Dr. Joseph Mercola has been a frequent topic on this blog, mainly because he’s been near the top of the quack pile going back over a quarter of a century. Basically, Mercola is, unfortunately a pioneer of 21st century quackery and antivax misinformation. He started out selling “natural health” in the late 1990s, at which time he started a newsletter and website to publish his “thoughts”—such as they were—on medicine, “natural health,” and vaccines. Over the first years of the 21st century, his efforts led him from being one of the first “pioneers” selling quackery on the Internet to becoming fabulously wealthy selling quackery, to the tune of a net worth upwards of $100 million. Naturally, with the arrival of the pandemic, Mercola pivoted to the even more profitable selling of COVID-19 disinformation. Basically, these days when you think of the top misinforming quacks, you have to include Mercola among the rarified ranks of people like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.) and his Children’s Health Defense, Del Bigtree, Andrew Wakefield, and Joe Rogan. The main difference is that Mercola is richer than them all, other than the possible exception of Joe Rogan.
Longtime readers know that, if there’s anything I love to discuss, it’s crank magnetism, the tendency of a quack or crank to expand the variety of quackery and crankery that he believes in over time as credulity regarding one set of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience almost inevitably leads to credulity regarding others, and crank fights. This story appears to involve both, as it is an “exposé” of Joe Mercola published on Natural Products Insider, a website devoted to the supplements industry, where a story by Rick Polito appeared earlier this week entitled Dr. Mercola consulted with psychic before axing top executives and breathlessly claiming, “The CEO of Mercola and two other brand executives were terminated without warning last week, and video evidence suggests founder Dr. Joseph Mercola consulted with a psychic before making the move.”
Let’s take a look:
Top executives at Mercola, the brand founded by controversial Covid anti-vax figure Dr. Joseph Mercola, were terminated last week without notice, and evidence has surfaced that the doctor is taking direction from a man who claims to channel the voice of an “ancient and wise high-vibration entity from the causal plane.”
An email that appears to be written by Mercola and shared with a reporter for this story also includes language suggesting the firings were related to the executives’ religious beliefs. Mercola did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Oooh. Do tell! Let’s hear more:
In hours of video discovered online, Mercola converses with a man going by the name Kai Clay who speaks as though he is the voice of the entity, referred to as “Bahlon.” Clay, with his eyes closed as if in trance, talks with Mercola about his business and spiritual matters in a rambling conversation that the doctor claims will be the basis of a series of books he plans to publish. In a video of Mercola that was shared with the brand’s employees Feb. 12, the doctor described a 12-book series as “a new beginning for the company” and declared that “my new goal is to reach billions, literally billions, around the world with a new paradigm of how to increase joy in their life.”
The Feb. 12 video came five days after three top executives — CEO Steve Rye; Chief Business Officer Ryan Boland; and Chief Editor Janet Selvig, Mercola’s sister — received termination letters signed by a Laura Berry, who had not worked at the company before but claimed in the letter she was the new Mercola CEO. In the Feb. 12 video, Mercola announced he will visit the offices on Feb. 14 with “my new CEO who’s a brilliant, unbelievable woman who’s going to take us to the next level,” but offers no name. He also promises a “surprise guest” who will be the company’s chief operating officer.
I must admit, the only thing that surprised me about this is that Mercola didn’t recognize the profit potential of embracing psychic mediums and more general “self-help” woo much sooner than now, given his long history of embracing “wellness” as a mantle under which he could peddle his supplements and antivax quackery. Of course, having amassed since the late 1990s a net worth in the low nine digit range, maybe he just didn’t feel the need.
I also must admit to being highly amused at the source of these “revelations” about Mercola, true believers in supplements. On the other hand, I rather suspect that maybe Natural Products Insider views Mercola as a pesky competitor. There aren’t a lot of articles about Mercola on its website, but the ones that are tend to be at least somewhat critical, such as a 2020 article entitled Mercola rejects accusations in watchdog’s congressional testimony over COVID-19 claims, in which Mercola is —correctly—characterized as an antivaxxer. Alternatively, maybe Natural Products Insider wants to be viewed as science-based, even though it isn’t, and doesn’t like Mercola and others in its “wellness” space whom it considers too “out there” and likely to reflect poorly on supplements and natural products.
I rather suspect, though, that his embrace of this particular psychic is real and that “Bahlon” (Kai Clay) has conned the conman, which, if true, would be truly ironic. Indeed, the story goes on to describe how figuring out who Kai Clay is was not straightforward. He does run a website—of course!—under Bahlon.com touting Bahlon and offering memberships in his “Light Circle” for the low, low price of $99/month or $999/year. Why should you pony up for one of these memberships? Come on, just see what Bahlon can do for you:
Ever hear of Trance Channeling? Or how about Light Language?
Meet Bahlon, an ancient and wise high-vibration entity from the Causal Plane and master trance channel Kai Clay.
The messages shared during their packed group events are always uplifting, are often staggeringly predictive, filled with the Divine healing energy of Universal love, hope and healing. Known as the “psychic’s psychic” because so many light workers turn to Bahlon when they need help themselves.
This experience is known to activate clarity, highly attuned precise action to take, spiritual development, incredible synchronicity, and provide life-changing beneficial impacts. Bahlon, through Kai, offers guidance so precise and uplifting, your audience will want to join in every week (and MANY do!).
No spiritual or prior expertise is necessary!
Imagine my relief.
But who is Kai Clay? According to Natural Products Insider, LinkedIn profiles for Clay and a man named Christopher Johnson both feature photos of the same man that appear to have been taken at the same time and match photos of the man identified as Clay at bahlon.com. Clay claims to have been the owner of “Spiritual Mind” since 1999 but lists no other employment, although he does list skills including “Spiritual Coaching” and “Spiritual Gifts.” In a revelation that should surprise exactly no one, the story also notes that the promotional information on bahlon.com “appears misleading,” pointing to headline on the site referring to LA Weekly labeling Bahlon as “the psychic’s psychic.” However, a Google search only found what appears to be a promotional piece on laweekly.com and not an article from the publication. As far as the website itself goes, though in particular I like a FAQ in which the question “How can Kai do this?” is answered, “The both simple and complex answer is because, ‘Kai trusts Kai.'”
So very, very deep, ma-an. Kind of like Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey. (Elsewhere in the article, Clay is quoted as telling Mercola things like, “All you’re doing is returning to that which is you in the first place.” Again, totally deep, ma-an.) You can also book psychic readings for a fee, because of course you can, and, if you’re really motivated, you can become an affiliate and receive a 20% commission on every referral and sale from your website, because, again, of course you can!
Moreover, part of the story leads me to believe that Mercola is, as we used to like to say when I was a kid, getting a bit too big for his britches. Indeed, it appears to have been his own sister Janet Selvig (and Chief Editor of his website) who ratted him out:
In a Feb. 10 telephone interview, Selvig described the situation with her brother as evolving after she began noticing odd language in his emails in late 2023. She later learned Mercola had been consulting with Kai Clay as Bahlon for several months. Clay and the doctor were both advertised as speakers at an event on Nov. 19, 2023, at Sacred Space Miami. Clay is described as a “Master Trance Channel” on bahlon.com, where he offers readings. An affiliate program described on the site promises payment to followers who bring him more reading clients. Promotional postings on other sites claim he has worked with celebrities and “helps CEOs and entrepreneurs create competitive business strategies,” but no names are shared.
Selvig said she confronted her brother about the odd behavior on Jan. 31 after seeing hours of videos of his trance channeling sessions with Bahlon. “I just felt immediately that he was being taken advantage of,” Selvig said.
The confrontation did not go well. Selvig said her brother was very dismissive of her concerns and defended his work with Clay. “He thinks the book is going to save the world,” Selvig said. “He believes that he’s [Mercola] a god and he’s been reincarnated. And he even referred to himself as the new Jesus.”
