His new book, Holding Fast in Heavy Seas, explores leadership, uncertainty, and how to navigate difficult situations when you don't have all the answers.

Today, we're going beyond UAPs in the sky, into questions about secrecy, national security, the military-industrial complex, USOs, and the extraordinary claims surrounding possible underwater activity.

What is real? What isn't? And how do we find the truth when the evidence is incomplete?

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

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A connection that goes far beyond words and actions. A connection that transcends space and time made me question my reality, what I truly believe is real, and what it means about human connection.

My mother, Anne Newton, has had Alzheimer’s for more than 9 years. Watching her deteriorate before my very eyes has been one of the hardest things to witness. In the beginning of her cognitive decline, I did everything I could possibly do to save her. Fighting with doctors, advocating through the system to get her into one of the top hospitals in Canada for neurology and cognitive challenges. With so many roadblocks in the way, they told me she was too young to have it at the age of 57. However, all of us in the family knew she had it; we knew her as a person, as our loved one, and we ALL knew something was off.

We were right.

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The day that changed all of our lives

About 9 years ago, my Mom walked into my sister’s garage during a birthday party and tripped down a few steps (I think two or three), and she fell and cracked her head open on concrete. With blood everywhere and her being out cold for minutes on end, my father thought she was dead. The family knew something bad had happened after they heard a scream coming from the garage.

That was the day that changed all of our lives.

A few years prior to that, my mom was showing signs of Alzheimer’s. Very subtle, but they were there. For instance, before my mom and I took off for Africa on an epic adventure together to Tanzania, for two weeks on a humanitarian trip and also, selfishly, a time to go on a safari (how can you not when you’re in Africa?), my Dad said to me,

“Chrissy, make sure you pick up everything before your mom leaves the table or anywhere. She’s forgetting things.”

I was shocked; I didn’t know that was happening to her.

Fast-forward a few years later, she finds herself in the ER with a cracked-open head, and 4 years later, with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. It was horrific!

She fought to believe the diagnosis wasn’t true, and our family fought to save her.

Ultimately, it was a losing battle for all of us.

Cognitive Decline

I hate to say this and make comparisons, because all diseases are horrible, but I never want to experience this kind of cognitive decline in my life, and hopefully I won’t. My father had my mother genetically tested to see if she carried any of the genetic mutations associated with Alzheimer’s, such as the APOE ε4 variant.

Thankfully, she doesn’t.

We had two different doctors review her results because we couldn’t believe it. To this day, I believe my mom was pushed into early Alzheimer’s due to her fall and also her career. She was a social worker who dedicated her life to taking kids out of broken homes, so yeah, it was stressful, and I believe stress was the culprit that took my mother away from me at the age of 33.

With 9 years of battling the system behind our family, in and out of the ER, other falls that landed her flat on her face, which at times made her look like Mike Tyson had beat her up, along with finding cocktails of medication to manage her emotional flare-ups of temper (or what the doctors call ‘self-expression’), and being in and out of three different care homes and hospitals. It was insane! It has been utterly wild for every single person in my family. We have seen it all. Trust me.

Watching your mother get strapped to a hospital bed because she is “self-expressing” is a moment your brain actually melts. Mine did. I don’t even know how I didn’t snap myself.

In the end, after you come out of the brain melt, you become stronger, you understand the disease more, and you know you only have so much time on the planet with this person, so you do your best to comfort her, talk to her still like a regular person in there (as she still is), and at the end of the day, truly believe we are more than our physical body.

And we are.

Meat body with an antenna

After months of my mom staying in a hospital room at Grand River in Kitchener-Waterloo (massive thank you to the nurses there. Thank you for being there every step of the way with us, along with the Alzheimer Society of Canada and its advocacy for her. You all need to get paid more!!), my mom was sent to another hospital facility called Freeport, where she was taken into care in the Seniors Mental Health section; there she was being treated for Alzheimer’s. A year before she was taken there, the doctors at Baycrest Hospital in Toronto told me my mother was one of the worst cases they had ever seen in Canada (my poor mother, she never deserved this).

As the cognitive decline set in over the past 6 to 7 years, at this point, my mom was left non-verbal. She could only say a few words, such as “I love you,” “hi,” “no” (thankfully), “yes,” etc. Not full sentences. But she would try to talk, with gibberish coming out left, right, and center; that didn't stop her from “talking” up a storm. She was trying to tell us what was happening to her, but the words were no longer there.

Until one day, they came back. But not in a way I thought was possible.

Non-verbal communications

On December 10, 2024, I was driving from my Dad’s house, after a visit, to my mom's at Freeport Hospital to feed her lunch. While driving, I decided to turn on a podcast. A few weeks prior, I was on popular YouTuber Chris Ramsay’s podcast talking about UFOs (not shocking if you know me. Lol.). A few times, Chris would say to me after the interview,

“Have you listened to the Telepathy Tapes?” I said, “I know, I know. Everyone and their mom has been telling me to!”

Note: The Telepathy Tapes is a podcast about children with autism who are nonverbal and can allegedly communicate through telepathy.

Put a pin in that story for a moment and let me give a little background…

If you know me well, you know I write (and partner) at a science and technology news outlet called The Debrief, where I cover frontier topics such as UFOs, consciousness, brain-computer interfaces, government programs targeting civilians, and pretty much anything at the intersection of science fiction turned into science fact. A fun job, really.

Throughout my career, I have done a fair amount of television and news shows, including NewsNation, CTV Morning Live, The Social, CBS, and the History Channel, and I also co-hosted a show on the Discovery Channel and HBO Max called Alien Encounters: Fact or Fiction. So I’ve been around the TV block for a few years now, and I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. After doing the TV show for Discovery, my agent in LA said,

“Chrissy, it’s time you pitched your own TV shows.”

She was right; it was time for me to start executive producing, something I’ve always wanted to do and will do.

One of the first projects I started developing was with a well-known Canadian director. More on that later…

Picking up the pin…

I believe I was in the middle of episode 1 or 2 of the Telepathy Tapes when I pulled into Freeport Hospital. Like every other time I’ve gone to visit and feed, I walk to the second floor, say hi to the staff and the other people living there (it’s a community; you end up caring for everyone together at one point). I pick up my mom’s tray, sit her down with me, and start spoon-feeding her.

As usual, she would call out or scream (not all the time, but sometimes); this time, she called out, looked at me, and said,

“Director X” (the well-known Canadian director).

I stopped dead in my tracks, holding up a spoon filled with mac and cheese. My mouth was halfway to the floor.

“What did you say?” I said to her.

She then started calling out, and honestly, not a word of a lie, the next words that came out of her mouth were,

“I’m summoning!!” YES, SHE SAID THAT!!

Again, at this point, I have no freaking clue what is happening to her in that exact moment. She then looked me dead in the eyes and said,

“What’s he like?!”

Excuse my French, but what the fuck is happening?! I thought.

I stopped everything I was doing and said,

“How do you know this!?”

She said nothing to me. So a second later (as a good journalist), I texted my best friend, , and told her what was happening (so I have each moment documented).

I then texted my sister and asked,

“Did you tell Mom I’m working with Director X?” Her response: “No, I didn’t.” And why would she?

Note: I have never in my life spoken to my mom about Director X. Ever.

I then called my Dad and asked him the same thing. Nope. He didn’t either.

My sister texts me back and says,

“Maybe Mom’s psychic now.”

And well, I think she is!!

As I go back to feeding her, I’m astonished at what happened. Was that telepathy?! It couldn’t be, or could it?!

I leave Freeport and head back to my Dad’s for the night so I can visit her the next day.

As I arrive home, I tell Dad what happened, and I go down a rabbit hole like no other about telepathy and Alzheimer’s.

Is it possible?! Is there a way to communicate with our loved ones who are suffering from a debilitating disease? Is there hope? A figurative little light at the end of the tunnel appears, so I decide to walk through it.

Deep in my rabbit hole, I discover a book by Dan Goerke, Unforgettable, Unbelievable: A Journey of Telepathy and Compassion in Alzheimer’s Care, and I instantly buy it for my Dad.

The book is based on a true story about a man who deeply loves his wife, who fell ill with Alzheimer’s, and how telepathy saved them both and became the way they could communicate. Very serendipitous, as my father’s story is very similar to Dan’s, down to how his wife would emotionally express herself and their deep friendship and love for each other.

I emailed Dan to see if he’d give me a few moments of his time to explain what the hell was going on with my mom.

Success.

Dan emailed me back to talk and told me how the telepathic connection started and how it didn’t stop with his wife; it extended to other people, with family members speaking to him telepathically about their loved ones to send messages.

Ok, ok. I know you’re like, “This is crazy, Chrissy.” I agree. But let’s take a moment to think; maybe all of this is possible. We don’t know what consciousness really is or where it lives, so maybe, just maybe, we are more than our physical bodies.

The next day, I go back to visit my mom at lunch to feed her. As we walk around before we sit down to eat, I ask her,

“How did you know his Director X name, Mom?” She looks me directly in the eyes and says, “You know.”

She was right; I did know.

She was telepathically talking to me.

Consciousness

Now you’re probably reading this and wondering how the heck this is all possible. Well, let me explain a few things about consciousness I’ve learned from writing about it at The Debrief and also going to places like the Monroe Institute (a place that helps guide you through consciousness levels).

First, scientists today suggest that consciousness isn’t made or found within the brain, but may be outside of us, and we are merely tapping into it. If this is the case, then understanding that consciousness lives around everyone means it would be easy for us to cross consciousness and connect.

Have you ever thought of someone and they called or texted you at that very moment? Or have you been with your best friend and known what they were thinking? I know I have.

I have told someone to “get out of my head” more times than I can count; they've said it to me too.

Now, this isn’t a scientific explanation, but it’s a loose outline of how these things could happen.

A neuroscientist and Sr. Distinguished Fellow in AI, Mind and Society at Florida Atlantic University, and co-author of Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the Science of Consciousness (2017), the first American Psychological Association textbook on consciousness, who I also call a friend of mine, Julia Mossbridge, said to me in a Debrief article on September 5, 2026:

“To many neuroscientists, the brain is starting to seem more like a radio receiver and potentially also a transmitter of consciousness.”

Or another great quote:

“The idea that’s losing more ground with every new credible report of so-called ‘anomalous cognition’ is the old one—that the brain creates consciousness like the gallbladder creates bile.”

“So if that kind of experiment produces a positive result, and is replicated, you either have to argue that psychic ability is real but is something the brain does nonlocally (like maybe through entanglement) or that consciousness can wander from the body and observe things, or both.”

Telepathy Tapes

Talk about a synchronicity.

I have this telepathic experience with my mother as I’m listening to the Telepathy Tapes. I believe a few weeks go by, and I finish the podcast and make my way into the “talk track” section. As “Talk Track” shows are being distributed once a week at this point, a new one drops. Right now, I’m ready for anything, and the new show is called “Alzheimer’s and Telepathy.” I couldn’t make this up if I tried!

In the episode, our man Dan Goerke is interviewed about his experience with telepathy, and the show host mentions that about 20 emails came through the podcast inbox explaining how loved ones were having their own telepathic experiences with people they cared for who have Alzheimer’s.

I called the creator of the podcast, Ky Dickens, and said, “I’m one of those people! This has happened between my mother and me.”

I was not alone! We are not alone!

We need to study this!

Fast-forward a year later, I find myself having lunch with Marina Weiler, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Science at the Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the University of Virginia, and good friend Anthony Miller (who introduced us) out in Virginia, moments after my Gateway Creators retreat at the Monroe Institute.

At this moment, everything came full circle.

I met Marina Weiler and learned that, before coming to DOPS, she was working on Alzheimer’s research. I told her and Anthony about my telepathic experience with my mom. She was flabbergasted, but at the same time, not, because she’s been researching reincarnation, life after death, and so much more at DOPS.

She says to me,

“If there is a way we can communicate with our loved ones who suffer from Alzheimer’s, it would be an amazing breakthrough.” And it would be.

I pleaded with her. Please study this. You’re the perfect person to do it. DOPS is the perfect place to do this!

To fully understand what happened to me and so many others, we need to study this phenomenon academically. Measure and understand it so we can create mass applications.

I’m crossing my fingers that Marina takes my plea and one day, with a research grant, starts this work.

Is it still happening?

The telepathic experience only happened with my mother once and not yet again (but I’m still listening and waiting, as it might), but until then, I know she’s still in there; she might be trapped in a body and brain that are not working (which I think about daily at times, and it kills me inside), but I also know her consciousness is still intact. I have to tell myself this, and maybe it’s just to comfort me, but I feel her consciousness is ascending. She could be living in two places at once, but she’s still there. Listening, loving me, and doing her best to tell me she’s not gone.

I love you, Mom, and I’m here listening.

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Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com.

For over a year now, I have been creating a working definition and sitting with an abstract idea of a type of singularity I call the personal (or inner) singularity, along with a framework of other types of singularities to go with it.

I can imagine that at least once in your life in recent years, you’ve heard someone say, “the singularity is coming!” or “the singularity is already here!” But you might sit and wonder, “What the heck does that mean?” What is it?!

I know I did a few years ago.

When I became a partner at a science, defense, and tech news outlet, The Debrief, 6 years ago, I remember our first podcast host, Michael Mataluni, mentioning it all the time, but I had no idea what he really meant. I thought it was some fancy science term until I dug a little deeper and realized it was more elaborate than I first thought.

What the Hell Is the Singularity?

Oxford Dictionary traces the word back to Late Latin (singularitas and singularis) meaning “alone (of its kind).” Or Etymonline suggests “a being alone,” “single, solitary,” or“one, one to each, individual, separate.”

That means my working definition of a personal, or inner, singularity rings true to the word’s origins. And, well, I think that gives my concept a little more legitimacy.

Humans are unique. You, reading this, are one of a kind. Unlike anything that has come before you, and unlike anything that will ever come after you.

Isn’t that the beauty of being human? Being different. Being something so uniquely you that you could never be perfectly replicated on Earth.

Not your DNA. Not your experiences. Nothing.

(Well, unless they clone you, but that’s not really you! It’s a copy of you).

You. Your makeup, to say the least, is singular.

The Singularities That Shape Us: Inner, Human, Technology & Culture — The Convergence Singularity

The goal of this Substack will be to cover the five main types of singularities I feel are pretty dominant today in society: Inner, Human, Technology & Culture, and the last will be The Convergence Singularity (another word I’ve coined), where all five of these singularities intersect with each other at a pinnacle point, and when they do, does that shift humanity and then ultimately shift who we are as a person?

I look to explore, answer, and challenge the questions below.

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Inner Singularity

The self (me, myself, and I)

The inner singularity within all of us is shaped by our memories, synchronicities, anomalous experiences, traumas, life experiences, and personal beliefs, everything that makes us who we are and, ultimately, what makes us tick.

