Conspirituality

Body image is a phenomenon that has long simmered below the surface of the wellness industry. We've spent years covering the hard and soft eugenics that inform so many physical and spiritual practices, and how the notion of an ideal self persists and, as we get into today, grown in the online world.  Just as shaming and skewed body perceptions proliferate in the comments sections and fitfluencer podcast world, so have opportunities for meaningful conversations. One such venue is the wildly popular debate and discussion shows hosted by Jubilee Media. They've somehow managed to tow the line between heartfelt sharing and outright clickbait, for better and worse. We look at a few recent episodes that deal directly with body image issues, from being jacked and bro'd up to the challenges of obesity and eating disorders, and discuss how Jubilee is walking such a precarious tightrope. Show Notes Anorexia vs Obese | Middle Ground Is Being Fat A Choice? Fit Men vs Fat Men | Middle Ground Is Being Fat A Choice? Fit Women vs Fat Women | Middle Ground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Protest slogans are designed to pack a punch. They communicate potent emotions and persuasive ideas to the public while galvanizing activist allies. At 5 '11, wearing an elegant hijab over jet-black hair, Nerdeen Kiswani cuts an elegant figure. “From the river to the sea,” she cries, and the loyal group around her repeats it back, loudly. “Palestine will be free!” Again the repeated phrase comes back. “You are my amplifier,” she tells them.  Even while delivering her speech, the crowd loudly shouts each phrase after she says it. “We need allies who are gonna help us to reach a victory, not allies who are gonna tell us to be non-violent!” Those at the front are holding up a long banner spread out in front of them that reads, “Globalize the Intifada.” Kiswani is the founder and chair of a Brooklyn-based group called Within Our Lifetime—which split off from other anti-Zionist groups she felt were not radical enough. “We don't want no two-state, we want '48!”  She's performed this activist role many times on New York streets: in front of a memorial installation for the Nova music festival; at the campus protests in 2024, where she told the students, “we must escalate!” She's taken credit for popularizing the slogan “globalize the intifada” since 2021. When NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was asked how he felt about it, he first struggled to answer, then said “it's not language I use.” His fellow candidate and ally, Brad Lerner, said it was hard not to hear it as meaning “open season on Jews.” Mamdani has been pictured on social media alongside Kiswani and her inner circle.  At least six men affiliated with Within Our Lifetime have ended up with jail sentences for hospitalizing Jews after planning and then bragging about violence in exposed private chats—even in public posts. The group was booted from Instagram (180k+ followers) when they posted New York City maps showing the locations of specific corporate, government, and Jewish organizations. The phrases, "Blood on their Hands," "Know your Enemy" and "Globalize the Intifada" were emblazoned above and below the maps. "Intifada, intifada! Long live the intifada," Kiswani chanted close to Wall Street, outside the Nova music festival memorial, dedicated to the 378 civilians killed and 40 abducted. Dancing and drumming, protestors in the crowd chanted back, set off flares, and unfurled Hamas and Hezbollah flags. Julian takes a deep dive into this controversial group in the context of an unfolding genocide in Gaza, and the long history of conflict, conquest, and religious extremism in the region. He asks fervent supporters of Israel, "How much do you know about the Nakba?" and pro-Palestine loyalists, "How much do you know about Hamas?" Show Notes NYT Profile on Nerdeen Kiswani Kiswani Tweets About Using "globalize the intifada" since 2021 Kiswani Speaks At Columbia Encampment on Wedding Day Columbia Group Influenced by WOL To Support Armed Resistance Kiswani Wears Button Showing Hamas Spokesman Hamas and Hezbollah Flags At NYC Nova Memorial Protest  Within Our Lifetime Posts Maps To IG 6 Charged in Antisemitic Mob Beating In Times Square Sadaah Masoud Sentenced to 18 Months for 3 Antisemitic Assaults Hamas Leaders Live in Luxury Hamas Financial Network Hamas Gunmen Hunt Down Fatah Rivals Zohran Mamdani with WOL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1898, British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace published a pamphlet entitled, "Vaccination a Delusion; Its Penal Enforcement a Crime." This work became the foundation of the modern anti-vax movement. Derek discusses how even though vaccination science is constantly evolving, the rhetoric of people like RFK Jr is just rehashing old and outdated ideas. Show Notes Vaccination a Delusion; Its Penal Enforcement a Crime Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We return to the ongoing saga of Aubrey Marcus. As a wealthy, anti-vax New Ager who campaigned for RFK Jr (before going MAGA), he's a pole star for the conspirituality moment and its political manias. He's also a ceaseless innovator of guru narrative tech, with his latest trick being the attempt to turn his own implosion into top-tier content by enlisting an ex-fiance to prove his spiritual bona fides. , As we look at his rehab schtick in the context of the great guru death-spirals of the past, we'll learn that he has a lot of the old 1970s vibe going on, but the digital age brings new humiliations and opportunities. At the end, we'll update you on another guru rehab in motion: the Liver King. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zohran Mamdani's win in the NYC democratic mayoral primary has been filled with deflections and pivots so that politicians and pundits don't have to focus on the core issues he's talking about. The left has a path worth considering. The democratic establishment is, for the most part, refusing to endorse him. Derek wonders if the rest of the left can avoid similar traps. Show Notes Globesonic On the Pier: 8 Years in NYC Globesonic Sound System 5 Years On The Hudson River The Cause That Turned Idealists Into Authoritarian Zealots Why I Just Quit DSA Ocasio-Cortez Loses the Democratic Socialists' Endorsement Over Israel Status of DSA National Endorsement for Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On June 24, Brian Johnson, aka The Liver King, was arrested in Austin for threatening Joe Rogan. The infamous raw organ "primal" influencer has since published dozens of videos detailing what appears to be a downward spiral—though the problems date back years. Derek and Julian detail the crash. Show Notes 'Liver King' arrested in Austin after allegedly threatening Joe Rogan 'Liver King' says he 'will never stop' after arrest over alleged threat against Joe Rogan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Tonight we made history," grinned Zohran Mamdani as his supporters cheered with delight, "I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City. His victory over disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo in this primary election has made Mamdani, the 33-year-old fresh-faced Indian Muslim assemblyman from Queens, into a national sensation—and one of the biggest news stories in the week when Trump bombed Iran's nuclear facilities. He's used his eloquent, telegenic charisma to make a principled stand for Democratic socialist policies, call for Palestinian human rights, and propose a radical re-envisioning of policing in his city. Which of course makes him the target of conspiracy-mongers and right-wing propagandists, as well establishment Democrats and supporters of Israel. As masked ICE thugs, cynical SCOTUS enablers, movie-villain oligarchs, and MAGA cult ghouls steadily dismantle democracy we'll discuss the Mamdani Effect. Is