Join hosts Conner Jones and Micah Tomasella in this episode of Culture Brief as they navigate top stories in news, politics, sports, pop culture, and technology from a Christian perspective. This week they discuss the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), its controversial actions, and the mixed public response. They also address the severe humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, focusing on the persecution of Christians and international reactions. Additionally, they cover upcoming events like the NFL Draft Combine, the Oscars, and Lent. Don’t miss Conner’s hot take on Star Wars and updates on the Ukraine and Russia peace talks.
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Topics
- (00:56): The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
- (10:46): Spiritual and Personal Reflections
- (14:53): Humanitarian Crisis in the Congo
- (22:25): Weekly Highlights and Sports Update
- (24:56): Pope’s Health Update
- (25:21): Clint Hill’s Passing and JFK Files
- (26:17): Apple’s Investment in American Infrastructure
- (27:31): Vivek Ramaswamy’s Campaign Announcement
- (28:44): Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks and Minerals Deal
- (29:47): Kathleen Kennedy Steps Down from Lucasfilm
- (31:14): Spicy Hot Take
- (35:27): Parenting Stages and Advice
- (38:19): Upcoming Shows and Events
Resources
- Mailbag: [email protected]
- DenisonForum.org/subscribe
- Culture Brief on Instagram
- Christian Parenting
- Denison Forum: Lent Resources
OSCAR’s articles:
- Why did ‘Emilia Peréz’ actually receive 13 Oscar nominations?
- ‘A Complete Unknown’ earns eight Academy Award nominations
- Why I hope you won’t see “Conclave”
- DOGE claims $55 billion in government cuts so far — but the figure is hard to verify – ABC News
- DOGE: Department of Government Efficiency
- A comprehensive look at DOGE’s firings and layoffs so far | AP News
- Watson: DOGE’s youth is a feature, not a bug
- Federal agencies can ignore “What did you do last week?” email, Trump administration says – CBS News
- Elon Musk claims federal employees have 48 hours to explain recent work or resign | The Verge
- LEADER JEFFRIES STATEMENT ON FEDERAL WORKERS
- Elon Musk on X: “Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.” / X
- The civil war in Congo could soon reach a tipping point
- More pressure on Rwanda as Congo says rebel uprising has killed over 7,000 people this year | AP News
- Children face lethal violence, rape in east Congo war | Reuters
- Rwanda-backed M23 rebels capture eastern DRC’s second-largest city | Democratic Republic of the Congo | The Guardian
- 70 Christians found beheaded in church in DRC – Open Doors UK & Ireland
- US and Ukraine agree to terms on minerals and reconstruction
- Justin Trudeau’s Comment on X
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 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] Micah Tomasella: Hi, I’m Connor Jones. And hi, I’m Micah Tomasella.
[00:00:05] 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, and technology. And we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective. Hey, Micah, do you want to give us just a quick rundown of what we’re going to be talking about today?
[00:00:20] Micah Tomasella: Hey, Connor. Yeah, it would be a blessing and a joy. Thank you. Alright, so we’re going to talk about DOGE, which is short for the Department of Government. efficiency. We’re going to talk about updates with that. We’re going to jump into a conflict and a story that’s happening in the Congo right now and persecution amongst Christians specifically.
We’re also just going to talk about all the things that are coming up this week and all the things to catch us up on. Connor has a spicy hot take for us. We’re going to jump in a mailbag and give you some things to tune into as well. So we got a full show today. So let’s jump into the brief,
[00:00:56] Conner Jones: Micah, as you mentioned. Doge, the department of government efficiency, which as of a month and a half ago did not exist, but it’s a whole new department in the government and it is, you know, it’s quite the center of attention for many people, depending on what side you’re on, you either really like it or you really hate it.
And so I want to hit on kind of both sides here. What is Doge? How did it come about? What are they doing? What have they done so far? What’s the response been? So just for a little bit of background information, I’m sure many people already know this, but Doge was established by President Trump by executive order right after he became President for the second time and then he had appointed Elon Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy to head the department up together to start finding government waste in anywhere where there’s just an abundance of Spending that should not be happening from taxpayer dollars vivek Is no longer a part of it.
We could talk about that at some point but elon musk the richest man in the world and You know, he’s right now kind of playing a buddy cop situation with Trump. They are just best friends in the Oval Office together. Yin and Yang, man. They are yin and yang right, right now. You never know what happens with these two.
Right, you never know. Yeah. But as of right now, you know, they’re besties and they’re doing their thing. And you’ve got the two They’re besties like
[00:02:10] Micah Tomasella: us, Connor. They’re best friends just like us, buddy.
[00:02:13] Conner Jones: Yeah, we’re, we’re just like them. One of us is Who’s Trump and who’s Elon? I don’t even want to answer that question.
Let me think for a second. Alright, go ahead, sorry. We’re just separated by a few billion dollars from both of them. Just a few. That’s the difference there. That being said, Trump obviously is an elected official. Elon is not. You know, he’s, he’s tearing off and going at bureaucrats and bureaucracies, but a lot of people are saying, Hey, are you not a bureaucrat right here?
You’re not elected. Who picked you to run this department anyways, just a little bit of a situation there. But anyways, since DOJ has started sifting through federal agencies. Last month, really, I mean, day one, they started going at it. They’ve, they’ve had big responses, positives and negatives. So let’s hit on those positives first.
So right now the agency’s website, they did set up a whole website. If you go look at it, it doesn’t even look like a government website. It looks like a tech website. Trying to make sense. Anyways, they’ve got all kinds of data on there. And right now they are saying, this is at the top of the website. This is the statement says, let’s balance the budget exclamation point.
