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Straight Talk MD

211 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 months ago - ★★★★★ - 240 ratings

I’m a skeptic searching for the truth in all matters related to science and medicine, especially where it intersects with economics, politics, and public health. The truth is out there and we’re going to find it together...

Science Health & Fitness covid19 health anesthesiology coronavirus healthcarepolicy healtheducation medicine
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Episodes

STRANGE DAZE: On Pins and Needles

October 18, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 181 MB

Every October, the American Society of Anesthesiologists [the ASA] hosts the largest medical specialty meeting of its kind for thousands and thousands of anesthesiologists from around the world. This year’s meeting is being held in San Francisco from October 13th to 17th. To recognize the importance of anesthesia in the evolution of surgery, and to commemorate the first public demonstration of surgical anesthesia administered to a patient undergoing surgery [by William Morton on October 16...

STRANGE DAZE: Fragile: Handle with Care

October 17, 2023 02:00 - 1 hour - 138 MB

Every October, the American Society of Anesthesiologists [the ASA] hosts the largest medical specialty meeting of its kind for thousands and thousands of anesthesiologists from around the world. This year’s meeting is being held in San Francisco from October 13th to 17th. To recognize the importance of anesthesia in the evolution of surgery, and to commemorate the first public demonstration of surgical anesthesia administered to a patient undergoing surgery [by William Morton on October 16...

STRANGE DAZE: Production Pressure

October 16, 2023 03:00 - 1 hour - 163 MB

Every October, the American Society of Anesthesiologists [the ASA] hosts the largest medical specialty meeting of its kind for thousands and thousands of anesthesiologists from around the world. This year’s meeting is being held in San Francisco from October 13th to 17th. To recognize the importance of anesthesia in the evolution of surgery, and to commemorate the first public demonstration of surgical anesthesia administered to a patient undergoing surgery [by William Morton on October 16...

STRANGE DAZE: Crepitus

October 15, 2023 02:00 - 1 hour - 147 MB

Every October, the American Society of Anesthesiologists [the ASA] hosts the largest medical specialty meeting of its kind for thousands and thousands of anesthesiologists from around the world. This year’s meeting is being held in San Francisco from October 13th to 17th. To recognize the importance of anesthesia in the evolution of surgery, and to commemorate the first public demonstration of surgical anesthesia administered to a patient undergoing surgery [by William Morton on October 16...

STRANGE DAZE: Wrong Assumptions

October 14, 2023 06:30 - 51 minutes - 118 MB

Every October, the American Society of Anesthesiologists [the ASA] hosts the largest medical specialty meeting of its kind for thousands and thousands of anesthesiologists from around the world. This year’s meeting is being held in San Francisco from October 13th to 17th. To recognize the importance of anesthesia in the evolution of surgery, and to commemorate the first public demonstration of surgical anesthesia administered to a patient undergoing surgery [by William Morton on October 16...

Plasmid DNA Contamination of Pfizer mRNA Vaccines Confirmed! featuring Dr. Phillip Buckhaults

October 09, 2023 05:58 - 40 minutes - 91.7 MB

In February, Kevin McKernan, CSO of Medicinal Genomics, was deep sequencing Pfizer mRNA vaccines when he discovered that every sample he tested was contaminated with large quantities of plasmid DNA. A plasmid is a circular piece of DNA integral in the manufacturing process of mRNA vaccines, but it doesn’t belong in the final shot going into arms, nor is it a listed component of either the Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccines. McKernan re-tested multiple different vaccine samples from multiple dif...

“Self-Spreading” Vaccines and the Origin of COVID-19 with Jim Haslam

September 25, 2023 07:35 - 2 hours - 283 MB

Many experts believe the preponderance of circumstantial and molecular evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 was genetically manipulated in a lab and accidentally released into the human population in Wuhan. Jim Haslam, who has written seven essays on the origin of COVID-19, believes that SARS-CoV-2 was created in the US as a “self-spreading” vaccine intended for bats that are a reservoir for SARS-related coronaviruses, that accidentally leaked during in vivo testing of bats at the Wuhan Institute of...

