Here Are the People Planning to Kill American Democracy

Dissent in Bloom - © 2026 Dissent in Bloom 

Peter Thiel's Secret Political Network Is Already Planning Life After Trump

When these people say liberal democracy has failed, they are not talking about the left. They are talking about the American ‘experiment’ itself.

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Apr 18, 2026

Rockbridge, Ohio is not a town. It is not a village. It is not, technically speaking, much of anything at all.

The federal government, which has an opinion about everything, classifies it as a census-designated place, which is the official term for a community that has 160 people, a post office, a ZIP code, and the good sense not to overstate its own importance.

You would not stop there unless you had a reason. And in the autumn of 2019, under the roof of an inn in a town that barely exists, several billion dollars of net worth — including Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance, Rebekah Mercer, and Chris Buskirk — sat down together and got to work.

See, 2019 was a very transformational year for J.D. Vance, if you happen to believe in coincidence. He moved to Ohio. He converted to Catholicism, and so began the formal process of political transformation that Peter Thiel had been architecting for years.

By 2022, Vance was a Senator. Peter Thiel’s $15 million got him there, along with other donations from billionaires and millionaires alike.

It started in early 2021, when Thiel personally walked Vance into Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump — whom Vance once referred to as America’s Hitler — for the first time. Time magazine’s account of the same meeting attributes it to the suggestion of Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump Jr., and financier Omeed Malik who all begged Trump to give one of his former critics a chance.

All people who are major players in this network today.

Vance had spent months before that building a relationship with Donald Trump Jr., who lobbied his father to endorse him. It worked. By 2024, Vance was Vice President. But none of that was the end goal, or the point.

The point, the thing the people in that room in Hocking County were actually building, is the end of American democracy as we know it.

I am not asking you to simply trust me. I am asking you to watch a clip of the Vice President of the United States, in his own words, on tape, from 2021, before he had any reason to be careful.

In September 2021, while running for Senate, Vance sat down with Jack Murphy, a ‘manosphere’ influencer similar to Andrew Tate, whose website once published the phrase, “feminists need rape.” This was not an accident of booking with a bad guy. This was Vance, on his way to the United States Senate, choosing his audience deliberately.

Here are some highlights from the interview, you can watch the full nearly two-hour interview by clicking here. Interview

In this interview, he name-dropped Curtis Yarvin, a blogger who had spent years building a following around a single core idea: that democracy is a failed experiment and should be replaced with something closer to monarchy. Vance goes on to say that universities need to be attacked honestly and aggressively. And then Vance described America as being in a “late republican period.”

Rome - If you did not study Roman history, here is what that means: Rome’s late republican period is the moment just before Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, defied the Senate, and made himself dictator for life. It is how historians describe the last days of a republic that did not know it was dying.

At the end of Rome, the institutions were still standing. The votes were still being counted. The Senate was still meeting. The republic was already over. It just had not made the announcement yet.

When Vance used that phrase in 2021, he was not reflecting on history. He was telling anyone paying close enough attention that the courts, the universities, the democratic norms standing between this network and total power were the Roman Senate. And that someone was already sharpening a knife.

He said all of this publicly, on an alt-right podcast, while running for Senate. Nobody important was listening. They counted on that, too. They love to tell on themselves in places they think we can’t hear them.

A Network Built to Last, Built to Hide

The network they built has no website, no public office, and no press releases. What it has instead is a structure, a deliberate and layered architecture designed to move hundreds of millions of dollars while leaving as few fingerprints as possible.

At the top sits Rockbridge Network, LLC. The business at the top is not a nonprofit, and it is not a PAC, yet it oversees dozens of entities that move billions of dollars through nonprofits, Super PACs, and a venture capital fund, most of it shielded from public disclosure.

Rockbridge was able to start because of initial funding from Rebekah Mercer, who was in that room in Ohio in 2019. She is the daughter of billionaire hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and directs the Mercer Family Foundation, overseeing day-to-day operations of the family's vast political ‘projects.’

She co-founded 1789 Capital and sits on the board of the Heritage Foundation, which created Project 2025.

She was a primary person behind Steve Bannon’s rise, a primary funder of Breitbart, and an architect of the Cambridge Analytica scheme. She wastes no breath on public pageantry; her purse holds all the eloquence she needs.

It’s a textbook example of the éminence grise dynamic — named after Père Joseph, the right-hand man to Cardinal Richelieu in the 17th century.

Historically, the most successful shadow operators realize that standing in the spotlight just makes you an easy target. And the network they created — Rockbridge Network, LLC — is a perfect for that as a private, for-profit limited liability company.

It is incorporated in Delaware because Delaware asks the fewest questions.

An LLC has no public disclosure obligation for its ownership. The people who actually control the entire operation are legally permitted to remain nameless, and they have taken full advantage of that permission.

Below the holding “parent” company, the Rockbridge structure fans out into a series of purpose-built vehicles, each with a different legal status and a different function to meet their goals.

There are four 501(c)(4) nonprofits that legacy media has named, a designation that allows them to spend on politics without disclosing their donors:

Better Tomorrow (EIN: 87-2086524): pays people to knock on doors and drive voters to the polls on Election Day.

Over the Horizon Action (EIN: 88-0696885): find new conservative voters, get them on the rolls, and make sure they show up.

Faithful in Action (EIN: 93-1558726): turns Sunday sermons into voter mobilization, using the church as a political organizing infrastructure.

Firebrand Action (EIN: 92-0533628): calls itself a journalism nonprofit, but what it actually does is fund polling that flows directly into RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight, the two most-cited polling averages in American political media.

Control the data, and you control what everyone believes is true

All four of these ‘nonprofits’ list the same phone number on their IRS-990 filings: 202-813-9118.

What Peter Thiel and his confidantes call a donor network, history may yet call something else entirely. PACs, Super PACs, advocacy groups, media firms, and fundraising vehicles scattered across multiple states, all connected by a single ten-digit thread that nobody was supposed to pull. But I did.

But the numbers make sense knowing that Rockbridge now holds semi-annual summits at Four Seasons hotels and the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne, where roughly 250 donors pay between $100,000 and $1 million each for a seat at the table.

Their annual budget is $75 million.

Buskirk and Omeed Malik have created a private membership club in Washington called Executive Branch, where Trump-supporting business leaders pay $500,000 a head to rub shoulders with cabinet officials. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has attended Rockbridge events.

So has the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

So has Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was gifted a $100,000 speaking fee from one of the network’s nonprofits (Over the Horizon Action) three months before he was confirmed to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Known members include: Marc Andreessen and David Sacks, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, PayPal Mafia co-founders Ken Howery and Luke Nosek, Blake Masters, and Tucker Carlson, who was in the room at that first meeting in Ohio. Each of them pays between $100,000 and $1 million a year for the privilege of being in the room.

The Super PAC's top donors in 2024 included Wisconsin roofing billionaire Diane Hendricks at roughly $11 million, Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren at $10 million, and Richard Uihlein, who funneled $2.5 million through his own Restoration PAC.

That same phone number also appears on the filings for American Mission Florida, a state-level PAC.

In early 2026, American Mission Florida received $3 million from Leading the Future, a $100 million Silicon Valley Super PAC backed by Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, built to push AI-friendly candidates into Congress during the 2026 midterms.

The money flows from Silicon Valley through a Super PAC in Henderson, Nevada, and lands in a Florida PAC that shares its phone number and compliance infrastructure with the Rockbridge Network.

Marc Andreessen is already a confirmed Rockbridge member. The same people keep showing up on both sides of these transactions, wearing different hats each time.

Architecture of Anonymity

I know this is a lot of data, and many of you are wondering, how does all of this money actually move?

