Astronauts return, Democrat party turmoil, JFK files, & March Madness | Ep. 11

Join Conner Jones and Micah Tomasella on Culture Brief as they break down the week’s biggest headlines through a Christian lens. This week they discuss the newly released JFK files and the insights they may reveal, the extended mission of astronauts who were stranded for nine months aboard the ISS, the ongoing turmoil within the Democratic Party, the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, and wrap up with March Madness predictions and a related basketball hot take. And the guys offer eternal perspective and biblical wisdom for maintaining spiritual peace in tumultuous times.

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Topics

• (00:16): Breaking news: JFK files released
• (00:49): Astronauts’ unexpected nine-month mission
• (01:19): Russia-Ukraine peace talks update
• (03:06): Astronauts’ return: Challenges and triumphs
• (13:58): Democratic party in turmoil
• (24:18): Democratic party’s internal struggles
• (30:52): Israel-Gaza conflict update
• (33:02): JFK files released
• (36:51): March Madness excitement
• (38:50): College Basketball vs. NBA
• (41:05): Listener engagement and conclusion

Resources

• Mailbag: [email protected]
• DenisonForum.org/subscribe
• Culture Brief on Instagram
• U.S. astronauts finally returning to Earth after 9 months in space
• How NASA Astronauts Might Feel When They Return to Earth
• Stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams return to Earth in SpaceX capsule: Live updates
• ‘Butch and Suni’ astronauts prepare for Tuesday homecoming after nine-month mission | Reuters
• Dragon Undocks With SpaceX Crew-9 Members for Return to Earth – NASA
• Nasa astronauts back on Earth after being stuck months on ISS: ‘grins, ear to ear’ | Nasa | The Guardian
• Democrats clear way for funding bill, end threat of shutdown
• Chuck Schumer at the center of a “civil war” among Democrats
• Schumer forced to cancel events over ‘threats’ after backing GOP bill & Dem insists she’s LEAVING party in huge meltdown | The US Sun
• Democrats Clear Way for GOP Funding Bill, Ending Threat of Government Shutdown
• Playbook: Reeling, fuming, gloating – POLITICO
• Schumer at center of civil war after funding fiasco
• Chuck Schumer: Trump and Musk Would Love a Shutdown. We Must Not Give Them One. – The New York Times
• Walz knocks Schumer over government funding blowup – POLITICO
• Inside House Dems’ furious anti-Schumer movement
• CNN Poll: Democratic Party’s favorability drops to a record low | CNN Politics

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. 

[00:00:03] Micah Tomasella: Hi, I’m Micah Tomasella. 

[00:00:03] Conner Jones: And this is Culture Brief. A Denison Forum podcast where we navigate the constant stream of top stories in news, politics, sports, pop culture, technology, basically everything happening in culture, and we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective. And Micah, it happened yesterday.

The JFK files, they finally came out, so maybe we need to discuss that in a little bit. I mean, what are you thinking? 

[00:00:25] Micah Tomasella: Hey, man, I have not had the chance to read all 80, 000 pages yet, but I’m just kind of hoping some people who are fast readers Maybe the utilization of AI we can figure out what we didn’t know, but I haven’t seen a lot of Breaking news about this big bombshell. But anyway, we’ll talk about that 

[00:00:45] Conner Jones: Good. Sweet. Yeah. We’ll, share some thoughts, but what else are we going to be talking about today, Micah? 

[00:00:49] Micah Tomasella: Yeah. So we’re going to talk about astronauts returning after being stranded. An eight day mission turns into a nine month mission and they just crash landed back on earth, technically in the ocean.

This week, the Civil War and the Democratic Party not really seeming to have a unified strategy. We’re going to give you updates on the latest negotiations with Russia and Ukraine and the U. S. brokering those talks. Then we’re going to talk March Madness and so much more. So let’s jump into The Brief.

The Brief. All right. So before we jump into our first official story today, I want to kind of give a quick hit a quick overview and update on the Russia Ukraine peace talks and the ceasefire that they’re shooting for right now. So Trump and Putin had a more than two hour phone call on Tuesday and they laid out a possible path to the end of the war in Ukraine.

First 30 day ceasefire as well as technical negotiations on the implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the black sea, full ceasefire, and then permanent. Peace. So these negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East. So there has been a framework agreed to specifically on Russia is going to stop attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for the next 30 days.

And then the goal is, and the hope is, is that everybody will be able to come to the table and negotiate something further in that to actually be able to negotiate a full full ceasefire, not just on that one specific thing. So this story is ever evolving and we’ll give you some updates on this next week when more things come to light and more things are set in stone.

[00:02:18] Conner Jones: Yeah, for sure. Hopefully we do see a ceasefire come about. I think it’s going to be a step by step process. Stop shooting at these type of things like energy infrastructure. Then it’s going to move into like ports and technological sections of their countries. And so we’ll just see Zelensky is getting brought in to the conversations.

Now this goes back to what we talked about a few weeks ago. So the U. S. and Russia are kind of doing this on their own and without Ukraine in there. So the Ukrainians are hopeful to actually be a part of the conversations going forward. Yes. 

