Current events

Stock market woes, Syrian murders, Tate brothers, NFL free agency & more trending stories this week | Ep. 10

March 13, 2025 - Conner Jones and Micah Tomasella

Join Conner Jones and Micah Tomasella on Culture Brief as they break down the week’s biggest headlines through a Christian lens. From the turbulence in financial markets to a new and deadly phase of the civil war in Syria and the latest developments surrounding the controversial Tate brothers, they cover the stories shaping our world. Plus, they unpack the latest player moves in the NFL’s open market, discuss updates on Gene Hackman’s death, check in on Canada’s new Prime Minister, mourn bags flying free on Southwest Airlines and preview two upcoming sporting events.

Topics

(00:23): Financial markets update
(11:55): Civil war in Syria: Background and recent events
(22:41): Introduction to the Tate brothers controversy
(30:15): Biblical perspective on manhood
(33:37): NFL free agency frenzy
(42:39): Listener feedback and hot takes
(44:42): Upcoming events and news

Resources

About Micah Tomasella

Micah Tomasella is the Advancement Officer at Denison Ministries and co-hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Micah is married to Emily, and together they are the proud parents of two daughters. With an extensive background in nonprofit work, finance, and real estate, Micah also brings experience from his years in pastoral church ministry.

About Conner Jones

Conner Jones is the Director of Performance Marketing at Denison Ministries and Co-Hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. He graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. Conner passionately follows politics, sports, pop-culture, entertainment, and current events. He enjoys fishing, movie-going, and traveling the world with his wife and son.

About Denison Forum

Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, The Denison Forum Podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been fully edited.

[00:00:00] Conner Jones: Hi, I’m Connor Jones and hi, I’m Micah Tomasella and this is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we navigate the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture, technology, and anything else in culture, really. And we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective. Hey Micah, how’s it going today?

What do you, what do you want

[00:00:20] Micah Tomasella: to talk about? Hey Connor doing fantastic. Thank you for asking. Thank you for always asking you really do care and that’s a defining quality For you so we’re going to talk about the financial markets today I’m, just going to kind of give you guys an update and a rundown on that just how tumultuous that’s been we’re going to talk about a civil war in syria something so far away But also feels like sitting close to home We’re going to give you the latest on the tate brothers and then we’re going to go over the recent moves in the nfl Just a crazy free agent trade season this last week, and we’re going to give you so much more.

So let’s jump into the brief. The first thing that I want to talk about today is, you know, we’ve done executive orders with Micah. We’ve done tariffs with Micah. Today we’re doing U. S. and international financial market update. With Micah. Okay. Connor, I know you’re excited about this. So I’m pulling up, I’m pulling up

[00:01:11] Conner Jones: a chair.

I’m pulling up a desk.

[00:01:15] Micah Tomasella: This is a conversation. I can’t wait to hear from you too. Okay. So right now the stock market’s going through a whole lot, a lot of big changes. Really what I. Would be a good way to describe it. So for years, the U. S. Markets, especially big tech has dominated the global investment scene.

But in 2025 this year, investors are starting to look beyond the U. S. And international stocks are seeing a surge where you’re saying Certain countries, their stock market and international stocks are actually outpacing U. S. stocks this year just because of all the losses these last couple of weeks, but here’s why.

So with the U. S. markets, let’s talk about that. So the U. S. markets are facing some challenges. The major U. S. stock indexes like S& P 500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, all of those have taken a hit recently. The S& P 500 is down 2. 2 percent this month. The Nasdaq, which is full of tech stocks specifically, has dropped 3.

5 percent this month, and that’s the lowest it’s been in six months. Okay. So why? There’s a few reasons. Tariffs is probably one of the biggest reasons, either tariffs or the threat of tariffs from the United States administration from Donald Trump. So the U. S. has imposed new tariffs on Canada and China, and they’ve responded with their own in kind.

And then this has made Things more expensive for companies that rely on global trade and it’s cutting into profits, but even just the fear of that, we, we haven’t quite seen the result of that yet because a tariff is threatened and then one is pulled back. It’s really just more about the fear and really it’s the the investor confidence.

Investors are finding themselves a bit more confident to invest in an international stock where there’s less things to be worried about than what’s kind of swirling and all the uncertainty here in the U S right now. And then secondly, another reason is inflation and interest rates. So inflation has been high while the federal reserve has been expected to lower interest rates.

They haven’t done so as quickly as we hoped it went from, you know, they were saying they were going to lower it six times in 2025, four times in 2025. And then last month, the fed said that they only expect to cut rates. twice. Okay. So you have a prolonged period of time over two years with interest rates higher than they’ve been at least when rates were low in 21.

And then there’s also the third reason recessional fears. So with stock prices falling in economic uncertainty, rising more economists are raising their predictions for a U S recession this year, though, it’s still not a sure thing. We’ve had kind of a soft landing economically Connor from COVID.

People thought the recession would be worse coming out of COVID-19 and so between tariff troubles, inflation and interest rates and then recessional fears, it’s caused some trouble with the stock market.

[00:03:50] Conner Jones: Yeah, and I think I saw Trump this week even didn’t necessarily say he expects a recession, but he didn’t necessarily deny it either.

So that spooked the markets anything he says kind of. Moves entire markets, just one little off comment or whatnot. And I, so I think some people are really overreacting or maybe they’re not overreacting. They’re just hyper-reacting to anything that comes out of the white house. I think for the average American, you know, who has maybe stocks or 401k that, you know, they’re not massive Wall Street bankers or investors or whatnot, but they’re looking at this and they’re like, okay, yeah, the stock market’s going down, that’s not great, but also can we please fix inflation?

When you think about the daily dollar and all of that. And I, I think one of the big things that Trump had going for him was he was saying, I’m running to fix this. This is part of my mandate. I’m going to bring inflation down. That was a Biden problem. People are starting to get a little impatient and saying, Hey, this is our prices.

I’ve actually kept going up on some. Products, and they’re probably going to continue to rise if these tariffs stay in place, because even if it’s not necessarily all the small products, it’s going to be bigger things such as vehicles. If we’re getting vehicles from Canada and tech products from China that are going way up in price, that’s going to impact the entire economy and all of that.

So that just continues to rise and raise inflation. Yeah, I don’t know.

[00:05:09] Micah Tomasella: Yeah. I mean, he’s got you know, he has a whole term, I think with any president, we should say, give him time, but this is definitely an unorthodox approach, and I think that we’re all kind of reeling and trying to understand what Trump’s trying to get out of these tariffs right now.

I know I’m trying to understand it. All right. Another reason why This is all happening is while us markets, there’s a lot of uncertainty around it. And so the value is lower international stocks are going up and here’s why they’re rising. So while us stocks are struggling stocks in Europe and Asia are performing well in Germany, they’re performing well with record highs.

Germany’s performing well with defense spending. So Germany is one of the countries in NATO that is upping their defense spending. And so a lot of people are investing in defense and the tech part of all of that in Germany, which is Helping those stock prices and then China is doing well. They’re up 23 percent this year and then European stocks are seeing their biggest gains against US stocks in over a decade.

Now again, this is just two and a half months, but because of all the uncertainty of a new administration coming in and then the power of Trump’s words, it is Europe is primed to see their stock market go up. And then with the uncertainty here, it’s just creating an effect where there’s just this gap right now between the two.

But why overall wise is happening. So Europe is spending big on defense. The U. S. has told European countries they’ll need to boost their own military spending. So governments are investing hundreds of billions of dollars into their defense. Their defense industries, which is helping European stocks a lot and then China’s tech and EV markets are booming despite past struggles.

Companies like Alibaba and BYD are leading a new wave of growth and then just a weaker U. S. dollar, which you kind of alluded to, Conor, when the dollar weakens, international stocks become more attractive to investors because their returns are worth more when converted back. Into dollars. Okay. So when the US dollar is weakened more than it normally is, that’s when you see a more of an investment in international stock.

And so will the US market bounce back though? I mean, this is, this is kind of the big question. Will this last? I am not. overtly trained on this. I invest in the stock market like a lot of people do, and I pay attention to the news more than the average Joe. Will the markets bounce back? Yes, I absolutely think that they will.

And let’s talk about why. So even though things look rough right now, there’s still some good reasons to believe that the US stocks will recover. One reason would be strong companies are still growing while some stocks are struggling, struggling companies and AI healthcare and clean energy are expanding, which is going to lead to gains.

Another reason interest rates will be cut, might not be cut as much, but if the Federal Reserve does lower interest rates later this year, then borrowing money will become cheaper and that’ll help business and consumers spend more, thus placing more confidence in the U. S. market. And then thirdly, the U.

S. economy is resilient. Even with short term struggles, the U. S. economy is the most innovative economy in the world. So investors will most likely return to invest in U. S. stock once things stabilize. So right now, investors are shifting money into international markets because of the uncertainty. But markets go through cycles, and there’s still plenty of room for the U.

S. to rebound. Keep an eye on inflation. Keeping an eye on interest rates and government policies, what Trump says, what Trump does will be key in the months ahead.

[00:08:29] Conner Jones: Yeah, I mean, that’s, it’s really, I mean, it’s just bigger than any one person besides maybe Trump himself. It’s just, it is the full economy of the U.

S. That’s right, it’s Trump and

[00:08:38] Micah Tomasella: then it’s so much more than that. So it’s, it’s one person right now, but then it’s so much more than that. That’s right.

[00:08:42] Conner Jones: But the rest of us are just players in the economy, right? We, we’re kind of at the mercy of what Just natural moves of capital. You and I are big players,

[00:08:51] Micah Tomasella: stock market, big, big players, you know what I mean?

Yeah. Recognize,

[00:08:54] Conner Jones: yeah. , I’ve got a little bit of that stock and Snapchat, you know? There you go. I remember, there you go. Remember buying that when I was like 18. I thought Snapchat was the big next. You still have that big thing. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It has not really made me that much money anyways. All that to say there’s just so much happening. You can only do so much from afar and sitting at home and watching all of this happen, but you can be wise and smart about it and pray through it. I mean, what do you think are some of the spiritual applications here? As I was processing

[00:09:24] Micah Tomasella: through this one, Something really hit me.

So I don’t, I don’t have a magic bullet solution on this issue. Even if I could fix it myself, I don’t even know exactly how it would go about doing it. There’s just people making those decisions that are beyond me. And I don’t have the fix to all of these external uncertainties right now. But here’s what I’m thinking about when I’m thinking about this.

In times of uncertainty, as believers in Christ, we are still called to be generous and to keep perspective. So when times feel uncertain, the instinct to is to hold on tightly to our money, to our resources, to our time. But God calls us to be generous even when it’s not easy. 2 Corinthians 9, 6 7 says this, The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap.

Sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Each one must gives as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or not under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. This reminds us that giving isn’t about getting something in return. Connor, it’s about having a willing heart and trusting that God provides.

This command and encouragement holds true no matter what is happening externally. We must remember that, that the command is to be generous. In this, in these two verses that I read that Paul writes to the church of Corinth, it’s not, hey, be generous. Or, hey, sow bountifully and then reap bountifully, but only if things are externally great.

This is a command to be generous no matter what is going on. And so just, and then even, Not with money, specifically. Generosity isn’t just about money. It’s about showing up for people. It’s about offering our time. It’s about being encouraging, looking them in the eye and asking them how they’re doing and actually wanting to hear their answer.

And supporting them when they need it. So no matter what’s happening in the economy or in our lives, we can be steady. We can be hopeful and we can be a hopeful presence for others. Yeah,

[00:11:32] Conner Jones: that’s good stuff. But yeah, I think generosity expands to so many different aspects of life. And I, I really think everything you’re saying is true with our dollars, but also our time and our just heart.

How can we be generous in so many different ways? So thank you, Micah, for that, because we do need that type of truth, even in economic uncertainty. God will provide. We just also need to be faithful and obedient with our finances. So doubt what’s next for that. Let’s talk about something that’s kind of difficult real fast the civil war in Syria.

