A Think First Podcast with Jim Detjen

Between Air Force Academy swim meets, a fiftieth-birthday celebration, Harvard Parent Weekend for two kids, a Distorted publishing deadline, and a world-class case of COVID — Jim’s finally back behind the mic.

This week, it’s a full-service check-up on ten headlines that forgot to match their own paragraphs:

the $14-billion “disaster” that wasn’t,

the Fed’s optimistic rate-cut asterisk,

Amazon’s AI “layoffs,”

consumer confidence’s ...

At 3:31 a.m. in Minneapolis, a sound echoes through the dark — a call that now defines a city’s new idea of “inclusion.”

From that single moment, this episode unpacks the story we’ve all been sold: that diversity automatically makes us stronger.

But what happens when inclusion becomes a script, disagreement becomes hate, and silence becomes the safest response?

We trace the shift from tolerance to enforcement — from slogans to censors...

Something about the obesity epidemic doesn’t add up.

Despite decades of “awareness,” our population keeps getting sicker, younger, and more dependent — while the system built to fix it keeps breaking profit records.

In this episode of Think First, host Jim Detjen unpacks how food engineering, pharmaceutical incentives, and shame-based media narratives quietly reinforce one another — turning health into a subscription model.

Featuring ...

When Washington shuts down, the headlines talk about politics. But at kitchen tables in Kansas, California, and overseas bases, it’s military and veteran families who feel it first.

In this episode, Jim Detjen unpacks the gap between the story we’re told and the reality families live — from furloughed civilians to unpaid Border Patrol agents, to kids wondering why “back pay later” doesn’t buy Pop-Tarts tonight.

Featuring reporting fr...

They told us Wikipedia was the “free encyclopedia anyone can edit.”

What they didn’t tell us is how it edits you back.

In this episode of Think First, Jim Detjen pulls apart the myth of Wikipedia’s neutrality — exposing how “fringe” labels erase arguments, how intelligence agencies treat it like a propaganda shop, and why Tucker Carlson was left stunned when co-founder Larry Sanger admitted just how compromised the site has become.

Th...

In 1921, artist-turned-polymath Walter Russell claimed to spend 39 days in a coma-like “illumination,” tapping the very “source of all knowledge.” His revelations became The Universal One — a sweeping vision of reality as crystallized light, consciousness, and rhythm. Nearly every scientist dismissed him as mad. Except Nikola Tesla.

This episode unpacks the gaslighting Russell faced, the poetic truths that turned him into a cult pro...

A tragic shooting at an LDS church in Michigan sparked a viral fight online — not just about violence, but about identity. Commenters claimed, “Mormons aren’t Christian.” Others insisted, “Christianity is under attack.”

This episode asks the harder question: why does grief get hijacked so quickly? Why do we rush to tribal labels instead of human loss? And what does it reveal when victims’ identities are rewritten before the blood ev...

For three years, I’ve been building something bigger than this podcast.

It’s called Distorted: How Gaslighting and Poetic Truth Bend Our Perception of Reality.

And now — before the hardcover and paperback release in February 2026 — the Early Access Edition is here.

This episode is the behind-the-scenes story of how the book came to life, why it’s coming out early, and how you can be part of the launch. Expect dry humor, self-deprecati...

When Jimmy Kimmel tied the “MAGA gang” to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, it wasn’t just a joke — it was a spark. The fallout got his show suspended, affiliates pulled the plug, and even the FCC weighed in. Was it satire gone wrong… or political messaging with a laugh track?

In this episode of Think First, we cut through the outrage to ask:

• Where’s the line between comedy and propaganda?
• When does free speech protection collide with...

What happens when the manual for diagnosing mental illness stops being a guide for doctors… and starts shaping childhood itself?

In this episode of Think First, we trace how the DSM widened the map — turning sadness into depression, tantrums into mood disorders, and shyness into social anxiety — and then follow Abigail Shrier’s Bad Therapy into the classrooms, clinics, and living rooms where those labels became culture.

From stomacha...

Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah. The rifle is recovered, the suspect arrested, and the bullets reportedly engraved with ideology.

It wasn’t the FBI that solved the case. It was a father who picked up the phone and turned in his own son. The Bureau? They claimed the spotlight anyway.

In this episode of Think First, we unpack the Bureau’s credit grab, the headline war over “shooting” vs. “assassination,” and why the first story y...

America’s college sports system is the best in the world — but who’s really reaping the rewards? In swimming, more than 15% of NCAA athletes are foreign, with some top programs like University of Florida running over 60% international rosters. These athletes train in U.S. clubs, compete for U.S. schools, and then take their peak performance home — winning Olympic medals for other countries. Add in new roster limits from...

Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah.

The rifle has been found. The bullets were engraved with words tied to ideology.

And before the facts are even settled, the headlines are already at war — some calling it a “shooting,” others a “killing,” still others an “assassination.”

This episode of Think First breaks down what we know, what we don’t, and how language itself is being used to gaslight the public. From engraved ammunition to Wi...

The people spoke — and we listened. After a long late-night dinner at Cowboy Star in Colorado Springs with Don and Sarah Marbauch of Arizona — a retired fighter pilot, Air Force Academy grad, clarity advocates, and unofficial ambassadors of common sense — the tipping point arrived.

Think First is going bigger. Starting now, you’ll get 25–40 minute episodes, at least twice a week. The same sharp lens on gaslighting and poetic truth… ...

It’s 2025… and gas pumps are still painfully slow. Is it really outdated tech? Or is your time at the pump being deliberately hijacked for something else?

In this episode of Think First, we unravel the subtle gaslighting behind pump delays — and why your mild annoyance may be the point, not the problem. From behavioral conditioning to advertising psychology, we break down how gas stations became attention farms disguised as fuel sto...

Remember those little signs at checkout in 2020?

“Due to a national coin shortage, please use exact change or pay with card.”

Was it really about supply chain disruption — or was it a quiet nudge to push us further into a cashless society?

In this episode of Think First, Jim Detjen unravels the strange story of the “coin shortage” — why it appeared everywhere at once, how it shaped our payment habits, and what it reveals about crisis-...

By 1983, Cindy James had reported over a dozen attacks.

But each incident followed the same script:
No witnesses.
No suspects.
No evidence.

Police began to doubt her.
Doctors prescribed medication.
And her own family struggled to keep up.

But what if the repetition was the point?

What if the perpetrator knew exactly how to make it all look suspicious — just enough to be dismissed?

In this episode, we examine the turn...

Cindy James always said it started small.

Phone calls with no one on the line.
Notes left on her windshield.
Footsteps outside her window — when no one was there.

By the time police finally started paying attention, Cindy had documented over a hundred separate incidents. But here’s the thing: almost none of them could be verified.

Was she being hunted…
or haunted by her own mind?

In Episode 2 of The Cindy James Tapes, we re...

A woman is found dead — hog-tied, drugged, and strangled.

But police don’t call it murder.

They call it suicide.

In the opening chapter of The Cindy James Tapes, we examine the haunting death of Cindy James — a 44-year-old nurse who spent seven years reporting stalking, attacks, and threats… only to end up dead in a way no one can explain.

Was she the victim of an elaborate campaign of psychologi...