Chairman Mao Zedong is a case study in good intentions going straight to hell when power and narcissism combine. In yet another episode of "This Old Narcissist", we look at the rise of the Communist Party in the People's Republic of China and how sparrows are clearly the harbingers of all bad luck so we should destroy them.

Fan mail, hate mail, entries from your dream diary...we want them all! Email questions, comments, and topic suggestions to [email protected] or visit us at ireadathing.com. You can also subscribe and message us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Opening and closing music: "A Magical Journey Through Space" by Leonell Cassio, licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Have you ever wondered why Terms of Service tend to be long-winded and confusing or who decided it was a good idea to insult users by suggesting they don't like being informed if they decline updates on a news site? Join us on an infuriating deep dive into the deceptive stupidity running every single website you frequent and why we are under surveillance even when we think we've opted out of tracking.

Fan mail, hate mail, entries from your dream diary...we want them all! Email questions, comments, and topic suggestions to [email protected] or visit us at ireadathing.com. You can also subscribe and message us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Opening and closing music: "A Magical Journey Through Space" by Leonell Cassio, licensed under a Creative Commons License.

What do you get when you combine the aggression of rugby, an insatiable lust for money, and a story-hungry media? Well, you get the !RETRACTED! Lancet study that launched a thousand anti-vax campaigns. Join us on a deep dive into the murky waters of fraudulent medical science and solid investigative journalism into the man once hailed by his own Head of Medicine as a "wanker and a fraud", Andrew Wakefield!

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Opening and closing music: "A Magical Journey Through Space" by Leonell Cassio, licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Lloyd L. Gaines had already made national headlines at the age of 28 when he, with the help of the NAACP (National Association for the advancement of Colored People), triumphed in a landmark civil rights case against the University of Missouri where the Supreme Court ordered U of M's Law School to admit him despite their strict segregation policies. During the course of the multiple trials leading to the Supreme Court ruling, Lloyd attended various rallies and speaking engagements at the behest of the NAACP. He was exhausted from the constant publicity tours, speaking engagements, and lack of privacy that had become the norm in such civil rights cases and he just wanted to be, as he put it, "a plain, ordinary man whose name no one recognized". When leaving the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity house in southside Chicago that Sunday evening, March 19, 1939, he told a housekeeper that he was going out to buy stamps and would return soon.  He was never seen again.

We'll explore this famous missing persons case in this episode of I Read a Thing's True Crime Tuesday. Let's dive in.

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No medical training? NO PROBLEM. All you need to treat sick, malnourished, and dying children is a stethoscope and a dream (and a direct order from God.) In this deep-dive, we will explore the troubling world of white savior missionaries, more Mister (well, Ms.) Doctors, and how to get away with medically treating children when you are a homeschooled kid with no college education.

Fan mail, hate mail, entries from your dream diary...we want them all! Email questions, comments, and topic suggestions to [email protected] or visit us at ireadathing.com. You can also subscribe and message us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Opening and closing music: "A Magical Journey Through Space" by Leonell Cassio, licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Take a break from your ennui to listen to topics that make us cry when we're high...on life, obviously. This uplifting and totally wholesome episode isn't exactly a deep dive but we're getting into plastics, recycling, singularities, and multiverses. It's all meaningless, let's cry together...lol.

Fan mail, hate mail, entries from your dream diary...we want them all! Email questions, comments, and topic suggestions to [email protected] or visit us at ireadathing.com. You can also subscribe and message us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Opening and closing music: "A Magical Journey Through Space" by Leonell Cassio, licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Joseph Smith was a simple man. He liked unlimited power, cronies that kissed his ass, women he could trick into marrying him, and doctors he could coerce into giving those women abortions; a real Live-Lie-Love kind of guy. In this episode, we talk about what made Joe take his magical mystery tour to several different midwest American cities and how he managed to get God to co-author a stock options agreement for his mansion.

Fan mail, hate mail, entries from your dream diary...we want them all! Email questions, comments, and topic suggestions to [email protected] or visit us at ireadathing.com. You can also subscribe and message us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Opening and closing music: "A Magical Journey Through Space" by Leonell Cassio, licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Sex, Drugs, and MONEY! No, this isn't an episode about -insert relevant rock-n-roll star name-, this is all about the freaky founder of the Latter Day Saints, AKA Mormons. This episode covers Joseph Smith's unlikely beginnings as a prophet, his family drama, and his healthy appreciation for hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Fan mail, hate mail, entries from your dream diary...we want them all! Email questions, comments, and topic suggestions to [email protected] or visit us at ireadathing.com. You can also subscribe and message us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Opening and closing music: "A Magical Journey Through Space" by Leonell Cassio, licensed under a Creative Commons License.

What do lightbulbs, fireflies, and the long-buried bones of the Radium Girls all have in common? That's right, they all glow! Join us on a deep dive that will cement your distaste for capitalism and make you really glad you live in a time where it's not common to have highly radioactive materials in your household goods. 

Fan mail, hate mail, entries from your dream diary...we want them all! Email questions, comments, and topic suggestions to [email protected] or visit us at ireadathing.com. You can also subscribe and message us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Opening and closing music: "A Magical Journey Through Space" by Leonell Cassio, licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Have you ever looked at a Flat Earther and thought "how could they level up this craziness?" WELCOME TO BLOOD OVER INTENT, MOTHER-TRUCKERS! In this deep dive, we talk about the CLEARLY NOT A MURDER CULT starting up in Oregon, James Cameron as God, Covid in the Matrix, and the Reptilian overlords hiding the truth about the Garden of Eden.

Fan mail, hate mail, entries from your dream diary...we want them all! Email questions, comments, and topic suggestions to [email protected] or visit us at ireadathing.com. You can also subscribe and message us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Opening and closing music: "A Magical Journey Through Space" by Leonell Cassio, licensed under a Creative Commons License.