We’ve talked about this before. Syria has been a civil war for essentially close to 15 years. Really throughout the 2010s, it was a destructed just country. And that was at the hands of the former dictator, Bashar al Assad. And But I’m bringing this up now because over the weekend, Mike, I’m sure you saw some of this.

I’m sure some of our listeners saw some of these awful videos and pictures of citizens and civilians being beat and killed in the streets of Syria. Particularly, this was against minority groups, including Christians in Syria. And so just heartbreaking. But I wanted to offer some quick background real fast before we dive into that.

Some more for those who did not know. There was a rebellion in Syria back in December, the group HTS, that stands for, not sure I’m going to say this correctly, but Hayat Tahrir al Sham, HTS is what I’ll keep calling them. Yeah, I don’t know. They led this rebellion. They kind of took over the country very fast and they were able to overthrow the Assad regime.

So Bashar al Assad, who is a terrible, terrible man and a just brutal, cruel dictator has. been responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of citizens in the civil war for the last 15 years. They overthrew him and, and his army and everything. And Assad and all of his loyalists, his soldiers, they all had to flee the country.

And HTS took over. And a lot of people were like, oh, this is good news, right? Because this was the fall of one of our That was definitely the news coming out, that it’s a good thing, right? Yeah, it felt like a, a positive thing because there, there was this Assad regime that was basically loyal to Iran, and it was another proxy of Iran that fell after Hezbollah and Hamas have pretty much been decimated.

So everyone was thinking, this is good news. Israel’s going to be in a better position. This other enemy is gone and this brutal dictator and his cronies are all gone. There were a lot of people also kind of raising the alarm because they were like this HTS group isn’t necessarily all butterflies and sunshine.

This is a group who is known for their own atrocities and known for their own killing of people and detaining people wrongly. And has even been designated as a terrorist group by the United States. They’re not necessarily great. They say that they encourage more freedom and freedom of religion and that they want to open their country up to Western ideals and all of that.

So we’ve been waiting to see if that fully happens. It’s kind of been a three month transition period. They have a new president who has ties to Al Qaeda and it’s not necessarily a. Great guy himself, but he’s trying to normalize relations with the Western world and other world leaders. So we’ve seen that.

So that’s kind of the background there. HTS has taken over, but now they are in fights with former Assad soldiers and loyalists to the Assad regime who think that HTS is bad news for the country. And so HTS really kind of has control over about 50 percent of Syria. So there’s another 50 percent that is not necessarily loyal to them.

And this is made up of a lot of minority groups. And so that’s where this kind of came to play over the weekend where. HTS had soldiers fighting in these coastal cities filled with minority groups in areas where Assad is still popular, and they were fighting with Assad loyalists, and there was crossfire, but then there was also these people on both sides who started killing minority groups, and so we’ve got You know, these some would say revenge killings by HTS and even pro Assad forces who are punishing these minority groups for being opposed to their own respective rule.

They’re saying you guys aren’t loyal to us, and this is this is what you’re going to suffer. You’re going to either be. Beaten, mocked, scorned, or even potentially killed. And so we’ve seen this with Christians. There’s a lot of orthodox Christians in Syria, and I mean, ultimately it’s a, it’s a persecution thing.

And so details are limited on like the full scope of the deaths. But we do believe there are over 1000 people who were killed over the weekend, sadly, and, and the videos. That came out of Syria have a lot of them have gone viral online, and then a lot of Christian influencers, particularly on Instagram and X started sharing these videos and images calling for believers around the world to pray for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering in this persecution and also trying to just get attention on the on the issue, it seems like the media did not really focus at all on this.

It kind of was just blown over. And so A lot of these influencers are trying to get the media’s attention, try to get the government’s attention. Marco Rubio did come out and condemn these attacks and said that, you know, they need to get to a peaceful solution. And so it seems like maybe the, that’s kind of what’s been happening in the last couple of days is there’s a solution trying to be reached between HTS leadership and these other minority communities and their leaders.

And just a lot to take in there. It is a very sad scene, and it’s one of those things, Mike, I feel like every week we Or maybe every other week we come on here, we’re talking about some just tragic conflict that is just destructive and awful and just filled with death and destruction. And it is continually heartbreaking, but it is the reality of the world.

And so we do have to bring it up. We do need to talk about it. We can’t just ignore the fact that these people are going through that, even though it feels so far away and in a totally different world and culture, particularly with these Christians who we know are believers. And We are heartbreaks for them.

So do you have any thoughts, Micah, on on this whole just event? I mean, it’s clearly

[00:17:28] Micah Tomasella: heartbreaking. I mean, I I’ll just share kind of, you know, I saw a video shared by somebody online who I follow who’s a solid faith leader here in the U. S. And, you know, he posted a video and I just saw these people being beaten.

And you know, it was. least told to me that those were Christians. You know, I don’t, I don’t know what that situation was, but I mean, either way, it just breaks your heart because we can’t even really imagine that here in America, that type of persecution, the persecution that we deal with is different, but and it’s on a much, a much less scale than that.

So I admire their faith for them standing for their faith, but also, I mean, my heart breaks for them. And I just think about When I’m trying to guard my thoughts and I’m trying to guard my heart, my mind, I don’t want to see that, you know what I mean? Like I was kind of scrolling and I just saw it and then I couldn’t look away.

But if I, if I had any say in the matter, I wouldn’t have watched it at all. But at the same time, when I saw that, I stopped what I was doing and I prayed for the persecuted church. So maybe I was supposed to see it. You know, my, my heart has been stirred for this issue more recently than I feel like it.

It has at other times in the past and so maybe I was supposed to see it and maybe I was just supposed to pray and I just want to encourage everybody, every believer to pray for the persecuted church, those who are being beaten and mocked and scorned, like you said, going, going through it, you know, over their faith in Jesus, something we can’t even imagine, but we can pray and we should pray.

[00:18:58] Conner Jones: Yeah. And this comes on the heels of something we talked about two weeks ago, which was the beheadings of 70 Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in that conflict there. And so just, it just feels like there is a just big push against Christians right now. And like we said, other minorities who are being innocently killed as well.

