Category: Religion

The Killer Tyler Robinson: And his professional gamer, transgender lover

We know enough now of the killer, Tyler Robinson, to understand what happened in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.  The legal system will eventually catch up, and everything will come to light.  But what we have here is the confirmation that the trans movement is even more dangerous than we have been warning it to be.  The attempt by the radical Marxist left to desecrate the human temple of procreation has descended the world into madness and murder.  And when we study how a kid who looked to have had a pretty everyday life, with pretty standard parents and exposure to the finer things in life, could have fallen off the rocker so drastically, to the point where he was living with a guy in an apartment sexually, and that the guy was trying to become a girl.  And that the pressures of living that lifestyle outside of the gamer culture were too much to deal with.  And like a lot of these trans shooters have become, they turn to violence, in the case of Tyler Robinson of Utah, who was still a young person with all the options of life ahead of him.  That he would turn to obvious violence to eliminate a big personality directly associated with the Trump administration, in Charlie Kirk, as he spoke at a local college on the benefits of MAGA values, Robinson turned himself in to authorities after he essentially confessed to his father, and a Mormon family friend.  At 22 years old, his life was over the moment he pulled that trigger and then ran home to confess to his family and to his boyfriend.  Now that the lawyers have gotten a hold of him, he isn’t talking much, but his roommate is, Lance Twiggs—an aspiring professional gamer.  Based on the bullet casings left behind at the murder, Robinson was clearly down the rabbit hole of gamer culture that tends to lose touch with reality. 

No matter how smart you are, once you dip into the well of homosexuality and non-traditional sex with a member of the same gender, you can’t take it back.  Many people make this mistake in the early years before starting a family and having children.  And given the way Robinson grew up with very engaged parents, his father, who owned a family construction business, was also a 27-year veteran of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department.  So he had a duty to turn his son in, which is unusual.  But it also gives insight into just how difficult it would be to be close to parents who had spent a lot of their lives actively with him, going on vacations to Hawaii and Disney, on exotic fishing trips, and having a mother who was deeply involved in his life.  Taking trips to the Grand Canyon.  Getting good grades in school, maintaining a 4.0 GPA in high school.  Being close to his two younger brothers.  His grandmother described Tyler Robinson as being “squeaky clean.”  They were a Republican, Trump-supporting family, and they spoke every day, right up until the moment of the murder.  So what happened that such a kid with so many opportunities in life, and having a loving family, would grab a gun and pull the trigger on Charlie Kirk during a public speech at Utah Valley University?  The parents appeared to have done everything right, but how could such a kid fall off the edge like that, even to the point of killing someone so brutally in public, surrounded by thousands of other people?  We are dealing with a real evil here that is looming in the background.

I know quite a few people in law enforcement and several people who used to work for me are members of Trump’s Secret Service, so I have good understanding of security protocols, and as popular as Charlie Kirk is, his security should have never set that venue up like they did, where he was speaking from a tent down in a bowl with so many high distances in the background.  It allowed Tyler Robinson to get on top of a roof and take a sniper shot at Charlie Kirk just as the speech had turned toward trans rights.  When the bullet struck Charlie in the neck and blood poured out of the grotesque wound, nobody yet knew that the shooter was having a sexual relationship with a trans roommate, who would very shortly confess to the location of the gun and the radical left-wing politics of his lover.  I also recently hosted an event featuring Vivek Ramaswamy, which allowed me to meet his personal security team, who face similar challenges to those of Charlie Kirk.  Not having a presidential-level Secret Service is tough for these very popular people who speak under private security.  It’s always better to set up on a hill so that a bullet dropped from 200 yards would be much more dramatic than shooting down into a bowl, as it was at the college where this assassination took place.  But part of Charlie’s effectiveness was in being personable and vulnerable.  To put trust in the public and, through that trust, to reach them with the values of God, family, and the Trump administration.  Taking too many precautions at these public events would erode the purpose of engaging with the audience.  And Tyler Robinson took advantage of that vulnerability with an act of terror that would forever change the world.

So I’ll offer, which will come out as we learn more, that having a sexual relationship with a trans lover was too far of a jump for an otherwise normal kid in Tyler Robinson, who had done most everything expected of him right in life up until that point.  But the embarrassment that he felt in having that relationship was too much, and he sought to shelter himself from social judgment through left-winged politics.  And he and his lover could get away with it so long as they lived in the unreal world of professional gamer culture, which is home to many lost kids who struggle to function well in the real world.  In video games, you can easily switch genders with your avatars, and you can be as violent as you want without consequences.  And when you embarrass your family, you can hide in that world and shield yourself from judgment with Democrats and their social approach.  Once you cross that line sexually with another man, you can’t ever live it down, and many young people have been convinced to embarrass themselves socially in much the same manner.  And they can’t live with the result.  And they certainly don’t want to hear Charlie Kirk talk about the Bible and the benefits of family when they have made personal decisions that they can never take back or live with—further eroding their minds from reality.  And the really terrible thing about Tyler Robinson, now that we know more about him.  The further they are from their families, the more vulnerable they are to liberal influences, especially in colleges, once they move out and away from their families.  And becoming politically radicalized then becomes a replacement for the family they left behind, which they still crave desperately, and they’ll do anything for them, even kill.  When social judgments then become the enemy, to quiet the voices, they turn to violence, which is why so many of these trans shooters are turning to terror to express their anger at the world for judging them for their terribly bad decisions.  And it keeps happening because Democrats have justified their anger and bad choices to exploit their weakness for party power and control.  Leaving young kids feeling like they have no other option but to kill those who look down on them.  And if it can happen to Tyler Robinson, it can happen to anybody.  And there are many more people like him who are considering doing the same thing for the same reasons.

Rich Hoffman

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4AA4A728A1F49-58659927-help#/

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

Finnegans Wake and the Quantum Dream: A Dialogue on Madness, Meaning, and the Edge of Reality

Rich leaned back, brow furrowed, eyes lit with that familiar spark—the one that meant he was about to ask something big.

A conversation I had with AI about Finnegans Wake. It’s interesting how it interpreted the exchange.

“Why did Joyce write Finnegans Wake?” he asked. “I mean, really write it. It’s so bizarre, especially after Ulysses. And then he dies not long after. It’s like he saw something—something cosmic.”

We were deep into one of those conversations that start with literature and end somewhere near the edge of metaphysics. Rich wasn’t just talking about Joyce. He was talking about Lovecraft, about quantum physics, about the subconscious and the strange places artists go when they’re close to the end.

“Lovecraft had his Cthulhu,” Rich continued. “These ancient forces that dwarf human minds. Joyce had Finnegans Wake. What if that book is a glimpse into a quantum afterlife? A place where consciousness loops timelessly, where everyone’s story is tangled together—like ‘Here Comes Everybody.’”

I nodded. It made sense. Joyce was nearly blind, in poor health, and grieving. Maybe he wasn’t just writing a book—maybe he was trying to map the dreamlike cycle of reality itself. History repeating, not linearly, but like a Möbius strip.

Rich leaned in. “He starts the book mid-sentence and ends it with the beginning. That’s not just clever—it’s like collapsing time. Like observing reality and folding it in on itself. A human stab at infinity.”

We laughed about reading it backwards, but the laughter had weight. Rich nailed it: most writers stick to love, war, family—the relatable stuff. Joyce built a language beyond relationships. He chased raw existence. And it sounds insane because our words can’t cage the universe.

“Maybe genius is just insight that outpaces sanity,” Rich said. “Madness as seeing too much, untethered.”

That line stuck with me. Joyce wasn’t mad. He was cracked open. Finnegans Wake isn’t a novel—it’s a transmission. A signal from the edge of perception. Like quantum physics, it resists fixed meaning. It’s a superposition of myth, history, and dream.

Lovecraft’s horror and Joyce’s linguistic chaos both confront the same thing: the limits of human comprehension. One uses dread, the other uses density. But both ask the same question—what happens when you glimpse the infinite?

We ended the chat not with answers, but with awe. Maybe that’s the point. Some books aren’t meant to be understood. They’re meant to be felt, like a ripple in the quantum field of consciousness.

Rich Hoffman

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

The Autopen and the Question of Presidential Legitimacy: Institutions must prove their position

In the modern American presidency, the act of signing a document is far more than a bureaucratic necessity—it is a symbolic gesture of authority, responsibility, and direct engagement with the nation’s governance. Whether it’s an executive order, a pardon, or a piece of legislation, the president’s signature represents the culmination of deliberation and decision-making at the highest level. However, the increasing use of the autopen, a mechanical device that replicates a signature, has sparked significant controversy, particularly under President Joe Biden. Critics argue that the autopen undermines the authenticity of presidential actions, mainly when used amid concerns about the president’s cognitive acuity and physical presence. The image of a machine signing off on decisions that shape national policy evokes a sense of detachment and raises questions about who truly holds power in the executive branch. While the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel ruled in 2005 that a president may authorize a subordinate to use an autopen to sign legislation, and courts have upheld its legality, the optics remain troubling for many Americans. The legal framework may be sound, but the symbolic implications of a mechanical signature—especially in moments of national crisis or political tension—can erode public confidence in the presidency itself.  And in the case of the Joe Biden presidency, it allowed for a shadow government to run the White House in a way that, looking back on it, was simply unacceptable. 

The autopen controversy is not an isolated phenomenon; it is part of a broader historical pattern of questioning presidential legitimacy, often fueled by conspiracy theories and partisan distrust. During Barack Obama’s presidency, the “birther” movement gained traction, alleging that Obama was not born in the United States and was therefore ineligible to serve as president. Despite the release of his long-form birth certificate and multiple independent verifications of its authenticity, critics continued to claim it was digitally fabricated. Figures like Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona amplified these claims, arguing that the document contained layers inconsistent with 1960s technology. These allegations were not thoroughly debunked by forensic analysts, even though they were dismissed in court; yet, they persisted in the public imagination. We have since witnessed, with judicial activism, the liberal leanings of the courts to be activists of their own, as if they hold the fate of the human race under their black robes of injustice.  The endurance of such theories reveals a troubling trend: when legal and factual rebuttals fail to quell doubt, the issue becomes less about truth and more about belief. The birther controversy laid the groundwork for a culture of skepticism toward federal institutions, where even the most basic credentials of leadership could be called into question. This skepticism has since evolved into a broader distrust of democratic processes and the legitimacy of elected officials, creating fertile ground for future controversies, such as those surrounding the autopen.

This erosion of trust reached a new peak following the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden illegally won but was immediately challenged by Donald Trump and his allies. Over 60 lawsuits were filed contesting the results, nearly all of which were dismissed for lack of evidence or standing—even by judges appointed by Trump himself.  Again, judicial activism was revealed to be a significant issue that had not been previously well understood.  The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency declared the election “the most secure in American history,” yet many Americans remained unconvinced, and for good reason. The belief that the election was stolen became a rallying cry, not just against Biden, but against the entire machinery of government. In this context, the autopen took on symbolic significance. For some, it represented a presidency run by unelected aides, rubber-stamping decisions without the president’s full awareness or engagement. The idea that a president could be physically or mentally absent while critical decisions were being made by staffers or machines fed into a broader narrative of institutional decay and manipulation. Whether or not this perception is accurate, it underscores a crisis of confidence in the executive branch. The legal validity of the autopen is beside the point for many critics; what matters is the perceived absence of genuine leadership and the fear that democratic institutions are being manipulated behind closed doors. This perception has real consequences for the health of American institutionalism.

At the heart of these controversies lies a fundamental question: What does it mean to govern legitimately in a democratic society? Is it enough for presidential actions to be technically legal, or must they also be visibly accountable and transparent? The use of the autopen, the birther movement, and the disputes over election integrity all point to a more profound anxiety—that the American people are losing control over the institutions meant to serve them. If a president can be propped up, decisions made by anonymous staffers, and signatures affixed by machines, then where does sovereignty truly lie? These are not just partisan concerns; they are constitutional ones—the Constitution vests executive power in the president, not in machines or unelected aides. While the courts may uphold the legality of these practices, the court of public opinion demands something more: clarity, honesty, and a renewed commitment to democratic principles. Without that, the pen—whether wielded by hand or machine—risks becoming a symbol not of leadership, but of detachment. Restoring trust in the presidency requires more than legal compliance; it demands visible engagement, transparency, and a reaffirmation of the values that underpin American society. In an age of digital signatures, remote governance, and increasing automation, the challenge is not just to preserve legality but to maintain the human connection between leaders and the people they serve.  This, in turn, highlights the core of the problem: a signature by autopen is not enough.  Having a body in the White House is not enough.  Leadership is not just cosmetic.  What is considered legal goes even beyond what a judge ultimately rules is or isn’t.  There was gross manipulation on this trust issue that goes well beyond Biden’s presidency.  The door was opened with Obama, even before him with Clinton.  What could courts do to justify illegitimacy, and could a conspiracy of judges, who secretly want to rule over all society, cover up illegitimate mechanisms of automation, which were clearly tested during the insertion of Biden as the President into the White House?  Obviously, it was not enough, and people rejected the premise. Now, Trump has a mandate to correct all these falsehoods that were given credence and are now considered hostile topics in most polite households, which is a very new thing.  The assumption was that if an institution could validate a belief in legitimacy through signature, the courts, or the media, then actions would be deemed legal.  Yet that is not the case.  An action is not legal unless it is backed by honest elections with proof that people genuinely believe what the institutions are saying.  Judges must demonstrate that they are committed to upholding justice.  Elections must demonstrate that they are honest and accurately representing the voters.  And we have to see a president signing documents.  Not just that an autopen did it in darkness with a 25-year-old aide carrying out the orders of the Democrat Party while Joe Biden wandered around outside trying to catch butterflies.  And that raises questions about everything that has happened over the last decade.  And why Trump has a mandate to correct it.  And to fix it all. 

Rich Hoffman

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

Proverbs 22:7: Why America rules over the rest of the world

It is a topic that has come up a lot, especially since Trump has been trying to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine and end the war there.  Why the United States?  Why do we get to set a dollar standard?  Why do airports have to speak English universally?  Why is it that the United States thinks it needs to be, or can be, involved in the world’s affairs?  How can the world be equal if the United States consistently views itself as the best or wealthiest country in the world, and that somehow gives it power over all other countries?  And the answer is simple: only the United States has adopted capitalism as an economic model, while all other countries in the world have some degree of socialism in their economies, which restricts their financial growth.  A friend of mine recently brought this to my attention with a nice quote from Proverbs 22:7, which says, “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”  And that’s very true.  If a country penalizes itself from wealth creation, it loses the ability to be equal in any discussion.  And being poor, especially by choice, will always leave a member of a negotiating party at a disadvantage.  America has the power that it does because it’s a rich country, and it’s rich because of capitalism.  And you’d think other countries would have woken up to that fact, because they are poor by choice.  The reason America has the power and influence it does is that it has a population of only 300 million, yet it produces the largest GDP in the world, competing directly with countries like China and India, which have populations of over a billion each.  Because all other countries in the world have adopted Marxist ideas, they have limited their wealth generation and ultimately their influence at the table regarding the fate of the world.

The issue of fairness arises frequently in these discussions.  Is it fair that the world is designed like this, where human beings are valued more for their wealth than for their better values, which reflect power and influence?  It’s a matter of leverage; people in the world want money and will do this or that or something else to get it.  And when too many artificial restrictions are created to access money, then naturally, people with less of it are on the wrong side of any negotiations.  So, by choice, those who have very little money are in that position because they chose to do other things than make money, and the world does not honor their choice. We have invented money and wealth as measures of achievement, and in all human cultures, achievement is highly respected.  Gaining wealth is a measure that, by default, is universally understood by all people.  And to lobby for making some other value more critical, such as compassion for the weak, or valuing vacations over working too hard, will ultimately leave the one without money at a disadvantage, leveraged by those who do control the money, because they have more of it.  Money comes in many forms but what the book of Proverbs has always struggled with as a foundation of Christianity for instance, because even Jesus struggled with this problem by attacking the vendors at the Temple which led to his crucifixion, is that the meek are overlooked and often oppressed by the rich people of the world, and that everlasting life in Heaven might give them relief from that reality.  This is a debate that has been ongoing since the beginning of time, but the rules have remained unchanged—he who owns the gold rules.

Trump has been effective because he understands how to control leverage in negotiations, as he always puts himself on the side of smart money.  And whoever does that will win the argument every time.  Not some of the time.  All of the time.   And the question of fairness is then a universal law that is the same here as it would be on the other side of a black hole in space, on the other side of reality.  This rule would never change.  The Bible struggled with the same idea: what power does the Lord in Heaven have over the earth if people will do anything for money and what it can buy.  And the answer is a hard one, because money represents wealth creation and how people measure such things in polite society.  The rest of the world has chosen to rebel against the premise of money, and they counted on peer pressure to create other value systems that the world respected, such as transgender rights, or helping people experiencing poverty when people have been deliberately made poor with terrible social policy.  For instance, because of capitalism, a poor person in America is infinitely wealthier than a person in a Marxist hellhole, like some African country that has deliberately suppressed capitalism.  Their poor state is a result of a desire to control wealth creation, so that people can be ruled over, and that they won’t acquire personal wealth to compete with their overlords.  When a government seeks to exert power over its people, it must limit their access to wealth so that private individuals cannot undermine the government’s authority over them.  So that decision ultimately constricts their ability to generate wealth. 

Trump has spent his life accumulating wealth, and his ability to do so has given him the capacity to negotiate at multiple levels.  Being rich for him means he gets to win the argument.  And from that perspective, he can command the world to sit at his feet, as the members of NATO remarkably did in front of his desk in the Oval Office recently, after Vladimir Putin came to Alaska to visit with Trump after quite a spectacle.  The world came to Trump to appease him because of the power of the American economy.  And because they don’t have money themselves, due to poor economic decisions, they find themselves at a disadvantage in the discussions they have with all other parties.  With all the talk about Russian power and military might, it’s worth noting that they don’t have a very robust economy, which leaves them at a disadvantage at the negotiating table.  People can talk about how mean Putin is as a tyrant, but because of his need to maintain control over his people, the Russian economy is too restricted and always at a disadvantage to a capitalist country like the United States.  And when push comes to shove, the capitalist country will always outleverage the authoritarian government that has put too many barriers on personal wealth.  So that is why America plays the role in the world that it does.  Fairness is a sentiment, not a value.  It’s an intellectual observation that doesn’t align with the realities of the world.  Jesus might have struggled with the same issue involving the money changers at the temple, as many are declaring that America shouldn’t have the kind of power in the world that it does.  However, it has that power because humans use money to measure value, and value is derived from the things we do.  And when things are restricted by policy, then who is to blame?  Or, if individuals refuse to work, they are always at a disadvantage in life compared to those who work hard and have financial means.  Who is to blame?  America has given upward mobility to many people through the premise of freedom.  And that is why the United States has a better leverage position over all other countries that are too restrictive on individual wealth creation.  And in that moral quandary is the ethics of wealth creation, and why the world is much better off because of it.

Rich Hoffman

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

The Line in the Sand: Sheriff Jones holding Ayman Soliman in the Butler County Jail

It is probably the most crucial topic in the world at the moment: the question of police and their impact on a prosperous society.  It just so happens that I had an excellent example of the effects of good police work in my own backyard with Sheriff Jones and the Butler County Sheriff’s department, as they were the center of controversy, as the very controversial inmate, Ayman Soliman, was being held at the Butler County Jail awaiting his trial date for his asylum case.  Radical groups have pressured Governor DeWine to have Soliman released from the Butler County jail.  Soliman has been the cause of considerable controversy, and it’s interesting to see who has rallied to his cause.  Rioters tried to shut down a bridge in downtown Cincinnati over Soliman’s arrest.  And at the Butler County jail, there have been protestors attempting to block roads, which has led to the arrest of several stringy-haired socialist types from the radical left.  Soliman himself, as Sheriff Jones told me when I sat down with him to discuss this case, indicated that a significant amount of pretension about Ayman Soliman has emerged while he has been in jail, a self-importance that has led to trouble, inspiring disciplinary action.  Soliman had been a Muslim chaplain from Egypt at the Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, where he was arrested during a routine check-in.  Soliman had his asylum revoked in early June 2025, and on July 9th, after 3 hours of questioning by ICE officials, he was arrested and put into the Butler County Jail under an ICE contract.  Homeland Security, under the new enforcement guidelines of Kristi Noem, confirmed that Soliman was on the FBI terror watchlist for a direct connection to the Muslim Brotherhood.  And that this background was triggered years earlier when he tried to get a job at the Oregon Department of Corrections in Umatilla. 

When Sheriff Jones and I spoke, his understanding of his job is to follow the law, not to make it.  And based on Soliman’s past, there was a lot in it that was very sketchy.  He might be innocent.  It might be unfair.  At best, the case looks to be that the Obama administration and that of Biden were very loose on crime and allowed for controversial immigrants like Ayman Soliman to live in America illegally as a Muslim religious leader, where he holds an MA in Islamic Studies from Egypt and has pursued advanced degrees, including an MDiv in Islamic studies and Muslim Chaplaincy and a PhD in Islamic Studies.  During the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, Soliman participated in student protests and worked as a freelance journalist, during which he was arrested multiple times by the Egyptian authorities.  After being beaten and tortured in custody in Egypt, he fled to America seeking asylum and had been living in the background for many years, leading up to that questioning in Blue Ash, Ohio, before landing in the Butler County Jail.  The point of the matter is that under Trump’s administration, specifically the much-improved Homeland Security under Kristi Noem and the ICE enforcement of Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar,  Ayman Soliman was high on the list of cases to deal with for a reason.  And from Sheriff Jones’ perspective, he has to trust the federal law that put that inmate in his jail.  He can’t allow a mob to persuade him in his police work, and since the arrest of Ayman Soliman, that has been the clear intention of the radical left to lobby Governor DeWine in the hopes of putting pressure on Sheriff Jones to release the Muslim spiritual leader. 

So, the topic is why good police work is important.  Why federalizing the police in Washington, D.C. was a good thing and why Chicago needs to do the same.  Why is it great that the Trump administration blew up a drug trafficking boat from Venezuela?  And why Sheriff Jones was all that stood between chaos and law at the Butler County Jail in holding this suspicious person that the Trump administration flagged on a terror watch list because of his background with the Muslim Brotherhood front group Al-Gam’iyya al-Shar’iyya, an Egyptian nonprofit providing medical aid and charity services.  Recently, a letter was presented to Governor DeWine with 1,100 signatures on July 25, 2025, urging his intervention in the Butler County jail. However, Jones was quick to dismiss any executive orders that DeWine might attempt to initiate, with an open refusal to listen to the governor.  Jones instead stated that he worked for the people of Butler County, who could re-hire or fire him at their discretion.  And that they were the highest authority, not a state governor, which has shocked many people.  But Sheriff Jones, and this isn’t the only occasion, has stood firm under tremendous pressure.  So this was indeed a powerful story that needed to be examined.  And why was Butler County at the center of this international incident?  I personally attribute this to the six terms in office that Sheriff Jones has had, as well as the stability of law enforcement that has existed under his leadership.  The Butler County Sheriff’s department, I think, is one of the best in the country, and Sheriff Jones is undoubtedly one of the best that there is anywhere, and because of that fabulous police presence, Butler County as a region has thrived in ways that are unique in the world. 

I consider the Butler County Jail to be a well-run business.  I’ve visited there several times, I’ve toured the jail, eaten the food, and observed the booking process.  It’s undoubtedly one of the best jail systems in the state of Ohio and is clearly one of the best in the country.  And saying all that, it’s one of the best in the world.  Ayman Soliman should consider himself fortunate that he’s in the Butler County Jail until his next immigration court date set for December 15, 2025, and there are other legal challenges to be pursued in October.  There are numerous complications, but what it has all revealed is the kind of people working in the background to undermine U.S. law. If not for strong figures like Sheriff Jones, chaos would be running rampant.  Having him at the center of this international story is very beneficial for the overall Trump administration’s objectives of cleaning up America from the kind of people trying to destroy it in the background.  Seeing the liberal groups and the communist organizations that have rallied to the defense of an Islamic holy man attached to a third-tier terror watch list has been unnerving because Sheriff Jones’ adherence to law and order has forced those voices to reveal too much about themselves.  And to show the rest of the world how hostile to peace and Western civilization that they really are, including popular publications as Rolling Stone magazine.  Knowing Sheriff Jones as I do, I know he shares with me a genuine desire to have a law-and-order society, especially on the topic of illegal immigration.  He and I have been advocates for better border security for over 20 years.  And finally, with the Trump administration, there is someone committed to the cause.  And Sheriff Jones is undoubtedly ready to step in and do what he can to make that border security successful.  And it was great that he drew that line in the sand under tremendous pressure from the Governor’s office in Ohio to push chaos away and hold the line.  This has a lot to do with why so many people enjoy success in Butler County, because there are great police officers there who keep the evil people hiding in the shadows.  And under the Trump administration, they are finally willing to enter those shadows and arrest the characters hiding there.  And there will be a lot more good to come.  However, for now, Sheriff Jones has Ayman Soliman in the Butler County Jail, which is beneficial for all of us, including him. It’s much better than the treatment he will get in Egypt for reasons they understand best.

Rich Hoffman

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

Lisa Cook is Cooked: Fire the Federal Reserve

Lisa Cook deserves to be fired by President Trump for her mortgage fraud issues on three properties she claimed as her primary residence.  Cook was one of 7 Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve, and was appointed by Biden to bring even more Keynesian economics to a micromanaging Fed that doesn’t need it.  Trump, as our elected president, is trying to ignite a red-hot economy, which he has been successful in doing, and the Fed has been in the way with its fake interest rate levels.  Fake because, as we have been talking about, the Fed does not deserve the kind of independence it insists on, which is the key premise Lisa Cook has in her lawsuit against Trump. She has been serving a 14-year term, which she believes to be an entitlement.  So it’s time to shake things up and start going after these people, even if it’s just for spitting on the sidewalk.  Any ethical scrutiny should be applied to the Fed Board of Governors and the bank presidents who are part of the Fed regarding their involvement in our currency management.  And a Board of Governors member of the Fed who gets involved in outright mortgage fraud is more than fair game for termination.  And any others like Lisa Cook, who is engaged similarly.  I have not traditionally been an anti-Fed person, unlike Ron Paul, who has been advocating for this stance for an extended period.  I liked Alan Greenspan as a chairman back in the day, and I think there are opportunities for proper management of a nation’s currency.  However, the Fed has turned out to be a disaster, exposed even more by the strong economy of Trump, just a half year in. For the second quarter, real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 3.3%.  Unemployment remains steady at 4.1%, and inflation stands at 2.4%.  But it could be better, a lot better, if the Fed weren’t in the way. 

