Sophie Cunningham, Spain's migrant crisis, record box office & the Dodgers' blockbuster trade | Ep. 80

Conner Jones: [00:00:03] Hi, I'm Conner Jones.

Parker Jones: [00:00:04] I'm Parker Jones.

Conner Jones: [00:00:05] This is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we are navigating the constant stream of top stories in news, politics, sports, pop culture, technology, and so much more. We do it all from a Christian perspective. And this week, yeah, you heard that right. I'm sitting here with the one and only Parker Jones. Parker, welcome back to Culture Brief.

Parker Jones: [00:00:22] Grateful to be here.

Conner Jones: [00:00:23] Yep, and you may remember Parker is my brother. Parker also writes as a contributing author for us here at Denison Forum. You can read plenty of his articles over at denisonforum.org and uh, yeah, he's joined me for today's conversation on all kinds of things. Parker, what are we going to be discussing on this episode?

Parker Jones: [00:00:37] Yeah, we've got a lot to talk about. A couple really intriguing stories to take deep deep dives on. One, uh to do with the WNBA. Never feels like they're uh in the headlines for anything other than controversy. Uh we're going to take a look at what's been happening on the Morocco Spanish border. And then uh we've got to take a look at the box office today and uh a couple entry really interesting, intriguing sports headlines. So, a lot to look at.

Conner Jones: [00:01:03] Yep, busy week in culture. So let's jump into the brief. [00:01:07] The brief. [00:01:09] Okay, yeah, you said it Parker, WNBA. This is not something we have really touched on here at Culture Brief. In fact, it's not really a league I particularly watch. Um but I think America has started to see it really come to the forefront of the conversation this week specifically, the last two weeks. Um and I would say it's not for all the reasons that the WNBA would like. It's not necessarily because of the game. It's not necessarily because of uh how different players are being traded or anything. It's more so because of culture war controversies. Um but it does bring attention to the league. They just seem to in a way be fumbling their opportunity here to to capitalize on their stars, including uh two people that we're going to discuss and we're going to discuss one uh specific person in depth, but I'm thinking of Caitlyn Clark, who is far and away the biggest star in the WNBA. Far and away the biggest probably women's basketball player ever. Uh she single-handedly shot viewership up when she joined the league. She single-handedly shot viewership up for college women's basketball when she was in the NCAA tournament back in 2023 and 2024. Millions of people tuned in. That audience has since halved in size to those um national championships for college basketball since she's left. And so it's clear she's the biggest star in college basketball and WNBA basketball.

Parker Jones: [00:02:22] I I feels like uh maybe for the WNBA, they're just hoping that saying that all publicity is good publicity uh would ring true for them. They certainly are getting eyes uh on on aspects of their league, but you know, for Clark a few weeks ago, it was she was just seemingly getting beat up on the court. True. And uh and so that was a thing, but it it wasn't people excited about watching basketball as much as it was a conversation about Clark and her role in the league. Uh this is this is a totally uh different situation.

Conner Jones: [00:02:56] Yeah, and it started to revolve around there's been discussions in the WNBA about the the role of race, um which is not what we're talking about today, but it is a piece of this conversation where a lot of people are talking about, well, because Caitlyn Clark is white, she gets treated one way and because other players are are not, they get treated a different way. And so there's a lot of conversations around that. That's not exactly what we're hitting on today. We're actually going to be talking more so about the current debate in the WNBA and kind of the broader culture around transgender uh individuals, biological males playing in women's sports. This is at the forefront of culture because the new, probably biggest name, I wouldn't say the best player or the biggest star, but biggest name this summer in basketball for women has been Sophie Cunningham. This might be somebody you've seen on social media or on TV or wherever being talked about because she's found herself at the center of a lot of these conversations around culture wars as she's spoken out kind of against uh basically biological males playing in women's sports and it's brought her to the forefront of attention. She really became popular back in 2024 when Caitlyn Clark joined the league and a lot of other players seemed to not really be uh I guess pleased with Clark's presence on the court. They would bully her on the court. They would really get physical with her, foul her, um in a way that seemed kind of unfair. It drew a lot of attention again to the league for wrong reasons and players just seemed to not like her popularity. It's almost like there was a a jealousy aspect, not everybody, but some. Uh and her teammates weren't really stepping up, but then Sophie Cunningham is one of her teammates over on the Indiana Fever. And Sophie Cunningham was the first teammate to really kind of push back against other players and got into fights defending Caitlyn and that got her a lot of um attention, got her a lot of positive reaction from the the fans of the WNBA, outside people who were like, good, somebody's finally stepping up to protect her, uh to protect Caitlyn Clark and that was Sophie Cunningham. Well, fast forward two years, we're now this summer 2026. She's the biggest name in the league right now for several reasons. One, you've probably seen the summer's most viral meme. Parker, I know you've seen it. Absolutely. The the pointing, the aggressive pointing fingers uh where she's just on the court and she's just like, if you if you're not watching right now, I'm doing I'm doing the exact way she did. Just look it up. Just look it up. Yeah, I mean it's you've seen the meme. Uh it's all over social media. That's her. And she's kind of used that. That was I think at the end of May or beginning of June. Um and she's capitalized on the attention that that got beyond the attention she was already receiving. She's found herself as a like a fight uh octagon ring girl at UFC fights now. She's gained millions and millions of followers on Tik Tok and Instagram. She's really built this own audience. Um and then a lot of the attention she got came to a head last month uh when she did an ESPN profile as her as her just popularity built up, ESPN wanted to do a profile on her. Halle Grossman wrote this profile and I'm just going to quote this paragraph from Halle Grossman. These are her words, not mine. She said, Cunningham, like the WNBA, has become a cultural flash point. The league's footprint has never been bigger and the chorus of voices around it has never been louder. All-star voting and sponsorship opportunities, whistles and non-whistles, who and who does not get to capture this attention economy have all become proxies for debates about race, gender, and identity in politics. Squarely in this morass sits Cunningham, a white, conventionally attractive, attention-grabbing reserve player who is not one of the league's all-stars, but is certainly one of its most magnetic stars. And I would just say from what I've seen about Cunningham and Parker, I'm not sure if you've seen this either, her authenticity and her like just candid speaking uh in interviews and all of that has uh on the league's issues has really landed her favorably in the eyes of people on the right side of the aisle. Uh specifically, I people have called her a Maga Barbie. I mean, people identify her with right-wing politics now. She does not necessarily take political stances, but she did speak out against the transgender stuff. We'll talk about it in just a second. Uh she also does speak publicly about her faith. So there's a lot there and a lot of things being attributed to her. I mean, what have you seen about Sophie?

