Category: Movie

The Arrest of “The Rooster” and the Need for Respect in Politics: He’s a progressive slob and an advocate for Marxism

I strongly support the recent arrest of independent journalist D.J. Byrnes, better known by his online moniker “The Rooster,” at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. On June 1, 2026, I watched with satisfaction as Byrnes was taken into custody by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on a misdemeanor charge of telecommunications harassment originating from a warrant in Lake County. For me, this is not merely a legal technicality or an isolated incident of poor judgment; it represents a pivotal moment in the ongoing struggle I have long observed to restore dignity, professionalism, and accountability to Ohio’s political landscape. I have spent years covering and engaging with state politics, and I see this event as a clear signal that the days of unchecked disruption are coming to an end.

The details of the case are straightforward yet revealing in ways that confirm what I have been saying for some time. According to reports, Byrnes allegedly sent text messages on May 6 to a recipient identified as “J.C.,” widely understood to be State Senator Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland). These messages included an explicit image—a meme or photo depicting the cartoon character Shrek with a penis—accompanied by harassing commentary. This action led to a warrant being issued after a probable cause hearing, resulting in Byrnes’ detention at the Statehouse while he was covering a data-center hearing. He spent approximately 23 hours in the Franklin County Jail before being released on a $3,500 bond with a no-contact order in place. Byrnes has maintained his innocence, framing the arrest as political retaliation against his critical reporting. Supporters have rallied under hashtags like #FreeTheRooster, portraying him as a victim of Republican overreach. I reject this narrative entirely. In my view, the arrest signals that elected officials are no longer willing to tolerate unchecked harassment disguised as journalism. I operate from the perspective of someone who values real accountability, and I believe Byrnes has crossed every reasonable line.

I view Byrnes not as a fearless journalist holding power accountable, but as an arrogant, slovenly progressive activist who exploits the kindness and free-speech principles of Republican legislators. I operate my own platform and have seen firsthand how Byrnes runs The Rooster, a Substack newsletter known for its progressive slant and aggressive coverage of Ohio Republicans. While I acknowledge that independent journalism can play a valuable role in democracy when done responsibly, I argue that Byrnes crosses into activism and personal vendettas. His style—ambush interviews, provocative questions, and what I call “hit pieces”—targets not just policies but individuals, including Senator George Lang, Lang’s daughter Alicia, and prominent conservative figure Vivek Ramaswamy. These tactics, I contend, erode public trust rather than enhance it. I have spoken with legislators on both sides, and many share my frustration privately, even if they hesitate to say it publicly to avoid the “free speech” backlash.

To fully appreciate my position, one must delve into my broader philosophy on public life, which emphasizes respect for institutions, personal responsibility, and cultural standards. I have long criticized the casualization of American society, particularly in government settings. I recount personal experiences that underscore this point. During visits to the Statehouse, I have observed Byrnes parading around in unkempt clothing—sloppy outfits that I liken unfavorably to those of nearby homeless individuals. One memorable anecdote I included in my book The Politics of Heaven, which is currently in the review process, involves me arriving for a meeting with the governor and encountering a homeless man on the sidewalk with his pants down, defecating in public. Passersby ignored the scene out of discomfort or fear of judgment. I use this to illustrate a societal tolerance for disorder that parallels the acceptance of figures like Byrnes, who I believe disrespect the Capitol through both appearance and behavior. This is not a minor quibble about fashion; it is a symptom of a deeper cultural decline that I see eroding the foundations of our republic.

This theme of decorum extends throughout my own life and standards. My wife and I recently visited the White House, where we deliberated carefully over appropriate attire. I insisted on wearing a suit and tie, viewing it as a fundamental mark of respect for the “people’s house.” I argue passionately that public institutions such as the Statehouse, the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the White House demand formality. Flip-flops, shorts, untucked shirts, or “slob” attire signal a lack of seriousness and erode the gravity of governance. In an era where progressive culture promotes “casual Fridays” as a virtue, I see this as symptomatic of deeper issues: a rejection of tradition, hierarchy, and excellence. Even in my busy schedule—often involving manual labor, exploring creeks, slogging through maintenance holes, or dealing with practical challenges like pressure washing grime off concrete—I prioritize dressing appropriately for official settings. My wide-brimmed hat serves both practical and symbolic purposes: it protects me from rain and elements while conveying respect. I have worn hats since the fourth grade, sometimes to tick off conformists purposefully, but always because I believe they show care for one’s appearance and mind. I value my brain and protect it, just as I believe we must protect the dignity of our institutions.

My critique of Byrnes ties directly into my larger concerns about public education and youth culture, which I have voiced repeatedly. I believe modern schooling produces “garbage”—entitled, rude individuals lacking basic manners or a work ethic. Byrnes, whom I describe as representing a “youth movement” of progressive radicals, embodies this failure in my eyes. His supporters, often Amy Acton backers or left-leaning activists, dismiss traditional values as outdated “boomer” thinking. I raised children who are now in their 30s, and I understand GameStop culture and millennial/Gen Z dynamics well, but I reject the disrespect they sometimes entail. Dressing poorly in the Statehouse is not harmless individualism; it disrespects voters, taxpayers, and the democratic process that placed Republicans in the majority. I see this every time I walk those blocks from parking to the Capitol, passing signs of disorder that polite society has learned to ignore. Why do we tolerate it? Because we fear being called judgmental. Yet judgment is necessary for a functioning society.

Expanding on Byrnes’ methods, I highlight specific grievances that have built over time. I have seen and heard accounts of Byrnes fabricating or twisting narratives around Alicia Lang, a private citizen who does not deserve public scrutiny simply because of her father’s position. Efforts to link Vivek Ramaswamy to unsubstantiated personal scandals strike me as baseless attacks on a talented conservative leader and his family. I like Vivek and his wife a great deal; they represent competence and vision that Ohio needs. Byrnes’ advocacy for Amy Acton, whom I associate with heavy-handed policies during the pandemic era, further solidifies my view of him as emblematic of big-government overreach and creeping socialism. The Rooster’s presence at the Statehouse—microphones thrust into faces, questions designed to provoke rather than inform—creates an atmosphere of intimidation rather than genuine inquiry. I have talked with many legislator types from the House and Senate, including friends like Senator Lang, and they express the same exhaustion. Many “nice” Republicans engage him to demonstrate openness, only to have their words weaponized later in hit pieces. I tell them directly: he knows you are polite and will abuse that tolerance. It is time to stop giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The legal foundation of the arrest merits detailed examination, as I have studied similar cases. Ohio Revised Code § 2917.21 defines telecommunications harassment as knowingly making communications to harass, intimidate, or abuse. A first offense is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and fines. Sending unsolicited explicit images, especially to a public official performing duties, can meet this threshold if intent to distress is shown. Courts will evaluate evidence, including the full text exchange, where Senator Cirino reportedly responded dismissively. I applaud Cirino—an experienced senator with decades of service—for refusing to endure such juvenile behavior. Older public servants like him deserve protection from punk-like provocations, not endless tolerance in the name of “free speech.” I understand Jerry Cirino is an older guy with a long record of service, and I believe he has earned the right not to have garbage like a Shrek dick pic land on his phone.

This brings me to the core tension I often debate: free speech versus harassment. I defend robust criticism and have many times spoken out for journalists’ rights in principle. Ambush journalism has a storied history in America, from muckrakers exposing real corruption to modern citizen reporters. However, I draw a sharp line here. Criticism of policy is protected; sending Shrek genitalia memes and repeated harassing texts is not. Public figures have reduced privacy expectations, but personal harassment invades that boundary. In my opinion, the “#FreeTheRooster” campaign mischaracterizes accountability as tyranny. True free speech advocates should condemn explicit harassment, not celebrate it as some badge of honor. Republicans, having endured years of lawfare and media bias during the first Trump term and beyond, are right to push back. The era of passive “turn the other cheek” politics, especially in light of what I have seen in political warfare, is ending. I am glad to see it.

I frame the arrest within the larger context of political warfare that I have documented across my writings and videos. I recall how Republicans were often too passive while facing one-sided attacks on election integrity and other issues. Those days, I declare based on my observations, are over. The Byrnes case exemplifies Republicans finally standing up for themselves rather than absorbing abuse. I draw a sharp contrast between the voters’ choice of Republican majorities in the Ohio House, Senate, and Governor’s office and the efforts of disruptive outsiders like Byrnes to undermine that mandate through slanted reporting and personal provocations. Ohio voters have chosen us for a reason. People like Byrnes treat those victories as illegitimate and use any tool—hit pieces, personal attacks, or institutional disruption—to erode them. This mirrors national patterns where left-leaning forces weaponize institutions against conservatives. I point to past energy deals, FirstEnergy trials, and related controversies as examples where Republicans played too nice and suffered consequences. The Byrnes arrest is a corrective measure: boundaries matter, and we must enforce them.

