Hi, MPJ vote. This is the Crypto Island miniseries. In this episode, we meet a professional skeptic

and learn the story of how his life came to be dominated by something he doesn't believe

in. That's after some ads.

We are living through a wild moment in American history. There are conspiracy theorists on

house committees, extremists on the Supreme Court, and near fistfights on C-SPAN. And

with an intense White House battle ahead, we need a better conversation about the latest

big election of our lives. Hosted by four former Obama aides, Pod Save America hosts

used their expertise to provide listeners with a no bullshit guide to democracy. Every

week, they break down all the political news that makes us laugh, cry, and scream into

the void. Tell us, figure out what matters and what each of us can do about it. Pod Save

America. The context you need for next week's news. Follow now so you never miss an

episode. They called him the Telecom Cowboy. It sounds like the beginning of a truly terrible

country song, but it's true. Bernie Ebers was the CEO who was famous for coming to work

in a Stetson Hat and Cowboy Boots. A former gym teacher, he'd started a small phone

company in Mississippi called Long Distance Discount Services. Bernie's company followed

an aggressive playbook. They buy a book competitor, which would raise their stock, which would

give them money to buy up another competitor. Over and over again, it worked. Before long,

they were the second largest telecom in the United States. The minnow that ate the whale.

That's what the papers called them when they managed to buy MCI. Eventually, they gave

themselves a name that truly reflected their ambitions. World Com. World Com stock went

up every year, minting millionaires. This was during the dot-com boom, and if you wanted

to bet on the internet, you bet on the World Com. World Com was going to own the pipes

...