Whoa! Mercola now thinks he’s a reincarnated god, the “new Jesus”? It’s almost as though too much wealth, worship, and sycophancy will lead people like him to start to entertain delusions of grandeur, rather like Elon Musk. Also, if one thinks one is a god, then one can’t tolerate competing gods:
On Feb. 2, Selvig was shown an email sent to a coworker from Mercola’s address announcing the doctor’s intention to fire Selvig, Rye, Boland and a fourth executive. The email offered the CEO spot to a different Mercola team member who later turned down the position. The email went on to explain “reasons for the mutiny,” describing the Catholic church as a “global cabal” that controls “50% of the world’s worth” and “created all the pain that most people experience.”
The email added that Rye, Boland, Selvig and the fourth executive have “strong commitments to the Catholic church.” “The group I am now working with is committed to liberating their wealth and control back to the people and give them back their freedom. I hope you will join me in this noble anti crusade against them,” the email reads.
This all sounds very cult-like, including the common cult technique of separating from friends and family members who won’t get on board. (Also, WTF is an “anticrusade”?) For example, Mercola’s sister relates:
Selvig said she is worried Mercola is being isolated and manipulated. When she spoke to him after she saw the Feb. 2 letter discussing her termination and denouncing Catholicism, he dismissed her concerns. “He said, ‘Well, I could see how you would think that, but I’m fine. And I’m going to save the world with this. I don’t know what’s taking you so long to get on board and edit [the book]. I hear your concerns, but I am not going to debate you.’”
According to Selvig, Mercola exhorted her to “join this noble crusade.”
She did not sign on.
“I said, ‘I love you,’” she recalled. “And that was the end of that call.”
Cults demand that their members separate themselves from even family members who aren’t members and especially from any who try to undermine their belief in the cult leader. Kiera Butler over at Mother Jones has picked up on this story and reports that even Mercola’s longtime girlfriend, business partner, and fellow supplement hawker, antivaxxer, and conspiracy monger appears to be worried:
One can’t help but note that Ms. Elizabeth, for her part, hatched one of the most bonkers conspiracy theories I’d encountered at the time, claiming that “they” (big pharma, medicine, the government, whoever) were doing “hits” on alternative medicine practitioners, starting with autism quack Jeffrey Bradstreet in 2015 and including on Nicholas Gonzalez, a cancer quack famous for the “Gonzalez” protocol involving lots of coffee enemas who “died suddenly” of an apparent heart attack in 2015, long before the pandemic. So if, as her response above implies, she actually does think that her boyfriend has gone off the deep end, he must really have gone off the deep end.
Whatever the influence of Kai Clay and “Bahlon” on Mercola and whatever he believes about himself as being the “new Jesus” who will save the world, what isn’t clear is just exactly how Mercola plans to save the world, other than writing 12 books and “creating medical clinics over the entire country that’s going to change the whole system.” It’s also curious that, if you search Mercola’s website for “Bahlon” you will find nothing. (At least, I found nothing about Bahlon on his site, as of writing this.) If you search for “Kai Clay,” however, you will find several articles on his paywalled Substack dating back to just under a year ago, none appearing to be anything particularly unusual for a Mercola.com article, even Sorry Aspiring Masters: You Don’t Own Us, although it appears to be just another conspiracy article on the “Great Reset.” Naturally, I wasn’t going to pay to access them; so all I can say is that the timeline tracks if the first time that Mercola mentioned Kai Clay on his website was around a year ago.
Finally, there might be another reason why Natural Product Insider published this “exposé.” There appear to be “insiders” in the industry who are worried about this turn of events in one of the largest, most influential “natural health” business empires out there. After quoting individuals who wring their hands a little but ultimately dismiss worries that Mercola’s being conned by a psychic will decrease trust in supplements on the inarguably correct basis that “fringe beliefs abound in the industry and most consumers look past it” and “Mercola has made persecution from mainstream medicine and media part of his narrative, and some followers will see criticism related to the Bahlon matters as further evidence of that persecution,” the story gets to what is likely the real worry, that the grift might be impacted by incompetents brought in based on belief in psychic readings:
Organizations directly impacted by the shake-up at Mercola include the Organic & Natural Health Association, which counts Mercola’s company as a sponsor. Executive Director Karen Howard called the situation “a tragedy.” In a statement, she wrote that “Dr. Mercola, with a truly amazing management team, created a supply chain that currently stands as an industry bellwether. It is a supply chain that serves as a catalyst for growth in the regenerative and organic marketplace, and the participating companies are deeply committed to the health of the planet and its people.”
