Author: iHeartPodcasts

As anti-vax beliefs become increasingly widespread, and vaccination rates drop, the greater the risk of some sort of massive viral outbreak or the return of horrific illnesses such as polio. This episode will explore what could happen if anti-vax beliefs spread further into United States politics and culture.

Sources:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9577438/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/04/10/1168141163/the-dream-of-wiping-out-polio-might-need-a-rethink

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250427/Measles-could-return-to-endemic-status-if-US-vaccination-rates-fall-further.aspx

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/health/polio-vaccine-outbreaks.html

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John in Connecticut uncovers a bizarre story about one -- or maybe two -- Leon Klinghoffer. The guys' earlier conversations about data aggregation and AI remind Foxillian Fastfoot of a strange class project. An anonymous source placed in Raytheon reveals the disturbing inner workings of the tech giant Palantir -- raising serious questions about trouble on the horizon. All this and more in this week's listener mail segment.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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Anti-vaccination rhetoric is often framed by proponents as a sort of medical freedom, the ability to decide what one wants to do with their own body. It’s an argument that can appeal to crunchy granola types and religious zealots alike. But there is also a darker side to this rhetoric that reveals an embrace of eugenic ideas among anti-vax advocates, whose preferred “herd immunity” approach to outbreaks subordinates the interests of older people, those with disabilities, and members of minority groups to others. This episode explores the history of eugenics as it relates to vaccines and unpacks how modern anti-vax politics tends towards eugenic responses to viral pandemics.

Sources:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19602363/ 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11700278/

https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/educational-resources/timelines/eugenics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/29/politics/abbott-migrant-transport-order-covid

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/racist-covid-infection-theories-arent-just-wrong-they-are-deadly/

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/measles-maha-and-soft-eugenics/

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/maha-and-soft-eugenics-revisited-the-autism-tsunami-dr-oz-and-your-patriotic-duty-to-stay-healthy/

https://www.nsdoku.de/en/groups/educational-program/the-nazi-society-of-exclusion

http://www.worldofinclusion.com/res/qca/Lest_We_Forget.pdf 

https://web.archive.org/web/20250213085155/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/11/19/anti-vaxxers-try-rewrite-history-truth-nazis-vaccination-not/ 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/health/hhs-cdc-vaccines-autism 

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/05/01/nx-s1-5383172/rfk-jr-placebo-vaccine-testing-studies

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As avid fans of the Great American Roadtrip, Ben, Matt and Noel love gas stations. They're a fundamental part of US culture -- and, holy smokes, do they get weird. In tonight's episode, the guys dive into the crime, conspiracy, controversy and underground subcultures of America's filling stations and truck stops... all to discover that there's a ton of stuff Gas Stations Don't Want You To Know.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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For Peter, the father of the deceased child and a member of a Mennonite community in West Texas, the death of his child was God’s will. Many in the Mennonite communities of Texas and across the United States do not vaccinate their children, and their anti-vaccination stance is in line with their general religiously informed practice of eschewing modernity and its technological advances. But it is not merely the few sectarian Mennonite communities that still exist in the United States that have taken a stance against vaccination. Mainstream evangelical and charismatic congregations that embrace much of the modern world have also embraced anti-vaccination beliefs. This episode explores the relationship between conservative Christianity, anti-vaccination beliefs, and contemporary right-wing politics.

Sources:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/texas-measles-outbreak-death-family/681985/

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2025/03/24/too-good-for-this-earth-parents-of-child-who-died-in-measles-outbreak-say-no-to-vaccine/ 

https://www.christianitytoday.com/2013/09/measles-outbreak-megachurch-kenneth-copeland-vaccines/ 

https://www.npr.org/2013/09/01/217746942/texas-megachurch-at-center-of-measles-outbreak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUGuJkVgXNA 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/kenneth-copeland-blow-coronavirus-pray-sermon-trump-televangelist-a9448561.html 

https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2025/03/04/west-texans-mennonites-at-center-of-measles-outbreak-choose-medical-freedom-over-vaccine-mandates/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/12/measles-vaccinations-texas-pastor-revels-in-schools-state-low-rates/81975293007/

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In December of 2019 the Denver Post began reporting a strange pattern over the night sky of northeast Colorado. Around 7pm each night, at least 17 drones -- large ones -- emerged from somewhere and flew over the region in what appeared to be a search pattern, disappearing between 9:30 and 10pm. No one, from federal agencies on down, seemed to know where these drones were coming from, who controlled them, or what they were doing up in the sky. If, that is, they existed at all.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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For many years, the threat of measles, a deadly disease that spreads more rapidly than COVID and regularly took thousands of lives a year, had been effectively eradicated in the United States due to the widespread acceptance of vaccination. The death of a child from measles in West Texas was the first in over a decade and it came as a shock to the American medical establishment that is now grappling with a disturbing reality: the chief public health bureaucrat is a bonafide anti-vaxxer. This episode will explore the genealogy of anti-vaccination beliefs in the United States and how they spread into mainstream politics.

Sources:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1200696/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8802588/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1123944/

https://time.com/7205900/anti-vaccination-movement-history/ 

https://historyofvaccines.org/getting-vaccinated/vaccine-faq/vaccination-exemptions

https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/timeline-of-vaccination-mandates

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-68106-1_2 

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/rfk-jr-plandemic-funding-1235173801/ 

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-02/rand-paul-on-vaccines-most-of-them-ought-to-be-voluntary- 

https://time.com/5175704/andrew-wakefield-vaccine-autism/ 

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-evidence-on-vaccines-and-autism 

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-bombastic-19th-century-anti-vaxxer-who-fueled-montreals-smallpox-epidemic/

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/plague-the-red-death-strikes-montreal-feature

https://www.cascadepbs.org/2020/05/seattle-always-had-anti-vaxxers-even-during-smallpox

https://www.cascadepbs.org/mossback/2025/02/history-vaccine-skepticism-1920s-seattle-rfk-jr

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Massive protests in LA (not to mention many more US cities) prompt the federal government to send in marines and activate the California National Guard -- without the consent of the governor. Japan pays people to stand still on escalators. Germany plans rapid bunker expansion amid fears of Russian attacks. All this and more in this week's strange news segment.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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The viral measles outbreak that began in West Texas has taken the lives of two children and one adult, and has reached over eight hundred cases, with thousands potentially exposed to the disease. This episode serves as a deep dive into the outbreak, when it started, how it spread, and will set the stage for the remaining four episodes.

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/05/20/measles-updates-texas-cases-pass-700-as-illness-reported-in-30-states/

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-measles-outbreak-in-west-texas-and-beyond

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2025/03/24/data-these-charts-show-how-measles-vaccination-rates-declined-in-texas-public-schools/ 

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2025/03/24/too-good-for-this-earth-parents-of-child-who-died-in-measles-outbreak-say-no-to-vaccine/

https://www.verywellhealth.com/measles-outbreak-texas-11682808 

https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8828106/

https://www.latimes.com/newsletters/la-me-ln-essential-california-20190507-story.html 

https://slate.com/technology/2025/04/measles-cases-epidemic-worst-case-vaccine.html 

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/rfk-jr-plandemic-funding-1235173801/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Margaret reads you a story about what it takes to break from society in disgust. 

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