The Jordan Harbinger Show

Clean energy has a dirty secret buried deep in the Congo. The Elements of Power author Nicolas Niarchos is here to pull the supply chain apart link by link.
Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1315
What We Discuss with Nicolas Niarchos:
"Clean" energy isn't clean — the cobalt in your phone or EV may have been hand-dug in dangerous DRC mine pits by workers living under near-slavery conditions, earning barely enough to scrape by.
China processes 70–90% of critical battery metals and owns major mines across the DRC and Indonesia, giving it a stranglehold on the global supply chain that dwarfs OPEC's peak leverage over oil.
Supply chain audits are largely theater — documents have flagged child labor and dangerous conditions at specific mines, yet production never stopped, and conditions often worsened in the years that followed.
Communities surrounding DRC mines face heavy metal contamination, mine collapses, and the world's highest rates of congenital birth defects — a catastrophic human toll that's invisible at the point of sale.
You're not powerless: using your devices longer, raising concerns at shareholder meetings, and pushing elected officials to prioritize ethical sourcing are concrete steps that create real, compounding pressure for change.
And much more...
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In the grand scheme, bees bring way more to the table than honey — so why are they vanishing? Jessica Wynn combs through the data on Skeptical Sunday!
Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where Jordan and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we’re joined by writer and researcher Jessica Wynn!
Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1314
On This Week's Skeptical Sunday:
Honeybees aren't even native to North America — they're European imports from the 1600s, essentially livestock with wings. Meanwhile, the 20,000+ species of wild and solitary bees that actually belong here are losing habitat and quietly heading toward extinction, largely unnoticed.
The waggle dance isn't just a cute party trick — it's a Nobel Prize-winning symbolic language bees use to communicate precise GPS coordinates through choreography. And in 2023, scientists discovered it's culturally transmitted, not instinctual, meaning some colonies are literally better dancers because they had better teachers.
Every winter, 54 billion bees are trucked into California's Central Valley to pollinate almonds — woken from dormancy, fed stimulants, crammed into monoculture diets, and exposed to pesticides that scramble their navigation. The system that feeds us is simultaneously dismantling the workforce it depends on.
Colony Collapse Disorder — where entire forager populations vanish without a trace, no bodies, no explanation — is the bee equivalent of a Mary Celeste mystery. The leading theory is a perfect storm: parasitic varroa mites, neurotoxic pesticides that cause bees to forget how to get home, malnutrition, and the chronic stress of life as migratory livestock.
The good news: you don't need a hive or a hero complex to help. Planting native flowers, skipping pesticides, and buying local honey from non-migratory beekeepers are small moves with real impact — because wild bee populations respond directly to local habitat, and every garden is a potential waystation for the solitary bees quietly doing the work no one's paying attention to.
Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at [email protected] and let him know!
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Your BFF wrecked your hair, kicked you off her bachelorette trip, and got your fiancé uninvited from his own brother's wedding. Yep, it's Feedback Friday!
And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at [email protected]. Now let's dive in!
Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1313
On This Week's Feedback Friday:
On a previous Feedback Friday (episode 1274, question two), your fiancé wrote in about not being invited to his stepbrother's wedding, and now you're here to share your side. A botched haircut from your best-friend-turned-hairdresser, an explosive bachelorette trip exit, and a friendship that's been unraveling for years — all of it now rippling into your future family. Were you justified in blocking her, or did that make everything worse?
Your in-laws overstep every boundary you set, your father-in-law has a history of physical abuse, and your mother-in-law calls your infant son names — then cries when you push back. Your husband's in therapy but can't yet see his parents clearly, and you're left feeling like the only one protecting your child. How do you keep your son safe without losing your marriage in the process?
You're a listener who noticed that the show tends to steer people away from religious therapists — and you're calling Gabe and Jordan out on it. After hearing their advice to a Christian woman who'd had an abortion, you want to know: is there an anti-religion bias at play, or is there a deeper rationale behind the recommendation to seek help outside one's faith community?
Recommendation of the Week: Gabe recommends Briggs & Riley luggage — a solid mid-tier brand with smart design, smooth rolling, and a lifetime guarantee that covers free repairs at any affiliated retailer or ships you the parts and tools anywhere in the world.
You're 28, about to defend your PhD, newly sober, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and fresh off a divorce and three miscarriages — and for the first time in your life, you're not sure academia is your path anymore. You missed the window for job applications, you might have to move back to Canada, and you don't even know who you are now that you're finally clear-headed. How do you "find yourself" when you don't know what you're looking for?
Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at [email protected]!
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Social media turned child abuse into a competitive sport. Munchausen by proxy expert Andrea Dunlop is here to explain how it works and why it's growing.
Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1312
What We Discuss with Andrea Dunlop:
Munchausen by proxy abuse is when a caregiver — usually a mother — fabricates, exaggerates, or induces illness in a child for emotional gratification, attention, and control. It's not a delusion or a bad parenting moment — it's calculated, premeditated, and persistent abuse that can include unnecessary surgeries, poisoning, and starvation.
Social media has supercharged this abuse by giving perpetrators an unlimited audience for sympathy, an online playbook for faking illnesses, and access to rare disease communities they can infiltrate. Support groups, GoFundMe campaigns, and medical blogs become tools for manipulation — turning the attention economy into a weapon against children.
The system meant to protect kids often fails them — there's no official designation for Munchausen by proxy in most states, CPS may miscategorize it as "medical neglect," and perpetrators routinely cross state lines to dodge investigations. Child abuse records don't reliably follow offenders, giving them a clean slate with every move.
When the abuser is someone you love, the psychological cost of confronting the truth is so high that many people build elaborate alternate realities rather than face it. Family members, doctors, and community members often choose their own comfort over a child's safety — and perpetrators exploit that reluctance masterfully.
Trust your instincts — if something feels off about a child's medical situation, don't ignore it. Learning to recognize the red flags — like constant one-upmanship about a child's illness, doctor shopping, or a parent discussing death when no terminal diagnosis exists — can literally save a life. Awareness isn't paranoia; it's protection.
And much more...
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Sports betting exploded overnight and the house always wins. Nick Pell calls the bluff on online gambling here on Skeptical Sunday.
Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where Jordan and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we’re joined by writer and researcher Nick Pell!
Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1311
On This Week's Skeptical Sunday:
Online gambling has exploded from a $5 billion industry confined mostly to Nevada into a $120 billion enterprise spanning 38 states — and 94% of bets are now placed via mobile devices. The 2018 Supreme Court decision overturning PASPA collided with the smartphone era to create a perfect storm of frictionless, always-on access to sports betting.
The business model of gambling apps is built on exploiting problem gamblers, not casual bettors. While the industry points out that most people bet harmlessly, platforms use AI to identify emotional vulnerability, send personalized push notifications at peak gambling hours, and offer "free" bets designed not to reward you — but to keep the app open.
Microbetting — wagering on events as granular as the next pitch or first down — turns sports betting into a slot machine. With a house advantage of 15–25% (compared to 5% in traditional sports betting), these rapid-fire bets prevent your brain's prefrontal cortex from resetting, induce a dissociative state, and drain your bankroll at a rate that can burn through a night's losses in minutes.
Gambling addiction is uniquely dangerous because it's almost invisible until catastrophic. Unlike substance abuse — which often shows physical signs — problem gambling can be hidden from family and friends right up until financial ruin hits. Gambling disorder carries the highest suicide attempt rate of any addiction, with roughly one in five sufferers attempting suicide.
If you do gamble, think like a pro: set a fixed bankroll and bet in small "units" (1–2% of your total), use built-in deposit limits and cool-off features to create friction, avoid microbets entirely, never bet while drinking, and track every win and loss — because your brain is hardwired to remember the highs and gloss over the lows.
Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at [email protected] and let him know!
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