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