Biden’s Inexorable Decline

September 04, 2023 16:47 - 1 hour - 205 MB

Joe Biden is already the most cognitively and physically impaired President we’ve seen in our lifetime. If re-elected in 2024, Biden would begin his second term at the age of 82. Only one-third of Americans think he has the physical stamina to be POTUS today; even fewer believe he has the mental capacity for the job. While Biden’s obvious physical and mental decline at age 80 is not unusual or something to be criticized, it’s absurd to ignore it and pretend it doesn’t impact his ability t...

“Don’t Look Up” with Ron Howrigon

July 10, 2023 18:26 - 1 hour - 211 MB

My guest is HealthCare Economist Ron Howrigon. In 2017, Ron wrote Flatlining: How Healthcare Could Kill the US Economy and had some dire predictions for our healthcare system and our economy if substantial changes weren’t implemented. Today, Ron discusses his sequel to Flatlining called: CLEAR! Reforming Healthcare to Save the US Economy. In the movie “Don’t Look Up”, an asteroid the size of Mount Everest is headed toward earth. A group of astronomers warn the President that unless something...

Valentin Bruttel: The Molecular Evidence pointing to a synthetic origin of SARS-CoV-2

June 05, 2023 06:52 - 3 hours - 423 MB

Molecular biologist and immunologist Valentin Bruttel discusses what he believes is compelling molecular evidence indicating SARS-CoV-2 was engineered in a lab. He is the co-author, along with Alex Washburne, and Tony VanDongen of the preprint entitled: Endonuclease fingerprint indicates a synthetic origin of SARS-CoV-2. He recently published a comprehensive analysis of the molecular evidence pointing to a lab origin of COVID-19 in a YouTube presentation entitled: SARS-CoV-2 Origin: How we w...

#RaccoonDogGate: New data does NOT link raccoon dogs to COVID-19’s origin with Steve Massey...

April 24, 2023 06:18 - 1 hour - 197 MB

On 3/17/23, the MSM news cycle was dominated by an incredible claim by a group of international scientists: “new data” from early 2020 linked raccoon dogs at the Wuhan Seafood Market to the origin of COVID-19. When “Raccoon Dog Mediapalooza” commenced, journalists and science reporters had no data, no preprint, and no peer reviewed paper to validate the claims of these scientists. Now we have all three. Independent analysis of the “new data” shows that the international scientists, largely c...

DNA Contamination Discovered in Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines with Kevin McKernan

April 06, 2023 07:54 - 1 hour - 181 MB

In early February, Kevin McKernan, Chief Science Officer of Medicinal Genomics, was deep sequencing Moderna and Pfizer bivalent booster vaccines to help solve a technical problem with his sequencing process when he made an entirely unexpected discovery: the Pfizer and Moderna bivalent booster samples were contaminated with DNA that contained the Spike protein gene within it. Self-replicating DNA plasmids containing the spike protein gene are an integral part of the manufacturing process to m...

Raccoon Dog Mediapalooza with Mike Balter

April 03, 2023 16:25 - 2 hours - 317 MB

On March 17th, at least 17 major news outlets published a story claiming a group of scientists had analyzed new genetic data from Chinese and that data linked raccoon dogs at the Huanan Seafood Market to the origin of COVID-19. At best, it was journalistic misfeasance, at worst it was willful misdirection. At the time “raccoon dog mediapalooza” dominated the news cycle, there was no data, no preprint, nor peer reviewed paper available for independent examination of the scientist’s claims. “R...

Are Raccoon Dogs the New Pangolin? with Steve Massey

March 27, 2023 06:49 - 51 minutes - 119 MB

On March 17th, 2023, the news cycle was dominated by the announcement of an “international team of virologists and evolutionary biologists”  that claimed to have analyzed data from China that showed raccoon dogs at the Wuhan Seafood Market were linked to the origin of COVID-19. Unfortunately, the scientists were unable to provide the data they had analyzed for independent examination. Baffling to many was that the data used to implicate raccoon dogs as the reservoir animal for SARS-2, was...

