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Dr. Fauci’s pleading of the Fifth 111 times in a recent Senate hearing outraged many Americans. Far before the Senate, in Missouri vs. Biden (2026), in which Dr. Kheriaty was a plaintiff, Dr. Fauci pleaded the Fifth 168 times; the Justice Department recently ruled in his favor. It is understandable, then, that many have had cause for outrage for many years. Some paid for COVID lockdowns and irrational mandates with their livelihoods, including Dr. Kheriaty, who was fired from UC-Irvine’s School of Medicine after he challenged their COVID vaccine mandate in Federal Court. Others, unfortunately, paid for these pandemic-era policies with their lives. What these hearings revealed is something that can’t be unseen: the U.S. healthcare system rests on an enormous amount of unchecked power. A solution is needed. Drs. Kheriaty and Orlandi discuss this and more on this episode of What We Can’t Not Talk About. Timeline Summary [0:00] – Introduction and welcome; Dr. Orlandi welcomes back Dr. Aaron Kheriaty of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. [1:48] – Seeing American medicine with an outsider’s eye, and why this conversation could not wait. [3:35] – Challenging UC Irvine’s vaccine mandate in federal court, and being fired for it. [5:22] – Censored for saying true things: what could and could not be said about the COVID shots. [7:07] – Missouri v. Biden, the government’s own admissions, and Fauci under oath for the first time. [8:53] – “I don’t recall”: amnesia for the most consequential decisions of the pandemic. [10:42] – Why no credible scientist says “The Science”: conjecture, refutation, and the method itself. [12:28] – What Fauci’s government records actually show, and why they are fair game for the public. [14:14] – Scott Atlas’s memoirs, and the pattern that was clear long before the Senate hearing. [16:03] – The New Abnormal: a man used by the media, the biosecurity apparatus, and financial interests. [17:49] – Refusing responsibility, and the more controversial point Dr. Orlandi wants to make. [19:37] – Why this must not happen again: honest scientists, royalties, and the temptation of power. [21:22] – The NIH’s grip on American medical research, and what the purse strings buy. [23:12] – Doctors who harboured private doubts and would not say in public what they wrote in email. [24:59] – “Prove me wrong” in an age when nobody can be proved wrong, and dogma dressed as science. [26:48] – Flattery and flatterers: why people in authority must sift what their critics say. [28:37] – Weak leaders and strong leaders; Lincoln, and surrounding yourself with better people. [30:23] – The despair crisis that predated COVID, and what isolation actually did to patients. [32:11] – The Other Pandemic: the lockdown mental health crisis, and the CDC’s own evidence. [33:58] – The disingenuous framing that critics of lockdowns put money ahead of public health. [35:43] – All-cause mortality at record highs, and the data that was suppressed at the time. [37:29] – Propaganda’s cruellest trick: the guilt that stops you looking again. [39:15] – A suggestion for anyone willing to revisit what they believed, and a turn towards medicine. [41:02] – Gain-of-function research, lab leaks, and why staying calm is the first thing to do. [42:49] – Mask theatre on the way to the table: do not outsource logic or common sense. [44:34] – Targeted advice, monetised data, and health guidance that does not look like selling. [46:20] – Trust your instincts and the people who care about you; simple advice patients can follow. [48:06] – Why medicine chases weight loss, and the money in treatment rather than prevention. [49:52] – A competing theory of cancer, available since the 1930s and largely ignored. [51:37] – Ozempic, Botox, and the message that there is a magic pill for every problem. [53:23] – Where these drugs do make sense, and why cosmetic use fails the risk-benefit test. [55:11] – Cheap toxic food, expensive healthy food, and why obesity is not simple laziness. [56:58] – Contraceptive estrogens in the water supply, fertility, and the costs pushed onto families. [58:45] – Courage, staying in the fight, and having someone in Washington you can call. [1:00:32] – “Social distancing” rather than physical distancing, and the bonds it broke. [1:02:18] – Turn the screen off: getting away from rage bait and doom scrolling. Links & Resources Dr. Kheriaty’s New Book, Making the Cut: https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510784215/making-the-cut/ Dr. Kheriaty’s Recent Article on First Things: https://firstthings.com/icarus-descending/ Dr. Orlandi’s Review of Making the Cut on Substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-172888363 Dr. Kheriaty’s Previous Appearance on WWCNTA: https://youtu.be/AfANnnwNmzA?si=_drMqtSP1HTKslz_ Missouri v. Biden/Murthy v. Missouri Summary: https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/missouri-v-biden-consent-decree-2026/ Austin Institute: https://www.austin-institute.org/

A brilliant author, Ida Friederike Görres went the majority of her life without the recognition her writings deserved. Daughter of a German Diplomat of the Habsburg Empire and of a Japanese woman who withheld motherly love, Ida Görres wrote on matters spanning from the beauty and fruits of marriage to the lives of Saints, and on deep challenges facing the Church in the 60s and 70s: challenges that persist, aggravated, to this day. Along the way, she developed a friendship with the man who later became Pope Benedict XVI. He gave the eulogy at her funeral in 1971. Dr. Jennifer Bryson spent years translating her works, including The Church in the Flesh (2023) and Bread Grows in Winter (2025), helping modern English-speaking audiences rediscover this long-lost author. Her latest translation, What Binds Marriage Forever (2026), brings to life Görres' writings on the importance of marriage in a time in which it is increasingly seen as something purely optional, not permanent, and solely a matter of feelings. In this episode, Dr. Orlandi leads a discussion on this latest book, today's misleading perception of marriage, and its effects on society and culture at large. Links & Resources Dr. Jennifer Bryson: https://www.jenniferbryson.net/ Dr. Orlandi’s Review of What Binds Marriage Forever: https://iwasnttold.substack.com/p/unbreakable-the-nature-of-marriage?r=4je44n Austin Institute: https://www.austin-institute.org/ What Binds Marriage Forever by Ida Görres, translated by Dr. Jennifer Bryson: https://www.cuapress.org/9780813240398/what-binds-marriage-forever/

The modern script for women seems to contemplate exclusively two options: either the feminist and childless virago, or the homemaker and mother of as many children as possible. While neither path may be “wrong”, and while we won’t tell anyone how to live their lives! - a real problem may lie in the way both conservatives and progressives understand women more broadly. As important as motherhood may be, does women’s generative nature “define” them? Are children a woman’s “job”? If so, for how long? Even more radically, to what extent are men and women “different”? Biology provides some answers without a doubt. It is only with the help of lady philosophy, however, that both men and women can appreciate what to do with their differences and how to understand their common human nature. In this episode, we discuss these issues with Dr. Angela Knobel, professor of Philosophy at the University of Dallas. Dr. Knobel’s forthcoming book deals precisely with these questions, and with the unexplored territory of Aristotle and Aquinas' ethical naturalism applied to motherhood. Links & Resources Dr. Angela Knobel: https://udallas.edu/academics/programs/philosophy/faculty/knobel-angela.php Dr. Knobel’s Book, Aquinas and the Infused Moral Virtues (2021): https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268201104/aquinas-and-the-infused-moral-virtues/ The University of Dallas: https://udallas.edu/ Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture: https://www.austin-institute.org The Austin Institute: https://www.austin-institute.org/

As we approach the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the question of what defines an American remains at large. Is it tied to our shared civic history, or is there something more? Why should students still read the classics, from Socrates to Nathaniel Hawthorne, and how are ancient ideas still relevant in a postmodern society? And, why found a new University when thousands already exist, much less in a city that already has a world-class University? Dr. Jacob Wolf joins Dr. Orlandi to discuss why we celebrate the Declaration of Independence, the American Cultural Canon, the educational void filled by the University of Austin, and the specifically “American” brand of Individualism. Happy Birthday, America! Links & Resources: Dr. Jacob Wolf: https://uaustin.org/people/jacob-wolf/ The University of Austin: https://uaustin.org/ Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture: https://www.austin-institute.org

In this episode of What We Can’t Not Talk About, Dr. Kristin Collier of the University of Michigan joins us to discuss a side of medicine often forgotten—considering the doctors and patients as both body and soul—and the implications this has on the field of medicine. Dr. Collier also discusses the rise of physician-assisted suicide in the West, and how this changes the relationship between doctor and patient.

In this episode, we present the "Healing Romance, Resurrecting Marriage" conference, which took place on April 25th, 2026 at the Thompson Conference Center in Austin, Texas. The purpose of the conference was to shed light on the anthropology that lies at the basis of our current understanding of relationships, romance, and marriage. While the institution of marriage continues to be praised by some and opposed by others, very few people are attentively looking at the way young people, both men and women, understand themselves before entering a romantic relationship. With a series of talks, Q&A sessions, and a final panel, our excellent invited speakers addressed some of the positive and negative myths about romantic relationships, family life, and marriage, while uncovering the real struggles and the true benefits that come from the institution, both for the couple and for society at large.

Today, people of Christian faith are exceedingly rare in Japan. By no means, however, is the religion without history in the nation. Join us for this in-person episode with Dr. Lauren Spohn, as we discuss the story of the Catholic samurai and daimyō Blessed Justo Takayama Ukon, among other prominent developments in the story of Christianity in Japan. Listen as we discuss Dr. Spohn’s work on the upcoming EWTN documentary on this very subject, reflecting on what the Catholic faith in all places and all times can teach us here and now.