Howard’s organization, she said in the statement, stands by the principles the brand had embodied. “We have benefitted greatly from the leadership and quality standards of Dr. Mercola’s company. We will always be a champion for all of our remarkable member companies who adhere to our tenets. Our hearts go out to Dr. Mercola, his family, and our friends and colleagues who find themselves adversely impacted by the changes at hand.”
That’s right. Mercola’s business partners are alarmed at this turn of events because Mercola’s falling under the sway of a psychic conman who is quite possibly also a cult leader might affect their grift “business.” I can only say: It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy and his business partners. One can only hope that Mercola will allow his newfound belief to tank his hundred million dollar business.
Who am I fooling? He’ll probably do better than ever.
61 replies on “Quack tycoon Joe Mercola now thinks he’s “the new Jesus” who will save the world”
“In the Feb. 12 video, Mercola announced he will visit the offices on Feb. 14 with “my new CEO who’s a brilliant, unbelievable woman who’s going to take us to the next level”
When I read this, my first thought was that Erin Elizabeth must not be happy. And from the cited tweet, she’s really worried about the possibility of being edged out as main squeeze, and no longer having access to the Mercola gravy train.
Many of Mercola’s business and personal “partners” must be wondering how to liberate some of his cash as he spirals downward.
IKR? I think the real worry here is that Mercola’s bringing on new management might cut them off from the gravy train.
Potentially his sister has the same concern. I expect she has done well off the business.
I wonder how dependent Erin Elizabeth’s own ventures are on his.
Dorit
Wow. Really sad to see the misogyny here about Erin and Joe’s sister of 58 years .
Erin Elizabeth has always maintained her own residence / house that she owns and owns her own business, product line sold at grocery chains just like Mercola and her 40,000 square-foot facility in her hometown.
She had a business well before meeting Joe.
She has never been reliant on Mercola and takes no money from him.
In fact, it was he who lived with her for some time in her house in Florida. Until he purchased a home down the street from her home she bought and paid off years ago.
Not she who lived with him.
She has zero kids, never married and is independently wealthy, never inheriting one single dime. From anyone. Her parents are still alive and she gives them money. I’m proud to call her a friend.
We imagine this might be very difficult for you to wrap your head around, but some women are actually self-made, and don’t need husbands, like you have a husband, to live or sponge off.
Again, I doubt you can comprehend this, but they are self-sufficient, smart women with businesses and dozens of employees.
The years, you have trolled her page, and then lied and said she blocked you when you blocked her after losing an argument, is amusing. Glancing at her and then glancing at you (I can’t glance long) I can understand why you must be so incredibly jealous.
Sounds like pot kettle. No need for you to project onto attractive business owners who are self-made without help from anyone.
Ken Stoller MD
I’m not sure where you get the idea that having intertwined businesses doesn’t affect you just because you made your original money independently.
Erin Elizabeth Finn “self made.” Well, indeed.
https://www.laweekly.com/sex-and-nerds-invade-pellicano-trial/
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/business/media/26pellicano.html
Funny how antivax quack Dr. Stoller reads so much into the discussion. If he had actually read the post, he would note that all I said about Ms. Elizabeth is that she and Dr. Mercola were longtime boyfriend/girlfriend and business partners. That’s it. Whatever the success of her personal business ventures, though, it is undeniable that Dr. Mercola has been far more successful than she has, as I highly doubt that she is worth north of $100 million, the way Dr. Mercola is. (It’s why I call him a quack tycoon.)