I believe that as we watch humanity grow, evolve, and learn more about ourselves, we are also becoming the people we were meant to be. And if you’re watching closely, an inner, personal singularity is happening within each of us, a point where all these experiences, beliefs, memories, and discoveries begin to converge.

The personal evolution of who we are and who we are becoming. How our internal and external experiences intersect with the world around us and how these four singularities intersect within my own life and experiences.

Who are you becoming? Or who am I becoming? Something changes you.

Human / Collective Singularity

The human condition. Being human.

How our definition of “human” changes as we alter our thinking, bodies, minds, lifespans, relationships, and capabilities.

From AI, BCIs, longevity, psychedelics, human rights, consciousness, genetic engineering, human augmentation, and other developments that challenge our understanding of what it means to be human. The collective evolution of humanity alongside these changes.

What does it mean to be human?

Technological Singularity

The machines. The Tech. The Science.

The frontier (or edge) systems we’re creating from AI, robotics, quantum computing, synthetic biology, BCIs, and potentially AGI.

This concept for my Substack doesn't necessarily lean toward the traditional idea of a single moment when AI becomes smarter than humans. Instead, it’s a broader exploration of civilization's accelerating technological transformation. How the technologies humans create may, in turn, reshape how we think, behave, and live.

What are we creating and what will it create in us?

Cultural Singularity

The world we create together.

How technology, globalization, social and political movements, and media are changing human values and reshaping collective identity and society.

From gender and cultural wars, misinformation, disinformation, fake news, religion, politics, art, social media, and generational differences (young vs. old thinking). Taking a deeper look at different cultures, ideas, identities, and worldviews.

What happens when the world our generation and the next inherit no longer looks or feels like the world we should be creating? Who knows the right way?

The Convergence Singularity

Where all four singularities intersect. The place where your understanding of reality fundamentally changes.

What happens when changes within the individual intersect with changes in humanity, technology, and culture? Looking at how these singularities shape us, the world we live in, and how they influence and shape each other.

What happens when these singularities converge? Is this the convergence point of an inner and worldly paradigm shift?

The Big Picture Idea

If the Inner Singularity changes who we are,

the Human Singularity changes what it means to be human,

the Technological Singularity changes what we can create,

and the Cultural Singularity changes the world we create together,

That is the Convergence Singularity.

An Invitation to Find Your Own Singularity. Framework of this Substack

This Substack will be formatted to cover my personal journey and anecdotes, journalists’ articles, field reporting, essays, all expressing different types of singularities, but also my inner one, as you follow along as I watch my own personal inner singularity converge at a point. Let’s just hope I make it there. 🙂

I thought it would be best to create a synopsis of these definitions that I can refer back to in my writing, for new readers or those who have followed my work from the beginning. This ideology is open to interpretation, and I would love to hear from you all. If you think I’m onto something, if you feel I’m way off the mark, or if you want to tell a story here about yourself or someone else you know and their singularity, or share a research paper, article, or anything you want that fits into these categories. I would love to collaborate.

This Substack is not only my journey, but it’s all of ours, and I’m open to sharing this space with you too. DM me anytime on social media, comment, or email me (details in my bio).

Chrissy Newton, journalist for science, technology, and defense news outlet The Debrief and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.

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Does transparency build trust, or can it actually create more suspicion? Today, I'm joined by Yaniv Regev, political theorist and author of The Bulwark article, "Why the Trump Administration Is Telling Us So Much About UFOs." We're talking transparency, populism, Gen Z and UAPs, conspiracy theories, and whether the Trump administration is helping answer the UAP enigma or firehosing the topics to the public.

Join me as we get rebelliously curious.

Watch the YouTube interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BROyyRLXeI8

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

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Today, a Palestinian man named Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, commonly known as Abu Zubaydah, sits in the Guantánamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, where he has been held without charge since 2006. The facility was created in 2002 to hold people captured during the War on Terror. Known around the world for indefinite detention, allegations of torture, and disputes over the legal rights of detainees, the legal status of those held at Guantánamo has been the subject of decades of litigation and worldwide scrutiny.

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Accused by U.S. authorities of being a senior al-Qaeda operative, Zubaydah was captured during a raid on a safe house in Faisalabad, Pakistan, on March 28, 2002. He was shot during the operation, treated at a hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, and then transferred into CIA custody, where he was held in a network of secret detention facilities. After more than four years in secret CIA detention, he was transferred to Guantánamo Bay in September 2006 along with 13 other CIA high-value detainees.

Not to be forgotten: hundreds of other detainees were also held at Guantánamo. According to a 2010 Justice Department review, the facility had detained 779 individuals since 2002. Mansur Ahmad Saad al-Dayfi (also known as Mansoor Adayfi online), a former Guantánamo detainee, was initially accused of being part of the al-Qaeda terrorist network. He was later cleared for transfer from U.S. custody after suffering what he describes as unforgivable torture at Guantánamo Bay, where he was held for 14 years. Adayfi claims in his book, Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo, that during the post-9/11 raids in Afghanistan, he was kidnapped by warlords and sold to the U.S. after 9/11 and was presented to U.S. forces as a senior Egyptian al-Qaeda operative.

Adayfi told me in a Zoom interview on August 19 that there were more than “1,000 people” there, disputing the commonly cited figure of roughly 700 detainees. He also said he later heard from other inmates that babies had been present, although he did not personally see them. To date, only five of the 14 high-value detainees were actually charged in the 9/11 case.

The Story of Abu Zubaydah

Zubaydah was initially characterized by the CIA as one of al-Qaeda’s highest-ranking figures. According to U.S. intelligence assessments, a source claimed that he was the “third or fourth” highest-ranking al-Qaeda leader. However, the CIA later acknowledged that its initial assessment of Zubaydah as a senior al-Qaeda leader was incorrect.

The documentary record indicates that Zubaydah was involved in military training in Afghanistan and Pakistan and had contact with people associated with al-Qaeda. That alone does not establish that he was a member of al-Qaeda or an orchestrator of 9/11. Even after the CIA characterization stuck for years, doubts emerged among U.S. officials about the extent of his role.

During his interrogations, Zubaydah provided information about al-Qaeda’s organizational structure and operatives, including identifying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (“KSM”) as “Mukhtar,” the name used for the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 plot. The important distinction to note here is that a person knowing al-Qaeda members and possessing intelligence about al-Qaeda is not necessarily the same thing as being a member or senior leader of al-Qaeda.

As Adayfi recalls in his book, “You don’t think in the military, you only do.”

In Zubaydah’s 2007 Combatant Status Review Tribunal statement, he says, “since back when I was a child, I liked a lot of things in your country and your history and your culture.” He then goes on to address the difference between the American people and culture and the U.S. government and military.

A personal journal entry dated 1998 describes watching the American movie Rambo III. He says he remembered being astonished by the American movie with “blood, explosions and excitement.” Yet, years later, when he watched it again, he found it so absurd that he laughed loudly.

“Back then, I was astonished over the extent of blood, explosions and excitement in that movie like most American movies…” he writes. “Today and after all these years … I watched this movie and I laughed loudly … I laughed … I laughed … My eyes became teary because of the deep laugh …”

By 2006, U.S. intelligence continued to characterize Zubaydah as a senior al-Qaeda figure, while other assessments and later reporting challenged that characterization. He was never criminally charged or convicted of being an al-Qaeda member at Guantánamo.

Zubaydah has never been released from Guantánamo Bay.

