Civilization

by

The Pandemic of Idiots: How the Virus of Stupidity Infected the Modern World | Philosophical Vision | YouTube

Editor’s Note: One of most profound analyses of the crisis of ignorance and stupidity in our fast-paced, media generated culture. Listen from the beginning to the end and celebrate the possibility of once again “thinking for ourselves”. Please read the partial transcript below.

Humanity has faced devastating plagues throughout history. The Black Death wiped out a third of the European population. In just a few years. The Spanish flu claimed millions of lives in a matter of month (it was actually the vaccines, not the flu, that caused the deaths). Smallpox terrorized civilizations for millennia. 

But there is a silent pandemic happening right now that doesn’t destroy bodies. It annihilates something infinitely more precious – the human capacity to think.

We are not talking about comfortable metaphor or exaggerated alarm to gain clicks. We are witnessing mass cognitive collapse where billions of people have lost the most basic ability that separates us from animals – rational discernment. Stupidity has ceased to be an individual accident, an isolated failure of education to become an epidemic phenomenon, contagious and absolutely lethal to the collective consciousness. 

Schopenhauer warned with surgical precision. The task is not so much to see what no one has seen, but to think what no one has yet thought about. What everyone sees however is irrelevant as we live in an era where no one thinks anymore. They just react, replicate and repeat like programmed automatons. The virus of stupidity did not arrive from some external dimension. It was meticulously incubated within the very structure of modern society nurtured by systems that profit from ignorance and now contaminates every social space, every conversation, every collective decision. And the most frightening symptom of this pandemic, the vast majority of those infected, have no idea that they are sick.

The stupidity that dominates the modern world is not accidental. It did not appear overnight as an inexplicable natural phenomenon. On the contrary, it has been meticulously cultivated, carefully nurtured and systematically expanded through social mechanisms that have transformed ignorance from a defect into a lucrative commodity. The virus of stupidity does not spread through the air or through physical contact. It infiltrates through cognitive laziness, the systematic refusal to confront uncomfortable realities, the desperate need for mental comfort at any cost.

Step into a subway car and observe, heads bowed at identical angles, fingers compulsively swiping on illuminated screeds, glazed eyes, absorbing disconnected fragments of information, without context, without purpose, without mental digestion. This is not innocent entertainment or well deserved rest after a hard day. It is the infection process happening in real time, brain cell by brain cell. 

The human mind magnificently designed by evolution to question, analyze, synthesize and create has been brutally reduced to a passive organ that only consumes and ejects prefabricated opinions by corporate algorithms. Nature already warned with prophetic urgency the most dangerous thoughts are those that come most easily and never in the history of humanity has it been so absurdly easy to have thoughts, or rather to have the complete illusion that one is thinking, When in reality one is only consuming other people’s thoughts packaged as our own.

The primary and most revealing symptom of the infection is instant certainty. The infected individual reads a sensationalist headline, watched 15 seconds of edited video and comes away with unwavering convictions about matters of monumental complexity that dedicated scholars take entire decades to understand only superficially. This is the unmistakable mark of the disease. The overwhelming sensation of knowledge without the weight of rigorous study, the seductive illusion of wisdom without the painful sacrifice of deep reflection. 

The virus does not directly attack raw intelligence. It attacks something much more subtle and fundamental, the willingness to use it. And in a society that offers literally thousands of customized distractions every second resisting infection requires a titanic willpower that very few still possess.

Consciousness is being contaminated not exactly by what people consume, but fundamentally by what they refuse to face. The uncomfortable silence, the agonizing doubt, the complexity that cannot be resolve in three minutes. The mass consciousness categorically prefers the comfortable certainty of collective stupidity to the liberating anguish of genuine thought. And this preference is not individual weakness. It is a psychological survival strategy in a world that has made thinking not only difficult, but socially dangerous. 

Modern media doesn’t just function as a passive vector of stupidity. It’s the industrial laboratory where the virus is genetically modified, its virulence is enhanced, and it’s distributed on a planetary scale with terrifying efficiency. Each digital platform, each recommendation algorithm, each push notification has been meticulously designed not to inform the population, but to neurologically addict the user.

The dopamine rush released in the brain with each new visual or auditory stimulus doesn’t feed real knowledge, It exclusively feeds the neurochemical compulsion for more stimuli in an endless addictive spiral. The observable result is an entire humanity that pathologically confuses being connected with being informed that unknowingly trades depth for speed, nutritious substance for empty volume. 

Observe clinically how the mechanism works. A complex situation involving economics, geopolitics and history is brutally reduced to a 10 word headline designed to generate an immediate emotional reaction. This inflammatory headline generates instant outrage in the reader, visceral outrage automatically turns into an impulsive comment full of certainties. The viral comment multiplies into massive and uncontrolled sharing and in exactly 48 hours tens of millions of people have developed a fervent and unwavering opinion about something they have never studied, never seriously investigated, never even read beyond the sensationalist title.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer identified something absolutely crucial about this epidemic phenomenon. Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. The observation is devastating because it exposes an uncomfortable truth. Corporate media has empirically discovered that stupidity generates more profit than truth, engages more users than balanced analysis and produces more advertising revenue than any honest attempt at education.

This is not conspiracy theory. It’s simply the capitalist market responding rationally to what the consuming mass demonstrates as it desires confirmation of its own beliefs, not intellectual challenge, anaesthetizing entertainment not disturbing enlightenment. The specific role of electronic screens in this process is absolutely lethal to cognition. They don’t function as transparent windows to the real world. They are sophisticated digital syringes that inject carefully selected fragments of edited reality directly into the cerebral cortex.

The passive viewer genuinely believes they are observing the world as it is, but they are only seeing what has been meticulously selected, strategically cropped and professionally presented to generate a specific and predictable emotional response. And emotions unlike rational ideas are extremely contagious. Collective anger spreads virally. Social fear multiples exponentially. Performative moral outrage replicates like a digital pathogen. In a few calculated clicks a mind that biologically could question, critically analyze and discern with precision is transformed into a passive host that only mechanically reproduces and automatically transmits the infectious content. 

The media doesn’t need to blatantly lie or fabricate non-existent facts to effectively disseminate mass stupidity. It simply needs to systematically omit essential content brutally simplify all inconvenient complexity and present an emotional spectacle in place of verifiable substance. The infection is complete when the public doesn’t even realize that is world view was built not by reality but by corporate editors pursuing engagement metrics. 

Critical thinking did not die of natural causes it was systematically murdered and deliberately replaced by something infinitely more dangerous for any functional society. Unexamined instantaneous opinion.

To Be Continues:

We live immersed…(8:35 of 23:08)

Source: Philosophical Vision | YouTube

by

Trump’s 2026 “State of the Union” Address Before U.S. Congress | CBS News | YouTube

Editor’s Note: Of all the speeches I’ve heard Trump present over the years this one catalyzed so much hope, love and compassion for not only the restoration of our country, but for freedom around the world. The optics were perfect showing how enthusiastic and effective the Republican administration is, but how thoroughly un-compassionate and detached from reality the Democrats side of the isle is towards issues and policies that directly affect the American people. Truly, a new “golden age” may be breaking upon these United States of America and the rest of the world. Let freedom ring!

Source: CBS News

by

Dehumanization on Display: Lessons from Prescott’s Anti-ICE Protests | Prescott Pulse

The Prescott Pulse collaborators are made up of long-time Prescott and Yavapai residents who deeply love and are committed to our community. When we tackle difficult or controversial topics, we deliberately weigh any short-term discomfort for us (we are regularly labeled as communists) against the long-term benefit it could contribute to our readers’ understanding of concerning issues. We’re not blind to the reality that what we share today may upset some but believe the health of our community should be everyone’s first concern.

We take great care with our words because we know how easily intent can be misunderstood. Our hope is simple: by honestly examining the forces, people, and decisions that have led us to this deeply polarized moment in time, we can start using our words to build real solutions, rather than turning them into weapons. Freedom of speech, as protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, is the foundation for citizens, the press, and groups to scrutinize, criticize, and influence government actions without fear of retaliation. 

We face a clear choice: keep heading down this destructive path of division and hostility, or start rebuilding a stronger foundation for respectful, reasoned, and truly civilized conversations.

What Prompted This Prescott Pulse Post

On January 31, 2026, the local group Prescott Indivisible organized an anti-ICE protest on Prescott’s Courthouse Plaza. This event was part of a nationwide coordinated day of action by Indivisible groups, calling for an end to what protesters described as violence, abuses, and overreach by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and related federal agencies.

Carson Carpenter, co-founder and CEO of Off the Record USA (a group focused on on-the-ground journalism and interviews at public events), attended the protest not only as an observer and interviewer; he calls Prescott “his home town.” Carpenter recorded approximately 47 minutes of footage, which primarily captured the winding-down period of the protest and his interviews with some participants.

When we began reviewing Carpenter’s footage, it was what we heard in the first three minutes that stopped us cold. It began as Carpenter first entered the Courthouse Plaza, just before the protesters began to disperse, and recorded interactions between individuals, on both sides of the immigration argument, that many in our community would find shocking.

We ask you to watch this short video with an open mind and a human heart, setting aside preconceptions. Then ask yourself how it made you feel.

For context, the clip ends just after a protestor assures Carpenter there will be no violence. We made that editing decision out of respect, as he was later identified as a local teacher and charged with disorderly conduct. Videos of his subsequent actions should go from being judged in the court of public opinion and into rightful legal channels.

What troubles us most is that this kind of behavior would have been unimaginable in Prescott just 10 years ago. Our town has long prided itself on neighborly respect, even amid disagreement. So, why the shift? After several discussions on this subject, the collaborators at the Pulse came up with more questions than answers, but one thing we agreed on was how constant negative labeling through social and main-stream media, on both sides of the political spectrum, have escalated division that bypasses rational dialogue.

What is Negative Labeling?

Negative labeling, a time-tested strategy in propaganda and social conflict, is at the core of this phenomenon. The next step in 5G Warfare after “tribalization” (my tribe vs. your tribe) is referred to as “dehumanization.” It involves portraying individuals or groups as subhuman or deserving of absolute condemnation. Common labels from the political left include Racist, Fascist, Communist, White Supremacist, and favorites from the political right include Snowflake, Libtard, Marxist, Socialist, and other terms that evoke images of irredeemable humans.

Dehumanization removes the others’ humanity and creates a moral justification for otherwise unthinkable actions. It can encourage rational, level-headed people to endorse or commit harm while sidestepping their usual ethical boundaries.

