Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy

Jacob Siegel, journalist and author of The Information State, explains how digital censorship and algorithmic control are reshaping politics. He traces the repurposing of counterinsurgency tools into a disinformation war, the origins of platform power from Pentagon projects, COVID’s radicalizing censorship, and why freedom may have to be asserted from inside technology.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, offers sharp analysis of Iran’s power structure and ideology. He discusses regime survival tactics, environmental plunder to fund the IRGC, AI-driven propaganda, sleeper cells and plots on US soil, and why this conflict is not Iraq 2003. He also critiques Western misreadings and the muted response to Iranian women’s protests.

Spencer Klavan, writer and scholar of literature and political philosophy, riffs on Plato, invented languages, and modern media. He links Plato’s warning about writing to today’s AI panic. He explains making a fictional language, argues AI only mimics the outside word, and frames attention as the new class divide in a culture shaped by reels and shrinking focus.

Michael Young, writer and analyst of cultural theory and activist tactics, returns to unpack Beautiful Trouble, the modern activist playbook. He explains coordinated protest techniques, decision-dilemma designs, media-focused optics like sympathetic characters and camera-facing actions, use of fringe extremes to shift norms, and how training camps and color-coded zones prepare organized demonstrations.

Journalist Michael Tracey joins Bridget to dissect the Epstein moral panic currently swallowing the internet whole—and he's got the receipts on why most of it is "conspiracy-brain melted slop." As one of the only journalists pushing back on the dominant narrative, Tracey breaks down what we actually know versus what people want to believe: the FBI's fraudulent "1000 victims" number, why the Alex Acosta "sweetheart deal" wasn't actually a sweetheart deal, how Whitney Webb's "research" is a joke, and why the evidence doesn't support the blackmail ring everyone's convinced exists. They cover audience capture turning podcasters into Pizzagate truthers, the billion-dollar Epstein economy, how this has become less about facts and more like a new internet religion, politicians resigning over jocular emails, people screaming about eating babies in airports, why skepticism has devolved into nihilism, and the class war undertones fueling the hysteria. Check out Michael's Substack - https://www.mtracey.net/ #MichaelTracey #EpsteinFiles #AudienceCapture #Journalism #DumpsterFire Topics covered: Jeffrey Epstein primary source evidence, audience capture in alternative media, Alex Acosta deposition facts, Whitney Webb research critique, the psychology of moral panics. 🔥 New episodes weekly. Subscribe for more Walk-Ins Welcome ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsor Links: - Quest offers 100+ lab tests to empower you to have more control over your health journey. Choose from a variety of test types that best suit your needs, use code WALKINS25 to get 25% off - https://www.questhealth.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy - Podcast Bridget Phetasy admires grit and authenticity. On Walk-Ins Welcome, she talks about the beautiful failures and frightening successes of her own life and the lives of her guests. She doesn’t conduct interviews—she has conversations. Conversations with real people about the real struggle and will remind you that we can laugh in pain and cry in joy but there’s no greater mistake than hiding from it all. By embracing it all, and celebrating it with the stories she’ll bring listeners, she believes that our lowest moments can be the building blocks for our eventual fulfillment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PHETASY IS a movement disguised as a company. We just want to make you laugh while the world burns. https://www.phetasy.com/ Buy PHETASY MERCH here: https://www.bridgetphetasy.com/ For more content, including the unedited version of Dumpster Fire, BTS content, writing, photos, livestreams and a kick-ass community, subscribe at https://phetasy.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/BridgetPhetasy Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bridgetphetasy/ Podcast - Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/walk-ins-welcome/id1437447846 https://open.spotify.com/show/7jbRU0qOjbxZJf9d49AHEh https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/I3gqggwe23u6mnsdgqynu447wvaSupport the show

Independent journalist Benjamin Ryan was the only reporter who sat through all three weeks of the first-ever gender surgery malpractice trial. He and Bridget discuss the chilling testimony of a mother who was browbeaten until she consented to her daughter’s mastectomy, a 15-year-old’s 11-month sprint from questioning her gender to surgery, and why the psychologist was an “enabler” instead of a measured professional. They cover the judge who tried to scare Ryan off reporting, why detransitioners get ghosted by the same medical system that celebrated them when they were trans, the suicide prevention data that doesn’t actually support youth transition, how “gender affirmation” became coercive, and American Society of Plastic Surgeons suddenly changing their stance on surgery for minors. They also talk about the Epstein files as a full-time addiction, GLP-1s dominating suburban birthday party conversations, the collapse of traditional newsrooms versus the rise of Substack, and why conservative outlets are doing better science journalism than liberal media. Check out Bejamin’s Substack - https://benryan.substack.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsor Links: - Quest offers 100+ lab tests to empower you to have more control over your health journey. Choose from a variety of test types that best suit your needs, use code WALKINS25 to get 25% off - https://www.questhealth.com - Transform your fitness with science based training. Start free with Caliber - https://caliberstrong.com/phetasy --------------------------------------------------------------------- Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy - Podcast Bridget Phetasy admires grit and authenticity. On Walk-Ins Welcome, she talks about the beautiful failures and frightening successes of her own life and the lives of her guests. She doesn’t conduct interviews—she has conversations. Conversations with real people about the real struggle and will remind you that we can laugh in pain and cry in joy but there’s no greater mistake than hiding from it all. By embracing it all, and celebrating it with the stories she’ll bring listeners, she believes that our lowest moments can be the building blocks for our eventual fulfillment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PHETASY IS a movement disguised as a company. We just want to make you laugh while the world burns. https://www.phetasy.com/ Buy PHETASY MERCH here: https://www.bridgetphetasy.com/ For more content, including the unedited version of Dumpster Fire, BTS content, writing, photos, livestreams and a kick-ass community, subscribe at https://phetasy.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/BridgetPhetasy Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bridgetphetasy/ Podcast - Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/walk-ins-welcome/id1437447846 https://open.spotify.com/show/7jbRU0qOjbxZJf9d49AHEh https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/I3gqggwe23u6mnsdgqynu447wvaSupport the show

Kylie Ora Lobell, author and convert to Orthodox Judaism, shares her journey from atheism to faith. She recounts a Shabbat dinner that felt like God, the slow adoption of rituals like keeping kosher, and how community and parenting shaped her return. They explore faith amid suffering, ritual’s role in habit and mental health, and why rituals and belonging draw people to Judaism.