CIA Interrogation Techniques and Historical Parallels to MKUltra

Zubaydah was subjected to some of the most extensively documented torture in the post-9/11 U.S. detention program. This included 83 accounts of waterboarding, walling, in which interrogators slammed him against a flexible wall, cramped confinement in boxes, sleep deprivation, being placed in shackles and forced to remain in painful positions, assault, sensory manipulation involving loud or continuous noise, forced nudity, and prolonged isolation. According to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report, he spent a total of 266 hours in a large confinement box and another 29 hours in a smaller box. The techniques were used in combinations over extended periods; Zubaydah later depicted his experiences in drawings that became known collectively as The Vortex.

The Senate Intelligence Committee addressed the CIA’s interrogation program as: “The interrogations of CIA detainees were brutal and far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others.”

Share The Edge of Us

Some of the techniques used against Zubaydah bear similarities to methods investigated during the CIA’s earlier MKULTRA program, particularly the use of sensory manipulation and attempts to disrupt a person’s psychological state. The roughly 20-year MKULTRA program, which began in 1953 and was officially terminated in the early 1970s, investigated methods including sensory deprivation, sleep disruption, and psychoactive drugs such as LSD in efforts to study and manipulate human behavior. Additionally, the CIA incorporated elements of SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), which was created to teach U.S. military personnel how to resist abusive interrogation if captured. The historical parallel is that both sets of research and training involved attempts to understand or alter how people respond to extreme psychological and physical stress.

Zubaydah was moved from Camp 7 to Camp 5 after Camp 7 was closed in 2021. To this day, UN experts have stated that “Mr. Abu Zubaydah suffers serious health conditions, including injuries sustained during torture that are allegedly exacerbated by the denial of medical attention. In addition, lawyer-client communication has been seriously impeded.” His treatment has been described by UN experts as raising serious human-rights concerns.

“He has blinding headaches, suffers seizures, has permanent brain damage and memory loss as a result of trauma during interrogation,” says his lawyer in a statement.

Did the CIA torture a man with a mental health disorder?

One of the more controversial aspects of Zubaydah’s case concerns claims that he experienced significant mental-health problems before he was captured and detained. There have been claims that Zubaydah has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), also commonly known as “multiple personality disorder.”

These claims and accounts come from intelligence officials and journalist Ron Suskind’s 2006 book, The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11. Suskind noted that journals were found after Zubaydah’s capture and were written in voices or different identities that he labeled Hani 1, Hani 2, and Hani 3. It was also reported that FBI al-Qaeda analyst Dan Coleman described Zubaydah as “insane, certifiable, split personality.” However, a background U.S. counterterrorism source who would not go on the record told The Washington Times that Suskind’s account was wrong and argued that Zubaydah was actually a senior al-Qaeda figure. The available public record does not establish a formal clinical diagnosis of DID.

Experimental Jail

The question arises: what role, if any, did Zubaydah’s reported mental-health problems play in his detention and interrogation?

Former detainees have described Guantánamo as a place where coercive interrogation methods, behavioral techniques, and, according to some accounts, drugs were used to control detainees. Records surrounding the U.S. interrogation program also document the development, adaptation, and use of behavioral and psychological techniques on detainees.

There is no public evidence establishing that Zubaydah was deliberately selected as a human test subject because of an alleged diagnosis of DID. However, accounts from former detainees and records surrounding the interrogation program raise broader questions about the use of experimental or coercive techniques on detainees.

Former inmate Jamal al-Harith told Human Rights Watch that he was threatened with being injected with drugs if he did not answer questions. Adayfi, on Zoom with me, claimed that while he was detained, he and other inmates were given injections of drugs that would make them unable to move or feel paralyzed and that the injections were incredibly painful.

The United Nations Has Called for Abu Zubaydah’s Release. Why Is He Still at Guantánamo?

In January 2025, United Nations experts called for the release of Zubaydah. In a press release, the experts stated, “We are exceptionally requesting a Presidential pardon for Mr. Abu Zubaydah, owing to his treatment while in detention and the lack of due process since he was first detained.” The experts added that his “immediate release and relocation to a third safe country are long overdue.”

Exactly one year later, Zubaydah received a “substantial” compensation payment from the UK as part of a settlement of his legal claim concerning alleged British complicity in his torture.

“The compensation is important, it’s significant, but it’s insufficient,” Prof Helen Duffy, international legal counsel for Zubaydah, told the BBC. “These violations of his rights are not historic; they are ongoing.”

For legal reasons, the exact amount Zubaydah received could not be disclosed publicly, said Duffy. Zubaydah confirmed it was a “substantial amount of money.”

Dominic Grieve, who chaired a parliamentary committee, stated that what happened to Zubaydah was “plainly” wrong.

Then why is Zubaydah still imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay if he has never been charged with a crime? The U.S. government has asserted that Zubaydah is subject to detention under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force and the laws of war, rather than being held pursuant to a criminal conviction. This means his detention does not depend on a criminal conviction or sentence and could continue indefinitely under the U.S. government’s law-of-war detention authority, without a criminal trial.

More Than One Victim at Guantánamo Bay

Throughout this article, only a few Guantánamo detainees who experienced serious abuse are discussed by name. But they were far from the only people affected by the detention system. Other former and current detainees whose experiences deserve to be remembered and examined include Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Mohammed al-Qahtani, Shaker Aamer, Sami al-Hajj, Lakhdar Boumediene, Musa’ab al-Madhwani, Murat Kurnaz, Omar Khadr, Ahmed al-Darbi, Sanad al-Kazimi, and Ghaleb al-Bihani.

American Lives Lost on 9/11

With the knowledge that others around the world also faced hardships during 9/11, this does not diminish the fact that thousands of Americans lost their lives that day, along with their loved ones, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, grandparents, servicemen, and servicewomen. But it does show how horribly this atrocity has affected people around the world. The fact is, terrorism did this to everyone; extremism can kill and leave no prisoners.

But does this mean that those who have done nothing wrong should still have to pay the consequences? Should innocent people from any nation be forced to carry the fallout for something they never did, just because they might be in the wrong place, know the wrong person, or be there at the wrong time? Or are multiple intelligence agencies within the U.S. government at fault for a lack of communication and false accusations?

The 9/11 court cases and investigations have been unfolding for decades, and hopefully, one day, the intelligence and military officials who approved, designed, or participated in torture will be prosecuted and held accountable for serious human-rights abuses. Along with the American people, the victims and their families deserve answers, and the public deserves to know how such failures were allowed to happen to innocent people and how they can be prevented from happening again.

Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and founder of VOCAB Communications. She hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on The Debrief’s YouTube Channel. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton and at chrissynewton.com.

Why do I say that? Well, if our inner singularity is a convergence point of the experiences and ideas we’ve encountered throughout life, a place where all those pieces begin to come together to form who we are becoming, then something new, and perhaps more beautiful, can emerge from those intersection points.

Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist Carl Jung described synchronicities as meaningful coincidences between two or more events connected by meaning.

Maybe synchronicities are the guiding breadcrumbs that help us find our way there along this yellow brick road of life.

I thought I would share a few of mine on this Substack as I track my journey with you (or at least a few of you), and maybe in the comments you can tell me if this or something similar has happened to you before.

I have many “syncs,” but here is a recent but vulnerable one.

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Hollywood Studio Lots

Last February in LA, I met up with a friend who’s a producer. When we get together, we usually meet at his workplace studio lot, as our friendship started off more as business than anything else. He would tour me around the studio, telling me stories about how The Beatles and Michael Jackson stood in the exact spot I was standing.

