Happiness is ill-defined, elusive and fleeting. Yet, it is relentlessly pursued by millions of people all over the world through classes, 'happiness counselors', workshops and cruises. Entire bookstore sections are devoted to this topic and a whole branch of psychology -- positive psychology, or 'joyology' -- is dedicated to its study and propagation.

Numerous studies have been conducted on happiness. In some, people choose money over well-being, others say that love and friendship are the keys to happiness. Still, other studies show that a person's level of happiness always returns to baseline despite tremendous suffering or episodes of intense joy. Some researchers consider happiness a state of mind that can be cultivated while other lambast the pursuit of happiness and positivity as a denial of reality and lying to the self.

Join us on The Health and Wellness Show as we discuss the topic of happiness and whether seeking it out is even worth the trouble. And stay tuned for Zoya's Pet Health Segment on the topic of emotions in pets and finding happiness in nature.

Running Time: 01:23:35

Download: MP3

The big news this week - just like every other week - is all about Trump. But this time it's Trump Jr. A year ago a shady British publicist set up a meeting between the junior Donald and a Russian. Now that the whole world knows about it, people are freaking out. Meeting with Russians is bad.

Unfortunately for the Russia-baiters, this latest scandal is the same as all the previous ones. As the story grows with every telling, its substance diminishes with equal rapidity. The meeting was a waste of time. There was no Russian collusion. And the hyper-focus on what the anti-Trumpers desperately want to be there - but which cannot be found - only exposes their own hypocrisy and double standards.

It was the Clintonista crew that top to bottom invented the 'dodgy dossier' on Trump, and Hillary's DNC actually colluded with Ukraine's illegitimate "government" to help undermine Trump. If that isn't bad enough, Bill Clinton's former political operatives Michael Caputo and Dick Morris are coming out to plainly admit that they were tasked to help Boris Yeltsin get re-elected as Russian President in the 90s. A big win for team USA - and a disaster for Russia. Now, these stories would make great burgers (with all the toppings!) if the corporate media served up a semblance of objectivity.

Tune in Sunday, July 16, to Behind the Headlines, 4-6pm UTC (6-8pm CET, 12-2pm EST) as we take a look at this latest anti-Russian nothing-burger, and what the real story is that everyone is missing.

Running Time: 01:43:12

Download: MP3

Hazing is defined as any activity required implicitly or explicitly as a condition of initiation or continued membership in an organization whether it be a college fraternity, sports team, military unit or social club. Hazing negatively impacts the physical and psychological well being of initiates and is said to create bonds between members, but is that really the case? Does shared PTSD make people closer? Is hazing really effective in making people want to join a group and even like the group they are joining? Some researchers believe that hazing produces cognitive dissonance and wears down an individuals sense of identity. Undergraduates prone to hazing are reported to have lower self esteem, relying too much on peers and suffering from a dislike of solitude.

Today on the Heath and Wellness show we will discuss the psychology of hazing. At least one hazing death a year has occurred on a college campus every year since 1969 - and many years, multiple deaths have transpired. Is hazing part of evolutionary psychology as some suggest or is it just bullies out of control? Join us as we discuss hazing stories that have captured headlines and what is being done to address the issue.

Running Time: 01:11:52

Download: MP3

Americans vigorously debate domestic issues, but rarely question U.S. foreign policies. This is partly because the mainstream news media and the politicians are often on the same foreign policy page and use identical and simplistic talking points. In addition, and thanks to our abysmal educational system and the entertainment media, Americans are apathetic or awfully misinformed about history and world affairs. The illusion is that we are always fighting either to spread freedom and democracy or to defeat an evil regime (somewhere most Americans know nothing about). However, here are the real reasons why the elites manufacture wars and why we must challenge their propaganda.

June was a real 'doozie' in terms of climate chaos around the world. Literal 'sheets of rain' were recorded in many different areas causing widespread flooding and deadly mudslides, along with impressive 'down bursts', seriously large hail and unseasonable snow. Tornadoes and waterspouts also made their presence felt this month from China and Russia to New Jersey. And of course, the increasingly common fireballs, sinkholes and wildfires also featured.

Check it out below, and thanks for watching!

By all means, head on over to the New York Times for the full story on how evil Donald Trump Jr. met with an evil Russian lawyer offering up all the dirt on Hillary Clinton, directly provided to her (the Russian lawyer) by evil president Vladimir Putin's evil Russian government minions, all to ensure evil Donald Trump's election as president. Or, if you'd rather not waste your time reading reams of overinflated garbage, here's everything you need to know about the latest FakeNews nothing-burger.

The story has now had three incarnations, courtesy of the failing New York Times. During the Trump campaign,

1. Trump Jr. met Russian lawyer. (Not juicy enough.)
2. Trump Jr. met Russian lawyer who promised the dirt on Hillary. (Juicier, but not quite there yet!)
3. Trump Jr. met Russian lawyer working directly for the Kremlin who promised the dirt on Hillary. (Almost there!)

It's only a matter of time before phase four introduces some Russian honey traps and personal notes written to Trump in Vlad's elegant handwriting. We're not there yet, but version three is being called a bombshell. Hardly. The only reason the story gets inflated with each passing day is because it's a big, fat nothing-burger. The NYT knows that, so they're intentionally embellishing another non-story.

