This week, we’re talking about the rise of antisemitism—why it’s on the rise, why it’s messy, and how it connects to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza. We also peel back the layers on Vladimir Putin’s mysterious past and how his upbringing impacts his harmful decision-making today.
But it’s not all heavy! In the mailbag, we debate a fun hot topic (trust us, you’ll have feelings). Then we preview the second half of the summer movie slate in round 2 of Bust the Block! And so much more! Come hang out with us for a mix of serious takes, lighthearted moments, and thoughtful conversation—all with a Christian lens.
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Topics
- (00:54): The rise of antisemitism
- (05:20): Humanitarian crisis in Gaza
- (09:20): Navigating complex emotions and faith
- (13:41): Prayer for peace
- (14:58): Who is Vladimir Putin?
- (30:26): Listener mailbag: Parking preferences
- (33:55): Bust the Block: Round 2
- (41:53): Sports updates: NBA, NHL, and College World Series
- (42:35): Joe Rogan’s spiritual journey
- (43:51): Conclusion and call to action
Resources
- Mailbag: [email protected]
- DenisonForum.org/subscribe
- Culture Brief on Instagram
- Most anticipated movies of the summer
- What we know about the DC shooting where 2 staff members of the Israeli Embassy were killed
- Report: Antisemitic Incidents Reach Record High in Year Since Oct. 7 Attack
- Global antisemitism surged 340% in two years, report finds | The Times of Israel
- People in Gaza starving, sick and dying as aid blockade continues
- Israeli couple killed near Jewish Museum in Washington, DC
- Ukraine says Russia launched its biggest drone attack yet | AP News
- Trump Says Putin Is ‘Playing With Fire’
- Financial Times on X
- Why Russia “invaded” Ukraine: Explaining “Putin’s endgame”
- The inevitability of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: How Putin’s history reveals his destiny
- Why does Russia want Ukraine? A timeline of Russian aggression against Ukraine
- Pregnant Ukrainian woman wounded by Russian bombs has died: How much death and destruction will be enough for Putin?
- From Chasing Rats To Blood Baths: How Putin’s Childhood Shaped His Leadership
- About a Boy: The Story of Vladimir Putin – Podcast
- The Best of Christian Compassion, the Worst of Religious Power – The Dispatch
- Is Joe Rogan going to church?
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.
Conner Jones: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Conner Jones.
Micah Tomasella: I’m Micah Tomasella
Conner Jones: and this is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we navigate the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture, and technology. And we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective. We’ve got a loaded show today. Micah, do you want to just give us a quick rundown on what we’re gonna be hitting on
Micah Tomasella: Connor Jones?
It’s a great day to be alive. What a great intro as always. So we’re gonna talk about the rise of antisemitism here in this country and abroad, and the complexities surrounding that. We’re gonna ask the question and do a deep dive into who is Vladimir Putin, and then we have an interesting mailbag question from one of our listeners that we’re gonna dive into.
And then we’re gonna have another round of bust the block. So bust the block round two where we’re going to get into the second half of summer and all of the movies coming out. And so we have a packed show for you. Let’s get into it and let’s jump into the brief. Alright, so Connor, let’s talk about the rise of antisemitism and navigating complexities is what [00:01:00] I’ve kind of called this section as I was doing research.
So Dr. Denison, I. Jim Denison, our co-founder, he wrote an article last week about this topic, specifically about the two Israelis who were here in the US who were killed simply for being Jewish. And he wrote up a wonderful article about it, and it just got me thinking about everything that’s happening and everything that’s happening in Gaza and just how on so many levels, this is complex.
When you start to really focus on the heart of God and how we’re all made in the image of God no matter what our. Race, religion, creed, is matter where we live. We’re all made in his image. And so, Connor, this is a complicated story in situation. So before I even jump into this, how have you found yourself balancing just the clear hatred that Jews around the world are dealing with consistently, and then how do you pair that and how do you think through that?
With the fact that also there are many people, many innocent Palestinians and Gaza right now who are suffering too.
Conner Jones: Man, it’s so complicated [00:02:00] because you’re exactly right. There is hatred on both sides, but there’s also just life on both sides, and God has designed every human in his image. Imago day. Yeah.
He cares for and loves everybody. Jew. Palestinian American. Yeah. Ukrainian, who, whatever your background is, wherever you’re from, that does not matter in God’s eyes. He cares about you as a human. And so to see the hate that just people have harbored in their heart for a different ethnicity really is hard to see.
And it’s, I think it blinds us to seeing the rights and wrongs of different sides. Yeah. Um, you know, if you, if you’re on one side, you might think the other side is only doing evil. That’s not necessarily the case, but you might also be blind to the evil that your side that you tend to take on is doing.
Micah Tomasella: Right. So that’s a good thing to point out. I think a practical way before I even jump more into this, is like when you’re scrolling on social media and you see. A video diving deep into these two innocent Israelis who were killed last week by this [00:03:00] person that’s sang free, Gaza, free Palestine. You know all of those things that are said and you feel a certain way, but then maybe you’re scrolling and you see what’s happening in Gaza and you see, you know, the people who are starving and struggling because Israel seems to still be cutting off aid.
Just take a heart check and think about how you’re reacting to each story and remember that all involved that I just mentioned. Are loved and created intentionally with a purpose by God, right? And so, so let’s talk about the alarming surge of antisemitism. So let’s be clear. I. Antisemitism is not some distant memory.
This isn’t just tied to the Holocaust in the 1940s. It’s continuing to grow. It’s alive, it’s dangerous. So in 2024 alone, I found these statistics from the Anti-Defamation League. They reported that there were 8,873. Antisemitic incidents across the US in 2024 alone. That’s a sharp jump from the [00:04:00] previous years, and it continues to go up each year when you look at the numbers.
So this isn’t just a, a United States problem, Connor worldwide, I. anti-Semitic acts have increased by 340% over the last two years, kinda largely tied to this war in Israel. This war Gaza, one tragic example, brings this reality home. So two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lelinski, and Sarah Linn Milgram were killed outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, DC The suspect.
After he killed them, after he shot them in cold blood, said, I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza. Making it painfully clear how this conflict that’s happening over there, how this conflict that’s happening overseas is just feeding violence and hate here at home. Right? And so it really is a symptom of a toxic and growing hatred that I still think many people are dismissive of.
I, [00:05:00] I really do feel like, maybe not my own personal life, but definitely just across the spectrum in media and what you see on social media, there is still just a denial that Jewish people are, are dealing with hatred really in a unique way. And over their entire history they have dealt with this. Right.
But this continues, so let’s flip it to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza right now, which is why I’m saying this is a complex issue. At the same time, there’s a huge crisis happening in Gaza and it’s, it’s devastating since October, 2023. The October 7th, 2023 attacks, more than 54,000 Palestinians have died.
I. With over 123,000 injured due to the ongoing military actions, the food shortages are so severe that families are forced to, to scavenge, to survive. I’ve, I’ve, I’ve seen videos of, of just families with young children digging through garbage and Gaza just to have something to eat. Basic aid is [00:06:00] barely getting through, leaving millions in desperation and fear.
And so this, this issue isn’t just political statistics, it isn’t just news headlines. These are real. People facing unimaginable, unbearable circumstances, truly scavenging to survive, not having access to things like running water, clean water to drink food, ignoring their suffering. As I was really digging into this, ignoring their suffering isn’t an option for someone who claims to care about the heart of God.
The justice part of God, the the human dignity, not just human dignity because we’re supposed to have human dignity. But no, you were created on purpose and for a purpose, you were knitted together in your mother’s womb. Scripture tells us that’s why we have human dignity, is because God grants it to us.
He gives it to us, and so what’s happening to the Jewish people should grieve you, but I’m going to argue that what’s happening to those in Gaza. [00:07:00] That’s an issue too. That’s a problem too. That’s something that should grieve our hearts too. So we’re, we’re not dismissing the fact before I give it over to Connor here in a second.
We’re not dismissing the fact that Hamas started this conflict by murdering over 1200 innocent Israelis. I. Men, women, children in their villages, right? In cold blood. We’re also not saying that Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself either. They absolutely, we believe wholeheartedly that they have the right to defend themselves as a country.
But now I. There are too many innocent people suffering and we’re calling attention to it. What are your thoughts, Connor?
Conner Jones: Yeah, we are, and I, I think one, we just have to pray for this to end. Yeah. I, I, I just on both sides. Yeah. I mean, the people in Israel, they are having to take. Shelter all the time. Still, yes, their shelter are dying on the ground.
I mean, they, they’re still suffering in their own way, but the gazen are as well. And so there’s just suffering on both sides. And I just think it’s a call to Christians to, to pray for both [00:08:00] sides. These, like we’ve said, yeah, these are children of God. Both sides of this border and yeah, one side is kind of living more freely than the other side is, and it’s, it’s really hard to watch these videos and it’s hard to be on the other side of the world.
Yeah. You know, it, it just doesn’t impact our daily lives as much, especially if we’re, we’re not of a Jewish background or a Palestinian background. That’s, that’s not something I have to think about all the time, but when I do see it pop up on a social feed or in a news article, I’m like, man, this is really, really bad over there.
And. Yeah, I, I, I think we have to just call attention to the suffering on both sides here. And you’re right, Israel does have a right to defend itself and there are Hamas fighters still hold up underground over there, and they still have weapons that they’re trying to destroy. And that’s what Israel is saying they’re doing these airstrikes for.
But what I would love to see is just more aid get into Gaza today,
Micah Tomasella: right? I’m not, are are starting, I’m not, we’re not trying to play armchair quarterback here or be backseat drivers here in this conflict. Like I, I can’t even imagine the intense. [00:09:00] Stress and the intense difficulty that the leaders in Israel are facing of defending themselves against an enemy that actively shields themselves with innocent civilians.
For that and many other reasons, we’re not dismissing that. However, aid needs to start getting in because a lot of people that have little to do with the conflict are just dying because they don’t have basic needs met. So here’s the complexity of this, right? So let’s talk about navigating it the hard truth.
This situation is complicated. It’s possible and it’s necessary to condemn antisemitism and mourn the loss of those who have lost their lives simply because they’re, they’re Jewish attacking Jews because of the Israeli government’s actions is evil, and it grieves the heart of God ignoring Palestinian suffering because of antisemitism, because you say, well, this wrong is being done so therefore it justifies this other wrong.
I think that’s equally wrong, and I think it. Equally grieves the heart of God. We must hold this tension as Christians, in my opinion, [00:10:00] recognize the full humanity on every side. I. This means speaking out against hate, whatever that looks like for you. But really it, it means at at times, grieving the innocent lives lost.
It means praying without ceasing like scripture commands us and it means working towards justice for both sides. So one of my favorite verses I. Is Psalm 34 18 Connor, and it says the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the Christian spirit. I remember when, when I was going through difficult times, and there will be more difficult times ahead when there are people in my life who I care about who are struggling and dealing with an immediate grief, whatever that might be.
This is a verse that I often send or get sent to me. But this reverse reminds us that God is close to those who are hurting on every side of this conflict. The victims of hate. The innocent caught in this conflict, and even those of us who are wrestling with complicated emotions today, with whatever we’re going through, this is how we can apply it to ourselves, right?
So it’s a call, I believe, [00:11:00] to lean into God’s comfort. In this time I. As we carry the weight of this broken world that we live in, this sinful, broken world, all these things happening does not surprise God. It doesn’t catch him off guard. In fact, we’re told in this world there will be many troubles like we’re warned, like nations will war against nations and there will be famines and natural disasters, right?
And so this story isn’t just a headline for me. It’s a gut check when I’m reading both things. Two innocent Jews were gunned down outside a Jewish museum at our nation’s capitol. For what? Connor? Because they were Jewish hate. Yeah, literally hate be because they were Jewish. That’s why they were murdered.
Just just for being how God created them. Yep. It’s not an isolated event. As we’ve previously discussed, antisemitism is at record highs at the same time. The suffering in Gaza is real too, with tens of thousands of civilians dead, and families actively starving with little access to clean water or safety.
These aren’t numbers. These are [00:12:00] real human lives. Human beings made in God’s image. So this is where our faith has to speak louder than politics. God doesn’t rank suffering, right? He doesn’t rank it that way. He sees it all. If we follow Jesus, we can’t look away from either side. So two things can be true at the same time, right Connor?
But we naturally, I don’t think we like that idea. We just want to pick a side so that we feel comfortable with that side, and then ignore the suffering of the other side. It’s actually very true, and I think when we look at our own lives, oftentimes two things are true at once, right? We can be hurting for the Jewish couple killed here in America, the rises of antisemitism, and we can be hurting for the innocent in Gaza, caught in the crossfire.
So here’s the personal challenge from this for me, for Connor, for all of you listening, don’t let your heart go numb. Don’t let your faith shrink in this time down to just what’s trending or just brush it off depending on your own bias. If you’re angry, let’s move it to prayer. [00:13:00] If you’re apathetic, move it to prayer.
Move it to scripture. If you’re confused, press into God’s word and when you speak, make sure God’s love is what leads. Hate is loud right now, but let’s be louder with grace and truth and compassion.
Conner Jones: Micah. That’s really good stuff, man. It’s, it’s a hard topic, but I’m grateful for what you just said. All the stuff that we can be doing on our own as a personal challenge.
Thank you for taking us through that. Yeah. And yeah, we’ll, just, if you’re listening to this, I would encourage you right now to stop and pray. For this conflict, and this is my own heart check too. I just haven’t been praying enough for it, and so I’m making a commitment to, every time I see something about this conflict, I’m going to stop and pray for an end to it, and I hope you will do the same.
Micah Tomasella: Well, let’s pray right now, Connor. Yeah, let’s do it. Yeah, take us through it. Okay. I’ll pray real quick. Father, God, we love you. Thank you for your grace and and your patience and your love towards us. Thank you for not being a God who’s distant, but a God who’s close and a God who’s near. We pray for all of [00:14:00] those caught in the middle.
The innocent people stuck in the middle, just trying to feed their families in Gaza. The, the constant fear that those in Israel have to live in, constantly sheltering in place and just the Jewish people in general of just simply by being Jewish. There’s more hate placed on them and they have to constantly look back.
Check on things. And so, God, I just pray that you would bring peace to this conflict in the name of Jesus, that you would raise up godly men and women who will step into this fray and you’ll work in through them and you’ll change hearts and you’ll change lives to end this conflict. And there can be peace, and people who just need food, just need water to drink, just need to not be so worried that they’re going to be bombed, that that would stop in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Conner Jones: Amen. Yeah, great prayer, Micah. We will continue to pray for that and I’m honestly taking us now into a different conflict where we need to continue the same type of prayer, but I want to dive into a more specific part of this. Yeah. And that’s, that’s really [00:15:00] about Vladimir Putin himself. Who is this guy?
I think a lot of America doesn’t really know. So just a quick preface here. As we know, the war in Ukraine is still going. Russia, Ukraine are not slowing down whatsoever, even though we were hoping that they would, even Donald Trump said that he would end this war on day one. I think everybody did say that.
It’s a bit of a hyperbole and was unlikely, but I will say we’re almost six months into Trump’s presidency and it hasn’t even gotten close to finishing. It’s actually, yep. Really, honestly, it’s intensified. Even this weekend, Russia and Ukraine were launching massive air raids at each other through drones and missile strikes, and that really made Trump mad.
You know, he’s been trying to play a middleman between Zelensky and Putin, and he’s even attacked Zelensky and been a little more loose with Putin, trying to say they’ve got a friendship and all that. But he’s starting to get harder on Putin now, after this weekend especially. He came out and said on camera, front of Air Force one the other day, and he was, honestly, he had a really angry tone.
He’s very mad when he said this. He was, he was mad. I mean, he is trying to. Display how mad he is to Putin [00:16:00] specifically. He said, I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people and I don’t know what happened to him. I’ve known him a long time. We’re in the middle of talking and he’s shooting rockets in Te Kiev in other cities.
I don’t like it at all. I’m surprised. Then on Tuesday he came back and he said, Putin is playing with fire. So he’s mad. He’s telling Putin, you need to stop, right? He said,
Micah Tomasella: this will lead to the end of Russia or something like that. Right? Like on, like on a truth social post. I mean, he was really, he was really going off there.
Conner Jones: Yeah, so now he’s, he’s considering harsher sanctions on Russia after months. He’s been trying to be a little more relaxed on them. Hoping that would, yeah,
Micah Tomasella: trying a different strategy. Trying a different
Conner Jones: strategy, getting away from this Biden strategy. But this isn’t working either. It’s not
Micah Tomasella: working either.
Yep. It makes
Conner Jones: me wonder, Micah, if maybe Trump’s actually being a little bit outmaneuvered by Putin, basically his Eastern foe, right? Yeah. You got. Q and China, Putin and Russia, and Trump in America. And those are the three most powerful men on the planet, essentially. Yep. With the most powerful militaries.
And so I’m wondering if Putin is really capable of strong manning, [00:17:00] the most powerful nation, and the most powerful man on the planet. Trump, I, I’m just not sure. Micah had me wondering, how much do you know about Vladimir Putin?
Micah Tomasella: You know what I, I know that you’re gonna do like a, like a deeper dive into this.
When I think about answering that question, I remember there was a, a, a picture of him riding a horse shirtless, you know, that just went viral, but it’s like, well. I’ve just always known. He’s the unequivocal leader of Russia. They don’t have elections. He stays in power by eliminating his enemies. He’s ruthless.
But I really have just kind of been fed like whatever the media’s telling me, which I’m not saying whatever the media’s been telling us has necessarily been wrong, but I I don’t necessarily know his backstory. No.
Conner Jones: No. And honestly, same. And that’s why I was very curious about this. Yeah. And part of that’s actually not just on us, it’s the American public.
And even a lot of Russia doesn’t really know why. Because he’s a bit of an enigma. He doesn’t really open up. He wants to be kind of a mythological character, so he doesn’t really [00:18:00] share much about his background in his life. And he was in the KGB for a long time. So that’s already secretive. That’s their intelligence agency, their CIA kind of equivalent and so.
Honestly, biographers, they’ve kind of struggled to really get concrete facts about his life down. So as I dive into who Vladimir Putin is, I’ll, I’ll just say this, I’m leaning a lot on the research of Julia afi, who works for Puck. She’s a writer for Puck News and she did a documentary style podcast a couple years ago, called About a Boy, the Story of Vladimir Putin.
So this is a lot of her reporting coming outta this from the research she did. Cool. Yeah. So. According to her, Putin’s early life was relatively normal for a young Soviet boy. He was born in linen grad, which is now St. Petersburg, Russia in 1952. His parents were poor and they were traumatized by World War ii.
Most of Russia was. Russia took the brunt of that war in a lot of ways, and his parents are quite absent from his life. And so then he grew up in this post-war linen grad. Which was a very harsh place. This is Soviet Stalin era, linen grad, post-war. His generation, [00:19:00] that whole generation of of kids, they grew up in this way and it was a harsh way of growing up.
Yeah. So this has molded the way they think about the world. His rise from that kind of childhood to where he is now, honestly makes him relatable to a lot of Russians. They see him as a man who came from nothing into power, and he wasn’t handed it. He wasn’t given it. He’s worked his way up. And so he seems genuine to a lot of people.
And you gotta remember in Russia, they are getting propaganda. They’re being told things that are not necessarily true, right? Mm-hmm. And so they see him as kind of a heroic figure in a lot of ways. He did spend a lot of time growing up in what they call, I’m gonna say it, divorce, D-V-O-R-S. This is like a communal courtyard in Russia where the tough working class people would work all day and then they’d end up, up in these divorce and they’d have to really, honestly survive on street smarts.
They would. Break out into fights, all of that. So that’s what he grew up in. And he was a small kid. He’s actually, to this day, still a small man, which we’ll talk about in a minute. Oh, a small kid. Yeah. He learned in these divorce that physical weakness is [00:20:00] weakness and physical strength is literally everything.
So he saw violence as the only way to change established hierarchies and to compromise meant you were weak, you were not supposed to compromise, you’re not supposed to negotiate. So in his mind, there’s no such thing as a win-win situation. I often suggest that all the people in the West to this day who are trying to get Putin to negotiate and compromise, are completely blind to the fact that that’s not a reality in his worldview.
Right? He doesn’t see that as an option. He sees that he’s the sole
Micah Tomasella: decision maker. You know what I mean? Right. Like, and all these, you know, and all this stuff. It’s like there, it, it doesn’t do any good to, you know, convince his counsel if they disagree with him. If there’s dissension, he just gets rid of him.
Right? Like he’s the only one who makes decisions.
Conner Jones: It is the primary definition of a dictator, essentially. Yep, totally. And so he does it totally. So for instance, if they come to a negotiating table and Ukraine gets a little, he sees that as losing and he would consider himself a loser. So he does not want that.
I think that’s part of why Trump’s struggling to get him to sit [00:21:00] at a negotiation table. Right. Here’s where I was going with this a minute ago. He’s also obsessed according to afi, with his own shortness. So he does wear lifts in his shoes. He gets photographers to capture him at certain angles so that he looks bigger and stronger, including that horse picture.
Notice you can’t tell his size on that horse because he’s on the horse and he is shirtless, and that makes sense. I mean, that’s the most famous picture of him probably in American media, is that picture. ’cause it makes him look. Strong and macho and like a leader, right? Yeah. But in reality, he’s, he’s really insecure about his size and that gets to him because of this worldview where he believes physical strength and size matter so much.
And this also applies to the way he approaches the Russian military and the way they invaded Ukraine and everything. Right. I would say he’s got that, what do you call the Napoleon complex where Napoleon’s a shorter man. Yeah. So same thing there. So he did, after growing up, he went to Linen grad State University, LSU, if you want.
He graduated from that in 19. I wonder what their mascot is at Linen Grad State University Siberians or something. I don’t know. The Siberian, the Huskies. The Huskies. [00:22:00] Ooh, maybe we’ll have to look into that. Just thought of that. Linden grad state. He went there, graduated in 1975 with an international law degree before joining the KGB, which he was in for a couple decades there, but it was the nineties when he started getting into politics, when he joined the mayor’s office in St.
Petersburg before working his way into Moscow to join the national government. Once he was there. In 1996, within just three years, he rose up to the number two role in the government as Prime Minister. So the president is the top role. Prime Minister is number two. Imagine it like a vice president. Yep.
Here in the us. So as Prime Minister, while he was in the number two role, he got a lot of popularity with the public because he dealt with Chechnya Yeltsin, who was the president at the time, could not figure out the cheo problem, which was a disputed territory of a different ethnic group down there. And they’re today part of Russia because Putin told them.
