On this episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and

RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick

about his compulsively readable new book, “The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-Terrorist.”

 

With the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss a New York Times article that suggests Vice

President J.D. Vance may be highlighting obstacles to the Iran effort; a Wall Street Journal story

about an AI researcher who warns computers could destroy humanity; an X post reporting

evidence that the Journal piece could be part of an orchestrated campaign against AI; and Paul

Sperry’s exclusive article in RCI detailing the government’s decision to parole at least three of

the 15 terrorist detainees still held at Guantanamo Bay – men the government labels “high-value

detainees” and “forever prisoners.”
 

00:00 Cold Open: An Earlier Age of Terrorism 
00:50 Welcome & Guest Tease: Joby Warrick on "The Jackal" 
01:40 News Roundup: NYT's J.D. Vance "Unvarnished" Iran Intel Story 
05:26 Is an AI Doomsday Coming? An Anthropic Researcher's Resignation 
09:58 Can AI Regulation Actually Work? 
12:16 Gitmo's "Forever Prisoners" May Be Released (Paul Sperry Exclusive) 
15:54 Introducing Joby Warrick and Why He Wrote "The Jackal" 
19:18 Who Was Carlos the Jackal? Origins and the 1975 OPEC Raid 
25:11 The Hijacking Era and How Carlos Evaded Capture for Decades 
30:56 State Sponsors, the Palestinian Cause, and Strange Bedfellows 
37:05 Interrogating Terrorists, Modern Mercenary Attacks, and Meeting Carlos in Prison

 Articles Discussed in This Podcast:

• Joby Warrick: “The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-Terrorist.”
   
• Joby Warrick/NYT: Carlos the Jackal’s Violent Chaos Endures
   
• Joby Warrick/Jewish World Review: My Encounter with Carlos the Jackal
   
• NYT: How Vance Gathered Unvarnished Views of Iran War 
   
• Wall Street Journal: Anthropic researcher quits over 'out-of-control' AI fears
   
• Parker Thayer/X: https://x.com/ParkerThayer?s=20
   
• Paul Sperry/RCI: Exclusive: Gitmo Parole Board Greenlights Release of 3 'Forever Prisoners'
   

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On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney mark Labor Day by giving their guests the week off. In an extended news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss two articles on the Iran conflict – a Tablet article detailing Trump’s evolving strategy and an AP piece on how the Pentagon’s latest precision missiles are not so precise. 

Turning their attention to the changing world of journalism, they discuss a Semafor story describing how online ‘ghost creators’ are pushing fake news and a Columbia Journalism Review report on how New York City’s Mayor is shaping the news by paying social media influencers. Finally, Zane and Varney look at two articles related to the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

00:00 Cold Open: The Mamdani Influencer Story 
01:16 This Week on RealClearInvestigations.com 
02:00 Trump's Iran Strategy: A Third Way Between Bush and Obama (Tablet/Michael Doran) 06:18 AP's Investigation Into U.S. Precision Munitions & Pentagon Contracting 
11:47 Semafor: The Rise of AI-Scripted "Ghost Creator" Influencers 
12:44 Columbia Journalism Review: Mamdani's Paid Influencer Network 
17:10 9/11 at 25: The Human and Economic Toll 
19:44 Douglas Murray on Why Conspiracy Theories Endure 
24:57 Who Falls for Conspiracy Theories — and Which Side Does It More? 

Articles Discussed in This Podcast:

• Tablet: Trump's Third Way on Iran
  https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/trump-third-way-iran
   
• AP: Report: New US Missile Cut Deadly Path Through Iranian City 
  https://apnews.com/article/iran-lamerd-us-prsm-lockheed-martin-b4a37c59bcf5d1a11eb87aa79f153648
   
• Semafor: 'Ghost Creator' Videos Cashing in on America's Political Divide 
  https://www.semafor.com/article/09/02/2026/paid-actors-ai-writing-how-a-new-kind-of-video-business-cashed-in-on-americas-divided-politics
   
• CJR: Mayor Mamdani’s Friendly Influencers and the Funding of Public Messaging in New York City
  https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/mayor-mamdanis-friendly-influencers-and-the-funding-of-public-messaging-in-new-york-city.php
   
• City Journal: The Staggering Financial Cost of 9/11
  https://www.city-journal.org/article/911-attacks-financial-cost
   
• Free Press: 9/11 Conspiracies and the War on the Truth
  https://www.thefp.com/p/douglas-murray-911-war-on-truth?utm_campaign=realclearpolitics
   

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On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with sports columnist Matt Calkins, who resigned from the Seattle Times after the newspaper killed his column that argued it is not hateful to oppose biological men playing women’s sports. 