he the hero we've been hoping for, or are his hard-left positions corrosive to a broader anti-Trump coalition? Show Notes NYC Councilman Brad Lander Is ‘Glad' To Belong To A Shul That Promotes Toeiva; Adds That Israel Is ‘Occupying' West Bank Defund the Police? Turning a Slogan into Policy - Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)  Reimagining a More Equitable Policing and Public Safety System in New York City  Seven Facts About the NYPD Budget After Winning NYC's Democratic Mayoral Primary, Zohran Mamdani Reaffirms Support For Reparations  NYC mayoral candidate Zahron Mamdani vows to 'expand and protect' trans healthcare  Democratic NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Is Pledging $65 Million for Trans Health Care Divine Shawarma: NYPD Officer's Halal Lunch Break Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greta Thunberg is a burr in the ass of the powerful throughout the world—and not only for rightwing sociopaths. Increasingly, as she grows up, learns more, and networks with other activists around the world, she's become a scourge for liberals as well. Many of them would prefer she remain a child, providing a theatre of emotional catharsis for a climate crisis industry more interested in raising money from green economy donors than forcing change.  Now, as Thunberg broadens her target to capitalism and colonialism writ large, it's more and more clear that she's confronting what autistic philosopher Robert Chapman calls “the empire of normality,” from her lived experience of autism, about which so many of the conspiracy theories we cover here swirl.  Seizure of the Madleen Why do Fascists Hate Greta Why are Liberals Backing Away from Greta? Neurodiversity and activism   Masking, Burnout, Contemplation Hamster Wheel of Capitalism Parenting in Humility ChaptersPart one (Saturday on Main Feed):Part two: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greta Thunberg is a burr in the ass of the powerful throughout the world—and not only for rightwing sociopaths. Increasingly, as she grows up, learns more, and networks with other activists around the world, she's become a scourge for liberals as well. Many of them would prefer she remain a child, providing a theatre of emotional catharsis for a climate crisis industry more interested in raising money from green economy donors than forcing change.  Now, as Thunberg broadens her target to capitalism and colonialism writ large, it's more and more clear that she's confronting what autistic philosopher Robert Chapman calls “the empire of normality”, from her lived experience of autism, about which so many of the conspiracy theories we cover here swirl.  CORRECTION: Robert Chapman's pronouns are they/them. Chapter One: Seizure of the Madleen Why do Fascists Hate Greta Why are Liberals Backing Away from Greta? Neurodiversity and activism  Chapter two (Monday on Patreon): Masking, Burnout, Contemplation Hamster Wheel of Capitalism Parenting in Humility  Show Notes Israel Intercepts Gaza-Bound Aid Ship With Greta Thunberg Aboard - The New York Times  Greta Thunberg “kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces” - YouTube  Greta Thunberg Frog Hat - Shibtee Clothing  Posts distort 2018 Greta Thunberg tweet on climate danger | AP News  Lindsey Graham Fantasizes About Sinking Gaza Aid Ship Carrying Greta Thunberg | Truthout  Thunberg gets backlash for pro-Palestinian post – DW – 10/21/2023  Fact Check: Altered image of Greta Thunberg holding antisemitic book | Reuters  Right-Wing Attacks Greta Thunberg  The cult of Greta Thunberg - spiked  Targeting Greta Thunberg: A Case Study in Online Mis/Disinformation | German Marshall Fund of the United States The dangers of depicting Greta Thunberg as a prophet Margaret Atwood says Greta Thunberg is the ‘Joan of Arc' of environmentalism | The Independent  Greta Thunberg speech at climate protest Glasgow, November 5  We are all living in Greta's world now The Greta Effect: a timeline of Thunberg's activism leading to her being on the Madleen Fridays for Future – How Greta started a global movement Greta Thunberg: From a Darling of Liberal Media to Public Enemy No. 1 - Left Voice  Why the Media Stopped Covering Greta Thunberg  Greta Thunberg Speaks from Aid Ship Heading to Gaza Despite Israeli Threats: It's My Moral Obligation | Democracy Now!  Jason Hickel: Why a Liberated Palestine Threatens Global Capitalism  The Climate Movement Breaks Through | The Nation Greta Thunberg Was Targeted for an Octopus. Then Israel Chimed In  Greta Thunberg is far from the only neurodivergent climate activist – many who see the world differently also want to change it  School strike for climate - save the world by changing the rules | Greta Thunberg | TEDxStockholm  Understanding Masking: A Neurodiversity-Affirming Perspective - Autism Society of NC Mask of Your Own Face – Experiences with Masking as an Autistic Adult - Autism Spectrum News Autistic Masking “Masking Is Life”: Experiences of Masking in Autistic and Nonautistic Adults - PMC  What Is Autistic Burnout? | Psychology Today Canada The Treadmill Tendency  Greta Thunberg on X: "yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com" / X  Our House Is on Fire by Greta Thunberg, Svante Thunberg, Malena Ernman, Beata Ernman: 9780143133575 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Dad went to war last night” read Vance Boelter's text to his family in the early hours of June 14. This was sent after his shooting rampage aimed at Democratic lawmakers, which left two dead and two critically wounded.  Turns out Boelter is an ordained pastor in a church associated with the New Apostolic Reformation, which sees the world as a spiritual battlefield and whose leaders have preached that political enemies are possessed by demons.  This is not some small fringe movement. Key figures in the Trump administration are adherents. We revisit this apocalyptic evangelical Christian cult and consider its political violence and religious extremism. Show Notes Seven Mountain Mandate, Paula White and Trump Home-goods companies prepare new Trump-linked products Who Wants a MAGA Instant Pot? I Tried Pre-Ordering the Trump Phone. The Page Failed and It Charged My Credit Card the Wrong Amount Doug Ford's Bill 5 is now law in Ontario. Here's what happens next Chiefs of Ontario issue urgent warning on Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, and will rally on Parliament Hill CCLA Urges Federal Government to Reverse Course on Bill C-5 Legal experts gear up to challenge Bill 5 as First Nations pledge to ‘close Ontario's economy Reckless and chilling: Bill 5 is Doug Ford's most dangerous legislation yet Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years Brief: Stealing Democracy for Jesus An Audio-Documentary Series on the Christian Leaders and Ideas that Fueled the Capitol Riot The Army of God Comes Out of the Shadows Meet the powerful evangelicals who believe Trump is an apostle who will reclaim America for Christ Vance Boelter and the Rise of “Spiritual Warfare” We Should Not Be Shocked That the Alleged Minnesota Shooter's Christian School Is Connected to Political Violence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Evangelical homes across the United States, sex outside of marriage is a sin against God. So, when Abbi becomes pregnant at 16, her devout parents hide her away at the Liberty Godparent Home, a little-known facility for pregnant teens on the campus of Liberty University. The Home says it helps girls decide what comes next – whether that's parenting their babies or placing them for adoption. But inside the facility, the girls hear a different message: God wants their babies to go to more “deserving” Christian couples. Some girls will find the strength to fight back. Others will have no choice but to give in. And some, like Abbi, will turn their grief into resistance – and take a stand against the system before more mothers lose their children to adoptions they never wanted.   From Wondery, host and reporter T. J. Raphael tells a startling true story of young love, coercion, and defiance – and the dangerous resurgence of maternity homes in post-Roe America. Listen to Liberty Lost: Wondery.fm/LL_Conspirituality Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He built a lucrative seminar empire in the 80s, owned an Italian Villa, founded a “spiritual university,” and travelled the world with a harem of handsome young initiates. Roger Hinkins claimed to be inhabited by another consciousness that he called “John the Beloved” and the “Mystical Traveller,” which taught the secrets of out-of-body experiences. As he copied those teachings from elsewhere, his lies eventually caught up with him. But he told his loyal followers that critics and defectors were infected with an infectious demonic energy called “The Red Monk.” For this self-contained installment of his popular Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian tells the fascinating story the Movement for Spiritual Inner Awareness, and how its leader fooled devotees into thinking he was clairvoyant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What dangers does an RFK Jr HHS pose to Americans, really? Derek dives into science writer's Laurie Garrett's work, who spoke to the dangers we're facing today in 1994—and who has raised an alarm about the consequences of destroying public health ever since. Show Notes The Coming Plague — Laurie Garrett Betrayal of Trust — Laurie Garrett Laurie Garrett on This Week in Virology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

takeover—legacy media and Democratic strategists have the same question on their lips: What is going on with young men? Though Kamala Harris won the overall 18- to 29-year-old demographic, Trump improved his share by 9 points. Men in this age group voted for Trump by 16% more than women did. What explains this? Perhaps this is due to the right inflaming the anxieties and resentments of young men online. Red-pilled, hyper-masculine, anti-woke conspiracy influencers are filling the gap created by the “meaning crisis.” Maybe the left needs its own Joe Rogan!  Not to worry: top political consultants Ilyse Hogue and John Della Volpe have pitched a new research initiative to the Democratic Party donor class.  Their response, the widely derided SAM (Speaking with American Men), comes with a proposed $20M budget. No cap, bro, they'll low-key give center-left corporate politics the rizz it needs to slay the MAGA simps and cape for democracy. Politico: Dems set out to study young men RS: Dems $20M Plan to Win Young Men Less Engaged Voters Were Key To Trump's Victory Kamala Underperformed with Three Demographics Nation: What Caused Dems No-Show Problem Cooke Report: A Comprehensive Analysis on Why Harris Lost Do Not Split: An Illuminating Look at Hong Kong's Pro-Democracy Uprising - Human Rights First Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In October 2020, three contrarian medical professionals published The Great Barrington Declaration to great applause by the pro-business, anti-closure crowd. One of them, Jay Bhattacharya, now runs the NIH. Things are not going well under his watch. Last week, he was grilled in front of Congress about the $18B in proposed cuts to NIH funding. This happened a day after over 300 people under his guard published The Bethesda Declaration, a document filled with issues occurring under Bhattacharya's leadership. Derek discusses this new declaration and listens in on the Congressional hearing. The Bethesda Declaration An Uproar at the NIH The Disappearing Funds for Chronic Diseases Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cable travel channels are filled with haunted houses and other paranormal activity, beyond History Channel's Ancient Aliens and cryptozoology content. The more radicalized Gaia TV has close to a million paid subscribers gobbling up content about yoga, meditation, and psychedelic consciousness alongside accounts of inter-dimensional cryptids, Q-adjacent vampire reptilians, and channeled messages from benevolent ETs. Julian's talk with Pulitzer-nominated journalist Matt Hongolt-Hetling about his new book, The Ghost Lab, How Bigfoot Hunters, Mediums, and Lien Enthusiasts are Wrecking Science. In it, he explores the history of ghost hunting and asks if failing trust in educational, religious, and government institutions is fueling a burgeoning obsession with the paranormal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From 1999-2002, VH1 ran a show called “Where Are They Now?” The irregularly produced series wondered aloud what happened to former cultural icons like eighties hair metal bands, kid actors, and one-hit wonders. While some people remained surprisingly relevant, most were confined to, at best, appearing at VFWs and regional summer festivals in parking lots or, tragically, gripped by an addiction and dreams of a better time that they couldn't make last.  Two years ago this month our book, Conspirituality, was published. We called one section Rogue's Gallery to highlight a range of figures we've covered on the podcast. One of those chapters was dedicated to a man named Robert F Kennedy, Jr—don't say we didn't warn you. How about the other nine? In our own version of “Where Are They Now,” we're going to turn back the clock and revisit those other nine chapters. We'll do it over three episodes in the coming weeks. This week, we begin with famed women's health expert turned harp-playing conspiracy peddler, Christiane Northrup; self-proclaimed philosopher king, Charles Eisenstein; and former model turned middling new age filmmaker turned anti-vax documentarian Mikki Willis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew continues the Antifascist Woodshed series with a two-part analysis of an extraordinary cultural event: rebellions within rebellions—or how a ragtag band of writers and worldbuilders Trojan-horsed an antifascist masterpiece into the Empire of streaming content. Seven chapters:  (This past Saturday, main feed:) Space Wizards or Antifascism? Star Wars Culture Wars A Post-Fragmentary Left (Today:) Hope and Love   Tony Gilroy's Antifascist Field Manual The Used Future Antifascist Parents Are Better than Jedi Parents NB: There will be spoilers for Andor! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew continues the Antifascist Woodshed series with a two-part analysis of an extraordinary cultural event: rebellions within rebellions—or how a ragtag band of writers and worldbuilders Trojan-horsed an antifascist masterpiece into the Empire of streaming content. Seven chapters:  Space Wizards or Antifascism? Star Wars Culture Wars A Post-Fragmentary Left (Monday on Patreon:) Hope and Love   Tony Gilroy's Antifascist Field Manual The Used Future Antifascist Parents Are Better than Jedi Parents NB: There will be spoilers for Andor! Show Notes The Mythology of Star Wars with George Lucas and Bill Moyers Special Interview: Nostalgia for the Superego (w/Sam Binkley) — Conspirituality  Movie Review – THX 1138: The George Lucas Director's Cut – A Sci-Fi Geek Looks at George Lucas' First Film 8 women accuse screenwriter Max Landis of sexual, emotional abuse - National | Globalnews.ca 'Star Wars' Actress Amandla Stenberg's 'White People' Remark Sparks Fury - Newsweek  'The Acolyte' Star Amandla Stenberg Cracks Up at 'Gayest Star Wars' Moniker: It's 'So Gay Already!' | Video  Amandla Stenberg Slams Anti-‘Woke' Attacks And ‘Intolerable Racism' Over ‘The Acolyte'  Sorry, haters, Star Wars: The Force Awakens' new characters more than make up for the movie's sins | Vox Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 - Official 'Omega & Tech' Clip (2023) The Bad Batch: Tech's death and the neurodivergent community Why Our Autism Community Loves Star Wars - Kerry Magro Virtue Hoarders and the Rejection of