Failed State Update

Joshua Lilly is a former follower of Gabriel of Urantia, the subject of my book New Age Grifter. He’s also something of a “fan favorite,” so — due to popular demand — I am giving him an (almost 2 hours long!) episode of the FAILED STATE UPDATE podcast to tell us about his life and times in (and out of) a religious cult.

This is a preview of an episode for FAILED STATE UPDATE newsletter subscribers. To subscribe for free, go to: https://lennyflatley.substack.com/

My book on the group, titled New Age Grifter: The True Story of Gabriel of Urantia and his Cosmic Family is available now on Amazon.

New Age Grifter is the story of Gabriel of Urantia, a self-proclaimed holy man who currently presides over a spiritual community (some call it a cult) in the desert of Southern Arizona. In a fenced-in compound, three generations of the Global Community Communications Alliance soak in Gabriel's teachings as they wait for the end of the world. 

My book on the group, titled New Age Grifter: The True Story of Gabriel of Urantia and his Cosmic Family is out today.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/New-Age-Grifter-Gabriel-Urantia/dp/1627311106/ref=sr_1_2

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/books/new-age-grifter-the-true-story-of-gabriel-of-urantia-and-his-cosmic-family/9781627311106

More info on my webpage: https://www.lennyflatley.net/

Be sure to sign up for my newsletter: https://lennyflatley.substack.com/

And follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennyflatley

Less than a week until my book NEW AGE GRIFTER: THE TRUE STORY OF GABRIEL OF URANTIA AND HIS COSMIC FAMILY is released, and to get you in the mood I'm sharing a conversation that I had today on, of all things, the YouTube Grassroots #YangGang Show. We discussed the book a little bit, as wells things like: "What is the difference between conspiracy theory and conspiracy fact?" "How is Alex Jones a con artist?" And my favorite, "Does poverty lead to cults and QAnon?" Check out the rest of the show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHMWtNR_GGg

Pre-Order NEW AGE GRIFTER: https://amzn.com/1627311106/

Sign up for my newsletter: https://lennyflatley.substack.com/

Joseph L. Flatley website: https://www.lennyflatley.net

Joseph L. Flatley twitter: https://twitter.com/lennyflatley

Raymond Buckland founded The Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in 1966. After visiting the late Gerald Gardner and his collection on the Isle of Man, Raymond was inspired to start a collection of his own. While working for British Airways, he was able to acquire many of the artifacts in this collection from all around the world. He initially displayed his museum on a few shelves in the basement of his Long Island, N.Y. home. However, over time, Raymond’s witchcraft collection rapidly grew to well over 500 artifacts, ranging from Ancient Egyptian ushabtis to documented artifacts from the Salem Witch trials. This was the first museum of its kind in the United States with an anthropological approach to the world of folklore and the supernatural.

This episode of FSU features Steven Intermill, the director of the museum, which has been located in Cleveland since 2017. We talk about the museum itself, alternative religions, harassment by fundamentalist weirdos, and much more.

Don't forget to sign up for the FAILED STATE UPDATE newsletter! https://lennyflatley.substack.com/

Buckland Museum on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BucklandMuseum

Buckland Museum website: https://bucklandmuseum.org/

Joseph L. Flatley website: https://www.lennyflatley.net

Joseph L. Flatley twitter: https://twitter.com/lennyflatley

My *other* podcast, The So-Called Prophet from Pittsburgh: https://anchor.fm/pghprophet

Coming soon! New Age Grifter. Available for pre-order from BOOKSHOP.ORG: https://bookshop.org/books/new-age-grifter-the-true-story-of-gabriel-of-urantia-and-his-cosmic-family/9781627311106 

Joseph Daniel Casolaro (everyone knew him as Danny) was a journalist who died in Martinsburg, West Virginia, thirty years ago this August. He was in town working on a book tentatively titled The Octopus, which promised to tie together damn near every conspiracy theory of the decade: including the October Surprise, Iran-Contra, and the FEMA concentration camps.

When Casolaro was found dead in room 517 of the Sheraton Hotel, his wrists slashed with a razor blade, the medical examiner ruled the death a suicide — a ruling that continues to be controversial.

In this installment of Failed State Update, I speak to journalist Tim Shorrock and historian Jack Calhoun about PROMIS — the software that sits at the center of The Octopus — and its surprising relevance to the modern surveillance state. I also speak to Dominic Orlando, Danny's cousin, who shares his thoughts on the media's (mis)handling of the story.