Parker Jones: [00:06:45] Well, I think she's an example of uh a lot of times people on the right, I think they are they gravitate towards figures that even if they don't embrace right-wing politics, they if they ever express any kind of push back towards kind of the pop culture narrative, then suddenly they become almost like a an avatar for for the right. And and I think what's really interesting about Sophie is in the WNBA, which is certainly uh one of the the more I'd say left leaning politically speaking leagues, professional sports leagues, just the makeup of the league is uh it fits that and we'll talk about uh how that's playing out right now in just a moment. Uh I think it's interesting that Sophie has kind of made herself a counter cultural voice in that league.

Conner Jones: [00:07:32] I think that's I think you're right. That's kind of what the people are gravitating towards that that see her as this kind of like political standpoint. She's standing up against the people um who are speaking out against what some would say common sense. We'll dive into common sense here in just a minute. Um you know, I think people did the same thing with like Aaron Rogers uh back in the COVID days when he was standing up against that and Kyrie Irving when he was refusing to get vaccinated. They saw these people as countercultural. They're standing up to the establishment, they're standing up to different things. And so it's easy to uh wrap your heads around uh yeah, maybe this person they're not technically political, but you could see them as a political statement. And Aaron Rogers, I mean, he he was back in the headlines this week for his statements on the Pat McAfee show diving back against Dr. Fauci, which is a whole thing. So you can go watch that interview of Rogers. But this all leads me to a quote from that ESPN profile that Cunningham said. Uh she said, I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, I never once said that. I think I'm here to extend love, but I also think that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room or young girls in a sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men. I mean, makes sense to me, probably makes sense to you, makes sense to a lot of us listening, but man, it it that statement ruffled a lot of feathers in the league and in sports media. A lot of people really started to speak out against her. And then last Tuesday, um when the Fever, the team that Sophie and Caitlyn Clark are on, were in Seattle playing the Seattle Storm, two high school girls showed up to that game in Seattle and said with signs that said, thank you Sophie for speaking up for girls. Well, the one of the co-owners of the Seattle Storm went over to the girls and said that they are expletive insane. Um and just chastised those high school girls. That uh co-owner, her name is Celeste Keaton, she she's now been uh suspended for five games. She can't go to five home games by the WNBA. She's been uh given an undisclosed amount of a fine. So, just an odd statement from an owner of the team. That was just odd. And then on Sunday, the Fever were in Minneapolis playing the Minnesota Links when the Links head coach Cheryl Reeve wore a shirt that said trans kids belong throughout the whole game over there on the sideline. Um and it was clearly just a response to Sophie Cunningham and I they even had a conversation before the game. Um and the crowd uh there was a group of people there to support Cunningham and people are starting to do these demonstrations on either side of this issue outside of these arenas. It it's really just bubbled up into this whole thing um to where even Cunningham's own coach, Stephanie White, she was asked about biological males playing in the WNBA this week. Her response about this at the press conference was, I wouldn't really say that I'm educated enough from a scientific standpoint. I don't ever believe that's that exclusion is the answer. Oh, Parker, thoughts there.

Parker Jones: [00:10:11] The the science is simple. The science is simple. The science is simple. Um yeah, I I I I think I miss when uh basketball coaches dressed formally on the sidelines. That that would limit some of these problems.