On the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss a series of stories on the media including: a PJ Media piece on California’s chilling new law Republicans have dubbed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act”; a Washington Free Beacon analysis showing how the New York Times uses the term Islamophobia to delegitimize viewpoints and shut down debate; and an arbitrator’s ruling that the Washington Post must rehire an opinion columnist the paper had fired for inflammatory tweets regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

00:00 Cold Open: "I Don't Think I Can Do It Anymore"

00:32 Welcome & Intro to This Episode

00:41 News Roundup: California's "Stop Nick Shirley Act"

06:34 The NYT's "Islamophobia" Label (Washington Free Beacon)

09:18 WaPo Arbitrator Reinstates Columnist Fired Over Charlie Kirk Tweets

13:35 Introducing Matt Calkins

13:37 The Column That Got Him Fired: Sophie Cunningham & Trans Athletes

18:37 Three Previous Columns the Seattle Times Spiked

22:06 Inside the Newsroom: Book Clubs, Activism & the Overton Window

27:17 Is Seattle Sports Media Just Reflecting the City?

32:57 The Decision to Resign

35:17 Seattle Times vs. San Diego Union-Tribune

37:02 Why Newsrooms Keep Losing Readers

39:31 Is the Trans-in-Sports Debate Media-Driven?

42:43 What's Next for Matt Calkins (Substack)

43:44 Closing & Thanks

Articles Discussed in This Podcast:

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On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with Atlantic writer Tyler Austin Harper about his widely discussed, gracefully written articles – including a piece addressing the recent suicide of Cambridge Professor Jason Arday and another detailing why Harper left his tenure track job at Bates College – reporting how identity politics is undermining academic freedom.

On the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss Wall Street Journal and Free Press articles on the pushback against data centers and AI, a ProPublica piece on some of the problem when public money is used to support private schools and a New Yorker article on a Nobel Prize-winning researcher who sexually abused dozens of the young people from Papua New Guinea that he studied.

00:00 Curriculum and Social Justice Initiatives

03:05 The Pushback Against AI and Data Centers

06:13 The Debate on Academic Freedom and Private Schools

09:08 The Case of Jason Arday and Academic Integrity

12:03 Navigating Cultural Sensitivities in Academia

14:47 The Role of Media in Shaping Academic Discourse

33:02 The Evolution of Academic Discourse

37:04 Marxism and the Academy

41:01 The Assault on Academic Freedom

46:10 The Crisis in the Humanities

50:08 The Value of Humanities in Society

54:31 Navigating Political Discourse in Academia

Articles & Books Discussed in This Podcast:

·       Tyler Austin Harper/Atlantic: The Truths That Failed Jason Arday

·       Tyler Austin Harper/Atlantic: What Is the Mellon Foundation Doing to Higher Education?

·       “Words For the Taking: The Hunt for a Plagiarist” by Neal Bowers

·       Wall Street Journal: The 'Country Hicks' Who Refused $26M from AI Data Center

·       Free Press: A City’s War on Surveillance Cameras

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On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with the Substacker who writes under the pseudonym “Yuri Bezmenov” (he’ll tell us why) about his reporting on the network of awards, fellowship, teaching gigs and other lucrative and prestigious incentives that reward people who espouse progressive ideas.

On the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss a National Review article that details Iran’s efforts to take the war to other countries, a ProPublica article about how General Dynamics’ failed effort to make artillery shells with robots cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and an article in the Atlantic in which an African-American professor details how his experience with dangerous excesses of wokism pushed him to leave academia.

Articles Discussed in This Podcast:|

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On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with true crime reporter extraordinaire Valerie Bauerlein of the Wall Street Journal about her recent coverage of the Nancy Guthrie abduction, her book on the Alex Murdaugh murder case and her podcast on another South Carolina homicide, “Camp Swamp Road.”

