Glass Box Podcast

We're finally done with The Naked Communist!!! Instead of drawing it out for 2 more MoGP segments, we devote the primary segment to wrapping up NC with Cleon Skousen's 5 questions and a LOOOONG speech in front of a Washington PTA. Then we finish our coverage of communism by reviewing the movie Trumbo about the Hollywood 10. Then we finish with some happy news about some Native American tribes admi...

BYU recently released a report on racism and discrimination at the university campus including 26 recommendations to increase diversity. We read through the entire report so you don't have to! We discuss their findings, the data presented, and what changes we can realistically expect to see as a result of the report. After that we discuss the 2005 George Clooney movie Good Night, and Good Luck. We...

We start today's episode with a brief deep-dive into a rumored race riot of 1965 that never happened in Salt Lake City. It reveals troubling trends we've seen play out over the past year. Be sure to follow the link to read the article for yourself. Then we do our next installment of The Naked Communist with an eye looking to the future of the Communist takeover of America. Once again, it reveals t...

Boundaries Part 2! In this episode we give you some listener feedback from social media discussions on the Boundaries Part 1 episode. We talk to two very interesting people —  Andrew Torrez and Kimberly Anderson — who give us various tools to help us make and keep our boundaries and we leave you feeling like your world is a little more under your control and safe.  Show Links:    Andrew:  Parentin...

Special episode this week! Let's talk about Boundaries: How the church and our TBM family and friends cross them and what we can do about it. We'll introduce the topic then hear from a therapist and a listener about their interactions with the church and boundaries. We'll jump into some of our survey data and round out the show with some of our own experiences. Finally, a big thank you to Braden f...

Braden's taking the week off so Shannon and Bryce spend a LONG episode going through a recent document dump by WikiLeaks concerning the Mormon church. After that we get into our next installment of the Naked Communist by Cleon Skousen. Shannon teaches us about Kruschev and Castro through the 1950s-60s. Then we wrap with happy news about the Georgia Senate runoff election. PLEASE TAKE OUR SURVEY AB...

End-of-the-shit-year-of-2020 fun episode! We want to end the year on a high note and what better way to do that than to spend the entire episode talking about fun things! And what might those be, you ask? Some favorite movies and books, of course!    Survey about BOUNDARIES!: https://forms.gle/bHUugqgdtiRxU9nw7     Bryce : Movie: Parasite: https://www.imdb.comhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt6751668/?...

We do a brief deep-dive into Book of Mormon archaeology, but probably not a story you've heard before. Thomas Stuart Ferguson was hired by BYU and the Mormon church to study Mesoamerica for ties to ancient Book of Mormon cities and artifacts. His findings will SHOCK you! Then we dive into the next installment of The Naked Communist with more background on post WWII history and the rise of fear and...

The Mormon Moses, Russel M. Nelson, recently released a video to all the social medias about a new ad campaign the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is running. We discuss the video, the campaign as a whole, and some of our takeaways watching the campaign play out over the past week. Then, Braden tells us about "Yes, God, Yes!," a coming of age story of a woman raised in a sexually repre...

In light of a recent Twitter op-ed, we invite Dr. Cristina Rosetti onto the show to discuss a polygamist group in Utah (the Kingston Group) who've recently contributed to political campaigns, shot rifles with POTUS's son, and opposed the decriminalization of polygamy which recently passed the Utah legislature. Rosetti helps us navigate the tumultuous waters of Mormon polygamy and discusses the rec...

You heard it right, Justice Dallin H. Oaks said "Black lives matter"! Buuuuuuut, he said 'but' after it. We go top to bottom on Oaks' recent BYU speech titled "Racism and Other Challenges" to see what slipped through the cracks and talk generally about masks, voting, protests, statues, and the works. Then we talk about "The Social Dilemma," a new doc on Netflix about the problems of social media a...

A whole episode about Ezra Taft Benson and Cleon Skousen! We invite Dr. Matt Harris, author of the recent "Watchman on the Tower; Ezra Taft Benson and the Making of the Mormon Right" along with friend of the show, Joseph Geisner, to discuss the life and influences of Mormon Prophet, Ezra Benson. A product of the red scare and McCarthyism, Benson rose to prominence as Dwight Eisenhower's Secretary...

I mean, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Yeah, it's that long because boiling down 10 hours of brainwashing stupefaction takes a while. But, we discuss what slipped through the cracks and why it matters for us to analyze every nook and cranny of each #GenCON.   Show Links: Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast

We take this week's episode as a time to reflect on the incredible life and legacy of one of the nation's brightest minds. SCOTUS lost a paragon of civil rights and gender equality in a contentious election year. We discuss the life and accomplishments of RBG, what her death in September 2020 means, and what we can expect moving forward. After that, Braden phones in to tell us about Pride, a movie...

Shannon Grover joins us again for the next installment of The Naked Communist, why don't we just make it official? Welcome to our new permanent co-host!! We start the show with a quick rundown of a recent talk given by Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of Apostles about the current wave of civil rights protests we see across the nation. We transition seamlessly into The Naked Communist and it's remark...

We're joined by Brian Simper for an interview about Mormon membership statistics. Brian gave a presentation at the recent Sunstone Symposium and was kind enough to join me for a deep dive into his methodology and findings. After that we discuss The Invention of Lying and a brief rundown of Steve Bannon's arrest on wire fraud charges.   Happy news: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/...

Our resident General Authority, Shannon Grover, at long last joins us for an entire episode. We begin with hearing her story growing up in the church, her early life, mission, marriage, and finally apostasy. She's had quite the incredible journey and we're lucky to have her share so much. After that, we get through the next chapter of The Naked Communist by Cleon Skousen and wrap up with some happ...

A lot of people have debated this question for decades. We sit down with some work from Steven Hassan, Margaret Singer, and other cult experts to discuss what makes a cult a cult. Short answer, yes. Longer answer, yes and it's complicated. Longest answer, yes and listen to the show. Now that I have your attention, reader, here's a fun activity: send a Facebook message to Braden Hamm and ask him "i...

This episode begins with a panel discussion with Marie D'Elephant and Marissa McCool about navigating ethical non-monogamy. Open relationships/marriages can be a taboo topic and uncomfortable for some; Marie and Riss help us by giving a 101 discussion to introduce us to the subject, uncover some common pitfalls, and provide resources for further reading should non-monogamy be a topic which interes...

Lots of interlocking stories to discuss this week. We jump right in with a discussion about the most recent headlines sparked by the protests following George Floyd's death. A lot of legislation has been crafted in response to the protests, including an executive order from President Donald Trump. We examine the organizations he listed during the signing to determine the intent of the order, follo...

Racial tensions and police brutality in America have caused protests, riots, and citizens becoming the victims of war crimes committed by our military-police force. How did we get here? Where do we go? How can we effectively reform policing in America? It's a complicated issue and a couple of white guys are going to do their best to introduce you to the topic and form a basic foundation on which t...

Update on COVID-19 time! The Mormon church is taking steps to reopen wards around the globe while there's no evidence that we've effectively flattened the curve. They're also investing some resources into making PPE for medical workers in the form of masks and surgical gowns made from sacred-underwear cotton. Plenty to discuss. Then, Braden tells us about After Life starring Ricky Gervais. We wrap...

We do something a little different this week. This show starts out with an interview of two elders in the mission field who no longer believe in Mormonism, yet are stuck on their mission during COVID lockdown. How do Elders A and B cope with being on a sales force for a product they know isn't real? They offer a window into the day-to-day life of missionaries stuck in the world of lockdowns while...

We take a break from headlines and current events to dabble into the lighter side of Mormonism. Braden and I square off in a trivia challenge drinking game. Braden brings the culture, I bring the history and we see who comes out on top. But, it turns out, when you play a drinking game everybody wins! Join us for a light-hearted hangout along with a Media of Great Price about Pineapple Express and...

We hit our goal on patreon.com/glassboxpod! Braden had to watch General Conference for the first time in our podcast history. It, indeed, is a historic conference! We go through talk by talk to see what slipped through the cracks of all 5 sessions of the April 2020 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Strap in, it's a long one. Did Rusty make this as historic of a...