Start at the top. A wealthy donor writes a check to Rockbridge Network, LLC. Because it is a private LLC, there is no legal requirement to disclose who that donor is. Their name never appears anywhere.

Rockbridge then passes that money down to Better Tomorrow, or another one of the 501(c)(4) nonprofits under their umbrella. Because of the way 501(c)(4)s work, they do not have to disclose where its money came from either. The donor has now disappeared behind two layers of legal protection.

From there, the “non-profit” sends grants to the other nonprofits in the network, like Over the Horizon Action, Faithful in Action, and Firebrand Action, or in friendly adjacent ones.

On paper, these look like separate organizations making independent decisions.

In reality, the same handful of people run all of them.

Chris Buskirk is an Arizona insurance entrepreneur most Americans could not pick out of a lineup.

He is president or leader of nearly every node in this network simultaneously. He runs the Super PAC, he founded the nonprofits, and he co-founded both 1789 Capital and the network itself.

In the words of Oren Cass — who was also in that room in Ohio — Buskirk is “the convener of that ecosystem.”

Janna Rutland is the network’s treasurer, the financial plumbing connecting the donor side to the spending side.

But Janna does not work for Rockbridge. She works for a company called the Crosby Ottenhoff Group, a political ‘compliance firm’ based in Chicago run by Caleb Crosby and Benjamin Ottenhoff.

What do they do? Well, PACs and nonprofits are legally required to name a treasurer on their filings. Crosby Ottenhoff rents one out.

Rutland is that person for Rockbridge, and many others. She is listed as treasurer on dozens of political organizations simultaneously, from Rockbridge’s nonprofits to Winning for Women to the White Coat Waste PAC to Save Our Country PAC and many, many more.

The phone number that appears on all those filings — (202-813-9118) — is not Rockbridge’s number. It is Crosby Ottenhoff’s number. That is why it shows up on hundreds of organizations. It is the compliance firm’s switchboard.

Rutland is not just signing paperwork. She is the financial plumbing connecting the donor side to the spending side of the entire operation.

She is treasurer of the Rockbridge entities and is also named on the filings of Red Eagle Media Group, which was paid $56 million by Republican political committees in the 2024 cycle to place their advertising.

Red Eagle is actually a Virginia fictitious business name for National Media Research, Planning and Placement, the same company implicated in allegedly illegal coordination between the NRA and the Trump campaign in 2016.

The Campaign Legal Center has already filed FEC complaints alleging that Crosby Ottenhoff ran “shell super PAC” arrangements.

Janna Rutland has no public profile and has never given an interview. Yet, she controls the flow of tens of millions of dollars, and almost nobody knows her name. In these types of operations, that is by design.

By the time the money exits the system as field operations, ad buys, or polling, it has passed through three or four entities controlled by the same two or three people. The original donor is invisible.

Every step is technically legal, and tax deductible.

Patriotic Capitalism

And then we of course, we have to talk about the venture capital arm of Rockbridge… 1789 Capital. The venture capital firm was co-founded in 2022 by Mercer, Buskirk, and Omeed Malik, with Donald Trump Jr. joining as a partner after the 2024 election. They call it “patriotic capitalism.”

By early 2026, 1789 Capital — which has over a billion dollars in assets now — has invested in roughly 30 companies. They say the fastest way to a man’s loyalty is through his wallet and his ambition. At 1789 Capital, they deal in both.

These companies include, but are not limited to:

Firehawk Aerospace: A startup that uses 3D printing to make rocket fuel in just a few hours, rather than the usual two months.

Hadrian: A company that uses AI to run automated factories for military and aerospace equipment.

Vulcan Elements: A small company that makes special magnets. Just three months after 1789 invested in them, the Pentagon gave them a record-breaking $620 million loan.

All three of these companies — which are linked to the Vice President of the United States and his friends — have millions of dollars in government contracts.

They are not separate events — but instead all connected — as AI needs rare earth minerals. You can’t build the chips, data centers, or energy systems without them, and China controls almost all the global supply.

Now remember this every time you see the Trump admin making moves on rare earth minerals and AI, whether it's Project Vault, the 2025 critical mineral executive orders, or the mineral deals they're cutting with countries like Australia, Japan, Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia.

Trump declared a national security emergency, which let him skip normal bidding rules and pour hundreds of millions in Pentagon money into companies like Vulcan Elements.

The catch? The presidents son's firm — 1789 Capital — had just invested in Vulcan three months earlier.

So, to review: Trumps son invested first. The Pentagon's hundreds of millions came three months later. No review, no competition, no questions asked. Your taxes, their profit.

Common Good Catholicism

There is one more thing the four nonprofits share, and it’s one of the most disturbing. Read the 990 filings. All of them have in their mission statements their goal is to, “further the common good.”

That phrase sounds harmless. It is not.

“The common good” is the central organizing idea of a political movement called postliberal common-good Catholicism, and it has a very specific meaning: that liberal democracy has failed, that individual rights have atomized society, and that the state must be redirected by a counter-elite who will impose a moral order from above, whether the public asks for it or not.

A professor named Deneen wrote a whole book saying America needs a new ruling class. Vance wrote an official blurb for his book, Regime Change:

"Deneen does more than show how our present ruling class has declared war on beauty, tradition, and the social institutions that make life worth living; he articulates a vision for a populist politics that can rebuild what has been torn down." — J.D. Vance

Vance is their ‘guy’ in politics. He converted to Catholicism, buddied up with the Heritage Foundation, and still name-drops Deneen publicly. Vance wrote the official foreword for Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts's book, Dawn's Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America.

And look at the language:

The old conservative money used words like “Prosperity” and “Freedom.”

The new right picks names like “Better Tomorrow” and “Faithful in Action.”

And before your eyes glaze over at the phrase “liberal democracy,” understand what it actually means. It does not mean progressive politics. It does not mean the Democratic Party. Liberal democracy is the system of government the United States was built on.

It is the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the separation of powers, free elections, individual liberty, and the idea that the government answers to the people rather than the other way around. It is America as we know it.

When these people say liberal democracy has failed, they are not talking about the left. They are talking about the American ‘experiment’ itself.

The 22nd & 25th Amendment

Members of Congress, from both parties, are formally calling for the President’s removal under the 25th Amendment.

The Rockbridge Network has been patient. They may not need to be patient much longer. The only thing standing between Vance and the Oval Office is Donald J. Trump — a man whose public decline the nation watches in real time, and who forms his understanding of the world primarily through whatever Fox News decides to show him that morning.

In September of 2025, Trump mobilized federal troops against American citizens because Fox News showed him five-year-old protest footage and told him it was happening now. Oregon’s governor had to call Trump personally to explain that the courthouse he thought was under attack was not under attack.

A man this responsive to whatever is put in front of him is not running the country. He is being run. What the ever-elusive Rockbridge Network has built is not a simply another dark-money political network. It is a succession plan.

If Vance reaches the Oval Office after January 2027, the 22nd Amendment allows him to serve nearly a decade.

I know what you are thinking. Vance is not electable. He isn’t as popular as Trump. And right now, you are not wrong. As of April 2026, Vance holds the worst approval rating of any vice president at this stage in office, a 21-point swing in the wrong direction since January 2025.

Rockbridge is not waiting for Vance to become popular. They are building a country in which popularity matters less than infrastructure.

Since 2021 — before Vance won the Senate on Thiel’s money — they have funded redistricting efforts, voter turnout operations in swing states, and litigation designed to rewrite election law.

Their own internal planning documents put $3.75 million toward rewriting election law, $3 million for what they literally called a “government-in-waiting,” and $6 to $8 million per state in Arizona, Nevada, and Michigan.

