This week, we’re breaking down the headlines everyone’s talking about—from the Texas redistricting showdown to the internet’s uproar over American Eagle’s latest ad featuring Sydney Sweeney.
PLUS: Unpacking the ongoing crisis in Gaza, an Epstein saga update, a surprising Moon mission, the NFL/ESPN deal, and Micah’s very strong opinions on USA Today’s bold (and questionable) fast food burger rankings. All of it, through a lens of biblical clarity!
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Topics
- (00:19): Dallas Cowboys drama
- (01:21): Texas redistricting controversy
- (15:30): Spiritual reflections on political actions
- (18:04): American Eagle ad controversy
- (27:43): Christian perspective on sexual advertising
- (30:34): Top 10 fast food burgers of 2025
- (36:48): Trump’s controversial moves
- (39:07): Gaza crisis and global politics
- (40:56): NFL and media updates
- (43:16): Closing remarks and listener engagement
Resources
- Mailbag: [email protected]
- Culture Brief Instagram
- Sign-up for Denison Forum’s daily newsletter: DenisonForum.org/subscribe
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Texas governor orders arrests for Democrats who left the state
- President Trump comments on the Sydney Sweeney controversy
- Ted Cruz on X
- Craving a burger? Here are 10 fast food options you need to try
Other articles on this week’s top headlines:
- New York Mag: come and take it ‘If They’re Going to Cheat, We’re Not Going to Play’
- Blue-state Democrats face hurdles countering Texas GOP’s new election map – The Washington Post
- Democrats say GOP’s Texas redistricting harms Black, Hispanic voters | AP News
- What Trump Has to Do With Texas Democrats Fleeing the State | TIME
- Live redistricting updates: Dems say there was a bomb threat made at their hotel
- History of Texas legislative quorum breaks from 1870 to now – Axios San Antonio
- Why Is the Sydney Sweeney ‘Great Jeans’ American Eagle Ad Causing a Social Media Firestorm? | Glamour
- Why Sydney Sweeney’s Body Is Causing a Total Meltdown
- Yahoo News: Sweeney Registered Republican
- BBC: Nasa to put nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030
- Jonny Root on Jared Allen Hall of Fame Inductee Speech
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 Micah Tomasella
Micah Tomasella is the Senior 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 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 am Conner Jones.
Micah Tomasella: I’m Micah Tomasella,
Conner Jones: and this is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we are navigating the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, Hollywood, pop culture, technology, basically everything happening in culture we’re talking about, and we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective.
And Micah, I know we have a loaded show, but I just gotta start off the top and say, this week you are the second most important Micah in my life because I care. So much about what happens with Micah Parsons and the Dallas Cowboys. Our superstar player, and I just want somebody to tell Jerry Jones how to negotiate a deal with a star.
I’m just saying you’re number two this week, and I’m sorry about that.
Micah Tomasella: You mean to tell me I’ve been the number one Micah in your life. This is the first time I’m hearing of it, so thank you for the affirmation. I’ll be two to Micah Parsons any day. Jerry resign him. And if you’re not gonna resign him, trade him and let’s get a bunch of picks and rebuild.
But he’s not gonna trade him. Why do we always have to have so much drama going into [00:01:00] every season? It’s good for business, I guess you could say, but it distracts from football and it’s why we haven’t won a championship in 29 years. Next, amen to that.
Conner Jones: Anyways, Micah, you can just give us a rundown on what we’re actually talking about today.
Yes. We probably don’t need to go down the old cowboy, so,
Micah Tomasella: oh man. I get rolling, dude. I get rolling. Okay. So we’re talking about the redistricting drama in Texas and everything playing out in that. So that’s gonna be the first thing that we talk about and all the so-called gerrymandering and all the national implications.
We’ve got the American Eagle ads and the. Controversy that’s ensued from that. And then we’re gonna do some burger rankings. USA today came out with top 10 fast food burgers. We’re gonna go through that and honestly, I’m gonna pick that list apart ’cause there’s issues with it. We’re gonna give you an update on what’s happening in Gaza NFL Red Zone, which many of us love.
There’s a new deal in play there and so much more. So let’s jump into the brief. The brief. [00:02:00] So in early August, 2025. More than 50 Democratic members of the Texas House left the state just a few days ago now. Mm-hmm. Traveling to Illinois, traveling to New York and Massachusetts to block a Republican backed mid decade redistricting plan.
And I say mid decade because typically redistricting gerrymandering kind of comes up. Every 10 years, typically, you know, it’s like 2009, 2010, 2011, or 2021. So the fact that this is happening kind of in the middle of that cycle is a little bit different. And then these democratic members of the Texas House left and went to.
Democratic run states to kind of seek refuge. And so without enough members present for a quorum, the house cannot move forward on legislation. So if everybody’s probably heard a little bit about the story, we’re just gonna kind of break it down. Governor Greg Abbott responded by ordering civil arrest warrants for the absent lawmakers.
He’s like, arrest him, bring em, [00:03:00] es them, bring them back.
He has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to return them. These warrants have no legal effect outside of Texas though, but he’s sending a clear message that he wants them back. So we’re gonna jump into kind of what’s happening with redistricting right now, but I want to give just a little bit more context before we jump into that.
So Republicans are saying the proposed maps would correct population imbalances and better represent fast growing suburban and rural. Areas in Texas. Democrats say that that would flip up to five US House seats from Democratic to Republican control by targeting minority heavy districts, especially in Houston and South Texas.
What’s interesting about this is Republicans are wanting to change this, but it was kind of odd because Trump carried all of these districts in 2024, but it has always been a toss up at best for Republicans if they’re gonna win these districts. So in theory, they’re basically hedging their [00:04:00] bets on that.