Let’s Dive Into The Prescott Indivisibles

Those of us who have a more conservative policy and lifestyle perspective view anti-ICE protesters as angry people with wildly inappropriate signs. When we take a closer look into Prescott Indivisible (PI) and its national ties we find clues about why that is so. Their website, prescottindivisible.org, openly promotes negative activism against figures like President Donald Trump, his administration, and almost all conservative policy initiatives. On their handbook page, they state:

PI encourages members to tune into the weekly “What’s the Plan with Leah and Ezra,” hosted by Indivisible co-founders Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin. This live discussion breaks down political news, strategizes action, and repeats dehumanizing rhetoric about Trump, his cabinet, and supporters. You can watch these videos by Clicking Here.

We are not sharing this to attack PI or their cause – it’s to show one example of many who use negative labeling to invoke public conflict. Dehumanization isn’t limited to one political side; it’s a tactic used across a broad spectrum of political ideologies to justify incivility and division.

This isn’t organic grassroots assembly or outrage. It’s largely driven by well-funded operations (NGOs) that amplify emotions, trigger survival instincts, and blind people to everyday realities in order to change points of view toward their preferred policies. A quick search across various publications shows that in the past few years (roughly covering late 2024 into early 2026), estimates for related spending include:

  • Protests & Activism: $300 to $550 million (funding for organizing, events, and advocacy groups on both sides, often through nonprofits and dark money networks).
  • Negative Rhetoric: $8 to $10 billion (primarily attack ads and divisive messaging in political campaigns, with projections for the 2026 midterms already pushing toward record highs like $10.8 billion total ad spend).
  • Overall Total: $8.3 to $10.55 billion (combining activism/protest funding with the massive scale of negative political advertising and related influence efforts).

These figures highlight how much money flows into polarizing activities, often from non-transparent (dark money) sources. This funding has created a paid protester job class, and produces “astroturfed” optics rather than purely spontaneous (grassroots) public sentiment. In the process, massive polarization occurs, resulting in mutually directed anger. A question or post for a later date: What is the return on investment (ROI) for getting us so “pissed off” at each other? 

What Can We Do to Spot It and Stop It

In Prescott, where community ties run deep, we can do better! Let’s commit to debating civilly on policy and strategy without resorting to labels that dehumanize. Spot it in conversations, online, or at events, and if you can’t stop it, turn it off or walk away.

  • Ask yourself before typing a reply/retort: “Would I say this to their face?”
  • Ask yourself if your words or actions will improve the situation.
  • Commit to doing basic research before reposting social media posts that dehumanize other groups.
  • Stick to facts when expressing disagreement over issues.
  • Pause and reflect before responding: Take a breath to check if your words are escalating emotional tensions or calming them.
  • Call out dehumanization gently when you spot it in your own circles to help redirect the conversation away from name calling.
  • Agree to disagree when needed: It’s okay to say, “We see this differently, and that’s OK. Let’s see where we CAN agree.”
  • Seek common ground first: Start by acknowledging and/or finding shared values or concerns before diving into differences. We are all Charlie now!
  • Step away if you find yourself becoming agitated because the conversation is turning personal or hostile. You can’t control others, but you can control your response.

These suggestions may help keep our discussions focused on ideas rather than attacking people’s humanity. Small, consistent choices like these can have a ripple effect to make Prescott’s conversations more constructive and connected. Courtesy can be contagious!

Together, we can rebuild the respectful Prescott we all cherish. Together, we can turn the tide.

Source: Prescott Pulse

by

The Fall of Empires Due To Debt: Every major civilization — America, China, Europe, Japan is hitting the absolute peak of the debt super-cycle at the same time | X

“For the FIRST time in recorded history, EVERY major civilization—America, China, Europe, Japan—is hitting the absolute peak of the debt super-cycle AT THE EXACT SAME MOMENT. There is no rising power waiting in the wings like there always has been. When this resets, it won’t be regional. It will be global, systemic, and sudden.”

Glenn Beck lays out the only three ways every debt empire has ever ended:
• Hyperinflation wipeout (Weimar, Rome, France)  
• Hard default + revolution (Russia 1917, Argentina ×9)  
• World war → new monetary order (Napoleonic Wars → Gold Standard → Bretton Woods)

Then the line that stopped me cold: “Rome fell alone. Britain declined while America rose. This time… no one is coming up.”

Beck ends with fire: Every single collapse in history birthed renewal — Christian Europe from Rome’s ashes, the modern nation-state from France’s terror, the greatest prosperity explosion ever after WWII.

The next chapter is not written. It never will be written by Washington, Wall Street, Beijing, or Davos.

It will be written by us — in our families, communities, and convictions.

Then come back and tell me: Which system do you think is quietly being built right now to replace the one that’s dying?

Source: https://x.com/newstart_2024/status/1996313523761107323

by

Why 2025 is going to be more dangerous than you think | RT

By Dmitry Trenin

Predicting the future of international relations is always a risky endeavor. History shows that even the most confident forecasts can fall flat. For instance, the last Pentagon propaganda pamphlet on ‘Soviet Military Power’ was published in 1991 – the year the USSR ceased to exist. Similarly, the Washington-based RAND Corporation’s 1988 scenario on nuclear war included the Soviet Union engaging Pakistan over Afghanistan in 2004. Nevertheless, the urge to anticipate the future is natural, even necessary. What follows is not a prediction, but an attempt to outline reasonable expectations for the state of the world in 2025.

Ukraine

US President Donald Trump’s bid to secure a ceasefire along Ukraine’s battle lines will fail. The American plan to “stop the war” ignores Russia’s security concerns and disregards the root causes of the conflict. Meanwhile, Moscow’s conditions for peace – outlined by President Vladimir Putin in June 2024 – will remain unacceptable to Washington, as they would effectively mean Kiev’s capitulation and the West’s strategic defeat. 

The fighting will continue. In response to the rejection of his plan, a frustrated Trump will impose additional sanctions on Moscow. However, he will avoid any serious escalation that might provoke Russia into attacking NATO forces. Despite strong anti-Russian rhetoric, US aid to Ukraine will decrease, shifting much of the burden onto Western European nations. While the EU is prepared to step in, the quality and scale of Western material support for Ukraine will likely decline.

On the battlefield, the tide will continue to shift in Russia’s favor. Russian forces are expected to push Ukraine out of key regions such as Donbass, Zaporozhye, and parts of Kursk Region. Ukraine will mobilize younger, inexperienced recruits to slow Russia’s advances, but this strategy will lead to limited success. Kiev will rely increasingly on surprise operations, such as border incursions or symbolic strikes deep into Russian territory, in attempts to demoralize the Russian population.

Domestically, the US and its allies may push for elections in Ukraine, hoping to replace Vladimir Zelensky – whose term expired in the middle of last year – with General Valery Zaluzhny. While this political reshuffling might temporarily strengthen Kiev’s leadership, it will not address the underlying challenges of economic collapse and deteriorating living conditions for ordinary Ukrainians.

United States

Despite a peaceful transfer of power, Trump’s second term will remain fraught with tension. The risk of attempts on his life will linger. Trump’s foreign policy, while less ideological than Biden’s, will focus on pragmatic goals. He will:

  • Keep NATO intact but demand higher financial contributions from European members.
  • Shift much of the financial responsibility for Ukraine onto the EU.
  • Intensify economic pressure on China, leveraging Beijing’s vulnerabilities to force unfavorable trade deals. 

Trump will also align closely with Israel, supporting its efforts against Iran. Tehran, already weakened, will face harsh terms for a nuclear deal, and a refusal may prompt US military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Trump is likely to meet Putin in 2025, but this will not signal a thaw in US-Russia relations. The confrontation between the two powers will remain deep and enduring. Trump’s strategy will prioritize America’s global dominance, shifting the burden of US commitments onto allies and partners, often to their detriment.

Western Europe

European nations, wary of Trump’s return, will ultimately fall in line. The EU’s dependence on the US for military and political leadership will deepen, even as European economies continue to act as donors to the American economy. Over the past three decades, Western European elites have transitioned from being national actors to appendages of a transnational political system centered in Washington. Genuine defenders of national interests, such as Alternative for Germany or France’s Rassemblement National, remain politically marginalized.

Russophobia will remain a unifying force in Western European politics. Contrary to popular belief, this sentiment is not imposed by the US but actively embraced by EU and UK elites as a tool for cohesion. The Russian military operation in Ukraine has been framed as the first stage of an imagined Russian attempt to “kidnap Europe.” 

In 2025, Germany’s new coalition government will adopt an even tougher stance toward Moscow. However, fears of a direct military clash with Russia will deter other European nations from deploying troops to Ukraine. Instead, Western Europe will prepare for a new Cold War, increasing military spending, expanding production, and fortifying NATO’s eastern flank.

Dissent within Europe will be suppressed. Political opponents of the confrontation with Russia will be branded as “Putin’s useful idiots” or outright agents of Moscow. Hungary and Slovakia will remain outliers in their approach to Russia, but their influence on EU policy will be negligible. 

Middle East 

After significant military victories in 2024, Israel, with US backing, will attempt to consolidate its gains against Iran. The US-Israeli strategy will involve combined pressure, including military actions, against Iranian proxies like the Yemeni Houthis and efforts to deepen ties with Gulf Arab monarchies under the Abraham Accords.

While Russia signed a treaty with Iran in January 2025, it does not obligate Moscow to intervene militarily if Tehran is attacked. Thus, a full-scale Middle Eastern war involving Russia and the US remains unlikely. Domestically, Iran faces uncertainty as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, now 86, nears the end of his leadership.

Russia’s influence in the Middle East will wane as its military presence diminishes. However, logistical routes connecting Russia to Africa will remain a strategic priority.

East Asia

US-China tensions will continue to rise, fueled by American efforts to contain China’s economic and technological ambitions. Washington will strengthen alliances in Asia, particularly with Taiwan and the Philippines, to counter Beijing. While an armed conflict over Taiwan or the South China Sea remains possible, it is unlikely to erupt in 2025. 

Russia’s partnership with China will grow stronger, though it will stop short of a formal military alliance. From a Western perspective, this relationship will increasingly resemble an anti-American coalition. Together, Russia and China will push back against US global dominance in geopolitical, military, and economic spheres.

Russia’s near abroad

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is expected to secure another term in January 2025, cementing his alignment with Moscow. Meanwhile, Russia will work to stabilize its relations with Kazakhstan, though Moscow’s lack of a compelling vision for Eurasian integration could come back to bite.

The year 2025 will be marked by strategic instability, ongoing conflicts, and heightened geopolitical tensions. While Russia has achieved notable successes in recent years, it must guard against complacency. Victory is far from assured, and the world remains nowhere near equilibrium. For Moscow, the path forward will require resilience and a clear focus on long-term goals. Peace will come, but only through continued effort and eventual victory – perhaps in 2026.

