Conspirituality

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Matthew considers two registers of painful eulogy: spectacles thrown for elite terrible people, and the music offered for ordinary terrible people, when we can manage it.

Lindsey Graham's death triggered a wave of bullshit from Trump, Harris, Booker, Netanyahu, and Canadian PM Mark Carney — while online ghouls predicted the same fate for Mitch McConnell and Trump.

Where does the elite eulogy reflex come from? Ancient taboo, Thucydides on praise as a function of a rival's removal, and terror management theory on why elites protect their own at the moment of death.

Then we have a music thanatologist's story about playing harp for a dying man nobody liked, and what it teaches about the difference between forgiveness that strengthens ordinary people and deference toward the powerful.
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Graham Platner’s recent 11-minute video, where he announced he was dropping out of his bid for the US Senate, is filled with some of the hallmarks we heard during peak QAnon: there's a deep state conspiracy between powerful politicians and the media to destroy me. The truth, as Derek and Julian cover, is anything but.

They look at Platner’s campaign and, by contrast, another recent incident: two instances of public harassment against Scott Wiener, the progressive state senator from California who recently won a primary to try to replace Nancy Pelosi, and how that intersects with the type of political rhetoric we’re enduring this political cycle.
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Jordan Peterson is back. After a hiatus due to a, well, a whole lot of problems, he’s up for regular posting on his social media channels. We’re going to take a look at what’s happened over the last year or so of his absence, followed by his influence in the so-called manosphere podcast world. Then Matthew will offer a different perspective on podcasting that’s making waves: the Dominican Sisters Open Mic.

Show Notes

Who is looksmaxxing really for?

When Help Is Harm: Health, Lookism and Self-Improvement in the Manosphere

Men Need Better Fitness Role Models
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A cyclospora outbreak has caused thousands of Americans to experience explosive diarrhea across 18 states. The CDC still has no idea where it's coming from. This has caused doctors to issue public health guidance, while even Taco Bell has pulled items from its menu nationwide to prevent any issues. RFK Jr? Not a peep on it.

Derek looks at the many cuts that have led to this embarrassing episode. First, though, he looks at MAHA's recent attack on Dave Wallace-Wells New York Times article on MAHA, which warned about the very problems the cyclospora outbreak represents.
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On July 1, 2026, the Society of Saint Pius X consecrated four bishops at its Écône seminary, defying Pope Leo XIV's direct plea to "turn back." Within 24 hours, Rome declared the SSPX's bishops and roughly 750 priests excommunicated and schismatic — invalidating confessions and marriages going forward.

Matthew traces SSPX's origins through Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's formation in the shadow of Action Française's antisemitic integralism, his fight against Vatican II, and the movement's namesake, Pope Pius X's anti-Modernist crusade.

It’s a wild ride: from Juan Fernández y Krohn's 1982 assassination attempt on John Paul II, through Holocaust denial among SSPX clergy, domestic abuse testimony from ex-member Cassandra Hackstock, and Xavier Lopez's 2022 weapons arrest.

Will the schism of a right-wing Catholic sect born out of antisemitism and anticommunism bolster American and global resistance to Leo XIV’s progressive agenda? Is this the form of Catholicism that JD Vance has been looking for? Or will it shift the Overton Window rightward, emboldening Vance and other TradCaths in their lowkey contempt for Leo—because at least the Church should be grateful that at least they’re not full schismatics?

Show Notes

Vatican declares SSPX in schism, excommunicates bishops — AP/NBC News

SSPX ordains four new bishops in defiance of Pope Leo and the Vatican — America Magazine

Thunderstorm interrupts SSPX episcopal consecrations — Catholic Herald

Vatican declares SSPX bishops, priests schismatic, says lay faithful risk excommunication — National Catholic Reporter

Second Attempt on a Pontiff: The Little-Known 1982 Attack on John Paul II in Fatima — Gaudium Press

Rise of 'new Catholics' hardens battle lines between US and the Vatican — Irish Times

Inside the Schism Threatening the Catholic Church — Jacobin

Seven Years in the SSPX — Where Peter Is

Catholic Traditionalism After Francis — Commonweal Magazine

Analysis: SSPX excommunications show what Pope Leo means by "unity" — America Magazine

Pope news: SSPX | Magnificast
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