Furthermore, I address Byrnes’ personal background as part of my broader assessment. I note prior issues and marital troubles that, in my view, further disqualify him from serving as an impartial observer at the Statehouse, and he should be removed permanently because of it, because he poses a security problem just by his presence wherever he goes, he has a permanent history of violence and poor social choices.  No security area can allow him to enter and to consider the area secure. I argue that elected officials should not be forced to engage with someone who has demonstrated a pattern of disrespect and who uses journalism as a mask for ideological activism. This behavior, I contend, contributes to the very cynicism and distrust in government that critics then decry. True advocates of good governance would maintain basic respect for institutions and the people who serve in them. I do not enjoy seeing anyone jailed lightly, but when someone repeatedly pushes boundaries with crude, harassing tactics, consequences follow. I have always fought for free speech, but I also fight for the right of our elected leaders to do their jobs without constant personal torment.

In examining the symbolism that strikes me deeply, I see the Statehouse as more than bricks and mortar. It is the seat of representative government where Ohioans place their trust. Allowing slovenly dress and crude behavior normalizes decline, much like ignoring homeless encampments or public defecation blocks away. I argue that society must judge and enforce standards—discriminating between respect and chaos. My own style—suit and tie for videos and public appearances, hats for practicality and tradition—embodies this commitment. Since fourth grade, wearing bold hats has been both practical and an act of quiet defiance against those who conform to sloppiness. In business or politics, appearance signals care: a million-dollar deal or a meeting with constituents deserves collar shirts, jackets, and effort, not Key West casualness or Jimmy Buffett vibes. I reject the progressive mantra that casual is always better. It often masks laziness and disrespect.

Critics may label me as out of touch, a “cowboy hat-wearing boomer.” I embrace this label with pride because experience grants wisdom. Raising children through economic shifts, observing public education’s failures up close, and engaging directly with leaders at all levels give me a perspective that younger radicals lack. Progressive youth culture, influenced by social media echo chambers and failing schools, prioritizes “gotcha” moments over substance and respect. Byrnes’ new wife, being an attorney with progressive leanings, fits this pattern in my analysis. I question why officials gave Byrnes access in the first place, knowing his pattern. Tolerance was abused; now consequences are arriving. This is how we rebuild.

In considering the broader implications for education, the economy, and society that I explore in my work, I see public schools teaching entitlement as a root cause that produces adults unprepared for basic decorum. Socialism erodes self-reliance, mirroring sloppy dress as a rejection of excellence. My upcoming book, The Politics of Heaven, draws on these Statehouse experiences to argue for the restoration of standards of dress, speech, and conduct. It rebuilds trust. Voters chose Republicans to govern effectively; disruptors like Byrnes undermine that mandate at their peril. We must continue this firmness: defend our majorities, reject socialism, and demand respect. Figures like Cirino, Lang, and Ramaswamy represent the competence Ohio needs; undermining them harms all of us.

The cultural contrast I observe daily is stark. One side values suits, ties, and hats as outward signs of inner respect; the other celebrates slobs as authentic. I stand firmly with tradition, arguing that institutions deserve elevation rather than casual degradation. My wife’s choice of shoes for the White House trip, despite discomfort, highlights this principle: we accept minor inconvenience for dignity. Public servants and those covering them should model the same. Byrnes’ arrest enforces a necessary boundary. It is not about silencing criticism but about insisting that criticism remain within civilized bounds.

I expand this further by reflecting on years of patterns I have witnessed. From my early days discussing politics to thousands of videos and writings, I have seen the slow creep of disrespect. Casual dress led to casual attitudes toward rules, ethics, and institutions. Byrnes is a symptom, not the disease. The disease is the progressive push that teaches young people government is the enemy when it is Republican-led, that sloppiness equals rebellion, and that harassment is “speaking truth.” I reject all of it. My support for this arrest is part of a consistent worldview: we fought for majorities so we could govern, not endure endless sabotage.

Additionally, I consider how this fits national trends. After watching attacks on Trump and conservatives through lawfare, I am pleased to see reciprocity—not as vengeance, but as balance. A misdemeanor like this deters without broadly chilling legitimate speech. Real journalists criticize policies without explicit memes. Officials can set boundaries. I urge fellow Republicans to maintain this firmness while staying ethical. Destroy political enemies through legal and proper channels when they cross into harassment, but never descend to their level of pettiness.

To elaborate on my personal standards, I dress in a jacket and tie most days because my schedule demands readiness. Late-night videos still reflect that discipline even if I relax slightly for comfort. It drives some crazy, but it shows I take my platform seriously. I expect the same from those in or covering the people’s house—no silly flip-flops or shorts. Respect the space where laws are made.

I could continue for pages on related cultural failures—public education turning out disrespectful youth, media amplifying provocateurs, and voters’ will being undermined—but the core remains: this arrest is a win for standards. It tells Byrnes and his ilk that Ohio’s elected leaders will not be pushed around forever. I love seeing Republicans stand firm. It honors the voters. It restores dignity. And it pushes back against the socialist tide that Byrnes represents through his Acton support and hit pieces.

I see the arrest of “The Rooster” as a refreshing assertion of boundaries that I have long advocated. It is not an assault on free speech but a defense of civilized political discourse against those who would replace it with rudeness, entitlement, and ideological warfare. By demanding higher standards of dress, conduct, and professionalism, I believe Ohio can restore dignity to its public spaces and processes. Allowing progressive provocateurs to harass officials under the guise of journalism only weakens our republic. Instead, we must continue pushing back firmly against those who seek to impose disorder, honoring the will of the voters who placed us in office. This incident, though seemingly small, signals a cultural and political turning point where respect for the system is no longer optional. I stand by that fully.

(Word count: approximately 4,350)

Footnotes

1.  Signal Ohio report on the arrest and charges.

2.  Columbus Dispatch coverage detailing the incident.

3.  NBC4i on the Shrek image specifics.

4.  Ohio Revised Code § 2917.21 legal text.

5.  Background on Byrnes’ blogging style.

6.  Additional context from progressive reactions.

Bibliography

•  “Progressive blogger arrested outside Ohio statehouse.” Signal Ohio, June 2, 2026. https://signalohio.org/progressive-blogger-the-rooster-arrested-outside-statehouse-charged-with-harassment/

•  “Ohio blogger The Rooster arrested at Statehouse.” Columbus Dispatch, June 1, 2026. https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/01/rooster-arrest-ohio-statehouse/90358157007/

•  “Columbus political blogger arrested on telecommunications harassment charge.” NBC4i, June 2026.

•  Ohio Revised Code § 2917.21. https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2917.21

•  “Who is The Rooster? See D.J. Byrnes in action.” Columbus Dispatch, March 17, 2026.

•  “Blogger ‘The Rooster’ Arrested for Alleged Telecom Harassment.” Trending reports, June 2026.

•  Additional sources from The Rooster Substack and related political commentary.

Rich Hoffman

More about me

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

About the Author: Rich Hoffman

Rich Hoffman is an aerospace executive, political strategist, systems thinker, and independent researcher of ancient history, the paranormal, and the Dead Sea Scrolls tradition. His life in high‑stakes manufacturing, high‑level politics, and cross‑functional crisis management gives him a field‑tested understanding of power — both human and unseen.

He has advised candidates, executives, and public leaders, while conducting deep, hands‑on exploration of archaeological and supernatural hotspots across the world.

Hoffman writes with the credibility of a problem-solver, the curiosity of an archaeologist, and the courage of a frontline witness who has gone to very scary places and reported what lurked there. Hoffman has authored books including The Symposium of Justice, The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business, and Tail of the Dragon, often exploring themes of freedom, individual will, and societal structures through a lens influenced by philosophy (e.g., Nietzschean overman concepts) and current events.

Bullwhips: Why they are associated with everything I do

I have been asked for years why whips appear in my videos, my sites, and my personal iconography. For those who have known me longest, the question usually comes with a knowing smile, as if recalling an old shared joke. For newer acquaintances—those who discover my work through a podcast appearance, a cultural commentary piece, or a passing mention in wider discourse—the question carries genuine curiosity, sometimes even mild bewilderment. They wonder what such an archaic object could mean in modern life. The answer is straightforward, yet layered: the whip has never represented bravado or a hunger for conflict. It has always stood for preparation, symbolism, discipline, and the quiet refusal to hand over one’s agency to fear.

My fascination began in childhood, not with rebellion or spectacle, but with stories of individuals who met intimidation with composure. I devoured classic adventure cinema and serialized tales—black-and-white films flickering on late-night television, Republic Pictures serials with their cliffhanger tension, Westerns where lone figures upheld a code amid chaos. Zorro, in particular, captured me. He moved with elegance and precision, masked not to evade accountability but to shoulder it fully. He confronted tyranny without mirroring its cruelty, using wit and skill as extensions of moral clarity. Those stories planted a seed: justice need not seek permission from the powerful; it could arise from personal conviction and disciplined action.