[00:02:44] Micah Tomasella: Yes. I mean, they’re going to bring Ukraine in and then they’re going to bring the European Union in and NATO in.

And then, you know, obviously these middle Eastern countries as well. You know, the goal is, is to, to put all the pieces of the puzzle together to hopefully bring about a lasting peace. I mean, and that’s something. Definitely worth praying about for peace of what’s happening over there in the end to that war.

Okay, Connor. Let’s jump into our first official story. Astronauts returning home. So let me just explain to you what happened because I think we’ve all heard at least something about these astronauts. Barry Butch Wilmore and Sunita or Suni Williams. So their mission was extended beyond expectation with NASA.

So they have returned to earth. Yeah, that’s an understatement, right? They’ve returned to earth after an unplanned nine month stay aboard the. International Space Station, or ISS for you space nerds out there. They originally launched in June 2024 aboard Boeing Starliner for what was supposed to be an 8 day test flight.

Okay? An 8 day test flight. But technical issues with the spacecraft prolonged their mission indefinitely. They didn’t know when they were coming home. This unexpected delay forced the astronauts to adjust to an extended stay in space while awaiting a safe return plan. So We were hearing updates about this corner, you know, okay.

They were initially stranded. Okay. We’ll get them back in 30 days instead of eight days. Okay. We’ll get them back in 60 days, 90 days. And then before you know it, it’s a nine month stay. And it’s actually just kind of crazy to think about. There were definitely some difficulties for them, but just the foresight to Plan ahead like that, you know to to be up there for that long and to actually have the sustenance that you need and to Be able to to take what you thought if I was gonna take an eight day trip I might be like, okay, I’ll pack an extra pair of socks, you know what I mean?

But like 

[00:04:40] Conner Jones: I’m not preparing for 

[00:04:41] Micah Tomasella: nine months. 

[00:04:43] Conner Jones: Yeah grabs grab some Klondike bars and just okay Yeah, you know we got to stay one extra night What’s the jingle for 

[00:04:49] Micah Tomasella: Klondike? Connor, can you sing it? Do you remember? I actually genuinely have no idea. What would you do for a Klondike bar? Oh, yeah. You remember that?

Kind of. Anyway, what were you going to say? I don’t watch 

[00:05:00] Conner Jones: commercials. That’s a different conversation. Did you interrupt 

[00:05:03] Micah Tomasella: me or did I interrupt you? What happened there? I think. I’m 

[00:05:05] Conner Jones: honestly not sure. What I was going to say is, yeah, I mean, they sort of had the foresight. They thought there’s a potential they could have to be there longer.

Because this was the first time this Boeing Aircraft or spacecraft was used. So there was a potential that something could go wrong They could get to the space station and for whatever reason the spacecraft would not be adequate to bring back to earth At least not with them on board because it did come back.

I think they brought the spacecraft back in like september Yeah, just without them because there was too much risk of it Essentially exploding on the return to earth So they knew there was potential. I don’t think they ever thought, Hey, this could end up being a whole pregnancy worth of staying in space.

First, second and third 

[00:05:48] Micah Tomasella: trimester. Yeah, good, good good analogy there, Connor. So let me talk to you about the life that they had aboard the ISS aboard the International Space Station. So during their time on the ISS, Wilmore and Williams contributed to ongoing scientific research, station maintenance and other critical operations.

So if you’re worried about where our taxpayer dollars are going. you know, to NASA, they were up there working. Okay. They weren’t just sitting around floating around having a good time. They endured the physical toll of long duration space flight, including potential muscle atrophy, bone density loss, vision impairment, and fluid buildup in the head due to prolonged exposure to microgravity.

So this is like from my research, like What happens when you’re in space for a long time, right? And those are kind of the symptoms of what can happen. So despite these challenges, they remained in good spirits, adapting to the circumstances and appreciating the rare opportunity to experience. extended space flight and extended time in space.

But here’s a fun fact that I read this morning, actually, Connor, during their nine month trip, Wilmore and Williams orbited the earth 4, 576 times, and they traveled 120 million. One hundred and twenty one million miles total. So how’s that for a road trip, right? Yeah, I mean, 

[00:07:04] Conner Jones: a road trip where you don’t even get to go outside.

I mean, you’re just 

[00:07:06] Micah Tomasella: Stuck in the car the whole time. Yeah. So here’s, here’s their return journey and what happened. For the long awaited return, Wilmore and Williams were joined by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and then Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. The crew departed the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule undocking at 1.

05 a. m. on March 18th and then they re entered Earth’s atmosphere and they safely splashed down off the coast of Florida at 5. 57 p. m. marking the successful completion of the mission. of their prolonged mission. You were telling me earlier, Connor, I didn’t see this part of the video. What happened when the pod landed in the ocean?

[00:07:44] Conner Jones: Man, these dolphins came up and just started like jumping up and down right around. It was cool. It was like a welcome back to earth type of thing. Like there were, there was just some dolphins. They were hanging out, you know? My goodness. Yeah. They said, Hey, welcome back. 

[00:07:57] Micah Tomasella: Yep. So here’s, here’s what this means for future space flight.