And it just heartbreaking. So you were right. Yeah. We need to pray for these victims. So just a few things that we can can do. We pray for the innocents in this tragedy, and we are taught by the Bible in Hebrews 13 three. It says, remember those who are in prison as though we are in prison with them. And that may not be a physical prison with walls and a jail cell, but just a, they are stuck.

They’re trapped and they’re being punished. And then second, we need to pray for leaders in Syria, in the Middle East, in Israel, in HTS and the Druze community and the Christian community in the U S. Everywhere, not only of how they will respond, but that they will respond. Will leaders around the world call this out and say, this is a crime, a travesty and not sit by idly.

You know, God commands us to pray for those who are in power in first Timothy two. And so asking him to give them wisdom and lead to peace. And then remember just that God does redeem all he allows. I think we’ve said this several times on here, just as we’ve talked about these tragic events, but his heart is breaking with the horrors in Syria.

That’s not something God wants to see. He invites us to repeat the missionaries prayer, which is Lord break my heart for what breaks your heart and ask your father how he would have you pray. and serve as we minister to those in great persecution and suffering. And then one thing that I just wanted to point out is Dr.

Ryan Dennison wrote an article back in December when they were first, when, when this revolution was first happening and it looked like HTS was going to take over the country of Syria. And he made such a good point that this is not, A typical like movie situation or even a world war two situation where we know so clearly who the good guys and the bad guys are.

This is more complicated than that. This is not a good guys versus bad guys situation. This is a bad guys, maybe against some people who might be a little bit better, but they’re not great. So it’s almost being stuck between Iraq and a hard place for the people of Syria. There’s some hope with the fact that maybe there’s some good changes coming down the line with HTS being in control.

But right now it doesn’t look like that. And so whether it’s the fight between Russia and Ukraine or like Syria and HTS, or really any other global conflict, like in the Congo, we know that war does tend to bring out the worst in people. And often, Micah, that plays out in how it’s waged. So we just need to learn to rely on God’s understanding to fill the gaps in our own heart and in our own understanding of.

The just conflicts that are out there. We there’s no perfect answer. There’s no necessarily good guy, bad guy here. It’s just pray, pray for peace. Ultimately is what it comes down to.

[00:22:05] Micah Tomasella: Yeah, good stuff. CJ good stuff, man. I think I think it’s a great point. We have to remember and I know I’ve said this on the podcast before prayer is the prayer of a righteous person.

They’re effective and we have to remember that if we’re in situations where the least that we can do is pray. That matters because we’re coming before the God of the universe and asking him to intervene in a difficult and tragic situation. So whether if it’s in our neighborhood or across the world, we get to talk to God about it and he’s got a plan.

And as you said, he’s redeeming all that he allows. So thank you for that, Connor. Let’s jump into our third story. Let’s talk about the Tate brothers and all of the controversy. Surrounding that Connor you want to start us off there?

[00:22:48] Conner Jones: Yeah, so if if you’re unaware of who these tate brothers are that michael just mentioned, let me give you a quick rundown They are extremely popular influencers It is going to be andrew tate who is age 38 and his younger brother tristan tate who is age 36 They have gained immense popularity.

They’re huge online. They’re particularly very large influencers with the young male community In the western world and so here’s kind of the background andrew tate It was a well known kickboxer, professional kickboxer. So he’s kind of in this fighting world. He rose to public attention through that, as well as being a contestant on the show, big brother, which he was kicked out of and removed from that reality TV show game due to allegations of violence against women.

That is just a preview of what we’re about to hit on here. His younger brother also built a similar online persona. And together, these two have amassed millions of followers particularly, like I said, with young men. And they’re doing that by advocating for controversial ideas about masculinity and relationships.

They were arrested in Romania in 2022. They were in Romania for a whole bunch of reasons. Basically, it seems like maybe they were running a criminal sex enterprise, essentially, over there. Anyways, they were arrested for human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized crime group. So it sounds like great guys, right?

These these charges do involve allegations of exploiting women for sex work through coercion and manipulation. And they were under house arrest for two years, but they were just allowed to leave Romania. And that’s why they’re kind of back in the news. That’s why everybody’s talking about them on social media and everything, because they returned to the U.

S. They came to Florida. Let me tell you something. Florida was not happy about that. Governor DeSantis and the attorney general, James Uetmeyer were basically saying, you guys are not really welcome here. Like they can’t technically kick them out, but they’re like, we don’t want you here. Which upsets some people on the right.

Cause they’re like that’s against freedom of just their free against really their freedoms. Anyways. The Florida AG is now launching his own inquiry into these allegations about trafficking and exploit, exploitation of women globally. And he even stated that the brothers have publicly admitted to behavior consistent with exploitation and directed law enforcement to issue subpoenas and search warrants on them.

Here’s the deal. Andrew Tate is a bad dude. That’s just, that’s just what it is. If you listen to anything he has said on his videos, on social media, on podcasts, he is extremely into toxic masculinity. He even calls himself the king of toxic masculinity. He has been banned from pretty much every social media platform.

[00:25:26] Micah Tomasella: Yeah, what’s up? You know what’s interesting is that if you listen to him long form, That’s when you, if you listen to an entire podcast he’s on, that’s when that really comes through, but he’s gained a lot of notoriety from 10 20 second clips on TikTok, where really well meaning people who typically fall more on the right side of the aisle, they’re following this guy and they’re seeing these small clips that are edited and you’re like, oh yeah, that might be a little harsh, but that makes sense, you know, like he’s standing up for this, right?

But when you take the time to listen, Yeah. Yeah. To some of the things that he says, yeah, man, I mean, I’m in, I’m in total agreement with you.

[00:26:02] Conner Jones: Yeah. And so just, just for some examples, I mean, he talks about basically how to dominate women and how they are subservient to men and that men need to be more masculine in the way that they approach life and they should fight.