And this wasn’t some abstract plan. James Blair was running polling for the network’s nonprofit. He left to become Trump’s campaign political director. After the election, he got named White House Deputy Chief of Staff.

The guy went straight from the network into the West Wing. This is the Koch model, turbocharged and stripped of its libertarian pretense. Charles Koch publicly opposed Trump and lost his influence after 2018, and Rockbridge was purpose-built in 2019 to replace him.

They're not playing for the next election. They're playing for the foundation of every election after it. Trump was never the destination — he was the vehicle — and the people who were in that room in Ohio are still driving.

People love to comfort themselves by saying Rome wasn’t built in a day. They conveniently forget it didn’t fall in one, either. It crumbled slowly, imperceptibly, while very smart people stood around arguing over the acoustics in the Colosseum.

© 2026 Dissent in Bloom · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice

The Epstein List

A very interesting list although possibly incomplete.

"We believe we are the first outlet to report the COMPLETE list of all the billionaires mentioned in the latest batch of the Epstein files. And most of these meetings and interactions took place AFTER Epstein became a convicted sex offender in 2008." - By the NewsGirls, 

And of course, Donald Trump: the new files reveal some of the most vile accusations we’ve ever read against none other than our President. Allegations of sexually abusing children and being involved in murder. The worst complaints the DOJ received are here.

Elon Musk: many emails show Musk planning a trip to Epstein’s private island in 2012 and asking Epstein which night will be the “wildest party.” Musk has long denied ever going to Epstein’s Island so these emails throw that into question.

Richard Branson: we already knew he hosted Epstein on his own private Caribbean island, but there’s a new exchange following that 2013 visit. Branson wrote: “It was really nice seeing you yesterday…Any time you’re in the area would love to see you. As long as you bring your harem!” A spokesperson for Branson’s Virgin Group said that Branson was referring to the three adult members of Epstein’s team.

Howard Lutnick, Trump’s Commerce Secretary: He claimed he severed ties with Epstein in 2005 after walking into his house and seeing a weird massage table - but surprise! The new files show he made plans to visit Epstein Island in 2012.

Bill Gates: new emails show that Epstein alleged Gates got STD from Russian escorts and then asked Epstein for antibiotics he could secretly give to his wife Melinda without her knowing… we made a whole video about it here!

Steve Tisch, owns the Giants: new emails show Epstein scouted women for Tisch. In one 2013 email Epstein offered a Russian woman, to which Tisch responded, “is she fun?” Epstein also offered a woman from Tahiti to which Tisch asked if she’s a “working girl” and Epstein said “never.”

Peter Thiel, cofounded PayPal and Palantir: he appears in the latest batch over 2,000 times. Many of those are making plans for business meetings between 2014-2017, including a breakfast meeting that allows us to see Theil’s insane “confidential” dietary restrictions list.

Bob Kraft, owns the Patriots: new records show when he was arrested in 2019 for soliciting prostitution, Epstein coordinated his legal defense and coached him on how to deal with the PR fallout.

Les Wexner, founded Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch: we’ve known they were buds for a long time, Epstein was even his money manager. But in the new documents, Epstein hints at many shared secrets between the two of them, including saying “you and I had gang stuff for over 15 years.”

Leon Black, private equity founder who resigned in 2021 because of his friendship with Epstein: there are a bunch of disturbing new allegations against Black, including that he forced a young woman to perform oral sex on him while giving him a massage, and that he sexually assaulted another victim multiple times and threatened to ruin her life if she told the police.

Gordon Getty of the Getty family: the latest documents show he was way closer to Epstein than anyone knew, even calling Epstein “energetic, bright and personable.” And when Getty found out Epstein was accused of relations with minors, he replied, “well, we all have similar kinds of problems.”

Sergey Brin, co-founded Google: we’ve known for a while he went to Epstein Island because one of Epstein’s victims said she met him there in 2007. The new records show he corresponded with Ghislaine Maxwell a lot to set up dinners at Epstein’s New York townhouse, and sent her an ad for a 1950s aircraft carrier for sale saying, “thought you and Jeffrey might find it amusing.”

Mort Zuckerman, the editor in Chief of US News & World Report. New contracts show he made a $21 million payment to one of Epstein’s companies in 2013. And Epstein set him up with a 32-year-old Italian architect, asking if she was “too young, smart, and beautiful,” and if he’d prefer “more standard fare,” to which Zuckerman said, “sign me up ASAP.”

Reid Hoffman, founded LinkedIn: he appears in the new docs 2,500 times, including in a new photo on Epstein’s island. In 2014, he also sent Epstein two gifts: ice cream for “for the girls” and “something that may strike your funny bone for the island,” which was later revealed to be a sculpture of a little monster.

Marc Rowan, private equity CEO who Trump just appointed to the Gaza Board of Peace: we learned from the new files that he had many meals with Epstein between 2007 and 2016. And Epstein even had his assistant inquire about the details of Rowan’s $18 million private jet that Epstein considered buying.

Jimmy Buffett: we’d previously learned he visited Epstein’s island with Bill Clinton, but in this batch, we see the Buffetts were invited to the same ritzy event as Epstein, and that Epstein was planning to give Buffett a tour of his massive Boeing private jet in 2013, though we don’t know if that ever happened.

Josh Harris, owns the 76ers and the Washington Commanders: new emails show Epstein facilitated a $2.4 million payment from Harris to an administrative assistant in 2014, but there’s no context in the emails about what it’s for… Harris also had many meetings and meals with Epstein.

Mark Zuckerberg: he only directly appears once in the files- in a new picture Epstein sent to himself from an intimate dinner in 2015. It appears Epstein took the photo and you can see Elon Musk in the photo, too.

Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder fortune: new documents show Epstein helped set up a legal business vehicle that allowed Lauder to jointly purchase and own a $25 million dollar painting with fellow Epstein pal Leon Black. Epstein and Lauder also arranged to see each other a few times socially in 2017.

Ariane de Rothschild, a Swiss bank CEO: she had multiple meetings in Paris and New York and consistently corresponded with Epstein from 2013 until his death in 2019. In one exchange, Epstein even invited de Rothschild to stay at his house.

Glenn & Eva Dubin, hedge fund founder and his wife: we knew they were super close to Epstein since we learned they told his probation officer they would be “100% comfortable” having Epstein around their children…but now there’s a new disturbing 2010 email where Eva Dubin says to Epstein: “Come and visit next week. Celina will have 5 friends over.” Celina was their then-teenage daughter.

Tom Pritzker of the Pritzker family: new messages show Pritzker and Epstein had a social relationship from 2010 through 2019. After one hangout, Epstein wrote, “nice to see you, please come more often,” and Pritzker replied, “always fun.”

Larry Page, co-founder of Google: Page’s chief pilot contacted Epstein’s team in 2010 about borrowing Epstein’s helicopter over the holidays. Epstein was prepared to charge $56,400 for a one-week rental, but Page ultimately decided against it and traveled to St. Barts by boat instead.

Fred Ehrsam, founded Coinbase: the latest emails reveal Epstein invested $3 million dollars in during Coinbase’s initial fundraising in 2014, and he corresponded with Ehrasam to arrange a meeting about the investment.

And of course, Donald Trump: the new files reveal some of the most vile accusations we’ve ever read against none other than our President. Allegations of sexually abusing children and being involved in murder. The worst complaints the DOJ received are here.

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By the NewsGirls, see comments for links to documents and to support.

Do the Work: A Call to Action

Today, a dedicated group of United States citizens and residents are actively working to sabotage our country and our Constitution. To defeat this movement and preserve our Republic, we must first acknowledge the depth and breadth of these treasonous activities.