He was not going to attack Chechnya, but instead he built up this army around them, and then just like he did with Ukraine, built up this massive army, was like, I’m not gonna attack. I’m just building up an army. But he did in fact [00:23:00] attack. Right. And within a few weeks took over Chechnya. So Yeah, that sounds very familiar.
Yeah, it does. That’s exactly what happened a couple years ago with Ukraine.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah.
Conner Jones: That popularity that he got from taking over, Chechnya catapulted him to the presidential position in the year 2000. So he was kind of George Bush’s counterpart for a long time there, and they both termed out in 2008. But Putin wasn’t done naturally.
He liked the power that he had and he was a popular leader. He did have to step out for four years. Became Prime Minister for a four year stint because he turned out, came back to the presidency in 2012 and has been there ever since. He’s managed to eliminate the rule that requires term limits so that he can stay in power forever, and they have elections technically, but they’re completely rigged in his favor, right.
Micah in the last 25 years, I think we both know, and everybody knows that Putin’s probably the most responsible person for bringing Russia back into the forefront of power after the Soviet Union collapsed, because that was a time when they were embarrassed and they were down and out and they had no strength [00:24:00] anymore.
Micah Tomasella: Yep.
Conner Jones: He’s completely rebuilt the country to what it is today. The thing is though, like you said a minute ago, he doesn’t have any friends. He doesn’t really take counsel or advice. He’ll even. Like you said, kind of eliminate or imprison people who oppose what he’s saying. So he’s built this Yes man empire, but that’s also caused him to be constantly paranoid.
He’s always worried that somebody is going to back stab him or assassinate him. He’s consistently concerned that somebody’s gonna try to take him down
Micah Tomasella: so many movies and shows about this topic. So, I mean, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s plain as day right in front of us. Right. Like Exactly. It’s what he is. He’s a, he’s a, he’s a very fearful person, portraying himself to be.
A whole lot stronger than he might personally be, but he does have a very large nation at his beck and call, which does make him powerful.
Conner Jones: This is very true. Yeah. And he’s obviously really concerned for his own health. Like you spoke the horse image. One of the other famous images of him is, do you remember during the pandemic when he was holding meetings and he sat down at the end of this table that was like.
50 feet away from everybody else. At the other end of the table, it was like this big conference table. He sat on one end and it almost looked, I, [00:25:00] it literally looked like something out of a sci-fi movie or something. Wow. It just,
Micah Tomasella: yeah,
Conner Jones: he just, he’s so paranoid. He’s so worried only about himself. So during the pandemic, he got super isolated and I off, he suggests that that isolation is when he.
Rather than leaning into anything else, he started to contemplate invading Ukraine. That’s when that came about. He was by himself a lot. He wasn’t talking to anybody. He wasn’t taking counsel and he said, I want to take over the Ukraine. I. Why? This is what I think is super interesting. There’s, there’s several reasons that everybody knows.
Everybody knows that Putin believes that Eastern Ukrainian people want to be Russian, and everybody also knows that he sees it as a place for rich agriculture and minerals in large ports. So it’s an economic advantage to have Ukraine. There’s also a lot of citizens, you are right Micah, that it is a large country, but ultimately Russia only has 143 million people.
Right. That was only 10% of the Chinese population, which is right there.
Micah Tomasella: A third of ours. Right. Maybe a third of ours.
Conner Jones: Yeah. So it’s, it’s not actually that big, it’s just land-wise, [00:26:00] very big,
Micah Tomasella: but a lot of uninhabitable land.
Conner Jones: Yeah. Right. And then the, the, the people of Ukraine, if they were to be Russian, that obviously increases the population quite a bit.
So there’s that aspect of it. And then he’s always felt threatened by NATO and the West. And so Ukraine kind of offers a barrier, but here’s what I think’s really interesting. Here’s. Two reasons I don’t think most people understand as to why Putin does what he does. We’ve learned about his childhood, but this is, this is kinda where he is at today.
One of his top officials says that Putin technically has three advisors, Ivan the terrible, Peter the great, and Catherine the great. These are all powerful. People in Russian history who led wars and were basically made Russia to what it was by the time we got to the 19 hundreds. So he kind of sees himself in the light of linen or Stalin or anybody who shaped Russian history for decades to come, even after they died.
So he wants this legacy moment if he can get Ukraine and he sees it as an opportunity for him to have that legacy defining thing that happens, right? But here’s the most shocking reason, Micah. This is, this just blew my [00:27:00] mind. Putin, he claims to be a Russian Orthodox Christian. This is a church that was founded in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.
The church claims Kiev as it basically, it’s equivalent to Jerusalem, like it’s it’s capital city of the church. So they, the church, the Russian Orthodox Church technically supports this war even though it’s so deadly and so destructive and killing many innocent people because they see it as a fight against the loss of faith in Western Christianity, which would be you and me and any American, European Christians.
One English priest, his name’s Gilles Frazier. He said Putin regards his spiritual destiny as the rebuilding of Christendom based in Moscow. Yeah. The church, Russia. Well, I didn’t know that. I didn’t that I didn’t either. This all came outta my research this week. Yeah. Anyways, so now he’s using Christianity to justify the war, which we know is not right.
Yeah. Jesus calls us to love others, not destroy others. And there’s plenty of leaders in history who have done this. The Popes did this back during the [00:28:00] Crusades, justifying war with their faith and all of that to go take over and kill many people. But I want to point out another thing that Dr. Dennison said this week.
Actually, no, he said this a couple years ago when the war started. I found this article that he wrote a few years ago, but as you mentioned, he’s written quite a few Great Daily articles, and in this one he said, when Christianity is used to advance secular aims. It ceases to be true Christianity. This is true whether these aims are Russian or American.
Your agenda, Micah or mine or anybody’s listening, right? We can’t use Christianity to achieve things that are not biblical. Do you go to church on Sunday so that God will bless you on Monday or tithe so that God will bless you financially if you’re doing that? You’re in a similar kind of mindset there.