Doge’s total estimated savings as of right now are 65 billion, which is a combination of fraud detection and deletion, contract and lease cancellations, and renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings. A lot of big government juicy words for just cutting out.
What does that mean it means cuts to agencies where they were Finding like more software licenses than employees. That’s not something you want. That’s a great thing taking out deia Programming for integrated pest management. That was a three hundred and twenty four thousand dollar contract that was out there I don’t even know what that means, but it doesn’t sound like something that’s a good use of taxpayer dollars they’ve cut three million dollars from the education department for a contract to write a report That showed that prior reports were not being utilized by schools wonderful use of taxpayer dollars there Anyways, so those are the type of things that they very much So are able to blast out on social media and say we cut this we cut this we found this Dumb contract whatever and we cut it.
We’re killing it We’re killing off these empty office contract leases all of that. Those are very popular things They’ve even started to cut back on workforce. This is where it gets a little dicey but what they did do is Alongside trump they offered eight months of pay to any federal government worker who opted to leave on their own accord.
So a big severance package. Essentially, about 75, 000 federal employees did accept that offer as of February 12th. And then the Trump administration also ordered this agency to lay off probationary employees, basically anybody with less than a year of service on the job. So a lot of newer employees have been laid off.
This could end up affecting several hundred thousand employees. I think as of March 2024, there was roughly 220, 000 federal workers who were in their first year. So if you apply that to now, it’s going to be about the same number. And then the Pentagon is anticipating, Pete Hegseth said that, Secretary of Defense said this himself, that they’re anticipating cutting its civilian workforce by five to eight percent.
And the Pentagon is next on the docket for DOJ to come out to find waste in the Department of Defense. Then, this is an interesting one, Micah, the IRS is laying off more than 6, 000 employees. If you remember during the Biden administration, they made a commitment to hire tens of thousands of new IRS agents.
And Doge came in and said, nope, you’re getting rid of people rather than hiring.
[00:05:43] Micah Tomasella: Yep.
[00:05:43] Conner Jones: That one’s getting a little bit of flack because they’re right in the middle of tax season. But, Yep. I, I, nobody’s going to go crying about the IRS getting, getting cut. Oh, people will find a way. People will find a way.
People will find a way, but I think the majority of the American public is it’s the IRS. You know, it’s not, we’re not fans. The question is, how are Americans feeling about all this so far? I mean, we’re a month and a half in, and I guess really we’re more like a month in. Anyways, how are Americans feeling with all these cuts happening so fast, so much stuff just being slashed, and just people’s jobs being lost?
There’s a poll that was just conducted by Harvard that found 72 percent of U. S. registered voters support the existence of this federal agency focused on efficiency. So that, I mean, that’s positive. I mean, people are like, yeah, this is a good thing. Like we should be cutting out waste. Don’t waste our taxpayer dollars.
And then Trump and Musk even floated the idea last week from the Oval Office of giving 20 percent of Doge’s savings back to the American people in the form of stimulus checks. So if you remember during the pandemic. Everybody that was eligible got a check cut to them from the government and people were like, Ooh, this is great.
Although in hindsight, maybe that caused some of the inflation. I don’t know. I’m not an economic expert. I’m not going to speak into if that’s a good or a bad thing, but obviously when people learn that they may get some of their tax dollars back from savings from this efficiency agency, it seems to be a pretty popular thing.
So it seems like it’s going in the right direction, right, Micah?
[00:07:09] Micah Tomasella: Yeah, I mean, I would say overall, it is 100 percent true and it’s been known for so long that the government wastes a whole lot of money. I mean, you’ve been seeing stories about paying thousands and thousands of dollars for like paper cups, right?
Just like no one, no one is actually trying to look for the better price of certain things, right? So there’s a ton of waste. I don’t think anybody’s surprised about that. At the same time, as you mentioned slightly, there has been some criticisms The American people are pretty much behind it. But again, I’m all for being more efficient because, you know, taxes are a lot on everybody, and we’d like to know that they’re going towards things that are effective and it’s not being wasted.
So I’m totally on board with that. But why don’t you run us through kind of. Some of the criticisms and some of the worries that people have about
[00:07:55] Conner Jones: yeah, so a bunch of people are saying that doge is Misrepresenting the amount of dollars that they’ve basically been able to save that they haven’t been able to produce receipts for this full 65 billion dollars they’re claiming so that’s one thing to watch is are they just posting out numbers?
But then they’re not really actually backing it up with fact like or are they just cutting things that they’re saying? They’re not going to pay anymore But they’re saying they’re saving the you know one of the big things was The past administration was paying 8, 000, 000 for Politico subscriptions to a tool that Politico offers.
And so Doge said, we’ve saved the country 8, 000, 000, but in reality, that was 8, 000, 000 that was already spent. They just cut off future spending. There’s just some conflicts there. Yeah, semantics on that one. It’ll eventually save.
[00:08:40] Micah Tomasella: Yeah,
[00:08:40] Conner Jones: yes, that’s that’s the point, but you know, depending on who you talk to, there’s different views points there.
And a bunch of top officials at agencies have actually pushed back on those employees and even Elon Musk himself, because they’ve been trying to gain access to personal employee information and top secret programs. So that, that, that one’s getting a lot of flack from. People particularly from the past administration who are maybe in transition jobs or whatnot who are like, yeah No, you can’t access our stuff get out of here Anyways, when doge was first getting started musk put out a call on x for people who are willing to work 80 plus hours a week For free or small salaries and essentially devote their lives to finding government waste So who in the world would want to do that, right who wants to do that?
