0:00

From UFOs to psychic powers

0:02

and government conspiracies. History

0:04

is riddled with unexplained events. You

0:07

can turn back now or learn

0:09

the stuff they don't want you to know. M

0:24

welcome back to the show. My name is Matt

0:26

nola is on Adventures and

0:29

they call me Ben. We are joined with our

0:31

super producer Paul Bolo

0:33

Decand that's a little bit of an inside

0:36

joke. I don't know if we'll explain it

0:38

in this episode. Yeah, speaking

0:40

of Bolo, be on the lookout for

0:43

for more specific information about the

0:46

tour that we're going on in October. Yes,

0:48

the rumors are true. We are coming

0:51

to a town hopefully near

0:53

you, on our first ever

0:55

US tour, So check

0:58

out. We'll we'll have some more information. We'll also

1:00

have probably some promos running

1:02

for it. You can hit us up directly Conspiracy

1:04

outstuff works dot com with any specific

1:07

questions. In the meantime, you

1:09

are you, and you are here, and

1:11

that makes this stuff they don't

1:14

want you to know. Alright,

1:16

we're here, this is the thing, it's

1:18

happening. Well, yeah,

1:22

I wonder how many of

1:25

you had had

1:27

dreams of becoming famous

1:30

or an actor or maybe a famous actor. Usually

1:33

you don't have dreams of becoming an unknown

1:35

character actor. Right. There

1:37

are very few people who say grew

1:40

up in acting dynasties

1:43

and you know they were a Barrymore or

1:46

or a Coppola or something, and then they

1:48

decided, I

1:50

hate living up to my parents expectations.

1:53

I'm gonna run away and be a c p A and

1:55

chase my dreams, you know what I mean. So

1:59

this is an interesting US and to especially here

2:01

in the US, where the

2:03

desire for fame is

2:06

co modified, it's idealized.

2:08

It's so common

2:11

that it's an accepted part

2:13

of stories in almost any genre

2:16

of fiction. And you

2:18

know, most people, it's similar to when we

2:20

ask the question about

2:23

whether or not you wanted to be an astronaut

2:25

when you grew up. A lot of people

2:27

do. A lot of people did, and a lot of people

2:30

do. And fame in

2:32

its own way is very similar.

2:35

Many many people aspire to

2:37

fame through one avenue or another,

2:40

and many of

2:42

those people, the vast majority

2:44

of those people do not end

2:46

up attaining what they see

2:49

as fame. Yeah, and and for

2:51

a long segment of time, to

2:54

be famous, you needed to have your face

2:56

and your name on a screen, somewhere,

3:00

and a lot of times that was on a television

3:02

inside someone's home or on a giant screen

3:04

where your projected image becomes

3:07

either the the fantasy

3:09

or the usually the fantasy

3:12

and some right of the people who are viewing

3:14

and looking at your face. Uh. And

3:16

now that screen has moved to the palm

3:18

of our hands as we walk around in different

3:21

ways. Now you can be Instagram

3:23

famous or YouTube famous. Um,

3:25

it's interesting how that has moved,

3:28

but nothing about getting famous

3:30

has really changed. That is

3:33

absolutely true. So we

3:35

find that the

3:38

rough categories of fame

3:40

as we we understand it. Let's just define

3:43

fame very very broadly

3:45

as being known

3:48

or familiar to a

3:50

large number of your fellow human beings,

3:52

yes, for one reason or other. Right, So

3:55

there are a couple of different categories for this. There's

3:59

fame in the real home of politics.

4:02

President of the United States is

4:05

always going to be famous.

4:08

They'll meet that definition of celebrity because

4:10

a ton of people know who this person

4:12

is and they're on screen a

4:14

whole lot, and they're on screen a whole lot.

4:17

And then there are people who are famous

4:19

in some sort of religious or spiritual

4:21

sphere. The pope is always

4:24

going to be famous, right, And

4:27

you could argue that that sphere

4:29

has lost a little bit of power in

4:31

an increasingly secular world, or a little

4:33

bit of prominence, you know what I mean. But

4:37

it's still an avenue of

4:40

celebrity, right or fame. And

4:42

then of course there's the world

4:44

of entertainment or the

4:48

and you could say, you could say that famous

4:50

athletes qualify as well

4:52

in the world of entertainment. Oh, I would

4:54

absolutely argue that, so I think the related

4:57

genres of that category.

5:00

Then there is the much more

5:02

controversial category that again people

5:05

would say is in some cases

5:07

very American. That is the category

5:09

of infamy. Serial

5:11

killers are often uh

5:15

romanticized right there.

5:17

Definitely they reach some status

5:20

akin to that of fame, right.

5:23

And other great criminals,

5:25

yeah, people who find themselves in the news

5:27

who for one reason or another. And

5:30

by the way, when we say great in this

5:32

sense, we just mean they have committed

5:34

crimes of an alarming magnitude. We

5:36

don't mean they're the kind of people you want to hang

5:39

out with at your local Applebee's.

5:42

And get that too for twenty

5:45

which which Paul is right

5:47

now thinking about that. By the

5:49

way, go to your neighborhood. Applebee's. It's a place

5:52

to gather your friends and family for one of

5:54

those special occasions or just on a Tuesday.

5:56

Applebee's, you're going to find the finest

5:59

beers on tap and some of the most delicious

6:02

chicken things around

6:05

and um oh riblets and

6:07

riblets, Oh god, the ribblets. How could

6:09

I forget the ribblets? So we want to be clear.

6:11

Applebee's is not a sponsor of this show.

6:14

This is a this is an ongoing

6:17

Paul said. Yet Paul to say,

6:20

yeah, uh, this is an ongoing

6:23

uh thing with us

6:26

off off Mike uh. And maybe one

6:28

day we can explain it in full,

6:30

maybe if we are on the big screen one

6:33

day in an interview, we can say,

6:35

David Letterman, that's a great question.

6:38

But first let me tell you about

6:40

our running inside joke regarding

6:43

apple Piece. Oh see, I just see you driving

6:45

around in a car with Jerry Seinfeld

6:47

and then you guys just show up at an Applebee's and

6:49

that's where the rest of the episode takes place.

6:52

Why aren't you guys there first? That's also a

6:54

fantastic idea. I wonder what his

6:56

uh, what his opinion on Applebee's

6:59

is m mmmm, because

7:02

you see, he did attain fame

7:05

these level beyond

7:08

most others. Right, he's one of

7:10

the most famous, well known living

7:12

comics, which places him squarely in

7:15

the entertainment industry. And

7:18

today, while we're looking at fame,

7:20

we're focusing on the

7:23

concept of acting. Quite

7:25

a few of us would we were

7:27

growing up, or quite a few of us listening

7:29

today have aspirations

7:33

to become actors,

7:35

right to be on screen talent and

7:37

the entertainment industry, or

7:40

are working actors now to

7:42

one degree or another. And

7:44

it's it's no secret that this

7:46

industry in particular is brutal.

7:49

We did an episode exploring

7:51

some of the darker aspects

7:54

of this industry that have recently

7:56

and thankfully finally become

7:59

the subject of like scrutiny. We'll see how long

8:01

at lasts and whether there's any action,

8:03

noble punishment or consequences

8:06

for the people involved. Yeah,

8:09

And we looked at an article from

8:11

Wired to get

8:14

some kind of statistics about

8:16

the state of the business of

8:18

being an actor, I guess,

8:21

and also um, the probability

8:23

of someone becoming famous. Yeah,

8:26

yeah, so brace yourself. In

8:29

this article for Wired, mathematician

8:31

named Samuel Arabsman attempts

8:34

to quantify

8:37

the ratio of famous people

8:39

to the ratio of the

8:42

non famous people, anonymous people, regular

8:45

old people, regular old people,

8:48

a k a us. Everyone.

8:51

Yeah, And he

8:53

believed that an easy way to find the probability

8:56

of anyone becoming famous in

8:58

the most broad sense would be to note

9:01

the number of Facebook entries in

9:03

the category living people.

9:06

And on January when

9:08

he pulled this number, that category was

9:10

six hundred and four thousand, one hundred

9:12

and seventy four. Then he divided

9:15

this by the world population, which

9:17

on that same day, January

9:19

fifteen, was a little

9:21

over seven billion people, and

9:23

so on that basis, he concludes that

9:26

point zero zero zero zero

9:28

eight six of the world population, or

9:30

about one in ten thousand people, is

9:33

famous. Okay, one in

9:35

ten thousand. That's still a lot of famous

9:37

people. Still better odds than the lottery though.

9:40

Yeah. But here's the thing. Most

9:42

of the people that are watched on

9:44

screen internationally, in let's say,

9:47

Big Box Office movies or in HBO

9:49

shows or something that's been translated into

9:51

other languages, they speak

9:54

English. Ah, yes, good

9:56

point. Most famous actors, most of the

9:58

most famous actors, we should say, do

10:00

speak English. So we need to correct

10:02

for that the total of English speaking

10:05

persons on the planet

10:06

was only one point

10:08

four nine billion, which means

10:11

that point zero zero four one,

10:13

or about point zero four percent of

10:15

the English speaking world population is famous,

10:18

or about one in two thousand.

10:21

Okay. Uh, Then then

10:23

back to actors. How

10:25

many actors do we have in the States. Typically,

10:28

one of the best ways to get statistics

10:31

on a given profession in this country is

10:33

to check with the US Bureau

10:35

of Labor Statistics. Oh, the old

10:37

BLS. The old BLS not to

10:39

be mistaken with b LT not nearest

10:42

delicious. Uh. The BLS

10:44

estimates that the number of actors for T seventeen

10:47

was thirteen thousand, five hundred and

10:50

sixty. That works out to about two

10:52

hundred and seventy one actors per state,

10:55

which we know is obviously not true. Yeah, yeah,

10:57

exactly, it's got to be a lot higher

11:00

than that. Even I feel like that

11:02

number of people is just

11:04

in l A. There are that many actors

11:06

just in l A, I want to say, or at least

11:09

twice more, three times more. Um.

11:12

So, if we take another group, the Actors

11:14

Equity Association, they had

11:17

over fifty one thousand

11:19

members associated with them in. So

11:22

there you go a lot more. Yeah,

11:26

many, many more, And these sources

11:29

don't agree. One of our questions has to immediately

11:31

be when we're comparing sources, what gives

11:33

right. One reason for the BLS

11:36

is underestimation of the number

11:38

of actors. Might be because they

11:40

only count you as an actor

11:43

if you have a current acting

11:45

job. Okay, that would make sense. So there

11:48

are thirteen thousand

11:50

employed actors at any given moment,

11:53

and they also just as side

11:55

note, well almost visit this one. How

11:58

much does the BLS estimate working

12:00

actors make per hour? Oh? Man, I can't

12:03

believe we missed that. The BLS says

12:05

the actors make an average of seventeen

12:07

dollars and forty nine cents per hour.

12:11

Again average, right,

12:13

So that's that is what Tom

12:15

Cruise's numbers lumped in with

12:18

the one extra that got paid.

12:20

I guess a hundred dollars or fifty dollars

12:22

a day or something. Yeah. Yeah,

12:25

so these averages are dangerous. These are

12:27

far from accurate numbers.

12:30

But according to the

12:33

Actors Equity Association, which

12:35

you mentioned earlier, Matt, fewer than fourteen

12:38

percent of actors were employed in two

12:40

sen and the statistics on actors

12:43

not known to belong to the

12:45

Actor's Equity Association is

12:48

is still an ambiguous, nebulous number,

12:50

but that number would likely be considerably

12:53

worse because there's

12:55

not really a point to joining

12:57

actors equity if you are unimp

13:00

Lloyd. So let's just do a

13:03

thought exer. Besides the networking

13:05

associated with which is huge. That's

13:07

a great point. That's a fantastic

13:10

point. Okay, So bracketing that, let's

13:12

do a thought exercise. If we multiply

13:14

that labor and statistic number by say,

13:17

let's just say ten, dream big, say ten,

13:19

we can say that they were around

13:22

five thousand, six hundred actors in the US,

13:24

which still seems like a low number to me. And

13:27

if we multiply that number by

13:30

point zero zero four one or by point

13:32

zero four percent Arabsman's

13:35

estimate of the percent of English speaking people who

13:37

are famous, we can conclude that they're about

13:39

fifty six English speaking actors currently

13:42

working who are considered famous.

13:45

Is a pretty off the cuff estimate, and it sounds

13:47

kind of low to me. It sounds very

13:49

low, to be honest with you. But

13:52

that many actors in all of the TV

13:54

shows right now there,

13:56

and some of them would not be considered famous really

13:59

unfortunately, but there have to be there.