It's utterly mesmerizing to stand in places that shaped history.

Walking in the footsteps of The Three Stooges or even some of the most talented actors during the black-and-white and golden eras of film and TV makes you feel like you’re in a time machine, but your Hollywood producer friend is the captain.

But this time it was different.

Instead of meeting on the lot and talking shop, he asked me to drinks at 6:30 p.m. at The Bourbon Room, a vibrant haunt with an edgy atmosphere overlooking the lights of Hollywood Blvd., right down the street from the studio. So I thought nothing of it.

As I made my way down Hollywood Blvd., I people-watched as I walked down the star-studded sidewalk: rock band Queen, actress Kyra Sedgwick, and then actor Kevin Bacon. I stopped and looked up. “Oh, I’m here!”

A chain covered the front door, and the large metal door was securely locked.

The bar was closed.

I thought, “Well, that’s odd,” scratching my head.

I messaged my friend and said, “Did you know The Bourbon Room is permanently closed?”

No message back.

I assumed he was busy, so, like a respectable woman, I walked myself down to the vinyl store to wait to hear back.

Ring, ring. My phone goes off.

“It’s closed?!” he says.

“It is! I proclaim. It’s all good, I’m just down the road looking at vinyl.”

He then suggests we go to the Scum and Villainy Cantina: an intergalactic bar right across the street.

I say, “Star Wars Cantina!! Yes!”

Being a UFO nerd and a Star Wars fan, how could a girl say no?!

We finally meet up at the Cantina.

We pull up a seat at the bar. I order an off-planet cocktail of some sort, and it comes out looking like it's going to launch itself into space (smoke with lights and all), and from there on for a good hour, we talk about our love for animals. Okay, I know. This sounds super corny! But we do. How can you not like someone who’s owned a pig before? 🙂 😂 And multiple other animals? Side note: my life goal is to retire one day, create an art studio in the back of my house, and have a tiny hobby farm with some fuzzy chickens. Sounds great, right?

As my friend and I are catching up about anything life- and work-related, he slowly slips in that he’s single.

I say, “Hold on, you’re single?”

He says, “Yes.”

Suddenly, the tone of this get-together switches quickly.

We're both 42, so I stop and think. Oh. I’ve never seen this person in that light before. My monkey brain clicks over from friend to possibility.

Now, hear me out. I never mix business with pleasure, but at the age of 42, when you find someone you click with, you have to give it a try, right? I don’t want to be single for the rest of my life!

The conversation quickly shifts from animal hobby farms to middle-aged, single banter.

You’re probably wondering, where is this story going? I’m getting there, trust me.

It’s close to midnight at this point, and he looks at his watch and goes, “OMG, I have to get out of here!” I’m a little shocked and thrown off and say, “Oh, okay!” He grabs his jacket, and we are both out the door. I swear the people at the Cantina watched an animated smoke cloud trail develop behind the two of us as we left.

He quickly says goodnight. I think to myself, “Weird,” and we call it a night.

The next day, I text him that I had a wonderful time and that we should get together again. He agrees. But it doesn’t end up happening before I leave back to Toronto.

LA Summer Nights

Now fast-forward to this summer. I head back to LA again to see my friends and do a little TV stuff in San Diego.

I decided, why not ring my producer friend up? Right?! A single girl’s gotta try, right? 😏

We end up meeting up for dinner again, but this time the place is NOT closed, and we go to The Smoke House, right across the street from the Warner Studios lot.

Again, we talk about Muppets, UFOs, Hollywood, our personal lives, and everything else besides business. At one point, the server came around to give us a heads-up that the restaurant was closing in 20 minutes. We seemed not to listen and kept talking. Finally, the server came up and said, “I’ve given you both an extra 30 minutes, but you have to go.” We agree. Settle up the bill (he was a gentleman, and he paid for it).

We are going to our cars, and suddenly I feel him go right back into business mode. I think, “What was that?!”

He says goodbye politely, and I pop into my car after the valet opens the door.

What was that “corporate” goodbye all about? Surprise, he didn’t shake my hand after, too, and say, “Well, good doing business with you!”

As I drive away, I finally really realize, “I like this guy… Oh crap!” But is it mutual?

Ghost GPS

So here’s where it really gets interesting.

I’m staying with my friends Molly and Max, who live in a beautiful French home from the 1900s in Koreatown. Stunning, really. I copy and paste her address into my iPhone address book under her name, then pop it into the GPS. I’ve been to LA and lived there on and off for over five years now, but God help me, I still need a GPS in this behemoth of a city.

As I’ve been driving along for the past 15 minutes, I stop and look around, and I think, “Why have I found myself on Hollywood Blvd.?”

I assume the GPS is taking me on the scenic route.

But no.

The GPS says, “You have arrived.”

I looked up and, to my utter astonishment, I’m back at The Bourbon Room!! The bar that my friend asked me to go to when we first met up after work. But it was permanently closed.

Why the hell would my GPS do that?!

Finding the correct address, I shake my head, and the entire way back to Molly’s and Max’s, I can’t shake the feeling it means something. BUT WHAT?

Now, let’s remember: the last time I put that address in my phone was February of this year, and now it’s August, and the address isn't saved in my Google Maps!

Did my subconscious take me here? But again, why?

Rejection, But Make It 40+

As my summer trip comes to an end, I decide to muster up all the guts I have and tell my friend how I feel.

I text him, “I realized maybe my intentions aren’t that obvious.

I like you.

The thing is, I’m having a hard time reading yours. (Insert awkward millennial, lol.)

I don’t generally mix business with different intentions, but I’m 42, and if I feel like I connect with someone, well, I should try at least. Right?

If you want to keep it all business, I can respect that and do that with no weird moments after. I’m a grown-up; I can handle rejection.

If not, I’d like to get to know you as a person more.”

Cute, right?

Silent for three days. Nothing. *Insert cricket sound. 😐

I think to myself, Wow, did I really blow it? Talk about ghost of the century! Or did something happen? I quickly message him on Instagram to find out he lost his phone! (I do believe him when he said it. He’s not one to lie.)

I then muster up the courage to text him what I wrote before, but this time with a lump in my throat.

He messages me back.

Rejection. But a soft one.

He tells me he loves spending time with me, but he’s still in the fallout phase from a past relationship and wants to focus on work now because it motivates him. Says he’s 42 as well and doesn’t want to waste a person's time, as he’s going through his own odyssey of life and building a company. But asks to say friends.

I get it.

I appreciate the response. It's honest, it's mature, and, well, he communicated.

But…

My little Muppet heart breaks.

In the end, we are friends, and friends we shall stay for now, and maybe forever.

UP and Away

I fly back home, and as I’m on the UP train going back to Toronto, I think to myself.

Why didn’t I see the signs before? Why didn’t the smoke trail high-tailing it out of the Cantina register?

And if anything, the second night we went out, the GPS took me back to the original place we were supposed to have drinks, but it was closed.

Then it hit me. I should have spotted the “sync”: NOT OPEN.

Call it fate, call it a guide, call it a synchronicity, but something or someone that night made me drive back to The Bourbon Room to tell me not to waste my time anymore, as he “WASN’T OPEN FOR BUSINESS.”

Growing up outside a small town called Ayr, on a dirt road in rural Ontario, my parents never even had a clue what being neurodivergent even meant.

I Was a Child Living With a Disability. But I Was Never Defined by It.

