The Dark Studio

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“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire

“The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he is the good guy”—Ken Ammi”

I’ve opened an older episode with both of those previous quotes, but given today’s topic of discussion it’s well worth repeating. 

So, I want to begin today’s episode by asking you a very important question. So who are you? 

I mean if I had just walked into the room to extend my hand to shake yours and while standing in front of you asked you to tell me about yourself what would you say? 

In other words, what makes up the individual known as insert your name here. 

I wanted to ask this question because I really want to put you into a certain frame of mind to think about what I’m asking because when you look at society today it’s clear to me that there’s a significant portion of our population that doesn’t seem to know who they are, or what they stand for. 

You’re probably thinking Brandon, what exactly do you mean? 

I want to take a moment to elaborate a bit further on this. For starters, let’s take a look at this identity crisis that we’re currently faced with as a nation, especially when looking at all the riots that people frequently refer to as protests that have exploded on the scene since the summer of love back in 2020. 

When you look at these manufactured crises that revolve around groups of people wearing the mask of a victim, but are in reality professional victimists then it’s easy to observe that we have a crisis of identity as a nation, at least with these sub-groups that want to play the role of the victimist. 

Granted, you may be sober enough in your observation of reality to explain this away by saying Well, Brandon many of those rioters are paid professional protesters. 

In this sort of analysis I’d be quick to give you credit, however I’d also add on by asking the obvious question: How did we end up as a society where paid protestors and rioters are an acceptable form of political action in the first place? 

In other words, if you have a genuine group of protestors that have a grievance with the government and in a natural grassroots sort of way manage to organize for their cause it’s one thing. 

However, if you have some group of organizers that come together to protest some grievance, especially if it’s centered around a manufactured lie, and they start getting out of control with rioting all while being driven to their posts by some sort of dark money group that hired them in the first place then this is a symptom of a society with an identity crisis. To clarify, I would view this as being a loss of identity due to being a society that deems funding protests and riots acceptable by the mere fact that the occurrence of those paid riots and protests are allowed to persist in an ongoing continual fashion. 

This loss of identity is a significant problem and is a direct cause of division resulting in groups within our societal population adopting destructive beliefs which are based on lies. In short, whether we’re dealing with fake protestors that are hired by some corrupt political organization, or not, the fact that it’s a thing that exists within the construct of our society at the scale that it does in the first place is a huge problem. 

Taking on the role of the victimist and screaming about a manufactured injustice where the truth is distorted, or is based on an outright lie, basically boils down to the artifice of deception. 

A few of these examples can be seen with the likes of BLM, Antifa, and now with the pro-Palestinan movements raging across college campuses.

In fact, many of the pro-Palestinian protestors are being funded by some of Biden’s biggest campaign donators ranging from Soros, to Rockefeller, and Pritzker. The Tides Foundation has been one of the biggest organizers of the protests at Columbia University which is seeded directly by Democratic mega donor George Soros. (Source: Politico) For those who may object to this, these sources of the funding of these groups go back many years and can be found in multiple media outlets. 

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Rest Assured That Nothing Is Wrong

Ronald Reagan famously uttered the Russian proverb to Mikhail Gorbachev in a meeting in 1987 where he said doveryay, no proveryay. In my attempt to pronounce this statement in Russian I want my Russian friends to know that I’m doing my best to honor the statement even though my pronunciation may not be the greatest. Regardless, the meaning of this wise proverb translates into Trust, but verify. 

Now when you hear such a statement this seems like a very common sense and practical proverb for each of us to take ownership of in our daily lives, yet as a society we have clearly not bought into this wisdom. 

I know many people would end with that last statement, but I’m going to be specific because as individuals we should all seek to understand why and how things have gotten so absurd by understanding how to understand every decision that is put in front of us. 

For instance, there have been numerous societal destroying policies and laws that we (as a society) have embraced and never even questioned, or never challenged to any significant level that would result in any rabid political upheaval. Now when I use the phrase rabid political upheaval I’m talking about the sort of challenge that would threaten real change, or a significant breakaway from the status quo. 

So what is a good example of this? 

A good example would be the creation of two of the most destructive policies the country has ever witnessed in the Federal Reserve Banking System and the federal income tax. 

With the implementation of these two sovereignty ending policies our country started its decline all the way back in 1913 when both of these destructive institutionalized policies were allowed to come into existence. 

On a side note I don’t believe it was a coincidence that these two institutions came to be in the same year back in 1913. 

Regardless, the habit of not questioning policies, business decisions, and laws seems to be a pervasive flaw and fundamental repetitive mistake in many people nowadays in the west.

For instance, why was the Federal Reserve banking system created? Well according to the Board of Governors of The Federal Reserve System it was created by the Congress to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system. (Source: The Federal Reserve)

Now with such a statement coming directly from the horse’s mouth I’d like to ask a simple question that I’m also wondering if anyone else bothered asking at the time they were considering this. 

If such a system exists then HOW EXACTLY would it make the banking of the nation’s monetary and financial system MORE stable? 

For instance, does that mean that if there’s a shortfall concerning the money supply for any given reason that this banking system could simply print more dollars to cover that shortfall? If this is the case then how is that working out for us RIGHT NOW?

Furthermore, it’s obvious that such a system served as the perfect opportunity to centralize the banking and monetary supply of the nation. Even if you knew nothing else regarding monetary theory, or anything about the banking industry, that last reason on its face seems to be a horrible idea.  

The same thing goes for the federal income tax as it makes zero sense to me to tax your income. 

So let’s think this through for a moment. In the world of behavioral psychology the thought process that is known as positive reinforcement means that if you perform a desired deed that you are then rewarded for having performed that desired deed. In simple terms the desired behavior is reinforced with the reward with the intent that you will repeat said desired behavior. The opposite of this is what is known as negative reinforcement. 

However, when it comes to you making money in a so-called free market system like we have today then there’s no reward, or positive reinforcement,  for you making more money. This is the case because the tax code punishes you for making more money by taking more of the money you earn. This happens because as your income rises higher then you will be placed into a HIGHER percentage tax bracket resulting in a bigger and bigger tax penalty that you will be responsible for. 

This is so bad now that the incentive for making more money is discouraging business owners to make more money, therefore this is literally resulting in a self-propagating system for decreasing the amount of tax revenue that is coming into the federal government. In other words, businesses and individuals aren’t generating enough revenue to meet the tax payments which is resulting in less and less tax dollars flowing into the Department of the Treasury. 

In addition to all of this the Federal Reserve banking system continues to print more money causing inflation and your tax dollars are being used to fund endless wars that are resulting in more and more human casualty and we’re literally walking into the beginning phase of WWIII. 

However, I’m sure you (I’m referring to society at large) can take their word for it once again when they say rest assured that nothing is wrong. I’m sure we all can feel good about the fact that yours and my tax dollars are just used for endless wars that never serve the national security interests of the United States. After all, that’s just the way it is, right? 

I’ve always despised that phrase: That’s just the way it is. No, most things are NOT just the way they are without cause. Things are never just the way they are without the actions of humans. Things are ONLY the way they are because we as a society accept them to be the way they are. Furthermore, we should NOT be accepting that our government has been infiltrated by communists that are abusing us and the rest of the world by weaponizing our own tax dollars against us. 

The Institutional Infection of Idiocy 

Given the state of today’s world I have personally come to despise the framing of the following fable and I’ll explain why after going through it here first. 

The Fable of The Donkey and The Tiger

The Donkey said to the Tiger, “The grass is blue.”

The Tiger replied, “No, the grass is green.”

The discussion heated up and the two decided to go before the Lion, the King of the jungle.

The Donkey began to shout, “Your highness, is it true that the grass is blue?”

The Lion replied, “If you believe that it’s true, then the grass is blue.”

The Donkey continued, “The Tiger disagrees with me, contradicts and annoys me. Please punish him.”

The King declared, “The Tiger will be punished with five years of silence.”

The Donkey jumped cheerfully and went on his way.

The Tiger accepted his punishment, but before he left he asked the Lion, “Why have you punished me? After all, the grass is green.”

The Lion replied, “In fact, the grass is green.”

The Tiger asked, “So, why are you punishing me?”

The Lion replied, “That has nothing to do with the question of whether or not the grass is blue or green. The punishment is because it is not logical for an intelligent creature like you to waste time arguing with a donkey. And on top of that, come and bother me with a question like that.

The worst waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who does not care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions.” (Source: Medium)

Now after covering this fable I completely understand the point of this lesson by communicating the fact that it’s a waste of energy and time to argue with a fool in most cases. That’s the obvious lesson here, however in the context of the current world we live in I want to point to a deeper flaw concerning the application of this fable that we can all draw from when applying it to the current environmental circumstances that we are literally seeing play out right in front of us on a daily basis. 

So why do I despise the framing of this particular fable? 

To clarify, the tiger did make a mistake deciding to argue with the donkey in this particular circumstance. However, the problem here wasn’t the fact that the tiger was arguing with the donkey. The problem was the fact that the tiger decided to argue with the donkey about the ridiculous topic concerning the color of the grass. 

In other words, as stupid as the donkey was in this fable, the nature of the argument itself regarding the color of the grass was really the only stupid mistake committed by the tiger. 

So you’re probably thinking Brandon, what exactly do you mean? 

For starters, consider all of the variables being the same here in this story with only one exception. Let’s assume that exception was the nature of the argument itself regarding the color of the grass. In other words, what if the tiger were arguing something just as obvious as green grass, but much more serious in terms of its nature and outcome? 

After all, if the foolish donkey in this case will argue to the bitter end regarding the color of the grass being blue when it is actually green then is it too far-fetched to assume that the metaphorical donkeys (in everyday life) in this case would argue something more serious with bigger consequences such as mugging the tiger at gunpoint? 

I mean even if we take this scenario and apply it to the reality of our modern day culture and the tiger had video evidence clearly showing the donkey mugging him at gunpoint you know for a fact the donkey would argue his innocence. We see this today with many metaphorical donkeys committing crimes across the country at an alarming rate. 

In addition to this, the other detail about this fable that irritates me to the core involved the actions of the lion in this case. After all, in this fable the lion is the authority figure and as the authority figure the lion is advising the tiger not to argue with the donkey because it’s a waste of his time for the tiger to bring such a trivial matter to him. 

However, in this case the lion, as the authority figure, knew the donkey was a fool and not only did he reward the donkey for his absurdly stupid behavior of being foolish, but he agreed with the donkey’s lie that the grass was blue, and then gave the impression to the donkey that he was going to punish the tiger for believing otherwise, therefore positively reinforcing the donkey’s behavior.  

So in this fable we can also see a clear picture of an authority figure not tolerating an absurd argument over what the color of grass is between the donkey and the tiger. However, to make this matter worse he, as the authority figure, sides with the lying fool and then proceeds to reward that lying fool for his stupidity while simultaneously scolding the truth teller (the tiger). Does any of this sound familiar in our current societal dilemma?  

Once again, let’s assume all the variables here in the story were the same with the exception of substituting the argument of the color of grass with the scenario of whether or not the donkey had mugged the tiger at gunpoint. 

Now given this scenario would the tiger arguing his case with the fool mugging him at gunpoint be a foolish act? Clearly it would not be because the stakes are much higher. In this modified scenario using the same exact logic as this fable it’s now easy to understand how the tiger wouldn’t have a choice. 

However, we’re seeing the same absurd things play out in our justice system right now in the real world with the Soviet show trials that our authority figures just put President Trump through. After all, here in the real world the donkeys are making up the evidence and the crimes as they go along and the authority figures are rewarding them for doing so. 

“Show me the man, I’ll find you the crime.” –Lavrenty Beria

Just to inject a bit of history, keep in mind that under Josef Stalin Lavrenty Beria was the chief of the Soviet secret police. Beria was famous for putting Stalin’s suspected opponents through show trials before sending them off to the gulags for their then-shortened lives. (Source: White Mountain Independent)

Like the tiger in the fable, could President Trump have made a mistake here and there regarding his language and some of the fights he chose to engage in? Maybe, but does he have a choice? 

I mean to me this fable also clearly illustrates the problems within our current culture caused by the steady degradation of our institutions of authority consistently and gradually rewarding idiocy over time.  

Now it’s gotten so bad that the donkeys have overrun the lions within these institutions and are using the institutions to enforce their foolish beliefs concerning the color of the grass being blue, along with redefining men as women, and redefining women as men, and so on.  

They’re also denying the fact that they are siding with the muggers of reality as they constantly side with these metaphorical donkeys in society. 

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The Wrap Up

I fully understand the intent of the fable about not arguing with a donkey, but the way it is framed also illustrates in a very clear way the problem with authority figures siding with the foolish people within society. 

This in turn creates a voting base and institutional breeding ground for morons. In the current real world this has led these morons to run society as they see fit and that means that the grass can be blue, or that 2+2=5.

The steady growing problem here in the West is that we’ve allowed the rewarding of foolishness to grow over time and to make it worse we’ve even financed it in many ways. A few examples involve doing this in the form of DEI, ESG, and other Marxist artifices of deception. 

By doing this slowly over time our society has been engaging in a death by a thousand cuts scenario by flippantly allowing the authority figures to reward the metaphorical donkeys over time while never considering the risk of ruin. 

When looking at making a decision on any investment one must always consider the risk of ruin. In other words, by putting your money and reward into a venture you should weigh out and assess how much you can live with potentially losing. . 

In other words, could the investment we choose cost us more than we are able to make back, or is there another form of acceptable loss should the investment be a bad one? 

After this episode I’d think it would be very clear that rewarding foolishness and failing to question things more deeply to identify these stupid investments and these artifices of deception are costing us more than we can ever make back.

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“Hardship in our present life is an atonement for sins committed in our previous existence, or the education necessary to prepare for a higher place in the life to come.”

― John Allyn, 47 Ronin

Iaijutsu is a form of combative sword drawing art that may be used to wage a premeditated attack against an unsuspecting enemy combatant. 

The creation of Iaijutsu comes from the ancient Japanese practiced art of drawing the katana sword which is one of the disciplines involved in the education of the classical warrior known as the ancient samurai. (Source: Wikipedia)

After the Taika reforms occurred in Japan in Anno Domini 646, there was a significant level of land redistribution going on along with heavy taxes that were meant to support a Chinese-style empire at that time. This event forced many small farmers to sell their land to work as tenant farmers. In time there were a few landholders that managed to amass tremendous power and wealth creating what we refer to today as a feudal system. 

Now in order to defend their newly amassed land and wealth and to maintain their hold on power these Japanese feudal lords hired the first samurai warriors. These warriors were the paid and loyal protectors of their lords and they were very good at what they were paid to do. 