As for Ms. Elizabeth, she’s just as bad as her longtime boyfriend in terms of bonkers conspiracy theories. Seriously, back in 2015 she hatched a conspiracy theory claiming that hit squads were killing off alternative medicine practitioners whom pharma viewed as a threat, starting with Jeff Bradstreet and including cancer quack Nicholas Gonzalez (famous for all the coffee enemas included in his “treatment”), whom she apparently much admired. I note that Gonzalez “died suddenly” of a heart attack in 2015, nearly five years before the pandemic.
Of course, the reason Mercola’s defenders are harping on “misogyny,” is because they’ve got nothing else.
I think we’ve all noticed who here is dismissing a woman because he doesn’t find her attractive.
I’m puzzled. Perhaps you could tell me where in my post I said anything whatsoever about Ms. Elizabeth’s appearance. All I said were fairly neutral facts that she is Dr. Mercola’s longtime paramour and business partner, which is undeniably true. But, hey, maybe I made a mistake or missed something in the comments. Please point out the specific language in which I (or anyone else) supposedly said anything whatsoever about Ms. Elizabeth’s appearance, much less “dismissed her” because I/they don’t find her attractive.
I’ll wait.
And besides the misogyny and projecting on self-made women never married relying on anyone , I think you owe an apology. Shame on you
Ken Stoller MD
Dr Stoller,
I couldn’t help but notice that your comment starts with:
and ends with:
Nice juxtaposition.
In what business precisely did Erin Elizabeth Finn become self made? The illegal one revealed in the Pelicano trial in LA 2008, apparently.
According to the article, Mercola’s sister had a paid position with the company, and I don’t think it’s misogyny to point out that there’s a financial interest there. Certainly, she is not the only one with an interest – the CEO and the other fired have one, too – but she and Erin Elizabeth are the ones speaking – Erin Elizabeth shared this article, the sister is extensively quoted in it.
Whatever the financial arrangement between them personally, I think it’s fair to ask whether one quack’s business are tangled with another’s, especially when they’ve been promoting similar misinformation for a long time. If their business is tangled, she may have real concerns about whether his going down this path would cause her financial trouble – and it doesn’t require personal financial dependence (I have no idea how things are between them, on any level, and honestly, do not particularly care). I don’t actually see you directly addressing this. It’s okay to be defensive if you’re friends, but it might be more effective if you directly address the question raised, rather than go on tangents.
I cannot control which motives you are imagining and attributing motives to my comments, but that probably speaks more to you than to me. As do your fantasies about my life.
Oh, and Erin Elizabeth blocked me on every forum I interacted with her on. And hardly me alone. She routinely blocks.
Then she lies about it.
Hardly the only thing she lies about, but that’s another one.
Just like Erin explains publicly that Orac lied and said that Erin interviewed for the Mother Jones piece or spoke to the reporter which she didn’t (Even the article shows she didn’t & “Orac” will be changing this article shortly – you’ll see).
She also shows publicly how you blocked her on Twitter.
Maybe one of your assistants did it who was using your account, but she didn’t block you. I’m being nice and making an excuse for you and for him which I shouldn’t.
You can see our discussion about it on Twitter, publicly with her very public account and mine. Have a great day.
Ken
“Lied”? No. Misread and made a mistake? I now realize that I did. So I have now corrected the issue, because, unlike you, Mercola, or Elizabeth, I correct errors when they are pointed out to me, even if it is an odious antivax quack like you who does it.
That being said, I have one more thing to say. Pick a single ID and comment only with that. My comments policy says that sockpuppeting is a reason for blocking. If you keep using multiple ‘nyms, you will be blocked. If you pick a single one and go with it, you will not be blocked on the basis of the policy against sockpuppeting.
Here is the policy. Learn it. Love it. Live it. I am quite unconcerned if you break it, bet banned, and then later portray yourself as “silenced.”
https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/commenting-policy/
Erin Elizabeth blocked me. Since I can’t post pictures here, I made a tweet.
https://x.com/doritmi/status/1758865204614713681?s=46&t=YfFgUtvjugg0OjIlfdDA8w
Then I blocked her back.