They should be physically trained. They should only focus on money and sex, essentially. That is what men are created to do. And I think it’s crucial to hit on why that would be a popular message, because this is where the culture aspect comes into play. He’s particularly popular with younger guys who feel like potentially over the last decade or so.

We’ve seen culture has kind of put young men down. This has come about in media. This has come about, it has, and it has. And and I think a lot of people recognize that now and they’re like, okay, this last 10 years or so, I mean, young men felt like they were just inherently. Bad, right? They were inherently misogynistic.

They’re inherently not good. And there wasn’t like a slow drip of getting out of that season of putting men down. It turned into, here’s a guy who’s saying the complete opposite of men are good. In fact, they’re better and this is how they should act. And yeah, young men were attracted to what Andrew Tate was saying about go be a true man, encouraging masculinity, men are good type of things.

And he’s, you’re right, on some of those clips, he’s not even giving bad advice in every single sentence that he says. Some of the things do speak out and you’re like, okay, hey, that’s actually, that, that, that makes sense. He’s using, he’s using a

[00:27:34] Micah Tomasella: truth and then he’s twisting it. So it’s so like he’s using the momentum of something that has been bad, that has been wrong, that culture’s been pushing, and he’s taking it and he’s using that as the catalyst to push things that aren’t so good.

Correct.

[00:27:47] Conner Jones: Yeah what’s, but now what’s interesting is he Andrew Tate specifically, but both the brothers have kind of split a lot of people, particularly on the right, where there are people who are saying these guys are good, that they should be in America, they’re a good influence. But then so many others are like, these are the worst possible influencers you can have for young men.

This is not what we want young men to take in and become. And you know, I think the whole thing boils up and you’re going to potentially see either the complete collapse of their name and image, which you would think has already happened, but somehow they continue to just keep coming back about, but they did show up to a UFC fight this weekend and got a big welcome.

Including by Dana White, the CEO of UFC, Donald Trump’s friend and board member on, on Metta. You know, it just depends on who you talk to, but there’s definitely a segment of the culture that, that definitely still admires these guys. I think one big thing to hit on here is Tate, Andrew Tate specifically, used to claim he was a Christian.

And then he thought the religion of Christianity was quote unquote too weak. That it did not. Essentially call out how a man should act and toughness and it didn’t validate the way that he wanted to

[00:29:02] Micah Tomasella: view the world,

[00:29:03] Conner Jones: right? Yeah, so essentially he determined a worldview that he wanted and picked and he’s got religion, right?

He gets to be God that his worldview and so he converted to Islam which he I mean when you think about it Kind of makes sense because Islam is way less About the equal rights of men and women. And that’s right there mate, they’re both made in God’s equal image and all that. So he picked that, but we know that faith.

It’s the opposite. Faith is what dictates our worldview. We don’t dictate it and then choose a faith. And so for us as Christians, we know that our worldview is based off what God teaches in the Bible and what we know about the Lord and Savior Jesus. So all that to say, man, there’s a lot to take in here.

If you’re a young man. I could not discourage you from listening to Andrew or Tristan Tate more. And I, I have listened to some of this stuff and I’ve just been appalled by the things that he’ll say and the fact that anybody would think that it’s okay to sexually exploit women and beat them and then also try to scam people financially and that it’s all about cars and working out in extreme discipline because it’s just not, that’s not true.

The Bible tells us a much different way to live as a man. And Ephesians 5, 25 through 33, and then 1 Peter 3 and 7, you know, they call us as men to be humble. And to respect women and to have one wife that they love and treat with honor, gentleness and sacrifice, not multiple women and, and trying to be dominating in any sense with them.

And then I would honestly argue, Micah, that the Tates are what Proverbs classifies as a fool. And so I, the word fool isn’t all throughout Proverbs, and I would think that these two are just the perfect depiction of that. So Proverbs 12, 15 says the way of a fool is right in his own eyes. But a wise man listens to advice, and so I think Andrew Tate specifically thinks he is just right about everything and makes his, makes his own rules, and I, I would imagine that he is just.

Gonna end up in the world of destruction for that unless he changes his ways and hopefully he does I mean it’d be great If he would turn his heart and turn to Christ same with Tristan Tate, but anyways, yeah Any any last thoughts on that Micah?

[00:31:17] Micah Tomasella: No, man. I think that that’s a great point I mean ultimately there’s just so much so many awful things in the world so much destruction and you know What even sometimes us as Christians can contribute to that We are saved by grace through faith.

So it’s because of the sacrifice that Jesus made. And then the faith that we trust in him, that we can then have an inheritance with Jesus, spend eternity with him, have access to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and have him walk with us and give us the strength that we need and to be able to embody and look more like Jesus.

And so we’re not coming from a place by saying this of having any moral superiority, the best things about me and Connor, the best things about us that help us be men of God. Is Jesus Hebrews 13, eight, he’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. The best thing about us, the one that we want to emulate is Jesus.

And so I just look at it through a lens of, do they look like Jesus? And, and a lot of ways people don’t. And so you don’t, you just got to be careful about who you emulate your life. And, but I mean, I’m not shocked by any, any of it. I know that you’re not either. I mean, we live in a fallen world and there’s a whole lot of difficulties out there, but ultimately everything else changes, but Jesus doesn’t, and that’s what we need to focus on.

Yeah,

[00:32:30] Conner Jones: you’re right. And I emulating Jesus is the perfect way of saying it because James 3, 17 says, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy. And good fruits impartial and sincere, which is exactly how Jesus lived when he was here on earth and it set that example.

And so we are able to just follow that, follow those qualities, which is exactly antithetical to what a lot of culture would say. We should do. And so we’ll have another article coming up this week from Parker Jones on the tates. He’s going to be diving into that and a little bit more there. So if you’re interested in learning more, kind of seeing some of the stuff about them, check that out on denisonforum.

org later this week. Yeah. Okay. Let’s dive into some fun stuff here, Micah.

[00:33:16] Micah Tomasella: Yeah, let’s do it. And right before we do that, Parker Jones is Connor Jones’s little brother. So just as you’re reading it, just remember. When Parker’s the author, you can say, wow, I know Parker’s big brother, Connor Jones. There you go.