With this relationship between the lords and the samurai there was a link that bound the two in the form of the samurai code. You see, the samurai code placed a huge emphasis on loyalty so much so that this form of loyalty was even emphasized more than family loyalty. (Source: ThoughtCo)

Now that last part regarding the emphasis placed on loyalty where it even surpassed the loyalty of family members is something that many of us would have a difficult time understanding in terms of that culture at that time. Nonetheless, this was the zeitgeist of that time so in order to understand the history you have to accept the reality of it being the case during that time in history within that civilization. 

I’ve always said that the quickest way that you can tell whether or not someone truly understands history is whether or not they can understand the zeitgeist which means the accepted beliefs and norms of that time in history in which they are examining. 

In short, if someone is judging history through the lens of the zeitgeist of today then they don’t understand history. This is because the zeitgeist that existed in the past is simply going to differ in a big way in many cases compared to the accepted beliefs of our current times.  

Take a moment and let that sink in because it’s imperative that you do so in order to understand any reference made about history, especially if that reference is coming from someone who claims to be an expert in the field. As you may have already figured out this is a quick and easy litmus test for you to quickly discern whether or not someone is the history expert that they claim to be. 

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The Ronin

In the 12th century during the Muromachi (1138-1573) and Tokugawa (1603-1867) time periods many masterless samurai warriors known as ronin would prove to be very disruptive and rebellious during this time. 

During the tumultuous time period before the founding of the Tokugawa shogunate, the numbers of these ronin increased rapidly and they would be a central driving force of disorder throughout the first half of the 17th century. 

The reason the term ronin had come about was because of the untimely death of a samurai’s  lord, losses in battle, or something that occurred due to their own mistakes which resulted in them being dispossessed of their fief and their noble sponsorship positions within society. In such cases this is how many of these warriors would end up being loners. 

As a result of this in the mid 19th century many impoverished samurai became attracted to the movement to expel foreigners from the country. They wanted to do this so that they could restore the imperial family back to their rightful place as the actual rulers of Japan. 

Because of this things would prove to get very interesting as this movement started to self-organize and it built momentum with large numbers of samurai that would end up leaving their lords in order to become ronin to further the cause. 

These ronin would end up adding fuel to the revolutionary mood of the time in the years prior to the Meiji Restoration which would result in them assassinating moderate officials, pro-Western scholars, and foreigners that were residing in Japan during this time. (Source: Britannica)

So why am I bothering to highlight this revolt and the evolutionary journey of the samurai to become these lone masterless warriors known as ronin that would end up being the catalyst for their revolution? 

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“We know that they are lying, they know that they are lying, they even know that we know they are lying, we also know that they know we know they are lying too, they of course know that we certainly know they know we know they are lying too as well, but they are still lying. In our country, the lie has become not just a moral category, but the pillar industry of this country.” 

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

My dad is a small business owner and I remember when I was growing up and just starting to work for money I can recall the first experience I had when going to work for him at his service station. 

Both my parents are great and I’m blessed to still have them in my life as they’re both still very active and still work to operate each of their own businesses. With that being said it was a completely different experience when I was a kid seeing my dad in his day to day work environment compared to how I was used to seeing him at home. 

I mean both my parents were always big on teaching hard work and personal responsibility to both my brother and myself, but this was a completely different scene for the first time when witnessing my dad operate the business as the owner and me working for him as one of his employees. To be straightforward it wasn’t easy. 

At that time in my youth I realized real quick that I had a lot to learn about business and life and I was pretty much clueless on how things worked, but in time I would learn the most valuable lessons of life that I would never learn anywhere else when working for him.  

I remember when it was like my first week working for my dad and he had given me a long list of things to do around the service station to work in between times when I wasn’t waiting on and helping a customer. 

I looked at the list thinking: How am I going to get all of this done? I mean this wasn’t a short list and I knew it was going to require a good bit of time to complete it especially since I had to satisfy my obligations to paying customers that were coming in and out of the front lobby area. 

So I decided that I was going to attack the list and work hard on getting it completed with every free moment I got when I got a window of opportunity between customers. I knew I could do this between times that customers were coming in and out to pay for their cars and to settle up with any bills that were due for repairs that they had gotten done on their vehicles. 

In time a customer would enter the front, I’d take care of them, the customer would leave, and then I’d immediately start attacking that to-do list to try to finish the required tasks. 

Finally, there was a moment where like three customers came in all at once and I knew once they were taken care of that I might have a bit of extra time between when they would leave and before anyone else might enter the lobby because the shop was getting caught up with the jobs that were there to do at the time. 

Sure enough that is exactly what happened and I ended up getting about a half hour or so of uninterrupted time so that I could get the checklist of tasks completed and that’s exactly what I did. 

Just like that I remember that I completed the checklist and I was relieved that I could now chill out in the front lobby waiting on customers for the rest of the day, but what I was thinking at the time versus what would actually happen next were two very different things. 

That’s right, I finished up the last task on the to-do list from my dad and I found a nice comfortable stool in the front lobby and sat down to monitor the front area for customers. After only a couple of minutes of sitting there the door to the shop opened up that led into the lobby where I was enjoying my break leaning on that comfortable stool as my dad stepped into the front lobby area. 

It was at this point he made eye contact with me and saw me sitting on that stool. I’ll never forget the moment as he just looked at me and without saying a word walked over and kicked the stool leg right out from under me. 

Now to be clear it wasn’t a vicious kick for the purpose of hurting me because that’s not my dad and that wasn’t the point. However, he just wanted to get my attention and it was enough that he  had to catch me from falling at which point I asked him why he did it. He said, I’m not paying you to sit around on your rear to do nothing. I remember replying by pointing out that I had finished the list and that there was, in my estimation, nothing left to do. 

It was at this moment that he said that I needed to learn to find something to do in order to keep busy. Then he said something that would change my life forever. 

He said to take the time to slow down and learn how to think ahead. He said learn how to think past the next second. In other words, he was teaching me about what it meant to take initiative. 

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The Lost Art of Initiative

I remember years ago hearing an interesting story about these three interviewees who were fresh out of college and in direct competition with one another with each of them competing to get a relatively high paying entry level position at a certain big company. 

I don’t remember all of the specifics of this story, but I do remember the overall main point of it. I believe I might have heard it from my dad as well, or possibly one of his friends. The point of me telling you this is because I may be inadvertently altering some of the specifics of this story simply because it’s been a very long time since I’ve heard it, but the point is that I remember the point so I am going to keep the main thing the main thing. 

As the story goes this particular company had narrowed down its search for this high paying entry level position to three young college kids who were fresh out of the classroom and ready to step into the real world for their interviews.  

Now keep in mind that the time period of when I heard this story goes back to the mid to late 90’s. I realize that a lot of the kids coming out of college nowadays are by far nowhere near prepared for the real world, but the signs of this were also obvious even in the 90’s as I’m about to point out here in this story. 

So the three interviewees showed up to the office of this company and they were each in the lobby awaiting the secretary to come and get them for their meeting with a high level executive that would be conducting their interviews.  

As the secretary came and got the first college graduate she sent him to the office door of the executive and told him to open the door and walk in. As the first graduate opened the door the first thing he saw was a long walk from the door to the desk of the executive who was sitting at his desk chair with his back to the graduate looking out the window from his high rise office. 

However, the interviewee noticed something else as he started his walk from the front door to the office desk of the executive that still had his back turned to him. In the path directly between the office door and the desk sat a book on the floor right in the middle of the path of where the interviewee would walk to get to the desk. 

The interviewee noticed the book, but simply ignored it stepping over the book to approach the desk of the executive. 

As he got to the desk the executive spun his chair around to greet the young interviewee. He took one look at the interviewee and he also took a quick glance at the floor, noticing that the book was still sitting there in the middle of the floor. 

Once the executive saw this he simply looked at the fresh college graduate and basically said this concludes your interview. 

Obviously the college aged male was bewildered and was reluctant to leave, but he did. 

Once he exited the second interviewee came into the executive’s office and just like the first he noticed the book sitting right in the middle of the floor and simply walked around the book on his way to the executive’s desk. Aside from ignoring the book he never even mentioned that it was sitting in the middle of the floor and that it was a huge eyesore that was clearly out of place. 

Once again, the executive spun around in his chair to greet the young interviewee and noticed the book was also still on the floor. Once the executive noticed this he simply looked at the interviewee and said: Ok, we’re all finished here. Have a nice day. 

Just like the first young man, the second young man was confused and was also shocked at the executive’s response as he hadn’t even gotten an opportunity to sit down to talk to him. 

Finally, it was time for the third interviewee to come in for his interview. As he opened the door to the executive's office he noticed the long walk from the door to the desk along with the executive having his back turned to him. He also noticed the book sitting on the floor and as he started to approach the desk he simply bent down to pick up the book as he approached the executive’s desk. 

As soon as he got to the desk the executive spun around in his chair to greet the young man. It was at this point the young man extended his arm with the book in hand and said: 

I think somebody dropped this on your floor. The executive replied: Thank you. Please have a seat and tell me a bit more about yourself. 

You see the point here is that the executive was looking for each of the job prospects to demonstrate some basic level of personal initiative by acknowledging the book that was sitting in the middle of the floor and to address an obvious obstacle that was clearly out of place. 

In this particular example involving this story with the first two candidates failing to acknowledge the obvious they wouldn’t even be afforded the opportunity for the interview. This is because their lack of initiative had identified them lacking the ability of taking personal initiative which was something the executive was clearly looking for in the job position he was offering. 

Also if you notice I never said that the last interviewee necessarily got the job. I merely pointed out that he was afforded the opportunity to get the interview. The other two candidates simply didn’t make it that far into the process. 

Now you may or may not like the executive’s approach in this example, but this is one of those situations you have to stop and ask yourself if the fact that you agree with it or not really matters? I mean is the search for a worker that is willing to take initiative and ownership in a given situation a negative characteristic to want for a potential employee? 

Heck, I would argue that in today’s culture that the sentiment of demanding that people take more initiative to get a job done has been something we haven’t called out strongly enough over the last 20 years. 

I mean in this current technological society most people lack the initiative for most daily tasks and have forgotten to think for themselves. In fact, most of us these days rely too much on our smartphones to do everything for us. After all, we use our smartphones to get quick stupid news clips to satisfy our completely misunderstood view of world events. We use GPS so the phone tells us where to go, the digital calendar to tell us when to go, and the calculator feature to do all of our math. It’s been said in some publications that human beings now possess less of an attention span than that of a gold fish which is one second less than 8 seconds. 

Now I don’t know if that last statement is true or not, but I do know that people tend to quickly jump from one quick video to another online when playing on their phones. However, it’s also been said that people have the capacity for a great attention span and that storytelling and intelligent content is the thing that unlocks that which is what I try to work hard at doing right here on this show. 

So you’re probably wondering Brandon, what is the point you want to make with all of this? 

Well the point is that our society has been lulled to sleep now for several years and it seems these days that people have to literally have their hand held when trying to understand the current events of the world, the political landscape, and simply having an understanding of what it means to possess the individual responsibility of civic duty. 

I mean these days the majority of young adults are coming out of college not prepared for doing much of anything else other than being a lifelong debt slave. 

It seems all I hear about these days with young people are two issues on opposite ends of the spectrum. 

On one hand many young adults constantly complain about having racked up huge student loan debt that needs to be forgiven while also not being able to find employment in a field that they desire. On the other end of this spectrum there are other young people right now out in the world working two and three jobs burning the candle at both ends while struggling to keep up with paying their rent and living expenses. 

Neither one of these scenarios are good, but I would contend that the cause of the first scenario is fueled by a lack of initiative in understanding the consequences of debt and contributes directly to the cause of its opposite. In other words, it shouldn’t be the responsibility of the young adult that’s working two and three jobs to pay for the student debt relief of the young adult that’s racked up tens of thousands of dollars of debt for a useless degree. 

Embracing the mindset that the government should be responsible for eliminating a personal debt that you chose to accumulate is not demonstrating taking the initiative for triumph in life. Instead this demonstrates a mindset that is more directly related to a victimist mindset. 

The Wrap Up

The other day I heard the author Jason Jones of The Great Campaign Against The Great Reset make an excellent point during an interview that I happened to catch with him on TV.  

He was talking about the confusion and problem with much of the young public when college age students (and even adults) protest and advocate for horrible causes, and even manufactured ones, that are surrounded by lies instead of protesting against those very causes. On a side note this problem of lies that end up driving destructive societal causes are exactly what Solzhenitsyn was referencing in that quote that I led off with at the beginning of this episode. 

As an example Jason Jones was making the point that if you’re wearing a t-shirt that’s manufactured by enslaved Uyhgurs in China while taking a knee against slavery you’re not at all in solidarity with the victims of slavery, but instead you’re taking on the role as a victimist.  

However, he also pointed out that if you see your economic situation negatively impacted while protesting with others in a lower income bracket against the big federal reserve banking system for destroying the dollar then you’re actually in solidarity and therefore you are just in your protest. 

The point he was making here is that you too have to be directly impacted negatively in order to claim solidarity with a victim…otherwise you’re just a virtue signaling victimist. 

The reason people are confused about the difference between being a victim and victimist is because society has been lacking in taking the initiative to achieve triumph in life through our cultural and educational systems. 

The lack of understanding along with the lack of initiative from those who do understand to intervene on behalf of the ignorant people within our society is the reason that our society is currently falling apart. 

Even though I don’t agree with the college age student that’s asking for the rest of us to provide them with debt relief I also don’t blame them for having that mindset. I don’t blame them because the majority of us who do know better, as a society at large, have allowed them to adopt that mindset because we’ve allowed them to believe the lie as Solzhenitsyn so colorfully explained in his famous quote. 

In other words, those of us who know better know that the younger generations have been lied to, but in knowing that they are being lied to the younger generations didn’t know that the lie that we knew of the government taking on more responsibility is destructive and has been ongoing for quite some time.

However, I do blame the rest of us for not teaching them how to think past the next second the way my dad taught me that day in the lobby of his service station.

The art of taking initiative and ownership has been lost and now is the time we all rediscover that for the sake of our societal existence. 

I hope you enjoyed today’s article/podcast.

If so I hope you would choose to support this platform as part of the patriot economy as well. Be an Emissary of Freedom and help to push this piece out to your friends, family, and coworkers.

One way you can do this right now is by joining me and giving me a like here on Public SQ. This platform is directly tied to the support of a freedom first movement by allowing you to line up your purchasing power with businesses that share your values.

In order for BOTH you and me to influence and strengthen our society we must not stay idle so please make sure you hit the subscribe and share buttons here below.

Spreading messages like this one is how we influence our culture and I need your help in order to do it.

Also listen to this episode here on…

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If you like this podcast and the message please take a moment to give it a Five Star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the Spotify platform.

Also to connect with me please make sure you join me here on Facebook, GETTR, Truth Social, and now Substack’s new social media called Notes.

Stay strong. Stay focused. Stay active.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brandonrichey.substack.com/subscribe

The Official Substack Of Brandon Richey is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

If history is a guide, then, presidential greatness only occurs in the crucible of major crises. If Islamic terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb in New York or Washington, or if an American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities generated a widespread war in the Middle East, then the conditions would exist for the display of presidential greatness.