That abstract pull found concrete grounding in family history. My grandfather and great-grandfather were practical men who worked the land in rural Kentucky. Whips were tools for them—extensions of the hand for guiding livestock, clearing brush, or managing distance with precision. As a boy, I watched them with wide-eyed reverence. I remember the dry Kentucky air thick with the scent of earth and hay, the faint creak of leather, and then the sharp, clean crack that split the stillness. One vivid memory remains etched: my great-grandfather, calm as still water, snapping a fly clean off the weathered side of a shed without disturbing the wood. There was no anger in the motion, no theatrical flourish. Only years of practiced focus, an intimate understanding of leverage, timing, and the physics of energy traveling down a braided length. The whip became, in that moment, a lesson in mastery—not domination, but harmony with consequence. Every crack carried immediate feedback. Miss, and you knew it instantly. Succeed, and the satisfaction was private, earned.

Those early impressions shaped more than idle curiosity. As I entered adolescence, schoolyard realities tested abstract ideals. Environments where hierarchies formed through bluster and threat rather than merit were common. I learned quickly that fear functions as currency only when accepted. A bully’s power evaporates the moment their target refuses the transaction. One particular incident stands out—not for drama, but for the internal shift it produced. Cornered by a group testing boundaries, I felt the familiar spike of adrenaline. Yet instead of freezing or fleeing, something from those whip lessons and adventure tales clicked: respond with clarity, not escalation. I stood firm, voice steady, eyes level. The moment passed without violence, but the realization endured. Intimidation relies on your participation. Withdraw consent, and the dynamic collapses. That lesson traveled with me into adulthood, informing how I navigated professional pressures, public discourse, and personal challenges.

Martial arts deepened this foundation. I immersed myself in disciplines emphasizing structure, balance, footwork, timing, and above all, restraint. Years of training in systems rooted in traditional practice taught that true competence whispers rather than shouts. It waits, patient and prepared. I studied the transfer of force, the economy of motion, and the mental discipline required to remain centered amid chaos. Over time, these elements—family craft, cinematic archetypes, physical training—wove into a cohesive personal philosophy. It was never about inventing novelty or seeking attention. It was integration: taking timeless principles and applying them to contemporary existence.

Preparedness, I came to understand, is frequently misconstrued as paranoia or latent aggression. In truth, it cultivates calm. When you have tested your limits through deliberate practice, when you know your capabilities and accept your responsibilities, fear loses its primary lever. You cease knee-jerk emotional reactions and begin responding with reasoned presence. This mindset proved invaluable as I moved into public life. Speaking on cultural matters, challenging assumptions, or simply voicing independent thought invites pressure. Sometimes it arrives as social exclusion, professional repercussions, or relentless psychological framing. The tactic remains consistent: induce retreat without substantive engagement. Fear is efficient because it bypasses debate.

I decided early against living under that shadow. The choice was deliberate, not reckless. Discipline over anxiety. Preparation over denial. Personal responsibility over dependence on external validation or protection. The whip crystallized this decision. Learning it demands patience. The leather does not forgive haste or distraction. Its physics are unforgiving: energy builds along the taper, accelerating to supersonic speed at the tip. One slight error in wrist angle, grip, or follow-through, and the crack becomes a painful self-inflicted lesson. Progress requires ego surrender. Early attempts bring frustration—tangles, weak pops, bruised pride. Each failure teaches humility and attention. Success arrives only after hundreds of repetitions, when mind, body, and tool align in quiet competence.

Psychologically, the whip mirrors broader life patterns. It punishes emotional volatility. Swing in anger, and you lose control. Approach with calm focus, and precision follows. In public discourse, the parallel is striking. A flailing argument scatters energy uselessly. A single, well-timed point—delivered with clarity and restraint—cuts through noise like that supersonic tip. The whip rewards respect for its nature; so does effective communication. Over the years, this symbol has organically attached itself to my work. Friends referenced it with humor. Viewers inquired. Strangers requested demonstrations. “Can you do a trick?” became a common refrain. I often smiled and redirected, preferring substance over performance. Yet maturity brings a willingness to explain the root rather than minimize it.

The deeper essence has never been domination or threat. It centers on deterrence born of inner certainty, moral confidence, and psychological resilience. When others recognize that fear holds no sway, dynamics transform. Posture straightens. Conversations shift from coercion to exchange. Many potential conflicts dissipate before ignition because the foundation for intimidation has been removed. This principle extends beyond physical tools into speech, integrity, and cultural navigation. In an era of digital amplification—where outrage algorithms reward emotional reactivity, where institutional pressures frame dissent as deviance, where social mechanisms attempt to enforce conformity through shame cycles—the response remains consistent: remove fear from the equation. Reclaim agency. Force interactions back into the arena of reason and accountability. Those unable to operate there reveal their own limitations.

Philosophical traditions reinforced what experience taught. Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings spoke to detached clarity amid conflict, the warrior’s mind unclouded by emotion. Sun Tzu emphasized winning before battle through positioning and insight. Jigoro Kano’s judo principles highlighted using an opponent’s force against them while maintaining balance—much like channeling energy precisely through a whip rather than brute resistance. Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey framed the personal quest: venturing into uncertainty, confronting shadows, returning transformed with hard-won wisdom. These were not abstract texts; they illuminated lived practice. The restrained guardian archetype—Zorro as a modern knight-errant, Fairbanks’ swashbucklers balancing flair with duty—echoed across time. Even historical reflections on justice outside rigid institutions, as explored by thinkers like E.P. Thompson, underscore that moral order sometimes requires personal readiness when systems falter.

At its core, the whip embodies self-control in an age prone to indulgence, responsibility amid widespread excuse-making, and preparedness against currents of denial. It is no relic of aggression but a tangible reminder that discipline precedes freedom. Courage, similarly, is cultivated long before any visible conflict. The hours of solitary practice, the ego-bruising repetitions, the quiet satisfaction of incremental mastery—these build the internal reservoir that sustains through storms.

I have worn many masks across decades: professional, public, private. Beneath them, the values remain constant—discipline, preparedness, restraint, resolve. Sharing this openly now feels right, not for performance or provocation, but for honesty. People today hunger for tangible examples of lived conviction. Abstract ideals fall short of witnessing how principles endure in practice. If articulating this path helps even one person loosen fear’s grip on their decisions, the candor serves a purpose. If it illustrates that justice and clarity begin with personal accountability, all the better.

Looking forward, the legacy I hope to leave transcends any single symbol. It is a quiet demonstration that ordinary individuals can cultivate extraordinary resilience. In daily life—facing workplace coercion, digital pile-ons, familial tensions, or cultural headwinds—the same mindset applies. Assess honestly. Prepare diligently. Respond with measured agency. Teach children through example that mastery arises from repetition and respect, not entitlement. Encourage friends to value inner calibration over external approval. The whip, for me, remains a private compass more than a public prop. Its crack echoes a simpler truth: you are capable of more than fear allows you to believe.

That realization, extended outward, fosters healthier discourse, stronger communities, and freer minds. It asks each of us to examine our own tools of self-mastery—whatever form they take—and wield them with care. In doing so, we honor the lineage of those who came before: the quiet practitioners, the storytellers, the guardians of principle. We pass forward not fear, but freedom earned through discipline.

This path is ongoing. I continue to practice, reflect, and integrate. The whip still rests in my hand from time to time, a tactile link to origins and aspirations. Its lessons endure: precision over power, calm over chaos, responsibility as the truest form of strength.

Bibliography & Further Reading / Viewing

Classic Film & Serial Influences

•  The Mark of Zorro (1920 silent version with Douglas Fairbanks; 1940 sound version with Tyrone Power)

•  Republic Pictures adventure serials (1930s–1940s, including Zorro-themed entries)

•  Douglas Fairbanks Sr. swashbuckler films

•  Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925)

Martial Philosophy & Discipline

•  Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

•  Sun Tzu, The Art of War

•  Jigoro Kano, writings and teachings on Judo discipline and philosophy

•  Dave Grossman, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace (for mental preparedness frameworks)

•  Epictetus and Seneca, selected Stoic writings on controlling fear and the internal locus of control

Cultural Symbolism & Justice Archetypes

•  Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

•  Julius Evola, Revolt Against the Modern World (for traditional archetype context)

•  E. P. Thompson, Whigs and Hunters: The Origin of the Black Act (historical justice outside formal institutions)

Historical Tools & Craft

•  Ron Edwards, How to Make Whips

•  David Morgan, Whips and Whipping

•  Additional craft resources from traditional leatherwork and equestrian traditions

Image & Archive Sources

•  Library of Congress film stills and historical photography archives

•  Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences photo and poster collections

•  Smithsonian Folkways and rural American material culture collections

•  Museum of Western Film History image archives

Rich Hoffman

More about me

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

About the Author: Rich Hoffman

Rich Hoffman is an aerospace executive, political strategist, systems thinker, and independent researcher of ancient history, the paranormal, and the Dead Sea Scrolls tradition. His life in high‑stakes manufacturing, high‑level politics, and cross‑functional crisis management gives him a field‑tested understanding of power — both human and unseen.