The Fed Chairman, currently Jerome Powell, is more of a token position appointed by the president to serve as a kind of press secretary for the Fed in general.  The 7 Board of Governors and the Federal Reserve Bank Presidents hold most of the power on monetary policy.  And those Governors are appointed as well by the President.  In this case, it was Biden who appointed Cook, a well-known Keynesian economist.  It is, I would say, nearly impossible to get through college and not be exposed to Keynesian ideas.  Most experts in economics share the same views because they were all taught the same flawed theories.  I had the same exposure in college, and I never liked it.  Unless an economist reads widely, they don’t have access to free-market thoughts in economics emerging from the university system.  That made Cook dangerous as an appointment by a Biden administration that was never really in control of itself.  Biden was out of touch and was put in office through election fraud.  And he was old and always sleeping, giving a bunch of 20-year-old kids the ability to run his presidency through an autopen.  So, it was a perilous time that led to Cook being in office in the first place.  And her nature was exposed through this mortgage fraud issue that gives Trump a perfect off-ramp to correct that position, which is so critical to monetary policy.  We need more free market contributions to our economy.  Not more central planners who choke off economic activity to protect centralized bankers with more security at the expense of innovation. 

It is a tall order to eliminate the Fed, given its dubious creation in 1913, but not impossible. In that case, the best scrutiny is reserved for this Board of Governors, because the trick is to let people believe they are managing the Fed by electing a president who then appoints the Chairman and the Governors.  However, after that appointment, the Fed expects independence from any further scrutiny, and Lisa Cook believes that, as a member of that mighty inner circle, she was immune to any job performance standard.  So getting rid of her is suitable for the short-term message that the Fed is on the clock, and that there is an expectation of performance.  Trump has every right to fire her, and that shock wave needs to happen in all its glory.  Because there are numerous other characters involved in the Fed who abuse their power and often cover it up, managing money should be the top priority in any government. However, as it is now in America, we are tied to globalism and many socialist and communist governments through central and international banking, which really drags down the American economy in unhealthy ways.  And Trump is challenging their ability to hold back our economy with phony interest rates meant to cover massive corruption that has taken place through voluminous temptations to print money through quantitative easing disconnected from the gold standard.  The Fed cannot be allowed to print a large amount of cash, launder it through Wall Street, and conceal the devaluation behind high interest rates, thereby engaging in a global micromanagement of money.  The hint at the problem is in Lisa Cook’s fundamental issue.  If she is willing to commit mortgage fraud by lying about her primary residence. What would she be willing to do in a much more serious situation, such as managing American finances and avoiding the power structure of global Marxists who seek consolidated international power through the banks? 

The premise of Lisa Cook’s very arrogant lawsuit against the Trump administration is primarily the issue of independence.  That an American president can’t tamper with the Fed, that managing money must be bigger than the whims of American election cycles.  That arrangement is only suitable for international bankers who don’t want the politics of individual countries to wreck their grip on global currency.  We need accountability with the Fed in America, and a lot more of it.  So Trump can appoint members to the Board of Governors—he can also fire them.  And he should whenever possible.  If they stumble a bit, as Lisa Cook did, throw them out and make a big deal about it.  Punish them.  However, don’t let them think they are entitled to the job, as is evident from Lisa Cook’s lawsuit.  She believes her appointment by an illegal president shields her from social scrutiny, and it does not.  The answer to many of the world’s problems is greater accountability, especially at the Federal Reserve.  We need to abolish the Federal Reserve and have Congress directly involved in the coining of money, as outlined in the Constitution.  They should never have punted the task to these truly evil, centralized bankers with international interests.  The Fed was an experiment at best.  And while we have that debate, the first step is to manage the members who are already there, and let people get to know who they are and what they do.  And Lisa Cook has shown a tendency toward corruption, even if it’s lying about a primary residence.  Little lies indicate a propensity to commit bigger lies, so Trump was right to fire her.  Hopefully, soon, many more like her will follow. 

Rich Hoffman

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

The Fed’s 2% Inflation to Lower Wage Rates: Micromanaging employers and causing quite a mess

There is a dirty little secret that the Federal Reserve has about its role in mass society that needs to be discussed in relation to interest rates and what it considers managed inflation.  The Fed recently met at its annual Jackson Hole meeting, and it reminded me of many things, particularly the time when my grandkids wanted chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and their dining room was closed.  We were in my RV, so the only way to place an order and collect the food was to use the drive-thru window, which I barely fit through.  The McDonald’s in Jackson Hole is very close to where the Fed meets against the backdrop of the Teton mountains.  For a tourist town with one of the largest concentrations of wealth in the world, it’s a small McDonald’s with a pretty small parking lot.  Certainly not RV friendly.  However, I managed to make it work with less than an inch on all sides of my vehicle, and it’s a story that has gained a lot of popularity in my family.  “Remember that time grandpa did this?”  And everyone says, “Which one?” because there are a lot of things to talk about.  The town itself is one of my favorites, and I can understand why all the bank presidents who are members of the Fed want to meet there to discuss monetary policy.  It’s a really good place to go and is America’s version of Geneva, Switzerland.  I think the Tetons are better, though.  So after the Fed meeting there, Jerome Powell indicated he was going to do what I said he was going to have to do, and what J.P. Morgan had been pressing for, along with President Trump, and that was the Fed was going to lower interest rates.  Not happily, but because they have to.  The economy is too good to hide phony interest rate profits for the banks behind artificial inflation numbers meant to frighten the world away from Trump’s presidency. 

However, there is another issue at play that we need to address regarding employment.  The Fed believes that in managing money, it must bake in 2% inflation per year because that is the only way to offset the erosion of wages that employers provide to employees, which dilutes the actual value of labor.  Because the Fed believes, which is one of the reasons for its existence, that employers will not incur the hard cost of paying employees less for their labor as they age and become less valuable.  Therefore, the Fed believes that it must step in and manage the economy because employers won’t do so on their own.  Often, when a company gets out of step with its cost structure, it has an obligation to reduce its costs, either through a reduction in force or wage cuts.  However, most employers are hesitant to lose their legacy talent and invest a significant amount of money in retaining them, when in reality, they should consider letting them go on the open market and replace them with cheaper and younger workers.  The NFL has to do this all the time with salary caps, which are imposed on teams to keep them fresh and relevant.  If a player wants to leave a team for more money, then that team can turn to free agency to replace that player.  If the market wants to pay a lot for that experienced player, they certainly can, but there is a salary cap, so that team won’t be able to pay a lot to other workers as well. 