Something many people don’t know about me is that, at the age of five, I was diagnosed with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. What is that, you ask? Commonly found in boys, I was the unfortunate girl who developed it. The National Health Institute classifies Legg-Calvé-Perthes, or Perthes disease, as a childhood hip disorder that happens when blood flow to the ball of the hip joint (the femoral head) is temporarily lost, causing the bone cells to die.

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Nothing a 5-year-old could comprehend. For over 3 years, I was in and out of Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto, living with my Mom in a hospital room while my Dad took care of my sister and my cousin (who lived with us due to my aunt passing at the age of 22, his mom). It was an absolutely horrible time for the family, and to this day, I have no clue how my Mom and Dad survived all of it.

In and out of hospitals, I was bedridden for months. The only activity I could really do was being wheeled to the arts and crafts room, where I would draw and create art for hours. I loved it. That was the only thing that made me utterly happy at Sick Kids, along with the puppet that would come visit once in a while.

When I was finally out of the hospital after a year or more, I was still bedridden. Eventually, I got a plaster cast and later, finally, a metal brace with a bar in the middle of both.

I was a 5-year-old child who looked like Forest Gump. Yup. Not even joking.

I had braces between my legs, but let me tell you! That did not stop me.

My mom told me the school called her one morning and said,

“It took Chrissy one hour to ‘walk’ to the front of the school doors from the bus.”

My mom, sounding pretty stern with the teacher, said, “I don’t care if it takes her all day. She’s going to learn how to adapt.”

And so I did.

By the end of the week, the teacher called my mom to apologize, saying I was climbing the monkey bars with my braces like it was no issue!

I was climbing with my metal brace on TOP of this thing like a little monkey!

When I look back on that story now, I realize, “Wow, I was a little girl with a 10-pound (or more) leg brace climbing the monkey bars and the jungle gym and pulling it up as I climbed to the top!” Nothing could stop me.

And it hasn’t to this day.

Thankfully, when I was around the age of 7 or 8 (I believe), after soooo much traction and the love and dedication from my Mom and having me heal naturally, I was able to overcome the disease and did not need to have an artificial hip replacement at such a young age!

I was cured!

How does this connect to dyslexia?

Around the same time, I was also diagnosed as dyslexic. But they couldn’t fully admit it, since they said my reading comprehension was high, but my spelling and grammar weren’t (it's all a sliding spectrum; if you know, you know).

So I would hide it.

I didn’t want people to know I had a learning disability.

I hate to use this word, but honestly, I thought I was stupid because of it.

I would leave class during the day and go with another teacher for one-to-one tutoring. It helped, but in all honesty, the Western public school system is not set up for people who are neurodivergent. So I had to teach myself how to learn. Just like I did with the leg braces and the jungle gym.

This day will remain in my memory bank forever. My Grade 8 basketball coach, Mr. C, was driving me home after basketball practice, and he said to me,

“You’re smart, Chrissy.”

(Gosh, I can’t even write that line without crying a little).

“I am?” I said. “Yeah, you are!” he pushed.

That was the first time anyone in my life ever told me that. And to this day, I thank Mr. C for seeing a little girl in a car trying so hard at living life in a system that wasn’t built for her.

When a counterintelligence official, a comedian and a journalist walk into a bar.

It took me to the ripe old age of 38 to finally admit I was dyslexic. On Aug. 20, 2022, comedian Dave Foley, counterintelligence official Luis Elizondo, and I had dinner in California at El Coyote Mexican Café on Beverly Boulevard (Fun but dark fact: it was the restaurant where Sharon Tate had her final meal before she was murdered on August 8, 1969).

Dave had never met Lue before and, well, Lue did not know a thing about celebs due to being active military most of his life and being in the field, and Lue was curious about who Dave was. So I thought, well, I should arrange dinner!

As we talked about everything UFOs and more, I remember Lue saying to all of us,

“I am dyslexic.”

And Dave said, “So am I!”

And then they both turned their heads and looked at me.

I said nothing.

But inside I said all the words:

“Do they know!?! How do they know?! Should I say I am too?!”

Instead, I just looked at them and said nothing.

I thought to myself, “Why are you so scared to tell people who you really are?”

I sat with that for a while.

Neurodivergent Friends and Saving the World

My good friend Alyssa, who I’ve known since I was 14, would get together and talk about what the future might hold for society. She was the person who got me on the neurodivergence train. She and I would talk at her house about how the workforce needs to change and will, in the future, make room for people who are neurodivergent. She was right, like a typical neurodivergent would be! Predicting the future one friend conversation at a time. She planted so many wonderful ideas of the term, and then I was off on my merry way to research it even more!

But should I tell anyone besides my friends?! Will people still respect me? That fear of being considered “stupid” crept back into my life.

Until one day, I said fuck it. I started talking about it on my podcast. It was a neurodivergent coming out of sorts. And I was proud and loud!

Years later, I told Dave Foley about that night and confessed that I had never told him or Lue that I was dyslexic. I thanked him for telling me because it gave me the courage to step into my own light. If you’re reading this, Dave, thank you again, my friend. I love you for helping me along that road and not even knowing it.

Stealth Dyslexia

As I learn more and more about my neurodivergent brain, I recently found out that I may be a “type” of dyslexic, as I carry many of the traits associated with it. I didn’t even know there were different categories of dyslexia!

It’s called “stealth dyslexia.” Pretty cool name, right?! 😂

The Davidson Institute describes stealth dyslexia as a hidden form of dyslexia where high intelligence and strong reasoning skills allow a person to compensate for reading and decoding words.

The more I learn about neurodivergence, the more I realize it’s all about how your brain processes information - “The way my brain works.”

Being "smart is not about if you’re really good at spelling or grammar; it’s about how fast you process information. (But also, let's be honest: there are many ways to be smart, not just one).

Our brains are little computers, and I’m pretty sure my comedic side of the mainframe was built by a Muppet. Lol. But we can get into my love of Muppets for another Substack. (Gonzo is the best one, btw).

If you didn’t know this, dyslexia is also sometimes associated with high pattern recognition, heightened empathy, and emotional sensitivity. While empathy isn’t a diagnostic trait of dyslexia, researchers discovered connections between dyslexia, creativity, emotional awareness, and strong social awareness. Okay, okay, I’m not saying I’m always self-aware. You can’t be all the time, and self-awareness grows at a similar rate as wisdom, I would say.

However, as I get older, I realize that so many brilliant minds and creatives like Steve Jobs, Whoopi Goldberg, Jennifer Aniston, Cher, Steven Spielberg, Picasso, and so many more were ALL dyslexic!

The older I get, the more I realize I’m not alone in this struggle, and I should be proud of who I really am. A smart woman who is dyslexic. A hidden superpower.

I See My Challenges Differently

Looking back now, having both a physical challenge and a learning disability growing up really opened my eyes and empathy for people who struggle with any of these disabilities daily. No, it doesn’t define us, but it makes us strong. One building block after the other to make change, see each other for who we really are (superheroes who can’t spell well, lol), and love everyone for being different and NOT the same.

Since I am dyslexic, my writing is 100 percent mine on this Substack (it’s my voice, as you can tell if you know me), but I will be honest and say that AI helps me with spelling and grammar. I’m horrible at both. Trust me. The thing with me is, I love to tell a story. And I don’t care if I can’t spell well or my grammar is not that great. What makes you a compelling writer is having a voice, a narrative. Some of the best writers ALSO have great editors by their side. Unfortunately, for this Substack, I'm the only editor.

In the end, I will tell stories for the rest of my life, and a little learning disability won’t stop me.