He has advised candidates, executives, and public leaders, while conducting deep, hands‑on exploration of archaeological and supernatural hotspots across the world.

Hoffman writes with the credibility of a problem-solver, the curiosity of an archaeologist, and the courage of a frontline witness who has gone to very scary places and reported what lurked there. Hoffman has authored books including The Symposium of Justice, The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business, and Tail of the Dragon, often exploring themes of freedom, individual will, and societal structures through a lens influenced by philosophy (e.g., Nietzschean overman concepts) and current events.

The Radicalism of Stephen Colbert: Trying to kill off toxic masculinity as been very expensive and not worth it

There is a much deeper reason that the news about Stephen Colbert being taken off the air is such big news.  Or why ABC is re-thinking some of its daytime programming, such as The View.  There will be numerous television changes because many of these big production companies have been so committed to progressive causes that the financial impact of it is finally starting to catch up to them.  However, in everyday conversation, the real reasons for economic failures have been largely unexplored.  People know they are generally happy to hear that the Trump-hating Colbert is losing his late-night show, and that many of the other late-night hosts are in danger as well, because of the anti-Trump agenda.  Anti-Make America Great Again agenda points are not popular for good business.  And typically, CBS Studios, a division of Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, would not hesitate to donate $40 million to progressive political causes.  Which is what they are saying the show is losing per year.  It’s not about the money; it’s about the viability of the position.  Losing that much money by putting Stephen Colbert on television every night to attempt to destroy the Trump agenda is more or less a financial contribution to their political platform.  The problem for them is that they spent all that money and committed so many resources to it, yet they were unable to move the political needle at all.  Trump did not end up in jail, or bankrupt as radical liberals had fantasized about.  Instead, six months into his re-elected term, he is doing great, and there are no signs of him slowing down.  And he’s more popular than ever, which is breaking the back of the production companies and their commitment to communism that dates back to the fifties and sixties. 

I know quite a bit about all this as I have been discussing it for years.  For many people, it has been hard to connect the dots.  However, I hosted a major radio show on this topic, specifically centered on the release of the Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, where Disney killed the very popular character of Han Solo.  A friend of mine and I discussed the poor decision that Disney made in killing off the white hero Han Solo and replacing him with a DEI cast that nobody ever took to.  And now, ten years later, the things we said have turned out to be hauntingly accurate.  After that big, popular show, my friend received an offer to work at Disney for an excellent salary.  I always thought they did it to shut him up and get him off the air.  It is much easier to throw money at controversial voices to contain them somewhat.  My friend loved the Disney Company and hoped to improve it, so more power to him.  I told him there was no saving the company, but he had to try.  But the point of the matter is this: Disney didn’t need to kill off the original heroes of the Star Wars saga.  But they did it anyway, and they did it for purely political reasons.  That’s how radical the hatred in Hollywood is for the Make America Great Again movement, which was emerging openly as Disney was committing to these new Star Wars movies that had a DEI cast, and a killing off of the strongest character of them all, Han Solo, who was made popular by the very popular actor, Harrison Ford.

Now I’ve heard it all before.  People tell me that old Harrison Ford always wanted to kill off the character of Han Solo.  As an actor, he hears all the stories about toxic white masculinity, which he has made a lot of money over the years popularizing.  So, for him, to sacrifice one of his roles to the gods of progressivism is a logical choice.  And he has been saying for forty years that Han Solo should die in the Star Wars series.  However, George Lucas knew better, so they brought him back for The Return of the Jedi, and that character went on to become one of the biggest and most popular in the Star Wars brand.  If Han Solo is on the movie posters, people are excited for Star Wars and the toys that came from that series of movies.  But if the movie posters, as they turned out to be, were just diversity, equity, and inclusion characters, then the public was going to reject the offering.  And in that process, Disney killed the Star Wars brand forever.  I don’t think it will ever come back. The damage was so significant that they begged Harrison Ford to return and make an appearance in the last Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker, but it was too late by then.  And Disney has not been making any more Star Wars movies because their DEI characters were being rejected left and right.  A similar controversy arose on The Mandalorian television show involving Gina Carano.  She turned out not to be a DEI hire, but a conservative fighter, and Disney tried to punish her for it, and it blew up in their faces in terrible ways.  We are seeing entertainment that is not intended to entertain, but rather to convey political messages through popular franchises, and it has turned out to be a disastrous business decision. 

So, the writing was already on the wall when Trump was re-elected, and Disney was already undergoing its assessment process.  They had to learn, as a large entertainment company, that their public would reject them if they did not produce content that they wanted.  Kathy Kennedy should have known better about the Han Solo character.  Her husband, Frank Marshell, should be able to help her understand it.  He produced all the Jurassic Park movies and was the German mechanic in the very popular Raiders of the Lost Ark movie, notably in the fight scene.  He’s not a progressive lunatic.  However, he and Kennedy are fans of Jimmy Buffett and music from that era, so they have a left-leaning side that certainly comes through in their movies.  Kathy, as a woman CEO, went completely DEI and began pushing for female directors and characters.  I mean, they killed off Han Solo, knowing he was the father figure of the series, and they gave his famous spaceship, the Millennium Falcon, to some girl that nobody knew, as if the public would just accept it.  And they never did.  And the franchise took a permanent hit that it will never recover from.  I tried to tell them.  My friend and I laid it all out on that now-famous radio show, so we know the Disney bigwigs heard it and offered us jobs afterwards.  I have had numerous companies offer me money to try to keep me quiet, essentially.  I don’t blame my friend for taking the money.  Many people do, and it can lead to a fulfilling life.  And that is essentially why nobody understands these kinds of things structurally.  But that’s what’s going on with Stephen Colbert, and many others that will follow.  The man-hating Hollywood has not been working, and if they want to survive at all, they will have to make adjustments because the consumer is the boss.  Not the studios, and they have had to learn some tough lessons, too late.  The ramifications of all those bad decisions are only now becoming well-known and prominent.

Rich Hoffman

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

Air Taxis in West Chester, Ohio: The future is now, and its very exciting

The future is now

It’s going to happen at this point anyway.  My bringing it up now is more of a formality of connecting the dots and explaining to anybody who will listen how the future economy under President Trump will look.  I have conversations about making Ohio the number one state for business-friendly conditions all the time.  I attend many seminars on economic development and Chamber of Commerce incentives for depressed areas looking to rebound.  And when I say the only thing holding back this technology is the FAA, politics has changed.  Deregulation under Trump will get stuffy bureaucrats out of the way, and a second wave of aviation and aerospace development will be unleashed.  The other day, I talked a lot about Hyperloop and how and why a terminal should be built in Monroe, Ohio. But today, I’m talking about an old idea that is about to be unleashed and create an all-new transportation mode: skycars, or more technically speaking, VTOL air taxis.  I can say from personal experience that Joby Aviation, up the road from West Chester and Liberty Township, is at the front of the market.  They have air taxis ready to go, built, tested, flushed out, and prepared for delivery to market in 2025/2026; essentially, all that is standing in the way is the FAA approval process.  Joby Aviation is making a piloted version, but they will quickly become fully automatic and will work by calling one on your phone and having them pick you up and perform just like an Uber.  The future is here, now.  All that needed to happen was that politics would have to get behind it.  We don’t already have these air taxis in use because the Biden administration was a slow and Marxist micromanager that stalled all these efforts.  If Trump had stayed in the White House in 2020, these Joby air taxis would have been out for a few years by now.  So once we get a Trump administration back in the White House and install a pro-business mindset back into America, Joby and a few other companies are going to move quickly, and technical innovation on this front will happen at a blistering pace. 

Knowing all that, I would propose that we get all the minds together in West Chester and Liberty Township and become the first areas in the world to develop official Sky Ports.  Abu Dhabi and China are already deep in development.  And Europe is already all over it.  But they don’t have Joby Aviation right down the road and a stable environment to perform the early day development of the technology, which could make Ohio the first to fly again.  Here’s how and why it would work.  For instance, there is a nice little piece of property across from Ikea in West Chester that is just big enough for a sky port, a mini runway kind of helipad where these air taxis would land and take off like a helicopter, but much quieter and with much more stable flight.  This always happens to me; people come and see me from out of town.  They stay at the many hotels and have to get back and forth between CVG and West Chester, and their biggest problem is the traffic down I-75, which gets back to the airport to catch their flight when doing business in West Chester.  This air taxi system would take all that worry away and improve life for many people. 

For instance, when business guests were ready to leave their hotel, they would walk or catch a little transport from their hotel to Sky Port by Ikea. Theoretically, a sky taxi would be waiting for them.  In this case, a piloted version of the Joby VTOL vehicle would be waiting for them just like an Uber, dialed up by their phone with the ticket, and everything would be paid.  The guests would arrive and get into the craft like a car.  The sky taxi would fly them down to the airport at CVG and land at the front of the terminal, likely on top of the parking garage there, and fly over all the traffic, making the trip in about 15 minutes, which usually takes over 50 minutes.  Another problem I have is bringing people from West Chester who are in town without a car to sporting events.  I typically pick them up and drive to the Great American Ballpark to attend a game for the evening.  Getting downtown with all the rush hour traffic is a pain in the neck.  It would be much better to get into an air taxi and fly straight to the stadium, land in a nice, safe place along the river, and get to the game in about 10 minutes instead of an hour during those peak hours of 5 to 6 PM.  When the game was over, the passengers would just let the air taxi service know you were about to leave, and they would come and pick you up just like an Uber driver now.  Only it would be a VTOL instead of a car.  The same air taxi service could be set up to get to Kings Island from all over Cincinnati.  It could also be set up to serve politicians from their districts directly to the Ohio Statehouse.  There are a vast number of immediate applications that would benefit immediately from the low price of freshly poured concrete. 

After the FAA permit process, the next barrier would be to win over the public.  So, the sooner people see these vehicles working and overcome their fear of flying, the more the concept will expand rapidly.  At first, it would be similar to a helicopter ride experience that you see in very safe tourist areas.  Only this air taxi concept is even safer and much quieter.  It would be at a small volume, maybe a few flights every hour throughout the peak hours of a business day.  But enough people are interested now to make that happen with the Joby Aviation vehicles right out of the box.  However, the flight frequency would quickly increase to a flight every couple of minutes, and even several flights from several pads at the Skyport would come and go all the time.  It will also greatly enhance the business climate wherever sports reside.  So, I think Ohio has a unique opportunity to be the first.  West Chester, precisely because of its hotels and business traffic, could be the first in the world to demonstrate this technology and benefit economically from the visionary approach.  I’m just connecting the dots here for the many people I know in this business who need to know about each other.  And to explain that this isn’t some far off Jetson’s fantasy concept.  I’ve been involved in these Skycars for over three decades now, so when I say that they are here, I can say it with confidence.  Air taxis are here; they will happen and will be the hottest ticket in town for the next half of a decade.  People will find them very convenient, safe, and pleasant.  And they will become nearly as common as a personal car in a very short time.  The VTOL market needed a president like Trump in the White House.  The rest was waiting for the permit approval, which is about to happen as you read this.  If not sooner. 

Rich Hoffman

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

The Illusion of Joe Biden: Who really runs the world

Sorry to break it to everyone. People continue to be surprised that Joe Biden is not in charge of our government, and he never was.  I told you guys that he was a puppet president put in place.  He was not elected.  The Administrative State selected him to serve the Deep State of globalists hiding in the World Economic Forum in the mountains of Davos.  And the Joe Biden presidency is them flexing the muscle of their power and control over the rest of us.  Now that time has passed, and the election fraud of 2020 is so apparent, with objective evidence beyond a doubt, the realization is becoming more mainstream.  People have assumed that when they elect a president, they bring in an executive to run the country.  But that is not what the hostile agents of doom worldwide want.  They want an idiot like Joe, who is so compromised as a person that he is easy to control.  They are still so mad that we elected Trump back in 2016 that they no longer care if we see how they control our lives.  The illusion of freedom has now been ripped away, and during that debate with Trump at the end of June 2024, people had that moment where they realized that all the comments about Biden were not some conspiracy theory created by some Alex Jones personality.  This was real.  To many people, that realization was terrifying and something that people were beginning to observe.  If Joe Biden wasn’t running the country, then who was?  The answer is the Administrative State.  The Biden presidency is a creation of bureaucrats to preserve Washington D.C.’s culture of easy money and sinful mayhem.  And they didn’t want a real executive like President Trump traditionally running things.  Instead, they gave us President Biden to flex their muscle and preserve their globalist plans.  And now they aren’t even trying to hide it with that mess of a debate they gave us with tongues deeply in their cheeks.

But how could they do such a thing?  Well, it’s simple, and we see this audaciousness in almost every industry.  Yes, it is raw communism, but it is disguised to us as procedural fulfillment.  Those who write the rules and create the procedures are the absolute rulers of the world.  And that is how they have been running Joe Biden.  He is not concerned about deciding on the health of the nuclear football because these same administrator types control the whole world and know whether there will be a war or not between two parties.  They have complete control over everything, including when wars happen and where, such as in the Russia/Ukraine war presently.  Or the fight between the Palestinians and Israel.  Or whether China will invade Taiwan.  It’s all carefully scripted, with procedural mandates flowing down through the United Nations.  How it works in this Biden White House and since the first George Bush was in office was that administrators following the handbook of global politics set the agenda and policy for the American president, and he is supposed to follow that without deviation.  The president’s job, such as Obama’s job exclusively, was to sell the illusion to the public.  Not to make executive decisions.  We don’t have a system that allows for a president to act as a traditional executive.  They aren’t making decisions decisively in the situation room anymore.  They are given PR memos and told what to say and where to do it.  It’s all written down for them, but who does all the writing?  Well, it’s the same pinheaded young college kids who learn in school how to be friendly, little compliant members of the administrative state.  They also learn to get their information from the United Nations, where all procedures and rules for global conduct are put in place. 

It works that way in business, too.  Many of the world’s best companies are not run by strong personalities as we expect them to be. Instead, most CEOs are focused on compliance with the standards created by the Administrative State.  The values have shifted dramatically in recent years, not to a company’s performance but more to its compliance with rules and standardization, which is meant to bring sameness to the world’s industries and usher in global communism using China as the model.  That is what the United Nations has been doing in the background.  And for proof, look at your local zoning and township maintenance.  Most of what they have to deal with comes straight out of the pages of Agenda 21 and 2030, including the smart meters on all our houses.  I live in an area heavily targeted by Agenda 21’s “sustainable development” and warned everyone 20 years ago what it was and how it would be done.  As a result, we have roundabouts and bicycle trails everywhere for these beta males who like to ride bicycles looking like girls in their tight spandex pants and gay little helmets.  But the shell game works like this: Deep Staters flow down the rules and regulations through the Administrative State, who pick it up and flow it into every company in the world through standardization.  And it ends up in local government school boards and with the trustees as enforceable mandates.  And if the local leadership doesn’t follow the rules, they get sued.  When people are upset over some new zoning change, all trustees can do is follow the zoning recommendations, which are entirely shaped by those same kids right out of college who were trained to be compliant members of the Administrative State bureaucracy.  And if the trustees don’t follow the rules and prove themselves non-compliant, they are harassed legally. 

This has been the phantom impact of global communism as advocated by the United Nations.  This is how they plan to rule the world, as they have been doing. Essentially, all rules and regulations that we endure today, no matter what industry it is, go to the doorstep of the mindless bureaucrats banging wine glasses together in the mountains of Davos hiding behind the World Economic Forum on behalf of the United Nations.  And Joe Biden, for them, was revenge against the rest of us because Trump threatened to dismantle that entire mess.  So Joe Biden, the complete idiot, was to stick it in our eye that they are in control and have been for years.  But we are fighting back, with Trump running for another term.  The Supreme Court just ruled on the Chevron case, which dramatically takes away the power of the Administrative State to grab power for itself and then continue to change rules, solidifying that power to an even greater extent.  As bad as it has been, people are catching on, and if that debate was meant to discourage people from challenging the power of the Administrative State, it turned people in the other direction.  I would say that the power and arrogance of the Deep State and their frustrations at a public that insists on more than an illusion of freedom forced them into a rather large error.  They should not have put Biden on that stage to show the world he was never in charge.  Because it only confirmed the suspicions that the public had been having.  They may have wanted a replacement on the Democrat ticket while there is still time to build up someone else.  But this is the kind of mess you always get when dealing with the Administrative State.  They make a lot of mistakes because competent rulers don’t rule them.  But pinheaded bureaucrats who have been trying to replace real executive leadership for years.  And it’s all been a trick that most people have fallen for, at least until now. 