Here’s who responded to the call 20 something gen z ers is Is is the primary target right there? They are all about this that a bunch of these Essentially, you know, just out of college kids. Whippersnappers, man. They, they, they heeded the call and they came and they were like, we’re gonna do this.
Yeah. And that is making people mad because they are like, who are these kids that are just coming in here and telling us to do these different things? They’re talking to top officials at these government agencies and saying, you need to cut this department and Lay off these people and cut this program, all of that.
And these people are getting just mad because I, you know, kind of makes sense. You’ve been in this agency for 30 plus years and all of a sudden the 23 year old comes knocking on your door and says, cut this, but they’ve been given that authority through this department. So just something that is making some people mad.
And then others have just deemed that DOJ lacks compassion with the way that they’re just cutting jobs left and right. And so while it is popular to cut. Wasteful government spending and that is essentially probably a good thing. Many are saying that doing so with such vitriol and speed is damaging the image and purpose of the new agency.
And it’s, you know, it’s impacting thousands of lives. People are just getting their jobs cut overnight, you know, and a lot of people are sitting on edge wondering if their job is going to get cut. Is their agency going to reduce and everything? So
[00:10:46] Micah Tomasella: Connor, I feel I, I feel kind of a a tug both ways right now.
I feel like you’ve got a good spiritual and personal application for me. Why don’t you hit me with it? Yeah.
[00:10:57] Conner Jones: You know, I, I’ve been thinking about this and I was like, there’s a verse that was sticking out and it’s Proverbs 21 five. And it says, The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
I think, Micah, that can apply obviously to Doge and to us. It’s essentially saying, slow down. When you’re too fast and when you go about things without any sort of diligence, it gets sloppy. Yeah, this is true. Obviously for Doge, are they going to get sloppy as they, as they continue to just cut things and make people mad?
And ultimately they’re starting to make some of the American public mad, but also they’re really making Democrats mad. And that could end up being the thing that builds up within the Democrat side who is just looking for anything right now to rally around. So it could be that, but also. Our own personal lives, you know, with our personal finances or any other big life choices.
If we go towards something to try and do it fast, such as like a get rich quick scheme. Yes. Right. Those never work out. Right. I mean, maybe occasionally they do. There’s a 1 percent where it works out, but typically it leads to destruction. So when you think about your own personal life, are you trying to achieve something really fast?
Without any diligence. I think Warren Buffett was really wise in the way that he’s talked about this because he didn’t become a billionaire until later in his life. And he’s now one of the richest men in the world. And he’s it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes many, many years. That’s right. That’s not going to apply to most of us in our lives.
But I think about how many people, books, documentaries have that You know, the theme of the, the rise and fall of blank, blank, whatever it is. Yeah. It’s usually something sin related at the conf, at the center of that conflict of heart, right? If it’s chasing wealth, fame, or power, and they’re doing it really fast and without recognizing the, the prospect of unintended consequences, I just think this proverb of saying the plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who says comes only to poverty.
I think that’s really applicable to Doge and to us, and is telling us slow down. Be diligent, faithful, and patient, and let the Lord lead you, not your own sinful heart.
[00:13:08] Micah Tomasella: Amen, brother. Thanks for that. That’s, I think that’s the tension that, that we feel in this Doge topic. That’s why 72 percent of people agree to the overall premise of this.
But if it’s just cutting just to cut, and there isn’t diligence, and it’s just all moving so quickly, there’s probably going to be some mistakes made. And I think that we’ve seen a couple of mistakes made, and there’s been some things that have been hard to quantify. So even though it’s a good idea. Even though what you’re gunning for is a good idea, what you’re trying to do might be a godly thing in your own personal life, it might be something that represents, you know, it can have kind of a meaning in our life and in our faith too, so you make a great point.
[00:13:45] Conner Jones: Yeah, and and one final thing to mention that applies to this, something that did happen over the weekend that really blew up and was really hasty is the Office of personnel management sent out an email telling people in the federal force that they need to essentially send back five things They did in the last week.
They sent that on Saturday and they said to have a response back to their managers by Monday at 11 59 p. m And that backfired big time, especially because elon went on twitter or x and posted that anybody who did not respond Is essentially rendering their own resignation. There’s a lot of legal hoopla there and all of that elon has since doubled down alongside trump anyways Other agencies even trump allies like cash patel and pam bondi everybody who just got appointed is saying you don’t you don’t have to respond to this email that that so it’s just one of those things where doge maybe got ahead of themselves.
And they’re, they’re being hasty, like we’re talking about. They’re not, they’re not being diligent. So hopefully they slow down a little bit and they really do achieve what the goal is and find, find waste and make the government more efficient. But we’ll just see.
[00:14:49] Micah Tomasella: Connor, thanks for that, man. That’s, I mean, that Doge topic is really dominated headlines.
Let’s, let’s get to a second story that maybe some podcasts wouldn’t cover, but our ministry is covering this and also it. Means a lot to us as Christians. We should be praying for the persecuted. So let’s talk about what’s going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo right now in the DRC in the Congo.
They’re currently facing a severe humanitarian crisis due to escalating conflicts in certain regions. So since January 2025, Connor, over 7, 000 people have been killed and approximately 450, 000 have been displaced as nearly 90 camps where people were living were destroyed. So here’s what’s happening.
There’s a rebel offensive taking place. They’re called the M23 and they’re the March 23rd movement. It’s a rebel group with alleged backing from Rwanda. And it has intensified its military operations, capturing key cities throughout the DRC. These offensives have led to significant gains for the rebels and have really exacerbated the humanitarian crisis that’s taking place there.
