Episodes

  • Brief: Red Scare Rising

    Brief: Red Scare Rising
    Aug 1 2026
    Back in the fall, Trump's NSPM-7 redirected the FBI, DOJ, and IRS toward "left-wing political violence," opening the door to labeling domestic groups terrorist organizations — despite three independent datasets (New America, CSIS, even the ADL!) showing right-wing violence outpacing left-wing violence by factors of 9-to-1 or greater. Last week, Rubio's "Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism" internationalized this McCarthy reboot. Central to the rhetoric of Rubio and Miller is framing leftist politics as being driven by envy and resentment rather than a response to inequality. Matthew traces this rhetoric, empirically contradicted by relative deprivation research, back through Nietzsche, Scheler, Schoeck, and Rand. Four days after the Ministerial, the State Department's Cuba report named 70+ Americans — from spies to wedding guests — as one undifferentiated network, a scapegoat machine now churning out congressional subpoenas, a federal grand jury, and a widening dragnet. Show Notes NSPM-7, full text — The White House NSPM-7 constitutional analysis — The Conversation New America, "Terrorism in America After 9/11" impact summary CSIS, "Left-Wing Terrorism and Political Violence in the United States" Just Security rebuttal of the CSIS report ADL, "Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2024" Rubio and Miller Ministerial remarks, full transcript Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (1887), full text Scheler, Ressentiment (1912), full text PDF Schoeck, Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour — Online Library of Liberty Ayn Rand, "The Age of Envy" — Ayn Rand Institute U.S. Department of State, Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism (July 20, 2026) National Lawyers Guild, "The National Lawyers Guild Reaffirms its Solidarity with Cuba in the Face of Increasing McCarthyite Repression" (July 2026) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    42 mins
  • 319: Climate Conspirituality

    319: Climate Conspirituality
    Jul 30 2026
    Support the podcast and keep independent media alive Climate reality keeps colliding with denial, erasure, and rebranding — across media, politics, and religion. Temu conspiritualists weave melted stories about the origins of wildfires, while the high-class guys run meditation-and-regenerative-farming spectacle backed by Exxon money. Julian’s on that angle. Derek will be telling us about how climate journalism is collapsing faster than the climate itself with mass environment reporting layoffs at NPR, CBS, the Washington Post, and the LA Times. Trump gutted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. EPA webpages have been scrubbed of human-caused warming language. Are religious institutions doing any better? In 2015, five world religions — Jewish, Catholic, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist — independently issued climate statements ahead of the Paris COP21 talks. Matthew looks at how they struggled to challenge the global economies they depend on. Show Notes What Is Happening to Climate Journalism? Where Climate Coverage Goes to Die How will NPR layoffs affect climate stories? CBS axed its last climate reporting pillar How do you report on the weather when data is disappearing? NOAA stops tracking cost of extreme weather and climate disasters NOAA monthly media calls on climate change suspended EPA websites now downplay link between humans and climate change A Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis Rabbis Against Climate Change "Laudato Si'": Encyclical Letter on Care for Our Common Home Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change Hindu Declaration on Climate Change The Time to Act is Now: A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change "Laudate Deum": Apostolic Exhortation to All People of Good Will on the Climate Crisis Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth (full text PDF) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Bonus Sample: Reality, Monsters & Brain Glitches

    Bonus Sample: Reality, Monsters & Brain Glitches
    Jul 27 2026
    Listen to the full episode What do films like Dracula, The Truman Show, The Matrix, Invasion of the Body-Snatchers, Being John Malkovich, and Night of the Living Dead all have in common? Science fiction and horror bend our everyday experiences and beliefs around mind and body, sensory perception, identity, and reality itself. But it turns out that many fictional tropes (zombies, vampires, cloned imposters, reality-simultations, and shapeshifters) may be rooted in rare brain disorders. These conditions, often caused by injury or disease, can make people prone to becoming convinced that their loved ones are imposters, the same person (in elaborate and convincing disguises) is following them everywhere, their surroundings are an artificial duplicate of a real place, or even that they themselves are already dead. Once our perceptions are sufficiently distorted, our minds invent explanations that confound reality. Might these overlap with supernatural and conspiratorial beliefs? Julian blends storytelling, cultural references, and observations from psychiatry and neurology to take you on a fascinating journey. You’ll learn about: A woman in a 1903 Prague clinic who patiently explained to staff that the clinic was a perfect replica—not the real clinic itself A man in 1970’s Sacramento who believed he was a real-life zombie and went on to commit a series of grisly crimes A woman in 1920’s London who believed that two famous French actresses were following her everywhere in hyper-realistic disguises—and controlling her mind One man in LA and another in Utah that tragically killed their own family members because they believed they were imposters These cases drive to the core of how humans experience self, relationships, and the structure of reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    9 mins
  • Brief: The Chiropractors Are Coming

