{"id":151725,"date":"2026-05-08T07:55:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T05:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=151725"},"modified":"2026-05-08T07:55:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T05:55:47","slug":"how-to-take-over-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=151725","title":{"rendered":"How to Take Over the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"922\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZYQGBuaYnCw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2013, former CIA officer John Kiriakou went to prison. Not for t*rturing anyone \u2014 but for telling the world that the CIA was. He remains the only person ever incarcerated in connection with the agency&#8217;s t*rture program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2013, former CIA officer John Kiriakou went to prison. Not for t*rturing anyone \u2014 but for telling the world that the CIA was. He remains the only person ever incarcerated in connection with the agency&#8217;s t*rture program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193],"tags":[4337,755,1247,4315],"class_list":["post-151725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videos","tag-cia","tag-politics","tag-usa","tag-video-essay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/how-to-take-over-the-world.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5044,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=5044","url_meta":{"origin":151725,"position":0},"title":"Santa Claus: Kind old elf or CIA spook?","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"11\/12\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"By Calvin and Hobbes make sure you also check the previous Santa clippings :-)","rel":"","context":"In &quot;images&quot;","block_context":{"text":"images","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-FXUQIBb_veI\/TeI5y3BvoGI\/AAAAAAAAAQM\/VMmZXjUterQ\/s1600\/03d4fec05e0e012ee3bf00163e41dd5b.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-FXUQIBb_veI\/TeI5y3BvoGI\/AAAAAAAAAQM\/VMmZXjUterQ\/s1600\/03d4fec05e0e012ee3bf00163e41dd5b.gif?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-FXUQIBb_veI\/TeI5y3BvoGI\/AAAAAAAAAQM\/VMmZXjUterQ\/s1600\/03d4fec05e0e012ee3bf00163e41dd5b.gif?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135671,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=135671","url_meta":{"origin":151725,"position":1},"title":"Should you stream it?","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"15\/01\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/JsjkhU_92Jc The war on drugs in USA becomes a war on black communities. This epic documentary has everything! Political theater, dirty cops, crack babies, fake news, CIA being involved and many, many, victims mainly African Americans. You should definitely check it out!! Stream away!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/should-you-stream-it-17.jpg?fit=480%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":133637,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=133637","url_meta":{"origin":151725,"position":2},"title":"Ya\u00ebl Eisenstat:How Facebook profits from polarization","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"09\/09\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/yael_eisenstat_how_facebook_profits_from_polarization \"Lies are more engaging online than truth,\" says former CIA analyst and diplomat Ya\u00ebl Eisenstat. \"As long as [social media] algorithms' goals are to keep us engaged, they will feed us the poison that plays to our worst instincts and human weaknesses.\" In this bold talk, Eisenstat explores how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;PPT\/ cool decks&quot;","block_context":{"text":"PPT\/ cool decks","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=221"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":147638,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=147638","url_meta":{"origin":151725,"position":3},"title":"Governments and Mafias: Two Gangs, One Throne","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"16\/07\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"They wear suits, not ski masks. They pass laws, not threats. But power smells the same, whether it\u2019s draped in a flag or a fedora.Governments and mafias aren\u2019t enemies\u2014they\u2019re rivals in the same game: control, obedience, and the art of fear.One just mastered the art of printing its violence on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Konnikova-Mafia-1.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Konnikova-Mafia-1.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Konnikova-Mafia-1.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Konnikova-Mafia-1.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Konnikova-Mafia-1.webp?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Konnikova-Mafia-1.webp?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109733,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=109733","url_meta":{"origin":151725,"position":4},"title":"What Mr. T dreams about?","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"27\/10\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"What Mr. T dreams\u00a0about? A tumbr blog dedicated to just thatView On WordPress","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/66.media.tumblr.com\/c0766ac4b1b126fa067c2373734c26aa\/tumblr_nwp0hrW3Ci1ujgkg9o1_500.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":120157,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=120157","url_meta":{"origin":151725,"position":5},"title":"Don\u00b4t","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"18\/11\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Chulius & The Filarm\u00f3nicos \/ Don\u00b4t from nomeno on Vimeo. Official music video for Grammy winner Los Amigos Invisibles\u2019 Julio Brice\u00f1o -aka Chulius & The Filarm\u00f3nicos. Directed by nomeno Don\u00b4t was originally published on The Curious Brain","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=151725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151727,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151725\/revisions\/151727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/151726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=151725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=151725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=151725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}