Facts Matter

Latest Episodes:

CDC Data Shows Leprosy Cases Spiking in Florida, With a Surprising Cause Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

Leprosy appears to be not only spreading in central Florida, but according to the CDC, it might now be endemic to the region. Let’s explore why that is, as well as what it means for the safety of Americans.

Apps Marketed to US Veterans Are Coming Equipped With Chinese and Russian Code Aug 18, 2026

Show notes

A first-of-its-kind study reveals that one out of eight apps marketed to U.S. military service members (and their families) contain foreign code—some from China and Russia—that could be remotely updated to leak sensitive data to adversaries. This alarming finding arrives just as reports confirm foreign adversaries are already using cell phone location data to target American troops in the Middle East. Let’s go through it all together.

Internal Docs Discovered in Lawsuit Exposed Anthropic’s Mass Book Shredding Project Aug 11, 2026

Show notes

It turns out that Anthropic—the giant AI company behind the Claude chatbot—has been secretly destroying millions of books in the process of feeding them into the AI system. Slicing off the spines. Cutting the pages. Scanning them. And then discarding the remains.

All to avoid paying copyright fees to the creators.

The initiative was called Project Panama—and it was supposed to be a secret. We only learned about it through luck, basically—it was made public only because of the discovery process in an unrelated lawsuit.

And the kicker is that it’s 100 percent legal. Furthermore, ironically, it’s only legal, because Anthropic destroys the books in the process of scanning them.

Future of War: China's SAR Satellite in GEO Orbit Versus Air Force Space Robots Aug 10, 2026

Show notes

China launched the world’s first geosynchronous synthetic aperture radar satellite in 2023, giving it continuous all-weather surveillance over roughly one-third of the planet (including the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean), later pairing it with a high-resolution optical spy satellite.

Let's discuss the critical mineral chokehold that allowed China to achieve this milestone, as well as the alternative supply chains that the United States is now building to counter the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Former CIA Director Dies, Wife Says They Spent His Last Years Looking for Cure to Havana Syndrome Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

Havana Syndrome refers to a mysterious set of symptoms—headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, and cognitive issues—that has affected more than 1,500 U.S. intelligence and diplomatic personnel since 2016. The latest case, which was the most high-profile to date, is that of the former CIA Director James Woolsey, whose wife said that he was suffering from Havana Syndrome in the years leading up to his recent death. Let’s go through the details of what we know about this mysterious malady.

US Praises Venezuela for Initiating Withdrawal From ICC Aug 03, 2026

Show notes

Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez has formally begun withdrawing the country from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The United States, which never ratified the Rome Statute and has long viewed the ICC as a threat to its own sovereignty, publicly praised the move and framed it as support for an American-led effort to dismantle what the Department of State calls a “corrupt and worthless” court.

Let’s go through the details.

Multiple US Embassies Issue Warnings to Americans Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

Let's go through the most recent spate of warnings, arising primarily from the Iran war, issued by the U.S. State Department and the embassies of several different countries.

Texas Woman Arrested Over Facebook Post, Goes on Legal Offensive Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

A woman in Texas was shocked when she opened her front door and found the local police standing there, ready to arrest her over a Facebook post.

And the reason she was shocked was because that post wasn’t threatening anyone, nor was it calling for violence. Instead, she was simply commenting on the horrible quality of the water in the town’s local water supply.

One of our senior reporters here at The Epoch Times, Darlene McCormick Sanchez, went to where this all took place to get the full story. So today, let’s go through the details.

Federal Judge Issues Ruling on Trump IRS Lawsuit Jul 21, 2026

Show notes

A federal judge on July 13 found that President Donald Trump improperly used a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS to extract personal benefits from the government he oversees, preventing the terms of a settlement agreement from taking legal effect.

Miami-based ‌U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams excoriated Trump's personal lawyers and attorneys in his administration, concluding their interests were not opposed to each other as is legally required for civil lawsuits. Williams referred a Trump lawyer in the case and senior Justice Department officials who signed off on the settlement to state bar authorities to determine whether their actions violated legal ethics rules.

Let’s go through the details of why she took these steps.

Cause of Gravity Hole Underneath Antarctica's Ice Sheet Gets Mapped Out in New Study Jul 16, 2026

Show notes

The story I’m bringing you today is one that you’ve probably never heard of before. Because, for one, it involves a continent that very few people have been on: Antarctica; and secondly, it involves a concept that very few people are familiar with: gravity holes.

And right off the bat, I’ll mention that it’s not science fiction, nor is it a conspiracy theory. Gravity holes really do exist. The earth’s outer layers have different densities in different places (because the distribution of mass beneath the crust and the mantle isn’t consistent)—the effect of gravity is not perfectly uniform across the whole planet. It’s weaker in places that are less dense.

In those places, you get what are known as gravity anomalies, where the gravitational pull is measurably weaker than the global average. Colloquially, these are known as gravity holes. These gravity holes can affect a person’s weight (you would weigh a little bit less if you were standing in one of these regions)—and also, they can affect sea levels (weaker gravity means that the ocean surface sits a little bit lower in those places).

Interestingly, the largest gravity hole on the planet happens to be located beneath the most sparsely populated continent on the planet: Antarctica. Just earlier this year, a new study was published that worked to map out not only the mantle layer of the Earth beneath Antarctica, but also the 70-million-year-long process in which it was formed. Let’s go through it together.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Facts Matter

Related Podcasts

1

2

3

4

5

6