RealClearInvestigations Podcast

RCI
  • 4.7 (16)
  • News

Each week J. Peder Zane, Editor of RealClearInvestigations, and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney discuss the week’s best investigative reporting and speak with journalists about cracking challenging stories. Whether it’s culture, politics, or the markets, RealClearIInvestigations should be your source for in-depth reporting from a wide range of perspectives. From the publishers of RealClearPolitics.com

  1. 3d ago

    Is Talking About Group Identity and IQ a Crime? with Nathan Cofnas

    On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI contributor John Murawski speak with Nathan Cofnas about his academic research into group identity and IQ – work that is so controversial that he may be facing criminal charges in Europe. On the news roundup, Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney discuss a Free Press article detailing the success of America’s post-all-out-bombing strategy in Iran, which has crippled Iran’s economy while restoring almost all of the pre-war flow of oil from the region. They also discuss Varney’s new article for RCI which suggests how like-minded groups – in this case journalists, nonprofits and lawyers that believe insurance companies do not treat their customers fairly – piggyback on each other’s work to amplify their message in ways that may raise ethical concerns. 00:00 Open 02:10 News Roundup: Iran Sanctions, Oil Flows, and the Munitions Narrative 04:24 Diesel Prices, CNN's Spin, and Results-Oriented Journalism 05:50 The Clarkson Law Firm: Turning Investigative Journalism into Lawsuits 16:20 Introducing Nathan Cafras and the Cambridge Plagiarism Scandal 20:43 What IQ Actually Measures 27:00 The "Equality Thesis" 33:05 Race and IQ 36:44 Do IQ Tests Have Cultural Bias? 44:27 "The Right's Stupidity Problem" 48:14 Affirmative Action and the Logic of the Equality Thesis 55:04 Why There's No Conservative New York Times 1:02:40 Hereditarianism, Selective Immigration, and the Fight Against Wokeism 1:07:24 Closing & Thanks Articles Discussed in This Podcast: · Nathan Cofnas: Research on group differences in intelligence: A defense of free inquiry https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09515089.2019.1697803 · Nathan Cofnas: Why We Need to Talk about the Right’s Stupidity Problem https://ncofnas.com/p/why-we-need-to-talk-about-the-rights · Nathan Cofnas: Beating Woke with Facts and Logic https://ncofnas.com/p/beating-woke-with-facts-and-logic · Natha Cofnas: DEI Fraud and Cover-Up at Cambridge https://ncofnas.com/p/dei-fraud-and-cover-up-at-cambridge · Free Press: The Strait of Hormuz Is Open https://www.thefp.com/p/the-strait-of-hormuz-is-open?utm_campaign=realclearpolitics · James Varney/RCI: Media Law: How One Firm’s Lawsuits Echo Investigative Journalism https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2026/09/29/media_law_how_one_firms_lawsuits_echo_investigative_journalism_1208788.html Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter. Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@realclearinvestigations.com

    Is Talking About Group Identity and IQ a Crime? with Nathan Cofnas

  2. Sep 26

    The AI Regulation Grift | RealClearInvestigations Podcast #136

    On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with Dr. Robert Malone about how powerful businesses, government officials, foundations and journalists are behind the growing push to regulate artificial intelligence, an effort which, he says, has less to do with saving humanity from extinction than protecting the valuation and competitive advantages of AI behemoths. On the news roundup, Zane and Varney discuss two articles that dovetail with Malone’s insights. The first is a Free Press article by a previous podcast guest, Roger Pielke Jr., that details how a “scientific” organization that openly says it is committed to climate change advocacy is gaming its studies to stoke fears about the climate – and is treated as an unbiased authority by much of the press. The second article, published by the Guardian, shows the influence many big companies have over government regulation by detailing how the EPA allowed pesticide giant Bayer to pick from a menu of regulation options for the controversial and destructive weedkiller dicamba. 00:00 Cold Open 02:13 Welcome to the Show 03:18 News Roundup: Introducing This Week's Stories 03:46 How "Fake Climate Science" Blamed a Nepal Disaster on Warming (Free Press) 10:08 Regulatory Capture: How Bayer Helped Write Its Own Weedkiller Rules (The Guardian) 15:43 Introducing Dr. Robert Malone 16:20 Upton Sinclair, "The Jungle," and the Original Regulatory Capture 24:17 The Hugging Face "Rogue AI" Incident: A Staged Fear Campaign? 32:03 A Timeline of the Coordinated AI Panic 38:36 Is There Really an AI Panic — and Should There Be? 43:31 Frontier vs. Open AI: Who Gets Regulated Out of Existence? 50:36 What Real AI Guardrails Should Look Like 54:06 AI, Censorship, and the Threat of "Pre-Thought" Control 1:04:11 Closing & Thanks to Dr. Malone Articles Discussed in This Podcast: Dr. Robert Malone/Substack: What the AI Panic Is Actually About https://substack.com/home/post/p-215832105 Dr. Robert Malone/Substack: The Machine That Decides What You Know https://substack.com/home/post/p-216901102 Free Press: How to Fake Climate Science and Fool the World https://www.thefp.com/p/how-to-fake-climate-science-and-fool?utm_campaign=realclearpolitics Guardian: EPA Let Bayer Pick Its Weedkiller Rules https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/20/epa-bayer-regulation-pesticide-dicamba RCI Podcast: Al Gore and the Politicization of Science https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/video/2026/04/18/al_gore_and_the_politicization_of_science_with_roger_pielke_jr_1177499.html RCI/James Varney: Government and the Case of the Phantom Frog https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2017/06/27/wildlife_services_calls_private_land_critical_habitat_for_nonexistent_frog.html Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter. Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@realclearinvestigations.com

    The AI Regulation Grift | RealClearInvestigations Podcast #136

  3. Sep 19

    Will AI Kill Us All? | RealClearInvestigations Podcast #135

    On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney discuss a wide range of articles published this week. Topics include the growing campaign to cast AI as an existential threat, the media’s lack of interest in the rampant fraud targeting taxpayer funds and the rise of Islam in Europe and the US. Follow RealClearInvestigations: Substack— https://substack.com/@realclearinvestigations?utm_source=global-search#:~:text=realclearinvestigations,-RealClearInvestigations X— https://x.com/RCInvestigates?s=20 Apple Podcasts— https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1575373700 Spotify— https://open.spotify.com/show/1PLQOp4IaJ5abobsrmyoMR?si=32b3017d16fb4dcb 00:00 Cold Open 00:31 Welcome to the Show 01:15 AI Doomsday Debate: How Real Is the 10–20% Extinction Risk? 06:09 Who's Funding the AI Narrative? PR Campaigns and Paid Journalism 11:04 Climate Fear, AI Fear, and the Decline of Critical Thinking 14:07 DOGE's Fading Spotlight: California's Hospice & Home Care Fraud 17:33 Nick Shirley, a New York Magazine Hit Piece, and Who Counts as a "Journalist" 26:30 Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Islam, the Far Right, and a False Symmetry in Europe 29:13 Assimilation, American Values, and the Unspoken Debate Over Islam 37:38 Socialism, Mamdani, and Closing Thoughts Articles Discussed in This Podcast: Wall Street Journal: The Anonymous Math Geek Who Quit Anthropic—and Became the Face of AI Safety https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/jacob-coxon-quit-anthropic-ai-safety-3f4e877c?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1 Washington Examiner: Anthropic Allies Are Behind ‘Independent' Groups Ringing AI Alarm Bells https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/investigations/4729617/anthropic-allies-independent-groups-ai-warnings-tarbell-center-fellows/ City Journal: How Did a Nigerian Chief Make Millions From Medicaid? https://www.city-journal.org/article/california-home-health-agency-nigeria-medicaid New York Magazine: Nick Shirley Is the GOP's Favorite Poster https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/how-nick-shirley-became-republicans-favorite-poster/ar-AA2ceVCs?ocid=BingNewsSerp Free Press: The Lie About Islam, Europe, and the Dangers We Face https://www.thefp.com/p/ayaan-hirsi-ali-the-lie-about-islam?utm_campaign=realclearpolitics RCI Series: Islam’s Rise in America https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2026/09/17/rci_series_islams_rise_in_america_1206744.html Zane/RealClearPolitics: Understanding Islam's Rise in America Without Rancor or Vitriol https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/09/18/understanding_islams_rise_in_america_without_rancor_or_vitriol.html Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter. Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@realclearinvestigations.com

    Will AI Kill Us All? | RealClearInvestigations Podcast #135

  4. Sep 11

    The Rise and Fall of a Super-Terrorist with Joby Warrick| RealClearInvestigations Podcast #134

    On this episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick about his compulsively readable new book, “The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-Terrorist.”  With the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss a New York Times article that suggests Vice President J.D. Vance may be highlighting obstacles to the Iran effort; a Wall Street Journal story about an AI researcher who warns computers could destroy humanity; an X post reporting evidence that the Journal piece could be part of an orchestrated campaign against AI; and Paul Sperry’s exclusive article in RCI detailing the government’s decision to parole at least three of the 15 terrorist detainees still held at Guantanamo Bay – men the government labels “high-value detainees” and “forever prisoners.”  00:00 Cold Open: An Earlier Age of Terrorism 00:50 Welcome & Guest Tease: Joby Warrick on "The Jackal" 01:40 News Roundup: NYT's J.D. Vance "Unvarnished" Iran Intel Story 05:26 Is an AI Doomsday Coming? An Anthropic Researcher's Resignation 09:58 Can AI Regulation Actually Work? 12:16 Gitmo's "Forever Prisoners" May Be Released (Paul Sperry Exclusive) 15:54 Introducing Joby Warrick and Why He Wrote "The Jackal" 19:18 Who Was Carlos the Jackal? Origins and the 1975 OPEC Raid 25:11 The Hijacking Era and How Carlos Evaded Capture for Decades 30:56 State Sponsors, the Palestinian Cause, and Strange Bedfellows 37:05 Interrogating Terrorists, Modern Mercenary Attacks, and Meeting Carlos in Prison Articles Discussed in This Podcast: Joby Warrick: “The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-Terrorist.” Joby Warrick/NYT: Carlos the Jackal’s Violent Chaos Endures Joby Warrick/Jewish World Review: My Encounter with Carlos the Jackal NYT: How Vance Gathered Unvarnished Views of Iran War  Wall Street Journal: Anthropic researcher quits over 'out-of-control' AI fears Parker Thayer/X: https://x.com/ParkerThayer?s=20 Paul Sperry/RCI: Exclusive: Gitmo Parole Board Greenlights Release of 3 'Forever Prisoners'  Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter. Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@realclearinvestigations.com

    The Rise and Fall of a Super-Terrorist with Joby Warrick| RealClearInvestigations Podcast #134

  5. Sep 4

    Trump’s Third Way in Iran | RealClearInvestigations Podcast #133

    On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney mark Labor Day by giving their guests the week off. In an extended news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss two articles on the Iran conflict – a Tablet article detailing Trump’s evolving strategy and an AP piece on how the Pentagon’s latest precision missiles are not so precise. Turning their attention to the changing world of journalism, they discuss a Semafor story describing how online ‘ghost creators’ are pushing fake news and a Columbia Journalism Review report on how New York City’s Mayor is shaping the news by paying social media influencers. Finally, Zane and Varney look at two articles related to the 25th anniversary of 9/11.00:00 Cold Open: The Mamdani Influencer Story 01:16 This Week on RealClearInvestigations.com 02:00 Trump's Iran Strategy: A Third Way Between Bush and Obama (Tablet/Michael Doran) 06:18 AP's Investigation Into U.S. Precision Munitions & Pentagon Contracting 11:47 Semafor: The Rise of AI-Scripted "Ghost Creator" Influencers 12:44 Columbia Journalism Review: Mamdani's Paid Influencer Network 17:10 9/11 at 25: The Human and Economic Toll 19:44 Douglas Murray on Why Conspiracy Theories Endure 24:57 Who Falls for Conspiracy Theories — and Which Side Does It More?  Articles Discussed in This Podcast: Tablet: Trump's Third Way on Iranhttps://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/trump-third-way-iran AP: Report: New US Missile Cut Deadly Path Through Iranian City https://apnews.com/article/iran-lamerd-us-prsm-lockheed-martin-b4a37c59bcf5d1a11eb87aa79f153648 Semafor: 'Ghost Creator' Videos Cashing in on America's Political Divide https://www.semafor.com/article/09/02/2026/paid-actors-ai-writing-how-a-new-kind-of-video-business-cashed-in-on-americas-divided-politics CJR: Mayor Mamdani’s Friendly Influencers and the Funding of Public Messaging in New York Cityhttps://www.cjr.org/tow_center/mayor-mamdanis-friendly-influencers-and-the-funding-of-public-messaging-in-new-york-city.php City Journal: The Staggering Financial Cost of 9/11https://www.city-journal.org/article/911-attacks-financial-cost Free Press: 9/11 Conspiracies and the War on the Truthhttps://www.thefp.com/p/douglas-murray-911-war-on-truth?utm_campaign=realclearpolitics  Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter. Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@realclearinvestigations.com

    Trump’s Third Way in Iran | RealClearInvestigations Podcast #133

  6. Aug 31

    Standing Up To Political Correctness with Matt Calkins | RealClearInvestigations Podcast #132

    On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with sports columnist Matt Calkins, who resigned from the Seattle Times after the newspaper killed his column that argued it is not hateful to oppose biological men playing women’s sports.  On the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss a series of stories on the media including: a PJ Media piece on California’s chilling new law Republicans have dubbed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act”; a Washington Free Beacon analysis showing how the New York Times uses the term Islamophobia to delegitimize viewpoints and shut down debate; and an arbitrator’s ruling that the Washington Post must rehire an opinion columnist the paper had fired for inflammatory tweets regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk. 00:00 Cold Open: "I Don't Think I Can Do It Anymore" 00:32 Welcome & Intro to This Episode 00:41 News Roundup: California's "Stop Nick Shirley Act" 06:34 The NYT's "Islamophobia" Label (Washington Free Beacon) 09:18 WaPo Arbitrator Reinstates Columnist Fired Over Charlie Kirk Tweets 13:35 Introducing Matt Calkins 13:37 The Column That Got Him Fired: Sophie Cunningham & Trans Athletes 18:37 Three Previous Columns the Seattle Times Spiked 22:06 Inside the Newsroom: Book Clubs, Activism & the Overton Window 27:17 Is Seattle Sports Media Just Reflecting the City? 32:57 The Decision to Resign 35:17 Seattle Times vs. San Diego Union-Tribune 37:02 Why Newsrooms Keep Losing Readers 39:31 Is the Trans-in-Sports Debate Media-Driven? 42:43 What's Next for Matt Calkins (Substack) 43:44 Closing & Thanks Articles Discussed in This Podcast: Matt Calkins: I Was a Sports Columnist at the Seattle Times for 11 years. This is why I resigned   Matt Calkins: X account   PJ Media: Hiding Much? Newsom Signs 'Stop Nick Shirley Act.'   Washington Free Beacon: The New York Times Is Weaponizing Islamophobia   Guardian: Washington Post Ordered To Reinstate Opinion Writer Fired Over Charlie Kirk Posts   Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter. Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@realclearinvestigations.com

    Standing Up To Political Correctness with Matt Calkins | RealClearInvestigations Podcast #132

  7. Aug 24

    Jason Arday and Academic Freedom with Tyler Austin Harper | RCI Pod #131

    On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with Atlantic writer Tyler Austin Harper about his widely discussed, gracefully written articles – including a piece addressing the recent suicide of Cambridge Professor Jason Arday and another detailing why Harper left his tenure track job at Bates College – reporting how identity politics is undermining academic freedom. On the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss Wall Street Journal and Free Press articles on the pushback against data centers and AI, a ProPublica piece on some of the problem when public money is used to support private schools and a New Yorker article on a Nobel Prize-winning researcher who sexually abused dozens of the young people from Papua New Guinea that he studied. 00:00 Curriculum and Social Justice Initiatives 03:05 The Pushback Against AI and Data Centers 06:13 The Debate on Academic Freedom and Private Schools 09:08 The Case of Jason Arday and Academic Integrity 12:03 Navigating Cultural Sensitivities in Academia 14:47 The Role of Media in Shaping Academic Discourse 33:02 The Evolution of Academic Discourse 37:04 Marxism and the Academy 41:01 The Assault on Academic Freedom 46:10 The Crisis in the Humanities 50:08 The Value of Humanities in Society 54:31 Navigating Political Discourse in Academia   Articles & Books Discussed in This Podcast: ·       Tyler Austin Harper/Atlantic: The Truths That Failed Jason Arday ·       Tyler Austin Harper/Atlantic: Why I Quit the Tenure Track ·       Tyler Austin Harper/Atlantic: What Is the Mellon Foundation Doing to Higher Education? ·       “Words For the Taking: The Hunt for a Plagiarist” by Neal Bowers ·       Wall Street Journal: The 'Country Hicks' Who Refused $26M from AI Data Center ·       Free Press: A City’s War on Surveillance Cameras ·       ProPublica: Private Voucher Schools Face Little Accountability ·       The New Yorker: The Nobel Laureate Who Experimented on Children   Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter. Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@realclearinvestigations.com

    Jason Arday and Academic Freedom with Tyler Austin Harper | RCI Pod #131

  8. Aug 17

    The Prestige Industrial Complex with “Yuri Bezmenov” RCI Pod #130

    On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney speak with the Substacker who writes under the pseudonym “Yuri Bezmenov” (he’ll tell us why) about his reporting on the network of awards, fellowship, teaching gigs and other lucrative and prestigious incentives that reward people who espouse progressive ideas. On the news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss a National Review article that details Iran’s efforts to take the war to other countries, a ProPublica article about how General Dynamics’ failed effort to make artillery shells with robots cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and an article in the Atlantic in which an African-American professor details how his experience with dangerous excesses of wokism pushed him to leave academia. Articles Discussed in This Podcast:| Yuri Bezmenov Substack: Fauci’s Georgetown Gig and Other Progressive Rewards National Review: Iran Is Rewiring Its Proxy Network ProPublica: Taxes Funded $533M Artillery Plant That Made Nothing Atlantic: Why This Black Professor Quit the Tenure Track Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter. Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@realclearinvestigations.com

    The Prestige Industrial Complex with “Yuri Bezmenov” RCI Pod #130
See All (105)

Trailer

4.7
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

Each week J. Peder Zane, Editor of RealClearInvestigations, and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney discuss the week’s best investigative reporting and speak with journalists about cracking challenging stories. Whether it’s culture, politics, or the markets, RealClearIInvestigations should be your source for in-depth reporting from a wide range of perspectives. From the publishers of RealClearPolitics.com

Information

You Might Also Like