It Could Happen Here - Anti-Vax America: Soft Eugenics

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Native America Calling - Wednesday, June 18, 2025 – Disparity widens for Native American life expectancy

A new study finds the death rate for Native Americans — which was already higher than other groups — is much higher than previously thought. The analysis just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) finds the gap in life expectancy between Native Americans and Alaska Natives and the national average is almost three times wider than what official statistics say it is. The researchers point to the fact that more than 40% of death certificates misidentify Native Americans and Alaska Natives. One of the study’s researchers says the discrepancies indicate “statistical erasure” in routine public health data has obscured the severity of a mortality crisis among Native people. We’ll get a handle on the new study and what is behind the numbers.

Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - The Stuff Gas Stations Don’t Want You To Know

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/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Ologies with Alie Ward - Aquaculture Ecology (SUSTAINABLE OCEAN FOODS) with Ben Halpern

Farmed versus wild. Basement shrimp hustles. Mangrove drama. Anthropology. Animal welfare and plant-based diets. Climb aboard to meet UCSB’s super cool dude, researcher and Aquaculture Ecologist, Dr. Ben Halpern. You’ll hear about sustainable food sources, land vs. sea farming, bycatch, shellfish guilt, salmon who wear makeup, global marine populations, ditching iceberg for seaweed, and a gentle nudge toward vegetables. Progress over perfection; every little step counts.

Visit the Halpern Lab and browse Dr. Halpern’s publications on ResearchGate

A donation went to the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Macrophycology (SEAWEED), Oceanology (OCEANS), Pectinidology (SCALLOPS), Ichthyology (FISHES), Carcinology (CRABS), Entomophagy Anthropology (EATING BUGS), Echinology (SEA URCHINS & SAND DOLLARS), Ursinology (BEARS), Chickenology (HENS & ROOSTERS), Road Ecology (ROAD KILL), Agnotology (WILLFUL IGNORANCE), Castorology (BEAVERS), Indigenous Cuisinology (NATIVE COOKING), Black American Magirology (FOOD, RACE & CULTURE)

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Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

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This Machine Kills - Patreon Preview – 410. Palantir’s Psychohistory

We chat about Palantir and their role in enacting Trump’s executive order for a unified database across federal agencies and a master profile for every individual — and their larger role in bringing about the glorious new age of theocratic techno-nationalism for the West. ••• Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palantir-data-americans.html ••• ICE Just Paid Palantir Tens of Millions for ‘Complete Target Analysis of Known Populations’ https://www.404media.co/ice-just-paid-palantir-tens-of-millions-for-complete-target-analysis-of-known-populations/ Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

It Could Happen Here - Anti-Vax America: God’s Will

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/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - CLASSIC: Colorado’s Mystery Drones

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/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Goods from the Woods - Episode #481 – “Friendship Brigade” with Nicole Yates

In this episode, the Goods from the Woods Boys welcome comedian Nicole Yates back to Disgraceland as we dive headfirst into a barrel of fun! We kick this one off by paying tribute to the late great Brian Wilson and chugging an Arnold Palmer-flavored energy drink. We talk about U.S. health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s ancient belief in a magic cloud of disease and the old folks that have been posting their conversations with robots on Meta A.I. Train's "Calling All Angels" is our JAM OF THE WEEK! Give us a listen, folks. Do yourself a flavor.  Follow Nicole on social media @YatesyTime and check our her food blog "DidjaEat?" here:  https://didjaeat.com  Follow our show @TheGoodsPod  Rivers is @RiversLangley  Sam is @SlamHarter  Carter is @Carter_Glascock  Subscribe on Patreon for the UNCUT video version of this episode as well as TONS of bonus content!  http://patreon.com/TheGoodsPod   Pick up a Goods from the Woods t-shirt here:  http://prowrestlingtees.com/TheGoodsPod

Native America Calling - Tuesday, June 17, 2025 – Preparing for paperless transactions

If you’re one of the 1.9 million people who still get a paper tax refund check from the federal government, you will need to make a change in the coming months. It’s the same for those who still count on Social Security checks in the mail rather than electronic direct deposit. A presidential executive order requires those and other transactions by the federal government to go completely electronic by September 30. The White House claims paperless transactions will save taxpayers as much as $657 million. At the same time, it poses a significant challenge for the high percentage of Native Americans who choose not to utilize conventional banks.

It Could Happen Here - Anti-Vax America: Anti-Vax Genealogy

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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