Listen ad-free and support the podcast Although Beck David Hansen was born into Scientology, he’s never really practiced it. Except for that period where he did, heavily, when he even contemplated becoming an auditor. But then he left the church he was never really involved with—though pressure from the church appears to have completely ended his long-term relationship and close friendships. Does one of Gen X’s most iconic pop stars really believe in Thetans?  You’re not alone if you’ve ever wondered because Beck has remained one of the most elusive celebrities for over three decades—apparently from those closest to him, and maybe even himself.  Josephine Riesman returns to Conspirituality to discuss her exceptional new book, The Last Temptation of Beck, with Derek. Show Notes The Last Temptation of Beck Losing Beck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen ad-free and support the podcast Paul Saladino doesn’t like peanut butter. Or whey protein. Or processed foods at all. Except when they’re his peanut butter whey protein bars that are, you guessed it, processed. But his bars are different: they're really good and totally natural processed foods. Those other guys make shitty non-food foodstuff products. Paul produces the real deal. Just don’t ask the psychiatrist turned carnivore “doctor” turned fruit and honey is ok sometimes and, screw it, I’ll just make my own unprocessed processed food products, too. And definitely don’t question him about it, as guest host Mallory DeMille did. Paul wants the criticisms to rain down on him, for this is a lifelong learner, you see. Just don’t call him a hypocrite, or else he might come after you, shirtless, barefoot, wandering around grocery store aisles filming content and maybe, just maybe, searching for a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to the full episode Max Haiven's The Player and the Played: From Gamed Capitalism to Twenty-First Century Fascism (MIT Press, 2026) argues that financialized capitalism has turned us all into speculative "players" in rigged games. It produces a "cheated player" whose resentment the far right redirects onto scapegoats rather than the ruling class. This is what contemporary fascism is.  Matthew reviews Haiven’s re-reading of the conspirituality era: QAnon as a participatory game, Gamergate as a prototype of the "playgrom," and January 6th as a swarm of user-generated fascism. He traces how his own frameworks for conspirituality have shifted: cult dynamics, Lagalisse on conspiracy theory as allegory, Dean's communicative capitalism, Lubrano on the limits of persuasion.  NOTE: Contains Squid Game spoilers through season 3. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Huberman’s new book takes many hours of podcast transcripts and distills them to what he believes are ideal protocols for a healthy life. Protocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body became an instant bestseller upon its publication last month. Does the science behind the hype hold up? Journalist Scott Carney joins Derek to look at the slipperiness of many claims. They also discuss the rather “unique” marketing model Huberman appears to have followed. Show Notes Auditing Andrew Huberman’s “Protocols” Andrew Huberman’s Mechanisms of Control Scott Carney Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is episode 1 of a new side project Julian is doing with Azi Ghaffari, Dr. Inna Kanevsky, and Aaron McCall. Find upcoming episodes via Grifty Podcast and at grifty.org  The wellness people think your toothpaste is poisoning you. Finance bros think empathy is bad economics. Somebody on the far right thinks Taylor Swift is a Democrat psy-op, while someone on the far left thinks your aunt buying hummus is personally funding colonialism. On parts of both fringes, everything is somehow Israel’s fault. The old antisemitic conspiracies apparently have remarkable staying power among people who think they’re having brand-new thoughts. Then, while the MAGA right was helpfully laying out its intentions in Project 2025, a corner of the online left looked at Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime that jails journalists, murders protesters, brutalizes women, and executes gay people, and thought, “Maybe these guys have a point.” It’s impressive how much authoritarianism you can overlook once you’ve decided the authoritarians hate the right people. Different politics, same inability to enjoy Thanksgiving. And somehow, all of these people have podcasts. Actually, so do we. Welcome to Grifty Pod. We’re opening a season about how America lost its mind, which every podcast host seems to have already solved. In our defense, we’re planning to disagree with each other, which is a terrible way to run a cult. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen ad-free and support the podcast When we started this show, the charismatic influencers we covered had identifiable tactics of hard-selling, finding pain points, using disorganized attachment strategies like cult leaders do, to scare followers with sometimes real, sometimes fictitious stories that only they could understand and help solve. Beyond the patterns shared by supplement hawkers, alien channelers, and New Age enema healers, each had something unique: a style, a manner of cadence, a particular intensity of intrusive eye contact. Are these not embodied, somatic skills that will outlast the AI jobs apocalypse? Can the chat bots really displace the guru economy? We explore how we may be losing this precious resource to the brutal extractivism of our tech overlords. Show Notes Popular Health Guru Sayer Ji Curates the Scientific Literature with His Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy A Dozen Misguided Influencers Spread Most of the Anti-Vaccination Content on Social Media Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart — Nicholas Carr Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to the full episode Last week, MAHA Action once again blurred the lines between activist organization and government entity, with RFK Jr, JD Vance, Dr Oz and other officials sharing the stage with dozens of corporate sponsors and private healthcare executives—and Russell Brand. Derek tunes in to this nine-hour fiasco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew examines how Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has paired an 18-month austerity rampage with approval ratings near 60%. Centralized power, new surveillance and protest laws, refugee restrictions, public-service cuts, a tripling of the military budget, climate rollbacks, a seeming refusal to protect the basics of Medicare. Why do so many people love him? Carney's appeal and ability to absorb critique rests on more than managerial competence. A devout Catholic, Carney manages to make many people feel like they should be respectful and polite and not make a fuss during the high mass of finance, in which crisis is transformed into eternal life.  Matthew traces Carney's low-key Catholicism through the Pope Francis parable that opens Value(s), his role in the Vatican-backed Council for Inclusive Capitalism, and his practice of the Ignatian daily examen, and how he appeals to medieval canonists as forerunners of stakeholder capitalism.  Show Notes Prime Minister of Canada – Statement on the passing of Pope Francis Open Canada – Book Review: Value(s) Vatican – Pope Francis to the Members of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism (11 November 2019) The Catholic Register – The Catholic or the Davos Man? The Catholic Register – Carney can confirm his Catholic credentials The Catholic Register – A little Catholic, a bit Davos APTN – Former day school students say Robert Carney was their principal Greenpeace Canada – Carney's bills explained: C-2, C-12, C-8 and C-9 The Hub – The Carney government's expanding power to identify Canadians online Littler – Bill C-39 and federal collective bargaining National Observer – Budget vows to cut 40,000 jobs from public service by 2029 Environmental Defence – Carbon pricing rollback undermines climate goals PBI USA – Canadian company equips ICE with armored vehicles CTV – Canada supports U.S. strikes on Iran "with regret" Religion News Service – Pope Leo calls just war theory "outdated" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2013, businessman turned independent journalist Jesse Brown launched Canadaland as a podcast focused on media criticism. He grew the business to include many other podcasts, creating his own small media empire. Then October 7 happened and things took a turn. Recently, he hosted anti-vax contrarian doctor, Peter McCullough, in what he claims was a focus on media, but which really turned into a science-denying sh*t show.  We’ve covered McCullough for years, especially since becoming Chief Medical Officer of supplements grifters, The Wellness Company. There’s a lot to understand about his media tactics, which we’re going to dive into in segments two and three. But first, Matthew fills us in on the rise and stumble of his fellow Canadian’s media journey. Show Notes How a B.C. business scion flipped to hawking supplements and conspiracy theories Risk of Myocarditis after Vaccination Incidence of COVID-related Myocarditis Higher in Unvaccinated Clinical Outcomes Worse for Unvaccinated US Adverse COVID Vaccine Event Deaths 55 Adverse Reaction Deaths Worldwide, 13 Billion Doses Delivered Secret Life: The Jian Ghomeshi Investigation by Kevin Donovan Canadaland staff file to unionize Scott Martin, "What We Lost with Canadaland's Decline" HESEG Foundation Jesse Brown Destroyed Canadaland's Credibility  Justin Ling quits Canadaland hosting role Noor Azrieh and Cherise Seucharan, "A response to Canadaland's interview with Israel's ambassador to Canada" Jesse Brown Insists He's Done Nothing Wrong Avi Lewis, Yom Kippur post on X Olivia Chow opts out of antisemitism debate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who was behind the gunman that shot Pope John Paul II in 1981? We know the man who pulled the trigger was a Turkish member of the Grey Wolves. We know he planned to flee via the Bulgarian Embassy. We know an Italian nun ensured he didn’t get away.  But had someone ordered the assassination? One possible clue is held in the answer to this next question: how did the Soviet Union collapse? We also know three unlikely heroic figures played pivotal roles: a Czechoslovakian playwright, a salt-of-the-earth electrician, and the Polish Pope. Even as the totalitarian Soviet empire cracked down against uprisings in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, the voices of people crying out for democratic freedoms, human rights, and equal opportunity became undeniable. In his latest historical narrative, Julian weaves together powerful stories of three people who risked everything to defy an authoritarian power. They exemplify the playwright’s ideal of “living in truth,” the electrician’s movement known as “Solidarity,” and John Paul II’s advice that his people “be not afraid.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices