Episodes

  • 304: Twisted Tantric Yogi

    304: Twisted Tantric Yogi
    Apr 16 2026
    Consider the bright-eyed students who signed up for tantric yoga and sacred sexuality courses through their local yoga studios, only to eventually find they were sending the guru photos of themselves in bikinis to see if they qualified for a private initiation ceremony. What's unique about today's guru, Gregorian Bivolaru, is how his organization's in-depth courses reached into over 30 different countries, delivering a steady stream of young, starry-eyed women to be abused by him in Paris. A new documentary series, Twisted Yoga, tells the story of the women who've come forward to expose what they allege are the criminal actions of the guru and his cult. Julian cover the nuts and bolts, Matthew digs into Bivolaru's Soviet-era Romanian background, and then Derek interviews director Rowan Deacon, who reveals some info not covered in the series, such as the “meditations for Trump” going on at some of Bivolaru’s yoga studios. Show Notes Gregorian Bivolaru official biography POV Magazine: How Twisted Yoga Centres Care Amid a Web of Lies Discourse Analysis of Public Communication Campaigns about Gregorian Bivolaru ACT Database: "Sucker Love is Heaven Sent" — A Romanian Yoga Cult Under Investigation NBC Bay Area: Romanian yoga leader Gregorian Bivolaru accused of sexual abuse CNN: French police arrest yoga guru in connection with alleged rape, human trafficking and kidnapping scheme Connexion France: 41 arrests over tantric yoga group accused of sex abuse in France Marxists Internet Archive: Alexandra Kollontai, Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations (1921) UPI (January 1990): Ceaușescu children lived it up while people suffered Dispărut, dar cu conturile pline. Guru Bivolaru face milioane de dolari anual UPI (May 1990): Ceaușescu's playboy son on trial UNADFI: Abus de faiblesse Statute Law Review: Criminalizing Coercive Control — Cross-Jurisdictional Lessons Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Bonus Sample: The Philosopher, The King, & The Holy Man

    Bonus Sample: The Philosopher, The King, & The Holy Man
    Apr 13 2026
    When the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini received Western media in a small French village in 1978, he sat cross-legged in his robes and black turban under an apple tree in the garden. They described him as “on another planet,” with “eyes of steel,” and compared him to an Eastern sage or ascetic guru. French philosopher Michel Foucault, most famous for his penetrating analysis of power, knowledge (and punitive coercion) was there as well. He called the holy man “an old saint in exile” who had no personal political ambitions. Visiting Iran during the revolution, the philosopher was captivated by what he called a new form of “spiritual politics” that he saw as “advancing toward a luminous and distant point.” Foucault dismissed Iranian feminists who warned of the true dangers of an Islamic state being established once the autocratic king—the Shah—had been overthrown. Today, as the reckless and destructive American and Israeli war against the Iranian regime continues, Julian revisits the political history of Iran and the complex regional power struggles between nationalists, monarchists, communists, and Islamists that played out on the Cold War stage. He examines the connections between the controversial 1953 CIA coup d’etat and the hugely popular 1979 Islamic Revolution, which led to the one-party totalitarian theocracy that dominates the Iranian people to this day. How did so many within Iran and in the West, including the most influential radical philosopher of his time, misperceive Khomeini and his ruthless intentions? Show Notes Foucault: What Are The Iranian’s Dreaming About Did Foucault Disregard Iranian Feminists? Dr. Taimur Rahman’s Red Star Lectures The CIA Coup That Never Was Iran’s Decade of Assassinations Bayandor: Iran and The CIA Foucault’s Iranian Folly Foucault and the Question of Orientalism The Shah, by Abbas Milani Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    9 mins
  • Brief: Is There a "Deep Self"

    Brief: Is There a "Deep Self"
    Apr 11 2026
    Billionaire tech bro Marc Andreessen recently claimed introspection is a pathology. Derek and Julian discuss the Trump advisor's claims while the investor continues making bank from defense technology. Show Notes The Mind is Flat: Nick Chater The Mind is Flat | Nick Chater | Talks at Google Susan Blackmore Review of The Mind is Flat The Tell-Tale Brain: VS Ramachandran Consciousness and the Brain: Stanislas Dehaene This Is Your Brain on Music: Dan Levitin Musicophilia: Oliver Sacks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    39 mins
  • 303: When Men Gather