14:01

There have to be way more than that, way

14:03

more, especially with the explosion

14:06

of high quality

14:08

television, especially if you're looking at streaming

14:10

services in all of the original content

14:12

with new actors, I would agree,

14:15

and also if we're looking at you know, Instagram

14:17

famous or YouTube famous, people

14:19

who are famous on a specific platform,

14:22

so that there's a situation where the final

14:24

number is probably much higher, and

14:26

that's great, that's a good thing. But

14:28

the number of aspiring, non working

14:30

actors, we have to remember, is probably much

14:33

much higher as well. What

14:35

we're saying is, any way you slice

14:37

it, the odds of success

14:39

of reaching fame in the world of acting are

14:42

very very

14:45

extremely low,

14:50

way lower than you even think, way

14:52

way low, way lower. Even with

14:54

that, even with those numbers we just threw out there,

14:57

you're h it's

15:00

still it's not as bad as like

15:02

winning the powerball, the lottery. It's

15:05

it's not that tough. But

15:08

that's that's a horrible comparison. It's

15:10

very difficult to demanding and brutal industry

15:13

because it's an industry

15:15

fraught with obsfucation,

15:18

sexism, racism and ageism. Those

15:21

are all acknowledged to they're part

15:23

of the business. And then especially

15:26

and I'm not gonna get on the soapbox here. I'm sure

15:29

longtime listeners, I'm sure you know what I'm going to

15:31

say. It's fraught with nepotism, which

15:33

is a terrible thing and uh

15:36

makes for worse end

15:39

results. Yeah,

15:42

and there's this element of

15:44

pay to play and all of these other things that

15:46

you should get into. Well. For

15:48

instance, consider people who aspire

15:51

to work at, for example, a

15:53

publishing house or a high

15:55

quality fashion magazine. They

15:58

will typically enter into

16:00

that realm through a low level position,

16:03

often an internship, and that internship

16:06

maybe located in Los Angeles or

16:08

in New York. Uh, and they

16:10

will have to find some means of

16:13

financial support just to afford

16:16

rent in a terrible apartment.

16:19

And this means that there's a built

16:21

in, as you said, that there's a built in

16:23

pay to play aspect

16:26

here that that commonly pops up. And

16:29

I want to take a note to say I

16:32

really fundamentally

16:35

enjoy a lot of movies featuring

16:37

the actor known as Nicolas Cage.

16:40

I'm on board with you there. His real last

16:42

name is Coppola, and yes,

16:46

related to the same Francis Ford Coppola.

16:49

And the one of the questions someone asked

16:52

me off here somewhere,

16:54

I can't remember what I was talking about, how I

16:56

just love the insanity of

16:59

the fights, face off or whatever,

17:01

and they said, do you believe that Nick

17:04

Cage would be a famous actor

17:06

if he you

17:09

were not in the Coppola dynasty?

17:11

And I couldn't answer that question. I

17:14

will answer that question, Okay, absolutely,

17:19

there we go. There is a there is a Nick

17:22

Cage quality that you cannot get from

17:24

anyone besides that, man, I'm

17:26

telling you, And it sort of it speaks

17:29

to the

17:31

way in which we judge the performance

17:33

of American actors. Right. Have

17:36

we mentioned this on the air before, the difference between European

17:38

and American actors. Okay,

17:40

So American

17:44

actors often by and large

17:46

are praised for their

17:48

ability to consistently be

17:50

themselves or their own brand

17:53

and whatever film you see them in. Right,

17:56

and even you know ones who

17:58

are exerted completely

18:01

amazing masterclass actors.

18:04

Al Pacino, for instance, is

18:06

always some version of al

18:08

Pacino, Right, A lot of those

18:11

a lot of those nuances

18:13

that we see when he assumes different characters are

18:15

still him doing the character.

18:18

You're still getting Pacino. You're still getting

18:20

Pacino. Yes, and that's arguably

18:22

what you're paying for as a studio, right. And

18:25

in the European sphere,

18:28

often actors are lauded for a very

18:30

different reason, their ability to be chameleons,

18:33

right to be so completely

18:35

different from one fictional

18:38

world to the next. So

18:40

by that logic, for instance, Liam

18:43

Neeson, despite being a European actor,

18:46

fits into the American idea

18:49

of a fantastic actor. What about it

18:51

some Idrisilba, Idrisilba,

18:54

It's a that's a different question. I haven't seen enough

18:56

of his stuff to say, but most of what I've

18:58

seen, he's

19:01

recognizably Idrisilba. No,

19:05

man, I don't know if I agree,

19:07

but let's go with

19:09

it. No, I

19:12

you know, I this is just this

19:16

is just opinion. But but so the

19:19

people who become

19:23

a list actors who despite the odds

19:25

or because of the nepotism, reach

19:27

that fabled position in

19:29

the American zeitgeist, in

19:32

the Western pantheon of entertainment, they

19:35

will have not perfect

19:37

lives, but they do have a position in life that many

19:39

many people aspire to reach, and

19:42

we have to ask ourselves. It's it's

19:44

such again, it's such a trope. What

19:48

have people done to get

19:50

on this path? What have they done to get

19:52

access? Just to get noticed

19:55

by a director, by an

19:58

agent, by someone they think that can provide

20:00

them with opportunities. It's the age old

20:02

question what would you do to

20:05

be famous? And

20:09

what would you allow

20:11

to happen to you to reach that level?

20:14

Right, however, reluctantly, however, against

20:17

your better judgment, what would you feel coerced

20:19

into doing? Granted

20:22

we don't we don't want to make it look impossible.

20:25

Some people do luck out. Those

20:27

stories of you know, someone just being recognized

20:30

in them all those those things happened.

20:32

Harrison Ford, I believe, got cast as Han

20:35

Solo when he was doing some carpentry

20:37

work on a set. And some

20:39

people work hard, just

20:43

not just in the right place at the right

20:45

time, but they're determined, their tenacious.

20:48

They are doing eighty

20:50

hours a week of legwork,

20:53

auditions, practicing network

20:55

character yeah, yeah, yeah, over and over

20:58

and over. And in that case

21:00

it's it's I

21:02

would say it's disrespectful for the Bureau

21:04

of Labor and Statistics to consider them unemployed.

21:07

Yeah, that's a heck of a job, you know, and

21:11

probably one of the most demanding. For some reason,

21:13

I want to put Steve Ashimi in there, but I don't know if it's

21:15

right. Somebody who's just been

21:17

doing roles forever and then finally like, oh,

21:19

I actually get a show now in big

21:24

fan of his. Uh So,

21:26

some people also network,

21:28

As we mentioned, they're looking for opportunities and

21:30

access they could not otherwise find

21:33

on their own. Today's episode,

21:35

Fellow Conspiracy Realists is about

21:38

one of these groups, a

21:40

group that purports to

21:42

provide great opportunity to provide

21:45

personal and professional awakening,

21:48

a group called Nexium,

21:51

and we're going to dive deep into their origins

21:54

and how it became a thing. After

21:56

a word from our sponsor, here

22:03

are the facts, So, Matt, we

22:05

dug around and we went to the primary

22:08

source to describe Nexium

22:11

itself. It's spelled

22:14

in x I V M, but it's

22:16

pronounced nexium yes.

22:19

And what exactly are they? What? What?

22:22

What's their deal? Well, according to the

22:25

splash page on their website, it's a

22:27

company whose mission is to raise human

22:29

awareness, foster and ethical humanitarian

22:32

civilization, and celebrate what it

22:35

means to be human. That

22:38

sounds nice aspirational y, it

22:41

sounds familiar to other groups

22:44

that we've discussed before on

22:46

this show, especially with within

22:49

the context of acting. It's

22:51

making me think a little bit about scientology.