The pen is mightier than the sword. CNN may know that, but a tweet just might be more powerful than both. And CNN hasn't yet figured that one out. Last week Trump dealt what may just turn out to be the blow that will put CNN out for the count. After a string of journalistic failures, all it took was Trump re-tweeting a humorous meme of Trump pummelling a cartoon CNN to send the network into a spasm of self-destruction. Funnily enough, CNN is seemingly unaware that they have been played, and defeated, and that they are only digging themselves deeper with every response. It seems they've met their match.

Trump's CNN TKO (Twitter knockout) had good timing too: right before his first meeting with the man CNN considers the most evil in the world. Vlad "the Democracy-Impaler" Putin. After a handshake that most likely sent CNN and anyone dumb enough to watch them into convulsive fits of hysterical outrage, the two presidents apparently had a great time, with the minutes turning into hours. While nothing huge has come out of the meeting, by all accounts it was amicable and agreeable. Topics included: North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, and cyber warfare, among others.

Tune in Sunday, July 9, to Behind the Headlines, 4-6pm UTC (6-8pm CET, 12-2pm EST) as we discuss the G20 and CNN's steady demise.

Running Time: 01:36:30

Download: MP3



Here's the transcript of the show:

According to the World Health Organization a person commits suicide every 40 seconds and it is the leading cause of death in 15 to 29 year olds. There is a high rate of suicide among veteran and active service members and the mentally ill, whether severely depressed or psychotic, are at greater risk. Suicide and suicide attempts are still considered criminal acts in many countries and continues to be stigmatized and spoken about in hushed tones.

To many, suicide goes against a human being's innate sense of self-preservation while others claim that it is the ultimate act of freedom and taking control of one's own fate (as in assisted suicide). On this episode of The Health and Wellness Show we'll discuss the factors that could cause a person to take their own life, suicidal clusters, live-streamed suicides and whether, for some people experiencing extreme emotional of physical pain if suicide is, indeed, a valid choice.

Stay tuned for Zoya's Pet Segment where she shares her thoughts on euthanasia from a veterinarian's perspective.

Running Time: 01:16:49

Download: OGG, MP3


Listen live, chat, and call in to future shows on the SOTT Radio Network!

Ever since the deep state Democratic party candidate Hillary Clinton lost the U.S. presidential election to Republican underdog and anti-establishment figure Donald Trump, we've been hearing almost daily stories in mainstream news about Russia's infiltration into the 2016 election process. Like other MSM outlets, CNN has been very creative in the ways it pushes this narrative (for example using an illustration from the famous video game Fallout 4 in one of their hacking stories).

In short the story goes something like this: The old bogeyman Russia is here once again, this time directly threatening the democratic process of the most democratic country in the whole democratic Western world! Evil mastermind Putin himself ordered a notorious "influence campaign" by unleashing his army of internet trolls to spread fake news against poor Hillary. Then he reminded the FSB to use plenty of bear references with Russian IP addresses and Moscow time zones while hacking the DNC emails. After that Putin passed these emails, the content of which the MSM never honestly covered, to Wikileaks, thus allowing Trump to win the election — voilà!

Interestingly, the proof for this narrative was based on the stories propagated by anonymous intelligence sources from the depths of the very swamp Trump planned to drain. Surely they didn't have an ax to grind?

Fast forward nine months and how does the Russia story look now? Well, since the mainsteam media has been responsible for spreading this narrative, we should listen to what they themselves have to say about it. A week ago Project Veritas started releasing a series of undercover videos called American Pravda, where CNN staffers unknowingly spill the truth about Russia-Trump collusion for the whole world to see.

Some of you may remember my last article, 'post-imperialism, a template for a new social order', where I described a utopian society. It discussed ideas of community, values, the quest for truth and objective reality. The present article does almost the opposite, it describes the current state of our society and where it is probably heading. More specifically, I will focus on the emergence and predominance of 'organized' minorities, be they homosexuals, atheists, migrants, pagans, modern art enthusiasts, vegetarians, LGBT advocates, you name it.

The list is long and keeps getting longer, as if we had entered an age of the race for victim-hood. Most of those minorities consider themselves as 'Social justice warriors' or SJWs. I'll try to explain how SJWs ended up imposing their vision of the world on the majority and where this raging proselytism displayed by SJWs comes from.

Many terms have been used to describe the dystopian world in which we find ourselves: materialist, scientist, atheist, individualistic, rationalist, consumerist. They all are valid descriptions, although they only address one of the facets of our global society.

Recently some thinkers attempted to give a more extensive assessment of our society and described it as nihilistic, relativist, post-modern. What those three terms have in common is that they make the claim that there can be no objective truth, no objective meaning and no objective moral values.

But when you observe the vehement proselytism displayed by 'acting' minorities, it seems that they strongly believe they hold truth and they are very willing to fight for it. How can this be in a nihilistic/relativist/postmodern society, where there is no truth, no future and no goal?

Along with tracking the fundamental causes and origins of the fervor and proselytism displayed by 'dominant' minorities, I'll try to describe the current dynamics and show that they go way beyond 'nihilism'. That's why I use the term 'post-nihilism' to account for the society that emerges after the transitory 'nihilistic' phase.