The Democratic Republic of Congo government Along with international bodies, they’re accusing Rwanda of funding this and having a hand in this and trying to sow some discord. But there’s been a heavy impact specifically on civilians and attacks on Christian communities. That’s what I hate about conflicts like this.
Really breaks my heart is again, there are a few people who want to sow seeds of discord and want to create chaos, people with influence and power, and it affects hundreds of thousands of people in this case. So the conflict has had a devastating impact on civilians, particularly children who have been subjected to violence, abductions, forced recruitment, healthcare facilities have reported a significant increase in sexual violence cases as well.
I mean, it’s just heartbreaking. Christians specifically in the Congo have been specifically targeted in violent attacks. So 53 Christians were massacred in the northern part of the Congo claimed by the Islamic state affiliated allied democratic forces. It’s a long one. And more horrific attack happened on February 13th, just earlier this month, when this Islamic state affiliated group, ADF, beheaded 70 Christians inside a church.
These attacks are part of an ongoing campaign of religious persecution against Christians in the region, with at least 128 Christians that were killed since Christmas Day of 2024. This is devastating when you hear this, and I don’t, you know, there’s, there’s stories coming out about this, I admire their faith to stand up for what they believe in, to really live it out.
And I know that they have crowns and rewards in heaven, but my goodness, that is so devastating. Connor, there’s been an international response to this, the U. S. along with European nations have condemned this, but you know, humanitarian aid. And any specific response from anybody outside of Congo and Rwanda has been minimal.
So this situation remains volatile with ongoing efforts to kind of soothe this out. And man, this is, this has been pretty tough. I mean, what are your first thoughts when you hear something like this?
[00:17:57] Conner Jones: I’m just, yeah, I’m with you. I’m heartbroken for these communities and this church where these people were just.
Slaughtered, essentially, and I just, you know, I agree, I respect the fact that they did not deny their Lord, which is, you know, really, really powerful and impacting. But I am devastated for these brothers and sisters in Christ over there, but also everybody else who is just in the middle of this conflict.
Yeah. And they did not ask for this. You’re right. It’s, it’s a few people in power who want to just get more power and they are leaving a path of destruction in their wake. What the other thing that I’m thinking about here, Mike, is yeah, you’re right. The United States and other countries have. You know, condemned or whatnot, but I just every time there’s conflicts like this, and it tends to be in countries that are not as geopolitically significant to the Western world, a lot of times in Southeastern Asia and Africa, sometimes South America, these conflicts rise and it doesn’t get resolved.
What seems to be any attention any coverage. It’s right. The news coverage on this has been just minimal slim Yeah We’re talking about a literal slaughtering of people and I I would venture to guess the majority of America has no idea that this is Happening which is why we felt the need to talk about this today, because we do want to cover this as heartbreaking as it is.
This is real. And this is what people are experiencing across the world. And they’re in the middle of a very difficult to reach place in the Congo. I mean, that part of the reason this is hard for humanitarian purposes is it is quite literally the center of Africa. So there’s no ocean to easily get there.
There’s no easy river access or anything. It is very difficult. And so this is happening without. Any real, I guess, attention from attention, health,
[00:19:43] Micah Tomasella: accountability. Yeah, all that Connor. Yeah. No, that’s, that’s good clarification to kind of understand what’s surrounding this crisis. But this is all tough to read about, to, to hear, to see the photos, to see the devastation actually had to stop.
Looking at some of the photos, it truly tugs on your heart and just to hear some scriptures that kind of came to mind that center me when I read devastating news like this. But before I even say these scriptures, I just want to share what convicted me as I was reading this. Naturally, as a Christian, my heart goes out to Christians that are being persecuted.
However, every single person is a Mago Dei, made in the image of God, and no one is beyond the redemption of Jesus Christ. And so my heart is checked in this moment. Any innocent death saddens the heart of God, and it saddens our heart, and we should have an equal understanding and remember that just because somebody believes something different that doesn’t mean that God didn’t create them uniquely and with a purpose as well, and potentially a way to redeem what their circumstance and situation is.
But the Bible calls for justice for the oppressed and for suffering. Psalm 82 verses 3 through 4 says defend the weak and the fatherless, uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed, rescue the weak and the needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Then Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 17 says, learn to do right.
Seek justice and defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, lead the case of the widow. We have to remember that even in chaos and suffering, God is still in control and working for his ultimate purposes. And let me give you two more scriptures. Romans 8, 28. We all know this one for the most part, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose.
Revelation 21, verse 4. He will wipe away. Every tear from their eyes, there will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Amen and amen. Let’s commit to pray for every man, woman, and child in the DRC and the surrounding areas and that God would step in and stop the violence in only a way that He can in Jesus.
Name and please stay tuned for another article on this topic from laurel wood. She’s one of our contributing writers So head to denisonforum. org and look for that Article to be released tomorrow on friday at denisonforum. org. Yeah,
[00:21:59] Conner Jones: she already wrote a
[00:22:00] Micah Tomasella: great one.
[00:22:00] Conner Jones: Just telling that’s right back The background of this conflict helped me with the story all the way back.
Yeah, she tied it, I think, all the way back to like the the Rwanda genocide. Yeah. 90s. Yeah. And the kind of history and how it’s led to this moment. Anyways, thank you for writing that, Laurel, and looking forward to your next article. Micah, thanks for taking us through that. That is a very difficult story to just walk through and we continue to pray for them.