Conner Jones: [00:10:24] Yeah, that's a that's a men's basketball problem too. It's guys are like jumpsuits, not the suits anymore. Um yeah, that that coach also just expressed frustration that this whole saga is actually distracting from their success on the court. The team's actually playing really well. They're on this like win streak. Um so I do get that. Like it it's it's kind of tough when your league, your team's doing great, but the whole league, the whole media ecosystem is focused on everything but your actual performance on the on the field or on the court. Um even Caitlyn Clark said that this issue when she was asked about it is for the leagues and governing bodies to work out with their athletes to find solutions. So Caitlyn Clark's kind of taking a middle of the road line there as the biggest star of the game, as somebody who is on everybody's televisions all the time in commercials and all that. She knows her words carry a lot of weight. She's taking a middle of the ground road there. [00:11:07] Um I just want to I want to dive into an article that Dr. Jim Denson, uh founder of Denson Forum here, wrote this week. He wrote it on Monday in his daily article newsletter, which you should subscribe to if you have not. But he was talking about this whole topic about Cunningham, about the WNBA and transgender rights. And he said, there has been little coverage in the larger media regarding Cunningham's position on transgender sports. This is very good news for a reason worth contemplating today. Cunningham's statements, which the athlete has refused to retract and calls, quote, common sense, have been muted in a way that uh would have been virtually unimaginable not all that long ago when just uttering the phrase biological men in reference to trans athletes was a kick to their proverbial hornet's nest. Uh and he was kind of referencing there Cat Rosenfield's free press article this week uh that reflected in this whole saga back to 2022 uh when swimmer Leah Thomas, that is a transgender biological male who was swimming in NCAA women's swimming tournaments and actually won a championship for the 500 meter freestyle championship. He even, I mean, this this Leah Thomas beat um a Olympic silver medalist, a female silver medalist. It just goes to show you how much more biologically advantaged males are in terms of strength and uh you know, speed, all of that. They've got lots of we have biological advantages. God created us that way. Um but this was just a reminder that back in 2022 when you objected to that, when other swimmers, female swimmers or coaches were objecting to that, they were honestly, they were labeled as bigots and bullies and grifters, people who were trying to make a, you know, something out of it that there shouldn't have been something out of it. That's how people were labeled. Fast forward to 2026, things have changed. Uh I think there's been vibe changes in the culture. I think people have started to come to the reality like, hey, there's there's more to this. It's not necessarily a big science experiment. There's there's truth, there's reality here. Um because we know biological males are still males. And so there's this just drive towards the word common sense. Even Stephen A. Smith was saying it this week. Uh Parker, you pointed me to a tweet that he posted. Stephen A. Smith is ESPN's like biggest talking head and he was like, look, trans people, go live your life the way you want to live your life, but you can't deny that biological males will always have an advantage and they should not be in women's sports. And so we've talked about this, we even talked about this last month when the Supreme Court actually stepped up and defended states who have said they cannot uh that biological males cannot perform or uh participate in women's sports. Supreme Court stood by that. That only affects about half the states. I think there's 19 states including Washington where those high school girls were in that game with the signs. 19 states do not protect women's sports in that way. So, a lot there. Parker, any final thoughts on that?

Parker Jones: [00:13:52] I just think that uh it it would be interesting to know how many athletes in whether it's in the WNBA or other professional leagues, specifically women's professional sports leagues, feel similar to Sophie, but maybe because they they don't have that kind of uh status or platform yet. Uh to them it's not worth the risk to speak out. And and so it's interesting to see somebody like Sophie that has become kind of this cultural icon for the WNBA, use their her platform to speak out in this way because uh there's she she sees it as worth the cost. But for somebody that doesn't have that, uh the backlash they'd receive from it may may just not be worth it to them, you know?

Conner Jones: [00:14:38] Yeah, I don't disagree with you there. I mean, Sophie's found herself in a unique position and so she's got this kind of voice, um but she's also getting a lot of heat. So it goes both ways. Here's what we know. No matter what males go through with gender reassignment surgeries and hormone therapies and all that, they still possess significant physical advantages. They always will in all sports and everything. So you don't really need a medical degree to know that. It's just there's a common sense there. There's also we are we know that God created us as male and female. And so he did create us with different advantages and skills and gifts. Um and men are just gifted more physically in this sense in a lot of ways. Um as Dr. Denson noted later on in that article that I was referencing earlier, he just noted that common sense eventually actually makes sense even to a post-truth culture. And this is good news, y'all, for those of us who believe in biblical morality and that biblical morality is best for society. It that is actually a comforting thing that there's things changing here. Um it's logical that the God who made us actually knows us better than how we know ourselves. Uh and it's logical that uh to believe that because God, as stated in 1 John 4:8, God is love, he can only want what is best for us. So put those facts together and we can conclude that whatever God's word tells us about morality must be best for us as individuals and as a society. Now add common sense derived from experience and you can ask questions like, is abortion best for pre-born children? Is sex trafficking best for those who are trafficked? Uh is adultery best for marriage? I think you know the answer to every single one of those questions. Are biological males in women's sports best? I think you know the answer to that question. It's it's questions that are actually pretty easy to answer. So, um you know, God's word works, which should incentivize us to know and do what our father says about every temptation, every issue, and every decision that we're going to face today and each day going forward, right? And the God who teaches what is best for us in his word will also empower us to choose what is best for us by his spirit. Parker, Ephesians 5:18 tells us to be filled with the spirit. 1 Corinthians 10:13 reminds us to turn to him in the face of every challenge. So with all that in mind, what's your next step of biblical obedience today? What does your father want you to do or to stop doing in order to experience him even more fully and the experience the fully abundant life of Christ? What changes do you need to make today? So, just want to leave you with that and I hope this was a informative conversation, but yeah, Parker, any last thoughts or do you want to pop into your story over here?

