Paul Thacker on corruption in scientific research

David Bedein has spent nearly forty years focusing his journalistic efforts on UNRWA, the United Nations arm tasked with the health, welfare, and education of Palestinian refugees. The UN does not try to resettle Palestinian refugees the way it does refugees from any other place in the world. Further, refugee status for Palestinians is inherited, which is also unique among the refugees. Over the years, David and his team of both Jewish and Arab investigators have documented how UNRWA money goes unaccounted for, and how their schools teach children to hate and to want to kill jews. David's many videos, films, and books on the topic can be found at his website: https://israelbehindthenews.com/ In the episode David mentions sharing an example of a woman who is lauded as a hero in UNRWA school books for killing 34 Jews. Here is the link to that text: https://israelbehindthenews.com/2021/11/30/dalal-al-mughrabi-a-murderous-terrorist-as-a-role-model-in-palestinian-authority-schoolbooks-used-by-unrwa-2/

Robb Wolf is a former research biochemist who functioned as a review editor for the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism (Biomed Central). He is a New York Times Best Selling author having written several books including Wired to Eat, The Paleo Solution and Sacred Cow (which he co-authored with Diana Rodgers.) In this episode we discuss the oft repeated claims that eating meat is bad; not only ethically, but for our health, and especially for the environment. A very vast topic, we do our best to touch on the specifics of several claims about eating meat causing cancer, how much water and land raising cattle uses, and the greenhouse gasses emitted by ruminants. In the episode, Robb mentions a breakdown he did of various claims that ended up in popular vegan documentaries like “What the Health,” and that breakdown is here.

Ray Nowosielski is a documentarian, podcaster, and journalist. He produced the new show, "George Bailey Was Never Born," a ten episode podcast series from I Heart Radio. The show is an examination of the massive changes in American character over the last half century as made visible by looking at the classic film, It's a Wonderful Life. In this episode Ray describes how Frank Capra's film accidentally fell into the public domain and how greedy corporations clawed it back. He talks about the real life towns and people who inspired the film, and what's become of them in modern America where antitrust laws no longer seem to apply.

Dr. Joanna Moncrieff is a practicing psychiatrist and researcher. In 2022 she was the leading researcher of an umbrella review published in Nature that “aimed to synthesise and evaluate evidence on whether depression is associated with lowered serotonin concentration or activity.” She is the author of several books about psychiatry and psychiatric drugs including The Myth of the Chemical Cure and The Bitterest Pill. In this episode we discuss her research findings which indicate that there is not a “chemical imbalance” in the brain at the root of depressing and other psychiatric “disorders.” We further discuss what the actual roots of depression are, and what people might do to deal with their depression if they do not want to take pharmaceuticals.

Mark Rossini worked as an FBI Agent out of the New York Counter Terror office. He was detailed to the CIA where he worked in the Bin Laden unit before and after 9-11. We discuss Hamas and the ethos of Islamic terrorist organizations and what many western observers are getting wrong when they assess the actions of of these groups.

Professor of economics and public policy at Hebrew University, Claude Berrebi studies what does and does not cause terrorism. In 2019 after the Easter Sunday bombing in Sri Lanka killed 250 people, Claude coauthored the article, "Ending the Myth of the Poor Terrorist." In this episode Claude lays out the data behind economics and terrorism and explains how the links between the two are quite counterintuitive before discussing what he thinks can be done about Hamas in response to the October 7th attacks in Israel. Note: I mention some of my own work in this episode. Here is a link to my book, "The Watchdogs Didn't Bark: CIA, NSA, and the Crimes of the War on Terror." Here is a link to an interview I did of former White House Counterterrorism Advisor Richard Clarke with my colleague Ray.

A graduate of West Point, Preston Stewart served in Afghanistan and is now a Major in the US Army Reserve. He blogs about military issues with a heavy focus on the war in Ukraine. His videos provide very cautious and clear headed thinking on the ever evolving situation in that war. His Substack can be found here: https://prestonstewart.substack.com/

If you ask the common person on the street, “What causes depression?” you will likely find that most will answer with “a chemical imbalance in the brain,” to some degree. What most people do not know, is that this notion is not supported by scientific evidence. Despite this fact, SSRI’s are still being prescribed to 45 Million Americans (to say nothing of other antidepressant drugs). In this episode I speak with psychologist Dr. Roger McFillin of the Radically Genuine Podcast about what depression actually is and how we should navigate it.

In this episode I speak with Paul Thacker, former Senate investigator and currently of The Disinformation Chronicle about how scientific research, particularly research done by pharmaceutical companies, is not as trustworthy as one might believe. Paul's Website https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/

Independent investigative journalist and podcast producer John Duffy dives into the details of issues social, political, historical, cultural, whatever he feels like is being popularly misrepresented or misunderstood. His essays and articles can be found at https://thedevilmakesthree.substack.com/