Latest / Culture Brief - Christian perspectives on the week's biggest news, sports & pop-culture stories / Tariffs on trial, Nigerian Christian persecution, Dick Cheney, Mamdani and Dems win big & NFL trades | Ep. 44

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Tariffs on trial, Nigerian Christian persecution, Dick Cheney, Mamdani and Dems win big & NFL trades | Ep. 44 · Culture Brief - Christian perspectives on the week's biggest news, sports & pop-culture stories

0:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Hi, I'm Connor Jones, and I'm Mike Atama Sella, and this is Culture Brief, a Dinnison Foreign Podcast where we are navigating the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture, technology, and so much more.
0:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, we are doing it all from a Christian perspective, and my goodness, it has been a crazy news week, Tuesday alone could get an episode on its own.
0:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Mike, just give us a quick rundown of what we're going to be hitting on because it's been nuts.
0:27
[SPEAKER_00]: it has been crazy and we're excited to jump into it.
0:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you all for listening and downloading and sharing.
0:33
[SPEAKER_00]: It really helps us grow the show and we're really grateful that you guys trust us to help you figure out what's going on in the news and what God would have us do about it and how he wants to work in and through us.
0:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to talk about tariffs, the Supreme Court and the surprising resilience of the U.S. economy.
0:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to break that down and then Connor is going to talk about what's happening in Nigeria and the persecuted Christians there.
0:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a lot of Christians are getting killed over there and it actually came into the more more into the spotlight recently.
0:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk about the Democrats had a big night and want a lot of elections across the country.
1:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Some things happened in California as well and then there was also a pretty crazy NFL trade deadline.
1:08
[SPEAKER_00]: and a lot of it revolved around our favorite team to Dallas Cowboys.
1:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to jump into that and so much more.
1:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's jump into the brief.
1:15
[SPEAKER_00]: The brief.
1:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, I'm calling this tariffs, the Supreme Court and the surprising resilience of the US economy.
1:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So all right.
1:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So guys, we've talked about tariffs a lot.
1:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason why this is coming up again, I'm going to break it down a little bit further.
1:31
[SPEAKER_00]: But tariffs are back at center stage.
1:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The Supreme Court of the United States is now weighing how far a president can impose trade restrictions without Congress.
1:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And meanwhile, the U.S. economy has been more resilient than many forecasts are expected.
1:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So what happens if the court reigns this in?
1:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
1:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And why hasn't mainstream felt the worst case scenario so far?
1:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So like for even more context, these tariffs get implemented.
1:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about tariffs a lot on the show.
2:01
[SPEAKER_00]: The reason why it's coming up again is today the day of recording on Wednesday, November 5th, the Supreme Court is now hearing arguments of can Trump actually utilize these laws and declare national emergencies to basically slap whatever numbers he wants on different countries regarding tariffs when that's typically been something that Congress has voted on and approved before.
2:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's what's happening.
2:26
[SPEAKER_00]: The justices are reviewing whether Donald Trump
2:29
[SPEAKER_00]: and his broad global terror program lean too heavily on emergency powers from the 1977 law and want to get this right.
2:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, i.e.
2:39
[SPEAKER_00]: EPA, rather than direct congressional approval.
2:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So if the court rules it went too far, right?
2:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're expecting a ruling from the Supreme Court, middle of 2026.
2:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So don't expect anything huge to change, but the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on this today at the day of recording.
2:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So if the court rules it went too far, parts of the Tariff regime could be struck down, and companies might try to reclaim payments from the U.S. government.
3:07
[SPEAKER_00]: If the court upholds it, future presidents could have very broad authority to use tariffs not just for trade, but to pursue other policy goals.
3:16
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a big part of what we've been talking about with Donald Trump's presidency.
3:19
[SPEAKER_00]: The tariffs is just one thing.
3:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Immigration, sending in the national guard to different cities, you can definitely accuse Trump of being a norm-breaking president.
3:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, people will accuse him of being a law-breaking president, and I think depending on what the Supreme Court rules on, that's going to give us some pretty good clarification on what Trump can do the rest of his term, but also what that would allow future presidents to do.
3:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Trump is just...
3:46
[SPEAKER_00]: done it differently than anybody's done it before.
3:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're actually going to kind of start getting answers on that.
3:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So even if parts of this are struck down, Connor, many tariffs could be reissued under other authorities like section 232, which is on national security specifically or section 301, which is a section basically on unfair trade.
4:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So a ruling won't necessarily remove tariffs wholesale, but this is a very important case.
4:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So Connor, we're talking tariffs again,
4:15
[SPEAKER_01]: to talk terrors yeah i'm always tariff talk with micha has been all year as is uh i'm definitely intrigued by it obviously it's big economic policy and yeah impacts really tons of americans obviously most of us will feel right some form of fashion whether that's now or down the road but also companies and our international just relationships trump's been using terrors as a bargaining chip essentially when he's making deals with other countries like okay well
4:39
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll make a deal here.
4:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll drop your tariff by 10% or we raise it, you know, like he's using it as leverage and negotiation, which has been very interesting, but we'll be able to continue that.
4:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know because the Supreme Court is kind of the site.
4:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I will say this.
4:51
[SPEAKER_01]: six of the justices are probably going to lean his way right that's just how it's been going the last few decisions.
4:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would venture to guess they're going to approve his ability to do this, but maybe they won't because if there's a constitutional just reasoning behind these emergency powers, I can see them saying no you can't really be doing this because it could
5:13
[SPEAKER_01]: either for Trump to continue to do things that are beyond his powers as president or a new future president.
5:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you really want a future president to exercise emergency powers?
5:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are quotes on my hands to be able to do whatever they want.
5:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
5:27
[SPEAKER_01]: The Supreme Court's got to decide.
5:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm interested to see how people feel at the end of today.
5:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I know they're hearing the arguments today and you can kind of get a sense of how judges react and what questions they ask of the lawyers to get a sense of maybe what they're
5:43
[SPEAKER_00]: mid twenty twenty six the final result right exactly and I think we've talked about this issue a lot and this is me kind of getting off the beaten path here just a little bit just for a second is I completely understand like let's let's go back to when Biden was you know in office and he was accomplishing things that the Democrats wanted to accomplish okay that's fine and then Trump is in and then now Republicans are happy but I think no matter who is in office
6:10
[SPEAKER_00]: you brought up a really great point that you might like what's being accomplished, but you have to be forward thinking and say, when the shoe is on the other foot, when another person from the opposite party is in, what precedent is being set?