Parker Jones: [00:17:16] Yeah, let's jump over. I think you covered that really thoroughly. Let's jump over to talk about what's been happening in uh North Africa, Southern, Southwest Europe and kind of this Spanish Morocco crisis. This is have you seen much about this story? Oh yeah.

Conner Jones: [00:17:30] Oh yeah.

Parker Jones: [00:17:31] Yeah, so it's it's definitely a a kind of eurocentric story, I feel like. Uh but it has some global effects and and I think it's something that what took place here, we might see begin to take place in other in other parts of the world. And so if if you don't know, uh Morocco borders Spain uh not just by water, but actually by land. Spain has an enclave in North Africa called Cueta. It is it is part of uh Spanish territory and it sits uh actually the only nation that it touches is Morocco and it sits right there strategically at the straight of Gibraltar where uh mass shipping enters into the Mediterranean and exits out into the ocean. And uh this little strip of land uh received 72,000 migrants in the matter of a day this past weekend. 72,000 migrants crossed all at once into Cueta out of Morocco. And uh this was an unprecedented uh crisis. the the the sheer volume. It's not like they're fleeing war. Uh it it wasn't uh you know, all asylum seekers. Uh there there wasn't uh some kind of invite from Spain calling people to come to them. And so this has created a really unique controversy over uh kind of debate over what caused this and then the response to it in terms of how the the the nations around the world are are viewing Morocco, viewing Spain is really interesting. And so I will say, an important note, uh Spain at least claims that they have uh uh 70 of the 72,000 migrants have returned, uh whether that's assisted uh from uh Spanish military action to to get them to go back or on their own returning home. Uh in the process of all of this mass migration, uh more than 80 people died. Most of those are drownings. Uh people uh though they border by land, there is a secure border wall. And so the migrants in Morocco are actually getting into the ocean, swimming about three miles and then coming on land in Cueta.

Conner Jones: [00:19:55] Yeah, the visuals, I mean, the videos of this were just insane. I if you haven't seen them, it it is worth typing in and just going to look at some of the videos of these just masses of people coming around the corners out in the sea and just coming up out of the water, they're dripping wet and they just start running through the through Cueta and taking over in a way. Um but you can also see that they're like, well, what do we do next? We're here now. Uh what what's next? And it is a lot of I know a lot of people noted it's if you watch the videos, it's a lot of like young men, um military-aged men and they were physically, you know, capable of doing that swim and all of that. It's not like you're getting just um families or children or older people or anything. It's it's people that, you know, they're they're capable and they're young and they're they're it's exactly the kind of people that have been I don't know. I think there's a lot of warnings about allowing not just refugees who seem to be in some sort of crisis, but people who come into a a border or a country, um specifically in Europe, this has been a conversation, you know, do you want groups like this to be coming into your borders?

Parker Jones: [00:20:59] Well, and that is an interesting point. I think, yeah, as you look at the images, you see occasionally women and children scattered, but it is almost overwhelmingly men. And note that they're swimming. None of them are coming with baggage. None of them are coming, they're not bringing suitcases with them. And so it's a really unique scenario and I don't know that we've seen something quite like this that's not driven directly by armed conflict, right? Or natural disaster. And so, uh it's important to note, Morocco is a by by uh standards on its own continent, Morocco is a decently stable nation. It's a constitutional monarchy. It's not in it's not uh it is still a developing nation. Um and they do have their own refugee crisis of sub-Saharan African migrants coming into Morocco and then going and in this case, then coming using Morocco as the vessel to get to Cueta. And you may be wondering, like, what's the significance of Cueta? Why go there? And we'll talk about it more in just a moment, but note that Cueta is separated from Spain by water. So it though it is Spanish territory, one would have to get into Cueta and then still by land or or or by sea or air access the European continent. Um Morocco does have its own uh challenges facing uh radical Islamist groups within its its nation. Uh they have uh they do have economic problems and certainly there's a job crisis. But like I mentioned, Morocco is more stable than a lot of its surrounding nations. And then uh more recently, Morocco has worked hard to uh associate itself more uh intentionally with the United States and Israel. And uh and I would also say Morocco in the midst of all of this chaos, uh this has to be part of our lens and how we view uh or or try to understand what's happening here. Morocco needs Europe. They they can't they really cannot afford to completely sever ties or uh or build hostilities with Spain. Morocco is dependent on Spain in a variety of ways, primarily through infrastructure and trade. And then it's important to note, uh some already have begun talking about this. Morocco and Spain and Portugal are meant to host a World Cup together in just a few years. That's the next World Cup. Morocco has a decent chance to actually host the World Cup final in in just four years time. And so, uh they they really can't afford to sever a relationship with Spain here. And so, uh the the big question is, what caused this? What have you heard anything in that realm? Like what why would what's prompting 72,000 people to cross this border?