With over 8 million Patriots already demonstrating their concern in the streets, we have the numbers to make a difference. The request is simple: Choose a task and do it. There is more than enough work to go around. Our mission is to oppose these factions at every possible opportunity.

1. Run for Office

We must contest every elective office in the country. This includes:

Federal: President, Senators, and Representatives.

State: Legislators and state-level boards.

Local: City, county, and special district seats.

2. Vote and Protect the Polls

Register and Vote: Participate in every election for every office and ballot proposition.

Secure Voting Places: Work with local law enforcement to ensure safety. Report any instances of voter intimidation, harassment, or tampering immediately.

3. Immigration Defense

Educate yourself on immigration law. Learn how to legally stand up to ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies to ensure they do not operate unopposed or outside the bounds of the law.

4. Confront Sexual Predators

Identify and expose sexual predators, including those linked to high-profile cases like the Epstein records. Lobby law enforcement to arrest and charge these individuals.

A Grave Warning: Be aware of the risks involved. These individuals have proven they will go to the most extreme lengths to protect themselves. Prepare your family and your affairs—just as the Freedom Riders did in the 1960s—before engaging in this high-stakes work.

5. Boycott on May 1, 2026 - Show your power for one day: Refuse to do your work on May 1 - do not work, teach, attend classes, buy any product or participate in any activity which contributes to the national economy. 

Choose Your Task

These actions are only the beginning. Choose a task from this list or follow your own convictions to help preserve the Constitution.

Then, DO THE WORK.

Your efforts will likely be silent and unrecognized. There are no personal rewards. Your reward is the preservation of the Republic. That is the goal.

 

The Truth About the C. I. A.

[BTW: CENSORHIP IS REAL NOW]: 

Apologies to the author, I copied the text from a FB post but the author information had disappeared when I tried to get his name...I did not verify his assertions but present them here as I saw them. 

'The CIA wasn’t built by military intelligence professionals. It was built by Wall Street lawyers and bankers whose firms trace directly to the Rothschild network. 

Every connection below is documented.

1875: The Rothschilds, acting through their New York banking partner Jacob Schiff at Kuhn, Loeb & Co., begin financing John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Edward Harriman’s railroad empire, and Andrew Carnegie’s steel empire. Kuhn Loeb becomes the Rothschilds’ primary American representative. Schiff is later described in Congressional testimony as “the financial minister to the great impersonal power known as Standard Oil.”

1885: Paul Warburg marries Nina Loeb, daughter of Kuhn Loeb’s founding partner. His brother Felix Warburg marries Frieda Schiff, the only daughter of Jacob Schiff — Kuhn Loeb’s senior partner and the Rothschilds’ point man in America. Both Warburg brothers join as partners at Kuhn Loeb. Before coming to New York, both trained at N.M. Rothschild & Son in London. The two families — Warburg and Schiff — now control the Rothschilds’ American bank through marriage.

1911: The Dulles brothers — Allen and John Foster — are working at Sullivan & Cromwell, the most powerful corporate law firm on Wall Street. Sullivan & Cromwell’s most important client is Rockefeller’s Standard Oil — the company Kuhn Loeb financed with Rothschild money. John Foster Dulles’s wife is Janet Pomeroy Avery — a first cousin of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The CIA’s future architect is married into the family that the Rothschilds’ bank built.

1920s-1930s: Sullivan & Cromwell represents IG Farben — the chemical conglomerate that will later supply Zyklon B to Nazi death camps — and Vereinigte Stahlwerke (United Steelworks). Allen Dulles becomes a director of J. Henry Schroder Bank, which sits directly on the connection line between N.M. Rothschild London and the New York banking network. He also becomes a director of the Council on Foreign Relations in 1927. The future CIA director is simultaneously embedded in Rothschild-connected banking and the policy organization that will shape American foreign affairs for the next century.

1927: Eric Warburg — son of Max Warburg of the Hamburg banking dynasty — does business with Sullivan & Cromwell. He has previously apprenticed at N.M. Rothschild & Son in London. The Dulles brothers and the Warburgs now operate in the same transatlantic financial network, connected through the same law firm, the same banks, and the same family marriages.

1933: Allen Dulles meets Adolf Hitler in Berlin on State Department duty. He writes to his brother John Foster reassuring him that conditions under Hitler’s regime “are not quite as bad” as feared. Sullivan & Cromwell continues representing German corporations well into the Nazi period. The firm is profiting from both sides of what will become the deadliest war in human history.

1942: Allen Dulles joins the Office of Strategic Services as station chief in Bern, Switzerland. He uses his position to protect Sullivan & Cromwell clients on both sides of the war, smuggling their money through Swiss, Austrian, and Italian banks. He recruits the psychologist Carl Jung into the OSS. His mistress, Mary Bancroft, is simultaneously an OSS spy and a patient of Jung’s.

1945: Dulles offers SS General Karl Wolff protection from prosecution at Nuremberg in exchange for cooperation. Operation Paperclip begins importing 1,600 Nazi scientists — including men who used concentration camp slave labor and experimented on prisoners — into American weapons programs. The moral framework is established early: the CIA will protect war criminals when it serves strategic interests.

1946: General Vandenberg recruits Allen Dulles — now back at Sullivan & Cromwell — to draft proposals for a permanent intelligence agency. Dulles forms an advisory group of six men. All but one are Wall Street investment bankers or lawyers. They include Kingman Douglas and Paul Nitze from Dillon, Read & Co. — a firm whose founder socialized directly with John M. Schiff, senior partner of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Meanwhile, Dulles and Donovan create the World Commerce Corporation — a private intelligence front — with British intelligence chief William Stephenson and Nelson Rockefeller. A private spy network funded by the banking elite, operating before the CIA even exists.

1947: The National Security Act creates the CIA. Dulles has been closely involved in its design from the beginning. All seven known deputy directors of the early CIA come from the same New York legal and financial circles. Six are listed in the New York Social Register. The CIA is a Wall Street creation wearing a government badge.

1950: Lewis L. Strauss — a partner at Kuhn, Loeb & Co. for two decades — becomes financial adviser to the Rockefeller family. He later heads the Atomic Energy Commission, controlling America’s nuclear policy. A Kuhn Loeb partner overseeing American nuclear weapons. Kuhn Loeb is the Rothschilds’ American bank. The same network that built the CIA now controls the bomb.

1953: Allen Dulles becomes the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence. His brother John Foster Dulles is simultaneously Secretary of State — having served 15 years on the Rockefeller Foundation board and as its chairman. The National Security Council includes both Dulles brothers alongside Lewis Strauss of Kuhn Loeb. Two brothers from one law firm and a Rothschild-network banker running American foreign policy, intelligence, and nuclear weapons simultaneously.

1953: The CIA’s first major operation — overthrowing Iran’s democratic government in Operation Ajax. MI6 murdered Iran’s chief of police and dumped his body publicly as a warning. CIA-paid agents bribed politicians, clerics, military officers, and journalists. After the coup, Sullivan & Cromwell — Dulles’s own law firm — negotiated the redivision of Iran’s oil. BP retained 40%. American oil companies got significant shares. The CIA director’s law firm collected fees on the oil deal his agency made possible.

1953: The CIA creates MKUltra under Dulles’s direction. Sidney Gottlieb oversees 149 sub-projects across 80 institutions. The CIA operates brothels in San Francisco and New York where agents dose unwitting men with LSD and watch through one-way mirrors. At McGill University, Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron drugs patients into weeks-long comas, plays recorded messages on loop, and administers massive electroshock — many suffer permanent brain damage. The CIA pays $375,000 to build a wing at Georgetown University Hospital in exchange for access to “human patients and volunteers for experimental use.”