--Joseph J. Ellis

This is a story of strength and muscle from both the perspective of an individual body’s anatomical structure, as well as how this functioning model of strength and muscle parallels the function and existence of a civilized society. You see if you didn’t already know my background comes from being a self-employed fitness professional serving as a strength and fitness coach now for over twenty years. 

During this span of two decades I’ve worked with and trained everyone from the novice to professional athletes such as football, baseball, and fighters competing in the combat sport of MMA. 

I only wanted to clarify this about my background upfront to give you some context as to why I’m able to offer this insight in regards to the function of your body’s muscular system and from there demonstrate how to make the connection of how your body’s function is similar to that of the function of society at large.  

In fact, the two are so similar that they basically mirror one another in both scope and result. 

So what exactly am I talking about? 

Well I’m going to come back to that, but first did you realize that quote that I led this episode off with was published in an article by CNN back in 2012, yet how chilling is it that we’re faced with a similar scenario it describes minus the nuclear bomb being detonated in New York or Washington. Thank God for that at least for now.  

However, that nuclear bomb is being pursued by the very terrorists he describes in the quote with Iran being right on the verge of cracking the code to achieve nuclear power status. The even crazier reality is that the current regime in the White House now (Biden) along with the one that occupied the White House back in 2012 (Obama) at the time this article was published helped to finance this very pursuit of the nuclear bomb by Iran. 

The war itself has already kicked off and the world is completely destabilized due to the apparent mass infection of evil Global Communists that have infiltrated the governments of every major super power throughout Western Civilization. 

This current disastrous dilemma would be the most shockingly horrible news imaginable to receive if you had suddenly awakened today from a cryogenic sleep from 1985 which was a time here in the U.S., and the world at large, where we lived in a completely opposite world than the one we find ourselves living in now. 

The only good news described in that quote is the potential for presidential greatness to occur in the crucible of a major crisis and thankfully we already have a great President in Donald J. Trump…as long as we don’t allow the election to be stolen come November. 

We are living in a Fourth Turning and the thing that many people are realizing more and more is that the election coming here in November is no longer a normal political election. No, this election coming in November is civilizational in terms of its significance. 

This is the environment both of us find ourselves in and this is the Crucible that will send the country on one path or the other with one path leading towards totalitarian destruction and the other towards a pro-American 1985 model on steroids. Of these two outcomes I personally prefer the latter. 

The Official Substack Of Brandon Richey is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Sherrington’s Law of Irradiation

When examining the human body it’s easy to understand that your body is designed for the function of coordination and movement. However, when examining the movement of the human body as a coach it’s my job to determine whether the body is moving in the way that it is intended to, or if it is compromised in some way which prevents it from functioning in the manner in which it is designed to do. 

Granted, our modern day culture and work environment has actually managed to diminish the lifestyles of most people which is why 90% or greater of average everyday people I work with are unable to move their body with optimal function when they begin a fitness program for the first time.  

There are many reasons for this, but the biggest culprit has more to do with the steady growth in the number of sitting jobs over the course of the last couple of decades. Yes, sitting with a slouched and broken posture combined with a lifestyle lacking in physical movement is the direct cause of most of the health issues that have been plaguing our society now for the last couple of decades. 

You see your body is built to do things and the ability for you to do things is commanded by that computer, otherwise known as your brain, that sits between your ears. 

In order for you to perform a movement as seemingly as simple as making a clenched fist, or gripping the handle of a kettlebell, the reality is that it isn’t as simple as it appears on the surface. 

The truth is that you first must recognize that you either need, or want, to perform the movement in the first place. Therefore, this entire process begins with a stimulus. 

From here the next step in the order of operations involves your brain sending the message, or current, through your nervous system in much the same way as an electrical current travels through the power lines up and down the streets for the purpose of powering the lights inside your house, or providing you with the ability to run your air conditioning.  

Therefore, for the purpose of this discussion we’re looking at how to achieve movement from a stimulus to an action such as clenching your fist, or gripping a kettlebell. 

Now I’m not going to get into the hard science of this entire process because it can get complicated and be a bit hard to follow, but I do want to inject a little anatomical physiology into the discussion here to give you some context. 

Let’s begin by performing a basic exercise as you’re reading or listening to this episode. Whatever you’re doing at the moment I want you to hold your hand out in front of you and simply clench your fist. 

You see, for you to perform this action the message that is transmitted from your brain down your spinal cord and to your hand in order to execute a clenched fist is carried by an excitatory neurotransmitter known as acetylcholine. 

This fascinating chemical substance of acetylcholine essentially excites the nerve cell and causes it to fire off the message to stimulate the muscles of your arm and hand to perform the coordinated action of clenching your fist. Understand that the physiological step by step explanation of this in full can be a bit cumbersome in detail, but this is essentially the ten cent version of that in regards to you being able to perform any given movement with your body.  

Now I want you to understand that’s the foundation of explaining the coordination that goes on underneath the surface in order for you to execute any coordinated movement with your body as it applies to the act of movement. 

I know you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this, but please be patient as I’m going to tie this all together into a coherent message that will start to make a lot of sense here really soon. 

Now that you understand the foundation of this sophisticated, yet basic human function I now want to explain the concept of honing that function in order to build significant strength for a given movement. 

Now I want you to do one more exercise as you’re reading or listening to this episode. I want you to stand up and tighten your glutes as hard as you possibly can (by the way that would involve your butt muscles). 

Ok, now I want you to do the same thing, but this time I want you to clench both of your fists as hard as you possibly can as well. If you have to dig your fingernails into your palms in order to do so then so be it. 

As you performed the second isometric contraction involving the clenching of your fists while also tightening your glutes you noticed that you got an increased isometric contraction in your glutes. In other words, your butt muscles got even tighter. 

What you just experienced in application is what is known as Sherrington’s Law. This essentially means that a muscle that is working hard recruits the neighboring muscles and if they are already involved in executing, or performing an action it enhances or increases their firing capability resulting in increased strength. Basically the neural impulses emitted by the contracting muscle reach other muscles and switches them on in the same way that an electric current starts a motor. (Source: Barbend)

Now the key takeaway from this is that the kinetic chain of your muscular system works together in order to execute a given movement, but to be strong in performing a given movement the chain must be dialed in and coordinated in producing maximum tension by pulling on the surrounding muscles of the primary muscle to execute whatever task is at hand. 

In other words, the success of executing a coordinated movement requires the smart application of tension to be carried out by your entire muscular system with intention and purpose in order to achieve success for the execution of the physical task no matter how challenging it may be. 

The Dead Chicken Strategy

I just recently shared a fascinating article as a cross-post on my Substack titled Why Everything is Becoming a Game. 

This article breaks down the concept of gamification and basically explains how the effort to turn life into a game is being used to convince people to participate in order to get society to behave in a certain way. It points out that this will inevitably lead society to giving away its sovereignty to a totalitarian system that society willingly will do by its own hand in the name of entertainment. It’s a fascinating piece and if you haven’t already given it a read I strongly recommend it. 

However, in the article the author references the history and belief system of Ted Kaczynski. In this piece he points out that when Kaczynski was in prison he wrote a little-known sequel to his primary manifesto that was titled “Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How.” 

Within this manifesto Kaczynski outlines his belief that all technologically advanced civilizations are doomed to be trapped in fatal games before they are able to colonize space. The reason he gives for this follows the premise that industry, like all industry, is driven by competition and as such competition favors short-term wins over long-term sustainability. 

This happens because players who care about long-term sustainability will be significantly disadvantaged compared to players within the game who only care about winning. 

To illustrate his point Kaczynski describes an interesting thought experiment involving what I would refer to as the conquest ethic inside a model that he describes with the idea of a forested region that is occupied by several rival kingdoms. 

The idea of his model is that the kingdoms that clear the most land for agriculture can support a larger population which in turn would allow them to develop a larger military advantage based on the sheer numbers of people. Therefore, every kingdom must aim to clear as much forest land as possible, or face the consequence of being conquered by its rivals due to mankind’s desire for the conquest ethic.  

The resulting deforestation eventually leads to an ecological disaster resulting in the collapse of all the kingdoms. Therefore, what each kingdom is doing in order to expand and put them at an advantage in terms of their short-term survival inevitably leads in the long-term to the kingdom’s ultimate demise. Kaczynski called this a “self-propagating system,” because he viewed the model as a negative-sum game that would take on a life of its own that would ultimately end up defeating every player while the system itself would end up becoming the only winner. 

Kaczynski believed such games drove industrialization while also replacing the sense of  purpose and meaning that industrialization destroyed within society. Because of this the drive of such industrialization makes it inextricable from technological advancement and in a society such as ours it is impossible to stop. 

In my view regarding our current political and technological society we can substitute the culling of individual rights and sovereignty with Kaczynski’s idea of deforestation as we engage in more technological advancement. 

We’re already seeing this occur with the Federal Reserve banks looking to implement CBDCs for more concrete digital control of the monetary system, with the government’s recent approval of the FISA which has been used to spy on U.S. citizens, and with facing the prospect of all of this being helped along with the coming era of artificial intelligence. 

It’s my observation that the removal of the individual (and individual liberty) from society in order for society to be a model that totalitarians and technocrats see fit is the race we’re in with other kingdoms (or countries by today’s standards) that have managed to do the same such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In a more rapid fashion in the past three years individuality has given way to a more technological totalitarian surveillance state and the United States is in a race to match the CCP in perpetuating this game as we both find ourselves in a race towards the bottom of the barrel of collapse. 

The question is in this rapid economic, financial, and societal decline of both the United States and China is who will hit bottom first? The culling of the individual and individual rights is the modern day version of Kaczynski’s rival kingdoms and their deforestation efforts. 

Now Kaczynski believed this couldn’t be stopped and when you look at how our government has been infiltrated with communists who are intent on perpetuating this game it leaves me to wonder sometimes. However, I do believe it can be stopped, but the question is how? 

After all, when you take a moment to scan over the battlefield it’s easy to see how the communists have literally captured every single major institution within our country consisting of the Administrative State Media (ASM), Hollywood, the Universities, and the federal government. 

However, despite having all of that, the communist left isn’t used to being surrounded by people who they may label as being on the right politically speaking. They’ve become so ossified in their belief structure that they literally ignore reality. This is the biggest cult that has ever existed in world history. 

So keeping all of that in mind how are they to be defeated? 

Well in some instances there will be some people to awaken from their side of the football, however instead of trying to conquer them perhaps we can figure out how we can cause them to lose their taste for conquest. 

Perhaps we can all take a lesson from the founder of the Article III Project Mike Davis. Mike Davis is the former Chief Counsel for Nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley. The A3P’s duty is to defend constitutionalist judges and the rule of law just like he did when he dragged Supreme Court Justice Bret Kavanaugh across the finish line for confirmation while Kavanaugh was directly under the fire from the communist left with false allegations from an accuser regarding sexual assault. (Source: The Federalist Society)

That alone was a wrongful and vicious attack from the left that they directed towards Kavanaugh, as well as, people like Kyle Rittenhouse, General Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon, and Donald J.Trump. As we’ve seen over the last several years the communist left is relentless in trying to conquer every territory of power that exists both inside and outside the halls of the federal government even if it means breaking the law and weaponizing the justice system in order to do so.   

On that note you are probably still wondering: Brandon, how do we defeat them when they basically own every major institution at this point? 

Well, Mike Davis used a very effective strategy to defeat the communist left despite being outnumbered, outgunned, and financially outspent by his opposition during the Kavanaugh hearings. 

During that time Davis said that he perfected an absolute flamethrower of a counter-attack strategy that was effective despite being the underdog in the fight. 

This strategy is what Davis refers to as the Dead Chicken Strategy. 

Davis said that he developed this approach after having listened to another Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas share a personal story about having grown up on a farm here in my home state of Georgia. 

In this story Thomas spoke about when on the farm there were some instances when the dogs would end up killing some of their chickens. Well, being on the farm they didn’t want the dogs to be killing the chickens so when this happened they would take that dead chicken and hang it around the dog’s neck. As the chicken began to rot hanging on the dog’s neck that dog would lose its taste for chicken. (Source: Throughline)

As Mike Davis points out this is exactly what Republicans need to start doing with the left and Davis employed this very strategy during the Kavanaugh case. 

I’ve heard Davis talk about this and in his own words the idea with the Dead Chicken Strategy is to make the process of how the left chooses to pursue lawfare to destroy their political opposition the punishment. In other words, put them onto their back heel by punching back through forcing them to explain their positions, forcing them to deal with subpoenas, forcing them to deal with a media blitz, burying them in bureaucratic minutiae, etc. The idea is to make the process for them the punishment and be relentless in this until they ultimately lose their taste for the pursuit of lawfare and submit. 

The Wrap Up

You see the thing that I believe you and I need to keep in mind is that we must continue to grow our understanding of the circumstances of our environment as they develop right in front of us. 

The battlefield is constantly changing and it’s the enemy’s war that wants to draw us into a fatal game where either the enemy, or the game itself only ends up winning as Kaczynski pointed out in his thought experiment regarding how human nature’s pursuit of the conquest ethic drives the concept of deforestation. 

However, the more that patriots across the globe continue to understand the environment, share their knowledge of it with other patriots, and coordinate with each other to be a mechanism of action we can force the enemy to play OUR game.  

You can be the mechanism of action in the same way the acetylcholine is to the act of producing movement with our bodies. The stimuli are our societal problems so it’s up to us to be the substance that produces movement towards solving those problems. 

The good news is that even in moments when we may be outnumbered we even have an effective fighting strategy that involves a dead chicken and it only took one Supreme Court Justice growing up on a farm here in my great state of Georgia along with a Chief Counsel with a warrior spirit in Mike Davis to bring it to our attention. 

The more you get engaged in this fight for freedom this Crucible of Change won’t only result in presidential greatness, but it will lead to civilizational greatness for a very long time. 

Just remember that YOU are the mechanism that gets the muscle to move in that gap between the stimulus and the action. 

I hope you enjoyed today’s article/podcast.

If so I hope you would choose to support this platform as part of the patriot economy as well. Be an Emissary of Freedom and help to push this piece out to your friends, family, and coworkers.

One way you can do this right now is by joining me and giving me a like here on Public SQ. This platform is directly tied to the support of a freedom first movement by allowing you to line up your purchasing power with businesses that share your values.

In order for BOTH you and me to influence and strengthen our society we must not stay idle so please make sure you hit the subscribe and share buttons here below.

Spreading messages like this one is how we influence our culture and I need your help in order to do it.

Also listen to this episode here on…

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

Tune In

Pocket Cast

If you like this podcast and the message please take a moment to give it a Five Star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the Spotify platform.

Also to connect with me please make sure you join me here on Facebook, GETTR, Truth Social, and now Substack’s new social media called Notes.