Source: Profile.ru & RT

by

Trump Dream Team 2025 – 2028

Donald J. Trump, 45th & 47th President of the United States

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United State from 2017 to 2021. He won the 2024 election as the nominee of the Republican Party and is now the president-elect of the United States. He is scheduled to begin his second term on January 20, 2025, as the nation’s 47th president and will be the second president in American history to serve nonconsecutive terms, with Grover Cleveland being the first.

• Mission to Make America Great Again (MAGA)

JD Vance, Vice President

James David Vance (born James Donald Bowman;[a] August 2, 1984) is an American politician, attorney, author, and former United States Marine who is the vice president-elect of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he has served since 2023 as the junior United States senator from Ohio. He was Donald Trump‘s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

Susie Wiles, Chief of Staff

Susan Wiles (née Summerall; born May 14, 1957) is an American political consultant who served as co-chair of Donald Trump‘s 2024 presidential campaign, having previously worked on his 2016 campaign, as well as Ronald Reagan‘s 1980 campaign. She was chosen by president-elect Trump to serve as the 32nd White House chief of staff in the second Trump administration, set to begin in January 2025. She will be the first woman to hold the position.

Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff

Stephen Miller (born August 23, 1985)[1] is an American political advisor who served as a senior advisor for policy and White House director of speechwriting to President Donald Trump.[2]  He was previously the communications director for then-Senator Jeff Sessions. He was also a press secretary for U.S. representatives Michele Bachmann and John Shadegg.

Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary

Karoline Claire Leavitt (born August 24, 1997)[1] is an American political aide currently serving as the national press secretary for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.[2] She previously served as an assistant press secretary and presidential writer during the first Donald Trump administrationas well as a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump Super PAC. In 2022, she ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in New Hampshire’s 1st district, becoming the second member of Generation Z to win a congressional primary. She lost the general election to incumbent Chris Pappas.[3] On November 15, 2024, president-elect Donald Trump chose Leavitt as his White House press secretary to succeed Karine Jean-Pierre.[4] She will be the youngest press secretary in United States history.[5]:

Russell Vought, White House Budget Office

Russell Thurlow Vought (born March 26, 1976), or Russ Vought is an American former government official who was the director of the Office of Management and Budget from July 2020 to January 2021. He was previously deputy director of the OMB for part of 2018, and acting director from 2019 to 2020.

Sebastian Gorka & Alex Wong, Senior National Security Staff

Sebastian Lukács Gorka (Hungarian: Gorka Sebestyén Lukács; born October 22, 1970)[2] is a British-Hungarian-American media host and commentator, currently affiliated with Salem Radio Network and NewsMax TV, and a former United States government official. He served in the first Trump administration as a Deputy Assistant to the President for seven months, from January until August 2017.[3][4][5][6]

Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense

Peter Brian Hegseth (/ˈhɛɡsɛθ/; born June 6, 1980) is an American television presenter, author, and former Army National Guard officer who has been announced as the forthcoming nominee for United States Secretary of Defense in Donald Trump‘s second cabinet. A political commentator for Fox News since 2014 and weekend co-host of Fox & Friends from 2017 to 2024, he was previously the executive director of Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America.

Doug Collins, Secretary of Veteran’s Administration (VA)

Paul Douglas Collins (born July 28, 1951) is an American basketballexecutive, former player, coach and television analyst in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA from 1973 to 1981 for the Philadelphia 76ers, earning four NBA All-Star selections. He then became an NBA coach in 1986, and had stints coaching the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers. Collins also served as an analyst for various NBA-related broadcast shows.[1] He is a recipient of the Curt Gowdy Media Award. In April 2024, Collins was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2024 by the Contributors Committee.[2]

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

Marco Antonio Rubio (/ˈruːbioʊ/; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2008. Rubio sought the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2016, winning the presidential primaries in Minnesota, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security

Kristi Lynn Noem (/noʊm/ NOHM;[1] née Arnold; born November 30, 1971) is an American politician who has served since 2019 as the 33rd governor of South Dakota. A member of the Republican Party, she was the U.S. representative for South Dakota’s at-large congressional district from 2011 to 2019, and a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives for the 6th district from 2007 to 2011.

Tom Homan, Border Czar

Thomas Douglas Homan[1] is an American former police officer, immigration official, and political commentator who served during the Obama administration, and will have served in both Trump administrations. He served as acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from January 30, 2017, to June 29, 2018.[2] Homan advocates deportation of illegal immigrants and opposes sanctuary city policies. Within the government, he was among the most strident proponents of separating children from their parents as a means of deterring illegal entry into the country.[3] After 2018, he began contributing to Fox News as a commentator.[4] In November 2024, Trump announced that Homan will serve as “border czar” during his second presidency.[5]

Pam Bondi, Attorney General, Department of Justice (DOJ)

Pamela Jo Bondi[1] (born November 17, 1965) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, the first woman elected to the office. In 2020, Bondi was one of President Donald Trump‘s defense lawyers during his first impeachment trial. By 2024, she led the legal arm of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. On November 21, 2024, president-elect Trump announced she would be nominated for United States attorney general after previous nominee Matt Gaetz withdrew.

John Ratcliffe, Director of the CIA

John Lee Ratcliffe[5] (born October 20, 1965) is an American politician and attorney who served as the director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021. He previously served as the U.S. representative for Texas‘s 4th districtfrom 2015 to 2020. During his time in Congress, Ratcliffe was regarded as one of the most conservative members.[6][7] Ratcliffe also served as mayor of Heath, Texas, from 2004 to 2012 and acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of Texas from May 2007 to April 2008.

President Donald Trump announced on July 28, 2019, that he intended to nominate Ratcliffe to replace Dan Coats as director of national intelligence.[8][9] Ratcliffe withdrew after Republican senators raised concerns about him, former intelligence officials said he might politicize intelligence, and media revealed Ratcliffe’s embellishments regarding his prosecutorial experience in terrorism and immigration cases.[10][11][12][13]

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence (DNI)

Tulsi Gabbard (/ˈtʌlsi ˈɡæbərd/ TUL-see GAB-ərd; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician and military officer serving as a Lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve[2][3] since 2021, having previously served in Hawaii Army National Guard from 2003 to 2020.[3][4] In November 2024, President-electTrump selected Gabbard for the position of Director of national intelligence in his second term, starting January 2025.[2][5] A former Congresswoman, Gabbard served as U.S. Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. She was the first Samoan-American member of Congress.[6] She was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.[7][8] She left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent. In 2024, she joined the Republican Party.[9][10][11]

• Author For Love of Country

Mike Waltz, National Security Advisor

Michael George Glen Waltz (born January 31, 1974) is an American politician and a colonel in the United States Army serving as the U.S. representative for Florida’s 6th congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected in 2018 and succeeded Ron DeSantis, who went on to be elected the 46th governor of Florida in 2018. On November 12, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced he will appoint Waltz to serve as his national security advisor.

• Author of Hard Truths: Think & Lead Like A Green Beret

Kash Patal, Director of the FBI

Kashyap Pramod Vino “Kash” Patel (born February 25, 1980)[1] is an American attorney and former government official. He served as a U.S. National Security Council official, senior advisor to the acting Director of National Intelligence, and chief of staff to the acting United States secretary of defense during the Trump presidency.[2][3][4] A member of the Republican Party, Patel previously worked as a senior aide to congressman Devin Nuneswhen he chaired the House Intelligence Committee.[5] He was previously a federal public defender, a federal prosecutor working on national security cases, and a legal liaison to the United States Armed Forces.[6]

• Does Christopher Wray Has To Resign First?

Scott Bessent, Secretary of Treasury

Scott Kenneth Homer Bessent (/ˈbɛsənt/ BEH-sənt; born August 1962) is an American hedge fund manager. He was a partner at Soros Fund Management and the founder of Key Square Group, a global macro investment firm.[1][2] Bessent has been a major fundraiser and donor for Donald Trump. He was an economic advisor for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. In November 2024, President-elect Trump named Bessent his nominee for Secretary of the Treasury.[3]

• Is Bessent Compromised By Association with Soros & Rockefellers?
• Scott Bessent, who will lead the Treasury Department, previously worked at George Soros Fund Management from 1991 to 2000, and then again as Chief Investment Officer from 2011 to 2015. During this period, he made a significant bet against the British pound, contributing to Soros’ famous “breaking of the Bank of England” and earning billions for the firm. The London office was led by Peter Soros, George Soros’ nephew, who has been named by Epstein’s former butler, Alfred Rodriguez, as having been involved in Epstein’s s*x trafficking activities. Bessent is also on the Board of Trustees at Rockefeller University, alongside prominent figures in the globalist establishment. ~ Shadow of Era

Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce

Howard William Lutnick (/ˈlʌtnɪk/; born July 14, 1961[1]) is an American businessman, who succeeded Bernard Gerald Cantor as the head of Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Group. After losing 658 employees, including his brother, in the September 11 attacks, Lutnick also survived the subsequent collapse of the towers on the ground, and has since become known for his charity efforts through the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, which helps to aid families of victims of the attacks and natural disasters. He was a fundraiser for Donald Trump’s 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, as well as a vocal proponent of Trump’s proposal to implement broad tariffs. In November 2024, President-elect Trump announced that he intended to nominate Lutnick as secretary of commerce. He was also co-founder of DOGE.

To Be Determined, Administrator of the SBA

Image Here…

Wikipedia:

Brendon Carr, Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Brendan Thomas Carr (born January 5, 1979) is an American lawyer who has served as a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) since 2017.[7] Appointed to the position by Donald Trump, Carr previously served as the agency’s general counsel and as an aide to FCC commissioner Ajit Pai. In private practice, Carr formerly worked as a telecommunications attorney at Wiley Rein.[8]

Carr supports changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Actand opposes net neutrality protections.[9][10] Carr is noted for his support for banning TikTok on national security grounds.[11][12] He is an opponent of content moderation on digital platforms, saying he would seek to “dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights.”[13][14] He authored a chapter in Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, the blueprint document of Heritage Foundation‘s Project 2025, which outlines proposed policies for a future Donald Trump administration. In office, Carr has been noted for being unusually vocal about public policy issues for a regulatory appointee, accusing House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff of overseeing a “secret and partisan surveillance machine”.[15]

• Restore Net Neutrality & Equalize the Internet Playing Field

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Secretary of Labor

Lori Michelle Chávez-DeRemer (/ˈtʃɑːvɛzdəˈriːmər/; born April 7, 1968)[1] is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Oregon’s 5th congressional district since 2023.[2] A member of the Republican Party, Chavez-DeRemer served as mayor of Happy Valley, Oregon, from 2011 to 2019. She is the first Republican woman to represent Oregon in the House. Additionally, she is one of the first two Hispanic women (alongside Andrea Salinas) elected to the United States Congressfrom Oregon. Chavez-DeRemer served one term in the House before being defeated in 2024 by Democrat Janelle Bynum. On November 22, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Chavez-DeRemer as his. Secretary of Labor.[3]

Scott Turner, Secretary of Housing & Urban Development

Eric Scott Turner (born February 26, 1972) is an American businessman, motivational speaker, politician, and former professional football player, who previously served as the executive director of the White HouseOpportunity and Revitalization Council.[1]Turner formerly served as a Texas state representative for the 33rd District, which includes part of Collin County and all of Rockwall County. Before entering politics, Turner was an American football cornerbackwho played in the National Football League(NFL) for nine seasons. In November 2024, Trump announced his intention to name Turner as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in his second administration.[2]

Robert F. Kennedy, Secretary of Health & Human Services

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954), also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist whom President-elect Donald Trump has nominated to serve as United States secretary of health and human services.[1] Kennedy is the chairman and founder of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group and proponent of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.[2][3] He was on the ballot in some states as an independentcandidate in the 2024 United States presidential election.[4] A member of the Kennedy family, he is a son of United States Attorney General and senator Robert F. Kennedy, and a nephew of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and senator Ted Kennedy.

• Mission to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)

Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

Mehmet Cengiz Öz[a] (/məˈmɛt ˈdʒɛŋɡɪz ɒz/meh-MET JENG-gihz oz; Turkish: [mehˈmetdʒeɲˈɟiz øz]; born June 11, 1960),[2] also known as Dr. Oz (/ɒz/), is a Turkish-American television personality, physician, author, professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University,[3] and former political candidate.[4]

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, MD, Ph.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Jayanta “Jay” Bhattacharya (born 1968) is an American professor of medicine, economics, and health research policy at Stanford University. He is the director of Stanford’s Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. His research focuses on the economics of health care.[2][3][4] In 2021, Bhattacharya was opposed to lockdowns and mask mandates as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5][6] With Martin Kulldorff and Sunetra Gupta, he was a co-author in 2020 of the Great Barrington Declaration, which advocated lifting COVID-19restrictions on lower-risk groups to develop herd immunity through widespread infection, while promoting the fringe notion that vulnerable people could be simultaneously protected from the virus.[7][8][9] The declaration was criticized as being unethical and infeasible by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization.[10]

• Co-Author of The Great Barrington Declaration

Dr. Dave Weldon, Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

David Joseph Weldon (born August 31, 1953) is an American politician and physician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Florida’s 15th congressional district, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination in Florida’s 2012 U.S. Senate race. In November 2024, Donald Trump named Weldon as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[1]

• Mission to Restoring Truth & Transparency

Marty Makary MD, MPH, Commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

Martin Adel Makary (/məˈkæri/) is a British-American surgeon, professor, author, and medical commentator. He practices surgical oncology and gastrointestinal laparoscopic surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, is Mark Ravitch Chair in Gastrointestinal Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and teaches public health policy as Professor of Surgery and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Makary is an advocate for disruptive innovationin medicine and physician-led initiatives, such as The Surgical Checklist, which he developed at Johns Hopkins and which was later popularized in Atul Gawande’s best-selling book The Checklist Manifesto.[1] \

Makary was named one of the most influential people in healthcare by HealthLeader magazine in 2013.[2]In 2018, Makary was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.[3] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Makary was an early advocate for universal masking to control the pandemic and recommended vaccines for adults.[4] However, he was an outspoken opponent of broad COVID-19 vaccine mandates and, in late 2021 and early 2022, non-pharmaceutical interventions meant to reduce transmission in schools and universities.[5][6] In November 2024, President-Elect Donald Trump announced Makary would be his nominee to head the FDA as the commissioner of Food and Drugs.[7]

• Mission to Examine the Causes of Chronic Illness
• “The greatest perpetrator of misinformation during the COVID pandemic has been the United States government … Public health officials were intellectually dishonest. They lied to the American people.” ~ Marty Makary, MD, MPH
• Author of Blind Spots

Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, US Surgeon General

Janette Nesheiwat (born 25 August 1980) is an American physician who is the nominee for United States surgeon general.[2] Nesheiwat has served as an assistant medical director of CityMD[3] and is currently a medical contributor on Fox News.[4]

• Getting Flak for Her Previous Vaccine/COVID Positions. ~ Dr. Simone Gold
• Trump’s pick for Surgeon General, Janette Nesheiwat, praised Facebook for censoring anti-vaccine information & accounts like mine and RFK’s specifically, adding that she will “hope and pray” other social media companies do the same. Pick someone else. ~ Elizabeth Health Nut News

Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior

Douglas James Burgum (/bɜːrɡəm/ BUR-gəm;[1] born August 1, 1956) is an American businessman and politician serving since 2016 as the 33rd governor of North Dakota.[2][3] He is among the richest politicians in the United States and has an estimated net worth of at least $1.1 billion. He is a member of the Republican Party.[4] Burgum was born and raised in Arthur, North Dakota.

After graduating from North Dakota State University in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in university studies and earning an MBA from Stanford University two years later,[5]he mortgaged inherited farmland in 1983 to invest in Great Plains Software in Fargo. Becoming its president in 1984, he took the company public in 1997. Burgum sold the company to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001. While working at Microsoft, he managed Microsoft Business Solutions. He has served as board chairman for Australian software company Atlassian and SuccessFactors.

Burgum is the founder of Kilbourne Group, a Fargo-based real-estate development firm, and also is the co-founder of Arthur Ventures, a software venture capital group. Burgum won the 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial election in a landslide. He was reelected by a wide margin in 2020.[6] In June 2023, Burgum launched a campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He ended his candidacy in early December 2023,[7]and became an advisor on the Trump campaign‘s energy policy.[8] On November 14, 2024, President-elect Trump announced his intention to nominate Burgum as the United States Secretary of the Interior.[9]

Kelly Loeffler, Secretary of Agriculture

Kelly Lynn Loeffler (/ˈlɛflər/ LEF-lər; born November 27, 1970) is an American businesswoman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2020 to 2021. Loeffler was chief executive officer(CEO) of Bakkt, a subsidiary of commodity and financial service provider Intercontinental Exchange, of which her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is CEO. She is a former co-owner of the Atlanta Dream of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).[1] 

Loeffler is a member of the Republican Party. Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia, appointed Loeffler to the U.S. Senate in December 2019 after Senator Johnny Isakson resigned for health reasons. Loeffler ran in the 2020 Georgia U.S. Senate special election, seeking to hold the seat until January 2023. She finished second in the November 3 election, advancing to a runoff with DemocratRaphael Warnock held on January 5, 2021, where she lost.[2] That same day, her fellow Georgia senator David Perdue also lost his bid for re-election.

When Perdue’s term ended on January 3, 2021, Loeffler ascended to be the senior senator from Georgia, a position she held for just under three weeks until Warnock was sworn in. Loeffler aligned with President Donald Trump in her time in the Senate, touting a “100 percent Trump voting record” during her campaigns.[3][4] After the November 2020 election, Loeffler and Perdue claimed without evidence that there had been unspecified failures in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and called for the resignation of Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, who rejected the accusations.

She later supported a lawsuit by Trump allies seeking to overturn the election results,[5] and also announced her intention to object to the certification of the Electoral College results in Congress.[6] After the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Loeffler announced that she would withdraw her objection to the certification of the electoral votes and later voted to certify. Loeffler was chosen by president-elect Trump to co-chair his inaugural committee in his upcoming second presidency, along with Steve Witkoff.

Brooke Rollins, Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Brooke Leslie Rollins (born April 10, 1972)[1]is an American attorney who is the president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute. She previously served as the acting director of the United States Domestic Policy Councilunder President Donald Trump. Prior to assuming that role, Rollins oversaw the White House Office of American Innovation. Rollins was president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based fossil fuels and school voucher supporting think tank, from 2003 through 2018.[2] During her tenure at TPPF, the think tank grew from having a staff of 3 to a staff of 100.[3] Rollins previously served as deputy general counsel, ethics advisor, and policy director to Texas Governor Rick Perry.[4] She is an advocate of criminal justice reform.[5] On November 23, 2024, President-elect Trump selected Rollins to be secretary of agriculture.[6]

Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Lee Michael Zeldin (born January 30, 1980) is an American attorney, politician, and officer in the United States Army Reserve. A member of the Republican Party, he represented New York’s 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023. He represented the eastern two-thirds of Suffolk County, including most of Smithtown, all of Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southold, Southampton, East Hampton, Shelter Island, and a small part of Islip. From 2011 to 2014, Zeldin served as a member of the New York State Senate from the 3rd Senate district. During Donald Trump‘s presidency, Zeldin was a Trump ally.

He prominently defended Trump during his first impeachment hearingsconcerning the Trump–Ukraine scandal. In April 2021, Zeldin announced his candidacy for governor of New York in 2022.[1] He defeated three challengers in the Republican primary, becoming the nominee of the Republican Party and the Conservative Party. Zeldin lost the election to incumbent governor Kathy Hochulwhile receiving the highest percentage of the vote for a Republican gubernatorial nominee since 2002 and the highest raw vote total for a Republican gubernatorial nominee since 1970.[2] In November 2024, CNN reported that Zeldin was Trump’s nominee for Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.[3]

Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy (DOE)

Christopher Allen Wright[1] (born 1965) is an American businessman who is the CEO of Liberty Energy, North America’s second largest hydraulic fracturing company. He is the presumptive nominee for United States Secretary of Energy under Donald Trump‘s second presidency. He is a board member of Oklo Inc., a nuclear technology company, and EMX Royalty, a royalty payment company for mineral rights and mining rights.[2]

Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation

Sean Patrick Duffy (born October 3, 1971) is an American politician, prosecutor, lobbyist, and reality television personality who is currently a co-host of The Bottom Line on Fox Business, as well as a contributor on Fox News. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the U.S. representative for Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district from 2011 to 2019. After resigning from Congress, he became a lobbyist.[1] He first gained fame as a cast member on The Real World: Boston, 1998’s Road Rules: All Stars and 2002’s Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons, before going on to serve as district attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin. In November 2024, Donald Trump named Duffy as his nominee for Secretary of Transportationin his second presidency.[2]

Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education

Linda Marie McMahon (/məkˈmæn/; née Edwards; born October 4, 1948) is an American politician, business executive and retired professional wrestler. She was the 25th administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019. McMahon has been nominated to lead the Department of Education under the second Trump administration.

McMahon, along with her husband, Vince McMahon, founded sports entertainment company Titan Sports, Inc. (later World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.) where she worked as the president and later CEO from 1980 to 2009. During this time, the company grew from a regional business in the northeast to a large multinational corporation. Among other things, she initiated the company’s civic programs, Get R.E.A.L. and SmackDown! Your Vote. She made occasional on-screen performances, most notably in a feud with her husband that culminated at WrestleMania X-Seven.