Abortion, pornography, euthanasia: at the height of our technological development, most of the Western world seems unable to find purpose and meaning. Unable to overcome challenges and natural limits, we prefer altering nature—or at least we try. While politicians address issues like “sex work” and gender transitions, hordes of regular people waste time gambling and forgo marriage, childbearing, and all that truly matters in life. Some blame it all on a “disenchanted” world. Our returning guest, Professor and author Carl Trueman, suggests an even simpler and more radical answer which he explores in his latest book: we desecrated ourselves. The solution, however, is equally radical. Tune in for more! You can order (or pre-order) “The Desecration of Man” here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/729796/the-desecration-of-man-by-carl-r-trueman/

Receiving a degree from an Ivy League institution has historically implied a level of educational prowess and prestige—but is that still the case today? In this episode, we sit down with Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Marino Doan to discuss their research on the eight Ivy League universities and how their general education curricula have shifted over the years—and not for the better. When a student today can receive a world-renowned degree by learning about Cardi B where their contemporaries a century ago might have been learning about Shakespeare or Aristotle, what does Ivy League status truly amount to in the modern world, and how easy is it to slack one’s way to the illusion of education?

Women on the pill, female CEOs, women abhorring becoming mothers: is this all that feminism has to preach? What if—as author, spouse, and mother Leah Libresco Sargeant argues in her most recent book—real feminism starts by acknowledging how radically different men and women are? And how radically interdependent? Far from suggesting a “trad wife” model—one that thinks that all solutions should be found in 1952—Leah helps us rediscover our nature, rethink some of our policies, and embrace our dependence.

In this episode of What We Can’t Not Talk About, host Dr. Marianna Orlandi welcomes Professor Matthew Franck of the Witherspoon Institute for a thought-provoking conversation on the importance of reading. Professor Franck shares personal experiences that shaped his life through books and reflects on how reading has formed his mind, character, and vocation. He explores how books shape the moral imagination, cultivate patience, and sustain the habits necessary for a free and thoughtful society. In an age of constant distraction, this conversation makes a simple but powerful case: reading is not optional—it is essential.

In this episode of What We Can’t Not Talk About, host Dr. Marianna Orlandi welcomes Leigh Fitzpatrick Snead— The Catholic Institute Fellow and author of Infertile but Fruitful—for a deep and honest conversation about the cross of infertility in marriage. Snead speaks openly about the burdens infertile couples face: the grief, the search for answers, the strain on hope, and the temptation toward despair. She shares how faith anchors couples in this trial, how to confront regret and remedies, and how God can bring real fruitfulness even when the story does not end in pregnancy. Rooted in her own lived experience, Snead offers compassionate, practical, and theologically grounded advice for couples walking this painful path—reminding us that the Incarnation reveals the meaning of every human longing and every unfulfilled desire.

A merely instinctual conservatism, exemplified by Hume, that lacks robust metaphysical and spiritual foundations, proves in the long run incapable of sustaining the institutions that built the West." In this episode, Dr. Orlandi sits with Dr. Zubia, Assistant Professor of Humanities at the Hamilton School for Classic and Civic Education at the University of Florida, to discuss what may be the true origin of the right's current political mess. While many want to "go back" to a better past, with healthier institutions and wholesome lives, most of us have also "done away" with the morality that sustained it all. The mission is thus bound to fail. By tuning in, you will learn more about Hume, about marriage as a case study, and about the importance of the liberal arts in the era of artificial intelligence.

Can Artificial Intelligence replace the human person? Is it benevolent and beneficial, or is it a threat to humanity? In this episode of What We Can’t Not Talk About, Carlo Martinucci joins us to explore these pressing questions. An Italian software engineer who has spent the past year studying Artificial Intelligence, Martinucci offers both technical insight and philosophical reflection on the promises and perils of this rapidly evolving field. Hosted by the Austin Institute, this conversation is hopefully the first of a series: AI is reshaping reality, and true moral agents cannot just "sit and watch". Tune in to learn more about the nature and consequences of this revolutionary technology.

In this episode of What We Can’t Not Talk About, Dr. Ana Samuel joins us to discuss Canavox’s new book - Courageous Conversations: Tips for Talking to Kids about Sexual Identity and Attraction - sharing wisdom for parents navigating the challenges of today’s cultural climate. From questions of sexuality to shifting understandings of identity and marriage, Dr. Ana Samuel offers practical advice and clear guidelines to help parents raise their children with confidence and clarity. Hosted by the Austin Institute, this conversation sheds light on how parents can and should help their children discover the truth of their identity, making time for "courageous conversations" that are simply fundamental for their future happiness: much more than their piano practice. Tune in to learn more!