Conner Jones: [00:23:56] I actually had this thought because I was like, okay, this something happened here where these people all knew to go at one time. Um I'm not sure what caused that. I do know I I I've, you know, I I read quite a bit last week about how Spain has been way more generous with trying to bring migrants in or like allowing migrants to come into their borders. Uh now, I think a lot of that was they were considering mainland Spain. This is like you've said, this is just a little enclave attached to Morocco. So this is kind of a different scenario and they were able to, you know, get a lot of these people to go back into the Morocco borders um and had to send military from Madrid and Barcelona and all that down to this enclave to help out with getting those people back into Morocco. But I know that the Spanish Prime Minister has been very open about, hey, we welcome everybody here and all of that. So I don't know if there was just a a call to action in Morocco where people like, hey, the Spanish Prime Minister and the government in Spain is saying we can we can go into their country and we're seeking another form of prosperity. We know we'll have more opportunity in Europe and in Spain. Let's let's let's if we all go at one time, we can all go and take it, you know, take advantage of this opportunity.

Parker Jones: [00:24:59] Yeah, and you you note something really important here contextually is Spain has uh become a little bit more uh invitational towards uh migrants, which is kind of bucking a trend uh that we see across the rest of Europe. But uh Spain at the uh earlier this year, uh they they did what they called regularize the status of migrants that had overstayed their welcome, overstayed their visas essentially. Most of those migrants are from Latin America and they came for work and then stayed and basically by American terminology, they granted amnesty essentially to those those uh individuals so that they are not uh going to be criminalized and deported. And that was something for migrants that were already living in Spain prior to January 1st. Well, it seems that perhaps that that rule or that change in policy uh began to create some rumors within Morocco. And this is what's been really interesting is there's not a lot of concrete truths as we try to dive into this. One thing that is clearly evident is that social media was the vessel by which um this this uh mass surge of migration was promoted, propagated. And so I mean that makes sense. That's where people are talking and they're like, but there's accounts that are uh that are hard to trail. I read that the AP has has reached out to as many of them as possible. A lot of them have deactivated or deleted posts or whatever. None of them are responding that were promoting this uh push to cross the border and they were stating things that suggested that if you made it to Spain, Spain would not send you back. Ah. If you made it to Spain, they would not send you back and that there would be jobs, there would be food, there would be opportunity. So, uh it was worth it to then swim three miles and and and make it onto the Spanish territory in hopes of uh of getting some kind of security there, treating it almost like some kind of of promised land they were they were hoping to get to.

Conner Jones: [00:27:13] Sometimes it's easy to look at stories like this and just remove the human element um and to just see it from political or geopolitical sense. But man, sometimes we just take it for granted here in America just how blessed we are to have the opportunities we do, to live the life the way that we're able to live. Um and I'm sure same in Europe, just in the Western world and then to to see these these people, yeah, they're like, I just want to live a better life. Um and if you're being told you can go do that without any sort of repercussion or being sent back home, well, can you blame them for wanting to take the swim? It's not like they're all going for nefarious reasons. Right. Um now the problem is within 72,000 people, you're going to have some bad apples. Uh that's just and then it becomes a bigger a bigger issue and that's when it becomes an issue all around. Um and I know a lot of people were comparing this to um you know, even the US border and the immigration uh surges we saw uh in the 20 early 2020s, uh specifically before Donald Trump shut the border down, there was a lot of uh influx of immigrants. Um and and Joe Biden started to shut it down towards the end of his tenure as well. But for a few years there, this was a lot of the conversation here in America. And again, we talked about it even on Culture Brief last year when we were discussing a lot of that is immigration is it's people trying to seek out a better life most of the time. And then you do have the bad apples in there um that that make it really hard to justify allowing people in a border, but I don't blame a lot of these people for wanting to go and try to seek out a better life in Spain.