1954: The CIA overthrows Guatemala’s democratic government in Operation PBSuccess. The coup protects United Fruit Company’s land holdings. Sullivan & Cromwell had represented United Fruit. The CIA director’s law firm’s client gets to keep its land because the CIA director overthrew the government that threatened it. Guatemala descends into a 36-year civil war. 200,000 people die. The UN later determines the military committed genocide against the Mayan indigenous population.

1960: The CIA allocates $100,000 to assassinate Patrice Lumumba, the Congo’s first democratically elected Prime Minister. A CIA officer is dispatched with poison. Lumumba is tortured and killed. Mobutu takes power, ruling as a brutal dictator for 32 years while Western mining companies extract the Congo’s cobalt, copper, and uranium.

1961: The Bay of Pigs invasion fails. Kennedy fires Dulles. Kennedy reportedly says he wants to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.” Two years later, Kennedy is assassinated. Dulles is appointed to the Warren Commission investigating the killing — the man Kennedy fired now investigating the death of the man who fired him. Despite knowing about multiple CIA assassination plots against Castro that could implicate Cuban retaliation, Dulles never mentions them during the investigation.

1962: The Joint Chiefs of Staff approve Operation Northwoods — a plan to stage terrorist attacks on American soil, bomb American cities, and sink refugee boats, all to be blamed on Cuba to justify invasion. Kennedy rejects it. The document is declassified in 1997.

1964-1973: The CIA runs a secret war in Laos without Congressional knowledge. Air America — a CIA front airline — flies weapons in and, according to multiple investigations, opium out. Laos becomes the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. 270 million cluster bombs are dropped. 80 million remain unexploded today, still killing farmers and children.

1965: The CIA provides the Indonesian military with kill lists of suspected communists. The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta checks off names as people are executed. Between 500,000 and 1 million people are killed in the purge.

1973: CIA Director Richard Helms orders the destruction of all MKUltra files. Sidney Gottlieb personally oversees the shredding. The program is only discovered because a small cache of financial records survives in a different filing system.

1973: The CIA helps overthrow Chile’s democratically elected President Salvador Allende. Pinochet takes power. 3,000 people are killed. 30,000 are tortured. 200,000 go into exile. Operation Condor — a CIA-supported coordination of six South American dictatorships — kills an estimated 60,000-80,000 people across the continent.

1980s: The CIA funds Afghan mujahideen through Pakistan’s ISI in the largest covert operation in Agency history — $630 million per year by 1987. Resources flow to the most radical Islamist factions. The program creates the networks that later produce the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

1980s: The CIA arms Contra rebels in Nicaragua. When Congress bans funding, the Reagan administration secretly sells weapons to Iran and funnels proceeds to the Contras. CIA-backed Contras traffic cocaine into American cities. Journalist Gary Webb documents the connection to the crack epidemic devastating Black communities. Webb is professionally destroyed by the same media outlets with documented Mockingbird-era CIA relationships. He later dies of two gunshot wounds to the head, ruled a suicide.

2001: Despite tracking two future hijackers to a meeting in Malaysia in January 2000, the CIA fails to notify the FBI or add them to watchlists. The August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Brief is titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.” September 11 happens. The CIA’s Afghan blowback comes home.

2002-2009: The CIA operates black site prisons across multiple countries. Abu Zubaydah is waterboarded 83 times. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is waterboarded 183 times. Detainees are subjected to sleep deprivation for up to 180 hours, confined in coffin-sized boxes, slammed into walls, and subjected to rectal feeding. The 2014 Senate Torture Report concludes the program produced no unique intelligence and the CIA systematically lied about its effectiveness. The only person imprisoned is John Kiriakou — the whistleblower who exposed it. The torturers are never charged.

2003: CIA Director George Tenet tells President Bush the case for Iraqi WMDs is a “slam dunk.” The intelligence is fabricated. The key source, “Curveball,” later admits he made it all up. The Iraq War kills over 4,400 Americans and an estimated 200,000+ Iraqi civilians. Cost: over $2 trillion.

The chain:

N.M. Rothschild (London) trained the Warburgs. The Warburgs married into Kuhn Loeb (New York). Kuhn Loeb financed Rockefeller. Rockefeller’s law firm was Sullivan & Cromwell. Sullivan & Cromwell’s partners were the Dulles brothers. The Dulles brothers built the CIA. Allen Dulles sat on the board of J. Henry Schroder Bank — directly connected to Rothschild on every banking chart. The advisory group that designed the CIA included partners from Dillon Read — who socialized and did business with the Schiffs of Kuhn Loeb. The head of the Atomic Energy Commission was a Kuhn Loeb partner. They all sat together on the National Security Council.

Rothschild to Warburg to Kuhn Loeb to Rockefeller to Sullivan & Cromwell to CIA.

That’s not six degrees of separation. That’s a direct pipeline. And once it was built, the CIA overthrew democracies, protected Nazi war criminals, dosed civilians with LSD, operated brothels for blackmail research, provided kill lists for mass murder, trafficked drugs into American cities, armed the networks that became al-Qaeda, tortured prisoners in secret prisons, fabricated evidence for a war that killed hundreds of thousands, and prosecuted the one man who told the truth about it.

Every name above is real. Every date is documented. Every connection is in the public record. The question was never whether a shadow government exists. The question is whose interests it was built to serve — and the banking records answer that question.

——-

Want to read more about the Rothschild family? I wrote a 6000 word Facebook post last week and you can find it on my profile.'

 

Measuring Humanity: We kept our head down and did the work

It seems that my generation is dying out. We have a reputation as those who were focused on daily living, but we were more than that.

I am part of the Silent Generation in the United States of America and proud to be so.

'The Silent Generation refers to the demographic cohort born between 1928 and 1945. Positioned between the "Greatest Generation" and the "Baby Boomers," they are often characterized by their upbringing during the Great Depression and World War II...While the "Silent" label suggests a generation that kept its head down, their actual contributions to the mid-20th century were transformative. They didn't just witness history; they provided the intellectual and artistic backbone for the most significant shifts in modern society.' from Gemini AI

Most of us fought on two fronts: victory over Fascism and Communist/Socialism abroad and racism at home.

Both were actively trying to kill us, 24/7. We were their enemy.

Fascism offered stability, but delivered chaos and death. Socialism offered consideration for the well being of individual people more that did Free Market Capitalism which did not. But Socialism failed to provide the benefits it promised and collapsed in about 1990. Now we recognize that Capitalism and Free Market economies are better for most people, even though there are real problems in Capitalist free market societies: inequality, corruption and resulting policies favoring the ultra rich and wage market failure to provide decent livings for many.

Racism turned into Jim Crow tactics including lynching and church bombings, but we fought them as hard as we could. Some of us died. We were able to expand voting rights and we felt good about that. 

We kept our head down and did methodical work to create better lives for most. The stakes were very high. And, the efforts took whatever we had to offer and then asked for more. At least our kids had safety at home even though we had to live through the duck and cover drills in case of the Bomb. 

My focus has been on the economics of Communism and Socialism before and during the Cold War. The promise of Socialism enticed the populations of many countries to try that model as offered by the Soviet Union instead of the Free Market Capitalism model the United States offered. Both sides were aggressive in offering their model; that aggression killed many people on both sides. Finally the Socialist model in Russia collapsed in the late 1980's; that collapse left no doubt about the superiority of the Free Market model for most of the world's population. However, in Russia, governance turned away from offering Socialism as good for all the people and turned instead into a kleptocratic dictatorship. 

The United States of America has morphed into a nascent kleptocratic dictatorship similar to Russia under Putin. I hope we can end that and then restore our Democratic Republic.