    Brief: The Chiropractors Are Coming
    Jul 25 2026
    Support the podcast The MAHA Chiropractic Hub had a big launch in Washington DC this week, with RFK Jr extolling the benefits of the practice—and promising to redirect research funds their way as his movement attempts to spread chiropractic throughout the American healthcare system. But can back cracks really "reset the entire nervous system," as one MAHA-endorsed speaker claims? Or is the profession just dressing up subluxation theory, which has never been clinically validated, for the modern age? Derek and Julian discuss the four objectives of the Chiropractic Hub, what this could mean for American healthcare, and how Kennedy is likely helping funnel money earmarked for actual scientific research into this ghost religion. They begin with a brief history of chiropractic. Show Notes Subluxation Theory: A Belief System That Continues to Define the Practice of Chiropractic Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxations: Science vs. Pseudoscience Subluxation: dogma or science? Chiropractic subluxation is still "unsupported speculation" Chiropractic: A Skeptical View Effect of chiropractic treatment on primary or early secondary prevention: a systematic review This is how science dies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    35 mins
  • 318: Wellness is the New Big Pharma [feat Mallory DeMille]

    318: Wellness is the New Big Pharma [feat Mallory DeMille]
    Jul 23 2026
    Support the pod on Patreon The pharmaceutical industry is filled with greedy businessmen getting innocent consumers hooked on their toxic products in order to barely keep them alive. But if you want to actually thrive, an entire array of natural supplements are just a click away. So goes most every wellness pitch on social media. Mallory DeMille returns to break down the marketing techniques as we dive into the sordid world of supplements and peptide creation, which, in reality, is not dissimilar from pharmaceuticals. In fact, many products use the same manufacturing processes and production plants, as Derek discusses. In the final segment, Julian revisits Bryan Johnson, the centimillionaire on a quest to live to 200, and what his recent chronic illness diagnosis says about pumping your body filled with experimental drugs. Show Notes Bryan Johnson Autoimmune Gastritis Explained What everyone got wrong about biohacker Bryan Johnson’s viral diagnosis: A medical expert weighs in What Bryan Johnson’s diagnosis says about the limits of health tracking, longevity medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    57 mins
  • Bonus Sample: Today at Death’s Door

    Bonus Sample: Today at Death’s Door
    Jul 20 2026
    Listen to the full episode Matthew considers two registers of painful eulogy: spectacles thrown for elite terrible people, and the music offered for ordinary terrible people, when we can manage it. Lindsey Graham's death triggered a wave of bullshit from Trump, Harris, Booker, Netanyahu, and Canadian PM Mark Carney — while online ghouls predicted the same fate for Mitch McConnell and Trump. Where does the elite eulogy reflex come from? Ancient taboo, Thucydides on praise as a function of a rival's removal, and terror management theory on why elites protect their own at the moment of death. Then we have a music thanatologist's story about playing harp for a dying man nobody liked, and what it teaches about the difference between forgiveness that strengthens ordinary people and deference toward the powerful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    5 mins
  • Brief: Graham Platner’s QAnon Moment

    Brief: Graham Platner’s QAnon Moment
    Jul 18 2026
    Access ad-free listening and support the podcast Graham Platner’s recent 11-minute video, where he announced he was dropping out of his bid for the US Senate, is filled with some of the hallmarks we heard during peak QAnon: there's a deep state conspiracy between powerful politicians and the media to destroy me. The truth, as Derek and Julian cover, is anything but. They look at Platner’s campaign and, by contrast, another recent incident: two instances of public harassment against Scott Wiener, the progressive state senator from California who recently won a primary to try to replace Nancy Pelosi, and how that intersects with the type of political rhetoric we’re enduring this political cycle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    40 mins
  • 317: Jordan Peterson vs the Nuns

    317: Jordan Peterson vs the Nuns
    Jul 16 2026
    Jordan Peterson is back. After a hiatus due to a, well, a whole lot of problems, he’s up for regular posting on his social media channels. We’re going to take a look at what’s happened over the last year or so of his absence, followed by his influence in the so-called manosphere podcast world. Then Matthew will offer a different perspective on podcasting that’s making waves: the Dominican Sisters Open Mic. Show Notes Who is looksmaxxing really for? When Help Is Harm: Health, Lookism and Self-Improvement in the Manosphere Men Need Better Fitness Role Models Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 15 mins