Rich Hoffman

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

Banning TikTok from China: Morality is the best policy for protecting society from its enemies

I’m generally not for the government getting into the banning business, such as all this talk about banning TikTok from American consumption.  It might make everyone feel good, but at this point, it’s not nearly enough.  I think what they do in Florida with age restrictions is the right way for all social media.  The introduction of the internet to kids in puberty has been horrendous, culturally, so they are headed down the right road in Florida by identifying that fundamental use problem.  Strengthen the family; you solve a lot of these problems.  The government is a poor substitute for parental guidance.  But that doesn’t change what TikTok is and China’s intentions with it.  Yes, they are all about propaganda, and TikTok was invented as a social media platform to empower stupidity to destroy our culture by making it more mainstream.  When President Trump wanted to ban TikTok during his first presidency, he had the right idea in identifying a threat to our American youth.  China wants to make them dumb and to pursue the destruction of the next generation.  I was just in Japan studying how Kobe Beef is produced by tampering with cattle growth in ways that make the meat taste better.  TikTok was invented and utilized to be different from other forms of social media, more appealing to youth, and more addictive than YouTube or Facebook.  As a result, it is the critical platform millions of Americans use to share videos and opinions about a whole array of matters.  But residing behind that effort is a menace to destroy the mind of the consumer with addiction and short thinking, sexual obsession, and low intellect manipulations.  That could be said of most social media, but when it comes to TikTok, owned by the Chinese, the level of deceit is in a category of its own. 

The more general threat behind TikTok is the ability of foreign governments, hostile to the United States to own American assets.  Not just social media companies, but movie companies, land acquisition, and all other forms of investment.  America advertises itself as an open society; we allow foreign investment into our culture under the banner of “free trade,” only to see those hostile cultures use that weakness as leverage for our destruction.  Who needs a military when you can destroy the culture that produces the military?  By now, even the most dense person should understand that’s what we are dealing with.  When you look at all fronts, the poisoning of our youth with drugs, the teaching of communism in public schools, the destruction of the American family with feminism, and other methods, it should be obvious to everyone what’s going on.  Globalism wasn’t about bringing different countries into a capitalist society.  Globalism was about destroying the only real capitalist culture left on earth and eroding it from within, much the way TikTok was used as a kind of Trojan Horse.  But the troops don’t sneak in under the cover of night to slit everyone’s throats while they sleep.  They do it in the day, while everyone is awake.  But they get the people to slit their own throats and giggle about it like it’s a rebellion against convention.  The openness of American culture has been used against the kindness it was intended to project to the world’s less fortunate.  Rather than be thankful, those countries have plotted our destruction and then boasted about how weak we are for allowing them to do it.  So the TikTok problem won’t just disappear because politicians create a new ban on a social media platform.  The effort will just pack up and move to the next technological thing. 

My solution is to keep the government out of it and raise the expectations of social behavior through free market enterprise.  I agree with Trump, who has changed his mind on TikTok over time and with some perspective.  As long as we are allowing criminal syndicates, like China, and hostile billionaires like Bill Gates, to buy up massive amounts of American property and to use it in a hostile way against us, whether it be farmland or social media platforms, we open ourselves to the hostilities of those antagonizers, and there a lot of them.  Of course, those types of people want open borders; they want to suck off the merit of a capitalist country with lots of people to exploit in the process.  The government was supposed to protect us, but many of them are just as bad as the criminals, not being able to resist the many temptations in Washington D.C., from the easy money, the gratuitous sex, and the compromised lifestyles.  The way to beat all these characters is not with more government rules enforced by corrupt government officials but by increasing society’s morality in general.  We don’t have to put up with such low standards as the Chinese have offered us to make us fat, dumb, and easily manipulated toward their military objectives.  We are expected to express our feelings about things and to maintain standards that are difficult for lowlifes to live up to.  And in that way, who needs a ban on TikTok when a social stigma behind the platform permeates through market conditions?  The best way to deal with these hostilities from foreign governments is not to allow foreign investment to be so easy and to use a good moral code to regulate the amount of stupidity a culture is willing to put up with. 

There has been a lot of consternation locally where a new representative for the 47th District in Ohio beat out an entrenched Republican who is well known to be a RINO because she happens to be a pastor for a large church.  RINOs are dangerous because they believe in compromise and are willing to work with evil to make things happen, which is how we end up with things like TikTok in our culture.  The consternation comes from the endorsement of Diane Mullins from churches to become a political representative because the argument is that it’s supposed to be illegal, separation of church and state kind of issue. The left commits a lot of unlawful acts, such as cheating in elections and conducting open borders.  I don’t think a church endorsing a pastor for a political position is a problem at all.  And those who want to think so obviously have the destruction of America in mind because the entire debate about the separation of church and state was to make sure morality wasn’t provided to sustain a healthy culture with biblical guideposts.  The goal of removing such considerations was to make it easier to destroy the youth of America, which was a military strategy disguised as social policy.  But it is in affirming those moral values, a society protects itself best from intrusions like TikTok and other intentions from hostile foreign governments.  And we’d do much more good by not apologizing for upholding moral virtue than in a newly created government ban.  I would rather have a government ban than have a rudderless society, such as bans on drugs, abortion, and general bad conduct.  However, the best way to enforce moral policy is to have a society that isn’t afraid to make judgments against bad behavior.  And that is what most of these characters fear: people and politicians are not afraid to judge; which was the most effective means of social control ever invented by human beings?

Rich Hoffman

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

Downfall of the Girl Boss: The Market serves the public, not the other way around

If anybody doubted the intention, history would never remember it better than in movies’ ridiculous concept of the “Girl Boss.”  One of the first things I did after the election results showed President Trump losing in 2020 to the dumb old man, Joe Biden, was to read to the public the 45 Planks of Communism from Cleon Skousen’s great book, The Naked Communist, where it was clearly stated, communists intended to infiltrate America and impose their view of the world through captured assets, such as both political parties, and the media.  The proof that had happened wasn’t just in the obvious election fraud that had put Joe Biden in office, but it has been in how foolish the entertainment industry had been with their “Girl Boss” concept, with feminism gone out of control without any market checks to keep it from making a fool of itself.  Once you understand the stupidity of the Girl Boss, a lot of things make sense, and the world becomes more accessible to explain.  It’s also why the pendulum is swinging so violently in the other direction now, and likely all the dumb ideas that the communists who infiltrated our American culture had, are being rejected so outrageously.  The Girl Boss was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  The entertainment industry, particularly film and television, thought that people loved their product so much that they’d consume anything given to them which is clearly not the case.  There are a lot of movie studios that will not survive this stupidity, particularly the big one in Disney.  But it goes to show just how radical, politically, the people running those companies were, and what a mistake it would become because they all had to learn an important lesson, which is unfolding now, and it really evolves into the power of capitalism over the dark forces of communism.  When other countries in the world complain about them being poor, it’s because they adopted too much socialism and communism into their cultures and not enough capitalism.   Being poor is a decision, and if people understood it better, they would have never come up with the dumb idea of the Girl Boss in movies, which is currently destroying Disney in spectacularly avoidable ways, yet they did it anyway. 

Much of this came to the surface due to the Elon Musk lawsuit he is supporting with Gina Carano against Disney for unlawful termination of her contract.  Gina was a famous actor in the Star Wars show on Disney+ called The Mandalorian and was part of the initiative to put more strong women into Star Wars, as outlined by Kathy Kennedy.  But humans are humans, and upon meeting Gina, the CEO of Lucasfilm immediately disliked Carano, likely because she was cute and imposing in person, as a former fighter in MMA.  Insecure women in positions of power are dangerous, as are men in the same state.  But with women, it’s a bit different because with them, their sexual roles in society are to be pollinated, not to pollinate, so there are always insecurities about the men in their lives finding them attractive enough to pollinate.  And when someone like Gina walks into a room, even though Lucasfilm under Disney wanted to promote women in the workplace, they didn’t have women like Gina in mind.  They wanted homely women who were not a threat to their households, women their husbands wouldn’t be looking at with ideas of pollination.  So things started badly for Gina Carano with the boss, Kathy Kennedy, right from the start, and it only got worse once the boss found out that Gina was a conservative. 

So, a conservative in Hollywood, especially a woman, was a big no, no so Disney proceeded to push Gina out of the marketplace and essentially ruin her as an actress to send a message to other actresses that if they wanted to work, they needed to be socialists and they should not look too attractive so to threaten all these insecure movie executives who were now suddenly in charge and directing all these movies and television shows.  The worst example of this in the Star Wars franchise was the character of Rose from The Last Jedi, a movie that was worse than even Barbarella as far as a science fiction movie that tried to put feminism as its central theme and drive the audience to accept it at all cost.  I used to make fun of the Rose character to my kids because I said that Star Wars as a market share would suffer because nobody would buy the Rose action figure.  She was cast as a chunky Asian girl who would certainly not be a threat to anybody’s husbands, and somehow, everyone thought this was a winning enterprise.  Instead, it killed the franchise, as seen spectacularly in the following years as the Target toy racks tried to sell Rose at a discount and couldn’t unload the merchandise.  And it wasn’t just Rose, but it was all Star Wars toys that suffered as a result, leaving the toy maker Hasbro with warehouses of merchandise they couldn’t ever hope to sell because of the bad decisions of the feminists to stick all these Girl Bosses in movies, killed the collector’s market, and Star Wars as a brand was destroyed.  That’s why they can’t make Star Wars movies anymore.

For more than 40 years, Star Wars managed to protect its marketplace brand until Disney came along and screwed it all up with political activism, essentially until that movie, The Last Jedi.  After that, the toy presence of Star Wars disappeared in Walmart and Target, which is a significant market indicator for other kinds of things, particularly along the lines of political sentiment.  As if it had been previously doubted, the entertainment industry would not survive as a propaganda arm for communism, which was the assumption.  Like all other market factors, the market had to serve the needs of the public, not the other way around.  Star Wars would not be used to convert people to feminist thoughts. Instead, people would reject the entire brand, just as they have with Bud Light and the Marvel movie franchise.  Men and women don’t want political propaganda; they’d rather have Superman fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way, not some crybaby like Brie Larson in Captain Marvel throwing planets and beating up men nine times bigger than she is and standing over them like a Girl Boss.  The public, men, and women, want what they can relate to and think about favorably, and the Girl Boss was something neither one of them wanted.  And because Disney forced it on them, the public has rejected the product and moved on to other things.  And that doesn’t just hurt the film industry, but it hurts everything it touches, like the theater owners, toy makers, and even restaurants.  When people would sit at home and instead stream the latest episode of The Chosen rather than go to the movies and watch the latest Girl Boss movie, then even dining out is impacted by the decision.  That is the unsaid cost of communism when it is attempted to impose it on society rather than studying market fulfillment and how best to give the audience what it wants.  When it was assumed that the communists were in charge of the propaganda machine and that the public would be forced to obey them, the market reality was crushing for them.  And they have ruined the lives of many people in that assumption.  But the world has moved on.  What has failed are the fools who listened to them, to begin with.  Everyone tried to warn them, but they brought out the Girl Boss anyway, which history will still be laughing at thousands of years from now.

Rich Hoffman

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

The 1776 Report: One of the greatest things President Trump did during his first term

I personally think it’s one of the most extraordinary things that President Trump did during his first four years in office, but it was published during that tumultuous time as he had to leave and Biden was inserted.  As soon as the election results were in, I hunkered down, knowing there would be some dark days ahead.  We had just struggled through a horrendous year with Covid and now the tunnel in those cold days of 2020 going into 2021 had just gotten much longer.  But like all things that the Trump Organization does, and President Trump himself built up the brand in ways that greatly accentuated America, even with all the chaos of election fraud and talk of insurrection, the President in one of his final moments of power commissioned The 1776 Report, which was to be part of a larger project, The 1776 Commission, that would evolve into a new kind of Mt. Rushmore park dedicated to American patriotism.  I even noticed that an old friend of mine, Joshua Charles was on it as the President picked a handful of people to record what America was supposed to be so future generations wouldn’t forget, which was clearly at that time and now, trying to be erased by globalist forces hell-bent on our complete destruction.  When it mattered most, Trump was a patriot who wanted to counter The 1619 Project, which was a hostile Marxist organization established to rewrite American history into victimized slave state criteria, when it was obviously the opposite.  America, because of its Constitution, ended slavery.  It didn’t build the nation off it as it was being proposed by the American-hating political parties who smelled blood in the water, blood they poured in deliberately.  Yet in those dark moments, Trump showed best who he was and just how dedicated he was to our country, and he truly showed that he loved it as much if not more, than the rest of us.

I didn’t expect anything out of Trump at that point, and in November of 2020, right after the election, I turned to someone I like a lot to gauge my opinions on the matter and recharge my patriotism, Cleon Skousen, books like The Naked Communist, The Naked Capitalist, and The 5000 Year Leap.  It was clear to me what was happening. Skousen had warned about it in the 1950s and 1960s, and his words were actually coming true in 2020.  I was so angry about the election, and so many people around me were asking me what to do, they were ready to pick up arms and retake the government.  So, I needed perspective as Biden stepped into the White House.  My wife and I hit the road to get away for a while as we traveled all over the United States in our RV to “think.”  It started in the deserts of New Mexico but ended up in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and South Dakota for a while and I didn’t notice myself the report that Trump’s 1776 Commission had written.  It was published to the public in several forms during that exact time, first as a PDF and then as a softcover book.  Then, as a hardcover during that following summer.  But by then the damage was well under way.  The first thing that Biden did on day one in office was decommission The 1776 Commission and attempt to stifle the report.  The Biden administration, along with their globalist insurgents, was attempting to erase America, and they were starting with all the patriotic acts President Trump had been implementing in order to demoralize our nation into submission. We weren’t witnessing a transfer of power popularly elected by the people.  We were seeing a hostile coup disguised as a free election but intended to quietly conquer us all with a well-planned trojan horse sent by globalists who were making their power move. 

But The 1776 Report was like Noah’s Ark in those dark and stormy days that clearly announced what a second Trump term would look like and is the blueprint for our resurrection from the ashes of that purposeful destruction.  I returned from those trips out west in the deserts and mountains with a renewed sense of patriotism, and I was thrilled to read the Report, which I’d recommend to everyone now.  For those looking for revenge in 2024, we have long waited for this moment, and the guide for what to do next is right there in the Report.  Anybody who questions President Trump and his intentions can only read that report and know what he has in mind.  And I’m excited about it because I don’t see just the start of a second Trump term to get back to the good days we had under him and the patriotism that was sure to be established in the wake of it.  But I was invited recently to a kind of open discussion on Elon Musk’s X platform where J.D. Vance, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Musk himself were discussing current events in ways I have never heard before.  There were other speakers there, but it was an exciting debate that showed me what life after Trump could look like.  It all started with The 1776 Report, published in a chaotic time as almost putting Moses in a little straw boat to save America from a treacherous pharaoh wanting to preserve his power from the forces of freedom. 

It would be a good idea to get this report and pass it around to friends and family as we approach the 2024 election.  I would call it the battle plan for the next few decades of American sovereignty and the goals of our republic, and it will be one of the most significant contributions of the Trump presidency for many hundreds of years to come.  History will remember these dark days for the leaders who emerged, and I couldn’t help but think all that while listening to that event with Ramaswamy, Vance, and Musk all at the same time and place.  I could see Trump retiring after a second term, turning all this over to them and us for a continuation of The 1776 Project so that young people would never forget.  I would consider Vance and Ramaswamy very young and the country’s future.  And their guiding light, as should be everyone, is The 1776 Report.  That is what America is all about and how we need to be thinking about 2024 and beyond.  We have seen now what the world wishes for us, and yes, revenge is the correct word for it, because there can be no justice in the world if the people who did all this to us are not punished.  But punishment comes in many forms.  Living well is one of them.  And in the spirit of that report written and published as the Biden administration was attempting to erase America for all time, some of American life’s best attributes emerged.  I saw it as my wife and I traveled that year, camping in a different spot almost every night and spending my mornings and evenings reading books and writing myself.  Touching the face of America and all its glory that Trump managed to capture in The 1776 Report which future generations will understand to be the miracle of America which might end up saving humanity after all from the clutches of evil in all its forms, expressed most destructively through globalism and corporate communism that has showed us its teeth for history to remember.

Rich Hoffman

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

‘Godzilla Minus One’: The best movie in the world

Simply stunning

Before you think to yourself, oh, there are so many things going on in the world, why do I care about a movie review for a new Godzilla movie? Well, this is something different, this Godzilla Minus One movie. It makes quite a statement, and it is currently destroying the rest of the films being produced in the world, from Bollywood to Hollywood, all places where the World Economic Forum financing has influenced movie content. I’ve been asked several times this year why I’m not out there producing and making movies, as I have wanted to most of my life. And my explanation was that the whole machine is messed up, it costs too much for unionized labor, so the budgets are wrecked. To get funding for the movies, you must have progressive messages in them. The entertainment media has been filled with more progressive political activists who set limits as to the kind of messages that get out to the public, and the theater owners’ associations are often too sensitive to all these politics to back releases. But then there are times when the market is desperate, theater owners are drowning for good content and Hollywood hasn’t given them the kind of movies that people want to see. Online streaming content is eroding the enthusiasm for in-theater distribution. So a foreign film like Godzilla Minus One gets made under the radar and gets into theaters with great passion and enthusiasm, and people get surprised. This is exactly what Godzilla Minus One is: a magnificent surprise, and what I think is the best movie in the world presently, and certainly one of the best to come along in recent memory. On a budget of only 15 million dollars, it’s everything a movie should be, and audiences are reacting to it in very positive ways, for good reason.

