Host Dave Schrader (email) was joined by author and social welfare expert, John Potash, for a discussion on how U.S. intelligence agencies used drugs to manipulate and ruin the lives of leftist leaders and musicians, including Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Tupac Shakur. Based on his research, Potash asserted that U.S. government has had a longstanding practice of importing illegal drugs into the country for the purpose of both generating profit and as a nefarious means of controlling society. To that end, he lamented that widespread drug abuse and addiction has, over the years, been used by the 'powers that be' to disrupt and diminish social movements which would threaten their control over the populace.

He cited the testimony of a CIA agent who claimed that assets in London were tasked with "putting LSD in as many musicians' hands as possible in 1965." Potash contended that this was part of an agenda aimed at popularizing the drug by linking it to the role models of that time. In turn, he argued, people who began consuming acid would become diverted from politically active pursuits like civil rights and anti-war protests. He alleged that Mick Jagger was specifically targeted because of his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War and that the Rolling Stones frontman was first given LSD by an undercover FBI agent. Beyond that, Potash suggested that the suspicious death of Rolling Stones member Brian Jones played a role in ensuring that Jagger curtailed his critique of the conflict.

He also pointed to the demise of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain as an indicator that this agenda continued into more recent years. According to Potash, Cobain's wife, Courtney Love, had a longstanding association with the CIA and may have been responsible for the singer's increased heroin after they had met. Moreover, he observed that once Cobain seemingly got sober, he died under mysterious circumstances. Regarding Tupac Shakur, Potash noted that the rapper's family were leading members of the Black Panthers who were manipulated by undercover FBI agents into becoming addicted to crack cocaine. As Shakur rose in popularity, he began urging gangs to stop dealing drugs and to turn to activism instead. "He became a major threat for that reason," Potash said, leading to the infiltration of Shakur's record label by undercover police operatives who ultimately helped orchestrate his murder.

Unconventional Security Measures

In the first hour, novelist Brad Meltzer discussed his new novel, The President's Shadow, and shared insights into unconventional security practices utilized by the government. He revealed that, a few years ago, the Department of Homeland Security recruited him to imagine possible attack methods that may be used by terrorists. In researching this unorthodox methodology, he discovered that the use of surreptitious civilian spies by the government dates all the way back to George Washington, who created an organization called the Culper Ring, which Meltzer's sources intimated is still in existence today. Over the course of his appearance, Meltzer also detailed unique security measures used by the government such as rooms specifically designed for reading classified documents as well as secret tunnels and passages found at the White House.