Latest / Culture Brief - Christian perspectives on the week's biggest news, sports & pop-culture stories / Sophie Cunningham, Spain's migrant crisis, record box office & the Dodgers' blockbuster trade | Ep. 80

Transcript

Sophie Cunningham, Spain's migrant crisis, record box office & the Dodgers' blockbuster trade | Ep. 80 · Culture Brief - Christian perspectives on the week's biggest news, sports & pop-culture stories

0:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Hi, I'm Connor Jones, and I'm Parker Jones.
0:05
[SPEAKER_01]: 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.
0:14
[SPEAKER_01]: We do it all from a Christian perspective, and this week, yeah, you heard that right?
0:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sitting here with you.
0:19
[SPEAKER_01]: the one and only Parker Jones Parker.
0:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to Culture Brief.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Great.
0:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Full to be here.
0:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And you may remember Parker is my brother.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Parker also writes as a contributing author for us here at Dinnison Forum.
0:29
[SPEAKER_01]: You can read plenty of his articles over at DinnisonForm.org.
0:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, he's joined me for today's conversation on all kinds of things.
0:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Parker, what are we going to be discussing on this episode?
0:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
0:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got a lot to talk about.
0:38
[SPEAKER_00]: A couple really intriguing stories to take deep deep deep dives on one to do with the WNBA.
0:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Never feels like they're
0:46
[SPEAKER_00]: in the headlines for anything other than controversy we're gonna take a look at what's been happening on the Morocco Spanish border and then we've got to take a look at the box office today and a couple of really interesting and treating sports headlines so a lot to look at yeah busy week and culture so let's jump into the brief the brief
1:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, yeah, you said if Parker WNBA, this is not something we have really touched on here at Culture Brief.
1:13
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, it's not really a league I particularly watch, but I think America has started to see it really come to the forefront of the conversation this week, specifically the last two weeks, and
1:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say it's not for all the reasons that the W&B would like, it's not necessarily because the game, it's not necessarily because of how different players are being traded or anything.
1:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It's more so because of culture war controversies, but it does bring attention to the league.
1:39
[SPEAKER_01]: They just seem to, in a way, be fumbling their opportunity here to capitalize on their stars, including two people that were going to discuss, and we're going to discuss one specific person in depth, but I'm thinking of Caitlin Clark, who is far and away the biggest
1:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Far and away the biggest probably women's basketball player ever, she singlehandedly shot viewership up when she joined the league.
2:01
[SPEAKER_01]: She singlehandedly shot viewership up for college women's basketball when she was in the NCAA tournament, back in 2023 and 2024, millions of people tuned in that audience has since halfed in size to those national championships for college basketball since she's left.
2:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's clear she's the biggest star in college basketball and WNBA basketball.
2:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like maybe for the WNBA they're just hoping that saying that all publicity is good publicity would ring true for them.
2:30
[SPEAKER_00]: They certainly are getting eyes on aspects of their league.
2:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But for Clark a few weeks ago, she was just seemingly getting beat up on the court and so that was a thing but it wasn't people excited about watching basketball as much as it was a conversation about
2:52
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a totally different situation.
2:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it started to revolve around, there's been discussions in the DOE and BA about the role of race, which is not what we're talking about today, but it is a piece of this conversation where a lot of people are talking about, well, because Clay Caitlin Clark is white, she gets treated one way and because other players are not, they get treated in a different way.
3:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's a lot of conversations around that.
3:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not exactly what we're hitting on today.
3:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We're actually going to be talking more so about the current debate in the DOE and BA and kind of the broader culture around
3:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Transgender individuals biological males playing in women's sports.
3:26
[SPEAKER_01]: This is at the forefront of culture because the new Probably biggest name.
3:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't say the best player or a biggest star But biggest name this summer in basketball for women has been Sophie Cunningham.
3:35
[SPEAKER_01]: This might be somebody you've seen on social media or on TV or wherever Being talked about because she's found herself at the center of a lot of these conversations around culture wars as she's spoken out kind of against
3:48
[SPEAKER_01]: basically biological males playing in women's sports and it's broader to the forefront of attention.
3:52
[SPEAKER_01]: She really became popular back in 2024 when Caitlyn Clark joined the league and a lot of other players seemed to not really be, uh, I guess, pleased with Clark's presence on the court.
4:02
[SPEAKER_01]: They would bully her on the court.
4:03
[SPEAKER_01]: They would,
4:04
[SPEAKER_01]: really get physical with her, fell her in a way that seemed kind of unfair drew a lot of attention again to the league for wrong reasons and players just seemed to not like her popularity.
4:13
[SPEAKER_01]: It's almost like there was a jealousy aspect not everybody but some and her teammates weren't really stepping up but then Sophie Cunningham is one of her teammates over on the Indiana fever and Sophie Cunningham was the first teammate to really kind of push back against other players and got into fights defending Caitlyn and that got her a lot of um attention got her a lot of
4:31
[SPEAKER_01]: positive reaction from the fans of the NBA outside people were like good somebody's finally stepping up to protect her to protect Caitlin Clark that was so if you counting him well fast forward two years we're now this summer twenty twenty six she's the biggest name in the league right now for several reasons one you've probably seen the summer's most viral meme park ride you've seen it absolutely the the pointing the aggressive pointing fingers where she's just on the court and she's just like
4:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm, if you if you're not watching right now, I'm doing I'm doing the exact way she just look it up.
5:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Just look it up.
5:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, it's you've seen the meme.
5:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all over social media.
5:05
[SPEAKER_01]: That's her and she's kind of used that that was I think at the end of May or beginning of June.