I wasn’t exactly planning to see the movie in theaters, I was going to catch it on Apple+ or whatever streaming service was carrying it around Christmas time.  But my grandchildren love Godzilla; it’s been a big part of their childhoods. They were talking to me about the new Godzilla/King Kong movie by Legendary Studios coming out in 2024, probably in March, and they were very excited about it.  That’s when I said, “Well, you know, kids, there is a Godzilla movie playing at Liberty Center right now.  Do you guys want to go see it?”  And I was surprised that my oldest grandson knew everything about it, and yes!  He wanted to see it right away.  So off we went to watch a movie that I thought might have some cool monsters in it.  But it would be filled with subtitles, and I didn’t know if they’d like it much.  But, being Godzilla fans, they could at least say they saw it.  Well………………what a surprise we were in for.  This wasn’t just a great movie, it was a masterpiece.  It reminded me of the many past films I have loved, particularly Yojimbo, the great Akira Kurasawa classic.  This wasn’t just a movie about Godzilla destroying Tokyo once again.  This was a very emotional film about the state of the world and the perseverance of human civilization to overcome the mistakes of governments and live their lives honorably, nobly, and without fear.  Godzilla served as the device that brought this out in people and it was Biblical in scope and magnificent in its execution.  When the movie ended, I just sat there, stunned by what I had just witnessed.  My grandchildren were thrilled, of course, but this was undoubtedly a benchmark in history that I fully realized.  Wow!

Now, I get to go to Japan, and I like to share as much of that experience with my family as possible.  I love Western culture for all its variety, but I love going to Japan because the Japanese are honorable people with self-confidence and a spirit of perseverance.  No matter how many different people I interact with from Japan, that is a foundation assumption about them.  When I need to go to the grocery store to get food and snacks while traveling, the people I deal with bow deeply when doing business and treat the meeting like it’s the most important thing they’ll ever do.  Even at the airports, everyone you deal with is highly respectful.  Walking around Tokyo or any big city, there is no crime, and everything is spotless.  The world could learn a lot from their culture, which I talk about occasionally.  Japan is a good country with good people who are persistent and honorable.  And I enjoy dealing with them on their turf.  Godzilla Minus One is a uniquely Japanese film about their culture and the value of honor as an individual.  The entire point of the movie was about living up to honorable expectations and being a good person, which has been missing so much from all modern movies filled with progressive political messages imposed by the influence of the World Economic Forum.  All that was removed entirely from Godzilla Minus One, and the film had a wonderful sense of freedom that was jaw-dropping in its relief.  I didn’t care that the entire movie was in subtitles.  It was delightful to watch. 

The main character is a Kamikaze pilot who lacked the killer instinct to fulfill his mission, so he ducked out of a fight just as the war ended.  He felt tremendous guilt about this, and it haunted him deeply.  In the aftermath of the war, he ends up moving in with a young lady and her adopted little girl, all war orphans.  None of them are related.  But the girl and the guy sleep in the same house but in separate beds.  And there is no sex.  They lived like this for over three years.  That’s not to say there wasn’t love; they grew to love each other deeply.  But no sex.  In a World Economic Forum-financed film, the girl would have left the guy after three months of no sex, which would have been the dumb plot of the entire movie.  Godzilla Minus One is about much more than sex and relationship problems.  It’s about overcoming self-doubt, becoming great, and earning the right to lead a family by conquering personal demons.  This was great stuff; people lost in the world are soaking up this message like a dry sponge.  And you know what’s best about the film?  The filmmakers had the guts to give it a happy ending, a real happy ending in every way that an audience could hope for.  The movie is undoubtedly about Godzilla, but he served almost like a godly figure, much like Job’s story from the Bible.  Without Godzilla, Job would have had no reference point.  But because of that reference, greatness had an opportunity to grow, and it brought people together as individuals to achieve beautiful things.  What a great message in a world filled with failure.  Along comes this little ray of light that is turning out to light the way for the world in ways nobody thought was possible.  Yet, there it is.  I can’t recommend it enough!

Rich Hoffman

Disney Has Failed due to Woke Politics: And its never coming back

I told everyone, don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Disney stock is down, and it’s never coming back.  I have had many people who think they are competent to tell me that the company would bounce back and that all this political stuff was recoverable.  And my reply to them has been they were smoking crack.  Once a company like Disney loses the public’s confidence, it’s over for them.  This was the clear indication coming out of the Thanksgiving weekend of 2023, where their new film Wish was struggling to break 32 million when it should have been closer to 100 million.  It used to be that Disney would crank out movies like this that all made a billion dollars, but now, for the second week in a row, where Marvels also fell apart in a dismal way, the writing is on the wall for Disney and all those people who thought they should argue with me about the fate of the entertainment giant.  Like I have said now for years, “Go woke, go broke,” and Disney is.  What executive at Disney thought that by putting a bunch of girls in a movie and having them throw a bunch of magic around, people would show up and throw a billion dollars at it?  Because that’s what they thought when they put out Marvels.  If Bob Iger had listened, I would have told him that you can’t go out and buy up all these properties like Marvel, like Lucasfilm, then fire all the top minds, or isolate them from the industry because they were old white guys, replace them with female directors, get rid of all that toxic masculinity and replace it with a cast of women who don’t look like they could pick up a heavy box, let alone take on a universe of monstrous villains, and that it would all work out OK?  In the original Marvel movies, some characters appealed to young boys and even grown men, like Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and Iron Man; they had big muscles and were charismatic and funny.  But that Disney was going to get rid of all that and replace those tough guy characters with women, and people would love it?

Here’s a little secret, everyone: women don’t care about movies or stories in the same way that men do.  They want to find a boyfriend and snuggle up with him for two hours.  They don’t care what they are watching.  They certainly won’t be going out to buy tickets with their girlfriends to watch a superhero movie.  They want to buy pants and purses so they can go out and find a boyfriend, possibly a husband.  That is their biological inclination.  They want to see what kind of guys they are dating, and if they can respond to some admirable character in the Avengers, then maybe they might be worth a second date—maybe more.  However, Disney thought it had the power to restructure the nature of society and that their movies shaped society instead of reflecting it.  They bought the whole World Economic Forum view of the world to their detriment.  And here they are.  They put out a full slate of movies, such as the latest Indiana Jones film, which was a pretty good movie, that have all lost money.  But they have all fallen flat because people have lost their trust in Disney itself.  And once that happens, there is no way to get that trust back.  And it’s too late to start over.  It took 50 years to build that brand Disney had.  It only took a decade of commitment to Larry Fink and the gang at BlackRock to destroy it.  Nobody wants to see equity and inclusion in their movies.  They want to see bad guys get their butts kicked.  They certainly don’t want some girl power nonsense, boys or girls, women or men.  Disney aligned itself with the wrong view of the world, killing them.

I was pretty serious when I stated I wanted to take my kids to Disney World one last time.  I’m old enough to have watched several amusement parks come and go in my life.  LeSourdsville Lake, near my Liberty Township, Ohio home, was one of my favorites as a kid.  It’s a park now; the lake and all the rides are gone completely.  The same thing could quickly happen to Disney World, and I wanted to take my family there one last time before it all went away.  Many people think it’s too big to fail.  I would say that it’s too big to survive so many bad decisions.  They lost their focus on who their audience is and disrespected the public by feeding them this garbage and expecting to get paid for it.  Embracing radical political views of the communist orientation was a terrible business decision.  And it showed up in the parks.  When my family of 9 people were all riding Rise of the Resistance together, at the first ship you get into, they had a drag queen ushering everyone onto the ride.  It wasn’t very comfortable.  We had kids 7 through 11 with us, and they noticed the long black fingernails and the makeup on a man’s face and wondered what was going on.  I cracked a joke and told them that this was Star Wars.  It was a species of alien, which they were fine with.  But it was an uncomfortable diatribe for the adults with us, not just in our family.  A woman not from our family beside me inside the ship laughed when I said what I did to the kids, and she said, “I’m glad you said that.”  Her little girl looked up, smiling because it seemed like a reasonable consideration. 

The park attendance was noticeably down while we were there, which was OK with us.  Seeing so many fantastic creations on life support made me sad.  Disney cannot operate theme parks of that size without a revenue stream of movies making billions of dollars a year.  They have produced some good content on Disney+, but as I have said many times, like Ahsoka and the Andor Star Wars series, it was a little too late.  Trust is essential in any relationship between spouses, children, or families, but also with fans and the public.  When Disney committed to a Democrat view of the world and thought it had the power and audacity to shape society, they were misinformed.  They worked against the MAGA movement, which is more significant than Trump, and it has cost them now in ways that cannot be reversed.  And I didn’t want to see it happen.  I wanted Disney to survive.  I keep hoping to be wrong.  But I’m not.  I think it is very feasible that we will not know anything about the Disney entertainment company in the future.  It will only be a thing of our current time.  Future generations will not know them or care about them.  And there certainly won’t be a Disney World for them to visit.  Thank Larry Fink and the losers at the World Economic Forum for that.  They whispered into the ears of Bob Iger all this progressive nonsense, and now the destruction in their wake is more than measurable.  And it didn’t have to be that way, yet it is.

Rich Hoffman