Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 02/06/25

The upstart news channel NewsNation was on fire yesterday with notable segments on President Trump’s Gaza plan and the perspective of a death row inmate’s spiritual advisor who witnessed his execution.

IMHO: Bravo to Leland Vittert, host of NewsNation’s On Balance (weeknight, 7:00 PM ET) for pushing back hard on the charge that President Trump’s visionary and compassionate Gaza plan somehow equates to ethnic cleansing. By what logic is evacuating those living in an area of bombed-out rubble strewn with unexploded bombs and under the thumb of a terrorist regime that won’t even allow them to leave to a safer location ethnic cleansing? It seems to me that callously leaving there comes closer to meeting that definition. I’d certainly suggest that those Palestinians with no terrorist ties be given job training and first priority for the opportunities created for the new “Gaza Riviera.” If they want to return they should be allowed to return. In the meantime, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would choose to live in war-torn squalor if given a viable alternative. BTW, Beirut, Lebanon was once flourishing as the Paris of the Middle East before terrorists wrecked it. It’s time to free the Palestinians from the clutches of a terrorist regime that misuses the American and international funds provided to it to create violence rather than prosperity.

Later that evening, in an interview presented on NewsNation’s Banfield (weeknights, 10:00 PM ET), host Ashleigh Banfield, spoke with Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood about witnessing the Texas execution earlier that night of Steven Nelson for the murder of Pastor Clint Dobson of the NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington. Per the New York Post, Hood was convicted of beating, choking and suffocating Dobson to death. While imprisoned and awaiting trial, he was indicted, but never tried, for killing another inmate. It’s an interesting discussion with Banfield asking some very good questions. You can watch it below.

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.