Today in 2026 and in order to install the popular appeal of Socialism into a Free Market Capitalistic system, I have suggested installing an empathetic economic system to make most people's lives better. That system has detailed policy and practice proscriptions centered on the concept of creating the most jobs in a country as a means toward the end of creating better lives for people. 

My detailed suggestions are presented in my book EMPATHY IN ECONOMICS: THEORY, PRACTICE AND POLICY, Mike P. McKeever author, 2026, Amazon Kindle books.

 

The 'Silent' Generation Was Too Loud

According to Gemini, we produced some of the most influential figures in modern history, particularly within the Civil Rights Movement and the arts.

The Silent Generation refers to the demographic cohort born between 1928 and 1945. Positioned between the "Greatest Generation" and the "Baby Boomers," they are often characterized by their upbringing during the Great Depression and World War II.

Size: It is one of the smallest generations of the 20th century, largely due to the economic hardships of the 1930s and the uncertainty of the war years, which led to lower birth rates.

The "Silent" Moniker: The term was popularized by a 1951 Time magazine article. It suggests a generation that focused on working hard, playing by the rules, and keeping their heads down rather than leading mass protests or seeking the spotlight.

Economic Context: Many entered the workforce during the post-WWII economic boom, benefiting from the rise of the middle class, the GI Bill, and the expansion of the suburbs.

Notable Contributions

Despite their "silent" reputation, this generation produced some of the most influential figures in modern history, particularly within the Civil Rights Movement and the arts:

Civil Rights Leaders: Figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Gloria Steinem were all part of this cohort.

Cultural Icons: They shaped the mid-century cultural landscape, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and most of the original Beatles.

Political Impact: While they are the only generation in modern U.S. history not to have produced a President until much later (Joe Biden is a member of the Silent Generation), they have held significant institutional power for decades.

Contributions to social change, cold war, civil rights, popular music, protests, literature, jazz, pop music,

While the "Silent" label suggests a generation that kept its head down, their actual contributions to the mid-20th century were transformative. They didn't just witness history; they provided the intellectual and artistic backbone for the most significant shifts in modern society.

1. Civil Rights and Social Change

Members of the Silent Generation were the primary architects and foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. Growing up during the Jim Crow era and WWII, they applied the "double victory" (victory over fascism abroad and racism at home) to the U.S. legal and social landscape.

Leadership: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and John Lewis were all "Silents."

The Strategy: They utilized highly organized, disciplined non-violence and legal challenges to dismantle segregation.

Feminism: The "Second Wave" of feminism was led by women of this era, such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan, who questioned the domestic constraints of the 1950s.

2. The Cold War and Geopolitics

This cohort came of age as the Iron Curtain fell across Europe. They were the young soldiers in the Korean War and the early advisors and officers in the Vietnam War.

Technological Race: They were the engineers and astronauts behind the Space Race. Figures like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (both born in 1930) represented the peak of this generation's technical discipline and bravery.

Political Stability: They were known for valuing institutional stability, often working within the system to manage the nuclear tensions of the era.

3. Literature and The "Beat" Movement

The Silent Generation produced a literary rebellion against the perceived blandness of post-war life.

The Beat Generation: Writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg provided the "cool" counterpoint to the era's conformity, exploring Eastern philosophy and spontaneous prose.

The New Journalism: Authors like Joan Didion and Truman Capote revolutionized non-fiction, bringing a deeply personal and stylistic lens to reporting.

4. Music: From Jazz to the Birth of Rock

The transition from big-band swing to the raw energy of rock and roll was navigated entirely by the Silent Generation.

The Evolution of Jazz: The move from dance-hall swing to the complex, intellectual sounds of Bebop and Cool Jazz was led by innovators like Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Pop and Rock Pioneers: While Boomers were the primary consumers of 1960s rock, the creators were almost all Silents. Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and all four of The Beatles belonged to this cohort.

Folk and Protest: Bob Dylan and Joan Baez used music as a vehicle for social commentary, bridging the gap between traditional folk and the burgeoning protest culture.

Key Comparisons

Field Notable Silent Generation Figures

Civil Rights Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, John Lewis

Literature Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath

Music Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin

Science/Tech Carl Sagan, Jane Goodall, Buzz Aldrin

 

Evil and Darkness Descend

We are entering a period wherein the forces of Evil and cruelty descend onto our lives. It will get worse.

We did not ask for them and we do not want them. But, Evil and cruelty are here. My life, the lives of the people I love and the lives of most people will be impacted with death, pain, suffering, disease and torment.

I will feel both despair and anger most of the day, every day until they are both gone.

Until we can collectively inflict real justice and retribution on those who create the Evil and pain, I will try to protect my loved ones and myself by recognizing that the feelings are real and valid. I promise to make any decisions after the anger and despair have subsided so I can make any decision rationally and coldly toward ensuring those responsible suffer retribution equal to the misery they bring to others.  

Buckle. The fuck. Up.

Michael Parisi - Anti-fascist and proud

Iran has just ordered Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE to evacuate their energy facilities. The missiles are coming. They named the fucking targets on live television.

This is what 5D chess looks like when Donald Trump plays it. The guy walked up to the board, threw his queen straight into the middle, and got taken by a fucking pawn. And now he's sitting there telling everyone he's winning while the board is on fire and the table is collapsing.

Israel, with full US backing, bombed Iran's South Pars gas field today. The largest gas field on Earth. 70% of Iran's domestic gas supply. Shared with Qatar. All burning. And Iran's response? Cool, we're going to blow up every refinery from Riyadh to Doha. Here's the list. You've got a few hours. Run.

Now let's talk about oil. Because you're being lied to.

The headlines say Brent crude is at $103, $108. That is not the real fucking price. That's one benchmark. The actual aggregate global oil price, what people are really paying for crude right now, is sitting between $120 and $130 a barrel. That's the number they don't put on the front page because it would start a fucking panic.

Iranian officials have said openly they will push oil to $200. An Iranian economics professor said $300. Three weeks ago that sounded insane. Today it sounds like a fucking calendar reminder.

The IEA just confirmed this is the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. The largest. Ever. Gulf production has been cut by 10 million barrels a day. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. A fifth of all the world's oil used to flow through there. Used to.

And here's what $200 oil means for you personally.

97% of everything you touch, eat, wear, and use involves crude oil. Your food. Your medicine. Your plastic. Your fertiliser. Your transport. Your heating. Even your tomatoes from the farmers market. Grown with petroleum fertiliser. Picked by blokes who drove there in trucks made from crude oil. Delivered on diesel. Wrapped in petroleum packaging. That little sticker on the tomato? Petroleum.

When oil doubles, everything doubles. When it triples, civilisation starts to wobble. This isn't a recession. This is a fucking seizure.

You know what caused the Great Depression? Tariffs. Stock markets at all time highs. Reckless speculation. Sound familiar? We've got all of that. Plus an oil crisis that 1929 didn't have. This is the Great Depression with a turbocharger bolted to it.

And the slow-motion part is what kills you. This is one of those disaster movies where you see the shockwave rolling outward in slow motion. Glass shattering. Faces changing from confusion to terror. Everything stretching out in this surreal, horrible, beautiful slow-motion moment. That's right now. On every trading floor, every petrol station, every supermarket supply chain on Earth. The shockwave is moving. You can see it. And nobody can stop it.

Today alone, Israel ass@ssinated Iran's intelligence minister. Third senior official in two days. Iran fired multi-warhead missiles and cluster munitions at Tel Aviv. Two dead. The Bushehr nuclear plant took a hit. Dubai Airport got hit. The Australian base in the UAE got hit. Expats are fleeing Dubai on $250,000 private jets and abandoning their dogs in the fucking street.

Iran has spent 25 years digging tunnels, building underground drone factories, hiding missile launchers in caves along the entire coastline. America is dropping 5,000 pound bunker busters and Iran is still firing hundreds of drones and missiles every single day. You're not winning. You're punching a hornets' nest and bragging that the nest has a dent in it.

Meanwhile the Fed meets today and they're completely fucked. Can't cut rates because inflation is about to go nuclear. Can't raise rates because the economy is already cracking. Gold is at $5,000 an ounce. American petrol prices have jumped 86 cents in 18 days. That's not a spike. That's a vertical fucking line.

And we're only on Day 19.

This is what happens when 77 million people look at a convicted felon, an adjudicated r@pist, a twice-impeached insurrectionist who hid classified documents next to the shitter, and say yeah, give him the nuclear codes. What's the worst that could happen?

This. This is the worst that could happen.

Donald Trump didn't play 5D chess. He didn't even play checkers. He walked into the room, knocked the board off the table, shit on the floor, and declared victory. And now 8 billion people who never got a vote are going to pay for it at the petrol pump, at the supermarket, in their heating bills, and in their fucking retirement savings.

The wheels of disaster grind slowly. The bombs make the news but the economics make the history books. $200 oil doesn't kill you in a fireball. It kills you at the checkout.

Buckle. The fuck. Up.

Stop Measuring Growth. Start Measuring Humanity

 

 

Stop Measuring Growth. Start Measuring Humanity️

My new book: Empathy In Economics

Mainstream economics has a blind spot. We’ve focused so much on "Aggregate Supply" and "Capital Efficiency" that we’ve ended up with a world of stagnant wages, vanishing unions, and a political imbalance that favors the few over the many.

My new book, EMPATHY IN ECONOMICS, is the result of a 65-year journey to fix this broken lens.

Inside the book:

·         The 35-Policy Framework: A checklist for empathy in any political structure.

·         Global Analysis: Deep dives into the economic performance of 50+ nations.

·         The Jobs Theory of Growth: Why GDP is a hollow metric if it doesn’t create dignified work.

It’s time to move past the "Great Depression" mindset and build an economy that actually works for the people living in it.

 

Artificial Intelligence Retirement (AIR) Benefit

Seems the Billionaire rich boys want to replace educated working folks with a computer program. After all, the program does work for pennies, and those workers are really expensive. So, they'll lay off all of the pricey workers and make a lot more profits. It's the American way - lower labour costs and pocket the savings. 

As to what happens to the laid off workers, well, they'll just have to find their own way. It's a free market after all; they have lots of choices. It's not our problem.

BUT: That is NOT the American way.

We can do better, for the workers and for everybody. We all hurt when any large group hurts.

Let’s do this to balance the scale:

Congress passes a law which requires that every employee who is laid off and replaced by AI will receive 100% of his or her salary and benefits for a time equal to their time on the job up to a maximum of two years. During that time, they will be free to make any other plans they can. Any non-compete agreement is nullified. They are not required to come to the workplace for more than one day per week, and then, only if they agree to a request.

Call your Congressperson.............

EVIL Is Here. Call It Out. Resist It.

 

 Today in the United States of America we experience chaos and confusion and violence directed at us by our own government. Every day we experience historical and perhaps Biblical levels of EVIL. Somehow we are confused and/or afraid to call it for what it is. It is EVIL.

 

And, it is real; both LOVE and EVIL are real things in the world.

 

EVIL is like pornography in that it is hard to define, but we recognize it easily when we see it. We see and experience it every day. And, yet we hesitate to call it what it is. That hesitation is a mistake.

 

When we recognize EVIL, but we do not call it out and resist it, then we enable EVIL to spread.

Our duty is then clear – call out and resist EVIL whenever and wherever we see it.

 

About HATE: is HATE EVIL? I do not think that HATE is anything but a feeling which is not EVIL inherently but only becomes EVIL when a person who holds the HATE acts upon it to harm the person or persons who are the objects of the feeling.

 

Mankind has faced and resisted EVIL since the beginning of time. Today EVIL is still hard to define although it is easy to recognize.

 

One of the better definitions of EVIL is from a US Army Psychologist assigned to study what we could learn from the former Nazis at the Nuremberg trials after World War II. Here is what he said: 'In my work with the defendants [at the Nuremberg Trials 1945-1949] I was searching for the nature of evil, and now I think I have come close to defining it. A lack of empathy. It's the one characteristic that connects all the defendants, a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think is the absence of empathy.'  Captain G. M. Gilbert, the army psychologist assigned to watching the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials.

 

As a guide to further study, below are short discussions of some of the major religions characterizations of EVIL.

THE BIBLE:

Here’s what the Bible says about EVIL from Gemini, ‘Since the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, "exact" wording can vary by translation. For these quotes, I have used the New International Version (NIV), as it balances modern scholarship with readability.’

 

1. The Fall of Humanity

 

Genesis 3:4–5 - "“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”"

 

 

2. The Nature of the Adversary

 

Job 1:7 - "The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, ”From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”"

 

3. The Corruption of the Human Heart

 

 

Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

 

4. The Prosperity of the Wicked

 

Psalm 73:12 - "This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth."

 

5. The Strategy Against Evil

 

Romans 12:21 - "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

 

 

6. The Spiritual Dimension

 

Ephesians 6:12 - "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

 

7. The Progression of Temptation

 

James 1:14–15 - "But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

 

8. The Groaning of Creation

 

Romans 8:22 - "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."

 

 

9. Victory Amidst Trouble

 

John 16:33 - "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

 

10. The Ultimate End of Evil

 

 

Revelation 21:4 - "‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

 

The Quran

 

 

Here’s what the Quran says per Gemini: ‘In the Quran, the nature of evil is not viewed as an independent power or a "dark side" of the divine. Instead, it is framed as a functional part of the world's design—a tool for testing, a consequence of free will, or a lack of good. Here is a breakdown of how the Quran defines and explains evil:

 

 

1. Evil as a Test (Fitnah) - The Quran suggests that life is a deliberate "testing ground" where both good and bad are used to refine the human soul.

 

The Verse: "Every soul will taste death. And We test you with evil and with good as a trial; and to Us you will be returned." (Quran 21:35)

 

The Concept: Evil (pain, loss, or temptation) serves as a means for humans to demonstrate patience (Sabr) and reliance on God.

 

 

 

2. The Choice of the Soul (Nafs)

 

Evil is often portrayed as something "self-inflicted" or chosen by the human ego (Nafs). The Verse: "Whatever of good reaches you is from Allah, but whatever of evil befalls you is from yourself." (Quran 4:79)

 

The Concept: While God creates all possibilities, the choice to commit an evil act belongs to the individual. In this sense, evil is the result of misusing the gift of free will.

 

 

 

3. The Role of the Accuser (Shaitan) - Unlike the "fallen angel" narrative in some traditions, the Quran identifies Iblis (Satan) as a Jinn who was created with free will and chose to disobey God out of pride.

 

The Verse: "He [Satan] said, 'Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path.'" (Quran 7:16) - The Concept: Satan has no power to force humans to do evil; he can only suggest, whisper, and tempt. The Quran emphasizes that he has "no authority" over those who remain mindful of God.

 

4. Responding to Evil with Good - One of the most distinct Quranic ethics is the instruction to break the cycle of evil rather than retaliating.

 

The Verse: "And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend." (Quran 41:34) - The Concept: Evil is seen as something that can be neutralized by proactive virtue.

 

 

5. The "Privation" of Good

 

 

Many Islamic theologians, drawing from the Quran, describe evil not as a "thing" that God creates, but as a "lack" of something—much like darkness is simply the absence of light.