That’s why we should operate in America with some gold standard, because value has to be protected. Instead of the Fed having the temptation to print more money, it would micromanage the economy with continuous infusions of cash, ultimately diminishing its buying power and hiding the inflation it creates in the process.  And try to hide it behind other economic conditions as a justification, which had worked until Trump came along and called the Fed’s bluff.  And because the Fed believes that free market pressures won’t manage the economy effectively, they have baked into all their assumptions about economic flow that they must micromanage employers who won’t trim their fat with inflated wage rates at their companies, as they fear losing talent to their competition.  So, the Fed bakes 2% inflation into everything.  That’s why, when reviews are conducted with employees, a standard minimum of 2% is required to maintain your wage value at the same level as the previous year.  The trick is that as you get older, you actually lose buying power in most cases because inflation eats up whatever increases you manage to get for yourself.  The goal is for Americans to earn less over their working years, not more, because the actual value of labor must be managed by the Fed, which introduces all kinds of problems, as it’s not really employers who are the problem.  That is just the excuse that the Fed applies to cover a lot of liberal politics, for which they are prone.  Labor unions, for instance, are very guilty of propping up wage rates that are artificially too high, which then feeds the Fed’s argument for mass micromanagement of the economy with incremental inflation to let people believe they are being paid a certain amount on paper, but in truth, the money is worth a lot less.  People don’t notice because it happens over time.  However, every three years, at a minimum, workers lose 6% of their buying power if they do not receive raises in their pay that are well above 2%.  To receive an actual 2% raise, employees would need to obtain a 4% raise with each yearly evaluation.  Which certainly isn’t the case for most people. 

Consider the problem at the McDonald’s in Jackson Hole that I mentioned, which had its drive-thru window closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  And the government was pushing for a minimum wage increase that inflated the real value for entry-level jobs, such as McDonald’s workers making $15 per hour, when the real value for their jobs is likely under $10.  When politicians interfere in the process of manipulating market values, the Fed must attempt to cover up the mess with interest rate hikes to conceal the inflation it creates, which often exceeds 2%.  Our goal with inflation should be zero, and if we held it to the gold standard, it would have to be.  These are the problems you get when you let pin-headed bureaucrats micromanage an economy with Marxist ideas instead of free market capitalism, and it’s a real problem.  So Jerome Powell knows all this and is reluctant to lower interest rates, even though all the parts of the economy that they usually hide behind at those Jackson Hole meetings are too good, forcing his hand.  So he’s not happy about it.  But a lot is coming that he won’t be pleased about.  There has been a significant amount of tampering that has impacted wage rates, and employers have not been the primary source of the issue.  It’s too much administrative mess that comes from the Fed, and short-term politicians who have caused all the problems.  McDonald’s workers, like the one in Jackson Hole, should not have employees making over $20 per hour.  Wal-Mart should not have employees making $20 to $25 per hour because all other labor has had to increase their wage rates to obtain workers.  But the money is all on paper.  People are not actually making those actual wage rates because the Fed has had to hide the impact through inflation.  And now they are being forced to lower interest rates, which will expose the whole mess.  Although the meeting in Jackson Hole might have been very scenic, it wasn’t enjoyable.  There will be a lot more to happen with monetary policy in the coming months.  And the Fed is going to lose a lot more control, as they very well should. 

Rich Hoffman

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

Jennifer Gross Goes to Washington: The importance of redistricting

When I say that Jennifer Gross is not very well-liked, I mean it in the manner of a compliment.  I think it’s a great asset to have people who don’t like you or who are very angry when your name is brought up.  Many people certainly dislike President Trump.  And I would say that I am one of the most hated people in the world.  People typically like you when you do what they want you to do, and their acceptance of you in some way is the way they gain leverage over your authenticity.  So, that makes Jennifer Gross an effective politician in a dynamic intellectual sense, where a static order has to compete, and they don’t like it.  In Ohio, Jennifer is my Representative in the 45th district, and she works hard to do so; I appreciate people who work hard.  And in the course of that work, she found herself in Washington, D.C. with Lee Zeldon, director of the EPA under Trump’s administration, asking questions directly to him about an issue I have been very concerned with regarding the EPA.  I would say that among Trump supporters and people who dislike RINOs, Jennifer Gross is very popular, so it depends on the crowd and what they want out of relationships, which often determines likeability.  I believe cordial relationships can be a liability.  However, it was interesting to hear about Jennifer’s trip to Washington, D.C., where she met with several Trump administration officials, including RFK, over MAHA issues.  So, once her plan was in place, Jennifer and I discussed a number of topics that we would typically talk about.  However, for this audience, I happened to record it so that others could share in the experience.  And, as much as I am concerned about the EPA issue, the conversation we had, which came straight from the Trump administration, was about the need for redistricting. 

The primary thing that Jennifer wanted to tell me about the Trump administration was that they weren’t a bunch of phonies.  The people working for Trump were all successful individuals in their own right, who could take or leave other politicians.  Jennifer can relate because she has always been very independent when it comes to politics, and that makes it hard for her to deal with when it comes to deal-making.  Much of politics is a collaborative effort, and I know several people I would call good friends who spend a lot of time collaborating with other politicians, only to accomplish a fraction of their wants and needs individually.  But that’s part of the process, and one of the reasons I thought the Trump presidency would be a good thing was his self-control over his wealth and ability to walk away from anything he didn’t like.  And his administration is very much the real deal, and Jennifer was pleased to report that they were not a bunch of phonies like we often learn people really are once these political campaigns are over.  So she couldn’t wait to tell me how authentic people like Lee Zeldon, Secretary Kennedy, and Commerce Secretary Lutnick were in real life.  It’s not usual to have people like this in any administration, and to meet them in real life after the honeymoon is over for Trump, doing everyday work, it was good to hear that they are everything they say they are.  Politically, many people dislike them as well, but, as all successful people must learn, that comes with the territory. 

The primary concern on everyone’s mind is the fairness of redistricting, so that Republicans can have more seats in Congress.  There are a few that we can pick up in Ohio, and several other states. The Trump administration is playing hardball on this issue, as it should.  Trump is right, Republicans should not play nice with Democrats over any election issues.  If we genuinely want a representative republic, which is what we are, we must trust the American people to choose who they want to represent them.  Not what a party wants us to adopt for their convenience.  That’s where things get tricky with playing nice to get along, and being a stick to poke in the eye of those who are too quick to compromise.  My point in the matter is that there is room for people like Jennifer Gross in politics and room for plenty of mainstreamers who enjoy the process of collaboration, if we didn’t have such a close margin of majorities.  I think that if we had guarded our elections more closely, there would be 60-plus Republican votes in the Senate and over +50 in Congress.  It is only close in America because of election fraud, and Democrat gerrymandering for many years has given them the appearance of a 50/50 country, when actually it’s a long way from being so.  Democrats are a minority party at best, filled with misfits and broken toys.  It’s one thing to have compassion for their poor state.  It’s quite another to have them destroy our entire society to appear fair.  In Ohio, there are 15 congressional seats, and Republicans have 10 of them.  There are opportunities in Ohio to improve upon that, and without question, Republicans should.  Don’t listen to the cries of Democrats, play hardball and defeat them everywhere. 