These. Places that are flipping potentially and they’re redistricting, all of it. Republicans are banking on those, always staying Republican. And I would say that’s not necessarily something that you can completely count on. So Conner, this is dominating the news because it’s not just about Texas. It’s.
Kind of setting a precedent for the rest of the country. So what are your initial thoughts from our home state here in Texas? You know, what could come from this? I mean, what have you been thinking so far?
Conner Jones: Well, first of all, I’m just like, why can’t we just Texas stay out of the news? We just had one of the worst natural disasters.
Yeah, in our state’s history, yes. And that’s what I still feel like should be the focus here in our state and schools coming back into session and all we gotta think about now is gerrymandering and where this plays out across the whole country. I have thoughts on gerrymandering in general, because if y’all don’t know.
Fully what a gerrymandered district looks like. Just go look up maps of gerrymandered districts and it just looks like these completely randomly drawn up districts that run along a highway so that they can get to different suburbs and all [00:05:00] that so that these districts are just focused on whatever party wants them to be focused on.
So if it’s the Republicans in power. And they’re going to draw crazy district shapes to make sure that they stay in power. Democrats do the same thing. It’s a very popular thing up in Illinois. You can look around Chicago suburbs and see these crazy Illinois and Maryland.
Micah Tomasella: I’ll go over that
Conner Jones: soon actually.
So this is not just a Republican thing, this is a political thing. I don’t understand it. I feel like they should just let us normal citizens, draw
Micah Tomasella: some squares in our state. So basically, if you’re kind of hearing this for the first time, Trump has pushed Texas Republicans to call a special session and.
Texas Congress to redistrict or gerrymander and basically change the maps that Conner’s talking about that are being drawn out. And so in theory, if the momentum stays the same, there would be five additional house seats. Leading into 2026 that would go to Republican control. So that’s why they’re kind of rushing to do this,
Conner Jones: which gives Trump, yeah, more power in [00:06:00] Congress for the second half of his term so that he can pass more things.
’cause right now there’s a very slim majority. Yep. Congress, right? Like that’s the bigger picture here. Am I understanding that correctly?
Micah Tomasella: Yes, yes, yes, that’s correct. Is that there is obviously heavy fear from the Republican side that the house could flip. Democratic and you know, historically speaking, a president of a new party that wasn’t previously in, so we obviously went from Biden to Trump switched parties.
The person who’s newly elected typically loses one of the house or the Senate, just historically. It just, it happens. So, yeah, and so Trump’s trying to stack the deck to make sure that that doesn’t happen. But now Trump has kind of hands off about it. He suggested it and then now they’re not talking about it.
He’s, ah, you know what, now it’s your problem. This is getting a little, it’s getting a little hairy. I think I’m gonna take a step back from it,
Conner Jones: which is kind of unusual for him, but I also know for him. He’s scarred by what happened back in, was it the 2018 midterms when he lost the house and the Senate and that’s when they started to bring impeachments on him, right?
So I think he’s like, I wanna make sure that doesn’t happen again. So instead of focusing on just getting people [00:07:00] reelected, he’s like, let’s just add some new. Seats. Right.
Micah Tomasella: Okay. So lemme give a little bit of historical context on this. So, quorum breaking is part of Texas political history. I’m just gonna run through a few examples.
In 2003, house Democrats fled to Oklahoma and New Mexico to stall a mid decade redistricting effort led by Republicans. So again, this has happened before that plan passed anyway and was largely upheld by the Supreme Court in a later decision in 2006. In 2021. Democrats in Texas walked out again, and then they went to California and this time over election law changes.
Actually, remember this Conner and then civil arrests, that one backfired. Yes. That one
Conner Jones: backfired because they looked like they were on vacation in California.
Micah Tomasella: They went to California and there was all these photos of them on the beach. And, you know, all this stuff. Yeah. It, it wasn’t a great look. They did not go to those types of pretty states this time, by the way.
And I, that’s on it went to Chicago. I think that’s on purpose. Right? And at that point, civil arrest warrants were issued again too. But the legislation eventually passed once they returned quorum busting has been in Texas since the 1870s. It rarely stops [00:08:00] legislation permanently. It just draws national attention.
And it, you know, it grinds things to a halt for a small period of time. So here are the pros and cons of this redistricting in general. And really, I’m just gonna give the pros. Presented by Republicans and then the cons presented by Democrats. Just the biggest arguments right now. So Republicans are arguing that Texas has grown significantly since the last census, and that the current maps no longer reflect where people live.
They say updating the maps now will improve representation and secure more influence for Texas in Congress. President Trump has said Republicans are entitled to the additional seats based on recent election results. Okay, Democrats. Here’s what they’re saying about the cons, and Democrats are very united against this.
They see the move as a partisan power grab aimed at locking in Republican control, and then they say it would weaken the voting strength of minorities and urban populations. Critics warn that breaking the norm of once per decade redistricting will encourage other states to retaliate, creating a constant back and forth where maps are [00:09:00] drawn, redrawn for political gain based off of just who’s in power.
The problem is. I definitely understand that, but that’s already happening. Whenever a particular party gets in control, they’re going to draw it up for themselves to be as successful as possible, so that’s already happening. Whether Texas does this or not, this has already happened and it’s continuing to happen, and I’m not saying it’s right with whoever’s in control.
Right. I think that there should be a system, and I think that it shouldn’t always just be based off of Okay. Whoever’s in control. You can kind of do whatever you want. Right. There definitely should be accountability. I understand that. So here’s the nationwide ripple effect of this. So what happens in Texas is already inspiring.