6:27
[SPEAKER_00]: for them to be able to just go scorched earth on whatever they feel they need to accomplish correct right so it is so important and it's a good reminder of the wonderful system that we have set up of the three branches of government but also the supreme court the highest court in the land they're going to check these things and some grateful that we live in a country that's going to be a hey there are there is some accountability to these things and so let's just see what they say because if he's not breaking the law great if he is well then we need to do something about that right
6:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
6:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's talk about the economy versus predictions.
7:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So we all heard this from the start.
7:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything that tariffs will do, how terrible it would be.
7:07
[SPEAKER_00]: But when the latest tariff waves were announced, many expected sticker shock, immediate rapid price increases, immediate growth drag, that hasn't happened in full, and in a lot of cases it hasn't happened much at all.
7:19
[SPEAKER_00]: The broader economy has held up better than almost anyone predicted.
7:22
[SPEAKER_00]: definitely better than anybody on the left predicted and it's held up better than a lot of people on the right predicted.
7:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So that doesn't mean tariffs or cost-free.
7:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It means the pain has been slower.
7:32
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been more distributed and easier to absorb.
7:35
[SPEAKER_00]: It just kind of shows the resiliency of the U.S. economy.
7:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So the pastor to consumers has been varied.
7:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Some good show clear price hikes.
7:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Others haven't.
7:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Research still shows tariffs tend to land on US consumers and importers by way of higher prices and lower real incomes, but the hit hasn't been large enough to affect overall growth.
7:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So there really has been a, here's the predictions, but here's where the economy stands, right, you know, you get this inflation data every month, and then everybody seems to be shocked that it's not higher, that keeps happening month after month.
8:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's why the doom loop didn't happen, or maybe here's why it hasn't happened yet.
8:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I call it the doom loop.
8:15
[SPEAKER_00]: because it was just this doom and gloom news over and over and over again here's what tariffs are going to be here's what it's going to cause it's as clear as day it affected the stock market in a way that we haven't seen in a long time whenever the tariffs were announced right it's like hey this is going to be awful and there's really no other argument.
8:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, here's a few reasons why it hasn't been as bad yet as people has predicted.
8:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Reason one firms adjusted.
8:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So many diversified supply chains delayed cost increases or companies just absorbed margins.
8:45
[SPEAKER_00]: That slowed the impact.
8:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So these companies, the American businesses, they've been able to change some things up.
8:51
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been able to absorb certain price increases.
8:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Reason two, tear forever new and targeted relief softened the optics even as underlying cost
9:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of revenue is coming in from these tariffs, and there has been targeted relief.
9:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So Trump has kind of under the radar lessen some tariffs on certain things that, you know, hey, it's pretty much impossible to produce this here in the United States.
9:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we can't make this so difficult, right?
9:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And then reason three, the macro economic backdrop stayed reasonably solid.
9:23
[SPEAKER_00]: which let consumers absorb more of the shock but economists are still warning higher for longer tariffs or still a big risk, especially for inflation and growth.
9:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's what happens with the tariff income and who decides where it goes.
9:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Connor, you remember you and I were having this conversation, I don't know like a week ago.
9:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, okay, all this tariff revenues coming in, what's going to happen with it?
9:46
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, right.
9:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
9:48
[SPEAKER_01]: There's revenue.
9:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Who decides like who I'm, this is just a big question.
9:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you're about to address this, but I am.
9:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm about to address it.
9:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
9:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, my mind.
9:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm certain a lot of people's mind.
9:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Like if there's income to the United States, which is not typically a thing.
10:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
10:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Who decides where all that income goes?
10:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Did the people get it?
10:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Does a administration get it?
10:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Does a department get it?
10:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
10:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, right.
10:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to try to run through this quickly, but I did a deep dive.
10:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just because obviously, you know, we're having tariff revenue coming in.
10:16
[SPEAKER_00]: out the lawsuit.
10:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like people are trying to look back and figure out what is this process, right?
10:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's a key piece.
10:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Those tariffs don't just exist to shift trade flows.
10:29
[SPEAKER_00]: They actually raise real revenue for the US government.
10:32
[SPEAKER_00]: There is now an external revenue service in ERS, not just an internal.
10:37
[SPEAKER_00]: revenue service.
10:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So according to a tariff tracker from a bipartisan policy center, gross tariff and certain exercise tax revenue to the U.S. Treasury is projected to be 942 billion over the next 10 years.
10:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And it could definitely be higher than that.
10:53
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of a conservative number.
10:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a lot of money that's going to be coming in.
10:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So what are we going to do with it?
10:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But the actual path of the money is subject to debate.
11:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So the revenues collected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection when goods enter U.S. ports, okay?
11:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And then a deposited into the general fund of the United States, meaning Congress decides how to spend it.
11:13
[SPEAKER_00]: If it's put into the general fund, it's up to Congress.
11:16
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's debate over whether the money should be used primarily for deficit reduction, direct to toward specific industries or regions harmed by trade.
11:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Like for example, there's been a big debate about
11:26
[SPEAKER_00]: American beef and white so expensive and then Trump was like, okay.
11:30
[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna purchase beef from Argentina and then everybody was like What no you can't do that and then all the farmers got upset right so can you take some of that money and infuse that into US beef and farmers and help them or even there's been rebated like Conversation to stuff like we all got payments during COVID
11:50
[SPEAKER_00]: are checks going to be sent out to American citizens from this tariff revenue directly is is that an option to some proposals have suggested using tariff income to fund those rebate rebate checks for households.
12:02
[SPEAKER_00]: But on the flip side, analysts caution that while tariff while they raise revenue using them as a major substitute for income tax would distort the economy and they could
12:12
[SPEAKER_00]: cause some high inflation risk because there has been talk of, hey, if this terrifying really takes off, maybe we start paying less taxes, which is why I think a lot of us in theory could be for it if it does work out that way.
12:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
12:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So effectively tariffs are collected by the executive branch, but Congress holds a spinning power and chooses how to allocate that revenue.
12:30
[SPEAKER_00]: The debate is over who should benefit?
12:33
[SPEAKER_00]: How targeted the spending should be and what a terrifying come should be treated like tax revenue with broad spinning flexibility or should it be tied specifically to trade policy
12:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So essentially, Connor, the answer is, do we trust the government to spend money wisely?
12:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
12:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you, Connor?
12:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Why would I?
12:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, the government, right?
12:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, right.
12:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely not.
12:56
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a reason this country's $38 trillion in debt, right?
12:59
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not exactly fiscal responsibility.
13:01
[SPEAKER_00]: right.
13:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's what's at stake and then I'm going to wrap this up.
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: If the court limits the executive authority, tariff policy could shift back towards greater congressional control.
13:13
[SPEAKER_00]: That is slower, but it is more accountable.
13:16
[SPEAKER_00]: There's pros and cons for this, right?
13:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody's really been able to do anything about these trade deficits for
13:20
[SPEAKER_00]: years.
13:21
[SPEAKER_00]: 20, 30, 40 years, right?
13:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Trump came in and said, I'm going to do it differently.
13:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Something's being done about it.
13:27
[SPEAKER_00]: You might disagree with it, but something's being done about it.
13:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, over the long term, if the court does reign this in, that just puts more power back in Congress into a larger group of people as opposed to one person.
13:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So if the court upholds the broad power, though, that Trump has wielded, the presidency may gain a fast-moving tool for economic trade and national security policy.
13:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And the way tariff income is used is another added layer.
13:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Will it become, like we talked about, a general revenue stream or be earmarked for trade adjustment relief or be just returned to households.
13:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But ultimately,
13:59
[SPEAKER_00]: who sets trade taxes and who spends the income will matter almost as much as how high tariffs go.
14:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And the average at every day American citizen in my opinion is going to need to feel direct benefit from these tariffs because these tariffs are still not polling well for Trump.
14:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they're probably going to try to find a way for an the every day American.
14:21
[SPEAKER_00]: to feel more of the benefit of these tariffs, because right now it's just more of a conversation.
14:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a big topic.
14:27
[SPEAKER_00]: People are like, I'm not making as much money.
14:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Things are still really expensive.
14:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So in order for this to be viewed positively, and the average everyday American is going to have to feel this tariff revenue in a positive way, I think.
14:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think one of the reasons the Democrats really won on Tuesday night, and I know we're going to hit on that in a bit.
14:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's the cost of living thing.
14:48
[SPEAKER_01]: These people don't feel like their cost of living has gotten any better in the last year of Trump.
14:51
[SPEAKER_01]: No, they don't know that these tariffs are actually doing anything.
14:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And the tariffs might improve everybody's cost of living down the road.
14:57
[SPEAKER_01]: But right now, they're just not, it's still a long-term thing.
15:00
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll just see how successful this is.
15:01
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I mean, interesting stuff.
15:03
[SPEAKER_00]: He could definitely be a cute, like, I think Democrats also won again.
15:07
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get into it and we'll probably break this down further next week.
15:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You could definitely accuse Trump of focusing a lot on things like tariffs and on international things, and you don't hear him talking as much about, hey, groceries are really expensive or hey, it's really hard to pay rent or my electric bill keeps growing up.
15:28
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just not as much talk about that.
15:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that that's also why in a small scale why the Democrats did well too.
15:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's shift gears for a second, instead of just talking about planning ahead about what they're going to do with these tariffs and the executive power from it or what we're going to do with all of this tariff revenue, I want to talk about influence in what we do with it specifically.
15:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So just like the debate over who controls tariffs, there's a constant question in our own lives that we need to answer about who's really in charge of what we've been given.
16:00
[SPEAKER_00]: who is really in charge of the things that I have in my possession in my life, who's deciding where it goes, who's deciding how it's used, the government debates what to do a tariff income, but for us, the question is even deeper.
16:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything we have already belongs to God.
16:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Every bit of it without a doubt, our time, our talents, our resources, all of it is his.
16:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 241 says, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell there within.
16:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4.2, it's required of stewards that they be found faithful.
16:38
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not about how much we have.
16:40
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about how we handle what he's placed in our hands and whether we're using it for his purpose.
16:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It's important.
16:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's the challenge and something to think about.
16:49
[SPEAKER_00]: ask yourself, who's setting the priorities in my life right now?
16:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Am I consulting God on that or am I just making good decisions?
16:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Am I just making practical decisions?
16:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Am I actually involving God in the big decisions but even the small ones?
17:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Or am I letting culture comfort maybe even pressure or expectations decide that for me?
17:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Or am I truly seeking God moment by moment of what he would have me do with it?
17:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Think about how the things flowing through your life, your money, your time, your relationships, can either serve your own comfort, or you can use what God is giving you to serve the kingdom, to actually invest in the eternal, not just the temporal, and then decide to be a faithful steward and not just a collector of more things, right?
17:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Because real influence isn't about how much we control.
17:38
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not what it's about.
17:39
[SPEAKER_00]: it's about how closely we walk with God in using what already belongs to him.
17:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, good stuff, man.
17:46
[SPEAKER_01]: There's always things we can take away from even things like tariffs.
17:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's just good stuff.
17:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm very interested to see what the Supreme Court decides because this goes beyond tariffs, guys.
17:55
[SPEAKER_01]: This is kind of really determined presidential powers essentially.
17:58
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, it's going to be a big decision when that one comes through.
18:00
[SPEAKER_01]: But it is being heard today.
18:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll see how that goes.
18:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, by the time you listen to this, you might be able to go find articles on what kind of came out of the initial hearing.
18:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So, thanks for taking this through that, Micah.
18:11
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I want to hit on something a little bit different.
18:14
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not even in this part of the world.
18:15
[SPEAKER_01]: You mentioned that Micah over in Nigeria, it started to get a lot of attention.
18:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Thankfully, it's getting a lot of attention.
18:22
[SPEAKER_01]: there are lots of Christians being killed and it's not just Christians there are people of Muslim faith there are people of other faiths as well being killed but Christians are specifically being targeted and they are being murdered and it's honestly kind of amounting to a genocide and it's very tragic and we need to bring attention to it.
18:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And it started to get attention like I said because of several people who have influenced starting to bring it up, including Bill Mahr.
18:44
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not exactly a man of faith.
18:45
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a, if you don't know, he's kind of a commentator.
18:48
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a very popular podcast now.
18:49
[SPEAKER_01]: He used to be late night host all of that.
18:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's not a man of faith, but he did bring this up because he said back in September at the end of September, he noted on his show.
19:00
[SPEAKER_01]: his exact quote was the Islamist in Boko Haram, which is a terrorist organization in Nigeria, by the way.
19:06
[SPEAKER_01]: They are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria.
19:10
[SPEAKER_01]: They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country.
19:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, he said that and a lot of people were like, whoa, I didn't know about that.
19:16
[SPEAKER_01]: What are you talking about?
19:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Then Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, he followed that up and accused Nigerian authorities specifically of ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist Jihadist.
19:27
[SPEAKER_01]: and then he introduced to build us in the Senate to impose sanctions on Nigerian officials that he says are enabling the jihadist violence and enforcing essentially blasphemy laws against Christians in the majority Muslim states within Nigeria.
19:41
[SPEAKER_01]: He's basically blaming the Nigerian government of being just turning a blind eye to what's happening in their own country.
19:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that got followed up by Trump, this past weekend, it made it to his desk, and he started just punching out true social posts, essentially bringing this whole thing to the light.
19:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So now the president's on it, and he posted specifically on Friday, he said, Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria.
20:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Thousands of Christians are being killed.
20:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.
20:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I am here by making Nigeria a country
20:13
[SPEAKER_01]: When Christians or any such group is slaughtered like this is happening in Nigeria, something must be done.
20:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's he's saying that and then he followed that up again on Saturday with honestly a warning slash threat to Nigeria, because he said if Nigerian government's
20:28
[SPEAKER_01]: still allows the killing of Christians the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance in Nigeria and may very well go into the now disgraced country guns ablasing Micah is what he said to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.
20:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I am here by instructing our Department of War at the Department of Defense to prepare for possible action.
20:51
[SPEAKER_01]: If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack, our cherished Christians warning that Nigerian government better move fast.
20:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So, Micah, it's...
21:01
[SPEAKER_01]: it's on the president's mind.
21:03
[SPEAKER_01]: He is really thinking about this.
21:04
[SPEAKER_01]: He is now threatening to send in U.S. forces in some former fashion.
21:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if that would be troops.
21:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if that'd be drones aircraft.
21:11
[SPEAKER_01]: That's extremely serious.
21:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's noting that he's not he's just not going to let this brush to the side.
21:19
[SPEAKER_01]: You see they're telling Nigeria fix the problem.
21:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Save these Christians.
21:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't let them get killed or face the
21:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you got fired up and probably set a little bit too much at what's new, right?
21:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's kind of what he does.
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the most likely scenario is if you squeeze a third-world country like Nigeria with some export controls, if you make it more difficult for them to trade, if you make it more difficult on their economy, I think Trump figures if he threatens these types of things, he can get on the
21:59
[SPEAKER_00]: you know.
21:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So whether whether if the Nigerian government is specifically complicit, I don't know, or if it's like, hey, they're just kind of turning a blind eye.
22:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I think probably the Nigerian government can step in and stop some of these things and hopefully make sure that this stops.
22:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's probably the most likely scenario, and that's what I'm hoping for.
22:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it is, I'm hoping for that to just for some context, the U.S. sends about $1 billion in A to 9G each year.
22:24
[SPEAKER_01]: But even it could come down like you're saying, I could be tariffs, right?
22:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Like punching them with harder, harsher tariffs, whatever it takes.
22:31
[SPEAKER_01]: But honestly, the Nigerian government's not exactly a very strong government.
22:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a very tough country to govern in.
22:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there's so many tribes.
22:38
[SPEAKER_01]: There's different religions.
22:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was going to give you a little bit of the reality of what's actually happening on the ground because we need to discuss this.
22:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, yeah, for Nigeria, it's poor, right?
22:47
[SPEAKER_01]: It's also huge in terms of population.
22:50
[SPEAKER_01]: It is the sixth most populated country in the world.
22:52
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the first in Africa has 237 million people.
22:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that group of people, it's literally almost split down the middle of Muslims and Christians.
23:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So imagine a country where half is
23:04
[SPEAKER_01]: one religion and half is the other religion and they just don't get along very well.
23:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
23:10
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and then there's these multiple militant groups within Nigeria.
23:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Boko Haram is one of them.
23:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of the one that most people would recognize the name of.
23:17
[SPEAKER_01]: It is an Islamic terrorist group.
23:19
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's so many other militant groups that are fighting for land, farmland, cattle, tribal issues there.
23:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And so all of these groups make it really hard to for the like Nigerian military to just step in and find them in all of it.
23:31
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not exactly an easy task, right?
23:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of them actually focus on killing Muslims that they don't believe are strong enough in their Muslim faith that they are nonviolent Muslims.
23:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And some of these groups that I'm about to mention here in a minute, they call them moderate Muslims.
23:43
[SPEAKER_01]: At the ones who they just want to do their Muslim faith, they don't want to be violent.
23:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they get killed too by some of these groups.
23:49
[SPEAKER_01]: But Christians obviously are taking the brunt of this.
23:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
23:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So enter society.
23:54
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a Nigerian human rights group.
23:56
[SPEAKER_01]: They put out a report that says between 2009 and 2023 at least 34,000 moderate Muslims have been killed.
24:04
[SPEAKER_01]: In 52,000 Christians have been killed.
24:06
[SPEAKER_01]: 18,500 Christians have been abducted.
24:09
[SPEAKER_01]: In 20,000 churches, and Christian schools have been attacked.
24:13
[SPEAKER_01]: 14 million Christians have been uprooted and forced to flee their homes.
24:18
[SPEAKER_01]: It's terrible, just between January and August of this year, 25 more than 7,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria.
24:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Open doors is another great organization and I'll put a link to them in our show notes.
24:31
[SPEAKER_01]: They work to support and bring attention to basically Christian persecution around the world, but they say that Nigeria is the deadliest place in the world for followers of Jesus.
24:40
[SPEAKER_01]: With Nigeria alone, accounting for 82% of the total number of believers killed during the their period of reporting, which is over the last few years.
24:48
[SPEAKER_01]: On average, that means there are more than 11 Christians killed every day in Nigeria.
24:52
[SPEAKER_01]: That means an Nigerian believer is killed every two hours.
24:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Christians in Northern Nigeria are six and a half times more likely to be killed than a Muslim, and more than five times as likely to be abducted.
25:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I read the story on Fox News this guy, they were Fox News bringing attention to it this weekend because of Trump's post and all that and they interviewed this man named Paul Adamu.
25:14
[SPEAKER_01]: He was kidnapped two years ago by Boko Haram.
25:16
[SPEAKER_01]: In this interview, he first off uploaded Trump for bringing attention to it and saying that it didn't need to Nigerian need to be designated with that country tree, a particular concern.
25:25
[SPEAKER_01]: That means the U.S. State Department will start to focus more on it.
25:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And he said in this interview,
25:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say that Nigeria is the worst place to be a Christian.
25:33
[SPEAKER_01]: We wake up every day with news of killings, every day with the news of the mass occurring of Christians.
25:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Christianity today did a profile on a pastor over in Nigeria, his name is Ezekiel Dachamo, and he just officiated on October 15, the mass burial of at least 12 Christians who were killed by an Islamic militant group.
25:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And he followed that a service up by calling out the Nigerian government like Ted Cruz was for denying the genocide Essentially they were just kind of like we said maybe turning a blind eye to it and he pleading to the U.N.
26:05
[SPEAKER_01]: He's pleading to the U.S. Senate.
26:06
[SPEAKER_01]: He's pleading to Donald Trump to come in and save them as they are trying to kill Christians in Nigeria in his own words there guys.
26:12
[SPEAKER_01]: This is heavy stuff
26:14
[SPEAKER_01]: This is real.
26:15
[SPEAKER_01]: We here in America do not fully grasp the persecution that people go through for their faith across this world.
26:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, as I was in research, I did not realize quite how bad it was in Nigeria specifically.
26:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of times we think of Christian persecution in countries like Iran or North Korea, places that are super close down.
26:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Nigeria is an open country.
26:33
[SPEAKER_01]: but it's a dangerous place for people of faith.
26:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are 80 million Christians in Nigeria.
26:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe more than 80 million, there's 90 million Muslims.
26:42
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a huge population of Christians, but so many of them are under constant pressure.
26:48
[SPEAKER_01]: But they are standing strong in the faith and there's been so many clips this weekend.
26:51
[SPEAKER_01]: If you go to Instagram as type of Nigeria Christians,
26:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll see all these clips of these Nigerians is beautifully worshiping and a lot of times they've gorgeous church buildings, other times it's just little huts and they're just beautifully worshiping and praying.
27:01
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a solid, strong faith and they have it in the face of persecution, it's inspiring.
27:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm inspired by it, but man, we need to stop and pray for them, you know, yeah, Michael, I just all of that.
27:16
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you think?
27:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know that's heavy stuff.
27:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I just think it really shifts the perspective.
27:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we can, we've just had such a tumultuous year here in the United States.
27:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, 2025 is going to be looked at as like,
27:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they're going to be teaching about this year in US history textbooks or whatever kids in the future are going to be studying out of maybe it's not a textbook.
27:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
27:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they can press a button to upload it to their brain, but like, yeah, I just I think it's some.
27:42
[SPEAKER_00]: it really shifts perspective when you understand what persecution looks like here and what it looks like for Christians over there and how we have the same call we have the same God we serve the same master we live on on the same principles but it just looks different based off of where we are and so it it really is striking and it really kind of stops you where you are and it just helps you reflect
28:06
[SPEAKER_00]: and recognize how blessed we are to be here, but also please me encouraged how many believers there are over there standing strong and willing to die for what it is they believe in.
28:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah it's it's very it's it's encouraging it's also discouraging in ways it's yeah it's a lot of mixed emotions right okay so here's what i think we can all do this week and we're going to do it right now here in just a minute
28:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, we got to stop and pray.
28:29
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to pray for our brothers and sisters and Christ and Nigeria who are persecuted.
28:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And are being persecuted, force to flee their homes or killed in the threat of death.
28:37
[SPEAKER_01]: We also need to pray for other people in Nigeria that are not just Christians who are being persecuted as well.
28:41
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a genocide just across the board in Nigeria and it just doesn't get tons of attention.
28:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And then let's pray for the government in Nigeria to actually change course and do something about this, right?
28:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And protect those who are being persecuted.
28:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And then lastly, I want to read Matthew 544.
28:56
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
29:02
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a tough call.
29:03
[SPEAKER_01]: That's Jesus calling us to call, to pray for those who are persecuting, but I think we need to pray for the attackers.
29:08
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to pray for their hearts to change.
29:09
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to pray for something to happen that makes them stop doing this persecution, right?
29:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And we need to pray for them to find salvation across themselves.
29:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So all that to say, Micah, I would love it if you would lead us in like a quick 30 to 45 second prayer.
29:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's just stop and pray for this situation in Nigeria.
29:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, we love you.
29:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your life and your love and what it means.
29:33
[SPEAKER_00]: What it means for us here in the United States or any Christian right now in Nigeria.
29:38
[SPEAKER_00]: God, I just pray right now that you would encourage the hearts.
29:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You would strengthen the bodies and the minds and the resolve and the will of the Christians that are in Nigeria being persecuted right now.
29:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Just pray.
29:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Holy Spirit that you would be close to them that you would walk with them.
29:51
[SPEAKER_00]: You would talk with them.
29:52
[SPEAKER_00]: You would remind them.
29:53
[SPEAKER_00]: in big moments and in small moments that you are with them that they are not walking alone.
29:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We cling to the biblical promise that we will overcome by the blood of our blood, by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, that we are not fighting a battle that is merely earthly or temporal.
30:10
[SPEAKER_00]: This is eternal and I just pray that you would encourage the heart of every believer in Nigeria, that they would recognize and that they would know that there's a special place in heaven for them.
30:20
[SPEAKER_00]: as they are enduring something like this, strengthen them, and God, we just pray that the violence would stop.
30:24
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray that you would turn hearts towards you in the name of Jesus that everybody, a part of Boko Harama, any terrorist organization over there that is perpetrating these evils, God that you would send them dreams and you would send them visions and you would do what only you can do, God, and so many hearts, millions of hearts would turn towards you, and they would recognize who you are Jesus, your death, your burial, your resurrection changes,
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: everything and we just pray that you do it only you can do that you move that mountain that you change that circumstance for your glorification in the according to your will father and I pray that us as believers here in America would join together and not be so focused on our own issues but we'd be praying for our our persecuted brothers and sisters in Nigeria and in my praise Jesus amen.
31:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
31:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Micah.
31:09
[SPEAKER_01]: If you are interested in learning more about how you can help these persecuted Christians, I'm going to link in the show notes, which you can find in Spotify, Apple, or down there in YouTube.
31:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got a link to our show notes.
31:18
[SPEAKER_01]: There will be links to open doors the organization like mentioned Christian persecution organization, the voice of the martyrs, as well as a podcast with
31:26
[SPEAKER_01]: 21 Wilber forces president with some al-Saiabi salibia that say say he just had that conversation with Dr. Mark Termin over on our faith and clarity podcast.
31:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Great conversation all about Christian persecution that is what 21 Wilber force focuses on is faith persecution.
31:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So go listen to that and listen for more on religious rights, but be praying for these people and if you're interested in giving or donating or learning more, those links will be in our show notes.
31:49
[SPEAKER_00]: But fun fact, I worked for the 21st century
31:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I totally forgot it was like when we were in college you were over there.
31:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, man.
32:00
[SPEAKER_01]: What a time there for two years.
32:02
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a good organization.
32:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah 21 we're forced as awesome.
32:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, guys.
32:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's hop into a quick little hot take
32:11
[SPEAKER_01]: We got in an anonymous listener who sent in a question for us.
32:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought this was fun.
32:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And I can totally tell where they were when they thought of this question.
32:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they said, should 18 wheelers be allowed to drive and express lanes on the highway?
32:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they were like, I say no.
32:26
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what this person said.
32:27
[SPEAKER_01]: The whole point of an express lane is to go faster and get around the slower traffic and you're literally paying not to be stuck behind slow moving vehicles.
32:34
[SPEAKER_01]: This person also clarified that they are the daughter of an 18-wheeler lifelong 18-wheeler driver.
32:39
[SPEAKER_01]: So
32:39
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't have anything against 18 wheeler drivers.
32:41
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just saying Express Lane should be reserved for smaller cars.
32:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Micah
32:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm assuming this person lives in a city like Dallas because this is a problem we have.
32:50
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're out in a rural area, you don't have this problem, but express lanes.
32:53
[SPEAKER_01]: They're kind of nice, but they're also expensive.
32:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And if I got stuck behind and I have bins stuck by 18 wheelers, I'm not a fan of it either.
32:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So the crux of the question just to be clear is that their take is that 18 wheelers should not be allowed to use like toll roads or expressways because they just slow down traffic.
33:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that just saying express lanes?
33:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think toll roads.
33:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, okay, okay, just, just, just, just wait, okay.
33:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, no, they shouldn't be, they shouldn't be allowed because, I mean, don't even get me started.
33:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I feel like here in DFW, the highway system, you know, it's heavily invested in and it's probably better than like in a lot of places, but we still have a ton of traffic and I just, I find myself frustrated that lanes that are established for faster traffic, somehow are just almost never fast.
33:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So anything that we can do, 18 wheelers or whatever it might be getting them off of that
33:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm good with that too.
33:48
[SPEAKER_00]: At the same time, pretty much everything we consume.
33:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything we buy is brought in on those big trucks.
33:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
33:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So we got to make space for them too.
33:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know.
33:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I kind of fall in the middle.
34:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
34:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
34:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Well.
34:01
[SPEAKER_01]: It's probably dependent upon where you're, if you're behind 18-wheeler, and especially you're probably feeling the same way as this listener, you're just like, no way, get them off.
34:09
[SPEAKER_01]: They also mentioned Bucky's, and if you're not from Texas, maybe you haven't been to Bucky's, but Bucky's is a massive gas station that does not allow 18-wheeler's.
34:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And for whatever reason, it just feels more pure because of it.
34:18
[SPEAKER_01]: The parking lot's less clutter.
34:20
[SPEAKER_01]: They're doubtful out.
34:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's nothing.
34:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing against the drivers.
34:23
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just the trucks that cause chaos.
34:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, totally.
34:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Guys, yeah, send in your thoughts, your hot takes, questions, topics.
34:30
[SPEAKER_01]: We want to hear from you guys.
34:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Send that to culture brief at denisonform.org.
34:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Just email us or shoot us a message on Instagram.
34:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Go follow us on Instagram at culture brief podcast.
34:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, Michael.
34:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Like we said, so much else has happened this week.
34:43
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's just jump into check and real fast.
34:44
[SPEAKER_01]: We got a lot to kind of go through here off the top on Tuesday.
34:48
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a terrible plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky UPS plane cargo aircraft, MD 11, lawsuits left engine as it was taking off and it just never really got lift.
34:58
[SPEAKER_01]: It went down into buildings just outside the airport grounds.
35:01
[SPEAKER_01]: As of right now, this morning, they are still looking for people who could be trapped.
35:05
[SPEAKER_01]: The fireball is huge.
35:06
[SPEAKER_01]: It's caught a lot of buildings on fire kind of went into a warehouse district just outside the airport, including UPS facilities outside the airport.
35:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So just a terrible day for UPS the city of Louisville.
35:15
[SPEAKER_01]: As of right now, there are nine total fatalities.
35:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Three of those were crew members on the aircraft.
35:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Six on the ground.
35:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I, they're saying that that fatality rate will probably go up.
35:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the images are terrible.
35:28
[SPEAKER_01]: The videos of the crash are awful.
35:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I just pray for that.
35:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Group of people also on Tuesday.
35:33
[SPEAKER_01]: We learned that Dick Cheney died Monday night.
35:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, former vice president.
35:37
[SPEAKER_01]: He was age 84.
35:38
[SPEAKER_01]: That's obviously he's most known for his vice presidency for George W Bush.
35:42
[SPEAKER_01]: But before that he was secretary of defense.
35:45
[SPEAKER_01]: He was in Congress for 10 years.
35:46
[SPEAKER_01]: He was White House chief of staff all the way back for Gerald Ford.
35:49
[SPEAKER_01]: He worked in Nixon's White House.
35:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So man, just a half decade or sorry, half century of
35:55
[SPEAKER_01]: service.
35:56
[SPEAKER_01]: He was also CEO of Haliburton during the Clinton years, which kind of led to a lot of controversy down the road when Haliburton got a lot of government contracts to build bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
36:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So he, uh, you know, a man who dedicated a lot of his life to serving the United States, but also a very controversial figure when it comes to the Iraq wars, wars in the Middle East, the Gulf War is when he was secretary of defense, then it's almost like he came back into that type of position as vice president.
36:22
[SPEAKER_01]: He expanded the powers of the vice
36:25
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people do not like him.
36:26
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people really like him.
36:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's up to you to decide which you think is legacy is, but just pointing out that man, it's certainly a life loss.
36:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he, of course, ended the kind of towards the end of his life last year.
36:37
[SPEAKER_01]: He actually did not endorse Trump.
36:39
[SPEAKER_01]: He endorsed Kamala Harris.
36:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that was a big deal.
36:41
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people feel like he was betraying their public and party.
36:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't realize that yeah he put out a video and his he kind of leaned more left or maybe just the right moved more right I don't know but a lot there Dick Cheney kind of an interesting figure I'm sure there will be many ill bituaries on this.
37:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he really, really interesting guy overall spent his life in service to the United States and maybe himself too, you can do both, I think most people probably do both, but he really is known as the most powerful vice president ever, like in an American history right now.
37:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, we should have like tampered down the the all the riding on the wall that he he was actually more powerful that Dick Cheney was like kind of more powerful than George Bush's president.
37:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, a lot of people were talking about that back in like O405 and then push kind of had to tell him you got to you got to slow down.
37:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm the president here kind of situation But Bush did put out a statement a nice statement about Dick Cheney and all that saying he was the best partner in the White House and all that also on Tuesday elections like we've mentioned several times man the Democrats is kind of
37:51
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a blue wave across the country, uh, New Jersey, in Virginia, both elected Democrat Senator, oh, sorry, governors.
37:57
[SPEAKER_01]: They are more moderate style governors.
37:59
[SPEAKER_01]: They both have national security background.
38:01
[SPEAKER_01]: They just kind of played down the middle.
38:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say.
38:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, as opposed to the New York City mayor's race that played completely as far left as you can go.
38:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Where's
38:15
[SPEAKER_01]: man he's he's gonna be mayor now and this is shocking a lot of the world shocking a lot of the United States because he's a 34 year old socialist as we have talked about here he beat governor and former governor Andrew Cuomo with 50% of the vote essentially 50.4% I think is what it was at as of this morning
38:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So, he got just over half the vote share, Cuomo got 41.6% and then Curtis Sleewag got 7.1% So, you know, he has pledged Universal Childcare, Free Bus Rides, Rent Freeses, Opening City, Run Grocery Stores,
38:48
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to look different in New York City while that actually happens.
38:51
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people like that, because as we've talked about, the cost of living thing is a problem, especially in New York City.
38:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So people want new policies that will make their cost of living go down.
39:00
[SPEAKER_01]: The question is, all these socialist policies are they going to go into action, but then years on the road cause massive problems, because it's just never worked in any other country,
39:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
39:13
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see in his concession speech, Andrew Cuomo did make sure to emphasize that with, you know, he said mom donny one, but you only want 50% of the city's votes.
39:23
[SPEAKER_01]: That means half the city rejected mom donny and socialist policies.
39:27
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, there's a lot there.
39:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And then with the Democrats in California, they actually did vote to go ahead and redistrict, so that they can get five more blue seats.
39:36
[SPEAKER_01]: This is in response to Texas's redistricting policy or really kind of passage back in the summer.
39:41
[SPEAKER_01]: So now Texas is going to have five more red seats.
39:44
[SPEAKER_01]: California is saying we're going to have five more blue seats.
39:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll around blue wave on Tuesday night.
39:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is a year into Trump's first term.
39:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll see what this means down the road and
39:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, yeah, I mean, the Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on this right of what's his name?
40:01
[SPEAKER_00]: McCormick, right?
40:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, John McCormick, and he said, you know, Democrats won, but they still awoke on Wednesday with a serious political headache.
40:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the biggest headache is specifically, it's a muddled verdict.
40:14
[SPEAKER_00]: You see somebody on the far, far left winning being successful.
40:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you see more middle of the road, Democrats winning.
40:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So does that really answer their question?
40:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you have two wings of the democratic party that seem to have equal sway voting members.
40:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels like two of just like there, you know, these these loud voices, they just who's the leader to unite them.
40:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And so is, you know, heading into 2026 and the midterms would even heading into 2028 and this next presidential election.
40:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it going, are they going to take a more far left candidate?
40:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm who would align more like Bernie Sanders or AOC or like whatever it might be?
40:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Or is it going to be a more middle of the line candidate?
40:55
[SPEAKER_00]: They still have to answer that question and I don't think last night answered those questions because you saw both be successful.
41:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So does it really answer the question?
41:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure.
41:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's just left for more questions.
41:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
41:08
[SPEAKER_01]: all the Democrats have got a pep in their step today.
41:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And rightfully so.
41:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they're really, you're going to go, they lost everything.
41:14
[SPEAKER_01]: So now they're like, hey, we want everything smaller election night off your election night.
41:19
[SPEAKER_01]: But it gives them a pep in their step and help some plan for next year's midterms for sure.
41:23
[SPEAKER_00]: If they can gain a unifying leader and unite around the things that most Americans would disagree on and what Trump does, then they, you know, they can definitely be more successful.
41:33
[SPEAKER_00]: They seem to just kind of shoot themselves in the foot.
41:35
[SPEAKER_00]: and we've seen that over history I think we were saying about that saying that about the Republicans really until Trump showed up and then really it's not even like Republicans anymore it's maga I mean maga is just kind of its own party now you know he just completely changed it like you looked up and it's like it's the political landscape is completely different right so I mean we'll just see what comes from that so okay
41:55
[SPEAKER_00]: government shutdown guys.
41:57
[SPEAKER_00]: The U.S. federal government's been shut down six up since October 1st and now this impasse has surpassed the longest government shutdown in history.
42:06
[SPEAKER_00]: The first one was 35 days.
42:08
[SPEAKER_00]: It's 36 today.
42:09
[SPEAKER_00]: 36 days today.
42:10
[SPEAKER_00]: It'll be 37 days tomorrow.
42:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The first government shutdown that lasted 35 days.
42:15
[SPEAKER_00]: The one that I just referenced, that happened in Trump's first term.
42:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And then now this one is in
42:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So some 900,000 federal workers are furloughed and many more are working with that pay.
42:26
[SPEAKER_00]: You've got key things like snap benefits that are being withheld or that are being paused or only being half distributed.
42:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The transportation sector is seeing some real world disruptions.
42:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you're seeing more alerts about certain airports having to shut down or stagger their flights whatever it might be.
42:41
[SPEAKER_00]: There is some signs that this, you know, impasse will stop and that the government will open back up.
42:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, you've got President Trump pressuring the Republicans in the Senate to end the filibuster, which requires a 60, 60 person yes vote in order to pass something like this.
43:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So if the filibuster ends, then the Republicans just what their simple majority can pass this clean CR bill, this continuing resolution to open the government back up.
43:11
[SPEAKER_00]: frustration, blame across both parties, deep public disillusionment with just the political system in general, more finger pointing, no results.
43:23
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a major reason why both party platforms in their own way are deeply unpopular right now, and why politicians themselves are deeply unpopular right now.
43:32
[SPEAKER_00]: The all of this this government shut down thing.
43:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I just feel so strongly about it.
43:37
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a great example of why for some reason these elected officials started serving themselves and not the American people.
43:43
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got to open the government back up.
43:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I've seen a lot more videos of people saying Congress should not be paid while this is shut down.
43:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, the pressure is on though.
43:51
[SPEAKER_01]: You're right.
43:51
[SPEAKER_01]: They're they're actually finally talking in the pressure really got on because Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy came out on Tuesday.
43:57
[SPEAKER_01]: This is another big news thing and said, Hey, by next week, we might have to start shutting down areas of airspace over American territory.
44:03
[SPEAKER_01]: if we do not get the government reopen because we're so down on air traffic control is and that was before the UPS plane crashed right now that didn't have anything to do the air traffic control that was I'm it seems like a maintenance issue on the aircraft because it's a crash but that doesn't help anything right like it's just a disaster out there the pressure's on it sounds like they're actually kind of talking Trump's trying to get them to do the feel the best sort of thing but that also goes back to what you were saying earlier man if you remove the filibuster now
44:27
[SPEAKER_01]: as their public and party in power, the Democrats are just going to take it back.
44:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the Democrats almost did it.
44:34
[SPEAKER_00]: They were two votes away during Biden's term.
44:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The Democrats almost removed it.
44:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And then two Democratic senators who are no longer senators anymore chose to not vote for it.
44:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And they kept the filibuster.
44:45
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to keep the filibuster because what's the point of having anyway?
44:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I could get into this.
44:49
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the point of having elected officials that represent the entirety of the nation?
44:53
[SPEAKER_00]: If you can't get them both to work together, you've got Republicans and you've got Democrats.
44:58
[SPEAKER_00]: You might not like the two-party system, you might say it doesn't represent everyone.
45:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I probably would agree with that, but like if you at the long-term implications of removing the filibuster are not good in my opinion, so I think we need to tread lightly there.
45:15
[SPEAKER_00]: The Dodgers won the World Series.
45:17
[SPEAKER_00]: If you were under a rock, you didn't see it, the MLB is experiencing a resurgence in views.
45:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that it's great.
45:23
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the perfect American past time.
45:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's wonderful that more people are watching major league baseball.
45:30
[SPEAKER_00]: the Dodgers one and that game seven was just absolutely incredible.
45:34
[SPEAKER_00]: It went into extra innings and it was very heartbreaking for the Blue Jays.
45:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I was sad to see that too because they were just so close.
45:40
[SPEAKER_00]: They were like two outs away from winning it.
45:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and then, you know, the sky for the Dodgers that no one's ever heard of hits a home run and ties it up.
45:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But the Dodgers do win.
45:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So the LA Dodgers won the World Series two years in a row hasn't happened.
45:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's a race.
45:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yamamoto coming in and pitching another game.
45:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean at the end of that game.
45:57
[SPEAKER_01]: It's Yamamoto.
45:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right.
46:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Just man.
46:01
[SPEAKER_01]: What a game.
46:01
[SPEAKER_01]: That was so fun.
46:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not even the biggest baseball fan of the world, but had a blast watching all of those games on, it's like, and game seven.
46:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You could have asked for a better ending.
46:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
46:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Saturday night.
46:11
[SPEAKER_00]: What a play.
46:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And I wasn't watching call.
46:13
[SPEAKER_01]: That's like his ESPN is not got to deal with YouTube TV.
46:16
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a whole
46:17
[SPEAKER_00]: They need to figure that out, man, people are being greedy.
46:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yes, absolutely.
46:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Playoff baseball, playoff hockey is also really exhilarating too.
46:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Go try something new and just watch playoff baseball.
46:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna have to wait a year, but it's really interesting.
46:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, and then finally, we had the NFL trade deadline that wrapped up on Tuesday, November 4th.
46:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Lots of trades went down.
46:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The New York Jets kicked off a major tear down by trading all Pro Cornerback sauce gardener.
46:42
[SPEAKER_00]: To the Indianapolis Colts, and then they sent their all-pro defensive tackle, Quentin Williams, to our team, the Dallas Cowboys and the Jets, got three first round picks because they're going into a full rebuild.
46:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the Jets are always in a rebuild, just constantly historically, they're always in a rebuild.
46:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, the Miami Dolphins traded one of their best defensive players to the Philadelphia Eagles, Jalen Phillips, or a third round pick.
47:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Other notable moves up the Las Vegas Raiders traded one of their really good receivers to Kobe Myers.
47:08
[SPEAKER_00]: to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Baltimore Ravens picked up defense event, Dremont Jones, from the Tennessee Titans.
47:14
[SPEAKER_00]: It was very interesting.
47:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I love trade deadlines in all sports, because it's kind of like, hey, the tread deadline is November 1st at 3pm.
47:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, but basically everybody waits until the last minute because deadlines make deals where basically all these trades happen within three hours when they know this trade deadline, you know, for a whole year leading up to it and then all the trades happen in this very short period of time.
47:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Why could the only deadline that does not make deals is the government shut down deadline?
47:41
[SPEAKER_01]: That prevents it.
47:42
[SPEAKER_01]: It's ridiculous, but in sports, yeah, I think the government could learn from sports teams who were like, let's change up the entire league right now on the government could learn from the free market.
47:52
[SPEAKER_00]: The government is just the government, but right now, the government isn't even open, so the government is even really being fully the government, because they can't be open right now.
47:59
[SPEAKER_00]: They can't find a way to just open themselves back up on any way.
48:03
[SPEAKER_00]: If you guys were wondering how we felt about the government shut down, I think it's pretty clear.
48:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I think most of America feels the exact same way.
48:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of just ridiculous, right?
48:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Fresh.
48:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, fun times in the NFL, so much is happening.
48:15
[SPEAKER_01]: So much has happened.
48:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll keep you guys updated next week.
48:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you guys for listening.
48:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can now, as a reminder, watch this on YouTube.
48:22
[SPEAKER_01]: find the culture brief you to playlists on dinnison forms YouTube channel.
48:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll also have it linked in the show notes if you are listening on Apple or Spotify or somewhere else.
48:30
[SPEAKER_01]: You can find the link to our YouTube channel down there.
48:33
[SPEAKER_01]: You can come watch us.
48:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It's different.
48:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It's fun.
48:36
[SPEAKER_01]: You get to watch our reactions to everything.
48:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, we're so grateful you all listened.
48:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you guys for joining us on this week's Culture Brief podcast, a dinnison forum podcast.
48:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, we've got so many links to link this week to different organizations and different articles So go check out those links down in the show notes and we will see you guys next week.
48:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Bye-bye