I always block antivaccine activists back, otherwise they play games behind a block.
She also blocked me on Facebook.
Note that you haven’t yet addressed the point about tangled business.
I used that as a reason to Tweet an update about the minor error that our annoying fan of the quack power couple featured in this post is harping on, how I have corrected it, and how I’ve added a bit more about what a bonkers conspiracy theorist Ms. Elizabeth is.😉
“Practice”
You state:
“Whoa. The story notes that Ms. Butler reached out to Elizabeth to ask her if she was still with Mercola and got the reply, ““I’ll update soon. Things are crazy.” Yikes!”
Erin Elizabeth has stated on X that you were lying, and she never spoke to any reporters. And if you RE-read the Mother jones piece, she says, you’ll see this. Clear as day.
You probably need to change that.
Understandably you don’t like to be called out for typos, but this is a little more than that. She’s not spoken to any reporters and definitely not MotherJones.
KS
So I misread and made a mistake? Guess what? I have now corrected the minor error, because, unlike you, Mercola, or Elizabeth, I correct errors when they are pointed out to me, even if it is an odious antivax quack like you who does it.
Seriously, I love how antivax cranks like you zero in on a minor error and think that it somehow discredits the entire post. Also, the message is the same: Erin Elizabeth wouldn’t answer the question about whether she was still with Mercola. Seriously, dude, you are pathetic. Also, seriously, pick a single ‘nym, because I am going to ban all the others that you’ve been commenting under here.
What misogyny.
Erin Elizabeth has stated publicly many times that she does not take any money from Dr. Mercola and has her own business. And employees. And products sold in chains. Just like his are sold in Kroger.
Considering he used to live with her, early on in the relationship. And the fact she’s always maintained her own residence that’s just silly . It might be something that’s difficult to wrap your head around but you should try.
Ken Stoller MD
Inigo Montoya would like a word…
What’s difficult to wrap your head around is a physician writing about 500 vaccination exemptions between 2016 and 2019 charging $550 a pop, not covered by insurance (per New Mexico medical board). That would be $275,000 in income from exemptions alone.
It’s not Mercola-grade dough, but not spare change either.
http://quackwatch.org/cases/board/med/disciplinary-actions-against-kenneth-stoller-m-d/
Exactly why I consider Dr. Stoller to be an odious antivax quack.
What a jackass. Imagine selling out everything you are supposed to believe in and doing untold harm for $550 here and there. Makes me want to puke.
Regardless of Dr. Mercolas current mind control attack (dark forces from science or spirit), this passionate doctor has done more to improve MY health than any mainstream doctor. Hands down. I pray for his healing and deprograming. We need him back!
There seems to be a ‘y’ missing from the end of Bahlon.
Heheh. For a second, I thought you were calling me out for a typo, and you know what I think of typo flames. Fortunately, I got it soon after…
Um… they (Erin and Joe) have never married, and she’s always had her own business & employees.. and if anything he lived with her which she’s talked about for years in her house. That she owns.
How rude of you. And wrong.
You’ll note if you read the post that I said nothing about them living together, just that they were longtime boyfriend/girlfriend and business partners. But, yeah, rant about “misogyny” when Erin Elizabeth is as bonkers a conspiracy theorist as her paramour, given that she hatched a conspiracy theory that “they” (big pharma) were doing “hits” on alternative medicine practitioners. (This was something like 7 years ago.)
So what?
Funny how Mercola and Elizabeth’s fans read so much into the discussion. If any of them had actually read my post, they might have would noted that all I said about Ms. Elizabeth is that she and Dr. Mercola were longtime boyfriend/girlfriend and business partners, which is undeniably true. That’s it. (OK, just now I added a brief paragraph about Erin Elizabeth’s bonkers conspiracy theory about hit squads taking out alternative health practitioners, but I did that only because your harping on her relationship with Joe Mercola reminded me that I had forgotten to mention just how much those two belonged together. You’re welcome.) Whatever the success of her personal business ventures, though, it is undeniable that Dr. Mercola has been far more successful than she has, as I highly doubt that she is worth north of $100 million, the way Dr. Mercola is. (It’s why I call him a quack tycoon.)