Stay strong. Stay focused. Stay active.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brandonrichey.substack.com/subscribe

The Official Substack Of Brandon Richey is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

“Do what you can, with what you got, where you are.”--Theodore Roosevelt

In the midst of a world that is falling apart if you’re like me then you have seen this train wreck coming for the past three years. However, if you’re new to this party then you’re probably shell- shocked with the pace at which the fabric of society can disintegrate. 

Granted things haven’t gotten as bad as they can get yet, but you’d have to be a complete moron lacking in all ability to observe reality in order not to see it. I want to interject to say I know that last statement was pretty direct, but that’s just how I can be sometimes. With that being said I know if you’re reading this you’re more than likely able to recognize the reality of what’s going on in the world otherwise you wouldn’t be here for this episode in the first place. Regardless, it’s an incredible thing to witness people that look directly at a train wreck, yet see only those who speak up about the train wreck as being the problem. 

Therefore, if you’re part of the crowd that can see the train wreck then you’re faced with two problems as society continues to decline. On one hand, you’re faced with the problem of taking up the fight with those who caused the diaster (the enemy). This is a big enough problem, but if that isn’t big enough the other part of this problematic equation is the fact that you have to also deal with those people that refuse to recognize those who caused the train wreck probably because they are also contributing to the perpetuation of these ongoing societal disasters themselves. 

So regarding the latter, what exactly do I mean about the group of people who contribute to the perpetuation of train wrecks throughout our society? 

To clarify what I’m talking about here I’m referring to people who may agree with you that our society has a communism and nazi pandemic, but are apathetic to it. This also includes people that say they’re too busy to deal with the political and cultural fight, or people who always use the excuse that nothing they can do can change the outcome of anything in regards to the communism and nazism that’s spreading like a virus throughout our society.  

This is a two pronged problem that is going to require you and myself to utilize, grow, and advocate for the use of free speech and a freedom first message. The first group I mentioned (the enemy) is actually easier to deal with in a way because communists and nazis are easy to identify. This is simple enough to see as they simply advocate for Republic ending issues such as open borders, the censoring of speech, and the cheering on of terrorist organizations like Hamas on college campuses across the country at large. 

However, the second group is a different kind of animal. These people are used to living comfortable lives here in the United States. They probably make decent money and have a job that they really enjoy along with a good family life. Many may even be close to retirement if they aren’t already retired. 

You see this comfort I’m talking about is the trap. The trap of comfort is the same thing that lulls the mouse towards the comfort and ease of getting a meal with a block of cheese right before the trap slaps down on it to break its neck. The thought of a comforting meal, a comfortable environment, or a comfortable retirement is the thing that keeps many of these people from getting ahead of a problem until it’s too late. This is the issue with this second group of people.

Therefore it’s both yours and my own responsibility to hammer away at the information and narrative to this second group of people. We must do this in a way that they must understand that the reality of dealing with a little discomfort now is magnitudes better than them sitting around with their hands in their pockets resulting in the much worse reality that will inevitably show up to kick in their front door should they remain stagnant in this fight for liberty. 

The Official Substack Of Brandon Richey is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The White Death

To borrow a phrase from Beijing Biden’s former White House press secretary Jen Psaki concerning this comfortable group of Americans I just described, I'll circle back to address them further here in a bit. 

At the dawn of World War II Josef Stalin sent over a half a million soldiers across Russia’s western border to invade Finland. 

This would be a decision that would end up costing tens of thousands of lives and it would also birth the legend of Simo Hӓyhӓ. 

For three grueling months the two nations fought in the Winter War, but in an unexpected turn of events it would be the underdog Finland that would emerge victorious. 

This shocking defeat would end up being a stunning blow to the Soviet Union. You see at the time Stalin had thought that Finland would be an easy mark and when looking at his reasoning on the matter it made a lot of sense as the numbers were decidedly in his favor at the time he decided to green light the invasion. 

Finland’s army only consisted of about 300,000 men while the Soviet Union marched into Finland with 750,000 soldiers. The smaller Nordic nation only had a handful of tanks and just over 100 aircraft to defend itself. (Source: ATI)

By contrast the Red Army was rolling in strong with nearly 6000 tanks and over 3000 aircraft. Comparing these numbers Stalin, probably like most of us, thought there would be no way to lose this battle. 

However, despite these overwhelming numbers the Finnish had something that the Russians didn’t: a diminutive farmer-turned sniper named Simo Hӓyhӓ. 

The mild mannered Hӓyhӓ only stood about five feet tall. He was far from intimidating and was an individual that was quite easy to overlook which was a definite reason that he was suited so well for the skill of being a deadly sniper. 

Just like many Finnish citizens he had completed his requisite year of military service when he was 20 years old and returned to his quiet life of farming, skiing, and being a hunter of small game. Hӓyhӓ was recognized within his small community for his ability to shoot, and he liked to enter various competitions in his free time. He had an amazing skill, however the true test of his abilities was still yet to come. 

When Stalin’s troops rolled into Finland Hӓyhӓ, being a former military man, was called into action. Just prior to reporting for duty he pulled his old military rifle out of storage. It was an old bare bones Russian made rifle with no telescopic lens. 

Given the fact that the snow had blanketed the Finnish landscape Hӓyhӓ was given a heavy set of all white camouflage so that he and the other soldiers could blend into the snowbanks without a problem. 

Now when Hӓyhӓ was armed with his trusty rifle and white suit he did what he did best. Hӓyhӓ preferred to work alone and supplied himself with a day’s worth of food and several rounds of ammunition. From here he was stealth about moving through the woods and once he found a tactical spot with some good visibility, he would lie in wait for the Red Army to come marching across his path. 

They would do just that and it would end up dearly costing the Red Army big at the time. 

Over the course of the nearly 100 days involving the Winter War Hӓyhӓ managed to target and kill between 500 and 542 Russian soldiers simply using his basic old military rifle that had been stored up for years. This was impressive as his Russian adversaries were using state-of-the-art telescopic lenses to zero in on their targets while Hӓyhӓ was using his good old fashioned set of iron sights which he felt gave him a more precise target. 

In addition to this Hӓyhӓ also felt that the use of the telescopic lenses had tipped off many Russian targets due to the glint of light on the newer sniper lenses. Hӓyhӓ was determined that he wasn’t going to succumb to the allure of the newer sights because of this potential liability so he stuck to what he knew was best. 

In addition to his strategic decision to stick to the old iron sights of his rifle he also added an additional element of difficulty for the Red Army by developing a strategy that would help him to almost foolproof himself from being spotted by the enemy. 

In addition to his white camouflage he would build up snow drifts around his position to further obscure himself from the enemy. In addition to this the snow banks would also serve as additional support and padding for his rifle so that the force from his gunshot(s) wouldn’t result in a big puff of snow that could give away his position to the enemy. 

Hӓyhӓ would even go so far to hold snow in his mouth so that when he would take a breath that the steam of his breath wouldn’t be seen in the cold air by the enemy. This guy was demonstrating what it took to be Zenith during chaotic times in maximum fashion. 

Keeping that in mind Hӓyhӓ’s strategies kept him alive, but you’ve also got to understand that his missions were never easy. The conditions were brutal, his days were short, and when the sun went down temperatures rarely rose above freezing. 

Because of his efficiency involving his skills and stealthy strategic approach it didn’t take long for him to earn the reputation among the Russians as the “White Death,” being the tiny sniper who lay in wait and could hardly be seen in the snow. 

His reputation was so profound that it spread among the Finnish people and the White Death was frequently the subject of Finnish propaganda, and in people’s minds, he became a legend and guardian spirit who could vanquish his enemies and move through the snow like a ghost. 

When the Finnish high command heard about Hӓyhӓ’s achievements they presented him with a gift consisting of a brand new custom built sniper rifle. 

Unfortunately Hӓyhӓ would not get out of the war unscathed as 11 days before the Winter War ended the White Death would finally be struck by a Russian bullet. A Soviet soldier finally caught sight of him and shot him in the jaw which would end up landing him in a coma for 11 days. When Hӓyhӓ awoke from his coma the peace treaties were being drawn up and half of his face was missing due to his injury. 

Even though it would take Hӓyhӓ several years to recover from being hit in the jaw the injury didn’t slow him down. He eventually made a full recovery and would end up passing away at the ripe old age of 96. 

It is said that even after the war Hӓyhӓ continued to put his shooting skills to the test by becoming a successful moose hunter and he would regularly go on hunting trips with the Finnish president Urho Kekkonen. 

The Red, Blue, Black, and White Pill 

You’ve probably heard of the phrase red pill vs blue pill. 

The meaning of this phrase involves being able to make the choice to seek out the truth versus choosing to continue to live inside an illusion, or a lie, that perhaps one or many have become accustomed to for a very long time. 

Because of this the blue pill is associated with the apathetic individual that is used to the social dynamics that society has essentially constructed for them to live. The lack of the ability to recognize and understand anything more, or anything beyond this recognized construct, is associated with a person, or persons, that are happy to take what is known as the blue pill. 

However, those that are driven to seek the truth and to venture outside of Plato’s cave to discover what the reality of society and circumstances truly entail are those that are going to make the choice to take the red pill. 

I’ve actually discussed this in an earlier episode of mine here on the Substack that is titled The Prisoner’s Dilemma. I’m going to include an excerpt from that episode here, but to access the entire episode simply scroll down here on the Substack and click this link. 

A great example of this in modern culture can be seen in the epic film The Matrix. As you’re probably already very familiar The Matrix involves a complex computer program that plugs into the minds of humans. Inside The Matrix all people experience for all intents and purposes what seems to be normal day to day life. 

However the main character of The Matrix named Neo is offered a choice prior to him stepping into his role of the hero. As the ten cent version of the story goes Neo is approached by a friend and mentor named Morpheus inside The Matrix at a point when Neo is experiencing some terrifying events in his life, or as his life would be recognized inside the false reality known as the Matrix.

Morpheus offers Neo a choice between taking a blue pill or a red pill. Neo is told the blue pill will keep him moving along in the daily rat race of existence as he currently understands it, whereas the red pill will free his mind from the confines of life as he knows it in turn revealing the truth to him in the real world. 

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Of course Neo takes the red pill and what we come to realize is that Neo wakes up inside an alien looking pod where all of these lines and cords suddenly unplug from his physical body. After he’s rescued from this horrible reality by Morpheus, Neo learns that his real physical body has been plugged into a giant computer system where a world of Artificially Intelligent (AI) beings use human bodies as a means of energy to power their technological grid all while keeping the human mind occupied inside a computer generated simulation known as The Matrix. 

The reason I’m talking about this epic movie is because it clearly illustrates the problem we’re facing in our current society particularly with that second group of people that I was telling you about earlier in this episode with their apathetic attitudes and comfortable lifestyles. 

You see Neo took the red pill and in doing so the truth and reality of his actual existence was revealed to him. Metaphorically speaking the red pill represents the pill of truth. 

Now at times the reality is that the truth can be a difficult pill to swallow which leads me into the recognition of those who swallow the red pill, but then are overcome with hopelessness due to being confronted with the realization of how bad things in the world actually are once they have achieved a deeper understanding of the real world circumstances.  

The pill I’m referring to here is what is known as the black pill. 

Now there are a few variations of the definition of this word, but the meaning I’m referring to here is the more recognized version that applies to the current societal construct of what the Urban dictionary has come to recognize. The Urban Dictionary defines the black pill as the ultimate and hardest to swallow red pill. 

Essentially the black pill is about realizing the true reality and state of things which is truthfully really bad, however instead of attempting to look at the current state of affairs and trying to change them the black pill simply accepts the more nihilist belief where nothing can be changed, therefore nothing matters and your attitude is deprived of all positive thought. 

In short, the black pill involves extreme nihilism and is in my view the ultimate pill for the defeatist mindset and this is precisely why it’s referred to as the black pill and not the red pill.  

However, when examining the construct of our modern day society through the lens of a disciplined Zenith pursuing, developing, and expanding an awakened mind there has also been a fourth pill to develop concerning the state of reality. This pill not only relates to the understanding of reality and the truth, but it also deals with how to go about changing the very bad and recognizable circumstances. 

You see the Urban dictionary defines the white pill as someone being aware of a difficult situation, or difficult circumstances, but instead of taking on the defeatist nihilist mindset the person who takes the white pill adopts a fighter mindset with a can do attitude of accomplishing certain things in the war to overcome the overwhelming circumstances. 

Basically the individual that chooses to take the white pill is the example of what it means to be a disciplined Zenith, particularly during chaotic times. 

The Wrap Up

Now I want to be clear to you that I am not pollyannaish. Yes, I recognize the reality of the truth by being red pilled, but after seeing the truth the next phase is being able to understand the truth as it applies to the circumstances of the environment in which we live. From here we are also faced with how to react to that environment. 

You see, in reality you may be capable of recognizing the truth about something, but being able to understand the truth and light requires an entirely different set of beliefs and standards. 

In other words, if you choose to see the truth about the dire situation and circumstances that the state of our country, and the world for that matter, is faced with then you know there’s a lot of evil and a lot of bad things happening in the world.  

However, in your recognition of this you are then faced with a choice of whether you are going to take the black pill resulting in you adopting a nihilistic defeatist mindset, or the white pill which will involve you recognizing that you can lean on your belief in God along with the talents, skills, and influence that serve to be your strengths to fight for the change in the world that is needed. 

Look, I understand the black pill is a difficult pill to swallow, but it isn’t as difficult to swallow as the white pill, because unlike the black pill the white pill requires the use of your talents and  your ability to act in order to change the world. 

I realize that there’s a fine line between coping and apathy, but I believe the difference in where you fall on this line is defined in where your core beliefs lie within you. 

I believe an excellent example of the difference between recognizing the truth and the light and actually understanding the truth and the light can be seen in the Bible in the book of Leviticus chapter 10 verses 1-3. 

It says…

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: 

‘By those who come near Me

I must be regarded as holy;

And before all the people 

I must be glorified.”

You see in my interpretation here Nadab and Abihu recognized the truth and the power of the Lord, but they didn’t yet have a full understanding of the truth and light of the Lord as demonstrated by them offering a profane fire out of their haste and excitement which resulted in their immediate death. 

In other words, I believe recognizing the truth is a good start and is significant, but understanding the underpinnings of what the truth and the light is all about is even more vitally important. They didn’t recognize how to honor the Lord by doing what was commanded by him, but rather did what was NOT commanded by him and they paid the ultimate price.

Those that take the red pill can recognize the truth, but without understanding the truth (like with Nadab and Abihu) you might as well be willing to take the black pill before you learn to recognize the truth in the first place. 

However, if you are recognizing the truth because you have taken the red pill and you’ve demonstrated that you understand the difficult circumstances because you’ve also taken the white pill then you’re going to lean on every skill, resource, and experience you have to contribute to victory. 