5:11
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just capitalize on the attention that that got.
5:13
[SPEAKER_01]: beyond the attention she was already receiving.
5:15
[SPEAKER_01]: She's found herself as a like a fight of octagon ring girl at UFC fights now.
5:20
[SPEAKER_01]: She's gained millions and millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram.
5:23
[SPEAKER_01]: She's really built this own audience.
5:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And then a lot of the attention she got came to ahead last month when she did an ESPN profile as her as her just popularity built up.
5:33
[SPEAKER_01]: ESPN wanted to do a profile on her.
5:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Halley Grossman wrote this profile and I'm just going to quote
5:41
[SPEAKER_01]: She said, Cunningham, like the WNBA, has become a cultural flash point.
5:45
[SPEAKER_01]: The League's footprint has never been bigger and the chorus of voices around it has never been louder.
5:50
[SPEAKER_01]: All star voting and sponsorship opportunities, whistles and non-whistles, who, and who does not get to capture this attention to Cunningham, have all become proxies for debates about race.
5:58
[SPEAKER_01]: gender and identity and politics.
6:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Squarely in this Marass sits cunning him, a white, conventionally attractive, attention-grabbing reserve player who is not one of the league's all stars, but is certainly one of its most magnetic stars.
6:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And I would just say, from what I've seen about cunning him in the program, I'm not sure if you've seen this either.
6:16
[SPEAKER_01]: her authenticity and her like just candid speaking and interviews and all that has uh on the leagues issues has really landed her favorably in the eyes of people on the right side of the aisle specifically I people have called her a maga Barbie I mean people identify her with right wing politics now she does not necessarily take political stances but she did speak out against the transgender stuff we'll talk about it in a second uh she also does speak publicly about her faith so there's a lot there and a lot of things being attributed to her I mean what
6:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think she's an example of a lot of times people on the right.
6:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they are, they gravitate towards figures that even if they don't embrace right-wing politics, they, if they ever express any kind of pushback towards kind of the pop culture narrative, then suddenly they become almost like an avatar for the right.
7:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I think what's really interesting about Sophie is in the WNBA which is certainly one of the more, I'd say, left leaning politically speaking leagues, professional sports leagues, just the makeup of the league is it fits that and we'll talk about how that's playing out right now in just a moment.
7:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I think it's interesting that Sophie has kind of made herself a counter cultural voice in that league.
7:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's what I think you're right.
7:33
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of what the people are gravitating towards that, that see her as this kind of like political standpoint, she's standing up against the people who are speaking out against what someone say commonsense will dive into commonsense here in just a minute.
7:44
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think people did the same thing with like Aaron Rodgers back in the COVID days when he was standing up against that and Kyrie Irving when he was refusing to give vaccinated.
7:52
[SPEAKER_01]: They saw these people as counter cultural.
7:54
[SPEAKER_01]: They're standing up to the establishment.
7:55
[SPEAKER_01]: They're standing up to different things.
7:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's easy to wrap your heads around, uh, yeah, maybe this person, they're not technically political, but you can see them as a political statement.
8:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And Aaron Rodgers, I mean, he, he was back in the headlines this week for his statements on the Pat McAfee show.
8:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Diving back against Dr. Fauci, which is a whole thing, so you can go watch that interview of Rogers, but this all leads me to a quote from that ESPN profile that Cunningham said, she said, I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans, and I'm like I never once said that.
8:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm here to extend love, but I also think that love is truth, being honest, and I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in a sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men.
8:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Makes sense to me, probably makes sense to you, makes sense to a lot of us listening, but man, that statement ruffled a lot of feathers in the league and in sports media.
8:46
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people really started to speak out against her, and then last Tuesday, when the fever, the team that Sophie and Caitlyn Clark are on were in Seattle playing the Seattle Storm, two high school girls showed up to that game in Seattle and said, with science, it said, thank you Sophie for speaking up for girls.
9:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, one of the co-owners of the Seattle Storm went over to the girls and said that they are exploitive insane and just chastised those high school girls that co-owner her name is Celeste Keaton.
9:13
[SPEAKER_01]: She's now been suspended for five games.
9:15
[SPEAKER_01]: She can't go to five home games by the WMBA.
9:17
[SPEAKER_01]: She's been
9:18
[SPEAKER_01]: given an undisclosed amount of a fine so just an odd statement from an owner of the team that was just odd and then on Sunday the fever ran Minneapolis playing the Minnesota links and when the links had coach Cheryl Reeve wore a shirt that said trans kids belong throughout the whole game over there on the sideline and it was clearly just a response to Sophie Cunningham and they even had a conversation before the game in the crowd.
9:43
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a group of people there to support cutting him and people are starting to do these demonstrations.
9:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm either side of this issue, outside of these arenas, it's really just bubbled up into this whole thing to where even cutting him's own coach, Stephanie White, she was asked about biological males playing in the WWE this week.
9:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Her response about this at the press conference was, I wouldn't really say that I'm educated enough from a scientific standpoint.
10:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't ever believe that that exclusion is the answer.
10:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Parker, the science is simple.
10:12
[SPEAKER_01]: The science is simple.
10:13
[SPEAKER_00]: The science is simple.
10:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think I miss when basketball coaches dressed formally on the sidelines.
10:22
[SPEAKER_00]: That would limit some of these problems.
10:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's a mince basketball problem too.
10:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's guys are like jumpsuits, not the suits anymore.
10:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
10:30
[SPEAKER_01]: That coach also just expressed frustration that this whole saga is actually distracting from their success on the court.
10:34
[SPEAKER_01]: The team's actually playing really well there on this like win streak.
10:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So I do get that like it's it's kind of tough when your league, your team's doing great, but the whole league, the whole media ecosystem is focused on everything, but your actual performance on the field or on the court.
10:49
[SPEAKER_01]: even Katelyn Clark said that this issue when she was asked about it is for the leagues and governing bodies to work out with their athletes to find solution so Katelyn Clark is kind of taking a middle of the road line there as the biggest star of the game as of somebody who is on everybody's televisions all the time and commercials and all that she knows her words carry a lot of weight she's taking a middle of the ground road there.
11:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to I want to dive into an article that Dr. Jim Dineson founder of Dineson form here wrote this week wrote it on Monday in his daily article newsletter, which you should subscribe to if you have not, but he was talking about this whole topic about Cunningham about the WMBA in Transgender Rights and he said, there has been little coverage in the larger media regarding Cunningham's position on Transgender Sports.
11:27
[SPEAKER_01]: This is very good news for a reason worth contemplating today.
11:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Cunningham's statements, which the athlete has refused to retract and calls, quote, common
11:35
[SPEAKER_01]: have been muted in a way that would have been virtually unimaginable not all that long ago when just uttering the phrase biological men in reference to transathletes was a kick to the proverbial hornets nest.
11:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And he was kind of referencing their cat Rosenfield's free press article this week that reflected in this whole saga back to 2022 when swimmer Leah Thomas that is a transgender biological male who is swimming in NCAA women swimming tournaments and actually won a championship for the 500 meter
12:05
[SPEAKER_01]: even, I mean, this Lyatomas beat a Olympic silver medalist, a female silver medalist, just goes to show you how much more biologically advanced-aged males are in terms of strength and
12:22
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, speed all of that.
12:23
[SPEAKER_01]: They've got lots of we have biological advantages.
12:26
[SPEAKER_01]: God created us that way.
12:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But this was just a reminder that back in 2022 when you objected to that, when other swimmers, females, swimmers, or coaches were objected to that.
12:35
[SPEAKER_01]: They were, honestly, they were labeled as bigots and bullies and grifters.
12:39
[SPEAKER_01]: People who were trying to make something out of it that there should have been something out of it.
12:45
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how people were labeled.
12:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Fast forward to 2026, things have changed.
12:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's been vibe changes in the culture.
12:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I think people have started to come to the reality, hey, there's more to this.
12:56
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not necessarily a big science experiment.
12:58
[SPEAKER_01]: There's truth, there's reality here, because we know biological males are still males.
13:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's this just drive towards the word commonsense.
13:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Even Steven A Smith was saying it this week.
13:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Parker, you pointed me to a tweet that he posted.
13:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Steven A Smith is E.S.
13:11
[SPEAKER_01]: being like, biggest talking yet.
13:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And he was like, look, trans people.
13:16
[SPEAKER_01]: go live your life the way you want to live your life but you can't deny that biological males will always have an advantage and they should not be in women's sports and so we've talked about this we even talked about this last month when Supreme Court actually stepped up and defended state to have said they cannot that biological males cannot perform or participate in women's sports.
13:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Supreme Court stood by that.
13:38
[SPEAKER_01]: That only affects about half the states.
13:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's 19 states including Washington where those high school girls were in that game with the signs 19 states do not protect women's sports in that way.
13:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So a lot there Parker any final thoughts on that
13:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think that it would be interesting to know how many athletes in whether it's in the WNBA or other professional league, specifically women's professional sports leagues feel similar to Sophie, but maybe because they don't have that kind of...
14:10
[SPEAKER_00]: status or platform yet to them it's not worth the risk to speak out and so it's interesting to see somebody like Sophie that has become kind of this cultural icon for the WNBA, use their her platform to speak out in this way because
14:28
[SPEAKER_00]: she sees it as worth the cost.
14:30
[SPEAKER_00]: But for somebody that doesn't have that, the backlash they'd receive from it may just not be worth it to them, you know?
14:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't disagree with you there.
14:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Sophie's found herself in a unique position, and so she's got this kind of voice, but she's also getting a lot of heat.
14:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So it goes both ways.
14:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's what we know.
14:48
[SPEAKER_01]: No matter what males go through with gender reassignment surgeries and hormone therapies and all that, they still possess significant physical advantages.
14:56
[SPEAKER_01]: They always will and all sports and everything.
14:58
[SPEAKER_01]: So you don't really need a medical degree to know that there's a common sense there.
15:02
[SPEAKER_01]: There's also we know that God created us as male and female.
15:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he did create us with different advantages and skills and gifts and men are just gifted more physically in this sense in a lot of ways.
15:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, as Dr. Denson noted later on in that article that I was referencing earlier, he just noted that common sense eventually actually makes sense even to a post-truth culture.
15:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is good news y'all for those of us who believe in biblical morality, it's
15:30
[SPEAKER_01]: and that biblical morality is best for society.
15:32
[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually a comforting thing that there's things changing here.
15:36
[SPEAKER_01]: It's logical that the God who made us actually knows it's better than how we know ourselves.
15:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's logical that to believe that because God, as stated in 1st John 4-8, God is love,
15:49
[SPEAKER_01]: He can only want what is best for us.
15:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So put those facts together, and we can conclude that whatever God's word tells us about morality must be best for us as individuals and as a society.
16:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, add common sense, derive from experience, and you can ask questions like, is abortion best for pre-born children?
16:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Is sex trafficking best for those who are trafficked?
16:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Is adultery best for marriage?
16:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you know the answer to every single one of those questions.
16:16
[SPEAKER_01]: our biological males and women's sports best.
16:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you know the answer to that question.
16:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's questions that are actually pretty easy to answer.
16:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, God's word works, which should incentivize us to know and do what our father says about every temptation, every issue, and every decision that we're gonna face today in each day going forward, right?
16:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And the God who teaches what is best for us and his word will also empower us to choose what is best for us by his spirit.
16:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Parker Ephesians 518 tells us to be filled with the Spirit.
16:47
[SPEAKER_01]: First Corinthians 10, 13, remind us to turn to him in the face of every challenge.
16:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So with all that in mind, what's your next step of biblical obedience today?
16:57
[SPEAKER_01]: what does your father want you to do or to stop doing in order to experience him even more fully and the experience to fully abundant life of Christ.
17:08
[SPEAKER_01]: What changes do you need to make today?
17:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So, just want to leave you with that and I hope this was an informative conversation, but yeah, by granny last thoughts, you want to pop into your story over here.
17:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, let's jump over.
17:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you covered that really thoroughly.
17:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's jump over to talk about what's been happening in North Africa, Southern, Southwest Europe and kind of this Spanish Morocco crisis.
17:28
[SPEAKER_00]: This is, have you seen much about this story?
17:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
17:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's, it's definitely a kind of Eurocentric story I feel like.
17:37
[SPEAKER_00]: But it has some global effects, and I think it's something that what took place here we might see begin to take place in other parts of the world, and so if you don't know Morocco borders Spain
17:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just by water, but actually by land.
17:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Spain has an on-clave in North Africa called Quayta.
18:01
[SPEAKER_00]: It is part of Spanish territory, and it sits actually the only nation that it touches is Morocco.
18:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And it sits right there strategically at the Strait of Gibraltar, where mass shipping enters into the Mediterranean and exits out into the ocean.
18:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And this little strip of land received 72,000 migrants in the matter of a day, this past weekend.
18:33
[SPEAKER_00]: 72,000 migrants crossed all at once into quay to out of Morocco.
18:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And this was an unprecedented crisis, the sheer volume.
18:47
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like they're fleeing war.
18:50
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't, you know, all asylum seekers.
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: There wasn't some kind of invite from Spain calling people to come to them.
18:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And so this is created a really unique,
19:01
[SPEAKER_00]: controversy over kind of debate over what caused this, and then the response to it in terms of how the nations around the world are viewing Morocco, viewing Spain is really interesting.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I will say important note, Spain, at least claims that they have 70 of the 72,000 migrants have returned.
19:25
[SPEAKER_00]: whether that's assisted from Spanish military action to get them to go back or on their own returning home.
19:34
[SPEAKER_00]: In the process of all of this mass migration, more than 80 people died most.
19:41
[SPEAKER_00]: of those are drownings, people, though they border by land, there is a secure border wall.
19:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the migrants in Morocco are actually getting into the ocean swimming about three miles and then coming on land and quite... Yeah, the visuals, I mean the videos of this were just insane.
19:58
[SPEAKER_01]: If you haven't seen them, it is worth typing in and just going to look at some of the videos of these just masses of people coming around the corners out in the sea and just coming up
20:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, out of the water, they're dripping wet and they just start running through the through Quinta, and taking over in a way.
20:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But you can also see that they're like, well, what do we do next?
20:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We're here now, what's next, and it is a lot of, I know a lot of people noted that it's, if you watch the videos, it's a lot of like, young men, military age men, and they were physically capable of doing that swim and all of that.
20:30
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like you're getting just families or children or older people or anything.
20:39
[SPEAKER_01]: It's exactly the kind of people that have been, I don't know, I think there's a lot of warnings about allowing not just refugees who seem to be in some sort of crisis, but people who come into a border or country, specifically in Europe, this has been a conversation, you know, do you want groups like this to be coming into your borders?
20:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and that is an interesting point.
21:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, yeah, as you look at the images, you see occasionally women and children scattered, but it is almost overwhelmingly men and note that they're swimming.
21:10
[SPEAKER_00]: None of them are coming with baggage.
21:12
[SPEAKER_00]: None of them are coming.
21:13
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not bringing suitcases with them.
21:15
[SPEAKER_00]: and so it's a really unique scenario and I don't know that we've seen something quite like this that's not driven directly by armed conflict, right, or natural disaster.
21:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's important to note, Morocco is a by standards on its own continent.
21:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Morocco is a decently stable nation, it's a constitutional monarchy.
21:40
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not, it's still a developing nation.
21:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And they do have their own refugee crisis of sub-Saharan African migrants coming into Morocco.
21:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And then in this case, then using Morocco is the vessel to get to Queda.
21:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And you may be wondering, like, what's the significance of quite a wide go there?
22:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll talk about it more in just a moment.
22:06
[SPEAKER_00]: But note that Queda is separated from Spain by water.
22:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So though it is Spanish territory, you one would have to get into Queda, and then still by land or by sea or air, access the European continent.
22:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Morocco does have its own challenges facing radical Islamist groups within its nation.
22:33
[SPEAKER_00]: They do have economic problems and certainly there's a job crisis, but like I mentioned, Morocco is more stable than a lot of its surrounding nations.
22:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And then more recently, Morocco has worked hard to associate itself more intentionally with
22:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would also say Morocco, in the midst of all this chaos, this has to be part of our lens and how we view or try to understand what's happening here, Morocco needs Europe.
23:07
[SPEAKER_00]: They really cannot afford to completely sever ties or build hostilities with Spain.
23:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Morocco is dependent on Spain in a variety of ways, primarily through infrastructure and trade, and then it's important to note some already have begun talking about this.
23:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Morocco and Spain and Portugal are meant to host a World Cup together in just a few years.
23:32
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the next World Cup.
23:33
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got about that.
23:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Morocco has a decent chance to actually host the World Cup final in just four years time, and so they really can't afford to sever a relationship with Spain here.
23:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the big question is, what caused this?
23:50
[SPEAKER_00]: What have you heard anything in that realm?
23:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what's prompting 72,000 people to cross this board?
23:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually had this thought because I was like, okay, this something happened here where these people all knew to go at one time.
24:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure what caused that?
24:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I do know, I read quite a bit last week about how Spain has been when more generous with trying to bring migrants in or allowing migrants to come into their borders.
24:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I think a lot of that was,
24:13
[SPEAKER_01]: they were considering mainland Spain.
24:15
[SPEAKER_01]: This is, like you said, this is just a little on clay if attached to Morocco.
24:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is kind of a different scenario and they were able to get a lot of these people to go back into the Morocco borders and had to send military from Madrid and Barcelona and all that down to this on clay to help out with getting those people.
24:32
[SPEAKER_01]: back into Morocco, but I know that the Spanish Prime Minister has been very open about, hey, we welcome everybody here all of that.
24:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know if there was just a call to action in Morocco where people are like, hey, the Spanish Prime Minister and the government in Spain is saying we can we can go into their country and we're seeking another form of prosperity.
24:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We know we'll have more opportunity in Europe and in Spain.
24:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's let's let's if we all go at one time, we can all go and take advantage of this opportunity.
24:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and you note something really important here, contextually, as Spain has become a little bit more invidational towards migrants, which is kind of bucking a trend that we see across the rest of Europe.
25:16
[SPEAKER_00]: But Spain, at the earlier this year, they did what they called regularize the status of migrants that had overstayed their welcome overstayed their visas, essentially.
25:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Most of those migrants are from Latin America, and they came for work in the state.
25:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And basically, by American terminology, they grant an amnesty, essentially, to those individuals so that they are not going to be criminalized and deported.
25:45
[SPEAKER_00]: and that was something for migrants that were already living in Spain prior to January 1st.
25:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it seems that perhaps that that rule or that change in policy began to create some rumors within Morocco and this is what's been really interesting is there's not a lot of concrete truths as we try to dive into this one thing that is clearly evident and
26:11
[SPEAKER_00]: is that social media was the vessel by which this mass surge of migration was promoted.
26:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
26:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Propagated.
26:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, I mean, that makes sense.
26:24
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where people are talking in their lives.
26:26
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's accounts that are, our hard to trace.
26:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I read that the AP has reached out to as many of them as possible.
26:33
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of them have deactivated or deleted posts or whatever.
26:36
[SPEAKER_00]: None of them are responding.
26:41
[SPEAKER_00]: push to cross the border, and they were stating things that suggested that if you made it to Spain, Spain would not send you back.
26:50
[SPEAKER_00]: If you made it to Spain, they would not send you back and that there would be jobs.
26:54
[SPEAKER_00]: There would be food.
26:55
[SPEAKER_00]: There would be opportunity.
26:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was worth it to then swim three miles and make it onto the Spanish territory in hopes of
27:06
[SPEAKER_00]: uh, of getting some kind of security there, treating it almost like some kind of of promised land they were they were hoping to get to.
27:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it's easy to look at stories like this and just remove the human element.
27:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's just see it from political or geopolitical sense, but man, sometimes we just take it for granted here in America, just helpless.
27:24
[SPEAKER_01]: We are to have the opportunities we do, to live the life, the way that we're able to live.
27:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure same in Europe just in the western world and then to see these these people, yeah, they're like I just want to live a better life And if you're being told you can go do that without any sort of repercussion or being sent back home well
27:42
[SPEAKER_01]: can you blame them for wanting to take this win?
27:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like they're all going for nefarious reasons.
27:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
27:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Now the problem is within 72,000 people you're going to have some bad apples.
27:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it becomes a bigger issue and that's when it becomes an issue all the round.
27:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know a lot of people were comparing this to even the U.S. border and the immigration and surges we saw in the early 2020s.
28:06
[SPEAKER_01]: specifically before Donald Trump shut the border down there was a lot of uh... influx of immigrants and and Joe Biden started to shut it down towards the end of his ten year as well but for a few years there this was a lot of the conversation here in america and again we talked about it even on culture brief last year when we're discussing a lot of that is
28:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Immigration is it's people trying to seek out a better life most of the time and then you do have the bad apples in there That make it really hard to justify allowing people in a border, but I don't blame a lot of these people for wanting to go and try to seek out a better life in Spain
28:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and I agree with you, when we're evaluating at that individual level.
28:44
[SPEAKER_00]: The big question has been, is there something darker, deeper that's motivated all of a sudden, are these people being taken at the advantage of in some capacity?
28:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's crazy, you can look across new sites and you're going to see a variety of different perspectives on this, as many as four different ideas, one of which is that those radical Islamist groups
29:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Morocco or seeing an opportunity to take over institutions.
29:12
[SPEAKER_00]: There's an upcoming election in Morocco if they can stir up some chaos, perhaps they could take power and a border crisis would certainly do that.
29:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Others are seeing that Morocco is actually at odds with Spain, especially as it relates to Israel and the war between the United States and Iran.
29:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And the foreign policy is very different and Morocco is seeing this as an opportunity.
29:35
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... to take to get some negotiating leverage on spain interesting and and ultimately they see queda as part of their territory and so that's a challenge as well uh... maraco and spain have officially uh... spoken about this is if uh... there are smuggling or human trafficking groups that were trying to take advantage of people and that they were the ones that were pushing this in promoting it
29:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And then other outlets like the BBC have simply said the cause is unknown, so that's helpful investigative reporting.
30:04
[SPEAKER_00]: You mentioned it.
30:06
[SPEAKER_00]: The response has been really interesting on the U.S. side.
30:09
[SPEAKER_00]: President Trump has talked about this is something that it's a called it to go vote in the midterms list our border looks similar.
30:16
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the way he's he's he's he's talking about it in Europe.
30:20
[SPEAKER_00]: The tensions are already extraordinarily high regarding
30:23
[SPEAKER_00]: immigration and mass migration, especially from Islamic countries like Morocco, and so there is a great fear there and how this is being handled and that Spain is actually compromising the overall integrity of the continent by having what they call 22 out of 27 EU nations call this past week in Spanish immigration policy, a pool factor.
30:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And so in an open letter that they published, and so there's a lot of criticism on the European side of Spain in particular, and ultimately the President Trump doesn't see eye to eye with Spain right now in there.
31:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And in fact, as the lean much more towards the Moroccan side in recent months, just in terms of how they've approached foreign policy.
31:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, Trump's been mad at Spain for a while, and tariffs and trade, and even Spain has said that the U.S. cannot use military- their military bases to launch aircraft for the Iran War from Spanish territories.
31:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
31:24
[SPEAKER_01]: That's already gotten Trump's eye or so.
31:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I know he's- he's looking at this as an opportunity to really pound on Spain.
31:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
31:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so Spain is caught in the crosshairs here, some on their own doing, some based on whatever, the lies and rumors were that that promoted this mass migration.
31:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is one of those places where I think it's Christians.
31:45
[SPEAKER_00]: We should always hope for truth to prevail.
31:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
31:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And so whether that's truth about what's caused this or just at the ground level that we see in this scenario what the consequences of propagating lies are.
31:58
[SPEAKER_00]: 80 people are dead.
32:00
[SPEAKER_00]: because they believe lies about what would happen if they could make it to queta.
32:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
32:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we always want to promote truth and seek and desire truth.
32:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And you mentioned already, those 72,000 people, they're human beings.
32:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Some perhaps went for malicious reasons.
32:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Others went out of genuine hope others were probably victimized in into going and so I think we should always desire Truth we should also desire peace justice and obedience to the law We serve a God of order that's instilled government for the purpose of protecting its people yeah, and ultimately
32:40
[SPEAKER_00]: that the role of people in that is to owe therefore obey the government.
32:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's good for us, I think, to desire strong policies that protect nations our nation from outside threats and therefore we should desire for people to obey immigration law.
32:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the last thing I would say on this is Morocco and all of North Africa.
33:02
[SPEAKER_00]: need the gospel, and this whole region, the world, frankly, Spain, and Western Europe do too, and you have to wonder, does something like this occur if all these bordering nations have a common understanding of truth, and Morocco's 99% Muslim, North Africa's 95% Muslim, we should always be praying,
33:24
[SPEAKER_00]: for people in Morocco and certainly for our brothers and sisters in Christ that live in that that environment to be a light for the gospel and to let truth and grace and love abound.
33:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, I appreciate that it's a great call to prayer.
33:39
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... praying for this region praying for this situation praying for these people um... yeah i mean it's it's it's a big deal it's happening over there and what will continue to see things like this and yeah your you mentioned the response in europe from other nations and other european leaders is like hey we got a problem here uh... so what's the what's the solution i guess we'll just see how these countries work it out and that can feel far in distance the same way when we talk about israel when we talk about i ran and all these things that happen asia or in africa or europe
34:07
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're in America, you're in Canada, you're somewhere in North America.
34:10
[SPEAKER_01]: They can feel like a foreign distant thing, but there are real lives, real souls being impacted here.
34:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And so praying for that and praying ultimately, like you're saying, for the gospel, to the intercede, and be in these regions that is our job here.
34:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Even when we're far away, we can continue to pray for these situations.
34:25
[SPEAKER_01]: So thank you, Parker, for that breakdown.
34:27
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a real deal.
34:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a real thing happening.
34:30
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was good to talk about.
34:31
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's jump into our mail-back real fast.
34:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Just want to mention as always, you have questions for us.
34:36
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have topic ideas, if you've got hottake you want to share this.
34:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Let us know you can always email us at Coltabreefed.dinisonform.org or follow us over at Coltabreef podcast, sit in this a DM, drop a comment on a post there.
34:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I did drop a hottake couple weeks ago Parker.
34:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you'll agree with this.
34:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I told Mike that I knew.
34:53
[SPEAKER_01]: to commercials and I'm like that's a hot take.
34:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I don't know.
34:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought maybe maybe it's a warm take.
34:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure it's really a hot take.
34:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Look, I got responses from people who are like, yep, do the same thing, mute the commercials.
35:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Because honestly, why wouldn't you, uh, you know, her from people like Kathy, she emailed in and said, I love mute in the commercials.
35:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm right there with you.
35:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I just changed the channel.
35:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You just, well, the problem is when there's only one thing on.
35:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
35:14
[SPEAKER_01]: We're like, it's Sunday night football.
35:15
[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing else to change to.
35:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And everything now on streaming apps is we can't just hit a button to change the channel anymore.
35:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So,
35:22
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the way it is.
35:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I sounded so old school there.
35:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Now it is on streaming, you know, but all right, let's do a bit of check and we'll catch quite a few things to talk about.
35:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald Trump President Trump called off what he called the biggest attack since World War II against Iran over the weekend.
35:37
[SPEAKER_01]: He told reporters that on Air Force One and essentially a lot of people were expecting a big attack state department put out warnings to Americans over in the region on Saturday.
35:47
[SPEAKER_01]: to leave the region, get out of there, get out of dodge, take shelter, or find a safe place, where you can go in the instance of an attack or anything, because the expectation was Trump was going to order a massive attack on Iran and hopes to just really shut this war down.
36:02
[SPEAKER_01]: He backed off and said that he was reached out to by Cutter, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, some other Middle East regional allies who said, hey, we're on the verge of another deal.
36:11
[SPEAKER_01]: So we've heard this before, this is what we keep coming back to.
36:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what the details of this deal are, they haven't really announced, apparently we're on the cost of another opening of the straight-of-war moves.
36:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Guys, we don't know.
36:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, this has just been rinse and repeat every few weeks, we're about to attack, we don't.
36:28
[SPEAKER_01]: just keep praying.
36:29
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all we can say, right?
36:31
[SPEAKER_01]: This war is, it's, it's real, it's impactful.
36:35
[SPEAKER_01]: We just had a, you know, a funeral for one of the, the soldier's 19-year-old who died over in Jordan from a Iranian drone attack and she lived right down the street from where we're recording right now.
36:46
[SPEAKER_01]: That funeral was this past week and there was just really sad.
36:49
[SPEAKER_01]: This is real life for a lot of people, so continue to pray for that situation.
36:53
[SPEAKER_01]: on a more funno Parker something that will we have been watching uh... i just go say i think i've already said it once or twice the summer but do movie theaters are so back movies are here and they're at the center of culture again it's a good thing man it is a very good thing when the movie theater parking lot is packed
37:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I love passing a movie theater and just seeing it jam packed in the parking lot.
37:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so why do I say that?
37:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Because this past weekend was the largest ever collective U.S. box office in history with over $430 million brought in in the United States alone.
37:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Both AMC theaters and cinema theater chains said this was their highest weekend revenue in their history bigger than 2019, which was seen as a year.
37:37
[SPEAKER_01]: We may never get back to that was the year like a bunch of the Marvel movies came out in a
37:42
[SPEAKER_01]: This past weekend was fueled by several things.
37:44
[SPEAKER_01]: One, Toy Story 5 still going.
37:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Moana still going.
37:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Minion and monsters are still going so those kids movies were still bringing in some money.
37:50
[SPEAKER_01]: But the Odyssey is in its third weekend and it's still brought in $51 million and it's third weekend open and then the really big deal.
37:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Something I'm sure many of you have seen.
37:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure a lot of you all have seen this movie.
38:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Smired of man brand new day.
38:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Had the second largest opening.
38:06
[SPEAKER_01]: at Burr, behind only Avengers in game.
38:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So it brought in $355 million in the US alone.
38:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And then hundreds and millions more overseas.
38:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And now, as of Wednesday, when we're recording this, it's that made it past the billion dollar mark, which is a really big deal.
38:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Not a lot of movies do that.
38:23
[SPEAKER_01]: This movie made it past the billion dollars in less than a week.
38:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Spiderman continues to just thrive.
38:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Parker, you have seen both of these films.
38:32
[SPEAKER_01]: What do we need to know about both of them?
38:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think first and foremost, on the Odyssey, I definitely recommend seeing it in theaters.
38:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, get the full theatrical experience.
38:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's always a must on the Christopher Nolan train.
38:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know there's always going to be controversy around certain aspects of these big blockbuster movies.
38:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Just go see it, form your own opinion.
38:55
[SPEAKER_00]: and i'm not saying it's the best it's the best movie of the year i'm waiting for doing part three on that so i i think the best movies of the year or maybe you're still to come it's a it's a great movie year uh... spider-man uh... man i think this movie part of its popularity is it feels a little bit like a callback i think we knew we're gonna get this a little bit the end of no way home uh... callback to a day when uh... spider-man was just the neighborhood spider-man he was saving
39:21
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... street corners on New York from uh... you know street level villains and doing that kind of thing you know it's a fresh start for him it's he's able to it's called brand new day right he's he's taking off the baggage of some of the the past emcee you stuff uh... because uh... well i won't spoil the end of no way home i guess but the that can move he came out five years ago so you should
39:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely rewatch that or get a caught up on that before going to see brand new day But it feels like a spider-man movie.
39:53
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the best way I can save feels like a spider-man.
39:55
[SPEAKER_01]: There's something about spider-man movies always perform well People love spider-man.
40:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's a lot you can even dive into there of like why what is it about the hope that spider-man brings?
40:04
[SPEAKER_01]: What is it about the authenticity of that character Peter Parker and just being a kid who's just trying to figure out his way through the world and also managed to actually only get superpowers
40:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and now has to save the world.
40:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a fun character.
40:16
[SPEAKER_01]: There's something out being in New York City.
40:18
[SPEAKER_01]: All of that stuff is so unique.
40:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think people really want to gravitate towards that.
40:22
[SPEAKER_01]: They want hopeful stories.
40:24
[SPEAKER_01]: This is something we've been talking about.
40:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Like not everything has to be so cynical.
40:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We can have this idea of going to the movies to have a good time.
40:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Have fun.
40:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Watch Spider-Man fight villains.
40:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now I would say also this movie deals with a real world.
40:37
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... problem that a lot of people relate to and this idea of isolation and man there's nothing more prevalent as a i think a an individual personal crisis in our culture than isolation now and so i think that's a piece of it too and so it does handle a serious matter and i think it doesn't in a great way it also is the two biggest movie stars right now uh... oddly enough it's tomahawkland hauling has spiderman ends in day and they're both in the audacity as well so
41:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever you're going to see this weekend, they're probably in it and John Bernthals in both of those and and half the ways been in several movies this week I watched the devil wears proud of two over the weekend dropped on Hulu if you haven't seen it yet And I was reminded that and half ways and a lot of stuff this summer too.
41:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So some of these stars, man, they're they're bringing people out So great just talk there.
41:22
[SPEAKER_01]: We're happy to see the movies are back
41:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I love movies.
41:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't believe I've not seen either of these.
41:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got to go see at least one of them this weekend So we will talk about that, but Parker what else is going on in this sports world?
41:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Well Just a week or two ago LeBron signed his Big and perhaps last contract of his career should be a
41:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It's two years, eight million dollars, the Philadelphia 76ers.
41:43
[SPEAKER_00]: That's becoming old news now, but that is certainly the biggest sports move of the summer.
41:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Another massive move to place this week as the MLB trade deadline approached the Los Angeles Dodgers, the evil empire of baseball.
41:59
[SPEAKER_00]: uh, traded with the Detroit Tigers for Terri Scooble.
42:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Terri Scooble is, is two times so young.
42:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He's, he's, he's one of, easily one of the three or four best pictures in baseball, if not the best on any given day.
42:10
[SPEAKER_00]: He might be the best.
42:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, man, if, if the Dodgers, do they need anybody else to help them back to back World Series champions?
42:20
[SPEAKER_00]: best team in baseball and and they've added the best picture and this is creating some shock waves across the league as there's a threat of an impending lockout this off season.
42:32
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I wanted to ask you about from what I understand.
42:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm a I'm asking Barker this because you know I dabble in baseball Parker is a MLB fanatic he's a massive Rangers fan and from what I'm forcing.
42:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I know the Rangers keep you on your toes, right?
42:45
[SPEAKER_01]: What I'm
42:48
[SPEAKER_01]: We're on track to have a lockout like where there may not even be an MLB season in 2027.
42:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Does that sound right?
42:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And does this trade?
42:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the doctors are so powerful and just continue to build up Without a salary cap, they are able to just spend as much money as they want where the other big professional leagues all have salary cap So that the richest teams can't get all the biggest and best stars and players They can't just pay out everybody that they want.
43:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean the doctors are on like a billion dollar payroll at this point
43:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Does this mean there will be a lockout between the owners and the MLB players in 2027?
43:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't know that this trade alone does that.
43:22
[SPEAKER_00]: It may be a cherry on top.
43:24
[SPEAKER_00]: It is that there is this fear, I think, from especially the small market owners that they could just never put together a roster the way the Dodgers have.
43:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Terry Scooball himself feels differently about this Jesse Rogers from ESPN tweeted a quote from Scooball.
43:37
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, every team could trade for me.
43:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't sympathize with people that blame the Dodgers for anything they've done.
43:43
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a winning organization.
43:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I really don't sympathize with people that are complaining because the Dodgers do all the right.
43:48
[SPEAKER_01]: It's fair and square that MLB does not have a rule against spending this much money and on a payroll.
43:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and other teams could have traded prospects to Detroit.
43:57
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a fear if there is a lockout, how much am I willing to give up for a superstar rental?
44:02
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a free agent at the end of the year.
44:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the Dodgers were willing to give more perhaps than other teams were.
44:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's just the way that it worked out.
44:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's interesting though.
44:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Dodgers did not win.
44:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, they lost his cubs.
44:21
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't win everything, and maybe they won't win the World Series this year, but I'm guessing the odds are still in their favor to win the World Series.
44:28
[SPEAKER_00]: They certainly make a run at it with Showhail, Tony, and crew.
44:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, the last thing is just a quick tune-in update.
44:34
[SPEAKER_01]: There's not much going on.
44:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, we are still a few weeks away from the actual college football season NFL season.
44:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we'll get into the baseball postseason soon.
44:43
[SPEAKER_01]: NBA will start up in October and all of that.
44:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So, but right now, if you do want to dabble in football.
44:47
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're listening to this on Thursday, you can watch tonight.
44:50
[SPEAKER_01]: The NFL preseason starts.
44:52
[SPEAKER_01]: If that's something you you care about.
44:53
[SPEAKER_01]: The Hall of Fame game comes a week earlier than the rest of the preseason games.
44:56
[SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be played tonight on NBC.
44:59
[SPEAKER_01]: At APM Eastern.
45:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, it's the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers two teams at.
45:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not extremely excited to be watching certainly not their pre-season.
45:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because I definitely don't need to see their second and third strings.
45:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, you know, this will be Carson Beck, college football star, this will be his first NFL dabble, so if you care about Carson Beck or anything in that sense, you can watch that.
45:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise, not really a whole lot going on, we'll just keep in touch with the news, everything else going on in pop culture and all of that.
45:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So guys, thank y'all for tuning in to this week's Culture Reap.
45:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Parker, thanks for joining me.
45:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for having me.
45:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of Culture Brief, a Dinnison Forum podcast, all articles and videos mentioned in this episode will be linked in these show notes.
45:41
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45:47
[SPEAKER_01]: All episodes are produced by Sound of a Rose.
45:50
[SPEAKER_01]: For more information, you can visit Sound of a Rose.com.
45:53
[SPEAKER_01]: See you next Thursday.