I’d love to see a documentary on the PPP loan fraud during Covid (US). There have been a lot of news articles about it, but a deep dive that exposes wealthy people would be awesome.
There’s an industry that basically takes guardianship of elderly people by getting them declared incompetent, without their knowledge. They move them into nursing homes, sell off their homes and assets and take over their money. It’s like the title theft scam, but with people being taken over rather than just real estate. It’s brutal and frightening:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights
It wasn’t a documentary, but wasn’t there a movie like this? - “I Care A Lot”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9893250/
I think there definitely needs to be more press about this. I had no idea this documentary existed: “The Guardians” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7348082/
Also, good on John Oliver for reporting on it, but I have no idea how I missed it as well… - https://youtu.be/nG2pEffLEJo
This is my greatest fear. Medical bureaucracy is terrifying. I don’t have kids to advocate for me either. Years ago I was stripped of all my rights and sent to in patient after just going to a therapist intake. I moved and just wanted to see a therapist closer to my new apartment. I wasn’t having the best time but I was nowhere *near* suicidal. This lady just decided I was a danger to myself because I was honest that I did try when I was a child, over 20 years ago, as a direct result of a brutal traumatic event.
I was in there for two days, and if I didn’t have a supportive family or that time off of work already I shudder to think of the long term implications. It cost me over 5k, and I would have been fired if I just no call no showed for two days. It truly would have ruined my life if I didn’t have family with access to that kind of money. It still took me years to be able to pay them back.
One person making one call can ruin your life. I still have nightmares.
Jesus Christ. Therapist here - that is sketchy as fuck for several reasons.
You should not have been admitted to the hospital for that, especially not when there are plenty of people who express active suicidality and intent who can’t get beds. Unless we’re missing some key component of this story, I hope you feel empowered to report that therapist to the licensing board.
How some of the top fashion magazines send young models over to meet wealthy donors in hotel rooms who will ‘help’ them get the modelling contract they were after.
Not a docu but there’s an animation from the French school Gobelins called “Louise” on YouTube about this. It’s like 6 mins long lol, but very expressive
Many years ago I was 20, living and working/modelling OS and was sent to a hotel to meet a director of a huge TVC campaign I had just booked that was earning me $200K. It was being shot in some gorgeous islands on boats etc.. It was my first really big job, I was very excited.
The director sat in a booth of this boutique hotel and asked for my modelling portfolio and flipped through each page telling me why I was right for the job. By 1/2 way though the folio he started explaining what each photo made him want to do to me. I knew I had 10 days on location with this 60 year old fucking creep, I was trapped though. I managed to let on I was willing to leave the darker bar area where we were sitting to have a more private conversation about the job. As soon as I could see the foyer I went to make a run for it, he grabbed my arm with his "no no no you don't" , pushed me in to a corner and rammed his revolting tongue down my throat. I kicked him as hard as I could in the balls and made a run for it.
By the time I got back to the model apartment I had already been cancelled for the job, obviously, and within the hour my agent was there abusing the living shit out of me. Not so shitty small time agency, this was a respected world renowned one. She was apoplectic. Did I know how much the job was worth? How much this was earning her? Don't I know how the industry fucking works? I explained to her what happened but she acted like I was the one who was an idiot for not getting it. At 1 am I was kicked out of the house I was living in in a foreign country.
A little over a year later I was living in a model house with 8 other girls. I was the only one who hadn't been drugged/raped/sexually assaulted.
Another city was full of girls warning that lower grade agents will take your passport to make a copy - but actually keep your passports and force you to stay and work gentlemans clubs. This was common knowledge and girls were constantly being trapped.
Another job I was sent home for refusing to take all my clothes off for the owner of the company. He yelled at me saying "you know I can get some Russian slut to do this for free". Again, I just left. I have a dozen stories like this.
Life might seem glamorous if you're a top name, but I was earning a VERY comfortable living but it took me standing up for myself unrelentingly, being "on" at every moment, never really socialising, walking out, and running for my life more than I care to admit.
Edit: Woah. I woke up to so many comments. I'll try to reply as I can, I just wanted to thank everyone for the lovely thoughts and words.
The province of New Brunswick, Canada is basically the play toy of a small handful of wealthy families (Irving, McCain, Oland). The government is just there for show.
I remember reading a stat a number of years ago that ~65% of the population of New Brunswick was directly employed by those three families and something like 80% was indirectly employed.
As a New-Brunswicker who moved to QC 10 years ago, Im blown away that litterally NOBODY HERE KNOWS THIS!
The Irvings and their monopoly on NB is the main reason I moved.
Just wait til you hear about the mysterious brain disease in New Brunswick which the government is basically covering up
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/brain-disease-new-brunswick-michael-coulthart-email-1.7228096
https://www.canadaland.com/new-brunswick-mystery-illness-documents/
In the CanadaLand article, among other things, they mention the possibility that it could be from an algae caused by fertilizer runoff from agricultural industry.
So yeah, if that's the case, there's not doubt they have some involvement.
Blue-green algae toxicity. Yeah, I feel like this is a big candidate for "thing that was obviously in plain sight poisoning us the whole time". Plenty of people spend time in lakes that are routinely contaminated by blue-green algae during the summer when fertilizer runoff creates algal blooms. And we *know* it's toxic in large doses. Pets often die from drinking contaminated lake water. But does it have long-term degenerative effects when you constantly consume it in lower doses?
The Irving’s are bad people. The government of New Brunswick (party doesn’t matter) are bad people who live in the pockets of the Irving’s. They want us dead. They’re poisoning our water and food.
A close friend’s parent has this “mystery brain disease” and her blood is filled with everything the Irving and government sprays on our woodlands.
I'm so sorry to hear that. You read about it in articles but it hits home when you hear personal stories. It's sad that it feels so helpless. You are absolutely correct when you say the Irving's are bad and evil people. They are actively and knowingly poisoning and killing people.
Good one! I just googled this and Irving owns like 200 companies in New Brunswick. That's insane. It just can't be a level playing field when you have a company that accounts for over half your economy.
The story I always like to tell is how I used to work at a gas station as a pump attendant in the late 90s. We used to have this customer come in and just be a nasty, rude piece of shit to everyone working. After about a month or so of this he just stopped coming in. Turns out the Irving private security (dudes looked like secret service agents) paid a visit to him at his home and...he stopped coming in. Now, we were all happy about it because it was a huge pain in the ass having to deal with this guy all the time...but the thought that has always remained with me is how Irving security was able to track a private citizen down and show up at their home with zero repercussions, backlash, etc. As much of a pain as he was, it still seemed unethical.
Of course there are bigger issues. Property taxes sky rocketing in Canada's poorest province for everything but Irving owned properties being the biggest bee in the bonnet for a lot of folks. Oh, and the mysterious brain disease that the government keeps shutting down research on, with the popular speculation being that it has something to do with Irving ventures with chemicals/pesticides/etc. Oh...and the buying up of crownlands for logging at ridiculously reduced prices...and Irving buying all the news publication agencies and radio stations in the province...and...well...you get the idea.
Re: finding a private citizen in New Brunswick...NB is small, I lived in Freddy for 6 years and have relatives in NB, wouldn't take long for you and I to find a mutual friend.
We raised one of our two harbour-spanning bridges so Irving could have better harbour access for their ships. Caused delays and closures and traffic backups for years. And that's next door in NS. Sure, other companies could benefit eventually, but everyone knows it was done at Irving's behest. They have a very long reach.
There’s a town like this in Northwestern Wisconsin where the Jack Link beef jerky company resides. The Link family runs the joint and there was some spicy family drama a few years back that was fun to follow in the news.
There is a lot that could be exposed about elder and end of life issues. Making the enormous monthly cost of a nursing home (>10k for a shared room) or assisted living (>$6k) known and what those places are really like to live in. The “estate planning” industry that popped up in the US to help people hide assets from the government so that Medicaid will pay but not take the house. The push to integrate mentally ill seniors with the “rest of the population” and the impact that has on the other residents. Seniors avoiding marriage to keep old pensions etc. The entire hospice industry and how they aren’t going to be there to help at all unless there is an emergency. I could go on…
I've personally seen elderly couples who had been married for decades get divorced because at their income level they would get better benefits as two single people rather than a married couple, and they couldn't afford to live without the benefits. The system is fucked.
Not to mention the fact that venture capitalists are gobbling them up, fewer and fewer companies are now running these places into the ground with profit over care in order to continue squeezing out record profits year in and year out.
Steroid use in Hollywood. Everyone knows it's happening but I don't think the extent is widely known. When a male actor puts on a lot of muscle for a role they have most likely used steroids. Even if they have just put on a little muscle they probably still used steroids, because you can't gain fast enough to get in shape for the start of filming. And because it is technically illegal no-one will ever admit it.
What makes it worse is these people (and their trainers) will write articles for Men's Health where they go through their workouts, ignoring the fact that they took growth hormone for a year.
There have been a few good documentaries about doping in sports but I think we need one about Hollywood.
There's an old men's health article with his "God of Thunder" routine that is pure bodyweight and v light touch. Like sure Chris, 10 mountain climbers for those biceps seems legit
Seriously. At least sell me what lifts you're actually doing, even if I won't look like you without enough HGH to kill an elephant. At least they'll be more effective than some bullshit calisthenics
They all either do that or they have these long-winded interviews about their diet and workout routine but then don't mention their HGH and EPO supplements.
Like yeah it's great that you're eating 5lbs of broiled chicken breast and no carbs, but you put on 80lbs of pure muscle in 60 days, that's not coming from eating chicken breast and broccoli.
Alan Ritchson had a interview for men’s health called gym and fridge where he basically says it’s impossible for a person to naturally look like him no matter what they do. I’m sure all these actors have strict contract stipulations that say they can’t disclose that they’re taking anything illegal
I watched Die Hard for the first time last Christmas (I know, I know) and was struck by how Bruce Willis’ body in that film worked (and still works) so well as an action movie strong-guy-who-goes-to-the-gym type body. If it was shot today it feels like there would be so much more pressure to be a dehydrated roided up dude with a 10-pack.
Kurt Russel in “Big Trouble in Little China” and “Escape from NY” also
I mean he was obviously in good shape, but it looked natural. I miss the days of our action heros still looking by like humans.
What’s interesting is that we’ve seen this transformation occur all within the same actor and character, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Look at his physique in the first X-Men movie, and look at it now.
Hugh Jackman is the go-to example for roiding out because he started off at the tail end of superhero movies where guys could look plausibly natty, and then gets insanely ripped as he moves into middle age in a manner totally contrary to normal human physiology.
I had a recent and similar experience with that exact film. When seeing Pulp Fiction this summer (previous viewing was 20+ years ago) I was happy that while Bruce Willis looks fantastic in it, he also isn't shaped very differently than I am now. I'd grown so used to today's movie actors having God-tier fantasy physiques. And on top of that, Pulp Fiction Bruce provided a baldness role model too
Patrick Swayze in Road House is another great example. Swayze is in great shape in that movie but he is tiny compared to today or even his contemporaries.
My husband is into fitness and follows bodybuilders, has one of his bachelor's degrees in exercise science, and has a number of friends who use steroids. He told me some of the tell-tale signs, and now he and I play "Who's Juiced?" while watching movies or sharing social media posts back and forth.
I think it's incredibly unfair that stars aren't honest about being on something. Just like those on Ozempic and/or surgeon's tables saying they keep fit by "hiking in the Hollywood hills and chasing their toddler around." These celebrities are showing unattainable bodies saying, "Just ate clean and hit the gym every day." False.
I don't remember who it was, but some ripped celebrity was talking about shirtless scenes and how dehydrated he has to be for them. Basically, he avoids water for 2 days and shoots, then hydrates, and they have to give him a few days before he does it again. He has to get as close to organ failure/death as possible to show an impossible aesthetic.
I am open with anyone who asks. I've taken Ozempic and had Botox (now Daxxify) for years. I don't look like a celebrity, but if anyone asks, I'm an open book.
He visited the place my brother-in-law worked once while he was training for (I think?) one of the more recent xmen movies. He had a trainer following him around with a rolling cooler and the trainer would interrupt and be like "it's 2:15, time for three slices of apple!" or whatever. I don't doubt there were steroids involved, but it was also a ridiculously meticulous diet.
They also dehydrate themselves before shoots. Henry Cavill talked about not drinking water for something like 3 days before shoots for The Witcher. The shit actors go through is just nuts.
Two days at the most. Usually 2 days on inadequate water and 1 day with none followed by a careful rehydration protocol. If their routines are anything like athletes.
Ha, that reminds me of when Lucifer showed up in a new season, all buff and bare-arsed. How do you bulk up like that over a summer? Kale and steamed chicken breast, I’m sure.
Dwayne Johnson is literally more buff now than he was when he was younger, even though thats the opposite of what should happen with aging. I think another good example is Michael B Jordan as killmonger, I've never seen someone get such a bulked stomach without steroids, it looks like a beer belly except with pure muscle mass instead of fat.
He is one of the guys who is in Men's Health basically saying you can just do a few pushups and some curls and a bit of rowing. He is roided to the gills.
I'm pretty sure he's been open about the exact opposite of this. I've seen an interview where he says it's simply not possible to achieve that physique without it being your job and / or making yourself miserable.
Not saying he's not roided mind 😅
And in law enforcement. Have run into some cops in South Florida with huge arms and short tempers that made me wonder.
Even uniforms were revised to offer a "Gladiator" fit for dudes with huge arms. Like...unnaturally huge arms.
I went to a performance a while back. Had no clue what I was getting into. Absolutely gorgeous dancing, spectacular music, amazing costumers, whole nine yards. The religion/cult part was not subtle. NOT EVEN REMOTELY subtle.
I'm actually sad about it. The culty bits turned me off to the point where I will not go again, but their talent and skill in choreography, costumes, and everything was extremely legit. Truly S tier.
This. Wife and I hit the bar before the show and they said no booze. We looked at each other like oh, oh and it just went downhill from there. Who knew?!
How the private prison industry basically got tons of local sheriffs departments into the prison industry, especially in the south by financing, building and training them to run jails and prisons for profit. It's like a franchise, and poor people are the product.
And even in state/city/county run jails, all their healthcare, food, etc is done by for profit companies. Oh and libraries for inmates? We replaced them with tablets where they have to purchase books with their wages which are maybe 24 cents an hour.
Lariam/mefloquine. There's a mini Youtube documentary about it but it's not nearly big enough or been seen by enough people for me to count that.
If you don't know, Lariam is an anti-malaria drug that was prescribed to many people in the late 80s and 90s, and prescribed by first world militaries up until the 2010s. I personally have family who was impacted and still suffers from the effects of Lariam, but the people I know at least didn't have their brains and lives completely destroyed by it like so many others have. It's been linked to countless suicides and homicides, including the Kandahar Massacre, causing paranoia, hallucinations, and night terrors that literally take your worst fears and bring them to life, because the mefloquine toxicity acts on the limbic system where your amygdala (aka the fear center) is. Many people have killed themselves over the dreams alone.
Every single detainee at GTMO was dosed, for no reason, with the 1250mg dose that would be prescribed to cure someone who HAD malaria, not even the 250mg prophylactic dose. This was done without testing the detainees for malaria and without reason to believe they had it. People from the same regions as the prisoners who were at GTMO as employees were not subjected to it, and it is widely believed to have been done specifically to bring about the debilitating side effects as "psychological waterboarding".
There is evidence (though not proof) that Lariam may have been created as part of MKUltra, when the CIA was trying to synthesize mind-control drugs using Quinolones. Currently, there are still class action lawsuits in progress in the US and Europe over the militaries mass prescribing this as the drug of choice to prevent malaria, even though there have been much safer and equally effective options since the 90s. Google it, you might fall down the rabbit hole like I have many times after seeing how it effects my family members who took it. It's terrifying how much awful shit it's linked to.
I took mefloquine for several months while in Haiti. At first the dreams were psychedelic. Then you’d be standing in the middle of a room and you would be absolutely certain - as though it was happening to you right then - that the ceiling would cave in and you would be crushed under the concrete. Like a waking dream you can’t wake up from. Or I’d suddenly remember the fish I had for lunch and become convinced that I had swallowed a bone, that I could literally feel it lodged in my throat, that I couldn’t breathe - then the panic sets in and you actually can’t breathe - it’s almost impossible to describe, except you see it happening to you in your mind’s eye like you’re dreaming, but you are standing there and your body is reacting like it’s happening to you right then, and your brain fuses the two things - dream and reality….
Yeah, I stopped the mefloquine.
I lived in Africa for three years and was also sent to several southwest Asian countries for stints that ended up totaling another three years. I took Lariam for two nights and had the most fucked up night terrors (fwiw I have night terrors anyhow) but the Lariam terrors were so remarkable I still remember them, almost two decades later. Fortunately my doctor quickly took me off Lariam, and instead prescribed doxycycline.
Would you be willing to share what the night terrors were about? I have found some descriptions online, but so many people who had Lariam night terrors, including people who ended up killing themselves over them, refused to tell anyone what they were about because they were THAT bad.
The ones I have read about seem to literally be people's worst fears brought to life. One woman shared that she dreamed about falling out of a plane while shooting all of her loved ones with a machine gun as she fell. I would bet money that she was afraid of flying and/or heights, and losing her loved ones. And Lariam brought those fears to life.
The second night on the medicine, I dreamt that I killed my boss, dismembered her, and burned her in a bonfire which I assiduously fed to ensure there would be no evidence. The dream was graphic and seemingly unrelenting. In the morning, I was hoarse from screaming. Fun night for the whole family.
0/10 would not recommend
Wow, I am so sorry... Another thing I've read about the dreams is that people seem to be at a much higher risk of screaming/crying, or even sleepwalking and DOING things in their sleep, like one person said they had grabbed a baton and were trying to bash a window in when someone else woke up and stopped them. I've had bad dreams before where I screamed or cried in the dream, but I've never woken my husband up from screaming, nor do I sleepwalk or anything.
I took Lariam while traveling around India in 2008. I’m American but was living in Hong Kong at the time and it was given to me by my primary care doc there. Everyone else in the group I was traveling with had been prescribed something different as an antimalarial. My dreams were intense and unlike anything I could imagine. It was a fun little breakfast chat to describe some of the stuff I had dreamed the night before. I took a weekly dose for 8 weeks and the nights following the dose were always the most vivid.
When I returned home to the states a couple months later I learned a tiny bit more about Lariam, including that it was still given to US troops. Made/makes me wonder about what they would be experiencing because the dreams I was having were obviously directly impacted by my daily activities and environment at the time.
That was only 8 doses 16 years ago and it was unforgettable. I can’t begin to imagine the impacts of people on it long term.
Had a relative that went on a safari-esque trip in Africa and had vividly terrifying dreams every single night of the 2 week trip due to taking anti-malarial meds. They were certain that others were talking about them around the campfire at night & only later realized it was most likely the anti-malarial meds.
I took mefloquine on a trip and had insane levels of anxiety during that trip. Only realized why after I got home and googled mefloquine. Never again. Jesus. This was only 3 years ago and now I google every drug before I take it.
The Fat Boys were pioneers of hip hop and contributed greatly to the genre but are largely written off as a novelty and have mostly been forgotten.
I would *love* to do a documentary about them.
Love the fact that every other comment in this thread is like "The coca cola corporation controls this northern Canadian town using evil Mormon wizards on their payroll who shoot steroids into their balls and use child labor to put micro plastics into your food that's cooked by Nazis" and meanwhile you're like "Hey these guys made big contributions to rap and I think they should be appreciated more"
How much the military actually waste. If they don’t use what they’re allotted one fiscal year they don’t get the same the next so towards the end of the year they’ll throw ammo off boats in the ocean and purposely break office furniture and burn excess uniforms so the same amount at minimum is allotted the next year
Haha! Working DoD cyber, I’ve seen this but in a more subtle way. If we have 40k left, they send us to classes for training,
Or provide vouchers for us to purchase a class. Whats sad is when we NEED new systems, or better network defense capabilities, the money is nowhere to be found 2 months into the year lol. Some of these routers cost 50k and up. It’s crazy! That huge DoD budget goes to contractors. The rest of us got busted buildings, declining services, enlistment bonuses were slashed ages ago, shitty desktops, on base medical facilities are drowning so they send us off base…we will get some new bombs and planes however smh.
Btw, Unless something has changed since 2022, outside of gear for deployments,,the military forces the troops to buy their uniforms. They’re purchased from contractors, private companies who make large profits. Was so pissed when they switched from ABUs to OCPs a year before retirement.
The Mormon Church is sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in stock and real estate. They do almost no charity work directly from those funds. The majority of the humanitarian funds the church claims are from an equivalent dollar value of labor from their members and another entirely separate charity arm which doesnt involve church contributions.
They're more powerful in the US West than most people give them credit for. Besides Utah, they control -- through regulatory boards, state and local assemblies and similar -- big parts of Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. They own all the local banks in Las Vegas. And they control the gaming board which means they basically control the city.
A good friend in high school was Mormon. He partied and chased girls like the rest of us. When he turned 18, he quit everything and went to every girl he had screwed and asked forgiveness for leading them into sin. One time our teacher asked what vocation we wanted to be, when we grew up. Most students didn't know or said doctor, lawyer, athlete, etc. My Mormon friend said hospital administrator.
He is now a hospital administrator out West pulling down $500,000-1 million per year.
Maybe true, but the Mormons only have 17 million members total across the world and yet are the top 3 richest religions. They own over 2% of Florida alone.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_religious_organizations
They have a confirmed $236 billion, but many experts estimate that it’s a little over $500 billion since they have hidden a lot of assets in shell companies.
The Catholic Church has been accepting donations and holding on to antiquities for almost 2000 years. That's a time period for some compound interest that us mortals can only drool over.
The Church is older than fractional reserve banking. They are almost as old as coins.
The age of all of the tech that is the backbone of our whole world. What you as the consumer or any front-line employee is interacting with is usually just a GUI overlay or a program that is manipulating something much, much older.
The worst tend to be government, certain sectors in aviation and transit and banking. Also, people don't know that one company (that completely flies under the radar and has no real oversight) owns a very large portion of the software and has their fingers in a huge amount of financial and retail transactions.
Sticking modern paint jobs on 20yo systems is the bread and butter of what I do for a living. Nobody wants to build anything new except startups and massive orgs. Everything in the middle is decades of band aids and lipstick on something some startup built and sold forever ago.
The college I graduated from still teaches COBOL. You can name your salary coming out of college if you’re savvy enough but then you’re stuck coding COBOL the rest of your life. It’s a really niche area of tech and controls the majority of the American banking and financial system.
Yep, when I worked in manufacturing we had windows 3.1 PCs on the production line, and used a fax machine! I heard NASA also still uses computer tech from the 80s
While NASA would probably use old tech regardless, there is a good reason some of the old tech is still around besides just budget and time to replace everything. Some of the probes we are still collecting data from were launched in the 1970s and once you launch something into space, it's kind of difficult to upgrade its hardware. I'm no system admin, but I imagine that even if you can collect data from a 50 year old space probe with a brand spanking new machine, you probably have to hook it up to some kind of converter device like when everyone that didn't have a new tv when we switched to HD had to get one of those converter boxes. I think they just collect the data on the old machines and just transfer it over to something else if they have to.
I used to work for said company as a systems engineer, assuming we're talking about the same one. It processes nearly all of the financial transactions that occur via card or check and creates/mails out nearly every credit and debit card. They also process all of the IRS payments and transactions.
I can 100% confirm their backend is old as shit COBOL and .NET. An issue while I was there was that they couldn't find enough experienced COBOL developers. As a result, some bugs were going unfixed or half-assed. Although the monitoring was pretty top-notch, I spent a considerable amount of time working on implementing that.
It's truly scary shit. They reminded me of E-Corp to a good degree.
Edit: I didn't go into the whole tech stack for what should be obvious reasons. It's all old as hell. Like late 90s, early 2000s old was the most up to date shit. Which aren't the oldest things in the world by any means. As others have mentioned, some critical infrastructure is still running on late 80s crap. But that doesn't discount that a huge payment processing infrastructure is running on old tech that isn't updated/maintained to any appreciable degree. A lot of knowledgeable folks were retiring when I left, and there was a failing scramble to find people to replace them.
Also, I'm not mentioning the company for my own personal privacy as well as a very long-lived NDA.
And making everything suck. They can't buy a company without ruining it.
They took my last company from $6mil / year in profits to $3mil / year in losses.
I'm sure somebody will come in to tell me how capitalism works and how I just don't understand how they really made money in some abstract way. But it sure seems like they just destroy value.
Around the area I'm from, it's fairly well known among hospital workers there's a rapist working in 1 of the hospitals, yet nobody has done anything.
Pretty pathetic, considering it's patients that are the targets.
There was a man who scammed a bunch of American small businesses (my dad's business included) to cook their books and amass a bunch of wealth in order to purchase an army of African soldiers and attempt to purchase Russian missiles in order to try and take over the world. He went undetected for a long time. Absolutely wild story, there's a [small podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ1camSU6Jw) that talks about it, but it deserves a Netflix series. This guy was at my house when I was a kid lol.
Cobalt mining, specifically eg in DRC, and the, politely said, questionable supply chains from mines to Apple and other tech giants that basically make it impossible to definitely exclude child labor involved, yet these companies pretend that we’re the case. Siddarth Kara’s book is good but this needs more attention.
Pilots aren’t allowed to fly if they’re depressed (treated or not) or taking any mental health medications, but most of them can’t afford to take off work until they get better (depression is chronic for many), so they fly regardless of how poor their mental health may be and keep it secret if necessary.
Nigel Richards and his secret life. Best scrabble player by a lot, won world french championship scrabble without speaking french, has a very reclusive personality and has close to no interviews, no online info about him. Would love to see it.
It's not really a secret, the reality is glitter isn't really the big deal with the companies, it's precision cutting. Guy named Chuppl made a piece on it, interviewing the child of the founder of glitter. [link](https://youtu.be/y08scEk59G0?si=wlRywpZA6yw81wKc)
American's abysmal infrastructure.
From our own Army Corp of Engineers.
- Roads: D | "43% of our public roadways are in poor or mediocre condition."
- Dams: D
- Transit: D-
- Levees: D | "Levees help safeguard 11 million people"
At a time where we can expect stronger hurricanes, storms, tornado alley is shifting, flooding, and all manner of climate related disasters we have straight up crumbling infrastructure.
We are playing with fire.
Performance Enhancing Drugs is football/ soccer. Every other sport in the world seems to have had a big scandal involving PED’s but not the biggest sport in the world 🤔.
I’m waiting for a journalist to blow it open but due to the amount of money sloshing around football atm, I’m not optimistic.
A company can sell you a printer and then render that printer inoperable if you decide not to also purchase the ink from them (in which said ink is being sold as a subscription service)
Someone should do a documentary on the Subscription Model. I've attended a bunch of entrepreneur/investor seminars where the presenters and investors basically mandated the subscription model in return for seed investment.
It makes sense in some products or services. But most of the time it's just greed and it is insidious.
How recycling is essentially not a real practice. I mean maybe there is something about it but I feel like everyone I know recycles so much of their trash and over 90% if not all of it ends up as trash. Piles and piles of trash.
the prevalence of microplastics in our food and water supply is an 'open secret' that needs a dedicated documentary. the long-term health effects are still unknown, and it’s a topic that deserves more attention.
The Resnik family, owners of the Wonderful Company (Fiji water, Wonderful Pistachios, Halos, Pom juice, etc). They essentially bought the public water rights and decimated the area, using all available water for their pistachios.
the health problems that stem from childhood trauma. obviously it’s talked about the mental illness that stems from it (not enough, but i digress) but the several physical illnesses it causes for so many people
Someone needs to do something about the robber barons of the 21st century. Tech industry is doing almost exactly what the oil, rail, and gas companies did in the gilded age.
Steven Tyler of Aerosmith adopted his 14 year old wife, so he could legally take her across state lines. Wrote about it in his memoir. Said it was consensual. Later became a judge on American Idol.
There are so many musicians and people in Hollywood so dearly revered but have dated underage girls. Brad Pitt, Jerry Seinfeld, Anthony Kedis. But ya know, they’re iconic and Brad Pitts hot, so we’ll just let it ride. Such bs.
The DEA is artificially restricting production of ingredients used to make ADHD medications just as record numbers of people (especially middle aged women) are being diagnosed after years of being ignored. This is causing a shortage that has been going on for more than two years with no sign of letting up.
Patients are forced to call multiple pharmacies every 30 days to track down who might have a supply. And they are often treated like junkies due to the restrictions around these meds being controlled substances. It’s insane.
Methotrexate is facing similar issue ever since someoneeeee claimed it’s used for abortions only. Very frustrating for patients with autoimmune diseases! I hate it here. The world is so shitty.
I saw him 20 years ago at JFK with my family flying to San Diego, I assume he was going to Heathrow. Everyone booed him as he was walking by as he was smiling getting to his gate.
Larry Ellison and his 98% ownership of the Hawaiian island of Lanai.
He’s chasing off the locals, natives and poors and turning it into a little private playground for his wealthy friends.
I went on vacation on Lanai a few weeks after he bought the island. It’s a very unique place — I stayed in the mountains among fir trees (?) of some sort. I would not be able to return to that area today, from what I understand. It’s insane he was allowed to “buy” an island that people live on. Completely unethical.
That guy really seems one of the least philanthropic rich people.
Remember the company that made him rich, ORACLE, is an acronym for One Rich Asshole Called Larry Ellison.
The way doctors are made in the US is basically a form of indentured servitude if you aren’t from a rich family. You have to obey a system that is using you for massive profits. And if you wipe out or get dismissed at any point you have 250-500k in debt to punish you/make you reconsider your decision to leave.
Some experiences of residency include low pay, six day work weeks, forced night shifts, and having little to no say about your schedule (the last one isn’t exactly limited to residency though).
Interestingly the modern residency program was developed by Dr. Halstead who was wildly coked out his entire career. No wonder he though 6 day 12+ hr days were acceptable.
I have often wondered why we would set up system that makes doctors and other healthcare providers to work 12 hr shifts and sometime doubles ect. The last person I want to be sleep deprived is the person making life or death decisions. When I’ve asked doctors why it is that way. The answer is basically that’s how it has always been
The bigger problem is that most people see how doctors end up, ie. good salaries and decent work hours, so people dont care about the doctors that arent at that point yet. Its pretty easy to burn out quickly, but the harsh financial repercussions keep younger burnt out doctors from leaving. I have yet to meet a resident or recent resident that doesnt exist in a state of some sort of major stress. The only thing that keeps many going is that you do see a light at the end of the tunnel; its just sucks that the tunnel is more of a Klingon gauntlet with lines of people beating you up along the way.
What’s going on there now? I was there in the late 90s and gangs were active. We did have a company commander and 1sg running a drug and prostitution ring out of the barracks.
I’m surprised there isn’t a documentary on the quackery behind chiropractics. It was literally invented by a man hearing what a ghost said to him. Google that.
I guess it's not entirely about Blackwater, but have you seen the documentary Dirty Wars? It's by Jeremy Scahill, who is the author of Blackwater, unless there is another book about that, which wouldn't be surprising. Should be at least tangentially related to Blackwater.
Just so you know, it’s not called Blackwater anymore and hasn’t been since 2009. It’s now called Academi.
While I do definitely agree, there are lots of documentaries and exposés of Blackwater/Academi/Triple Canopy and they’ve gained a lot of public attention several times throughout the years.
If you think they’re wild check out how blatant Wagner Group is.
Pharmaceutical advertising and the fact the United States and New Zealand are the only countries in the world to allow them to be advertised on television.
This and sleep deprivation. I'm starting to think that people aren't sleeping more than 6 hours a night on average and it's causing a large portion of depression and anxiety. Scrolling late at night only makes it worse
Private equity is destroying healthcare. They siphon every cent out and then close hospitals down.
Doctors and nurses are now laborers, not professionals. There won’t be much left in 20 years.
Not a documentary but there *was* a film made about the baby formula scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigers_(2014_film)
>The film is inspired by an episode in Pakistan during the 1990s, a repetition of the Nestlé baby milk scandal in 1970s that occurred in developing countries. A Pakistani salesman named Syed Aamir Raza Hussain became a whistle-blower against his former employer Nestlé; in 1999, two years after he left Nestlé, Hussain released a report in association with the non-profit organisation International Baby Food Action Network, in which he alleged that Nestlé was encouraging doctors to push its infant formula products over breastfeeding
>The film features Emraan Hashmi in the leading role as Ayan, based on Hussain, a pharmaceutical representative in Pakistan who discovers his new company's baby formula has killed hundreds of children, after which he begins a lone and dangerous battle against the company.[4] The film began filming in 2013 in Punjab, India, and had its premiere in September 2014 at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[5][6]
That all OnlyFans "stars" subcontract their DMs to low-paid and unpaid chatters. Yup, your wristwhizz stimuli is being forked out by some hard up 21 year old in the Philippines. https://www.wired.com/story/i-went-undercover-secret-onlyfans-chatter-wasnt-pretty/
I’d love to see a documentary on the PPP loan fraud during Covid (US). There have been a lot of news articles about it, but a deep dive that exposes wealthy people would be awesome.
I’m still sad I didn’t create a company to forgive my own student loans.
Nonono not you. You're not in the club you'd go to jail
There’s an industry that basically takes guardianship of elderly people by getting them declared incompetent, without their knowledge. They move them into nursing homes, sell off their homes and assets and take over their money. It’s like the title theft scam, but with people being taken over rather than just real estate. It’s brutal and frightening: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights
It wasn’t a documentary, but wasn’t there a movie like this? - “I Care A Lot”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9893250/ I think there definitely needs to be more press about this. I had no idea this documentary existed: “The Guardians” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7348082/ Also, good on John Oliver for reporting on it, but I have no idea how I missed it as well… - https://youtu.be/nG2pEffLEJo
This is my greatest fear. Medical bureaucracy is terrifying. I don’t have kids to advocate for me either. Years ago I was stripped of all my rights and sent to in patient after just going to a therapist intake. I moved and just wanted to see a therapist closer to my new apartment. I wasn’t having the best time but I was nowhere *near* suicidal. This lady just decided I was a danger to myself because I was honest that I did try when I was a child, over 20 years ago, as a direct result of a brutal traumatic event. I was in there for two days, and if I didn’t have a supportive family or that time off of work already I shudder to think of the long term implications. It cost me over 5k, and I would have been fired if I just no call no showed for two days. It truly would have ruined my life if I didn’t have family with access to that kind of money. It still took me years to be able to pay them back. One person making one call can ruin your life. I still have nightmares.
Jesus Christ. Therapist here - that is sketchy as fuck for several reasons. You should not have been admitted to the hospital for that, especially not when there are plenty of people who express active suicidality and intent who can’t get beds. Unless we’re missing some key component of this story, I hope you feel empowered to report that therapist to the licensing board.
How some of the top fashion magazines send young models over to meet wealthy donors in hotel rooms who will ‘help’ them get the modelling contract they were after.
Adding to this... ballet students at top dance schools all over the world.
Not a docu but there’s an animation from the French school Gobelins called “Louise” on YouTube about this. It’s like 6 mins long lol, but very expressive
Many years ago I was 20, living and working/modelling OS and was sent to a hotel to meet a director of a huge TVC campaign I had just booked that was earning me $200K. It was being shot in some gorgeous islands on boats etc.. It was my first really big job, I was very excited. The director sat in a booth of this boutique hotel and asked for my modelling portfolio and flipped through each page telling me why I was right for the job. By 1/2 way though the folio he started explaining what each photo made him want to do to me. I knew I had 10 days on location with this 60 year old fucking creep, I was trapped though. I managed to let on I was willing to leave the darker bar area where we were sitting to have a more private conversation about the job. As soon as I could see the foyer I went to make a run for it, he grabbed my arm with his "no no no you don't" , pushed me in to a corner and rammed his revolting tongue down my throat. I kicked him as hard as I could in the balls and made a run for it. By the time I got back to the model apartment I had already been cancelled for the job, obviously, and within the hour my agent was there abusing the living shit out of me. Not so shitty small time agency, this was a respected world renowned one. She was apoplectic. Did I know how much the job was worth? How much this was earning her? Don't I know how the industry fucking works? I explained to her what happened but she acted like I was the one who was an idiot for not getting it. At 1 am I was kicked out of the house I was living in in a foreign country. A little over a year later I was living in a model house with 8 other girls. I was the only one who hadn't been drugged/raped/sexually assaulted. Another city was full of girls warning that lower grade agents will take your passport to make a copy - but actually keep your passports and force you to stay and work gentlemans clubs. This was common knowledge and girls were constantly being trapped. Another job I was sent home for refusing to take all my clothes off for the owner of the company. He yelled at me saying "you know I can get some Russian slut to do this for free". Again, I just left. I have a dozen stories like this. Life might seem glamorous if you're a top name, but I was earning a VERY comfortable living but it took me standing up for myself unrelentingly, being "on" at every moment, never really socialising, walking out, and running for my life more than I care to admit. Edit: Woah. I woke up to so many comments. I'll try to reply as I can, I just wanted to thank everyone for the lovely thoughts and words.
Good for you and I feel for those women 🙏🏽
i find this inspiring, that you were confident enough to stand up for yourself. but so fucking awful and despicable this happens - infuriating
Modeling agencies are just fancy escort services 🤷🏻♀️
The province of New Brunswick, Canada is basically the play toy of a small handful of wealthy families (Irving, McCain, Oland). The government is just there for show.
I remember reading a stat a number of years ago that ~65% of the population of New Brunswick was directly employed by those three families and something like 80% was indirectly employed.
I mean most of Canada is just a couple of corporations in a trench coat
As a New-Brunswicker who moved to QC 10 years ago, Im blown away that litterally NOBODY HERE KNOWS THIS! The Irvings and their monopoly on NB is the main reason I moved.
As a 100% Quebecer, I can confirm this. I know they are a powerful family, yet I had no clue to what point. It's fucking crazy.
Canada is the only 1st world country that is okay with monopolies in every industry. It's disgusting.
Just wait til you hear about the mysterious brain disease in New Brunswick which the government is basically covering up https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/brain-disease-new-brunswick-michael-coulthart-email-1.7228096 https://www.canadaland.com/new-brunswick-mystery-illness-documents/
I have a pet theory that’s also because of Irving, haha
In the CanadaLand article, among other things, they mention the possibility that it could be from an algae caused by fertilizer runoff from agricultural industry. So yeah, if that's the case, there's not doubt they have some involvement.
Blue-green algae toxicity. Yeah, I feel like this is a big candidate for "thing that was obviously in plain sight poisoning us the whole time". Plenty of people spend time in lakes that are routinely contaminated by blue-green algae during the summer when fertilizer runoff creates algal blooms. And we *know* it's toxic in large doses. Pets often die from drinking contaminated lake water. But does it have long-term degenerative effects when you constantly consume it in lower doses?
The Irving’s are bad people. The government of New Brunswick (party doesn’t matter) are bad people who live in the pockets of the Irving’s. They want us dead. They’re poisoning our water and food. A close friend’s parent has this “mystery brain disease” and her blood is filled with everything the Irving and government sprays on our woodlands.
I'm so sorry to hear that. You read about it in articles but it hits home when you hear personal stories. It's sad that it feels so helpless. You are absolutely correct when you say the Irving's are bad and evil people. They are actively and knowingly poisoning and killing people.
Good one! I just googled this and Irving owns like 200 companies in New Brunswick. That's insane. It just can't be a level playing field when you have a company that accounts for over half your economy.
The story I always like to tell is how I used to work at a gas station as a pump attendant in the late 90s. We used to have this customer come in and just be a nasty, rude piece of shit to everyone working. After about a month or so of this he just stopped coming in. Turns out the Irving private security (dudes looked like secret service agents) paid a visit to him at his home and...he stopped coming in. Now, we were all happy about it because it was a huge pain in the ass having to deal with this guy all the time...but the thought that has always remained with me is how Irving security was able to track a private citizen down and show up at their home with zero repercussions, backlash, etc. As much of a pain as he was, it still seemed unethical. Of course there are bigger issues. Property taxes sky rocketing in Canada's poorest province for everything but Irving owned properties being the biggest bee in the bonnet for a lot of folks. Oh, and the mysterious brain disease that the government keeps shutting down research on, with the popular speculation being that it has something to do with Irving ventures with chemicals/pesticides/etc. Oh...and the buying up of crownlands for logging at ridiculously reduced prices...and Irving buying all the news publication agencies and radio stations in the province...and...well...you get the idea.
They make good stuff! Music, dairy products, coffee, TV shows, surveillance cameras, ALL history books, voting machines.... wait a minute
Re: finding a private citizen in New Brunswick...NB is small, I lived in Freddy for 6 years and have relatives in NB, wouldn't take long for you and I to find a mutual friend.
I’m from a small maritime town and you can track anyone down with minimal effort in that kind of environment.
My mom is from Cape Breton. She is DISTURBINGLY good at "Who's yer fadder".
People there are dying of a mysterious brain disease that nobody is allowed to talk about either.
We raised one of our two harbour-spanning bridges so Irving could have better harbour access for their ships. Caused delays and closures and traffic backups for years. And that's next door in NS. Sure, other companies could benefit eventually, but everyone knows it was done at Irving's behest. They have a very long reach.
It’s a strange place. Irving runs the show.
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The one Oland dude basically got away with killing his dad.
There’s a town like this in Northwestern Wisconsin where the Jack Link beef jerky company resides. The Link family runs the joint and there was some spicy family drama a few years back that was fun to follow in the news.
I'm sorry, but the idea of a town being under the thumb of the beef jerky cartel is hilarious.
…kinda hard to document/report on it when Irving owns the newspapers. And the paper mills. And the lands/trees.
As a New Brunswicker - I’m both surprised and not surprised to see this as the top comment. Truth.
Yep and I think they are responsible for the neurological issues people are experiencing there and the cover up. Start burning their shit down.
The way old folks are treated in care homes
There is a lot that could be exposed about elder and end of life issues. Making the enormous monthly cost of a nursing home (>10k for a shared room) or assisted living (>$6k) known and what those places are really like to live in. The “estate planning” industry that popped up in the US to help people hide assets from the government so that Medicaid will pay but not take the house. The push to integrate mentally ill seniors with the “rest of the population” and the impact that has on the other residents. Seniors avoiding marriage to keep old pensions etc. The entire hospice industry and how they aren’t going to be there to help at all unless there is an emergency. I could go on…
I've personally seen elderly couples who had been married for decades get divorced because at their income level they would get better benefits as two single people rather than a married couple, and they couldn't afford to live without the benefits. The system is fucked.
You're in my world now grandma!
Oh your fingers hurt? Well now your back's going to hurt, because guess who just pulled landscaping duty.
Could I trouble you for a glass of warm milk?
You can trouble me for a warm glass of shut the hell up.
Now you will go to sleep. Or I will PUT you to sleep
Not to mention the fact that venture capitalists are gobbling them up, fewer and fewer companies are now running these places into the ground with profit over care in order to continue squeezing out record profits year in and year out.
Absokutely correct. VULTURE capitalists. It is disgusting that our elected representatives enable this.
tech/financial infrastructure is built on 50 year old technology
AS400 for the win!
World runs on excel
Steroid use in Hollywood. Everyone knows it's happening but I don't think the extent is widely known. When a male actor puts on a lot of muscle for a role they have most likely used steroids. Even if they have just put on a little muscle they probably still used steroids, because you can't gain fast enough to get in shape for the start of filming. And because it is technically illegal no-one will ever admit it. What makes it worse is these people (and their trainers) will write articles for Men's Health where they go through their workouts, ignoring the fact that they took growth hormone for a year. There have been a few good documentaries about doping in sports but I think we need one about Hollywood.
My biggest criticism is aimed at Chris Hemsworth who sells a diet and exercise app.
There's an old men's health article with his "God of Thunder" routine that is pure bodyweight and v light touch. Like sure Chris, 10 mountain climbers for those biceps seems legit
Seriously. At least sell me what lifts you're actually doing, even if I won't look like you without enough HGH to kill an elephant. At least they'll be more effective than some bullshit calisthenics
They all either do that or they have these long-winded interviews about their diet and workout routine but then don't mention their HGH and EPO supplements. Like yeah it's great that you're eating 5lbs of broiled chicken breast and no carbs, but you put on 80lbs of pure muscle in 60 days, that's not coming from eating chicken breast and broccoli.
At least Tom Hardy was honest and said that training for Baine destroyed his body.
Which is crazy because he's big as Bane, but not even comparable to most of the MCU guys or even Bale as Batman.
Alan Ritchson had a interview for men’s health called gym and fridge where he basically says it’s impossible for a person to naturally look like him no matter what they do. I’m sure all these actors have strict contract stipulations that say they can’t disclose that they’re taking anything illegal
I watched Die Hard for the first time last Christmas (I know, I know) and was struck by how Bruce Willis’ body in that film worked (and still works) so well as an action movie strong-guy-who-goes-to-the-gym type body. If it was shot today it feels like there would be so much more pressure to be a dehydrated roided up dude with a 10-pack.
Kurt Russel in “Big Trouble in Little China” and “Escape from NY” also I mean he was obviously in good shape, but it looked natural. I miss the days of our action heros still looking by like humans. What’s interesting is that we’ve seen this transformation occur all within the same actor and character, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Look at his physique in the first X-Men movie, and look at it now.
Hugh Jackman is the go-to example for roiding out because he started off at the tail end of superhero movies where guys could look plausibly natty, and then gets insanely ripped as he moves into middle age in a manner totally contrary to normal human physiology.
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I had a recent and similar experience with that exact film. When seeing Pulp Fiction this summer (previous viewing was 20+ years ago) I was happy that while Bruce Willis looks fantastic in it, he also isn't shaped very differently than I am now. I'd grown so used to today's movie actors having God-tier fantasy physiques. And on top of that, Pulp Fiction Bruce provided a baldness role model too
Patrick Swayze in Road House is another great example. Swayze is in great shape in that movie but he is tiny compared to today or even his contemporaries.
Swayze was in fighting shape
My husband is into fitness and follows bodybuilders, has one of his bachelor's degrees in exercise science, and has a number of friends who use steroids. He told me some of the tell-tale signs, and now he and I play "Who's Juiced?" while watching movies or sharing social media posts back and forth. I think it's incredibly unfair that stars aren't honest about being on something. Just like those on Ozempic and/or surgeon's tables saying they keep fit by "hiking in the Hollywood hills and chasing their toddler around." These celebrities are showing unattainable bodies saying, "Just ate clean and hit the gym every day." False. I don't remember who it was, but some ripped celebrity was talking about shirtless scenes and how dehydrated he has to be for them. Basically, he avoids water for 2 days and shoots, then hydrates, and they have to give him a few days before he does it again. He has to get as close to organ failure/death as possible to show an impossible aesthetic. I am open with anyone who asks. I've taken Ozempic and had Botox (now Daxxify) for years. I don't look like a celebrity, but if anyone asks, I'm an open book.
Was it Henry Cavill? Pretty sure he talked about the dehydration thing on something like The Graham Norton Show once.
Hugh Jackman has talked about the dehydration thing too. He said it was hell while filming.
Zac Efron is pretty open with how Baywatch screwed him up physically, as well.
How else would I have been able to see Hugh Jackman as Wolverine?
He visited the place my brother-in-law worked once while he was training for (I think?) one of the more recent xmen movies. He had a trainer following him around with a rolling cooler and the trainer would interrupt and be like "it's 2:15, time for three slices of apple!" or whatever. I don't doubt there were steroids involved, but it was also a ridiculously meticulous diet.
I want someone to follow me around with a cooler of snacks now.
Right? Also just someone else having the responsibility to keep me eating healthy and I don't have to think about it? I am down.
They also dehydrate themselves before shoots. Henry Cavill talked about not drinking water for something like 3 days before shoots for The Witcher. The shit actors go through is just nuts.
Two days at the most. Usually 2 days on inadequate water and 1 day with none followed by a careful rehydration protocol. If their routines are anything like athletes.
Ha, that reminds me of when Lucifer showed up in a new season, all buff and bare-arsed. How do you bulk up like that over a summer? Kale and steamed chicken breast, I’m sure.
Dwayne Johnson is literally more buff now than he was when he was younger, even though thats the opposite of what should happen with aging. I think another good example is Michael B Jordan as killmonger, I've never seen someone get such a bulked stomach without steroids, it looks like a beer belly except with pure muscle mass instead of fat.
The Rock looks so unhealthy, he’s gonna give himself a heart attack soon
Anyone who believes The Rock is natural has either had their intelligence drained by mindflayers or their neuron connections stolen by MENSA vampires.
He is one of the guys who is in Men's Health basically saying you can just do a few pushups and some curls and a bit of rowing. He is roided to the gills.
I'm pretty sure he's been open about the exact opposite of this. I've seen an interview where he says it's simply not possible to achieve that physique without it being your job and / or making yourself miserable. Not saying he's not roided mind 😅
And in law enforcement. Have run into some cops in South Florida with huge arms and short tempers that made me wonder. Even uniforms were revised to offer a "Gladiator" fit for dudes with huge arms. Like...unnaturally huge arms.
Would like to see a doc made on the Shen Yun dance cult
I went to a performance a while back. Had no clue what I was getting into. Absolutely gorgeous dancing, spectacular music, amazing costumers, whole nine yards. The religion/cult part was not subtle. NOT EVEN REMOTELY subtle. I'm actually sad about it. The culty bits turned me off to the point where I will not go again, but their talent and skill in choreography, costumes, and everything was extremely legit. Truly S tier.
This. Wife and I hit the bar before the show and they said no booze. We looked at each other like oh, oh and it just went downhill from there. Who knew?!
Tiger King kind of covered it, but some states have really lax exotic animal laws. Lions, tigers, and bears are not pets. They are wild animals.
How the private prison industry basically got tons of local sheriffs departments into the prison industry, especially in the south by financing, building and training them to run jails and prisons for profit. It's like a franchise, and poor people are the product.
And even in state/city/county run jails, all their healthcare, food, etc is done by for profit companies. Oh and libraries for inmates? We replaced them with tablets where they have to purchase books with their wages which are maybe 24 cents an hour.
Lariam/mefloquine. There's a mini Youtube documentary about it but it's not nearly big enough or been seen by enough people for me to count that. If you don't know, Lariam is an anti-malaria drug that was prescribed to many people in the late 80s and 90s, and prescribed by first world militaries up until the 2010s. I personally have family who was impacted and still suffers from the effects of Lariam, but the people I know at least didn't have their brains and lives completely destroyed by it like so many others have. It's been linked to countless suicides and homicides, including the Kandahar Massacre, causing paranoia, hallucinations, and night terrors that literally take your worst fears and bring them to life, because the mefloquine toxicity acts on the limbic system where your amygdala (aka the fear center) is. Many people have killed themselves over the dreams alone. Every single detainee at GTMO was dosed, for no reason, with the 1250mg dose that would be prescribed to cure someone who HAD malaria, not even the 250mg prophylactic dose. This was done without testing the detainees for malaria and without reason to believe they had it. People from the same regions as the prisoners who were at GTMO as employees were not subjected to it, and it is widely believed to have been done specifically to bring about the debilitating side effects as "psychological waterboarding". There is evidence (though not proof) that Lariam may have been created as part of MKUltra, when the CIA was trying to synthesize mind-control drugs using Quinolones. Currently, there are still class action lawsuits in progress in the US and Europe over the militaries mass prescribing this as the drug of choice to prevent malaria, even though there have been much safer and equally effective options since the 90s. Google it, you might fall down the rabbit hole like I have many times after seeing how it effects my family members who took it. It's terrifying how much awful shit it's linked to.
I took mefloquine for several months while in Haiti. At first the dreams were psychedelic. Then you’d be standing in the middle of a room and you would be absolutely certain - as though it was happening to you right then - that the ceiling would cave in and you would be crushed under the concrete. Like a waking dream you can’t wake up from. Or I’d suddenly remember the fish I had for lunch and become convinced that I had swallowed a bone, that I could literally feel it lodged in my throat, that I couldn’t breathe - then the panic sets in and you actually can’t breathe - it’s almost impossible to describe, except you see it happening to you in your mind’s eye like you’re dreaming, but you are standing there and your body is reacting like it’s happening to you right then, and your brain fuses the two things - dream and reality…. Yeah, I stopped the mefloquine.
I lived in Africa for three years and was also sent to several southwest Asian countries for stints that ended up totaling another three years. I took Lariam for two nights and had the most fucked up night terrors (fwiw I have night terrors anyhow) but the Lariam terrors were so remarkable I still remember them, almost two decades later. Fortunately my doctor quickly took me off Lariam, and instead prescribed doxycycline.
Would you be willing to share what the night terrors were about? I have found some descriptions online, but so many people who had Lariam night terrors, including people who ended up killing themselves over them, refused to tell anyone what they were about because they were THAT bad. The ones I have read about seem to literally be people's worst fears brought to life. One woman shared that she dreamed about falling out of a plane while shooting all of her loved ones with a machine gun as she fell. I would bet money that she was afraid of flying and/or heights, and losing her loved ones. And Lariam brought those fears to life.
The second night on the medicine, I dreamt that I killed my boss, dismembered her, and burned her in a bonfire which I assiduously fed to ensure there would be no evidence. The dream was graphic and seemingly unrelenting. In the morning, I was hoarse from screaming. Fun night for the whole family. 0/10 would not recommend
Wow, I am so sorry... Another thing I've read about the dreams is that people seem to be at a much higher risk of screaming/crying, or even sleepwalking and DOING things in their sleep, like one person said they had grabbed a baton and were trying to bash a window in when someone else woke up and stopped them. I've had bad dreams before where I screamed or cried in the dream, but I've never woken my husband up from screaming, nor do I sleepwalk or anything.
I took Lariam while traveling around India in 2008. I’m American but was living in Hong Kong at the time and it was given to me by my primary care doc there. Everyone else in the group I was traveling with had been prescribed something different as an antimalarial. My dreams were intense and unlike anything I could imagine. It was a fun little breakfast chat to describe some of the stuff I had dreamed the night before. I took a weekly dose for 8 weeks and the nights following the dose were always the most vivid. When I returned home to the states a couple months later I learned a tiny bit more about Lariam, including that it was still given to US troops. Made/makes me wonder about what they would be experiencing because the dreams I was having were obviously directly impacted by my daily activities and environment at the time. That was only 8 doses 16 years ago and it was unforgettable. I can’t begin to imagine the impacts of people on it long term.
Had a relative that went on a safari-esque trip in Africa and had vividly terrifying dreams every single night of the 2 week trip due to taking anti-malarial meds. They were certain that others were talking about them around the campfire at night & only later realized it was most likely the anti-malarial meds.
I took mefloquine on a trip and had insane levels of anxiety during that trip. Only realized why after I got home and googled mefloquine. Never again. Jesus. This was only 3 years ago and now I google every drug before I take it.
Stock trading by Congress
Came here to say this. They are all inside traders and make millions. If any person did what they do, they would be in jail.
YES!! Should be illegal. At the very least, their holdings/accounts should be frozen while in public service
Dupont plants have a ridiculously high cancer rate for contractor/employees. Studies on titanium dioxide get buried
The Fat Boys were pioneers of hip hop and contributed greatly to the genre but are largely written off as a novelty and have mostly been forgotten. I would *love* to do a documentary about them.
Love the fact that every other comment in this thread is like "The coca cola corporation controls this northern Canadian town using evil Mormon wizards on their payroll who shoot steroids into their balls and use child labor to put micro plastics into your food that's cooked by Nazis" and meanwhile you're like "Hey these guys made big contributions to rap and I think they should be appreciated more"
How much the military actually waste. If they don’t use what they’re allotted one fiscal year they don’t get the same the next so towards the end of the year they’ll throw ammo off boats in the ocean and purposely break office furniture and burn excess uniforms so the same amount at minimum is allotted the next year
Haha! Working DoD cyber, I’ve seen this but in a more subtle way. If we have 40k left, they send us to classes for training, Or provide vouchers for us to purchase a class. Whats sad is when we NEED new systems, or better network defense capabilities, the money is nowhere to be found 2 months into the year lol. Some of these routers cost 50k and up. It’s crazy! That huge DoD budget goes to contractors. The rest of us got busted buildings, declining services, enlistment bonuses were slashed ages ago, shitty desktops, on base medical facilities are drowning so they send us off base…we will get some new bombs and planes however smh. Btw, Unless something has changed since 2022, outside of gear for deployments,,the military forces the troops to buy their uniforms. They’re purchased from contractors, private companies who make large profits. Was so pissed when they switched from ABUs to OCPs a year before retirement.
The Mormon Church is sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in stock and real estate. They do almost no charity work directly from those funds. The majority of the humanitarian funds the church claims are from an equivalent dollar value of labor from their members and another entirely separate charity arm which doesnt involve church contributions.
My personal conspiracy theory is that the mormon church is secretly the wealthiest private organization in the world
They're more powerful in the US West than most people give them credit for. Besides Utah, they control -- through regulatory boards, state and local assemblies and similar -- big parts of Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. They own all the local banks in Las Vegas. And they control the gaming board which means they basically control the city.
They are in a lot of US healthcare as well. Not just the big one in Utah/Idaho/Wyoming. They have connections to United health care as well.
A good friend in high school was Mormon. He partied and chased girls like the rest of us. When he turned 18, he quit everything and went to every girl he had screwed and asked forgiveness for leading them into sin. One time our teacher asked what vocation we wanted to be, when we grew up. Most students didn't know or said doctor, lawyer, athlete, etc. My Mormon friend said hospital administrator. He is now a hospital administrator out West pulling down $500,000-1 million per year.
The Catholic Church makes them look like paupers.
Maybe true, but the Mormons only have 17 million members total across the world and yet are the top 3 richest religions. They own over 2% of Florida alone. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_religious_organizations They have a confirmed $236 billion, but many experts estimate that it’s a little over $500 billion since they have hidden a lot of assets in shell companies.
And to make matters worse, only less than 25% of those members are active and attending. I've seen numbers as low as 16%.
The Catholic Church has been accepting donations and holding on to antiquities for almost 2000 years. That's a time period for some compound interest that us mortals can only drool over. The Church is older than fractional reserve banking. They are almost as old as coins.
They are older than double-entry bookkeeping
The age of all of the tech that is the backbone of our whole world. What you as the consumer or any front-line employee is interacting with is usually just a GUI overlay or a program that is manipulating something much, much older. The worst tend to be government, certain sectors in aviation and transit and banking. Also, people don't know that one company (that completely flies under the radar and has no real oversight) owns a very large portion of the software and has their fingers in a huge amount of financial and retail transactions.
Sticking modern paint jobs on 20yo systems is the bread and butter of what I do for a living. Nobody wants to build anything new except startups and massive orgs. Everything in the middle is decades of band aids and lipstick on something some startup built and sold forever ago.
If Microsoft were to drop its commitment to Excel's backwards compatibility the economy would collapse overnight.
very true. the amount of companies that use excel as a databasing software is too damn high!
The college I graduated from still teaches COBOL. You can name your salary coming out of college if you’re savvy enough but then you’re stuck coding COBOL the rest of your life. It’s a really niche area of tech and controls the majority of the American banking and financial system.
Do you have any articles related to this subject? What is the company that flies under the radar?
Yep, when I worked in manufacturing we had windows 3.1 PCs on the production line, and used a fax machine! I heard NASA also still uses computer tech from the 80s
While NASA would probably use old tech regardless, there is a good reason some of the old tech is still around besides just budget and time to replace everything. Some of the probes we are still collecting data from were launched in the 1970s and once you launch something into space, it's kind of difficult to upgrade its hardware. I'm no system admin, but I imagine that even if you can collect data from a 50 year old space probe with a brand spanking new machine, you probably have to hook it up to some kind of converter device like when everyone that didn't have a new tv when we switched to HD had to get one of those converter boxes. I think they just collect the data on the old machines and just transfer it over to something else if they have to.
And never forget the ancient SCADA systems holding up all sorts of critical infrastructure… designed for remote access…
Every municipal water and sewer pump station in the US and Canada, and probably most other places, too.
I used to work for said company as a systems engineer, assuming we're talking about the same one. It processes nearly all of the financial transactions that occur via card or check and creates/mails out nearly every credit and debit card. They also process all of the IRS payments and transactions. I can 100% confirm their backend is old as shit COBOL and .NET. An issue while I was there was that they couldn't find enough experienced COBOL developers. As a result, some bugs were going unfixed or half-assed. Although the monitoring was pretty top-notch, I spent a considerable amount of time working on implementing that. It's truly scary shit. They reminded me of E-Corp to a good degree. Edit: I didn't go into the whole tech stack for what should be obvious reasons. It's all old as hell. Like late 90s, early 2000s old was the most up to date shit. Which aren't the oldest things in the world by any means. As others have mentioned, some critical infrastructure is still running on late 80s crap. But that doesn't discount that a huge payment processing infrastructure is running on old tech that isn't updated/maintained to any appreciable degree. A lot of knowledgeable folks were retiring when I left, and there was a failing scramble to find people to replace them. Also, I'm not mentioning the company for my own personal privacy as well as a very long-lived NDA.
Private equity firms owning everything
And making everything suck. They can't buy a company without ruining it. They took my last company from $6mil / year in profits to $3mil / year in losses. I'm sure somebody will come in to tell me how capitalism works and how I just don't understand how they really made money in some abstract way. But it sure seems like they just destroy value.
Around the area I'm from, it's fairly well known among hospital workers there's a rapist working in 1 of the hospitals, yet nobody has done anything. Pretty pathetic, considering it's patients that are the targets.
Jared Leto's sex cult
There was a man who scammed a bunch of American small businesses (my dad's business included) to cook their books and amass a bunch of wealth in order to purchase an army of African soldiers and attempt to purchase Russian missiles in order to try and take over the world. He went undetected for a long time. Absolutely wild story, there's a [small podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ1camSU6Jw) that talks about it, but it deserves a Netflix series. This guy was at my house when I was a kid lol.
Cobalt mining, specifically eg in DRC, and the, politely said, questionable supply chains from mines to Apple and other tech giants that basically make it impossible to definitely exclude child labor involved, yet these companies pretend that we’re the case. Siddarth Kara’s book is good but this needs more attention.
Pilots aren’t allowed to fly if they’re depressed (treated or not) or taking any mental health medications, but most of them can’t afford to take off work until they get better (depression is chronic for many), so they fly regardless of how poor their mental health may be and keep it secret if necessary.
Nigel Richards and his secret life. Best scrabble player by a lot, won world french championship scrabble without speaking french, has a very reclusive personality and has close to no interviews, no online info about him. Would love to see it.
The Glitter Industry ✨✨✨✨
The documentary should be called "Satan's Dandruff"
It's not really a secret, the reality is glitter isn't really the big deal with the companies, it's precision cutting. Guy named Chuppl made a piece on it, interviewing the child of the founder of glitter. [link](https://youtu.be/y08scEk59G0?si=wlRywpZA6yw81wKc)
I can’t even imagine having the title of “the child of the founder of glitter”
American's abysmal infrastructure. From our own Army Corp of Engineers. - Roads: D | "43% of our public roadways are in poor or mediocre condition." - Dams: D - Transit: D- - Levees: D | "Levees help safeguard 11 million people" At a time where we can expect stronger hurricanes, storms, tornado alley is shifting, flooding, and all manner of climate related disasters we have straight up crumbling infrastructure. We are playing with fire.
Performance Enhancing Drugs is football/ soccer. Every other sport in the world seems to have had a big scandal involving PED’s but not the biggest sport in the world 🤔. I’m waiting for a journalist to blow it open but due to the amount of money sloshing around football atm, I’m not optimistic.
Nice try Netflix….
I'm upset they cancelled my fav docuseries Dirty Money. Financial/business crime docs are quite fascinating.
A company can sell you a printer and then render that printer inoperable if you decide not to also purchase the ink from them (in which said ink is being sold as a subscription service)
Someone should do a documentary on the Subscription Model. I've attended a bunch of entrepreneur/investor seminars where the presenters and investors basically mandated the subscription model in return for seed investment. It makes sense in some products or services. But most of the time it's just greed and it is insidious.
How recycling is essentially not a real practice. I mean maybe there is something about it but I feel like everyone I know recycles so much of their trash and over 90% if not all of it ends up as trash. Piles and piles of trash.
The Penn and Teller episode of Bullshit that covered recycling was so well done.
the prevalence of microplastics in our food and water supply is an 'open secret' that needs a dedicated documentary. the long-term health effects are still unknown, and it’s a topic that deserves more attention.
Lots of chatgpt in these replies.
Let's *delve* into them, shall we?
The Resnik family, owners of the Wonderful Company (Fiji water, Wonderful Pistachios, Halos, Pom juice, etc). They essentially bought the public water rights and decimated the area, using all available water for their pistachios.
the health problems that stem from childhood trauma. obviously it’s talked about the mental illness that stems from it (not enough, but i digress) but the several physical illnesses it causes for so many people
Someone needs to do something about the robber barons of the 21st century. Tech industry is doing almost exactly what the oil, rail, and gas companies did in the gilded age.
Steven Tyler of Aerosmith adopted his 14 year old wife, so he could legally take her across state lines. Wrote about it in his memoir. Said it was consensual. Later became a judge on American Idol.
There are so many musicians and people in Hollywood so dearly revered but have dated underage girls. Brad Pitt, Jerry Seinfeld, Anthony Kedis. But ya know, they’re iconic and Brad Pitts hot, so we’ll just let it ride. Such bs.
Prince, David Bowie, dude from Boys2Men and Brandi, Jay Z, Elvis better to start naming artists who haven’t.
The DEA is artificially restricting production of ingredients used to make ADHD medications just as record numbers of people (especially middle aged women) are being diagnosed after years of being ignored. This is causing a shortage that has been going on for more than two years with no sign of letting up. Patients are forced to call multiple pharmacies every 30 days to track down who might have a supply. And they are often treated like junkies due to the restrictions around these meds being controlled substances. It’s insane.
Methotrexate is facing similar issue ever since someoneeeee claimed it’s used for abortions only. Very frustrating for patients with autoimmune diseases! I hate it here. The world is so shitty.
That’s wild considering high dose methotrexate is one of the chemo regimens for CNS lymphoma
Simon Cowell is a terrible, exploitive human being.
I saw him 20 years ago at JFK with my family flying to San Diego, I assume he was going to Heathrow. Everyone booed him as he was walking by as he was smiling getting to his gate.
I mean, 20 years ago he was known to most americas as the mean judge on American idol so I can see the boos from that perspective too
The El Faro ship being sunk by a shitty captain and company, killing 33 American sailors.
Recycling is a sad joke foisted on the people by corporations, to allow corporations to continue polluting indiscriminately.
Larry Ellison and his 98% ownership of the Hawaiian island of Lanai. He’s chasing off the locals, natives and poors and turning it into a little private playground for his wealthy friends.
I went on vacation on Lanai a few weeks after he bought the island. It’s a very unique place — I stayed in the mountains among fir trees (?) of some sort. I would not be able to return to that area today, from what I understand. It’s insane he was allowed to “buy” an island that people live on. Completely unethical.
That guy really seems one of the least philanthropic rich people. Remember the company that made him rich, ORACLE, is an acronym for One Rich Asshole Called Larry Ellison.
The way doctors are made in the US is basically a form of indentured servitude if you aren’t from a rich family. You have to obey a system that is using you for massive profits. And if you wipe out or get dismissed at any point you have 250-500k in debt to punish you/make you reconsider your decision to leave. Some experiences of residency include low pay, six day work weeks, forced night shifts, and having little to no say about your schedule (the last one isn’t exactly limited to residency though).
Interestingly the modern residency program was developed by Dr. Halstead who was wildly coked out his entire career. No wonder he though 6 day 12+ hr days were acceptable.
I have often wondered why we would set up system that makes doctors and other healthcare providers to work 12 hr shifts and sometime doubles ect. The last person I want to be sleep deprived is the person making life or death decisions. When I’ve asked doctors why it is that way. The answer is basically that’s how it has always been
Yea cuz the person making life and death decisions every day should effectively go through a multi year hazing ritual to get certified.
It’s cruel how new doctors are treated in our system
The bigger problem is that most people see how doctors end up, ie. good salaries and decent work hours, so people dont care about the doctors that arent at that point yet. Its pretty easy to burn out quickly, but the harsh financial repercussions keep younger burnt out doctors from leaving. I have yet to meet a resident or recent resident that doesnt exist in a state of some sort of major stress. The only thing that keeps many going is that you do see a light at the end of the tunnel; its just sucks that the tunnel is more of a Klingon gauntlet with lines of people beating you up along the way.
Fort Bragg and the criminal activities ran by and sanctioned by soldiers out of it
What’s going on there now? I was there in the late 90s and gangs were active. We did have a company commander and 1sg running a drug and prostitution ring out of the barracks.
I’m surprised there isn’t a documentary on the quackery behind chiropractics. It was literally invented by a man hearing what a ghost said to him. Google that.
Just how much bribery and effort coordination go into lobbying on Capitol Hill.
Blackwater. The Army of the Americas in Honduras and other countries. Just finished the book, Blackwater, and was horrified.
I guess it's not entirely about Blackwater, but have you seen the documentary Dirty Wars? It's by Jeremy Scahill, who is the author of Blackwater, unless there is another book about that, which wouldn't be surprising. Should be at least tangentially related to Blackwater.
Just so you know, it’s not called Blackwater anymore and hasn’t been since 2009. It’s now called Academi. While I do definitely agree, there are lots of documentaries and exposés of Blackwater/Academi/Triple Canopy and they’ve gained a lot of public attention several times throughout the years. If you think they’re wild check out how blatant Wagner Group is.
David Miscavige's wife has not been seen in public since 2007. Miscavige is the leader of Scientology.
Asking about her is what got Leah Remini in trouble and led to her leaving.
I literally learned that in a documentary
They didn't mention this in Going Clear?
There are a lot of "dead" but never "found" people related to the scientology community.
Pharmaceutical advertising and the fact the United States and New Zealand are the only countries in the world to allow them to be advertised on television.
How social media have destroyed the mental health of an entire generation.
This and sleep deprivation. I'm starting to think that people aren't sleeping more than 6 hours a night on average and it's causing a large portion of depression and anxiety. Scrolling late at night only makes it worse
Having access to essentially a small computer at all times has most definitely screwed me up psychologically. Social media is truly evil though.
Private equity is destroying healthcare. They siphon every cent out and then close hospitals down. Doctors and nurses are now laborers, not professionals. There won’t be much left in 20 years.
Nestle
Not a documentary but there *was* a film made about the baby formula scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigers_(2014_film) >The film is inspired by an episode in Pakistan during the 1990s, a repetition of the Nestlé baby milk scandal in 1970s that occurred in developing countries. A Pakistani salesman named Syed Aamir Raza Hussain became a whistle-blower against his former employer Nestlé; in 1999, two years after he left Nestlé, Hussain released a report in association with the non-profit organisation International Baby Food Action Network, in which he alleged that Nestlé was encouraging doctors to push its infant formula products over breastfeeding >The film features Emraan Hashmi in the leading role as Ayan, based on Hussain, a pharmaceutical representative in Pakistan who discovers his new company's baby formula has killed hundreds of children, after which he begins a lone and dangerous battle against the company.[4] The film began filming in 2013 in Punjab, India, and had its premiere in September 2014 at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[5][6]
That all OnlyFans "stars" subcontract their DMs to low-paid and unpaid chatters. Yup, your wristwhizz stimuli is being forked out by some hard up 21 year old in the Philippines. https://www.wired.com/story/i-went-undercover-secret-onlyfans-chatter-wasnt-pretty/
Veterinarians, vet techs and vet assistants suicide rates.
Don't feel bad for us, we're just in it for the money anyway /s
That LinkedIn and ATS platforms are jointly responsible for completely fucking up the jobs market.