Stuff They Don't Want You To Know

History's largest credit card merger looms on the horizon. Commentary on not-quite-space and a celebrity named Katy Perry. Ben takes the crew around the globe to learn more about wildlife piracy, the horrors of Kenyan cults, and the fascinating web of fentanyl, casinos, China and Mexican drug cartels. All this this and more in this week's strange news segment.

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Hello, Stuff They Don't Want You To Know listeners! We want to share a new podcast that we think you'll love - Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien

About the show: One of America’s greatest unsolved mysteries, and the two women at its core; One black, one white. One poor, one rich. They never actually met. But their lives came to intersect through one tragic day when Mary Pinchot Meyer was mysteriously murdered on...

Picture this: you're a bad kid. You've made a serious mistake, and may be facing incarceration. Yet Lo, and Behold! The US court system decrees you may avoid years in lock-up by going to an "intermediate sanction" program modeled after the military. Proponents say this helps first-time offenders get back on the right path. Critics, with extensive evidence, argue "shock incarceration" is a political convenience aiding and abetting c...

Privacy Guy continues the conversation about encryption and state-level powers. Art Vandelay notes recent issues with tariffs and supply chains. Multiple Conspiracy Realists follow up with Ben and the gang on the actions of an insurance-adjacent business called Evicore. All this and more in this week's listener mail segment.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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What if you had the perfect spy? Not some glitzy James Bond-type, but instead a person -- or an entire family -- spending decades in a hostile country, slowly acquiring information and status, while waiting for the right signal from command. It's one of the most fascinating stories in all of tradecraft: the "sleeper spy," a concept made famous in works of fiction like The Americans. As Ben and Noel discover in tonight's episode, it...

It's one of the most enduring enigmas in American history -- how did an entire colony disappear from Roanoke island? Join the guys as they explore the facts, fiction and speculation surrounding the mysterious fate of the colonists, the clues they may have left behind and the search that continues in the modern day.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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Domestic and international tensions grow as US courts square off with the administration over the rendition of innocents. A hapless, would-be internet influencer finds himself in Indian incarceration after attempting to contact the people of North Sentinel island. Over in Maryland, multiple women accuse pharmacist Matthew Bathula of egregious spying and cyber-voyeurism. All this -- and much more -- in this week's strange news segme...

True story - for years, Ben, Matt and Noel have wondered about the concept of sensory experience. Turns out On Air Fest was listening, and called them to New York. In tonight's episode, the guys present their live exploration: A Conspiracy of Sound, at Brooklyn's legendary National Sawdust.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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Born in 1940, Samuel Little was known in multiple states as a drifter, petty criminal and man occasionally capable of violence. Like many people living on the fringe of society, he seemed to slip through the fingers of justice despite numerous arrests. Yet intrepid investigators and improvements in DNA testing eventually proved Little was more than an itinerant drug addict and shoplifter -- according to the FBI, he is the most prol...

On 17 December 1967, Harold Holt, the immensely popular prime minister of Australia, went for a swim -- and vanished. In the decades since, his family and the public still have questions about what exactly happened. In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel explore a mystery that remains unsolved in the modern day, along with a meditation on empathy, and a bevy of increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories.

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The United States invaded Afghanistan on October 7th, 2001 and remains embroiled in the conflict almost two decades later, making this the longest war in US history. Leaders from both of the dominant political parties continually argued that this was a winnable war, proposing new strategies, more troops, and more surges. Yet documents obtained by The Washington Post show that the long-running internal conversations painted a differ...

In his day, American labor union leader James "Jimmy" Riddle Hoffa was one of the most well-known figures in the US. On July 30th, 1975, Hoffa disappeared. He has not been seen, living or dead, since that day. In the decades following his death numerous investigators have tried (and failed) to figure out what exactly happened to this infamous American icon. So what actually happened to Jimmy Hoffa? Tune in to learn more in tonight'...

Astrolojon prompts an exploration of a possible scientific basis to astrology. Flea asks for more information about the viral claims concerning purported pillars deep beneath the Pyramids of Giza. AngryBizkitz inspires an investigation into the weird, conspiratorial world of tariff loopholes and the infamous "Chicken Tax." All this and more in this week's listener mail segment.

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It's a story sadly all-too familiar with so many people in the United States: you're on the cusp of receiving medication, surgery or treatment that could save your life -- only for your insurance company to deny the treatment you've paid for. Through the practice of "prior authorization," private insurance companies bypass doctors to decide whether or not a patient is allowed to receive medical treatment. In tonight's episode, Ben,...

When corporate defense lawyer Rob Bilott first learned about Wilbur Tennant's dying livestock, the frustrated West Virginian farmer was at his wits' end. He'd sought help from numerous local authorities to no avail, but he was certain DuPont was poisoning his livestock, as well as the surrounding area. Bilott's investigation led him down the rabbithole, deep into a web of contamination, chemical pollution and corporate cover-ups. J...

A massive meat heist in Tennessee leaves Ben, Matt and Dylan asking: "Who needs 80,000 pounds of off-the-books meat?" A babysitter learns there really is a monster under the bed. Back in the day, the CIA seemed genuinely convinced they discovered the Ark of the Covenant. Sucralose conspires against you! The US abducts an innocent US resident and sends him to a prison in El Salvador. All this and more in this week's strange news seg...

Chicken! It's one of the world's most popular food stuffs, and nowadays it's a global, multibillion dollar industry. But a dark side comes with all that success -- including problems that, one day, may threaten civilization as we know it. Join Ben, Matt and Noel as they explore the Stuff They Don't Want You To Know about Big Chicken.

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For centuries, it was often understood that "seeing was believing" -- while people might embellish a story, and write whatever falsehoods they wished, visually witnessing an event was solid proof of what actually happened in any given situation. Yet this no longer holds true in the modern age. Photographs have been faked since, well, the invention of photography, and video followed shortly thereafter. However, new technology is ena...