The term "October Surprise" has come to mean any kind of shock that might upend a November election. But the original October Surprise was in 1980, when Ronald Reagan's campaign operatives conspired with the fundamentalist Iranian regime to keep 52 American hostages in Tehran until after the presidential election of 1980 — all but ensuring a loss for incumbent candidate Jimmy Carter.

This is the account provided by author Craig Unger, who has been following the "October Surprise" story since 1991, and during that time has been able accumulate evidence to confirm that yes, the October Surprise really happened. This almost unbelievable story is documented in his new book, "Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of the Treason That Stole the White House, " recently published by Harper Collins.

Craig joins Dave for a fascinating discussion of this complicated history, and its implications on American politics today.

Purchase: Den of Spies

Follow Craig Unger on X

No joke: Peter Thiel envisioned PayPal as a way to challenge to the global political order. And that vision is just now coming into place in 2024. In this election cycle, cryptocurrency interests have surpassed $120 million, surpassing even big oil, in trying to capture candidates from both political parties. This episode features a recording of a Twitter (X) space recorded on September 12, 2024 exploring this set of topics. The space was coordinated by Jake Donoghue, and includes several leading crypto critics: me, David Gerard, Mark Hays, John Reed Stark, and Mark R. Smith.

Follow on X: @JDonoghueAuthor, @JohnReedStark, @DavidGerard, @AmScream, @Miercoles_Hays, @davetroy

Jake Donoghue Twitter Space

Peter Thiel at Libertopia 2010

The secretive Catholic sect Opus Dei seems to be popping up everywhere. But what is it? Many people are familiar with it from depictions in fiction like "The Davinci Code," but the reality is both more mundane and in many ways, more sinister.

Dave is joined by financial journalist Gareth Gore, who got into the story by covering the failure of Spanish bank Banco Popular. He found that the bank led to a rabbit hole — and in the center of it was Opus Dei. Part classic authoritarian mind control cult, part spiritual organization, part fraud, and part geopolitical powerhouse, Gore's new book "Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church" is a page-turning account of one of the most influential groups in the last 100 years.

Generative Artificial Intelligence has topped tech headlines for the last two years, but it's possible we may be reaching a limit of what can be achieved using current approaches. Concerns about reliability and now, return on investment for the countless billions invested in the sector, may put AI's short-term future in doubt.

Dave interviews AI expert Gary Marcus, a psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author, known for his research at the intersection of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. He's also a professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at New York university.

While both Gary and Dave notably have a pro-tech stance, they also want to ensure that we build tools that work well, are sustainable, and are ethically sound. They explore this topic and more in a wide ranging discussion.

Gary Marcus: X Substack TED

GenAI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit? (Goldman Sachs)

The Hardware Lottery by Sara Hooker

KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (multiple authors)

Keywords: AI, LLMs, OpenAI, GenAI, Gary Marcus, ROI, truth, System 1, System 2, Kahneman, hardware lottery, Sara Hooker.

It's shaping up to be the hottest July on record, and things couldn't be more strange in the political realm. From multiple bombshell rulings from the Supreme Court to widespread speculation about whether Joe Biden should step aside after his halting debate performance, it feels like things couldn't get any crazier. Yet, that's entirely possible.

Dave talks with Jack Bryan, director of the film ACTIVE MEASURES and creator of the podcasts AMERICAN PSYOP and LAWYERS, GUNS, and MONEY about what's happened, what's at stake, and where things might go next. Recorded during the July 4th holiday, at the beach in Delaware.

Keywords: SCOTUS, Immunity, Chevron, SEC, Jarkesy, debate, Biden, convention, institutions, rule of law, democracy, autocracy, authoritarianism, Trump, fascism.

For decades, a highly entrepreneurial group of researchers, scientists, and journalists has been at the center of the movement to “disclose” the existence of extraterrestrial visitors to Earth — and they’ve scored what may be their biggest legislative victory yet.

The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed in December, includes a provision that requires the federal government to provide any and all records on UAP.

Activists hope that a deluge of new UAP information will be disclosed later this year — smack in the middle of election season. The new law requires that all UAP-related records created more than 25 years ago must be made public — unless personally blocked by President Biden.

Dave talks with researcher Jack Brewer and veteran journalist Art Levine in two separate interviews, to hear each of their perspectives on what's going on. It's a rich, detailed conversation you won't want to miss.

Is a UFO Hoax a Ticking Time Bomb for Biden by Dave Troy, Washington Spectator

Spaceship of Fools by Art Levine, Washington Spectator

AARO Historical Report (March 2024)

Expanding Frontiers Research

Keywords: Danny Sheehan, NDAA, Robert Bigelow, Brandon Fugal, Skinwalker Ranch, Luis Elizondo, Hal Puthoff, Russell Targ, Institute of Noetic Sciences, Christopher Mellon, Timothy Mellon, RFK Jr., Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Noosphere, Vladimir Vernadsky, Vladimir Putin, KGB, UFO, UAP, Noosphere.

American society seems to be devolving into two bitterly opposed and diametrically polarized camps. Not just around politics, but around culture as well.

Jonathan Stray studies conflict, and tries to identify ways in which we can learn to conflict with each other more productively. He is a researcher at the Center for Human Compatible AI at the University of California Berkeley, where his work looks at a range of scientific and academic study of conflict and online behaviors.

He talks with Dave about his work, why Americans are so divided, and what we might do about it. They also discuss where some of his funding comes from, and the messy world of think tanks.

Keywords: conflict, polarization, social media, online interaction, CHAI, Center for Human Compatible AI, Jonathan Stray, Better Conflict Bulletin, University of California Berkeley, Mercatus Center.

On January 8, 2024, Dave hosted a space on "X" (formerly Twitter) for an overview of what to expect in geopolitics in 2024. In this wide ranging monologue, Dave covers many topics including the US elections, Russia's war against Ukraine, the brewing conflict in the Middle East, and rising tensions in Asia between Taiwan, China, and Japan.

Keywords: geopolitics, 2024, election, Russia, Ukraine, Putin, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, China, Taiwan, Japan, Trump, RFK Jr, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Red-Brown Alliance, Dugin, conscious evolution, history, atomic bomb, Leo Szilard, Robert Oppenheimer, Katechon, Eschaton, Eschatology, Nuclear War, Apocalypse, end times, Christian Nationalism, Barbara Marx Hubbard, New Age, cults.

Psychedelic drugs are having a moment, like SSRI's and Valium did decades before. What if there's a simple way for people to feel happier and more connected to the world while ushering in world peace at the same time? That's what many advocates of psychedelic drugs claim, but the reality is a lot more complicated.

Dave talks with Neşe Devenot, a writer and early psychedelics advocate who has increasingly become a critic of the attitudes and capital that are lining up behind the popularization of these drugs. While they do hold some promise, some are advocating that they be used as a salve to dampen the negative externalities caused by crony capitalism and extractive resource use. Devenot and her co-authors on multiple papers think that's not okay — and we get to explore all the reasons why.

TESCREAL hallucinations: Psychedelic and AI hype as inequality engines

Dark Side of the Shroom: Erasing Indigenous and Counterculture Wisdoms with Psychedelic Capitalism, and the Open Source Alternative

‘More evolved than you’: Evolutionary spirituality as a cultural frame for psychedelic experiences

Right-Wing Psychedelia: Case Studies in Cultural Plasticity and Political Pluripotency

"Starseed," by Timothy Leary

Spirituality & Psychedelics with Rick Doblin (The Marianne Williamson Podcast)

Keywords: Rick Doblin, MAPS, Marianne Williamson, Neşe Devenot, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA, DMT, Ecstasy, Rebekah Mercer, Elizabeth Koch, Elon Musk, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Conscious Evolution, Fundamentalism, Jules Evans, Teilhard, Vernadsky, Noosphere, Psilocybin, Magic Mushrooms, Ayahuasca, Mescaline, TESCREAL, AI, Longtermism, Artificial Intelligence, Silicon Valley, hierarchy, aristocracy, metanoia, overview effect.

No discussion of the ways that the dollar and the United States are under attack would be complete without a contemporary exploration of the world of cryptocurrencies.

Zeke Faux, an investigative journalist with Bloomberg News, joins Dave to discuss his new book, "Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wide Rise and Staggering Fall," which is part research, part travelogue, and filled with bizarre schemes and colorful characters.

Number Go Up on Goodreads

Zeke Faux on X

NumberGoUpBook.com

Keywords: Bitcoin, Tether, NFTs, Crypto, FTX, Sam Bankman Fried, Axis, Brock Pierce, Pig Butchering, El Salvador, Bukele, Binance, CZ, Giancarlo Devasini, Jean Chalopin, Jean-Louis van der Velde, Inspector Gadget, Steve Bannon, Miami, Bored Ape, Libertarian, Gold Standard, Gamestop, Russia, Musk.