22:53

I see. Yeah, the idea of self

22:56

realization ultimately and and

22:58

helping an act to become

23:01

them their true selves in order

23:03

to become the best actor possible. And if that sounds

23:05

a little vague, they do go into further

23:07

detail. Su

23:11

Nexium is a community guided by humanitarian

23:14

principles that seek to empower people

23:16

and answer important questions about what it

23:18

means to be human. The Nexium

23:21

philosophy is expressed through a series

23:23

of companies and initiatives, all

23:25

of which were designed to broaden the way we currently

23:27

think about problems and help create solutions

23:30

for a kinder, more sustainable, ethical

23:33

world. With unique

23:35

tools that facilitate success both

23:38

internally and externally, Nexium

23:40

helps people realize the potential that

23:42

exists within them. Okay,

23:45

admittedly sounds pretty vague,

23:48

right, Yeah, I don't really get anything.

23:50

There are techniques that are gonna

23:52

help me become me to

23:54

my full potential. So we if

23:57

we were to bit

24:00

ball and speculate, we could say

24:02

that one of the seminars

24:05

or sessions might be something

24:07

about confidence in social

24:09

or business functions. Right, yeah, perhaps

24:12

just in any interaction whatsoever? How

24:15

how do you display yourself? Little

24:17

body language, some public speaking,

24:20

uh, some maybe some ideas about how

24:22

to frame what information you present,

24:25

how to manage your reactions? Uh.

24:27

Scientology does it a lot of that as well, but

24:30

so do a ton of other

24:33

things. We often call them life coaching

24:36

stuff. Right, and Tino Massorrow had some of that stuff.

24:39

Sure he did. I'm sure he did or

24:42

does. But on balance

24:44

this seems pretty harmless. Believe

24:47

in yourself. What's wrong with that? And we'll teach

24:49

you how to do it for whatever money? Right?

24:52

Right? It does have a price tag attached.

24:54

So where did Nexium come from? It is the

24:56

brainchild of founder Keith Rainieri,

24:59

which is how we found it. Pronounced the multiple

25:01

media sources reneering

25:04

uh. And it evolved from his earlier

25:06

work with something called the Consumers

25:09

Byline Incorporated. That's

25:12

b U y l I n E.

25:15

That sounds familiar,

25:17

consumers byline. You

25:19

know why was that? Because a byeline

25:22

sounds like an upline or a down line.

25:24

Do you know why? Because it's a multi

25:27

level marketing scheme that

25:29

was broken up when it was investigated for being

25:31

a pyramid scheme. Yes, yes,

25:35

so. Keith was born back

25:37

in nineteen sixty in New York. He

25:40

graduated Rocklands County Day

25:42

School of private school in nineteen

25:44

seventy seven, and he was

25:46

thought to be a very intelligent young

25:48

man. In two he

25:51

graduated from the Rensselair

25:54

Polytechnic Institute with three separate

25:56

bachelor degrees. Shortly

25:59

there he joined am Way, oh,

26:02

another one of those byline

26:04

way line. He

26:08

is considered a boy genius at the

26:10

time, a title he really leans

26:12

into later in life. Yeah. He He

26:15

once had on his website that at the age

26:17

of one, he was speaking in complete sentences,

26:20

which is a huge achievement and good for him.

26:24

Yeah, I'm

26:27

skeptical, but sure, sure, sure, it's

26:29

possible. He taught himself how to play concert

26:32

level piano by age twelve, which

26:34

is a possibility. Also a possibility, possible.

26:38

So. He spent about

26:41

a year from nine

26:44

working at the New

26:46

York State Parole Board as a programmer

26:49

around thirty two thousand dollars a year, and

26:51

then he left to become a sales

26:53

trainer for something called Prepaid Legal,

26:55

which was a marketing company, okay,

26:58

and then he opens

27:01

the Consumer's Byline that you

27:03

had mentioned had some problems. Yeah,

27:05

it was a marketing club and uh,

27:07

it would hook its members up. It would just give him

27:09

all these discounts on all kinds of different

27:12

consumer goods. And his partners

27:14

at the time were Karen um

27:17

Tarranner Terrainer not

27:20

exactly, trud to pronounce her name, and Pam

27:23

Kaffrets Now. Um, at

27:25

this time Pam is his longtime

27:28

girlfriend. Pam. I don't know if

27:30

they're still together or not. I don't keep up in

27:32

the celebrity news unfortunately. Um,

27:35

I'm not sure at this time when

27:38

we're recording this if Pam is still his girlfriend. I

27:41

like that he may have evolved past

27:43

that. Yeah. I like how you bring that idea

27:46

of celebrity back, right, the new

27:48

the true uh, one of the huge

27:52

religions of our current

27:54

society. Right, there's money and

27:57

then there's fame. Yeah, right. By

28:01

multiple agencies are investigating

28:03

Consumers Byline because,

28:05

as you said earlier, Matt, they believe

28:08

it is a pyramid scheme by

28:11

Keith and his partners settled with the New York State

28:13

Attorney's office to end the probe

28:16

of consumers byline, they

28:18

don't admit any guilt, but

28:21

they do agree not to promote,

28:23

offer, or grant participation in

28:25

an illegal chain of distribution scheme.

28:29

Oh well, that's nice, she

28:31

said, We're not guilty. We also promised

28:34

not to do these things. And

28:38

as part of the settlement, near I agreed

28:40

to pay a forty dollar fine.

28:44

Not not that crazy. Who

28:46

knows how much money they were actually ranking in? Right?

28:49

Right? Uh, there are no m

28:51

M. I don't know. I'm sure the courts found something,

28:54

but I don't know what the real

28:56

amount is. And then everything

28:58

changes in nine seen when

29:01

he meets a person who later

29:03

becomes influential in his life. Yeah,

29:06

Nancy Salzman. She's

29:08

a psychotherapist who was running the International

29:10

Center for Change, and basically

29:14

Ranieri became her mentor and

29:17

he started teaching her these

29:20

methods that he had been I guess thinking about

29:22

or maybe he was coming up with at the time,

29:24

and he called them rational inquirity.

29:27

Yeah, yeah, she was. Well, she was kind of

29:29

like um subject zero for

29:32

what would then become nexium.

29:35

Right, And we're at that

29:37

point in the timeline in or

29:40

near a creates Executive Success Programs

29:42

or ESP and

29:46

it's later going to be named Nexium.

29:49

Nancy Salzman as president, and Karen

29:51

and Pam also joined up

29:53

as partners. By October,

29:57

Nexium states that it's seminars and

29:59

programs have provided tools, coaching,

30:01

techniques, and training to sixteen thousand

30:04

people across thirty different

30:06

countries. N A becomes a

30:08

niche celebrity of his own, especially

30:11

within the organization. He meets

30:13

with the Dalai Lama on May six,

30:16

two thousand and nine. The Nexium

30:18

group purchases multiple buildings

30:20

in the Albany, New York area. But what

30:23

is it? Exactly? From their own

30:26

copy and from your accurate description,

30:28

Matt, it sounds like Nexium is a

30:30

life coaching organization, but critics

30:32

and legal filings have referred to it as

30:35

an MLM, a

30:38

scheme, a pyramid, a multi level

30:40

marketing scheme. Yeah.

30:43

In two thousand and twelve, The Times

30:45

Union, which based in Albany, publishes

30:48

a report wherein experts argue

30:50

that rene A is not a

30:53

life coach and more of

30:55

a cult leader. Yeah, not

30:57

even an MLM, just top

31:00

of the you know, chain guy and

31:02

and actual occult leaders. What this

31:05

paper is saying, and you can read this article right

31:07

now if you google it, and it's

31:09

pretty good, but it definitely takes that stance.

31:11

And I think there was there was an earlier article

31:13

in the two thousands from Forbes that

31:17

had some of his supporters say

31:19

they had attended seminars or sessions

31:21

and found it worthwhile. Oh yeah, so we

31:23

do want to be fair in that regard, so

31:26

when they say he's a cult leader, they

31:29

don't just throw

31:31

the C word out and then let it let

31:34

it play. They have some specific

31:36

accusations against him. Yeah.

31:39

The article is titled Secrets

31:41

of Nexium again spelled n x

31:43

I v M, and they

31:46

go into allegations of all

31:49

kinds of different sexual manipulation, both

31:52

of adults and also

31:54

people who are under age women

31:57

specifically they're also they go into these

31:59

murky possibilities about illegal financing,

32:02

financing schemes within the organization.

32:05

Uh, there are multiple

32:07

interviews with people who have been involved

32:10

at one time or another with Nexium and

32:12

we have Oh. They they also

32:15

speak about a relentless intimidation of anybody

32:17

trying to break away from the organization. Does

32:20

that sound familiar to any of the

32:22

other organizations we've discussed in the past,

32:25

specifically people who are questioning the

32:27

internal practices of Nexium, people

32:29

who know how it functions or claimed

32:31

to yes. So maybe this is just

32:33

a hit piece. Perhaps perhaps let's

32:36

hold off judgment for a moment. We

32:38

have to pause here and introduce another

32:40

character in the story, one of Bernire's

32:43

most high profile followers

32:45

in Nexium. Her name is

32:48

Alison Nac. If

32:50

her name sounds familiar, that's

32:53

because she's an actor of

32:55

somewhat of note. And let's let's talk

32:57

about her her back story. So, she was

33:00

born on July two

33:02

in West Germany. She has been

33:04

an actor for most of her life. Her first

33:06

major role was in the Warner Brothers

33:09

series one that you probably remember

33:11

if you were my age just turned

33:13

thirty five, Seventh Heaven, and

33:16

she played a teenage cutter,

33:18

which was a thing that I had

33:20

never seen before in my

33:22

life when I was at that stage watching it with my

33:25

family, and I actually

33:27

remember that because

33:29

it wasn't a huge role, yeah, but it was

33:32

I guess, a groundbreaking or influential

33:34

role in the public discourse. And

33:36

she continued as a working actor. Again,

33:39

she's on the way, she's on a path to

33:41

which so many people aspire. In

33:44

two thousand and one, she landed

33:46

a role as Chloe Sullivan, one

33:48

of Clark Kent's best friends, in the popular

33:51

series Smallville that went on and on for

33:53

multiple seasons. In two

33:56

thousand and ten, Alison

33:58

Mack reportedly joined the Vancouver

34:00

chapter of Nexium, along with another

34:03

Smallville colleague, the actor Kristen

34:06

Krueg. Mac

34:08

rose through the ranks, eventually becoming

34:10

the organization's top recruiter,

34:13

attempting to recruit other actors

34:15

of notes such as Emma Watson or entertainers

34:18

like Kelly Clarkson and feminist

34:20

writers into what she described as a quote

34:22

human development and women's movement

34:25

organization. Many young

34:27

actors were joining up in hopes

34:29

of attaining further personal and professional

34:32

success. After all, Alison

34:34

mac is a star, right, Yeah, she's got

34:36

to be doing something, right I I should follow in her

34:38

footsteps. Let me listen to what she's gonna say.

34:41

But then rumors of even

34:43

more salacious occurrences within the next

34:45

seam organization begin to surface.

34:48

So again, what exactly is

34:51

happening within this organization

34:54

at you know, the events? Maybe

34:56

behind closed doors. We'll

34:59

get into that again. Right after a

35:01

quick word from our sponsor. Here's

35:08

where it gets crazy. It's

35:11

time to peek behind the curtain

35:14

of Nexium. As

35:17

it turns out, Alison mac was

35:19

one of the top recruiters for Nexium,

35:22

but she wasn't just recruiting

35:24

for Nexium in general, and she was not

35:27

just hooking people up with acting

35:29

gigs or promising them the

35:32

sort of personal realizations

35:34

that would lead to more success

35:36

in the entertainment industry. She was

35:38

recruiting for two other inner

35:41

groups, just for

35:43

women. One one was named

35:45

j Nes capital j lower

35:48

case nest like lockness monster Jans

35:51

Janus, and this was

35:53

the recruiting pool for

35:56

something else, an organization.

35:59

Outside ers were never supposed

36:01

to know about a secret group,

36:05

and these recruits who went

36:08

through Nexium went through Jane S

36:10

and joined this other group where the

36:12

varying ages that were entering a secret

36:15

sisterhood sometimes referred

36:17

to as dominos osequious

36:20

sororirium or d oss

36:25

or the vow uh

36:28

the d o s the Latin there means

36:32

something like the obsequious sisters,

36:36

and it's it's a loaded term.

36:39

In a groundbreaking report from October,

36:42

writing for The New York Times, journalist

36:44

Barry Meyer details what

36:46

women had to do in order to gain

36:49

admission into this group. We do

36:51

want to tell you ahead of time what we

36:53

are about to discuss in

36:56

this in this segment may be

36:58

disturbing for audience members.

37:01

Yeah, if you've had any experience

37:04

akin to

37:07

abuse in this realm, just go ahead

37:09

and either skip forward or maybe

37:11

just listen to the next episode. Here

37:13

we go. So, the first thing that

37:16

happens is that they

37:20

become or they call themselves and kind

37:22

of take a vow to become slaves

37:25

with the person above them, the the woman

37:28

above them within their hierarchy, and

37:30

that person is going to be considered their master.

37:33

And there are six of them generally how

37:35

it functions in a cluster, So there's

37:38

one master and then six slaves, so

37:40

seven people total, and these

37:45

potential slaves to in

37:47

order to join the organization or

37:50

to join DOSS, they were required

37:52

to give this master, whoever that

37:54

person might be, always a woman in this case,

37:57

they were required to give this person coll

38:00

adderal that's what it was called. These would

38:02

be in the forms of naked photographs,

38:05

sexually explicit photographs, or other

38:07

compromising material, and some people

38:09

wrote down just past transgressions

38:12

things that they had done wrong, that they knew

38:14

were wrong, that would harm somebody else if that information

38:16

came out right, things they could

38:19

harm their own reputation as

38:21

they pursued celebrity, or things

38:23

that could harm the reputation of their loved

38:25

ones, and the expectation

38:28

here the implication was that should they

38:30

break the vow of silence, should they say

38:32

anything about this group, that information

38:35

would be exposed, leaked to the public.

38:38

The word for this is blackmail.

38:40

Yeah, but ben trust goes both ways. You

38:43

know what I'm saying. I yes,

38:47

I don't agree in this case, but yeah, I know

38:49

what you mean. I don't agree either. It's

38:51

just that's scary.

38:54

And again it hearkens back to

38:56

another group, to the audit

38:58

system, right, yeah, or the rundowns.

39:02

We're going to record everything that you say when

39:04

we're going through your darkest, deepest

39:06

past, just in

39:09

case, just for our records. So

39:12

at this point some of the people

39:15

entering into this organization had

39:17

heard they might receive a small

39:19

tattoo in the process. Instead,

39:22

they were told to disrobe and lay on a

39:24

massage table and they were ordered to

39:26

say, master, please brand

39:28

me. It would be an honor and

39:31

that's a quote. That's not like a you say something

39:33

like this, that's the value take.

39:35

Yeah, it's verbatim. Female doctor

39:38

Allegedly a

39:40

member of Nexium named Danielle Roberts

39:43

would use a cauterizing device to sear

39:46

a two inch square symbol below

39:49

each woman's hip. And this procedure took

39:51

about twenty to thirty very very

39:53

painful minutes. Yeah. And in some of these articles

39:56

you can read some of the women who joined

39:58

this group describe the process where there

40:00

are at least three other women holding

40:02

down their legs in their arms while they're in

40:05

this device this chair um

40:08

or the massage table, I guess, and then the

40:11

process of just screaming and disassociating

40:14

as it's going on because they're in so much pain. It's

40:17

rather horrifying. And this one with Danielle

40:19

Roberts is this is the one we know about,

40:23

right because there are groups

40:25

their Nexingum groups all over in so

40:28

many countries, in Canada and Mexico and the United

40:30

States and other countries. These

40:32

are this is just the one group that

40:35

we're aware of where this process took place

40:39

exactly. And what

40:42

we what we find is that after

40:44

being branded several

40:47

of these women. Multiple women alleged

40:50

that when when they were in this dominant submissive

40:52

relationship with their quote unquote

40:54

master and the secret organization, they

40:57

were coerced into sexual activities

40:59

with Keith Bernier himself. Who

41:02

oh wait, they don't call him Keith, by the way,

41:04

in the group, they

41:07

call him the Vanguard, which

41:09

I think is a lame, lame name. Lame

41:12

nickname, the Vanguard. I

41:14

would have really liked it if I was still

41:16

playing EverQuest like,

41:19

I would have thought, Man, that's a cool name, the Vanguard.

41:22

I like that. In addition to sexual

41:25

exploitation for the pleasure

41:27

of the Vanguard, other

41:31

women and survivors of this situation

41:33

say that Mac and other members

41:36

required them to do forced labor

41:38

or menial task. They had

41:40

to do this without question,

41:44

it didn't matter what it was around

41:46

the house, chores, yardwork, et cetera. And

41:50

for this, allegedly,

41:53

the Vanguard would then pay Mac

41:55

or other masters. So if

41:57

we're keeping count right now, that's

42:00

sex trafficking, blackmail,

42:02

blackmail right and forced labor.

42:05

If we're being held by the US legal

42:07

code rather than the vision of

42:10

the Vanguard, I just can't

42:12

say that name with a serious tone, but

42:14

there's more right. Additionally, he

42:17

had very very

42:19

rigid opinions on how

42:21

people should conduct any

42:24

aspect of their lives. Obviously a lot of cult

42:26

leaders, tales old as time, are

42:29

very controlling people. So what

42:31

what was one of his other conditions

42:34

that came out? Um more

42:36

trigger stuff here if you've ever had an eating disorder

42:39

or um, something to

42:41

that effect, or just know

42:43

we're going to talk about some of that right now. So

42:45

the Vanguard apparently liked women

42:48

to look emaciated. That was

42:50

his thing, so he would

42:53

he preferred extremely thin women. So

42:56

the slaves had to stick to

42:58

these extremely low calorie diets. They

43:00

would document every piece of

43:03

food that went into their mouths, and

43:06

as punishment for not following orders, women would

43:08

we were a lot of the times forced to attend these

43:10

classes where they had to wear fake

43:12

cow utters over their breasts and

43:14

people would call them terrible names

43:17

and make fun of them for wearing it, and

43:19

then they would even be threatened to be put

43:22

into a cage because they can't follow orders,

43:24

they're not doing the right thing and treated

43:26

like cattle. Uh, they're being

43:29

suppressive or there being an obstacle

43:31

to their own success. An sp right

43:34

again. Yeah, and Nexium, by the way,

43:37

did, or at least the Vanguard

43:39

did, use the term suppressives when he

43:41

was getting into people's head. At

43:44

this point, it's not clear who in Nexium

43:46

was aware of these activities, nor how

43:49

many people were branded, because

43:51

you know, it's the inner circle of an inner

43:53

circle. However, we do know that Keith

43:56

himself was certainly aware. He

43:58

sent a text message to a female

44:00

follower discussing the branding,

44:03

wherein he noted, quote not

44:06

initially intended as my initials,

44:08

but they rearranged it slightly for tribute,

44:11

adding if it were Abraham Lincoln's

44:14

or Bill Gates initials, no one would

44:16

care. We should mention that the appearance

44:18

of the brand, it's yeah, let's talk about

44:20

it. It's his initials. Well, you

44:23

know, in a it's a stylized K and

44:26

a stylized R. Yeah. I'm looking

44:28

at a picture from the New York Times. It's

44:30

a woman named Sarah Edmondson who came

44:33

forward with some of

44:35

these I guess you have

44:37

to call him allegations, But who came forward to

44:39

discuss these things after she was branded?

44:42

Um, she showed hers on

44:45

on the New York Times website, and it just it

44:48

looks almost like an X

44:50

in a way that has some extra little flourishes

44:53

to it, but it looks just like

44:56

a terrible wound

44:58

essentially. It's all right, yes,

45:03

And so far there

45:05

hasn't been a conviction for this

45:07

yet, so you are correct, Matt. We do

45:10

we do need to say that these are allegations.

45:13

Technically, yeah, I just got to hold back

45:15

of the vomit a little bit. So there's

45:18

another controversy here. Like many

45:21

organizations of this type, Keith

45:25

and his followers spent a great deal of time

45:27

attempting to turn or compromise

45:31

wealthy and powerful and

45:33

most importantly vulnerable people

45:36

and possibly influential and possibly

45:38

influential right. Uh, and that is

45:40

again a textbook, uh, textbook

45:42

move from organizations that are

45:44

like this. Two of its

45:47

most notable successes in this regard

45:49

are the Bronfman sisters,

45:52

Sarah and Claire. They are believed

45:54

to have squandered as much as one hundred

45:56

and fifty million dollars of

45:58

their inherited four urchin on the organization.

46:02

They are the heiresses

46:04

to the Seagram's fortune and

46:10

multiple other things. You can imagine,

46:12

Uh, this on fifty

46:15

million dollar price tag or

46:17

heist of their family's

46:19

fortune. Included sixty six million

46:21

dollars allegedly used to cover

46:24

reniers failed bets in the

46:26

commodities market, thirty million

46:28

to buy real estate in l a and around the Albany

46:31

area. Eleven million for a

46:34

plane a jet actually, excuse

46:37

me, Canadair CL six

46:39

hundred. That's a two set to engine

46:41

jet nice ride. Millions

46:44

more to support the barrage

46:47

of lawsuits that Nexium would

46:49

wage against people who wronged

46:51

Keith and so excuse me. The Vanguard

46:54

in some way or uh

46:56

were seen as a threat. Yeah,

46:59

and the father,

47:02

Mr Bronfman, he's

47:05

a billionaire. His name is Edgar

47:07

Edgar Bronfman. He he

47:09

attended a Nexium session and

47:12

after a little while he came out strongly

47:15

against the organization and he himself

47:18

referred to it as a cult. Which

47:20

is something to note here, because, um,

47:25

the sisters, who I

47:27

believe are his daughters, came

47:30

out and you know, are shelling

47:32

out all now. I don't want

47:34

to say his money, but the family's money, just

47:36

shelling it out for this group that he believes as

47:38

a cult. And you'll hear people

47:41

allege that what

47:43

the organization when next him itself was doing

47:46

was exploiting or leveraging

47:49

the problems

47:52

that existed in the Brafman families

47:55

inner relationships, like god dislike

47:57

of their father. Right, he's a billion

48:00

he didn't. That's one

48:02

of the closest things a human being

48:04

in this current system can have to godlike

48:07

powers. Right. So the

48:10

idea then is that their agency

48:13

has been removed, they have been brainwashed

48:15

somehow into supporting this guy,

48:18

and that they are I

48:21

mean, that's an interesting legal point. Are they

48:23

complicit in these

48:25

situations? We're about to

48:27

find out. You know, we mentioned

48:30

that excellent piece by Meyer in the

48:32

New York Times in seventeen. Rania

48:35

noticed it as well. He read he read

48:38

it, and then he fled for Mexico. Yes

48:40

he did. By the way, it's called inside

48:42

a secretive group where women are branded,

48:46

and he was. He

48:48

was partnering with some of his followers

48:51

who already lived in a Mexican

48:54

outpost for Nexium with

48:57

some again notable high profile followers,

49:00

and he was found shortly

49:03

thereafter in a Puerto Vieta

49:06

luxury gated community living

49:08

with several women. Authorities took him into

49:10

custody on a US warrant investigators

49:13

said the women got into a high speed

49:15

car chase. At this point,

49:18

we we don't have more information about

49:20

that, but we can only imagine they were also

49:22

apprehended, and so when he was

49:24

arrested, he was transported to Texas

49:27

and officially charged with sex

49:29

trafficking. We should also mentioned

49:31

that numerous sources state he

49:34

was involved with three women

49:36

who were under the age of sixteen at the time.

49:39

Yeah, which is a whole other I

49:41

was gonna say a bag of badgers, but let's

49:43

not than Yeah, let's it's

49:46

a whole thing. Let's at least save that one.

49:48

Yeah. So now he and Allison

49:50

Mac face a minimum of fifteen

49:53

years each of convicted. That's

49:55

a minimum of fifteen, but it could

49:57

go all the way up to life. It probably won't because

50:00

there's still a ton of money involved here. I should

50:02

be noticed that noted. I think I'm

50:04

not sure we even said it. Alison Mac is also like

50:06

caught up in the illegal stuff. That's like

50:08

you're saying, they're they're both facing charges. Yes,

50:12

absolutely, And at this point

50:15

here in August, as we record

50:17

this, the case is still ongoing.

50:20

We do have the official statement from

50:22

Nexium. They are on pause.

50:26

Near A released a letter responding to

50:28

these allegations as well at some point,

50:30

but this is the official statement from

50:33

Nexium on their current operations.

50:36

It is with deep sadness that we inform

50:39

you that we are suspending all Nexium

50:41

ESP enrollment, curriculum and events

50:44

until further notice. We will be

50:46

in touch with more information for anyone

50:48

currently enrolled in upcoming events and programs.

50:52

While we are disappointed by the interruption

50:54

of our operations, we believe it

50:56

is warranted by the extraordinary circumstances

50:59

facing the company at this time. We

51:01

continue to believe in the value and importance

51:03

of our work and look forward to resuming

51:05

our efforts when these allegations are

51:07

resolved. Okay,

51:10

all right, uh and short,

51:14

simple to the point of

51:17

course, they're going to Allied the

51:20

details of the specific

51:23

accusations. That's

51:26

the word of your day, Allied Ben Bolan

51:28

tell us what the what the word means? Okay,

51:32

Allied E l I D E

51:35

means to leave or strike out

51:37

to omit perfect. So

51:42

he didn't lie, but they did

51:45

elied. There you go the details, Okay.

51:47

So Claire

51:50

Bromfman was also arrested

51:52

and in late July, just the

51:55

month before we recorded this as she

51:58

put up twenty five million dollars in

52:00

cash and several high

52:03

end properties, including a stake

52:05

in a private island in Fiji, which

52:07

is amazing to just on a private island

52:10

as collateral on her one hundred

52:12

million dollar bond. She faces

52:15

racketeering charges in connection to

52:17

her role in the Nexium

52:20

functions, according to the court documents, So

52:22

she's going down more for financial shenanigans,

52:25

of which there are quite a few. You can read

52:28

more about that in an

52:30

excellent article from Oh

52:32

Gosh, way back in Vanity

52:35

Fair. It's called the Heiresses

52:38

and the Cults. And there's

52:40

something really important we have to mention here, Ben.