After all, your White Pill can be as impactful as the White Death’s White Pill did on the outcome of the Winter War.

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“You’re not a good wartime consigliere”--Michael Corleone 

That quote came from the iconic movie The Godfather regarding the family consigliere Tom Hagen. 

With that quote Michael Corleone had recognized that the time had come when other organized crime factions were about to go into a violent war with his family. Although Tom (the family consigliere) had been a smart legal advisor and consultant to the family for normal day to day business he was not equipped to deal in the aspects of war involving deception and espionage in a time when the family needed to be on a war footing. 

It was because of this that Michael Corleone taking over the leadership of the family business had decided that Tom was no longer able to serve the family’s needs given the shifting environment from a time of peace into a time of war.  

The Godfather movie can teach us all a lot about the positions of leadership and how certain traits such as loyalty and dedication, though important traits, aren’t always solely the necessary fit for the circumstances depending on what is needed from people during certain situations. In dangerous times, such as in the time of war, other traits are better suited to get the job done which is exactly what Michael realized he wasn’t going to get from Tom when he knew his family was at war. 

With that being said I often feel the way Michael Corleone felt with his frustration towards Tom when he knew the family was in a war while Tom was still trying to view the world and operate with a business as usual mentality. Given this I often have to shake my head and bury my frustration deep down, preventing myself from exploding with anger, with people who have vacuous minds when it comes to the current political atmosphere and the events that are plaguing our country these days. 

I mean many Americans still walk around acting like our country is still stuck in a business as usual political cycle where the pendulum of right wing and left wing politics continues to swing one way and will inevitably swing back the other by pure chance. They view the current circumstances of the world as if to suggest that this is happening in that way right now in the least as I literally write and record this podcast knowing full well that world no longer exists. 

People that walk around with that frame of mind are no different than a blind man walking through a minefield. Chances are if you are aware of the high stakes that are at play with your life then you understand that your life’s future is literally teetering on a razor thin line with total freedom on one side and a complete dystopian totalitarian nightmare on the other. If you understand this then I’m obviously not talking about you. However, to be specific, I’m literally talking about everyone else except you. 

The Inimicus is literally inside the gates and there is still this contingent of Americans wandering around apathetic and completely clueless as to what is about to show up in their living rooms, at their work, and when they attempt to go out into public. 

The world of peace that you have come to know has already come to an end and the fallout from that is going to continue to feed a more turbulent environment that is going to hit those with vacuous minds right between the eyes moving forward unless we can save this United States Republic.  

Hubris 

Unlike many characters in the Godfather movie Tom Hagen wasn’t disloyal, or too prideful towards the family which were traits that cost many other characters their lives. Even though Tom wasn’t a victim of pride he was a victim of ignorance given the circumstances that had arisen at the end of his time as the family consigliere. 

After all, unlike his brothers Tom was shielded from the violence and hustle of the street life as his family sent him off to law school so that he could serve the family more in the arena concerning legal matters. This also was a reason why he had the deck stacked against him resulting in him falling short as a wartime consigliere.  

However, in the real world during this current battlefield that we all find ourselves on during a time of 5th Generation Warfare there is a continuous battle going on for the hearts and minds of people. 

If you’ve been following this show for a while then you’ve heard me mention 5th Generation Warfare a few times. If you’re not familiar 5th Generation Warfare it is a non-kinetic version of warfare where the focus is to attack the mind and perception of the public through social engineering campaigns embedded in media with misinformation, cyberattacks, and artificial intelligence. (Source: Wikipedia)

In a very Orwellian style practice underneath the 5th Gen model there’s a war on the very definition of words in order to change the perception of the public about various issues. By doing this the objective is to in turn get the public to give away more and more of their freedoms through their own compliance. 

This is about winning the war without ever having to fire a single shot at the enemy because success comes once you’re able to subvert your enemy from within. If you’ve ever heard of the military general Sun Tzu and his writings in the book the Art of War this is a central principle of Sun Tzu. This is exactly why the center of gravity concerning the origin of this 5th Generation War campaign can be seen coming directly from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the corrupt Globalist elite.  

This campaign of non-kinetic warfare isn’t something that just pops up overnight, but is actually something that has taken years to plan, coordinate, and implement by people who have the money and power in order to make it happen. This is done through military and secret intelligence agencies that have the resources in order to make this an effective warfare tool. 

The challenge with 5th Generation Warfare is that, like Tom Hagen, there are many people too ignorant to recognize, let alone believe, it’s happening until much of the damage to society is already done. We’re seeing this right now here in the United States. 

The other challenge is that there are always plenty of useful idiots that will go along with the propaganda and refuse to ignore the reality of circumstances even as they play out right in front of people’s eyes. I deal with and see these types of people daily, but the good news is that it seems to be happening with less frequency. 

As far as those of us who do recognize what’s going on it’s a sobering pill to swallow, but speaking for myself I’ll admit that I felt much better about it once I accepted the reality that it is a form of warfare that is running the country off the cliff. I recognized and accepted this back in 2020 and once I did at least I knew there was no more guessing as to what the cause of the chaos was so it made focusing on the fight against it a much more palatable venture. 

Now I’ll say that given the types of people who are in power and waging this 5th Generation War campaign onto the rest of us it is a depressing thought if you allow it to be, but after having run a small business now for nearly twenty years I’ve learned one thing that helps me to manage the potential prospect of such anxiety. 

The remedy I’m talking about involves two parts. The first has to do with being capable of recognizing and understanding the environment which I’ve already established with understanding that war is being waged on our country by the CCP and the corrupt Globalists. The second remedy is choosing not to stand around with my hands in my pockets worrying in fear. Instead taking ACTION is the key to mitigating and eliminating the prospect of anxiety potentially seeping into my mind leaving me paralyzed by fear. After all, keep in mind that action builds and sustains courage. 

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“It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.”― Albert Einstein

You know, for years I can remember several different situations when I’d be talking with a friend or family member about certain cars and the discussion might transition to them telling me about what car they owned back in the 1960’s or 1970’s. 

From there they would always talk about what they spent in order to buy a brand new car at the time and it was always mind blowing to hear the prices when compared to the price of a new car today, or even a used car today. 

I mean in 1970 the average cost of a new car was about $3500. Compare that to the average cost of a new vehicle today which is going to run you over $47,000 according to Fortune. On that note, if someone in the room would ask why the prices are so much higher today of course the usual explanation would be that we can all chalk it up to inflation and that would usually be the point at which no further questions were asked. Surprisingly this would seemingly always be the point at which the discussion would hit a deadend. 

I mean once that word inflation was uttered that always seemed to be the reason that would satisfy everyone in the room and there would be no further comment on the tremendous price difference of cars, and everything else, in the 1970’s compared to today. 

So why do we have inflation? 

What is the actual root cause of inflation? 

Well according to the Dean of Liberty University and head of the business school Dr. Dave Brat the cause is very simple. Inflation is caused by the printing and spending of too much money by the federal government and the Federal Reserve banks. When you have too many dollars chasing too few goods the prices of those goods go up. 

In a nutshell, the money supply that you and I are dependent on for using in order to buy goods, services, and trying to save for some level of retirement is a system that neither you or myself have any control over, at least not directly. 

I mean politically speaking we can force change if we are smart enough to organize as a society and to get the right people into office in Washington D.C. Not beating around the bush, but for such change and needed transformation to occur it will require individuals that are willing to take the fight to the political system at every front without relenting, or backing down one single inch. 

Additionally if you examine every single political personality across the spectrum of candidates that has been in the game of politics since the 1980’s the ONLY such individual that exists to do such a thing, at least as president, is  Donald J. Trump and those who share his grit, his views, and perspective on the issues that are plaguing our government and country. 

However, the point to all of this is that there’s a reason cars cost what they cost today and why so many more dollars are required to purchase the baseline equivalent for a vehicle now compared to what it cost to purchase one in 1970, or at any time before 1970 for that matter. 

Yes, it’s certainly due to inflation, but the reason that inflation exists is because there’s no tether, or safeguard, on holding back the Federal Reserve, and Congress for that matter, for the time being. 

After all, Nixon took us off the gold standard back in 1971 and that was the tether that at least kept the Federal Reserve in check, but now there’s absolutely nothing holding them back. This dog is completely off the leash and running wild. 

It’s officially obvious and to the point that we can declare that this and our other institutions are full of rot and spineless greedy politicians. If they weren’t then I wouldn’t be investing the time to write these kinds of articles and record the podcasts about all of this stuff. It’s that simple. 

However, why am I having to write this article and record this podcast? 

The reason is that there are many Americans wandering through life not even questioning why all of this chaos in the world is happening as if it can just be chalked up to some random act of nature. 

The vacuous minds of Americans have expanded to the point that it’s literally threatening the existence of not only our nation, but humanity itself. 

This is precisely why this show exists. 

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Dumbing Down Through Dependency

We live in a booming technological era where the cellphone has literally become an extension of ourselves that we cannot function without. Look, I’m guilty of some of this myself, but I admit that the motivation that drives the use of my cellphone is to engage in the information warfare arena. 

I do this because I just can’t stand by and allow leftist communists to spread lies without being one more check standing in their way to crush their lies and misrepresentations relentlessly every single day of the week. If you’re listening to this episode chances are you may use it for the same purpose. I am certainly hoping so. 

With that being said I do use my cellphone a lot and for that very reason, as well as to assist in the daily operation of my fitness business. 

However, when looking at how most other people go about using their phones it’s more for personal enjoyment and to assist the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with collecting data and subverting the minds of American kids through the use of Tik Tok algorithms in order to dumb down the American youth. This way they don’t question the pro-Biden campaigns being hawked off on the app by the Taylor Swifts of the world, but simply obey whatever the popular Tik Tok influencer of the moment tells them to do. 

I understand that Facebook and Instagram also have data on us and American companies are just as nefarious towards American citizens, but for the purpose of this discussion I’m targeting the youth population just the way Tik Tok does. According to the PEW Research Center 67% of teenagers have grown in their use of Tik Tok bringing it up to second place in use among all of the major available social media apps ranking only behind the use of YouTube. 

This is hard evidence of the direct targeting of the youth by the Tik Tok app and the CCP is taking full advantage of this in terms of the information warfare and the dumbing down of our youth by their own hand through their dependency on the use of the app. 

Now given this substantiated statistical data the fact is that all of society has become very dependent on the use of technology and it’s because of this widespread dependency that guys like Elon Musk see a marketplace for putting chips into people’s brains, but I digress. 

I mean would a vacuous brain hesitate to have chip implanted into it in this day and age? To answer that question I'm honestly not sure given the response we witnessed with so many Americans doing what the TV and government told them to do during the pandemic.

I mean if you really slow down to think about it ask yourself how well you could do if the power grid went down in this modern technological society.  

Look, I’m not trying to be funny about such a thing as this is not even something I would’ve suggested as being a concern five years ago. However, we’ve seen our country decline in rapid fashion across many fronts over the last three years. The root cause of that decline is directly the result of human actions surrounding powerful politicians and business people who are literally trying to destroy the United States of America from within. 

So once again I will ask the question that a vacuous mind would not: How well could you function in life if the power grid went down? 

Could you perform your job duties without power? 

Could you protect your food supply without power? 

Could you live in extreme heat or cold temperatures in your house without power? 

Are you prepared for such a possibility? 

You see you might read over those questions and think to yourself: Ah Brandon you’re acting like one of those crazy doomsday preppers? 

Perhaps I am, but I would also remind you to look around at what’s going on within our society and the world at large and tell me exactly where you see a pinnacle of stability concerning the geo-political landscape. 

If you are questioning my sanity I would reply by questioning your short-term memory regarding the global forces and the CCP’s act of unleashing a bio-weapon from their lab in Wuhan to spread chaos and to usher in communism throughout every country across the planet just three years ago.  

Additionally would a vacuous mind ponder about what impact Biden and the U.S. political establishment weaponizing the U.S. dollar against Russia would result in. This action against Russia in the Russia/Ukraine war resulted in the BRICS nations coming together to de-dollarize? Not to mention they’re doing this as a direct result of OUR actions at the same time we’re already facing too much inflation due to the grifter politicians and the Federal Reserve banks. 

Since weaponizing the dollar it has only resulted in a boomerang effect driving more unnecessary inflation here in the United States while the GDP of the Russian economy grew 3.6% in 2023 following a contraction of 1.2% in 2022. (Source: Carnegie Endowment For International Peace) 

So here’s another question that the Vacuous American Minds should be asking. How is it that we weaponized our dollar with the intent on hurting Russia’s economy, yet the Russian economy is actually stronger now than it was in 2022? 

The short answer is that we’re all being ruled by our lessors, but let me follow this with another larger and more important question. Why are SO many American minds so Vacuous and not asking any of the questions that I’ve posed here in this episode in the first place? 

Ah, that’s why I titled today’s episode The Vacuous American Mind. 

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The answer to my last question has more to do with our educational and political culture. However, in terms of the political culture that has been dumbed down due to the information warfare being waged on our population, the enemy (Administrative State & CCP) has a dual set of targets with the two major segments of our population. 

One targeted segment of our population by the Administrative State Media (ASM) is the older segment of our population (the Boomers) and the other segment is the younger teenage segment being dumbed down primarily through online apps such as Tik Tok. 

As a result of this we have two opposite ends of our societal age spectrum that are the most vulnerable for aiding and abetting the rolling out of the red carpet for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Oh never mind, I know there have already been several Boomers to recently do just that in San Francisco when they cleaned up the streets,  moved out the homeless, and hung Chinese flags up everywhere with no Stars and Bars anywhere in sight to roll the red carpet out for the CCP dictator Xi Jinping. 

Not only did they do this for the dictator, but to make it worse hundreds of the biggest United States companies and their executives were there to show fealty to Xi as the CCP handles the manufacturing of these companies. 

If you can’t see that we are a captured nation by the CCP right now then you’re blind, however what infuriates me is the fact that people that should understand that this is the case are clueless as to WHY it is so. 

The Chinese Water Torture Machine

“How did you go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”--Ernest Hemingway

As the old saying goes when societies collapse it’s always a gradual start in the beginning and then suddenly at the end. 

In the 1892 short story known as The Compromiser the method of Chinese water torture is mentioned suggesting that there was some familiarity with this torture method at that point and time in history. (Source: Wikipedia) 

Essentially the process of Chinese water torture involves the use of a machine that drips water onto the head and/or scalp of a captive for prolonged periods of time causing an extreme psychotic break due to anxiety and fear from the relentless never ending annoyance of the dripping water. 

The pattern of the drops of water are really designed to be irregular so that the subject of the drip can’t fall into a more comfortable meditative state by trying to predict when the next drop may be falling. With the irregular drip pattern the process is said to create more anxiety in the subject that is the victim of the drip which eventually leads to a psychotic break in the individual. 