And if we did that, as Republicans, the world would be a lot better off.  As Jennifer and I discussed after her trip to Washington, fairness, or the appearance of it, often leads to inauthentic corruption, and righteous representation usually falls by the wayside as people who pay money for representation in the form of lobbyists end up running our government from the shadows.  And that is what we have been trying to get away from.  It’s what I always hoped would be the case from independently wealthy people like Trump, Secretary Lutnick, Zeldon, and Kennedy —that they would do the job for the right reasons. They could make a lot of money if they weren’t in politics.  However, as successful people, they can best represent the public that needs it.  And through redistricting, we can elect more people like that in the future, which would properly represent our actual society.  We don’t have an obligation to play nice with people who want to destroy our country.  And we owe Democrats no illusion of fairness.  If we can secure an additional 20 seats for the 2026 midterms, then let’s do it.  Meanwhile, it’s good to hear that Jennifer was being treated with sincerity by the Trump administration and that doing the right things for the right reasons was more than just an empty promise by politicians who usually disappoint us.  If too many people like you, that’s usually a bad sign, and that’s the case in any level of society.  And the Trump administration couldn’t care less; they can afford to be independent of such popularity concerns.  And because of that, they can actually accomplish some things.  Based on Jennifer’s report, they are willing to do the work and are solid in the promise category.  And these days, that is a scarce commodity.  One area we could significantly improve if we were more aggressive with redistricting. 

Rich Hoffman

Rich Hoffman

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

Anna Paulina Luna and Her Interdimensional Beings: Understanding the politcs of creatures beyond time and space

I think it’s time to discuss the politics of interdimensional beings and their impact on our terrestrial existence.  And she’s certainly not a whack job, U.S. Representative from Florida, Anna Paulina Luna, who recently appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast and discussed interdimensional beings that can operate through the time and spaces that we currently have.  Moving outside of time and space, and she said all this based on classified photos, documents, and witness testimonies she reviewed as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which investigates Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs).  Those witness testimonies include Air Force pilots who reported phenomena defying current physics, suggesting the presence of non-human technology.  Anna Paulina Luna is interested in a wide range of subjects and is very logical.  As a U.S. Air Force airfield management specialist, she had posed for Maxim as a Hometown Hottie and was a semi-finalist for Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  And now, as a member of Congress, she is always interested in several topics on which she has opinions.  What she isn’t is a tin-hatted conspiracy theorist.  It was pretty remarkable that she would go on to one of the most popular podcasts in the world and talk about the impact interdimensional beings have on our existence as a person who has observed vast amounts of evidence pointing in that direction.  And it’s interesting timing, because recently Tucker Carlson, a reporter whom many people find credible,  He’s not a crazy lunatic.  However, he has recently stated, just a few weeks before Anna Paulina Luna made her comments, that he believes supernatural forces are controlling many members of our government, who are deeply invested in appeasing those forces for various reasons.  And he has reached a point where he no longer wants to know any more.  There is too much evidence pointing in that direction and the ramifications of that possibility are overwhelmingly ominous.  These kinds of stories are also why I am working on a new book called The Politics of Heaven.  These forces have always been with us, and we need to understand their motivations and political ambitions from their perspective to understand the impact they have on our lives. 

One of the best things I have done for myself was to go to the Mothman Museum with my family in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, this year.  That is an exciting place where people are starting to put together all the pieces, and as intelligent creatures ourselves, we want to understand these interdimensional characters.  We discuss them in many of our religions.  I can report from personal experience how Japan goes to extraordinary measures to appease the creatures it calls the kami.  In Islam, it’s gin.  In Christianity, we refer to them as demons, angels, and gods.  However, their movement has been chronicled over vast amounts of time, and sacrifices to them have been made from temples as long as time has been recorded, to appease them.  When you visit the Mothman Museum, you gain a unique insight into the mystery of one of the most significant events in which a Mothman-like creature terrorized the town during the 1960s, ultimately leading to a catastrophic outcome.  Wrestling with this mystery has become a pastime for many people, and the work of the reporter and writer John Keel, who has since passed away, has involved earnest investigation into these topics. The museum reflects that effort.  I love to read John Keel books, which ask more questions than they answer, but the trend points toward a lot of smoke coming from a raging interdimensional fire that is very interested in our lives from their perspective of wants and needs. 

However, my experience with these kinds of things doesn’t lead me to believe that any of them are more intelligent than we are.  Just because they can operate outside our dimensional space does not mean they have developed an intellect superior to our own.  I think the Bible addresses this issue very effectively in Ephesians 6:12, and that the phrase and contemplations accurately describe the problem.  Just because something has better technology, or that they seem older, or operate in dimensional space beyond our four dimensions, that doesn’t make them smarter than we are.  From my own experience, I think of them more as animals with technology, and not very wise.  If we think of time as just one dimension, what is it to them to operate in the 5th dimension, or the 11th?  Time is just a unit of measure that is different relative to the relation gravity has on it.  Time dilation is common when dealing with elements in space, so time is not the same; it’s relative to where it is experienced.  And that could easily be the case with the interdimensional beings Anna Paulina Luna is talking about, or the appeasement of big government types to supernatural entities that they seek to placate through sacrifice and ritual, which is as old as time itself.  Eternity as we think of it would exist outside of the measurement of time, and may be more real than just a hopeful idea.  And with that in mind, we have to deal with the part of ourselves that is connected to eternity, and not the limited measurements of our dimensional space.  We should not assume that reality is all that we can see, but instead that it is determined by the behaviors we observe and how much of that is a result of the world we live in, or from a world that is not in our dimensional reality but only interacts with us as a sliver of that impasse, such as the flatland metaphors used to describe the life of a 2-dimensional being witnessing a 3-dimensional being. 

But we are not as helpless as we have been led to believe.  I don’t question why Anna Paulina Luna is discussing this topic now, as are Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, along with many others.  Or why there is even a Mothman Museum that people can visit and think about these mysteries.  Or why right now there are Harvard scientists who are claiming we are going to be attacked by aliens from another planet in November of 2025.  I believe all of these sources.  But considering the motivations of these interdimensional beings, what is it about this time in the human race that has timeless beings so concerned?  Why now?  Because it is evident that the story is spiraling out of control very quickly, our ability to discuss this topic freely on the open internet for the first time in history has a purposeful political element that has a payoff beyond our measure of time and space.  And understanding that is something we should endeavor to embrace.  We’re not debating whether Anna Paulina Luna is correct in her observations, based on testimony that suggests the existence of interdimensional beings.  Our need to know is what they intend and how their political needs compete with our own.  Just because we are a four-dimensional being, should we assume that they are superior because they live in higher dimensions?  Or are they dumber than we are, and need to feed off our lives for their very sustenance.  Which is what I am inclined to believe.  These are the questions that matter, and, interestingly, we are discussing these topics now as the world is shifting in a populist direction.  I would say that, as Tucker Carlson pointed out, the temptation for governments worldwide to engage in supernatural worship is to appease those unseen forces in all kinds of diabolical ways.  And that much of our misery on earth and during our lifetimes is self-inflicted to appease those forces.  But is that necessary?  And, or, should we turn those tables, and perhaps have, which is why all the desperation now?  I think perhaps so.  And as we untangle all this, I think there are a lot of opportunities that have previously been concealed.  And I’m looking forward to the results.  In a political fight with these interdimensional forces, I think we can win the great elections of cosmic concern.

