Timesuck with Dan Cummins

Mary Kay Ash turned a $5,000 investment into a cosmetics empire that promised generations of women financial independence, recognition, and—if they climbed high enough—that famous pink Cadillac. But.... behind the makeup parties and “girl power” sales pitch, DID Mary Kay create a revolutionary path to female empowerment? Or did she prey on her own sales force and help perfect the highly manipulative and exploitative multi-level marketing machine that would leave countless aspiring entrepreneurs buried in unsold inventory and broken promises?

Long before Catch Me If You Can made Frank Abagnale famous, another master con man was crisscrossing the globe under countless stolen identities and leaving a trail of bodies behind him. Charles Sobhraj, “The Serpent,” was a charismatic thief, fraudster, prison escape artist, and serial killer who preyed on travelers across Asia while repeatedly slipping through the fingers of law enforcement. His story is so crazy it feels less like real life, and more like a movie.

In 1212, thousands of children set out across Europe believing God would part the Mediterranean and lead them peacefully to Jerusalem. (Spoiler alert: God didn't.) Their impossible journey became one of the strangest and most hotly debated events of the Middle Ages, blurring the line between history, myth, religious fervor, and mass delusion. It's also wildly entertaining.

From the troubled life of James Huberty to the horrifying events inside a San Ysidro McDonald's on July 18th, 1984, we explore how one of America's first modern mass shootings - still the deadliest mass shooting on California soil and the deadliest one in US history at the time - forever changed America's understanding of public violence.

How did a nation built on local farms and family businesses become dependent on a handful of massive corporations for most of its (now mostly processed) food? In this week's Short Suck, we investigate the surprising evolution of the American food industry over the past century, from mom-and-pop markets to mega-distributors, exploring how convenience, consolidation, and ultra-processed foods quietly transformed what ends up on all of our plates.