Liberalism (w/ Catherine Liu) | The Chris Hedges Report  The problem with identity politics | Counterfire Transcript: Andor: Tony Gilroy on Oppressive Regimes and Popular Revolutions - The Peabody Awards  Star Wars: A New Heap  Music: Brief: Star War fan-made music from Luis Humanoide: Trust Only in the Force  Bonus: Star War fan-made music from Luis Humanoide: Dark Ruins Exploration Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Megamillionaire supplements and New Age life coach tycoon Aubrey Marcus recently claimed the goddess Isis told him that he must impregnate both his wife and the third member of their throuple while doing spiritual tourism in Egypt. During a nearly three-hour podcast, the three explain their polygamous plans and heartaches while their on-call guru, Marc Gafni—an old-school spiritualist most famous for the long list of sexual assault and misconduct allegations against him—frames their drama as a sacred crisis. We pick apart the spectacle, assessing how badly Marcus is getting his ass beat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support Conspirituality on Patreon. Does the word protestor conjure a masked figure in black clothing smashing windows and lighting fires or a weekend liberal ineffectually following rules while sipping on a creamy latte along the state-permitted protest route? A popular media narrative is that peaceful protest works best, but has the power of nonviolent resistance been debunked?  Julian responds to Matthew's interview with political sociologist, Benjamin Case. In the context of anarchist activism, Case points out that successful “nonviolent protest movements” have always featured property damage, street-fighting, and window smashing. His ethnographic research shows that rioting can also be personally transformative and empowering, as the participant experiences “contentious effervescence.” His interview (and book, Street Rebellion) included a pointed critique of celebrated nonviolence advocate and academic, Erica Chenoweth, and their towering predecessor, Gene Sharp—who, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, practically created the field of nonviolent resistance studies. Case has some excellent points, especially about how often Chenoweth's work is misinterpreted. But was Gene Sharp really a tool of American imperialism? Is Erica Chenoweth a willing lapdog to status quo liberalism and capitalist power? What kinds of protest strategy might serve us best in our terrifying authoritarian moment? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad claim they're going to open the "black box" at the FDA, an agency they're now both employed at. So they started a podcast. It's not the first official FDA podcast, but it certainly fits into the contrarian ethos both men have cultivated since 2020. Derek and Julian listen in to see how much of that box is actually being opened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've been talking about RFK Jr for years, and even dedicated an entire chapter to him in our 2023 book—and we're going to keep covering him. Since his power and influence has only grown, and since he's now in charge of America's entire health apparatus, there's no way to avoid it. This week we catch up on the last few months of MAHA. Derek looks into why he believes Kennedy's apparatus, despite claims of being about health, is really a cover for Project 2025's deregulatory agenda. Julian discusses a recent paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Covid contrarians Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad, who now both work under Kennedy. Finally, Matthew will contemplate Kennedy's crude remarks on autism through the lens of disability politics. Show Notes What Has All This Restaurant Food Done to My Gut? Function Health is Another Theranosesque Scam MAHA's Goal Is Not Health: Robert Kennedy's movement promises more privatization RFK Jr. meets with health tech startups, most backed by Andreessen Horowitz COVID infection no longer gives lasting immunity Hybrid Immunity May Be the Key to Developing Better Vaccines Makary, Bhattacharya in New England Journal of Medicine Consequences of Work Requirements in Arkansas: Two-Year Impacts on Coverage, Employment, and Affordability of Care  Concerns About ABA-Based Intervention: An Evaluation and Recommendations - PMC  Adler-Bolton, Beatrice, and Artie Vierkant. 2022. Health Communism: A Surplus Manifesto. Verso Books. SURPLUS. Adler-Bolton, The New Inquiry. October 18, 2022.  Extractive Abandonment - Stimpunks Foundation  Social and medical models of disability and mental health: evolution and renewal - PMC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Calley Means is one of RFK Jr's top advisors. Alongside Tucker Carlson, Means has claimed responsibility for shepherding Kennedy into Trump's camp. Does this former business school graduate Heritage Foundation intern and business school graduate really care about the nation's health? Derek listens to a recent interview with Politico and finds the deregulatory ethos that underlies all of Project 2025 is alive and well in MAHA. Show Notes Full interview with Calley Means | POLITICO Health Care Summit 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After being confirmed as Secretary of HHS, RFK Jr started installing his cabal of wellness influencers and contrarian doctors across the government's many public health agencies. And that means they have to apologize for their boss. Derek and Julian listen in on some of the most outrageous takes so far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The most annoying convert TradCath in the world, JD Vance, whose cherubic face belies all his bootlicking aggression, gets his moment with Pope Bob. Usha stands behind him in a black mantilla. He hands the pontiff an oversized envelope: an invitation from Donald and Melania to a White House dinner. Bob smiles guardedly as he takes it and without looking at it, setting it on his desk. “I'll read that at some point,” Vance sputters, “of course, of course.”  The scene is set for the Church-State tension of whatever phase of global fascism we're now entering. These ghouls who jail students, disappear immigrants, and lobby for the Trump Gaza resort, shuffle into the Vatican with hats in hand to meet a fellow American who is nothing like their boss, asking for pats on the head, wondering what kind of alliance they can forge, perhaps through anti-wokeness discourse. The enigmatic response from Pope Bob sums up where we all are as we read the incense swirls for whether he's going to keep steering the world's 1.4B Catholics against the tides of late-stage capitalism and environmental protection, Francis-style.  Show Notes Michelle Remembers | Satanic Panic Patreon Collection  Brief: Deep Church Conspiracy (w/David Lafferty)  Brief: The CPAC Pope and the Icicle Babies (w/ Brad Onishi) 183: Woke Pope Cancels America's Bishop (w/Mike Lewis) Sisters of the Little Way Vatican's financial watchdog reports decrease in suspicious activities reports in 2024 Why the next Pope faces major money challenges Pope warns the Vatican pension fund needs urgent reform as employees demand transparency Cardinal convicted of embezzlement won't participate in conclave for Pope Francis's successor A cardinal is convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in Vatican trial  Church defends Indigenous peoples: ‘Doctrine of Discovery' was never Catholic Vatican Denounces ‘International Law of Colonization' Reparations for empire: What the new pope owes to Africa | Slavery Catholic Order Pledges $100 Million to Atone for Slave Labor and Sales The Dark History of How the Catholic Church Built Its Massive Wealth The Vatican—Bulwark of Imperialism Indigenous leaders hope Vatican's repudiation of oppressive colonial concepts leads to real change The Man Who Took On Pope Francis: The Story Behind the Viganò Letter The Excommunication of Archbishop Viganò - Crisis  Bishop Strickland removed from diocese after accusing pope of backing 'attack on the sacred' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew is back today for more with Ben Case: profiling Gene Sharp and the (non)politics of strategic nonviolence, plus his strange funding sources. Also: why did Erica Chenoweth speak out against antifascist Trump protesters in January of 2017, and suggest their research proved that property damage and scuffles with the police would ruin any opposition movement to Trump? Also: where does the funding come from for all this bad research? Gene Sharp worked for the Department of Defense, and today, Bill Ackerman is a top funder of strategic nonviolence research.  Case is a retired professional Muaythai fighter, an organizer, educator, and writer. He is a researcher at the Center for Work and Democracy and a fellow at the Resistance Studies Initiative.  Show Notes Street Rebellion: Resistance Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | Case Why Civil Resistance Works | Columbia University Press  Why Not Riot? Interview with Author Ben Case - CounterPunch.org   Change Agent: Gene Sharp's Neoliberal Nonviolence (Part One) – Nonsite.org  Have Repertoire, Will Travel: Nonviolence as Global Contentious Performance  Violence Will Only Hurt the Trump Resistance | The New Republic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may have grown up with the term “nonviolence” shining like a pole star over every discussion of how we accomplish socio-political change. But what does it really mean? And who defines violence for that matter—beyond the police, the courts, and others in power? Today, the theory of non-violence has grown beyond its Gandhian, spiritual aspiration roots, while retaining an irrational faith and offering a distorted view of resistance history. It is now a think-tank-approved, purportedly evidence-based method that guarantees movement success.  That reasoning comes from the pioneering scholarship of the pacifist Gene Sharp in the 1960s, and his inheritors in strategic nonviolence discourse, Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan. They argue that Gandhi's sacred ideal of satyagraha also happens to be the only successful pathway to lasting change—and they have the data to prove it.  But do they? Nope. Matthew's guest today persuasively shows that the movements we think of as “nonviolent” never really are. Why don't we know this? Through a tangle of academic malpractice, spiritual bypassing, liberal wish fulfillment, and erasing anticolonial voices. Oh, and Gene Sharp also got a lot of funding from the Department of Defense. Benjamin S. Case is a retired professional Muaythai fighter, an organizer, educator, and writer. He is a researcher at the Center for Work and Democracy and a fellow at the Resistance Studies Initiative.  P.S.: During our conversation, Ben mentioned that there are antifascist fighting clubs out there. Here are a few to look into: Haymaker in Chicago. SKN Muay Thai in Pittsburgh, PA. Balagoon Boxing Club in Philly, PA. Show Notes Street Rebellion: Resistance Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | Case Why Civil Resistance Works | Columbia University Press  Why Not Riot? Interview with Author Ben Case - CounterPunch.org   Change Agent: Gene Sharp's Neoliberal Nonviolence (Part One) – Nonsite.org  Have Repertoire, Will Travel: Nonviolence as Global Contentious Performance  Violence Will Only Hurt the Trump Resistance | The New Republic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The chat bot flashes its elipsis at the bottom of the screen. What is it thinking, what does it want from you, what do you want from it? Beneath those pixels lies a sea of mined data and lightning storms of electricity heating up servers in barren deserts. What will it find for you in the past labor of the generations? According to a stunning new article in Rolling Stone, it will find whatever the fuck makes you feel like a god—incuding all the NewAge pablum it has scarfed down—because oops, ChatGPT released a model that is just too sycophantic. But as we break down today, the AI nonsensient flattery machine is designed to hook you into the regurgitative process of self-seduction. Is this a new spiritual delusion, or more of the same? And what does that kind and agreeable bot conceal? Show Notes People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies Chatgpt induced psychosis ChatGPT And Generative AI Innovations Are Creating Sustainability Havoc  LLM Can Be A Dangerous Persuader You'll Be Astonished How Much Power It Takes to Generate a Single AI Image  A bottle of water per email: the hidden environmental costs of using AI chatbots Intelligent Computing: The Latest Advances, Challenges, and Future  AI Data Centers Pose Regulatory Challenge, Jeopardizing Climate Goals AI, Climate, and Regulation: From Data Centers to the AI Act  AI could impact 40 per cent of jobs worldwide in the next decade, UN agency warns The Future of Jobs Report 2025 History's Magic Mirror: America's Economic Crisis and the Weimar Republic of Pre-Nazi Germany The Great Filter: A possible solution to the Fermi Paradox  Academic Publisher Sells Authors' Work to Microsoft for AI Training Address of the Holy Father to the College of Cardinals (10 May 2025) | LEO XIV  Capitalism's Fascistic Tendencies — McGowan  McGowan, Todd. 2016. Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets. Columbia University Press. Adorno, Theodor W., and Max Horkheimer. 1997. Dialectic of Enlightenment. Verso. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It begins with a failed human sacrifice in Detroit in 1932. Some would say it actually starts with an evil god-scientist who created the first white people—white devils, really—some 6,000 years ago. Either way, the Nation of Islam has had an important cultural and political presence for almost a century in America. Today's installment of Julian's Roots of Conspirituality series covers the incredible real world history of this extremist new religious movement, as well as its outlandish sci-fi mythological theology. Show Notes UAP in Nation of Islam? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2022, Oregonians passed Measure 111, which amends the state constitution to declare access to affordable healthcare a right for every citizen. As it happens, this was the first ballot Derek voted on when moving to the state. Now that the long journey to universal healthcare is a reality in Oregon, what does that actually entail? Derek is joined by two members of the nonprofit organization, Health Care for All Oregon: Collin Stackhouse, the Social Media Coordinator, and Rebecca Schoon, an Associate Professor of Public Health at Pacific University, who's on the board. Together, they map out the journey ahead. Health Care for All Oregon Measure 111 passes, giving Oregonians a constitutional right to access affordable health care Maga's era of ‘soft eugenics': let the weak get sick, help the clever breed Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cancer, as physician and author Siddhartha Mukherjee writes, is the emperor of all maladies. The disease—the over 200 different diseases all falling under this umbrella term—has been with us as long as we've been us. If anything is truly ancient, it is the cancer cells that are in all of our bodies, just waiting to be turned on if the conditions are right, or if our genes dictate the inevitability. Deep in wellness land, cancer is something entirely different. It's avoidable if you stop consuming seed oils, stop using 5G, stop thinking negative thoughts, and by god, stop taking those jabs that cause all the turbo cancers going around. And with every wellness warning comes a wellness solution. Today our correspondent, Mallory DeMille, returns for a deep dive into the treacherous depths of one of the more insidious grifts: treating cancer with the power of…water. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gen X went from leaning slightly right in 2016 to become, as one analysis puts it, “the bedrock of Trumpism.” Derek meditates on what happened to his generation by reading from four different thought pieces on the topic. Show Notes Wait, What Is Really Up With Gen X's Politics? Is Gen X a Bunch of Trumpers? Maybe That's the Wrong Question. How Gen X Became the Trumpiest Generation How Gen X Went from Raging Against the Machine to Swallowing Misinformation While “Doing Their Own Research” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White House Correspondents' Dinner was a little different this year. No president. No comedian. The event featured a mea culpa from an Axios journalist who discussed the media's complicity in failing to expose Biden's mental decline. Meanwhile, Substack promoted an alternative parallel event called “Not The White House Correspondents' Dinner” with an email that announced, “a new media order is emerging.” Legit—or just another conspiracy touting MAGA sham? Julian reports on the proceedings of both events, as well as how the media landscape is shifting in ways that render the definitions of terms like “independent,” “journalism,” and “unbiased” hard to pin down. Digging beneath the surface on Substack, and outlets like The Free Press, and the increasingly mainstreamed far right cult-rag the Epoch Times, all of which claim in some way to represent this emergent new media order, leads him to ask: where is the real home of fact-based independent journalism? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative government in Ontario has leased the public space of OP to the Therme Spa company, which promises to bring wellness and democracy to the good citizens of Toronto, for a price. Bruce Van Dieten and Ann-Elizabeth Samson of Ontario Place for All join Matthew to discuss the history and possible future of Toronto's cherished public space. Bruce is "a retired busybody with nothing better to do than to lodge burrs under the saddles of politicians who see us as customers instead of citizens and treat us like obstacles." Ann Elisabeth Samson specializes in equality, innovation, and futures thinking. She founded and ran BabyCenter Canada, and led the launch of the $300M Equality Fund. She is co-chair of Ontario Place for All and as an open water swimmer and rower - loves Lake Ontario. Show Notes Ontario Place for All  “To Rid Society of Imbeciles”: The Impact of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg's Stand for Eugenics RFK Jr. Wants to Send People Addicted to Antidepressants to Government “Wellness Farms” Ontario Place  Quick Facts & Analysis + Fact Checker: Ford government's health care funding Ford government spending $525-675M on Therme Spa to get up to $380-580M in value back if it is successful for 95 years: analysis Ford says he will ‘double and triple check' Ontario Place deal after new report European Spa Company Therme Misrepresented Itself in an Effort to Expand Into Canada Province grilled over Therme's credentials to build luxury spa at Ontario Place Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 2 of Matthew's conversation with historian Craig Johnson (PhD Berkeley), who hosts Fifteen Minutes of Fascism, which covers the global rise of the radical right. He's the author of an excellent new book, How to Talk to Your Son about Fascism, a guide for parents and educators on keeping young men out of the extreme right wing.  Today we tackle strategy. To debunk or not to debunk? How do you derail the coolness of fascism? How do we theorize the agency of kids becoming political actors? How do we maintain trust while engaging with a family member sliding to the right? Show Notes How to Talk to Your Son about Fascism - 1st Edition - Craig A. Johnson  Fifteen Minutes of Fascism YouTube  Stream Fifteen Minutes of Fascism Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Craig Johnson (PhD Berkeley) hosts Fifteen Minutes of Fascism, which covers the global rise of the radical right. He's the author of an excellent new book, How to Talk to Your Son about Fascism, a guide for parents and educators on keeping young men out of the extreme right wing.  In this first of a two-part interview, Matthew and Craig discuss definitions of fascism, why it appeals to young men (or how masculinity is socially constructed), irony poisoning, and whether fascism can be fought through accelerating cringe cycles.  Part 2 drops in Patreon on Monday. That episode centers on an exploration of strategy: how do we theorize the agency of kids becoming political actors? How do we maintain trust while engaging with a family member sliding to the right?  Show notes How to Talk to Your Son about Fascism - 1st Edition - Craig A. Johnson  Fifteen Minutes of Fascism YouTube  Stream Fifteen Minutes of Fascism Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Someone's got dirt on RFK Jr. MAHA voters went MAGA because Bobby said he was going to end vaccine mandates—their code for ending vaccines, period. No longer would food be dyed and oils be made of seeds. Everyone would get free gym memberships. America's chronic disease epidemic would end overnight, as he's repeatedly claimed.  Then Mr Kennedy goes to Washington only to declare that antisemitism is a public health crisis? And to say that the MMR vaccine is the most effective way to prevent measles? How could he say such a thing when, as Mikki Willis recently claimed, this “version” of measles is a bioweapon designed to infect the Mennonite population?  This week we look way too deeply into Candace Owens's recent episodes about the blackmailing of RFK Jr, a story that quickly spread its tentacles into the microphones of a number of contrarian right-wing podcasters. We'll give you the lowdown on the story and how, like a children's game of telephone, it repeatedly got distorted and reframed with every mind it touched. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the aliens landed, they told a young musician and wannabe race car driver that he was the chosen one, and they were the real gods. He should build them an embassy with a UFO landing pad in order to prepare humanity for their arrival. They taught him the secrets of sex meditation and cloning DNA as a way to keep switching bodies and never die.  Not much in his story was original, but this was the 1970s, so free love hippies flocked to his French commune—then it all turned to shit. Somehow Claude kept landing on his feet. He took his schtick to Quebec, then Japan, and even found thousands of followers in Africa. Still no embassy, no divine alien arrival, no cloned human babies—but he kept raising funds from the gullible and living like a king with a ballerina bride 40 years his junior. For the latest installment in Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian muses on the epic tale of the Raelians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When cultural and psychological anthropologist Katie Rose Hajtmanek set out to study Crossfit, she knew she had to throw herself into it fully. For seven years, she traveled to “boxes” around the world while committing herself to her local Brooklyn box. What she uncovered was a rabid fan base that deeply values community and a business model that offers a refreshing response to unfettered capitalism—as well as the misogyny, racism, and militarized Christian themes that inform this beloved and despised fitness regimen. She joins Derek to discuss her new book, The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon. Show Notes The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"In order to have the future we want, we have to build and invent more of the things we need." That's the central claim of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's new book, Abundance. They argue that Democrat-run cities and states have suffered self-inflicted wounds that are causing a mass exodus to red states, where life is simply more affordable. To stop the bleeding, Dems need to take action on a bold new vision that cuts through red tape to improve people's lives and address the crises in housing, climate, healthcare and politics. But many on the left are suspicious. Is this just Reaganomics wrapped up in the intellectualized language of the NY Times? Is Abundance the privileged prosperity gospel for white liberals? Show Notes The Abundance Agenda: Neoliberalism's Rebrand Abundance: The Left Hates It Summary of Abundance Critiques Politico: False Choice Between Abundance and Antitrust Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been quite the week at HHS with Robert F Kennedy Jr in charge. Derek considers what's been going on: Bobby's announcement that he's going to "determine" the cause of autism by September; his social media marketing-driven visit to grieving families in Texas; his pivot on the MMR vaccine; and his recommendation to the CDC that fluoride be removed from public water supplies. Show Notes RFK Jr. says HHS will determine the cause of autism by September RFK Jr. says he plans to tell CDC to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water What RFK Jr. Told Grieving Texas Families About the Measles Vaccine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jay Bhattacharya, Covid contrarian and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, is now the Director of the NIH. The day before beginning his new job, he gave his first official interview to Bari Weiss on her podcast, Honestly. Derek and Julian discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a mystery of violence swirling in and amongst the kids these days. Especially boys. What could it be? Snapchat? Video games? Andrew Tate? A hit Netflix series points to issues, and policy. But is it pointing in the right direction?  Today we'll look at “Adolescence”: the origin story, the strengths and liabilities of its one-take technique, and its deceptively conservative messaging. Should it be shown in Parliament? Schools? Does it tell us much about the kids it is worried about? Does it offload responsibility for misogyny and violence onto ambient internet chaos, when there are so many other causes closer to home? And why, if it is a meditation on violence committed by boys, do we learn so little about the girls who are harmed? Show Notes Brief: Tate Crime Teachers Warn That Misogynist Andrew Tate Has 'Radicalized' School-Age Boys 180: Is This the Next Andrew Tate? Stephen Graham shares the heartbreaking stories that inspired Netflix's Adolescence  'Adolescence' Becomes Netflix's Most-Watched Limited Series in First 2 Weeks With 66.3 Million Views Elon Musk blasted for spreading 'concerning' misinformation about Netflix's Adolescence  Netflix's Adolescence makes TV history in the UK “Netflix hit Adolescence has lessons for us all” says Northumbria PCC Susan Dungworth, as she welcomes PM backing for it to be shown in UK Schools  Netflix's Adolescence inspired by true story of Croydon girl's horrific murder - MyLondon  UK experts warn of dangers of violent content being readily available online | Southport attack Croydon schoolgirl Elianne Andam stabbed in ‘white-hot anger', court told | UK news Hassan Sentamu sentencing remarks  Sentencing Remarks: In the matter of the murder of Ava White Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2024  The facts about firearm violence Firearm Violence in the United States | Center for Gun Violence Solutions   Online gangs of teenage boys sharing extreme material are ‘emerging threat' in UK | NCA (National Crime Agency) Beyond the Headlines 2024 Summary | Youth Endowment Fund  Spotify takes down Andrew Tate ‘pimping' podcast after complaints  Kyle Clifford watched Andrew Tate videos before triple murder The Terrifying Truth Behind Netflix's ‘Adolescence'  Stephen Graham Netflix series Adolescence inspired by two real-life crimes "Objective realism," ethnographic cinema, and the classical model of visual-anthropological research  PACE Code C 2023 GCSEs harm our young people. Ministers should have the guts to abolish them – and start again Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part Two: Matthew remembers the snow job of “The Sound of Music.” Also: more on Sophie Scholl, introducing the Edelweiss Pirates, the “adult gaze”, what trusting kids means, notes from Emma Goldman and Janusz Korczak, and excerpts from a poem by Aku Päiviö, father of Jules, who traveled from Northern Ontario to Spain in 1937 to volunteer in the International Brigade. ____ When fascism rises, and some young people are drawn into its orbit, because everyone from Jordan Peterson to Andrew Tate has figured out how to exploit resentment at the failures of capitalism, we have an opportunity to give our kids a lot more than moralistic calls for a return to normalcy, compliance, warnings about screen time, striving to be better students, doing more sports, and not making too much of a ruckus.  The kind of parenting that limits itself to restoring the status quo for younger people in an age of fascism is not engaged parenting.  It's not enough to be a good boy or girl. Antifascism takes more than that. Show Notes Op-ed: Try again, President Kumar: Renewing calls for Tufts to adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions  Death toll since Israel's aggression on Gaza on October 7 rises to 31,819 (March, 2024)  Austerity Has Always Been a Project to Empower Capital at the Expense of Workers  It's Not Them; It's Us: Thoughts on the Show Adolescence Adolescence is a really well made depiction of misogyny that fails to critique it | by Mallory Moore | Mar, 2025 Netflix's ‘Adolescence' Taps Into the Latest Moral Panic    Jonathan Haidt's Claims On Kids & Tech Crumble Under Scrutiny From Top Expert, Candice Odgers | Techdirt  UK government's own estimate says welfare cuts to push 250,000 into poverty | Reuters Labour's cuts to PIP will drag a quarter of a million people into absolute poverty, DWP figures show – Disability News Service 55: Games Against Humanity (w/ Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality 207: Gaming Realities (w/Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality   Reminder to the media: Research video games before reporting on them  Out of the Ruins:The Emergence of Radical Informal Learning Spaces Anarchist Education and the Modern School: A Francisco Ferrer Reader  The People's Republic of Neverland: The Child versus the State   Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work Teaching Resistance: Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Cultural Subversives in the Classroom TRUST KIDS! Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy Refusing Complicity: The Bravery of Sophie Scholl - Radical Tea Towel Sophie Scholl and the youth resistance against the Nazis – DW – 02/22/2023 The majority of news influencers are conservative men, study finds  An Unclaimed Country: The Austrian Image in American Film and the Sociopolitics of The Sound of Music  The politics of The Sound of Music | Peter Levine  Edelweiss Pirate Walter Mayer The Edelweiss Pirates: A Story of Freedom, Love and Life Walter Meyer describes his 1943 trial for looting, and the impact of his role in the Edelweiss Pirates on the sentence he received | Holocaust Encyclopedia The Edelweiss Pirates The Child and Its Enemies | The Anarchist Library —Emma Goldman DECLARATION OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS—Janusz Korczak  The King of Children: A Biography of Janusz Korczak - Betty Jean Lifton Sophie Scholl – The Final Days Remember the Mac-Paps - rabble.ca  The Canadians In The Spanish Civil War  'Gentleman Jules' lived for just causes | Sudbury Star  Poetry – Friends and Veterans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

