“I’ve got a jar of dirt! And guess what’s inside it!” Captain Jack Sparrow seemed to think that he had the key to controlling his fate with the contents of a jar of dirt. He wasn’t entirely wrong! The jar was holding the heart of Davy Jones, and he who held it controlled the oceans; he who controlled the oceans controlled the whole earth. This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discuss the connections between ocean ports, a trade war with China, and control of the Earth’s trade in literal earth — lithium, cobalt, rare earth minerals and silicon — that may be fueling its current and future wars. They also discuss time and our perception of events that have surrounded us for the past decade. Does history repeatedly repeat itself or are we just noticing more? —Streamed May 2, 2025

He is Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! No matter what is going on in the world this week, nothing will be more important than this, that Jesus Christ is risen — Alleluia! Despite this most significant of Christian seasons, there were many other things going on in the world, too. There was the death of a pope and preparations for the election of another, the potential end to a bloody war in Ukraine, but the sad continuation of another bloody war in Gaza. And the pro-Palestinian encampments are inching their way back towards university campuses, even as those universities are already feeling the effects of a rapidly changing political landscape. On this week’s Mosaic Ark, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown continues talking on some of these themes that she discussed with Evita Duffy-Alfonso on Bongino Report: Morning Edition on Monday, and the ladies report back from the empty tomb. —Streamed April 25, 2025

What do these things have in common: the American Revolution, Goofball Jim Carrey movies, 19th-century economic policy, and Penguins? Surprisingly more than you think! This week, the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discussed the current meme mockery of President Trump’s tariffs being applied to several islands south of Australia, the only residents of which are penguins, and whose only product would seemingly be guano. Some say that this is proof that the POTUS is dumb or crazy. But what is really going on in the world of high-stakes geopolitics? The ladies think that it’s the same thing that’s been going on since the 17th century. (Spoiler alert: It’s not about the penguins.)—Streamed April 4, 2025