Unraveling the Origin of COVID-19 False Narrative with Jonathan Latham

March 14, 2023 08:12 - 1 hour - 263 MB

On March 8th the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic convened their investigation into the origins of COVID-19. Dr Jonathan Latham, “a card-carrying virologist” joins me to perform a warm autopsy on this first Subcommittee hearing on “Investigating the origin of COVID-19.” Dr Latham is the Editor of Independent Science news and the co-founder and executive director of the Bioscience Resource Project. While much of the proceeding was political theater, former CDC Director Robert R...

US Energy Department assessment on the origin of the pandemic, “limited hangouts”, the WHO, and the evolving official narrative on the origin of COVID-19

March 07, 2023 17:42 - 1 hour - 215 MB

Last week, journalists from the WSJ reported that the US Department of Energy [DOE] had joined the FBI in concluding that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely arose from a lab leak in Wuhan. While the DOE assessment is supported by a growing body of circumstantial evidence in the public domain, the cloak and dagger manner in which it was leaked to the Press raises more questions than it answers. Today Sam Husseini and I discuss the DOE assessment—what we know and what we don’t know, the “limite...

Exclusive: Secret gain-of-function research on novel coronavirus in Wuhan uncovered from mining genomic datasets with Steve Massey

March 02, 2023 18:58 - 1 hour - 224 MB

Last week, Adrian Jones, Daoyu Zhang, Steven Massey, Yuri Deigin, Louis Nemzer, and Steven Quay reported out on an ingenious analysis of genomic datasets from NCBI that indicate a lab in Wuhan was performing potentially risky genetic engineering manipulations on a novel coronavirus that was previously unreported. The manipulation? Inserting a MERS spike protein into a previously unreported coronavirus. MERS has a case fatality rate of over 30%. What is clear from the analysis is that at leas...

Jonathan Latham on the Origin of COVID-19, accelerated evolution of coronaviruses in immunocompromised hosts, RaTG-13, the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and much more

February 21, 2023 17:56 - 1 hour - 232 MB

Jonathan R Latham PhD is a “card-carrying” virologist, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Bioscience Resource Project, and the Editor of Independent Science News. In the first half of today’s interview, we discuss several theories of the origin of COVID-19, Fauci’s COVID Origin SWAT Team, the significance of RaTG-13 and those Mojang Miners, accelerated viral evolution in immunocompromised hosts, and much more. In the second half, we discuss the many unusual features of the 2014 Ebo...

The Unredacted Fauci Emails with Jimmy Tobias

February 16, 2023 17:49 - 1 hour - 216 MB

Today, I interview independent reporter Jimmy Tobias. Jimmy successfully challenged the NIH to have the redactions removed from Dr Fauci’s emails surrounding his secret deliberations with NIH Director Francis Collins, Jeremy Farrar, and several renown virologists regarding the possible lab origin of COVID-19. We discuss the content of those unredacted emails between Drs. Fauci, Collins, Farrar and a cabal of internationally recognized virologists in the first nine days of February 2020.  The...

Dark Winter with Raina MacIntyre

January 23, 2023 15:57 - 1 hour - 167 MB

My guest is epidemiologist and biosecurity expert, Raina MacIntyre. Dr MacIntyre is Head of the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute, and Professor of Global Biosecurity at UNSW. Today we discuss her latest book DARK WINTER: An insider’s guide to Pandemics and biosecurity. We discuss a series of unnatural outbreaks [lab leaks or deliberate misuse] that have occurred over the past 70 years: Sverdlovsk anthrax release, Rajneeshee bioterror attacks, Amerithrax attacks, and others... Ra...

The Pandemic Origin and the Biowarfare Arms Race with Sam Husseini

January 17, 2023 20:17 - 1 hour - 264 MB

Today I interview independent journalist Sam Husseini. Sam has covered the COVID-19 pandemic origins since the beginning and covered WMD’s since 9/11. Today, we discuss the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, the origins of the massive escalation in the bioweapons/biodefense arms race, Amerithrax, Dr Fauci, and the concerted disinformation campaign to misdirect the public’s attention away from highly risky biodefense research. We discuss Sam’s latest deep dive into the 2014 Ebola outbreak in W...

