The Real America First Movement: Protecting investment around the world from the destruction of socialism and its tyrannical criminals

I’m very happy with the attack on Venezuela and the takeover of its industry by the United States. Rather than sit around waiting for everyone to come into our country to corrupt it, I would propose that we inspire in the world an America First agenda. That truly, America First isn’t about putting up walls and trying to keep everyone out, but to help make the rest of the world into what everyone wants in America, to free them from their oppressors. And this raid into Venezuela is a great “America First” means to help the world in very positive ways, the destruction of socialism as it has looted American investment in countries around the world. The United States’ strike-and-extraction operation in Venezuela is more than an arrest; it is strategic signaling in a world where cartels profit from governance vacuums and exploit international law to shield mass criminality. Robust action against drug networks—whether on the high seas or in hostile capitals—disrupts the illicit economies that otherwise corrode nations, capture bureaucracies, and fund terror. It synthesizes recent data from UNODC, CDC, DEA, Treasury/OFAC, and investigative reporting to show (1) the scale and dynamics of the modern drug trade (synthetics, cocaine, logistics), (2) how Mexico’s cartels embed inside state and local institutions, (3) Venezuela’s “Cartel de los Soles” and allied criminal architecture, and (4) how China, Russia, and Iran/Hezbollah link into the supply chain via precursors, routes, and laundering.

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I. The Moral and Strategic Case for Taking the Fight Forward

The global drug market has morphed into a polycentric criminal ecosystem—synthetic opioids (fentanyl, nitazenes), record-high cocaine production, and multi-vector logistics. UNODC’s World Drug Report 2024 estimates 292 million users worldwide in 2022 (up 20% in a decade), with 64 million suffering drug‑use disorders and only 1 in 11 receiving treatment; synthetics are rising, and cocaine supply/markets are expanding across three continents. 1 2 3 4

That scale translates directly into social devastation and leverage for violent groups. In North America, fentanyl and analogues became the deadliest driver of overdoses. The CDC’s provisional dashboard and 2025 statements show a ~27% decline in U.S. overdose deaths from 2023 to 2024—but still tens of thousands of deaths, with overdoses remaining the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18–44. This hard-won progress must not be surrendered to transnational supply chains. 5 6 7 8

Strategic necessity: Cartels and their state enablers exploit international law vacuums and UN bureaucracy to create zones of impunity. When the U.S. demonstrates capability—surgical strikes, maritime interdictions, special operations extractions—that is more than law enforcement; it rebalances deterrence across other negotiations (Ukraine/Russia, the Middle East, and Chinese hostilities toward Taiwan). The Venezuela operation (strikes followed by capture and transfer of Nicolás Maduro for narcoterrorism/cocaine importation conspiracy charges) exemplifies signalling power—warning states and non-state actors that use drug economies to fund aggression and terror. 9 10

Critics object on sovereignty grounds, yet Maduro and senior officials have faced U.S. indictments and sanctions for years (Cartel de los Soles allegations, coordination with FARC/ELN and major cartels, Treasury’s Kingpin actions against figures like Tareck El Aissami). The recent U.S. designation of Cartel de los Soles as an FTO unlocked authorities to crack down on illicit maritime flows before land operations. 11 12 13 14 15

Bottom line: Stopping mass poisoning is a moral obligation. Decisive action abroad reduces capacity, raises costs, and deters collusion—and it complements domestic overdose reductions already underway.

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II. What the Data Say: Scope, Trends, and the “Synthetics + Cocaine” Equation

Global scope. UNODC confirms record cocaine production and the spread of synthetic opioids (including nitazenes, even more potent than fentanyl). Drug production/trafficking now overlaps with wildlife crime, illegal mining, and fraud, reinforcing criminal governance. 2 1 3

U.S. public‑health trend. Provisional CDC data: ~80–87k overdose deaths in 2024, down from ~110k in 2023, with fentanyl deaths dropping from ~76k to ~48k. The decline correlates with naloxone scaling, medication-assisted treatment, and supply disruptions. 7 16

Supply chain pressure. DOJ/DEA reporting for 2024–25 lists millions of pills seized, ton‑scale fentanyl powder, dozens of cartel extraditions, and indictments of China-based precursor suppliers, reflecting link-by-link targeting (China → Mexico → U.S.). 17 18

Ports, not footpaths. Data analyses show most fentanyl seizures occur at ports of entry; the majority of smugglers in those cases are U.S. citizens or lawful entrants, underscoring that smarter port security—not conflation with irregular migration—is the key choke point. 19

Mexico’s violence footprint. Over 300,000 homicides in a decade, organized crime as the primary driver, with extortion and firearms crimes surging; public‑security spending is ~0.7% of GDP, far below regional peers—evidence of institutional strain and criminal entrenchment. 20 21

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III. How Cartels Hide Behind the State: Mexico’s Embedded Criminality

Mexico is the central case of cartels entwined with governance. Over the years, major organizations (Sinaloa, CJNG, Zetas successors) have fragmented, diversified (extortion, kidnapping, huachicol fuel theft, migrant smuggling), and embedded in local institutions. Interviews and analyses (FIU’s Evan Ellis; Atlantic Council charts) highlight pervasive extortion (millions of attempts; under-reporting ~97%), kidnapping/extortion spikes, and armed lethality amplified by smuggled weapons, drones, and tactical vehicles. 22 23

Human Rights Watch’s 2025 report flags high homicide rates, militarized policing, and judicial reforms that may weaken independence—conditions cartels exploit to preserve impunity. 24

Strategic reading: this is criminal state capture in slices—not monolithic control, but localized erosion of sovereignty. When the U.S. disrupts revenue streams (cocaine legs, precursor flows), cartels lose the cash that bankrolls political influence and violence.

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IV. Venezuela’s Criminal Architecture: The Cartel de los Soles and Allied Networks

For decades, Venezuela provided transit corridors and protection for multi-ton cocaine shipments—leveraging ports, air bases, and military/intelligence cover. U.S. indictments and sanctions detail state-linked facilitation, diplomatic documents for traffickers, and coordination with FARC/ELN, Sinaloa, Zetas, and Tren de Aragua, the latter now itself on U.S. terror lists alongside the Cartel de los Soles. 11 25 12

OFAC’s Kingpin action against Tareck El Aissami (2017) spelled out how airfields and ports were used to move shipments of>1,000 kg, part of a larger network of front companies and laundering. Subsequent State/Justice actions offered rewards, sanctions enforcement, and criminal charges for evasion—precisely the legal scaffolding needed to take down high-level facilitators. 13 14 26

The 2025–26 escalation—maritime strikes on drug boats, FTO designations, and ultimately land strikes/extraction—signals that the U.S. will deny sanctuary to regimes that operationalize narcotrafficking as state policy. 10

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V. The Iran/Hezbollah Axis in the Americas: Logistics, Laundering, and Venezuelan Haven

Analysts and U.S. testimony document Hezbollah’s Latin American footprint—not only ideological support, but practical money laundering and logistics, with nodes in free trade zones and networks focusing on cocaine proceeds. Venezuela has served as a hub, amplified by Iran–Venezuela ties (payback in gold/fuel tech, joint factories, propaganda). Budget shortfalls in Tehran push Hezbollah deeper into criminal finance. 27 28

Recent reporting and official statements suggest a heightened Hezbollah presence in Venezuela and policy intent to uproot it after Maduro’s capture—key for degrading hybrid narco‑terror finance in the hemisphere. 29 30

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VI. China’s Role: Precursors, Equipment, and the Post-2019 Shift

The fentanyl supply chain changed after China’s 2019 class-wide controls on fentanyl analogues; direct flows to the U.S. largely ceased, but precursor chemicals and pill‑press equipment continued to feed Mexican production. Congressional research notes dozens of analogues and ongoing international scheduling of key precursors (ANPP, NPP, 4‑AP, boc‑4‑AP, norfentanyl; later four‑piperidone). U.S. policy targets PRC-sourced precursors and financial flows. 31 32

Chinese white papers emphasize expanded domestic controls and multilateral cooperation—significant if rigorously enforced —but U.S. indictments in 2024 show China-based firms still advertising/shipping precursors to cartels. Bridging this gap—from paper to practice—is critical. 33 34 18

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VII. Russia’s New Cocaine Routes: The Banana Corridor and Post‑Odesa Diversions

With Odesa’s port constrained by war, traffickers re-routed Ecuadorian cocaine to Russia—where seizures jumped tenfold in 2023–24, often concealed in banana containers through St. Petersburg. Investigations by OCCRP, CBS/AFP, and others show multi-ton busts and Russia’s emergence as a transit hub for European markets. This matters because it reshapes cartel logistics, diversifies laundering, and complicates enforcement across Eurasia. 35 36 37 38

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VIII. The U.S. Play: Link‑by‑Link Pressure and Strategic Signaling

Law‑enforcement pressure: DOJ/DEA have extradited dozens of cartel figures, seized massive quantities of fentanyl, and indicted China-based precursor suppliers—evidence of an end-to-end strategy to break the chain. 17

Financial war: FinCEN’s June 2024 advisory tells banks how to spot precursor procurement (SAR key terms, pill presses), aligning finance surveillance with interdiction. Treasury/OFAC actions (Kingpin designations) freeze assets and deter facilitators. 39

Ports focus: Reorientation toward ports of entry (non-pedestrian smuggling modalities) is empirically justified and should continue with AI inspection, trusted shipper audits, and precursor controls. 19

Military signal: The Venezuela operation—and the prior maritime campaign against drug boats—alters risk calculus for regimes and gangs, conveying that sanctuary is not guaranteed when criminal economies intertwine with governance. 10 9

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IX. Statistics of importance (2024–2026 window)

• Global drug users: 292 million in 2022 (+20% over 10 years); 64 million with disorders; treatment gap 1 in 11 globally. 1 3

• Cocaine production & markets: Record highs; expansion to Europe/Africa/Asia. 2

• U.S. overdoses: Estimated ~80–87k (2024 provisional), down ~25–27% from 2023; synthetic opioid deaths ~48k (2024) vs ~76k (2023). 7 16

• DEA 2024 actions: 30M+ fentanyl pills and >4,100 lbs powder seized; 2,100 arrests; multiple Chinese company indictments (Oct. 2024). 17 18

• Ports of entry reality: Roughly 4 in 5 fentanyl smugglers at the southern border (2018–2024) were U.S. citizens or lawful entrants; focus should be on ports, not migrants on foot. 19

• Mexico violence: >300,000 homicides (2015–2024); organized crime remains primary driver; public security + justice spend ~0.7% GDP; extortion and firearm crimes rising. 20 21

• Russia route: 5.2 tons seized (2023–24), tenfold increase; repeated multi-ton seizures in banana cargo from Ecuador. 37 35 36

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X. Policy Framework: Deny, Smash, Seize, Deter

1. Deny Sanctuary

• Maintain maritime interdictions and special operations options against declared FTO networks and state facilitators. Use FTO designation to justify kinetic disruption when law enforcement alone cannot access targets. 10 12

2. Smash Logistics (Precursors & Ports)

• Push PRC enforcement from paper to practice: bilateral precursor scheduling completion (4‑piperidone set), export‑verification, and industry audits; follow with U.S. indictments when necessary. Pair with U.S. port tech (AI/analytics) to detect small‑volume, high‑potency flows. 33 31 18

3. Seize Money & Equipment

• Use FinCEN red‑flags (pill presses, die molds, unusual chemical purchases) and civil/criminal forfeiture; scale kingpin sanctions for Venezuelan facilitators and Hezbollah financiers (FTZ networks). 39

4. Deter State Collusion

• Maintain visible consequences for regimes weaponizing narcotics. The Maduro capture sets a precedent: narco‑terror as grounds for cross-border arrest and trial. Pair with diplomatic off‑ramps for post-regime transitions to restore lawful oil output and deny illicit funding to foreign adversaries. 9

5. Sustain Domestic Demand‑Side Gains

• Keep overdose momentum: naloxone saturation, medication-assisted treatment, Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) funding—because supply shocks work best when demand falls. 5 6

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XI. Answering Common Critiques

• “Isn’t this about oil?”