Apparently the process of causing this mental break can take place in a matter of several hours which may seem like an eternity to the subject, but in reality that is a very short period of time.  

Now you’re probably wondering, Brandon why are you telling me about Chinese water torture? 

The reason I’m telling you about it is because the methodology stood out to me regarding how the irregular cycle of the dripping water wouldn’t seem to be a big deal to a subject for a while until enough cumulative cycles of irregular drips had time to pan out. 

You see the same thing can be said for our society’s inability to pay attention to the reality of circumstances that are happening right in front of them. 

The reality I’m referring to is the slow creep of complacency and comfort over time that has in and of itself served to be a distraction and its own metaphorical form of Chinese water torture within the construct of the United States for many years now. 

Therefore, when someone like me (or perhaps you) comes along to point out the problems of our society and the things that serve to diminish yours and my freedoms it’s much harder to get people’s attention. 

It seems that just like the subject in the Chinese water torture scenario that society also must experience more anxiety and discomfort over an extended period of time before society reaches its breaking point. 

Why do people not pay attention to the reality of what’s going on in front of them? Why does it take people having to get uncomfortable in life due to allowing big problems to fester instead of realizing that they need to start paying attention to the problems before they become so big that the point of no return is merely inches away? 

The answer is that the reason societies succumb to authoritarianism and totalitarianism is because the citizens get complacent allowing the creep of economic and bureaucratic enslavement to grow until this threshold reaches the point at which it breaks society…just like that last drip of water breaks the subject in the final agonizing moments of the Chinese water torture. 

The Wrap Up

The two big culprits consisting of the majority of the Vacuous American Minds that I referenced earlier including the youth being the target of Tik Tok and the Boomers being the target of the ASM lack a sound philosophical grounding of the world for the most part. 

I want to give the youth some grace as they were handed down more of a disaster from the Boomers where the Boomers were handed a wonderful environment of good times that many of them were able to cash in and grow on over the course of their lifetimes. 

However, now a large percentage of Boomers have succumbed to comfort and complacency and as a result lack a sound philosophical grounding of the environment. This is why we all find ourselves in the middle of a society that is in a total collapse with these people not even realizing the extent of it. 

This is why the Vacuous American Minds exist. 

This is why people don’t ask questions as to why inflation exists, why all of the ASM (FOX, CNN, MSNBC) are essentially the enemy of the people, and why it’s more important now than ever to get involved supporting alternative freedom first businesses. 

If you aren’t a victim of having a vacuous mind then ask yourself the following questions. 

What can I do to fight the current communist revolution? 

What congressmen have I contacted consistently to pressure to shut down the border and to cut federal spending? 

Do I know the difference between an establishment statist and a freedom first politician of which there currently aren’t many? 

What am I doing to support the freedom first movement? 

Finding answers to these questions is exactly why this show exists. 

This all may sound challenging and a bit difficult, but do you know what’s considerably more difficult? Allowing your country to be taken over by totalitarian scumbags that want to destroy everything you hold sacred is considerably more difficult. 

Learning the answer to these questions and being a Zenith requires consistent discipline, focus, and effort which is exactly what it takes to win this war. 

This show exists to rid the majority of this country from falling victim to being a Vacuous American Mind.

I hope you enjoyed today’s article/podcast.

If so I hope you would choose to support this platform as part of the patriot economy as well. Be an Emissary of Freedom and help to push this piece out to your friends, family, and coworkers.

One way you can do this right now is by joining me and giving me a like here on Public SQ. This platform is directly tied to the support of a freedom first movement by allowing you to line up your purchasing power with businesses that share your values.

In order for BOTH you and me to influence and strengthen our society we must not stay idle so please make sure you hit the subscribe and share buttons here below.

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“Fast is fine, but accuracy is final.”― Wyatt Earp

From a very young age, like many Americans, I’ve always been fascinated with the stories of the Wild West and the legends of cowboys, indians, and outlaws. From Wyatt Earp to Billy The Kid to Sitting Bull to me this is exactly what America is all about. 

These stories of the west not only exemplify everything that the United States represents with the vast differences of culture and people, but these stories also represent the rugged nature of individuals that were willing to live by their own rules and blaze their own trails in life even if that meant engaging in a dangerous journey, or even a fight that meant the difference between life and death. 

As the great actor Robert Duvall said in his speech at the National Cowboy Western Heritage Museum for his lifetime achievement reward “The English have Shakespeare, the French have Voltaire, and the Russians have Dostoyevsky. What do we own? What do we have?” DuVall replied “The western!”

Even though the current communist movement we’re experiencing across the country has tried to usher in a culture of rot to eliminate and revise the history of our country, these stories and the lessons we can learn from the era of our past are still what makes the United States so special. 

In fact, it’s my belief that those who are filled with envy and jealousy have always hated the United States for this very reason, which is exactly why they work so hard to silence, revise, and flat out lie about the history of the nation. 

The thing about the Wild West that I really love and frequently think about is the courage it took for men and women to take the long journey out west to the non-annexed territory enduring harsh weather, injury, sickness, and violent attacks from other cowboys, indians, and outlaws for the purpose of freedom and the opportunity to build a meaningful life. 

At that time the conditions on the western frontier were wild, unpredictable, and dangerous, but none of that slowed down their desire to lay claim to their own territory and to build life on the foundation of freedom no matter the risks that might have come along in order to try and derail them. 

With all of the chaos and violence that took place in the west one would have to ask if there was a way to overcome all of that chaos and it is said that the violent western frontier was indeed tamed and brought to heel. 

For the purpose of today’s discussion I’m going to refer to the instrument that was involved with taming the west and ultimately winning it. 

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Enter The Guns That Won The West

I want to give you a little insight on a key instrument, or more specifically a few key instruments, that were necessary in calming down all of the chaos that the Wild Western frontier was so infamous for within the fabric of our history and culture. 

Over the years there have been many firearms manufacturers who claimed the title for making the gun that won the West. 

Though I’m no firearm manufacturer I’m certain that as long as there are Old West devotees such as myself that there will always be debates about which gun deserves the coveted title of having been the one that won the West. In fact, you may have an opinion on that yourself. 

However, I recently came across this interesting piece from Widener's blog that points to the reality that there were actually multiple guns that were deserving of the title of having won the West. 

Although many people may take it upon themselves to name any single one of these guns as the one that brought the violent and chaotic Western frontier to heel, I'm still going to share with you a few very interesting facts about each one of these firearms here shortly. All I ask is that you listen closely and remain just a little patient as I work through these as there is a huge reason as to why I’m talking about the guns that won the West here on today’s episode. 

As the Widener’s blog points out, the best anyone can hope for is a list of influential guns that helped to shape those Western territories. Of course, this list will be subjective, but it will be clear to see how each of these weapons contributed to winning the West based on the usage, the overall numbers in circulation, as well as the famous personalities that gave each one of these a spotlight during the peak of their time.  

Regardless, here are five of the most famous guns of the Wild West. 

The 1851 Colt Navy Revolver

These cap and ball six-guns were among the most popular in the Old West. These were named for the Republic of the Texas Navy and there were over 200,000 that were manufactured between 1850 and 1873. 

Another interesting trait about these revolvers is that they were known for smooth handling and perfect balance. As a result these .36 caliber revolvers were popular among some of the most famous and infamous characters of that time. 

Just to name a few of the personalities that were fans of this revolver Robert E. Lee, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the outlaw John Wesley Hardin, gambler John Henry “Doc” Holliday, and James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok all used these revolvers in some capacity. 

These revolvers served to be one of the most popular handguns in the west and the demand and use of these continued on even after the modern cartridge revolvers were introduced. 

The 1866 Winchester Rifle

According to Widener's blog this rifle had a reputation with its tough construction and the production of that tough construction took place between 1867 and 1898. 

When looking at the assembly of this impressive instrument there were more than 170,000 of these .44 caliber lever action “repeating rifles” manufactured. Because of the spring-closed loading port on the right hand side of the frame it gave rise to the first reliable lever-action repeating rifle, the Winchester, model 1866. 

To name a few personalities that favored this rifle the infamous 1890’s outlaw Bill Doolan did along with Sioux (Lakota) medicine man Sitting Bull, the 7th U.S. Cavalry Scout Bloody Knife, and California Sheriff Harry Morse. 

In addition to this list of characters the rifle even earned favor with the Ottoman Empire as they desired the rifle so much that they purchased over five thousand of them in order to use them against the Russians. 

The 1874 Sharps Rifle

Manufacturing of the 1874 Sharps rifle took place between 1871 and 1881. One truly impressive fact about this rifle is that the production of over 12,000 of the various Sharps models were made from scratch. The Sharps factory would end up purchasing Civil War percussion carbines in order to make the rest. 

The 1874 Sharps rifle was a favorite among buffalo hunters as this rifle offered big game loads to get the job done. Additionally the Sharps cartridge was made up of three parts consisting of the powder, the bullet, and the case.   

The thing that set this rifle apart from the traditional Winchester or Colt cartridges were the varying sizes of its components which resulted in a unique caliber cartridge set when these components were combined. 

According to Widener's article the book of Firearms of the American West that was running between 1866-1894 summed it up the best pointing to the reasons behind the popularity of the Sharps rifle. The reasons were due to the line of cartridges that were designed for it. 

As an added note there were some big name proponents of the Sharps rifle which included the likes of the U.S. Marshall Bill Tilghman, during his buffalo hunting days, and Martha “Calamity Jane” Canary. One legend says that hunter Billy Dixon used a high caliber round in the Sharps to down an Indian at over 1500 yards at the Battle of Adobe Walls back in June of 1874. 

The Colts Dragoon Revolvers

The Colts Dragoon Revolver became the answer to the Colt’s Walker Revolver due to various mechanical and functional issues associated with that pistol. The Dragoon was the more durable and lighter option making it more useful and effective out of the saddle. 

Those formidable “house pistols” became the favorites of both Western horse soldiers and civilians. The production of these pistols took place between 1848-1860 and there were over 21,000 made. 

The .44 caliber Colt Dragoons were issued to the U.S. Army’s Mounted Rifle Troops and they carried them on the saddles. 

Some of the famous names that used the Dragoons were General George B. McClellan, California Bandit Joaquin Murrietta Carillo, and the one and only “Wild Bill” Hickok. However, historians generally agree he used a Colt Navy in his street duel with “Little Dave” Tutt. 

The Double-Barrel Shotgun

It’s a common theme that rifles and six shooters are the firearms that are typically referenced and given credit for having won the West. However, the double barrel shotgun was a staple as it was one of the most economical and reliable weapons of its time. 

This firearm was accessible to most everyone from cash-strapped settlers to lawmen and Native Americans who all appreciated the use and value of the twin barrel. 

The scatter gun may not have been the gun that many credit for having won the West, but these dependable hole punchers certainly helped to tame the West. 

So why did I go to the trouble to inject some firearm history on which ones were used to win the West in today’s episode? 

Well everything has context and in the context of yesteryear the non-annexed territory was full of rivaling prospecting settlers, cowboys, outlaws, and tribes of Native Americans. To put it in simple terms the lawless territory was full of chaos and lacked order due to the various competing factions of people who were out to pursue their own self-interests across the non-annexed territory.

It was because of these chaotic circumstances that the West had not yet been won, although there were several players on the chessboard who all had an equal part in fighting that out and resolving it over time. No, the land wasn’t stolen as it was both simultaneously claimed by everyone (including many rivaling Native American tribes) and not yet claimed by anyone. This was the ongoing struggle of the Wild Western Frontier. 

When I point towards the gun(s) that won the West I’m obviously referencing the Western frontier of the United States, however in terms of the title of today’s episode regarding Winning The West Again I’m not necessarily talking about solely winning the Western frontier of the United States, but rather I’m referring to winning over ALL of Western civilization again. 

That’s right, in the past three years since the virus came on the scene we’ve observed the acceleration of Marxists principles with the likes of bad politicians and globalists that have seemingly infiltrated every government of every country across Western civilization. 

As a result we are seeing the nations of all of Western civilization making decisions that make absolutely no sense at all in terms of their mandates, policies, and authoritarian orders. Some examples include the confiscation of farmlands in the name of climate change, rampant inflation due to getting involved in wars that serve the interests of their enemies more than their native land, attacking their own citizens while rewarding non-citizens, enforcing censorship of their own citizens, enforcing property theft of their own citizens, imprisoning political opponents, and the list of atrocities go on and on. 

As a major spotlight of this just look at the absurd criminal acts of how these communists are using lawfare to attack President Trump and imprison his cabinet members like Peter Navarro, who by the way is a good man and a rock solid patriot that is sitting in a prison cell right now. 

The reason I honed in on the various types of gun(s) that contributed to winning the West is because each of those served to be a game changing instrument during their time to bring order into a chaotic region for the purpose of giving everyone the opportunity to build a better life. 

Like the settlers of the Western frontier had to exhibit courage and struggle along their journey to tame the Wild West of the American frontier as we fast forward to today many of us citizens of Western civilization are facing a similar conflict. You and I are seeing and experiencing this with the global communists who are causing chaos across our land with their policies, laws, and mandates that are basically resulting in the national suicide of each of our Western nations. 

Like the settlers, cowboys, and Indians of the Wild West of the United States had to make a calculus of need with the use of the instrument of the firearm in order to win the West here we stand again in the 21st century with a similar problem. 

The Calculus of Need To Win The West

Like our ancestors had to figure out how to best utilize the tools and instruments in order to win the West, today we are starting to embark on a calculus of a need for other instruments based on our modern day circumstances in order to engage in the current political, economic, and culture war of today. 

With the rise of Populism we are figuring out that we can no longer rely on politicians in office to make the right decisions for the rest of society while we ignorantly go on about our daily lives without having to worry what those politicians are doing behind closed doors. 

The calculus of need is figuring out the instrument that will be effective and downright impactful on winning the West today and that instrument is YOU. That’s right, you are the instrument by utilizing your strategic decision making and actions to combat all that is related to the ideologies, businesses, politicians, culture, and institutions that are actively engaging in destroying the country from within. 

You see, in order to do this you first have to recognize that the West has to be won again in the first place which means that you have to recognize that global communists are at war with Western civilization and actively destroying it from within. The mandates, the media, the lawfare, the border invasions, the destruction of the currency, etc. are all tactics within the framework of a well thought out strategy designed to destroy the United States in a death by a thousand cuts scenario. 

You see the settlers, cowboys, and Indians had to select which gun suited their individual situations, whether that was a six shooter or double barrel for fighting a threat at closer distances, or a rifle for more long distance engagement with a threat.  

Utilizing this same logic you have to figure out which instruments you can use to apply to this modern day culture and political war whether it involves the use of information warfare with the creative use of memes on social media to clearly communicate a salient political point, or with your ability to share content from alternative media like this platform. 