Reactions everywhere, specifically in New York and California have indicated that they may consider their own mid cycle redistricting to favor Democrats if Texas moves forward. Maryland and Illinois are also a part of this conversation. Republicans in Texas point to those states as examples of Democratic led.
Gerrymandering. So if we’re using that word gerrymandering, you can use the word [00:10:00] redistricting or gerrymandering. In Maryland, the legislature overrode the governor’s veto in 2021 to enact maps that courts later ruled as extreme. Gerrymanders and Illinois Democrats have drawn maps favorable to their party in multiple cycles, splitting Republican voters to protect democratic majorities.
Texas Republicans argue that if blue states have reshaped maps to gain advantage. Then red States should do the same. Analysts warn though that no matter who’s doing it, Illinois, Maryland, Texas, the list goes on and on. This leads to an ongoing cycle where district’s lines change every few years when they don’t need to be changed.
Mm-hmm. Not because the voters are changing their minds, but because lawmakers redraw the rules of the game. That’s what i’s saying. That’s problem.
Conner Jones: I can’t stand this whole thing. Like this is just not, they’re finding their own workarounds. They’re not letting the voters make decisions. They’re making their own decisions no matter what your party line is.
This is just, well, I don’t know. I, I think government is overstepping here so that they can keep themselves in [00:11:00] power or increase their power. This is what bothers me
Micah Tomasella: when I feel like so many decisions are being made. Under the guise of, well, I’m only here for a certain period of time, we have to capitalize on this.
There seems to be less and less regard from Democrats and Republicans on, I’m making this decision now because it’s what’s best for right now, and I don’t care what the consequences are in the future. So this concept of gerrymandering and redistricting, the more that we keep doing this, the more prevalent this is going to become.
And really it’s like. Republicans are doing this, but eventually it, you know, a lot of people would say that this would never happen, but technically it’s like eventually, if Texas ever does become a blue state, a democratic state, they could do the same thing. I guess what I don’t could redraw in their favor too,
Conner Jones: with these Democratic governors that are hosting these Texas.
Senators and congressmen who have fled the state, they’re hiding out in these, not hiding out. I mean, they’re publicly out there, but they’re hanging out in these Democrat states, Illinois and California. Well, not this time [00:12:00] around California, but New York. I don’t understand. Are these governors standing on a principle of like, we don’t believe in gerrymandering.
It doesn’t seem that way. It seems more like they’re saying, we’ll just fire back and gerrymander our state to make sure we get more Democrat. Correct. So like I, I’m trying to understand their principle here. I feel like maybe they should be saying we don’t support redistricting or gerrymandering as a whole.
It’s a bad thing, but they’re really not saying that. They’re really just saying, we don’t support that. You’re adding more Republican seats. And I Correct. I do get that. It would be, it’d be extremely
Micah Tomasella: hypocritical if they were to say that, especially. JB in Illinois with like, that’s the biggest example of like consistently gerrymandering stuff.
So Pritzker
Conner Jones: does not care about gerrymandering. The governor of Illinois does not care about gerrymandering. He cares about getting his name in there because he’s trying to run, he, he wants to run in 20, 20, 28.
Micah Tomasella: It’s the same thing with Gavin Newsom in California. He’s like, oh yeah, I’ll take Abbot on. And it’s attention.
We’re gonna do the same thing. It’s all about making decisions that impact the future of our country for personal gain. [00:13:00] I would say Trump pushing that. Abbott doing that is the same thing. Like, I’m not saying just Democrats do it or just Republicans do it, right. It is just this bias that you inherently take on.
It’s human nature, that when you’re in charge and when you have all the power, the tendency is, is to crush everybody and to bend it to your will. Basically,
Conner Jones: here’s what I’ll say about this as a Texan, knowing that this is our state currently, this will be other states probably in the next few months too, as a Texan, I feel weird about our representatives just.
Bouncing, like just leaving. I get that they’re saying that this is because this is their last option. This is like a survival mode option for the Democrat party in Texas. I do get that, but like I think that they should be here doing work and working especially towards. Recovery relief efforts and bills and all of that for the Texas Hill country.
Micah Tomasella: I would understand it more if there was any historical precedent that them leaving and basically taking a vacation, a paid vacation, because there’s all these groups that are paying for their travel expenses and stuff for them to not be doing their jobs. Mm-hmm. I would understand more what they’re doing.
[00:14:00] If there was any historical precedence that this would actually stop this from happening. They will literally have to just be out of the state. For a very long time, like they have until like December to pass this. So unless they’re planning on staying out for the next five months, this is going to pass.
Now you might not like it, and I understand that it’s definitely like a complicated issue. So I am to to, to their point, I’m, it is
Conner Jones: bringing attention. I mean, they’ve, they’ve, yeah. They’ve dominated the news cycle this week. It’s taken over Trump’s news cycle, which is something, so, yeah. Yep,
Micah Tomasella: yep. Okay, so here’s what this means.
Governor Abbott called a 30 day special session starting in late July to handle redistricting. That’s the special session that we’re in right now. That session will expire in mid-August. However, he can call another special session immediately after and keep doing so he can call multiple special sessions until December.
Okay? So that’s why I say we have, you know, that there’s time for this to still happen. So Democrats can hold out as long as they stay outta the state and deny a quorum. [00:15:00] But in 2021, a similar walkout. That they did lasted 38 days, but each absent lawmaker now faces $500 per day in fines, loss of pay, and then the growing political pressure specifically surrounding around the fact that this special session’s also called to give aid.
To Kerrville and then all of the flood victims there in Texas as they’re cleaning up, right? So there’s, there’s a lot riding on this. So Republicans are betting that either the fines or the mounting public scrutiny will push the Democrats to come back. So here’s the spiritual application that really comes to me from this.
’cause this is just kind of a frustrating situation. It almost all of this just feels unnecessary. It feels like unnecessary stress, unnecessary pressure. It feels like there’s more important things to deal with, like cleaning up an entire county after we lost so many fellow Texans in an awful, awful storm.
And there needs to be accountability in that too, and it’s taking it. All away from that.
Conner Jones: This doesn’t serve the people. No. That’s how I feel about
Micah Tomasella: that. No, and that’s why they’re [00:16:00] elected Democrats and Republicans to serve the constituents, to serve people, to listen to what it is that we have to say, but that everybody’s just, not everybody, a lot of them are in it for themselves.
So when civic processes and trust and systems break down, our responsibility remains to act with integrity and humility. The absence of these lawmakers points to fractures and political structures clearly, but followers of Jesus are called to build, not just protest. Definitely not tear down as Micah six eight reminds us.
He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Even when systems seem unjust or broken, are calling us to pursue justice and mercy in how we participate, not just in how. Critique, not just when we’re being armchair quarterbacks and saying, it should be done this way, it should be done that way.
Romans 13 describes governing authorities as God ordained for maintaining [00:17:00] order and accountability. So remember, everybody who’s in power is in power for a reason. God isn’t sitting on his hands. He’s still fully in control. Everything that’s happening is happening according to God’s will and God’s purpose and God’s plan.
While civil disobedience has a place, it must be marked by a posture of humility. Not just pure obstruction. If you’re just obstructing to obstruct, what’s the goal? What’s the purpose? In a moment where rights and representation are at stake here, believers should ask, how do I advocate for fairness? Not just for my side, but for the common good and really what I was talking to earlier, how do we advocate for the future?
All of these decisions that we’re making. What about the future? What does this mean for the future? When things change, the political lines will shift. At some point, the party that you don’t want to be in office will be in office and will be in power, and will be in charge. And that needs to be kept in mind.
But our mission doesn’t shift, even though those political lines do. We’re called to seek justice, love, mercy, and walk humbly in every sphere workout has called us. Hmm.
Conner Jones: Yeah. Amen to that. [00:18:00] Thanks, Micah. That’s a complicated topic, so appreciate the Yeah. Just breakdown for us. Of course. Okay, let’s hit on some pop culture stuff here.
It’s actually kind of gone beyond pop culture, but I’m sure many of you listening to this have seen the American Eagle ads featuring the Hollywood Star, Sydney Sweeney, and all the backlash that has ensued. I don’t really feel like you can miss this. Maybe you have, but I went to the gym the other day and these ads featuring Sidney Sweeney in American Eagle jeans.
We’re on every single television screen in the gym. The other day, every news network was showing it and I was like, man, they were just getting some good free advertising. American Eagle is. So depending on who you ask. The ads are causing either a firestorm meltdown, backlash, or a revolution. So of course, that depends on your party lines a lot of the times, or just how you feel about a lot of things.
Here’s the details of the ad campaign. It was released on July 23rd, and it’s, it’s sexual in a, in a [00:19:00] way, and that’s intentional. We’ll talk about that here in a minute. But the ad is also a play on words featuring Sidney Sweeney. It’s called Sidney Sweeney has great genes, J-E-A-N-S, but they’re playing word play with G-E-N-E-S genes.
And she says. In the ad jeans are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue. Micah, have you seen these ads and do you have any initial thoughts?
Micah Tomasella: I don’t think I saw the ads themselves. I mean like just by themselves.
But obviously I’ve seen the ads because everybody’s talking about it. I mean, it, it has been a national topic for two weeks and it feels really complicated because, I mean, I know you’re about to break it down, but it’s like. There’s a Republican perspective, a democratic perspective, and then there’s like a, there’s definitely a Christian perspective here that we need to find, but it feels like people kind of lose themselves in the bipartisan debate and then kind of forget what we’re called to as Christians is kind of how I view it.
But yeah, I mean, I saw it, but [00:20:00] only because everybody. Keeps sharing it and talking about it and tweeting about it.
Conner Jones: Again, free advertising for American Eagle because of that. Oh my. Oh my goodness.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. I’ve got
Conner Jones: three reasons why I think it’s blown up, because honestly, it’s just a jeans ad. It’s nothing out of the ordinary.
I mean, this is a common thing, right? Right. Here’s reason number one. Well, I, I’ll point out there are two primary reasons that most people are noting, and then I’m gonna give you a third reason why I think it. Just an underlying reason why it’s blown up. But reason number one is on the left side of the aisle, many are deriding.
The slogans that she said about genes and being passed down to offspring and all of that. As basically the image of her being blonde and blue-eyed, they’re saying it’s racially charged, maybe even eugenic messaging, and have accused even the ad of being Nazi propaganda to, you know, on the far extremes of the left, they’re saying that TikTok, Instagram X, they’re all flooded with videos of people criticizing these ads for endorsing.
Really what they’re saying is like fat phobic beauty standards and even white supremacy. M-S-N-B-C even said that the ads are unbridled [00:21:00] cultural shifts towards whiteness. End quote. That is how they’re seeing it. Over on the left, on the right, they’re saying. This is all ridiculous, all these arguments and that this has just woke people criticizing this ad and that really the ad campaign is a return to classic American culture.
One of the things in one of the ads is Sidney Sweeney is like working on an old Ford Mustang. Like the idea of it being like. You’re in jeans, you’re working on an old classic car, all of that one viral tweet that, you know, it really blew up. It said woke advertising is dead and Sydney Sweeney killed it.
That person, and many on the right probably are referring to brands, featuring models really that didn’t meet the objective beauty standards that a lot of people would consider, especially back from pre two thousands. If you looked at the eighties, it was typically just the standards that you would think of a model in the eighties, right?
Someone who looks like city basically. Yeah, so in response to the backlash, Fox News, of course on the right said that American Eagle Sidney Sweeney’s ad triggered a cancel culture [00:22:00] mob, which is something we haven’t heard in a hot minute. It’s been a couple years since we’ve heard cancel culture. Ted Cruz, senator from here in Texas had to weigh in and he said, wow.
Now the crazy left has come out against beautiful women. I’m sure that will pull well. So, you know, you ever, when a senator gets involved in, I just feel
Micah Tomasella: like if you’re in the public spotlight. Yeah, if you have a favorite team and Ted Cruz comes out on your side, it, it just doesn’t work out.
Conner Jones: Every time he’s in the stadium, every team, he roots for team, he is therefore loses the other
Micah Tomasella: team, beats them.
Every person he comes out in support of. He’s proven raw. I mean, goodness gracious.
Conner Jones: Yeah. Yeah. Maybe not, not who you want tweeting on yourself.
Micah Tomasella: Maybe not dad’s.
Conner Jones: Yeah. Here’s my favorite quote on this whole thing. I’m pulling this from Kara Kennedy of the Free Press, she said. For a few short years ads had to buy into the fiction that anyone can be beautiful.
Now the vibe shift is here. There was a time in the not very distant past when beautiful women selling jeans was just great advertising, but lately the American public has grown used to a very different kind of ad, which tried to [00:23:00] convince us beauty is whatever they say it is this week, such as obesity not being a health crisis.
Being an identity. That era wasn’t really about celebrating women. It was about neutralizing beauty, sanding down the sharp edges of desirability until no one felt left out and no one stood out. Whoa. Yeah. That’s pretty good stuff. I think she’s kind of hitting it on the nail of like where we were the past few years.
And of course the right, especially on Twitter, was fast to post images of like. Ads from 20 20, 21, 22 of, you know what they call woke ads of typically models that would not meet the beauty standards of American culture, at least not from the past. Yeah. And so they’re juxtaposing that versus the Sydney Sweeney ads and they’re like, this is what Americans want more of.
Mike, I would say that there’s probably a middle ground here that recognizes some people are genetically blessed. That doesn’t mean that. There’s like, I don’t know, eugenics here in this statement of this ad campaign, but maybe there was a little bit of oversight. Maybe they could [00:24:00] have used a different set of words, changed the marketing copy a little bit, and they wouldn’t have entered this controversy.
I would also say it doesn’t really do brands or society any good to feature unhealthy models. Right. If that makes sense in order to appease a small but loud minority. And a lot of the ads that the right side has been showing is ads from a few years ago where it was like transgender models and they’re saying, we’re done with that.
We’re now into the like Sydney Sweeney style era of advertising. Right. Yeah. And you know, I, I would also just say I don’t think American Eagle is sweating this really because. This has been a lot of, I guess, quote unquote backlash against them, but they’re also getting so much free marketing. Yes. And their PR team is probably like, well, whatever.
We’re not really worried about it. Their stocks have shot up. They did release a statement American Eagle did earlier this week, and they said, Sydney Sweeney has great genes, is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans, her story will continue to celebrate how everyone wears their American Eagle jeans with confidence their way.
Great. [00:25:00] Jeans look good on everyone. And yeah, like I said, they’re definitely benefiting financially. Their stock,
Micah Tomasella: they, they double down, but it’s almost like. Okay guys. They’re just jeans. Right. You know, it’s, that’s what they’re trying to say. You know, it’s like American Eagle. It’s like, great. Jeans look great on everyone.
Well, I mean, we’re just talking about jeans are reading, just clothing. You guys lean
Conner Jones: way too much into this. Yeah. Just clothing. Yeah. Here’s what I would say has happened. American Eagle benefited financially. Their stock jumped 10% after the ad came out. And then Trump had to speak into it because video came out of Sidney Sweeney shooting a tactical gun this past weekend.
And then it also was revealed that she is a registered Republican. In the state of Florida. And so Trump spoke about it and he was like, this is the hottest ad ever. And he was just talking about all of that. And he was like, I love Sidney Sweeney. Everything. So then the uh, stock for American Eagle jumped another 23%.
So they’re benefiting. Sidney Sweeney’s never probably had more attention in her life, even though she is a famous Hollywood star. This is just. Up to a profile with a whole new set of Americans. Right. Not just younger Americans. Yeah. [00:26:00] But those are the main two reasons, right? Micah? I think there’s a third reason here, and I’m taking some of this from Dr.
Jim Denison, who wrote on this whole, you’re about to give a Christian
Micah Tomasella: perspective. There’s the Democrat perspective, republican perspective, and the now the Christian one biblical
Conner Jones: perspective.
Micah Tomasella: Finally get to it.
Conner Jones: Here’s the main reason why this blew up. Sex cells. And I don’t say that lightly, like it just sex appeal is a big part of American culture and advertising.
Right? And Jim noted in his article, he said, A study by the University of Georgia looked at sexually suggestive ads in magazines over a 30 year period. One of the studies researchers said that sex sell, because it tracks attention, people are hardwired to notice sexually relevant information. So ads with sexual content get noticed.
Now that’s not a new thing, and I don’t really think that should shock us at all. We obviously live in a culture that has normalized sex and TV in movies and advertising. Yeah. Think about some of the Super Bowl ads you’ve seen over the years. Even halftime shows on things [00:27:00] or any ads. You just see sexually suggestive stuff all the time On our TVs or even walking through the mall.
You can’t miss the half naked models of males and females just on storefronts. Right. It’s just part of our culture, unfortunately. Right. And as Dr. Dennison noted, the foundational issue behind all of this is that sexual advertising works because as humans, man, we’re falling and we’re sinful. Yeah. One John two 16 declares all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father, but is from the world.
Man, that’s so true. Right. And then Matthew 5 28 also warns that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery. Yep. In his heart. Right. So I would just say, you know, you’re looking at the story and there’s obviously political lines here and it’s a culture war thing, but there’s a deeper issue here, and I, I think as you consider how you engage a culture that overly sexualizes most things, remember that Genesis two 18 through 25 makes clear that God [00:28:00] created sex for marriage and reproduction within marriage in every other context, sexual thoughts, actions, advertising, wayward eyes, all of that.
Those are violations of his word and his will for us. Mm-hmm. So when we’re tempted, turn that temptation immediately to God. Ask him for strength to resist power and the power to triumph over it. One Corinthians 10 13 lays that out for us. It says, God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will.
Also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. So as you consider everything happening in your life today, as you watch shows, as you watch movies, as you see billboards, as you see everything going on in our culture that overly sexualizes things all the way down to American Eagle and these ads, it goes well beyond whatever the culture war thing is.
This is just a subset of our culture. Cling to those truths today and remember that man, God’s got a much better plan for you and your life than anything that is sinful. This is sexualized stuff. This is all other sin as well in our
Micah Tomasella: culture. Yeah, great [00:29:00] breakdown, Conner. That has just been on the forefront of.
Culture recently. And I just feel like you really, you, you did a great job breaking that down from all sides. And you know, I’ll just say to kind of back up your point, whether if it’s sexual sin or any other sin, we’ve all tried in our lives to run from God. Whether if it’s for periods of time, whether if it’s for a day, whether if it’s been years, maybe somebody who’s listening is still running from, God, let me just say this, when you turn to the ways of the world.
I sound so old school whenever I’m saying that, but when you give yourself to that sexual sin or that addiction, whatever it might be, or you focus on anything other than the eternal kingdom and what God has for you today, it. Sin just doesn’t help you live your best life. Mm-hmm. The Bible lays all of this out, and it’s not just a book of rules.
It’s like most of us have tried it. Most of us have said, I’m gonna give myself to this. I’m gonna do that. I’m gonna turn away from God in this time. Whether if it’s conscious or subconscious, it’s never brought you joy. It’s never brought you [00:30:00] satisfaction. It definitely has never brought me satisfaction.
Right? Nope. And so it’s this concept of God isn’t just laying out rules for the sake of rules. The 10 Commandments aren’t there just to box you in. It’s because God created you and built you for a purpose and made you in his image, and you have a unique purpose and that sin pulls you from it, and you in turn end up having less peace, less joy, and less direction in your life.
Conner Jones: Yep. Yeah. Temporary pleasures, man. When we talked about that last week with Hulk Hogan, right? He lived a life. That had a lot of temporary pleasures, but it was towards the end of his life. Yep. That he found true joy and satisfaction. Amen. And that’s just
Micah Tomasella: true. Amen. Okay, well let’s jump into our game. Our hot takes, and I think I’m gonna kind of turn this into a hot take in the sense of, so USA today released a top 10 fast food burgers from the 2025 Readers Choice Awards.
So nominations were made by USA today, the 10 best editors in collaboration with a panel of burger experts then voted on. By readers, how you become a burger expert? I wanna be a expert burger. It [00:31:00] was this whole thing. And then it was like, it listed out these like eight people who like, I guess just don’t know what good burgers taste like.
Oh. And they were the ones who decided what was in this top 10 list. So the experts who are the experts. Who’s deciding this? They’re described as industry professionals and burger aficionados with extensive knowledge of fast food and burger trends. I would say they clearly aren’t experts at all. Okay. Oh, anyway.
Alright, so tell me the list, man. I gotta, now I’m curious. Do you want me to go 10 to one or one to 10? So, again, this is just decided in 2025, the 10 best fast food burgers in the country. You, you, you, me, go 10 to one or one to 10?
Conner Jones: 10 to one. 10 to one. I, I wanna, I wanna save the best one for last.
Micah Tomasella: Alright.
Number 10. Whataburger, the Double meat Whataburger. Okay? Hmm. If you are blessed, have a Whataburger near you. Understand that this list right off the bat is wrong. Putting it at number 10. It should be at least top three in my book. And trust me, I’ve tried a lot of burgers, a lot of fast food [00:32:00] burgers. Okay?
That’s just my opinion. Number nine, they have Burger King, the Whopper, the fake flame broiled taste on a Burger King Whopper is. Beating out Whataburger. That right off the bat doesn’t make much sense to me. Comment so far, Conner,
Conner Jones: I’m just curious. I, first off, I don’t know why you say Whataburger so weird, but
Micah Tomasella: Whataburger,
Conner Jones: what?
Burger? I don’t know, man, you
Micah Tomasella: just,
Conner Jones: it just comes off from your tongue. Tongue. How do you say, how do you say it wa, the way it’s spelled Whataburger? I don’t know. What am I saying? You say, I don’t know. Anyways. What a burger. Yeah. I don’t know man. It just, is it too fast for you? Can you keep up Burger King?
Should not even be in the top like 100. How did Burger King make it up this high? I do think Whataburger should be higher up and how they beat
Micah Tomasella: Whataburger. How’d they beat? What? A burger. You happy? Okay. Okay, gimme the next few. Number eight is Freddy’s. Okay. I do love Freddy’s. I like those Smash burgers.
Sure. Number seven. Shake Shack. Shake Shack is good in my opinion. Very overrated. It’s. Almost not fast food [00:33:00] because it’s like $13 for a burger and most of the time you have to go in at least the ones here in DFW. So that’s, it’s, it kind of feels like one level up, you know? Because then this next one is five guys.
Five guys in Shake Shack I feel like are on a different level than like Burger King, even Whata Burger. A little fancier, right? A little fancier. It’s just, it’s just a little bit more expensive, a little bit of a better experience typically. Okay, so number six is five guys. Number five is Culver’s. I’ve been to Culver’s.
I know it’s more popular, you know, kind of up in Wisconsin, they got a lot of cheese curd burgers and stuff like that. This is the double butter burger with cheese. That’s what they’re known for. Mm. I have heard and continue to hear, and I’ve had Culver’s before. It’s definitely very good. I don’t know if it’s top five for me, but that one makes sense to me.
In and out. I do love in and out, but I do like Whataburger better than in and out. Do think Whataburger and Inn Out deserve to be in the top 10? Jack in the Box, the top three is where things start to become just an absolute train wreck, even more than it already was. So number three, is the Jumbo Jack at [00:34:00] Jack in the Box?
Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
Conner Jones: I don’t know what to think here. If you’re listening to this, have you been to a Jack in the Box in the last
Micah Tomasella: five years? Well, it’s been, it’s been several years for me, but I just. Never remember the burgers being top three in the country. You know what I mean? For fast food in that category.
Ridiculous. And then the next one is A and W. There are very few A and Ws, I feel like. So I, I guess I can’t judge as much. I just have a hard time believing that it’s better than all of the places that I just listed. And then finally, the Double Char Burger from Habit Burger. Number one, I’ve never been to Habit Burger.
I looked it up, it populates, fills the east and west coast, and it is not in the middle of the country at all, but they swear by it and say The Double Char Burger from Habit Burger is the best fast food burger in the nation, but all the nation doesn’t have access to it. But anyway, they say it’s the best one.
Conner Jones: Well, I feel like maybe we need to just take a a little trip to one of these locations. Maybe we can be like the Texas [00:35:00] Democrats and just like bounce and go out. Just leave let, let’s do a
Micah Tomasella: live culture brief recording at a Habit Burger location and try it while recording. Look, the picture
Conner Jones: looks good. It looks like a good burger to be honest.
Yeah, it does. It does. I don’t know if it’s number one, it’s
Micah Tomasella: just, it’s just hard to read it and it be number one when I’ve never even heard of it before. You know?
Conner Jones: True. Lemme tell you my initial thoughts here. One. I agree. Whataburger should be up further up the list. I don’t understand how Jack in the box and a W are up there.
Culver’s man. Lemme tell you something. This past Friday night went to Culver’s for the first time in a hot minute. This is before I knew we were gonna be talking about this list. I got the double butter cheeseburger and it was amazing. Wow. I’m sitting there with my wife and I’m like, this is an incredible burger.
And I got the cheese curds ’cause you know, it’s so Wisconsin up and a Culver’s. And then we, we got butter makes everything good, man. It felt like a great American summer night with my, there you go. My Culver’s butter burger and, uh, root beer. Float cheese curds, double butter burger
Micah Tomasella: with cheese curds. In a root beer float.
Goodness gracious. The
Conner Jones: European mind could never comprehend.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. Just did you have to recover that next day? [00:36:00] Man, that would put me in a coma.
Conner Jones: Yeah, I was definitely, I was bloated, that’s for sure. Feeling
Micah Tomasella: it
Conner Jones: anyways. Yeah, this list is not great, but they’ve got some good burgers on here. Just
Micah Tomasella: it’s bogus list.
These aren’t real experts in my opinion. Real Americans are the experts and they are incorrect, and this is a bad list. And that’s my hot take. There you go.
Conner Jones: Okay. Well hey guys, if you have thoughts on that, you disagree with us, if you’ve been to Habit Burger,
Micah Tomasella: send us something in and tell us what what you think about Habit Burger.
Conner Jones: We want to know if you’ve been to Habit and if it’s actually good, please send it in to Culture [email protected] or shoot us a message on Instagram at Culture Brief Podcast. You can follow us over there and also catch some clips of the shows over there. Yep. Michael, let’s pop into check-in real fast before we bounce.
Micah Tomasella: Let’s jump into the check-in section. Okay, so Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Chief Erica Fer. Yeah, that’s a tough one. I’ve never heard that last name in my life. Fer. McKent tar [00:37:00] anyway, after a weak July jobs report and a large downward revisions to prior months. Accusing the agency of bias and rigged data is what Trump said.
The BLS, again, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has faced recent criticism over pandemic era methodology changes, and then tracking errors they’ve had. Staff cuts, things like that. And critics warn though that the firing of the statistics chief Erica, it does threaten the agency’s independence and could undermine trust and economic data.
Right? So if Trump puts his type of person in there, then some people might not trust when those numbers come out in future months. Right? You know, it needs to be the type of place that appears to be free of political bias. They need to just collect. Labor statistics and then report on it.
Conner Jones: Hmm. I don’t have many thoughts there.
I think it’s kind of interesting, but probably should remain independent as you’re saying. Yeah. Speaking of staff cuts, NASA has had staff cuts, but that’s not stopping the interim. NASA director or really [00:38:00] administrator Sean Duffy. He’s also over the Department of Transportation now under the Trump administration.
He announced this week that we’re. Gonna try to build a nuclear reactor on the moon. Yeah. By 2030. Not really sure how we’re gonna do that with the staff cuts. And also, we haven’t been in the moon since the seventies, so you know, if somebody’s got some more insights there, I’ve tried to find some information.
I think it’s gonna be a small nuclear reactor, but we don’t even build nuclear reactors here on earth. So I think this is like, you know, an interesting concept. We’ll see how this plays
Micah Tomasella: out. Everything that we have done and we continue to do is just a different version of an arms race with the world’s superpowers.
For years, it has been about beating China and Russia, like whatever it is, in ai, in military, in GDP, in the Olympics in space. It’s been about beating your rivals. You know, that’s, that’s, this is correct. So this is just another version of that.
Conner Jones: I do think if we were gonna win something against Russia and China, it’s gonna be a football game.
Right? Like they can’t beat us in that. Surely.
Micah Tomasella: Well, American football,
Conner Jones: right? [00:39:00] Sorry, let me, yes. No, we probably losing soccer. Soccer team, right? Well, I don’t know. Does Russia
Micah Tomasella: and China have good. International soccer teams. I’m not really sure Anyway. Okay. Alright, so let me give you an update on the Gaza crisis.
So this Gaza crisis is deepening UN agencies from the United Nations UN United Nations, their warning of deadly chaos at aid sites. Trump though through his envoy, Steve Whitcoff, who we’ve talked about before, plans for the US to take over Gaza a distribution. We just dunno what that’s gonna look like yet.
So it’s gonna be in partnership with Gulf and Regional Partners. While Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, is pushing toward full military occupation of Gaza. So you’ve got the US is looking like it’s gonna have to take over aid, but then at the same time, if you have this entire military incursion, how do those things work together?
Like how do you stop Hamas, get those hostages released, which is very, very important. Again, they’re the ones who started this whole thing, but then at the same time, how do you get everybody fed and stop this famine? And it kind of seems like those two things are gonna work against each other, so [00:40:00] truly we need to be praying about that situation.
Conner Jones: Absolutely. Yeah. And Steve Witkoff ISS just the busiest guy on the planet ’cause he just also met with Putin. This other than Scott be week. Those two guys are just kind of like. Globe trotting, trying to make deals. No doubt you know one’s doing, doing financial and one’s doing wars. Also, on Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas for top government officials in regards to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
So we’re now gonna get depositions of two former FBI directors, six past Attorney Generals, and the names you guys have all been hoping to hear. Hillary and Bill Clinton, they will be deposed as well if the subpoenas stick. And I don’t know if the public will hear the information that comes from those interviews.
I’m sure they will be trained up and ready to answer. Yeah, to avoid any sort of self implications on crimes or whatnot. Yeah. But I think it’s gonna be more about their government official time. All these people, what did they know about the case when they were in their positions? Hillary Clinton, of course, being Secretary of State during some of this time as well.
And then a few media things. Disney, they made some announcements this week. One. [00:41:00] If you’re a Hulu fan, it’s going away. Not entirely. It’s just gonna integrate with the Disney Plus app. So I’m a big Hulu guy. I actually probably spend more time on Hulu than Netflix, so I just hope that the app continues to work well and the show.
Yeah, that’s a lot of
Micah Tomasella: content. It’s a lot of content. Yeah, man. Yeah,
Conner Jones: it is. And then ESPN, Mike, I’m sure you’ve heard about this one, they’re acquiring the NFL network, and that means that they’re gonna get the rights to distribute Red Zone on Sundays, which is where you can watch. Bunch of games kind of at the same time.
In a way, they’re also getting NFL Fantasy, which is a big deal for any fantasy football players. And in return, the NFL is getting a 10% equity stake in ESPN. This means ESPN will also get three additional games. There’s just one problem. They have a big obstacle in the way, and that would be Donald J.
Trump because he’s gonna have to approve it like his administration is. And he’s already suggested that he’s gonna try to force the NFL to make the Washington Commanders return their name to the. Washington Redskins of the past, right? That’s something he’s trying to stand his ground on in a culture where I
Micah Tomasella: don’t think that’s gonna happen, and [00:42:00] I’m not gonna get into the politics of like yes or no, should the Washington Commanders change it back to the Redskins.
However, what I would say, I kind of want Trump to block it because that means NFL Red Zone is gonna become more expensive. If ES ESPN owns it, it’s gonna end up being probably a lot more expensive. I love NFL RedZone, Scott Hanson is the host. Watch it every year, watch it all the time. It’s what I look forward to.
Most Sundays after church of course. So if, if Trump blocking it keeps red zone cheaper, then maybe he should just block it.
Conner Jones: Yeah, we’ll just have to see. I wanna leave you guys off with one big thing this week as we prepare to close out the episode. And this still relates to the NFL Minnesota Vikings in Kansas City Chiefs legend.
Micah, you know him? Jared Allen. Yeah. NFL. Legend, right? Well, he was being inducted into the Hall of Fame this week, and he was giving his speech at the induction ceremony, and he said, when I get called home to heaven one day, if all they talk about is this gold jacket, then I failed miserably as a father, a husband, and a friend.
He pointed to his daughters and he said, [00:43:00] you two are my legacy. Always put Christ first. Amen. Amen. Keep that in mind as you go throughout your week. If an NFL Hall of Fame, inductee legend is saying it, it’s just so true. He’s been at the top of the top of the sports world, but he recognizes that Christ is king.
Amen. So, thank you guys so much for joining us this week on this episode of Culture Brief. If you have any questions, thoughts. Send them to us at the mailbag email. That’ll be in our show notes. Also, any articles or videos or posts that we mention on this episode will also be in the show notes. And if you enjoy today’s episode, please like, subscribe, rate or review the show and share it with a friend, and we’ll see you next Thursday.
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