Conspirituality

Julian covers the recent Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London. Headlined by Jordan Peterson, featuring Konstantin Kisin, Ayan Hirsi Ali, Jonathan Pageau, and Eric Weinstein, the conference positioned itself as an inspiring cultural gathering focused on reclaiming Western values. Behind the scenes, a hedge-fund billionaire new media baron, conservative libertarian think tank, shady funding source in Dubai, and an evangelical English aristocrat use the prestige of ARC and its celebrity figureheads to popularize a very specific political, economic, and religious agenda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump administration Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, recently stated the American economy is going to need a "detox" period. And so today we look at peak the conspirituality convergences between biological and political purification projects. Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, joins Matthew in the final segment to offer his big picture view on the Kings of Pain. Show Notes Johns Hopkins to lose 2,000 jobs after Trump’s $800m cut in USAid funding Young scientists see career pathways vanish as schools adapt to federal funding cuts Report: mRNA vaccines are in RFK Jr’s crosshairs; funding in question FDA Makes Flu Vaccine Recommendations Without Convening Advisors HHS sends all employees a $25,000 voluntary buyout offer Exclusive: US CDC plans study into vaccines and autism, sources say USDA gears up for MAHA dietary guidelines update Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True. Watch CNBC's full interview with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Why we must teach medical students about the role of physicians during the Holocaust | AAMC Teaching Hard Truths About Medicine and the Holocaust | Journal of Ethics | American Medical Association Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Click here to hear the full episode on Patreon. Second of Matthew’s two-part examination of why the hell questions of force, non-violent resistance with and without force, unarmed violence and property damage, and armed violence are so incredibly hard to talk about in a culture thick with spiritual and political bypassing. Are we capable of understanding the difference between morality and strategy? Part 1 focused on philosophy and psychology while today the focus will be on definitions and tactics. Together, both parts will push back on conspiracism about the identities, motives, and methods of antifascists. Both will present slices of the rich discourse on violence and non-violence from antifascist history, including clarifying definitions of key terms. Both will open a space to think carefully about what intensities of self and community defense are both useful and tolerable in the fight against fascism. Today we’ll get into the very thick weeds of how the “strategic nonviolence” research of Gene Sharp, Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan is framed as empirical, but may be way more about idealizing Gandhi than about facts on the ground. Huge list of references for each! Show Notes Stopping the Press: The Threats to the Media Posed by the Second Trump Term | The New Yorker What the FBI Has Done, and Kash Patel Could Do - Columbia Journalism Review Hakeem Jeffries cracks down on Trump speech disruptions Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer Got Punched—You Can Thank the Black Bloc | The Nation Aamer Rahman: Is it really ok to punch nazis? $16.5M settlement reached in class-action lawsuit over mass arrests during 2010 G20 summit | CBC News Meditations at the ringed fence around G20 Toronto - rabble.ca Remaining Human: A Buddhist Perspective on Occupy Wall Street - Michael Stone Brief: The Outside Agitator Conspiracy Trope (w/Dr. Peniel Joseph) — Conspirituality Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years | Donald Trump | The Guardian 40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Sunshine rules for radicals | saul d. alinsky 198 METHODS OF NONVIOLENT ACTION | — Gene Sharp She Interrupted a Town-Hall Meeting and Was Dragged Out by Private Security - The New York Times Martin Luther King Jr. had a much more radical message than a dream of racial brotherhood The Enigma of Frantz Fanon | The Nation Frantz Fanon and the struggle against colonisation | MR Online Frantz Fanon and the Paradox of Anticolonial Violence – Solidarity Frantz Fanon—a vital defence of violence by the oppressed - Socialist Worker Land and Freedom (1995 Ken Loach) [ENG Sub] (starting at the collectivization debate scene) Full Spectrum Resistance — McBay The Failure of Nonviolence | The Anarchist Library Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | ROAR Magazine Debunking the myths around nonviolent resistance | ROAR Magazine Social movements and the (mis)use of research: Extinction Rebellion and the 3.5% rule Responding to Domestic Terrorism: A Crisis of Legitimacy - Harvard Law Review Domestic Terrorism: Definitions, Terminology, and Methodology — FBI 676 | United States Sentencing Commission Activists use 'Tesla Takedown' protests to fight job cuts by Musk and Trump | Reuters Tesla vehicles destroyed, vandalized since Musk began role at White House, authorities say - ABC News Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk's bottom line | AP News Tyre Extinguishers: A Night Out with the Climate Activists Sabotaging SUVs Leaflet | Tyre Extinguishers Tesla Stocks Tumble as Elon Musk’s Political Role Grows More Divisive - The New York Times Internal Memos: Senior USAID Leaders Warned Trump Appointees of Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths From Closing Agency Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | ROAR Magazine Violence Will Only Hurt the Trump Resistance | The New Republic Why Not Riot? Interview with Author Ben Case - CounterPunch.org 10 Lessons on Filmmaking from Director Ken Loach BBC Taster - How to Make a Ken Loach Film Land and Freedom (1995 Ken Loach) [ENG Sub] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First of Matthew's two-part examination of why the hell questions of force, non-violent resistance with and without force, unarmed violence and property damage, and armed violence are so incredibly hard to talk about in a culture thick with spiritual and political bypassing. Are we capable of understanding the difference between morality and strategy? Part 1 focuses on philosophy and psychology while Part 2 focuses on definitions and tactics. Together, both parts will push back on conspiracism about the identities, motives, and methods of antifascists. Both will present slices of the rich discourse on violence and non-violence from antifascist history, including clarifying definitions of key terms. Both will open a space to think carefully about what intensities of self and community defense are both useful and tolerable in the fight against fascism. Part 2 gets into the very thick weeds of how the “strategic nonviolence” research of Gene