host a weekly conversation with leading Christian writers and thinkers." Sign up to receive the text of daily radio feature via email. Brief and thought provoking.

The World and I - A monthly publication of The Washington Times for 'serious readers,' now available only as an online publication (which makes it fully searchable, including all archives!). Subscription access is still $36 per year, and gives subscribers access to all W&I archives of past issues, as well as all their current online publications. At one time, this was a nice non-partisan resource. As always, please proofread for inappropriate content.

The Washington Times, or The New York Post

NewsMax, Another source for daily news. As with most current event sources, parental preview is recommended with these.

The White House website publishes the full texts of all the President's speeches, including his weekly radio address, and the entire website can be read in Spanish for foreign language practice. There are also wonderful photo essays here. [WARNING: DO NOT type ".org" nor ".com" for the White House address as this will take you to an extremely inappropriate website.]

A source for tracking all Congressional bills: THOMAS (after Thomas Jefferson; site redirects to https://www.congress.gov/)
- Includes the Congressional Record and full text of all legislation from the 101st Congress (1989) to the present, summaries of legislation back to the 94th Congress (1974) as well as additional historical information, a great search engine, and links to other useful sites.

National Review Online - "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."

PragerU - brief animated video clips that "explain and spread what we call 'Americanism' through the power of the Internet. Our five-minute videos are conservative sound bites that clarify profoundly significant and uniquely American concepts. . . We help millions of people understand the fundamental values that shaped America." You can view their collection of 5-minute videeos with links to Trending videos by topic (choose from Political Science, History, Life Studies, Economics, Region/Philosophy, Foreign Affairs, Environmental Science, and Race Relations), or view by Latest or Most Popular. Transcripts are linked under each video. Their videos are also posted on YouTube.
They also offer Playlists in 27 topics such as:
        Start Here
        Left and Right Differences
        Best of
        Mythbusting History
        Capitalism and Socialism
        Is America Racist?
        Does Free Speech Offend You?
        Restricted by YouTube
        The Biggest Issues in the World Today
        Free to Think (playing the black card, why self-esteem is defeating, college made me conservative . . .)
        Ideas for a Better You (resilience, don't compare yourself to others, what matters most in life . . .)

WhatWouldYouSay.org, a ministry connected with Breakpoint, offers 5-min videos similar to PragerU. They are posted on YouTube as well.

Blog Suggestions

Web blogs are an important new media form. News is being reported there, in some cases, faster and more accurately than other, older media forms. Students should learn about them, find one they trust, and check it regularly. However, we recommend that parents first become familiar with blogs and visit the one(s) their children will frequent to get a feel for the maturity level before recommending them to their kids. We suggest several blogs here, but parents should know that not every message on these blogs will be 'child-friendly' and there will sometimes be advertising images in questionable taste. Also, most blogs link out to a multitude of other blogs and sites that may not be appropriate. Comments left on even 'safe' blogs can sometimes be hostile and offensive. This can present a good opportunity for students to see some real life examples of how people's theology and worldview affects how they deal with others. World's blog is particularly useful in that there are some really astute Christians there who often show great models for how Christians should handle non-believers and such. (Link is gone; perhaps World's "Virtual Voices" is now serving this purpose?)

Michelle Malkin - Occasionally, Michelle will post some of the letters she gets that are rather hateful, vulgar, and racist - to prove the point that such response exists. So reading a blog like hers can be rather eye-opening for students. Right-wing

Hugh Hewitt - journalist and radio talk show host; right-wing

HotAir Hot Air is the leading conservative blog for breaking news and commentary covering the gun control debate, politics, media, and culture."

Power Line - A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described Power Line as one of the five best-read national conservative blogs. In 2004, Power Line was named Time magazine's first-ever "Blog of the Year." Power Line is mostly American news.

Mudville Gazette, primarily, but not exclusively, military related news and posts; right-wing (site isn't updated often.)

Austin Bay - "Author, syndicated columnist, professor, developmental aid advocate, radio commentator, retired reserve soldier, war game designer." center-right-wing (Mr. Bay seems to also be posting at creators.com)

Arthur Chrenkoff - immigrated to Australia from communist Poland in 1988; right-wing (he hasn't updated his blog since 2006, but is currently posting at The Daily Chrenk: "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness with Arthur Chrenkoff.")

The Corner - The National Review's blog; right-wing

PressThink - left-wing journalist Jay Rosen's blog

Matthew Yglesias - "American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics from a liberal perspective."

Gates of Vienna - one of the best, and one of the hardest to read, as it puts a spotlight on militant Islam and the abuse of women under Islam. Important reading; right-wing. Gates of Vienna's newsfeed has links to stories sent in by their readers from all over the world, and occasionally they also post news stories from other countries that readers have translated for their site.

Adam Yoshida, Canadian, right-wing, blogs less frequently, but American Thinker lists some of his articles

Dr. George Grant - of King's Meadow Study Center, reformed theology and classical education; right-wing. More blogs from King's Meadow listed on their website. (Blog

Instapundit - "Glenn Reynolds' weblog offers opinions on current events, as well as humor and personal notes." Glenn Reynolds is a Tennessee lawyer; middle of the road (although he is pro-choice), short posts, easy to read quickly; center-right-wing.

Betsy's Page - Betsy is an AP History and AP Government teacher in Raleigh, NC. She focuses entirely on American news. Conservative.

Zero Hedge - financial blog that aggregates news and presents editorial opinions from original and outside sources. The news portion of the site is written by a group of editors who collectively write under the pseudonym "Tyler Durden" (a character from the novel and film Fight Club). They are decidedly not leftwing, but they aren't really all in for the rightwing, either. "On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."

Dennis Prager; Columns - "Fiercely independent, Prager's opinions, intellect, and integrity have influenced millions of lives through books, lectures, and broadcasts." "Dennis Prager is an American conservative and nationally syndicated radio talk show host, columnist, author, and public speaker."

Amala Ekpunobi - "Raised in a far-left activist household, twenty-one-year-old Amala Ekpunobi was once a student organizer for the left. Unanswered questions--and a search for the truth--led her to a complete ideological transformation." Her YouTube channel is called Unapologetic. Conservative.

July, 2013 - Thanks to Victoria Van Horn for identifying bad links and updates to this page. Updated March 2017