On the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss the Washington Post’s investigation into fraud and abuse at the Veterans Administration and two articles – one from the New York Times on China, the other from the Washington Post on the U.S. – that look at the continuing rise of the surveillance state. 

Articles Discussed in This Podcast:

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On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with Aaron Shuster about his Tablet article “Entryism Comes to America,” which argues that the U.S. should follow France’s lead and have a serious inquiry into and discussion of what the rise of Islamism means for the nation’s prevailing culture and politics.

On the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss a trio of articles – two from the New York Times, one from Politico – reporting that President Trump appears to be rewarding states that voted for him and punishing those that did not as his administration dispenses disaster relief and other monies approved by Congress. While praising the legacy media for shining a light on the Trump administration, Zane and Varney also discuss how a New York Times article on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s recent testimony before Congress and a Washington Post article about how Joe Biden’s post-presidential career has been hobbled by health issues (including Stage 4 prostate cancer) reveal the ways legacy media outlets often protect people and parties they support.

00:00 Introduction to Entryism and Political Context

11:23 The Role of Media in Political Reporting

12:20 Understanding Entryism: A Deep Dive

22:50 Cultural Integration vs. Subjugation

30:44 The Future of American Values and Politics

31:43 The Core Values of Civilization

34:57 Immigration and National Identity

36:05 The Influence of Academia on Culture

39:16 The Alliance of Radical Left and Islamic Thought

41:11 Challenges of Immigration in Europe

43:00 Cultural Resistance and the Fight for Identity

45:29 The Need for a Cultural Revival

47:48 Historical Context of Immigration and Assimilation

51:49 Shared Values and Cultural Integration

54:21 Potential Solutions for Immigration Issues

Books & Articles Discussed in This Podcast:

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On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speaks with author James Rasenberger about his new work of history, “A Perfect Coincidence: The Extraordinary Friendship and Astonishing Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.”

On the news round-up, J. Peder Zane joins Varney to discuss a reported editorial from the Wall Street Journal and a news article from the New York Times that detail how legislation that aimed to protect patients from surprise medical bills has become a cash cow for health care providers. They also use John Murawski’s 2020 article about the Mott & Bailey switcheroo to discuss a Free Press article reporting on the differences between the warm and fuzzy descriptions of the Democratic Socialists of America advanced by the party’s adherents and many arms of the legacy media and the aggressive goals the DSA’s platform and position papers say it want to achieve.

Books & Articles Discussed in This Podcast:

·       Jim Rasenberger Book Excerpt: A Perfect Coincidence

·       Wall Street Journal: The ‘Surprise Billing’ Racket

·       New York Times: Trump Administration Says Surprise Billing Law Is Being ‘Gamed’ by Doctors

·       New York Times: $22,000 Per Hour: Assistants Use a Legislative Loophole to Outearn Surgeons 

·       Free Press: I Was in the DSA. Here’s What They Really Believe. 

·       RCI: The 'Motte & Bailey': Political Jousting's Deceptive New Medieval Weapon | 

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On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, J. Peder Zane and James Varney speak with Tablet writer and RCI contributor Lee Smith about conservative media in the Trump era with a special focus on X. 

On the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss how a ProPublica investigation reporting on the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration efforts, which includes a remake of the courts, is targeting a once protected class for deportation: unaccompanied minors who crossed the border. They also looks at a new report from the White House that assails the leadership of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History for “explicitly adopt[ing] an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated, but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens.” 

00:00 Introduction and Overview of Current Events

02:01 Immigration and Deportation Policies

07:01 American History and Political Narratives

13:03 The State of Conservative Media

20:13 Challenges in Modern Journalism

30:03 The Role of Social Media in News Consumption

32:44 Navigating Information Overload

36:27 Censorship and Free Speech Dynamics

40:03 The Role of Propaganda in Media

44:21 The Responsibility of Media Platforms

48:31 Distinguishing Free Speech from Press Freedom

50:10 Acknowledging the Current Media Landscape

55:24 The Importance of Accountability in Media

Books & Articles Discussed in This Podcast:

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