Sharp, Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan is framed as empirical, but may be way more about idealizing Gandhi than about facts on the ground. Drops Monday on Patreon. Huge list of references for each! Show Notes Stopping the Press: The Threats to the Media Posed by the Second Trump Term | The New Yorker What the FBI Has Done, and Kash Patel Could Do - Columbia Journalism Review Hakeem Jeffries cracks down on Trump speech disruptions Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer Got Punched—You Can Thank the Black Bloc | The Nation Aamer Rahman: Is it really ok to punch nazis? $16.5M settlement reached in class-action lawsuit over mass arrests during 2010 G20 summit | CBC News Meditations at the ringed fence around G20 Toronto - rabble.ca Remaining Human: A Buddhist Perspective on Occupy Wall Street - Michael Stone Brief: The Outside Agitator Conspiracy Trope (w/Dr. Peniel Joseph) — Conspirituality Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years | Donald Trump | The Guardian 40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Sunshine rules for radicals | saul d. alinsky 198 METHODS OF NONVIOLENT ACTION | — Gene Sharp She Interrupted a Town-Hall Meeting and Was Dragged Out by Private Security - The New York Times Martin Luther King Jr. had a much more radical message than a dream of racial brotherhood The Enigma of Frantz Fanon | The Nation Frantz Fanon and the struggle against colonisation | MR Online Frantz Fanon and the Paradox of Anticolonial Violence – Solidarity Frantz Fanon—a vital defence of violence by the oppressed - Socialist Worker Land and Freedom (1995 Ken Loach) [ENG Sub] (starting at the collectivization debate scene) Full Spectrum Resistance — McBay The Failure of Nonviolence | The Anarchist Library Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | ROAR Magazine Debunking the myths around nonviolent resistance | ROAR Magazine Social movements and the (mis)use of research: Extinction Rebellion and the 3.5% rule Responding to Domestic Terrorism: A Crisis of Legitimacy - Harvard Law Review Domestic Terrorism: Definitions, Terminology, and Methodology — FBI 676 | United States Sentencing Commission Activists use 'Tesla Takedown' protests to fight job cuts by Musk and Trump | Reuters Tesla vehicles destroyed, vandalized since Musk began role at White House, authorities say - ABC News Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk's bottom line | AP News Tyre Extinguishers: A Night Out with the Climate Activists Sabotaging SUVs Leaflet | Tyre Extinguishers Tesla Stocks Tumble as Elon Musk’s Political Role Grows More Divisive - The New York Times Internal Memos: Senior USAID Leaders Warned Trump Appointees of Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths From Closing Agency Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | ROAR Magazine Violence Will Only Hurt the Trump Resistance | The New Republic Why Not Riot? Interview with Author Ben Case - CounterPunch.org 10 Lessons on Filmmaking from Director Ken Loach BBC Taster - How to Make a Ken Loach Film Land and Freedom (1995 Ken Loach) [ENG Sub] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lately a lot of folks (including us) have been doing the fascism comparisons. The questions we ponder this week: How long it takes for fascism to fully dig its roots in, how varied is the opposition along the way, and what role does the media play? Show Notes 165: Outrage Machine (w/Tobias Rose-Stockwell) 16 October 1919 | Hitler Archive Konrad Heiden Fritz Gerlich, publicist and prophet – how did he resist the Nazis? Fritz Gerlich Nazi Germany’s Schriftleitergesetz: The End of Freedom of the Press - Arolsen Archives The illegal press – Verzetsmuseum The Liberal Media Always Fails Against Fascism — Robert Evans Can a news media that doesn’t really oppose fascism ever cover it well? Against Normalization: The Lesson of the “Munich Post” | Los Angeles Review of Books The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons Who Enabled Hitler Fascist-Sympathizing Newspaper Barons Were the Blueprint for Today’s Right-Wing Media Media's Failure in Times of Crisis: Election Coverage in the Interwar Period How Journalists Covered the Rise of Mussolini and Hitler | Smithsonian How Britain's Nazi-loving press baron made the case for Hitler | The Times of Israel Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2016). Is there a “postmodern turn” in journalism? In C. Peters and M. Broersma (Eds), Rethinking Journalism (pp. 97-111). London: Routledge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe for full episode The MAGA attack on government jobs, takeover of government agencies, and purge of supposed “DEI” and “woke” professionals has a long history in the US. Julian uses old-timey newsreels, biographies, and events in the public record to trace the lines from 1919 to today, making stops at the so-called Red Summer’s “race riots,” Red Scare communist panics, Hollywood Blacklist, and Lavender Scare that fired thousands for being presumed gay. Unrelated to any of this completely useless and repressive paranoid bigotry, actual Soviet spies were being apprehended and prosecuted—even then everything was not on the level. The prosecutors had their own hidden skeletons and shady bedfellows, even as they claimed the patriotic moral high ground. At the heart of this history is a lineage of men who never let truth get in the way of gaining, and wielding, power and cruelty. Julian uncovers a surprisingly direct lineage of dirty-tricks demagogue succession, from Woodrow Wilson to A. Mitchell Palmer, to J. Edgar Hoover, to Joe McCarthy, to Roy Cohn, to Roger Stone, to our current president. Editorial Note: The Paul Robeson clip that starts the episode is a re-enactment by James Earl Jones for the Zinn Education Project. It uses the transcript of Robeson’s 1956 appearance before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MAHA's response to the measles outbreak has been horrific, though expectable. Yet RFK Jr's op-ed, in which he advocated for the MMR vaccine, ripped apart his coalition—briefly. Derek looks at the responses to Bobby's moment of clarity, then contemplates what MAHA really wants now that their champion is the bureaucracy. Show Notes Dr Jessica Knurick’s video Vitamin A For Measles: Kevin Klatt Measles is not a harmless illness — complications include brain damage, immune amnesia, and death Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re looking at how folks who associated themselves with the magical and morbid QAnon memes about the “coming storm” that would destroy the Deep State have become that storm, mainly by talking about it, and are now in the position to congeal an even Deeper State characterized by more repression and control. They’re doing it both as conspiracists and as conspiracy theorists would predict: as rich guys pretending to be oppressed. This opens up the question of “Have we been here before in the US, and what happened?” The parallels are uncanny. In the late 1920s, Henry