Oil matters—but the central predicate is narco‑terror, cocaine importation conspiracy, and state-backed criminality. Sanctioned regimes have used oil rents + criminal economies to entrench power; restoring lawful production under a non-criminal government reduces cartel financing, improves regional stability, and removes a strategic lever for Iran/Russia proxies. 11 30

• “International law says no.”

The counterargument is self-defense against non-state actors designated as foreign terrorists, aided and abetted by officials under prior indictments and sanctions; the U.S. campaign explicitly framed strikes as part of an armed conflict with cartels after FTO designation, then executed a law‑enforcement handoff in U.S. courts. 10

• “Focus at home first.”

We are—and we must do both. CDC data prove that domestic interventions are working, but global supply chains will re-route unless external pressure remains. This is two‑fronts: treatment/prevention at home, interdiction/pressure abroad. 5 6

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XII. Justice as Deterrence, Deterrence as Peace

When criminal economies become state practice, freedom erodes—first in the barrios and border towns, then in courts and media, and finally in the geopolitics that decide whether terror proxies project power in our hemisphere. The Venezuela operation—preceded by months of boat strikes and backed by years of indictments and sanctions—was smart policy because it reanchors deterrence: America can reach you; your sanctuary is temporary; your money will be seized; your routes will be broken.

In parallel, the U.S. must keep overdose deaths falling—the quiet revolution that saves lives every day—while systematically stripping cartels of their cross-border logistics, their state patrons, and their money men. That is how we protect culture, restore the rule of law, and signal to Russia, Iran, and China that the narco‑strategy is a dead strategy when the cost of doing business keeps rising. The best “America First” policy is to make American ideas the values of the world, and to stop messing around with all this global hand holding. If we are going to pay for everything, then lets insist that they do things our way. And where drug manufacture is most abundant, and supported by hostile countries who intend to see our people poisoned, and killed, we must take that fight to their doorstep. Which I more than fully support!

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Footnotes

1. UNODC, World Drug Report 2024—press and key findings: users (292M), treatment gap, synthetics & cocaine trends. 1 2 3 4

2. CDC, Provisional Drug Overdose Data (dashboard) and 2025 media statements on 2024 declines and OD2A. 5 6

3. U.S. DOJ/DEA, 2024–25 actions: seizures, arrests, extraditions; China-based precursor indictments (Oct. 24, 2024). 17 18

4. American Immigration Council, Fentanyl Smuggling at Ports—modalities and citizenship data (2018–2024). 19

5. Mexico violence + institutional capacity: IEP Mexico Peace Index (2025), Latin Times synthesis, HRW World Report 2025. 21 20 24

6. Venezuela narco‑architecture: DOJ indictments (2020, updated 2026) and U.S. FTO designation explainer (Al Jazeera); NDTV summary of newly unsealed charges; OFAC Kingpin actions vs. Tareck El Aissami. 11 12 25 13

7. U.S. escalation timeline and strike rationale: PBS/AP timeline; CBS coverage of capture & court proceedings. 10 9

8. Hezbollah/Iran in Venezuela: Washington Institute testimony, Senate drug caucus testimony, Fox/Jewish Insider coverage of policy intent post-Maduro. 27 28 29 30

9. China’s precursor role: CRS China Primer (2024), PRC white paper (2025) on domestic controls; U.S. indictments show residual illicit supply. 31 33 18

10. Russia’s cocaine corridor: OCCRP investigations; CBS/AFP report; Moscow Times/Newsweek coverage of seizure surges. 35 36 37 38

11. Financial system alerts: FinCEN Supplemental Advisory (June 20, 2024), focusing on precursors, equipment, and SAR flags. 39

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Annotated Bibliography (Selected)

• UNODC (2024): World Drug Report. Definitive global analysis of drug markets, users, and harms; details on synthetics and cocaine expansion. PDF press release, Key findings.

• CDC (2024–2025): Provisional Drug Overdose Data & Statements. Interactive counts by drug class and jurisdiction; context on overdose decline. Dashboard, Statement.

• DOJ/DEA (2024–25): Supply‑chain enforcement. Indictments of China-based chemical companies; cartel extraditions; seizure metrics. DEA press release, DOJ fact sheet.

• American Immigration Council (2025): Fentanyl Smuggling at Ports of Entry. Empirical breakdown correcting common misconceptions. Fact sheet.

• IEP / Mexico Peace Index (2025): Long-run violence metrics, institutional spending, and organized crime as the primary drivers. Press release; see Latin Times synthesis. Article.

• HRW World Report 2025—Mexico: Human rights context for security/militarization and justice reforms. Chapter.

• OFAC/Treasury (2017): Kingpin designation of Tareck El Aissami. Press release.

• DOJ/NPR/NDTV (2026): Updated indictments and unsealed charges against Maduro & associates; operational details. NPR, NDTV.

• PBS/AP Timeline (2026): Escalation sequence, FTO policy, maritime strikes before land operation. Timeline.

• Washington Institute / Senate CINC (2025): Hezbollah’s Latin American networks, laundering, and Venezuelan nodes. Policy analysis, Testimony.

• CRS China Primer (2024): Post-2019 shift from analogues to precursors and equipment; bilateral efforts. CRS.

• PRC White Paper (2025): Official depiction of China’s control regime for fentanyl precursors. White paper.

• OCCRP/CBS/Moscow Times/Newsweek (2025): Russia’s banana‑concealed cocaine corridor and seizure spikes. OCCRP, CBS, Moscow Times, Newsweek.

• FinCEN Advisory (2024): Financial‑system red flags for precursor procurement and equipment. Advisory.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Trump’s Marijuana Reclassification: Why It’s a Deal-Breaker

Trump did what he should not have done, and I can no longer support him the way I have for ten years. It’s time for me to move on to other things and people. To put it mildly, we’re talking about a Tree of Knowledge of Eternal Life issue, where pot is the snake in the garden, trying to push humanity to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God puts all these trees in the garden, but wants human beings to make free choices about what is best. And this is one of those kinds of issues. Can a plant be evil? Sure, it can; the snakes of the world will, of course, say no.

Donald Trump’s decision to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III is, in my view, a catastrophic mistake. It’s not just a technical change—it’s an open door for the cannabis lobby and progressive forces that have been pushing for mass legalization under the guise of “medical necessity.” This move mirrors the same vulnerability Trump showed during COVID: trusting white-coat experts who present themselves as saviors while advancing agendas that weaken society.

Cannabis is not harmless. It’s a gateway drug, a cognitive depressant, and a cultural detriment. Studies link marijuana use to lower IQ, impaired memory, psychosis, and increased risk of schizophrenia. Emergency room visits and traffic fatalities spike in states after legalization. THC potency has skyrocketed, amplifying addiction and mental health crises. These aren’t fringe claims—they’re documented realities.

The argument that marijuana is needed for pain relief is a false choice. We should be solving cancer and chronic pain at the root, not normalizing an intoxicant tied to decades of social decay and, yes, deeper occult influences that seek to compromise human clarity and autonomy. Legalization advocates have always framed this as compassion, but the real goal is control: a dulled, compliant population.

Trump thinks this is an 85% approval issue. He sees polls, not principles. But leadership isn’t about chasing popularity—it’s about protecting civilization from corrosive forces. On this issue, he failed. For me, it’s a deal-killer. I’ve supported Trump for a decade, but endorsing marijuana—even under the medical banner—is embracing evil. Ohio’s recent rollback of legalization shows the right path: resist the progressive push, restore sanity. Donald Trump’s decision to reclassify marijuana isn’t just bad policy—it’s political deceit. He waited until the Christmas season to slide this under the door, the same way Obama did with Obamacare, hoping conservatives would be distracted. He announced it right after addressing the nation and during the release of the Epstein findings, burying the story behind bigger headlines. That’s not leadership; that’s manipulation.

Why? To appease his new left-leaning allies—the Kennedy health crowd and cannabis advocates who’ve been pushing this agenda for decades. Trump gave them a bone, thinking it would broaden his coalition. But in doing so, he embraced a cultural Trojan horse. And the enemies of our nation are hidden inside, clapping because they see in Trump a sucker they easily manipulated and turned into their weapon of doom.

This isn’t about being rigid; it’s about survival. Drugs erode minds, and compromised minds are easy to control. Trump got played, and America will pay the price if we don’t fight back. What follows may be heavy on the legal terminology and statistics. But the evidence is quite extensive, and for those who need further proof, well beyond just opinion, well, here it is:

On December 18, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to expedite the rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the most consequential U.S. cannabis policy shift in over half a century (White House Fact Sheet, 2025; POLITICO, 2025). The action accelerates a process begun after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended Schedule III in August 2023 and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in May 2024 (CRS, 2023; DEA, 2024). While rescheduling may ease research constraints and alter tax treatment, it does not legalize recreational use nor eliminate associated public-health risks (POLITICO, 2025; All About Lawyer, 2025). But it is an open door to the pot advocates which is trying to ignore the evidence on neurocognitive outcomes, addiction epidemiology, psychosis risk, pediatric exposures and emergency presentations, and traffic safety to assess ethical and policy implications—using Ohio’s late-2025 legislative retrenchment as a case example (Ohio Capital Journal, 2025; Cincinnati Enquirer/USA Today, 2025).

President Trump’s order directs the Attorney General to complete rescheduling to Schedule III, aligning with HHS’s 2023 scientific review that recognized currently accepted medical uses for marijuana (White House Fact Sheet, 2025; CRS, 2023). Media and legal analyses concur that the order expedites but does not itself finalize DEA rulemaking—and thus does not legalize adult-use marijuana at the federal level (POLITICO, 2025; All About Lawyer, 2025). The DEA’s 2024 proposed rule explicitly states that even if marijuana moves to Schedule III, manufacture, distribution, and possession remain subject to applicable controls, and FDA drug-approval requirements still apply (DEA, 2024). At the same time, the executive order frames rescheduling as a research- and access-facilitating initiative (White House Fact Sheet, 2025). Which I propose is a declining state of any nation, once that path is opened to public acceptance.

2.1 Longitudinal Evidence of Cognitive Decline, the Dunedin cohort (n≈1,037) provides prospective evidence: persistent cannabis use beginning in adolescence was associated with an average drop of ~8 IQ points between ages 13 and 38, with broad impairments in memory and executive functions; reductions were not fully reversed by cessation (Meier et al., 2012; Nature News, 2012).

2.2 Methodological Challenges and Confounding, critics argue that socioeconomic and familial confounders may explain part or all of the observed IQ decline, warning against strong causal claims from observational data (Rogeberg, 2012).

2.3 Consensus Reviews. Authoritative reviews conclude that regular adolescent use is associated with deficits in learning, attention, and memory, with stronger evidence for harms among youths (Volkow et al., 2014 NEJM).