COVID-19 ORIGIN EPISODE 7: PROJECT DEFUSE & THE ORIGIN of COVID-19

November 07, 2022 15:20 - 1 hour - 200 MB

Just over one year ago, a TOP SECRET “biodefense” research proposal called Project DEFUSE was leaked to the public by DRASTIC. The proposal was originally submitted to DARPA [the DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY] on behalf of EcoHealth Alliance in March 2018. The proposed research would take some 180 previously unreported SARS-like coronaviruses, insert human specific furin cleavage sites into them, and then pass these genetically engineered viruses through Human Airway Epitheliu...

The Lancet Commission on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

October 03, 2022 05:49 - 46 minutes - 107 MB

After a two-year investigation of the pandemic, the Lancet COVID-19 Commission released their final report on September 14th. Where did Covid-19 come from? Did gain-of-function research cause the COVID-19 pandemic, and could it cause another? Was the vaccine rollout guided more by economics and market factors than equity and medical need? These questions are only scratching the surface. Today’s episode covers all this and more from the key findings and recommendations in that report.

Investigating the Origin of COVID-19 featuring Jeffrey Sachs

September 05, 2022 05:32 - 1 hour - 165 MB

Jeffrey Sachs, Chair of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission and charged with oversight of 11 different Task Forces investigating various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, was interviewed on the DEFENDER Podcast and shared his remarkable experiences with one Task Force. Sachs does a scathing takedown of the junk science published in reputable scientific journals that has been used to support the false narrative that “the science shows COVID-19 was the result of a natural spillover.”

Gain of Function Research and the Origin of COVID-19 with Richard Ebright, Kevin Esvelt, and Steven Quay

August 22, 2022 06:23 - 1 hour - 173 MB

On August 3rd, 2022, the Senate Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight held a hearing to discuss the threat of gain-of-function research and the origin of COVID-19. Doctors Richard Ebright, Steven Quay, and Kevin Esvelt testified publicly before the committee. In their collective testimony, we finally hear the inconvenient truth about dangerous gain of function research and the mountain of evidence supporting a possible lab origin of COVID-19. These experts candidly di...

COVID-19 Origin Episode 6: Establishing the False Narrative

July 25, 2022 04:38 - 2 hours - 339 MB

At the Coronavirus Task Force Press Conference on April 17th, 2020, Dr. Fauci establishes a false narrative that “the science” supports one credible scientific hypothesis for the origin of the COVID-19 Pandemic- a natural zoonosis. This episode examines the “nightmare of circumstantial evidence” that Dr. Fauci had to ignore, conceal, and eliminate from his public orations to establish the false narrative and the myriad reasons why, if proven correct, the lab leak hypothesis would be an epic ...

COVID-19 Origin Episode 5: An Inconvenient Truth

April 11, 2022 04:00 - 1 hour - 212 MB

On January 31, 2020, the day after the WHO declared the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, Big Science in the US and the UK learned an inconvenient truth. An international group of virologists that had been studying the genetic sequence of SARS Coronavirus-2 unanimously agreed that the 2019 novel coronavirus genome was “inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory” and contained unusual features that indicated it might have been eng...

The Origin of COVID-19 Episode 4: The China Coverup

January 31, 2022 01:31 - 1 hour - 238 MB

There is abundant evidence of a concerted effort by the Chinese Government and their Public Health officials to conceal the magnitude of the outbreak of “pneumonias of unknown cause” and to mislead the world into believing that COVID-19 was not spreading by human-to-human transmission for almost a month. During that month, an estimated 7-million people left Wuhan City for destinations around the world, thousands of them infected with COVID-19. In this episode, I look back at the China coverup...

The Origin of COVID-19 Episode 3: The Evidence for the “Lab Leak” Hypothesis with Yuri Deigin

November 25, 2021 00:38 - 1 hour - 236 MB

Where did SARS Coronavirus-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the world, come from? Today, I interview Yuri Deigin, a biotech researcher, entrepreneur, and founding member of DRASTIC, to discuss the evidence that led him to believe there is a greater than ninety-percent chance that COVID-19 originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology...

The Origin of COVID-19 Episode 3: The Lab Leak Hypothesis with Yuri Deigin

November 25, 2021 00:38 - 1 hour - 236 MB

Where did SARS Coronavirus-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the world, come from? Today, I interview Yuri Deigin, a biotech researcher, entrepreneur, and founding member of DRASTIC, to discuss the evidence that led him to believe there is a greater than ninety-percent chance that COVID-19 originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology...

The Origin of COVID-19 Episode 2: Ground Zero

November 15, 2021 08:06 - 51 minutes - 117 MB

Knowing how a pandemic started is the key to stopping the next one. A novel bat coronavirus first appears in Wuhan, China in November of 2019. This family of coronaviruses normally reside in bats living in caves 1000 miles south of Wuhan. Understanding where the virus came from and how it entered the human reservoir will help prevent a similar pandemic in the future. Two competing theories, with vastly different implications, quickly emerged to explain where this virus came from and how ...

The Origin of COVID-19

November 08, 2021 08:47 - 28 minutes - 64.9 MB

Knowing how a pandemic started is the key to stopping the next one. Understanding where the virus causing COVID-19 originated and how it entered the human reservoir will help prevent a similar pandemic in the future.   SARS Coronavirus-2 first appeared in Wuhan, China in November 2019. There are two competing theories to explain where this virus came from and how it entered the human reservoir. One theory is a natural “spillover” event. The second is the Wuhan Institute of Virology “lab ...

The Origin of COVID-19 Episode 1: Overview

November 08, 2021 08:47 - 28 minutes - 64.9 MB

Knowing how a pandemic started is the key to stopping the next one. Understanding where the virus causing COVID-19 originated and how it entered the human reservoir will help prevent a similar pandemic in the future.   SARS Coronavirus-2 first appeared in Wuhan, China in November 2019. There are two competing theories to explain where this virus came from and how it entered the human reservoir. One theory is a natural “spillover” event. The second is the Wuhan Institute of Virology “lab ...

The Origin of COVID-19: Episode 1

November 08, 2021 08:47 - 28 minutes - 64.9 MB

Knowing how a pandemic started is the key to stopping the next one. Understanding where the virus causing COVID-19 originated and how it entered the human reservoir will help prevent a similar pandemic in the future.   SARS Coronavirus-2 first appeared in Wuhan, China in November 2019. There are two competing theories to explain where this virus came from and how it entered the human reservoir. One theory is a natural “spillover” event. The second is the Wuhan Institute of Virology “lab ...

Dr. Paul Offit COVID-19 Update

October 25, 2021 23:29 - 57 minutes - 132 MB

Dr. Paul Offit is back in the virtual studio to discuss the COVID-19 vaccines in 5-to-11-year-olds, the relative risk of myocarditis following vaccination compared to the risk of myocarditis following a Covid-19 infection, and the glaring lack of evidence supporting the vaccine booster for most of us. We also discuss Paul’s latest book: “You Bet Your Life: From Blood Transfusions to Mass Vaccination, The Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation.”

COVID-19 Natural Immunity Versus Vaccine Immunity, the Booster Shot, Myocarditis, and the Return to Normalcy with Dr. Monica Gandhi

October 18, 2021 07:03 - 57 minutes - 132 MB

Today, internationally respected infectious disease specialist, Dr. Monica Gandhi, is in the virtual studio to examine the science of natural immunity versus vaccine immunity, the booster shot, and the risk of myocarditis in teens. We also explore the best timing of vaccine doses to maximize immunity, and finally, where is the offramp to normalcy here in the U.S.?

BidenCare and Beyond

October 11, 2021 15:49 - 1 hour - 181 MB

Healthcare economist, Ron Howrigon, returns to follow up on “surprise medical bills”, the nursing shortage, the hospital transparency rule, the economy,  the inscrutable workforce paradox, and much more...

Healthcare 2022: What is Past is Prologue

October 04, 2021 07:47 - 1 hour - 162 MB

As we head for the offramp of the COVID-19 pandemic, we take a candid look at the dystopian future that awaits us. Healthcare economist, Ron Howrigon, returns to discuss Healthcare 2022 and examine some of the most dysfunctional aspects of our healthcare system that will likely get worse in the post-COVID world.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate, Vaccine Hesitancy, Natural Immunity, Myocarditis, and much, much more, with Rich Parker MD

September 16, 2021 22:45 - 1 hour - 212 MB

Dr. Rich Parker and I discuss the Biden vaccine mandate, vaccine hesitancy, natural immunity, myocarditis, rational Covid testing in schools, and much, much more.

Dopamine Nation with Anna Lembke MD

August 30, 2021 14:45 - 1 hour - 197 MB

Today, I interview best-selling author, Dr. Anna Lembke, on her latest book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence. Dr. Lembke carefully maps out the neuroscience, and leads us to an inescapable and uncomfortable conclusion: we have met the enemy, and the enemy is us. Dopamine is merely the messenger. More often than not, we are the architects of our own addictions, pain, and unhappiness through our endless, compulsive overconsumption of highly potent stimuli like junk ...

This COVID Life 9: “Return to COVID Hell”

August 25, 2021 15:10 - 40 minutes - 46.1 MB

With persistent severe brain fog two weeks out from first symptoms, Frank must undergo extensive cognitive testing to rule out a structural brain injury.

This COVID Life 8: “Judgment Day”

August 03, 2021 07:18 - 32 minutes - 37.4 MB

Judgment Day arrives for Frank. Maryam gets her test results back.

This COVID Life 7: “Storm Warnings”

July 13, 2021 07:19 - 35 minutes - 40.7 MB

The return of the fever, along with the worsening brain fog and “monkey mind,” create fears of an impending cytokine storm. Maryam gets a fever and goes for a test.

This COVID Life 6: “Bad Omens”

June 28, 2021 06:36 - 30 minutes - 34.7 MB

The worsening of symptoms overnight may be bad omens for COVID-19 disease progression.

This COVID Life 5: “The Fog of COVID”

May 17, 2021 07:00 - 21 minutes - 24.7 MB

With the COVID test positive, Frank and Maryam are in quarantine. New symptoms appear. The source of the COVID infection is contemplated; treatments options are considered.

This COVID Life 4: “Like a Box of Chocolates”

April 26, 2021 07:13 - 19 minutes - 22.1 MB

COVID test results return. Many questions remain unanswered.

This COVID Life 3: “Shut Up and Take the Pain”

April 14, 2021 18:23 - 25 minutes - 28.7 MB

The development of new symptoms warrant further investigation...

This COVID Life 2: “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”

April 05, 2021 07:00 - 24 minutes - 27.6 MB

We pick up the story on December 7th, 2020, Pearl Harbor Day, “a date which will live in infamy.” The pandemic is raging out of control while COVID-19 vaccines are awaiting approval. It’s a day I’ll never forget...

This COVID Life 1: The Worst of Times

March 29, 2021 04:00 - 17 minutes - 20.2 MB

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I pick up the story where we left off three months ago... At the end of the first week of December 2020, in the middle of COVID Hell.

Allegory Of The Bus

January 25, 2021 08:26 - 28 minutes - 32.4 MB

Today’s episode was originally released in March 2017 during the attempt to “Repeal and Replace” Obamacare with TrumpCare. The Allegory of the Bus was a cautionary tale about the potential consequences of the deep division in Washington politics on the health and security of the nation. I’m re-releasing the Allegory of the Bus because it’s even more relevant today with the even deeper divide in Congress- and the Nation- as we collectively confront far more ominous threats.

Guests

Tom Nichols
2 Episodes
Lance Armstrong
1 Episode
Mark Jacobson
1 Episode