As I mentioned above in another comment, when it comes to quackery, antivax, and conspiracy theories, Ms. Elizabeth is just as bad as her longtime paramour. Years before the pandemic, she hatched a conspiracy theory claiming that hit squads were killing off alternative medicine practitioners whom pharma viewed as a threat, starting with Jeff Bradstreet and including cancer quack Nicholas Gonzalez (famous for all the coffee enemas included in his “treatment”), whom she apparently much admired. I note that Gonzalez “died suddenly” of a heart attack in 2015, nearly five years before the pandemic.
Seriously, the reason Mercola’s defenders are harping on “misogyny,” is because they’ve got nothing else.
I’ve noticed an increased tendency of alt-med/ anti-vaxxers to include religious, spiritual or mystical themes and explanations amongst their usual pseudo-science: healing vibrations, energies beyond physical detectable sources, karma, divine gifts and demonic influences are cited.
As I’ve written previously, internet broadcasts allow the speaker to instantly make comparisons about which topics or statements affect audience size so if they sound like a retro preacher/ conservative activist and get an increased audience, they’ll continue and perhaps exaggerate more. NN even allows visitors to track which broadcasts get the most views.
I won’t make obvious Mercola vs Jesus jokes. There are many.
Well he didn’t say he was bigger than Jesus.
E.G. Natural News: the Health Ranger’s 3 current videos and 5 next most recent ones show views between 2+ and 11+ views with the most viewed ( both 11+) being an interview with Roger Stone and one proclaiming Covid/ virology pseudoscience
Oooops! That should be 2 K– 11 K+ views
The comments on Erin Elizabeth’s X post about Mercola and Bahlon are priceless.
Theories include the grievous possibility that a “three letter government agency” is tampering with Joe’s mind; one poster thinks a Directed Energy Weapon may be involved (Erin has been thinking along similar lines, and considered whether a legal conservatorship might be wise).
You see, Mercola believing himself to be the new Jesus is a sign of mental disorder, but being fans of a woman who cooked up the Holistic Doctor Murder Conspiracy and thinking that the gummint is sending out insanity rays indicates good mental health.
RFK Jr. explains regulatory capture of federal agencies and media sources very well. This article is an example of the end product of this capture. Dr. Mercola, Erin, Ty and Charlene Bolenger speak a truth that can save peoples health/recover from chronic disease. This article is shortsighted and leaves any reader who does not know these people as ignorant as they were before. My suggestion is that you actually get your source of information from Dr. Mercola himself, listen to what he and others like him say, and be your own judge, it would be more fair than what you have read here.
What on earth gives you the idea that RFK Jr is a reliable source?
RFK Junior is an example of audience capture, not an accurate explainer of (the sometimes real) claim of regulatory capture. Junior and others with a big audience requires more and more crazy claims to keep their cult hooked with endless fear baiting. Junior also recently posted hoaxes from Mr. Mercola that HIV supposedly did not cause AIDS, which is nuts if they really believe that hoax and mean if they posted it knowing it is a hoax.
@ Mark Robinowitz:
I try to find what precisely illustrates true quackiness and hiv/ aids denialism at the top of the list. If you see that, look no further.
RFK Jr? LOLOL.
Mercola, the Bollinger’s, and Elizabeth “speak a truth”? Seriously, if any of them said that it was raining outside, I would not believe it until I had a chance to look out of a window to verify whether it is, in fact, raining.
It really helps if you actually read the above article. It is about Mercola losing his mind and distancing himself from his loved ones. Like his sister and Erin.
Sounds like something out of a fifties clothing ad. “Now your sweaters will wash and dry lovelier than ever, thanks to new, improved Bahlon fiber yarn!”
Yall are the real idiots. . . Go take your 9th boosters why don’t you. I’ll cont to have 0 and continue to not have a heart attack suddenly or get turbo cancer or long covid.