Mm-hmm. That you’re doing things so that God will return something to you. Mm-hmm. One Peter four 11 does say. To him belong, the glory and dominion forever and ever. I love that because it’s just a reminder that Dominion does not belong to Russia or the US or Trump or Putin, or [00:29:00] any man to God belongs the glory to dominion.
Amen. Yeah. So yeah, Putin’s evil. There’s a lot in his life that we can look at to realize why he’s doing what he’s doing. Ultimately, he has a heart and heart. You can even see it in his eyes when you see him on camera. He’s just got pure narcissism and evil behind what he’s doing. His heart needs to be softened, and so we can pray for that.
We can pray for an end of this war over there. Yes, and I just wanna leave off with one quote here. I. In contrast to who Putin is. Abraham Lincoln once said when he was asked about if God was siding with him in the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln responded. Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God’s side for God is always right.
So whose side do you stand on today? If it’s not God’s, it definitely should be.
Micah Tomasella: Whoa. Connor, whose side do you stand on today? That is. A classic end to a daily article. Right. That Jim or Ryan Wright. Man, that was really [00:30:00] good. Whose side do you stand on today? Great. Deep dive, man. It, it really was incredibly informative and I hope that it was for all that are listening just because I think that we just take Vlad at face value.
This deeper dive really helps us kind of understand this is so much more than just a land grab for him. He has personal, what he would call spiritual reasons for why he’s doing and committing the atrocities. Mm-hmm. That’s happening. So thank you for that, Connor. All right, well let’s jump into the mailbag.
We wanna continue to hear from you all. So send us your questions. Please send us your thoughts, your topic, ideas to culture [email protected], and you can follow us on Instagram at Culture Brief Podcast. Please DM us. Email us. We mention it every single episode simply because we want to continue to interact with our audience.
And you guys are so great at that and we’re asking that you would keep sending us your topic ideas and questions and thoughts. So one of our listeners, Clark, emailed us this past week with a very fun question, [00:31:00] actually sent us a photo of his vehicle as well to kind of illustrate the point. He said, when you park, do you pull in or do you back in?
So Connor, what do you do?
Conner Jones: You know, I, he sent the picture and I was like, I’ve never really thought about this philosophically in any way whatsoever. I just, right,
Micah Tomasella: because his was a car too though. But you and I have trucks. We trucks, yeah.
Conner Jones: So,
Micah Tomasella: you know, we’re drive trucks, so we have to back in. Well, yours is smaller.
Oh, your truck is smaller than mine. Mine. But I drive a
Conner Jones: Tacoma. It’s a mid-size truck. It is what it is. You’ve got F-150 that you’ve probably never used the truck bed before
Micah Tomasella: anyways. Oh, wait a second. Now if you’re gonna attack
Conner Jones: me on my truck, I’m gonna attack you
Micah Tomasella: on
Conner Jones: your truck.
Micah Tomasella: Absolutely use it. And I use it frequently.
Thank you, sir. Yeah. So do you pull in or back in?
Conner Jones: I, it just depends on the situation, honestly. I probably pull into spots more often. I don’t really have a, a thinking piece behind this. Typically, I think I pull in. I don’t find myself needing to back into spots ever. What’s funny is Clark sent this picture and thank you Clark for doing that, but it’s like a Honda Civic, and so I’m like, what [00:32:00] is like, it’s, it’s nothing greater than, I think it’s an, I
Micah Tomasella: think it was an Accord, which is a little bit bigger.
A little, it’s a little bit bigger,
Conner Jones: but not, definitely not big enough to justify backing into the parking spot.
Micah Tomasella: I think it really does depend on the vehicle, like there are like F two fifties, like hemis, like there are big trucks that it really only makes sense to back in, especially like in tight. I.
Parking spaces are like in parking garages and stuff. My truck is bigger, but it’s not the type of truck that like I have to back in. And so when this question came in, like I, I spent a lot of time thinking about this, like it took up some mental space of, do I consciously think about this? I think when I roll into an establishment and I see a bunch of trucks backed in, like towards the end of the parking lot, sometimes I’m kinda like, I wanna join in on this truck party and I’ll back right on up.
And park backwards, you know, back in with all these other trucks. But really, man, I’ll tell you what fires me up more than anything else, is a pull through spot. Ooh, love it. I love it. So it [00:33:00] can look like I’m backing in technically, but you know, there’s parking spots behind me. But if it’s a pull through spot, that’s what fires me up more than being able to back in or pull in.
So I would say I’m not necessarily super passionate about either. It’s just kind of what I feel in the moment.
Conner Jones: Okay, well maybe I’ll post a poll on Spotify and Instagram so people can, no, because there are people,
Micah Tomasella: I, we know people who are, who are very passionate about this topic. I think you and I just haven’t really put a ton of thought into it, but there are people who are very passionate about this topic.
Conner Jones: Yeah, it sounds like Clark is so, yeah. Yeah. Again, thank you, Clark. Send us to you questions too at the email, and go fi, like we said, follow us on Instagram and if you wanna see facial reactions of how we’re talking on camera here. You need to follow us on Instagram specifically. Micah tends to make funny facial reactions to the things we’re saying, and so those videos are funny and I we’d like to post some clips on Instagram.
Micah Tomasella: Yes, and Connor figured out how to use the Zoom. So yes, you guys tune into us on Instagram and X on all those places to see some of those videos and clips.
Conner Jones: Okay, Micah, let’s hit bust the block round two. So if you weren’t around last week, this is where we are talking about the summer movie [00:34:00] slate. We did the first half of summer last week.
We’re doing the second half today. Yeah. And Mike and I are trying to predict if these movies will one, either break even on just the cost. They’re, they’re covering their costs. Two, they will flop. They will just absolutely not make any money. In fact, they will lose money for the movie studios or three.
They will bust the block, which means they will make two to three times the budget and make big profits for the studios
Micah Tomasella: at at least twice as much. So like if we say bust the block, then that means we really think this is going to be like in some cases, a historical blockbuster.
Conner Jones: Right. So I will preface by saying the further out you are from movies coming out, the less likely you are to have accurate budget numbers.
So some of these movies we don’t have a real budget for. And so I’ll say that right up front, right? Because
Micah Tomasella: this is the second half of summer. Our first segment of this last week was the first half of summer, so we had all the numbers for it. So the second half of summer. Yeah.
Conner Jones: So we’ll just have to keep tabs on that, Micah.
And like I said, we’re gonna come back at the end of summer and see who had the best results here.
Micah Tomasella: And we have not prepared our answers. We’re jumping in.
Conner Jones: Yep, [00:35:00] yep. I, we haven’t talked about this at all. Okay. June 27th, the movie F1 is coming out. This is directed by Joseph Kaczinski, who last did Top Gun Maverick, obviously huge movie, incredible visuals.
And this is starring Brad Pitt as an F1 race car driver, Micah. The movie costs $300 million to make. What do you think here?
Micah Tomasella: I think it’ll break even simply because the director of Top Gun Maverick is going to make a movie that is that visually stunning. And Brad Pitt is a pretty big draw. I feel like he hasn’t been doing as many movies recently.
He’s picking and choosing what he’s doing more so I, I’m gonna say break even.
Conner Jones: I’m right there with you. Break even on this one, Megan 2.0. This is the follow up to the horror movie that kind of busted out of nowhere and did bust the block back in January of 2022. It had like a $12 million budget back then and it made $181 million.
So this is the follow up sequel. What do you think Micah?
Micah Tomasella: Okay, so like for argument’s sake, if last time it was a $12 million budget, they made 181 million. This was back in 2022, let’s say reasonably their budget’s [00:36:00] 50,000, 50,000, 50 million. It’s a college project. It would really bust of luck. That’s Blair
Conner Jones: Project.
Micah Tomasella: If it’s like 50 million, then they would just need to make a hundred million, which would still be a lot less than what they made the first time to technically bust the block. So I’m gonna say bust the block.
Conner Jones: Yeah, I, I think I’m gonna go right there with you. Busted block on this one. Well just ’cause it’s
Micah Tomasella: probably gonna be such a low budget, so it’s like on Yeah.
These horror movies are criteria, so it’s, it’s not gonna be like the biggest movie ever, but if your budget’s that low, you know. Oh,
Conner Jones: it’s big money for sure. Okay. Yeah. July 2nd. This is a big one. Jurassic World Rebirth. The Jurassic Park series is kind of back, I think this is like a new trilogy they’re trying to start.
It’s got Scarlett Johansson directed by Gareth Edwards, who did the Godzilla movies and Rogue One. So he’s very visually and an incredible director. He also did the movie, the Creator, love those films. Micah $265 million Budget. This is gonna need a lot of money to bust the block. What do you think here?
Flop. Flop. Oh, wow. Mm-hmm. I think it breaks even. I do not think it’s gonna be as big as the Pastic World movies. [00:37:00] There’s no Chris Pratt this time.
Micah Tomasella: It’s not gonna be a huge flop. Like it won’t, you know, be like less than half the budget. But I, I don’t know. I just feel like there’s no momentum behind this movie right now.
Conner Jones: There’s not. No, it’s kind of a weird one. Okay. Maybe the biggest movie of the summer, July 11th, Superman. It’s straight up, just called Superman this time. No extra words. No man of steel or anything. This is a new, just kind of reset of the Superman franchise. James Gunn, who directed the Guardians of the Galaxy Films, he popped over to the DC world.
This is his first DC movie. Estimated budget right now is $363 million. That is a very expensive movie. Micah, what are you thinking?
Micah Tomasella: Break even the actors in this movie are not super well known. Like I think the guy playing Superman, I can’t remember his name, but I haven’t heard him before. David Corn Sweat.
Yeah, right. So it’s like there, there’s just no star power in the movie. Obviously the movie could make stars. I’m gonna say break even. And again, that means a lot of people are gonna see the movie, by the way. But I’m gonna say break even.
Conner Jones: I kind of think it’s gonna. I think it’s gonna bust the [00:38:00] block. Yeah.
If it’s really, if it’s really good reviews, it’ll bust the block. If it
Micah Tomasella: ends up being good, then yes, totally. I just doubt that it’ll be good, I guess.
Conner Jones: Yeah. I don’t know. Okay. July 18th, this weekend’s gonna got some smaller movies coming out. It’s gonna start with, I Know What you did last summer. There’s, there’s a follow up to the 1997 very popular horror kind of slasher movie that starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prince Jr.
They are making a comeback. To this film, but this one also stars Madeline Klein of Outer Banks fame. Budget. 15 to 20 million is the estimate, so it’s kind of a smaller budget. What do you think
Micah Tomasella: break even?
Conner Jones: I think, I think it breaks even. I think it’ll be a big streamer. Hit everybody. Yeah. Yeah. First come out on stream.
You know what I mean? Yeah. Alright. Also, that weekend, we don’t know the budget on this one and probably smaller edington. It is a COVID era, horror dark comedy, and it’s starring a ton of people. It’s got Joaquin Phoenix. Pedro. Pascal. Pascal, I can’t ever say that last name right. Emma Stone. Austin Butler and Luke Grimes of our family show.
Wow. Yellowstone. Wow. He’s [00:39:00] Casey on Yellowstone. So that is a star studded.
