Blog

The Life of Candace Pert: Dysfunction in Medical Science and Research Communities with Pamela Ryckman  

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My guest on this episode of The Influence Continuum was Pamela Ryckman, who wrote the book Candace Pert: Genius, Greed, and Madness in the World of Science. Science and health institutions can mimic cult-like behaviors and dysfunctional systems when the structures within them become overly competitive and focused on limited resources to obtain professional goals. Ideals of collaboration for the good of the public can become crushed under systems of harmful competition and dogmatic attachments to old-fashioned ideas. The life story of Candace Pert, who discovered the opioid receptor, is a clear demonstration of how women and minorities have often been undermined, excluded, or driven out of that system. Virtually unheard of by most, her life work included significant discoveries in mind-body medicine, HIV treatments with Peptide T, and volumes of scientific research and publishing over her time working within the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Mental Health.  

The Life of Candace Pert: Dysfunction in Medical Science and Research Communities with Pamela Ryckman   Read More

Unveiling the Shadows: The Role of Psychological Warfare (Psyops) and Military Recruitment 

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In an era where information is as potent as any physical weapon, psychological operations (psyops) have become a cornerstone of national defense strategies. The U.S. Army’s approach to recruitment for its psyops division offers a stark illustration of the importance of these tactics. A recruitment video, described as “foreboding” by the Army Times, reveals the strategic depth and the intense nature of psychological warfare, underlining the tagline “Who’s pulling the strings?” This blog explores the implications of such recruitment strategies, the nature of psychological warfare, and the ethical considerations it raises. 

Unveiling the Shadows: The Role of Psychological Warfare (Psyops) and Military Recruitment  Read More

Supporting Patient Comfort Through Rapid Hypnotic Techniques with Elvira Lang-Anderson, M.D. 

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Empowering patients or clients to have authority and control over their medical experiences is vital to beneficial therapeutic care. Likewise, well-crafted use of professional communication skills in setting expectations about clinical procedures and outcomes can mean the difference between a traumatic medical visit versus one being remembered with gratitude. Clinical studies show that clinicians trained in hypnotic skills can effectively help patients be more receptive to well-placed suggestions that may help reduce discomfort, eliminate the need for certain medications, lessen the side effects of treatments, and offer moderation over anxiety.  

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Leaving a Martial Arts Cult with Russell Johnson

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Russell Johnson is a former member of the Korean martial arts cult Chung Moo Quan. After much negative publicity, its name was changed to Oom Yung Doe. Now a professional security consultant, activist, and podcaster, Russell got involved with the cult as a teen and was involved for eight years. We first met in the early 90s when he contacted me after reading Combating Cult Mind Control. My book helped him understand how he had been manipulated in the cult using primary BITE model tactics. I have been on his podcast, Deceived, about his experience in the Chung Moo Quan cult. He is currently working on the development of a documentary series about the cult.  

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Unveiling Scientology: Insights from Denise Brennan and Dr. Steven Hassan 

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In a revealing dialogue, Denise Brennan, a former high-ranking member of Scientology, sheds light on the intricacies and inner workings of the organization alongside cult expert Dr. Steven Hassan. Their conversation delves into the origins, practices, and the controversial leadership under David Miscavige, offering an unprecedented glimpse into the enigmatic world of Scientology. 

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Defining Exit Ramps for Militia Members with Former Propagandist Oath Keeper Jason Van Tatenhove 

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“America right now needs some exit ramps,” Jason Van Tatenhove said as we discussed his former role as national media director for the Oath Keepers, a group known for its far-right anti-government militia. While Jason would ultimately decide to leave the group in 2016 due to increasing racism and Holocaust denial within their membership, the Oath Keepers would go on to participate in the United States Capitol January 6th attack, led by followers of Donald Trump. Jason eventually testified before a U.S. House Select Committee about his position in media propaganda for the organization. He described their attempts at paramilitary tactics, plans for insurrection, and his relationship with Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, convicted of seditious conspiracy and evidence tampering.  

Defining Exit Ramps for Militia Members with Former Propagandist Oath Keeper Jason Van Tatenhove  Read More

Right-wing Christian Movements Threatening our Democracy with Matthew D. Taylor, PhD 

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As a Protestant, Matthew D. Taylor, Ph.D., is a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS), where he specializes in Muslim-Christian dialogue, Evangelical and Pentecostal movements, religious politics in the U.S., and American Islam. ICJS produced a 30-minute documentary, Spiritual Warriors: Decoding Christian Nationalism at the Capitol Riot, featuring Dr. Taylor. His new forthcoming book, The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening Our Democracy, tracks the role that Christian leaders played, particularly those from the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) networks, in instigating Christians to participate in the January 6th Capitol Riot. 