You know, when a mission goes from. Eight days to nine months. That’s no small thing, right? So their extended stay highlights both the unpredictability of space travel and the resilience of astronauts in the face of, I don’t know, an unforeseen prolonged challenge there. It also talk, you know, it kind of underscores the importance of commercial partnerships.

Boeing and SpaceX playing crucial roles in crewed space missions, so working together as NASA and its partners continue developing spacecraft for future deep space exploration. Lessons from this mission will refine procedures for trips to the moon and Mars and beyond. Connor, what would your first reaction be if you knew?

That your eight day mission to space was going to turn into a whole lot longer, maybe nine months. What would your, what would your first reaction to that be? 

[00:08:52] Conner Jones: Honestly, Micah, this sounds like my worst nightmare. I mean, I’m sure that these two were like, okay, you know, but they kept getting extended at first.

It was like, you guys are going to be there an extra week. They’re probably like, that’s fine. We’ve waited our whole lives to be in space. We’ll take the extra week, you know, and a lot of astronauts, they long for that time up in space. Good for them. Not me, man. I, this is my worst nightmare being. stuck on something so far away from home and just I would be just thinking about my family.

I would be thinking about my couch and my TV. Like, how do you, like how do you keep up with all the popular shows going on when you’re in space? You know, I don’t think I would do well, but I’m happy that they, you know, had good spirits all the time. They had the opportunity to have full on meltdowns.

This is what sci fi movies are made of where people get stuck in conditions like this. And then they like start to feel 

[00:09:36] Micah Tomasella: claustrophobic and all that stuff. And I’m sure. That, you know, I mean, Connor, I, I feel the same way, like it, it would freak me out, but there’s, there’s a I mean, I’m sure whenever they kind of get their strength back and they acclimate back to life on literal planet earth, that there’s going to be a lot of interviews that they give, but we’re going to be able to gain more context of how was this, what was this like, how you feel and all that stuff.

So I’m definitely looking forward to that, but Dr. Oh, no, go ahead. I 

[00:10:04] Conner Jones: was just saying maybe in the back of their head, they’re like. cha-Ching. Like they’re gonna get like book deals and documentaries and you know? Yes. I doubt that’s what came to their mind, but it’s probably gonna happen. Yes. They’re just gonna get more exposure from this.

[00:10:16] Micah Tomasella: I saw this article that was talking about how the astronauts aren’t gonna get like any bonus. or like overtime pay from NASA because they were just going to get paid their regular salary. And I was like, okay, I mean, maybe give him a little, you know, like a, like a little Christmas bonus early or something.

That’s right. Crack down on him. All right. So Dr. Jim Denison, who’s the co founder and the CEO of Denison ministries. He’s a cultural theologian, brilliant guy. Great guy. He compares the return of astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to our own journey through life and into eternity in one of his daily articles this week, you know, Connor, I read this daily article and it really struck me.

So I’m just going to kind of give an overview of what the daily article said and how this mission to space is unexpected journey can kind of apply to our lives. So just like the International Space Station isn’t They’re true home isn’t the astronauts true home. This world isn’t ours either. As Christians, we’re here for a short period of time, right?

But convincing people of an unseen eternity isn’t easy. Just like it would be tough to persuade someone born on the ISS that earth exists. So it’s this concept of you’re told that there is this eternity, but all you know, your reality is earth. So just like somebody born on the International Space Station, they can be told earth is real, but maybe they haven’t seen it.

And so Dr. Denison gives three reasons why faith in eternity makes sense, even beyond just saying eternity is real. Number one, Jesus came to earth and gave us real historical proof, verified proof outside of scripture. You know, you can stack it stories and stories high. The accounts of Jesus’s death, burial, but most importantly, his resurrection, appearing to his disciples, appearing to those 500 people, defeating death, defeating the grave.

So Jesus came and said, I came to give you life and give it to the fullest. He came and he said, That eternal life will only come through me. You will only come to the father, but by me. And he proved it by defeating death, by raising himself from the dead. And so when somebody pulls that off, we need to listen to their words.

And then secondly, the Holy spirit is still at work and he’s transforming lives. So us as believers taking the. the commission. Seriously. I think that sometimes we psych ourselves up or psych ourselves out about evangelism, but we need to make sure that we’re doing our job as believers to bring as many people to heaven with us as we can.

And it all starts with being open about your story. Here’s where I was. Here’s where I am here. Here was my desire. Here’s where my desire is now. This is what the world is telling us all to do, but this is what I believe that I’m called to do. And that is such a powerful way to evangelize. And then thirdly, living for eternity actually makes life better now.

gives you perspective now, gives you hope and peace and comfort and direction now, knowing that all of the trials and the beauty that we face while here on earth, it’s leading to something far greater eternity in heaven with Jesus. What are your thoughts on that Connor? 

[00:13:28] Conner Jones: And that’s just good truth. It’s, it’s where our hope lies, right?

We know what lies on the other side. Yeah, it’s something that we cannot see, but we know that it’s real, we know that it’s true, and I’m so grateful for that. Yeah, thanks for that word, Micah. That’s, that’s good stuff. Yep. And you know, glad the astronauts are back, glad that we have a hope in heaven, knowing that that’s real, and just keeping the word going, the gospel going.

Yeah. That’s what we’re called to do, so thank you for that. Okay, let’s move into something that’s just kind of been taken DC by storm this week and that is yeah, man, the democrats are just lost at sea They are completely directionless, they don’t have a captain right now to guide them through the storm in the sea.

They are just in a world of hurt, and some people are calling it a democratic civil war within their own party. Which, to be clear, the Republicans have gone through this in the past themselves. In fact, over the last decade, it’s felt like a Republican civil war as the old school McCain Romney Republican Party.

Transferred into this kind of Trump driven MAGA Republican Party. So now it’s almost like it’s the Democrats turn and they are just in a world of hurt and it has gotten worse and worse seemingly every week since the 2024 election where they got beat pretty handedly and lost their majorities in the House and Senate and obviously the presidential election as well.

So all that to say, here’s what’s been happening last week. We talked about the government potentially shutting down. That was averted, which is, I think, a good thing. The government did not shut down at midnight on Friday, but that’s only because Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Came out and said he was going to vote to keep the government open and that opened the floodgates Yeah of the Democratic Party just coming out against him.

They turned on him They have been saying he’s a bad leader that he should never have done this He caved to the Trump administration and to the Republicans But really honestly Mike Johnson the Speaker of the House Kind of handed it off to him because they he was able to push through the bill keeping the government open in the house Just barely but he did And that was where people thought maybe it wouldn’t pass the house.

But when it passed the House, it became the Senate’s problem. And that is where Chuck Schumer had to step in and say what he was going to do. And he was kind of between a rock and a hard place. Because if he said, let’s shut the government down, then that also makes the Democrats look bad. They’re the ones who put the government in this position and shut it down.

And then that might harm the economy and all of that. But then his own party is we wanted to shut down because we don’t want Trump to have all the power specifically with those and everything that this bill allows to go on. You know, enough Senate Democrats did vote to keep it open. So it wasn’t just Schumer.

There were, I think, 8 other Democrats, maybe 9 others that stuck with him and voted to keep it open, and you know, now Democrats are saying this is going to further empower Trump and damage the party. A lot of them consider Schumer’s decision to be so heinous that they are questioning whether he should step down as their leader.

And he’s kind of the de facto leader of the party right now because they are just, they don’t have a real leader. And the Hill. Had an article saying that they are, you know, Schumer started this quote unquote civil war within the party Representative Jim McGovern who’s a Democratic congressman out of Massachusetts said he was extremely disappointed After he heard the news and he noted that it gives them the ability Elon Musk Specifically the ability to go through and continue to do expletive what he’s doing Yeah, so they’re just mad.

I mean, what are your initial thoughts there Micah? 

[00:16:58] Micah Tomasella: Yeah. I mean, I think Chuck Schumer wouldn’t have come out because he made this statement and he said, we’re, we’re going to support this funding bill. I’m supporting this funding bill. He didn’t implicate anybody. And so right when he came out and said that Chuck Schumer has been doing this for a long time.

He’s got a lot of experience. So Chuck Schumer is not going to come out and make that statement without already having the vote secure. So whenever he came out and made that statement, I knew that he had at least 10 Democrats. In the Senate that we’re going to vote for this bill. But I mean, obviously, the Republicans were able to unite.

They have what a four seat majority in the House, which is tiny because there’s a lot more members of the House than there is the Senate. And it’s all about Mike Johnson’s ability to be able to unite the Republican vote around what they’re doing. So they were able to pass it through the house without any democratic support whatsoever, which is actually kind of rare, okay, to be able to have that type of unity within your party.

But you made such a good point earlier, Connor, when you said that it’s a truly, it’s weird to see this happen to the Democrats because that has been one of their biggest strong suits. They have been unified. They have been unified really since. Oh, wait, since Obama, you know what I mean? And then everything kind of has changed with the Republican Party and it’s been all this infighting within the Republican Party, but the Republican Party is pretty unified right now.

Now you could argue if they want to be or not, but they’re choosing to be right now. And it’s just interesting to see this happen within the Democratic Party right now. 

[00:18:32] Conner Jones: Yeah, it definitely is. It’s an interesting time. So 10 minute speech on the Senate floor, kind of defending his Yes. Afterwards. Yeah. He published an opinion article in the New York Times this past week titled Trump and Musk would love a shutdown.

We must not give them one. So he’s standing behind his convictions. He’s yeah, I want to keep the government open because if, if we shut it down. It gives them all the fire in the world to come back and hit them with you guys are the reason the government shut down. That’s right. Republican house passed it.

Trump was ready to sign the bill to keep the government open and it’s the Democrats keeping the government closed. 

[00:19:05] Micah Tomasella: It was a lose lose for Democrats. It really was. Yeah. 

[00:19:09] Conner Jones: That’s why I don’t know. The Democrat party turning on Schumer is I don’t know what you guys were expecting. Like what, what, what did you want to happen anyways?

Activist organizations that are democratic activist organizations. Such as the organization called indivisible have called for Schumer’s resignation and advocated for a more assertive leadership to oppose the Republican initiative, Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, who just ran with Kamala Harris as her vice president pick.

Came out and criticized Schumer’s decision and suggested that it compromised this party’s leverage and could lead to negative consequences for Americans. And then a representative, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, many call her AOC. She is also from New York, like Schumer has argued that Schumer’s quote, almost unthinkable move caused a deep sense of outrage and betrayal across the Democrats ideological spectrum.

And she notably did not rule out a primary challenge against him. So she could come for his seat in the Senate if she would like. She’s very 

[00:20:02] Micah Tomasella: popular. And she’s very popular, especially with younger, more progressive wing of the democratic party. She’s very popular. She’s the future of the party. 

[00:20:10] Conner Jones: Yes, she, she very well could be.

She might be that leader that the Democrats need. I think she’s. almost too progressive for a lot of their tastes. So we’ll see what happens there. But yeah, meanwhile, Michael, while all of this is happening, a poll came out, literally Schumer, I think it was on Wednesday said he’s going to vote to keep the government open.

And on Thursday, this CNN poll came out showing that the Democrat party’s favorability rating among Americans is at a record low. They are just in a sea of hurt. And so that obviously that followed the 2024 election that really kind of highlighted the party’s total misread of the just. General American public and the average American life and their party now obviously is embroiled in a debate over whether to adopt a more combative stance against Republicans and their policies or to strategically choose their battles.

Should they ditch DEI and quote woke policies completely or stand behind those policies? Should they go even harder on those? We’ll just see what they do. But right now, like I said, there’s no real like identifiable leader or there’s not even like a rising star. Maybe you could say A. O. C. There’s, there’s just not that person in the wings like Barack Obama was in like 2006.

People were like, okay, that’s our guy. Somebody will emerge. We’re just not seeing him right now. It’s just, there’s no one who’s out there right now that’s that’s their future party leader, their future presidential pick, all of that. And that’s particularly bad right now because JD Vance. It seems to be the heir apparent in the MAGA world and in the Republican world.

So they’ve got that already set up on the right side of the aisle. So what about the left side? Anyways, any other thoughts on that, Micah? 

[00:21:43] Micah Tomasella: No, I mean, what, what was interesting is, did you see Gavin Newsome? I think we talked about his, his new podcast, but I mean, he’s having, he’s, he’s really, I mean, his new podcast is.

is interesting because he’s inviting guys like Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk. There was another conservative type person that he invited. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s an interesting approach because what he’s doing is you know, the, the right has kind of dominated the podcast platforms. And then Gavin Newsom is getting on there and.

You know, agreeing with some of their points and it’s really infuriating the Democratic Party and, and, you know, oddly enough it, it really does kind of seem like Gavin Newsom is, is kind of changing up his strategy a little bit and trying to reach across the aisle. And you know, you talk about a rising star.

I think if Gavin kind of. Sticks to that over the next few years, he could change his image because he’s just seemed so far left as, as the, as the governor of California. But if he can kind of come more to the middle, cause he is a very good speaker and he is very strong in his approach to leadership. I think that he could be a rising star in the democratic party.

Could eventually take it over. 

[00:22:54] Conner Jones: Yeah, he could be. And I think he is kind of a star already. In a sense, I just think Democrats have been wary about him because California gets hit so hard as being the most progressive state. And I think that this is super strategic on his part to try to rebrand. It’s smart to cross the aisle, which yeah, yeah, maybe, but also is it him just trying to almost just distance himself from everything that he is known as the bright.

He doesn’t want to repeat what Kamala Harris just went through where she was identified with all these progressive ideologies and it’s easy to, to hit him with that. But yeah, he did have that super viral clip go out from his very first episode with Charlie Kirk, who’s like a right winged commentator and influencer big in Trump world.

And he essentially pushed back. Against having transgenders in sports, and he said it was let me find the quote here. Deeply 

[00:23:43] Micah Tomasella: unfair. 

[00:23:44] Conner Jones: Deeply unfair. That 

[00:23:45] Micah Tomasella: biological males would be competing in women’s sports. And that, that was a firestorm. Not like that. Firestorm. They were like, 

[00:23:53] Conner Jones: what are you talking about?

You’ve been so pro LGBTQ policies and transgender policies. And this was, this was like his first step. This was the very first episode and that clip went viral. And then I, I mean, I listen, I’ve listened to most of these episodes so far. They have been interesting conversations just to hear. And it’s a very clear step of him trying to get in, in the minds of people just trying to kind of already set himself up for a run in 2028.

[00:24:18] Micah Tomasella: You know, this is the thing, the democratic party knows that they need to change, that they need a shift. The argument comes down to what do we shift to? How do we change? You know, you talked about D. E. I. What people will call woke policies, open border type policies, which don’t pull well for them. So they all know they need a change, but the argument within the party, the civil war, a lot of it has to do with the old guard versus the new guard.

But it’s really just the ideology of what are we going to leave behind? And what are we going to push as a party? Yeah. So we’ll see how it goes. 

[00:24:53] Conner Jones: Yeah, we will. I don’t know. Anyways, so just when you hear all of this, you might feel one or two different ways, depending on what side of the aisle you tend to land on.

Maybe you’re an independent and you’re like, this is just chaos. I don’t really care that much. But if you’re a Republican, maybe you’re celebrating. If you’re a Democrat, maybe you’re feeling tormented. Like you’re just like, Oh, this is awful to watch from afar as my party just eats itself alive. And like I said, independence might just be sitting there wait, Okay, it’s actually good to have two strong parties because it’s in a way a checks and balance system, right?

You’ve got a party cycle that tends to happen. It’s usually Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican, House, Senate, and Presidents in the elections. And you know, it’s just an interesting time for the Democrats, but. In today’s online environment, it’s very easy for us to express our own positions and oppose anyone who has a different ideology or thought, and we can easily, you know, have increased rhetorical extremes, name calling, all of that, and as a result, Micah, I think opposing sides view each other as evil enemies more than ever before, and might even feel justified in doing anything to defeat them, so this could be true within a party or against parties, so there’s people in the Democrat Party who, they see Chuck Schumer as just in and now they might consider him like evil in a sense.

Yeah. I don’t think that’s, I don’t think it’s that extreme, but you know, it could go that way. And Abraham Lincoln actually sent a warning to us hundreds of years ago. This is how nations die by suicide. He said, when we’re so divided, And obviously he saw the nation divided at its worst in the Civil War, and it almost took the entire country down.

So we need biblical wisdom to guide our own autonomy and community to preserve our democracy. Exodus 22 commands us, Micah, that you shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people. And Ecclesiastes 10 actually takes it even further and it says, Even in your thoughts do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

Today, I would say, and actually this is something that came from Dr. Jim Denison, another article he wrote this week too, and he noted that your cell phone, in a way, is a bird of the air in that. How do we respond to these political leaders? He noted that we should refuse to slander, and the Bible specifically actually forbids slander of all kinds.

It says in 1 Peter 2, 1, put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. If we’re going to have a, if we’re in a conflict with someone, we’re really called to go directly to them. It says that in Matthew 18, 15. And if we know that they are in conflict with us. We are to do the same.

Yeah. So Micah, if you and I have a beef, we need to go to each other. We don’t need to be slandering each other behind one another’s back. That’s, that’s not the best way to handle that. And think about just how much anger and animosity and damage could be avoided if that’s how we spoke with others and with.

People that are are kind of great application in our lives, you know respectfully I disagree type of situation It doesn’t it doesn’t help to slander. It’s better to have conversations and then Paul, you know, he taught us Romans 13 1 let everyone let sorry let every person be subject to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God and those who exist have been instituted by God and accordingly pay to all What is owed to them?

Taxes to whom taxes are owed. Revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed. Honor to whom honor is owed. And Peter agreed with that too in 1 Peter 2 13 and 14. And he even said we’re to honor everyone and love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. And so even when we can’t necessarily respect the position, or sorry, the person, we are to respect the position.

The apostles taught us early on that kind of concept with the governing authorities. Because the emperor at the time was Nero, and he was awful. He was just a horrible, horrific, immoral ruler. But the apostles knew they had to honor the position, even when they could not honor the person. And so one way to do that is through just intercession.

And that’s one of the things we can take is 1st Timothy 2, 1 and 2 that says, I urge the supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. For kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. And so Micah, just as a final note here, it is difficult to slander people when we’re praying for them.

Oh, amen. So that is an encouragement to pray for anyone in your life that you may have conflict with. Pray for the leaders of opposing parties in your own country, in your own just state, city, whatever it is. If you’re a Republican, pray for the Democrats. If you’re a Democrat Pray for the Republicans. The leaders are there for a reason.

We respect the position, even if we struggle to respect the person. 

[00:29:50] Micah Tomasella: Yeah. Good stuff, Connor. Amen, brother. I’m in total agreement with you. And I think that this is one way that we can encourage each other, even as we’re having this conversation. But our audience who listens and Denison Ministries, specifically Denison Forum, seeking to discern the news differently, is how do we take the overwhelming news?

And boil it down to where we can take it off in bite sized pieces and say, God, what would you have me do with this? Yeah. And I think that we can glean so many lessons from the overwhelming nature in the news and really just see the destructive nature of it. Just the destruction from what’s happening in this story that you just talked about.

How can we apply it to our own lives? And when there’s not peace in Washington, let’s have peace in our homes. Let’s have peace in our hearts. Let’s have peace in our families and in our relationship. So good stuff, Connor. Thank you for that. So we’re going to jump straight into a tune in section and we’re going to give you Quite a few things to tune into and to pay attention to in what’s coming up.

So the first thing that we want to update you on is the Israel Gaza war has been reignited. I don’t think any of us wanted to see this. I think to a certain extent you can see why it had to happen, but at the same time you hate to see it and you hate to see all the suffering and this. potentially being reignited.

Hopefully peace can come back to this situation. But Hamas has refused to hand over the remaining hostages. This has been happening for weeks, right? And the original ceasefire deal did expire. So Israel executed airstrikes on Gaza. I’m going to say this real quick when you’re reading news on this and, you know, obviously our ministry.

Denison Forum does support Israel to a point as, as much as we can of what lines up with God’s word. But I’ll just say this, I’ve seen a lot of outlets report on this and they bury the fact that the ceasefire expired and they bury the fact that some of those hostages have not been released. And it’s just jumped straight to all these people have been killed.

There’s all this carnage, almost as if there’s, there’s no reason for it. So I’m just going to point that out. I’ve, I’ve noticed that I don’t, I don’t know if you’ve noticed that Connor, the U S has been launching airstrikes at. Hhy locations in Yemen who have in turn launched missiles at the US and Israel.

So these Houthis rebels that are supported by Iran, they’re basically breaking up all of these trade routes in the Red Sea and stuff like that. And so it’s disrupting all of the international trade. And so Trump is stepping in and bombing the Houthis. And then you see Israel is now bombing Hamas again.

So I, I mean, it seems as though war is erupting again in the Middle East when there seem to be this, this. short pause. And so prayerfully, peace can come back to that region. But this story will be ever evolving and we’ll do our best to keep you in the loop. 

[00:32:30] Conner Jones: Yeah, there’s, there’s just a lot happening. It felt like there was a good pause for a while on both the Houthi front and the Israel Gaza front.

And also to clarify, they’re launching missiles at U. S. ships. Yes, sorry. Directly. Yes. Yeah, yes, no. Yes. I don’t think they have that capability. But anyways, that would be. A totally different ballgame, but they are launching at us ships. So they are attacking the U S Navy, which is not cool. Anyways, we’ll stay up to date with what’s going on there, but it is heartbreaking.

I mean, we don’t want to see innocent people dying and any sort of airstrikes or in hostage tunnels, whatever it is. So continuing to pray there. Okay. Micah, this is what we talked about at the beginning, the JFK files, they did get released this week. Trump promised when he got reelected that he would release all the remaining documents.

I mean, we’re trusting that this is all the remaining documents, but 80, 000 pages, I’m currently sifting through those. I’m on page one and trying to go through, trying to go through, honestly, no, we’ll just see who the historians have come out, honestly, and said that it’s going to take several days to parse through everything and really try to understand what is out there that in these documents that we don’t already know, there is a lot of just repetitive things, which is to be expected.

But is there anything in there that is. been buried all this time. So far, I was reading, they dropped last night and this morning I was reading up on just what potentially has been discovered. Nothing of significance. I mean, it sounds like the KGB was on to Oswald when he was in Russia and said he was a bad shot.

So people are clinging to that. Okay, was he even able to shoot JFK? Was he that bad of a shot? How would he ever be able to hit? JFK in the head from the distance that he was at and the angle that he was at and all that. So I don’t know. We’ll just see what comes out of that. But historians do expect to take several days and we’ll see if they find any major revelations.

And we’ll just see. I think a lot of Americans are eager to find out. So next we’re going to be waiting on the RFK files because JFK’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy was killed a few years later and assassinated. And then the MLK files, there’s always been questions around his assassination. Nothing’s been as high profile as JFK’s killing, but there’s always been suspicions that there was potential government interference or weird foul play.

Yeah, some things that we don’t know. Like whether foreign entities behind those, all that. So we will just see. 

[00:34:43] Micah Tomasella: Yeah, I think we should have more updates when we record next week. on this. I mean, we’re obviously waiting idly by to see if there’s any bombshells drop. Trump did say nothing is being redacted from those reports.

So we’ll, I mean, we’ll see what happens, but I, there is at least a hundred thousand people yesterday, today, and for the next week that have probably taken off of work and they’ve printed out all 80, 000 pages. Yeah. I’m just imagining somebody in a dark library with a lamp, just sifting through all of it, like trying to find that one thing.

Somebody will find something. It might not be as much of a revelation as some are hoping, but somebody will find something because I feel like there’s a lot of sleuths on the case right now. So let me jump into the other thing that we should be tuning into. So Trump is pushing the boundaries here, specifically when it comes to the relationship between the executive and the judicial branch, Trump being a part of the executive branch.

And then all of these judges, the circuit Judges that are, you know, in SCOTUS that are a part of the judicial branch. So Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public statement. He rarely issues public statements and he’s, he rebukes Trump and basically rebuked Trump’s call to impeach a federal judge who ruled against him over the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members.

So let’s keep an eye on the story as the judicial and executive branches are becoming increasingly at odds. And so as Trump is pushing the boundaries with these executive orders. It’s just going to be interesting to see how this plays out and what the actual legality is as the system gets tested. 

[00:36:17] Conner Jones: Yeah, I don’t know man.

This this is just very interesting Different judges are coming out against different things that trump’s trying to push through And he’s not happy about it So again, neither are a lot of republicans and even elon musk is on x every day saying we need to get rid of these judges They have too much power So it it seems like it’s going to come to Ahead and at some point somebody’s going to step in and yeah chief justice Robert’s doesn’t really rebuke.

That is a very rare thing now. He did not use Trump’s name in the statement, but it was very clear who is who he was talking about. Aimed towards. Yeah. So anyways, here’s the next big thing. This is what’s going to be taken over the full weekend ahead, Micah. What it’s time March madness, March madness, baby.

Let’s go. Let’s go. Get your brackets submitted. Get your brackets submitted if you’re listening to this on Thursday morning, you may still have a few hours left to get that in. I think the first game is at 1115 Central Time, 1215 Eastern. So you’ve got a few hours to get that bracket in if you if you’re in.

You know bracket game we’re on the Denison ministries bracket challenge Mike and I will be competing in that I’ve got five brackets I have to fill out tonight. Honestly, so we’ll just see Who do you who do you think right now? Micah is gonna take take home the championship, you know I’m gonna go with 

[00:37:31] Micah Tomasella: a local Texas team the University of Houston has four losses or something like that all year And they’re a number one seed.

And how about kind of a Cinderella story of a number one seed of a basketball program that doesn’t have. A ton of historical success. Just historically it’s, if, if they win at all, it is kind of a Cinderella story. It’s not, it’s not a blue chip program for college basketball. So Houston being as successful as they’ve been this year at let’s say them, why not?

[00:38:00] Conner Jones: Okay. I’m going to, I guess I’ll go the opposite direction and take a blue chip program and I’m just going to go ahead and stick with Duke. I think that they, you know, they look good. They’ve got Cooper flag. He’s like the future. He’s going to be the NBA 

[00:38:13] Micah Tomasella: draft. 

[00:38:13] Conner Jones: Very good player. He’s, he’s great. So we’ll just see we do love a Cinderella story.

I love seeing the schools that I’ve never heard of just take, take, take the tournament by storm and win two games that are totally unexpected. I cannot wait, man. What was this? What was the school a few years ago? They were, they were, the Peacocks was there. Mass. Oh gosh. What was saint something.

Anyways, they were totally unheard of. They were like a 15 seat and made it all the way to the elite eight or sweet 16 school on the map. These schools will just get on the map, man. It’s awesome. Okay, but before we move on from that, I’ve got to say a quick, a quick hot take, or maybe you agree with me here.

I personally think it’s more fun to watch and more fun to just be a part of college basketball than it is the NBA, at least right now in the current basketball environment. And so I’m going to say it, college basketball is better than the NBA. Okay. 

[00:39:05] Micah Tomasella: I was going to say, say your hot take with your chest, with your full chest, stand on all 10 toes.

I’m, I’m saying and say it. Okay. So you’re saying college basketball is better than the NBA. I don’t know how I feel about this hot take. Here’s here’s how I would frame it. If you are more of an individual fan. Then I see why you would enjoy the NBA more because these players have long careers in the NBA, right?

And the NBA gets more media coverage all that stuff. So I mean you have LeBron James I mean, he’s been playing for like over 20 years or whatever and you know, many would argue he’s the greatest of all time It’s either him or Michael Jordan. So People like that. I mean if if you’re more of an individual fan, you’re probably gonna be a bigger NBA fan but if you’re a fan of team basketball, then I totally understand why you would enjoy college basketball more because players only stay at their schools for a year or two, really a year if they’re good.

And so it is, it is these systems that these coaches implement that keep churning out great basketball. And so if you’re more of a fan of team basketball, I could totally see how you would enjoy the college basketball more than the NBA. 

[00:40:11] Conner Jones: Yeah. And I just, I honestly think the NBA has completely changed the way that they play the game.

It’s not as, in my opinion, fun as it used to be to watch the game is. It’s almost a mess. It’s just, you know, they’ve, they’re trying to adjust that because a lot of people have been calling it out as the game is no longer as physical. It’s mostly three pointers, all of that. Whereas college basketball still seems to be fast paced and energetic and just all over the place.

I mean, even last night in the first four, which is kind of like the pre tournament tournament. There was a buzzer beater at the end. You just don’t think that in the NBA as much and you just see these awesome endings and competitive games in college basketball. So it’s fun. I don’t know. So anyways, yeah, it’s going to be a fun weekend watching that.

And we hopefully we’ll have brackets that are not completely busted by next week. That’s right. 

[00:40:57] Micah Tomasella: That’s right. Everybody get your brackets filled out. Connor. Thank you for the impromptu hot take. Think I might agree with you. I have to think about it. Guys, thank 

[00:41:05] Conner Jones: you. Let me say this I’ll drop a poll on Spotify and on the culture brief Instagram find us on Instagram culture brief podcast Or shoot us your hot take on that or response to that at culture brief at denison form or and we’ll catch your email And let us know what your thoughts are, but I want to see your votes too on Spotify and on our Instagram We’ll have a poll if you think the NBA or college basketball is better 

[00:41:26] Micah Tomasella: Yes.

Thank you for that, Connor. Good call out. I almost forgot that part. Thank you. Yes. Please send us your emails or topic ideas or discussion ideas to again, culturebrief at denisonforum. org. We love them. We appreciate them and we do our best to implement them into our show. So thank you for joining us for this week’s episode of Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast.

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