#2395 - Mariana van Zeller
Joe Rogan talks with investigative journalist Mariana van Zeller about her high‑risk reporting on global black and gray markets, the end of her TV series "Trafficked," and the launch of her new podcast "The Hidden Third" exploring the underground economy and people living outside the law. They discuss drug cartels, counterfeit money, rehab and insurance fraud, the fentanyl and "tranq dope" crisis, and systemic failures in U.S. drug policy and healthcare. The conversation also covers immigration raids and asylum, pharmaceutical corruption around OxyContin and fentanyl, the explosion of sophisticated online scams and scam factories in Asia, political polarization, and Mariana's belief that empathy‑driven journalism is essential to understanding crime and fixing broken systems.
#613 - Forrest Galante
Forrest Galante discusses growing up on a farm and safari operation in Zimbabwe, witnessing wildlife decline and later violent land seizures that forced his family to flee during the land reform era. He explains how that background led him into wildlife biology and television, covering his work on "Extinct or Alive," his new series "Animals on Drugs," and hands-on conservation projects like chemically and surgically castrating invasive hippos in Colombia. The conversation ranges through close calls with deadly snakes, the ethics of extinction and de‑extinction, invasive species, and why reconnecting with wild places can ground people in a hyperconnected world.