But will you? Will you really?
I mean, seriously, given that COVID-19 vaccines do not cause heart attacks or “turbo cancer” (which is totally not a thing), you are just as much at risk of heart attacks or cancer as anyone else your age with whatever family history and other health risk factors you might have.
You sound dewormed.
hurrrrrr
durrrrrr
“I’m not the Messiah, honestly!”
– Brian of Nazareth
“He’s not the Messiah. He’s a very naughty boy!”
— Brian’s mother.
How is it that Scientology hasn’t gone after him for horning in on their shtick,I can’t see professional courtesy playing a part in ether of their scams.
Joe Mercola has been a sane voice for truth in an obviously insane world. A prime example is this thread above.
Yeah, that must be why he now believes he is speaking to a “higher vibrational being” through a bogus psychic and has been spreading quackery and antivax conspiracy theories for at least the last two decades.
Gullible much?
I imagine Doyle and Mercola keep razor blades in miniature pyramids for sharpening purposes.
Keep those Kirlian auras strong guys.
I couldn’t care less about what EE and JM’s relationship was- spouses, SOs, best friends, business partners- because they both misinformed the public through their websites, lectures, articles and books for years and benefitted financially and socially.
Not only did they mis-inform the public but they simultaneously maligned medical professionals and educational organisations, suggesting alternative treatments/ regimes that are not supported by evidence acquired through research. If someone is harmed by their advice, they are not held responsible because their audience are adults and free to choose treatments. Also, because there is so much overlap in alt med, how can one assign blame to them in particular when so many others give similar bad advice?
It’s revealing that alt med advocates often base their acceptance of a person’s statements based on their opinion of that person’s appearance because, like so much of their material, it is irrelevant: RFKjr’s so-called ‘youthful’ looks and ability to do push ups have nothing to do with his knowledge of vaccines or of government.
“Kai trusts Kai.” is about as much of an answer as “Brexit means Brexit,” and we all saw how well that worked.
I am not a lawyer, but that email sounds like Mercola and/or the new CEO fired several people for being Catholic. It can be hard to prove that sort of employment-discrimination claim, but the evidence doesn’t usually include email explaining that people were fired because of their “strong commitments to the Catholic church.”
Sounds like a J Z Knight and Ramtha (early 1980s) rip-off.
“Everything old is new again” in kookdom.
Kooks are unimaginative, lazy, stupid people who only rarely generate a new idea… They just rework an old delusion and give it a new name.
It looks like Joe Merde-ola is showing signs of senile dementia… must’ve been all those supplements…
Reality calls them “unimaginative… rework an old delusion”…
So true. I venture that they must scan websites/ book sales and see what is bringing in money. They evolved from purely natural health scams to resemble Alex Jones, right wing commenters or preachers- Christian or mystical.
It’s hard to find out exactly how much these people are worth but occasionally numbers show up like Mercola’s 100M+USD, Null’s net worth/ annual sales, both 15M, the value of their estates, how many people they employ or the 10M they sold companies for.
Because they are most likely motivated by sales/ subscription figures I venture that they eventually figured out that conservative, religious, mystic, prepper, outrage and nostalgic messaging would get them more viewers and thus, customers, further enriching them. Businesses have grown along with the internet as avenues of customer approach became much easier with instant 24 hour access: no longer are they dependent upon radio shows, book store events or buying adverts.** Even supposedly/ formerly liberal writers like Naomi Wolf have signed on.
** although web presence can become expensive too.
[…] blogs and even Usenet, as the case of “quack tycoon” Dr. Joe Mercola, who has recently fallen in with a psychic who channels an ancient “vibrational being,” demonstrates.) Obviously, among these […]
[…] customer capture, becoming more radically antivax and quacky, until he became the man he is today, believing in a psychic channeling a “high vibrational” being and that he is the “new Jesus” who will save the […]
[…] Some of these folks have made hundreds of millions of dollars pushing misinformation and selling unnecessary ‘health’ products to their visitors. […]