After listening to the podcast, be sure to check out my two-part article on Casolaro in the Failed State Update newsletter. You can sign up here: https://lennyflatley.substack.com/

A story crossed my desk recently: "Inside TikTok’s booming dissociative identity disorder community" (Input Magazine, July 6). The author, Jessica Lucas, looks at the unique world of social media influencers with multiple personalities. While it provides a unique look at a fascinating subculture, it does not portray the truth about Dissociative Identity Disorder (the clinical name for multiple personalities) and how the diagnosis has been abused by therapists over the years. 

Not only are these conspiracy therapists harming patients, they are a telling example of America's decline. 

You can find my response/rebuttal, "Return of the Conspiracy Therapists," in the Failed State Update newsletter. For the report I interviewed Lucien Greaves, the co-founder of the Satanic Temple, and the conversation was good enough that I'm releasing it here as a podcast.

My book Satan Goes to the Mind Control Convention: Manchurian Candidates, Recovered Memories, and the Dark Side of Conspiracy Culture is finally available as an audiobook! From the back cover blurb:

Satan Goes to the Mind Control Convention looks at the role that conspiracy theories play in American life and the current political climate. The audiobook begins at a convention for therapists who uncover “memories” of past lives, extraterrestrials, and government mind-control operations. From there, the listener will encounter Pizzagate enthusiasts, conspiracy entrepreneurs, Satanists, flat-earthers, and more. Ultimately, the author cautions that right-wing conspiracy culture is a fascist confidence trick that will only get more violent over the coming years.

My webpage: http://lennyflatley.net/books/

Audible link: https://www.audible.com/pd/B097W3SXRT/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-265130&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_265130_rh_us

In the first half of this episode, I speak with Branko Marcetic, a staff writer for Jacobin magazine and a 2019-2020 Leonard C. Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting Fellow at In These Times. He is the author of Yesterday's Man: The Case Against Joe Biden. 

After the flip, I speak with Jeremy Kuzmarov, J.P. Walker assistant professor of history at University of Tulsa and the author of The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs and Modernizing Repression: Police Training and Nation Building in the American Century. His series on Biden's foreign policy is available at Covert Action Magazine.

Branko Marcetic on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bmarchetich

Branko's podcast, 1/200: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-200-podcast/id1428385579

Branko Marcetic on Jacoboin https://jacobinmag.com/author/branko-marcetic

Yesterday's Man: The Case Against Joe Biden: https://www.versobooks.com/books/3225-yesterday-s-man

Jeremy Kuzmarov on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JKuzmarov

Jeremy Kuzmarov on Covert Action Magazine: https://covertactionmagazine.com/author/jeremykuzmarov/

Joseph L. Flatley website: https://www.lennyflatley.net

Joseph L. Flatley twitter: https://twitter.com/lennyflatley

My *other* podcast, The So-Called Prophet from Pittsburgh: https://anchor.fm/pghprophet

Coming soon! New Age Grifter. Available for pre-order from BOOKSHOP.ORG: https://bookshop.org/books/new-age-grifter-the-true-story-of-gabriel-of-urantia-and-his-cosmic-family/9781627311106 

It's the big FOUR-OH! and today I'm speaking with Mike Elk, labor reporter and the founder (in 2016) of Payday Report, a crowdfunded news agency focusing on labor and union news. In this interview we talk about the importance of independent media, getting past the over-intellectualization of left-labor reporting, and the shocking reality of sexual harassment in unions.

Payday Report website: https://paydayreport.com/

Mike Elk on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeElk

Joseph L. Flatley website: https://www.lennyflatley.net

Joseph L. Flatley twitter: https://twitter.com/lennyflatley

Coming soon! My latest book, New Age Grifter. Available for pre-order from BOOKSHOP.ORG: https://bookshop.org/books/new-age-grifter-the-true-story-of-gabriel-of-urantia-and-his-cosmic-family/9781627311106 

The notion of "repressed memories" has been widely discredited, yet it stubbornly persists—on trash TV, in poorly researched self-help books, and now on New York Magazine's website. In this episode of Failed State Update, Lucien Greaves, the co-founder of The Satanic Temple, breaks down "The Memory War" by Katie Heaney, a weird example of pro-conspiracy theory agitprop that has more to do with QAnon than legitimate reportage.

"The Memory War" by Katie Heaney: https://www.thecut.com/amp/article/false-memory-syndrome-controversy.html

"Lying For Pseudoscience," Lucien Greaves' rebuttal: https://www.patreon.com/posts/46379921

Lucien Greaves on Twitter: https://twitter.com/luciengreaves

Grey Faction: https://greyfaction.org/