Do you believe in magic? On this episode of Grifty, friends of the pod explore America's mass shooting problem thru the lens of the magical thinking that fuels both gun and wellness cultures, as well as discuss the latest news about GOP grifters Donald Trump and George Santos.

The market for Toxic forms of wellness exists because people are feeling disempowered with their health and lack trust in the medical community in the same way that the consumer market for military-grade weapons exists because people are feeling disempowered with their safety and lack trust in the government. Gun and wellness cultures center YOU in the discussion, as both the main contributor and detractor of your safety and well-being. It's giving main character energy in the worst way possible.

These dogmatic views and binary solutions towards self-sufficiency and empowerment have led to extremism not just by predatory grifters but also by other well-meaning but misinformed individuals, especially in this chronically online era where anyone can become a platform for spreading false information as they can work the algorithm.

FRIENDS ON THIS EPISODE

Azadeh "Azi" Ghafari, Sari Beth Rosenberg, Dr. Thomas Oden MD, Baktaash "BT" Sorkhabi

IN THIS EPISODE

On Trump's Sexual Assault Case

Politico – A stunning Result in Trump's Sexual Assault Trial

PBS - Breaking down the verdict as jury finds Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation

On George Santos' Fraud charges

United States Department of Justice: Congressman George Santos Charged with Fraud, Money Laundering, Theft of Public Funds, and False Statements

Fortune - Serial liar George Santos' lesser-known fraud may have been collecting $24,000 in COVID unemployment benefits while working a $120,000 job

On America's mass shooting problem

Huff Post - Texas Mall Shooting Victims Include Young Child And His Parents

Huff Post - The Texas Shooter Reportedly Wore A Patch Popular With Far-Right Groups

Daily Beast - Why Young Men of Color Are Joining White-Supremacist Groups

Harvard School of Public Health - Do guns make us safer? Science suggests no

Harvard School of Public Health – Scientists Agree: Guns don't make society safer

Newsweek – Republicans are blaming Mental Health School Shootings After Refusing to Fund It

Washington Post – Why Haven't GOP Politicians Matched Funding to their Rhetoric?

Pew Research Center – What the Data says about gun deaths in the U.S.

On The Wellness to Alt Right Pipeline

Huff Post - Gun Culture And Wellness Culture Come From the Same Place

Conspirtuality – Guns, Germs, & Fears

PBS - Disinformation abounds in the wellness community. How one anti-vax influencer broke free

McGill Office for Science and Society – Granola and Guns: The Rise of Conspirtuality

Mother Jones - Wellness Influencers Are Spreading QAnon Conspiracies About the Coronavirus

Food Psych – Rethinking Wellness: The Problems with "Natural" Wellness with Alan Levinovitz