So thanks for that. But yeah, let’s change the move on to. Everything else that’s happening this week and what everybody should be aware of stories. You might have missed things. You should know let’s dive into it Okay, so last week michael. We talked about the u. s. Hockey team and playing canada and the championship of the four nations tournament you know we we did get to watch some of that you and I did some friends we were we were at a Cheddar’s That was fun
Had some gift cards to Cheddar’s so man They were we got a free meal and watch some hockey in the Cheddar’s Dining area how often has somebody shown up to a Cheddar’s to watch a hockey game? We might have been the first ones ever. It was literally us and the manager, the manager was so nice. He was like, yeah, man, I’m a big hockey fan.
I was like, cool. Yeah. Great times. Anyways, the sad part is the U. S. did lose. So if you’re a Canadian listening to this, congratulations to your team. We lost in overtime. But I must say, I think that’s okay, because I think we’ll come back and get the gold at the Olympics next year, when it’s an even bigger stage, bigger turn.
We’ll get you next time,
[00:23:27] Micah Tomasella: Canada. We’ll let you have this one. And to any of our listeners in Canada, because I know we do have some, good job, but we’ll get you next time. Let me also share something real quick from this that I noticed, Connor, that was very interesting. Justin Trudeau, Trump has made some jokes.
I don’t think anybody really knows how serious he is about this, but Trump was, you know, wishing the U. S. hockey team good luck. And then he tweeted out or he sent out on truth social, Hey, I am holding a meeting with the governors of all of the great 50 states during the game. So I can’t be there, but Governor Trudeau, if you’d like to show up and you’d like to be there to represent the great future 51st state of our union, you can be there.
And so obviously there was some joking, some seriousness to that. I don’t really know. But after the game, Justin Trudeau. He tweeted out, you can’t take our country, and you can’t take our game. And obviously, things were pretty serious there. There’s a lot riding on this game, even in a mild geopolitical sense.
So there was a lot riding on this, and Trudeau’s response was so serious. Yeah, I mean, anyway, I mean, I guess I kind of understand it, but I was like, wow, this was intense. They really wanted to win this one.
[00:24:40] Conner Jones: I had the thought, I was like, if the U. S. wins this, does this Empowered this this main with the americans to be like we take canada if if because of canada lost trudeau Wouldn’t have tweeted that like he would it would have just been another defeat for them.
I don’t know The whole thing is just bizarre. Oh, man,
[00:24:55] Micah Tomasella: it’s
[00:24:56] Conner Jones: fun times. We’ll look forward to the olympics next year Okay, something else that we talked about last week the hope the hope the pope was kind of in a bad health state He still is but he does seem to be recovering. So yeah, we’ll keep tabs on the weekend He’s 88, right?
[00:25:11] Micah Tomasella: Like we talked about last week 88. Yeah
[00:25:13] Conner Jones: Yeah, and if he’s in bad enough health, it could be a situation where he decides to step down and allow someone else to be Pope and finish his life out, not as Pope. Anyways, something else that you may have missed is Clint Hill, which was the secret service agent who ran onto the back of the limousine when JFK was shot and kind of protected Jackie Kennedy.
He passed away this week at age 93. Great American man. He always felt guilt. I was watching some clips of him from interviews over the last few decades, and he always felt guilt. That he was not able to protect the president that day, but he did his best He’s well known for jumping up on the limousine and reaching out to jack and all that I just think it points out that you know The last few people who are involved in this assassination are are very old if they’re still alive And a lot of those people are passing away, which is some of the reasoning people are saying release All the documents agree to say involved is either dead or in their 90s.
Release
[00:26:05] Micah Tomasella: the JFK files. Why does this have to continue to be a secret? Why does it continue to be classified? Because there’s something we don’t know quite yet. So yes, I’m very pro releasing those documents. I think everybody be really curious to actually see what happened there. So Apple. Committed to invest 500 billion into American infrastructure in the coming years with new plants and offices being moved or stalled in foreign countries and being moved here to the U.
S. So seemingly on the surface, a win for Trump, who’s trying to maintain a stronghold over U. S. Tech companies in the A. I. Age. So you know, so he wants to continue to grow A. I. Influence in America. That’s the future of really kind of where the world is going. But again, this is kind of a concept of when you’re reading up on this stuff, right?
You’ve got people on the right who support Trump that are like, Hey, this is a big win for him. And then anytime anything like this is negotiated, people on the left come out and say, Hey, this was going to happen anyway. And I mean, it is hard to determine how big of a win this is. I think what I would say is, is that the proof’s in the pudding.
We won’t know for a couple of years, people can commit to certain things, but are they actually going to come up with that money? Are they actually going to build these new facilities? Are they actually going to move them out of different countries? So we’ll see what happens. We’ll see if it’s a win or not.
Because right now it’s just an announcement,
[00:27:19] Conner Jones: right? It seems positive. So we’ll just see there Yep, and I also like the idea of building these high tech things in America for security’s sake too That’s right. Seems like a better option than that’s right an adversary’s country. Okay, Micah I bet you thought political campaigns were done Did you not you know at least for a few years after we just came out of the wildest season of our lives?
Yeah, give me a break, right? Give me a break. You wish, man. We got a month and a half break because already Vivek Ramaswamy announced he’s running for governor as a Republican in the state of Ohio. It was like a full on campaign announcement, everything. I was like, dude, we just got out of this. But anyways, Vivek’s an interesting guy.
Cause he ran for president last year. Yes. He was basically unknown and then he became pretty popular. Ended up joining kind of the MAGA movement before he made some people mad with very popular with younger
[00:28:06] Micah Tomasella: voters. Very, very popular. Very popular. Yeah, he
[00:28:08] Conner Jones: is. And he leans very much so towards the direction of Trump and JD Vance and that part of the right wing party.
