Professor of immigration and citizenship law at the University of Virginia, Amanda Frost joins the show to discuss her book You Are Not American: Citizen Stripping from Dred Scott to the Dreamers. Live-streamed on September 22, 2025.
Most people know that Harry Houdini was a famous magician. Many people also know that Houdini devoted much of his life to debunking fake mediums during a time when Spiritualism had widespread acceptance.
But did you know that Houdini’s chief investigator was a woman named Rosa Mackenberg? I did not, but thanks to a Skeptoid podcast episode I do now!
Mackenberg began her career working as a private detective at a detective agency in New York. She was introduced to Houdini, who asked her to help expose fake mediums. Mackenberg believed that it was possible to communicate with the dead, but also agreed that mediums could be frauds. She started a partnership with Houdini that would last even after he died (in a sense).
Mackenberg joined Houdini’s team in 1924. Mackenberg would adopt a costume and a backstory and meet with psychics before Houdini came to town. She took notes on their methods and passed them on to Houdini. Then when Houdini came to town, they would discredit the fake psychics publicly.
A newspaper clipping shows some of Mackenberg’s disguises.
Mackenberg testified before Congress hoping to convince them to pass a bill that would outlaw predatory practices among mediums. In the process, she divulged that multiple members of Congress, as well as President Calvin Coolidge, visited mediums in Washington, D.C.
After Houdini died in 1926, she continued her work, investigating fraudulent psychics and giving talks to professional and legal groups as well as the general public on how mediums were able to successfully swindle their victims. (snip)
In her work, she advanced not only the opportunities for women in investigative fields, but also some techniques of scientific investigation that are still used today. (snip-read MORE)
FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday fired an agent in training for displaying a gay pride flag on his desk while appointed to a field office in California last year, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The trainee, who previously worked as an FBI support specialist in Los Angeles, received a letter — dated Oct. 1 and signed by Patel — claiming he had displayed an improper “political” message in the workplace during his assignment in California under President Joe Biden, according to a copy of the letter shared with MSNBC.
The letter cited President Donald Trump’s Article II powers under the Constitution to dismiss federal agency career personnel, a justification used in several recent firings at the Department of Justice and FBI. The terminations are currently being challenged in several lawsuits.
“After reviewing the facts and circumstances and considering your probationary status, I have determined that you exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in your work area during your previous assignment in the Los Angeles Field Office.”
FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL
“You are being summarily dismissed from your position as a New Agent Trainee at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and removed from the federal service,” read the letter, which was sent on the first day of a nationwide government shutdown that created job uncertainty throughout the federal workforce.
“After reviewing the facts and circumstances and considering your probationary status, I have determined that you exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in your work area during your previous assignment in the Los Angeles Field Office,” Patel wrote, without referencing a flag.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment about this story. MSNBC was unable to reach the fired trainee for comment and, therefore, is not identifying him. The termination over the pride flag was first reported by CNN.
Wednesday’s dismissal comes after Trump and Russell Vought, the White House director of the Office of Management and Budget, threatened widespread firings of federal employees in the event of a government shutdown.
The agent trainee, who had most recently been assigned to the FBI Academy in Quantico, won an Attorney General’s Award in 2022 in recognition of his work, according to a Justice Department news release.
News of the trainee’s firing spurred some agents in the FBI’s Washington field office to scour their work stations and social media accounts for signs or comments — anything that could be viewed as offensive to Trump, his top appointees and MAGA supporters, according to one person familiar with the reaction within the government.
FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors warned one another, ahead of Trump’s inauguration, to be careful about displaying information revealing their sexual orientation or support for LGBTQ rights.
When Trump was weeks away from inauguration in January, FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors were warning one another to be careful about displaying information revealing their own sexual orientation or support for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender rights. After the inauguration, one person said, FBI agents warned colleagues that they heard new pro-Trump appointees installed at the FBI were combing through internal employee files to find lists that identified employees as LGBTQ.
DOJ Pride, an LGBTQ employee resource group at the Department of Justice, shut down in late January, less than 10 days after Trump signed an executive order seeking to root out all diversity, equity and inclusion measures from the federal government.
The group “ceased to operate effective immediately,” DOJ Pride’s board wrote in an email sent to members at the time.
“In this time of uncertainty and concern, we have taken the extraordinary measure of ceasing operations of DOJ Pride,” the message said. “We have made this decision in the interest and for the protection of all members.”
The email, which was shared then with NBC News by two DOJ staffers, thanked members for their “understanding during this time” and expressed hope that the group could “rebuild in the future.”
The FBI’s firing of a trainee for displaying a gay pride flag on his desk last year came as more than a dozen federal agency websites trumpeted that the “radical left” had caused the government shutdown.
October 4, 1976 Earl Butz resigned as President Gerald Ford’s agriculture secretary with an apology for what he called the “gross indiscretion” of uttering a racist remark.
October 4, 1997 Demonstrations across the country occurred protesting the scheduled launch of the space probe Cassini because its power source was three plutonium-fueled Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators.The probe carried 72.3 pounds of plutonium, the most ever put on a device to be launched into space. The concern was for an accidental release in the event of a launch mishap. Plutonium is the most toxic substance known. “It is so toxic,” says Helen Caldicott, president emeritus of Physicians for Social Responsibility, “that less than one-millionth of a gram is a carcinogenic dose. One pound, if uniformly distributed, could hypothetically induce lung cancer in every person on Earth.” The Risk of Cassini Probe Plutonium An interview with Dr. Caldicott
Hi, there. I bet everyone who reads and writes here, is unhappy and at least a little apprehensive about the state of the USA. Everywhere we turn, there is another story of an illegal and outrageous action that our current administration has ordered our government to perform. So, I’m also certain I’m not the only one who feels the USA is in living nightmare territory. And then, we being who we are, we are also informed as to how the entire planet is undergoing increasing violence to itself and to people everywhere. Meanwhile, all that could be dissonant with our immediate surroundings, which increases the anxiety and/or whichever symptom/s we may have going.
For instance, while Ollie and I were outside playing this evening, we heard a great deal of “show-offy” driving in our area. Tonight’s high school game is Homecoming, which is celebrated by the town for a couple of days prior to the game, then the students get their celebration during half-time and after the game. Some of those students I had when they were kindergarteners and up, in the after-schools where I worked. Also, many alumnae have their reunions over Homecoming weekend. Fall Fest happens tomorrow and Sunday morning. Among other things, there are apple cider slushies at Fall Fest! So there is more traffic, and the younger people drive as if they’re Masters of the Universe (some of the old guys, if they have a muscle car to show off, drive just like that, too!) A person can almost forget about everything negative except hoping that no one is injured in the game, and that no one drives impaired tonight. A nice, relaxing evening, going into the night.
Then the other reality comes that some of the people who are here will not have a job to work on Monday, or a student won’t have a para, a nurse’s aide will be overworked and underpaid, and so on. Some of it due to the federal shutdown, or shutdown “related” cuts, some due to cuts that have been ongoing since January. Prices are still high; my own city has not cut services but has not replaced personnel who have moved on, so services are affected negatively for people who live here; more cities than not have done the same. It’s always something, everywhere. It’s a lot, and it’s overwhelming. And there are still the good and nice things happening within miles of us, or next door, or our own homes, too. It’s enough to explode a head!
So I thought I’d write in. None of us is alone. Everyone is at least stressed, so first, I want to check on people, see how you’re doing, see if you want to vent in comments, or ask questions, or share whatever you care to share. I know it’s a little late, at least on the East coast, but, well, this’ll be here all weekend.
I’ll share a little bit of a way to maybe work with/around what’s happening in everyone’s world. There is a saying: “Do small things with great love.” It may sound too easy, but it’s really not-it’s exactly what we all need: to show love and show how to show love so that everyone catches a ripple and does it, too. Most of us can do little if anything about the world-wide violence, but waving at our neighbor, offering a hello at the store or someplace, and simply smiling at people while looking at them will make a difference. And doing these things is actually being part of the resistance. Love is the ultimate resistance!
Finally, interestingly, when we do small things with great love, it’s almost as if someone did that for us, too, even if they really didn’t! It’s amazing how it works, but it does.
So, I hope everyone rests easily tonight, and gets some early sunshine when we get up. Enjoy the view at a local river side, and some chalk art I did during the pandemic.
Scottie's Playtime 