Like the Sharps rifle was great for long distance shooting perhaps you’ve determined that your calculus of need is the use of your dollars to buy your products and services from freedom first businesses as you simultaneously stop giving your money to woke companies that hate you. Perhaps this seems like a long range shot, but like the Sharps rifle was built for this reason your dollars are an instrument built to do the very same thing in the arena of economic warfare. 

As an added example of how this is playing out we’re seeing population declines and businesses fleeing in major blue Democrat run cities and states. Just recently real estate investor Grant Cardone was just one example of many talking in his interview with FOX’s Jesse Watters about how he pulled out a 500 million dollar investment that was initially meant for New York City and transitioned that investment to Miami, Florida and the state of Texas after seeing how abusive the system in New York is towards businesses, particularly citing the Trump case. 

These sorts of actions are growing and as Cardone mentioned these behaviors in leftist run places like New York is causing an economic contagion where such investments being pulled out of Democrat run cities and states will continue to accelerate bleeding out growth and economic opportunity for these places. 

As cities such as New York continue to decline this contagion will catch on with individuals causing them to flee these locations as well to move to where the new business opportunities exist in the red Republican run cities and states. 

Now in one way this is a good thing because at least businesses have somewhere else to run to so that they can operate and thrive without the worry of the communists shutting them down. However, as cities such as New York City continue to decline to the point that the environment gets too bad even for the communist residents that voted for it in their own cities they can also decide to flee. The logical conclusion is that they will probably flee to places like Florida and Texas and if this happens once again this causes another concern. 

What concern is that you ask? 

Well if the communist leave the cities they managed to ruin and simply move to a red run city or state they can also vote the same way to ruin that city or state in the very same manner as the one they left.  

Remember that fully understanding your environment is essential to changing everything.

It's not enough that you just understand that there's corruption within all of our institutions and communist run blue cities and states.  

You must also understand the motivations that are driving the corruption in order to purge and fix the corruption that has infected our institutions.

If you only address the corruption without addressing the motivations behind the corruption then the Hydra will simply sprout a new head and continue operating the corrupt system that you so desperately wanted to fix, but you end up less motivated because the corruption and the ensuing communism remains motivated.

Let that sink in for a moment.

If you want to win the West you have to actively and consistently engage in the cultural, political, information, and economic war on a daily basis. You MUST be relentless with talking with other people, sharing the information, consistently educating yourself, and literally put it upon your shoulders that you’re going to set out to mold and influence the next generation of patriots each day that you awaken. 

This is what it takes in order for you to be a Zenith and to literally enact change that will force that political pendulum into the direction that it is supposed to go rather than chalking it up to the natural swinging motion of moving from left to right and just a little less right each time it takes a swing. 

With this ongoing economic, political, and culture war heating up more and more everyday you have to be a Zenith in terms of your understanding and being able to identify good reliable people from the Inimicus. 

To illustrate how to go about doing this you have to understand the enemy so that you can then identify the enemy combatant to in turn engage the enemy on the information, economic, and cultural front. 

As I was brainstorming how to go about doing this I randomly had a thought pop into my head with one of my favorite Sci-Fi action/horror movies. 

John Carpenter’s The Thing is an absolute masterpiece of a film when it comes to the raw special effects combined with a compelling storyline, as well as an awesome strategic lesson that we all can learn from that is based on the subject matter of today’s episode. 

In Carpenter’s 1982 film the story takes place in Antarctica with a group of American researchers who discover a hostile extraterrestrial being that has the ability to assimilate and then imitate other organisms. 

Once this is discovered by the researchers this obviously causes the group to be overrun with paranoia and conflict as they realize they can no longer trust one another. 

Because of the dissension and distrust among the group with trying to figure out who is human and who could actually be The Thing imitating one of the scientists, one of the main characters and helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady (played by Kurt Russel) comes up with an idea to easily identify who is who. 

To identify who is human and who isn’t MacReady formulates a theory. Because this alien organism prefers to invade and imitate its host he believes that this alien's survival is based on every part of it reacting towards a potential threat. 

In the scene where MacReady is holding everyone hostage he decides to put this theory to the test by drawing blood from every single individual and heating up a metal wire to press onto a culture of each man’s blood sample. 

By doing so he believes that normal blood would exhibit no reaction while the alien’s blood would react to the heat in some way out of its instinct and desire for survival. 

As he goes through samples of blood exposing one after the next to heat there initially is no reaction. Though some men show relief during this process others are becoming impatient until he finally exposes one sample that gets an immediate reaction with the blood literally jumping out of the culture and onto the floor to escape the heat. This immediately results in the alien revealing itself among the men in a harrowing scene that follows involving a fight for survival. 

The Wrap Up

So what was the point of me sharing with you these details of this scene from John Carpenter’s epic cult classic movie The Thing? 

I wanted to share with you the details of that particular scene with him using the blood test and the heating metal because it perfectly illustrates how R.J. MacReady used his ingenuity and problem solving ability in the middle of a dire situation in order to identify who was a friend and who was The Thing. 

You see, if we can frame the current environment that we’re living in into a similar context of being in a dire situation then you can look at the current political and cultural situation that you currently find yourself in and understand that you’re going to have to get better at identifying who is a friend versus who is The Thing (aka a Communist or a Communist light). 

I mean at this point it’s obvious that many individuals in the arena of politics, business, and culture like to try to assimilate and imitate just like that creature in Carpenter’s movie. They do this by using a lot of happy talk and language that sounds nice, but in reality this only serves to be a distraction while they continue to support disastrous ideas and actual policies that lead to the destruction of society. 

Now I’m not suggesting that you demand that politicians line up with a culture of their blood in order for you and me to apply a burning hot piece of metal to it to see how their blood reacts to the heat. No, that would be a stretch, but then again, perhaps it would be a good idea. Of course, I’m joking. 

The point I’m trying to make is that as a society we all need to get better at identifying where these politicians, businesses, and media personnel stand by forcing them more out into the open with their true identity. To do that there has to be some sort of test that you can implement just the way MacReady figured it out on that research station in Antarctica. 

So how can this be done? 

Well the one thing that’s at the center of gravity for everything in today’s world of business and politics is money, but as I clarified earlier regarding corruption this all has to do with corrupt money and the motivations that drive that corruption regarding both the payer(s) and the recipient(s). 

If the money is coming from hostile cronies, or flat out coming from foreign enemies and funneling to certain recipient(s) in politics, business, or media outlets then you can rest assured that these individuals, or entities are a dangerous creature. 

Now granted at this point it’s pretty obvious that the Administrative State Media (ASM) outlets such as FOX, CNN, and MSNBC are undoubtedly a dangerous creature because their funding comes from big name companies like Pfizer and other companies that are hostile cronies. Therefore, if you and I were on that research base in Antarctica with any of the hosts of these networks there’s no doubt the blood would be jumping out of that culture to escape the heat. 

I’m simply trying to illustrate and communicate to you the significance of the situation both you and myself currently find ourselves in. No, we’re not currently bunking down on some remote science station in the middle of Antarctica worried about how we’re going to identify a killer alien with chameleon-like ability, but right here in the United States in 2024 we might as well be. 

The only difference in that alien and its abilities to blend, assimilate, and imitate compared to our current societal situation is the fact that it was understood to be extraterrestrial in the movie and here in real life we know that the enemy exists right in our own neighborhoods and halls of congress. 

In order to identify the creatures that exist to burden your life today you have to look at who benefits from every political decision that is made and where the money is coming from. 

As an easy example of how to go about identifying the creatures, just yesterday on Thursday, March 28th 2024 in New York City you had three lifelong politicians with Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden to gather along with celebrities for a gigantic party and campaigning fundraiser for Joe Biden. Meanwhile Donald Trump was also in New York City, however he was invited by the family of a fallen police officer that died in the line of duty to attend his funeral. 

As you are able to make the identification of the dangerous creatures like I’ve demonstrated here in this example you can start to identify and formulate a calculus of need of what instruments you can use to work against these dangerous creatures. You can do this by being careful about what institutions you give your money to as they may take your money and turn around and donate to a campaign fundraising party like the one I just mentioned that took place yesterday in New York City. 

You may also identify an instrument for hammering away on a salient political point using an effective meme, an impactful short video, or a well written article that brings the receipts to communicate a sound point that cuts down the ASM narrative day in and day out. If you want to go even further you can become a precinct captain or even run for political office. 

The point here is that if you desire to Win The West Again, you cannot stay idle. You possess tremendous power as an individual citizen which is why it’s dire you start using that power now before it’s too late. 

We are winning the battle to Win The West Again, but winning the war is the goal and right now there’s no time for complacency.

I hope you enjoyed today’s article/podcast.

If so I hope you would choose to support this platform as part of the patriot economy as well. Be an Emissary of Freedom and help to push this piece out to your friends, family, and coworkers.

One way you can do this right now is by joining me and giving me a like here on Public SQ. This platform is directly tied to the support of a freedom first movement by allowing you to line up your purchasing power with businesses that share your values.

In order for BOTH you and me to influence and strengthen our society we must not stay idle so please make sure you hit the subscribe and share buttons here below.

Spreading messages like this one is how we influence our culture and I need your help in order to do it.

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“In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.”

― Barack Hussein Obama

So what are the three fights? 

Well I’m going to break all of that down for you, but I first want to lay the predicate here to give you some context. 

Whenever I read that quote from Barack Hussein Obama I’m immediately reminded of just how much he hates the United States of America. 

After all, whenever you love someone, or something, then why would you want to change it? To offer up the word change alongside something that you’re declaring that you love doesn’t make any sense at all. 

Furthermore, his so-called wife Michelle Obama said the following during her husband’s presidential campaign back in 2008 stating “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country.” (Source: The Hill)

To be clear I have no judgment towards anyone other than the judgment that they offer with their own words and actions. With that being said in both Michelle and Barack Hussein Obama’s own words it’s clear that they hated the United States of America at the time that both of them made these statements regarding change and pride. 

I mean in most circumstances when people tell me who they are I typically believe them. Granted these statements were uttered by both of these individuals several years ago when they were both just really kicking off their destructive reign in the arena of politics. However, as I sit here in 2024 looking back at everything that has occurred in the cultural, political, economic, medical, and national security landscape since these two came on the scene it’s obvious that they did (and still do) hate the United States of America. 

You’re probably thinking Brandon, how can you be so sure? 

I’d answer that by saying that since Barack Hussein Obama came on the scene as the President, along with his current successor being the dementia ridden corrupt politician that currently occupies the White House, it’s pretty obvious the country has considerably changed and not for the better. 

Politicians, like Barack Hussein Obama, Joe Biden, George Bush #1, George Bush  #2, the Clintons, Johnson, and Carter have all shared a common theme that most people fail to recognize. Those that fail to recognize this common denominator usually fail to recognize it because they don’t really produce anything in their own lives, therefore they lack immediate skin in the game to understand and recognize any immediate risks to them, or their well-being. However, for the rest of us it’s glaringly obvious. 

You see the thing that all of these past presidents share is that they have all managed to add tremendous burdens onto the backs of the American people through their bureaucracy and tax policies. They continue to layer one burdensome and detrimental policy on top of another over and over and over again. 

As they continue to sell out the country to foreign enemies (like the CCP) they gaslight the public, lie, deflect, and project their own feelings onto everyone else telling you that if you have a problem with what they offer that YOU are the problem. 

Of course, this sort of psychopathy has really accelerated under the current regime that occupies the White House in a way that I haven’t seen in my lifetime being 47 years on this planet. 

Everytime Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre steps in front of a camera the lies and dishonesty she relays to the American public are staggering. From her comments on the pandemic to her comments on Biden’s sharp mental capacity, as he’s caught daily shaking hands with invisible people, the whole thing reminds me of some of the most toxic abusive relationships you probably either personally experienced, or heard from a friend at one time or another.  

You know the scenario I’m talking about. It’s like the toxic relationship where the guy or girl constantly accuses you of wrongdoing when you’ve actually done absolutely nothing wrong, but they keep badgering you with their own insecurities over and over and over again because they themselves are such failures and insecure in their own skin. This is what the regime and the press secretary does to the American people daily. 

So as they badger you eventually there comes a day, a moment, and a time when you probably lash out and argue back out of anger and frustration. As you do this these psychopaths then look at you and use that as a means to prove that they were right all along given your outraged response. 

This is exactly why the American Psychopaths that occupy our government don’t deserve any compromise. The time for compromise is over. The only thing left is a collision course of political wills and your willingness to step inside Thunderdome and help ensure a victory as an Emissary of Freedom. 

We are literally at war and the question we have to ask ourselves is whether or not we’re going to step into the breach and demonstrate that rugged American Resiliency and Staying Power the way our founders did when they put it all on the line. Purging the Communists within all of our institutions is one of the three fights. 

The Thermidor Response

I came across this article by James Howard Kunstler that did a great job shedding some light on the Jacobin Revolution and thought it would be a great thing to summarize here in today’s episode as it directly applies to the events of today.  (Source: James Howard Kunstler)

After George Washington was successfully sworn in as president in April of 1789 the United States was starting to see some sunny days after a long dark hard fought Revolution, however our allies in France were far from seeing any light at the end of their tunnel of misery. 

The Bastille fell in July of that same year and that was followed up by many years of extreme violence as France would engage in many beheadings for years along with their society being plagued with violence and chaos. All of this led nowhere until an artillery officer by the name of Bonaparte managed to put an end to it through sheer force of personality. 

As Kunstler reminds us here surely you remember that France assisted America in our revolt against King George. Surely you remember the Marquis De Lafayette from your high school history class, or was his history already replaced by George Floyd? 

The point is that several Frenchmen were on the scene following the British surrender in Yorktown in the fall of 1781. Additionally several of the American Patriots were also on the scene in France as Thomas Jefferson was in Paris from 1784 to 1789, months after the Bastille fell. He succeeded Benjamin Franklin as he was serving as the minister there to negotiate trade agreements. John Adams was also there on-the-scene serving as our Ambassador and accompanying Jefferson. 

The point is that these American Patriots met daily and chatted endlessly with France’s major political players. At that time you would have thought that the people of France including the various elites that made up the public life with the royal, haut bourgeoise, lawyers, and generals would have taken a page out of the playbook of the American Patriots to apply to their own situation, but as we always observe both in history, as well as today, everyone that detracts from the values of the American Patriots and in God We Trust always manage to demonstrate how they can’t get their act together. This would prove to be the case here with France and they paid a huge price for it as well. 

As a side note we’re seeing the same issue today with the D.C. establishment, like the French elites, not listening to the will of the people until the will of the people keep dialing up the vocal and political pressure on them to do their jobs. Some are submitting to the will of the people while the others who don’t are retiring early. Either way we are forcing some much needed and overdue attrition within the ranks of our federal government. 

Now let’s get back to the main part of the discussion. 