Anyways, he was supposed to lead Doge with Musk. They were supposed to tag team that together and everything we talked about earlier He was supposed to but he got kind of like axed from that because he made a bunch of people mad Supposedly it’s because he made a bunch of people mad about legal immigration and bringing over immigrants to work high skilled jobs all of that So okay interesting stuff there So now he’s running for governor of Ohio which that election is not even until November of 2026.
So okay, we’re just way ahead of the game here.
[00:28:44] Micah Tomasella: Okay. Yeah, let me talk to you about what’s going on in Ukraine for a second. Ukraine, Russia, peace talks. We’re probably going to be having a lot more discussions on this. This story is going to be ever evolving. We just don’t have anything super concrete from anything that changed from the last week.
When we talked about this, but Ukraine does seem poised to agree to a minerals deal with the U. S. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is traveling to D. C. On Friday, gonna visit the White House to potentially sign this deal with Trump. So this this could be a massive step to ending the war when the U.
S. And Ukraine can agree on this. You know, we talked about it last week. There are a lot of rare minerals. In Ukraine, and so Trump is like, Hey, we’ve given you so much money, we’ve helped you defend yourselves. Let’s sign an agreement to take some of these minerals that are needed for quantum computing and chips and AI, you know, all kinds of stuff that maybe we don’t have as much access to here.
So we’ll see if that gets signed. And then if that then cascades to an actual ceasefire or peace talks and then ironing everything else out afterwards to hopefully actually stop this war three years later. Yeah, hopefully ASAP,
[00:29:44] Conner Jones: but this is I mean, it’s probably still gonna take some weeks and months to get there.
But this is the first like real step okay, and then One last kind of bit of news that you know, if you’re interested in pop culture and movies and all that this is interesting Kathleen kennedy may not be a name you’re super familiar with unless you are a star wars fan indiana jones fan Right, but she’s kind of been she has been the head of lucasfilm Which was started by george lucas who created star wars and indiana jones and owns all of that property Anyways She is stepping down, supposedly, reportedly, after 13 years of heading up this brand, Lucasfilm.
Many people are Micah, they are very excited about her stepping down because they think that she is responsible for tarnishing the Star Wars name and brand over the last kind of decade plus. I mean, these last few
[00:30:32] Micah Tomasella: movies were not received well, they haven’t aged well. I’d say yeah, they haven’t yeah.
[00:30:37] Conner Jones: Yeah. No and there was she’s had some successes You know, the mandalorian was a big big hit and and or but the movies other than rogue one. They were not great financially Yeah, they did well, but then they were just like people were like what what what happened here? I know this how did these movies turn out so bad?
Their
[00:30:58] Micah Tomasella: best things are their shows some of them like The mandalorian and some of those that have come out the one about obi wan which I mean I I like those
[00:31:06] Conner Jones: Yeah, I, I, I just, I think people are like, okay, yes, it’s time for new leadership. This, this needs to go in a new direction, but I, I got to say, Micah.
Oh, is it hot take time?
[00:31:17] Micah Tomasella: Is it spicy
[00:31:18] Conner Jones: hot take time? Spicy hot take. Okay. Here’s the deal. I’m about to, I’m about to make some listeners ears bleed and I’m even going to make some people in my own direct family mad with this hot take. Okay, okay, okay. I haven’t expressed, I have not even expressed this before.
I, I, I thought about this as I was reading the story yesterday and I was like, I. Micah, I think star wars is overrated. Mm It just is very much. So in my opinion Overrated way. I don’t even have a better word. I just think it’s I think they’re fine. I enjoy star wars I think I actually think some of the best stuff is just the music and the theme and the idea of it but man, I look at those three prequels and in the last three movies and i’m like They were not good other than revenge of the sith and i’m just like I don’t know man it took it took over culture in the 70s and it’s continued to just stay as a main point in culture But I personally don’t love star wars and I just don’t understand all the hype extra
[00:32:19] Micah Tomasella: extra read all about it.
Connor jones says and is stated saying That he hates Star Wars, and anyone who is a fan of Star Wars is wrong, and needs to re evaluate their priorities. That’s, that’s what you’re saying, right?
[00:32:35] Conner Jones: It’s not that, that definitely, you definitely took the words out of my mouth and made it way worse. This is
[00:32:40] Micah Tomasella: this is like the media in action, man.
I just, I just took it, and I twisted it for my own devices, and I A partial truth and then I blew it up, you know what I mean? So there you go. There’s another civics lesson for us.
[00:32:53] Conner Jones: What do you think about star wars? Are you
[00:32:54] Micah Tomasella: are you I do I do enjoy star wars I’m a big fan in the sense of I I see almost all the things that they’ve produced.
I’ve seen them all Am I collecting figurines? Am I reading fan fiction like some of my friends on this? No I’m not that type of fan, but I am a fan. The only thing that I would say is I understand where you’re coming from, honestly, but I think we have to understand the type of movie that this was, how visually spectacular it was, the world that they thrust America and the world into in the 70s and 80s.
There was just nothing like it that had been produced like that in Hollywood, like nothing quite on that scale. And I think we have the benefit of growing up where we’ve just seen some very visually spectacular movies. They’ve improved making movies. They’ve improved the way that it looks and the way that it sounds and the way that it feels in a lot of ways.
So I think that we have the benefit of that, but people who grew up with Star Wars where they had never experienced anything like that before, I understand why there’s such an attachment to it.
[00:33:54] Conner Jones: I do too. Look, I, I, and I respect that. I mean, George Lucas understand. I do understand. I understand that they basically invented special effects.
I don’t discredit that. I’m just saying. I’ll stop messing with you. I’m just saying the movies are overrated. That’s all I’m saying. Oh, that’s all you’re
[00:34:07] Micah Tomasella: saying. Okay.
