Friendly Atheist News Roundup 9/24/2026 (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podcast #654)

0:00 Intro
0:20 Jehovah’s Witnesses just gutted their deadly blood transfusion policy.
18:32 Trump’s “Top 250 Victories for People of Faith” collapse under scrutiny.
36:50 An Alabama church says God made a paraplegic man walk again. There’s a better explanation.
52:00 Nearly half of people raised Mormon have left the LDS Church.
1:02:53 James Talarico’s pastor welcomes atheists. Conservatives think that’s a scandal.

Interview: 

• Video, with Jessica: https://youtu.be/JoitL7S8Kbg?si=SjvLNEghC7CqhNhC
• Video, without Jessica: https://www.youtube.com/live/Qg1-85lzNzM?si=9ILTzaupJ2DP3bzC
• Audio only, with Jessica: https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2026/09/23/jehovahs-witnesses-gut-their-blood-ban/

'American Scoundrel' traces Roy Cohn's playbook from McCarthyism to Trump (Terry Gross, Fresh Air podcast)

In Kai Bird's biography of Cohn, he looks at how the lawyer taught Trump how to deny, delay, attack, sue and countersue, never admit defeat, side-step paying bills and avoid a paper trail.

Interview: 

https://www.npr.org/2026/09/17/nx-s1-5965831/american-scoundrel-traces-roy-cohns-playbook-from-mccarthyism-to-trump

Long COVID Profiteers (Conspirituality podcast #325)

Conspiracy theorists have decided Novak Djokovic has long COVID — despite no evidence — because he's become an anti-vax icon courted by RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz. So we thought it was high time for a long COVID update.

Derek looks at a new Boston Children's Hospital research on viral reactivation, as well as the findings of a 2026 meta-analysis pooling 200,000+ participants.

Matthew surveys the Canadian LC landscape, where insurance-industry money is quietly funding McGill's Institute for Transforming Healthcare and McMaster's FALCON trial, testing the pseudoscientific "Lightning Process" on Long COVID patients, led by researcher Dr. Jason Busse, who has deep insurance-disability ties.

Finally, Julian unpacks Phil Parker's Lightning Process — Ericksonian NLP dressed as neuroscience, with roots in hypnotherapy, cult techniques, and pure "neuro-bollocks."
Interview: 

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/326-long-covid-update

Inflammation Pseudoscience (Conspirituality podcast #321)

Inflammation is an important and necessary part of the body’s healing process. It’s also long been a wellness buzzword used to sell products that do very little to treat it. This week, we look at inflammation through the lens of a new Mother Jones article, “The Great Inflammation Panic,” including an interview with the author, Julia Métraux, in segment two. We’ll also discuss what inflammation is, how wellness influencers weaponize it, and what it represents in the context of Ayurveda.

Interview: 

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/321-inflammation-pseudoscience

Gmail Injection Attack Explained: How This New Scam Works

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQPYhpGQJD8

It’s a scam’: Americans express unease over SpaceX’s influence on retirement savings

“I think that the amount is absolutely ridiculous and untethered to the company’s actual value,” he said. “I think it’s abhorrent that my savings and retirement funds are tied so intricately to these tech companies, especially when they cannot be held accountable by investors.”… 

“As someone looking to retire in the next five to 10 years, I’m alarmed at big tech’s market consolidation and its impact on my savings and investments. As a human being, I’m distraught that these companies all seem to be run by people with little accountability or moral compass,” he said. “How and why do my finances have to be bound to a racist, narcissistic, baby man who does not seem to care about other human beings? Everything about this is wrong.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/19/spacex-retirement-savings-elon-musk

 

Oh Goody, a Trump Official Once Called Ebola a “Scam” – Mother Jones

Tim Meisburger, who was then the head of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, Enrich testified, “specifically noted that Ebola was a ‘scam’ because there had only been ‘one death.’” Enrich attempted to “explain that Ebola was still in an incubation period, and that we should see the response through,” but to no avail. Instead, he continued, his superiors decided to “deprioritize activities related to neglected tropical diseases, MPox, Polio, Ebola, and any monitoring and surveillance activities.”…

 https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/oh-goody-a-trump-official-once-called-ebola-a-scam/

 

The AI Slop Machine is Worse Than You Think [feat Mallory DeMille] (Conspirituality podcast #308)

Many of the ads and videos you see for supplements and health and fitness products (which might be scams) are being churned out using AI, and generating huge incomes for the creators of the videos, in addition to sales for the vendors.

Two months ago, we recorded Episode 291: My Chinese Buddhist Israeli AI Guru, surveying the growing field of AI slopfluencers churning out wellness supplements via Amazon affiliate links. At the time, we weren’t clear on who was behind these accounts.