So I will leave you with this.

Maybe understanding and decoding our brains is one of the most interesting ways to find your personal (inner) singularity.

**Dedicated to:

This article is dedicated to the two paying subscribers (as of now) to my Substack, both academics, good men, and know about my dyslexia. Thank you for believing in me, supporting my work and vision, and being two wonderful humans I feel honored to call my friends.

Chrissy Newton, journalist for science, technology, and defense news outlet The Debrief and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.

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Personal Singularity: The convergence of who you are, what you’ve experienced, and who you’re free to become.

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For the past two weeks, I have woken up every day thinking about the woman I spoke with. This is not just any ordinary Western woman; this is a woman from Afghanistan.

Yes, a woman locked away in a home with an ultra-conservative and abusive father, living in a country where she has absolutely no freedom of choice. She can’t go outside except to see the doctor. She can’t go to the law or government for help when her father is aggressive toward the family. She has been locked up for months, only allowed to connect with the outside world through the internet. She works from her computer for more than 16 hours a day for an online school, also works as an online admin assistant, and writes in her “spare” time. She’s only allowed to earn a living because she can bring in money for the family of 10 who live in a two-bedroom house. Yes, 10 family members! So potentially, her father sees her as an asset, not as a woman or even a person.

I wake up every morning thinking, Why do I get to live this life? Why do I get to be free? It’s not fair. It’s not right. How do we help her?!!!

I spoke with her over a video call. Her avatar in the app we used was a picture of a skeleton with the saying, “Maybe I don’t exist in the future I’m worried about”. Powerful words from a woman trying to change the world, secretly speaking to me while working to change her own life and the lives of women in Afghanistan. If she’s caught even speaking to a journalist about her experience, she could be killed. (And yes, she and I together have put measures in place to keep her safe).

Yes, she speaks English very well, and most would be shocked to learn that English was taught in the school system before girls were banned from it. She can still connect to the internet and access the Western apps we all use. She explained to me that the Taliban cut internet access across the entire country a few months back, but the people erupted with anger and rose up, so the Taliban reinstated it. So, if the people can do this for the right and freedom of access to communications, why can’t they do this for the Afghan women?!

How did I get connected with her? Well, thankfully, Instagram was good for something. I found another woman’s post speaking about her and how this young Afghan woman has been imprisoned in her own home and country. I had to reach out, and she connected me right away (women helping women. You know who you are, and I appreciate you immensely). She has also been vetted to confirm she is who she says she is and where she is.

For months, I had been looking to find a woman there living through this horrific rule under the Taliban. I never thought I would find someone to talk with about what was happening on the ground, but I did. The universe (or my inner singularity—see my first post) was guiding me there.

What Women in Afghanistan Are No Longer Allowed to Do

If you’re not familiar with what’s happening to women in Afghanistan, let me try to sum it up for you. To be honest, this topic would require pages and pages to truly explain what has happened there historically and what is happening now. But I’ll do my best to explain it from a woman’s perspective.

As I write this, women and girls in Afghanistan are being denied many of the basic freedoms most of the women and men reading this Substack take for granted every single day.

1. Girls are not allowed to attend secondary school or university.

2. They can’t even have a professional job and are banned from most forms of employment.

3. Their freedom of movement is heavily restricted, as they can’t even leave the house or go outside without being accompanied by a male guardian.

4. Women and girls are prohibited from many public spaces, including parks, gyms, and sports clubs.

5. Their ability to express themselves freely and take part in public life has been severely restricted.

6. Even access to basic healthcare and professional medical education has been affected by the Taliban’s rule and policies.

And this is only the beginning.

Put Yourself in Her Place

I want to do an exercise with you. Seriously. If you’re inside your house reading this, at work, or anywhere indoors, walk toward your window and look outside.

Now think about what it would be like if you could never make your own decision to go outside ever again. You could only stay within these four walls until the law says you can go outside. You can’t even make a decision for yourself on a daily basis to better yourself, your mind, or your life.

All because of your sex.

You can no longer walk out the front door to pursue a career you spent years preparing for. You can’t travel. You can’t go to the gym. You can’t see your friends or even touch grass. Sure, you might be able to go into your backyard, but that’s the only sunlight and earth you’ll see.

This isn't just some pandemic; this might be your entire life.

You’re a prisoner.

Now, how does that make you feel? Scared? Angry? Helpless? Heartbroken?

What would you do? Most of us would fight. Freak out and lose our minds.

Well, this is exactly how women in Afghanistan are feeling currently.

So the question I ask now is: Why aren’t men and women around the world fighting for these women to be free?

That is the reality millions of Afghan women and girls are facing under Taliban rule for 5 years. Yes, 5 YEARS! The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, and today is August 17, 2026. The United Nations has described the situation as extreme gender-based discrimination and persecution.

And it is!

Personal Singularity

Since this Substack focuses on what I call the “inner singularity,” the inner singularity is the evolution (or series of moments) when everything a person has experienced begins to converge, and you suddenly see yourself, your life, or the world differently.

How can we come to that inner singularity when our freedom is taken away? Sure. Some could say the women I’m speaking with in Afghanistan could find enlightenment at home by meditating each day and finding an escape through their consciousness, but let’s be honest, that road is only for a few.

We can’t fully become who we are capable of becoming without freedom. When someone else (a family member, the government, extremist groups) controls whether we can leave our homes, go to school, work, speak, choose whom to marry, or determine the direction of our own lives, our ability to realize that potential is gone.

The truth is, we can’t—not fully.

Freedom isn’t just a political or legal concept. It’s a condition for human evolution.

A Human Issue. Not Just a Women’s Issue

This is just the beginning of my conversations and coverage here and at The Debrief about Afghan women and the loss of their freedom. I have a larger feature on her coming out, along with quotes and audio directly from her. Her voice.

As a woman with a platform (simply because I’m a woman), I can’t push this topic aside and think, Oh well, it doesn’t affect me. Yes, it does. It affects all of us. It affects the world.

So, if you’re reading this article and made it this far, please repost it, share it, or simply say something on behalf of the women who are suffering. We can no longer sit idle and watch this happen.

Women need to stand up for other women. Together.

And if you’re a man, I ask you to do the same. Stand with us. Stand for what is right. Stand for these women’s freedom to become who they were meant to be—to learn, to work, to dream, to choose, and to live freely.

Their freedom is not someone else’s issue. It is a human issue. And silence is not an option.

Side note: If you can help, please reach out to me. As we are going along this process of reporting, I’m also looking to try and find a way to get her out of the country under refugee status. Yes, I know this will be hard, and I know it may be almost utterly impossible, but we have to try. If you can help, please contact me at my email address below. People are stronger together.

Chrissy Newton, journalist for science, technology, and defense news outlet The Debrief and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.

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I’ve come to my own ideology: our personal experiences lead to one larger inner singularity.

Yes, I know there is this idea floating within the ethos of a tech singularity (or ex: where AI, quantum computing, and brain-computer interfaces intersect), but I feel that as we watch humanity grow and learn more about ourselves to become the person we were meant to be, we have this inner personal singularity happening (if you’re watching closely).

Phoenix Peng, a prominent Chinese brain-computer interface (BCI) CEO at Gestala, once told me that the singularity is when “carbon-based lifestyles and silica-based lifestyles merge.” In this future, brain-computer interfaces would collect that data. When AI, BCI, and quantum computing intersect, the line between human thought and machine intelligence may dissolve into something entirely new.