Cannabis can lead to clinically significant use disorders. Classic estimates report ~9% dependence among experimenters, rising to ~17% for adolescent initiators and 25–50% for daily users (Volkow et al., 2014). JAMA Psychiatry analyses found that past-year marijuana use doubled from 4.1% (2001–2002) to 9.5% (2012–2013), and nearly 3 in 10 users met criteria for a marijuana use disorder; overall past-year cannabis use disorder prevalence reached ~2.8% of U.S. adults (Hasin et al., 2015; Columbia Mailman School release, 2015). Prospective U.S. data link baseline cannabis use to elevated odds of subsequent alcohol, cannabis, other drug use disorders, and nicotine dependence, even when adjusting for extensive confounders (Blanco et al., 2016).

Case-control and multicenter studies associate daily use—especially of high-potency cannabis—with substantially higher odds of first-episode psychosis (adjusted OR ≈3.2 for daily use; ≈4.8 for daily high-potency), and estimate population-attributable fractions up to ~30% in London and ~50% in Amsterdam under high-potency exposure scenarios (Di Forti et al., 2019; King’s College London, 2019). Danish nationwide registry analyses (n>7 million) report that the fraction of schizophrenia cases attributable to cannabis use disorder rose from ~2% (mid-1990s) to ~6–8% since 2010; among young males, PARF estimates reach ~15% by 2021 (Hjorthøj et al., 2021; Hjorthøj et al., 2023). Critiques caution that genetic and environmental confounding may inflate causal interpretations; however, registry time-trend analyses and sensitivity checks strengthen the case that rising potency and heavy use contribute materially (Gillespie et al., 2019; ESPE Yearbook summary, 2022).

Following legalization in Colorado, pediatric poison-center calls and hospital visits for marijuana exposures increased, with edibles frequently implicated; rates roughly doubled in hospital data and quintupled in poison-center reports from 2009 to 2015 (Wang et al., 2016 JAMA Pediatrics; ScienceDaily, 2016). Subsequent analyses through 2017 confirmed continued increases despite packaging reforms (Clinical Pediatrics, 2019). Recent U.S. pediatric hospital-system data (2016–2023) show sharp rises in adolescent cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) emergency-department encounters, with higher rates in recreational-legal states, though increases occur in both legal and non-legal settings (Toce et al., 2025).

Meta-analyses indicate that acute cannabis use is associated with increased motor-vehicle crash risk—approximately 1.2–1.9 times higher odds overall, with stronger associations in fatal collisions and case-control designs; combined alcohol and THC further magnifies risk (Asbridge et al., 2012 BMJ; Rogeberg & Elvik, 2016 Addiction). Updated reviews summarize impairments in reaction time, attention, and lane keeping, and recommend conservative post-use waiting windows (≈6–8 hours inhaled; ≈8–12 hours oral) (Cannabis Evidence, 2025).

In December 2025, Ohio enacted SB 56, banning most intoxicating hemp outside licensed dispensaries, vetoing THC beverages, lowering THC caps, criminalizing possession of products purchased in other states, and tightening public-use rules—changes framed as child-safety and regulatory harmonization (Ohio Capital Journal, 2025; Cincinnati Enquirer/USA Today, 2025). Reporting notes that the law rolls back portions of the voter-approved 2023 statute (Issue 2) and may trigger legal and political challenges (WLWT, 2025; NORML, 2025). Ohio’s trajectory exemplifies how states recalibrate post-legalization to address pediatric exposures, product potency, interstate transport, and community norms (Statehouse News Bureau, 2025; APA Ohio summary of Issue 2, 2023).

Respect for autonomy is constrained by predictable harms to minors, vulnerable populations, and public safety. The empirical record—rising adolescent CHS encounters, increased unintentional pediatric ingestions, measurable crash-risk elevations, and signals linking heavy/high-potency use to psychosis—supports precautionary regulation even as research into therapeutic cannabinoids proceeds (Toce et al., 2025; Wang et al., 2016; Asbridge et al., 2012; Di Forti et al., 2019).

• Age-targeted prevention and potency controls: Restrict high-potency products for adolescents and young adults; fund longitudinal potency-exposure surveillance (Di Forti et al., 2019; Hjorthøj et al., 2023).

• Packaging, retail, and home-storage safeguards: Enforce child-resistant, opaque packaging; limit candy-like edibles; and conduct statewide campaigns on home storage (Wang et al., 2016; Clinical Pediatrics, 2019).

• Clinical readiness for CHS and psychosis: Resource EDs with CHS protocols; ensure early detection and treatment pathways for cannabis-associated psychosis, especially for young males (Toce et al., 2025; Hjorthøj et al., 2023).

• Impaired-driving enforcement and guidance: Invest in drug-recognition training, public messaging on waiting windows post-use, and integrated alcohol-THC deterrence strategies (Asbridge et al., 2012; Rogeberg & Elvik, 2016).

• Research integrity post-rescheduling: Use Schedule III easing to fund randomized trials and mechanistic studies; maintain transparency about limitations of observational data (White House Fact Sheet, 2025; CRS, 2023).

Rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III is a structural change that may boost research and alter industry economics—but epidemiologic signals argue for a prudential approach prioritizing youth protection, potency regulation, impaired-driving prevention, and clinical readiness for CHS and psychosis. The Ohio experience demonstrates that, after initial liberalization, states often recalibrate to safeguard public health. Policymakers should balance putative benefits against quantifiable risks, keeping protection of the vulnerable at the center of cannabis governance (Ohio Capital Journal, 2025).

The data piles on: youth brain changes from cannabis are lasting, altering connectivity in executive networks and reducing hippocampal volume.[11] Gateway effects, though debated, show associations where cannabis precedes harder drugs in sequences, with some studies finding fivefold increases in likelihood.[12] Societal costs mount—emergency visits for hyperemesis and psychoses rise, impaired driving fatalities involving THC climb post-legalization, and cognitive deficits compound into lifelong disadvantages. So, in many ways, marijuana is a gateway drug, in whatever form it’s presented, to a declining civilization, and a condition of individual integrity. The medical profession should be ending cancer, not yielding to it with pain relief. The goal should be to correct sickness, not bend the knee to pain and suffering. We should be eating from the Tree of Eternal Life. Trump got bit by the snake of deception here, and for me, it’s the off-ramp to continued support. I’ve stood by Trump on everything for over ten years, and more. But now, it’s time for all that to come to an end, over this issue. Because for me, there is no compromise with evil. Under any form that it presents itself. And marijuana under any form that its presented is evil. There are no blurred lines of consideration. Trump got suckered by the same kind of people in the medical profession who suckered him on Covid. And that isn’t forgivable.

Appendix: Cannabis Impact Metrics (Selected)

Metric	Finding	Population/Study	Key Citation
IQ decline (adolescent-onset, persistent)	~8 points from 13 to 38; broad deficits	Dunedin cohort (n≈1,037)	Meier et al., 2012; Nature News, 2012
Cannabis use disorder prevalence	≈2.8% past-year adults; ~30% of users with CUD	NESARC 2012–2013; national surveys	Hasin et al., 2015; Volkow et al., 2014
Psychosis risk (daily, high-potency)	Adj. OR ≈4.8; PAF up to 30–50% in some cities	EU-GEI multicenter case-control	Di Forti et al., 2019
Schizophrenia PARF (young males)	~15% in 2021; rising since 1990s	Denmark registry >7M	Hjorthøj et al., 2023; 2021
Pediatric exposures (Colorado)	Hospital rate ~2×; RPC calls ~5× increase	Colorado 2009–2015	Wang et al., 2016; ScienceDaily, 2016
Adolescent CHS ED encounters	Rates rose sharply 2016–2023	PHIS database, adolescents	Toce et al., 2025
Driving crash risk (acute use)	OR ≈1.2–1.9; higher with alcohol co-use	Meta-analyses 1982–2015	Asbridge et al., 2012; Rogeberg & Elvik, 2016

References

Asbridge, M., et al. (2012). Acute cannabis consumption and motor vehicle collision risk: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ, 344:e536. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e536

Blanco, C., Hasin, D. S., Wall, M. M., et al. (2016). Cannabis Use and Risk of Psychiatric Disorders: Prospective Evidence. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(4), 388–395. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.3229

CRS (2023). HHS Recommendation to Reschedule Marijuana. IN12240. https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IN/PDF/IN12240/IN12240.1.pdf

DEA (2024). Schedules of Controlled Substances: Rescheduling of Marijuana (NPRM). https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/Scheduling%20NPRM%20508.pdf

Di Forti, M., et al. (2019). Contribution of cannabis use to variation in psychotic disorder incidence across Europe. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(5), 427–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30048-3

ESPE Yearbook (2022). Development over time of PARF for CUD in schizophrenia in Denmark. https://www.espeyearbook.org/ey/0019/ey0019.14-8

Gillespie, N. A., et al. (2019). High-potency cannabis and incident psychosis: correcting the causal assumption. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(6), 464–465.

Hjorthøj, C., et al. (2021). Development Over Time of PARF for CUD in Schizophrenia in Denmark. JAMA Psychiatry, 78(9), 1013–1019. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1471

Hjorthøj, C., et al. (2023). Association between CUD and schizophrenia stronger in young males. Psychological Medicine. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/association-between-cannabis-use-disorder-and-schizophrenia-stronger-in-young-males-than-in-females/E1F8F0E09C6541CB8529A326C3641A68

King’s College London (2019). High potency cannabis linked to higher rates of psychosis. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/archive/news/ioppn/records/2019/march/high-potency-cannabis-linked-to-higher-rates-of-psychosis

Meier, M. H., et al. (2012). Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife. PNAS, 109(40), E2657–E2664. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1206820109

Nature News (2012). Drop in IQ linked to heavy teenage cannabis use. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2012.11278.pdf

Ohio Capital Journal (2025). Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs intoxicating hemp ban, new marijuana regulations into law. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/12/19/ohio-gov-mike-dewine-signs-intoxicating-hemp-ban-new-marijuana-regulations-into-law/

POLITICO (2025). Trump signs executive order to ease marijuana restrictions. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/18/trump-signs-executive-order-to-ease-marijuana-restrictions-00698021

Rogeberg, O. (2012). Correlations between cannabis use and IQ change in the Dunedin cohort are consistent with confounding. PNAS, 109(40), E2657–E2664. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1215678110

Rogeberg, O., & Elvik, R. (2016). The effects of cannabis intoxication on motor vehicle collision revisited. Addiction, 111(8), 1348–1359. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13347

Statehouse News Bureau (2025). Cannabis law changes, hemp beverage ban heads to Gov. DeWine. https://www.statenews.org/government-politics/2025-12-09/cannabis-law-changes-hemp-beverage-ban-heads-to-ohio-gov-dewine

Toce, M. S., et al. (2025). Emergency Department Visits for Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome Among Adolescents. JAMA Network Open, 8(7), e2520492. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.20492

USA Today/Cincinnati Enquirer (2025). Gov. Mike DeWine bans THC-infused drinks and products in Ohio. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/19/gov-mike-dewine-bans-thc-infused-drinks-and-products-in-ohio/87850131007/

Volkow, N. D., et al. (2014). Adverse Health Effects of Marijuana Use. NEJM, 370(23), 2219–2227. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1402309

Wang, G. S., Roosevelt, G., & Heard, K. (2016). Unintentional pediatric exposures to marijuana in Colorado, 2009–2015. JAMA Pediatrics, 170(9):e160971. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.0971

Clinical Pediatrics (2019). The Continued Impact of Marijuana Legalization on Unintentional Pediatric Exposures in Colorado. https://doi.org/10.1177/0009922818805206

All About Lawyer (2025). Breaking Update: Federal Rescheduling to Schedule III. https://allaboutlawyer.com/is-marijuana-federally-legal-breaking-december-2025-update-on-federal-rescheduling-to-schedule-iii/

WLWT (2025). Ohio Gov. DeWine signs bill with line-item veto on marijuana/hemp changes. https://www.wlwt.com/article/ohio-gov-mike-dewine-hemp-marijuana-laws-line-item-veto/69823362

APA Ohio (2023). Summary of Ohio Issue 2 (Adult Use Cannabis). https://www.ohioplanning.org/aws/APAOH/asset_manager/get_file/883288

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

I Don’t Like England Anymore: Compliant people are dangerous to thoughtful innovation

I’ve decided that I don’t like England anymore. I did like England when Brexit was the rallying cry—a nation reclaiming sovereignty, shaking off the European Union’s bureaucratic grip. Nigel Farage embodied that spirit of independence, and I could respect that. But who they are now, or have really, always been? That’s a different story. Since COVID, my view has shifted dramatically, and not without reason.

The pandemic exposed something deep in the English psyche: a cultural obsession with compliance. During lockdown, police in England enforced rules with a zeal that bordered on authoritarian. They issued over 120,000 Fixed Penalty Notices for breaches of COVID regulations, ranging from meeting a friend outdoors to traveling without a “reasonable excuse.” Officers even had the authority to enter homes and forcibly return individuals to their residences if they were found outside without justification.¹ This wasn’t just about health—it was about control. It revealed a society that values safety over liberty, process over spontaneity, and certainty over courage.

And then came the social media policing. In England today, posting the wrong thing online can land you in handcuffs. Under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988, police made 12,183 arrests in 2023 alone for “offensive” or “grossly offensive” posts—a staggering 58% increase since 2019.² That’s about 30 arrests every single day for speech crimes. Think about that. In a country that once gave the world John Locke and the principles of liberty, people are now being dragged from their homes for tweets.

Consider the case of Graham Linehan, co-creator of Father Ted. He was arrested at Heathrow Airport after returning from the U.S., his crime being posts critical of transgender ideology.³ Or the IT consultant who posted a photo with a shotgun during a Florida trip—police raided his home, seized his devices, and subjected him to 13 weeks of investigation.⁴ Then there’s Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine, who faced a six-officer raid over a sarcastic WhatsApp message criticizing a school official.⁵ These aren’t isolated incidents—they’re part of a pattern. The UK now has elite police units dedicated to monitoring online speech for “hate” or “extremism,” often targeting those with anti-migrant views.⁶

This is not freedom. It’s thought control. And the cultural soil that allows this to grow is England’s love of process—its obsession with rules, procedures, and certainty. They plan everything: the route to the gas station, the tea ritual, the itinerary for a simple drive. It’s a society that trades spontaneity for safety, adventure for predictability. That might sound quaint until you realize what it means in practice: a population conditioned to obey.

Even their illusion of free speech is telling. London’s Speaker’s Corner is often romanticized as a bastion of open dialogue, but in reality, it’s a monitored zone—a symbolic gesture that says, “You can speak here, under our watch.” Outside that corner, the state’s grip tightens. Arrests for silent prayer near abortion clinics, for tweets deemed “offensive,” for Facebook posts criticizing politicians—these are not anomalies; they are the norm.⁷ The U.S. State Department has even flagged the UK for “serious restrictions on freedom of expression.”⁸ That should alarm anyone who values liberty.

And while the state clamps down on speech, another force reshapes the cultural landscape: demographic change. The Muslim population in England has grown from 4.9% in 2011 to about 6.5% in 2021—roughly 4 million people—and is projected to reach 13 million by 2050.⁹ This isn’t just a statistic; it’s a transformation. In urban centers, Islamic fundamentalism finds fertile ground in a society already conditioned to compliance. When a culture is beaten into submission by its own government, it becomes vulnerable to ideologies that demand even stricter obedience. That’s not diversity—that’s a recipe for cultural collapse.

Contrast this with America’s founding spirit. The United States exists because people rejected monarchy, hierarchy, and the suffocating weight of tradition. They fled Europe’s kingdoms for the unknown, embracing risk and adventure. That courage—the willingness to live without guarantees—is what built America. England, by contrast, never shed its psychological chains. Even now, with a “token” King Charles, the monarchy persists as a cultural anchor, a reminder that the people are subjects, not sovereigns. That mindset matters. A society that wants to be ruled already has something broken in its DNA.

Brexit was a flicker of rebellion, a moment when England seemed ready to reclaim its independence. Nigel Farage gave voice to that impulse, railing against the EU’s bureaucratic overreach. But where is that spirit now? Drowned in lockdown mandates, speech policing, and a nanny-state mentality that arrests citizens for jokes. Farage’s Reform UK party still fights, but it’s swimming against a cultural tide that prefers process to freedom.¹⁰

I’ve tried to rationalize some affection for England over the years. I admired their bookstores, their literary tradition, and their politeness. My own family ties made it tempting to look the other way. But honesty demands clarity: England today is not a beacon of liberty. It is a cautionary tale—a society that traded freedom for safety, individuality for compliance, and courage for comfort. And the world is watching. When London becomes the attack vector for global liberalism, when its cultural weakness enables ideological invasions, when its police knock on doors for tweets, we should ask: Is this the future we want?

America must never follow that path. Our strength lies in the unknown, in the willingness to risk, in the refusal to bow. England chose differently. And for that reason, I can no longer admire what it has become. I would say that England has always been this way, and it has only excelled as a culture when it has endeavored to be more like America, as it did with Brexit. But remember, this is the same culture that literally tortured and killed William Wallace, the Scottish rebel shown so well in the movie Braveheart. When they killed him, to quell any future rebellions, they gutted him in front of the crowd and burned his intestines while he was still alive. After they cut off his head after a very torturous death, they cut up his body and sent his arms and legs to the far reaches of the kingdom. And they put his head on a pike on London Bridge and kept it there for a long time. To remind people of what would happen to other rebels should they think to take the same path. And that same behavior is present in their policing of social media posts. Any culture that is willing to put up with that kind of oppression is not a good culture for the world. And that is the value system they seem to support most: compliance with authority over freedom of thought. English culture is built on compliance, and history shows us over an extended period what a disaster that is. Which is why I no longer like or respect England and its role in the world.

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Footnotes:

¹ UK lockdown enforcement: Fixed Penalty Notices and home entry powers 1 2 3

² Arrest statistics under Section 127 and the Malicious Communications Act 4

³ Graham Linehan case 5 6

⁴ IT consultant arrested over Florida photo 5

⁵ Maxie Allen & Rosalind Levine WhatsApp raid 4

⁶ Elite units monitoring online speech 7

⁷ Arrests for silent prayer and speech restrictions 8 9

⁸ U.S. State Department criticism of UK free speech limits 9

⁹ Muslim population growth and projections 10 11

¹⁰ Farage and Reform UK political context 12 13

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Dumping Biden’s Autopen Executive Orders: Destroying the silent insurrection by institutional manipulation

From a position of principled dissent, one must assert: it is both appropriate and necessary for President Trump to rescind the executive orders and other instruments signed by President Biden via autopen. This move is not a partisan slight against Biden himself—instead, it’s a justified protest against the institutional apparatus that hijacked executive authority during his presidency.

Trump’s decision signals a break with what has become a “fourth branch” of government. Bureaucrats, intelligence officials, and political operatives effectively commandeered presidential power behind the scenes, wearing its cloak while burying proper accountability. If MAGA goes silent—if it ceases to challenge the corruptive center of institutionalism—that deviation will be permanent. The people’s voice, once quieted by the elite through procedural manipulation, seldom returns.

Rooted in ancient traditions, the MAGA movement echoes the Teacher of Righteousness dissenters described in the Damascus Document of the Dead Sea Scrolls: insurgents who arise whenever authority no longer serves its constituents but rather entangles them in webs of venality. These protestations are not aberrations; they are hardwired into human nature and political life. Revolts are rhetoric, yes—but when discourse fails, and trust is broken, they become relentless, even righteous rebellion.

This moment is not historically unique. We are neither living through an aberration nor an anomaly—we are participating in a time-tested cycle of institutional decay and public backlash. Unless actively disrupted, this cycle does not correct itself. It requires decisive, uncompromising change.

Consider the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in 2020, it became a vehicle for global actors to consolidate control—governmental, financial, technological—and push bio-political frameworks that were as deadly as they were deceptive. Millions perished under directives engineered from the top. Those who operate these levers today are leveraging their power to set conditions for continued control—some of which may require enduring Trump another three years, or at least until 2028.

Biden did not genuinely win control—an elaborate maneuver of autopen, election doubt, and pandemic-induced panic that carried over into his administration. This isn’t about policy disagreement; it’s about the subversion of election integrity and democratic process. The Republican moderates—the power brokers in both parties—are complicit. They reap the financial rewards of insider governance even as they masquerade as safeguards of free enterprise.

The result is a system in which corporate power is maintained not by competitive markets but by governmental decree. Industry giants lobby, they legislate, and they leverage regulated advantage into an immovable monopoly. This is neither capitalism nor democracy—it is centralized privilege.

Trump was placed in office to correct this—not because of policy disagreements but due to the growing realization that the system had mutated into an oligarchy, one that served the same servile beneficiaries from Washington to Wall Street.

But removing Trump in the middle of the purging process transformed what should have been a transitional restoration into something dangerously uncertain. The institutionalists within government, sensing their loss, have regrouped. Joe Biden is not a break in continuity—he is an extension of their covert agenda.

Consider Biden’s record: 162 executive orders in four years—an aggressive use of unilateral powers and far above average relative to modern presidents1 2. Nearly 41% were revoked by Trump within days of resuming office. These orders spanned everything from invoking the Defense Production Act on electric vehicles and biotech3 4 to mandating federal minimum wage increases4, forcing climate policies4, and rerouting federal dollars into union apprenticeship programs3 4.

The extraordinary scale and scope of these unilateral actions—used to circumvent Congressional approval—highlight why the MAGA movement fears complacency above all else.

The autopen controversy, then, wasn’t accidental. Biden’s use of an autopen—a device that mechanically reproduces signatures—became the focal point of MAGA’s alarm. Trump asserts that some 92% of Biden’s signed actions were processed via autopen and are thus inherently invalid 56. Among those, suggestions range from presidential orders to pardons, including those granted to Fauci, General Milley, and members of the January 6 committee 78. Critics argued that such coverage without the President’s direct signature was illegitimate—even perjurious.

Legal experts, however, dismissed this view. A 2005 Department of Justice memo confirmed that autopen signatures are legally valid when authorized9 10. Courts have noted that presidential pardons need not be in writing at all. Scholars point out that once issued, pardons are inviolable and immune from revocation by successor administrations.

Yet that technical legality missed the moral point. MAGA supporters argue that legality without legitimacy is insufficient. Just because the bureaucratic mechanism parses it as valid doesn’t mean it bears democratic authority. The autopen represented the final straw—evidence that control had left the people’s hands and entered automated dominance.

And Trump understood that scenery. So he initiated investigations, revoked dozens of orders, and canceled more—drastically—by first-day cutbacks, then March 2025 revocations, then this sweeping de-autopenization3 4 14.

With every revocation, MAGA restored control to the people. But letting institutional leverage settle in would have been worse. Trump resisted governing by consensus because consensus had betrayed the people. These were not minor adjustments—this was a reset intended to reassert popular mandate over administrative stealth.

But MAGA supporters rationalize: corruption must be uprooted in bulk. If parts of the system are irredeemably corrupt, small-scale reform isn’t enough. Action requires either unyielding disruption, not temporary band-aids.

Looking ahead, that disruption must be institutionalized. It cannot rely on Trump alone. Political seats must be won—governorships, Congress, school boards, city halls—to institutionalize disruption.

Look at the midterms and below: they are won not by playing nice, but by embodying the fight. MAGA must not compromise away the only movements capable of checking deep corruption at its root.

Yes, Trump governed as though working within the system would tame it. But the system used that effort to reassure itself. Civil servants nodded in his face, only to conspire behind his back.

We saw the phenomenon in COVID policies, ending that contradictory presidency. Those pushing pandemic mandates operated beyond democratic oversight—unelected experts, bureaucratic rule. It took an insurgent presidency to expose the duplicity.

Now, Trump fights back by reclaiming the instruments of executive power—by drawing lines in the sand, and by vociferously naming those who conspired in executive hollowing.

If he retreats now—if MAGA shrinks in the face of institutional backlash—the effort is for naught. As Jesus said: A house divided cannot stand.

But if MAGA rallies—if cities and states choose representatives willing to enact true reform—then Trump’s disruption becomes permanent. That means a crackdown on conspirators, a legal reckoning for the autopen cabal, and an end to post-hoc presidential puppeting by hidden staffs.

Statistically, the number of executive orders matters. Biden averaged ~40 EO’s per year17 18—a pace far above average, and far above what would be sustainable if the presidency were not treated as a governing elite office. Removing the excessive orders flipped control from institutions back to voters.

Yet the statistics also warn that Biden’s focus on memoranda, including national security memoranda—a bladeshot form of autocratic bypass—became a hallmark of invisible governance. Often, a memo could usurp statutory authority or declare an emergency under concealment.

This leads to election security.

After 2020, mistrust was deep. Pew reported that only 58% of Trump voters trusted that the outcome would be clear after counting, and 92% believed the result should be known within days19. Meanwhile, nine out of ten voters overall prioritize preventing illegal voting. That’s trust based on process, not rhetoric.

But trust evaporates when systems are vulnerable. Since 2020, 92% of local election officials reported enhanced security measures in 2021. That heightened security owes to both increased systemic threats and widespread mistrust.

MAGA’s claim: if the institutions are deploying executive power without transparency—or are altering election governance through memo rather than law—they steal not merely ballots, but trust, legitimacy, and authority. Trump’s aggressive stance on revocation isn’t mere revenge. It’s a necessary action to preserve our republic.

For that to endure, strong, secure elections are the baseline—not tokenism. If elections are hacked or adjudicated behind closed doors, the outcome is irrelevant. No amount of EO revocation matters if the mechanism behind the vote remains under covert control.

If Trump secures seat wins in the next elections—not because of compromise but through campaign-first messaging—then the movement becomes structural, not merely rhetorical.

We fought for Trump for this structural change. We didn’t give him a mandate to play nice. We gave him a mandate to fight.

So—Go hard. Rescind, revoke, prosecute. Take out the institutional rot with precision. Shut down the cabals. If you’re going to mess with systems, do it permanently. Don’t hesitate. Strike fast.

It is time to institutionalize MAGA, not depersonalize it. If regulations housed the poison, uproot them entirely. If rival offices conspired, expose them and break them. If colluding agencies diverted funds, revoke and defund them. If secretive pardons sheltered corruption, expose them to the sunlight and eliminate their immunity.

And then, pivot—once the rot is removed—to reconstruction: a government that serves the people with genuine transparency, limited-term appointments, reformed election security, and executive power that is retrievable, contestable, and transparent.

It’s not enough to protest with words. Words are hollow if the power is in the hands of the few. Remove the instruments of unilateral control, and stand them up anew in the hands of governors, legislators, and citizens.

Let Trump’s actions serve not as a cult, but as a crucible: to temper institutions to service, not mastery.

The autopen exposes the lie. Insurgency confronts the machine. If MAGA falters, they reassert it. If MAGA stands firm, the movement morphs into stewardship.

Now is the choice—not tomorrow.

Footnotes

1. U.S. Department of Justice, Memorandum Opinion for the Counsel to the President: Use of Autopen to Sign Enrolled Bills, July 7, 2005.

2. Congressional Research Service, “Presidential Pardons: Legal Authority and Limitations,” CRS Report RL31340, updated 2023.

3. Federal Register, “Executive Orders by President Joseph R. Biden,” 2021–2024.

4. Pew Research Center, “Public Confidence in Election Integrity,” October 2020.

5. National Association of Secretaries of State, “Election Security Measures Post-2020,” Annual Report, 2023.

6. White House Archives, “Executive Orders Revoked by President Trump,” March 2025.

7. Brennan Center for Justice, “The Autopen Controversy and Presidential Authority,” Policy Brief, 2024.

8. U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Insider Trading Risks in Federal Governance,” GAO-22-104, 2022.

9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “COVID-19 Mortality Data,” 2020–2022.

10. Congressional Budget Office, “Economic Impact of COVID-19 Policies,” 2021.

11. Department of Homeland Security, “Cybersecurity and Election Infrastructure,” 2023.

—

Bibliography

• Brennan Center for Justice. The Autopen Controversy and Presidential Authority. Policy Brief, 2024.

• Congressional Research Service. Presidential Pardons: Legal Authority and Limitations. CRS Report RL31340, updated 2023.

• Federal Register. “Executive Orders by President Joseph R. Biden.” 2021–2024.

• Pew Research Center. “Public Confidence in Election Integrity.” October 2020.

• U.S. Department of Justice. Memorandum Opinion for the Counsel to the President: Use of Autopen to Sign Enrolled Bills. July 7, 2005.

• U.S. Government Accountability Office. Insider Trading Risks in Federal Governance. GAO-22-104, 2022.

• White House Archives. “Executive Orders Revoked by President Trump.” March 2025.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “COVID-19 Mortality Data.” 2020–2022.

• Congressional Budget Office. Economic Impact of COVID-19 Policies. 2021.

• Department of Homeland Security. Cybersecurity and Election Infrastructure. 2023.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

FBI Delays, Media Spin, and the Brian Cole Jr. Pipe Bomber Case: What They Don’t Want You to Know

The Brian Cole Jr. pipe bomber case is more than a criminal investigation; it is a lens into systemic failures within the FBI and DOJ, compounded by media complicity in narrative control. Despite clear evidence linking Cole to pipe bombs planted near Republican and Democrat headquarters on January 5, 2021, his arrest came nearly five years later. Why? The answer lies in a troubling intersection of bureaucratic inertia, political bias, and deliberate concealment. This case shows how the Cole case, recent assassination attempts on Donald Trump, and the broader pattern of FBI delays in politically sensitive investigations, alongside the media’s role in shaping public perception, have come together to initiate a level of corruption that will require more than civilian oversight through an elected president in the White House.

Timeline

• Jan. 5, 2021: Pipe bombs discovered near RNC and DNC headquarters in Washington, D.C.

• 2021–2024: FBI claims “ongoing investigation,” releases grainy surveillance footage of masked suspect.

• Dec. 2025: Brian Cole Jr. arrested after new administration reviews dormant case files.

The case was never a mystery. Surveillance video captured Cole’s gait and clothing; cell-site data placed him near both bomb sites; and receipts showed purchases of bomb components. When interrogated, Cole confessed, citing anger over alleged election fraud as his motive. Yet, despite this evidence, the FBI stalled for years.

Internal sources suggest the case “languished” under prior leadership due to its political sensitivity. Acting on it in 2021 would have reignited debates over election legitimacy — a narrative the establishment sought to suppress. Instead, the case was buried until a new administration prioritized transparency.

On July 13, 2024, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania (often referred to as Aurora in shorthand), Donald Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt. The shooter, Thomas Crooks, fired from a rooftop, killing one attendee and injuring two others before being neutralized.

Secret Service agents reportedly spotted Crooks 20 minutes before shots were fired, but failed to act. The FBI later declared Crooks “acted alone,” though his digital footprint revealed a mix of ideologies and possible external influences.

Media coverage was muted compared to hypothetical scenarios involving Democrat figures. Within days, the story vanished from the front pages — a stark contrast to the saturation coverage of January 6.

The Cole case and Aurora attempt are not anomalies; they reflect a systemic pattern. Politically sensitive cases often stall for years, while less controversial matters move swiftly.

Statistics

• Median DOJ decision time: 61 days for standard cases.³

• Politically charged cases: often years, as seen with Hunter Biden laptop probe and Clinton email review.

• White-collar prosecutions have declined 40% since 2016, while resources shift to “domestic extremism” narratives.⁴

• Epstein files heavily redacted, shielding high-profile names.

• Indictments against James Comey and Letitia James dismissed due to unlawful appointments.

• Internal memos reveal obstruction in probes tied to Biden and Trump.

The media’s role in shaping perception cannot be overstated.

CNN initially described the suspect as “a White male,” contradicting later photos showing Cole as African American. ABC framed the motive as “belief in false election fraud claims,” reinforcing a narrative that dissent equals extremism.

Networks downplayed the assassination attempt, using vague terms like “popping sounds” and avoiding deep dives into security lapses. Compare this to the exhaustive coverage of January 6 — a clear double standard.

From Operation Mockingbird to the Twitter Files, evidence of media-government collusion is undeniable. Today, editorial scripts often mirror DOJ talking points, conditioning public opinion to accept selective outrage.

When law enforcement delays justice and media manipulates narratives, public trust erodes. Worse, these dynamics enable the weaponization of institutions against political opponents. The result? A chilling effect on free speech and a dangerous precedent where questioning authority becomes synonymous with terrorism. There should be statutory timelines for politically sensitive cases, so these investigations don’t get shelved in disorder. There should also be independent oversight of FBI investigations. We could say that’s why we have Presidential investigations, and that’s how Kash Patel came into the power of his seat, as we elected a president who would be independent and in charge of these career FBI types. There also needs to be transparency mandates for media-government interactions. There is way too much collusion going on. It is good that the Trump administration is bringing in anti-establishment media sources to add competition to the press pool, but the level of collusion that goes on between the administrative types and the official media narrative has been excessively alarming.

The Brian Cole Jr. case, Aurora assassination attempt, and FBI’s pattern of delay expose a sobering truth: America’s justice system and media ecosystem are vulnerable to politicization. Reform is not optional — it is imperative. Clearly, the FBI saw the direction in which the pipe bomber cases were going with Brian Cole Jr., and they did not want a resolution to the case. It would have changed the entire January 6^th narrative. It would have changed the impeachment case against Trump. And the prosecution of many Trump supporters, such as Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro. Instead, the FBI, when they arrested Peter Navarro at Reagan International and put him in leg irons in front of everyone for the perp walk of embarrassment that they clearly staged for maximum public impact, knew at the time that Brian Cole Jr. was likely the guilty party, and they had their own fingerprints all over the information. And they declined to act in the best interests of the case and instead dug in to their own complicity in the violent conditions that occurred on January 6^th. The efforts of the FBI to blow on the embers of anger to drive that day toward an objective they had to quell the outrage over mass election fraud, for which they played their part.

But this isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last. We have seen the FBI behave in this way before, in many cases, going back to the Ruby Ridge massacre, to the Islamic terrorism of the San Bernardino office killings, and their allowing the media into the apartment of the suspects to taint the evidence before the investigation could proceed. They have a long history of this kind of radicalism and are terrible at their jobs. They need a lot more than civilian oversight through elected presidents. They are a corrupt organization that appears beyond reform. And this recent pipe bomb case is just the tip of the iceberg. Sure, we might like Kash Patel and Dan Bongino now, but they won’t be there forever. They will be gone eventually, and who will replace them? More Jim Comey types? People who clearly have had the power of the offices go to their heads? When you have evidence like this case against Brian Cole Jr. so obvious, and abundant, and they didn’t act on it, it just reveals how political all their investigations are, and that we can’t trust anything they do, because they require so much oversight to get at fundamental truths. Based on the evidence, there is little that can be done to save their reputations. We might get short-term improvements in their performance, but the bottom line is that the government can never have the kind of power that we have given to the FBI and the CIA. Without a doubt, they will abuse that power and, when caught, will deny and manipulate the facts to cover up their crimes. And in the case of Brian Cole Jr., they were complicit, without a doubt.

Bibliography

1. CBS News. “FBI Arrests Suspect in 2021 Pipe Bomb Case.” December 2025.

2. ABC News. “Trump Rally Shooting: What We Know.” July 2024.

3. TRAC Reports. “DOJ Case Processing Statistics.” 2024.

4. Newsweek. “FBI Under Fire for Politicized Delays.” 2025.

5. Columbia Journalism Review. “Media and State: A Symbiotic Relationship.” 2023.

6. Fox News. “CNN Misidentifies Pipe Bomber.” 2025.

(Additional sources: TIME Magazine, FBI Press Releases, The Hill, WABC, DOJ internal memos.)

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Free Tina Peters: The Battle for Honest Elections in America

You know, here’s the thing: if President Trump doesn’t get Tina Peters out of that Colorado prison, then everything we’ve fought for on election integrity is just theater. It’s all optics without substance. Because if you don’t control your election systems, you don’t control your government. And that’s the bottom line. People say, “There’s no evidence of fraud.” Really? Then why is Tina Peters sitting in a cell for nine years? She was the Mesa County Clerk, the one person in Colorado who had the guts to blow the whistle during the heaviest part of the 2020 election scandal. She saw irregularities, she reported them, and for that, they threw her in prison.

Let’s get the facts straight. Tina Peters was convicted in October 2024 on seven counts—four felonies and three misdemeanors—for allegedly breaching election systems during a 2021 update.¹ They said she conspired to commit criminal impersonation, attempted to influence a public servant, and violated her official duties. Nine years in state prison for trying to preserve election records? That’s not justice; that’s retaliation. And where is she now? La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, Colorado, locked away like a political prisoner.²

And don’t forget, she wasn’t alone in this fight. Mike Lindell—the MyPillow guy—stood shoulder to shoulder with her, pouring millions into exposing voting machine companies.³ Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro? They got four months each for contempt of Congress because they wouldn’t play ball with the January 6 narrative.⁴ Rudy Giuliani? Bankrupted for daring to question election results. This is a pattern: punish the whistleblowers, destroy the evidence, and control the narrative.

Now, here’s the legal reality: Trump can’t just sign a pardon and free Tina Peters. Article II of the Constitution gives the president the power to grant pardons for federal crimes, not for state convictions.⁵ Colorado prosecuted her under state law, and Governor Jared Polis isn’t about to hand Trump a win. So what do we do? Sit back and let her rot? Absolutely not. There are practical steps Trump can take, and they start with leverage—political, legal, and financial.

First, a pressure campaign. Trump needs to call out Polis and AG Phil Weiser by name, which he has been doing lately. Make it politically toxic for them to keep Peters locked up. Rallies, Truth Social posts, interviews—turn up the heat. When the public sees a grandmother rotting in prison for questioning election fraud, the optics shift fast.

Second, DOJ leverage. This is where it gets interesting. The Department of Justice can’t override a state conviction, but it can make life very uncomfortable for Colorado. How? Start with federal election law hooks. The 2020 election was a federal election. Peters’ actions were tied to preserving federal election records. File a federal habeas corpus petition arguing her imprisonment violates constitutional rights under federal election statutes like the Help America Vote Act. Force Colorado to defend its conviction in federal court.

Then there’s civil rights enforcement. Frame this as retaliation against a whistleblower exercising First Amendment rights. The DOJ Civil Rights Division can open an investigation into political persecution. Even if it doesn’t overturn her sentence immediately, it creates a legal basis for federal intervention and puts Colorado under a microscope.

Now, here’s the big one: federal funding leverage. Colorado gets millions in federal grants for election security and compliance under HAVA and EAC programs. Those funds are discretionary. Condition future funding on transparency and whistleblower protections. Announce that Colorado risks losing federal election security money because it retaliated against Peters. That’s constitutional under the Spending Clause, and it hits where it hurts—the budget.

Another angle: federal subpoenas and custody transfers. If Peters has evidence relevant to federal crimes—say, election tampering—the DOJ can subpoena her testimony. Request a temporary transfer to federal custody for questioning. That doesn’t erase her sentence, but it moves her out of state prison and into a federal process where deals can happen.

Finally, amplify public awareness. Trump should feature Peters’ case in speeches, rallies, and interviews. Get Mike Lindell, Steve Bannon, and the Warroom team hammering this story every day, give them some red meat. When people see the truth—that Peters was jailed to bury evidence of election fraud—the pressure becomes unbearable. And Trump is naturally good at that kind of thing. But if he’s waiting for help from other Republicans, they don’t have the guts. It will have to come from him, and him alone. The damage from this case will benefit other efforts around the country. Allowing the radical left to control the discussion, as they have, will not help with the Midterms, where Democrats are planning to cheat, because it’s their only strategy. This case could greatly frustrate those efforts.

And let’s talk numbers because facts matter. The Heritage Foundation database lists 1,561 proven cases of election fraud over decades, with 20 cases in 2024 alone.⁶ Brookings says fraud rates are minuscule—0.0000845% in Arizona over 25 years—but those stats ignore systemic vulnerabilities in digital voting systems.⁷ Globally, we know electronic manipulation happens—Venezuela, China, Russia. You give people the illusion of choice, then flip the results. That’s the game. And it happened here in 2020.

So when they say, “There’s no evidence,” what they mean is, “We buried the evidence and jailed the people who had it.” Tina Peters had the proof. She tried to show it. They raided her home, seized her devices, and threw her in prison. That’s tyranny, plain and simple. And if Trump doesn’t act, it sends a message: whistleblowers will be crushed, and election integrity will remain a myth.

Here’s the bottom line: Trump has tools. He can’t wave a magic wand, but he can apply pressure—legal, financial, and political—until Colorado cracks. And he must. Because if we don’t fight for Peters, we don’t fight for honest elections. And without honest elections, we don’t have a republic.

Summary of Key Actions for President Trump

1. Launch a Pressure Campaign

• Publicly call out Colorado Governor Jared Polis and AG Phil Weiser.

• Mobilize grassroots and media to demand Tina Peters’ release.

2. Leverage DOJ Authority

• File federal habeas corpus petitions citing election law violations.

• Open a Civil Rights investigation into political retaliation.

3. Use Federal Funding Leverage

• Condition Colorado’s federal election security funds on transparency and whistleblower protections.

• Publicize potential funding cuts to increase pressure.

4. Subpoena Tina Peters for Federal Testimony

• DOJ can request a temporary transfer to federal custody for testimony related to election integrity.

5. Amplify Public Awareness

• Feature Peters’ case in speeches, rallies, and media appearances.

• Encourage allies like Mike Lindell, Steve Bannon, and WarRoom to keep the story alive; they need red meat to pound away at the base.

This is one of the most critical agenda items for the Trump administration because much remains unsaid. All the horrible things going on in the world with Hamas, China, Russia, Venezuela, and our own domestic money policy that is under siege are nothing compared to the villainy that occurred against Tina Peters. If she is allowed to be held in jail by a corrupt, leftist Democrat government in Colorado, people will lose faith in fighting for an honest election in 2026. And without an honest election, the radical left plans to capture enough seats to impeach Trump and give the government back to the Deep State. So this is a critical time. We need a very vicious pressure campaign that forces this issue on the nightly news, because so far, they have been able to ignore it. Once Trump won the last election, all the hostile forces treated it as a concession to buy a little time. And the Midterms were their target. If Tina Peters is not freed, then Trump will have a hard time holding power, and those who will fight for him will become discouraged. So freeing Tina from jail is a must-do occasion. There is no other option. Yes, there was election fraud in the 2020 election, and those who committed it, numbering in the many thousands, have to be punished for what they did. Otherwise, we don’t have a country.

Bibliography (Chicago Style)

1. Colorado Judicial Branch. “People v. Tina Peters: Sentencing Order.” October 2024.

2. CBS News. “Tina Peters Sentenced to Nine Years in State Prison.” October 2024.

3. Fox News. “Mike Lindell Faces $1 Billion Lawsuit Over Election Claims.” 2023.

4. ABC News. “Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro Sentenced for Contempt of Congress.” 2024.

5. U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 2.

6. Heritage Foundation. “Election Fraud Database.” 2024.

7. Brookings Institution. “Election Fraud Rates in U.S. Elections.” 2023.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Justice in the Shadows: The Asiah Slone Murder and America’s Hidden Epidemic of Unsolved Crime

On a quiet street in Middletown, Ohio, a small house stands as a grim monument to the collapse of a once-thriving community. Behind that house, in a trash bin parked in an alley, police discovered the dismembered remains of Asiah Slone—a woman whose life ended violently in June 2024. Her murder was shocking not only for its brutality but for what it revealed about the social decay festering in America’s forgotten towns. Slone’s death was not an isolated tragedy; it was a symptom of a deeper disease—economic collapse, drug addiction, homelessness, and the erosion of moral and civic order.

The Slone case is a lens into the broader epidemic of violent crime in economically depleted communities. Murders, like Slone’s, are usually prosecuted successfully, but many countless others remain unsolved, creating an illusion of justice—celebrating convictions in high-profile cases—masks a systemic failure to address the conditions that breed violence and what these failures mean for law enforcement, policy, and the future of American society.

Asiah Slone disappeared in late June 2024. For weeks, her absence drew little attention. In neighborhoods hollowed out by poverty and addiction, people vanish often—sometimes to rehab, sometimes to jail, sometimes to the grave. It wasn’t until July 1, when the stench of decomposition led authorities to a trash bin behind a house on Centennial Avenue, that the horror came to light. Inside were Slone’s remains, cut into pieces and stuffed into garbage bags.¹

Investigators quickly focused on Brandon Davis, a 46-year-old man with a long history of drug abuse and petty crime. Witness testimony and forensic evidence revealed that Davis shot Slone in the head while she slept, then ordered Perry Hart, who has an addiction, to finish the job in the basement. Hart complied, firing a second shot to ensure death. Together, they dismembered the body and disposed of it in the alley.²

The motive was depressingly banal: a dispute over stolen items and simmering resentment among a group of people living on society’s margins. Drugs were everywhere. Homelessness was common. Violence was inevitable.³

As grand jury foreman, I signed the indictment that set the case in motion. The prosecutors did their job well, securing a conviction in February 2025. Davis received life without parole for 45 years. Hart pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping. Justice, in the narrow sense, was served. But the deeper question remains: What does justice mean in a world where desperation breeds murder, and where countless similar crimes go undetected or unpunished?