That’s all. All right. Let’s, let’s jump into the next game. Let’s jump into the next game. So I mean, really, we just want to talk about the NFL. We want to talk about all of these deals really over the last few days, the last week or so. It really seemed once Miles Garrett signed back with that astronomical contract with the Browns that that just.

Open the lid on everything we saw in the NFL. So I just want to give us a few of the major moves and then Connor and I

[00:33:59] Conner Jones: real fast. This is because free agency opened up this week, right? Yes, you’re right. Started on Monday. I should have said that. Yeah. So free agency opened up on Monday. People can start signing contracts.

On Wednesday, and then from there, we’ll just see more deals play out, but essentially all the they all piled up and negotiations happened in the recent weeks, I guess, and yes, the candles open for a reason

[00:34:20] Micah Tomasella: because of the deadline. You’re right, you’re right, because they could actually start good call out.

Yes, absolutely. You’re right. Okay, so I’m going to run through a few of these deals and then Connor and I are going to talk about our personal predictions of the most. Successful move in the biggest flop. So which one’s going to for sure work out and then which one’s probably not going to work out. All right.

So first of all, we saw Max Crosby. He signed a massive deal to stay with the Raiders. He’s a great pass rusher. Miles Garrett signed a massive deal with the Browns. Like I mentioned before, Josh Allen signed a new deal with the bills. Josh Allen is an incredible quarterback and he secured the bag with the Buffalo bills to stay there.

Big, big bag. What was that? Was that. It wasn’t the largest contract ever. Or was it? It’s, it’s up there. I I, I think Dak technically still has the largest, but might the largest something like the Amount seed or something. I think the amount overall was the largest, but the yearly was a little bit less than Dak.

But anyway, don’t even get me started on that, on Dak Prescott making that much money anyway. Alright. Gino Smith was traded to the Raiders. Okay, that one shocked me. Honestly. Yeah, I mean that came out of left field Yeah so gino’s been the quarterback of the seahawks for a few years after russell wilson left and went to the Steelers and he’s been a good quarterback very middle of the line mid tier type of quarterback And then sam darnold Left the vikings really resurrected his career had a bad start to his career there with the carolina panthers and then Went over to minnesota and really resurrected his career last year I mean was a was a top 10 quarterback numbers wise and so he’s going to the seahawks.

He got a good payday Dk metcalf is probably a top five six wide receiver in the nfl He was traded from the seahawks to the steelers. Okay, and then you’ve got justin field signs with the jets. He’s He’s a quarterback. I don’t know how you describe him. Daniel Jones signs with the Colts. He’s a quarterback.

You know, these guys are probably top 30 at what they do. Top 32 at what they do. Probably just good enough to start because there’s not quite enough you know, elite level talent there at the quarterback level. And then finally, the commanders continue to stack up their team with Laramie Tunzel being traded and he is now with the commanders to protect it.

Jaden Daniels to protect his left side. Those, those are some big deals. But Connor, what are some moves we’re waiting on right now?

[00:36:40] Conner Jones: Man, I, I’m very eager to just see, first and foremost, how do the Vikings replace Sam Darnold? Since he just got traded to the Seahawks. That’s right. Who’s going to come in and take that place?

There’s only a few free agents left. Is this, is this Aaron Rodgers watch for the Vikings? I don’t know, but, but that is one of the other things I’m very Steelers. Interested in. People are saying he might be Aaron Rodgers or the Steelers, which, you know what, by the time people are listening to this, to clarify, we’re recording on Tuesday afternoon, late Tuesday, so by the time you listen to this, we may have an answer on who the Vikings quarterback is, as well as where Aaron Rodgers goes it does look like, as of right now, yeah, Aaron Rodgers could go to the Steelers, that’ll be a huge deal wherever he lands, I don’t know.

We’ll see. Know that it’s going to matter that much. But then I think the big thing that everyone’s waiting to see, because this is going to shift the whole market around here, definitely around here. But I imagine if it ends up involving other teams, where will Micah Parsons go? The Dallas Cowboys defensive star.

He’s just, I mean, he’s linebacker defensive and defensive tackle. He is just an everything man on defense and just one of the top three

[00:37:42] Micah Tomasella: defensive players in the, in the world for sure.

[00:37:44] Conner Jones: Yeah. And and he is probably worth the highest. Payday for a defensive player in NFL history. So will the Cowboys cough that money up or will they seek a trade and get a lot in return?

That’s why I say, if a trade is involved, it’s going to end up throwing a lot of things off in the NFL and teams will have to move stuff around and we’ll just see. But have you been seeing anything serious on a train? I haven’t really seen anything serious on a train talking about it, but yeah, sometimes those trades they’re happening way behind scenes.

They’re not getting leaked out to reporters. It, you know, Did anybody see anything being said about Luke Adonis? Don’t bring it up. I

[00:38:21] Micah Tomasella: know you’re going to bring it up. I knew you were going to bring that up again. Still hurts, by the way. Still hurts that Luke is with the Lakers.

[00:38:28] Conner Jones: This one would at least be somewhat expected, right?

And not in the middle of the season. You know, I,

[00:38:33] Micah Tomasella: I think with Micah it would, it’s, it would be very un Cowboys, un Jerry Jones like for the Cowboys to, to capitalize on the talent of somebody like Micah Parsons. I love Micah, we share the same name, you know what I mean? And I’m actually older than him, so that makes me feel old myself, right?

But at the same time, it would be very un Cowboys like for them to trade him. It would be very Cowboys like to pay him an astronomical amount of money and then sit here and tell us that we can’t add anybody else and then guilt trip the fans. Into thinking you want us to pay all these big players and we can’t bring anybody else in.

We’re just giving you what you want. And what we continue to get is mediocrity. Anyway, I’m sorry. This is just coming from a true blue Dallas Cowboys fan. Just struggling with it a little bit.

[00:39:18] Conner Jones: Yeah. Yeah. We’ll just see what happens there. And hopefully the Cowboys make some other signings. Cause right now, man, we are just signing.