Looking back to 1793 the Revolution was in full swing and King Louis XVI went straight to the guillotine in January. Looking inside the French political system the National Convention replaced the National Assembly as the furnace of political action. At this time the radical Jacobin faction of the government led by Robespierre and Saint-Just (yesteryear’s version of “the squad” and MSNBC)  coalesced into a majority and managed to seize power within the faction. Their platform became more extreme as the revolution marched towards an environment of pure insanity and pandemonium. 

With the Jacobins in power within one year they managed to turn the life of the nation completely upside down in their zealous journey to create a perfectly equitable society. They abolished the church while replacing it with what they referred to as the cult of the supreme being. 

If that wasn’t a big enough clown move on the part of the Jacobins the insanity went even further with their own version of a woke movement during their time in the 18th century. Buckle up and prepare yourself for some 18th century woke insanity on steroids which involved them changing the week from seven days to ten days, they changed the names of all the months of the calendar with 1792 being designated as “the Year One,” they put in price and wage controls while cranking out more money causing voila (monetary inflation), they confiscated grain from farmers across the country, and condemned somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000-40,000 political opposition leaders to the guillotine in their “Reign of Terror.” 

In simple terms the Jacobins made a bloody mess of literally everything and managed to anger a lot of countrymen in the process. 

However, by the time the summer of 1794 came around during their renamed month called Thermidor pretty much everyone had reached their critical mass of frustration concerning the Jacobins. On July 27, Robespierre was at the rostrum once again calling for more blood as he started denouncing his enemies much in the same way that MSNBC and Joe Biden says the biggest threat to America are white christian nationalists. You get the idea. 

However, there were some out-group members present there at the time and they weren’t buying Robespierre’s own cries about his vision of the end of democracy and so they started throwing food at him and shouting him down. This was the turning point as the shock had set in that the Jacobins had lost power. 

Just like that the chamber had fallen into a melee with a lot of shoving and shouting. It was at this point that Robespierre and his cronies were chased across town to the city hall (Hotel De Ville) and managed to barricade themselves inside.  

However, this didn’t hold as the mob managed to break through and arrest them. During all of this chaos and as the mob were forcing their way in amidst all the confusion a policeman managed to shoot Robespierre in his face resulting in the shattering of his jaw and as history tells us the very next day Robespierre, Saint-Just, and twenty of their associates ended up having their own appointment with “the national razor.” 

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This historical event involving the French Revolution became known as the Thermidorian Reaction. The point of this reaction is that the Jacobin reign of terror and social derangement would end up being immediately abolished by meeting a fate equally as terrible as the one they had thrusted upon everyone else during the Revolution. 

Once this had happened nothing like it was ever seen again until the Bolsheviks, the Maoists, and Khmer Rouge that came along in the 20th century.  However, right now with the Party of Woke Chaos being led by Joe Biden (and whoever is behind him) with his open borders, the destruction of our currency, the drive for censorship, the insidious use of lawfare, their Orwellian Newspeak, their lust for World War III, their race and sex hustles, and the destruction of every normal and decent boundary in everyday American life here we are looking at another Jacobin- like Revolution. 

As this wonderful article from James Howard Kunstler points out, America is heading towards its own Thermidorian Reaction. I believe we are on the edge of a huge cultural and political shift as we approach the climax of this chaos that has been ushered in by the current Woke mob of Communists. 

However, just as Newton’s third law states for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Because of this I believe we are fast approaching the critical mass of such a reaction that will kick back so hard that Communism in an ideological and metaphorical sense will face its day with the metaphorical guillotine within the Thunderdome arena of the American version of the Thermidorian Reaction 2.0. 

The American Patriots engaging the cultural and political arena is the second of three fights. 

The Mechanism of Action

Right now if you live in the United States you don’t have a country. Right now here in 2024 both you and I live in a post-constitutional era and that’s just a fact. 

Now having said that, we have one major opportunity to take our country back, but that opportunity starts with the upcoming election here in November of 2024. Bookmark this episode for the history books because this election is undoubtedly the single most important in the history of the United States. 

I’m not going to sugarcoat reality and the reality is that if Donald Trump doesn’t win the presidential election here in November this country is finished and will go the way of a Communist dystopian nightmare. 

Those who don’t see that are part of THE problem and that is an absolute fact. With that being said the national debt of the U.S. is 34 trillion dollars and counting. The federal spending is so out of control it’s directly contributing to the inflation you’re experiencing and is literally a Republic ending problem if we don’t get it under control. 

If the debt issue isn’t bad enough the invasion of illegals coming into our country at a record level is even more concerning in ways you may have not imagined. 

In fact, just recently on the Joe Rogan podcast author and guest Bret Weinstein took the time to shock Joe Rogan with his Dark Theory concerning the potential and more sinister reason that the Communists within our federal government are purposely allowing in millions of illegals with the mass invasion that the country is facing. (Source: YouTube)

In his interview with Rogan his guest Bret Weinstein goes into detail about different theories that he’s discussed within his circles as to why the Communist Biden regime is intentionally and actively organizing the mass invasion of illegals into our country. 

I mean aside from the usual theory that they will be used as a brand new set of Democrat voters for the Biden regime, Weinstein points towards an even more sinister and alarming theory as to why the invasion is happening. 

According to Weinstein he’s also heard talk about how the federal government is offering the opportunity of trading citizenship for military service with the illegals. Now as Weinstein points out  if you really slow down to think about the danger of this it is quite disturbing. 

You see this would be the case as these illegal young men of military fighting age coming from God knows where would be given citizenship in exchange for their military service and in doing so would be much more likely to follow an immoral order coming from above than an American born citizen soldier force. Even in today’s society an American born citizen force is still more likely to be raised with American values and stands a better chance of serving to resist a widespread immoral set of orders. 

The point is that here in this scenario you would have a freshly Communist infiltrated U.S. federal government with a newly established military consisting of its own mercenaries instead of a Constitutionally sound federal government with patriots volunteering to serve their country. 

I suppose the modern day Trojan horse is here and in full operation. 

Regardless, you may be sitting there thinking Brandon, that’s a bit dark and a little too extreme. Well, I’d say not so fast my friend. 

According to the AP they are already doing this as there was an article published from the AP back on June 11, 2023 that covers a young woman from Nepal signing up to join the U.S. Army Reserves in exchange to get fast tracked within the military program straight to legal citizenship. (Source: AP)

You see all of these issues that I’m bringing up are simply problems. So with all of these problems plaguing our society you have to ask yourself why are there so many of them?  

The answer to that question is really quite simple, but several people that may disagree with the political left, the Jacobins, or the modern day Communists and all of their proposed problems don’t want to hear the reason why all of these problems ACTUALLY do exist. 

To understand why these problems exist you and I must first understand why the political left keeps offering them up throughout history. What the left sees as a solution is really the complete opposite and this is because they have a completely different worldview than you or myself. 

Their worldview isn’t centered on the individual, but as Ayn Rand pointed out is more centered on the collective. However, because of this they are willing to destroy everything connected to individuality when it comes to self-improvement, personal achievement, and understanding the environment. They lack these abilities associated with the power of navigating life and recognizing that it starts with discernment, clarity, and acquiring understanding between the ears. 

Because of this mindset it’s easier for those who gravitate towards the far political left to more readily embrace the child-like need to have someone else, or something else to take care of them throughout life. Furthermore, like a child they will fight you to the bitter end if you don’t accept their view and allow them to get their way…even if this means they must use intimidation and force. 

This is why fear is used as the mechanism of control for those on the political left with the likes of the Woke groups such as Antifa, the Jacobins, and the modern day Communists. 

However FEAR is only a mechanism of control when you allow it to be. To clear this up I read a nice little story that clarified this pretty recently and I wanted to summarize it for you here. 

Once upon a time there was a young warrior that was striving to meet the challenge of overcoming his fear. 

The young warrior had a mentor that instructed him that he would have to face fear by going to battle directly with fear. To the young warrior this seemed to be a lot to ask and it was both an aggressive and scary request that came from his very well respected teacher. 

Even though the young warrior was hesitant his teacher made it clear that this had to be done and so the day came that the young warrior had to stand on the battlefield staring down fear itself. 

They both stood looking at one another holding their weapons and the young warrior would start to advance towards fear and stop himself in a few different attempts. 

Once he did this he finally spoke up and asked if fear was ready to do battle and essentially if it was ok for them to start. 

The fear replied by thanking the young warrior for showing the respect. The young warrior had done so because he felt small as the fear looked so large and intimidating. 

Next, the young warrior asked fear How could I ever defeat you? 

Fear replied, “My weapons are that I talk really loud, really fast, and I keep getting louder and more intimidating as you allow me to get closer to you. The closer I get to you the more afraid you will become and from that point I can get you to do whatever I say.”

In other words, if you simply refuse to give in and do what I say then I have no power. You can listen to me, perhaps even respect me, and even be almost convinced by me, but if you don’t give in to my orders I have absolutely no power at all. 

This was how the young warrior learned how to defeat fear in battle. 

The mechanism of control is fear, but you can be the mechanism of action to overcome it by simply not allowing it to control you. 

The third fight involves overcoming being idle in the battle with overcoming fear. 

The Wrap Up

You see the third and final battle I just covered there with fear is the one where we learn to exercise courage and along with courage action is the next thing that follows. 

Just like those out-group members that started throwing food at Robespierre at the rostrum you can see at that very moment Robespierre realized all of his loud ranting, intimidation, and whining had hit a dead end with the group of people who were present there at that time. As a result this brought an abrupt end to the insanity of the 18th century woke mob known as the Jacobins. 

Additionally, not only did those members speak out and hit back, but they rapidly transitioned from being in a defensive posture to immediately taking on an offensive posture as they chased the Jacobin faction down the street and arrested them. 

You see, that's the interesting trend that I always feel like I’m reading about in the history books. I mean if you pay attention to all of the horrible atrocities that have ever happened throughout every civilization in history it was because good people were way too tolerant of the bad people in the beginning. The Thermidorian response did happen, but not until after a ton of bloodshed, violence, and insanity after a year-long period where the 18th century woke mob literally turned France upside down tormenting it every step of the way.  

The same thing has happened right here in the United States as we have been overly tolerant since the Obamas were vocal about implementing their version of societal change that we’re seeing the result of right here and now in 2024. 

However, now is the time for you to engage in the information war by sharing content, speaking to others, and actively engaging to face fear head on. 

Remember that the fear grows louder in its attempt to intimidate when it’s at its weakest. 

Trust in God and know that these are the three fights and your refusal to give in to fear will strip the power directly away from fear along with all the troubles that would follow as you demonstrate your ability to be a Zenith and an Emissary of Freedom. 

Remember that courage is contagious and that is exactly the kind of pandemic that you want to start…a pandemic of courage by being a mechanism of action.

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“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”

― Winston S. Churchill

If you’ve been a regular reader or listener to this podcast and blog then you’d know that I’ve had an extensive background in the fitness industry. 

The reason I’m starting this conversation out with that statement is because in today’s episode I’m going to cover some aspects of how the lack of fitness, or more specifically in terms of the lack of strength in particular, is a huge marker on why we’re seeing the current decline in our society. 

When it comes to developing the strength of your body there’s a consistency that is involved where your mind is also unified in this effort. Strength is a broad term and can apply to being solely a physical trait, but strength is also about the development of the trait in terms of strengthening one’s mind and spirit. 

My career as a professional strength and fitness coach has been one that has given me tremendous insight on the observation of our culture as it has helped me to help people to develop stronger and more capable minds and bodies. 

However, it’s always been an interesting observation in the human experiment to give people instructions on what they should be doing with their minds and bodies only to have them not follow the advice that was given to them. When this happens this frequently leads to them coming back to seek me out for more advice which in turn leads me back to repeating the advice that I had previously given them in the first place.  

I’m certain I’m not alone in this arena as it’s just the reality when it comes to human nature. That reality is that most people lack the true discipline to follow instructions with intention and discipline until they’ve experienced the repeated frustration of failure and shortcomings over and over again by pursuing their own journey in their own way.  

When it comes to people in most cases they have to literally fail at most every turn before they start to realize that their efforts, their worldviews, and their beliefs just don’t work in the test of a real world application. 

I want to be straightforward here because when I make such a statement the same thing applies to myself. If it didn’t apply to me I wouldn’t be able to make such a statement in the first place. The reality surrounding this thing called the lived human experience is that mistakes are just going to happen. We live in an imperfect world, but our goals should be to strive to be as perfect as we can be inside of an imperfect reality. 

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Now having said that the point to life is that when mistakes, shortfalls, and setbacks occur we should be teaching people how to grow stronger from such scenarios by reminding them of what they learned from their mistakes instead of doubling down on filling their minds with a victim mentality. 

Teaching the victim mentality has been a growing trend that I’ve noticed firsthand in my industry in the past ten years or so and I would even argue that it’s contributed to a less healthy, more obese, and more disease ridden society due to people losing the ability to grow from their mistakes. This lack of growth in the face of adversity and poor choices is directly caused by removing the notion of personal responsibility and personal discipline. 

Since much of society has bought into the idea of not accepting and initiating personal discipline this in turn means that society has grown weaker as strength can only be acquired through personal discipline and accepting personal responsibility. 

People don’t like to say this because life is hard, but as the great Bruce Lee once said: Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. 

From Opposing Forces To Unifying Strength

To give you a heads up the following information is going to really get your attention. 

This is the sort of information that can literally transform both your mental and physical abilities and help you take your mind and body to the next level. 

Now I want to talk to you about the true definition and secret of strength. In terms of the type of strength I’m going to address here I’m referring to the application of your physical strength. 

I’m going to teach you something that I teach new students all the time and it’s a real application of the secret to physical strength that usually blows people’s minds whenever I meet them for the first time. 

First of all, I want to lay the foundation of this by explaining the definition of strength for you as it concerns the physical work of your human muscular system. 

Now the reason I’m doing this is to help to shed some light and understanding on this foundational principle for you along with it’s application for you in terms of its physical application, but I also want to progress further to illustrate to you how this philosophy can also be applied in the arena of mental, cultural, political, and societal applications as well. 

I will begin by asking: Do you know the definition of strength? 

I will give you a moment to think about it. 

The definition of strength is your muscle’s ability to produce tension and force for a given movement. 

Now when you focus in on that definition the two keywords that should jump out at you should be tension and force. You see when you tense a muscle that muscle is producing force and when you apply that force to a specific activity you now are readily engaging in an act of physical strength, or an act of physical motion. 

Now I want to give you a concrete example of how strength is directly applied to the scenario of your grip strength to illustrate to you the power of this in a single application of a real world physical example. 

In this example that I’m about to tell you it’s something that I’ve taught to many first time students over the years and it never ceases to amaze people once I demonstrate it by using your ability to increase your grip strength in a simple handshake example. 

That’s right, with this example I can literally increase your hand grip right now at this very moment…not six weeks from now…not ten weeks from now, but literally right now. 

Now I’m guessing I really have your attention. 

So you’re probably wondering Brandon, how are you going to do this?