Slone’s case was prosecuted because it was apparent. The evidence was overwhelming: a body in a dumpster, confessions, and DNA on the weapon. But what about the murders that leave no such trail? What about the victims whose bodies are never found, or whose killers are careful enough to erase their tracks?

The numbers are sobering. In 1964, the U.S. homicide clearance rate—the percentage of murders solved—was 83.7%. Today, it hovers around 50%.⁴ In 2022, the rate hit a historic low of 52.3%.⁵ Even with slight improvements in 2024, nearly half of all murders in America remain unsolved. In Ohio, the rate is about 64%, meaning one in three killings goes unpunished.⁶

Why? Several factors converge:
• Resource Constraints: Police departments are understaffed and underfunded.
• Community Distrust: Witnesses fear retaliation or don’t trust law enforcement.
• Complexity of Cases: Drug-related killings often involve transient populations and chaotic circumstances.
• Legal Barriers: Prosecutors need airtight evidence to avoid wrongful convictions.

The Slone case stands out because it was reckless. The killers left a body in a public alley. They talked. They confessed. Most killers are not so careless. This case is emblematic of a much larger crisis. Across the United States, violent crime statistics reveal a staggering reality. The Bureau of Justice Statistics confirms that more than 250,000 homicides since 1980 remain unsolved. These numbers represent not just data points but shattered families and communities living under the shadow of fear.

Drug epidemics amplify this violence. The CDC reports that fentanyl-related overdose deaths reached 72,776 in 2023, accounting for 69% of all overdose fatalities. DEA intelligence shows cartels dominate fentanyl distribution, sourcing precursors from Chinese suppliers and flooding U.S. streets with synthetic opioids. These networks fuel turf wars, retaliatory killings, and systemic corruption, creating a perfect storm of addiction and violence.

Racial disparities compound the crisis: murders of Black victims are significantly less likely to be solved than those of White victims, according to a 2023 study by the Murder Accountability Project. A lot of that reason is cultural, because of a lack of cooperation in black communities to provide testimony against crime. Police departments face chronic staffing shortages, and under labor union guidelines, paint themselves in corners that don’t match public sentiment all too often, with the International Association of Chiefs of Police reporting a 14% vacancy rate nationwide. Forensic labs struggle with DNA backlogs exceeding 100,000 cases. Community distrust further hampers investigations, as witnesses fear retaliation or lack confidence in the justice system. The overall story on the labor side of crime fighting is that too many employees in the industry are too lazy to do the job, causing serious capacity problems in doing the actual work. So the industry sets the bar low, goes after all the most obvious cases, while many of the real crimes go unreported and unpunished.

The opioid crisis intersects with violent crime in devastating ways. Cartels have diversified beyond narcotics into human trafficking, generating $236 billion annually through forced labor and sexual exploitation. Millions of women and children are entrapped in these networks, often under the same criminal syndicates orchestrating narcotics flows. This duality magnifies humanitarian crises, rendering cartels not merely criminal enterprises but systemic violators of fundamental rights.

Solutions require investment in technology, expansion of cold case units, and robust witness protection programs. Federal funding for violent crime investigations has stagnated, even as homicide rates rise. Legislative initiatives must prioritize improvement in the clearance rate as a metric of justice, not just crime reduction. But the reality of the story is that we have a society that has stopped looking in trash cans. When they smell something bad, they don’t regulate crime in their own communities for fear of that crime coming in their direction. Cops don’t work enough, and the unions frustrate full employee engagement. There aren’t enough volunteer law enforcement efforts. I can say that when I was on the grand jury, I was the top cop of my community for a month. I didn’t get paid, but a minimal amount for the effort. But it was one of the best jobs I ever did, and I was very proud to sign the indictment on Brandon Davis, the murderer of Asiah Slone. I would do that every day for free. So I don’t understand cops who have to go to Walgreens for a tampon run every time they have to work a few hours of overtime. Getting shot at and living dangerously is part of the fun. So I’m not sympathetic to complaining at all. Because the criminals know that the cops really don’t care, that for most of them, it’s just a job. And the courts are only prosecuting the most obvious cases, the easy ones. And the Slone case was an easy one. But one thing is sure in all this, it can’t continue at this rate. Society has to reform at the level of the family, because none of this is working.

[1] FBI Uniform Crime Reports, Historical Clearance Data, 1964–2024.

[2] Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Trends in the United States, 2023.

[3] Murder Accountability Project, Clearance Rate Analysis, 2023.

[4] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Drug Overdose Mortality Data, 2023.

[5] U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Fentanyl Threat Assessment, 2024.

[6] International Association of Chiefs of Police, Workforce Crisis Report, 2024.

[7] National Institute of Justice, Forensic Backlog Study, 2023.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

The Conditions that Make People Poor: Bill Gates as usual, is way off the mark

In the modern discourse surrounding climate change, healthcare, and economic disparity, we often find ourselves circling the same ideological drain without ever confronting the root of the issue: how we define and address poverty. Recently, Bill Gates made headlines by walking back some of his climate change positions, suggesting that economic development must be prioritized alongside environmental goals. This echoes a more profound truth—one that Donald Trump touched on when he proposed sending healthcare payments directly to individuals rather than filtering them through bureaucratic systems. These moments reveal a fundamental tension in our society: the battle between centralized control and individual empowerment. At the heart of this tension lies a philosophical divide between those who believe in micromanaging outcomes through administrative states and those who believe in unleashing human potential through economic liberty. The former seeks to engineer fairness through redistribution, while the latter aims to cultivate prosperity by removing barriers to opportunity.

This divide is best understood through the lens of The Oz Principle, published in 1994 by Roger Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman, a widely respected business philosophy that categorizes individuals and cultures as either “above the line” or “below the line.” I love the book and its sequel, The Oz Principle Journey, which was published in 2011, many years later, offering a wealth of new ideas that utilize Wizard of Oz metaphors to articulate effective business practices and the proper social conduct of society at large. Above-the-line thinkers are proactive, solution-oriented, and driven by positive energy. They ask, “What else can I do?” and take ownership of outcomes. Below-the-line thinkers, by contrast, dwell in a state of victimhood, blaming others and avoiding accountability. In business, cultures dominated by above-the-line thinkers thrive—they innovate, adapt, and grow. Cultures saturated with below-the-line mentalities stagnate, collapse, or become toxic. The same applies to nations. When a country fosters a culture of victimization, entitlement, and dependency, it creates systemic poverty. It’s not merely about access to resources; it’s about the mindset with which people approach life. Suppose the dominant narrative teaches individuals that they are powerless, oppressed, or owed something by the state. In that case, the result is a population that waits for handouts rather than builds solutions.

This is the trap of the administrative state, particularly as envisioned by modern leftist ideologies. The Democrat Party, increasingly driven by collectivist impulses, seeks to centralize control over healthcare, education, and economic redistribution. Their vision of “fairness” is not about equal opportunity but about equal outcomes, regardless of effort or merit. They create systems that reward victimhood and penalize initiative. Public education, once a bastion of enlightenment and upward mobility, has become a breeding ground for thought patterns that are below the line. Teachers, often radicalized by personal grievances and ideological indoctrination, pass on a worldview that prioritizes identity politics, grievance culture, and dependency over personal responsibility, excellence, and ambition. Instead of teaching Shakespeare or the principles of economics, they teach children to see themselves as oppressed, marginalized, and incapable of success without government intervention. This is not education—it’s indoctrination into failure.

As of 2025, approximately 10.1% of the global population—roughly 839 million people—live in extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as surviving on less than $3.00 per day (2021 PPP). The burden of poverty is not evenly distributed across all individuals. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most affected region, with 46% of its population living in extreme poverty. Within this region, Eastern and Southern Africa report rates exceeding 53%, while Western and Central Africa hover around 35.7%. In stark contrast, high-income countries and territories, such as Europe, East Asia, and North America, report poverty rates below 1%, underscoring the profound impact of economic systems and governance on wealth distribution.

The disparity in GDP per capita between economically free and administratively controlled nations is staggering. In 2025, Luxembourg leads the world with a GDP per capita of $141,080, followed by Switzerland ($111,716), Ireland ($107,243), and Singapore ($93,956). These nations consistently rank among the highest in economic freedom indices, characterized by low regulatory burdens, strong property rights, and open markets. Meanwhile, countries with heavy administrative oversight and limited economic freedom—such as Burundi, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic—report GDP per capita figures below $1,000, reflecting the economic stagnation that results from centralized control and restricted market access.

The Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) report reveals a direct correlation between economic freedom and prosperity. Nations in the freest quartile enjoy an average income of $40,376, compared to just $5,649 in the least free quartile—a 7.1x difference. The poorest 10% in free economies earn 7.9x more than their counterparts in the least free nations. Moreover, life expectancy in free countries is 15 years longer, and infant mortality rates are 6.8x lower. The UN World Happiness Index also shows that citizens in economically free nations report life satisfaction scores two points higher on average than those in restrictive economies. These metrics confirm that economic liberty is not just a path to wealth—it’s a foundation for human flourishing. If you want to help people have access to wealth, teach them, and empower them to be “above the line people.” Solution-based and to enjoy the result of that way of thinking with wealth creation, the ability to enjoy a full bank account, and the results of a task well done.

The rise of the administrative state—defined by expansive government agencies that regulate economic activity—has been linked to sluggish growth and persistent poverty. While initially intended to address industrial complexity and social inequality, these bureaucracies often stifle innovation and delay wealth creation. The U.S. federal administrative apparatus now issues thousands of regulations annually, with the Code of Federal Regulations exceeding 185,000 pages, quadruple the size of the U.S. Code of Laws passed by Congress. This regulatory overload disproportionately affects small businesses and low-income entrepreneurs, who face barriers to entry and limited access to capital. In contrast, countries that have adopted deregulation, sound monetary policies, and trade expansion have experienced significant reductions in poverty and increases in GDP.

The solution is not more government, more regulation, or more redistribution. The solution is to cultivate a culture of thinking above the line. This means empowering individuals to take control of their lives, make better decisions, and pursue success through effort and innovation. Capitalism, despite its imperfections, remains the most effective mechanism for lifting people out of poverty because it rewards productivity, creativity, and personal responsibility. When people have access to capital and the freedom to use it, they build wealth—not just for themselves, but for their communities and nations. The administrative state, by contrast, stifles this process. It throws up regulatory stop sticks, preventing people from even starting a lemonade stand. It confiscates wealth under the guise of fairness and redistributes it through inefficient bureaucracies that serve more to perpetuate their own existence than to solve problems. To reduce poverty, we must dismantle these barriers, reject the cult of victimization, and return to a model that celebrates personal agency, economic liberty, and the power of positive thinking. That’s how you build a society that thrives—not by managing poverty, but by eliminating the conditions that create it. Too much “below the line thinking” creates depraved conditions that bring down all cultures. And if you want to prevent that way of thinking, then you have to change where people are on that invisible line that we draw in the sand, above and below. It’s not a political line, it’s one of personal responsibility. And when you teach people to be victims, of course, you are then teaching them to be poor. And no amount of money that you throw at them will help them if they don’t think right about how to use it.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Congratulations to Ben Nguyen To the Lakota School Board: What would it take for me to support public schools

There’s a lot to say about the recent Lakota school board election, and I want to start by congratulating Ben Nguyen on his historic win. At just 18 years old, he’s now the youngest person ever elected to the Lakota Board of Education, and he achieved this with a clear, conservative message that resonated with voters in Butler County. Nguyen earned 18.61% of the vote, joining incumbent Kelley Casper and newcomer Alex Argo on the five-member board. His victory wasn’t just symbolic—it was a direct response to the district’s failed $506 million levy, which voters rejected by a 61% margin. That levy, which would have demolished nine buildings and built four new ones, was a bloated attempt to reinvent the district with taxpayer money. Nguyen’s campaign stood firmly against it, and his win signals that the community is tired of being asked to fund ideological experiments disguised as infrastructure upgrades. However, there is much more to all this. The questions that arose during this campaign and election season, in general, concern my support of Lakota schools, which school board member Doug Horton brought up in a video he posted just before the election. In short, if Lakota management wants to know what it would take to get my support, I would say to them to stop destroying the kind of school board members that I support. And I would be a lot less critical. But when the school board pushes away good people and lobbies to keep the kind of people who glaze over sex scandals, horrendous Democrat strategies in the school to teach young people, and ask for tax increases, especially the most expensive in the history of Ohio, then I’m going to be very critical, and I will provide that criticism in voluminous detail so much so, that the anti tax movement in Butler County will continue to grow, as it has over these years since 2013, and even earlier.

Ben Nguyen is a start, not a solution to what I would call a detrimental school board full of liberal losers. The real problem is systemic. For years, we’ve seen conservative school board members pushed out by coordinated efforts from union-backed liberals and their media allies. Darbi Boddy is a prime example. Elected in 2021, she was removed in 2024 after a civil protection order filed by fellow board member Isaac Adi—once her political ally—barred her from attending meetings for over 90 days. The board declared her absence “insufficient,” and just like that, she was gone. Her removal wasn’t about functionality—it was a matter of political theater. Boddy had challenged DEI programs, opposed transgender policies, and criticized the district’s hiring practices. That made her a target. The board censured her, demanded her resignation, and ultimately replaced her with Christina French, a longtime district insider. It’s a pattern: elect a conservative, stir up controversy, isolate them, and replace them with someone more “manageable.” I know all the characters of that conservative board very well, and I know what was done to pit them against each other, and when a school system plays that game, and expects to get away with it, well, they have another thing coming. I’m not in the business of putting up with that, and I never will be. I was in the district long before many of these people were even born, and I will be around long after they all leave to buy condos in Florida to escape the high taxes they leave behind. Darbi is just one example of this kind of radical school board behavior; therefore, when asked what it would take to win my support for Lakota schools, the answer is easy. Don’t run off school board members whom I support. Radicalism can go both ways, ladies and gentlemen.

This is why I’ve been so critical of Lakota Schools over the years. It’s not that I hate education—I would say my track record shows where my heart is; there are few people anywhere who love education more than I do. I respect people who read books and work to sharpen and utilize their intelligence. I do not trust institutionalized education because it’s often populated by less-than-great individuals, which is reflected directly in the product. And with public schools, I don’t respect the system that’s been built on a century-old foundation of progressive ideology. Public schools, as they exist today, are more about managing perception than delivering results. When you fill school boards with people like Julie Shaffer and Kelley Casper—both endorsed by the Butler County Democrat Party—you get a culture of spending, secrecy, and suppression. They don’t want scrutiny because scrutiny threatens their funding. They don’t wish to be judged because judgment exposes their failures. And when scandals happen—whether it’s inappropriate teacher behavior, administrative misconduct, or ideological overreach—they bury it. That’s why I created my own media platform: to report what they won’t. If you want to know what’s really going on in Lakota, you won’t find it in the district’s press releases. You’ll find it in the stories they try to silence.

So here’s the deal: I’ll support Lakota when Lakota supports the community. That means electing people like Ben Nguyen—people who understand the value of education without being beholden to the liberal establishment. It means rejecting levies that ask for hundreds of millions without accountability. It means standing up for parents, taxpayers, and students—not just the union’s comfort level of lazy labor desires, such as short workdays, fewer students to teach, summers off, and high pay for doing very little. I’ve seen good people try to make a difference on the board, only to be run off by political manipulation; it’s all well-documented. I’m encouraged that Nguyen, with his sharp mind and diplomatic personality, can navigate those waters and bring real change. If we can recruit two or three more like him, we might finally see a board that genuinely reflects the community’s values. But given the election cycles, it’s going to take a while unless we push off some of these losers the way they have pushed away our conservatives, like Darbi, and Todd Parnell—even Lynda O’Connor. And with Lynda, I know exactly how that game unfolded; she became so deeply involved in the liberal Lakota movement that she essentially had to adopt its values to attend the meetings. I don’t think strong personalities like Ben Nguyen will be pushed away, because he has that extra gear that is so needed in these kinds of controversial political environments. He, like Vivek Ramaswamy, who will be Ohio’s next governor, is part of a new generation that will play these old political games better than they have been played in the past. We have tried to play it straight with these current school board members, and all they have given us are Antifa like union tactics of left-wing radicalism, and many people in the district simply aren’t going to put up with it. I’m certainly not going to, under any conditions. And until there are more options on the school board, I’ll continue to call it as I see it. If you want me to stop criticizing Lakota, stop putting bad people in charge. Put in people I can respect. But asking, even demanding respect when Lakota hasn’t earned it, is a ridiculous proposition that only losers would even think of. And until there are more people like Ben Nguyen involved in Lakota schools, I will criticize them extensively because they deserve it.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

The Shutdown Standoff and the Filibuster Flashpoint: A Political Reckoning with American communists

Speaking with Bernie Moreno recently, it’s clear that the U.S. Senate is at a pivotal moment. The government shutdown, now entering its 40th day, has become a crucible for ideological warfare, with President Trump urging Senate Republicans to reconsider the filibuster rule to break the impasse and reshape the future of American governance. I think Trump has a good idea, and that the nuclear option should be used, never to let Democrats have power again, so there is no reason to play nice with them. Democrats, most of them, and around 10-15 Republicans are the enemy of our country and should not be given a seat at the table.

At the heart of the standoff are three distinct factions: a Democrat Party increasingly defined by its progressive wing, a MAGA-aligned Republican base pushing for aggressive reform, and a centrist bloc of senators hesitant to abandon institutional norms. The Democrats, led by figures like Chuck Schumer and bolstered by progressives otherwise known as “communists” such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have refused to support any continuing resolution (CR) that doesn’t include a vote on extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits. Their strategy hinges on leveraging the shutdown to galvanize their base and preserve key health care provisions. They are not that unlike the terrorists who bombed New York City with the 9/11 terrorist action. If they destroyed commercial air travel to maintain socialized medicine, they are all for it. They would love to harm the economy to slow down Trump ahead of the midterms. These are the same people who wanted to use COVID to shut down the economy during Trump’s last year of his first term. So this kind of economic terrorism is typical for them.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans, under Majority Leader John Thune, have proposed a compromise: advance the House-passed CR and amend it with a “minibus” of three long-term appropriations bills, extending government funding through January 30, 2026. This deal, which has gained traction among at least eight Democrats, includes a future vote on ACA subsidies—a concession aimed at breaking the deadlock. As I have always said, healthcare is a nasty hill to die on, because we are on the precipice of significant changes. The way healthcare is today is not how it will be tomorrow, and the cost structure needs to be completely reinvented. For Democrats, healthcare is about controlling the lives of individual people in a mass way, and has nothing to do with caring for people.

Yet, the filibuster remains the elephant in the room. Trump’s call to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for passing legislation has reignited debate over Senate rules. He argues that the filibuster is a relic that Democrats have weaponized to obstruct progress, and that Republicans must act decisively to secure election reform, border security, and economic stability. “If we do it, we will never lose the midterms,” Trump declared, pressing for one-day voting and voter ID laws. He’s right, there is no reason to play fair with the Democrats. They almost went nuclear during Biden’s term, except for two senators who prevented it. Otherwise, they currently have 49 senators who were willing to go nuclear when they had power, a clear warning sign to Republicans. So, if the shoe is ever on their feet again, they will do it; therefore, there is no reason to play fair now. Don’t give them a chance at terrorism in the future because they are already thinking about it. We are only here now because we dodged a bullet then. Don’t expect that to happen twice.

Despite Trump’s pressure, Senate leadership remains divided. Thune and others have resisted the nuclear option, citing the need to preserve minority rights and avoid legislative chaos. A limited carve-out—lowering the threshold to 51 votes for clean CRs—was floated but appears unlikely to pass.

The shutdown’s impact is severe: over 1,000 flights have been canceled, SNAP benefits have been disrupted, and $5 billion in arms exports to NATO and Ukraine have been delayed. Air traffic controllers are stretched thin, and federal workers remain unpaid. The crisis has exposed the fragility of government-dependent systems and reignited calls for the privatization of critical infrastructure. I’m certainly one of those who think we should not have a government involved in essential services like air traffic control. Airlines should provide their own employees, and they would do a better job. Sticking the government in the middle of critical infrastructure is a really dumb idea. And to make matters worse, the pay scale and attitude of these employees are already poor, as they are unionized, which should be outlawed for all government positions. In a short time, AI will be able to do a much better job with air traffic control than humans anyway, so why should we ever allow the government to stand in the way of human necessity? It’s an incredibly dumb idea.

In this climate, the filibuster debate is more than procedural—it’s existential. For Trump-aligned Republicans, eliminating it is a strategic imperative to prevent Democrats from regaining power and advancing what they view as radical, anti-capitalist policies. For moderates and institutionalists, it’s a dangerous precedent that could unravel the Senate’s deliberative foundation. And that’s where the future of America is anyway, with Democrats moving hard socialist and communist as a party, we can’t let them have a seat at the table. We have to draw the line somewhere. Let the moderates be the new left-wing party, but don’t play nice with the communists and give them fairness. Because they will destroy our country if given a chance, and that is at the heart of the debate. Look at what they have been willing to do with the air traffic controllers. If they can bring down American infrastructure to maintain control over healthcare, then they certainly will. Those kinds of Democrats can never again be allowed to vote for the filibuster rule, because the next time, they will get it. It’s been a race to beat the other to the punch for a long time, and we happen to be fortunate to have this impasse happening while Trump is in the White House.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. The outcome will not only determine the fate of the shutdown but may also redefine the balance of power in Washington for years to come, regardless of any short-term CR. Whether the filibuster survives or falls, the political landscape is shifting—and the next chapter in America’s legislative history is being written in real time. And you don’t want to lose your country by playing nice with those who wish to destroy it. It was interesting to speak with Bernie Moreno about his first year as a senator. Of course, we didn’t talk about any of these kinds of details; he’s a very level-headed person who was reporting on the lay of the land in the Senate. But what is obvious is that we already have three parties, and one of them certainly wants to destroy the concept of a capitalist America and to push everything into communist control, much the way China operates. And it’s me saying it, along with Trump, that we don’t want to be a sucker on this, we need to play tough, and forget playing fair. This is a game of beating the other side to the punch, and that other side are radical communists, as exhibited by the newly elected New York Mayor, Zohran Mamdani. In a world where people like that are debating the Filibuster, they will go nuclear. We are fortunate to be in a time when fairness still prevails, and we should be wise in utilizing that power while we still have it. Because there is nothing less patriotic than letting hostile agents destroy your country, and in case it’s still not known to the vast majority, the Democrats are the enemy.

Rich Hoffman

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Appendix: Cannabis Impact Metrics (Selected)

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