Ford had his car dealers stick copies of The Dearborn Independent newspaper in the glove compartments of new cars. That was the rag in which he published excerpts of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Today another auto baron, Elon Musk, busts out seigheils and posts Nazi memes whenever he likes. But only one of them got a White House office. Show Notes CDC Statement on Measles Outbreak US Health Secretary Kennedy calls for end to deadly Texas measles outbreak Copy of STORM is HERE Data LIVE: Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing for FBI director Kash Patel Wants to Work From Home for FBI. But Who Does He Live With? | The New Republic Kash Patel privately agreed to hire an experienced deputy FBI director. Then Trump picked a loyalist | The Independent How Dan Bongino Went From Infowars to FBI Deputy Director | WIRED How Trump’s Justice Department has gutted the government’s ability to chase public corruption | CNN Politics 123: The Red-Pilled "Academic" Who Named Our Podcast — Conspirituality Darkness Over All: John Robison and the Birth of the Illuminati Conspiracy — The Public Domain Review Conspiracy Theories Abounded in 19th-Century American Politics | Smithsonian Wealthy bankers and businessmen plotted to overthrow FDR. A retired general foiled it. Medical Mystery: What killed ‘Red Scare’ Sen. Joseph McCarthy? FBI director considering having UFC train agents in martial arts, say people familiar with plan | Reuters What We Know About the CIA's Midcentury Mind-Control Project | Smithsonian FBI Records: The Vault — COINTELPRO On campaign trail, RFK Jr. pushes 'bonkers' theory about CIA's 'takeover of the American press' - ABC News Richard Hofstadter’s “The Paranoid Style” Can’t Help Us Now Rehabilitating McCarthyism JFK, Richard Hofstadter, and the ‘Paranoid Style in American Politics’ Ford's Anti-Semitism | American Experience | Official Site | PBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former "race realist" Richard Hanania recently published an article on The Free Press claiming that all those Nazi salutes the right is waving high in the sky is really "just trolling." Derek disagrees. Show Notes Enough — John Ganz I Can Explain Why the Nazi Salute Is Back — Richard Hanania Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is life worse for women now than in the 1950s? In a recent interview for The Free Press, author Louise Perry and journalist Bari Weiss muse on just how much women have lost since premarital sex was normalized, the pill reduced sex to consequence-free hedonism, and Roe v Wade rendered abortion as common as going to the dentist. Perry calls this “re-paganization,” delivering an eloquent longing for a lost golden age of female subservience as Weiss nods along and smiles. It’s all very heterodox. Or is it? No mention of the impacts of Project 2025, the dangerous ascendancy of Christian Nationalism, or the deadly crisis of women’s health in full swing. Julian analyses their conversation to pinpoint how digital new media dresses up traditionalist right-wing talking points as if they’re open-minded, edgy, and brave intellectual insights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump has decreed it’s the Gulf of America, and Google agrees, at least for US users. Rep Buddy Carter has introduced HR 1161, the Red White and Blueland Act of 2025 to rename Greenland. And then, of course, there's making Canada the 51st state. Pay attention to shit like this: it's a magic spell. Trump is speaking in the old language of the Discovery Doctrine. That’s what we’ll excavate today. Show Notes Zizian Killing Spree and Arrests Zizian leader denied bail Roko’s Basilisk and Zizian beliefs/practices Feb 2023 Community Alert about Ziz on Less Wrong Project 2025 Observer Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny — Richard J Miller Trump calls Canada a 'very serious contender' to become 51st state H.R.1161 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025 DISCOURSE ON COLONIALISM Aime Cesaire Translated by Joan Pinkham Biography - Burnum Burnum - Indigenous Australia The fight to 'free' the Aboriginal flag Common Methods of Annexation | Snohomish County, WA Doctrine of Discovery: How the 500-year-old Catholic decree encouraged colonization Speech Acts (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Mexico's President Sheinbaum threatens to take legal action over the Gulf name change : NPR How Canada planned to invade the U.S. (and vice versa) Poilievre says Canada is broken Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do we worry more about: the far-right beliefs of trolls, or the coding skills of the trolls? The split focus on Marco Elez and Elon Musk—are they Nazis, or hackers, or Nazi hackers?— highlight two prongs of emergent fascism. The ideological/aesthetic/psychological on one side, and the technocratic on the other. We can call them the manners and the machine. First, Matthew unpacks a century-old thesis by an OG fascist that says totalitarian regimes take shape when both are working together, but that ultimately, the coup d’etat is about seizing control of the machine. Then he rounds off with a rant about how easy it is liberal-centrist discourse about manners to distract from the reality of the machine. Why? It’s because in the absence of a clear analysis of how capital and power work—it’s in the sphere of manners—that liberals feel they have a fighting chance. But it’s also exactly where Musk and Elez and Vance and Trump can ignore them. Show Notes A Doomed Democracy | STANFORD magazine The October Revolution - Introduction | Marx Memorial Library Alexander Kerensky Dies Here at 89 - The New York Times Curzio Malaparte | Italian Author, Journalist & Politician | Britannica Reading the Eccentric Italian Writer Who Tried to Cover Up His Fascism ‹ Literary Hub Curzio Malaparte: The Illusion of the Fascist Revolution The Californian Ideology The Californian Ideology Personified - Truthdig Cyberlibertarianism: The Right-Wing Politics of Digital Technology on JSTOR 175: Diagonalism (w/William Callison and Quinn Slobodian) — Conspirituality Opinion | Don’t Believe Him - The New York Times Welcome to Neokayfabe — Abraham Josephine Riesman // Writer 40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists — Spencer Sunshine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Education / Public service alert: Matthew critically reviews six books that define fascist eras and recount how they have been opposed. A kind of “here we are, now what?” episode that hopefully interrupts the doomscroll with the sobriety of some practical considerations. Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny (2017) Robert Paxton, Anatomy of Fascism (2004) Paul Mason, How to Fight Fascism (2018) Mark Bray, Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook (2017) Curzio Malaparte: Technique de Coup d’Etat (1931) Spencer Sunshine: 40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists (2021) Formats range from popular nonfiction to academic history to pragmatic field guide. Politics range from liberal to anarchist. More feminist and non-white sources to be reviewed soon. Show Notes On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder Timothy Snyder’s Bad History | City Journal Robert O. Paxton - The Anatomy of Fascism Is It Fascism? A Leading Historian Changes His Mind. - The New York Times How to Stop Fascism Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook Curzio Malaparte - The Technique Of Revolution 40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists — Spencer Sunshine Joyful Militancy | The Anarchist Library Let This Radicalize You | HaymarketBooks.org Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life — Natasha Lennard DISCOURSE ON COLONIALISM Aime Cesaire Translated by Joan Pinkham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Raw Milk. Raw Water. Raw Meat. Mallory DeMille returns to break down the raw trend in wellness. We look at the science and cultural implications behind it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The eighth installment of Matthew’s Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person. Friend of the pod Blair Hodges joins Matthew to talk about how he’s transformed the teachings of his Mormon upbringing into inspiration for social justice, how he grapples with the limits of the nuclear family as he thinks about community building, and why James Baldwin is so important to him. Blair has degrees in journalism, religious studies, and disability studies from the University of Utah and Georgetown University. He’s currently working on a research project on the history of intellectual disabilities in Mormon thought. Show Notes Relationscapes—with Blair Hodges Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, start a religion.” With those words, prolific sci-fi pulp fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard prophesied the course of his life’s work. The 1950s saw the emergence of UFO- and alien channeling-based spiritual groups, as postmodern religious syncretism transformed supposedly ancient angels and demons into benevolent and/or terrifying aliens. No iteration of this fantasy has been more financially fruitful, culturally impactful, controversial, or bizarre than Hubbard’s brainchild: Scientology. In the latest episode of Roots of Conspirituality, Julian digs into the fascinating backstory of this prolific author, revered as prophetic by thousands, pursued as a fraud by the IRS for decades, described as a cult leader by church escapees, and called an abusive madman by his ex-wives. Allegedly… The religion is a complex blend of self-help psychology, elaborate pseudoscience, high-demand paranoia, and alien mythology that, at its height, commanded 100,000 members—and is still valued at roughly $2 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Given how much shit the zone is being flooded with right now, you might have missed Donald Trump screaming about the supposed mistreatment of white South Africans recently. Last week, he said “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly.” The trigger was a bill signed by South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, a former anti-Apartheid activist, trade union leader, and successful businessman—three qualities Trump doesn’t really understand. Like the Trump administration, we have our own South African on staff—and he’s legitimately employed here! Julian grew up under apartheid and left the country due to it. Derek chats with him about what life was like growing up there, and he explains the confusion that Trump is injecting into the body politic. Show Notes Trump vs. South Africa South African president signs controversial land seizure law No Proof Elon Musk's Grandparents Belonged to Nazi Party Errol Musk Talks About Elon’s Maternal Grandparents Understanding What the 2025 Expropriation Act Means Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As of recording time, RFK Jr has not yet been confirmed to the HHS Secretary position by the Senate. That might change by publication date. But if we were setting odds on this confirmation, we’d say put your money on Bobby. So, WTF. Bobby Brainworms will be in charge of US public health, and its influence around the world. Our years of reporting on him have been defeated by the influencer noise of the MAHA Mamas. But we. Will. Carry. On. Julian reviews the misinfo docket. Derek runs down the bureaucratic implications. And Matthew speculates on just how perfect someone like RFK Jr would be as the domestic health figurehead of a fascist movement, if, you know, that were ever to be possible. Show Notes Some Cancers Rising Amongst Younger people Increased Lung Cancer from the 1960s to 80s. Lung Cancer Rates Today Smoking Suppresses Appetite and Results in Lower BMI for Some 64% of Adults in UK Overweight 65% of Australians Overweight Diabetes Was 1.8% in the US in 1960 11.6% of US Population Has Diabetes Risk of Alzheimer’s Doubles Every 5 Years After 65 30% of Smokers are Overweight or Obese A recent study did NOT show vaccines cause autism, but RFK Jr. keeps pushing the lie. “A New Academic Publishing Model”: Right-Wing Dark Money Group Launches Fringe Medical Journal Judge Orders White House to Unblock Funding for NIH, Others RFK Jr.'s financial disclosures reveal millions in both debt and income as he awaits HHS confirmation Racial ‘Sterility’ and ‘Hyperfecundity’ in Fascist Italy. Biological Politics of Sex and Reproduction in History of fascism, reproductive rights offers lessons for today Are tyrants good for your health? When the leader is ill—or addicted to cocaine, meth, steroids, or hormones Five Pseudosciences That Fueled the Nazis ‘Hitler Was Centre of Our Lives’: Confessions of Nazi Criminals’ Wives | History | Nuremberg. Casus pacis Theodor Morell: Hitler’s Particularly Odious Physician Public Health Under the Third Reich Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek meditates on a recent conversation about the left-right divide between Ezra Klein and James Pogue. Show Notes MAGA’s Big Tech Divide: Ezra Klein Show Going Back to Cincinnati — James Pogue Inside the New Right, Where Peter Thiel Is Placing His Biggest Bets — James Pogue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the spring of 2017, Jordan Peterson first went viral by writing this in Canada’s National Post: I will never use words I hate, like the trendy and artificially constructed words “zhe” and “zher.” These words are at the vanguard of a post-modern, radical leftist ideology that I detest, and which is, in my professional opinion, frighteningly similar to the Marxist doctrines that killed at least 100 million people in the 20th century. Remember that horseshit, or things like it? Did you guffaw because he was obviously absurd? Did you try to reason with his stans online? Did you see him as a crank influencer, or a dangerous political figure? Did you hope his ideas would be beaten down in the marketplace of ideas? Or did you seek him out at a public event and shout him down with a bullhorn? Today, word salad like this is everywhere—including in Project 2025, now driving the Trump admin. Matthew visits the antifascist woodshed to investigate the liberal manners, free speech naivety, and lack of community alliances that dissuaded him from grabbing the mic during a Peterson Q&A in 2017 and shouting: “Your ideas are fascist and you should STFU. You are endangering trans people with your bullshit. Why do you care about how they experience their bodies, you whining pervert? Why are you inciting hatred against young people who want a better world?” Because… look where we are now. Show Notes Read the Memo Pausing Federal Grants and Loans - The New York Times President George H.W. Bush on political correctness (1991) The History of Political Correctness—Lind The Pitfalls of Liberalism — Kwame Ture The Forgotten History of the World's First Trans Clinic | Scientific American Jordan Peterson: The right to be politically incorrect | National Post Bill C-16, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity or expression) Jordan Peterson is trying to make sense of the world — including his own strange journey Postmodern Neo-Marxism — Jordan Peterson’s Shadow Doug Ford met Jordan Peterson, appointment calendar reveals | CBC News Why are the Proud Boys so violent? Ask Gavin McInnes — SPLC Jordan Peterson revealed he once earned $400,000 a month Antifa by Mark Bray Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Edward Snowden is largely only a public name thanks to Glenn Greenwald’s reporting, for which he was one of the contributors to a Pulitzer Prize-winning series for The Guardian in 2014. For a while, Matt Taibbi was considered the heir to Hunter Thompson when his gonzo journalism tore open the 2008 financial crisis and gave the public the term “vampire squids.” Yet in more recent years, both men have swerved right: Glenn became a darling on Fox News and Taibbi was recruited by Elon Musk as one of the Twitter Files “journalists.” How did that happen? We’re joined by journalist Eoin Higgins, whose new book, Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left, dives into the career arcs of both Greenwald and Taibbi, and how they confuse and distort right-left alignments. Show Notes Sharath Jois, Heir to Founder of Ashtanga Yoga, Dies at 53 - The New York Times Sharath’s Statement on Pattabhi Jois’s Assaults: Context, Links, Notes – Matthew Remski Surviving Modern Yoga - North Atlantic Books Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left Eoin Higgins Morning Brew | Bluesky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 2 of Matthew’s sit down with sex-work veteran and social justice advocate Esme Providence Brown to discuss New Age / wellness antifeminist, Kelly Brogan, and how her craven politics bolster the permission structure for Trumpian misogyny. They track her political and aesthetic journey from labcoat wearer to wellness pole dancer to BDSM cosplayer—a spiral through deepening layers of appropriation, disavowal of responsibility, and cringe-tastic ideas. Esme concludes with some deep insights on what it means for artisanal BDSM to be stripped of its political and consent-culture context, and who Brogan’s “feminism is a psy-op” argument really serves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When asked if he thought Mark Zuckerberg’s effective ending of fact checking was in response to threats that he would “put him in jail for a very long time,” Trump replied, “Probably. Yeah, probably.” A week later, TikTok voluntarily disabled their app for users, then put up an announcement saying that Trump was going to bring them back. Julian talks to digital disinformation expert Renee Diresta about the massive Big Tech realignment with MAGA, which now means Meta, X, and TikTok may become more like TruthSocial. If fact checking is biased, content moderation is censorship, and combating foreign propaganda is anti-free speech, where does that leave us now? Show Notes If you Give A Mouse a Cookie: Renee Diresta Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What the ever loving fuck. That’s our intro today. But we do have a structure. Julian’s going to review the Executive Order chaos, including the pardoning and deputizing of fascist street gangs. Derek’s going to explain what the ever loving fuck it means for health agencies to turn off access to health data. And I’ll look at two Xtian responses to fascism: one hypocritical and one poetic… but maybe toothless. Show Notes Freed Capitol riot ringleaders regroup - and vow 'retribution' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Full episode available here. The alien from Venus in George King’s head said: “Prepare yourself. You are to be the voice of interplanetary parliament.” It’s 1952 and the Englishman has been meditating deeply. Eight days later, a famous yogi from India materializes to explain what’s going on. These experiences became the basis for the Aetherius Society—an organization that still has 35 chapters around the planet today. They claim the world’s governments are covering up their communication with a spiritually enlightened galactic federation, so as to maintain control over humanity. If that sounds like 2020 red-pilled Instagram grift, you’re right! Everything old is new again. Julian’s series, The Roots of Conspirituality, a history of new age conspiracism, is now conveniently organized under the “Collections” tab at the top of our Patreon page. Each episode is self-contained—but listen from the start if you want to trace the journey from the 1840’s “burned over region” of the American North East to today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Jan 10, the Oregon Nurses Association launched the largest healthcare strike in Oregon state history. Some 5k frontline caregivers from 8 Providence hospitals and 6 clinics have been holding the line in freezing temperatures as they fight for basic rights that their employer—a Catholic nonprofit healthcare system whose C Suite members make millions of dollars every year—refuses to give them. Derek discusses why such strikes, and unions in general, are so important as the new administration takes office. He breaks down some of Providence’s past legal problems, discusses his own experience as a Providence patient, and talks to some of the nurses on the strike line. Show Notes Dr Jennifer Lincoln Oregon Nurses Association Resources for striking healthcare professionals It's Time for Providence to Put Patients Before Profits Providence, striking Oregon health workers remain apart on key issues They Were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them to Pay. Hospital System to Refund Poor Patients Who Were Entitled to Free Care Wealthiest Hospitals Got Billions in Bailout for Struggling Health Providers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the top podcasts in the world—even beating out Rogan for a few hours—is popularizing a well-meaning intervention for non-speaking autistic people. Unfortunately, that intervention