Parker Jones: [00:28:40] Well, and I I agree with you when you we're evaluating at that individual level. The big question has been, is there something darker, deeper that's motivated all of this that that's are are these are these people being taken advantage of in some capacity? And it's crazy. You can look across news sites and you're going to see uh a variety of different perspectives on this as many as four different ideas. Uh one one of which is that uh those radical Islamist groups within Morocco are seeing an opportunity to take over institutions. There's an upcoming election in Morocco. If they can stir up some chaos, perhaps they could take power and a border crisis would certainly do that. Uh others are seeing uh that Morocco uh is at actually at odds with Spain, especially as it relates to Israel and uh the war the between the United States and Iran and foreign policy is very different and Morocco's uh seeing this as an opportunity uh to take to get some negotiating leverage on Spain and and ultimately they see Cueta as part of their territory. And so that's a challenge as well. Uh Morocco and Spain have officially spoken about this as if uh there are smuggling or human trafficking groups that were trying to take advantage of people and that they were the ones that were pushing this and promoting it. And then other outlets like the BBC have simply said the cause is unknown. So that's helpful investigative reporting. Um you mentioned it, uh the response has been really interesting on the US side. Uh President Trump has talked about this as something that it's a call to to go vote in the midterms lest our border look similar. That's the way he's he's he's talking about it. In Europe, the tensions are already extraordinarily high regarding uh immigration and mass migration, especially from uh Islamic countries like Morocco. And so there is a great fear there and how this is being handled and that Spain is actually compromising the overall integrity of the continent uh by having what they call 22 out of 27 EU nations call uh this past weekend uh Spanish uh immigration policy a pull factor. And so in an open letter that they published. And so, uh there there's a lot of criticism on the European side of Spain in particular. Uh and uh and ultimately the the President Trump uh doesn't uh see eye to eye with Spain right now either. And in fact is leaning much more towards the Moroccan side uh in recent months on uh just in terms of how they've they've approached foreign policy. Well, Trump's been mad at Spain for a while in in tariffs and trade and even Spain has said that the US cannot use military their military bases to launch uh aircraft for the Iran war from Spanish territory. So uh that's already gotten Trump's eye. So I know he's he's looking at this as an opportunity to really pound on on Spain.

Conner Jones: [00:31:12] Well, Trump's been mad at Spain for a while in in tariffs and trade and even Spain has said that the US cannot use military their military bases to launch uh aircraft for the Iran war from Spanish territory. So uh that's already gotten Trump's eye. So I know he's he's looking at this as an opportunity to really pound on on Spain.

Parker Jones: [00:31:31] Absolutely. Yeah, so Spain is caught in the crosshairs here. Some on their uh own doing, some based on whatever the the lies and rumors were that that promoted this mass migration. And this is one of those places where I think as as Christians, we should always hope for truth to prevail. And and so, uh whether that's truth about what's caused this or just at the ground level that uh we see in this scenario what the consequences of of propagating lies are. 80 people are dead because they believed lies about what would happen if they could make it to to Cueta, right? And so we always are are want to promote truth and seek and desire uh truth. And you mentioned already, those 72,000 people, they're human beings. Some perhaps went for malicious reasons, uh others went out of genuine hope, others were probably victimized in in into going. And so, uh I I I think we should always desire uh truth. We should also desire peace, justice, and obedience to the law. We serve a God of order that's instilled government for the purpose of protecting its people. And uh ultimately, uh that that the role of people in that is to therefore obey the government. And so it's good for us, I think, to desire strong policies that protect nations, our nation uh from outside threats. And uh and therefore we should desire for people to obey immigration law. And then the last thing I would say on this is is uh Morocco and all of North Africa uh need the gospel. And this whole region of the world, frankly, Spain and Western Europe do too. And and I I you have to wonder, does something like this occur if all these bordering nations uh have a have a common understanding of truth. And uh Morocco is 99% Muslim, North Africa is 95% Muslim. Uh we should always be praying uh for people in Morocco and certainly for our brothers and sisters in Christ that live in that that environment to be a light for the gospel and uh to to let truth and grace and love abound.

Conner Jones: [00:33:36] Yeah. Well, I I appreciate that. It's a great call to prayer, uh praying for this region, praying for this situation, praying for these people. Um yeah, I mean it's it's a big deal. It's happening over there. and we'll continue to see things like this and yeah, you're you mentioned the response in Europe from other nations and other European leaders is like, hey, we got a problem here. Um so what's the what's the solution? I guess we'll just see how these countries work it out. Um and it can feel far and distant the same way when we talk about Israel, when we talk about Iran and all these things that happen in Asia or in Africa or Europe, if you're in America, you're in Canada, you're somewhere in North America, that can feel like a far and distant thing, but there are real lives, real souls being impacted here. And so praying for that and praying ultimately like you're saying for the gospel to intercede and be in these regions. That is our uh job here even when we're far away. Uh we can continue to pray for these situations. So, thank you Parker for that breakdown. It's a real deal, it's a real thing happening. Uh so it was good to talk about. [00:34:31] All right, let's jump into our mailbag real fast. Uh just want to mention as always, if you have questions for us, if you have topic ideas, if you've got uh hot take you want to share with us, let us know. You can always email us at [email protected] or follow us over at Culture Brief podcast, send us a DM, drop a comment on a post there. Uh I did drop a hot take a couple weeks ago, Parker, you'll I think you'll agree with this. I told Micah that I mute the commercials when I'm watching TV. That's a hot take? Well, I don't know. I thought maybe maybe it's a warm take. Uh I'm not sure it's really a hot take. Well, I got responses from people who were like, yep, do the same thing, mute the commercials because honestly, why wouldn't you? I, you know, heard from people like Kathy, she emailed in and said, I love muting the commercials. I'm right there with you, Kathy. I just changed the channel. You just changed Well, the problem is when there's only one thing on. Yeah. You know, like it's Sunday night football, there's nothing else to change to. Um and everything now on the streaming apps is you can't just hit a button to change the channel anymore. So that's the way it is. I sound so old school there. Nowadays on streaming, you know. But all right, let's jump into check in real fast. We got quite a few things to talk about. [00:35:30] Uh Donald Trump called off what he called the biggest attack since World War II against Iran over the weekend. He told reporters that on Air Force One. Um and essentially, a lot of people were expecting a big attack. State Department put out uh warnings to Americans over in the region on Saturday to leave the region, get out of there, get out of dodge, take shelter or find a safe place where you can go in the instance of an attack or anything because the expectation was Trump was going to order a massive attack on Iran in hopes to just really shut this war down. He backed off and said that uh he was reached out to by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, some other Middle East regional uh allies who said, hey, we're on the verge of another deal. So, we've heard this before. This is what we keep coming back to. I don't know what the details of this deal are. They haven't really announced. Apparently, we're on the cusp of another opening of the straight of Hormuz. Guys, we don't know. I mean, honestly, this has just been rinse and repeat every few weeks. Uh we're about to attack, then we don't. Just keep praying. That's all we can say, right? Uh this war is it's it's real, it's impactful. We just uh had a, you know, a a funeral for one of the the soldiers, 19-year-old who died uh over in Jordan from an Iranian drone attack and she lived right down the street from where we're recording right now. And that funeral was this past weekend. It was just really sad. This is real life uh for a lot of people. So, continue to pray for that situation. On a more fun note, Parker, something that we have been watching. Uh I just got to say, I think I've already said it once or twice this summer, but dude, movie theaters are so back. Uh movies are here and they are at the center of culture again.

