Venezuela's collapse is about way more than socialism and oil. Ryan McBeth breaks down how a resource-rich nation became a cautionary tale on our doorstep.

Welcome to what we're calling our "Out of the Loop" episodes, where we dig a little deeper into fascinating current events that may only register as a blip on the media's news cycle and have conversations with the people who find themselves immersed in them.

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1269

On This Episode of Out of the Loop:

• Venezuela's collapse wasn't caused by a single villain or policy — it happened because oil money replaced accountability. Institutions were hollowed out, competence was swapped for loyalty, and when the cash dried up, the regime compensated with control instead of reform.
• Hugo Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution" brought real benefits early on — redistributing oil wealth and challenging entrenched elites. But the gains depended entirely on high oil prices, and when those collapsed around 2010, hyperinflation, shortages, and mass migration followed.
• Venezuela matters strategically to the US because it sits near the Panama Canal and Gulf Coast refineries — making it a pressure point for energy markets, migration flows, and criminal networks. China and Russia have both moved in, treating the instability like an open house.
• Nicolás Maduro wasn't so much a supreme leader as a traffic cop managing competing mafias. The country's power structure fractured into factions — military, political, criminal — each with its own incentives, making any clean transition extremely difficult.
• Venezuela's story is a reminder that resource wealth without strong institutions becomes a trap — but it also shows that populations who've experienced democracy and prosperity tend to push back. That memory of better times can become the foundation for rebuilding.
• And much more!
• Connect with Jordan on Twitter, on Instagram, and on YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on an Out of the Loop episode, drop Jordan a line at [email protected] and let him know!
• Connect with Ryan McBeth at his website, Twitter, Instagram, and on YouTube. If you’d like to stay on top of what’s happening in the world, subscribe to Ryan’s Substack!

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After six hard years as your mom's Alzheimer's caregiver, your dad remarried an old flame one week after moving her to hospice. Welcome to Feedback Friday!

And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at [email protected]. Now let's dive in!

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1268

On This Week's Feedback Friday:

• Your stepmom — the woman who raised you for 44 years — was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and recently moved into a care facility. One week later, your dad announced he's remarried an old flame and is planning a honeymoon. How do you set boundaries without losing him entirely?
• After years of battling depression and disordered eating, you finally found stability — a great remote job, supportive friends, even a boyfriend. But four months in, he shows more affection to your dogs than to you. Is he avoidant, not adept at communicating his feelings, or just not that into you?
• You're an Emmy-nominated video journalist managing severe endometriosis and recovering from e.coli. You documented your six-hour work restriction — but when your company's "Super Bowl" event arrived, your team bailed and the CEO criticized your performance. Do you have legal standing here? [Thanks to HR professional Joanna Tate for helping us with this one!]
• Recommendation of the Week: Custom Stationery
• A software engineer and hiring manager has a hot take for job seekers who've applied to 600 positions with no luck: Mashing "Quick Apply" on LinkedIn might actually be hurting you more than helping. What's the real strategy for landing a high-paying role in this market?
• Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at [email protected]!
• Connect with Jordan on Twitter at @JordanHarbinger and Instagram at @jordanharbinger.
• Connect with Gabriel on Twitter at @GabeMizrahi and Instagram @gabrielmizrahi.

And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps!

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From microplastics in your brain to multivitamins that actually work, Dr. Rhonda Patrick of FoundMyFitness separates real science from wellness hype here!

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1267

What We Discuss with Dr. Rhonda Patrick:

• Microplastics are accumulating in our brains at up to 10 times more than other organs, and studies show people with Alzheimer's disease had up to 10 times more microplastics in their brains than those without, suggesting these invisible particles may be driving neuroinflammation and cognitive decline.
• That "BPA-free" label on your water bottle is essentially a marketing sleight of hand. Companies simply replaced BPA with BPS — a chemical now proven to be just as harmful as its predecessor, still disrupting hormones and leaching into everything you drink.
• Screens and phones are the new sitting (which was the new smoking). Early screen time exposure in children is now linked to depression, mental illness, and even sensory processing issues later in life — and the dopamine-hijacking effects mirror how hyper-palatable processed foods rewire taste preferences.
• A basic Centrum Silver multivitamin taken daily for two years delayed global brain aging by over two years and episodic memory decline by nearly five years in older adults, contradicting decades of "expensive urine" dismissals from the medical community.
• Your brain's best friend might be sitting in your gym bag. Creatine at 10 grams daily accumulates in brain tissue, eliminates afternoon energy crashes, and supercharges cognitive performance under stress — a cheap, evidence-backed hack anyone can start today.
• And much more...