 

The Concept: For example, a lie is the "absence" of truth; cruelty is the "absence" of mercy. In this view, God is the source of all "being" (which is good), and evil arises where humans distance themselves from that source.

 

 

Buddhism

 

 

 

Per Gemini: ‘In Buddhism, the concept of "evil" is viewed differently than in Western monotheistic religions. Instead of a cosmic battle between a Creator and a Devil, the Buddha focused on Akusala (unwholesome actions) and Avijja (ignorance). To the Buddha, evil isn't an external entity—it is a psychological state that leads to suffering.’

 

1. The Three Roots of Evil (The Three Poisons) - The Buddha taught that all harmful actions spring from three specific "poisons" in the human mind. If you remove these, "evil" ceases to exist.

 

 

Greed (Lobha): Attachment, craving, and the desire to possess.

 

Hatred (Dosa): Anger, ill-will, and the desire to destroy.

 

Delusion (Moha): Ignorance or a clouded mind that cannot see the true nature of reality.

 

 

2. Evil as "Unskillfulness" (Akusala)

 

The Buddha often used the word Kusala (skillful) or Akusala (unskillful) instead of "good" and "evil."

 

The Concept: An "evil" act is simply an "unskillful" one. It is a mistake made by someone who doesn't understand that their actions will cause future pain for themselves and others. The Quote: "An evil deed is better left undone, for a misdeed torments one later." (Dhammapada, 312)

 

 

3. The Internal Origin

 

The Buddha was firm that no one can "make" another person evil, nor can they "purify" another.

 

The Verse: "By oneself is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself is one purified." (Dhammapada, 165) - The Meaning: Responsibility is 100% internal. You are not a "sinner" by nature; you are a person who chooses actions that either lead to peace or lead to turmoil.

 

 

4. Mara: The Personification of Temptation

 

While Buddhism doesn't have a "Satan," it does have Mara.

 

The Role: Mara is a celestial being who represents the distractions of the senses and the fear of death. - The Nature: Mara isn't trying to "win" a soul for hell; he is trying to keep the mind trapped in Samsara (the cycle of birth and death) by tempting it with temporary pleasures.

 

 

5. The Law of Karma

 

In the Buddha’s teaching, "evil" isn't punished by a judge. It is "punished" by the natural law of cause and effect. - The Analogy: If you walk in the mud, your feet get dirty. If you think or act with a "dirty" (hateful) mind, suffering follows you just as the wheel of a cart follows the hoof of the ox.

 

 

Red Book of Mao

 

Per Gemini: ‘In the Little Red Book (officially Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung), the concept of "evil" is not framed in religious, moral, or metaphysical terms. Mao does not speak of "sin" or "demons." Instead, "evil" is defined strictly through the lens of Class Struggle and Political Obstruction. To Mao, anything that hinders the progress of the Proletarian Revolution or harms the interests of "the masses" is what a Westerner might categorize as "evil."’

 

 

1. Evil as "The Enemy" - Mao simplifies the world into two camps: the people and the enemies of the people. Evil is personified by specific political classes.

 

The Concept: Evil is identified as Imperialism, Feudalism, and Bureaucratic-Capitalism. These are the "Three Great Mountains" that oppressed the Chinese people. - The Quote: "Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question of the first importance for the revolution." (Chapter 1)

 

 

2. Evil as "Reactionary" Forces - Mao characterizes "evil" as a stubborn, regressive force that refuses to give way to the new socialist order. He famously argues that these forces will not disappear on their own; they must be actively swept away.

 

The Quote: "Everything reactionary is the same; if you don't hit it, it won't fall. This is also like sweeping the floor; as a rule, where the broom does not reach, the dust will not vanish of itself." (Chapter 2)

 

 

3. Evil as Internal "Liberalism" - Mao also identifies "evil" within the revolutionary movement itself. He calls this Liberalism, which he views as a "corrosive" that eats away at unity and discipline.

 

The Concept: Acts like "failing to report someone's wrongdoing because they are a friend" or "working half-heartedly" are viewed as moral failings against the state. - The Quote: "Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension." (Chapter 24)

 

 

4. The "Paper Tiger" Nature of Evil- A core theme in Mao’s thought is that while evil forces (like Imperialism) appear terrifying and powerful, they are fundamentally weak because they lack the support of the masses.

 

 

The Quote: "All reactionaries are paper tigers. In appearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so powerful. From a long-term point of view, it is not the reactionaries but the people who are really powerful." (Chapter 6)

 

5. The Removal of Evil through "Purification"

 

Mao believed that "evil" thoughts (Bourgeois tendencies) could be cured through "rectification" and "criticism/self-criticism." He used a medical metaphor for dealing with ideological "evil":

 

The Quote: "Our aim in exposing errors and criticizing shortcomings is like that of a doctor curing a sickness; the whole purpose is to save the patient, not to doctor him to death." (Chapter 27)

 

 

Hinduism

 

 

Per Gemini: ‘In Hinduism, the concept of "evil" is not viewed as a singular, cosmic rebellion against God. Instead, it is understood through the lenses of Dharma (cosmic order), Karma (cause and effect), and Maya (illusion). Because Hinduism is a vast family of traditions, its explanation for evil ranges from the psychological to the mythological.’

 

 

1. Adharma: The Violation of Order - The closest Sanskrit equivalent to "evil" is Adharma. While Dharma is that which sustains the universe (righteousness, duty, and natural law), Adharma is that which unbalances or destroys it.

 

The Concept: Evil is not an independent "thing," but rather a state of being out of alignment with the divine order. The Verse: "Whenever there is a decline in righteousness (Dharma) and an increase in unrighteousness (Adharma), O Arjuna, then I manifest myself." (Bhagavad Gita 4:7)

 

 

2. The Three Gunas (Qualities of Nature) - Hindu philosophy explains human behavior through three fundamental "strands" or qualities called Gunas. "Evil" behavior is usually the result of an imbalance of these qualities.

 

Sattva: Light, purity, and wisdom.

 

Rajas: Passion, activity, and ego.

 

Tamas: Darkness, ignorance, and inertia.

 

The Application: Destructive or "evil" acts are seen as the result of a mind dominated by Tamas (delusion and laziness) or distorted Rajas (greedy ambition).

 

 

3. Evil as "Avidya" (Ignorance) - Like Buddhism, many Hindu schools (especially Advaita Vedanta) argue that "evil" stems from a lack of knowledge.

 

The Concept: We commit harmful acts because we suffer from Maya (illusion). We incorrectly believe we are separate from others and the Divine. This "ego-sense" leads to desire, fear, and eventually, violence. - The Solution: Evil is "cured" by Jnana (spiritual wisdom/realization of the Self).

 

4. Karma: The Self-Correcting System

 

In Hinduism, there is no eternal "Hell" overseen by a Devil. Instead, the universe is governed by Karma. - The Mechanism: Every action (Karma) produces a fruit (Phala). An evil act is essentially a "bad investment"—it creates suffering for the doer in this life or the next. - The View: Evil is seen as a temporary deviation. Eventually, through the cycle of Samsara (rebirth), every soul is expected to learn, exhaust its bad karma, and return to its source.

 

 

5. Asuras: The "Demons" of Myth - Hindu mythology features Asuras, often translated as "demons." However, unlike Western demons, Asuras are not inherently "fallen" or irredeemable.

 

The Nature: Many Asuras are depicted as powerful, highly intelligent, and even devout. Their "evil" is usually their unbridled ego and their attempt to seize power from the Devas (gods). - The Lesson: The battle between Devas and Asuras is often interpreted as an allegory for the battle within the human heart between our higher and lower impulses.