Latest / Culture Brief - Christian perspectives on the week's biggest news, sports & pop-culture stories / Venezuela oil deal, Pentagon turmoil, Putin's desperation, foldable iPhone rumors & NFL returns! | Ep. 84

Transcript

Venezuela oil deal, Pentagon turmoil, Putin's desperation, foldable iPhone rumors & NFL returns! | Ep. 84 · Culture Brief - Christian perspectives on the week's biggest news, sports & pop-culture stories

0:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi, I'm Connor Jones, and I'm Josh Miller, and this is Culture Brief, a Dinnison Forum podcast where we navigate the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture and so much more.
0:13
[SPEAKER_00]: We do it all from a Christian perspective and Josh welcome back to Culture Brief.
0:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, glad to be here.
0:18
[SPEAKER_00]: What are we going to be talking about today, Josh?
0:19
[SPEAKER_01]: We're taking a bit of a trip around the world today.
0:21
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a little bit of movement in a lot of places.
0:24
[SPEAKER_01]: On the world today, so we're going to be talking Venezuela, Iran, Ukraine, Russia, how that's affecting all of us and others here in the U.S. And then we'll talk some sports and tech as well because we have to, and so it should be a good day.
0:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's jump into the brief.
0:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's do it.
0:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Alright Josh, kick us off with Ben as well.
0:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like we've been here in tricklings of things going on down there.
0:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, in typical Trump fashion, we find out things on truth social with recently on Friday posted in all caps.
0:58
[SPEAKER_01]: the biggest oil deal in world history, referring to what's going on in Venezuela.
1:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So before we get into the deal at self, which nobody's seen the final text here, so we don't know exactly what's going to happen, there's a lot of talk, but before we get into the deal at self, I want to talk a little bit of context, because as I got into this story, there was a lot more here, and this goes back a lot further than I even knew about, and so I thought it might be both interesting.
1:22
[SPEAKER_01]: For those listening and watching today, but also help provide some context to what the deal is self.
1:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I think they'd be helpful because I imagine for many people, they're like, okay, I know Venezuela's got oil.
1:32
[SPEAKER_00]: This is obviously an oil-rich country that doesn't know really how to produce it very well.
1:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we, and their socialists and all of that, and so yeah, Trump sent in the military, got to Maduro in January in an overnight raid.
1:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And we haven't really heard much since then, what's been going on down there?
1:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so you mentioned they don't know how to get the oil out now.
1:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, they used to, so back in the, all the way back in the 1920s, there was this giant oil well that sort of blew out and dumped, it was over a hundred thousand barrels of oil a day for over a week, we're going into Lake Marquibu out there.
2:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's when the world finally kind of took notice of Venezuela for the first time, this really out of this national disaster, but people are going, that's a lot of oil spilling into this lake, what's going on here.
2:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that was 1922 by 28, Venezuela was the largest oil exporter on the planet.
2:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
2:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it was near, and it was at the top for 40 years.
2:30
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you kind of think of the Middle East as this mecca of oil production and exports.
2:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, Venezuela actually was the king for a long time here.
2:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you probably have heard of OPEC when you talk about oil conversations.
2:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, in the 1960s, Venezuela was actually the one who helped instigate and create OPEC.
2:50
[SPEAKER_01]: There were five countries, they signed the initial charter in Baghdad, but Venezuela was sort of the...
2:57
[SPEAKER_01]: The folks who came up with it in the first place and were one of these first five countries to be a part of OPEC and so they were they were at the top of all of this and in this in 76 They actually nationalized their oil industry and so it was called the PD VSA and it was one of Latin America's largest and most respected oil companies in the world Interesting.
3:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I had I had no idea.
3:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean it's context.
3:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know either.
3:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean yeah history
3:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it turned, it turned Venezuela into the richest country in Latin America at the time.
3:29
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you especially adjusted by population, so like income per person, type U.L.
3:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the richest country in Latin America.
3:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So things were going great.
3:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Venezuela was really experts in this.
3:40
[SPEAKER_01]: The richest oil fields in the world.
3:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And then in the 90s, a name you may be familiar with, Hugo Chavez took power from the late 90s.
3:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And so,
3:51
[SPEAKER_01]: don't have time to get in all of that today, but not a good dude.
3:54
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of corruption, a lot of issues there, and so there was a massive strike that took place in the oil industry at that time after he took over, which led him to fire nearly half of that company, that nationalized oil company, fired half the people, including most of the engineers, geologists, and managers who actually knew how to take care of the oil, and so they just never, they never
4:20
[SPEAKER_01]: 2013 Maduro steps in so Chavez dies Maduro steps in and the collapse sort of continues to the point where we are now obviously we had you know earlier in a year U.S. goes and grabs Maduro and all of that leads us to sort of where we are now but yeah it's something well I'm just thinking like
4:43
[SPEAKER_00]: This is, I know you're very specifically hitting on the oil, but it's also just the story of social media of like what happens in corruption and socialism and a dictatorship and all that this is what happens when you have a country that is so wealthy.
4:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
4:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I didn't realize over the wealthiest nation in South America in the 70s.
4:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it makes sense when you realize you're sitting on an oil, gold mine.
5:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
5:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And then for that all to just go out the door like that and to be one of the poorest countries in the world because of a bad rulership.
5:10
[SPEAKER_01]: you had greed and corruption squandered incredible resources and so you know in the late 90s they were producing 3.45 million barrels per day by 2020 so 3.45 million by 2020 they're down to 337 thousand barrels per day so strength about 74 percent.
5:31
[SPEAKER_01]: while still being the largest reservoir of oil like we know where the oil is.
5:38
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the largest on earth, and nobody tops them, but they are 21st in actual production and output.
5:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just because of the mismanagement and greed, corruption, just in the midst of potential there.
5:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they could be like the next Dubai.
5:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, UAE or Kuwait or Qatar, Bahrain, these small Middle East countries who are also sitting on in same reserves and have just become extremely wealthy.
6:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, yep.
6:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's sort of the, when you look at some of the decisions being made around Benus Wala, I think you see Trump and US leadership, both having, you know, historically had good relationship before Chavez and Maduro,
6:18
[SPEAKER_01]: they see this untapped potential.
6:20
[SPEAKER_01]: They see this resource here that is not being utilized.
6:24
[SPEAKER_01]: They see, you know, government that's sort of poised against the US and they're stepping into do something about that.
6:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's all sorts of things around whether or not this was,
6:37
[SPEAKER_01]: something that was appropriate for us to go due to go and and capture this leader there's debate over whether or not he was truly a valid leader if and error was a valid leader of Venezuela at the time i know you've discussed some of this before on the focus around the uh... kosher brief i was going to talk about the focus in minute uh... but you can see sort of
6:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Why the government was getting excited about maybe we can do something with this in a way now that we have a leader in place That's a little bit more positive toward the US can we do something with this and so Yeah, first of all, do you know any of this kind of history about going back into I mean just some of just some of what you said I mean, I knew they were they were sitting on oil reserves.
7:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't realize all the OPEC is here and everything there
7:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but now, you know, the history, it does matter, but it feels like it's a new country in a way.
7:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, it's still the socialist government, right?
7:26
[SPEAKER_00]: They're still in charge, but it's a new leader who you like, you just said is more friendly towards the U.S. Parkland, because she kind of has to be, right?
7:33
[SPEAKER_00]: She knows now what can happen when you're not friendly to the U.S. Yeah, there's always a threat of... And they still have not had elections.
7:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the way.
7:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, yeah, and they, they should, I mean, democratically, they should have elections and put the right person in charge.
7:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, now, I mean, the U.S. basically is this thumb of power over the entire country of Venezuela and their government to essentially, you know, make something like this happen where you can start tapping into these oil reserves.
7:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
7:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And only the largest in the world, I didn't realize that either.
8:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so as part of this deal, what we do know, and again, we don't have the, we don't have the final text on this to know exactly what all of the stipulations are here, but we know that there's a claim now for 17 oil fields that the US has involved in 65 million excuse me barrels of claimed reserves and it's a 100 year concession so essentially a 100 year claim to these particular wells or oil fields.
8:27
[SPEAKER_01]: which means Venezuela technically owns the resource, but it's a North American blue energy partners is now the operator who has the right to develop and operate those fields for 100 years.
8:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and what's really unique about this is that now the Pentagon through the Office of Strategic Capital has a 35% equity stake in an ABEP so that North American blue energy partners.
8:53
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what's extremely unusual about this, for minor standing, this is really the first time that the Pentagon has taken equity in a sort of private company around oil reserves in this way before, which is what is kind of raising a flag or a question for people on whether or not they should, what that means, and whether or not that's even right for them to do that.
9:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And then as part of the deal, the State Department gets the right to buy 20 percent of the oil
9:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, interesting.
9:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the state department this.
9:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so the government is like we're putting our fingers in here with like the military is like we're going to own a stake in the company doing this state departments like we're going to also get some of this at costs before anybody makes a profit.
9:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and keep it for ourselves.
9:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah and so it appears to be this kind of attempt to create stability and ownership in this and going hey we're going to invest here and control it and make sure it's done right and then also on the back end we're going to get sort of discounts, better deals on the output as a part of that and so you know Ryan did mention the focus, come back to that that
9:58
[SPEAKER_01]: The, you know, since Maduro's ousting, Trump had been talking about, go, everybody go in and start fixing up the place.
10:05
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's open for business, but it seemed to be that there was still some instability around.
10:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we, you know, is this going to last?
10:12
[SPEAKER_01]: It takes a lot of money invested into this sort of deprecated system out there to be able to get the oil out.
10:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So billions of dollars have to first go in to
10:27
[SPEAKER_01]: As did with Chavez back in the day, all of the expertise in country is now gone.
10:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So they have to get back people in country, build all the infrastructure, again, which takes a lot of money.
10:35
[SPEAKER_01]: They're hoping now that the government is intervening, US government is intervening here, that it's more of a signal of stability, a long-term commitment here, to where the companies feel safe to go and invest into the country and get the output of oil.
10:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I know that a lot of the oil executives like Trump had them all come to the White House right after the raid to get maduro and say, hey, the country's open for business go like you just said, you know, like X on mobile and some of these other big oil execs came in and they were all very trepidacious about it.
11:01
[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, I mean, we don't know about this because they don't know about the stability.
11:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not an easy country to convince people to go move to.
11:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's not safe.
11:09
[SPEAKER_00]: It's.
11:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Very obviously run down from these years of socialism and I can't even imagine what their oil refineries and drilling situations Look like that these companies like it must be bad enough that these companies who have loads and loads of money are even saying that's not worth our time Everybody so yeah, it's simply like this is maybe a foot in the door for the government to say actually We're trying to make sure you know you can go because ultimately here's the question we're all asking
11:35
[SPEAKER_00]: will this make our cast cheaper like this is going to help Americans out.
11:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's that's definitely one of the questions we're asking here in the US.
11:42
[SPEAKER_01]: The first question I still kind of wrestle with and I don't have a clear answer to is whether or not we should be doing this at all.
11:47
[UNKNOWN]: Okay.
11:48
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a good question too.
11:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know, you know, there's a long history of conflict and issues around pursuing oil.
12:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Really.
12:00
[SPEAKER_01]: There are wars that happen because there will be a few things might come to mind and so you know I don't know the answer to this whether or not this is This is an integral move on our part interesting.
12:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I think people are arguing both sides here I think Where I'm kind of landing on this just personally is the proof of being the pudding so to speak is how we actually implement this will what will really matter
12:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll get to a little bit of that in a moment, but your question, a lot of people are asking the gas question, and that's what really trump touted as The initial major benefit of this is hey, I'm gonna you're gonna see gas prices come down.
12:35
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna fill the strategic petroleum reserve
12:39
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's a lot of skepticism on whether or not that will actually make an impact, even with the scale of output here, if that will truly make an impact.
12:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And at least how long that will take to make an impact again, a lot of infrastructure has to go back in.
12:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And so even if gas prices come down, this probably this isn't a quick fix.
12:57
[SPEAKER_01]: by any means and then there's also you get into some complexities around and I didn't know a lot of this as well I probably should live in a Texas but there's light versus heavy crude and extra crude there's different types of crude oil coming out of the ground at different parts of the country
13:13
[SPEAKER_01]: which all requires different types of processing, which all take different amounts of time.
13:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you got to get the oil out.
13:22
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to process it to be usable for different purposes before it shows up in the petroleum reserves, before it shows up at the gas pump.
13:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And so,
13:30
[SPEAKER_01]: all this will take time.
13:32
[SPEAKER_01]: The other challenge I mentioned too is just get in the expertise down there to get it out.
13:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll see over time if it has some impact.
13:39
[SPEAKER_01]: The other question I was kind of asking myself is I was looking at this is who benefits and that depends on who you asked.
