Bonus Sample: Watch What They Say, Watch What They Sell

Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan aims to implement the "unitary executive theory," which would give all of the power of the US government to the executive branch. This week, Derek and Julian break down the dystopic chapter on the Department of Health and Human Services, written by the anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+ Catholic nationalist, Roger Severino. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Jan 20246min

Do people radicalized into conspiracism or cults ever admit their errors? When the prophecy fails and evidence shows they were wrong, do they come clean or double-down?  Julian checks in on some of the legacy conspiritualists profiled in our book—Russell Brand, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Mikki Willis, JP Sears, and Lorie Ladd—to see what their online messaging around Christmas and the New Year tells us.  These figures drove the anti-vax, Covid denial, QAnon virality, and rightward political trend in conspirituality during 2020-21. We’ll find out if they’ve seen the error of their ways in the aftermath of the 5th dimensional Great Awakening that never happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Jan 202445min

Science evolves, often through fits and starts. Yet for most of medical history, there’s been one consistent theme: most science has been conducted on male bodies. And this has created a range of problems for women. Thankfully, says Cat Bohannon, that’s changing. As more women and BIPOC are entering the STEM fields, we’re undergoing a renaissance in our understanding of a more inclusive and expansive science. On today’s episode, the author of Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution tells Derek how much science has gotten wrong by focusing exclusively on male bodies—and what we’re now doing right. Show Notes Cat Bohannon Epidemic Podcast | Tony Fauci: from one pandemic to another Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

25 Jan 20241h 10min

Julia Tucker is a professional church organist in Savannah, Georgia. She grew up homeschooled in a TradCath home presided over by a father who is now a minor celebrity on the reactionary right. In this Listener Story, she discusses her long strange trip out of Catholic revanchism, the unexpected freedoms of homeschooling, sneaking around in sacristries, why she believes that figures like Bishop Strickland and the Catholics heading up Project 2025 are more ominous and effective than Evangelical leaders, how music began to displace religion for her, and why she’ll continue playing the organ in church.  Show Notes Julia Tucker, Organist  Julia Tucker, Recital Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Jan 20246min

Dr. Taslim Alani-Verjee joined us last January for a Brief on Jordan Peterson’s professional status as a shitposting registered psychologist. She returned for Episode 141 on whether it makes sense that the Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying act is fuelling conspiracy theories about state neglect.  Today she returns, as a psychologist and as a practicing Muslim, to discuss with Matthew how it feels to see her community drawn into culture war territory over sex ed and gender issues. Matthew also asks about her clinical practice with Muslim and Jewish clients in the shadow of the current Israel-Gaza war. This episode was recorded in November, but the themes are as current as ever. Show Notes Dr. Taslim Alani-Verjee  Brief: Is Jordan Peterson Really a Licensed Psychologist? — Conspirituality 141: Does Canada Want Suffering Citizens to Die? (w/Taslim Alani-Verjee)   Hate on Display at the 1 Million March 4 Children Rally in Calgary Cross-country rallies against 'gender ideology' in schools meet with counter-protests Statement by MAC on Statements by Canadian Leaders and School Boards on Recent Protests Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Jan 202446min

Nothing will stop Republicans from lining up behind Trump. But the left? It's in crisis. Fragmented. Perhaps in times of great flux fascists reflexively double-down while progressives slide into a cloud of self-doubt. There, strange bedfellows are sometimes found in the dark. To help us understand this territory—what it is and how to navigate it—we're joined by journalist, professor, and documentarian, Jeff Sharlet. His books, The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War and The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power are field guides for understanding modern America. Show Notes Losing the Plot: The “Leftists” Who Turn Right The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power The Family on Netflix Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Jan 202457min

Control the Court. Overturn Roe. Funnel anonymous donations and shady gifts. Deregulate for Jesus. Roll back the cultural clock. Celebrate. Rinse and Repeat.  Leonard Leo’s libertarian Catholic agenda has made him a preeminent power-broker in right-wing American politics. He’s reshaping society while enjoying the pipeline of cash and influence that connects billionaire GOP mega-donors and the SCOTUS judges he helped install.  Julian tracks how Leo’s Federalist Society used Trump as part of a decades-long systematic takeover of the judicial system that culminated in the current ethics and corruption scandal in the SCOTUS. Show Notes ProPublica “Friends of the Court” investigative journalism series The Guardian Club For Growth GOP Insurectionist Support Open Secret 2022 Donor List Dark Money Spending After Citizen’s United Senator Sheldon Whitehouse “The Front Group Swarms” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Jan 20249min

The online pseudoscience clearing house, Human Garage, treats fascia as a cure-all to nearly every disease imaginable. Yet as today's guest, David Lesondak, Senior Structural Integrator and Fascia Specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Center for Integrative Medicine and author of the bestselling Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters, tells Derek, they begin with a little bit of truth before going full Quantum nonsense. David breaks down fascia this week: what it is, how it functions in the body, and why fascia pseudoscience is so dangerous. Show Notes David Lesondak's website The Tissue That Connects Our Muscles May Be a Key to Better Health Harvard scientists closer to solving centuries-old heart mystery Human Garage: Manifesting Through Fascia Human Garage: Anti-Gravity - Full Spinal Decompression Human Garage: Autoimmune Diseases Human Garage: Erectile Dysfunction Human Garage: Anal Sphincter Release Human Garage: Ileocecal Valve Human Garage: Trauma Stored in Fascia Human Garage: Trauma Release Maneuver Human Garage: Fascia Work Cures Hives Human Garage: Fascia Facial Release for Acne Human Garage: Heart is a Vortex Human Garage: Movement Instead of Medicine Human Garage: Faith Healing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Jan 202435min