happens to be a proven failure, and may set autistic and disability rights discourse back by decades. Filmmaker Ky Dicken’s The Telepathy Tapes podcast delves into the world of Facilitated Communication, in which non-speaking people are believed to miraculously gain access to complex written language after lives of silence. According to Dickson, non-speaking people can also gather in transdimensional spaces and channel spiritual knowledge. But there’s a problem. Every controlled test shows that the messages produced through letterboards and iPads are coming from the facilitators—not the non-speaking persons. In this episode, Matthew interviews experts in pseudoscience and autism, including Janyce Boynton, a former (now dissident) practitioner of Facilitated Communication who explains how seductive and promising it was to practice, but how it ultimately steals agency and dignity from the autistic client. And... this is also a story about parents dealing with crushing levels of unpaid and invisible labour. They are already doing miraculous work. A fantasy is no replacement for true support and recognition. Show Notes Podcast About 'Telepathic' Autistic Children Briefly Knocks Joe Rogan Out Of No. 1 Spot Ky Dickens Director | Filmmaker Facilitated Communication—what harm it can do: Confessions of a former facilitator MD25438 - Powell, Diane Hennacy, MD - OR License Verification - 01/12/2025 11:07:47 AM The Telepathy Tapes: Separating Science From Pseudoscience In Autism Communication Stolen Voices: Facilitated Communication Devalues Autism | Psychology Today Canada Multiple method validation study of facilitated communication: II. Individual differences and subgroup results - PubMed The Telepathy Tapes Prove We All Want to Believe "The Telepathy Tapes" is Taking America by Storm. But it Has its Roots in Old Autism Controversies. Mixed Messages: Validity and Ethics of Facilitated Communication | Disability Studies Quarterly Is There Science Behind That? Facilitated Communication Controlled Studies — Facilitated Communication Served people with severe communication impairments — Obit for Rosemary Crossley More Doubts over Disability ‘Miracle’ Katharine Beals Jonathan Jarry MSc - Science Communicator FCisNotScience - YouTube — Janyce Boynton’s awesome YouTube channel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The seventh installment of Matthew’s Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person. Sam Adler-Bell is a journalist, political theorist, and co-host of one of Matthew’s favourite podcasts, Know Your Enemy—a show about the American right. They discuss the normalization of genocide, the stark comforts of Freud and Janet Malcolm, the relief of DW Winnicott, how we can’t avoid playing the role of our own mothers, and also good advice from his dad, a labour lawyer who knows something about long, uncertain, but always worthwhile battles for the common good. Show Notes Sam Adler-Bell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twitter Files journalist Alex Berenson recently published two articles claiming that Moderna covered up a child's death from a Moderna Covid booster trial—and the FDA is complicit. Children’s Health Defense then hosted him on their TV program to learn more about this outrageous scandal. Do Berenson's claims hold up? All Derek did was click on the links in his own article to discover the "truth." He looks at this phenomenon through the lens of the 2020 book, Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. Show Notes Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World Alex Berenson’s article Children’s Health Defense interview The Lancet study on Covid vaccination in children Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We know Bryan Johnson gobbles 100 pills a day. He pumps his son’s plasma through his veins. He does light therapy on his junk and wants to live forever. But do we understand how Johnson’s fascinations reflect his Mormon heritage? No. No we don’t. That’s why we called our very own Salt Lake City expert, Blair Hodges, host of the Relationscapes podcast. Blair joins Matthew to discuss Johnson’s transhumanism, which has roots in the LDS but has also led him away from it. They cover the spirituality of his money, whether he’s trying to become a living god, and how his home gym has some distinctive Mormon temple elements. Also: is Bryan really as polite as he seems, or is he hiding Blair has degrees in journalism, religious studies, and disability studies from the University of Utah and Georgetown University. He directed communications for the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Studies at Brigham Young University before moving to the nonprofit sector. He has served as communications director for Volunteers of America, Utah and RMHC of the Intermountain Area. He’s currently working on a research project on the history of intellectual disabilities in Mormon thought. Show Notes Relationscapes—Blair Hodges Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In January, 2023, Bloomberg published an article about how tech entrepreneur turned longevity stan, Bryan Johnson, spends $2 million a year in an attempt to live forever—or at least until age 200, as the goalposts shift. Then a Netflix documentary, Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever, dropped on January 1, taking a deep dive into Johnson’s quest and complex personal life. A strange thing happened along the way: Johnson felt much more personable and relatable than ever before to many viewers. Given the Bloomberg journalist is one of the producers, is this the latest propaganda piece by a supplements-pushing huckster, or is Johnson tapping into something much older and deeper about the human condition? Show Notes How to Be 18 Years Old Again for Only $2 Million a Year Politico piece on Mayor Karen Bass and LA Fires Anna Merlan on LA Fire conspiracies Ally Carter Diddy-List Fire Conspiracy Theory Shared by Former Bush Official Nutritionist Reviews The Blueprint Supplements Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A one-time drop of Derek's new podcast, Clarity Lab, the official podcast of Siris Health, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit building a free educational platform and curating social media channels that feature experts presenting health and science in a clear, compelling manner. Celery juice. Coffee enemas. Ozone therapy. The list of pseudoscientific cancer "treatments" is endless. Yet they all risk pushing people in vulnerable positions toward untenable "cures." Dr Andrea Love joins Derek Beres to discuss the dangers of cancer misinformation, as well as why the field of cancer research is so complex—and rewarding. Dr Andrea Love is an immunologist and microbiologist, as well as subject-matter expert in infectious disease immunology, cancer immunology, and autoimmunity. She writes the Immunologic newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew sits down with sex-work veteran and social justice advocate Esme Providence Brown for the first of two chinwags about our famous New Age / wellness antifeminist, Kelly Brogan, and how her craven politics bolster the permission structure for Trumpian misogyny. They track her political and aesthetic journey from labcoat-wearer to wellness pole dancer to BDSM cosplayer—a spiral through deepening layers of appropriation, disavowal of responsibility, and cringe-tastic ideas. This is only Part One! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UCSF epidemiology and biostatistics professor Vinay Prasad's star rose when he compared the US response to Covid-19 to the beginnings of the Third Reich in October, 2021. Though a less famous contrarian than others in the MAHA sphere, the hematologist-oncologist has honed his social media trolling over the past few years, always ready for a fight, evidence be damned. Derek and Julian look at two recent videos that signal Prasad might be angling for a position in a potential RFK Jr-run HHS—and all the misinformation he continues to spread. Show Notes BMJ's Systematic Review on Quarantine Measures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like it or not, 2025 is here. What happens in post-truth America when formerly fringe conspiracy theorists, religious extremists, pseudoscience-peddlers, and wannabe authoritarians become a government—now weaponized against their personal enemies, both foreign and domestic? Should political analysis take a page from academics who study professional wrestling? We each offer our views on what's ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George van Tassel was the original UFO contactee. He claimed to have been visited by aliens from Venus in 1953, which led to him hosting thousands of people at the annual Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention for almost 20 years. He channeled “Ashtar, ”a figure still popular in “Galactic Federation” conspiritualist circles today, and spent 25 years building a time machine based on telepathic communications with aliens. Julian unpacks the wild story of van Tassel’s airstrip, the Mojave Desert’s Giant Rock, and how the FBI may have been involved in his mysterious death and subsequent disappearance of his cellular rejuvenation equipment. This is part of a series of free-standing episodes that excavates the history of pseudoscience and conspiracism beneath contemporary New Age spirituality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and author Josie Reisman says we can’t understand the Trump era without understanding his life-long pro-wrestling fandom, and his bonds with one of his closest friends, WWE tycoon Vince McMahon. Reisman argues that McMahon’s invention of “neokayfabe,” in which storylines and real life are purposefully and artfully confused, blurs the distinction between fact and fiction. It makes consumers, followers, and voters complicit in creating a spectacle of cruelty. It’s the kind of argument that once seen, can’t be unseen. It helps explain the contradictory and performative politics of Trump—and how, under his leadership, the administrative state may not be destroyed by fascism directly, but by a theatre of cynicism and catharsis that will allow the latent fascism of the American Empire to explode. Show Notes Welcome to Neokayfabe Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America — Abraham Josephine Riesman // Writer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

British entrepreneur and investor Steven Bartlett launched his podcast, Diary of a CEO, in 2017. He quickly found an audience in the tech world, which gave him access to a wide range of celebrities and businesspeople from various domains. By 2024, the podcast became one of the top 5 in the world, netting Bartlett and his team a reported $25M this year alone. Yet as Bartlett’s star rose, his guest list began becoming more and more suspect. Pertinent to our beat, contrarian wellness influencers and philosophers appeared, spreading Covid conspiracies and health misinformation. In his role as curious everyman, Bartlett rarely challenged their narratives, sometimes playing along with their conspiratorial hot takes to an audience in the millions. We look at a few conspiritualist crossovers this week, and discuss what it really takes to become a top 5 podcaster—and the information and integrity that’s sacrificed along the way. Show Notes The Canonization of St. Luigi Sacred Heart of Luigi hanging up at Vito's Pizza Extremist “Saints Culture” Catholic ethicists condemn ‘indifference to suffering’ shown by those celebrating Luigi Mangione 41% of young voters say UnitedHealthcare CEO killing "acceptable" 69% Blame CEO Murder on US Healthcare System Mainstreaming of Violent Accelerationism December Wave 2 2024 AmeriSpeak Omnibus | NORC at the University of Chicago Steven Bartlett sharing harmful health misinformation in Diary of CEO podcast What the Most Famous Book About Trauma Gets Wrong Teal Swan Collection—Patreon Bessel van der Kolk: Role in the Satanic Panic He Built a Wellness Empire While Adventuring With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Only 7% of American Adults Have Good Cardiometabolic Health Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy New Year’s Eve! The sixth installment of Matthew’s Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person. Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than 20 books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster. Show Notes Rebecca Solnit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ozempic might be all the rage among people who want to lose weight, but wellness influencers and MAHA acolytes are raging against the antidiabetic medication. Derek investigates recent statements by RFK Jr and Calley Means and holds up their claims to the data we can all see online. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've been highly critical of The Free Press in the past, but a recent memoir-article about grappling with a familial history of polio by Jana Kozlowski stood out. Derek and Julian take no issue with the piece, which was an emotional plea to understand the ravages of polio and the efficacy of vaccines. The comment section is another thing. Show Notes Polio Ravaged My Family. Forget Its Horror at Your Peril. The First Five Errors in the Moth in the Iron Lung Book The First Five Errors in Dissolving Illusions by Suzanne Humphries Amazon Won’t Take a Stand in War Over Anti-Vaxxer Book Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A special Patreon bonus unlocked episode as we enjoy the holidays with our families and friends. Matthew got The Question on the morning after the election. At that moment, he came up with nothing but a hug. But then he chewed on it for days, and came up with eleven things to consider. So here are some notes for possible conversations with tweens about anxiety, bullies, fascism, friends, mutual aid, and love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you grow up with it, religion is real until you realize it is also imagined. And after a period of disenchantment or even depression that associates imagination with lies, you might then sense that the imagined part was also real, but because it’s imagined, you know you can change it.” Matthew reflects on how Santa becomes more real in the home after the kids know he’s just a story, but a story of unbridled love and causeless generosity they can now participate in telling. Happy holidays, everyone! Show Notes A Christmas Carol: Dedicated to Scrooge, And His Art Collection—McKenzie Wark Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America — Abraham Josephine Riesman Welcome to Neokayfabe—Jodie Reisman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeffery Tucker is the founder of the MAGA thinktank Brownstone Institute. In 2020, Brownstone published The Great Barrington Declaration, with lead author Jay Bhattacharya—now the nominee for head of the NIH. Jeffrey’s daughter, Julia, joins Matthew to discuss her dad’s rise through the punditocracy, through decades of fringe libertarian publishing, working for Ron Paul, boosting anarcho-capitalism and crypto, writing for the Epoch Times, and asking such daring questions as: “What’s so wrong about child labour?” Show Notes Patreon: Post-Catholic Music (w/Julia Tucker) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The murder of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson has set off shockwaves across America. This week we look at the story’s online impact, people mythologizing the alleged killer, its intersection with conspirituality, and the healthcare system in America writ large. Show Notes Jen Gunter on insurance denial for her premature babies' oxygen needs Exclusive: Luigi's Manifesto - Ken Klippenstein Savings: Quarter of Americans Have Few, One in 10 Have None | Statista The Burden of Medical Debt in the United States View of U.S. Healthcare Quality Declines to 24-Year Low MDVIP/Ipsos poll shows Americans are struggling with the healthcare system UnitedHealthcare CEO gunned down in Manhattan sold company stocks just before DOJ probe made public | The Independent Conservatives Face Backlash From Followers Over UnitedHealthcare Murder - Newsweek Before fatal subway chokehold, Jordan Neely was on NYC’s list of homeless individuals with dire needs | CNN Kaiser Study on Health Insurance Satisfaction NIH Debunks Myth that 60% of Bankruptcies are Medical in Nature Luigi Mangione’s Anger Wasn’t Neatly Ideological Gallup Poll on Health Care Satisfaction Ipsos Poll on Health Care Satisfaction Mental Illness is 13.5 times More Likely In Lone Wolf Shooters Narcissism, Fame Seeking and Mass Shootings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fifth installment of Matthew's Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person. Dr. Annie Kelly joined us in Episode 61 to lay out her research on the manosphere-to-conspirituality pipeline. Today she joins me to discuss the trouble and joy of balancing extremism research with stories of hope and solidarity. Show Notes Annie Kelly Vaccine: The Human Story - YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extremely online, bearded, Millennial pastors in tailored suits want to repeal women’s suffrage, criminalize gays, and Make America Christian Again. These “TheoBros” even have a guy on the inside: JD Vance. Trump’s Dept of Defense nominee, Pete Hegseth, attends an affiliated church. Julian tracks their genealogy and ugly ideas, as well as their parallel reactionary theocratic visions wreaking havoc elsewhere in the world today. Stay tuned for conversational reflections and wholesome holiday wishes at the end! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Talia Lavin joins Derek to discuss her recent book, Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America. Show Notes Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we ride out the aftershocks of the election and prepare for Trump 2.0, it’s as if nothing is bolted down. Trump’s cabinet appointments signal a disregard for competence or temperament as he seems to prioritize fervent deep state conspiracism and anti-woke aggression in his choices. The chattering classes (both legacy and new media) are on the front lines of having to adapt in real time. What to do? Double down on anti-fascist resistance, turn the disinformation detection devices up to 11, chart a course for sanguine neutrality, normalize the chaos as the world burns, or maybe give this rag-tag group of billionaire outsiders a chance to move fast and break things—in the hope that some of it was not working anyway? We look at three different modes of damage control currently ripping through American discourse. Show Notes There’s a conspiracy theory that the CIA invented the term ‘conspiracy theory’ – here’s why 87: The Aubrey Marcus Spectacle 107: An Open Letter to Aubrey Marcus 214: Aubrey Marcus is Totally Not a Cult Leader Winning the Fight for Reproductive Rights in Mexico - Open Society Foundations Madres de Plaza de Mayo | Learning for Justice Adweek article on Rogan and MeidasTouch Kash Patel QAnon Appearances Kash Patel Seal Team 6 Endangerment So Marianne Williamson Really is the Peace Candidate—Patreon “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman”: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza | Amnesty International USA NLG and Other Legal Groups Send Letter to ICC Urging an Investigation into Potential War Crimes Committed by Israel and US in Gaza under “Operation Protective Edge” Russell Tribunal on Palestine, 2014 Friday 17 November: Twenty thousand Palestinians believed to be killed in Israel’s genocide of Gaza Campus Protests Led to More Than 3,100 Arrests, but Many Charges Have Been Dropped Harris campaign rejects claim vice president thinks there is a genocide in Gaza A Study Reveals CNN and MSNBC’s Glaring Gaza Double Standard | The Nation Morning Joe: Dems’ Favorite Show, Blatant Pro-Israel Propaganda The Intercept: Israel-Palestine Coverage US MSM downplays Amnesty report TIME on Iranian Foreign Influence Methods Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers in California recently warned that just one mutation in H5N1, the bird flu virus, could make the disease transmissible between humans. While the virus was first identified in 1959 (and became globally significant in 1996), they’re also concerned that increasingly damaging effects of climate change could make us more susceptible to such viruses. The same week, California-based raw milk manufacturer, Raw Farm, was forced to recall its products due to third-party testers discovering it contained H5N1. Derek looks at these converging trends—the wellness-driven fervor over the safety and health benefits of raw milk and the chances of another pandemic—with an investigation into why this matters from a public health perspective. Along the way, he’ll define the three often-confused forms of health in public discourse—individual, population, and public health—and why influencers often confuse them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices