Conspirituality

This is the first of a two-part deep dive into how U.S. foreign policy stared down the political threat of Liberation Theology by promoting Evangelical Christianity in Latin America. The CIA and USAID, in league with Vatican conservatives like Cardinal Ratzinger, spent money and social capital on the suppression of this vital new movement which insisted that poverty is political and that faith without structural change is hollow.  By contrast, the Evangelical emphasis on individual sin, salvation, and personal prosperity aligned with Cold War and neoliberal interests.  Spiritualities engineered to serve empire don't just pacify the poor abroad—they come back to police democracy at home. The “Evangelical boomerang” shows up in shifting Latino religious demographics and voting patterns, while the “reverse boomerang” hints that Liberation Theology language—once condemned—now shapes Pope Leo's message in this time of rising fascism.  If MAGA mystics, prosperity preachers, and tech-bro shamans offer a gospel of self-aggrandizement, Liberation Theology counters with a message of shared material reality: no one owns the food, we share it; the Sabbath serves people, not power; love of God is inseparable from love for the poor.  Part 1 lays the intellectual and historical groundwork; Part 2 follows the covert money networks and then asks whether a newly emboldened Catholic social vision can stiffen global resistance to authoritarian capitalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Meet the man who built RFK Jr's kitchen cabinet” goes the title of a recent investigative article in Politico. Yet that man, Jeffrey Tucker, is much more than that. In fact, you can make the case, as Politico does, that Tucker is one of the main driving forces behind MAHA. We've covered Tucker before on this podcast, including two previous interviews with his estranged daughter, Julia—who Matthew will again be talking to in segment 2 today. Derek will then talk to Duke professor Gavin Yamey, who was cited in the article as well. Before that, we return to Jeffrey Tucker, founder of the Brownstone Institute, architect of the Great Barrington Declaration, a romantic faux-libertarian who wants to see the return of childhood smoking and the demise of child labor laws and seat belts, and, as Politico uncovered, a man who had to leave a prominent position at a libertarian think tank due to accusations of sexual misconduct. Show Notes Meet the man who built RFK Jr.'s kitchen cabinet Leaked Brownstone Institute Emails Reveal Support for Child Labor, Underage Smoking Brief: My Dad Became a MAGA Power Broker (w/Julia Tucker) — Conspirituality Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this year, a spate of news stories told of chatbot users travelling through the looking-glass right into Conspirituality. Paranoid conspiracies, spiritual awakenings, even falling head-over-heels in love with the simulated personalities of large language models like ChatGPT. Could AI have finally crossed the threshold into autonomous sentient consciousness? Could it be that chatbots were anointing new prophets—or, conversely, that very special users were awakening their very special friends via the power of love and illuminating dialogue? Step aside, QAnon, the code behind the screen is illuminated by God! Sadly, some of these stories trended very dark. Suicides, attempted murder, paranoid delusions, spouses terrified of losing their partners and co-parents to what looked like spiritual and romantic delusions. For this standalone installment of his Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian examines this strange new phenomenon, then takes a detour into Ancient Greece and the oracle at Delphi to show that everything old is actually new again—just dressed up in digital technology. Show Notes I Married My Chatbot FTC Complaints Against OpenAI for Chatbot Psychosis AI Spiritual Delusions Destroying Human Relationships Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social media has been filled with clips of Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee for mayor of NYC. He's been proving quite the foil for Andrew Cuomo's attempt to upset Zohran Mamdani. But who is this man, exactly? Derek and Julian discuss. Show Notes 16 Cats, 320 Square Feet and One Long-Shot Candidate for Mayor 7 Takeaways From the Final N.Y.C. Mayoral Debate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel is no cuck philanthropist. The co-founder of Palantir is leading his company at the bleeding edge of mass surveillance, facial recognition, predictive policing, and AI-assisted warfare. He also fancies himself a political player, responsible for funding his protege, JD Vance, to a heartbeat away from the presidency. Considering this CV, the announcement that Thiel would give a series of four lectures on the AntiChrist was puzzling.  Why would a tech-bro with a notoriously awkward and inarticulate speaking style hold forth on religious prophecy? Or would this be a coming out party, where he would finally confirm his alliance with Satan? Now that the lectures have happened, we can finally tell you—and later, we'll frame it in the context of Thiel's mentor, René Girard. Show Notes Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel's off-the-record lectures about the antichrist It Kind of Seems Like Peter Thiel Is Losing It Battling to the End: Conversations with Benoît Chantre: René Girard I See Satan Fall Like Lightning: René Girard “A Geometry of Desire: René Girard's Mimetic Theory, Part 1.”: John Ganz “The Iron Triangle: René Girard's Mimetic Theory, Part 2.”: John Ganz “Escaping the Kingdom of Futility: René Girard's Mimetic Theory, Part 3.”: John Ganz “The Cure for Envy: René Girard's Mimetic Theory, Part 4.”: John Ganz Know Your Enemy Ep 87, featuring John Ganz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to the full episode on Patreon After attending the No Kings rally in Portland on Saturday, Derek shares some thoughts about the week leading up to the nationwide protests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephen Miller is once again making headlines for saying the quiet part out loud. Derek and Julian look into this strange little man from Santa Monica. Show Notes Stephen Miller: Understanding the man who became ‘Trump's brain' through his Chronicle opinion column ‘I love Hitler': Leaked messages expose Young Republicans' racist chat What Stephen Miller Was Like in High School - Charles Gould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ICE is on the loose in our cities, acting with seeming impunity. They've repelled from Black Hawk helicopters, thrown journalists and protestors to the ground, and belligerently refused to unmask, provide identification, or present warrants for the people they're kidnapping. Among the social media videos documenting this despicable stormtrooper behavior came the image of a priest being hit in the head and knocked to the ground by a pepper ball shot from an ICE building rooftop. We've homed in on this disturbing moment to ask if what we'd seen so far had not crossed a red line for the American public, what does it mean to shoot at a priest protesting injustice in prayer? Show Notes Surge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has Abated Portland's ‘War Zone' Is Like Burning Man for the Terminally Online DC Churches to Trump: Stay Out of Our Parking Lots Religious protesters say ICE threatens religious freedom in Chicago  In LA, faith leaders protest to stand up for the detained and keep the peace Chicago Pastor Sues Trump Admin After Allegedly Being Shot by ICE Agents Federal lawsuit brought by Black et al against Noem and DHS  Evangelical Pastor Doug Pagitt on Christian Nationalism  Exclusive: The Churches Fighting Back Against ICE  Religious leaders offering communion to detainees turned away at Broadview ICE facility Bishop Rojas on rise in ICE raids: ‘It is not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ' Religious leaders offering communion to detainees turned away at Broadview ICE facility Signs of Faith Against Fascism: An Interview with Eric MartinPaul Elie: Daniel Berrigan was a fierce critic of the United States. He was also a great American. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everyone… special drop today: the inaugural episode of Matthew's new side project, Antifascist Dad Podcast.  Matthew sits down with songwriter Nathan Evans Fox to talk about kinship, Appalachia, and the viral hymn that's resonating across communities. Nathan shares the roots of his concept of yallidarity—solidarity rooted in labor, joy, food, music, and taking care of one another. They discuss the myths and realities of Appalachia, the erasure of labor history, and the dangers of “bootstrap” individualism. Nathan tells about his upbringing in fringe charismatic churches, the connections between charismatic Christianity and Trump-style politics, and how faith traditions can nurture resilience—or be co-opted by empire. They dig into Nathan's viral “Hillbilly Hymn”: why the cops disappear when Jesus returns, why kinship always beats bootstraps, and how to imagine an abolitionist future that doesn't erase culture but reorients it toward joy, justice, and care.All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com. Show Notes Everything Nathan Evans Fox Gaza Sumud flotilla: How Israel breaks international maritime law | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera Gaza-bound flotilla rejects Israeli claims of Hamas funding | Euronews Contact Restored with Global Sumud Flotilla after Israeli Interference - Palestine Chronicle The Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Full episode on Patreon Part 2 moves from Christofascist spectacle to the “mushy middle” of liberal Christianity—why it so often blesses order over justice and falters when fascism rises. Drawing on MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail, Reggie Williams's Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus, and lived experience inside white urban churches, he traces how bureaucratic piety, respectability politics, and spiritual bypassing drain the Gospel of conduct and courage—what Bonhoeffer called a “funeral wreath” laid on the culture. How do institutions become procedurally compassionate yet politically inert? Matthew weaves in memories of global South Christian art, Denys Arcand's Jesus of Montréal, and the everyday service-industry grind of parish life to show how care without solidarity becomes maintenance—while Black Jesus points to co-suffering, mutual aid, and material resistance. Touching grass means moving from abstraction to accompaniment and from decorum to defense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this first installment of Antifascist Christianity: Black Jesus, Matthew revisits Dietrich Bonhoeffer's journey from the theological classrooms of Berlin to the Black churches of Harlem — where he encountered a Jesus entirely unlike the imperial figure of his upbringing. Bonhoeffer arrived in New York a servant of white European Christendom, and left transformed by the radical, suffering, and liberatory presence of Black Jesus. Matthew connects Bonhoeffer's awakening to today's spectacle of white nationalism in worship — from the triumphalist religion on display at Charlie Kirk's memorial to the enduring cultural power of “white Jesus” as theology for empire. Drawing on Reggie Williams's Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus, Cedric Robinson's Black Marxism, and Jeanelle Hope and Bill Mullen's The Black Antifascist Tradition, the episode traces how colonialism created a Christ built to bless domination, and how the Black church reclaimed him through solidarity, suffering, and resistance. The contrast between the fortress hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God and the spiritual Were You There becomes the turning point in Bonhoeffer's faith — from triumph to trembling, from power to empathy. Part 2, out Monday on Patreon, explores how liberal Christianity tried to stand between these poles, and why it failed. Show Notes Hope, Jeanelle K., and Bill V. Mullen. The Black Antifascist Tradition. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, 2023. Robinson, Cedric J. Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition. Revised and Updated Third Edition. Foreword by Robin D. G. Kelley. Preface by Damien Sojoyner and Tiffany Willoughby-Herard. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020. Williams, Reggie L. Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our podcast is not actually illegal—yet. Thanks to Trump's recent Security Presidential Memorandum, NSPM-7, or “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” it soon could be. Today we talk about one of the starkest moves into fascism Americans have yet seen from MAGA: what it is, how pre-crimes can soon be reality, and the fear factor this memo is designed to inspire. We'll also discuss some possible responses to the next phase of MAGA authoritarianism. Show Notes Trump's NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs As Terrorism “Indicators” What Is NSPM-7? Over 3,000 Nonprofits Sound Alarm on New Trump Directive Trump Orders Broad Effort to Root Out Groups He Says Organize Political Violence The meme-ification of political violence The Upside of Collapse Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The People's Temple in Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, The Order of the Solar Temple. All cults that ended in tragic mass suicides. How could such lofty aspirations end so badly? For today's self-contained installment of The Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian explores the shadow side of the anxiety-relieving religious notion that death is just a doorway into a better place. How do charismatic prophets indoctrinate believers into ending their lives, and often the lives of their children, in the name of spirituality? Julian briefly examines each of these groups, along with Paul Nthenge Mackenzie's Good News International Ministry—450 of whose followers starved themselves to death in a Kenyan forest in 2023. Then he transitions into exploring philosophical, psychological, evolutionary, and neuroscience-based ways of understanding the elements that make these spiritualized perversions of our survival instincts possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

RFK Jr posted a seven-minute video earlier this week that assures us that vaccines aren't all that great, actually. Derek reads the studies Kennedy references as proof. You might be surprised to learn the HHS Secretary has very selective reading. Show Notes Annual Summary of Vital Statistics: Trends in the Health of Americans During the 20th Century The Questionable Contribution of Medical Measures to the
Decline of Mortality in the
United States in the Twentieth Century Infectious Diseases and Social Change Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you hear about the pregnant woman who ingested too much Tylenol just to “own Trump” and is now on a ventilator and will likely not wake up, offing both herself and her baby? If you were tapped into social media at all this past week, you likely saw dozens of wellness and right-wing influencers sharing it, each with their own hot take. One problem: there's still no proof this woman exists.  Mallory DeMille returns to discuss this cursed game of telephone, as well as unpack the mad rush that wellness influencers have been on to sell you their completely legitimate acetaminophen alternatives. Science rocks, y'all. Show Notes Meet The ‘American Frontline Nurses' Telling Parents To Give Kids Ivermectin Homeopathy is a scam that causes real harm Kelly Brogan's Conspiracy Machine Giving Birth in Yogaland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to the full episode here. When RFK Jr announced that Tylenol might be implicated in autism, he forefronted correlative research that has yet to prove causation. That didn't stop a number of MAHA-pilled wellness influencers from running with the narrative. Derek looks at their posts, as well as the immediate pushback, after breaking down Kennedy's slipperiness during the press conference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MAGA congressman Clay Higgins recently sent a letter to top tech executives demanding subservience when it comes to "acceptable" speech. This comes two years after Higgins co-sponsored a bill protecting freedom of speech. Given recent capitulations to the Trump administration by tech CEOs, we shouldn't write off Higgins's aggressive push. Derek and Julian discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charlie Kirk became the latest victim of gun violence in America on September 10. And he wasn't the only person shot on a school campus that day, nor was he the only political figure killed this year.  Unlike Melissa Hortman and her husband, the motivation for Kirk's murder remains unclear. That hasn't stopped right-wing pundits and politicians from framing it as typical extremist left-wing violence.  In between calls for civil war and censorship, the ramping up of police-state authoritarianism, and painting of the slain Christian Nationalist activist as a noble martyr, anti-racist icon Ta-Nehisi Coates called out the strange reflex from some left-of-center figures (like Ezra Klein) to participate in whitewashing Kirk's hateful politics. Today we discuss what happened and what it might mean. Show Notes ⁠From Secular Activist to Christian Nationalist⁠ ⁠Doug Wilson on Abortion, Gays, Women Voting⁠ ⁠Meet The New Apostolic Reformation⁠ 167: Straight White American Jesus (w/Bradley Onishi)⁠ ⁠129: White Christian Nationalism (w/Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry)⁠ ⁠Stealing Democracy for Jesus⁠ ⁠Blackpill Aesthetics: A Crash Course in Meme Extremism⁠ ⁠Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second installment in a two-part exploration of Simon(e) Weil for the ongoing Antifascist Christianity series and the Antifascist Woodshed project.  At the heart of the episode is Weil's terse, luminous definition of love—“belief in the existence of other human beings as such”—and Richard Gilman-Opalsky's unpacking of how that love rejects projections and demands the generosity of attention, shared joys and miseries, and a deprivatized ethic of care. Matthew contrasts this with caricatures of Weil as an ascetic or body-denier, arguing instead for a portrait of a neurodivergent activist whose stressed nervous system made hypocrisy intolerable and whose spirituality emerged from embodied encounters.  Weil presented a lot of scrambling data—gender nonconformity, ambivalent sexuality, eating and touch aversions, migraines and hypergraphia. Theological and philosophical commentators often pathologize or misread Weil, while sidestepping their autism. As for Weil's Christianity: it wasn't about churchly allegiance but an experiential, anti-hypocrisy faith that found Jesus in direct action and in taking liturgical symbols seriously enough to live them. For Weil, “this is my body” became a present-tense statement of antifascist solidarity: the breaking and sharing of bread and body as an F-you to the imperials, and a call to communal repair. Show Notes:Coles, Robert. Simone Weil: A Modern Pilgrimage. Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2001. Fitzgerald, Michael. The Genesis of Artistic Creativity: Asperger's Syndrome and the Arts. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2006. Gilman-Opalsky, Richard. The Communism of Love: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Exchange Value. Chico, CA: AK Press, 2020. Lawson, Kathryn. Ecological Ethics and the Philosophy of Simone Weil. New York: Routledge, 2024. doi:10.4324/9781003449621. McCullough, Lissa. The Religious Philosophy of Simone Weil: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2014. Plant, Stephen. Simone Weil: A Brief Introduction. Revised and expanded edition. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008. Song, Youming, Tingting Nie, Wendian Shi, Xudong Zhao, and Yongyong Yang. "Empathy Impairment in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Conditions From a Multidimensional Perspective: A Meta-Analysis." Frontiers in Psychology 10 (October 9, 2019): 01902. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01902. Wallace, Cynthia R. The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil: Feminism, Justice, and the Challenge of Religion. New York: Columbia University Press, 2024. Weil, Simone. The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties towards Mankind. Translated by Arthur Wills. With a preface by T. S. Eliot. Routledge Classics. London and New York: Routledge, 2002. Weil, Simone. Modern Classics Simone Weil: An Anthology. Edited and Introduced by Siân Miles. London: Penguin Books, 2005. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew begins a two-part exploration of Simone Weil—French philosopher, mystic, and antifascist activist—through the lens of autism, embodiment, and political courage. Following the earlier Antifascist Christianity Woodshed series on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this installment positions Weil as a kind of spiritual auntie to Greta Thunberg, whose uncompromising honesty, rooted in autistic perception, continues to disrupt fascist, capitalist, and liberal narrative. Matthew traces Weil's journey from childhood acts of solidarity, like giving up sugar during WW1, to her immersion in factory labor, revolutionary syndicalism, and frontline service in the Spanish Civil War. Weil's refusal of privilege and their lifelong impulse to take on suffering emerge as core features of both her philosophy and her autistic experience. They also stood up to Leon Trotsky, calling out Soviet authoritarianism long before its collapse. Weil can be understood not only through the posthumous notebooks and essays that editors and institutions reshaped into seventeen volumes, but through the lived reality of their embodied resistance. Their ideas remain striking: the notion of attention as the rarest form of generosity; the insistence that obligations come before rights; the practice of “decreation” as a release of ego in the service of love; and the “need for roots” as an antifascist alternative to blood-and-soil nationalism. Part 2 of this series drops Monday on Patreon, where Matthew goes deeper into Weil's autistic traits, their spiritual life, and how their philosophy continues to confront liberalism and fascism alike. Support us on Patreon to access Part 2 and the full Antifascist Woodshed series. Show NotesColes, Robert. Simone Weil: A Modern Pilgrimage. Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2001. Fitzgerald, Michael. The Genesis of Artistic Creativity: Asperger's Syndrome and the Arts. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2006. Gilman-Opalsky, Richard. The Communism of Love: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Exchange Value. Chico, CA: AK Press, 2020. Lawson, Kathryn. Ecological Ethics and the Philosophy of Simone Weil. New York: Routledge, 2024. doi:10.4324/9781003449621. McCullough, Lissa. The Religious Philosophy of Simone Weil: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2014. Plant, Stephen. Simone Weil: A Brief Introduction. Revised and expanded edition. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008. Song, Youming, Tingting Nie, Wendian Shi, Xudong Zhao, and Yongyong Yang. "Empathy Impairment in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Conditions From a Multidimensional Perspective: A Meta-Analysis." Frontiers in Psychology 10 (October 9, 2019): 01902. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01902. Wallace, Cynthia R. The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil: Feminism, Justice, and the Challenge of Religion. New York: Columbia University Press, 2024. Weil, Simone. The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties towards Mankind. Translated by Arthur Wills. With a preface by T. S. Eliot. Routledge Classics. London and New York: Routledge, 2002. Weil, Simone. Modern Classics Simone Weil: An Anthology. Edited and Introduced by Siân Miles. London: Penguin Books, 2005. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Less than two weeks after a shooter unloaded 500 rounds at the CDC in Atlanta, RFK Jr gutted that agency's violence prevention research by firing 100 employees. Less than a month later, Charlie Kirk was shot in front of a crowd of 3K at a Utah university. Millions saw the graphic clip online, which ignited a propaganda and disinformation culture war. Meanwhile, yet another child shot his classmates at a Denver high school that same day. It's not the guns though, say the GOP pundits and politicians, it's the violent rhetoric from the left, and those hateful transgender antifascists. Just ask RFK Jr. He'll confirm that it's not the guns, but all those kids overmedicated on dangerous antidepressants. What are SSRIs anyway, do hurt people hurt people, and do gun laws have any effect? Show Notes No, Antidepressants Do Not Provoke Mass Shootings Mental Illness and Lone Actor Terrorism Is There a Link Between Mental Health and Mass Shootings? | Columbia University Department of Psychiatry Politically-Motivated Violence is Rare in the US No Statistical Support for SSRI-Mass Shooting Connection Mass Shooters and Political Assassins Have Similar Profiles The Violence Prevention Project Characteristics of Lone Wolf Violent Offenders Blackpill Aesthetics: A Crash Course in Meme Extremism  62: Manifesting Something Awful (w/Dale Beran) — Conspirituality Gun Purchases by Year Correlation Between States with Weak Laws/High Ownership and Gun Deaths Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The events of September 11, 2001 changed the world. Julian reflects on several interpretations of what they meant, proposing that each is a kind of Rorschach-test result based on our own religious and political beliefs, backgrounds, and social conditioning.  The conspiracy theorist simply can't believe something like that could happen to America, going in search of complicated alternative explanations that exist outside of the “official narrative,” even of reality itself. Where the Christian conservative might see a call to Holy War signaling that the End Times is near, Neocon warhawks surrounding Bush observe an opportunity to enact plans for maintaining economic and political power and security. Meanwhile, many on the left see the attack as justifiable “blowback” against American imperialism, Cold War atrocities, and Western colonialism. Religion is merely an inflaming of a fundamentalist minority based on political injustices. What about the Soviet Union? The history of political Islam and massive Muslim caliphates that ruled for nearly 1,300 years? The intractable sectarian conflicts and the multiple internal ideologies vying for control over the Middle East? There may be no easy answers, but perhaps engaging with these different perspectives can allow us to name some of the many factors that got us to 9/11 and the seemingly unsolvable dilemmas of our world today. Show Notes Popular Mechanics on 911 conspiracies Noam Chomsky on 911 conspiracies Pilger on Project for A New American Century NYT 2023 Piece on the Reasons for Iraq War Saddam's Ruthless Purge CNN on Kabul attitudes after US Invasion Polling of Iraqis Mahmood Mamdani Good Muslim, Bad Muslim Interview Human Rights Watch on Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Taimur Rahman's Red Star History of Political Islam Lectures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek worked for nearly 10 months on a NY Times opinions video, "You Might Have Already Fallen for MAHA's Conspiracy Theories," which was published this week. He discusses what it took to produce this video with his collaborator, Alex Stockton, as well as the role journalism has to play in dispelling health misinformation. Show Notes You Might Have Already Fallen for MAHA's Conspiracy Theories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If it wasn't all so tragic, politics might seem like a bad joke. But how did comedy become so unfunny, so politically toxic?  