Okay, players, we did resign the long snapper. I saw yesterday. So that’s one moves making on. Yeah. I mean, just, I mean, I think it’s like

[00:39:34] Micah Tomasella: three year, 3 million. Now, again, in our terms, that’s a ton of money, but that’s not a long snap. Yeah, that’s not much. That’s not much money there in the NFL. So anyway, all that to say, we will see how it turns out.

So Connor, let’s jump into predictions. So give me your most successful move and then give me your biggest

[00:39:51] Conner Jones: flop. I think Best move is going to be Sam Darnold with the Seahawks. I think he proved last season that he actually has a ton of talent and that he, he can make this work, especially with the right offense.

Now, the only problem is they did just release Tyler Lockett, their second best wide receiver, and they traded DK Metcalf, their best wide receiver. So I don’t know who he’s going to throw to, but if they can figure that out, I think he’ll do pretty well. I think that offense is catered to him. What about you?

[00:40:18] Micah Tomasella: I was going to say that, so I’m just going to switch it here on the fly because I was going to say Sam Darnold to the Seahawks, because, just because, I mean, oh, Miles Garrett re signing with the Browns. Okay, yeah, that’s probably going to work out, but I’m trying to kind of go for the shock factor here, so I mean, I’m with you.

It’s going to work out for him and the defense, but the Browns are still going to be bad. Yeah, the Browns are still going to be bad. I, I am a believer in Sam Darnold from what I saw last year, but you know what, I’m going to say DK Metcalf to the Steelers. If the Steelers can get a competent quarterback in there, I mean, DK is just a physical freak.

And he really can change a game. He’s that type of receiver really stretches the field and it’s just really strong, but also it’s super fast too. So I, I see that move working out and I see that that will be for sure a success as long as they can get a competent quarterback back there. And then, okay.

Biggest flop I’ll go first. I think Justin Fields to the Jets is going to be the biggest flop. I know that they hired Aaron Glenn, who is the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. Great defensive coordinator, great coach, but the Jets are just gonna jet. I mean, they’re just gonna be the Jets.

I mean, Aaron Rodgers was there, it didn’t work out. How on earth is Justin Fields gonna solve that problem? I mean, he, every chance he’s gotten, he’s been okay. You know, so I, I don’t see that move working out. I mean, they didn’t pay him a ton. So I think that they’re probably just going to see what they can get out of him this year.

And then if it’s not good, they’ll probably tank and then try to draft a quarterback the next draft. But I don’t see that move working out.

[00:41:40] Conner Jones: Yeah, me either. I don’t, I don’t think it will. That’s not my choice. I think that there could be some potential. I think there’ll be a mid level team at best. I actually think the biggest flop is Gino Smith going to the Raiders.

I think Gino is, like you said a second ago, a pretty mid tier quarterback. He is worth a start, but I don’t think he elevates the Raiders in any way whatsoever. That’s probably true. Bigger and better, and they also don’t have a great receiving corp. I know why he’s there. It’s because Pete Carroll’s the coach at Las Vegas now.

And he was his coach in Seattle and he really likes him. So that I think is the reasoning that they picked him up. Tom Brady is with the Raiders as a minority owner. Now I’m sure he had some influence here, but anyways, I think that’s just. Not going to end up being anything crazy. Okay. I was going to say, these are, this is fun.

We’ll just continue to see what happens. By the time you listen to this, we may know where other moves happen. You may know what happens with Micah Parsons or Aaron Rogers. And so I’m very excited to see what happens there, but I wanted real fast, Micah to run back to last week’s hot take that you gave on, on a landscaping where you suggested that people should mow their own lawns for many reasons.

If you want more context, go listen to that section of last week’s episode. Anyways the majority of people I do believe disagreed with you. There, we, we, we put a poll on Instagram, 67 percent disagreed with you. I think the 33 percent was, was probably, I’m sure you were one of the voters on that, on Instagram story.

I just, and we heard it from people in our lives we heard it from co workers, they were like, man, Mike is just wrong on this, and I’m glad to finally not be the person in the seat that people are saying is taking a bad stance on a hot

[00:43:25] Micah Tomasella: take. I think you’re kind of fabricating a story here, I think just from your perspective I was wrong, I heard from so many people that I was, that I was right, see People have to feel the confidence to be able to come and come out and say how they truly feel.

I just think that there’s some people kind of lurking behind, you know, in the shadows, and they don’t want to come off wrong or bad or superior in any way to, to insinuate that if you are physically able to mow your own yard, then, then you should. I think that there was a ton of quiet support. Let’s, let’s call my support the silent majority, Connor.

But my hot take was not anywhere near. Your hot take about you not liking Star Wars. In fact, didn’t your father threaten to remove you from the will? Anyway, all I’m saying is, it wasn’t, it wasn’t that big of a deal. You know what I mean? Compared to yours. That’s true. That’s true.

[00:44:15] Conner Jones: All that to say, send us your thoughts on that or any other hot If you have a hot take idea for us to discuss, Yeah.

Shoot it over to culturebrief at denisonform. org. If you have a topic for us to discuss, shoot it over to that email address. We want to hear from you guys. We we enjoy getting listener just feedback and or questions and ideas and things to discuss. Please continue to email us or shoot us a message.

We’re now on Instagram like we mentioned last week. That’s right. Culture Brief podcast on Instagram. Shoot us a DM. Anyways. Michael, let’s hit on a few things to just watch out for this week. Yeah. In our tune in section here. So before we technically do that, though, I do want to give a quick update on something we discussed last week, which was the death of Gene Hackman and his wife.

We said we would come back with an update if there was one because it was very weird and mysterious. And so now the coroner report has come out and it has suggested that They both died of natural causes, and Gene Hackman was 95, his wife was 65, and she was his primary caretaker, he had Alzheimer’s, and they believe that she died of a rare viral infection that comes from rat droppings, actually don’t know how she got that, but she essentially just died I think died naturally and because of that gene Hackman who had Alzheimer’s and was so old did not have his caretaker.

