It's Wednesday, August 27, 2025.

I'm Albert Moller, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.

Well, sometimes it's reality TV, sometimes it's just reality.

Sometimes it's hard to tell the one from the other. When you mention the Menendez brothers,

all of this comes into a clearer focus. And in particular, in the last several days, the big news

has come from California, where a parole panel turned both brothers down for parole.

Now, the background to this is very interesting, but the detail of this story and the

current context of this story make it very interesting. Tell us a lot about where we are as a

society and about the moral nature of our society and how that is changing in terms of the

contours of the time. The Menendez brothers are in jail, and they were given life sentences

for the brutal murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty, as she was known, Menendez. Now,

we're talking about a very prosperous, very rich couple in Beverly Hills. We're talking about

their very privileged sons at the time of the murders. The brothers were 21 and 18. And the brutal nature of the murders

is still shocking. It has to be shocking. They killed both of their parents with multiple

gunshot blasts that not only killed them but mutilated them. It's the kind of murder that is

not only about ending someone's life, but about sending a very

clear message of hatred towards these persons. It was a particularly violent act. The two brothers

were convicted, a premeditated murder. The background to it also has to do with the fact that

in the days and weeks leading up to their murders, the brothers went on what the New York Times

summarized as a spending spree.

They bought a Porsche, a Rolex, they even bought a restaurant in Princeton, New Jersey.

And the state was able to make the case convincingly to the jury that this murder was a premeditated

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