But the parents? Meh.  When fascism rises, and some young people are drawn into its orbit, because everyone from Jordan Peterson to Andrew Tate has figured out how to exploit resentment at the failures of capitalism, we have an opportunity to give our kids a lot more than moralistic calls for a return to normalcy, compliance, warnings about screen time, striving to be better students, doing more sports, and not making too much of a ruckus (as Marco Rubio calls it).  The kind of parenting that limits itself to restoring the status quo for younger people in an age of fascism is not engaged parenting.  It's not enough to be a good boy or girl. Antifascism takes more than that. In this Part One, Matthew previews our main feed discussion of Adolescence (coming this Thursday), parses a speech by Gareth Southgate, wonders why Jonathan Haidt knows nothing about gaming, and remembers Sophie Scholl.  Show Notes Op-ed: Try again, President Kumar: Renewing calls for Tufts to adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions  Death toll since Israel's aggression on Gaza on October 7 rises to 31,819 (March, 2024)  Austerity Has Always Been a Project to Empower Capital at the Expense of Workers  It's Not Them; It's Us: Thoughts on the Show Adolescence Adolescence is a really well made depiction of misogyny that fails to critique it | by Mallory Moore | Mar, 2025 Netflix's ‘Adolescence' Taps Into the Latest Moral Panic    Jonathan Haidt's Claims On Kids & Tech Crumble Under Scrutiny From Top Expert, Candice Odgers | Techdirt  UK government's own estimate says welfare cuts to push 250,000 into poverty | Reuters Labour's cuts to PIP will drag a quarter of a million people into absolute poverty, DWP figures show – Disability News Service 55: Games Against Humanity (w/ Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality 207: Gaming Realities (w/Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality   Reminder to the media: Research video games before reporting on them  Out of the Ruins:The Emergence of Radical Informal Learning Spaces Anarchist Education and the Modern School: A Francisco Ferrer Reader  The People's Republic of Neverland: The Child versus the State   Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work Teaching Resistance: Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Cultural Subversives in the Classroom TRUST KIDS! Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy Refusing Complicity: The Bravery of Sophie Scholl - Radical Tea Towel Sophie Scholl and the youth resistance against the Nazis – DW – 02/22/2023 The majority of news influencers are conservative men, study finds  An Unclaimed Country: The Austrian Image in American Film and the Sociopolitics of The Sound of Music  The politics of The Sound of Music | Peter Levine  Edelweiss Pirate Walter Mayer The Edelweiss Pirates: A Story of Freedom, Love and Life Walter Meyer describes his 1943 trial for looting, and the impact of his role in the Edelweiss Pirates on the sentence he received | Holocaust Encyclopedia The Edelweiss Pirates The Child and Its Enemies | The Anarchist Library —Emma Goldman DECLARATION OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS—Janusz Korczak  The King of Children: A Biography of Janusz Korczak - Betty Jean Lifton Sophie Scholl – The Final Days Remember the Mac-Paps - rabble.ca  The Canadians In The Spanish Civil War  'Gentleman Jules' lived for just causes | Sudbury Star  Poetry – Friends and Veterans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"If Americans want to change their government, they're going to have to get over their dictator-phobia." That's neo-reactionary philosopher Curtis Yarvin in 2012, when he outlined a strategy that's eerily similar to how Trump and Musk are now destroying our government.  The "dark enlightenment" blogger, long a transgressive darling of the New Right, has in the last two months enjoyed a fresh round of mainstream exposure. We look at a man who has the ear of those who are reshaping our world at breakneck speed. Show Notes That's Bait - by Jeff Sharlet Kristi Noem Gets a MAGA Makeover - The New York Times Kristi Noem's New Teeth Are Blowing Up in Her Face | Vanity Fair Venezuela-hired lawyers file petition in El Salvador aimed at freeing Venezuelans deported by US | AP News Kristi Noem's El Salvador Prison Photo Op Might Have Violated the Geneva Convention Trump wants FEMA gone. But that could be its own kind of disaster. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posed in front of El Salvador prisoners wearing $50k watch   Will Stancil: "The El Salvador government is using its concentration camp as a kind of Disneyland thrill ride for right-wing influencers” Kelly Brogan's Divine Dungeon: Pt 1 (feat/Esme Providence Brown) Kelly Brogan's Divine Dungeon: Pt 2 (feat/Esme Providence Brown)   ‘All life is a service': The Contested Erotics of Fascism from Foucault to Frost – Retrospect Journal Cathedrals of Erotic Misery • Ill Will Politico Yarvin Interview Financial Times on Dark Enlightenment TIME on Dark Enlightenment Common Dreams on Dark Enlightenment/DOGE NYT Podcast End of Democracy Jennifer Kollmer, 1971-2021 — Yarvin's obit poem, TW on the rest of the blog! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is an oligarchy, exactly? Is the US entering a period similar to post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s? What do Russian oligarchs have to do with proven interference in the 2016 US election?  Julian digs into Russian history to explore parallels with modern-day America. Meet Vladislav Surkov, the architect of both Putin's 25-year rule over what Surkov has dubbed “sovereign democracy,” and the global propaganda strategies generating our post-truth ecosystem of disinformation and conspiracies. There's a reason why politics feels like theater these days, why democracy seems like a pipe dream.  While MAGA has a fascism fetish, Putin's invasion of Ukraine might be a better match for Hitler on the verge, with Trump and Co acting as macho-clown versions of Neville Chamberlain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek and Julian discuss Robert Paxton's 2004 book, The Anatomy of Fascism, in light of 2025 America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

McGill University science communicator, Jonathan Jarry, was recently given hundreds of hours of Zoom calls between alt-med salesman, Joseph Mercola, and a supposed clairvoyant that goes by Bahlon. Jonathan joins us to discuss what he found. Show Notes Brad Schimel Admitted to Having "Psychologically Beat the Daylights Out" Of His 8-Year-Old Daughter - MeidasTouch News Rallying Anti-Musk Donors, Liberal Judge Raises $24 Million in Key Court Contest - The New York Times Here are claims about Wisconsin's Supreme Court candidates — and the facts Ahead of Wisconsin Supreme Court election, Elon Musk PAC offers cash for pledge - WPR Trump backs Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate in hotly contested race - ABC News Billionaires become a focus of the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race Brad Schimel Begins Campaigning With Anti-MLK Advocate Charlie Kirk - MeidasTouch News Exclusive Videos Show Dr. Joe Mercola's Dangerous Ideas Whipped up by Alleged Medium Brief: RFK's Health Propaganda Roundtable Terminated HHS grants Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Wellness Company is now selling retatrutide, a weight loss drug currently undergoing stage 3 trials by Eli Lilly. An anti-vax company that uses fear-based marketing to push supplements appears to be overstepping legal lines. Yet will they be held accountable in an RFK Jr-led HHS? Derek looks at private market healthcare propaganda from Ronald Reagan to Kennedy, showing how health is not the real goal of MAHA. But if they can sell untested products to fat and chronically ill patients along the way, all the better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices