Show Notes
This week: Trojan horses, teal handguns, and a stand-your-ground laws in Wyoming. Jamie Reed, Cori Cohn, and Lauren Leggieri are back together again, with two stories that have absolutely nothing to do with each other, except that both involve someone pretending to be someone they are not. First up: Christopher Nolan finally releases his $250 million, IMAX-shot, five-years-in-the-making Odyssey — and somewhere between Zendaya as Athena and Travis Scott as a bard, Ellen Page shows up as Sinon, a character who isn’t even in the actual Odyssey. Then: a story out of Laramie, Wyoming, that the Times seems almost uncomfortable having written, and photographing. A trans identified man named Rihanna Kelver packs a teal handgun for road trips, gets into with three men, draws a gun — and ends up facing 15 years. In one of the most gun-friendly states in the country. We break down what actually happened, what the law says, and what the coverage gets right and wrong. Like, subscribe, and share this episode — and check out our merch!
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Independent journalist Andy Ngo joins Jamie Reed, and Cori Cohn to discuss his new book, The Zizians: Inside a Trans Death Cult (Center Street, October 13, 2026). Ngo traces how Jack LaSota, known as “Ziz,” went from a promising engineering career to the Bay Area rationalist scene, and built a group blending rationalism, radical veganism, and trans grievance politics that is now linked to at least eight deaths. We talk about the cult’s recruitment, the families left behind, why Ngo uses legal names and sex-based pronouns throughout, and why no Zizian in custody has yet been convicted. Get the book: Hardcover, ebook, and audiobook here. Follow Andy: Ngo Comment on Substack here. Informed Dissent is produced by the LGB Courage Coalition, a registered US nonprofit fully funded by small donations.
On September 23, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on protecting women’s sports. Former Stanford goalkeeper and professional soccer player Carly Smolak testified alongside Kim Jones of ICONS and attorney William Bock. When it came time for questions, not a single Democratic senator stayed in the room to ask her anything. We think her story deserves to be heard in full. This episode opens with Carly’s testimony, then turns to a conversation with Jamie Reed and Cori Cohn. Carly won four national championships in Australian rules football as a player and coach. In 2023, a man joined her former women’s team. He turned out to be a registered sex offender convicted of abusing multiple children. The club quietly removed him without ever telling the women he had shared hotel rooms with, and the national governing body said there was nothing it could do.
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Simon LeVay is a British-born neuroscientist who has served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He achieved international fame with a 1991 Science paper that reported on a difference in the structure of the hypothalamus between gay and straight men, a study that helped trigger an avalanche of new biological research into sexual orientation. Since retiring from laboratory science, LeVay has authored or co-authored 12 books, including Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why, the textbook Discovering Human Sexuality, and the historical novel The Donation of Constantine. His earlier books include The Sexual Brain and Queer Science: The Use and Abuse of Research Into Homosexuality (MIT Press, 1996). He has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. April 13 Provost’s Lecture with Simon LeVay - SBU News +3 Referenced in this episode * Simon LeVay, Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation (2011) * Simon LeVay, The Sexual Brain (1993) * “Gay scientist draws criticism over remarks on trans kids,” Bay Area Reporter (2016): https://www.ebar.com/story/246901/redirect