And so he likely was alive for they believe around a week on his own and could not take care of himself. And then he finally passed away sadly in this because they were kind of reclusive and they didn’t have people coming in and checking on them often and all of that. So very sad. Anyway, it’s just a really tragic way for such a legend to pass away to lose both of them anyways.

That’s the update there. I don’t think that there’s any foul play expected anymore. Yes.

[00:45:54] Micah Tomasella: Yes. Okay. Connor. Yes. Thank you for that update. So what’s coming up. So let’s talk about the government is set to shut down this Friday at midnight. So by the time the episode releases, we still won’t have the answer yet.

Most likely Congress is working to pass a funding bill as we speak. I believe as we’re recording on Tuesday, there should. Be a vote, at least in the house, I believe, before it gets to the Senate. And so we’ll see what happens there. Hopefully we don’t see a government

[00:46:19] Conner Jones: shutdown. Yeah, I hope not.

We’ll just see. I know Congressman Thomas Massey is causing issues for the Republican party in that sense, and that he is making them mad, but a lot of people are also standing with him. So yeah, we’ll see. All that to say, we also saw Canada elect a new prime minister. Sort of. So Micah, you’ve talked about the Canadian prime minister situation with Justin Trudeau.

What do you know about this new guy?

[00:46:44] Micah Tomasella: Yeah. So this guy, Carney he’s a finance guy. He’s accomplished a whole lot. I mean, he’s really kind of staking his claim on, you know, I know how to run an economy. I know how to run a large business. I know how to invest all this stuff. He took the liberal spot there in Canada.

I mean, they have a different political system than us, but people do get to vote. And so as Trudeau was stepping down to kind of change the tide because Trudeau had just become so unpopular. Carney gets elected to lead the liberal party. And then he’s going to face off with the government. I’ve been talking about this guy who’s representing the conservative party, Paul V.

A., who we talked about a couple months ago. And Carney is polling pretty well right now. And so we’ll see. But their election is happening later this year. And then we’ll see who leads the country of Canada. Trump’s rise has actually has actually hurt the chances for the Conservative Party and Paul VA in Canada because Canada, a lot of Canadians don’t really like America right now because Trump keeps threatening to make Canada a state and they don’t like that very much.

And Paul VA is seen as very similar to Trump. They

[00:47:42] Conner Jones: don’t

[00:47:42] Micah Tomasella: like the tariffs. Yeah, and the tariffs, yeah, we

[00:47:44] Conner Jones: wouldn’t normally, I don’t think we would normally be talking about Canadian politics all that much. I mean, it’s a big deal. That is interesting. We do keep talking about Canadian politics. Tariff war going on and the implications it’s got for a lot of people in North America and around the world.

I think it does matter for a lot of people. Okay, another thing global wise to watch, US and Ukraine politicians and leaders are in Saudi Arabia this week trying to continue working on a peace deal. This may lead to the signing of that mineral rights deal that did not get signed that day of the big Oval Office breakout, you know, so we’ll see if that happens and what comes out of those meetings.

Hopefully again, it’s a first step towards peace. Micah, another thing came out this morning that is just in a way so sad, but it is the reality of the business world. If you have not heard yet, Southwest Airlines is ending its bags, fly free policy on May 28th. So if you’re flying after May 28th on Southwest, you got your summer vacation planned, you’re planning on taking multiple bags.

Sorry, you got to pay for it now. So all this to say Southwest Airlines is not the same anymore. Ever since this investment private equity group came in and took over the board and started slashing all their fun things and workforce. And now they’re not really different in any sense from any other airlines.

So I don’t know. What this means for the airline long term, but I don’t imagine it’s good.

[00:49:04] Micah Tomasella: Yeah. Connor. Connor is a a plane enthusiast, but also specifically, he’s a Southwest enthusiast. So this is, this is hitting him and a lot of people who are Very loyal to Southwest for the very reasons that now they’re taking away.

Now they’re pulling back. They’re taking away

[00:49:21] Conner Jones: flexibility, free bags. And this is a big deal for people in Dallas because Southwest is headquartered here. And so Love Field is like their hub. And so a lot of people fly Southwest around the country, but yeah, I don’t know what their differentiators are going to be anymore.

So I’m just sad to see the end of this legendary airline. Okay. Yeah. Selection Sunday. Yeah. Sunday. Sunday. Yeah. March Madness season. We’ll talk about that probably next week. We’ll talk about our brackets and everything. We both

[00:49:48] Micah Tomasella: were excited about that March Madness. So dude, it’s a great time. So 68 teams will be placed in the March Madness bracket at 5 p.

m. Central Standard Time on CBS. And basically what I mean, it’s always exciting 16 seed versus number one seed. You get to see the mighty fall and every single time something crazy happens, typically on multiple occasions. So do yourself a favor, go online, fill out a bracket for fun. You can fill out a bracket and win a lot of money.

You probably won’t because there’s so many entrants into it, but that’s always a fun thing to do and to be a part of, and then. Finally, Connor, we’ve got the players championship coming up this weekend. So this is the biggest non major golf tournament. And so all the big names will be playing this weekend and what should be fun as we gear up for the masters next month.

And then Scotty Scheffler, he’s the first ever to he’s he’s the first ever back to back defending champion because he won in 23 and 24 and the winner this year gets 4. 5 million with a total payout for the players purse of 25 million, Connor. I’m super excited for that. Yeah, so we need to try to get in there and play right so we can take home the jackpot I mean, I think if you get last you still get a hundred grand or something I mean, so if I if we used to play and I definitely

[00:51:03] Conner Jones: would get last but it’d be worth it I’m gonna be raising my kid up to be a golfer because I there’s just there’s so many pros to it Anyways, thank you guys so much for joining us on this week’s episode of culture brief a dentist informed podcast All the articles and videos that we mentioned will be linked in the show notes So go check those out and if you enjoyed today’s episode Please, please, please subscribe, rate, or review this show on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, wherever you’re listening to it and share it with a friend that helps us just get into more people’s phones.

So thank you. And we will see you next Thursday. See you then.

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