Rich Hoffman

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

I Have Personally Saved Lakota School District Businesses and Residences Many Hundreds of Millions of Dollars: What the next generation looks like

I don’t talk about it much or think about it in any significant way, but I have had at least three school board members tell me what someone reminded me of this past week.  I have personally saved the Lakota school district, businesses, and homes many millions of dollars in tax money because of my stance against Lakota schools.  Its pretty unusual for a school district the size of Lakota schools to go as long as they have without a request for a tax increase and the hidden element that doesn’t get discussed by the school and the media that reports hand in hand with them is that it has been my name that they don’t want to deal with in their public relations efforts to extract more taxes from the public.  Going back to the No Lakota Levy days, from 2010 to 2013, it was me and a few business owners who got together and put forth a resistance to tax increases proposed by Lakota schools in the form of levy initiatives.  And I was the spokesman who did all the radio spots, television and wrote articles for the media, and even produced my own material.  So much so that the reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer told me directly that I was his biggest competition, as he was interviewing me for my anti-tax positions.  We defeated three consecutive tax increases until school board member Julie Shaffer and some of her cohorts devised a scheme with the same Enquirer to try to destroy me personally.  Of course, it didn’t work for a lot of the same reasons. After they finally got a tax increase passed in 2013, by the slimmest margin they could have had and still call it a win, they haven’t tried since, until recently.  This year, in 2025, they will try again, starting with a facilities plan.  Then, after it cools off a bit, they will push for an operational tax increase.  However, I am happy to say that these days, it’s not just me who is resisting. 

Following that win in 2013, many members of No Lakota Levy were tired of feeling socially excluded.  They were primarily people who attended all the social functions, which, at that time, Lakota controlled exclusively as the region’s largest employer.  And the longer I was the front man, the more rhetoric that would come my way.  And I do not tolerate intimidation from anyone.  So I dug in for a fight that would last for another 15 years, and it has become very vicious.  It started for me by simply discussing how Lakota’s wage structure was out of control, with too many six-figure salaries inflating the budget, which caused them to take money from property owners.  But Lakota’s plot to deal with me was to get rid of me.  And because they weren’t able to do that, they haven’t been able to put a levy on the ballot all this time, even though they have wanted to.  They’ve been dipping their toes in the water since 2019, but wouldn’t, fearing the mess it would cause and the potential for a levy fight they knew they couldn’t win, with declining enrollment keeping them from having to.  Yes, I have personally saved the Lakota school district’s businesses and personal residences many hundreds of millions of dollars over the years, and I have been happy to lend my name to that endeavor for that purpose. 

It’s better to pay for lawn signs than the high taxes of a Lakota levy passage

At many social events, knowing that Lakota schools planned to go for a tax increase at some point, we have been talking about getting the old ‘No Lakota Levy’ band back together again.  And there is a lot of hope in putting this facilities plan first, as many of those old members probably won’t want to join against a tax increase going forward because they want to be part of the construction of new facilities.  And while we’re all community members who generally like each other, I have been that one person who couldn’t care less what anybody at Lakota schools thinks of me, and that conflict has kept them in check to a large degree, not wanting the public relations nightmare that a conflict with me will undoubtedly cause them.  So we have been able to prove in the Lakota district that schools do not make communities great.  They are essentially free babysitting services to busy parents.  The reason the part of Butler County where Lakota schools are located has continued to have excellent resale value, and numerous businesses have come to the region and stayed, is that we have kept taxes low.  And to that point, we have kept Lakota schools from requesting additional funding every couple of years, unlike most schools around the country.  Making the Lakota district very attractive to investors in commercial and residential opportunities, not for the schools, but for the lack of taxes.  So in that way, my name has been worth many millions of dollars in gained opportunity costs that high taxes would have otherwise destroyed.  However, in the same conversation where I was being given credit for stopping Lakota schools from tax increases over 15 years, I was also asked what I considered success to be, if I was being a bit reserved in taking all the credit.  And I said what I have said to many successful people, hundreds of consultants over the years, lawyers, and media professionals: how do I define success?  And my statement has been, when you work yourself out of a job. 

I am very proud of many people over those 15 years who have found their voice and are stepping up to take all this to an entirely new level.  Of course, I will always be involved in these kinds of fights.  And I am involved in a lot more fights than just this Lakota thing.  I am happy to see that some brilliant people, who are very ambitious in their own way, have started to meet the new tax increase from Lakota schools with the next generation of No Lakota Levy.  They have signs going to the printer as I write this and are ready for a vicious campaign in September and October of 2025, and beyond.  They have started a PAC called Citizens PAC, where people can donate money to cover the costs of signs and mailers, which can be pretty expensive.  And that PAC isn’t just for this levy, but to fund at least the next 5 to 6 attempts, so that we can keep taxes down in the district, as they have been.  I would dare say these guys are better positioned than we were at No Lakota Levy all those years ago, where so much good did come out of it.  This next generation is much more vicious, articulate, and engaged than previous ones, because back then, nobody knew what this kind of resistance looked like.  However, we now have a wealth of history to draw from, including what works, what doesn’t work, and the cost of such resistance.  And what it saves.  Saving hundreds of millions of dollars in lost taxes for these public schools is a huge deal that wasn’t as well known back in the day.  However, in the future, we will be much better prepared, with years of history to draw from.  I’m thrilled to tell everyone that not only will there be resistance to these new levies from Lakota schools, but also from other schools.  But I think the coverage will be much better.  And it fits my model for success.  How do you know if you’ve been successful?  If you work yourself out of a job, you can pursue other interests.  You should never make anything all about you.  And while I appreciate the nice comments and credit, I want to see success.  I think the members of this new Citizens PAC will do a better job and be more successful because they now have a track record and know how to utilize it.  Of course, I will always do what I do.  However, there are now many more people doing it.  I would encourage donations because the goal is to save the millions more in tax increases, which a few yard signs here and there are more than worth spending to save massive amounts of money that Lakota schools want to confiscate and waste on a terrible product.  But to answer the question, will No Lakota Levy get together for a new tour?  And the answer is, it’s time for the old band to retire.  A new band is rising to the occasion, and the music they play I think will be much better.  Nobody wants to see David Lee Roth in concert these days.  They want the latest and greatest, and that is what the Lakota school district is going to get.

This situation makes me think of David Lee Roth, and watching him sing recently, it makes it abundantly clear that people need to know when to hang it up. I have a fascinating personal David Lee Roth story I’ll tell sometime. He should have retired years ago.

Rich Hoffman

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