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Clinical Hypnosis and its Benefits for a New Health Care Paradigm with Julie H. Linden, PhD 

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The 2024 First Edition of the Routledge International Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis is a compendium of state-of-the-art neuroscience focusing on practice-oriented aspects of clinical hypnosis in healthcare settings. It contains the work of 90 contributors from the global field. Dr. Julie H. Linden, Ph.D., was the lead editor, along with Giuseppe De Benedittis, Laurence I. Sugarman, and Katalin Varga. This is the essential textbook on clinical hypnotherapy, which has experts from many fields. I was fortunate to co-author two chapters of the book concerning the dark side of hypnosis with the late law professor emeritus Alan W. Scheflin, my dear friend, colleague, and mentor.
Julie is the Past President of The International Society of Hypnosis, American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and Greater Philadelphia Society of Clinical Hypnosis. She received the Josephine Hilgard Award from the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis twice and was awarded the ISH Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal in 2018. She is a co-author with Laurence Sugarman, MD, of Changing Minds with Clinical Hypnosis: Narratives and Discourse for a New Health Care Paradigm. Julie was an early pioneer of pediatric hypnotic pain management (1975). She has worked with patients in burn units, during medical procedures, in emergency rooms, surgery preparation, chronic illness, and many other circumstances where benefit from clinical hypnotic techniques might be found.

Clinical Hypnosis and its Benefits for a New Health Care Paradigm with Julie H. Linden, PhD  Read More

Discussing Military Insights, AI, and Influence with Ryan McBeth 

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In this enlightening episode, I speak to Ryan McBeth, an experienced military veteran and a recognized figure in cybersecurity, military analysis, and artificial intelligence, to explore a range of thought-provoking topics. Ryan brings a wealth of knowledge from his 20 years of service as an anti-armor and heavy weapons infantryman and his prolific work as a software architect, novelist, and YouTube content creator. 

Ryan appears on NEWSMAX as an intelligence consultant and consults for Veloxxity on Information Warfare and OSINT. He also performed C4ISR intelligence collection for various government customers and currently consults on intelligence collection and analysis methods.

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Navigating Journalistic Integrity in an Age of Misinformation with Anthony Davis 

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Anthony Davis is a British broadcaster, journalist, and voiceover artist. He was born in London and has been based in Los Angeles since 2017, where he works remotely from his home studio with networks worldwide. Since November 2021, his collaborations with the MeidasTouch media network, including the Five-Minute News, The Weekend Show, and America Uncovered, have exploded his reach across the US as a trusted voice in news commentary.  

In the UK, he hosted Drivetime on the Smooth FM network for a national audience of 6 million listeners. For almost a decade prior, his nightly news talk program on LBC radio was London’s most popular late show. Anthony has voiced the 2021 Emmy award-winning Nike’ You Can’t Stop Us’ commercial, racking up over 50 million views on YouTube in just three days and winning the coveted Film Grand Prix in Cannes for best commercial. Anthony created the daily morning podcast Five Minute News, for which he won a 2021 Communicator Award from The Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts in New York, a VEGA award for Best Host, a 2022 Gold MUSE award, and a 2023 W3 Gold award.

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Online Radicalization with Data Scientist Dr. Stuart Shulman  

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Analyzing online content and how people interact with that content is essential to understanding the process of online radicalization. Bad actors worldwide use social media to post content to arouse emotions and create chaos. Distrust and polarization. With algorithms instantly and repeatedly feeding similar content, it is easy to go down a rabbit hole of authoritarian creation, resulting in undue influence. Dr. Stuart Shulman is the founding Editor of the Journal of Information Technology & Politics. He holds a Ph.D. in American Politics (Oregon 1999) and is currently the founder (2009) and CEO of Texifter, a software business serving academic, commercial, and government clients. DiscoverText is a web-based text analytics platform for improving human and machine learning. His past work includes extensive teaching and leadership roles, building externally funded teams for collaborative interdisciplinary research. His projects involve qualitative, quantitative, survey, and social media data and human annotation at scale, information retrieval, and machine-learning methods.   

Online Radicalization with Data Scientist Dr. Stuart Shulman   Read More

Taking Down Trump: 12 Rules for Prosecuting Donald Trump by Someone Who Did It Successfully with Tristan Snell

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The Trump University scam started years before Donald Trump ran for President, though many people are just now learning about the extent of the deception. Using fraudulent claims and high-pressure sales techniques, the University scammed many people into enrolling for courses for increasingly higher prices. Some victims lost their savings, and at least one victim lost their home.

Taking Down Trump: 12 Rules for Prosecuting Donald Trump by Someone Who Did It Successfully with Tristan Snell Read More