52:43

There are a lot of people who would

52:45

consider themselves members

52:47

or are members of Nexium who

52:50

had absolutely no knowledge

52:52

of any of these things that were going on. And

52:55

I didn't even know that or didn't feel

52:57

at all like this, like

53:00

this company did anything besides help them, Right,

53:03

Yeah, Because again, sixteen thousand or

53:05

so people participated. The majority

53:07

probably just attended a handful of seminars

53:10

and then left, perhaps

53:12

feeling better about themselves, perhaps a more

53:15

confident. Maybe the classes

53:17

even have measurable positive impacts on their

53:19

lives of the victims who have come forward. We

53:21

also have to note that they're likely more

53:24

who, for one reason or another, are too

53:26

intimidated to take these stories

53:28

public. Yea. And perhaps they can feel

53:31

emboldened in a way or empowered by

53:34

having some of these stories come out. Um,

53:36

and you know, perhaps you were a victim

53:39

and there you

53:41

can you can be supported now. And

53:45

what about the future for rene A Mac

53:47

and more? As you said, there is

53:49

still a ton of so much

53:52

money at play, and it maybe some time

53:54

before anyone gets convicted. Both

53:57

of these individuals, Alison and Keith

53:59

pled not guilty. One

54:02

one note about Nia's finances.

54:04

That's that's going to be a huge

54:07

issue for his legal team because

54:09

apparently he did not have a bank account

54:12

nor a driver's license, and

54:14

of course he started encrypting email

54:16

and tossed his phone as

54:18

soon as the New York Times article went

54:21

live. It's fascinating how much she,

54:23

I don't know, trying to give himself a plausible deniability

54:26

about some of that stuff, right exactly,

54:30

tried to be in the operative phrase there.

54:32

Alison Mac, as we record this is currently

54:35

out on bail. She paid a five

54:37

million dollar bond and she is living

54:39

at her parents house. At this point,

54:41

observers suspect Mac will likely attempt

54:44

to plea bargain. This would not be out

54:46

of the realm of possibility. She could claim

54:48

that she, like her victims, was psychologically

54:51

manipulated, coerced, and therefore controlled

54:54

by the Vanguard. And

54:56

it's an argument that prosecutors or

54:58

a jury may well accept. And

55:01

there's something to be said there perhaps. I

55:03

mean, we say

55:05

it's an argument because that's the way you

55:07

would frame it in a court of law. But

55:10

psychologically there's there's some

55:13

probably truth to that. Oh,

55:15

absolutely absolutely. And

55:18

then we have one more tidbit

55:21

about Keith Renier himself.

55:24

Oh yeah, his his lawyers requested

55:27

a ten million dollar bond and

55:29

he was completely denied bail, and

55:32

that was denied after June

55:35

fiveen they filed

55:37

it. Then he was arrested on

55:39

March twenty six of this

55:41

year. That's when they got him in Mexico

55:44

and brought him to Texas. Um

55:46

Mac also, interestingly enough, in

55:48

an earlier interview, she told The New

55:51

York Times magazine that the branding

55:53

was her idea. Well

55:56

yep. And their trial is set to

55:58

begin on October one

56:02

of this year, so there will be more

56:04

to come. This is an ongoing story.

56:07

There's a lot coming out right now. The day that

56:09

we're recording this, um, Katherine

56:11

Oxenberg, who was a star

56:14

on the show Dynasty, just came

56:16

forward discussing her daughter who got caught

56:18

up in the organization. So

56:21

yeah, it's gonna keep happening. It's going to keep

56:23

happening. There's going to be more news hitting

56:26

the airwaves soon regarding

56:28

this situation, and we would

56:30

like to stay up to date. We'll almost

56:32

certainly have to do an update once the trial

56:35

goes through to see how that all shakes

56:37

out. We also like to hear

56:39

from you, especially if you are

56:42

an aspiring actor a working actor.

56:46

First, congratulations,

56:48

it is a very difficult industry. Second,

56:50

have you run into things like this?

56:53

Have you seen organizations promising

56:56

you some sort of access or influence

56:58

or greater per personal self realization?

57:02

If so, what are the names of those organizations?

57:04

Do you think their aims were legitimate? Do you

57:06

think there was something else at playing?

57:09

Is there anything we could look into? Send

57:11

it our way, and we'd like to thank

57:14

you so much for listening.

57:16

Uh NOL, like all of us is working

57:19

on any number of secret projects. We can't

57:21

wait to tell you about those. Uh,

57:24

Paul, Matt and I will at some point

57:26

get to an Applebee's. We made a covenant.

57:29

We did for the record. We

57:31

did for the record, if you follow us on social media,

57:34

we did show up to that movef on meeting.

57:38

We did. Yeah, Matt and I went

57:41

to the Georgia chapter

57:43

of the Mutual UFO Network and I'll

57:47

admit it, man, I was surprised

57:49

by how packed it was. It was a crazy

57:51

packt You walk into the library

57:54

in Tucker, Georgia. You hang a left and

57:56

there's a big meeting room. Most

57:58

of the chairs are filled and

58:01

people were being very cordial

58:04

and just listening. The meeting was were on very

58:06

well. Um, when you maybe

58:08

it's just the the

58:11

vision that I have sometimes when you were talking

58:13

about a group of people who collectively

58:16

have some belief in the unidentified

58:19

flying objects in aerial phenomena, that

58:21

perhaps we're all a little bit strange.

58:23

I'm including myself in this group. By the way, Um,

58:26

the human beings that were

58:28

there in that room, assuming they were all human

58:30

beings are I mean, it

58:33

was so refreshing that I felt like we were

58:35

all just regular people. Is that

58:37

is that weird? I don't think so. It

58:40

was crazy refreshing. That's a good

58:42

people there too. And so we would like to

58:45

follow up in the future with some

58:48

of the details about Moufon

58:50

in a in a separate episode, maybe bring

58:52

somebody from there to talk a little bit about

58:54

their experiences, their inspirations. Who

58:57

doesn't love a good UFO story. And

59:00

then we found some other things that we thought

59:02

would be of immense interest

59:05

to you, some specific cases,

59:07

some specific cases, fellow

59:10

listeners. If you'd like to hear

59:12

a little bit more about Moufon or what

59:15

what we ended up doing there on that Saturday

59:18

h then check us out on social media. You can

59:20

find us on Instagram, Facebook,

59:22

and Twitter. We particularly like to

59:25

recommend Here's where it gets crazy

59:27

our community page, which

59:29

is sort of a enough about us, what

59:32

about you kind of thing where you

59:34

can meet with the most important part of this show,

59:36

your fellow listeners. We've

59:38

got some excellent moderators. The

59:41

meme game on that show, m E m

59:43

E is a plus plus double

59:45

good top of the line. Um.

59:48

Yeah, and if you know you do hit up in Applebee's,

59:50

don't forget to get a Muto frozen strawberry

59:53

Summer Squeeze. Um. They're

59:55

only there for a limited time, do you guys? He's

59:57

googling the menu. Yep.

1:00:02

Chickens fingers are still there. The shrimp wanton

1:00:04

stir fries to die for, So I just

1:00:06

don't don't forget it, So send us your stuff.

1:00:10

If you don't want to contact us, just

1:00:12

email us from your local Applebee's. We are

1:00:15

conspiracy at how stuff works dot

1:00:17

com.