From his hideout in a remote mountain cabin, anonymous video collage artist and essayist The Elephant Graveyard has finally cracked the code. According to him, Joe Rogan has created a doomsday death cult that feeds the dad-shaped hole in the hearts of its followers. In this allegory, his Comedy Mothership theater in Austin is like the alien spacecraft zooming in from behind the Hale Bop comet to take the Heaven's Gate group suicide victims home, freed from their earth-suits.  And it turns out tech oligarchs Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are really behind it all. Show Notes Vile Grifters Are Taking Over Establishment Media How Comedy Was Destroyed by an Anti-Reality Doomsday Cult Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Biostatistician Halbert Dunn's 1961 book, High Level Wellness, set the stage for the modern wellness movement. Derek reads it alongside some of today's top conspiritualists, noticing the themes (and differences) that run throughout Dunn's work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The recent killing of two police officers (and wounding of a third) in Porepunkah, Australia has highlighted the dangers of sovereign citizen-style conspiratorial beliefs. The alleged shooter is still at large, but his social media footprint shows anti-vaccine, COVID-contrarian, and even QAnon-aligned beliefs, as well as a long history of violent threats against police. Julian talks to journalists Ariel Bogle and Cam Wilson, co-authors of an excellent new book, Conspiracy Nation: Exposing The Dangerous World of Australian Conspiracy Theories. As with everywhere else in the world, the pandemic poured gasoline on what would become a familiar set of incendiary false beliefs—but the sociopolitical and historical context down under has its own unique details. The conversation spans claims of government false-flag operations, real legacies of institutional abuse, and Australia's most famous conspiracy export and celebrity chef, Pete Evans. Show Notes Conspiracy Nation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump is still alive, though a lot of folks are excited that won't last. Maybe it's testimony to the allure of the fantasy that he really is powerful, that his strongman schtick has legs, that he really has cast some magical spell over everyone—and that if he drops dead we'll all wake up to a different world… Of course we won't. But we'll go through the fantasies today: the wishes, the schadenfreude, the diagnosis-at-a-distance, and what it means to imagine the death of a king. Show Notes ŌURA Announces U.S. Manufacturing Operations in Support of Scaling Defense Business Oura Ring makers working with military to open first U.S. factory in Fort Worth What Does Palantir Actually Do? Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel to lead 4-part series on the Antichrist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew recounts the story of a young, hoity-toity soft-nationalist German theologian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who discovered the radical soul of antifascism by hanging out in a Black Baptist church in Harlem in 1930. He came to the US believing in the white Jesus of European empire, but left enthralled by the Black Jesus of the oppressed. Back in Germany, he played 78s of spirituals and gospel tunes for the students of his illegal seminaries as he and other members of the Confessing Church issued some of the earliest formal rebukes to the Reich. And then he joined a plot to assassinate Hitler.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew recounts the story of a young, hoity-toity soft-nationalist German theologian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who discovered the radical soul of antifascism by hanging out in a Black Baptist church in Harlem in 1930. He came to the US believing in the white Jesus of European empire, but left enthralled by the Black Jesus of the oppressed. Back in Germany, he played 78s of spirituals and gospel tunes for the students of his illegal seminaries as he and other members of the Confessing Church issued some of the earliest formal rebukes to the Reich. And then he joined a plot to assassinate Hitler.  Show Notes UCLA Fires Beloved Professor Over 2024 Encampment Arrest – Poppy Press  NY Mayoral Candidates Address Sanctuary, Trump and Religious Hatred at Interfaith Forum  Religion and Socialism Working Group - Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)   Undersold and Oversold: Reinhold Neibuhr and Economic Justice  Swing Low Sweet Chariot - Fisk Jubilee Singers (1909)  St. James Missionary Baptist Church of Canton: Wade In the Water (1978)  Evangelische Kirche Halle Westfalen Bethge, Eberhard. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography. Translated by Eric Mosbacher, Peter and Betty Ross, Frank Clarke, and William Glen-Doepel. Revised and edited by Victoria J. Barnett. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Translated by R. H. Fuller, revised by Irmgard Booth. New York: Touchstone, 2018. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters and Papers from Prison. Edited by Eberhard Bethge. Translated by Reginald Fuller, Frank Clark, and John Bowden. New York: Touchstone, 1997. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Bonhoeffer Reader. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013. Marsh, Charles. Strange Glory. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014. Martin, Eric. The Writing on the Wall: Signs of Faith Against Fascism. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022. McNeil, Genna Rae, Houston Bryan Roberson, Quinton Hosford Dixie, and Kevin McGruder. Witness: Two Hundred Years of African-American Faith and Practice at the Abyssinian Baptist Church of Harlem, New York. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014. Tietz, Christiane. Theologian of Resistance: The Life and Thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Translated by Victoria J. Barnett. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016. Weil, Simone. The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties towards Mankind. Translated by Arthur Wills. With a preface by T. S. Eliot. New York: Routledge, 2002. Williams, Reggie L. Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The unavoidable question of the week: why is Jillian Michaels on CNN commenting on slavery, exactly? As it turns out, Netflix provides the answer. The three-part docuseries, Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser, creeps behind the scenes of this uber-popular and uber-disturbing reality show that weirdly promoted fat-shaming while simultaneously pretending to alleviate it. As we'll discuss today, we can't shake the feeling that the biggest loser from this entire mess is all of us. Show Notes As Republicans spar over IVF, some turn to obscure MAHA-backed alternative RFK Jr. Is Getting Personal Authority Over Who to Kick Off Medicaid Trump and RFK Jr. to Ban COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Within Months' Scientists Strip ‘Diversity' Language From Research to Keep Federal Grants After ‘The Biggest Loser,' Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight ACOG on "Restorative Reproductive medicine” Arkansas' RESTORE Act MAHA-backed IVF-alternative Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Levitation, world peace, and blissful enlightenment were all essential to the hippie counterculture. But it came at quite a price. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi made billions selling magical mantras and the promise of perfect happiness. Most well-known for being endorsed by the Beatles and David Lynch, he was also feted by world leaders and prestigious universities. The true story behind this 5'1” marketing genius is complex and layered: illicit sex, paranormal promises, alternative medicine, palatial estates, overpriced courses, bogus quantum physics, indoctrinated children, and mass group meditation combined with “yogic flying” would supposedly bring about world peace. For his latest stand-alone episode in the Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian dives deep into the money-scented blissful waters of Transcendental Meditation and reports back on the sharks that swim beneath the surface. Stay tuned for some reflections at the end about the differences between cults and more familiar, normalized religions. Show Notes David Wants to Fly Robes of Silk, Feet of Clay The Deceptive World of ™ Maharishi Exposed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plandemic creator Mikki Willis recently hosted an hour-long webinar to promote his supplements company. Marketed as a storytelling hour to share the power of immunity and god with their followers, the conversation went off the rails. Derek and Julian tune in and discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The right has waged a war on “woke” Sesame Street for generations. When the party passed the 2025 Recissions Act, they were finally able to take a significant field advantage in this battle—one which Big Bird and Mr Snuffleupagus never wanted to be in. That bill stripped $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, greatly damaging NPR, PBS, and mostly their member stations. The CPB announced it will have to close in January 2026. What will take its place? Well, the right has a plan for that, or so Vox speculates: PragerU. Founded in 2009 as a right-wing alternative to reality, the sprawling, well-funded network teaches kids to hate DEI, love paying taxes, and recognize that the Bible offers the only salvation on this planet. Could it replace Sesame Street, however? Well, it's already in use in numerous classrooms—and the right wants it in all of them. Show Notes The White House has a preferred alternative to PBS. It may already be in countless classrooms. What Percentage of White Southerners Owned Slaves How Neoliberalism Swallowed Arts Policy The Global Liberal Arts Challenge | Ethics & International Affairs When the Arts Are Attacked, Democracy Is at Risk | Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Davis, Michael. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. New York: Penguin Books, 2014. Kamp, David. Sunny Days. New York: Simon & Schuster, n.d. Ledbetter, James. Made Possible By...: The Death of Public Broadcasting in the United States. London; New York: Verso, 1997. Stewart, David C.The PBS Companion: A History of Public Television. New York: TV Books, 1999. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In preparation for this Thursday's episode on PragerU, Derek looks at one of the propaganda organization's videos featuring naturopathic practitioner, Joseph Pizzorno. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Enhanced Games promises to display the "true potential" of athletes by letting them use any sort of performance enhancement drugs available when it launches in Las Vegas in 2026. Yet why would a group of Silicon Valley billionaires and venture capitalists with no interest in sports be behind it? Likely because it's all a supplements grift, as Derek and Julian discuss. Show Notes The Definitive, Insane, Swimsuit-Bursting Story of the Steroid Olympics Joe Rogan Experience #2166 - Enhanced Games Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The implications of awarding Robert F Kennedy, Jr with a position he's completely unqualified for are becoming clearer by the day. While he's made numerous egregious and dangerous moves as Secretary of HHS, canceling nearly $500 million of mRNA research grants is one of the most startling and shortsighted to date. Today we look at both the microcosm and macrocosm of such a move. Show Notes Kennedy Cancels Nearly $500 Million in mRNA Vaccine Contracts RFK Jr. slashed mRNA vaccine development funding. A Nobel Prize winner just responded Kennedy to halt $500 million in vaccine projects Exclusive: Medical journal rejects Kennedy's call for retraction of vaccine study Do All Celebrities Have Lyme Disease Now?  CDC Lyme Disease Case Maps  How mRNA Vaccines Work CDC Explaining How Vaccines Work Clinical Advances for mRNA Vaccines and Cancer Immunotherapy Katalin Kariko's Brittanica page Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, I seem to always be inspired by the person who is considered marginal. Firstly, their spirit of survival, their resilience, their lack of self-pity, the ability usually to laugh in the face of having nothing and to create a kind of sense of flamboyance and life at any cost, despite having you know no resources of any kind that are visible. That's what inspires me and I think in making portraits of the so-called outsiders, I'm also then allowed to question what is that society that deems us an outsider? — Mira Nair on BBC “Masterpiece”, 11/29/04 When official America speaks of good and bad Muslims, we must not think that they are speaking of the attitude of Muslims to Islam. They are actually talking about the attitude of Muslims to the U.S. A good Muslim is simply a pro-American Muslim and a bad Muslim is simply an anti-American Muslim. This is not about Islam, it is about America. — Mahmoud Mamdani, C-Span's Book TV series, hosted by the University of Michigan on April 15, 2005. Want to better understand Zohran Mamdani's intellectual and emotional heritage? Want to understand how he seems to be thrashing the culture war with, well culture? Matthew did, and so he looked into the films of his mom Mira Nair (Part 1), and the scholarship of his dad, Mahmood (Part 2). Show Notes Masterpiece - Mira Nair - BBC Sounds  Good Muslim, Bad Muslim | Author Mahmood Mamdani  Good Muslim, Bad Muslim | Penguin Random House Secondary Education  Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Ben Affleck, Sam Harris and Bill Maher Debate Radical Islam | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)  Sam Harris on the Reality of Islam - Truthdig   Samuel Huntington's Great Idea Was Totally Wrong | The New Republic #ZeeJLF2018 | Mira Nair A timeline of JK Rowling's anti-trans shift  Mori Araj Suno lyrics  My secret debate with Sam Harris: A revealing 4-hour dialogue on Islam, racism & free-speech hypocrisy - Salon.com  New Atheists and old prejudices - The Chronikler The Clash of Civilizations - If Books Could Kill - Apple Podcasts  President Reagan welcomes al-Qaeda and Mujahideen leaders to the White House, May 1986   For Zohran Mamdani, Mom Mira Nair's Films Were a Formative Influence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, I seem to always be inspired by the person who is considered marginal. Firstly, their spirit of survival, their resilience, their lack of self-pity, the ability usually to laugh in the face of having nothing and to create a kind of sense of flamboyance and life at any cost, despite having you know no resources of any kind that are visible. That's what inspires me and I think in making portraits of the so-called outsiders, I'm also then allowed to question what is that society that deems us an outsider? — Mira Nair on BBC “Masterpiece”, 11/29/04 When official America speaks of good and bad Muslims, we must not think that they are speaking of the attitude of Muslims to Islam. They are actually talking about the attitude of Muslims to the U.S. A good Muslim is simply a pro-American Muslim and a bad Muslim is simply an anti-American Muslim. This is not about Islam, it is about America. — Mahmoud Mamdani, C-Span's Book TV series, hosted by the University of Michigan on April 15, 2005. Want to better understand Zohran Mamdani's intellectual and emotional heritage? Want to understand how he seems to be thrashing the culture war with, well culture? Matthew did, and so he looked into the films of his mom Mira Nair (Part 1), and the scholarship of his dad, Mahmood (Part 2). Show Notes Masterpiece - Mira Nair - BBC Sounds  Good Muslim, Bad Muslim | Author Mahmood Mamdani  Good Muslim, Bad Muslim | Penguin Random House Secondary Education  Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Ben Affleck, Sam Harris and Bill Maher Debate Radical Islam | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)  Sam Harris on the Reality of Islam - Truthdig   Samuel Huntington's Great Idea Was Totally Wrong | The New Republic #ZeeJLF2018 | Mira Nair A timeline of JK Rowling's anti-trans shift  Mori Araj Suno lyrics  My secret debate with Sam Harris: A revealing 4-hour dialogue on Islam, racism & free-speech hypocrisy - Salon.com  New Atheists and old prejudices - The Chronikler The Clash of Civilizations - If Books Could Kill - Apple Podcasts  President Reagan welcomes al-Qaeda and Mujahideen leaders to the White House, May 1986   For Zohran Mamdani, Mom Mira Nair's Films Were a Formative Influence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her new biography of Gwyneth Paltrow, Amy Odell calls Goop “a powerful platform for spreading health misinformation.” So many topics Goop has covered favorably—yoni eggs, coffee enemas, celery juice—have been scrutinized on our podcast. Rolling off her successful biography of Anna Wintour, Odell decided to train her sight on the “It girl” of the nineties who pivoted to a lucrative but contentious wellness business that laid the groundwork for the influencer aesthetic. She joins Derek to discuss her new book. But first, we discuss our thoughts on Odell's subject. Show Notes Gwyneth: The Biography BackRow by Amy Odell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everything about Zen Master Rama was fake—except for the piles of money he made. His black belt in paranormal martial arts, three past lives as a Buddhist teacher, 31 meditation albums he claimed to compose in other dimensions, multiple computer software companies, and a bestseller based on being a “world-class snowboarder” were all smoke and mirrors.  He had no training or talent in any of these areas. He was an expert con man, however. The man wore Versace suits and Rolex watches, bought mansions, and owned a collection of pricey cars. His headshots were by the top Hollywood photographer of the day; he made many TV appearances. His students believed he could fill rooms with golden light, skate on light-beams, and protect them from the demons he claimed wanted to steal their enlightened energy. He instructed them to be celibate but then manipulated and coerced the prettiest into joining him for tantric sex rituals he claimed would accelerate their enlightenment. It didn't end well for anyone—including him. In the latest installment of the Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian tells the tale of Frederick Lenz, a quintessential 80's synthesizer of phoney Buddhism, New Age delusions, cultic abuse, and wealth as a signifier of spiritual progress. Show Notes The Code Cult of the CPU Guru Mentor to Some, Cult Leader to Others The Guru's Latest Incarnation Atrocity Guide The Enlightenment Fraud of  Zen Master Rama Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Strange billboards have been popping up all over Los Angeles featuring disgraced Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes, and an unidentified man listing a new URL—one that redirects to the Theranos website. Against all odds, the brand is back, with a wellness twist, as the new founder is directly courting MAHA. Derek and Julian dive in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We catch up on three figures this week. First is Bari Weiss, who's trying to sell her upstart media org, The Free Press, to Skydance for a reported $250 million, just days after the network's merger with Paramount was approved and they said bye-bye to Stephen Colbert. Then we talk about RFK Jr's continued dismantling of our public health system, as well as an interesting lawsuit filed by the very nonprofit he founded. Finally, we look into Texas state representative and Presbyterian pastor-in-training, James Talarico, and discuss his viral moment on Joe Rogan. Show Notes Anti-vaccine group that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. founded files lawsuit against him over vaccine safety task force RFK Jr. to Oust Advisory Panel on Cancer Screenings, HIV Prevention Drugs Was Colbert Cancelled for Trump? Bari Weiss in Talks with Skydance for $250M Billionaires Back Anti-Woke “University.” James Talarico Delivers Sermon Against Christian Nationalism  James Talarico Questions Republican Bill Forcing Ten Commandments To Be Displayed In Classrooms  Joe Rogan Experience #2352 - James Talarico  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MAHA hates petroleum-based food dyes. Yet, as Derek unpacks, many of the main influencers in this movement monetize products synthesized by the same exact chemical process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mehdi Hasan's recent Jubilee appearance has blown up—and so has criticism of the entire media operation. Derek and Julian discuss the value and pitfalls of this format, contrasting the far-right participants sitting across from Hasan from another recent episode, when atheists went to battle with Jordan Peterson. Show Notes 1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives (ft. Mehdi Hasan) Jordan Peterson vs 20 Atheists Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeffrey Epstein's name is being screamed into the headlines again. The late and former self-described best-friend of Donald Trump's highly suspicious 2019 death following his arrest for child sex trafficking has been a loose thread for both rabid conspiracists and the reality-based community. Now that prominent conspiracy personalities are in the highest positions in America's law enforcement agencies, the QAnon faithful have been expecting all the damning details about the Democrat cabal to emerge. But that's not what's happened. Now Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, and Dan Bongino are in the collective hot seat as MAGA demand answers, while some appear to be colluding with Donald Trump in their own Deep State cover-up. CORRECTION: Matthew misstated the Virginia Guiffre was allegedly assaulted by Prince Philip. The allegation is against Prince Andrew, who is still alive and can still be tried. Show Notes Why is MAGA so obsessed with the Epstein files? Trump can't stop MAGA from obsessing about the Epstein files Why do Trump's MAGA followers care so much about the Epstein files? Republicans are split over the Trump administration's handling of Epstein files How Trump spent years stoking dark theories, and why he's facing Epstein case blowback now 'We want justice done': Christianity Today calls to see the Epstein files 146: The Reality of Online Child Abuse (w/Håkon Høydal) — Conspirituality  Online child sexual exploitation: A statistical profile of police-reported incidents in Canada, 2014 to 2022  Woman who accused Donald Trump of raping her at 13 drops lawsuit Perversion of Justice: Jeffrey Epstein | Miami Herald   Perversion of Justice – HarperCollins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the horizon: a new liberal-center manosphere, yearning to reach out to the young men poached by Trumpism, but offering what, exactly?  Professor Scott Galloway and Anthony Scaramucci are earnest and charming in their way, and they have Trump's number. But with their new project, Lost Boys podcast, they're stuck in a paradox. They know enough to admit that the capitalist logic that made them both multi-millionaires is fickle, cruel, and misogynist. They know it's beating up everyone, including young men. But they can't imagine any other way of organizing society. So what do they offer? Nostalgia for the 1980s, self-help tips. In this two-part series, Matthew looks at why the Lost Boys project is deceptively attractive. Liberal, libertarian, or even reactionary parenting can affect an earnest emotional bond through overtones of spiritual honesty. But all the empathy is impotent when it defaults into an apologetics for the very systems that make us suffer.  Part One looks at the overall liberal manosphere politics of Lost Boys, including the evidentiary claims put forward by their premier guest Richard Reeves, who Galloway calls his “Yoda” on the subject of how men are doing these days. Part Two goes into a granular reading of Episode 7 of Lost Boys, where the guest is Deirdre Scaramucci, Anthony's partner. Together, the trio discloses a ton about their ambivalent GenX childhoods and their current parenting experience, including how they rationalize losing emotional control. Show Notes Lost Boys - Podcast  Anthony Scaramucci Called Me to Unload About White House Leakers, Reince Priebus, and Steve Bannon | The New Yorker  Politics for men - by Richard V Reeves Richard Reeves? : r/AskFeminists Right Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription: Richard Reeves' Of Boys and Men | Institute for Family Studies Collapse Feminism by Alice Cappelle | Penguin Random House Canada  Communism | David Graeber Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the horizon: a new liberal-center manosphere, yearning to reach out to the young men poached by Trumpism, but offering what, exactly?  Professor Scott Galloway and Anthony Scaramucci are earnest and charming in their way, and they have Trump's number. But with their new project, Lost Boys podcast, they're stuck in a paradox. They know enough to admit that the capitalist logic that made them both multi-millionaires is fickle, cruel, and misogynist. They know it's beating up everyone, including young men. But they can't imagine any other way of organizing society. So what do they offer? Nostalgia for the 1980s, self-help tips. In this two-part series, Matthew looks at why the Lost Boys project is deceptively attractive. Liberal, libertarian, or even reactionary parenting can affect an earnest emotional bond through overtones of spiritual honesty. But all the empathy is impotent when it defaults into an apologetics for the very systems that make us suffer.  Part One looks at the overall liberal manosphere politics of Lost Boys, including the evidentiary claims put forward by their premier guest Richard Reeves, who Galloway calls his “Yoda” on the subject of how men are doing these days. Part Two (drops Monday on Patreon) goes into a granular reading of Episode 7 of Lost Boys, where the guest is Deirdre Scaramucci, Anthony's partner. Together, the trio discloses a ton about their ambivalent GenX childhoods and their current parenting experience, including how they rationalize losing emotional control. Show Notes Lost Boys - Podcast  Anthony Scaramucci Called Me to Unload About White House Leakers, Reince Priebus, and Steve Bannon | The New Yorker  Politics for men - by Richard V Reeves Richard Reeves? : r/AskFeminists Right Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription: Richard Reeves' Of Boys and Men | Institute for Family Studies Collapse Feminism by Alice Cappelle | Penguin Random House Canada  Communism | David Graeber Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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