Ep. 12 Ex-NYT Journalist: A Prophet of Covid and Cannabis? Or the World's "Wrongest Man"?

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To some, Alex Berenson was the "pandemic's wrongest man." To others, he was a prophet, whose Covid and vaccine predictions -- although deeply unpopular and ultimately the reason for his ban from Twitter -- came true. A graduate of Yale University, Alex Berenson got a job as a journalist at The New York Times around 2000. During his award-winning 10-year tenure at the paper, he covered the pharma industry, Bernie Madoff, Hurricane Katrina, and the Iraq War. He ultimately left the newspaper to become a novelist, which proved a more lucrative and comfortable career. Then, in 2019, he published a book on the link between cannabis and psychosis called "Tell Your Children." From Joe Rogan, on whose podcast Berenson has appeared multiple times, to establishment scientists, critics accused him of cherry-picking data and being alarmist. Today, however, his cannabis research is less controversial. In 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, Berenson became a critic of the federal government's response to Covid. He called BS on lockdowns, mask mandates, contact tracing, and more. Then, when the vaccine came out, he raised questions about the clinical trials, saying they were run poorly and predicting that the vaccine may have significant side effects. In late summer 2021, he sent a tweet saying the vaccines would be "at best a therapeutic," and Twitter banned him. He sued Twitter and won the appeal, and has since sued the federal government for colluding with Twitter to ban him. He sat down with RocaNews co-founders Max Frost and Max Towey to discuss his lawsuit, censorship, his pandemic views, his cannabis views, and much more. Make sure to subscribe and please send your questions/thoughts/feedback to [e-mail].