Parker Jones: [00:37:08] It's a good thing, man. It is a very good thing when the movie theater parking lot is packed.

Conner Jones: [00:37:13] I love passing a movie theater and just seeing it jam packed in the parking lot. Um yeah, so why do I say that? Because this past weekend was the largest ever collective US box office in history with over 430 million dollars brought in in the United States alone. Both AMC theaters and Cinemark theater chains said this was their highest uh weekend revenue in their history, bigger than 2019, which was seen as a year we may never get back to. That was the year like a bunch of the uh Marvel movies came out and Avengers Endgame came out. This past weekend was fueled by several things. One, Toy Story 5 still going, Moana still going, Minion and Monsters are still going. So those kids movies were still bringing in some money. But the Odyssey in its third weekend and it still brought in $51 million in its third weekend open. And then the really big deal, something I'm sure many of you have seen. I'm sure a lot of y'all have seen this movie. Spider-Man Brand New Day uh had the second largest opening ever behind only Avengers Endgame. So it brought in $355 million in the US alone and then hundreds of millions more overseas and now as of Wednesday when we're recording this, it's made it past the billion dollar mark, which is a really big deal. Not a lot of movies do that. This movie made it past a billion dollars in less than a week. Spider-Man continues to just thrive.

Conner Jones: [00:38:29] Parker, you have seen both of these films. What do we need to know about both of them?

Parker Jones: [00:38:34] Well, I think uh first and foremost on the Odyssey, I I definitely recommend seeing it in theaters. Sure. Get the full theatrical experience. I think that's always a must on on the Christopher Nolan uh train. And I I know there's always going to be controversy around certain aspects of of these big blockbuster movies. Just go see it, form your own opinion. And I'm not saying it's the best it it's the best movie of the year. I'm waiting for Dune part three on that. So I think the best movies of the year are maybe are still to come. It's a it's a great movie year. Uh Spider-Man, uh man, I think this movie part of its popularity is it feels a little bit like a callback. I think we knew we were going to get this a little bit at the end of No way home. a callback to a day when uh Spider-Man was just the neighborhood Spider-Man and he was saving uh street corners on New York from uh you know, street level villains and doing that kind of thing, you know? It's a fresh start for him. It's he's able to he's taking off the baggage of of some of the the past MCU stuff uh because uh well, I won't spoil the end of No way home, I guess, but that movie came out five years ago. So you should definitely rewatch that or or get caught up on that before going to see brand new day. Uh but it it feels like a Spider-Man movie. That's the best way I can say it. It feels like a Spider-Man movie.

Conner Jones: [00:39:56] There's something about Spider-Man movies always perform well. People love Spider-Man. I mean, there's a lot you can even dive into there of like, why? What is it about the hope that Spider-Man brings? What is it about the authenticity of that character, Peter Parker and just being a a kid who's just trying to figure out his way through the world and also managed to accidentally get superpowers. And now has to save the world. Uh it's just a fun character. There's something about being in New York City, all of that stuff is so unique and I think people really want to gravitate towards that. They want hopeful stories. This is something we've been talking about. Like not everything has to be so cynical. Uh we can have this idea of going to the movies to have a good time, have fun, watch Spider-Man fight villains. Um

Parker Jones: [00:40:34] Well, and I I would say also, this movie deals with a real world uh problem that a lot of people relate to. And this idea of isolation. And man, there's nothing more prevalent as a a I think a an individual personal crisis in our culture than isolation right now. And so I think that's a piece of it too. And so it does handle a serious matter. I think it does it in a great way.

Conner Jones: [00:40:56] It also has the two biggest movie stars right now. Uh oddly enough, it's Tom Holland as Spider-Man and Zendeya and they're both in the Odyssey as well. So whatever you're going to see this weekend, they're probably in it, you know. And John Bernthal's in both of those movies. And and Hathaway's been in several movies this week. I watched the Devil Wears Prada 2 over the weekend, dropped on Hulu if you haven't seen it yet. Uh and I was reminded that Anne Hathaway's in a lot of stuff this summer too. So, uh some of these stars, man, they're they're bringing people out. So, great just talk there. We're happy to see the movies are back. I love movies. I cannot believe I've not seen either of these. I've got to go see at least one of them this weekend. Um so we will talk about that. But Parker, what else is going on in the sports world?

Parker Jones: [00:41:32] Well, uh just a week or two ago, LeBron signed his uh big and perhaps last contract of his career. Should be his last. Two years, $8 million to the Philadelphia 76ers. Uh that's becoming old news now, but that is certainly the biggest sports move of the summer. Another massive move took place this week as the MLB trade deadline approached. Uh the uh Los Angeles Dodgers, the evil empire of baseball, uh traded with the Detroit Tigers for Tarik Skubal. Tarik Skubal is is two-time Sai Young. He's he's one of easily one of the three or four best pitchers in baseball, if not the best on any given day. He might be the best. And uh man, if the Dodgers, did they need anybody else to help them? Back-to-back World Series champions, uh best team in baseball. And uh and they've added the best pitcher. And this is creating some shock waves across the league as uh there's a threat of an impending lockout this off season.

Conner Jones: [00:42:32] Well, that's what I wanted to ask you about. From what I understand, I mean, I'm I'm asking Parker this because, you know, I I dabble in baseball. Parker is a MLB fanatic. He's a massive Rangers fan. And from what I'm picking up, yeah, I know the Rangers keep you on your toes, right? Uh what I'm understanding is that we are on we are on track to have a lockout, like where there may not even be an MLB season in 2027. Does that sound right? And does this trade because the Dodgers are so powerful and just continue to build up uh with out a salary cap. They are able to just spend as much money as they want where the other big professional leagues all have salary caps so that the richest teams can't get all the biggest and best stars and players. Uh they can't just pay out everybody that they want. I mean, the the Dodgers are on like a billion dollar payroll at this point. Does this mean there will be a lockout between the owners and the MLB players in 2027?

Parker Jones: [00:43:20] Yeah, I don't know that this trade alone does that. It may be a cherry on top. Uh it is that there is this fear, I think from especially the small market owners that they could just never uh put together a roster the way the Dodgers have. Tarik Skubal himself feels differently about this. Jesse Rogers from ESPN tweeted a quote uh from Skubal. He said, every team could trade for me. I don't sympathize with people that blame the Dodgers for anything they've done. It's a winning organization. I really don't sympathize with people that are complaining because the Dodgers do all the right things. Look, it's fair and square. The MLB does not have a rule against spending this much money uh in in on a on a payroll.

Parker Jones: [00:43:55] Well, and other teams could have traded prospects to Detroit. There was a fear if there is a lockout, how much am I willing to give up for a superstar rental? Because Skubal, he's a free agent at the end of the year, right? And so the Dodgers were willing to give more perhaps than other teams were and that's just the way that it worked out. And uh I I think it's interesting though, Skubal pitched uh earlier this week, his first time in a Dodgers uniform and uh the Dodgers did not win. They lost to the Cubs. They don't win everything uh and maybe they won't win the World Series this year, but I I'm guessing the odds are still in their favor uh to win the World Series. They will certainly make a run at it. With Shohei Otani and and crew.

Conner Jones: [00:44:32] Okay, last thing, just a quick tune in update. There's not much going on. Unfortunately, we're still a few weeks away from the actual college football season, NFL season. Uh you know, we'll get into the baseball post season soon. NBA will start up in October and all of that. So, but right now, if you do want to dabble in football, if you're listening to this on Thursday, you can watch tonight. The NFL preseason starts, if that's something you you care about. Uh the Hall of Fame game comes a week earlier than the rest of the preseason games. That's going to be played tonight on NBC at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Unfortunately, it's the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers, two teams that I'm not extremely excited to be watching. Um certainly not their preseason game. Yeah, I was going to say, I definitely don't need to see their second and third strings. Yeah, well, you know, this will be Carson Beck, uh college football star. This will be his first NFL dabble. So if you care about Carson Beck or anything in that sense, you can watch that. Otherwise, there's not really a whole lot going on. We'll just keep in touch with the news, everything else going on in pop culture and all of that. So, guys, thank y'all for tuning in to this week's Culture Brief. Parker, thanks for joining me. Thank you for having me.

Conner Jones: [00:45:32] Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast. All articles and videos mentioned in this episode will be linked in the show notes. If you want to help us reach more believers with truth in today's chaotic culture, please share this podcast around and leave a five-star rating and review. All episodes are produced by Sound of a Rose. For more information, you can visit soundofarose.com. See you next Thursday.