Netflix’s Adolescence, a four-part thriller about a 13-year-old murder suspect, has hijacked Britain’s political conversation. Annie Kelly explains why the series hit such a nerve: it maps the online pipelines that radicalize boys in their own bedrooms, dramatizes the deadly consequences of misogyny, and spotlights the adults too clueless to confront these threats. Within weeks, MPs demanded it be shown in classrooms, tabloid headlines frightened parents over coded emojis, and right-wing investigators branded the show a taxpayer-funded anti-incel psyop involving Sophie from Peep Show.

Come listen as Annie breaks down how virtuosic television managed to inspire breathtakingly cynical discourse about race, youth violence, and fictional portrayals of social issues.


Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes:
www.patreon.com/QAA


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Annie Kelly on Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/annieknk.bsky.social



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Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com

QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

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REFERENCES

“Adolescence” and the Right’s War on Men
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/adolescence-and-the-rights-war-on-men/

Not Based On A True Story
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/april/not-based-on-a-true-story

Adolescence: The Manosphere Strikes Back (E322)

“Jaw Clench Study Takes Tax Dollars,” United Press International cautioned in 1975. “‘Shrimp On A Treadmill’: Rand Paul Mocks National Science Foundation Studies,” Forbes reported in 2021. “Gov't waste report finds $400K spent to give lonely rats cocaine: 'Absurd',” Fox News told viewers in 2024. 

According to these headlines, a wasteful, woke liberal government has been squandering taxpayer money on something wholly undeserving: frivolous scientific studies. Tens of thousands to millions of dollars, we’re told, are being handed out like candy so scientists can sit around watching monkeys clench their jaws, putting shrimp on treadmills, and give cocaine to rats. And who gets to choose which studies are funded? Wasteful ultra woke organizations like the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Health and Human Services. 

It’s true that some research doesn’t end up having much practical relevance––indeed this is the nature of scientific inquiry! There are sometimes cul-de-sacs and wrong paths. But the majority of the time, studies that are trivialized in media and on the Senate floor aren’t superfluous at all. 

While soundbites like “shrimp on a treadmill” might paint a ridiculous picture, they’re also taken out of context, obscuring the scientific merit and moral import of the research and researchers, who work for years on often obscure, tedious lines of inquiry only to have their lives’ work reduced to a cheap punchline by bad-faith demagogues playing to the public’s ignorance and lizard brain impulses. 

So, why is this media and political punchline so popular? And what’s the agenda of the lawmakers and media organizations that denigrate and misrepresent research and science more broadly, and the larger current of conspicuous anti-intellectualism that has always been present in American political culture, but in the last ten years has entirely taken over the modern American Right? 

On this episode, we discuss the decades-old, anti-intellectual gambit of mocking and attacking the “frivolous study,” examining how it warps and devalues science and international cooperation in a broader effort to defund public institutions, both scientific and otherwise.

Our guest is Brenda Ekwurzel, Senior Director of Scientific Excellence at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Ep 221: Anti-Science Mugging on the Right and the Ascent of American Anti-Intellectualism

RFK Jr. is now running the Department of Health and Human Services. So we sat down with journalist and Conspirituality co-host Derek Beres to get an idea about how long it will take for Kennedy’s "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) agenda to revive the black plague. 

We chat about why Beres argues that Kennedy's wellness-sounding platform masks an exclusionary health vision which amounts to “soft eugenics,” RFK Jr’s endorsement of the MMR vaccine and how this angered his followers, harmful narratives about autism which will probably be endorsed by the federal government, and how the MAHA Commission's AI-generated report doesn’t seriously address health problems facing children.

Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes:
patreon.com/qaa

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Derek Beres on BlueSky
https://bsky.app/profile/derekberes.bsky.social

Conspirituality Podcast
https://www.conspirituality.net/

Re:frame substack
https://derekberes.substack.com/

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Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com


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SOURCES


Maga’s era of ‘soft eugenics’: let the weak get sick, help the clever breed
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/may/04/maga-soft-eugenics

Florida becomes second state to ban adding fluoride to drinking water
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/15/florida-fluoride-drinking-water

Health secretary RFK Jr. endorses the MMR vaccine — stoking fury among his supporters
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5354900/hhs-rfk-endorses-mmr-measles-vaccine-stoking-supporters-fury

RFK Jr. Misleads on Autism Prevalence, Causes
https://www.factcheck.org/2025/04/rfk-jr-misleads-on-autism-prevalence-causes/

Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26092033/

Effectiveness of fluoride in preventing caries in adults
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17452559/

National COVID-19 trends, May 27
https://thesicktimes.org/2025/05/27/national-covid-19-trends-may-27/

The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist
https://www.notus.org/health-science/make-america-healthy-again-report-citation-errors


MAHA Mia! feat. Derek Beres (E326)

Donald Trump “re-truths” a ludicrous claim about the former President, while being attacked by former bestie Elon Musk.  Travis explores historical body doubles that got away with it… kind of.  Jake wonders if movies are to blame.


Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes:
https://patreon.com/qaa


Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com




QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.


Body Doubles (E327)

In this public News Brief, we break down the selling of an unpopular, disastrous war in record speed. 

News Brief: Pundits Speed-run 15 months of Iraq War Propaganda for Iran in Five Days

For this special bonus episode we're joined by Jason P. Woodbury from Aquarian Drunkard's Transmissions podcast, to talk about everything from Christian music, to the Michael Tait allegations, to the mystic/freak-folk scene of the mid-2000s, to the crossovers between Ufology and Christianity

Please go check out Jason's podcast on iTunes or Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ErL7gvZD6v3HJ4Nx5oexm

And support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Too Much Goodness Is A Sin Today (w/ special guest Jason P. Woodbury)

A Mom’s For Liberty ‘Legislator of the Year” winner arrested for sexually abusing children and distributing CSAM. A horrifying politically motivated assassination. Julian dives into the disturbing details in charges filed against State Representative RJ May III and Travis debunks right wing claims that shooter Vance Luther Boelter is a Democrat.


Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes:
https://patreon.com/qaa


Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com




QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.


A Time For Assassins and Pedophiles (E329)

This week we're joined by returning guest Tracy Rosenthal to discuss the Zohran Mamdani mayoral campaign: how it was shaped, how it won the Democratic Primary, what it may look like going forward, and how the rest of the media and political class is reacting to it. But first, we catch up on some housekeeping re: Israel and the U.S.'s war against Iran, and talk very briefly about Peter Thiel's fixation on the Antichrist.

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 398: If You Don't Fight, You Lose (w/ special guest Tracy Rosenthal)

This week we're talking "toxic empathy," more Epstein-Trump news, and finally the new Democratic formula for success: saying more curse words

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 401: Gotta Have Them Libs

Jake, Julian, and Travis try to make sense of Trump’s continued and ineffective attempts to make his base stop caring about Jeffrey Epstein.  In some conspiracist circles, Trump’s moves on this issue are so confusing that they have resorted to “Trump clone” theories. We also discuss the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that revealed the cryptic birthday note that Trump sent to Epstein.

For dessert, the Jake Street Journal (JSJ) has done an investigation of its own and secured a collection of additional birthday wishes written from Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein.

Thanks for subscribing to QAA on patreon.
Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)
https://qaapodcast.com

QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.


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We’ve launched a new podcast miniseries network: Cursed Media. The very first Cursed Media miniseries is Science in Transition. 

Science in Transition is an investigation into the intellectual origins of the contemporary right wing backlash against transgender acceptance. Through six deeply-researched episodes, hosts Liv Agar and Spencer Barrows unearth a bizarre coalition of well-meaning clinicians, aristocratic sexologists, militant feminists, right-wing culture warriors, headline-chasing journalists, and conservative politicians.

Listen to the first two episodes of Science In Transition and the rest of the six episodes as they are released weekly by subscribing through this link.

www.cursedmedia.net/

Subscribers to Cursed Media get access to three new podcast series per year, plus every episode of QAA’s existing mini-series (properly organized!)

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REFERENCES  

Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One Was From Donald Trump
https://archive.vn/IUWMu

Judge overseeing DOJ Epstein grand jury records request asks for more information
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/judge-overseeing-doj-epstein-grand-jury-records-request/story?id=123964265

Trump may not see the Epstein grand jury records for a while — if at all
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/18/jeffrey-epstein-grand-jury-documents-case-00464189

Americans are broadly dissatisfied with how much Epstein info the government has released, CNN poll finds
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/15/politics/jeffrey-epstein-cnn-poll


Auto Q
https://x.com/Rep_Stansbury/status/1947702599945490780






A Guy Who Never Dies, Jeffrey Epstein (E333)

We begin by reading the last will and testament of Anas al-Sharif, a 28-year-old journalist for Al-Jazeera that was among those slain in Gaza by Israel yesterday. We then resume our Epstein coverage, including a look at his Manhattan lair and celebrity dinner guests. Then, two pieces on venture capitalists driven insane by The Computer and a story by Pamela Paul on conservative women…with careers? Stick around until the end for another Stroke of Genius and a special announcement from Chris.

Pre-order Seth Harp’s book The Fort Bragg Cartel here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730414/the-fort-bragg-cartel-by-seth-harp/ 

And check out his book launch with TrueAnon at the Bell House this Wednesday: https://www.ticketmaster.com/an-evening-with-trueanon-and-seth-brooklyn-new-york-08-13-2025/event/300062F5CD8E3E2D

959 - The Bopper’s Lair (8/11/25)

Conspiracy theories, melted online communities and cursed media — we pry open the cracks in consensus reality and journey into the hidden worlds below. The QAA Podcast is a mix of reporting, comedy, and history hosted by Jake Rockatansky, Travis View, and Julian Feeld along with co-hosts Annie Kelly, Liv Agar and Brad Abrahams. Formerly known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.