In the first half, filmmaker Max Lebow joined Richard Syrett (Twitter) to discuss The Final War, a gripping podcast series chronicling Lebow's experience being targeted, stalked, and manipulated by a shadowy group claiming to be dissidents of the Chinese Military. While struggling to find work as an actor, Lebow began receiving unsettling Instagram messages suggesting he was being surveilled. These bizarre communications asked him to act as a mole and gather sensitive information. Feeling pressured and lacking a clear sense of purpose at the time, he agreed.
As the requests escalated, he found himself gathering information from a COVID testing site, feeling torn between the thrill involved and the looming threat of serving hard time. "I started to think, could this be a crime?" he reflected. Lebow recounted the moment he decided to push back against their demands, prompted by a conversation with his girlfriend, Julia. She challenged him by asking, "Don't you want to know the answers?"
This pivotal moment led him to contact the FBI, fearing he might be committing treason. Lebow described the anxiety of being interviewed by federal agents. "I was shaking in my boots," he admitted. He asked them directly if he had done something wrong, to which they reassuringly replied, "It's a good thing you brought this to us, and not the other way around."
According to Lebow, his podcast The Final War provides a detailed, first-person account of his ordeal, featuring reenactments of his conversations with a hacker and interviews with friends and experts. "I wanted the audience to kind of have my experience," he explained. Listeners can find The Final War on all major podcast platforms.
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In the second half, philanthropist Elisabeth Carson shared her research into the transformative power of earthing and trauma healing. Earthing, or grounding, involves connecting directly with the Earth's surface to improve health. "When you connect to the earth, you feel your body shift out of a stress state and go into a more calm, relaxed state," Carson explained. She claimed the practice is based on the absorption of negative ions—electrons that she said help reduce chronic inflammation and promote overall wellbeing.
Carson traced the decline in people's health back to the 1970s, coinciding with the widespread adoption of rubber-soled shoes that disconnect individuals from the Earth. She stressed the importance of reconnecting with nature, suggesting that even 20 to 30 minutes of grounding daily can lead to significant improvements in mood and stress levels.
Carson also shared her personal journey into earthing, which began with her own struggles with chronic pain and stress. After experimenting with grounding products, she experienced remarkable benefits, including improved sleep and reduced anxiety. "I woke up with zero pain in my body," she recounted.
Another striking story involved her friend Brisa, who had suffered a severe stroke and was locked in her body for 11 months. During a meeting with other earthing experts, Brisa was grounded using a patch. Carson described the immediate change in Brisa's voice and color as "astonishing", saying that "for the first time, she was able to eat solid food and sleep through the night."