On April 15, she was named chairwoman of America First Action, a pro-Trump Super PAC. On November 19, 2024, McMahon was nominated by Donald Trump to serve as Secretary of Education.[2]

Vivek Ramaswamy, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy (/vɪˈveɪkrɑːməˈswɑːmiː/;[1][2] vih-VAYK rah-mə-SWAH-mee; born August 9, 1985) is an American entrepreneur. He founded Roivant Sciences, a pharmaceutical company, in 2014. In February 2023, Ramaswamy declared his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination in the 2024 United States presidential election. He suspended his campaign in January 2024, after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses and endorsed Trump.[3] On November 12, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Ramaswamy and businessman Elon Musk had been tasked to lead the newly proposed Department of Government Efficiency.[4] Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati to Indian immigrant parents. He graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in biology and later earned a degree from Yale Law School. Ramaswamy worked as an investment partner at a hedge fund before founding Roivant Sciences. He also co-founded an investment firm, Strive Asset Management. Ramaswamy sees the United States in the middle of a national identity crisis precipitated by what he calls “new secular religions like COVID-ism, climate-ism, and gender ideology”.[5] He is also a critic of environmental, social, and corporate governance initiatives (ESG).[6]In January 2024, Forbes estimated Ramaswamy’s net worth at more than $960 million; his wealth comes from biotechand financial businesses.[7][8]

• Mission to Dismantle the Regulatory State & Cut Wasteful Spending

Elon Musk, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. His other involvements include ownership of X Corp., the company that operates the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), and his role in the founding of the Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI. In November 2024, United States president-elect Donald Trumpappointed Musk as the co-chair of the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the second Trump administration. Musk is the wealthiest individual in the world; as of November 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$304 billion.[2]

Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and briefly attended the University of Pretoria before immigrating to Canada at the age of 18, acquiring citizenship through his Canadian-born mother. Two years later, he matriculated at Queen’s University at Kingston in Canada. Musk later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and received bachelor’s degreesin economics and physics. He moved to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University, but never enrolled in classes, and with his brother Kimbal co-founded the online city guidesoftware company Zip2. The startup was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999. That same year, Musk co-founded X.com, a direct bank. X.com merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal. In 2002, Musk acquired US citizenship, and that October eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion. Using $100 million of the money he made from the sale of PayPal, Musk founded SpaceX, a spaceflight services company, in 2002. 

In 2004, Musk was an early investor in electric-vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. (later Tesla, Inc.), providing most of the initial financing and assuming the position of the company’s chairman. He later became the product architect and, in 2008, the CEO. In 2006, Musk helped create SolarCity, a solar energy company that was acquired by Tesla in 2016 and became Tesla Energy. In 2013, he proposed a hyperloop high-speed vactrain transportation system. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit artificial intelligenceresearch company. The following year Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company developing brain–computer interfaces, and The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company.

In early 2024, Musk became active in American politics as a vocal and financial supporter of Donald Trump, becoming Trump’s second-largest individual donor in October 2024. In November 2024, Trump announced that he had chosen Musk along with Vivek Ramaswamyto co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new advisory board which aims to improve government efficiency through measures such as slashing “excess regulations” and cutting “wasteful expenditures”.

• Mission to Dismantle the Regulatory State & Cut Wasteful Spending

AMERICA FIRST AGENDA BY EXECUTIVE ORDER

  • Restore Border Security & Immigration Including Mass Deportation of Illegal Aliens
  • Declare War on Drug Cartels (Including Big Pharma & Global Actors)
  • Declare War on Child Trafficking & Establish Death Penalty for Convicted Human Traffickers
  • Halt Federal Funds for Any State or Local Government Defying Federal Immigration Law (End Sanctuary Cities)
  • Halt Federal Funds for Inappropriate Curricula Including Critical Race Theory, DEI, Transgender & Anti-American Political Content Taught in Schools
  • End Mutilation of Youth Through Gender Transitions; Cease Funding Any Sex & Gender Transition
  • Halt Federal Funding for Any Abortion Procedure or Organ Harvesting of New-Born Infants
  • Private Right of Action for Victims to Sue Doctors; Civil Rights Violations; Cease Funding to School Districts
  • End Electric Vehicle Mandates; Making Them Voluntary Not Mandatory
  • Restore Fundamental Protection of Free Speech & All Constitutional Rights; Prohibit Any Future Collusion Between Government & Private Sector to Deprive Citizens of Rights
  • Dismantle Needless Bureaucracy & Regulations
  • Dismantle or Overhaul All Weaponized Government Agencies Via Schedule F (Firing Incompetent or Corrupt Staff By Executive Order)
  • Clean Out All Corrupt Actors in National Security, Defense & Intelligence Apparatus

ESTABLISHING NEW GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS & LEGISLATION

  • Founding Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)with Mission to Dismantle the Regulatory State & Cut Wasteful Spending)
  • Restore Economic Prosperity for All
  • Restore Energy Independence By All Means Necessary Including Fracking, Drilling & Green Energy
  • Restore Tax Incentives for Small Businesses
  • Cap Credit Card Rates at 10%
  • Founding The American Academy (Full Spectrum of Human Knowledge for Free Online; Bachelor’s Degree Available)
  • Department of Education Appoints New Accreditors for All Colleges/Universities to Qualify for Federal Funding (Restore Meritocracy in Our Educational Institutions)
  • Eliminate the Federal Income Tax & Replace with Tariffs On Imports
  • Allow IRS Deduction Up to $10k Towards Homeschooling Per Child
  • Become #1 Energy Producer in the World & Restore Energy Independence
  • Repeal of the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act
  • Restore FAIR Act for Equal Time in Broadcasting
  • Revoke Licenses & Funding for Propaganda Media (Including NPR)
  • Reintroduce 28th Amendment with Required That All Laws Applied Equally to Citizens & Congress
  • Propose ? Amendment for Term-Limits on Elected Officials in Congress
  • Restore Net Neutrality To Equalize the Internet Playing Field Once Again
  • Restore Restricted Regulations for GMO’s in Food & Medicine: https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/6417/conservationists-and-farmers-sue-over-trump-administration-removal-of-most-genetically-engineered-organism-regulation
  • Restore Accountability in the Judicial System & Fire Judicial Activists Who Violate Their Oath of Allegiance to the U.S. Constitution & Bill of Rights
  • Review US Supreme Court’s Citizens United Ruling Which Removed Limits to Corporate Funding/Lobbyists Thereby Corrupting Election Officials

Sources: X.com & Wikipedia

by

New Declaration of Independence by Johnny Liberty | Sovereign’s Handbook

SA

Editors Note: This “New Declaration of Independence” was first published in the North American News Service (Summer 1995) to restore the sovereignty of the American people. Then, it was included as Chapter 15 in the 2nd Edition of the Global Sovereign’s Handbook by Johnny Liberty (1998).

Preamble

All thirteen free and independent, sovereign states of America, excepting the sovereign Indian nations, were in agreement in making the original Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The people then, as the people now, have gathered the courage to liberate themselves from the bondage of foreign “rule.”

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a nation, a group of people, or an individual to declare themselves free from the “rule” of another, then it is common decency, with respect to the opinions of all other people, to explain the reasons or grounds for the declaration.

Statement of Unalienable Rights & Natural Law

We the People believe these truths to be self-evident, to be so obvious that they need no proof, that all people, both men and women, regardless of race, sex, creed, or color are created equal under the natural law. We believe the Creator gives all of us certain unalienable rights that cannot be taken away. These unalienable rights are above and beyond the civil rights any government may enumerate. That among these rights are life, liberty, property, family, community, and the freedom to enjoy happiness.

To assure that these unalienable rights are protected and preserved for all the people, governments are created to enforce and defend the public trust. The source of authority from which all governments are created shall remain with the people for all time. We the People are the sovereign power from which all laws and governments arise.

If a government abuses its power or usurps the public trust, then the people have the unalienable right and a duty to change, alter or reform their government, or to abolish it completely and start a new one that will abide by the principles of natural law.

UnCOMMON SENSE dictates that an established government should not be overthrown for petty reasons. However, it is the nature of human beings to tolerate mistreatment, to grow accustomed to tyranny and chains rather than risk getting rid of a repressive and non-compassionate master.

Government maybe a necessary and often unpredictable evil, but at certain times during its history, a government will go too far in abusing the rights of its people. Today, more and more of the American people are realizing that the federal United States government has consistently lied, cheated, stolen, abused and killed its own people for many generations, that the American people have more to fear from their own government than enemies abroad or criminals within.

That the natural expression of our freedoms, the right to own property, and the unalienable rights secured by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights are perceived as a threat by our own government is a symptom of the inevitable conclusion that the federal government must be stopped! Illegal, immoral and unconscionable activities of a government out of control have now reached into the lives of all Americans.

When this happens, it is the peoples’ right and duty to abolish the current government and set up a new one that will better protect our rights, preserve our liberties, and uphold the public trust. Through this “New Declaration of Independence”. 

We the People must once again become a free, sovereign people. We the People can reclaim our sovereign Citizenship of one of the several states of the constitutional Republic.

Causes for Action

The following is the cause for action by the thirteen colonies, now forty-eight sovereign states and unincorporated territories of the united states of America. We the People have suffered patiently, petitioning our government for redress of grievances without remedy, recourse or response. 

We the People are now convinced that we must change our government and must no longer accept the “rule” of the federal United States government who is beholden and loyal to its creditors and foreign powers. 

We must cast off the shackles of foreign “rule” including the Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, New World Order, Deep State and the Chinese Communist Party including its Western Globalist allies. Today, after many years of increasing tyranny, we are convinced that it is time to take action. To demonstrate this, let the facts be presented to an unbiased world, without prejudice.

Charges Against the Federal Government and its Principals / Creditors

Today’s federal government has refused to pass laws necessary for the good of the American people, and what is worse, has passed a multitude of laws that have transgressed its limited authority and taken away the basic unalienable rights of most Americans. 

Laws are passed for the benefit of special interest groups, the monied powers, and the State of New Columbia, not on behalf of the people of the united states of America.

The federal United States government has usurped the powers reserved to the sovereign states and the sovereign “state” Citizens, intentionally destroying the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights which were designed as a limitation against the unwarranted expansion of government authority. The federal government has also conspired against the rights, privileges and immunities of the Citizens of the United States by instituting the 14th Amendment under martial law after the Civil War. 

The sovereign “states” have been usurped by corporate “States” which are merely regional districts and extensions of the municipal law of the District of Columbia (D.C.). Local, home and state “rule,” and the separation of powers have been replaced with federal law and supremacy, effectively overriding all constitutional limitations on federal government authority under threat, duress and coercion.

The sovereign states, original parties to the U.S. Constitution, no longer are represented by their Senators in the U.S. Senate. Instead, they are elected directly by the popular vote of U.S. citizens who are foreigners to the Republic. 

The Republic was co-opted by the federal government during the Civil War, when the Federal Reserve System was established, and after the first bankruptcy of the federal United States declared a perpetual state of national emergency. 

The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights have been suspended indefinitely under the War Powers Acts, Trading with the Enemy Acts, and 470 consecutive states of national emergency. The constitutional Republic has been usurped by a legislative Democracy and corporate, socialist/communist dictatorship instigated by the federal government, international bankers and transnational organizations.

The Republic was co-opted once again by both the federal and several State governments during and after the alleged COVID-19 pandemic via various emergency declarations which were intended to usurp the constitutional Republic and replace our system of government with a totalitarian state under the Chinese Communist Party and their Western Globalist allies.

Federal control over every aspect of the economy has resulted in a corporate, socialist state-controlled system that has in effect destroyed local and state economies, free enterprise, individual incentives for productivity, jobs, security, and our precious freedoms. The nationalization of the public trust has cost the American people their money, property, labor and freedoms for all future generations. 

This has all been accomplished through monumental fraud, deception, coercion, propaganda and disinformation campaigns, non-disclosure, and the usury of a debt currency system. The result is the bankruptcy of the federal government and the complete confiscation of all the property of the American people.

Treaties have been passed to supersede the U.S. Constitution, state and local laws, and the will of the American people. Having been conned out of our lawful “state” Citizenship, the American people have unwittingly become subjects of the federal government and the foreign powers that control it. 

The federal government discourages the legal naturalization of Citizens in the states, preferring to naturalize foreigners as subjects and as the property of the federal government.

Through the Internal Revenue Service, the federal government has harassed and intimidated its own people as “taxpayers” and conned them into paying an un-payable and fraudulent debt. Upstanding judges, attorneys, government employees, or elected representatives that dare to speak out against the tyranny in government are silenced, made into scapegoats, lambasted, discredited, fired or counter-attacked by the IRS. 

The IRS is the American gestapo collecting a “public debt” from the American people owed by the federal corporation and its subjects only. It is nothing less than organized crime operating under the immunity of government. The sovereign people of the united states of America are not beholden to the federal debt created by fraud under a perpetual national state of emergency.

Through the use of completely controlled and manipulated media, the federal government insures the election of those who support its interests and policies, while discrediting any who would disagree with the government’s position. There are no free elections, and no free and independent press. The two-party monopoly discourages third-party political organizing. 

Un-elected government employees working through administrative agencies set policies and regulations contrary to the intent of the U.S. Constitution, the will of the people, acts of the U.S. Congress, or their elected representatives. 

These administrative agencies are out of control, operating solely for the sake of extorting property and assets from the American people through bureaucratic schemes executed on behalf of the creditors of the federal United States.

New land patents are no longer available, the allodial titles have been stripped from the old land patents due to bank contracts and title insurance fraud, and the public lands are held by the federal government in its corporate capacity on behalf of its creditors.
The federal government has hypothecated all the land patents and allodial titles as collateral against an un-payable federal debt. We the People are once again “serfs” relegated to “renting” the land and paying tribute to the landlords.

Federal and State courts are monopolized by “union lawyers” having accepted Titles of Nobility (e.g., Esquire) from foreign powers. The federal government has passed a myriad of laws and regulations that subject the American people to the endless detail of regulation and control over every aspect of their lives and business. 

Many Americans are forced to comply with the letter of every law or lose life, property and freedoms without due process or the protections of the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights. 

Attorneys, courts and judges have conspired to rob the American people of their property to execute a bankruptcy against the American people of behalf of the creditors of the federal United States.

The federal government has made judges dependent upon the legal precedents established through various bankruptcy organizations for the benefit of the creditors through admiralty/maritime law. 

The federal government has assured the tenure of their office and the amount and payment of their salaries, guaranteed themselves immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office, and have destroyed evidence and routinely obstructed justice. 

The federal government has long held a double standard of justice, one for the people and one for government officials.

The federal government has, since the birth of the Republic, grown larger and larger, with so many superfluous rules and regulations that the lion’s share of substance and productivity has been taken directly from the people without compensation or gratitude. Government employees take little or no responsibility for preserving the public trust or serving the people who pay their salaries and pensions. Government employees hold an attitude of contempt for the hardworking hands that feed them.

The size and expense of the federal government has grown each year, finding it necessary to keep standing armies among us, instituting a vast war machine and a perpetual state of national emergency that has not ceased even in times of peace. 

Military and police power has been elevated as superior to and independent of the civilian power of the people. The attorney-police-prison state has become the top funding priority of the post-Cold War era, a federal government which is quickly turning the war machine against its own people. These actions have commenced without the approval of de jure legislatures or the sovereign people.

Injustices Against the American People

The federal government has been so corrupted by special interests that the “laws” passed by them have resulted in tyranny, injustice and increasing social disintegration and violence. We the People have had virtually no voice or representation in the government for generations. 

The federal government has combined its power with private interests to subject the American people to a jurisdiction foreign to the U.S. Constitution, unacknowledged by our laws, and giving false consent to pretended legislation under the color of law. Here are some of the injustices that have resulted:

Through private and international treaties, foreign troops and international police are being introduced and quartered in our communities for the martial law control of the American people. 

Plans are made for the confiscation of all arms and the defensive capabilities of the people. Concentration camps are being built and funded by the federal government to house American citizens who refuse to cooperate with the New World Order.

Murders and crimes by government troops are either covered up or go unpunished. Evidence and crime scenes are destroyed and the media is cooperative in the obstruction of justice and the persecution of the innocent. 

The federal government often operates as a cover-up for organized crime, including the importation of dangerous drugs and narcotics.

Free trade is sanctioned only for the cartels and monopolies with the money and influence to conspire against the American people and commit treason against the U.S. Constitution. Our elected representatives have consented to treason in their silence and complicity.

Income taxes, liens and levies are imposed upon the American people without due process of the law, without a valid assessment process, with no commercial paperwork or valid commercial affidavit. Citizens are being killed and property seized based upon these fraudulent and unjust acts.

A trial by a jury of one’s “peers” is impossible for a sovereign “state” Citizen when juries are comprised of “voters,” “drivers,” or U.S. citizens only. Juries are instructed by corrupt judges to consider only the facts and not the law in criminal cases. 

Attorneys have monopolized the justice, legal, and political system and tamper with grand juries who have an obligation to bring charges for crimes against the American people.

Through Admiralty/Maritime law, statutes of pretended crimes and trumped up charges are invented to indict those who dare to dissent or object to the tyranny of the government. 

Property is seized and bodies are arrested as acts of war against the people of the united states of America on behalf of our true accuser, the creditors of the federal United States. Our prisons are full of innocent people who have dared to speak out against the crimes committed by our own government.

The substantive, constitutional Common law system has been abolished and replaced with a bankrupt, statutory Equity/Admiralty law system operating in a foreign jurisdiction, wherein the nature of the crime or the cause of action is never revealed, wherein you do not face your true accuser, wherein crimes without victims are prosecuted by the State which has resulted in the loss of freedom, liberty and property for millions of Americans.

The federal government has wrought great destruction upon the American people by experimenting with us like guinea pigs for generations (radiation, medical, military), having wrought havoc and despair upon the lives of so many American people, and have justified such actions as necessary for national security, and to bring about the total submission of the people and the American way of life.

Through the lack of full disclosure and by fraudulent means, the federal government has effectively robbed the American people of their lawful Citizenship and unalienable rights to enhance their own power. The sovereign Indian tribes are as much slaves to the federal government as are its citizens.

Through monetary gain, media manipulation, and government schools, the federal government has forced our fellow Americans into government service and subject status by becoming federal government employees, getting Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and volunteering into taxes through the 1040’s and W-4’s. 

Incentives have been created to make federal police agents of all Americans who would falsely testify against their brothers or sisters for profit, who would lie to avoid prosecution, who would profit from providing evidence of false witnessing, and engage in spying against their fellow Citizens. The immorality of our own government is conclusive and condemning.

All Remedies Exhausted

During the entire period of these injustices and oppressions, We the People have petitioned the government at every level for redress of grievances. We have begged our representatives to listen in the most humble of terms. We have filed lawsuits and sought remedy and recourse in the courts. Every plea has to date gone unheard and has been ignored. Our every petition has been answered only by repeated injury. From these actions it is quite obvious that this government is tyrannical, moving swiftly toward a totalitarian state, and unfit to rule a free sovereign people.

We have appealed to our federal government. We the People have warned them from time to time about how we feel about the rule-making of the U.S. Congress and the extraordinary authority of the President, but to no avail.

We have reminded them that we believe America was founded on freedom, and we continue our search and demand for a better life without unnecessary regulations, laws and the forces of occupation.

Today, as yesterday, We the People have appealed generally to the UnCOMMON SENSE and compassion to do what is naturally right for a free people. We have called upon our common kindred in the government, instructing them that a continuation of these actions would result in the breaking of our common bond with them. Our words have fallen on deaf ears. They are deaf to the voice of justice. They are loathe to value freedom.

We have organized citizen’s militias to defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. 

We have been lambasted by the government and the media as criminals, anarchists, white supremacists, racists, domestic terrorists, and other derogatory terms for daring to expose government corruption.

Today, as yesterday, We the People are forced to announce our individual separation from the tyranny and corruption of the federal United States government and all its political subdivisions, and regard them as we do the rest of humankind — enemies in war, friends in peace.

Statement of Sovereignty

Therefore, having no legal representation and belonging to one of the several free and independent, sovereign states of the Union, as the free and sovereign people under the state and federal constitutions, we hereby appeal to our Creator for approval of our action, hereby re-declaring our independence. 

That We the People each solemnly declare that we are and of right ought to be free and independent of the monopolistic, tyrannical government which is presently called the federal United States of America. That We the People hereby reclaim our lawful sovereignty under the laws of the united states of America, restoring the constitutional Republic.

We no longer owe any loyalty to this Congress of the United States or its immoral, illegal and unjust statutory regulations called “laws” which cannot be laws because they are not in accord with justice or natural law, and that all political and commercial ties with the federal United States Inc. are hereby totally dissolved. 

That we hereby restore a constitutional money system based on gold and silver and the lawful definition of a dollar. That we hereby restore a constitutional Common law court, grand jury, and the law of the land.

That as free and independent, sovereign men and women, We the People have the power to wage war, make peace, make alliances with other jurisdictions and nations, promote trade, and do all the other things that free and independent people have the right to do.

And in full support of this “Re-Declaration of Independence,” with a firm reliance on the protection of our divine Creator, We the People mutually pledge to each other, all declared sovereign individuals, our lives, our destinies, and our sacred honor.

Date: _________________________

Signature: _____________________

Source: Sovereign’s Handbook by Johnny Liberty (30th Anniversary Edition),

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

Sovereign’s Handbook by Johnny Liberty 
(30th Anniversary Edition)
(3-Volume Printed, Bound Book or PDF)

A three-volume, 750+ page tome with an extensive update of the renowned underground classic ~ the Global Sovereign’s Handbook. Still after all these years, this is the most comprehensive book on sovereignty, economics, law, power structures and history ever written. Served as the primary research behind the best-selling Global One Audio Course.

To Be Released Spring 2022.

$99.95 ~ THREE-VOLUME PRINT SERIES
$29.95 ~ THREE-VOLUME EBOOK

by

Dear Tyrants: You are Losing (Video) | Awaken With JP

Source: Awaken with JP

ORDER YOUR LIBERTY BOOKS TODAY!

Sovereign’s Handbook by Johnny Liberty 
(30th Anniversary Edition)
(3-Volume Printed, Bound Book or PDF)

A three-volume, 750+ page tome with an extensive update of the renowned underground classic ~ the Global Sovereign’s Handbook. Still after all these years, this is the most comprehensive book on sovereignty, economics, law, power structures and history ever written. Served as the primary research behind the best-selling Global One Audio Course. Available Now!

$99.95 ~ THREE-VOLUME PRINT SERIES
$33.33 ~ THREE-VOLUME EBOOK

Dawning of the Corona Age: Navigating the Pandemic by Johnny Freedom 
(3rd Edition)
(Printed, Bound Book or PDF)

This comprehensive book, goes far beyond the immediate impact of the “pandemic”, but, along with the reader, imagines how our human world may be altered, both positively and negatively, long into an uncertain future. Available Now!

$25.00 ~ PRINT BOOK
$10.00 ~ EBOOK

by

30th Anniversary Edition ~ Sovereign’s Handbook by Johnny Liberty Now Available! | Liberty International

If you have ever heard talk or been to a seminar about “sovereignty”, then very likely those conversations were influenced by the foundational research of the author and educator.

His research and educational journey reaching millions of people worldwide began in 1992 and culminated in 2022 with the 3-Volume book release – his final word on the subject.

At the turn of the millennium his books and audio courses facilitated in part –  a sovereignty and tax-honesty movement that involved millions of Americans.

This 3 Volume series comprises the life’s work of Johnny Liberty filled with comprehensive insights into the last few hundred years of history, law, economics, money, citizenship and governance. 

These books show how it is supposed to be done in a constitutional Republic. 

How did We the People get to where we are today? 

What can we do to reclaim our inherent sovereignty and natural rights? 

Many of the answers may be found within these revolutionary pages. Available as a paperback, E-Book (PDF) or an Amazon Kindle format. Thank you for supporting the author. 

Sincerely, 

With Freedom For All, 
~ Johnny Liberty

Sovereign’s Handbook by Johnny Liberty (30th Anniversary Edition)

  • A three-volume, 750 page tome with an extensive update of the renowned underground classic ~ the Global Sovereign’s Handbook.
  • Still after all these years, it is the most comprehensive book on sovereignty, economics, law, power structures and history ever written.
  • Served as the primary research behind the best-selling Global One Audio Course.
  • ORDER NOW!
  • $99.99 ~ THREE VOLUME PRINT SERIES
  • $33.33 ~ THREE VOLUME E-BOOK

The 3 Volume Sovereign’s Handbook by Johnny Liberty is textbook material for everyone including educators/teachers, homeschoolers, historians, activists, leaders/politicians, attorneys/judges/law schools, police officers, and state Citizens/Nationals. 

Order Additional Books, Audios & Videos from The Freedom Catalog: LibertyInternationalBooks.com 
Sovereign’s Handbook (Website): http://SovereignsHandbook.com 
Dawning of the Corona Age (Website): DawningoftheCoronaAge.com 
Liberty International News: http://LibertyInternational.news 

ORDER YOUR LIBERTY BOOKS TODAY!

Sovereign’s Handbook by Johnny Liberty 
(30th Anniversary Edition)
(3-Volume Printed, Bound Book or PDF)

A three-volume, 750+ page tome with an extensive update of the renowned underground classic ~ the Global Sovereign’s Handbook. Still after all these years, this is the most comprehensive book on sovereignty, economics, law, power structures and history ever written. Served as the primary research behind the best-selling Global One Audio Course. Available Now!

$99.95 ~ THREE-VOLUME PRINT SERIES
$33.33 ~ THREE-VOLUME EBOOK

Dawning of the Corona Age: Navigating the Pandemic by Johnny Freedom 
(3rd Edition)
(Printed, Bound Book or PDF)

This comprehensive book, goes far beyond the immediate impact of the “pandemic”, but, along with the reader, imagines how our human world may be altered, both positively and negatively, long into an uncertain future. Available Now!

$25.00 ~ PRINT BOOK
$10.00 ~ EBOOK

by

The Catastrophic Covid Convergence | Brownstone Institute

By Debbie Lerman

So much basic scientific data and so many best practices and ethical standards in public health were abandoned during the Covid pandemic, it would be difficult to list them all. 

Nevertheless, we must remember just how much reality has been warped since March 2020 and try to understand how that warping occurred. Maybe if we understand what happened, we can prevent it from happening again. Maybe we can unwarp the narrative enough so that more people can see clearly what went wrong.

For my own sanity, I need to understand what happened, so I can come to terms with why people behaved the way they did, and why so many of my own assumptions were shattered during the pandemic. 

I want to know why real science got thrown out as misinformation, propaganda turned into absolute truth, the free press morphed into a government mouthpiece, and supposedly liberal and scientific institutions abandoned ethical standards and critical thought to impose zero-evidence, zero-Covid authoritarian lockdowns and mandates. 

How did my family, friends and neighbors – who I thought shared my liberal, humanist values – turn into a group-thinking, bullying herd? What forces were exerted to erase scientific and intellectual integrity from the minds of literally millions of doctors, scientists, economists, journalists, educators and other normally curious and compassionate people worldwide?

To answer these questions, I am less interested in an exact timeline than in a story that makes sense of seemingly senseless behaviors. I am also less interested in the culpability of specific individuals than in an examination of the factors – psychological, social, historical, political – that drove those behaviors.

Overall, I believe four extremely powerful forces converged catastrophically to initiate, and then perpetuate, the snowball that became the avalanche of Covid insanity. And by insanity, I mean the imposition of unprecedented, untested and predictably unsuccessful – not to mention horrifically damaging – pandemic containment measures.

Those four forces were: panic, politics, propaganda, and profits. 

  1. Panic

I believe pandemic panic was driven from above – from the highest echelons of the most powerful governments – and below – within populations primed for disaster and perpetually on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Panic from above: it had to be a lab leak 

The stratospheric level of panic unleashed over a virus of relatively low lethality (estimated overall infection fatality rate <0.2%) has always seemed wildly disproportionate to me. When previous, muchmore lethal viruses were discovered in various populations, nothing near the level of Covid hysteria happened. 

I therefore surmise that, at the onset of the Covid pandemic, there was a spark of panic from a very powerful place that ignited the fear already smoldering in the population. 

Where did the initial code-red alarm come from? A likely explanation, based on Covid origin researchand many reports of Covid detected before December 2019 as well as the strange, erratic behavior and sudden policy reversals by top US health officials, is that the “novel coronavirus” leaked from a high-security US-funded lab in Wuhan, China. 

Much has been written about the lab leak hypothesis in terms of detailed timelines and specific people involved. To me, the most compelling argument in its favor is psychological: Without the lab leak there would be insufficient momentum to fuel such a juggernaut of global panic, causing scientists and public health experts to abandon everything they knew about respiratory viruses, and leading democratic governments to adopt Chinese-inspired authoritarian policies.

Specifically, the Wuhan lab leak makes sense as the source of initial panic because the research conducted there is highly sensitive and controversial. It involves EPPPs – enhanced pandemic potential pathogens – viruses engineered to be very contagious so their spread can be studied in animal models. Interest in this type of research comes not just from the virology and epidemiology fields, but also from national security and intelligence agencies focused on bioterrorism.

If both public health and intelligence officials knew, or suspected, that a virus had leaked from a lab studying EPPPs, there would be huge levels of apprehension, not to say hysteria, in that group, even if initial data showed, as it did, that the virus was not very dangerous to most people and affected mostly those over 65 with multiple underlying conditions.

If the virus was intentionally engineered for its pandemic-causing potential, it could be way more dangerous than just any old pathogen jumping from animals to humans. Who knew how an engineered virus would evolve? How much more virulent could it become? Intelligence and national security officials, in particular, might push for a maximal response without reference to standard epidemiologic or public health protocols.

In fact, it is almost impossible to explain the drastic abandoning of everything scientists and public health practitioners knew and believed about flu-like pandemics, without adding to the equation the terrifying unknown of what an engineered pathogen might do.

And to top off the panic palooza, if and when the truth of the virus’s origins came out, those involved with the EPPP research, already riddled with safety concerns, would be blamed. Major international and diplomatic crises could ensue.

Further strengthening this hypothesis is the fact that the countries with the strictest and most prolonged lockdowns, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada, were all members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance, along with the US and UK. It makes sense that precisely those countries sharing the earliest and most detailed intelligence about the lab leak felt not only justified, but compelled, to carry out the strictest lockdowns.

All of this leads me to conclude that a small group of top intelligence and public health officials, fearing a catastrophically deadly engineered virus had been released (regardless of its observed effects in the real world), convinced themselves, their governments, and in turn their populations (without publicly revealing the virus’ origin) that the strictest containment measures were needed or else millions would die. 

Panic, then, became not just a reaction to the virus but, in the minds of those instigators, a necessary state in which to hold the population in order to elicit maximum compliance with containment measures. As inertia set in following the big initial push, panic and compliance became not just means for supposedly ending the pandemic but goals in and of themselves.

Scientists and media enlisted in panic campaign

All major media outlets, including the billionaire owners of the largest social media platforms, were likely asked by panicked government officials for their help in supporting draconian virus-suppressing measures. It seems likely, based on the strict adherence to the panic narrative, that guidelines were disseminated as to how the pandemic should be discussed, warning that any deviation therefrom would lead to countless unnecessary deaths. The threat of the virus could not be overstated. Questioning anti-virus measures was taboo. 

Although prominent epidemiologists and public health experts outside the inner circle tried to publicize alternative, more realistic scenarios, based on data already gathered about the virus’s actual fatality rates, I believe the government’s allies in academia – some perhaps apprised of the EPPP situation, some politically motivated and/or petrified by the propaganda (as discussed below) – brutally silenced any discussion or debate. 

Panic from below: the madness of crowds

The US population was primed to react strongly when massive panic from above was unleashed upon it. Covid fears had already been building since early 2020, with the proliferation of terrifying videos and reports of people falling dead in China’s streets from a hitherto unknown virus. We now know these videos were most likely fake and related to the Chinese propaganda campaign discussed later in this article. But at the time, they went viral, fomenting fear of the new virus. 

Even before that, in the years leading up to the pandemic, especially in liberal coastal cities, a culture of hyper safety and risk aversion had taken hold. It was a perfect setup – in addition to the strong political forces acting on the very same populations (as described below) – for pandemic hysteria to proliferate even more virulently than the pathogen that prompted it.

Once large socioeconomically and politically homogeneous groups embraced the panic, as Gigi Foster, Paul Frijters and Michael Baker so cogently explain, herd mentality, or the madness of crowds, took over. To this day, the crowd madness continues to block any critical analysis or questioning of Covid policies in these groups.

  1. Politics 

If the pandemic had not happened during the Trump presidency, the panic from above and below might not have garnered enough scientific and media buy-in to turn the entire Democratic Party, as well as other self-regarding liberal governments around the world, into mirror images of totalitarian authorities they so often decried.

Trump was considered by the politically left-leaning coastal elites in the US (myself included!), and their allies around the world, to be a menace the likes of which had never been elected before, and a clear and present danger to the very foundations of democracy. For over three years, these groups, largely controlling the mainstream marketplace of ideas, spent much of their time ridiculing, lambasting and whipping up fear of Trump’s incompetence and nefarious intentions. 

Like many others on all sides of the political spectrum, I believe criticism of Trump was largely justified. However, for many Democrats, Trump hatred went beyond rational debate and came to dominate not just the discourse but the very identity of the party, fostering a self-righteous superiority complex displayed through ritualistic virtue signaling, and engendering the apt label “Trump derangement syndrome.” The derangement part was the turning of anti-Trumpism into a self-identifying obsession and singular standard of virtue, to the exclusion of any objective examination of Trump’s words or deeds.

Anything Trump said, the anti-Trump camp felt it their civic and moral duty not just to proclaim, but to deeply believe, the opposite. 

When it came to the pandemic, this meant that:

  • If Trump warned that prolonged lockdowns would wreck the economy, left-leaning economists derided anyone who, as they myopically contended, put economic concerns over human life.
  • If Trump claimed children were immune to the virus, every Democrat was convinced it would kill their own children and everyone else’s, and that schools should be closed indefinitely.
  • If Trump said masks don’t work, doctors who for years had known masks to be useless at blocking transmission of flu-like viruses, now believed masks should be mandated everywhere forever. 
  • If Trump suggested that the virus came from a lab in China, editorial boards at major newspapers believed this must be a racist smear which should never ever be entertained, let alone investigated.
  • And, in my personal life, if I tried to share data showing Covid was not very lethal or that mask mandates did not work, instead of discussing the merits of the data, my friends (who knew very well my ultra-leftie politics and socialist worldview) would turn to me in horror and ask: “Are you a Trumpist?”

Thus was Trump derangement syndrome seamlessly transmuted into Covid derangement syndrome. All the rage directed at Trump was redirected toward anyone who, like Trump, dared to doubt its deadliness or question the authoritarian measures used to fight it. 

To top it all off, the pandemic happened during an election year. So Trump hatred and pandemic hysteria were effectively bundled together to get Trump voted out and Biden, a Democrat more aligned with the public health establishment, in. Subsequently, anyone elected on a pro-lockdown, zero-Covid agenda was incentivized to continue advocating for the strictest measures for as long as possible. 

  1. Propaganda 

The third force contributing to global Covid hysteria was, as Michael Senger points out in his eye-opening book Snake Oil: How Xi Jinping Shut Down the World, a concerted propaganda campaign by the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, that managed to turn the pandemic (at least until recently) into a celebration of China’s inimitable social cohesion and a showcase for the supposed success of its authoritarian anti-pandemic measures. 

Previously, China had suffered loss of face and international condemnation due to a pandemic outbreak and coverup. This time, the CCP seized control of the narrative by imposing draconian, unprecedented zero-Covid measures no democratic government would ever dream of, then claiming, contrary to logic and basic epidemiologic science, spectacular victory. 

Everything from social media bots to China-friendly editorial boards at prestigious medical journals was leveraged to denigrate any state or nation with a less restrictive approach. Deviations from the Chinese methods were labeled – in a brilliantly insidious 21st-century demonstration of Newspeak – heartless, pro-death, anti-humanitarian and materialistically motivated. 

The World Health Organization, largely supported by and beholden to China, vociferously praised the CCP and the Chinese people for their discipline, commitment, and ultimate victory. Fawning scientificand general press coverage marveled at how sometimes authoritarianism could be good, if it meant saving millions of lives.

Thanks to the propitious convergence of panic and politics described above, the CCP propaganda succeeded spectacularly in convincing democratic governments to adopt hitherto unthinkable authoritarian measures and to pretend, or convince themselves, that such measures actually worked.

Although they knew from the experience of past epidemics, and from basic epidemiologic science, that it is not possible to stop the spread of a flu-like virus once it has seeded itself throughout a global population, I think public health and national security officials – especially those in the lab leak group, as described above – desperately wanted to believe that the Chinese measures were working. After all, nothing like that had ever been tried before. If China said it was working for them, maybe it would work everywhere else. It had to work. Otherwise, they feared, millions of people would die and they would be blamed.

Even as months and years passed, and the virus continued to infect every population in every other country, the world continued to believe China’s zero Covid reports. In fact, the scientifically and medically nonsensical “zero-Covid” goal became the mantra for the authorities imposing Chinese-style virus containment measures everywhere else.

Scientists and media successfully propagandized

One very influential part of the effort to freak the world out about Covid was the early modeling provided by the Imperial College of London in early 2020. Not coincidentally, as proudly declared on its own website, Imperial College is one of China’s top academic and research partners in England. 

The Imperial College models, which were very soon proven to be grossly wrong, predicted millions of deaths from the virus in just a few months if strict Chinese-style measures were not imposed. The reports accompanying the models strongly recommended unprecedented zero-Covid suppressionrather than normal pandemic mitigation measures (like those, for example, adopted by Sweden).

Major media outlets immediately publicized these highly uncertain models, making them sound like proven facts and never mentioning the past failures of Imperial College models that had led to terrible government policies or questioning the obvious biases in the models’ underlying assumptions.

A scientific and journalistic consensus quickly coalesced around these models and the necessity for the zero-Covid measures they supposedly proved. As mentioned above, dissenting views were silenced, but they were also a small minority. The toxic confluence of panic, politics and propaganda worked like an anti-truth potion to preclude even the possibility that someone would think, let alone publicize, anything suggesting it wasn’t as bad as everyone – the Chinese, the US government, the leading newspapers and scientific journals – said it was.

  1. Profits

President Biden took office just as Covid vaccines became available. This was supposed to be the beginning of the end of lockdowns and a return to normal.

Alas, at this point so many profit-driven interests had piled onto the zero-Covid train, that it continued to hurtle forth at unstoppable speeds.

The nonsensical, non-scientific zero-Covid measures that had begun from a place of mortal panic, spread through political polarization, and amplified by Chinese propaganda, now generated unprecedented profits for anyone who made anything related to the pandemic. 

As far as these money interests are concerned, the pandemic might as well go on forever.

In assessing the potential influence of profits on the indefinite continuation of the state of Covid emergency, the numbers speak for themselves. Here are just a few of the jaw-dropping reports on the beneficiaries from never-ending Covid:

Big Tech 

In October 2021 the New York Times reported: “In the last year, the five tech superpowers — Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook — had combined revenue of more than $1.2 trillion. … some of the companies are growing faster and are more profitable than they have been in years.”

Test Makers and Sellers

In January 2022 CBS reported “Windfall profits for test makers,” including Abbott Laboratories ($1.9 billion in third-quarter sales related to COVID-19 testing, up 48% compared to the year-ago period). Other beneficiaries with skyrocketing profits were labs that process PCR tests and drugstore chains like CVS and Walgreens.

Vaccines 

In February 2022 The Guardian reported that Pfizer made nearly $37 billion in sales from its Covid-19 vaccine in 2021 – making it one of the most lucrative products in history. Pfizer’s overall revenues in 2021 doubled to $81.3 billion, and it expects to make record revenues of $98 – $102 billion this year.

Billionaires

In January 2022 OxFam reported: “The world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion —at a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion a day— during the first two years of a pandemic that has seen the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall and over 160 million more people forced into poverty.” 

“If these ten men were to lose 99.999 percent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the people on this planet. They now have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people.”

Conclusion

  • An engineered pandemic potential pathogen leaked from a high-security US-funded lab in Wuhan long before it was acknowledged by China. By the time it became known, it was too late to contain. 

Having outlined the cataclysmic convergence of forces I believe came together to create the Covid catastrophe, I now have a Covid story that makes sense to me: 

  • When they found out, top US intelligence and public health officials affiliated with the Wuhan research panicked, fearing millions of deaths, international mayhem and personal culpability. This caused them to disregard real-world data about the virus and to abandon basic epidemiological principles and best practices in public health.
  • The Chinese authorities adopted scientifically nonsensical zero-Covid policies not because they thought they would work but to deflect attention from China’s role in the viral leak and coverup. In a brilliant propaganda coup, they turned the pandemic into a celebration of their authoritarian measures, convincing the world to follow their example.
  • All Democrats in the US and their allies elsewhere reflexively and uncritically favored all the policies that President Trump – viewed as their mortal enemy – opposed. These were the very same scientifically bogus policies that the panicked officials and Chinese propagandists were pushing.
  • Many who controlled the narrative in media, academia, public health and medicine were particularly susceptible to panic, politicization of the pandemic, and Chinese propaganda, which all came together to induce widespread groupthink and herd behavior. As cogently explained inThe Great Covid Panic, such behavior is detached from logical reasoning and the ability to objectively evaluate reality.
  • Major industries and individuals with enormous wealth and influence saw huge gains from the pandemic. It was, and still is, in their best interests to push for more testing, more treating, more vaccinating, more remote work and learning, more online shopping, and more of everything else pandemic-related.

Although terrifying and depressing to the extreme, this story helps me understand how so many people’s views of data, science, truth, ethics and compassion became so warped. I hope the telling will at least help a little with the unwarping.

Source: Brownstone Institute