In 2017, a man showed up at the emergency room and confessed that he'd accidentally poisoned himself with homemade ricin. He was federally charged with possessing a biological agent, but his case was dismissed on almost unbelievable technicality. But he's not the only man who thinks he can create the perfect weapon from nothing but a handful of beans.

Original Air Date: 7.31.25

Sources:

https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional/ajc-watchdog-north-man-arrested-for-ricin-radicalized-online/wdxws9G7zMmaUDmm22njYK/

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/the-perfect-poison-ricin-used-in-3-recent-cases/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17023504/united-states-v-jordan/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6378803/united-states-v-siers-hill/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6293428/united-states-v-gibbs/

Melissa Abbes, Marc Montana, Christophe Curti, Patrice Vanelle. Ricin poisoning: A review on contamination source, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and reporting of ricin poisoning. Toxicon, Volume 195, 2021

Tucker, Jonathan B. “Dilemmas of a Dual-Use Technology: Toxins in Medicine and Warfare.” Politics and the Life Sciences, vol. 13, no. 1, 1994, pp. 51–62

Bergen, Peter, et al. “Key Trends in Terrorism.” Terrorism in America 18 Years After 9/11, New America, 2019, pp. 45–50

Leo J. Schep, Wayne A. Temple, Grant A. Butt, Michael D. Beasley. Ricin as a weapon of mass terror — Separating fact from fiction. Environment International, Volume 35, Issue 8, 2009

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/us/ricin-terrorism-plot-sentencing.html

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/cfr

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/uscode

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/744

https://thebulletin.org/2013/06/barely-lethal/

https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=6020875&page=1

https://slate.com/technology/2012/01/white-powder-hoaxes-a-trend-in-fake-terrorism.html

https://www.justice.gov/archive/tax/usaopress/2002/txdv02091.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-49434687

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/22/woman-poison-plot-mother-breaking-bad-court

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/breaking-bad-inspired-georgetown-student-charged-ricin

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-34288380

USAMRIID’s MEDICAL MANAGEMENT OF BIOLOGICAL CASUALTIES HANDBOOK, Ninth Edition
https://usamriid.health.mil/assets/docs/training/USAMRIIDs_Blue_Book_9th_edition_PDF_format.pdf

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In 2007, a white nationalist known for his addiction to causing drama claimed he saw Ron Paul at a nazi supper club. Ron Paul supporters, including those on nazi message boards, pushed back. The feud that ensued led to Curtis Maynard's fall from grace as a holocaust denial blogger - he'd been keeping a secret from his readers.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/politics/ron-paul-disowns-extremists-views-but-doesnt-disavow-the-support.html

https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hate-watch/ron-pauls-new-organization-reportedly-stacked-extremists/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/16/guiltbyassociation

https://web.archive.org/web/20071226150527/themedium.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/the-ron-paul-vid-lash/

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/pageoneplus/corrections.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20071221222229/http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=28341_Neo-Nazis_Say-_Ron_Paul_is_One_of_Us&only

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/sarasota/2018/10/01/alleged-white-nationalist-peter-gemma-resigns-from-sarasota-gop-executive-committee/9732609007/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2005/04/07/for-holocaust-denier-theres-no-telling/057d4471-7668-4bf2-ba59-6e7f9666bb18/

http://new.wymaninstitute.org/2004/12/former-senior-aide-to-pat-buchanan-spoke-at-holocaust-deniers-meeting/

https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/white-nationalist-writer-peter-gemma-resigns-sarasota-gop-executive-committee

https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/conservativism-and-foreign-policy/182250

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/world/americas/21iht-hate.4.17140643.html

https://roanoke.com/news/local/nazi-leader-bill-white----in-his-own-words/article_7e5c7e03-bdcf-5542-a6be-0433ba2d7aee.html

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/assault-gets-even-ugliercontroversy-escalates-over-sexual-violence-campus/

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This episode originally ran on January 23, 2025. The second half of the story had to be taken down a few weeks later. That episode has now been rewritten and re-recorded. Before you listen to the newly released version of the lost episode, here's the original part one to refresh your memory.

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In 2010, a rising star in the small world of holocaust denial blogging murdered his ex-wife and then took his own life. This first chapter of his story follows his path from a troubled career as a registered nurse to his growing fame as a white supremacist blogger.

Sources:

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Lawyer-Lake-Jackson-murder-suicide-followed-1710794.php

http://www.thenation.com/article/arrows-war

https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/americas-promise-ministries/

https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/proclamation-5555-national-hungarian-freedom-fighters-day-1986

https://library.hungaricana.hu/en/view/Szittyakurt_USAHUN_1986/?pg=39&layout=s

https://www.bocskairadio.org/en/an-interview-with-akos-l-nagy-president-of-the-american-hungarian-federation/

Katalin Hasulyó-Pintz. Doctoral dissertation, Identity Preservation and Diaspora Relations in the USA: the Hungarian Community of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 2020

https://collections.ushmm.org/oh_findingaids/RG-50.573.0005_tcn_en.pdf

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1465015471074263044.html

https://www.yadvashem.org/docs/international-commission-on-romania-holocaust.html

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