Micah Tomasella: Cast
Conner Jones: star. Studded cast. Wow. Everybody wants work with Ari Astor, the director. Michael, what do you think? We don’t know the budget, but like I said, it’ll probably be smaller. I think this has potential. I I think this will bust the block.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. Because it’s gonna be a smaller budget. Like most of their budget’s gonna be. Just like in their actors, I guess. So yeah, I’ll say bust the block just simply because of the topic. Looks pretty interesting and those are a lot of famous people.
Conner Jones: It definitely is July 25th. This is another big one. Also starring Pedro Pascal.
Fantastic. Four first Steps, the Fantastic four just series and franchise is returning. This is a complete restart. It’s also got Vanessa Kirby. Joseph Quinn from Stranger Things is in here. Eben Moss Brock from The Bear is in here. Julia Garner is playing the Silver Surfers. She’s from Ozarks. A lot of these big TV stars.
Yeah, making the way into movies. Making it to movies.
Micah Tomasella: Yep.
Conner Jones: This budget’s unknown. I’m gonna guess it’s several hundred million dollars. So for me right now, I’m saying break even.
Micah Tomasella: I’m gonna say bust the block. Okay. [00:40:00] I think, I think if it’s a good Fantastic four movie, it will bust the block. You, you remember what movie was it?
Where John Krasinski in this alternate universe played Mr.
Conner Jones: Fantastic.
Micah Tomasella: Mr Fantastic In the World flipped Out. So I think people are kind of hungering for Fantastic Four, you know, since those movies kind of came out in the two thousands. So yeah, I’m gonna say bust the block.
Conner Jones: All right. We’ll see. I, I think it has that potential for sure.
Okay. August 8th. This is funny. Freakier Friday, this is a sequel to that 2003 film with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, where they swap bodies on accident. Wow. They’re back. They’re back. They’re back. Both of them. Yeah, they’re both backward. 20 bus the block two years later. Yeah, I could see a, actually, I think it, I think it breaks even in theaters.
I think it’s a big streamer hit as well. It’s. Estimated the budget’s $50 million budget. Yeah. Yeah. So that it would require quite a bit of money. Anyways, we’ll just see. I think that’s fun. And then also on August 8th, a horror movie called Weapons With a $38 million budget is coming out. Zach Craig is the [00:41:00] director.
He lasted the movie Barbarian, which was a secret hit. It had like a $4 million budget and made $45 million in theaters. Wow. Talk about return investment. I would Theaters. Wow. Yeah, man. So people are eager to see what he’s pulled off here. That movie was great. Barbarian was so, I think this one will be too, and I think it busts the block.
Micah Tomasella: Okay. Yeah, I think it will break even.
Conner Jones: Okay. And then also I think August 15th, nobody too, Micah, you and I love the first movie. Nobody. Yeah, it was good. That’s got Bob Odenkirk from the Breaking Bad Series. Better Call Saul. Yes. Oh yeah. He’s coming back. And that first one made big money. So we don’t know the budget here, but I’m just gonna go ahead and say it’s gonna bust the block.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. If it’s lower budget, it’s gonna bust the block because it’s just such an interesting concept. So nobody to bust the block. Okay, you heard it here F first.
Conner Jones: That was a fun round of, bust the block. Thank y’all for playing along and we’ll just see our results at the end of the summer. Let’s do check in real fast, Micah.
We’ve got NBA and NHL playoffs. By next week, we will know the teams in the Stanley Cup final and the NBA [00:42:00] finals. It’ll either be the Indiana Pacers and or New York Knicks. Oklahoma City Thunder or Minnesota Timberwolves will come back and do an update there. And in the NHL, it’ll be the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes Edmonton Oilers, or our Dallas Stars, which we’re hoping there, but it’s not looking great right now.
Yeah, it’s not looking good. And then also we’ve got the College World Series coming up that starts on Friday. I got my DBU hat wrapping because DBU Dallas Baptist University baseball’s our sport. We love it, and they’re headed to LSU to play, but there’s a whole bunch of teams playing in the College of World Series starting this weekend.
And good luck to everybody playing.
Micah Tomasella: Go Patriots. Love it. And then Connor, last one here, did you see that Rogan’s been going to church? Joe Rogan? Joe.
Conner Jones: Joe Rogan, yeah. Yeah. This is very interesting. Uh, he’s had some Christians on his podcast. He’s got massive influence. It’d be awesome if he has more Christians on the show, but it sounds like he’s actually kind of trying to explore more about the faith.
I’m trying to understand because he’s always said he doesn’t really believe in a higher power or God or anything. So if he can, you know. Learn more, maybe God will hit his [00:43:00] heart and ultimately hit the hearts of many of his listeners. Would
Micah Tomasella: be super cool. Yeah. Praying for him in that situation. And you know what?
Somebody like Joe Rogan is worth your prayers because he is made in the image of God. Like we’ve emphasized, but at the same time mm-hmm. Biggest podcast. On the planet by far, multiple years in a row. The people that he impacts every single day with what he says and does, imagine the impact if he were to truly turn to Jesus.
That would just be incredible.
Conner Jones: Yeah, and we’ll, we’ll have an article coming out later this week. Parker Jones is writing an article currently kind of diving into this Parker Connor’s little
Micah Tomasella: brother.
Conner Jones: Yes, yes. Yeah. Wesley Huff is the guy who he had on in January that really shared the gospel on the show, and he’s been on some other podcasts as well.
So Parker’s writing about that and a little bit about what Joe Rogan’s experiencing spiritually. So be on the lookout for that article on Dennis form org. Well, I
Micah Tomasella: can’t. I can’t wait to read that. Yes, Dennis and forum.org will be coming out later this week. Well guys, thank you so much for joining us for this week’s episode of Culture Brief at Dennis and Forum Podcast.
All articles and videos mentioned will be linked in the show notes. If you [00:44:00] enjoy today’s episode, please like please subscribe and rate and review the show that helps us grow the show and share it with a friend, and we’ll see you next Thursday.
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