Joseph Stalin. Icon of the 20th century. Personification of Soviet might. Catalyst of the Cold War. Hero to some, monster to many. The Man of Steel who brought the Soviet Union to the world stage and helped end WWII while simultaneously terrorizing his own people (including Chikatilo!) and bringing his fellow communists to their knees. What was previously viewed as a backwards country, quickly rose to a world superpower under his determined, sociopathic drive. The numbers vary wildly, mostly due to propaganda and secrecy, but estimates range from a conservative 3 million deaths to a terrifying 60 million murders under his long, horrific reign. And today, we dig into his life, beliefs, accomplishments, crimes and more, on a cold-blooded, communistic edition of Timesuck. You can now signup to become a Space Lizard!!! https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast . Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST, starting Feb. 8th. Starting Feb. 1st, you will get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You will also get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. Voting for the following month's 1st Monday topic will end midnight PST on the previous month, and voting for the following month's third Monday topic will end on Midnight PST on the last day of the month. And you get a new comedy album delivered on Feb. 1st, Feel the Heat! Speaking of new comedy albums... Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Want to try out Discord!?! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Timesuck was brought to you today by Audible!! Start a 30-day trial and your first audiobook is free! Go to audible.com/TIMESUCK or text TIMESUCK to 500-500. Timesuck was also brought to you by Leesa! Try a Leesa mattress in your own home for 100 nights risk-free. Get $100 off when you go to Leesa.com/TIMESUCK Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG, @timesuckpodcast on Twitter, and www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Philadelphia, PA The Punchline January 25-27th. CLICK HERE FOR TIX! CHICAGO! Zanies Comedy Club in Rosemont January 31st - Feb.3rd. CLICK HERE FOR TIX! Baltimore! Magooby's. Sunday, Jan. 28th. CLICK HERE FOR TIX! For all other standup tour dates - go to the new www.dancummins.tv

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.