Others in the academic orbit could argue that the singularity is when the so-called “woo”- ideas seen as mystical, pseudoscientific, or lacking solid evidence- collides with human technology. At that intersection, a real paradigm shift could occur, offering humanity a choice that would forever alter our course. But for me, beyond the grand human singularity, we have smaller ones if we pay attention to the synchronicities. I know I have.

Can people change?

Someone once asked me, “Do you think people can change?”

“Well, of course they can,” I said.

The man looked at me and replied, “No. We humans, don’t change; we only learn more about who we really are.”

For nearly a year, I wrestled with that idea.

Humans can change. I know I have.

My ego wanted to fight the idea. The thought that perhaps I hadn’t fundamentally changed, but had simply uncovered more of who I already was, challenged everything I believed about personal growth and evolution.

But looking back now, I think he was right. I understand what he was trying to tell me.

We may call it change, but perhaps what we’re really experiencing is an evolution toward ourselves, peeling away the layers of conditioning, fear, expectation, and identity that have shaped us, until we begin to recognize the person we were always capable of becoming.

Maybe we don’t become someone new.

Maybe we become more fully who we were all along.

So here you are (with me)...

This Substack is a portal into my mind and experiences as I journey toward my personal singularity, exploring frontier science, culture, and the experiences shaping my life and the lives of people I meet around the world.

From the edges of human potential to the questions reshaping our future, I explore how we treat one another, where humanity may be headed, and what our future could look like if we fail to wake up and work collectively toward greater global understanding.

This is where curiosity, frontier science, culture, human rights, new ideas, and personal discovery meet.

Also, nice to “e-meet” you; I’m Chrissy Newton. 🙂

Chrissy Newton, journalist for science, technology, and defense news outlet The Debrief and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.

Joining me is Stephen Kinzer, award-winning journalist, historian, former New York Times foreign correspondent, and author of Poisoner in Chief, the definitive book on the CIA MKUltra program.

In this conversation, we'll discuss what the hearing revealed, what history tells us about the program, whether the CIA's pursuit of mind control worked, and how advances in neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and brain-computer interfaces are reshaping the conversation around influence, manipulation, and human consciousness.

Join me as we get rebelliously curious.

Watch the YouTube interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BROyyRLXeI8

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Watch the YouTube interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFW4V8dhKbQ&t=12s

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

Bryce also shares the fascinating story of how Spielberg's team reportedly attempted to stop the production Dark Skies during its original run. Finally, we discuss whistleblower David Grusch's first on-camera interview with NewsNation, the unreleased extended interview conducted by Ross Coulthart at Bryce's home, and why that full conversation has yet to air. We'll explore what may still be missing from the public record and what it could mean for the future of disclosure.

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Watch the YouTube interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQUIu1X47y8

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

We discuss the evidence for the theory, the controversy surrounding it, and the new evidence that could be found this year supporting the idea that Planet Nine actually exists! We also discuss what its discovery would mean for astronomy and how it could reshape our understanding of the solar system.

Finally, we explore the line between science and mythology—from cultural Mesopotamian legends like Nibiru and the Anunnaki to what Planet 8's discovery would mean for people who follow Anunnaki folklore. Does this mean Sumerians were right? Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Watch the YouTube interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQUIu1X47y8

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

In this conversation, we explore neurodiversity, autism, communication, and the evolving science behind non-speaking autistic individuals. We also examine controversial claims around telepathy, emerging research on cognition and consciousness, the ethical responsibilities of working with vulnerable populations, and how politics, genetics, and culture are shaping the future of autism research.

This is a wide-ranging conversation that challenges assumptions and asks difficult questions about what we really understand — and what we may still be missing — about the human mind.

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

We also explore how China's regulatory environment is shaping innovation, what's currently possible in clinical and consumer settings, and where the line sits between advancement, safety, and oversight in one of the most closely watched tech frontiers in the world.

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

For decades, stories of unidentified craft, alien encounters, and government secrecy have shaped public imagination. But behind those headlines lies a deeper story—one involving Cold War paranoia, psychological operations, and, at times, deliberate disinformation.

Our guest is Mark Pilkington, author of Mirage Men. Together, we will deconstruct the controversial role of Air Force investigator Richard Doty, and the case of Paul Bennewitz—one of the most troubling examples of how belief, secrecy, and state power can collide.

Along the way, we'll look at how media, including major publications like Life magazine in the 40s and 50s, may have been influenced—subtly or otherwise—by intelligence agencies during a time when information itself was a battlefield.

So today, we're not just asking whether UFOs are real.

We're asking: who's been shaping the story all along?

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

Joining us is Dr. Martin Schüttler, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at CorTec, the first German company at the forefront of neural interface innovation. From restoring lost function to potentially redefining how we interact with machines—and even our own biology—BCIs are no longer science fiction. In this conversation, we'll explore Martin's journey into the BCI community, what sets Germany's approach apart on the global stage, and how neural technology could intersect with the complex human nervous system.

We'll also tackle big-picture questions around privacy, policy, and power: Who owns brain data? Can global standards keep up with innovation? And what happens when this technology moves beyond the lab and into everyday life?

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

These programs tested everything from psychological manipulation to drugs like LSD, often without the consent of the people involved. While many people associate MKUltra with experiments in the United States, some of the most controversial cases actually happened in Canada — particularly at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal under Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron.

His experiments, including techniques known as "depatterning" and "psychic driving," aimed to erase and rebuild aspects of a person's personality. Today, we're going to unpack the Canadian connection to MKUltra, the real victims of these experiments, and how some of these techniques influenced later psychological and military research. We'll also talk about related programs — from intelligence research into ESP, how MKUltra tactics have been used in Guantanamo Bay, to remote viewing projects like the Stargate, which included well‑known remote viewer Joe McMoneagle. And finally, we'll look at the bigger question: how ideas about mind influence, psychological warfare, and emerging technologies might shape the future.

Join us as we get rebelliously curious!

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

Our guest is Maeengan Linklater, Anishinaabe, from Lac Seul First Nation in Ontario, with more than 25 years of experience across the non-profit, government, and private sectors, and he is a father, community volunteer, and poet. In this episode, we'll discuss the painful legacy of residential schools, their lasting impact on Indigenous communities, and the work being done to uncover truths, honour survivors, and move toward reconciliation. We'll also touch on lesser-known aspects of this history, including unconventional psychic experiments on Indigenous children at residential schools.

Today's conversation invites us to listen, reflect, and think critically about the path forward.

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/

Long before rockets reached orbit, pioneers like Robert H. Goddard laid the mathematical and experimental foundations that proved spaceflight was even possible. And not long after, figures like Jack Parsons helped turn theory into raw, explosive reality—building the propulsion systems that would eventually carry humanity beyond Earth.

Today, we stand at a similar inflection point. Chemical rockets took us to the Moon, but if humanity is going to reach the stars, we'll need ideas that once again sound impossible—until they aren't. In this episode, we're exploring one of the most fantastic frontiers in modern physics: warp drive theory.

Our guest is Harold "Sonny" White, a mechanical and aerospace engineer, and applied physicist an Founder & CEO, Casimir.

Join us as we get rebelliously curious.

Follow Chrissy Newton:

Winner of the Canadian Podcast Awards for Best Science Series.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM32gjHqMnYl_MOHZetC8Eg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingchrissynewton/

X: https://twitter.com/chrissynewton?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeingChrissyNewton

Chrissy Newton's Website: https://chrissynewton.com

Top Canadian Science Podcast: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/canadian_science_podcasts/