And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps!

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A colleague made crude jokes, monopolized you at events, then possibly used you to make his ex jealous. How do you handle this creep? It's Feedback Friday!

And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at [email protected]. Now let's dive in!

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1266

On This Week's Feedback Friday:

• A professional acquaintance has been giving you mixed signals — complimenting your appearance, making wildly inappropriate sexual comments, and monopolizing your time at events. Then you learned he might've been using you to make his ex jealous. How do you confront a creep without burning your network?
• Your friend Mary — practically a grandmother figure — is spiraling after her husband's affair. The other woman is harassing her, possibly killed her dog, and Mary attempted suicide but refuses all help. You're still grieving your own dad. How do you support someone who won't let you in?
• Your boyfriend is the "best employee" at his job, yet his boss won't commit to a salary number after two months. Worse, he discovered he's been illegally denied sick pay since 2020 under New York law. Should he fight for what's owed and risk retaliation — or stay quiet and hope for the best?
• Recommendation of the Week: Bartender for Mac
• Your father lost millions in 2008 and has spent 17 years chasing entrepreneurial pipe dreams while refusing therapy. He's 62, unemployed, and relying on you and your brother for hope he can't generate himself. Should you buy him a car for Uber — or is that just enabling the fantasy?
• Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at [email protected]!
• Connect with Jordan on Twitter at @JordanHarbinger and Instagram at @jordanharbinger.
• Connect with Gabriel on Twitter at @GabeMizrahi and Instagram @gabrielmizrahi.

And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps!

• Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!
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Former bank robber Joe Loya reveals how childhood trauma transformed him into a prolific criminal — and how he found his way back. [Part 2 of 2 — catch up with Part 1 here!]

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1265

What We Discuss with Joe Loya:

• Trauma fragments your sense of the future. When Joe kept robbing banks while out on bail, it wasn't recklessness — it was survival mode. Unprocessed trauma keeps you focused only on getting through today, unable to imagine or protect a future that feels impossible anyway.
• Compassion beats forgiveness as a healing strategy. Instead of bestowing forgiveness from a position of moral superiority, Joe learned to accept his abusive father by understanding his formation — a beaten child who grew into a broken adult. It wasn't personal; any son would have been beaten.
• Self-examination is scarier than any external threat. A man who fearlessly robbed 30 banks and survived federal prison found confronting his own grief and dismantling his rage infinitely more terrifying than anything the outside world could throw at him.
• Your survival armor can become your prison. Joe needed his rage and menacing persona to stay safe in prison, yet that same emotional armor prevented him from healing — forcing him to project violence while secretly working on becoming a more sensitive, self-aware person.
• Transformation begins with telling your story honestly. Writing became Joe's tool for self-investigation — processing grief, rebuilding conscience, and eventually sharing his journey with his daughter and the world. Start documenting your own growth; the act of articulating your past can illuminate your path forward.
• And much more... [Part 2 of 2 — catch up with Part 1 here!]

And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps!

• Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!
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Former bank robber Joe Loya reveals how childhood trauma transformed him into a prolific criminal — and how he found his way back. [Part 1 of 2]

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1264

What We Discuss with Joe Loya:

• Childhood trauma doesn't excuse criminal behavior, but it explains how violence becomes normalized. Joe's father beat him over 100 times before age 15, creating a psychological framework where aggression felt like the only authentic response to a world that had brutalized him first.
• Bank robbery became a twisted form of therapy — a way to reclaim power stolen in childhood. Joe describes the "rapture" of robberies as moments where he finally felt in control, transforming victim psychology into predator psychology through carefully orchestrated criminal acts.
• Solitary confinement can either break you or remake you. Joe spent seven years total in "the hole." Rather than destroying him, isolation became an unexpected crucible for self-reflection, forcing him to confront the rage he'd been running from his entire life.
• The most dangerous lies we tell are the ones we believe about ourselves. Joe constructed elaborate internal narratives justifying his crimes as righteous rebellion, only recognizing decades later how childhood shame had corrupted his entire moral operating system.
• Redemption isn't about erasing your past — it's about transforming it into something useful. Joe now channels his understanding of trauma, violence, and recovery into writing and speaking, proving that even the darkest experiences can become tools for helping others navigate their own shadows.
• And much more... [Part 1 of 2 — stay tuned for Part 2 later this week!]

And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps!

• Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!
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Are near-death experiences proof of an afterlife — or just the brain's final fireworks? Michael Regilio goes into the light to find out on Skeptical Sunday!

Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where Jordan and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we’re joined by skeptic, comedian, and podcaster Michael Regilio!

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1263

On This Week's Skeptical Sunday:

• Near-death experiences are real experiences — but that doesn't make them supernatural. NDEs happen to ordinary people during medical crises, and while skeptics question the metaphysical claims, no one disputes the profound personal impact. These aren't grifts or delusions — they're genuine neurological events that often leave people calmer, kinder, and less afraid of death.
• The "tunnel of light" isn't universal — it's cultural. Western NDEs feature tunnels and beings of light, but Buddhist and Hindu experiencers often describe rivers, bridges, or ancestors. This cultural filtering suggests NDEs are brain-based events shaped by personal beliefs — not visits to a one-size-fits-all afterlife waiting room.
• "Clinically dead" doesn't mean the brain has completely shut down. Proponents argue NDEs prove consciousness survives death because brains were "flatlining" — but neuroscientists note that minimal brain activity can still occur undetected, and memories may be reconstructed after the fact as the brain "reboots."
• Dying might actually be a psychedelic experience. When the brain faces extreme stress, it releases a cocktail of DMT, endorphins, and dopamine while electrical hyperexcitation fires neurons en masse — creating vivid, dreamlike experiences that may explain the transcendent feelings people report.
• You don't need a near-death experience to live like you've had one. People who've had NDEs often return less materialistic, more focused on love, and at peace with mortality. The takeaway? You can adopt that perspective right now — prioritize connection over accumulation, presence over panic — without the terrifying trip to death's door.
• Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at [email protected] and let him know!
• Connect with Michael Regilio at Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and YouTube, and check out War Bar, his new comedy special!

And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps!

• Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!
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You're battling overeating and started therapy, but you're unsure if you're growing or just failing slowly with extra steps. Welcome to Feedback Friday!

And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at [email protected]. Now let's dive in!

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1262

On This Week's Feedback Friday:

• You're struggling with overeating and wondering if you quit tracking calories because you lack discipline. You've started therapy but aren't sure if you're making progress fast enough — or what "progress" even looks like. How do you grow without beating yourself up along the way?
• Jordan shares feedback that illustrates what makes doing this show so worthwhile and fulifilling for him.
• Gabe and Jordan discuss the good, the bad, the ugly, and the transformative about the past year, including: Dark Jordan's way of dealing with breached airplane window ettiquette, a grandiose corollary about prioritizing now over later (convenience be damned!), learning to say "no" without feeling bad about it, Gabe's expectations vs. realities of hitting the road as a digital nomad, how to make meaning when one's own stories refuse to cohere, disturbing concentration camp kitchen murals, the lessons of failure, coping with crushing loneliness while traveling, turning sap into maple syrup Ken Burns style, and more!
• Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at [email protected]!
• Connect with Jordan on Twitter at @JordanHarbinger and Instagram at @jordanharbinger.
• Connect with Gabriel on Twitter at @GabeMizrahi and Instagram @gabrielmizrahi.

And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps!

• Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!
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Q-Day — when quantum computers crack all encryption — is coming. Quantum eMotion COO John Young breaks down the pros and cons of what's to come.

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1261

What We Discuss with John Young:

• Q-Day is the looming moment when quantum computers become powerful enough to break current encryption — rendering bank accounts, medical records, government secrets, and critical infrastructure vulnerable not through hacking, but through raw computational power that can solve in minutes what would take today's computers longer than human civilization has existed.
• "Harvest now, decrypt later" is already happening. Adversaries are collecting encrypted data today, storing it like a time capsule, waiting for quantum computers to mature so they can unlock secrets that were meant to stay buried forever — meaning today's sensitive communications could become tomorrow's exposed vulnerabilities.
• Quantum computers aren't just faster classical computers — they operate on fundamentally different physics — using qubits that can exist in multiple states simultaneously, allowing them to explore countless possibilities at once rather than checking solutions one by one, which is what makes them so dangerous to current encryption methods.
• The transition to quantum-safe encryption is a massive, slow-moving crisis. Large institutions with decades of layered encryption systems face years of retrofitting, while startups can build quantum-resistant from day one, creating a dangerous gap where critical infrastructure remains exposed during the changeover.
• The same technology threatening our digital security also promises extraordinary breakthroughs. Quantum computing could deliver miracle drugs, better batteries, climate solutions, and new materials, so the path forward isn't fear but preparation: organizations should begin transitioning to quantum-resistant algorithms now while the benefits still outweigh the risks.
• And much more...

And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps!

• Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!
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