    303: When Men Gather
    Apr 9 2026
    New Yorker writer Charles Bethea recently decided to attend men’s retreats—well, at least those who would admit him. His expose on the modern men’s movement got us thinking about what’s happening over those very expensive three-day weekends, as well as the inspiration behind these groups dating back to the seventies. And even how a movement tracing back to the work of Robert Bly was co-opted by the right-wing “alpha male” crowd. Today we discuss Bethea’s article in the context of modern men’s groups: where they come from, what function they serve, and what they might get wrong…and horribly wrong. Show Notes The Camps Promising to Turn You—or Your Son—Into an Alpha Male The ‘alpha male’ myth, debunked Inside the high-priced retreats promising to help men reclaim their masculinity Brief: Galloway and the Mooch — The Lost Boys of Capitalism (Pt 1) Scott Galloway and Anthony Scaramucci, Lost Boys podcast Of Boys and Men A Statistical Book Review for 'Of Boys and Men' How a White Nationalist Club Thought It Found Safe Haven in a Montreal Gym The Fallout from Reporting on White Nationalism in Canada Active Clubs Are White Supremacy's New, Dangerous Frontier White Nationalist 'Active Clubs' Are Who 'Proud Boys Wanted to Be' Whom Is ICE Actually Recruiting? Experts Concerned About White Nationalist Imagery in ICE Recruitment Materials Male Fantasies, Vol. 1 Interview with Klaus Theweleit on Male Fantasies Today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Bonus Sample: A Course in Miracles Reconsidered (w/Joseph Baker)

    Bonus Sample: A Course in Miracles Reconsidered (w/Joseph Baker)
    Apr 6 2026
    Listen to the full episode If you heard Matthew’s Brief from March 28, you’ll know longtime Conspirituality listener Joseph Baker died on Feb 4 at the age of 51. Matthew recorded this conversation with Joseph on January 9, 2024. They explore Matthew’s allergy to A Course in Miracles and Joseph’s devotion to it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    5 mins
  • Brief: Mikki Willis and Russell Brand Rewrite History

    Brief: Mikki Willis and Russell Brand Rewrite History
    Apr 4 2026
    Mikki Willis recently joined Russell Brand to discuss a whole host of issues, including rather suspect rewritings of the histories of AIDS and Covid-19. Derek and Julian discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    23 mins
  • 302: The Disinformation Dozen: Wuhan Drift

    302: The Disinformation Dozen: Wuhan Drift
    Apr 2 2026
    Early in this podcast we covered the Disinformation Dozen, 12 wellness influencers and contrarian health figures responsible for spreading the lion’s share of vaccine misinformation on major social media platforms. On a recent MAHA Action weekly call, Tony Lyons got the group back together for a victory lap after a court settlement seemed to justify their actions. Or did it? We break down the court case, then hear from the influencers who continue to inflate their own sense of self-importance while rewriting a history that only exists in their minds. Show Notes The Real Election Threat: Tech Oligarchs & Algorithms | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart POLITICO: Do the Disinformation Dozen Still Matter State Dept. Imposes Sanctions on Disinfo Advocacy Groups Original Disinformation Dozen Report CDC “Whistleblower’s Debunked Autism Claims Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Bonus Sample: Peptides: Wellness’s Experimental Jab

    Bonus Sample: Peptides: Wellness’s Experimental Jab
    Mar 30 2026
    Listen to the full episode The wellness industry has been repeating marketing strategies used by the fashion and diet book industries for decades. Influencers are just exploiting novelty-seeking cognitive behaviors deeply embedded in human psychology. Derek reviews today’s product du jour, peptides, by first looking into those dopamine-seeking behaviors, then exploring the history and present of these amino acid chains everywhere in wellness downlines. Show Notes Everyone’s Doing Peptides. Is It All a Big Scam? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    8 mins