[00:34:08] Conner Jones: That’s all I’m saying. That’s all you’re saying. I have watched them all too, and I don’t mind them. I just, just don’t love them. I love Lord of the Rings.
I love the Harry Potter movies.
[00:34:16] Micah Tomasella: You, you, you heard it here first, folks. You heard it here first. Okay. Thank you for that spicy take Connor. That was a that was a ghost pepper take man That was a spicy spicy take. I mean, we’re not talking about jalapenos or habaneros. We’re talking about Carolina reaper ghost pepper take here my brother All right.
Let’s head into the mailbag We want to continue to hear from you all Send us your questions or your thoughts or your topic ideas. Please send them this week to culturebrief at denisonforum. org again, culturebrief at denisonforum. org. So we got one in. You guys have always been so great to send some in.
So we’ve been able to kind of pick them and it’s been great. So got one in this past week. Longtime listener, Misha here. Tell us about your kids.
[00:35:03] Conner Jones: We’ve only been around for we’ve been around for a month.
[00:35:05] Micah Tomasella: We dropped a trailer a few months ago. You know what I mean? Shut up,
[00:35:09] Conner Jones: Misha.
[00:35:09] Micah Tomasella: Maybe we know the spur of Misha.
They said, tell us about your kids. What stage of parenting are y’all in? Okay, so they’re clearly from the South, whoever this is. Y’all. I’d love to hear more about parenting. Connor, what stage of parenting are you in?
[00:35:27] Conner Jones: I am in, I am in the newest stage, essentially. We’ve got one son, Reagan and I, Reagan’s my wife, and she gave birth in August, so he is Closing in on seven months old and so we are very much so in the just baby stage and it’s been a blast and we are just loving it and we love him so much, but also he woke up at 430 this morning.
So there you
[00:35:48] Micah Tomasella: go.
[00:35:49] Conner Jones: We’re in that
[00:35:49] Micah Tomasella: stage of parenting. Yeah, I mean, I think I think that’s kind of the the challenge, right? Is is it reminding yourself even in the difficult moments that those stages only last for so long. So just choose to enjoy them, right? So for us, Emily and I, we have two daughters my oldest is almost four and my youngest is almost two.
So we’re We’ve been in the thick of it, we’ve been in the thick of it for a while, loving every minute of it, and I’ve just, I mean, Connor and I both, we have a lot of mutual friends, Connor and I are very close, Connor and I have known each other, I mean, that’s kind of why I think this is like a special question, because you and I knew each other when we were kind of dumb college students, right, and we were just trying to figure things out, you know, in some ways we were still boys, you know, and this was over 10 years ago, and so I’m really grateful to be able to raise kids alongside you, Just because we’ve seen so much life together, and it’s it’s cool to be able to experience that together and be there for each other as we’re raising our kids, but I think some of the best advice that I could give is kind of what I said earlier, because, you know, she just said she wants to hear more about parenting is enjoy each stage that you’re in.
Obviously, Connor and I are not. The most seasoned parents out there, but at the same time the stages come at you quick and they change you quickly And so I never want to look back and say I didn’t enjoy a stage or I wasn’t fully present in a stage Because as soon as it’s there it’s gone and they’re on to the next thing and Connor I know you and I’ve talked about that a lot.
[00:37:17] Conner Jones: Yeah, man, it’s so true I mean even just with the baby like two weeks ago. He was not even able to sit up Or anything other than milk, and now he’s literally sitting up for 30 minutes and eating solid foods. I mean Steak, right? You said he had some steak, right? His first food was steak. Are we crazy for introducing him to steak first?
No, not at all. Yeah, he loved it too. Not at all, man. I just, I feel like I’ve set myself up for expensive child feeding in the future. Anyways, you’re right. It happens so fast. To answer your question, Misha, about learning more about parenting, I would like to point you to our friends and partner brand here at Denison Ministries, Christian Parenting.
So visit christianparenting. org. They also have 30 plus podcasts for all different types of parenting, stages of parenting, niche things. Is it a baby? If you have adoption in your life, if you’ve got special needs in your family, all that, all kinds of stuff, all of it, dad’s dad podcast, mom podcasts, all of it.
It is all there. So go check out christianparenting. org. If you want to see more great Christian focused parenting resources. Okay, michael, let’s talk about what’s coming up this week for people to tune into so if you’re a big football fan You might be thinking similar to the politics we’re out of football season now, right?
No, that was very brief Super Bowl just happened But the NFL has found a way to dominate the full year schedule including this week The NFL draft combine is happening in Indianapolis This is where we get to watch all the players who are hoping to be drafted by teams come in and do workouts for coaches And scouts and all of that and show off their skills.
So that’ll be Thursday through Sunday whole thing televised. I like to tune into that every now and then but here’s the big one The Academy Awards, the Oscars, we’ve talked about that quite a bit on the show with different movies. They are, this Sunday night at 7:00 PM on a b, c, we are expecting to see a performance from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Arrivo, the Stars of Wicked.
So they’ll probably,
[00:39:09] Micah Tomasella: okay. Yeah, sorry.
[00:39:10] Conner Jones: Yeah. That The Alphabet and Glenda from Wicked. Okay. Which I saw that movie. I enjoyed that, that was a great movie. So I’m mm-hmm . I’m eager to see what they what they performed. Yep. We don’t know what song they’re doing together yet. The awards are interesting this year because the movies are kind of all over the place.