Then Mallory DeMille went down a YouTube and TikTok rabbit hole and found the men making millions from these accounts. Today we’re going to look at what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and the cultural and racial dynamics at play in their slop.
Interview:

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/308-the-ai-slop-machine-is-worse-than-you-think-mallory-demille

Trump Supporters EXPLODE As Staggering Mobile Phone Scam Unravels

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlzDY9uykpA

 

David Kirkpatrick on Trump’s Shameless Profiteering (Al Franken podcast on YouTube)

One of Donald Trump's most successful initiatives in his second term has been making himself and his family richer than ever. In this Best Of episode, we revisit our November 2025 conversation with The New Yorker’s David Kirkpatrick, who wrote a piece outlining all the ways the legendary grifters have cashed in during Trump’s presidency.

The Trump family has long been associated with shameless cash grabs, but we have reached new levels of corruption by using his office for their money-making schemes: international real estate deals, Trump-branded merchandise, and cryptocurrency.

David lays out the long list of ethical implications involved and calculates the staggering amount of money Donald Trump and his family have made off his presidency.
Interview: 

https://youtu.be/kKwvaiWWd7Q?si=FZpdRd7ZcksEiNH6

You were right about Trump's peace deal scam

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ-U8tSUblY

 

The tax credit scam

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/57FD3qCC_Ac

Christian Candidate Too Extreme for Australia (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #627)

— Federal judge blocks Arkansas law forcing Ten Commandments displays in public schools. (0:37)

— South Australia political party dumps Christian candidate over anti-gay, anti-feminist rants. (14:47)

— Nebraska “prophet” says God needs him to have access to a private jet. (26:28)

— Indiana judge says state’s abortion ban violates religious freedom of those seeking abortions. (40:08)

— A Utah lawmaker didn’t try to codify the Mormon “Word of Wisdom.” He was just making a point. (51:30)

— Extremist pastor plots comeback campaign in deep-red Oklahoma district. (1:06:55)

— Alabama House passes bill forcing public schools to begin day with student-led prayer. (1:17:50)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2026/03/19/christian-candidate-too-extreme-for-australia/

Tax scams are up this season compared to previous years. Here's what to know | PBS News

Robocalls, texts, and phishing emails from scammers are up this tax season compared to previous years, with artificial intelligence likely increasing fraud attempts, according to the consumer protection bureau of the Federal Trade Commission. Consumer advocates and government officials urge the public to stay wary, to stop and think before engaging with phone or text messages, and to remember the IRS will not contact you directly by text or phone…

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/tax-scams-are-up-this-season-compared-to-previous-years-heres-what-to-know 

 

Scammers Are Sending Fake Notifications (So I Called Them)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB-W4K-7Kq0

 

Donald Trump’s Plan to Be King of the World – Mother Jones

Trump is essentially cooking up a global slush fund over which he will exert complete control. Countries that get in early—while he's president—will certainly be in a strong position to request preferential treatment in state affairs. The opportunities for graft and grift are immense. He will probably ask Congress to kick in the $1 billion pay-to-play membership fee to guarantee he'll have a pot of money to spend (or pocket) at his fancy...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/donald-trump-board-of-peace-gaza-israel-davos-china-russia-scam-king/ 

 

Chase Customers Are Waking Up to Empty Accounts — Here’s How It’s Happening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZP6KaAx9bY

 

How Crypto Is Used for Political Corruption (Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, podcast and transcript)

This new source of money is giving the administration unprecedented new powers.

"So there is the risk when it comes to the asset itself in the sense that these assets are highly volatile. Many of them, you don’t know who has created the asset. You don’t know who is running the business. You don’t know their credibility or their background. They aren’t required to disclose it under the current regulatory regime. There have been many, many cryptocurrencies that are known as “rug pulls,” where, essentially, the creators of these assets inflate the price artificially and then sell all their tokens, profiting immensely themselves but at the expense of everyone they convinced to purchase the tokens...."

https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/01/crypto-corruption/685299/?utm_source=feed

Battery Experts Say Donut Lab’s “Miracle” Solid-State Battery Is a SCAM

https://youtu.be/aYiVfOpA8HU?si=znsimE0dhqg2gEdg

 

Dr Jessica Knurick talks MAHA and diet and nutrition misinformation (Conspirituality podcast #288)

Derek sits down with Dr Jessica Knurick at the Eudemonia Summit for this special live recording. They discuss combating health misinformation online, what MAHA gets right and wrong, whether or not "nutritionist" should be a protected term, and Jessica's possible political ambitions.

Interview: 

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/288-conspirituality-live-dr-jessica-knurick