13:46
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, in the best case scenario, this is being touted like I said as a win for the U.S. economically for our gas prices and a win for the people of Venezuela.
13:59
[SPEAKER_01]: the people of Venezuela have suffered more than anybody else as a result of this poor leadership of the country and so economic investment into the country had gone away completely and so if stewarded well you're gonna see a lot of resources pouring to the country a lot of jobs pouring to the country a lot of financial stability poured into the country if stewarded well and so that could be beneficial and a lot of people are arguing that
14:26
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to take the counter argument, counter argument, many are saying that this primarily benefits the US government, private oil companies, and the interim Venezuela leadership.
14:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's question around, does this translate to the people of Venezuela will they see the benefit and the impact, and we just don't know yet?
14:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
14:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, there's so many questions here.
14:49
[SPEAKER_00]: The best we can hope for is one, this will benefit the Venezuelan people too, that this would benefit.
14:54
[SPEAKER_00]: everyday Americans that this would bring our gas prices down and in return that would also bring down grocery prices and supply prices because the trucking industry and everything that requires fuel will come down and aircraft tickets all of that.
15:05
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the big hope.
15:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You really got to cross your fingers on that.
15:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just none of this stuff ever goes the way you think it's going to.
15:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this is right.
15:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I think for moments of probably corruption and conflict.
15:23
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, even industrial accidents, all that.
15:26
[SPEAKER_00]: There's all kinds of things that can happen here.
15:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Ideally, it all goes right and everybody's lives get better in Venezuela and the U.S.
15:32
[SPEAKER_00]: But I will say the timing of the announcement.
15:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I know you're saying this will take time to happen.
15:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The timing of the announcement from Trump is not unintentional.
15:39
[SPEAKER_00]: This is writing into the midterms knowing that
15:41
[SPEAKER_00]: They need it a win.
15:41
[SPEAKER_00]: They need a win.
15:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe this is a kind of a public win, but people need to understand the education of this.
15:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything, all the context you just brought is the real facts behind what this announcement, what this deal, quote unquote, means.
15:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.
15:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So just two quick thoughts to wrap this up for us.
15:59
[SPEAKER_01]: The first thing is, man, that I took away from this is man leadership matters.
16:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah.
16:04
[SPEAKER_01]: You see this trail of poor leadership,
16:07
[SPEAKER_01]: causing destruction and damage to so many people's lives.
16:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And so my hope and prayer in this season is that both the leadership of our country and the leadership of the Venezuelan people acts with integrity and wisdom and faithful stewardship of this incredible resource they have.
16:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Just because you have a lot doesn't mean you're going to flourish.
16:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, and really the difference there is how you steward and lead those resources that God has given you.
16:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm praying for that through this season and the other thing that was just a reminder here is that, you know, we do think about this in terms of gas prices.
16:41
[SPEAKER_01]: What actually probably is more important thing about is that there are a lot of people that are going to be affected on a substantial level.
16:48
[SPEAKER_01]: because of this deal.
16:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Either for the positive or the negative.
16:51
[SPEAKER_01]: The people of Venezuela have the most to gain or lose based on how this is handled.
16:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And really business at its best blesses the lives of those around it.
17:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if business is done well, both yes, the owners or the leaders of that business should flourish in benefit, but so should the customers, you're providing a good or service that should be beneficial to the customer.
17:14
[SPEAKER_01]: The employees should be benefiting from a
17:17
[SPEAKER_01]: stable job and a paycheck and being treated fairly in the communities should also flourish as a result of a healthy business.
17:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And so my hope is as this deal unfolds that not just certain oil companies or certain governments are flourishing, but that this is making a positive impact on everybody who touches it.
17:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, us for customers of, you know, consumers of gas for the employees of these companies and hopefully employees in Venezuela and the community at large in Venezuela should benefit as well if the leadership is acting with integrity and being faithful steward of the resources.
17:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Good point, Josh.
17:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you think of a company that like blesses everybody.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I think of like Chick-fil-A.
17:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It's blessing.
17:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It's customers by not even just the good product that they provide, but you feel like you're getting a good experience.
18:02
[SPEAKER_00]: People are joyful at Chick-fil-A, which is because then employees feel blessed to be working there, which is because the business is blessed.
18:08
[SPEAKER_00]: That's obviously a fast food example.
18:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Not oil.
18:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't I don't know about the whole oil industry, but
18:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a good point.
18:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Business should be a blessing in different ways when it's done correctly.
18:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And especially when it's done in the glory of God, which is, you know, that's what Chick Play does and a bunch of other Christian owned businesses.
18:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for that breakdown Josh super helpful.
18:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Really good context for all of us to really understand as this deal plays out.
18:32
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see how it goes over the next few months.
18:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And
18:34
[SPEAKER_00]: probably next couple of years.
18:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Ideally, our gas prices go down.
18:37
[SPEAKER_00]: But part of that is also going to be, depending upon what we're about to talk about here, which is, yes, the Iron War, but that's not the only thing I wanted to discuss.
18:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Several geopolitical things going on, starting right here on the home front with a massive resignation that happened in Washington, D.C. this week.
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: That is Dan Driscoll.
18:55
[SPEAKER_00]: He was the U.S. Army Secretary.
18:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he still is technically
19:02
[SPEAKER_00]: that's happening because he, you know, he's in charge of the U.S. Army.
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He's had a bunch of just tensioned with the Secretary of Defense slash war, Pete Higgs, they've been going at it for months apparently.
19:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of it really came to head over this Iran war, they see
19:19
[SPEAKER_00]: everything differently that they don't have the same perspective on the war, but specifically the modernization of the military and very specifically the army.
19:26
[SPEAKER_00]: The Atlantic, they had a report that said he brought concerns about the future of the army under P.A.exe directly to President Trump, a sign of just how far tensions between the two Pentagon leaders had escalated and of the dysfunction in the Pentagon.
19:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Trump was surprised when Driscoll told him how many generals and other top officers had been fired, pushed out or passed over for promotion under HECSE.
19:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Driscoll argued that the army could not transform itself the way it needs to because of the departure of so many leaders, adding that Trump actually expressed concern about the deep cuts of the army senior leadership.
19:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So Driscoll's got his concerns, he takes it directly to Trump.
20:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And Trump apparently is surprised by what's been going on at the pinnagon.
20:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think Trump sees all the news reports of some of the things that have happened in recent months of firing or a bunch of retirements and resignations from top staff and generals who are like, we don't, we don't want to deal with this anymore or they're getting fired.
20:16
[SPEAKER_00]: They're seen as in the way of whatever the mentality at the pinnagon is under hexeth.
20:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
20:21
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... this is this comes really also as the Washington Post is reporting that there's little appetite within top military ranks for indefinitely continuing the current all out operation with iran uh... judge just up top here how does all that information make you feel you know i think i think it's a bit ironic to me that you know we're
20:40
[SPEAKER_01]: The administration is talking about how we need a project strength in this season.
20:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
20:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It's difficult to project strength when you're also incredibly divided.
20:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
20:48
[SPEAKER_01]: There's strength in unity.
20:50
[SPEAKER_01]: People come in together.
20:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, we have a common cause, common message.
20:53
[SPEAKER_01]: We know how to work together.
20:54
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no daylight between us.
20:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think this is working against.
20:59
[SPEAKER_01]: are sort of projection of, hey, we're a strong, strong military, strong country, strong leadership, strong administration when there seems to be a lot of division here infighting.
21:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it makes me uncomfortable to see all of this happening.
21:14
[SPEAKER_01]: You kind of, you want your top officials, especially your leaders of your military to be in lockstep with the president
21:22
[SPEAKER_01]: that, you know, able to overcome problems and challenges and differences, and so it's not an encouraging sign for me to see that they can't kind of overcome these disagreements and figure out how to get things done.
21:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't just want unity, you want the top people in the most talented, most skilled people to be in those positions and if they're not, then that also causes a division too.
21:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a, it's to the leadership question, who's leading these organizations, these massive military branches.
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of two questions here about that.
21:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Nonetheless, it's becoming more and more difficult, I think, for the U.S. to get out of this quagmire with Iran.
21:55
[SPEAKER_00]: This war, as you recall, was supposed to last a few weeks, we're now drifting it to month seven, and we know that things have just, it's having this deteriorating effect, not only on our, our military leadership apparently, but our military stockpile.
22:10
[SPEAKER_00]: and specifically are navy.
22:12
[SPEAKER_00]: There's been a lot of stores coming out of the Middle East from the USS Lincoln, which has been at sea for nine straight months.
22:19
[SPEAKER_00]: No no stops at port.
22:21
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one thing for to be out for nine months, but make a couple stops at port.
22:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And deployment, but they have been at sea for nine straight months.
22:28
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the longest the navy ship has ever been at sea without a port stop.
22:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's been reports of supply shortages on the ship, plumbing issues, deteriorating conditions and specifically deteriorating mental health among the 5,000 sailors on board with family members actually reaching out to Congress to say that they are hearing that their loved ones are informing them of these tough conditions and that some of them have actually tried to jump overboard.
22:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
22:52
[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty bad.
22:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, what you just said is pretty shocking.
22:54
[SPEAKER_01]: The longest in naval ship has ever been at sea without a port stop.
23:00
[SPEAKER_01]: you think back to our history world wars and you would not expect at least I would not expect that we're talking about this type of length of the deployment without a stop in this current climate seems totally doesn't add up to me well so this ship was supposed to be a left port in November it was supposed to be hovering off the coast of China and all that just to deterrent mechanism and then we started this war with Iran and they got called into action in the Middle East so
23:25
[SPEAKER_00]: they've extended their deployments rather than going back to a port at some point they've been hanging out off the coast of Iran for the last six months, you know, launching aircraft to go to do these missions and all of that.
23:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, it takes a toll on people who haven't touched land in nine months, that is crazy.
23:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Thankfully, they actually docked in Thailand this morning and the sailors onboard again a few days to hang out on shore before they as they
23:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You know at Senator Richard Blumenthal specifically said that there have been widespread reports of shortages of these basic supplies and water contamination and plumbing issues and deteriorating mental health and dex safety concerns and disruptions in the mail system all of which have caused many packages care packages from family members
24:12
[SPEAKER_00]: and route to the ship to be lost in transit for months, part of this is because we actually had a naval base get hit by Iranian missiles earlier this year in ball rain that is typically the supply base where they send supplies from there to these aircraft carriers and other ships because they got hit they've been having to have other logistics working through much further distances from thousands of miles away and instead of hundreds of miles away to
24:36
[SPEAKER_00]: to offer clarification here, a headset has actually said these concerns about the Lincoln had been completely misrepresented.
24:42
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, after really several weeks here of just public knowledge of what's going on there, the Pentagon finally did announce they were bringing them home.
24:52
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why they're now in Thailand.
24:54
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's wartime.
24:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's the way the Pentagon would see this officially, they're saying, hey, you don't want to have great conditions of worry when you enlist when you sign up for the military, you're signing up for the fact that you might be living in a foxhole in the middle of a trench, you know, or you might be living in tough conditions, whatever it is, but how should we feel about these tough conditions, Josh?
25:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel for, and all of these, I feel for people, you know, same in the Venezuela story, it's the people that are most affected.
25:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think there's a tension here, you know, yes, these are soldiers, but these are humans.
25:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, to you're, to again, to the point of, this is the longest sort of deployment in this way, ever.
25:34
[SPEAKER_01]: We are asking more of these sailors than has ever been asked before in that regard.
25:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it can imagine that having an effect.
25:42
[SPEAKER_01]: It also just makes me wonder how much of what is transpired with Iran was just unexpected.
25:48
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that we, you know, these bases were either destroyed or can't be accessed because they're in range of Iranian missiles and so, you know, where the aircraft carriers could typically go.
26:01
[SPEAKER_01]: could get targeted by Iran.
26:03
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a big target.
26:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they're kind of keeping these outside the circle where they can get hit, which limits where they can go.
26:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I just feel for the people on these ships.
26:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't imagine being out there for that long.
26:17
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do also, there is a tension here around.
26:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, we are in this this war season and so sometimes it's going to much is going to be required.
26:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I am at least glad though that they're, you know, getting a break here and can get on some land at least for a couple days before getting back home.
26:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope they enjoy that.
26:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you just think they left they left port in the United States on November 21st.
26:40
[SPEAKER_00]: and that was well before we had any idea or inclination that something was going to pop off with Iran.
26:46
[SPEAKER_00]: They probably thought they were going to be on a peaceful deployment, knowing that they could be called an action at any minute, especially in self-defense.
26:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But this is one of those questions again where people are like,
26:55
[SPEAKER_00]: is this warm?
26:56
[SPEAKER_00]: What we thought that these soldiers should be fighting is this what we wanted.
27:00
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of questions around that.
27:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And speaking of that, we are back firing missiles at Iran again this week.
27:06
[SPEAKER_00]: We had several weeks of no exchange of fire.
27:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Then the U.S. hit several different targets on the coast of Iran that they say were being prepared to shoot at ships or drop mines in the straight-of-form moves.
27:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we started attacking those preemptively.
27:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I ran, started launching missiles, back at our bases, and Jordan.
27:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're back at this again.
27:24
[SPEAKER_00]: It sounds like a tip for tat.
27:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Back and forth firing.
27:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, I don't know where this is going.
27:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Trump has floated the idea that straightforward moves can become a U.S. territory.
27:35
[SPEAKER_00]: He posted an AI video on two social achievements in the middle of the go that's where he likes to make his announcements of the Carg Island, which is their oil island being destroyed.
27:45
[SPEAKER_00]: with explosions.
27:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if that's a threat, like we made coming to do that to your car island or not.
27:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I really don't know, but there are serious costs to this war on several fronts.
27:56
[SPEAKER_00]: One, on the military members, we just talked about not just sailors at sea, but there are members in the Middle East who are deployed over there for this and all that.
28:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And they are interesting conditions or tough conditions, or they're just waiting for what's next.
28:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're also under fire.
28:09
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're at these little bases in Jordan and you're having
28:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think this is just a great lesson here for us that, you know, I think when we go back to the Venezuela story, the amount of confidence, I think Trump gained in terms of what we could instigate and go in a complex by just military might.
28:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me just jump in here, oscillator, and now make this sort of oil deal.
28:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that.
28:33
[SPEAKER_01]: they gain so much confidence and we could do something similar in Iran.
28:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you see this happened even in the Old Testament with the nation of Israel.
28:40
[SPEAKER_01]: They get some sort of victory, get, you know, super confident in themselves, and then go and do something outside of what God has asked them to do and fail miserably.
28:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have the temptation to do this ourselves to go, oh yeah, I had a huge win here.
28:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I can go, have a huge win again.
28:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And so
28:57
[SPEAKER_01]: More than being, you know, even critical of the government in this spot, I just want us to take stock of, man, this is a human condition we have.
29:05
[SPEAKER_01]: We gain this confidence in ourselves to be able to go accomplish things, we tout our victories as our own, and failures as somebody else's fault.
29:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we just tended, you know, dispersed the blame to other people and then overstep what God has asked us to do.
29:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is just a great example of what we don't want to do as individuals is to gain confidence over confidence in our abilities without being wise and cautious and really going to the Lord in terms of what types of decisions we make here because it appears this is
29:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Backfire a bit.
29:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, and that that's set me up perfectly because that's where I'm kind of headed with this not just with the US But with Russia here in just a minute, too, but I do want to hit on a couple other things.
29:48
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll facet this war is costing Beyond the total of military members.
29:52
[SPEAKER_00]: It's also costing the greater risk of spilling over to a much larger war I mean, right now it's in a way is contained.
29:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been just between Iran and the US and Israel But this could spill.
30:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there's there's talks about Turkey and they're conflict with Israel There's talks about Russia
30:07
[SPEAKER_00]: that is helping Iran with weapons.
30:09
[SPEAKER_00]: This could easily spill into something much bigger.
30:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully it does not.
30:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Politically, the war is obviously costly for Republicans, and specifically Trump, it's polling so poorly.
30:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's dragging Republicans down going into this midterm cycle here in November.
30:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We're two months out from the midterms.
30:25
[SPEAKER_00]: midterm elections, and so this is not great for Republicans.
30:28
[SPEAKER_00]: They do not like that this is happening on their ticket.
30:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, we've discussed previously the longer we're in this conflict, the less prepared the U.S. military is to ward off a Russia or a China or another big enemy or an attack on our own land.
30:42
[SPEAKER_00]: But we are not the only superpower nation caught up in some sort of no-end insight war right now.
30:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Russia is in particularly in a bad space and Putin is led them into this really bad space and a very precarious position in their war with Ukraine.
30:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Josh, are you aware of just how bad it's going for for Russia right now?
31:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I keep hearing things on both sides here around.
31:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It seems like both are trying to adjust.
31:07
[SPEAKER_01]: nobody seemed to be able to have sort any sort of breakthrough and everybody is suffering.
31:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, I'd be curious to see what you've been hearing.
31:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, so I did a bunch of research on this yesterday because I was curious too.
31:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, I keep seeing that it's out of stalemate, right?
31:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody's moving forward.
31:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Ukraine has defended themselves.
31:22
[SPEAKER_00]: They've lost some territory, but Russia's not gaining in the territory.
31:25
[SPEAKER_00]: They basically put up a front line of defense that says that is preventing Russia from moving forward at all, which is really embarrassing for Russia because they are supposed to be the much bigger and
31:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, uh, also expected it to be fast.
31:39
[SPEAKER_00]: They weren't prepared for this long term.
31:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Putin said this was a 48 hour invasion.
31:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, they were supposed to, which, you know, he was taking playbooks out of what Hitler used to do with the Blitzkrieg, uh, taking over entire nations in 48 hours.
31:51
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not how it went.
31:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they totally underestimated the Ukrainian resiliency, the military might of Europe and the US coming into support Ukraine, um, and NATO, even though they're not a NATO nation at Ukraine, NATO really kind of supporting.
32:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Supporting.
32:05
[SPEAKER_00]: from afar by providing weapons and technology and even intelligence, right?
32:10
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's going really poorly for the Russian military.
32:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They can't seem to gain ground.
32:14
[SPEAKER_00]: They lose thousands of troops each week.
32:16
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, the CIA director John Rackcliffe said last week that the average life expectancy for a Russian soldier entering a battlefield in Ukraine is 20 to 30 minutes.
32:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Shocking.
32:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And this sometimes is within three to four weeks after they are drafted into the military.
32:30
[SPEAKER_00]: They get hardly any training and they are sent to the front lines.
32:34
[SPEAKER_00]: That's because there's these AI power drones, which we've actually written about at Dennis and form recently, specifically Russia and AI power drones, which are targeting civilian targets.
32:43
[SPEAKER_00]: But Ukraine also has AI power drones that they've developed over the last couple years, and they've gotten to be so specialized that they are now these like low cost killing machines.
32:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they are actually small quadcopter drones, which are so cheap and easy to make and fast, and they are just tools that they are calling slaughter bots, where essentially AI makes them impervious to jamming.
33:07
[SPEAKER_00]: They can't be jammed out by Russian defenses, and they are able to just remove the human element at the last leg of their journey, find a soldier and literally just go take them out.
33:18
[SPEAKER_00]: it's it's in a way it's scary that there's anything like this and that there's a name literally slaughter boxes what they're called but it is it's I mean it's taking out these soldiers almost immediately after they get to the front lines and so Ukraine has said that in the last 18 or really since the war started Russia's lost 1.4 million soldiers and they're killing about 200 soldiers for every kilometer
33:43
[SPEAKER_00]: of territory that Moscow claims Russia suffered a casualties rate of eight to one compared to Ukraine.
33:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And Russia's only gained 1% of Ukraine's territory in the last 18 months to the point about it really being kind of like trench warfare still mate.
33:56
[SPEAKER_00]: But modern trench warfare is right.
33:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It's these drones.
33:59
[SPEAKER_00]: It's these
34:00
[SPEAKER_00]: high-tech missiles and weapons that are being used to prevent forward movement.
34:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and meanwhile, you cranes also, they started launching long-range attacks into Russia.
34:11
[SPEAKER_00]: They're hitting their oil refineries.
34:13
[SPEAKER_00]: They've hampered one-third of Russia's oil production.
34:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, which is, I mean, this is just, you know, what have a big oil discussion, essentially?
34:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, New Zealand.
34:20
[SPEAKER_00]: New Zealand.
34:20
[SPEAKER_00]: New Zealand.
34:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And Iran in the straight-of-war moves in Russia, how much oil matters in it's making the people in Russia mad.
34:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they're sitting at these long gas lines.
34:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Their gas is no more expensive.
34:30
[SPEAKER_01]: part of the shift in strategy here.
34:32
[SPEAKER_01]: If we can't make military gains, battlefield gains, let's make sure everyone in country also is suffering and feeling the effect to apply pressure to the leadership to do something.
34:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So it seems like I heard recently as well that Russia has shifted their strategy where they were doing sort of drones into Kiev overnight.
34:51
[SPEAKER_01]: They do these waves of drones and they've shifted recently to just keeping the drones perpetually coming in.
34:58
[SPEAKER_01]: 24 hours a day just a consistent flurry of drones to where people can't have a moment of peace.
35:05
[SPEAKER_01]: They're always watching, tracking live tracking drones coming into the country on apps on their phones in Kiev because it's just a constant flurry.
35:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that is
35:16
[SPEAKER_01]: the more they can disrupt normal life within these countries, the more they're hoping it or break something loose to make a change.
35:23
[SPEAKER_00]: That's exactly the story.
35:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Ukraine's also hitting basically, it's called wildberries.
35:27
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like the Russian Amazon equivalent.
35:29
[SPEAKER_00]: They're hitting their factories, but they're warehouses where all these products are that the people order to their homes and that also helps supply their military and all that.
35:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It'd be like our oil and our Amazon warehouses in America getting hit.
35:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, people in America would start being like, what is going on in this thing?
35:45
[SPEAKER_00]: It is applying pressure to Putin and he is apparently getting pretty desperate desperate enough towards a rare and unannounced visit from John Radcliffe, who I mentioned a minute ago, the CIA director last week.
35:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Radcliffe went to Moscow for a couple hours on this with Klandestine trip.
36:00
[SPEAKER_00]: basically it sounds like to according to reporting from political and a couple other outlets they said he went to warn Russia not to attack NATO nations and to press them to reduce military and economic support for Iran.
36:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems to indicate really that the U.S. has intelligence that Russia is considering some sort of preemptive attack on a NATO country which would test the resilience of NATO and even America's resilience would we actually come in to support another NATO nation such as like
36:25
[SPEAKER_00]: specifically, I think he quoted or highlighted Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are these small, we've heard Baltic state countries right on the edge of Russia would we actually go support Estonia and defend them if they got attacked by Russia?
36:39
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the question to be known to that.
36:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's what Russia wants to test.
36:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Even this week, Germany's had a couple like these attacks on their energy infrastructure that they are blaming on Russia, that they are not saying is necessarily
36:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Or they have not confirmed is like a military attack from Russia, but it's like through Russian intelligence channels that are recruiting these people to go do these Like kind of like quasi terrorist attacks on these electric grids and in Germany.
37:04
[SPEAKER_00]: That is almost like Germany testing things out and trying to attack their infrastructure there in Germany Another NATO nation so you know even Bloomberg is reported that Putin
37:14
[SPEAKER_00]: There's fears from Russian officials, literally people in the Kremlin, who fear that Putin could actually eventually resort to tactical nuclear weapons, as like a last resort should get that bad.
37:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So that seems unlikely.
37:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not freak yourself out about that.
37:28
[SPEAKER_00]: In tactical nuclear weapons have never been used before, and they're different than like the larger nuclear weapons, but it would obviously that would stoke a lot of response from the world.
37:40
[SPEAKER_00]: All of this makes you wonder, and Josh, you kind of asked this question a minute ago,
37:43
[SPEAKER_00]: does Trump regret the war in Iran, the decision to do this because it ended up not going the way he thought it would this Putin regret his decision to enter.
37:51
[SPEAKER_00]: work with Ukraine four and a half years later obviously the war has developed I mean drone warfare when you when twenty twenty two we were not going to think this was a drone war in the world now yeah I mean four and a half years later the the warfare tactics have completely changed the technology has changed AI has become part of it um and it's even impacting the way we're fighting the war with Iran and Iran is fighting back right um you would just have to wonder if these two leaders
38:14
[SPEAKER_00]: regret that at all, or, you know, was it short-sighted in some way because they thought they had the powerful military that could go in and do this thing much easier than it actually ended up being I don't know if they do and I'm not saying we should not support our military and our endeavors here in the United States like I think we should support our troops and all of that and they are required to obey the orders of the commander in jeans that is what they're doing there pursuing that mission that has been set before them in an operation set before them
38:40
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think both of these leaders would say that they thought the wars would go differently.
38:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, Trump was emboldened by Venezuela and thought that would happen with Iran.
38:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Putin believed Newcranians would falter.
38:50
[SPEAKER_00]: They did not.
38:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's tough consequences that have come out of this.
38:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a question for them on those fronts.
38:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But I would like to pose a question for us.
39:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you ever feel like you know like
39:04
[SPEAKER_00]: exactly how something would go in your life.
39:07
[SPEAKER_00]: As in you had this dream scenario, you said, oh, it's gonna go just like this.
39:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna make my plans.
39:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It's gonna go perfectly the way that I think it will.
39:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to move forward with this, essentially a false dream of how you think things will go.
39:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it doesn't go that way.
39:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And then maybe there's some tough consequences that come with that.
39:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
39:24
[SPEAKER_01]: You ever feel that?
39:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, man.
39:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, how much time do you have?
39:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it feels like that's just like our whole story of these humans is we attempt and we fall and God redeems and he turns things around and sets us back on the path that we need to walk on if we allow him to.
39:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, that
39:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, don't we need to like a move of God in our country, you know?
39:47
[SPEAKER_01]: This is unlike reading through that we're kind of talking through this, just going, man, how broken our world is.
39:54
[SPEAKER_01]: How much sin has caused destruction?
39:56
[SPEAKER_01]: How much, how much of a folly it is for us to put our hope in our plans in nations and leaders, and we just don't know what the future holds.
40:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And what we do know is that even the best leaders
40:13
[SPEAKER_01]: are sinful and fail, and they don't have it all figured out either, even the best ones.
40:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, man, where are we putting our hope?
40:20
[SPEAKER_01]: How are we building our plans?
40:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Is our hope built on parties and politicians or is our hope built on Jesus?
40:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And, man, to get back to your question, I feel like when I've put my hope in the right place,
40:35
[SPEAKER_01]: But even when things don't go the way I expect, I don't feel unraveled.
40:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't really.
40:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, when I put all my stock, all my hope, all my plans into something that I've built, then when that thing doesn't go the way that I expected it to, then my whole world is rocked.
40:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And it feels like we're in the spot where the whole world is rocked right now.
40:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going, man, especially as followers of Jesus, we need to put our hope in our future and our plans in him.
40:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And, and it makes me wonder how are we today going out and living faithfully for him?
41:04
[SPEAKER_01]: How are we as we get into our workplaces, our schools, in our communities, putting our hope in him rather than, you know, expecting the world to be stable, and things to go well.
41:15
[SPEAKER_01]: The world is broken, and so there's only one spot that we can really rely on.
41:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, God's our stable hope and foundation right and we need to follow his will for our lives not our own not anybody else's will for our lives his and we do it humbly and we do it and bow down before him and follow the direction that he has set before us the path that he said before so I just want to really a couple of verses that kind of lean into everything you just mentioned Josh and this.
41:40
[SPEAKER_00]: James 4667, you know, instructs a posture of our heart and obedience.
41:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
41:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you, cleanse your hands, your sinners, and purify your hearts.
41:56
[SPEAKER_00]: In Colossians 32 says, set your minds on things that are above, not on things on the earth.
42:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So where's your mind set today?
42:05
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Josh, we can rest with that question every day.
42:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Where's our mind set?
42:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Are we trying to carve out our own path until God to follow us?
42:14
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the dangerous route to take.
42:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Or are you going to follow God's will for your life and see those flashing warning signs that are trying to tell you not to jot down a wayward path or other things that are like, do not go this way.
42:27
[SPEAKER_00]: God trying to say, don't follow your own path
42:33
[SPEAKER_00]: in me, not in anything else in this world, not in a military or a party or anything else that you just mentioned.
42:38
[SPEAKER_01]: When you use these moments of anxiety or uncertainty as a as a a call to go pray, so like that, you know, sometimes all, you know, we'll look through what's happening in the news and I get anxious and nervous and I just carry that.
42:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, well, we'll see what happens, you know, but when you feel that level of uncertainty, or I don't know what to do with this, I don't know where to go, that should be a sign for us to go, actually, I know I need to take this somewhere.
43:02
[SPEAKER_01]: and go, okay, God, you know things I don't, you have a plan that I don't have, you're in control.
43:09
[SPEAKER_01]: You can actually make things different.
43:12
[SPEAKER_01]: God has the ability to actually intervene and change the circumstances.
43:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, as believers, that should be our response.
43:19
[SPEAKER_01]: As we're seeing these things that even go into this, I'm going, man, this is kind of dark and depressing today, and sometimes the world is.
43:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just the reality of the world of the world is, but that shouldn't discourage us, it should cause us to lean in and go, okay God, I see the darkness out there in the world, the destruction going on in the world, the people who are suffering in the world, God would you step in, God would you make an impact and then as I go out and live my life today, could I be one of the people that goes and make some of that impact for you and goes and shines a light in those places?
43:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a good point.
43:52
[SPEAKER_00]: As we say often here on this podcast, just stop and pray.
43:55
[SPEAKER_00]: When you feel it, when you're like reading it, you're hearing it, watching it on the news, stop and pray.
44:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't let all of this bubble up into too much.
44:03
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's ship into some lighter stuff.
44:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's do it.
44:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Ready.
44:09
[SPEAKER_00]: As a tune in section here, apple.
44:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They've got their big announcement next week.
44:13
[SPEAKER_00]: They just set a first up that we should mention Tim Cook to CEO for the last, I don't know, 15 or so years stepped down this week.
44:19
[SPEAKER_00]: He retired.
44:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So John Turner says the new CEO there, he's stepping in to do his first Apple product launch.
44:24
[SPEAKER_00]: They do it every September.
44:25
[SPEAKER_00]: They announced a new iPhones and watches and iPads and everything.
44:28
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people watch this.
44:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels like the last few years have been kind of a dud because it's been like the it's really hard to improve on the iPhone.
44:33
[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty sharp and good.
44:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like
44:35
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a slightly better camera.
44:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You get a little more storage space.
44:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Great.
44:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Give us something flashy.
44:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think from what rumors are saying, Josh, sounds like this is the flashy year.
44:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It sounds like they have a lot of new products to launch here and maybe even some new versions of the iPhone.
44:50
[SPEAKER_01]: There's still talk about a foldable phone.
44:52
[SPEAKER_01]: There's talk about that, by the way, that they're estimating it's going to be about $2,000.
44:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll see what holds up there.
44:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's going to look cool.
45:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Whether or not you want to buy it, or can afford to buy it as a whole another.
45:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I need a friend to buy that.
45:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll be glad.
45:04
[SPEAKER_00]: football on his on his football iPhones.
45:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Totally, but as a as a bit of a tech nerd myself and I'm deep in the Apple ecosystem, I always love seeing what they come up with.
45:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And this, yeah, to your point, should be a little more exciting than some of the last few years.
45:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Very curious to see what a foldable iPhone would look like.
45:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be disappointed.
45:22
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the case because everybody's like the foldable iPhones coming.
45:25
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what all these leaks are saying.
45:27
[SPEAKER_01]: potentially some new smart home products they've been trying to get into the smart home world more and more and more and yeah would have to improve on their AI.
45:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I have the new, you know, Siri beta on my phone and it is finally catching up a little bit.
45:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not perfect yet, but it's finally
45:44
[SPEAKER_01]: kind of playing on the same playing field as some of these other AI companies and so I think they've been holding my opinion, they've been holding a lot of these new products until the new version of Siri was really going to be able to do what they've been promising for a long time.
45:58
[SPEAKER_01]: It appears they're ready to do that.
46:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll find out here soon.
46:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And what they're going to do is make a whole lot of money from all of us who are going to buy them over the next, you know, maybe not immediately, but over the next few years, I actually just bought a new iPhone because my old one broke.
46:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So I won't be getting the fold
46:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but at the time I come around do it'll be like a thousand dollars and not two thousand dollars But yes, there's anything apple does well.
46:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's make money.
46:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah really good at that Very very good at that sounds like the oil companies, right?
46:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't tell you how excited I am for this next thing
46:29
[SPEAKER_00]: guys, the NFL is back.
46:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It's back.
46:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It's back.
46:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Josh, I know you're not like the biggest football guy in the world, but you know like kids are more excited than I am, but they are like begging for fantasy football this year.
46:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're, we're going to be in Josh one or Dennis and ministry's fantasy football league last year.
46:44
[SPEAKER_00]: He reminded me last week.
46:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I did.
46:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was impressive.
46:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying a lot.
46:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I was a lot.
46:49
[SPEAKER_01]: But I did win it.
46:50
[SPEAKER_00]: But you did win.
46:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you had a subtle team.
46:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I do remember, I think I even lost you.
46:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I love fantasy football.
46:55
[SPEAKER_00]: The NFL, I'm mentioning it now because technically it starts before our next episode.
47:00
[SPEAKER_00]: It's starting on a Wednesday this year, which is odd Wednesday is like not a typical football day, but I'm going to take it.
47:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, I'll take any day I can get NFL football or even college football.
47:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Wednesday night next week, it's going to be a Super Bowl rematch.
47:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The Seattle Seahawks versus the New England Patriots.
47:15
[SPEAKER_00]: We are so back.
47:17
[SPEAKER_01]: How many streaming services do I have to have to have to have like 19 now?
47:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of them, the only one that's not there oddly enough is Apple.
47:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Apple does not have an NFL game, but they make their money on products.
47:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's it.
47:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody else.
47:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Netflix says they're, you know, they're a pie here, uh, I think peacock YouTube TV YouTube.
47:35
[SPEAKER_00]: All of it.
47:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to have a little bit of everything, which is kind of unfortunate.
47:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think Congress is trying to address that as well.
47:39
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't keep doing this to the American public.
47:42
[SPEAKER_01]: That'll get Congress moving.
47:44
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what people should run on in the midterm.
47:46
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to win an election for Congress, tell your people, I will make sure the NFL requires less streaming services.
47:56
[SPEAKER_00]: There you go.
47:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I just wanted to ask you Josh before the season starts.
47:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we can look back at this in February as a preseason Super Bowl prediction.
48:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Who do you think will be in the Super Bowl this year?
48:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, man, last year was a good year for me, because I'm from the Northwest.
48:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl, I was from Portland, but Seahawks were the closest NFL team.
48:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And so big Seahawks fan, I was kind of surprised they won.
48:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't think they were gonna make it, but it was, this surprise everybody.
48:21
[SPEAKER_01]: We celebrated for sure.
48:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, in terms of this year, I'm gonna go with,
48:27
[SPEAKER_01]: them doing it one more time.
48:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going for one more surprise.
48:29
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think in terms of a rematch, I think Seahawks and then I'm also a bit of a Josh Allen fan.
48:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's about his time for him to break through and have a moment here.
48:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Buffalo bills, I think Seahawks first the bills in the Super Bowl.
48:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the but actually I do think the bills will end up actually winning the Super Bowl here.
48:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe they've been four times, four times in the 90s,
48:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, which is it's time for them.
48:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It's time for the bills to actually get their first Super Bowl.
48:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Seahawks look really good.
48:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been watching them on hard knocks this year.
48:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're running it back.
49:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I could see them if they don't make this Super Bowl, they'll make the industry championship again for sure.
49:05
[SPEAKER_00]: They're so talented.
49:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, my prediction is not them.
49:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually do think the Rams, the Los Angeles Rams versus the Houston Texans will be our Super Bowl match.
49:13
[SPEAKER_00]: The Texans, the Texans,
49:15
[SPEAKER_00]: top defense in the lead rams probably going to have the second top defense in the league they signed miles Garrett the top defender in the league and they brought back Aaron Darnell.
49:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I always say Darnell that's same Darnell.
49:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Aaron Darnell is back out of retirement.
49:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're going to have two of the best offenders in NFL history playing on the same team there.
49:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think we're going to have a defensive match up Matthew Stafford so really good.
49:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Pook and Akua is really talented as long as he doesn't get suspended.
49:38
[SPEAKER_00]: For all of his off-the-field problems.
49:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, man NFL's back.
49:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Just love it.
49:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Love talking about football I'm sure we'll talk a little bit more next week.
49:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll have Parker back on here We'll discuss a little bit of college football and NFL football then, but Best time of the year guys.
49:52
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not summer.
49:53
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not Christmas.
49:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It's fall when football is on all.
49:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess Christmas is a good Oh, we have Christmas on it on Netflix.
49:58
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're gonna say.
49:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so
50:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this was a great conversation.
50:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Josh, thanks for joining me.
50:03
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of geopolitical stuff.
50:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and guys, if you have any thoughts or questions you can always reach out to us at CultureBreathEdDinizenform.org.
50:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You can email us there or follow us on Instagram.
50:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Check us out there.
50:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Josh, thanks for joining me today.
50:14
[SPEAKER_00]: My pleasure.
50:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks guys!
50:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of CultureBeat, a Dinnison Forum podcast, all articles, and videos mentioned in this episode will be linked in these show notes.
50:24
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to help us reach more believers with truth in today's chaotic culture, please share this podcast around and leave a 5 star rating in review.
50:31
[SPEAKER_00]: All episodes are produced by Sound of a Rose, for more information you can visit SoundofaRose.com.
50:36
[SPEAKER_00]: See ya next Thursday.