There’s none that really just hit the culture, like there was no Oppenheimer or Top Gun Maverick or anything this year. Wicked is probably the closest to that. Everything else was a bit more niche. So I did want to tell you, Micah, I’ve got some predictions. I don’t know if you’ve got predictions for these because you’re not a big movie, movie guy in this realm, but I’d like to throw my predictions out there so we can come back next
[00:39:46] Micah Tomasella: week.
I like movies, man. I know but like how would you describe my fandom of movies? I mean, I just like watching movies, but that’s about you know, that’s about as far as I take it.
[00:39:58] Conner Jones: Yes, I to be clear. I know you watch movies. I know you like the big commercial box office movies for sure. Oh, okay. There it is, there it is.
It’s
[00:40:06] Micah Tomasella: not an insult. You like big box office movies.
[00:40:11] Conner Jones: Anyways. Okay who do you think is going to win Best Supporting Actress? Come on, why are you setting me up for this? You, you tell me, I’m listening. Anyways, okay, so I think Best Supporting Actress will be Zoe Saldana from Amelia Perez, which we have talked a lot about.
Really? And how That movie got nominated for 13 Oscars. I don’t think it will win any besides this one because she does seem to be the favorite still she’s the standout supposedly in that movie. I have not seen that film. Okay. Best supporting actor. I do believe it will be Kieran Culkin from the movie, a real pain.
I have seen that film. He is great in it and he is very similar to his character on the show succession. And yes, he is the younger brother of Macaulay Culkin from home alone. And he actually is in home alone as well. So if that’s what you were about to ask me, Micah.
[00:40:59] Micah Tomasella: That’s well, I was yeah, I wasn’t gonna ask I was gonna make that I was gonna make that same point, but that’s that’s great Yes, I am immediately interested when I hear kulkin because the home alone movies are Some of my favorites of all time staples.
Yeah big box office movies.
[00:41:13] Conner Jones: Anyways, best actress. I I think demi more will win. She seems to be winning all the awards at all the Precursor awards from different smaller groups. Yeah for the movie the substance. She’s just long time hollywood actress It’s probably her due time and I think best actor This is what i’m interested in could be timothy chalamet for playing bob dylan in the movie a complete unknown I have not seen that movie yet, but I want an article on our website that mark legg wrote about this movie and why it’s so great and why timothy is so great and I would encourage you to read that.
I didn’t see this movie Yeah, I might even try to watch it this weekend before the oscars happened Tim is on a heater right now with dune and that And then I think best picture will be the movie conclave. So we’ve got articles on amelia perez a complete unknown and this movie conclave I would encourage you to go to our website.
We’ll link them in the show notes as well But I will say dr Jim, denison wrote an article explaining why you should not see the movie conclave and some of the issues with that and tying it to the catholic church and how it’s misrepresenting The church and all that so go read that article if you’re yeah if you’re interested But I I think that movie is Prime Oscar bait for the voters.
They, they love, big stars and cinematic. It is a very pretty movie, but it’s, it’s got flaws for sure. So go check those out. We’ll link them in the show notes. And then Micah, Lent is this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. It’s coming up. So if Lent is your thing and you like that, and taking the next, is it 40 days leading up to Good Friday?
Yeah. Of pulling back from something and, and cutting it out of your life for 40 days. Be ready. It’s on Wednesday, and we also have some great devotional books for Lent. If you’re interested in that, those are on our website as well. If you’re looking for something to kind of coincide with Lent and lead you through that season, we have some awesome devos on the store at denisonform.
org. Yes,
[00:43:03] Micah Tomasella: yes, that is that.
[00:43:06] Conner Jones: I was just
[00:43:06] Micah Tomasella: going to say that’s at denisonforum. org. Even if the church that you attend, if you’re more of like a Protestant tradition, isn’t going to emphasize Lent a bunch. My goodness, Lent is a beautiful thing because it causes you to reflect what you’re spending your time on, what you’re putting in front of your eyes, what you’re listening to, what you’re putting in your body, all of those different things.
So Lent is a great way to recognize. Where we are, how we can change, and how we can invite God in to bring about positive change in our lives as we’re headed to Easter. And then, yes, Conor, you were gonna say the Ukraine and Russia peace talks. The U. S. is leading those talks. We’re gonna bring you that news probably next week.
There’s gonna be some more official things by then. But look out for Europe’s involvement in that as well. Emmanuel Macron who’s the president of France, spent the day with Trump earlier this week, and they held a press conference together at the White House. This situation has been ever evolving, and the U.
S. is at the center of all these talks, and they’re, and they’re having talks with Russia, and they’re having talks with Ukraine, and they’re having talks with Europe, all separately right now, getting separate deals signed, it seems, and then, hopefully, it looks like they’re going to bring everybody to the table to figure out something that can actually, not just bring peace for a few months, but actually bring lasting peace.
So that’s why I think this thing shouldn’t be rushed. In the sense of we’ve got to get some concrete things ironed out, but I think the hope is, and what I’ve been reading, Connor, you can correct me if I’m wrong, is that we can get some sort of peace agreement or at least a ceasefire in place that will stop the war for the time being.
And then an actual peace deal can be written out and ironed out.
[00:44:39] Conner Jones: Yeah. It’s going to be a lot of negotiations back and forth on what territory is given to Russia and back to Ukraine and all that. So it’s going to just be long talk. So you’re right. Hopefully a ceasefire comes in and kind of ends that.
Guys. That’s all for today. There’s a lot to talk about next week, probably. So we’ll see you then. But thank you for joining us for this week’s episode of The Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe, and rate and review the show, and share it with a friend.
We’d like to talk to them as well. All articles and videos mentioned will be linked in the show notes. So we will see you next Thursday. See ya!
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