Media maven Darvio Morrow shares his story—from launching a record label at 16 and sleeping on studio floors to keep his dream alive, to growing up amid Cleveland’s economic decline, gunshots next door, and a family legacy tied to a great-grandfather raised by a former slave. He and Bridget discuss his nuanced take on reparations, why today’s media ecosystem is trash, white paternalism as a cousin to white supremacy, and our desensitization to global atrocities like the ongoing crisis in Iran. They cover why it’s difficult to find straight news that keeps you informed these days, how humans were not meant to take this much information in from all these different sources at all times, how we still haven’t dealt with the after effects from COVID yet, why we need a functioning middle class, and the truth about starting from zero. Follow Darvio on X - @DTheKingpin---------------------------------------------------------------------Sponsor Links:- Quest offers 100+ lab tests to empower you to have more control over your health journey. Choose from a variety of test types that best suit your needs, use code WALKINS25 to get 25% off - https://www.questhealth.com- If you love Walk-Ins Welcome become a supporter at https://phetasy.com---------------------------------------------------------------------Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy - PodcastBridget Phetasy admires grit and authenticity. On Walk-Ins Welcome, she talks about the beautiful failures and frightening successes of her own life and the lives of her guests. She doesn’t conduct interviews—she has conversations. Conversations with real people about the real struggle and will remind you that we can laugh in pain and cry in joy but there’s no greater mistake than hiding from it all. By embracing it all, and celebrating it with the stories she’ll bring listeners, she believes that our lowest moments can be the building blocks for our eventual fulfillment.----------------------------------------------------------------------PHETASY IS a movement disguised as a company. We just want to make you laugh while the world burns. https://www.phetasy.com/Buy PHETASY MERCH here: https://www.bridgetphetasy.com/For more content, including the unedited version of Dumpster Fire, BTS content, writing, photos, livestreams and a kick-ass community, subscribe at https://phetasy.com/Twitter - https://twitter.com/BridgetPhetasy Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bridgetphetasy/ Podcast - Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/walk-ins-welcome/id1437447846 https://open.spotify.com/show/7jbRU0qOjbxZJf9d49AHEhhttps://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/I3gqggwe23u6mnsdgqynu447wvaSupport the show

Michael Shermer, science writer and publisher of Skeptic magazine, returns to discuss the crisis of truth in an AI-driven world. They examine deepfakes, shrinking attention spans, provisional truth and Bayesian reasoning. Conversations touch on gullibility, political violence, the replication crisis in science, evolving views on religion and morality, and how trust shapes what we accept as real.

Mike Solana joins Bridget for a fascinating conversation about America's shifting political fault lines, why critiquing tech is critiquing power, and the coming Luddite backlash. They discuss Mamdani's Marxist housing advisor calling for the seizure of private homes (especially from the white middle class), and then crying about it when confronted with questions, the social justice ideas that escaped academia, why Solana thinks that "real leftism" is coming, and why social media is probably net negative. They cover his journey from 23-year-old anarchist to Peter Thiel protégé, to Chief Marketing Officer of Founder’s Fund, to founder of Pirate Wires, how the whole geopolitical landscape is shifting so fast that we’re all struggling to keep up, looksmaxxing Incels, why we need to focus on integration and not immigration, and how we forget how dumb the average person really is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsor Links: - Try Qualia Stem for up to 50% off at qualialife.com/BRIDGET and use the code BRIDGET for an additional 15% off your order - https://bit.ly/WiW-Qualia - Quest offers 100+ lab tests to empower you to have more control over your health journey. Choose from a variety of test types that best suit your needs, use code WALKINS25 to get 25% off - https://www.questhealth.com - If you love Walk-Ins Welcome become a supporter at https://phetasy.com--------------------------------------------------------------------- Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy - Podcast Bridget Phetasy admires grit and authenticity. On Walk-Ins Welcome, she talks about the beautiful failures and frightening successes of her own life and the lives of her guests. She doesn’t conduct interviews—she has conversations. Conversations with real people about the real struggle and will remind you that we can laugh in pain and cry in joy but there’s no greater mistake than hiding from it all. By embracing it all, and celebrating it with the stories she’ll bring listeners, she believes that our lowest moments can be the building blocks for our eventual fulfillment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PHETASY IS a movement disguised as a company. We just want to make you laugh while the world burns. https://www.phetasy.com/ Buy PHETASY MERCH here: https://www.bridgetphetasy.com/ For more content, including the unedited version of Dumpster Fire, BTS content, writing, photos, livestreams and a kick-ass community, subscribe at https://phetasy.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/BridgetPhetasy Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bridgetphetasy/ Podcast - Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/walk-ins-welcome/id1437447846 https://open.spotify.com/show/7jbRU0qOjbxZJf9d49AHEh https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/I3gqggwe23u6mnsdgqynu447wvaSupport the show