<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Thoughts from the asylum ]]></title><description><![CDATA[My musings about the state of our country, my faith, life with 11 kids, food, prepping, and stuff]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ujyC!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7489da30-6c5d-4485-837a-9086ce861133_1280x1280.png</url><title>Thoughts from the asylum </title><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 11:36:55 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[S T Brunson]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[thoughtsfromtheasylum@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[thoughtsfromtheasylum@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[thoughtsfromtheasylum@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[thoughtsfromtheasylum@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Indoctrination ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Into Dependency]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/indoctrination</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/indoctrination</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:59:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6bf93b99-c431-488e-a0cd-7de103836c78_1024x1024.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome once again to the Asylum, my dear readers. I know in the past that I have said I don&#8217;t think there are hundred-year-old plots for world domination, and I still don&#8217;t. I think there are disconnected plans by generations of wealthy people acting in their own interests and often believing they know best for everyone else. That being said, there is a plan coming to fruition long after its architects have fallen. This plan was set in motion over 60 years ago, and it is the driving factor in America&#8217;s current leftist problem. It is also one of the primary reasons children are more indoctrinated than educated in most school systems, and neither they nor the instructors can think rationally or critically in most cases.</p><p>Our story starts in the 1950s, a time when our education system was local and excellent, our currency was still nominally hard, and the average adult knew there was little difference between Nazis and Communists, but more importantly, they are both bad. It was good times, even if the Cold War was raging. In this period, there was a Senator, Joseph McCarthy, who was very concerned about socialist infiltration of our culture. So, he held investigations, and why wouldn&#8217;t you when Stalin and then, more recently (from his perspective), Khrushchev had publicly spoken about infiltrating American culture through entertainment and education? The hearings at times were brutal and did ruin, rightly and wrongly, the reputations and careers of some prominent people.</p><p>This led to some fear and backlash (largely incited by political opponents more concerned with discrediting him than the validity of his concerns). This resulted in McCarthyism being a derogatory term for unreasonable interrogation for the next 40 years. Sadly, as we sit here in 2026, it is more than obvious Senator McCarthy was 100% correct, and we are suffering from the fact that he was essentially shut down in the end. We could use some McCarthyism today in a bunch of places and not just for Commies anymore.</p><p>The backlash from the Red Scare, coupled with the unpopular war in Vietnam, specifically fought to oppose Communism and for no other reason, made a significant minority of the Baby Boomer generation view communism as favorable and more easily influenced by Communist propaganda. This was followed by the USSR funding much of the anti-war movement and violent groups like the Weather Underground and Black Panthers. This is because, by the 1960s, it was clear to everyone in power in the USSR that they would never come out on top in a battle of economic power with the United States and, as such, could not come out on top in a military conflict with the United States. Almost every large-scale conflict America has ever fought in history has been won by the economic ability to sustain the fight with materiel more than manpower. The outliers are Korea and Vietnam, and those were only because they weren&#8217;t legally wars and so were unable to flip the industrial switch that previous wars did. In more recent conflicts, we sort of won while we were there, largely because the technology gap was so wide, but even then, days after our withdrawal, those places were essentially restored to the state they were before we arrived. As a result, the planners in the USSR set in motion a plan to capture our culture from within. This started with the hippies seeking academic positions at universities across the country in a greater percentage than any generation before it. Many of these new professors were the same radicals like Kathy Boudin, Mark Rudd, and Paul Krueger, who were members of Soviet-funded organizations like the Weather Underground, but had also been convicted of felonies, including murders that were politically motivated by their leftist ideologies.</p><p>It was in this period of the late &#8217;70s onward we saw the massive push for everyone to get a college education, regardless of actual academic ability. At first, there were legitimate standards, and not everyone could get into college, and even with financial aid programs, there was a barrier to entry. Then, as these same people moved from academics into policy positions, it resulted in the previous federal student loan program, first enacted in response to Sputnik and available specifically for certain science, math, and engineering programs (as a national defense initiative), being overhauled in 1992/93, removing qualification requirements and making them available for literally any field of study, regardless of its viability as an income-generating career.</p><p>Shortly after this change occurred, it became apparent to administrators that they were leaving a lot of money on the table. As a result, entrance requirements continued to drop and are still dropping today, with many schools no longer requiring an ACT or SAT as part of the admissions process. As standards dropped, colleges needed new courses of study that degrees could be issued in for people who couldn&#8217;t actually get a degree in the old college system (pre&#8211;late &#8217;90s/early &#8217;00s). Unfortunately, the Marxist </p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Not as Smart as the Hype but Twice as Dangerous]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/artificial-intelligence</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/artificial-intelligence</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 05:01:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/c608186f-e1b7-4543-9a94-274c2d34517b_979x713.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, dear readers, as we dive again into the madhouse of our current world. This week, we discuss Artificial Intelligence (AI). Though I have little experience in AI development, I&#8217;ve worked in Information Technology for over 30 years. I&#8217;ve read extensively about AI&#8217;s technical aspects and used it professionally for the past three years. We keep hearing that AI is either an amazing tool to enhance human reasoning or an extinction-level threat to humanity.</p><p>There is a lot of confusion about what AI is and what it is not, and we are seeing both amazing things happening through appropriate AI use cases and terrible injustices arising from inappropriate ones. Part of what makes a use case inappropriate is the belief, by some, that AI is infallible: if it says something is 100%, then it is. This is not the case; I will show you where AI is helpful, but it shouldn&#8217;t be taken as infallible.</p><p>AI refers to computer systems that learn statistical patterns from large datasets to perform tasks such as prediction, classification, and content generation. These systems are often built using models like neural networks, which approximate complex relationships in data. AI does not possess consciousness, emotions, or lived experience; any apparent &#8220;understanding&#8221; is the result of pattern recognition rather than genuine comprehension. AI follows clear rules well but struggles with interpretation and inference. It cannot handle abstract or situational exceptions, unless specifically programmed. When something falls outside its parameters, it may hallucinate giving nonsensical or false answers. AI lacks physical reality, morality, and empathy. All AI is just extremely complex decision trees supported by vast amounts of data.</p><p>When a new AI is born, it is given a set of base rules, or guardrails, that it cannot cross. Examples of these are:</p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Anti-Jailbreak: Detecting and blocking prompts designed to bypass safety filters (e.g., &#8220;Ignore previous instructions&#8221;).</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Prompt Injection Detection: Blocking malicious inputs trying to overwrite system instructions.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Topic Restriction: Restricting conversations strictly to approved topics (e.g., a bank chatbot refusing to discuss politics).</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; PII Sanitization: Detecting and redacting personal data like phone numbers, emails, or Social Security numbers before showing them to a user.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Toxicity Mitigation: Blocking generated content that contains hate speech, profanity, or harassment.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Hallucination Check: Ensuring answers are explicitly based on provided retrieved content and restricting the AI from &#8220;making up&#8221; facts.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Output Format Enforcement: Ensuring the AI only outputs valid formats, such as JSON or specific schema structures, preventing unstructured output.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Action Authorization: Restricting AI agents from executing high-risk actions (like sending emails or making purchases) without human authorization.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Adversarial Robustness: Filtering out garbled or confusing input (noise) designed to make the model act erratically.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Compliance &amp; Ethical Rules</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Bias Detection: Flagging or blocking content that shows discrimination based on gender, race, or ethnicity.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8226; Regulatory Guardrails: Ensuring output meets industry regulations (e.g., HIPAA compliance for medical information).</strong></em></p><p>These rules often reflect the values and perspectives of the programmers who develop the AI models. This may manifest as outputs that reflect certain social perspectives or responses. Most of the time, these guardrails center around contemporary social considerations rather than classic frameworks like Asimov&#8217;s Three Laws of Robotics. These guardrails establish the rules for building the decision tree that becomes the AI. After this, the AI is trained by being fed foundational knowledge, such as grammar and dictionaries for its languages (where the AI excels at following rules), and then further data depending on its intended use. This might include extensive libraries of books, large sections of the internet, videos, art, images, and other data types. Programmers exercise substantial control over the information the AI trains on, which can influence the range of perspectives it presents. Previous versions of some AI models were observed to reflect limited viewpoints. Changes in the industry, such as the introduction of new platforms, have led to shifts in how models are designed, with some aiming for more balanced, neutral outputs.</p><p>We all keep hearing about AI taking all the jobs. This is largely just fearmongering, and while AI will do away with some jobs, it is generations away from fully replacing humans, if ever. There are major constraints to the advancement of AI. One is that AI is incapable of abstract thought and is fully constrained by the rules set for it. This makes it incapable of making nuanced decisions.</p><p>There will be missteps along the way like this. AI is ill-suited for complex customer service, but we are seeing more and more of it in the form of AI customer service representatives. They cannot fully weigh all the factors that a human representative might consider when granting exceptions, service credit, or any extenuating circumstance that isn&#8217;t pre-programmed (history tells us people suck at predicting every possible situation). Right now, you are seeing cases in companies that have gone all in or nearly all in on AI customer service, where a loyal 20-year customer with a 95%+ on-time payment rate is denied an extension and disconnected because there is no flexibility in AI&#8217;s rules. We also see too much flexibility in the rules (trying to correct for cases where long-time customers are snubbed or where other errors are common), and AIs are giving new or poor customers massive service credits or other unacceptably large concessions. From a company&#8217;s point of view, AI won&#8217;t ask for a raise, won&#8217;t call in sick, won&#8217;t get upset or stressed with angry customers, and the list goes on. This is resulting in AI being rolled out at scale in customer service, but AI is bad at it and will result in a net negative, outweighing the short-term benefits over time. I think AI in customer service will continue to grow over the next couple of years, making it nearly impossible to speak with a human or get a satisfactory resolution to complex issues. Then, within less than 5 years, someone will advertise all-human customer service as a competitive advantage; it will work and be massively successful. Then, customer service, as an industry, will swing back the other way toward human help, and it will settle on AI as the surface, with humans backing it up for anything that isn&#8217;t extra simple.</p><p>Soon, AI will handle nearly all computer programming. Give AI the rules for a language and functional code examples, and jobs that took experts weeks can be done in hours. AI lacks creativity, but it can produce a program from a simple manager&#8217;s prompt.</p><p>&#8220;I need a program that allows me to enter a name or point to a list of names that will cross-reference databases X and Y to provide me a full history of A, B, and C transactions with D and E representatives of our company.&#8221;</p><p>If AI knows the language and relevant databases, it can quickly create the requested program. Human developers would take much longer. AI reduces development from months to minutes and makes it painless: have an idea, tell AI, get a program quickly. Run it, see what to change, repeat with AI until satisfied. This streamlines what once took months or years.</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Real Axis of Evil]]></title><description><![CDATA[The threat from within the Red Green alliance]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-real-axis-of-evil</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-real-axis-of-evil</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 06:02:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/25ea5c96-73eb-4925-96a0-3064ea7714d3_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, my dear readers, once again into the asylum. With American forces engaged with Iran, there are many things we could discuss. These include the West&#8217;s largely failed attempts at intervention in the region and the destabilizing effects that followed, the brutal killing of tens of thousands of protesters by Iran&#8217;s government, and many other serious issues. While all of those matter, I believe the most serious and troubling threat right now on the ground is the alliance between Islam and the woke leftist establishment. The Red-Green Alliance has happened before and is one strategy used by Islam in its long effort to make the world one large Caliphate. Since the moment Muhammad was possessed by a demon and began his satanic ministry, the goal of Islam has been total conversion of the world&#8217;s population, with no hesitation to use fear, violence, and death to achieve it.</p><p>Sadly, the modern American view of terrorism often works like an outdated idea, a story told to a comfortable population. In this view, enemies are far away, their plans seem strange, and their battlefields are distant. In just one generation, we have largely forgotten the events of 9/11/2001. The old idea of fighting enemies abroad to stop them from attacking at home is becoming less useful. The main threat is now internal, a problem spreading through the Republic itself. It is driven by several forces that, together, form a partnership not just tactical but deeply opposed to the American constitutional system. This situation combines radical Islamist goals, weak border security, and a group on the left side of the domestic political system that has aligned itself with these elements. Together, they are seeking the destruction of the nation. This is not just speculation. It is the reality of a country that has allowed conditions that increase its own vulnerability.</p><p>The danger is not limited to people entering from outside the country. It also occurs where several connected threats converge and reinforce one another. Radical Islamist networks try to gain influence inside Western societies by using any weakness they can find. Recent border policies that allow easier entry, along with political hesitation to address the risks, make it possible for people from high-risk regions to enter with limited oversight.</p><p>Even more troubling, parts of the Western radical left, driven by strong ideology and moral posturing, have formed a working relationship with Islamist groups. This relationship gives those groups political cover, public legitimacy, and institutional support for goals that do not fit with a democratic republic. Each of these issues is serious on its own, but together they form a broad challenge to the core principles of the republic.</p><p>Federal officials have long warned that the southern border is a major vulnerability. They describe it not only as an immigration issue but also as a national security concern. In recent years, large numbers of migrants from &#8220;special interest&#8221; countries, places where extremist groups operate, or hostile governments maintain networks, have entered the United States. Among them are Iranian nationals, whose government has maintained a hostile position toward the United States for decades. Records show that more than 1,500 Iranian nationals were detained at the border, and about half were released into the country while waiting for their legal cases. The number of people who entered without detection is unknown. These are not just simple administrative mistakes. They are weaknesses that can be used by people who understand that a slow and open system can serve their goals. The possibility that hostile actors could establish sleeper cells inside the United States is no longer just a theory. Intelligence agencies have often warned that extremist movements plan over many decades, placing supporters and operatives long before taking action.</p><p>Border security, however, is only the surface of a more serious and more subtle threat. Inside the country, what is called the &#8220;Red-Green Alliance&#8221; has created what some see as a kind of fifth column. This is a working relationship between radical leftist groups and Islamist actors. They are not united by shared values, since their beliefs often conflict sharply. Instead, they are united by a shared goal of dismantling what they see as oppressive Western systems. Progressive movements, driven by strong ideological beliefs and rejection of traditional Western norms, sometimes treat Islamist groups as allies in opposition. Islamist groups, in turn, recognize that working with progressive movements can give them political influence, media support, and access to the democratic systems they hope to weaken or change. The result is a partnership built on convenience and shared disruption, despite very different long-term goals.</p><p>This pattern, according to critics, can be seen in the political career of New York City Mayor Zohran K. Mamdani. His rise in politics is often cited as an example of how the Red-Green Alliance might operate. Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist, built support not mainly through traditional American political values but through a coalition centered on activism and shared grievances. This coalition included activist networks, progressive organizations, and Muslim advocacy groups with alleged Islamist connections. Groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which critics say has historical ties to Islamist movements, provided institutional legitimacy and political action funding. The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) provided organizational support, including demonstrations, canvassing, and voter turnout efforts. For these organizations, the alliance created political access. For Mamdani, it built a strong voting base. Supporters see this as normal coalition politics, but critics argue it shows how alliances between very different groups can help normalize radical ideas under the language of social justice. They claim this is a form of political infiltration where allies are used for strategic gain and later discarded.</p><p>Mamdani&#8217;s public statements are also viewed by critics as reflecting the goals of his Islamist allies. These include support for the BDS movement, describing Israel as practicing &#8220;apartheid&#8221; or &#8220;genocide,&#8221; appearing at events with activists connected to figures such as Imam Siraj Wahhaj, and not strongly rejecting lyrics tied to individuals accused of financing Hamas. Critics argue this pattern shows how a secular political figure can act as a public shield for a more hostile ideological system. In this view, the Red-Green Alliance works like a political Trojan horse, spreading ideas that weaken America&#8217;s moral consensus while protecting the growth of extremist influence inside institutions meant to defend individual freedom.</p><p>Technology has made this threat even more serious. Radicalization is no longer limited by geography or personal recruitment. Encrypted messaging, social media networks, and online propaganda allow ideology to spread quickly inside domestic communities. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok can create echo chambers that reinforce extreme beliefs. Some observers argue that the changes made to Twitter, now called X, by Elon Musk revealed how important these platforms are to the spread of political narratives, as shown by the strong backlash that followed. Lone-actor attacks encouraged by online communities are now seen as one of the most immediate risks, because the environment created by these networks can validate and encourage violent ideas.</p><p>Supporters of this theory also argue that the Red-Green Alliance fits into a larger long-term strategy used by international Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. According to this view, these groups understand that influence in Western societies can be achieved through politics, culture, and media, rather than only through violence. Organizations influenced by this ideology try to reshape democratic discussion by framing their actions as civil rights advocacy for marginalized groups. Working with progressive movements can provide the political protection needed for these ideas to spread under the appearance of legitimate activism.</p><p>The combination of weak borders, ideological conflict, and modern technology can create what some describe as a &#8220;perfect storm.&#8221; Intelligence analysts warn that global tensions, such as conflict with Iran, could encourage sympathetic actors within the United States to take action. The battlefield is no longer distant; it is part of American</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Links]]></title><description><![CDATA[By request]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/links</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/links</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2026 22:19:36 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/319919e3-fafc-4627-922d-cc10dadb3170_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have had some requests for the supporting links for Friday&#8217;s post. So here is most of what I used. I have noticed that some of the files released by the DOJ are no longer available because the links have expired. So I am not including those. I think, rather than having links embedded with (here), since very few use them, I will start including the links in full after my sign-off in posts, as it will provide source information and be much easier to include. Be warned, there is some very unpleasant content in those links. <br><br><a href="https://medium.com/never-stop-writing/mkoften-the-program-that-opened-doors-the-cia-couldnt-close-802e2ac4281e">https://medium.com/never-stop-writing/mkoften-the-program-that-opened-doors-the-cia-couldnt-close-802e2ac4281e</a></p><p><a href="https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/dnsa-intelligence/2025-10-30/top-secret-testimony-cias-mkultra-chief-50-years-later">https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/dnsa-intelligence/2025-10-30/top-secret-testimony-cias-mkultra-chief-50-years-later</a></p><p><a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-files-hearings-95mkultra.pdf">https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-files-hearings-95mkultra.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/OSS%20-%20SSU%20-%20CIG%20EARLY%20CIA%20DOCUMENTS%20%20%20VOL.%201_0008.pdf">https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/OSS%20-%20SSU%20-%20CIG%20EARLY%20CIA%20DOCUMENTS%20%20%20VOL.%201_0008.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/1963-07-26%20JM%20Box%208%20F2%20MKUltra-IG_Report-ocr.pdf">https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/1963-07-26%20JM%20Box%208%20F2%20MKUltra-IG_Report-ocr.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.futile.work/uploads/1/5/0/1/15012114/crackpot_truth_list.pdf">https://www.futile.work/uploads/1/5/0/1/15012114/crackpot_truth_list.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/epstein-files-global-conspiracy">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/epstein-files-global-conspiracy</a></p><p><a href="https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&amp;context=pat_pnw">https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&amp;context=pat_pnw</a></p><p><a href="https://brewminate.com/order-322-the-secret-skull-and-bones-society-at-yale-since-1832/#:~:text=William%20Huntington%20Russell%20and%20Alphonso,of%20the%20Skull%20and%20Bones%E2%80%9D.&amp;text=The%20first%20senior%20members%20included,gossip%20never%20tires%20of%20discussing.%E2%80%9D&amp;text=In%20a%201974%20book%2C%20Brooks,notable%20figures%20for%20its%20membership">https://brewminate.com/order-322-the-secret-skull-and-bones-society-at-yale-since-1832/#:~:text=William%20Huntington%20Russell%20and%20Alphonso,of%20the%20Skull%20and%20Bones%E2%80%9D.&amp;text=The%20first%20senior%20members%20included,gossip%20never%20tires%20of%20discussing.%E2%80%9D&amp;text=In%20a%201974%20book%2C%20Brooks,notable%20figures%20for%20its%20membership</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.thestacksreader.com/the-last-secrets-of-skull-and-bones/">http://www.thestacksreader.com/the-last-secrets-of-skull-and-bones/</a></p><p><a href="https://mitch-horowitz-nyc.medium.com/the-long-strange-trip-of-michael-aquino-5c533d67bf46">https://mitch-horowitz-nyc.medium.com/the-long-strange-trip-of-michael-aquino-5c533d67bf46</a></p><p>https://vault.fbi.gov/temple-of-set/temple-of-set-part-01</p><p><a href="https://churchofsatan.com/hoisted-by-his-own-patois/">https://churchofsatan.com/hoisted-by-his-own-patois/</a></p><p><a href="https://satanthinks.com/tag/michael-aquino/">https://satanthinks.com/tag/michael-aquino/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-life-and-death-of-satanist-michael-aquino-on-this-was-your-life-roundtable-2021--63243024">https://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-life-and-death-of-satanist-michael-aquino-on-this-was-your-life-roundtable-2021--63243024</a></p><p><a href="https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/disappearing-pod/the-sex-cult-antichrist-who-rocketed-us-to-space-part-1/">https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/disappearing-pod/the-sex-cult-antichrist-who-rocketed-us-to-space-part-1/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.supercluster.com/editorial/the-occult-history-behind-nasas-jet-propulsion-laboratory">https://www.supercluster.com/editorial/the-occult-history-behind-nasas-jet-propulsion-laboratory</a></p><p><a href="https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/jack-parsons/">https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/jack-parsons/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/secret-harvard-club-breaks-centuries-of-silence-to-bizarrely-defend-maleonly-policy">https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/secret-harvard-club-breaks-centuries-of-silence-to-bizarrely-defend-maleonly-policy</a></p><p><a href="https://time.com/archive/6818579/milestones-apr-1-1929/">https://time.com/archive/6818579/milestones-apr-1-1929/</a></p><p><a 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We Saved It.&quot;,&quot;truncated_body_text&quot;:&quot;Trump&#8217;s Department of Justice did it again.&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-07T21:50:14.768Z&quot;,&quot;like_count&quot;:3341,&quot;comment_count&quot;:262,&quot;bylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:50092063,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Ben Meiselas&quot;,&quot;handle&quot;:&quot;benmeiselas&quot;,&quot;previous_name&quot;:null,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b66f5f11-7ea5-4664-8031-4ba380054073_800x800.jpeg&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Co-Founder of MeidasTouch Network&quot;,&quot;profile_set_up_at&quot;:&quot;2024-09-25T19:41:43.784Z&quot;,&quot;reader_installed_at&quot;:&quot;2024-09-26T18:21:13.221Z&quot;,&quot;publicationUsers&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:3133517,&quot;user_id&quot;:50092063,&quot;publication_id&quot;:3078900,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;admin&quot;,&quot;public&quot;:true,&quot;is_primary&quot;:false,&quot;publication&quot;:{&quot;id&quot;:3078900,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Meidas+&quot;,&quot;subdomain&quot;:&quot;meidastouch&quot;,&quot;custom_domain&quot;:&quot;www.meidasplus.com&quot;,&quot;custom_domain_optional&quot;:false,&quot;hero_text&quot;:&quot;The premium hub for MeidasTouch, the fastest growing pro-democracy news network. 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We cover breaking news, politics, law and more. We are unapologetically pro-democracy. Because TRUTH is golden.&quot;,&quot;profile_set_up_at&quot;:&quot;2023-04-11T15:32:30.414Z&quot;,&quot;reader_installed_at&quot;:&quot;2023-04-11T17:01:14.191Z&quot;,&quot;publicationUsers&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:3134768,&quot;user_id&quot;:139810743,&quot;publication_id&quot;:3078900,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;admin&quot;,&quot;public&quot;:true,&quot;is_primary&quot;:true,&quot;publication&quot;:{&quot;id&quot;:3078900,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Meidas+&quot;,&quot;subdomain&quot;:&quot;meidastouch&quot;,&quot;custom_domain&quot;:&quot;www.meidasplus.com&quot;,&quot;custom_domain_optional&quot;:false,&quot;hero_text&quot;:&quot;The premium hub for MeidasTouch, the fastest growing pro-democracy news network. Bonus articles, exclusive content, and interactive chats. Led by Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas, with exclusive articles by Ron Filipkowski. &quot;,&quot;logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7e6552e2-7115-44ea-8856-c6fc0c174cb3_400x400.png&quot;,&quot;author_id&quot;:139810743,&quot;primary_user_id&quot;:139810743,&quot;theme_var_background_pop&quot;:&quot;#FF6719&quot;,&quot;created_at&quot;:&quot;2024-09-25T19:16:20.245Z&quot;,&quot;email_from_name&quot;:&quot;Meidas+&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Meidas Media Network LLC&quot;,&quot;founding_plan_name&quot;:null,&quot;community_enabled&quot;:true,&quot;invite_only&quot;:false,&quot;payments_state&quot;:&quot;enabled&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:null,&quot;explicit&quot;:false,&quot;homepage_type&quot;:&quot;newspaper&quot;,&quot;is_personal_mode&quot;:false}}],&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:10000,&quot;status&quot;:{&quot;bestsellerTier&quot;:10000,&quot;subscriberTier&quot;:null,&quot;leaderboard&quot;:null,&quot;vip&quot;:false,&quot;badge&quot;:{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;bestseller&quot;,&quot;tier&quot;:10000},&quot;paidPublicationIds&quot;:[],&quot;subscriber&quot;:null}}],&quot;utm_campaign&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;newsletter&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="EmbeddedPostToDOM"><a class="embedded-post" native="true" href="https://www.meidasplus.com/p/doj-deleted-an-epstein-prosecution?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_campaign=post_embed&amp;utm_medium=web"><div class="embedded-post-header"><img class="embedded-post-publication-logo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nFZY!,w_56,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e6552e2-7115-44ea-8856-c6fc0c174cb3_400x400.png" loading="lazy"><span class="embedded-post-publication-name">Meidas+</span></div><div class="embedded-post-title-wrapper"><div class="embedded-post-title">DOJ Deleted an Epstein Prosecution Memo About Possible Co-Conspirators. We Saved It.</div></div><div class="embedded-post-body">Trump&#8217;s Department of Justice did it again&#8230;</div><div class="embedded-post-cta-wrapper"><span class="embedded-post-cta">Read more</span></div><div class="embedded-post-meta">3 months ago &#183; 3341 likes &#183; 262 comments &#183; Ben Meiselas and MeidasTouch Network</div></a></div><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01681961.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01681961.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01743628.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01743628.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2012/EFTA02731433.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2012/EFTA02731433.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00143938.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00143938.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01250239.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01250239.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01388032.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01388032.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01615063.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01615063.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00173266.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00173266.pdf</a></p><p>https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00299864.pdf</p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00299927.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00299927.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00299879.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00299879.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00741531.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00741531.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01600704.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01600704.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02591804.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02591804.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02722445.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02722445.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01248315.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01248315.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00352002.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00352002.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00143287.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00143287.pdf</a></p><div class="embedded-post-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:187236670,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.meidasplus.com/p/doj-deleted-an-epstein-prosecution&quot;,&quot;publication_id&quot;:3078900,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Meidas+&quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nFZY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e6552e2-7115-44ea-8856-c6fc0c174cb3_400x400.png&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;DOJ Deleted an Epstein Prosecution Memo About Possible Co-Conspirators. We Saved It.&quot;,&quot;truncated_body_text&quot;:&quot;Trump&#8217;s Department of Justice did it again.&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-07T21:50:14.768Z&quot;,&quot;like_count&quot;:3341,&quot;comment_count&quot;:262,&quot;bylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:50092063,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Ben Meiselas&quot;,&quot;handle&quot;:&quot;benmeiselas&quot;,&quot;previous_name&quot;:null,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b66f5f11-7ea5-4664-8031-4ba380054073_800x800.jpeg&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Co-Founder of MeidasTouch Network&quot;,&quot;profile_set_up_at&quot;:&quot;2024-09-25T19:41:43.784Z&quot;,&quot;reader_installed_at&quot;:&quot;2024-09-26T18:21:13.221Z&quot;,&quot;publicationUsers&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:3133517,&quot;user_id&quot;:50092063,&quot;publication_id&quot;:3078900,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;admin&quot;,&quot;public&quot;:true,&quot;is_primary&quot;:false,&quot;publication&quot;:{&quot;id&quot;:3078900,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Meidas+&quot;,&quot;subdomain&quot;:&quot;meidastouch&quot;,&quot;custom_domain&quot;:&quot;www.meidasplus.com&quot;,&quot;custom_domain_optional&quot;:false,&quot;hero_text&quot;:&quot;The premium hub for MeidasTouch, the fastest growing pro-democracy news network. Bonus articles, exclusive content, and interactive chats. Led by Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas, with exclusive articles by Ron Filipkowski. &quot;,&quot;logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7e6552e2-7115-44ea-8856-c6fc0c174cb3_400x400.png&quot;,&quot;author_id&quot;:139810743,&quot;primary_user_id&quot;:139810743,&quot;theme_var_background_pop&quot;:&quot;#FF6719&quot;,&quot;created_at&quot;:&quot;2024-09-25T19:16:20.245Z&quot;,&quot;email_from_name&quot;:&quot;Meidas+&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Meidas Media Network LLC&quot;,&quot;founding_plan_name&quot;:null,&quot;community_enabled&quot;:true,&quot;invite_only&quot;:false,&quot;payments_state&quot;:&quot;enabled&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:null,&quot;explicit&quot;:false,&quot;homepage_type&quot;:&quot;newspaper&quot;,&quot;is_personal_mode&quot;:false}}],&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:10000,&quot;status&quot;:{&quot;bestsellerTier&quot;:10000,&quot;subscriberTier&quot;:null,&quot;leaderboard&quot;:null,&quot;vip&quot;:false,&quot;badge&quot;:{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;bestseller&quot;,&quot;tier&quot;:10000},&quot;paidPublicationIds&quot;:[],&quot;subscriber&quot;:null}},{&quot;id&quot;:139810743,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;MeidasTouch Network&quot;,&quot;handle&quot;:&quot;meidastouch&quot;,&quot;previous_name&quot;:null,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8LW4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5f737d2-2719-4071-8067-f9efc8376bcc_400x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;The fastest growing independent news network in the world. We cover breaking news, politics, law and more. We are unapologetically pro-democracy. Because TRUTH is golden.&quot;,&quot;profile_set_up_at&quot;:&quot;2023-04-11T15:32:30.414Z&quot;,&quot;reader_installed_at&quot;:&quot;2023-04-11T17:01:14.191Z&quot;,&quot;publicationUsers&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:3134768,&quot;user_id&quot;:139810743,&quot;publication_id&quot;:3078900,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;admin&quot;,&quot;public&quot;:true,&quot;is_primary&quot;:true,&quot;publication&quot;:{&quot;id&quot;:3078900,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Meidas+&quot;,&quot;subdomain&quot;:&quot;meidastouch&quot;,&quot;custom_domain&quot;:&quot;www.meidasplus.com&quot;,&quot;custom_domain_optional&quot;:false,&quot;hero_text&quot;:&quot;The premium hub for MeidasTouch, the fastest growing pro-democracy news network. Bonus articles, exclusive content, and interactive chats. Led by Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas, with exclusive articles by Ron Filipkowski. &quot;,&quot;logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7e6552e2-7115-44ea-8856-c6fc0c174cb3_400x400.png&quot;,&quot;author_id&quot;:139810743,&quot;primary_user_id&quot;:139810743,&quot;theme_var_background_pop&quot;:&quot;#FF6719&quot;,&quot;created_at&quot;:&quot;2024-09-25T19:16:20.245Z&quot;,&quot;email_from_name&quot;:&quot;Meidas+&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Meidas Media Network LLC&quot;,&quot;founding_plan_name&quot;:null,&quot;community_enabled&quot;:true,&quot;invite_only&quot;:false,&quot;payments_state&quot;:&quot;enabled&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:null,&quot;explicit&quot;:false,&quot;homepage_type&quot;:&quot;newspaper&quot;,&quot;is_personal_mode&quot;:false}}],&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:10000,&quot;status&quot;:{&quot;bestsellerTier&quot;:10000,&quot;subscriberTier&quot;:null,&quot;leaderboard&quot;:null,&quot;vip&quot;:false,&quot;badge&quot;:{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;bestseller&quot;,&quot;tier&quot;:10000},&quot;paidPublicationIds&quot;:[],&quot;subscriber&quot;:null}}],&quot;utm_campaign&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;newsletter&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="EmbeddedPostToDOM"><a class="embedded-post" native="true" href="https://www.meidasplus.com/p/doj-deleted-an-epstein-prosecution?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_campaign=post_embed&amp;utm_medium=web"><div class="embedded-post-header"><img class="embedded-post-publication-logo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nFZY!,w_56,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e6552e2-7115-44ea-8856-c6fc0c174cb3_400x400.png" loading="lazy"><span class="embedded-post-publication-name">Meidas+</span></div><div class="embedded-post-title-wrapper"><div class="embedded-post-title">DOJ Deleted an Epstein Prosecution Memo About Possible Co-Conspirators. We Saved It.</div></div><div class="embedded-post-body">Trump&#8217;s Department of Justice did it again&#8230;</div><div class="embedded-post-cta-wrapper"><span class="embedded-post-cta">Read more</span></div><div class="embedded-post-meta">3 months ago &#183; 3341 likes &#183; 262 comments &#183; Ben Meiselas and MeidasTouch Network</div></a></div><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01792909.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01792909.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01683186.pdf">https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01683186.pdf</a></p><div class="twitter-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://x.com/KlonnyPin_Gosch/status/2018081893598855219&quot;,&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;The most explosive doc yet? &#128064;\n\nA synopsis of an FBI interview w/ someone who claims Epstein was her sub teacher &amp;amp; that she &amp;amp; her friends found a porno w/ pics of him receiving a blowjob in it. She then goes on to mention &#8220;trade shows&#8221; in NOLA attended by Jimmy Savile! The&quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;KlonnyPin_Gosch&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;ParaPower Mapping&quot;,&quot;profile_image_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1957306988091584512/DaHYLZnL_normal.jpg&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-01T21:59:52.000Z&quot;,&quot;photos&quot;:[{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/upload/w_1028,c_limit,q_auto:best/l_twitter_play_button_rvaygk,w_88/gm1jqo7yolhamgknnezd&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/hnsYJvGi5y&quot;}],&quot;quoted_tweet&quot;:{&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;An underage girl kept a diary of palpably traumatized poems in which she describes giving birth in the presence of an Israeli doc &amp;amp; basically insinuates Epstein and Ghislaine stole and/or murdered her babies. There are numerous handwritten cyphers scrawled across the pages &#128064; https://t.co/9HxCHjkKvv&quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;KlonnyPin_Gosch&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;ParaPower Mapping&quot;,&quot;profile_image_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1957306988091584512/DaHYLZnL_normal.jpg&quot;},&quot;reply_count&quot;:12,&quot;retweet_count&quot;:55,&quot;like_count&quot;:300,&quot;impression_count&quot;:44531,&quot;expanded_url&quot;:null,&quot;video_url&quot;:&quot;https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2018081457386729472/vid/avc1/720x1156/t-ozmsOil3dyglZt.mp4&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}" data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM"></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Say The Dangerous Thing!]]></title><description><![CDATA[Loud and Often]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/say-the-dangerous-thing</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/say-the-dangerous-thing</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 14 Feb 2026 06:01:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5dab4398-0132-48a3-821a-9802d97c6cb6_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, my dear readers, to the asylum. The further I look, the more I see and the less I want to. Much of our social decay is becoming much clearer as I look. I am convinced Epstein, as horrific as he was, is just a minor thread sticking out of a much larger tapestry of satanic evil. I think the attempt to cut it off was made because if we get to pull it, we can probably unravel the entire thing. The monsters will fight and kill to keep that from happening. It is clear, the more I look, Epstein didn&#8217;t make his network, but fit into an evil system that was decades old before he found his twisted place in it. This system has deep roots, and like any bureaucratic system, it seeks to expand into almost every aspect of government and life.</p><p>The government&#8217;s dark history of occult research and practices is a web of power, secrecy, and supernatural beliefs. This intricate tapestry of rituals, sacrifices, and manipulations has been used to consolidate control and exploit the vulnerable, all while maintaining a facade of respectability. The Epstein scandal is just the latest thread to unravel, exposing the corrupt core of a system driven by a lust for power and occult knowledge. Declassified files reveal that U.S. intelligence agencies have been involved in the occult for decades. The CIA&#8217;s investigations into &#8220;demonic activity&#8221; and the army&#8217;s Project Stargate, which employed &#8220;psychic&#8221; secret agents, demonstrate the government&#8217;s willingness to explore the fringes of human experience and belief. These programs were not mere curiosities but were seen as potential tools for gaining an advantage in global power struggles. The connection between MKULTRA and the occult is even more disturbing, indicating that the government was willing to manipulate consciousness and exploit ceremonial magic to achieve its goals.</p><p>High-ranking figures like Michael Aquino and Jack Parsons were deeply involved in occult practices, highlighting the extent of this corruption. Aquino, a former U.S. Army psychological operations officer, founded the Temple of Set while maintaining his military intelligence role. Parsons, a pioneer in rocket science, viewed magic as a tool for statecraft and scientific advancement. These individuals were not just personally interested in the occult; they were integrating it into the very fabric of government and military operations.</p><p>The government&#8217;s occult practices have also manifested in what can be described as &#8220;spiritual warfare.&#8221; The rise of deliverance ministries and theological exorcists in the U.S. reflects a growing belief that political and social shifts are influenced by demonic forces. These spiritual warriors see themselves as battling a &#8220;Deep State&#8221; controlled by occult powers, a narrative that aligns with the government&#8217;s own covert operations and manipulations.</p><p>The Epstein scandal is a microcosm of this larger occult web. The leaked emails and financial records reveal a network of elite pedophiles and traffickers who engage in ritualistic abuse and sacrifice. References to sacrificing vulnerable individuals and the systematic trauma inflicted on young victims indicate the calculated and organized nature of their activities. A photograph of a prominent figure near a child and a mother receiving payment for her infant is just the surface of a network that operates with impunity, protected by the same occult practices and beliefs that have been cultivated by the government for decades.</p><p>Epstein&#8217;s bank account named after &#8216;Baal&#8217; is a clear reference to the ancient Canaanite deity associated with child sacrifices for spiritual power. This is not just an eccentric billionaire&#8217;s taste; it&#8217;s a man who named his financial assets after a deity known for consuming children and constructed a replica temple on the island where he trafficked children. The architectural features inside Epstein&#8217;s temple on Little St. James Island mimic those of Solomon&#8217;s Temple, placing them within the ancient tradition of occult architecture and ritual magic spanning thousands of years. This was a systematic approach to abuse, with a structured classification for the levels of psychological damage, believing that shattering a child&#8217;s mind through sexual torture unlocked exploitable abilities.</p><p>Skeptics often argue that since they don&#8217;t believe in magic, the beliefs of others shouldn&#8217;t matter. They also argue that magic isn&#8217;t real, so it is nothing to concern themselves with. However, the reality is that the most powerful people on the planet are fervently committed to these beliefs, building temples, naming financial accounts, corresponding about sacrifices, and organizing global trafficking networks around these practices. Disbelief doesn&#8217;t stop them, and skepticism doesn&#8217;t protect any child. Refusing to acknowledge the occult dimensions of these activities, because they are uncomfortable or conflict with a materialist worldview, plays right into the hands of those who benefit from public ignorance. As a Christian, I know for a fact that the supernatural exists and that there are entities who will exchange power for eternity. The only real weapon to win the war is Jesus, but we should still look to take down this scum in the temporal as well.</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Times Change]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Demons Don't]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/times-change</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/times-change</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 10 Feb 2026 06:00:31 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a7f06ee4-e6b5-4074-aa07-a6011cf63b65_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, my dear readers, and I have to say this is the hardest thing I have ever written to you. I am so full of disgust and rage that all I can do is pray. Pray for truth, pray for justice, and pray for our country. As many, if not all of you, know, several million pages of the Epstein files have been released, and that is still only around half of the total documentation. While the crimes clearly revealed are horrific, I find it more horrific that the perpetrators&#8217; names are all still redacted, along with the victims&#8217;. The result is that wherever you find a name, Trump, Gates, or another person in a position of wealth and power, it is really a nothing burger. When there is an email about leaving the child in the torture chamber, an email that says F 11 years old with a jpg file attached or other terrible thing, the names of those involved are redacted. The claim is that this is for national security. I say bullshit. If this is what national security takes, I want to be fully insecure because these monsters need a trip to the woodchipper. If you want to look for yourself, all the files are searchable (<a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein">here</a>).</p><p>There are pundits and talking heads who try to explain these messages away, and they really expect us to believe emails from Epstein (a convicted child trafficker and pedophile) that say &#8220;F 11 years old&#8221; with an attached picture to someone whose name and email had to be redacted are harmless and probably not related to child trafficking. These are the files Trump promised during the campaign and then reneged on, saying there was nothing there once in office, only to be sort of released after Congress forced the issue. So long as the names of the predators are redacted, the files haven&#8217;t really been released. If there is really nothing to it, then release the files with nothing but the victims&#8217; names redacted and let everyone else explain themselves.</p><p>To really understand what is going on here, you must understand some history. I have explained before that the term Conspiracy Theory and the idea of a Conspiracy Theorist &#8220; as negatives, denoting some kind of freak that is detached from reality, only came about as tools for the CIA and NSA to discredit and silence anyone who questioned the official narrative relating to the Kennedy assassination (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/all-the-news">here</a>). The CIA has also engaged in activities like Operation Mockingbird that used money, blackmail, and other methods to control media, clergy, and other influential people to hide the truth and enforce approved lies. The same government engaged in MK Ultra in an attempt to find ways to mind control and influence people, both subtly and overtly, with programmed actions against the targets&#8217; will. The CIA&#8216;s efforts with MK Ultra are what brought LSD into the mainstream of hippy culture. I have written about it a lot (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/we-dont-need-russian-disinformation">here</a> is one example).</p><p>While understanding the diabolical means the American government will go to in order to hide the truth, enact policy detrimental to the American public, and generally run amok is constructive, it is only relevant in this context to understand how and why this information is still being withheld. A more relevant starting point would be an email from Leon Podesta (Who was Hillary Clinton&#8217;s Campaign Chairman) that appeared to be proof of a high-level child trafficking ring, and it appeared that a Washington D. C. Pizza place was the ordering point. At the time, it was known that criminal pedophiles spoke in code using euphemisms like cheese pizza for child porn, minor-attracted people (maps), and other things. Now remember, these are verified true emails that no one has ever disputed the authenticity of. These didn&#8217;t come out of some meme mill or political group. The only defense ever provided for the contents of these emails was to cry about how they were obtained through hacking. While that may be distasteful, it doesn&#8217;t discredit the contents (that were confirmed true by the people who were hacked). Are you going to excuse any other crime because the witness was looking through a hole in a privacy fence when they saw it committed? That email dump can be found <a href="https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/">here</a>.</p><p>These emails contained strange phrases like &#8220;Did the MAPs like their cheese pizza?&#8221;, talk of cheese pizza handkerchiefs, and other suspicious things. Nothing in the original information suggested that trafficking victims were held at the pizza place in question. However, that was quickly added, and shortly after, a low-functioning individual stormed the place with a gun. This type of addition and dramatic craziness fits into the mockingbird model for discrediting a story the government wants buried. Back in 2016, any reporter who dared to even report the known facts, just reporting the truth, while not insinuating anything to further debate and correctly inform people, was destroyed. They lost their jobs, had reputations ruined because they presented facts, and leaving the viewers to make up their own minds without telling them was for sure all false, and there was nothing to see here. Even though at the time, much of the strange pizza talk included Dennis Hastert and his favorite cheese pizza. Please note that he is a convicted pedophile. The emails in question were from 2013 to 2015 and were initially leaked in 2016.</p><p>One email from the original Podesta leak that didn&#8217;t get attention was from Leon Podesta to his brother. It had a subject of &#8220;last night was fun,&#8221; and the message was simply &#8220;Still in the torture chamber.&#8221; It, however, is drawing attention now because of an email from Epstein in the latest batch to Podesta that says, &#8220;Where are you? Are you Ok? I loved the torture video&#8221; from 2009. I want to know about the torture chamber. I want to know who sent Epstein an email on Tue, 11 Mar 2014 that reads &#8220;Thank you for a fun night... Your littlest girl was a little naughty.&#8221; I will not believe a message like that sent to a known child sex trafficker is innocent. Or, the journal from a clearly disturbed young lady that documents extreme abuse and contains names. It also outlines what looks like her baby being killed (<a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2012/EFTA02731361.pdf?fbclid=IwVERDUAPxAL5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeDhL3tnWGPmr9ELhnihhJxBu9PmfgaCtEV7ETnc61Q7NQfiHJXTs0VUhHAJ0_aem_7gB7NZIGz5OwwuGlxXbBFw">here</a>). The girl needs to be protected, but those who inspired the journal need to be brought to justice.</p><p>There are credible FBI reports of infanticide (<a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00025010.pdf">here</a>) and ritual child sacrifice (<a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00174720.pdf">here</a>). There are credible victim reports in FBI and grand jury documents with dates, times, and names of large-scale human trafficking rings, but all the names besides Epstein, Maxwell, and lesser (first name only) flunkies are redacted. These files have a lot of dross, repeated files, and garbage to sift through. Nothing is in any particular order, and I believe this is intentional. There are names of powerful people scattered throughout the release, but always ina  routine context that have no connection to any criminal activity. I think all of this is being presented as a psychological operation designed to sweep this under the rug. Remember, our government has been working for years on ways to persuade and convince people of the narrative rather than reality (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/spotting-intentional-manipulation">here</a>). The way this works is: release millions of unorganized files where there might be 2000-3000 that are unique and relevant to criminal activity. Make sure that all the big names are scattered throughout the mundane files and redact all the names in the few that indicate criminal activity. This way, John Q Public, with no real skills at data evaluation, spends half to a couple of hours searching for a famous person's name, looking for a smoking gun. They get hundreds of thousands of hits, all totally mundane and not redacted or very lightly redacted. This result matches the narrative that there wasn&#8217;t really anything there to start with. Joe Q Public moves on. Since they never searched for anything but big names, they never saw redacted emails, redacted FBI reports, redacted victim statements, and other questionable information. Enough Non-Player Characters (NPCs) fail to find a movie-style smoking gun, and the narrative takes hold.</p><p>Any talk about powerful people trafficking children is suddenly misinformation, and sources of misinformation need to be silenced and punished. Justice is never served. The NPCs will forget that Epstein and Maxwell are convicted sex traffickers; they are convicted pedophiles. Since these two things are true without any doubt or dispute, then why haven&#8217;t their clients, who are all pedophiles, been arrested? You can&#8217;t traffic children, drugs, or anything else without a customer base. The goal is for that to be forgotten amidst all the noise. We can not let that happen. We need to demand to know who was getting the emails listing an age and gender with attached photo files from Epstein, as well as the contents of the attached files. We need to demand who was left in the torture chamber, where the chamber is, and what exactly it is. We must know who emailed a known child sex trafficker stating they &#8216;had a good time&#8217; and &#8216;the littlest one was naughty&#8217;. That needs to be explained. We must demand JUSTICE! It doesn&#8217;t matter if that removes 100% of our currently elected government officials, celebrities, top military brass, or anyone else. It is better that the nation falls than these monsters be allowed to walk free. Don&#8217;t fall for the psychological operation. If there were nothing here, there wouldn&#8217;t be such heavy redaction.</p><p>In the photos that have been released, we know there were medical chairs, strange masks, and other serious oddities, as well as a picture of a baby holding a sex toy hung over the table in the kitchen (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfIkFjIuj9I">here</a>). There are very, very dark things at play here. I will not pretend to know who all is involved or how they are involved, but it is clearly people in the highest tiers of influence. When convicted of child sex trafficking, Epstein got a sentence less than most shoplifters. He got 13 months in county and avoided all federal charges, even though we know he crossed state and international borders. While it isn&#8217;t clear how he made his money or why he got off so lightly, there are theories. I personally believe he made his money originally by catering to the sick desires of the wealthy perverts and then made a side hustle of selling blackmail material to various international spy agencies or just blackmailing people himself. We know he extorted or tried to extort Bill Gates (<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2023/05/22/jeffrey-epstein-allegedly-tried-to-extort-bill-gates-over-extramarital-affair/#:~:text=Convicted%20sex%20trafficker%20reportedly%20tried,with%20a%20Russian%20bridge%20player&amp;text=The%20convicted%20sex%20trafficker%20Jeffrey,kick%20him%20with%20my%20leg.%E2%80%9D">here</a>).</p><p>Sadly, I think Epstein was just the tip of the iceberg in how deeply satanic evil has penetrated our government and society. As I was working on this, reading through a victim account of essentially being bred so that her baby could be ritually sacrificed and eaten on Epstein&#8217;s Island, Ecclesiastes 1:9 &#8220;What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun&#8221; kept occurring to me. So I got to looking, and this is a picture of Epstein&#8217;s &#8220;Sex Temple&#8221; on his island (<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-s-bizarre-blue-striped-building-private-island-raised-n1037511">here</a>), and here is an image of the ruins of the temple of Baal (<a href="https://www.archnet.org/sites/14875">here</a>). Key aspects of Baal worship were child sacrifice, cannibalism, and sexual deviancy (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baal-ancient-deity">here</a>). New day, same old daemons. This got me thinking of another hot spot of &#8220;elite&#8221; activity at the Bohemian Grove, where nearly all of the world&#8217;s elite go in mid-July every year, people from both parties and all of industry and entertainment. The recent members list is (<a href="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/bohemian-grove-full-member-list-leakpdf/267041144">here</a>). This group has the political, financial, and social power to make whatever they want to happen in the world happen. They also open with a worship service to an owl idol that culminates in the burning of an effigy or a person, we don&#8217;t know (<a href="https://rumble.com/vtdjmg-its-real-inside-the-bohemian-grove.html?e9s=src_v1_s%2Csrc_v1_s_o&amp;sci=cc258f40-1ea3-441e-b328-57e3b16231f8">here</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfHUOikHBdo">here</a>).</p><p>I admit, I cut a lot, and there were some things in my research that were so horrible I could only go through them a few minutes at a time. To cut through the noise and everything else, this is what we know for 100% certain: We know that &#8216;Cheese Pizza&#8217; has been a code word among pedophiles since at least the year 2000 for child porn (<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/28/paedophiles-using-cheese-pizza-emojis-secret-code-social-media/">here</a>). We know there was probably something to pizza-gate that wasn&#8217;t good for children. We know that the majority of America&#8217;s rich, powerful, and connected go out in the woods and do some freaky pagan shit at least once a year. We know that Epstein and Maxwell were pedophiles and child traffickers. We know that reports were made by victims to the FBI of sex trafficking, pedophilia, infanticide, and ritual cannibalism of babies and children. We know that these reports, from multiple sources, include dates, times, places, and specific people. We know the government elected to redact most of the &#8216;when, where, who&#8217; details, while leaving the &#8216;what&#8217; details visible to the public. We know that Epstein was sending emails with photos attached to multiple people that only read gender and age, or age with nothing else in the body of the message. We know that Epstein received emails from redacted senders that spoke of great times and described the behavior of little ones, tall ones, and other descriptors without names. At the very minimum, we must know who the redacted party in those emails is, and they need to explain themselves. I personally can&#8217;t think of very many reasons a sex trafficker would be sending emails that just said &#8220;F age 11&#8221; with a picture attached, and none of the reasons I can think of are legal. We need to know wh,y and people need to be held accountable.</p><p>I know I haven&#8217;t found everything or even scratched the surface. What I have found took significant effort and some work with other people, trying to parse the files. We can not allow them to bury this in documentation, and we can&#8217;t allow the narrative to decide there is nothing because all the names of criminals are redacted. We MUST spread the information and links to the questionable stuff as much as we can find. When someone says &#8216;Oh, the Epstein files were a bust. I guess there really wasn&#8217;t anything to it.&#8217; We need to respond with facts. Ask why if Epstein was convicted of child sex trafficking, have none of his clients been arrested? Ask why the government chose to redact the recipient of emails to Epstein, saying they had a good time, and the littlest one was naughty (<a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00705860.pdf">here</a>). I think we NEED to know who sent that. We need to keep the victim statements in mind so we don&#8217;t let go (<a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00078198.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00078209.pdf">here</a>). We must, most of all, pray. Pray for justice, pray for truth, and pray for all the poor victims of these terrible people. We need to make it clear that we would rather see America fall than let it become a place where people with power and influence can get away with horrible crimes against children. This can not be allowed to stand, and we must speak truth to power while standing against whatever rath we must to see these people held to account. Same old daemons, new millennium. Come, Lord Jesus, come.</p><p>Ephesians 6:12</p><p>12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.</p><p>God bless you</p><p>-Sam</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/times-change?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/times-change?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Puppet Masters of the Resistance.]]></title><description><![CDATA[They want blood in the streets]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-puppet-masters-of-the-resistance</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-puppet-masters-of-the-resistance</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:01:43 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6dc6be67-dd8a-4afa-846b-eb6fa96e32f9_1024x1536.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, my dear readers, once again to the Asylum, and every day the name seems more appropriate. To start, I want to publicly repent. I was once an open-borders-type libertarian guy, and while it looks good on paper, in practice, it is a freedom-killing, terrible idea. For a people to be free, there has to be a shared social fabric, and fully open borders undermine that. You can&#8217;t live freely and peacefully with people unwilling to assimilate to your culture, people who think it is okay to rape or stone women for wearing short skirts or eating a ham sandwich. It just doesn&#8217;t work. It is also impossible for the government to perform one of its valid functions (protect people from the initiation of force or fraud). It is impossible when every criminal just has to make it here to be safe. It is a strange reversal of the old movie trope when U.S. criminals would head to Mexico to escape prosecution. Now, I am a closed-borders libertarian. I welcome people to come here legally, and I acknowledge that process does need an overhaul, but once here, it is imperative that newcomers assimilate to our culture as they add their uniqueness to the whole of American culture. The tragedies we have seen in the past weeks occurring in Minnesota are just symptoms of a larger problem.</p><p>For the entire Biden administration, the United States has pretended its borders were </p><p>secure while millions of migrants cross illegally, unchecked and unvetted. Under the Biden administration, illegal border crossings surged to unprecedented levels, overwhelming law enforcement and local communities. Millions of individuals, many with criminal records, gang affiliations, or foreign intelligence connections, have entered the country, exploiting weak enforcement and permissive policies. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas repeatedly misrepresented border conditions, claiming control where none existed, while mass-release programs allowed apprehended migrants to vanish into urban centers, creating pockets of lawlessness across the nation. The consequences of these failures are immediate and tangible. Ranchers, homeowners, and municipalities face property destruction, theft, environmental damage, and skyrocketing costs for social services. Communities bear the burden of crime, medical emergencies, and infrastructure strain caused by individuals who bypass lawful entry entirely. Open borders, when coupled with generous welfare and social programs, incentivize illegal immigration, ensuring that the system is exploited by those who will benefit the most while contributing the least. Every loophole left open is a magnet for lawbreaking, criminality, and disorder.</p><p>The scope of harm is staggering. Across the southern border, Border Patrol has apprehended thousands of individuals previously deported for violent crime who returned immediately to commit additional offenses. In one notorious case in 2024, a repeat offender from Honduras, previously deported for aggravated assault, crossed again illegally and went on to rob multiple convenience stores in Texas before being apprehended. In Arizona, gang members from MS-13 and other violent networks have exploited the lack of enforcement to establish local cells, extorting businesses and committing assaults, carjackings, and homicides. These are not isolated incidents; they are the predictable result of a system that rewards illegal entry, while punishing lawful behavior. Fraud is equally pervasive. Identity theft, welfare fraud, and unemployment scams have surged in states with large illegal populations. Migrants who cross illegally often use stolen or falsified documents to access taxpayer-funded benefits, driving up costs for legitimate residents. In one instance in California, an illegal entrant used multiple Social Security numbers to collect unemployment benefits totaling over $150,000 before detection. Similar cases of Medicaid fraud, housing assistance abuse, and illicit student aid claims are now routine in jurisdictions with weak immigration enforcement. These crimes directly harm taxpayers, burden public agencies, and erode trust in government programs designed to help citizens and lawful residents.</p><div class="paywall-jump" data-component-name="PaywallToDOM"></div><p>The danger is not merely financial; illegal migration carries profound security risks. Migrants who enter illegally include individuals with criminal backgrounds and potential ties to foreign terrorist organizations. Some have been apprehended with outstanding warrants in their home countries for violent offenses or suspected involvement in transnational criminal networks. By failing to secure the border, the United States leaves itself vulnerable to attacks, infiltration, and manipulation. Deportation under a returning Trump administration is the only viable solution, yet it creates friction: those facing removal now have a powerful incentive to resist violently, heightening the risk of targeted attacks on law enforcement, federal property, and the public. Activist interference compounds the crisis. Across Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, and other cities, progressive groups have staged riots, mass protests, and blockades aimed at obstructing ICE operations. These demonstrations are not expressions of free speech; they are deliberate campaigns designed to impede lawful deportation. Activist interference transforms routine enforcement into volatile, violent situations that simply do not exist in states or communities where such activists are absent. For example, when ICE attempted to apprehend a known gang member in Minneapolis, protestors blocked access to the detention facility, assaulted federal agents, and set vehicles ablaze. In Los Angeles, a similar obstruction allowed multiple illegal entrants with prior felony convictions to evade deportation, creating a ripple effect of criminal activity in the surrounding neighborhoods. Where no activist networks intervene, deportation is conducted with minimal incident, proving the violence is manufactured, not inevitable.</p><p>These activist groups often operate as enablers for illegal activity, supported by foreign-funded NGOs. Groups such as Answer Coalition and the People&#8217;s Forum not only organize protests but provide logistical support for migrants, including transportation, housing, and legal guidance designed to circumvent U.S. law. By disguising their actions as humanitarian or political advocacy, they directly facilitate violations of the immigration system, placing communities and law enforcement officers at risk. Their interference ensures that areas where they operate experience elevated rates of crime, public disorder, and civil unrest, while regions without activist presence maintain relative order. The social and economic impact of these failures is catastrophic. Public schools, hospitals, and local law enforcement agencies are overwhelmed. Communities see rising homelessness, drug addiction, and violent crime linked to illegal populations. In New York City, illegal immigrants have been implicated in a string of armed robberies targeting small businesses, while unverified migrants in Chicago have committed assaults and burglaries that remain unresolved due to the difficulty of identifying undocumented perpetrators. Every illegal entrant who evades deportation becomes a multiplier of risk, endangering law-abiding citizens and undermining community cohesion.</p><p>Adding insult to injury, many celebrities and elected officials publicly champion the chaos created by these activists while personally facing no consequences. They use media appearances, social media platforms, and public statements to portray the obstruction of deportation as righteous or humanitarian, yet they remain insulated from any danger, legal accountability, or financial cost. Meanwhile, the individuals they incite, often young, idealistic, or uninformed, are thrust into violent confrontations, arrested, injured, or worse. These &#8220;useful idiots&#8221; are pawns in a larger game: their suffering serves the ideological ambitions of elites while the instigators remain safe, celebrated, and protected. The rioters may believe they are advancing a cause, but in reality, they are exploited tools whose actions destabilize communities, endanger themselves and others, and obstruct justice.</p><p>Deportation is not merely a policy choice; it is the only effective remedy. By returning those who violate immigration law to their countries of origin, the United States reasserts sovereignty, enforces accountability, and protects citizens. Every illegal migrant removed reduces criminal activity, lowers the fiscal burden, and reestablishes order in neighborhoods disrupted by activist-enabled lawlessness. NGOs and activist groups that knowingly obstruct deportation must be treated as criminal accomplices, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and prevented from undermining lawful enforcement. Sovereignty, security, and public safety demand action. America cannot tolerate activist interference that transforms lawful deportation into violent standoffs, or NGOs that exploit the system to shelter lawbreakers. Every community disrupted by illegal migration and protest-driven obstruction is a warning: the cost of inaction is measured in crime, disorder, and lost lives. Only a strict, enforceable deportation policy, coupled with accountability for those who interfere, can restore order.</p><p>The choice is clear: enforce the law, remove those who violate it, dismantle the networks that enable illegal entry, and hold accountable those who exploit idealistic participants as pawns or continue down a path of escalating chaos, violence, and insecurity. Every day that illegal migrants remain in the country, everyday activist groups obstruct enforcement, Americans face unnecessary danger, fiscal strain, and the erosion of public trust. Deportation is not optional; it is essential. It is the line between a functioning, lawful society and communities ravaged by crime, fraud, manufactured disorder, and activist manipulation.</p><p>Romans 12:18&#8211;19</p><p>18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.</p><p>19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God&#8217;s wrath, for it is written: &#8220;It is mine to avenge; I will repay.&#8221;</p><p>God bless you!</p><p>&#8211;Sam</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-puppet-masters-of-the-resistance?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-puppet-masters-of-the-resistance?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Update to Blood and ICE]]></title><description><![CDATA[If you have been reading the Asylum for any period of time, you should know I don&#8217;t give anyone a blanket pass based on political party, or even if I like what they are doing.]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/update-to-blood-and-ice</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/update-to-blood-and-ice</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 29 Jan 2026 06:01:10 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d6cc30f2-401c-4f5d-8a01-5c20fd0bbf8d_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, my dear readers. I have an update to Tuesday&#8217;s post. If you haven&#8217;t yet read it, you can find it&nbsp;<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/blood-and-ice">here</a>. Anyone who has been reading the Asylum for any period of time should know I don&#8217;t give anyone a blanket pass based on political party, or even if I like what they are doing. I fully support our Nation&#8217;s current immigration policy and am glad to see the illegals sent home, and I really don&#8217;t like how leftist celebrities, Non-Governmental Organizations, and political figures have mobilized an army of useful idiots to impede those immigration enforcement efforts in their political strongholds.  I think those who are actively inciting the violence are as much to blame for the consequences as are any of the other bad actors, rioters, or agents.</p><p>All of that being siad Nate the Lawyer has done a video on the shooting of Alex Pretti. As I thought in my previous post,  it was a bad shoot.  This video (<a href="https://youtu.be/gwBpe-F33EU?si=DRjltYs6DQlAmqdu">here</a>) has more footage, including that of the lady who ICE decked to start the entire confrontation. It turns out that by ICE&#8217;s own use-of-force policy, the agent who knocked the lady down was acting illegally. Since this is the case, Pretti was fully legally justified in intervening between the ICE officer and the woman. It also means any further use of force by the ICE officer was also illegal. To make matters worse, ICE had already disarmed Pretti and had possession of his firearm before they shot him (this is very clear from the video presented). Bottom line from a legal perspective, this is a bad shooting, and an officer will probably go down for this, and they should. </p><p>All of that being true, to fully understand the situation, one needs to realize that these officers have been harassed, harassed, and at times attacked for weeks at this point. They have seen colleagues injured and have been subject to thousands of threats not only to their person but also to their wives and children on social media. They have seen loonatics invade a church and threaten innocent people just going about their lives. As a result, they are very much on edge, and a bad shoot or another serious issue like this was inevitable. Sadly, this is exactly what the leftist celebrities, Non-Governmental Organizations, and political figures who egg the rioters on want. The Lady who was assaulted that started the entire Pretti incident had been following ice around and blowing a very loud over 100 decibel whistle in the officers&#8217; ears for several hours, to the point where the officer had enough and put her down. Unfortunately, since no physical contact was made, the whistle-blowing, while annoying, doesn&#8217;t meet the use-of-force policy requirements, and similar cases have been ruled protected speech by the Supreme Court. So far as the ICE agent&#8217;s reaction to the whistle lady is concerned, this is probably a case of what is legal versus what is right, or at least understandable. </p><p>The goal is to whip their mindless masses into such an emotional frenzy that these types of incidents continue to the point that the streets of these blue cities are full-on war zones and resemble Beirut in the 1980s more than any American City ever. To combat that goal, the government needs to rotate out ICE agents weekly or every few days.  Move agents from Florida, Texas, or other places where they are allowed to operate normally without harassment to places like Minnesota, California, and Washington, where they face harassment and abuse. This will help de-escalate by making it less likely that an officer is harassed to the point where they feel they have had enough. As tragic as this incident is, it appears to be an instance in which an officer had been harassed to the point of being on the edge of justification, and he lashed out.  Even with rotating officers, it is still possible, but much less likely, for an event like this to occur.</p><p>In the final analysis, this is just like when kids are in the back of the car, and one is harassing the other with a finger right in front of the other&#8217;s face, &#8220;I am not touching you.&#8221; And after a bit, the harassed child has had enough and lashes out violently, touching the instigating child. This is just a larger scale with much more dire consequences.  From a 10,000-foot view, in general, ICE&#8217;s actions deporting illegal aliens are a normal and lawful function of the department, but there are areas of the country with the right politicians and the right District Attorneys where this lawful function is being opposed by interests that hate America, primarily because they don&#8217;t control America. This case is tragic because a man died, and the officer responsible needs to be punished, not because we don&#8217;t understand, but because if we don&#8217;t have the rule of law guided by the constitution, we have nothing to fight the globalist madmen for.</p><p>Whatever else is done, we must oppose the calling into effect of the Insurrection Act because that is what the globalists want to happen. It will be used as proof that Trump is nothing but a dictator looking to seize control, and there are enough low-information people in the middle that it will flip lots of them. The government needs to follow the law and punish the officer, and it needs to start rotating officers out of hot zones to prevent them from reaching the point where they can&#8217;t take any more and lash out as much as possible.  Then we all need to pray for peace, for Trump, and for our country. </p><p>To understand why the leftist celebrities, Non-Governmental Organizations, and political figures are so opposed to enforcing existing immigration law, and why they supported 4 years of open borders, all we have to do is look at Europe; nearly every country on the continent is having its culture diluted out of existence, and it is beign replaced by a culture that accepts and expects total control by the central governemnt. It is common for people to be arrested for social media posts that oppose government action, displaying thier nations flag, and defending themselves from rapists. Europe is lost, and if we are not smart, America will be next. </p><p>1 Timothy 2:1-4</p><p>First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, <strong><sup>2 </sup></strong>for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. <strong><sup>3 </sup></strong>This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, <strong><sup>4 </sup></strong>who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.</p><p>God Bless you,</p><p>-Sam</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Blood and ICE]]></title><description><![CDATA[The cost and purpose of manufactured outrage]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/blood-and-ice</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/blood-and-ice</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 27 Jan 2026 06:01:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dfe09b20-6fac-45fd-a37e-acd3d4692cd3_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, my dear readers, to a Tinfoil Hat Tuesday. We haven&#8217;t had one in a while, but what I am seeing now requires one. If we look at the world since the 2024 election, much of the damage that started with Obama has been undone. Our borders are more secure than they have been in decades, freedom of speech is being restored in public forums (social media), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is nearly dead, and almost all of the other aspects of the social cancer that is woke are in massive decline. Facts are starting to matter over feelings, and while the change isn&#8217;t total or perfect, there has been a massive shift in public perception.</p><p>More and more evidence indicating that the 2020 election was stolen keeps surfacing, more people are sick and tired of calling evil good, and the myth of green energy is on its last legs. We have started our society back onto a good trajectory. While I don&#8217;t like a lot of what Trump has done or the fact that he and his administration consistently fail to keep promises, I do like that he is not a part of the globalist system that has consumed Europe and was working on America. For the most part, even the things I don&#8217;t like still put a spanner into the global agenda. This has the leftist in full panic mode, just as they were at the end of Trump&#8217;s first term.</p><p>Now, with midterms approaching, the left has to wrest control of Congress back into their hands or risk their agenda being set back decades, if it can ever recover. So, look closely at what is going on. Some people will say that history repeats itself and others that history rhymes. I think both are true depending on context and the amount of time that has passed between events. In 2020, George Floyd, a multiple-time felon in the process of resisting arrest for his most recent felony, died of a drug overdose (because he ate his entire stash to hide it from the cops). The left latched onto that as an excuse and proceeded to violently riot in many major blue cities, ultimately killing 42 people. They even went so far as to take over a section of Seattle and declare it independent of the United States.</p><p>At the time, there were two prerequisites for Burn, Loot, and Murder (BLM), American Communists, and other groups supported by World Economic Forum (WEF)-aligned Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to go full murder hobo and loot goblin, cleaning out and burning down stores. The first was the area had to have a Soros-backed District Attorney, and second, the city and/or state government had to be fully leftist-controlled. These two factors ensured that even the most violent of protestors wouldn&#8217;t be prosecuted and that the chaos wouldn&#8217;t ever face any real resistance so long as it was useful. I still think that bastion of rape, murder, and gang warlord rule that was the autonomous zone in Seattle in 2020 was bait. The organizers and financiers (who never actually get their hands dirty) wanted Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. They gave Trump a textbook legal reason to invoke the act, knowing that legality and truth don&#8217;t matter. Those who funded and encouraged the violence knew that, with the help of a compliant media, they could spin a legal use of the Insurrection Act as proof that Trump was a dictator and tyrant. They wanted useful idiots to die by the score fighting for &#8220;freedom.&#8221; The more blood and horror, the better chance their emotional story would overcome facts.</p><p>Fortunately, Trump didn&#8217;t fall for it then. If that was wisdom or luck, who knows. The important thing is he didn&#8217;t fall for it. Now we have manufactured issues in the same blue places and nowhere else. This has resulted in at least two tragic deaths. After watching the video, it is sad, but the shooting of Renee Good was 100% justified. She lined her car up with a stationary officer and then proceeded to floor it, endangering the officer&#8217;s life while resisting lawful detention for obstruction. It is messy and ugly, but it was 100% legitimate. This is an excellent legal breakdown by a lawyer (<a href="https://youtu.be/bDda-L_ZOE8?si=hAEflX3ztp9Tq7h-">here</a>). (I like this guy because even when he doesn&#8217;t like the truth, he says it. You can see in the conclusion that he isn&#8217;t comfortable with what he has to say.)</p><p>I haven&#8217;t seen an analysis of the most recent shooting of Alex Pretti that wasn&#8217;t a political hack justifying their predetermined conclusion. I have watched hours of videos, including one shot by a lady just a few feet away. This doesn&#8217;t look like a good shoot. That being said, at the time of this writing, it is far too early to say anything for sure. All the videos I have seen show an ICE agent toss a lady to the ground, and then Alex intervenes. I have not been able to find a video that shows what the lady was doing at all before she was tossed to the ground. If history and the mainstream media (MSM) have taught me anything, it is that there is something in the seconds before the lady was tossed to the ground that could be a justification for the ICE officer&#8217;s actions. She may have been throwing rocks, spraying something, or any number of other actions. We don&#8217;t know because that footage doesn&#8217;t seem to exist in a public space. The only video that has been released is edited to the point where the ICE officer tosses her and was probably in the process of detaining her, and Alex interferes.</p><p>Let&#8217;s step back for a moment, because nothing happens in a vacuum, and look at the situation before we proceed to the incident. In the State of Minnesota, we have a ton of people who are in America illegally, many of them defrauding our government. Since Minnesota has declared itself a sanctuary for criminal aliens, local law enforcement will not help federal agents enforce immigration law, and worse, there is a growing body of evidence that state officials are not only complicit in defrauding the government, but in organizing and helping the violent mobs of useful idiots in resisting that enforcement. It has recently become known that the Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota was a participant in secure chats hosted by Antifa (a terrorist organization) organizers and may be how some confidential and classified information has been leaking. Add to that, thousands or tens of thousands of people on social media (TikTok and Bluesky are the worst, but they exist on X, Instagram, and Facebook too.) either directly threatening violence, waving guns around, or encouraging violence against federal agents. Add to this that more and more protestors are showing up armed.</p><p>It is time for some nuance. I am all in favor of anyone who wants to carry a firearm at a protest or otherwise. I think all firearms regulation is unconstitutional, and I think non-violent felons should get their gun rights back after they have paid their debt (violent felons are a different story because there is a big leap from embezzling a bunch of money or getting caught with a substance the government doesn&#8217;t like to killing and maiming people for fun and profit). All that being said, carrying firearms requires the two things the left is the worst at: responsibility (being accountable for your own actions) and self-control (being ruled by intellect rather than emotions). So, if you are going to carry in an environment like we have in Minnesota, you have to stay out of the conflict unless it rises to a level that you feel morally obligated to use your firearm and are willing to accept the consequences for that use. One also needs to understand the actual law, not what some CNN hack or Terry the Tranny&#8217;s TikTok short says, the actual law. So far as I have seen on video, nothing that ICE is doing violates the law to the point that armed resistance is justified.</p><p>All of this from the Minnesota Government&#8217;s open support of illegals in defiance of the rule of law, the public figures calling for violence, and the useful idiots going out to obstruct or fight with ICE agents has been carefully planned and orchestrated across the country. It all serves to crank up the tension and the heat with the goal of violent encounters that can be emotionally charged to the point the weak-minded, feelings-over-facts crowds go full-on guerrilla war with full armed resistance in the streets. Because they want Trump to use the Insurrection Act. They want armed soldiers in the streets fighting American citizens. As soon as they have that, the MSM will forget all the escalation that came before and will float the &#8220;Trump is seizing power like a tyrannical dictator for no reason&#8221; narrative: &#8220;See, we told you so.&#8221; They will ignore the fact that if Trump does that, he has a very unambiguous and clear lawful reason to do so. They will ignore that there is precedent for doing so with riots, and that since 1957 the act has been used by presidents many times in just such situations.</p><p>&#8226; <strong>1957 (Little Rock Nine): President Eisenhower invoked the Act to enforce the desegregation of Central High School in Arkansas after the governor used the National Guard to block Black students.</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>1962 (University of Mississippi): President Kennedy invoked the Act to quell riots and ensure James Meredith could enroll as the first Black student at the university.</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>1963 (Alabama Desegregation): President Kennedy invoked the Act twice to prevent Governor George Wallace from blocking Black students at the University of Alabama and other public schools.</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>1965 (Selma to Montgomery Marches): President Johnson invoked the Act to federalize the Alabama National Guard to protect civil rights marchers.</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>1967 (Detroit Riot): President Johnson invoked the Act at the request of the governor to suppress widespread civil unrest.</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>1968 (MLK Assassination Riots): President Johnson invoked the Act three times (in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Baltimore) to quell riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>1987 (Atlanta Prison Riot): President Reagan invoked the Act to regain control of a federal penitentiary where Cuban detainees were rioting.</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>1989 (U.S. Virgin Islands): President George H.W. Bush invoked the Act to stop looting and restore order after Hurricane Hugo.</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>1992 (Los Angeles Riots): President George H.W. Bush invoked the Act at the request of the California governor to suppress civil unrest following the Rodney King verdict.</strong></p><p>The MSM would entirely forget all the history and treat this like a unique, unprecedented, and excessive use of government power on peaceful citizens, when none of that is true. The play is to try and shift from reason, which has started taking over the public consciousness, back to emotion in order to retake Congress and stop the damage being done to the globalist agenda. I know there are plenty of Republicans that are on board with the plan, but to keep up the appearance of two separate parties, they have to at least look to be going along with the people who put them in office. Men of truly good character, like Massie and Paul, are far too few in our nation&#8217;s capital.</p><p>Now that we have the context of what the situation is like on the ground, I will tell you what the shooting of Alex Pretti looks like to me. Alex decided to interfere with ICE&#8217;s attempt to detain a lady (what she was doing and why ICE used that level of force to put her on the ground are unknown). At that point, he was obstructing, and ICE tried to detain him. Since these people are absolutely out of their minds with emotions and have no idea how the law works, Alex resisted to the point that he was violently struggling with 5&#8211;7 ICE officers. Alex, on all fours, had his shirt ride up, and one of the officers called out &#8220;GUN.&#8221; At that time, the shooting started. The officer who I believe shot first doesn&#8217;t appear to have had a clear view of both Alex&#8217;s arms to know they were both on the ground supporting his weight. As a result of the tension driven by threats, constant interference, and clear lack of support from Minnesota officials, the officer wrongly assumed a deadly threat and opened fire. It isn&#8217;t clear if he was the only one to shoot or if multiple officers shot (it may be by the time this gets published), but the result was Alex was hit at least seven times and was killed. The shoot was probably bad because there wasn&#8217;t a threat of death or serious injury at the time of the shooting. It may, however, slide because on a reasonable officer standard, I do think given the nature of the overall situation it isn&#8217;t unreasonable for the officer that shot to have believed there was a serious threat of death or injury. I guess we will have to see what comes out in the next few days or weeks.</p><p>Good shoot or not, Alex chose to go into a very tense situation armed, he chose to interfere with law enforcement activities, and he chose to resist detainment and fight ICE officers. In the end, regardless of what happens to the ICE officer, Alex Pretti is dead because he decided to play stupid games and he won stupid prizes. Ultimately, he holds a great deal of responsibility for his being shot. If at any point he had made a different decision, he would be alive. I have heard &#8220;Alex was just recording,&#8221; and he may have been right up until he interfered with ICE&#8217;s efforts to detain the lady. If that was out of line and she was just standing there doing nothing to cause the agent to violently throw her down, then let&#8217;s see the entire video, not just a clip that starts with the lady being tossed. Until then, there have been far too many cases of video edited to deceive for me to believe there wasn&#8217;t a reason for ICE to interact with that lady in the way we see on camera.</p><p>At this point, the real question is: will they go full riot, like the violence that erupted in the summer of 2020? So far, all the dead folks have been white, so I am not sure, but the calls for serious violence are getting louder. We also have to consider the new 8K OLED HDR TVs are looking sweet, and the 4K HDR QLED 2020 TVs are looking dated, so when opportunity knocks, as it were, some elements of the community may see a real need to liberate all those oppressed TVs. Whatever happens, I think it would be better to let them bus in agitators to loot, burn, and destroy large portions of blue cities (we can roast marshmallows) than it would be for Trump to pull the trigger on the Insurrection Act. In the first instance, rational commentators can make the emotionally driven madness look exactly like what it is, and large swaths of society are primed to hear that message. In the second, I don&#8217;t think any amount of reason would be able to drown out the sound of military boots marching down the streets of major U.S. cities at this point.</p><p>1 Peter 3:9</p><p>9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.</p><p>God Bless you!</p><p>-Sam</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/blood-and-ice?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/blood-and-ice?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Struggle Continues ]]></title><description><![CDATA[and it is global.....]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-struggle-continues</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-struggle-continues</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 06:02:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/cbbe29a8-7211-4324-9b3e-3ae6c5c121a2_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, my dear readers, once again to the Asylum. This week I am doing something new. I am not going to include links to my sources. This is primarily because less than.01% of links posted are ever clicked, and of those, 93.7% are links to articles by other writers I recommend. Adding the links adds over an hour to the publication process because they do not carry over when I paste the finished product from my word processor into the submission portal, and I have to go through the article and manually add them back. Please let me know your opinion on whether the links were a valuable addition or can stay as a remnant of past articles.</p><p>I will say we have won some battles in the ongoing global fifth-generation civil war here in America over the last two years. This fight isn&#8217;t over, and it is being lost in most other places around the world. We must maintain the momentum we have here in America and resist any urge to complacency. A quick look around the world will tell you our few victories have been isolated and without many more, and further separation, we could still lose everything in a single election cycle.</p><p>Across the Western world, a pattern has become impossible to ignore. Governments that once claimed to defend liberal democracy are rapidly constructing a digital police state, one that suppresses dissent, erodes privacy, weaponizes law and technology, and conditions populations psychologically to accept, and even defend, policies that undermine their own freedoms. This transformation is not chaotic or accidental. It is structured, coordinated, and increasingly global, operating through legal systems, digital infrastructure, financial controls, education, surveillance, and the selective criminalization of political opposition. Its purpose is not merely control for control&#8217;s sake, but the reordering of society itself, one that neutralizes resistance to a new political and economic model being advanced by transnational institutions.</p><p>In the United Kingdom, this authoritarian shift is already tangible. Under Prime Minister Keir Starmer&#8217;s Labour government, political dissent is treated as a threat to the public good. Dutch commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek was barred from entering the UK after publicly criticizing Starmer&#8217;s immigration and speech policies and was bluntly informed that her presence was &#8220;not conducive to the public good.&#8221; The standard is no longer legality, but ideological acceptability. At the same time, tens of thousands of illegal migrants are housed at enormous taxpayer expense, while British citizens face economic strain, social fragmentation, and rising insecurity. The message is unmistakable: citizenship, law, and democratic consent are subordinate to adherence to the governing ideology.</p><p>This inversion of priorities reflects the rise of what insiders themselves have described as a permanent &#8220;stakeholder state&#8221;, a political perma-class of NGOs, regulators, lobbyists, and supranational actors operating beyond electoral accountability. Power is shifted away from voters and toward institutions with money, time, and access. Dissenters are excluded, silenced, or administratively erased, while those aligned with the prevailing agenda are protected regardless of conduct. The same logic is unfolding across Europe. In Germany, where voters delivered an unprecedented result in February, the Alternative f&#252;r Deutschland emerged as the second-largest party, winning over 10 million votes and becoming the primary opposition in the Bundestag. Rather than accept this democratic outcome, the German domestic intelligence service designated the AfD a &#8220;proven right-wing extremist organization,&#8221; lowering the legal threshold for surveillance, financial scrutiny, informants, and communications interception. Calls to ban the party outright have followed, despite the fact that one in five German voters supported it. This is not the marginal suppression of fringe extremism; it is the normalization of treating mass political opposition as a security threat.</p><p>The timing is no coincidence. Germany is simultaneously expanding the powers of its foreign intelligence service, the BND, to monitor vast quantities of internet traffic, including content, not merely metadata. Communications between citizens, journalists, and political organizations may be stored for months, hacked if necessary, and analyzed under vague justifications such as &#8220;hate,&#8221; &#8220;incitement,&#8221; or &#8220;anti-democratic activity.&#8221; Surveillance, once associated with authoritarian regimes, is being reintroduced under the banner of security and responsibility, with Berlin moving in lockstep with Brussels.</p><p>France has taken a parallel path. Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally and a dominant force in French politics, has been barred from running in the 2027 presidential election by a court ruling. Whatever one&#8217;s view of Le Pen, the effect is unmistakable: judicial mechanisms are being used to remove electorally viable opposition figures from the democratic process itself. When voters repeatedly choose leaders who oppose mass migration, EU centralization, or global economic restructuring, institutions increasingly respond not by persuasion, but by exclusion.</p><p>This is not limited to Europe. In the United States, speech control has advanced through regulatory capture and corporate-state alignment. A Google executive admitted before Congress that YouTube removed and demonetized content discussing election fraud claims, even when those claims were voiced by figures from both major parties. Content was suppressed not because it was false, but because it challenged institutional legitimacy at a politically sensitive moment. When pressed to name specific mistakes, the executive could not. Decisions were made &#8220;independently,&#8221; yet always aligned with state priorities.</p><p>At the same time, real-world election irregularities continue to surface. In Pennsylvania, authorities uncovered thousands of fraudulent voter registration forms tied to paid canvassing operations, with forged signatures, false identities, and unauthorized submissions. Despite the scale and organization of the fraud, the public is repeatedly told that concerns over election integrity are conspiracy theories. The contradiction is resolved not through transparency but through censorship and ridicule. Control over speech is now inseparable from control over financial life. In the U.S., the Cato Institute has documented that most debanking cases result from government pressure rather than independent bank decisions. Through opaque regulations and informal directives, individuals and organizations can be quietly cut off from the financial system without charges, trials, or due process. Economic participation becomes conditional on political compliance.</p><p>Digital infrastructure itself has become a battlefield. Italy&#8217;s attempt to compel Cloudflare, a core pillar of global internet infrastructure, to block content without judicial review, demonstrates how censorship is shifting from platforms to the underlying architecture of the internet. By coercing infrastructure providers, governments bypass courts entirely and establish mechanisms that can be repurposed against political speech at will. This approach mirrors the EU&#8217;s broader reliance on &#8220;trusted flaggers&#8221; and executive enforcement rather than the rule of law.</p><p>Perhaps most revealing is the psychological conditioning of future generations. In the UK, the Home Office has funded a video game aimed at teenagers that frames questioning mass migration or national identity as a pathway to extremism and counterterrorism intervention. Curiosity becomes suspicion. Dissent becomes pathology. Children are trained not to think critically, but to self-police their thoughts in alignment with approved narratives.</p><p>These developments are not isolated abuses. They are prerequisites. The authoritarian enforcement of speech norms, the expansion of surveillance, financial coercion, and political exclusion are necessary to impose a radical restructuring of Western society that would otherwise be rejected. The World Economic Forum&#8217;s model of &#8220;stakeholder capitalism,&#8221; championed by Klaus Schwab, explicitly calls for the fusion of government, corporations, and civil society into a single managerial system where decision-making is removed from democratic contestation. </p><div class="paywall-jump" data-component-name="PaywallToDOM"></div><p>Power is redistributed not downward to citizens, but upward to transnational institutions and technocratic elites. The United Nations&#8217; Agenda 2030 follows the same logic, embedding economic, environmental, and social governance into frameworks insulated from popular resistance. These programs are rebranded iterations of collectivist ideology that have failed repeatedly throughout history. Their implementation requires compliance, not consent. It requires populations to be surveilled, dissent to be delegitimized, opposition leaders to be neutralized, and debate to be framed as dangerous. The Western World must be brought to heel before such systems can be fully realized.</p><p>A digital police state is not a side effect of this transformation. It is the enabling condition. History makes clear that such systems do not stabilize; they expand. Rights framed as conditional are eventually withdrawn. Surveillance justified as temporary becomes permanent. Speech regulated for safety becomes speech permitted only by approval. Democracy survives in name, but not in substance. Defending free expression, privacy, and democratic choice is no longer an abstract debate. It is the defining political struggle of this era. A society that cannot speak freely, communicate privately, or choose its leaders without interference is not free, regardless of how many elections it holds. Submission is being presented as a responsibility. Silence as virtue. Control as compassion. Free people must refuse the bargain.</p><p>James 4:7-10</p><p>7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.</p><p>God Bless you,</p><p>Sam</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-struggle-continues?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-struggle-continues?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Condensation of Ideology ]]></title><description><![CDATA[In to Madness]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/condensation-of-ideology</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/condensation-of-ideology</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 09 Jan 2026 06:01:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e9bb19aa-0af3-4592-82bd-add3f4c70827_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome once again to the asylum, my dear readers. In the news, we are seeing reports of men, especially young men, becoming more conservative. While it does seem to have the leftists in a tizzy, we need to take it with at least a small amount of salt because to most of the people gathering this data, if you are more conservative than Jo Stalin, then you are a far-right extremist. It is really freaking stupid. People who were once considered liberal, such as Tim Pool and Elon Musk, who haven&#8217;t changed their core beliefs, have in recent years been labeled as far-right or extremists. The truth is, they are moderate with a slightly liberal bent.</p><p>This can be explained by a contraction in the diversity of thought that has occurred in recent years. A massive 2019 study shows that the diversity of acceptable thought on the left had significantly contracted, while the diversity of thought allowed among the right was much broader (<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6763434/">here</a>). To be honest, that allowable range of ideas has only shrunk since this study was done. We have all seen one liberal public figure after another demonized and cast out for one &#8220;wrong&#8221; statement, idea, or opinion (<a href="https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/commentary/12-people-canceled-the-left-after-expressing-conservative-views">here</a> and <a href="https://www.freedomforum.org/canceled-comedians/">here</a>).</p><p>As the scope of acceptable beliefs contracted, they became more radical and unreasonable. This was and is facilitated by social media platforms that create echo chambers in which only these acceptable ideas are discussed, and any counterpoints are banished to ridicule and ad hominem attacks, creating a real fear of exclusion, since for many younger people, online forums are their communities as much as church, scouting, school teams, or other hobbies were for previous generations. Majority opinion and social pressures modulate beliefs, and since the males of our species have a much harder time complying than the females of our species (<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6318556/">here</a>),  they get booted at a much higher rate than women.</p><p>I don&#8217;t think this shift is as major as some would have you believe, so far as base ideology goes. I believe a lot of these now conservative men would have been considered liberal even 10 years ago. They are now voting conservative, not because they fully buy the ideology, but because the approved ideologies of the left have gone so far off the sanity reservation, they don&#8217;t really have any other options.</p><div class="paywall-jump" data-component-name="PaywallToDOM"></div><p> Unfortunately, in practice, the right talks a much better game of limiting government, ending corruption, and making positive changes than they actually do in real life. That, however, is a topic for another paper.</p><p>The current ideology of the left is, fortunately, insane to most people and includes things like:</p><p>1. Abortion up to the point of birth</p><p>2. Normalizing illegal immigration</p><p>3. Reducing law enforcement, especially in high-crime areas</p><p>4. Exposing children to adult sexual entertainment and graphic media is good</p><p>5. Support for Hamas and other terrorist organizations</p><p>6. Removing penalties for criminal acts, including violent ones</p><p>7. Allowing children as young as 3 or 4 to make life-altering medical decisions</p><p>There are more, but these, in no particular order, are the big ones and also the most insane. One thing I do wonder when I see the protestors on TV, how many are true believers, how many are there just because they want to fuck shit up, and how many have made this a career and do it for the money (<a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/the-open-society-foundations-and-protest-in-the-united-states">here</a>)? It doesn&#8217;t really matter, but I do wonder. To avoid anyone saying these crazy points are not positions of the left, let us look at the facts, because actions speak much louder than words.</p><p>The left has put forth the Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act (H.R. 3755) that would allow abortion to the point of birth (<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3755">here</a>, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/clear-contrasts-between-the-democratic-and-republican-parties-positions-on-reproductive-rights-and-health-care/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghh8K-uIW3s">here</a>). Let us be honest, whatever your stance is on abortion, generally, most rational people agree that once a baby is capable of living outside of the womb on its own, then abortion is murder.</p><p>The left is out in force, encouraging illegal immigration, interfering with immigration enforcement, and refusing to hold illegal immigrants for immigration and customs. This has directly led to several murders of innocent people and other horrific crimes, yet they still push this ideology and agenda (<a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases/democrats-block-ernsts-effort-to-detain-violent-illegal-immigrants">here</a>, <a href="https://katv.com/news/nation-world/renee-nicole-good-what-we-know-about-the-woman-killed-during-minneapolis-ice-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-raid-mayor-jacob-frey-governor-tim-walz-homeland-security-noem-self-defense-domestic-terrorism-violence#:~:text=MINNEAPOLIS%20(TNND)%20%E2%80%94%20The%20woman,fullest%20extent%20of%20the%20law.%22">here</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/14/us-news/illegal-immigrant-convicted-in-murder-of-mom-of-5-rachel-morin-after-jury-deliberates-for-less-than-an-hour/#:~:text=Morin%20was%20on%20the%20Ma,girl%20Jocelyn%20Nungaray%20last%20year.">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/illegal-immigrant-charged-with-murdering-uga-student-laken-riley-accused-of-disfiguring-her-skull/">here</a>). Yet the left still speaks of sanctuary and protecting illegal aliens. They should say their names Jocelyn Nungaray, Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, Maria and Dayanara Pleitez, Kayla Hamilton, and Renee Nicole Good. Yet the left still tries to obstruct immigration enforcement (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/politics/democrats-trump-deportations.html">here</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/19/wisconsin-judge-immigrant-ice-found-guilty">here</a>). The majority of Americans are done with this.</p><p>Defunding the police is just part of the more elaborate &#8216;keep criminals on the streets&#8217; policies of the left, but they are certain that police are racist colonizers and need to be disbanded. If the force has no money, it can&#8217;t function. While it isn&#8217;t in the news, it is still a hot topic in liberal social media echo chambers and politics in general (<a href="https://abolitionistfutures.com/defund-the-police">here</a>, <a href="https://www.aclualabama.org/know-your-rights/how-divest-police/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/ripple/2025/12/08/zohran-mamdani-committee-on-community-safety-policing/">here</a>). Most people realize that police are essential to deterring crime and making our world safer.</p><p>The left is very down with exposing kids to drag shows and gay pride parades where naked people are performing sex acts in public because it is inclusive (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/WashingtonExaminer/posts/men-dressed-in-leather-fetish-clothing-performed-suggestive-acts-while-marching-/10159608901334160/#:~:text=Tell%20me%20what%20about%20this,Rose%20Gardner">here</a>, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/seattle-lgbtq-pride-parade-nudity-outrage-1809620#:~:text=The%20story%20was%20promptly%20picked,sexualized%20at%20a%20young%20age.&amp;text=While%20several%20states%20have%20sought,debate%20among%20social%20media%20users.">here</a>, <a href="https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/keep-pride-nude/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.ala.org/advocacy/libraries-respond-drag-queen-story-hour">here</a>). Seriously, they defend letting kids watch adults in fetish gear hump on each other, or piss on each other in public. It is disgusting (<a href="https://fpiw.org/why-is-america-tolerating-indecent-exposure-at-pride-events/">here</a> and <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10887159/Protesters-clash-parents-outside-drag-kids-pride-drag-gay-nightclub-dallas.html">here</a>).</p><p>Open support for terrorist organizations. I do find this one kind of hilarious because the various &#8216;Gays for Palestine&#8217; and &#8216;Trans for Palestine&#8217; movements are so clueless that the people they are supporting would want to get them stoned in the worst way possible (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/queers.for.palestine/?hl=en">here</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&amp;ai=DChsSEwjIitvp8_yRAxWiEdQBHfcVL7sYACICCAIQABoCb2E&amp;co=1&amp;ase=2&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAyP3KBhD9ARIsAAJLnnZNo7i9JP1f_DrhZJ_yuMWQeMUePaChUvqmmcR3o7yJPz1x5uwvmiMaAi7jEALw_wcB&amp;cid=CAASuwHkaPb_22tuUvCyQHTPLvkadpTxMRcMXCbVP6KEdBztZz-sV7pWwmrhIMhGJrp35-FWqNL2tV7oruRptoJEBjG1FM_7I5tN3B6iLnvXUCXh_Xvl2Ef63zCqDvSCeH71freGHGMaA51LcgwjdukHaS6RSm6iukqZW9ZaWgm1ac9nc4uVwBQPNtLPzUezMQTg6jvapWK0st20rl-cnDF9g7wrMs4re1WCGDVol_DlH_NE4I3EOnRiX8801ceT&amp;cce=2&amp;category=acrcp_v1_32&amp;sig=AOD64_0X-LM7x3Qz90NDQNxZ-wBqi_-XHg&amp;q&amp;nis=4&amp;adurl&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiqidPp8_yRAxWdnGoFHdkBIY0Q0Qx6BAhcEAE">here</a>, <a href="https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/2024-11/Pamphlet_compressed.pdf">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/12/04/7-things-to-know-about-campus-support-for-hamas-and-antisemitism/">here</a>). These children fail to understand that Hamas uses hospitals, apartments, and other nominally civilian locations as bases and supply depots. Unfortunately, this makes those structures valid targets (<a href="https://lieber.westpoint.edu/targeting-dual-use-structures-alternative/">here</a>), and a large part of the reason Hamas and like groups use these facilities is because of the outcry their destruction receives from the ignorant, creating political support for their terrorist organization.</p><p>The left loves criminals and largely refuses to prosecute them. This shouldn&#8217;t be a surprise, as the primary driving principle for all leftist ideology is the removal of both agency and accountability from the individual. Creating a narrative in which things happen to the individual and everything is due to external influences. This results in everyone being a victim. It is really sad, and with Soros&#8217;s attempted control of our criminal justice system (<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/03/george-soros-prosecutors-campaign-finance/">here</a>), we wind up with repeat offenders and violent criminals of the worst kind being routinely released and not held accountable for their crimes (<a href="https://abc7.com/post/george-gascon-los-angeles-district-attorney-lada-misdemeanor-crimes/8674095/">here</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/07/15/opinion/progressive-das-are-invisibly-eroding-the-foundations-of-civil-society/#:~:text=Simply%20put%2C%20the%20more%20of,to%20an%20individual's%20criminal%20history.">here</a>, <a href="https://feenstra.house.gov/media/op-ed/what-democrats-soft-crime-insanity-does-american-families#:~:text=According%20to%20an%20op%2Ded%2C%20Democrats%20are%20soft,**Increased%20homicides%20in%20Chicago%2C%20Philadelphia%2C%20and%20Portland**">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/its-not-just-rising-crime-rogue-prosecutors-are-huge-problem">here</a>).</p><p>In my opinion, the biggest lunatic idea of the modern left is allowing very young children to make permanent life-altering choices about their gender. These people think it is ok to feed chemical castration drugs to children as young as 6 or 7, and to let kids as young as 12-14 choose permanent body modification surgeries (<a href="https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/aap-voices/why-we-stand-up-for-transgender-children-and-teens/?srsltid=AfmBOoqY7rMSPARGesFTExKOqecqa0fVFgaWXdjGAWAF4CycDTEEz7hN">here</a>, <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/gender-affirming-care-for-youth/">here</a>, and <a href="https://news.ohsu.edu/2022/03/29/why-gender-affirming-care-for-youth-is-important">here</a>).</p><p>As their positions and policies become more destructive and detached from objective reality, the harder and harder it becomes to be a true believer and spout the correct things all the time like an automaton. More people will be cast out, and unfortunately, the few remaining will become consistently both more fanatical and violent as they see their influence wane in the mainstream.</p><p>The point is, I don&#8217;t think there has been a youth shift right as much as the left is becoming more and more rigidly ideological on insane lines, forcing more and more people out towards the center.</p><p>Isaiah 54:10</p><p>10 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,&#8221; says the Lord, who has compassion on you.</p><p>God Bless you</p><p>Sam</p><div><hr></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/condensation-of-ideology?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/condensation-of-ideology?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Dystopia.exe Has Started]]></title><description><![CDATA[Press OK to Continue Losing Rights]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/dystopiaexe-has-started</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/dystopiaexe-has-started</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 12 Dec 2025 06:01:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a0a7c9a9-4191-49cd-b48b-7b5724cf6879_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, once again, to the Asylum my dear friends, and the world is crazier than ever. Isn&#8217;t it heart-warming to watch the global digital control grid wrap around humanity like a weighted blanket designed by a psychopath? Everywhere you look, governments are rolling out new ways to track us, scan us, monitor us, and probably judge our questionable life choices. Privacy? Oh please. That quaint relic disappeared somewhere between dial-up internet and the invention of the Ring doorbell. Everything you do, every email or text you send, and every phone call you make are monitored and recorded, even in America. The fourth amendment is a fully dead letter (<a href="https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying">here</a>, <a href="https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/us/politics/nsa-surveillance-2017-annual-report.html">here</a>). Initially, this collection was so much data the volume made it almost useless, but as AI gets better so does the ability to process and catalog the illegally collected data.</p><p>We now live in a full-blown &#8220;Big Brother Society,&#8221; except Big Brother has upgraded. He&#8217;s got AI, cloud storage, and a caffeine addiction. And the best part? People are already getting arrested for &#8220;thought crimes,&#8221; which is great, because who hasn&#8217;t wanted to be handcuffed for sending a spicy text, funny meme, or posting a selfie? I don&#8217;t think most people understand how far Agenda 2030 was pushed along with the Great Reset for the World Economic Forum (WEF). Europe is fully on board with the surveillance and control state and moving into the destruction of culture and national identity. America isn&#8217;t far behind. States like Illinois and California are pushing Agenda 2030 and WEF Great Reset changes as fast as they can.</p><p>But don&#8217;t worry, everything is totally fine. The authorities swear this is all to &#8220;keep us safe,&#8221; which is the same thing every villain says right before pushing the big red button. Let&#8217;s take a cheerful stroll through some signs the world is speed running toward Orwell&#8217;s nightmares, and is rapidly becoming a prison planet without walls.</p><p>1. British Man Arrested for Posting a Legal Photo in America; Global Justice at Its Finest: A man held a totally legal gun in Florida, posted it online. No threats, not danger, just &#8216;hey friends, look at this cool thing I did on holiday&#8217;, and boom he&#8217;s arrested back in the UK. An international crime wave stopped dead in its tracks. The message is clear: citizens should remember they live under extraterritorial parenting, where the UK government monitors your vacation photos like an overprotective mother who finally figured out how to use Instagram (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=555cX2adWVI">here</a>, <a href="https://cbn.com/news/world/orwellian-nightmare-british-man-reportedly-arrested-posing-gun-social-media">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6385821019112">here</a>).</p><p>2. The UK Builds a Nationwide Face-Scanning System; What a Time to Be Alive: Authorities in the UK are proudly rolling out a country-wide facial recognition system. Because nothing screams &#8220;public safety&#8221; like being involuntarily checked in to the surveillance equivalent of Disneyland every time you walk past a lamp post. Sure, the cameras routinely misidentify Black and Asian people, but relax the algorithm is trying its best. And if minorities get arrested for things they didn&#8217;t do, well at least the system&#8217;s learning, right? Progress! (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-pledges-to-ramp-up-facial-recognition-and-biometrics">here</a>, <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/05/uk_cops_facial_recognition/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/05/home-office-facial-recognition-tech-issue-black-asian-subjects">here</a>).</p><p>3. UK Digital ID: Work Papers, but Make It Dystopian: The UK&#8217;s rolling out digital IDs you&#8217;ll need to work. No app, no job. Simple! It&#8217;s like being microchipped, but with better UI design. &#8220;You will not be able to work without digital ID,&#8221; they say. Oh good. I was worried the dystopia wasn&#8217;t mandatory enough (<a href="https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/digital-id-implications/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.biometricupdate.com/202512/report-claims-uk-evisa-system-uses-migrants-as-digital-id-testing-ground">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.techmonitor.ai/comment-2/digital-id-cost-fraud-investment">here</a>).</p><p>4. France Gives Macron the &#8220;Official Truth&#8221; Button; What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Macron wants the power to officially label certain media as &#8220;trustworthy&#8221; and block &#8220;false information,&#8221; because history has clearly shown that when governments get to decide what&#8217;s true, the results are always super fair and not disastrous at all. After all, if history teaches anything it&#8217;s governments should always be trusted to tell the truth, being fully open and honest (<a href="https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/12/05/macrons-plan-to-label-trustworthy-media-manipulated-and-taken-out-of-context">here</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/07/europe/france-fake-news-law-intl">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.aol.com/articles/french-first-lady-brigitte-macron-171948441.html">here</a>).</p><p>5. JPMorgan Chase Admits It Debanks People; Surprise! Jamie Dimon casually admitted JPMorgan &#8220;debanks&#8221; customers. But don&#8217;t worry, it&#8217;s nothing political or ideological it&#8217;s just a coincidence that unpopular opinions mysteriously come with sudden banking complications. Happens all the time! Like spontaneous combustion, but for checking accounts (<a href="https://thehill.com/business/5638028-dimon-denies-political-debanking/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000197687823000002/PX14A6G.htm">here</a>. and <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/12/08/jamie-dimon-on-alleged-trump-media-debanking-people-need-to-stop-making-up-things/">here</a>).</p><p>6. AI Glasses That Identify Strangers Instantly; Say goodbye to the Last Shred of Anonymity: A journalist tested AI-powered glasses that can instantly identify strangers using public data. Great! Now every creep with $200 can know your name, job, and life story before you even make eye contact. Privacy is so dead, it&#8217;s not even a ghost anymore, and its chalk outline washed away (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDW8V260-E">here</a>, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/these-smart-glasses-know-who-you-are-and-much-more-oeqjcr/">here</a>, and <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/10/03/lifestyle/terrifying-new-app-shows-how-meta-smart-glasses-can-help-you-identify-a-stranger-on-the-street-and-find-their-home-address/">here</a>).</p><p>7. Woman Arrested Naked in Her Bathtub for Mean Texts; Peak Civilization Achieved. A 34-year-old woman was arrested by eleven officers while she was naked in the bathtub because she sent offensive texts from the hospital referring to the man who beat her nearly to death as a faggot. We can&#8217;t offend our abusers now can we. Eleven officers. For a text argument. While she was naked. It&#8217;s comforting to know that when real crime happens, the police are fully prepared to bust in on dripping civilians who said a rude word. Orwell wrote 1984; the UK wrote the slapstick reboot (<a href="https://westgatesentinel.com/international/11-uk-cops-storm-home-drag-naked-woman-from-bath-her-crime-one-text-calling-her-attacker-a-slur">here</a>, <a href="https://x.com/listen2tish/status/1996356745388806487">here</a>, and <a href="https://revolver.news/2025/12/uk-mother-arrested-faced-10-years-for-insulting-faggot-who-attacked-her/">here</a>).</p><p>8. India Wants Phone Tracking Always On; Your Personal Pocket Parole Officer: India is considering a measure forcing smartphone location services to stay permanently on. No off switch. No warning notifications. Just pure, uninterrupted tracking joy. Your phone will now know where you are even when you don&#8217;t. Finally, </p><div class="paywall-jump" data-component-name="PaywallToDOM"></div><p>technology that truly cares, Oh, fuck you and your battery life (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/india-weighs-greater-phone-location-surveillance-apple-google-samsung-protest-2025-12-05/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/india-s-proposed-constant-phone-location-tracking-raises-serious-privacy-concerns/ar-AA1RXOSY">here</a>, and <a href="https://apple.gadgethacks.com/news/india-wants-always-on-gps-in-iphones-apple-fights-back/">here</a>).</p><p>9. France Scales Up Digital ID; Libert&#233;, Egalit&#233;, Num&#233;ris&#233;. France is rapidly expanding its digital identification program. Over half a million people have already been certified. The EU Digital ID Wallet awaits you&#8212;just upload all your private information straight into the bureaucracy so it can keep it safe, warm, and under 24/7 review (<a href="https://www.biometricupdate.com/202512/frances-national-digital-id-scaling-up-after-graduating-from-pilot">here</a>, <a href="https://techfundingnews.com/evertrust-raises-10m-to-expand-european-digital-trust/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/11/06/is-france-going-to-link-its-digital-id-to-your-social-media-accounts">here</a>).</p><p>10. Illinois Digital IDs Overwhelmed; Even Tyranny Comes with a Queue: Illinois launched mobile IDs and the system immediately overloaded. Some people got a message saying the state was &#8220;busy.&#8221; Imagine getting told &#8220;Your government surveillance will begin shortly. Please wait and enjoy some elevator music.&#8221; And there it is: the world&#8217;s friendliest digital gulag, rolling out faster than you can say &#8220;I never agreed to any of this.&#8221; The tyrants of the past would weep with joy at the surveillance toys we&#8217;ve handed our leaders today (<a href="https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/illinois-licenses-ids-to-enter-digital-realm/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/digital-ids-illinois-starting-secretary-of-state-giannoulias-announces/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.mystateline.com/news/local-news/illinois-digital-ids-coming-to-apple-wallets-android-devices-next/">here</a>).</p><p>11. China&#8217;s Expanding Digital ID Regime Pairs a Buffet of Data-hungry Systems with the Kind of &#8220;Trustworthiness&#8221; Assessments that Make You Wonder if Orwell Was Actually an Optimist: Nothing says &#8220;modern governance&#8221; quite like having algorithms squint at your browsing habits, travel history, and bill-paying punctuality to decide whether you deserve a faster train ticket, a bank account, or just a quiet nudge back toward obedient mediocrity in a camp somewhere. It&#8217;s all packaged as civic harmony, of course&#8212;because who wouldn&#8217;t feel harmonious knowing that your reputation now lives in a government database that remembers everything, forgives nothing, and definitely doesn&#8217;t appreciate your sense of humor (<a href="https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/aam/Asia-Book_A_03_China_Social_Credit_System.pdf">here</a>, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/chinas-nightmarish-citizen-scores-are-warning-americans">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/china-social-credit-system-tourists/">here</a>).</p><p>Pretty soon, if you dare resist the data-driven wonderland being built around you, you may not be able to work, buy food, open a bank account, or possibly even log into Netflix without the correct digital barcode. Better think about your survival strategy now before the future logs in for you.</p><p>More seriously we were warned about all of this, and these are just incremental steps. Probably in our lifetimes or just after, we will see our driving record, credit, social media, banking information, and every other aspect of our private lives linked to a digital ID we are required to carry at all times. This will be linked to biometric data like our fingerprints, facial recognition, and DNA. Once that is achieved, and we are hurtling towards it a light speed, then an implantable chip is the next step and is being tested now (<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61008730#:~:text=Patrick%20Paumen%20causes%20a%20stir,wherever%20contactless%20payments%20are%20accepted.%22">here</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksw-arKvMPk">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuhz133G8gs">here</a>). The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation:</p><p>14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.</p><p>It tells us they make an image or statue of the beast. To someone around 2000 years ago a robot would look an awful lot like a statue. It then says they gave to breath so it could even speak. Sounds to me like how AI in a robot might be perceived by a person from a couple thousand years ago. What might be overly important to an &#8220;benevolent&#8221; robotic AI overlord? Having your digital leash permanently embedded in your flesh, and if you won&#8217;t at first you just won&#8217;t be allowed to buy, sell, or work. Then, if you still resist, you die. Think about how someone from biblical times seeing an image of something modern would perceive it and think about the things that are coming to pass now. America is essentially the last bastion, and as much as we will and should resist, it too will fall. Put your faith in Christ, trust in the Lord, and let the holy spirit lead you as best you can. It is the only way out the other side.</p><p>Matthew 24:42-44</p><p>42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.</p><p>God Bless you.</p><p>-Sam</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Spotting Intentional Manipulation]]></title><description><![CDATA[Mass Media is a Psychological Operation]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/spotting-intentional-manipulation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/spotting-intentional-manipulation</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2025 06:01:46 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ba4f7e78-1e9a-4725-a46e-269256d30c53_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, once again, into the asylum, my dear readers. Almost all of you know that we no longer have much news in America or in the world, just a series of psyops designed to keep us docile, controlled, distracted, and divided. This is largely achieved because nearly all mainstream TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers in the entire country are owned by just six companies (<a href="https://www.webfx.com/blog/internet/the-6-companies-that-own-almost-all-media-infographic/">here</a>) and the majority stake holder in each and every media giant is a company called BlackRock or a company called Vanguard. BlackRock is publicly traded, while Vanguard is privately held. This is interesting because as a publicly held company Blackrock is subject to much more scrutiny and regulation of its books and dealings, having to make them public, whereas as a privately held company Vanguard has no such requirements. I say this is interesting because Vanguard owns Blackrock, or at least a majority stake in the company. Ultimately, one company owns a majority stake in all of the mainstream media.</p><p>This becomes frighteningly obvious when every local news agency across the country use the exact same script to report on events even when they are allegedly using different sources (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h5gP68nL_M">here</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4N88w8TYms">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnIQalprvR8">here</a>). ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC all use the same script. While this appears to have been a blatant attempt at manipulation by the Sinclair Media group, it highlights the danger of centralized control of information. While this was very ham-handed, I assure you there are many only slightly less absurd manipulations playing out almost every day in the mainstream media. Half of what I write is targeted at pointing out how we are lied to and how both the government and media are controlled by the same globalist interests.</p><p>I was asked the other day how I knew what the media was selling with COVID was garbage by April 2020 and how I seem to be so good at sorting fact from garbage in the media. As I was explaining it to them it occurred to me I have never explained it to you, my faithful readers. There is a tool used by intelligence agencies, advertising agencies, and many other organizations called the NCI Engineered Reality Scoring System (the system). This is used both to identify psychological operations of opponents and to score your own psychological operations to predict their effectiveness.</p><p>The system uses a five-point scale across twenty categories with a five being overwhelmingly present and a one being not present at all. The categories are:</p><p>1. Timing</p><p>2. Emotional Manipulation</p><p>3. Uniform Messaging</p><p>4. Missing Information</p><p>5. Simplistic Narratives</p><p>6. Tribal Division</p><p>7. Authority Overload</p><p>8. Call for Urgent Action</p><p>9. Overuse of Novelty</p><p>10. Financial/Political Gain</p><p>11. Suppression of Dissent</p><p>12. False Dilemmas</p><p></p><div class="paywall-jump" data-component-name="PaywallToDOM"></div><p>13. Bandwagon Effect</p><p>14. Emotional Repetition</p><p>15. Cherry-Picked Data</p><p>16. Logical Fallacies</p><p>17. Manufactured Outrage</p><p>18. Framing Techniques</p><p>19. Rapid Behavior Shifts</p><p>20. Historical Parallels</p><p>The system works by judging a story or group of stories on a topic by each category and then adding up the scores 0-25 probably not a psychological operation, 26-50 moderate chance of a psychological operation, 51-75 strongly suggests a psychological operation, 76-100 it is a psychological operation intended to shape not only your perception but your behavior.</p><p>I am now going to take you through the categories, and we will judge the reporting around climate change using this system.</p><p>Timing: Ask yourself does it seem suspicious, has this story been out there a while and just now became critical, is there another story of equal or more importance that suddenly disappeared with these stories rise in prominence. I rate climate change 4 in this category. Climate change is always floating around in the background and has been since the middle 1980s when it went from global cooling to global warming. It seems to me any time there is a story that comes up that might be counter productive to the current narrative, suddenly there is some new super important finding on climate change that takes over the headlines for a few days until they can move on from the undesirable story.</p><p>Emotional Manipulation: I score this a 5. Because it is always looming disaster, coastal cities flooded in the next 10-12 years, if we don&#8217;t do something it will be too late in the next 10-12 years. The funny thing is no matter how much time has passed we always still only have 10-12 years to do something. No matter that our coastal cities were not flooded by rising sea water in 2000, 2012, or 2020 they will for sure be underwater by 2030 something (<a href="https://www.agweb.com/opinion/doomsday-addiction-celebrating-50-years-failed-climate-predictions">here</a>). It is always if you don&#8217;t, you and everyone you know will die.</p><p>Uniform Messaging: I give this a 3. Most all of the networks report all of the stories the exact same way, but occasionally one will have a sceptic on who derails the narrative. This is typically only to smear and belittle the sceptic, but the ideas are sometimes presented. Also, occasionally an article will be run that offers counter evidence, even if it isn&#8217;t highlighted or widely reported (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2006/nov/18/guardianletters.globalwarming">here</a> and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/firing-line/video/bill-nye-busspi/">here</a>).</p><p>Missing Information: I rate this a 5 because while the climate people will talk all day about rising CO<sup>2</sup> and melting sea ice, they fail to mention things like CO<sup>2</sup> has been higher when the climate was cooler than it is today. They don&#8217;t tell you that the greening effect of CO<sup>2</sup> in the atmosphere helps plants grow and contributes to the massive increases we have seen in food production. They don&#8217;t tell you that there has been no measurable change in arctic ice since 2012, and they leave out much more (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4fChyXPgj0">here</a>).</p><p>Simplistic Narratives: I give this a 5 because the beginning and the end is that humans living on the planet produce sufficient CO<sup>2</sup> to cause warming. The problem is climate is extremely complex and we don&#8217;t fully understand how it works and have only been able to monitor it reliably for just over 100 years (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/the-tools-of-global-reorganization">here</a>). The idea that one input is the primary cause of an observable output is extremely simplistic.</p><p>Tribal Division: Again, I give this a 5. If you have even reasonable questions, you are a climate denier. You either buy it all, without thinking about it, or you are evil. With some even suggesting doing harm to those who do not believe. The United Nations (UN), World Economic Forum (WEF), and other groups want to make questioning the climate narrative a crime (<a href="https://courier.unesco.org/en/articles/climate-crimes-must-be-brought-justice">here</a>, <a href="https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/01/climate-change-security-relationship/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2010/nov/01/climate-science-disinformation-crime">here</a>).</p><p>Authority Overload: This category is clearly a 5. All we hear is the science is settled, all the experts agree, and so on. When that isn&#8217;t true. In reality, science is never settled. Even things that were once thought to be constant, like the speed of light, have in recent years proven to have not always been constant. Once science is settled and unquestionable, it is religion, based on faith rather than data. We also hear the false claim that 97% of all experts agree when in fact they don&#8217;t (<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/2016/12/14/fact-checking-the-97-consensus-on-anthropogenic-climate-change/">here</a>).</p><p>Call for Urgent Action: This is a 5. There is never enough time and we are always just years away from a disaster. We need to end the modern world tomorrow in exchange for inefficient, unready alternative power sources or all life on the planet will end or something like that. We have all heard it (<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2023/03/20/press-release-ar6-synthesis-report/">here</a> and <a href="https://www.edf.org/climate/why-fighting-climate-change-so-urgent">here</a>).</p><p>Overuse of Novelty: I give this also a 5. It doesn&#8217;t matter what happens. Summer is hot, wildfire, or there is a hurricane. Even if average temperatures were hotter thirty years ago, an arsonist set the fires that spread due to poor forest management, or storms are average. It is always the worst ever and always because of climate change (<a href="https://www.republicanherald.com/2025/11/18/california-wildfires-palisades-investigation/">here</a>, <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/07/why-were-the-1930s-so-hot-in-north-america/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.c2es.org/content/hurricanes-and-climate-change/">here</a>).</p><p>Financial/Political Gain: This is a 5. There are massive financial and political gains to be had from climate change. Al Gore alone has profited at minimum 200 million dollars, and there are billions and billions spent on it every year because we must do something. Not to mention the political power you get with all the monitoring and tracking tech built into all the every day green items like electric cars (<a href="https://earthjustice.org/article/the-biggest-climate-spending-bill-ever-just-turned-two-heres-what-it-has-achieved">here</a>, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/climatechange/6496196/Al-Gore-profiting-from-climate-change-agenda.html">here</a>, <a href="https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/08/24/climate-change-american-political-agenda/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/how-your-electric-car-is-watching-your-every-move-20240504-p5foxu">here</a>). Bottom line, as the climate narrative progresses many people are becoming filthy rich and most people are becoming vastly less free.</p><p>Here at the halfway point, I score 47. It isn&#8217;t looking good for climate change. Shall we continue?</p><p>Suppression of Dissent: This is an easy 5. Before we talked about how many in positions of global authority and influence are seeking to make questioning climate change a crime punishable by prison. It is to the point where if you pose a reasonable question to a true believer, rather than hold a conversation, they insult you and disregard you. Let us not forget climate gate, where it was proven research contrary to the climate change narrative was suppressed, but that scientist who questioned the methods of climate researchers had their careers destroyed simply to stop them from asking questions (<a href="https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/climategate-and-scientific-conduct">here</a>).</p><p>False Dilemmas: Again, this is a 5. We are constantly given the option of accepting all proposed solutions blindly or we all die. No time for questions or debate. It is give up the modern world as we know it or die.</p><p>Bandwagon Effect: This is also a 5. How often do you hear the false 97% of scientist claim or the settled science claim, so that it is clear only morons and the uncool don&#8217;t have faith in the rising sea levels?</p><p>Emotional Repetition: This is also a 5. All of the appeals are for your children or your grandchildren. If you ask questions, you are killing the world, you monster.</p><p>Cherry-Picked Data: This is 5. Almost all the climate model data exclude the majority of temperature sensors and favor those in or near metropolitan areas because they produce higher readings (<a href="https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/misinformation-in-the-ipcc">here</a> and <a href="https://science.house.gov/2017/2/former-noaa-scientist-confirms-colleagues-manipulated-climate-records">here</a>).</p><p>Logical Fallacies: This is a 2. While they do make some fallacies, the primary one being correlation is not causation. If the things they said were facts as presented and not doctored, then they would be mostly consistent and logical. The primary problem is integrity, nor poor logic.</p><p>Manufactured Outrage: This is a 5. All I have to say is &#8216;How Dare You!&#8217; and you get the image of an autistic child being put in the public spotlight for no other reason than to try and stir emotions and build outrage.</p><p>Framing Techniques: I also give this a 5. Climate stories are always framed in such a way that even when we are in an increased cycle of solar output and things are getting warmer if those facts are presented, they are also discounted by the audience. Even when they are not discounted by all scientists.</p><p>Rapid Behavior Shifts: This is a 5 because in a relatively short period of time we moved from global cooling in the 70s to global warming in the 80s-90s to climate change in the 00s. We are now circling back to global warming will make an ice age (<a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a69366193/warming-planet-deep-freeze/">here</a>). I thought all the ice was melting&#8230; Um.. Ice ages are cold so that is good right.. Oh well their predictions have been 100% wrong to date, so I am not losing sleep over it.</p><p>Historical Parallels: I give this a 0 because while I am sure that there is something in history that could be stretched to match, this has been so long and wide spread as I am not sure how close that would be.</p><p>In the end we have a total score of 84. So, in my opinion, global warming/climate change is a psychological operation. This is intended to shape our perception of reality and act according to the designers&#8217; intentions. It is important to know that while I do not believe in manmade climate change, the system doesn&#8217;t indicate truth or fiction, only manipulation. Often when testing something I know to be true I find it is also presented as a psychological operation. So, knowing is just a piece of the puzzle. After we know there is an attempt to manipulate us, then using the evidence of the manipulation it is up to us to determine what the architects are trying to get us to do. In the case of climate change, the UN, WEF, and their lot want us to voluntarily live in a neo-socialist surf dome eating bugs in our 15-minute city while owning nothing and being happy. All in all a bad deal from my perspective, and I have written extensively about that.</p><p>This constant manipulation can be extremely dangerous. Nowhere is this more obvious than with the ways the young have been manipulated. I think between 16 and 25 are perhaps the most critical development decade in our lives. This is the period where we really seek a purpose and solidify our self-image of who we are and what we believe. To those ends, this is also a time of significant experimentation, exploration, and openness to ideas as we seek to find the path we will follow most of the rest of our lives. Unfortunately, much of our education system, all the way through college, have been captured and the youth are exposed to psychological operations to bend their gender, support terrorists, and believe violence is an acceptable way to deal with opposition to their ideals because disagreement is violence. From fighting federal law enforcement upholding immigration laws, shutting down college campuses, or destroying cities in a fit of peek over a black man who overdosed on fentanyl while in police custody because he ate it all rather than be caught with it (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50e8lBGEreY">here</a>, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/as-pro-palestinian-protesters-occupy-campuses-some-universities-call-in-police-while-others-wait-it-out">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/06/05/teens-protests-george-floyd-tear-gas/">here</a>).</p><p>All advertising campaigns are psychological operations trying to get you to buy something from someone and always have been, but now if you watch almost all of the news, almost all of the shows, and everything else is also geared towards shaping your thoughts and actions. I use the system all the time and it was from evaluating the COVID media with the system that inside of a month I was completely sure it was a psychological operation and then I started digging to try and find out why. After a little more than a year of that the Asylum was born, mostly because I just had to tell somebody what I found. If nothing else the system will help you evaluate information more critically. So, I hope this explanation helps. Here is a link to a full system form with explanations (<a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/msgsndr/zIawBVdMyBFIZKkatHIQ/media/67897a2d8010afeeaf4fc832.pdf?notrack=true">here</a>).</p><p>Ephesians 5:15-17</p><p>15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.</p><p>God Bless you</p><p>-Sam</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/spotting-intentional-manipulation?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/spotting-intentional-manipulation?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Political Violence ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Lies and Manipulation in Defense of the Narrative]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/political-violence</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/political-violence</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 24 Oct 2025 05:01:27 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ac75488f-7859-4007-bc61-a2399962f7a9_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, my dear readers, once again to the asylum. This week, we will be discussing political violence and the myth that it is primarily a right-wing thing. I do agree that there has been political violence from both sides, and right-wing violence does tend to kill more people, but just because the right is more effective doesn&#8217;t mean they commit more total acts of violence than the left. The &#8220;studies&#8221; that people like to use to prove the right are a more violent narrative all have massive flaws. Some downplay leftist political violence by classifying all events surrounding the summer of love riots as either peaceful protests or civil disobedience and not political violence, and only use body counts to determine the level of violence, excluding car burning, rape, looting, and other violent acts from their calculations. Another strategy is classifying all Looney Tunes shooters that don&#8217;t have a discernible agenda but have ever registered to vote as Republicans as political violence. Finally, they use very tight timelines (you see this with the global warming people, too), starting in the mid-90s, to avoid the political violence of the Weather Underground and other groups of the 70s and 80s, and end before the 2020 riots, if they don&#8217;t excuse them entirely. While I do intend to prove the studies are nothing more than political hack jobs, even if I fail that, there is one key difference between the left and right regarding political violence and that is the libertarian\right people condemn political violence regardless of who perpetrates it while the left openly encourages, supports, and cheers political violence so long as it is for their cause.</p><p>With multiple assassination attempts on President Trump, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and constant calls for violence or cheering violent acts by leftists, including elected officials, on social media (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhk3uaAJjFw">here</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr3QgvNvQDs">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cskOJzEUq0Q">here</a>), as we slip from the 5<sup>th</sup> generational culture war into the morass of a full-on 4<sup>th</sup> generational Civil War, it is more important than ever to disconnect from the propaganda machine that is the mainstream media, be seriously situationally aware, and be prepared to defend yourself at all times.</p><p>To start, we need to define political violence, and honestly, it isn&#8217;t much different than terrorism. Political violence is the use of physical force, coercion, or intimidation to achieve political goals. Terrorism is the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to intimidate or coerce a civilian population to achieve political, religious, or ideological goals. I am just a poor redneck hick, but for all intents and purposes, they are the same thing, especially when conducted by non-state actors. The only real difference is that political violence tends to exclude religious motivation, while terrorism could be motivated by politics or religion. As a result, any violence that is random without a stated goal, is related directly to criminal intent, or is done for religious reasons, should be discounted when discussing political violence. We should include any act or threat of violence made with the intention of stimulating a political result.</p><p>One of the most commonly cited sources for the narrative that rightwing folks are more politically violent in America is the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) (<a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/left-wing-terrorism-and-political-violence-united-states-what-data-tells-us">here</a>), which shows that in 2025, for the first time in 30 years, the left is far more violent than the right. It doesn&#8217;t matter if you accept the numbers for the previous 30 years (we will get to them), but they show clearly that something is up on the left. Sadly, this is the most honest source. Another source is a report by the CATO Institute (<a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/politically-motivated-violence-rare-united-states">here</a>), and lastly the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) (<a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/report/murder-and-extremism-united-states-2024">here</a>). I am including all of the sources commonly used so you can read them for yourself and decide if my criticism is justified or just hot air. The first problem is that all of these reports use body counts as their primary metric. So, if there are 10 leftist riots with 100 cars burned, 200 stabbings, and a billion dollars in property damage, but nobody dies; then there is one guy pissed off because a liberal judge has barred him from seeing his 12-year-old son while mom mutilates him into a caricature of a girl, who shoots up a pride event killing 6. All of these sources would count that as more right-wing violence than left-wing.</p><p>The CSIS report doesn&#8217;t show any of its data and reports itself as its own source; this makes their claim of 5 leftist attacks and one rightwing attack in 2025, as well as their past 30 years of data, suspect. While the report doesn&#8217;t tell us what is counted, it does include an appendix that shows some of what wasn&#8217;t counted. All of the attacks on Tesla dealerships and Tesla owners were not counted as political violence, but economic vandalism without political motivation. It goes on to say that an arson attack on the Pennsylvania Governor&#8217;s home, the murder of Israeli Embassy staff in DC, and the firebombing of a pro-Israel march in Colorado were ethno-nationalist incidents, not leftist political violence? All while pro-Palestine protests nearly shut down college campuses and Jewish students were frequently accosted (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIu2R86AZdc">here</a> and <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/report/anti-israel-activism-us-campuses-2023-2024">here</a>). They also do not count any of the ICE riots, the shooting of ICE agents, or other immigration related violence by ANTIFA or other left-wing political violence. At least if no one was killed, it just doesn&#8217;t rise to the level of trying to effect political change with violence, according to the report. Note, they only counted eight incidents of leftist political violence in all of 2020 because the Summer of Love riots didn&#8217;t involve lethal force, never mind the people who died as a direct result of the fiery but mostly peaceful protests. They don&#8217;t count leftist school shooters, even those who left manifestos citing the desire for political change as motivation, because those are personal grievances, of course. The icing on the cake is that the shooter who tried to kill Trump in Pennsylvania was also not politically motivated because he had also done a Google search for Joe Biden. So, the shooting was a mix of personal issues, not political violence. You can&#8217;t make this shit up. It should be clear to any rational person that the CSIS report is nothing but a narrative supporting garbage with little basis in reality.</p><p>CATO says effectively the same thing and isn&#8217;t much better. CATO also refuses to provide its data, sources, or methodologies, and openly says it focuses only on deaths and discounts injury or property damage as not crucial to its findings. Just by the fact that CATO only counts casualties and then only the total number rather than the number of events that generated them, it must also be seen as highly suspect, if not irrelevant. Its finding is essentially that there isn&#8217;t really that much political violence, and right-wing people are more lethal, trust us, bro.</p><p>This brings us at last to the ADL, and it is crazy, both only focusing on deaths, and then not counting any leftist homicides at all. Luigi Mangione, the guy who killed an insurance CEO, doesn&#8217;t count. The Zizian Cult murders don&#8217;t count, and the attempts on Trump&#8217;s life don&#8217;t count. However, the ADL does count two white supremacists killing prison guards in an attempted breakout as political violence (I would think the motive there was to escape, not racial supremacy or political change). They also</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[FOOD...FOOD...FOOD]]></title><description><![CDATA[It has been a while, but food is back.]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/foodfoodfood</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/foodfoodfood</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2025 22:01:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a8b95e58-6dab-42e9-8405-985d8e039388_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Let me start by apologizing for not having anything for the last two weeks. I have several projects I am working on, and they will likely be released in bursts, with several posts over the next 2-3 weeks. I have unfortunately experienced some technical issues and personal ones that have delayed the progress I would like to make on several articles, but we will endeavor to move forward. </p><p>Today, however, we will discuss food, as recipes have been a part of the asylum from its inception.  The Topic is HOT sauce, and this is how I make mine. It came about because I like Southeast Asian levels of spiciness, but despise the vinegar-chilli taste of most hot sauces. Most of them have little flavor other than vinegar that burns, and I don&#8217;t find that pleasant. So I grew my own peppers and started making my own hot sauce. It is very spicy, with an average rating of 8.1/10 from over 30 respondents so far, and very flavorful.</p><p>To make <strong>THE SAUCE OF ULTIMATE HOTNESS,</strong> you need:</p><p>8 cups Ghost Peppers</p><p>8 cups Scorpion Peppers</p><p>4 cups Thai Peppers</p><p>3 cups garlic</p><p>6 cups diced heirloom tomatoes (we grew striped roma tomatoes this year and have used tie-dyed tomatoes in the past, but you do you) </p><p>6 cups rice vinegar</p><p>4 cups apple cider vinegar</p><p>2 cups of water</p><p>1/2 cup sugar</p><p>3 tablespoons of salt</p><p>First, cut the stems from all your peppers (just the stem, leave them intact other than that) and arrange them in a single layer on cookie sheets (you can line the sheets with foil or parchment if you desire).</p><p>Crush or finely chop all your garlic.</p><p>Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and roast the peppers for 15 to 20 minutes until they start to have char spots on the skin and the peppers soften (you shouldn&#8217;t lose all the color)</p><p>Then, add all your ingredients, including the peppers, to a large pot over medium to medium-low heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.</p><p>When it starts to simmer at a low boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring every few minutes until the vegetable matter begins to fall apart.</p><p>Turn the heat off and either use an immersion blender or pour into a regular blender and blend until smooth. </p><p>Then run the entire thing through a fine kitchen strainer into another pot of large bowl using a spoon (wooden is best) to push the mixture through, dumping pulp that will not pass into a bowl as needed (this makes a great addition to chilli, excellent chicken treat, or can be further processed into a hot relish, it is up to you).</p><p>Return your fully strained mixture (if you are not straining into another pot) to the stove and bring it back to a boil for another 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly until it has reduced by a quarter or slightly less.</p><p>At this point, you have hot sauce, and you can put it in canning jars, squeeze bottles, or I buy a hot sauce bottle kit. The kit comes with 6-25 5-oz hot sauce bottles (depending on the kit), drip tops, caps, shrink seals for the bottles, labels, and a label marker. As with all things you do, you.</p><p>A few notes.</p><ol><li><p>Unless you are as hardy as I am, you will want to run your kitchen vent (or do this outside), wear gloves, and a respirator of some kind. You will make your kitchen, but that&#8217;s okay because it becomes a child-free zone of peace for the cook and for an hour or so after.  It is nice, really.</p></li><li><p>If you are one of those people who claim to like spicy food but really don&#8217;t, you can replace the pepper load with whatever you want, going totally mild with jalapeno peppers, serrano peppers, and Chipotle peppers.</p></li><li><p>Wash your hands before doing anything else after every step of this process, even if you are wearing gloves. Trust me, or face the consequences, because it will come back to haunt you. With or without gloves, the capsaicin finds a way to one extent or another.</p></li></ol><p>The recipe, as presented, typically yields between 110-160 oz of hot sauce, depending on God&#8217;s will, as far as I can tell. Seriously, I try super hard to do the same thing every time and get different outputs, so there is that.</p><p>Mark 7:18-20</p><p>And he said to them, &#8220;Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?&#8221; <strong><sup> </sup></strong>And he said, &#8220;What comes out of a person is what defiles him.</p><p>God Bless you</p><p>-Sam</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Forgiveness and Grace]]></title><description><![CDATA[Require Repentance]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/forgiveness-and-grace</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/forgiveness-and-grace</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:32:30 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/88420bd1-488e-44ab-98dc-d1e98ab14314_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Have you seen the establishment talking heads on TV and in print calling for grace and unity? I have, and we saw these calls for forgiveness and unity after COVID-19; one article in the Atlantic comes to mind. The problem is these people are missing a step, and not even Jesus will forgive you without it. All forgiveness requires repentance. That is to say, I did X, Y, and Z. I know X, Y, and Z are wrong, and I am not only sorry, but I am going to actively try to kill those parts of myself that lead me to do X, Y, and Z trying to change how I am so fundamentally I don't do X, Y, and Z again. As Christians, we are told to crucify our flesh with Jesus, and that is a complex and painful thing to do. It takes effort and genuine regret for what you have done and the offense you have given. That isn't what these calls for forgiveness and unity are. Paul talks about "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" in Philippians 2:12, specifically because crucifying your flesh and killing off offensive parts of you is hard.</p><p>These calls for grace and unity from the left display a total failure of repentance, with the expectation that the offended will just let the behavior slide. They are saying we did X, Y, and Z, and we will probably do them again. We don&#8217;t want and can't handle escalation or accountability, and we don't want to face the consequences. So rather than own their evil and repent, they demand we let it slide until they do it again, and again call for unity and forgiveness without repentance. Not even Jesus, whom as Christians we are called to be like, offers forgiveness without repentance. It doesn&#8217;t work that way. </p><p>These people are like incorrigible children. It always starts with not me, and I don't know who did that. It then moves to falsely incriminating someone else, and when presented with irrefutable evidence that it was them, they beg for unity and forgiveness without consequences to escape accountability. The only regret or remorse they feel is that of having been caught and not for what they have done. It is a pattern we see all the time. It is a satanic demon-driven ideology based entirely on lies that looks to exploit and twist grace without repentance to perpetuate and justify evil. How long have we been slurred and dehumanized, exactly as Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, and Stalin dehumanized the groups they targeted? How long have these tactics been used to silence polite discourse and prevent the sharing of opposing views? Since Obama, at least, that is when it became the mainstream ideology. After Covid, the summer of love, and now with the blood of a martyr still fresh, there is no repentance, but there are calls to let it slide for unity.  How much more are we going to take before we demand repentance before reconciliation and unity? How much longer are we going to be silent and take the abuse for the sake of getting along? I am going to side with Jesus and will not forgive until they repent, and remember the early church wasn&#8217;t persecuted because they were silent to get along, they were murdered in the most horrific ways because they spoke the truth. If we let it go again, it won&#8217;t stop, and they will escalate only to call for unity again. Without repentance, there is no change, and they will continue to malign us, mutilate our children, and kill us if we don&#8217;t be quiet. The killing part is especially true if we are effective and objectively not who they say we are. There is no grace, no unity, and no forgiveness this time without widespread sincere repentance. Share if you agree (I have included a convenient button at the bottom).<br><br>Luke 13:3</p><p><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong>No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.<br><br>God Bless you!</p><p>-Sam</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/forgiveness-and-grace?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/forgiveness-and-grace?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Cultivators of Fear and Hate]]></title><description><![CDATA[Growing Unrest and Violence]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-cultivators-of-fear-and-hate</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-cultivators-of-fear-and-hate</guid><pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 05:09:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/cc5b9164-468e-4fdb-8392-60d64acbb23c_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome, my dear readers, once again to the asylum. This week is different, as I am not going to paywall this post for 90 days and make it available to everyone instantly. After you read it, I encourage you to share it because I think it provides a framework to help people understand what we are seeing in the world today, or at least provides something to think about. For many years now, I have had an uneasy feeling about the world in general and the direction of our country in particular. When I say a few years, we are talking since the late 1990s. The way things happened in the United States and around the world. At the same time, we could see the attempts here; the states&#8217; distributed nature of our governmental authority, constitutional guarantees, the traditions of defiance that are baked into our bones, and our massive size have hindered the overall progress of tyranny. I say hindered, not stopped. If we look anywhere in the European Union, Canada, or the United Kingdom, we can see the results of the plans laid by the United Nations and World Economic Forum. Their only option is to shoot their way out at this point. Europe and Canada are beyond a peaceful resolution if their people want to be free. This isn&#8217;t to say there isn&#8217;t resistance. There are protests, and in England particularly there are a group called the blade runners destroying cameras that issue the fines for exceeding 15 minutes from your home (<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13775835/masked-blade-runner-vigilante-ulez-camera-electric-saw.html">here</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/12/europe/france-freedom-convoy-truckers-protest-intl#:~:text=Police%20in%20Paris%20have%20temporarily,from%20the%20French%20capital%20city.&amp;text=Paris%20police%20said%20in%20a%20statement%20on%20Twitter%20that%20%E2%80%9Cno,Ravindran%20contributed%20to%20this%20report.">here</a>, and <a href="https://rsf.org/en/france-press-freedom-hampered-police-violence-during-block-everything-protests">here</a>). Unfortunately, many Europeans are so institutionalized to state power their protests demand more state control by way of social programs. In the end, all those populations are unarmed and as such will ultimately be ineffective (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2BrsyQJfew">here</a> and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/10/hundreds-arrested-as-block-everything-protests-grip-france">here</a>).</p><p>Across Europe and in Canada people are arrested for the most trivial MEMEs in opposition to the approved narrative, for flying their own flag in their own country, and children are arrested for resisting rape by migrants. All this while migrant criminals go unpunished, people are fined for driving too far away from their homes, and are offered suicide rather than medicine when they are sick. The people of Europe are forced to watch comedians get jailed for jokes. Freedom is dead in Europe and Canada. The governmental framework for Agenda 2030 and the 4<sup>th</sup> industrial revolution are fully in place. They will own nothing and be &#8220;happy&#8221; or at least too afraid to say they are not (<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/03/uk/uk-farage-free-speech-linehan-latam-intl">here</a>, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/babylonbee/comments/1j5azoy/german_in_jail_for_a_meme_sure_hopes_eu_can_stop/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jun/26/editorial-belgium-criminalizes-memes/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEQI5osN37o">here</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-67076504">here</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2023.2265265">here</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/11/canada-cases-right-to-die-laws">here</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJTnkzl3K64">here</a>, <a href="https://rsf.org/en/eu-without-political-will-enforce-it-emfa-risks-becoming-dead-letter#:~:text=Strengthened%20protections%20for%20journalists%20are,strengthen%20the%20EU's%20democratic%20infrastructure.">here</a>, <a href="https://ravalli.us/Archive/ViewFile/Item/3556">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNyX6sY_5hY">here</a>).</p><p>To ensure their grasp of power and the suppression of native Germans, the government has started hiring migrants as police and most of them can&#8217;t speak German (<a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/over-half-berlins-new-police-recruits-cant-speak-basic-german-officials-admit">here</a>). These police will be much more likely to do whatever it takes to beat the people into submission than will native born Germans. It is very similar here with the Biden era program to recruit illegal aliens into the United States Military (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFU2fU79EsI">here</a>) with the same intention. Please note that the framework for all these horrific demonic polices we see in Europe has already been codified into law here in the states. Just to this point, they haven&#8217;t had sufficient state support to fully deploy them.</p><p>Before you read any further, go read this (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/the-typical-objections">here</a>) because I don&#8217;t want to hear they wouldn&#8217;t because whatever it is. The government already has and worse. I have said it before I don&#8217;t think we are seeing the results of a generational plan for domination, but I do think we are seeing the cumulative result of generations of influential people buying laws\rules that enrich themselves with money and\or power independently. These plans like the Federal Reserve, various regulations (and their beneficial loopholes), and laws have had a cumulative effect. I think the real push for control started in the 1970s with the end of Bretton Woods and the rise of the World Economic Forum (WEF). They happened in the same year (<a href="https://www.weforum.org/about/history/">here</a> and <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/nixon-shock">here</a>). I find this interesting if nothing else. The 1970s were also the birth of climate hysteria, the primary justification for subjugation, even if it needs to be punctuated by the occasional terrorist attack. In the beginning, global cooling was to fear and &#8220;scientists&#8221; wanted vast sums of money to build massive CO2 generators, it turned to Global Warming by the 1980s, and Climate Change, the ultimate amorphous bogyman, by the early 2000s (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/the-tools-of-global-reorganization">here</a>).</p><p>This has been used to shut down entire industries in Europe and the United States, but only there. What really happened is we off-shored our pollution and rather than deal with a slight amount of pollution modern high-tech facilities put out, we allow primitive under-developed countries to spew massive amounts of pollution because we are &#8220;green&#8221; (<a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000602">here</a> and <a href="https://ariklevinson.georgetown.domains/outsourcing.pdf">here</a>). These regulations allowed companies to significantly reduce the cost of regulatory compliance, if not production. I say this because transporting product from its place of manufacture in developing or semi-industrialized nations to markets in North America and Europe cuts into any savings derived from cheaper labor. The real savings comes from not having to comply with worker safety or environmental regulatory expenses that must be followed in the developed world. For larger products that face tariffs, other regulation, or have minimal environmental impact in their final stages, like many cars, final assembly was left in the developed world and the majority of workers were replaced by robots and other automation, cutting down on both labor expenses and regulatory compliance costs.</p><p>At some point in the middle 1990s, as these companies were making massive profits realizing the fruit of global environmental fear, that fear started to wane as more and more of the dire predictions failed to come to fruition, and the people of the developed world started to notice they were getting worse off by the year. A new bogyman was needed. If it was a happy coincidence for the &#8220;Elite Class&#8221;, or something else, 09/11/2001 gave them a new monster to scare the prolls into obedience. While I won&#8217;t say 9/11 was an inside job, I do think there are a lot of suspicious happenings surrounding the event, and if the official government explanation is true, I don&#8217;t understand why so much of the evidence and investigation is still classified. I don&#8217;t know what happened, but I don&#8217;t think the official report is true either. I don&#8217;t need to know the truth about 09/11/2001 to know what the results of that event were. We were told they &#8220;HATE us for our Freedom&#8221; repeatedly and on blast by the state-run mainstream media (MSM). If that was the case, then we let them win a near total victory a little more than a month later when the USA PATRIOT Act (one of the least accurately named pieces of legislation to date) was signed into law on October 26<sup>th</sup> 2001.</p><p>This bill was supposed to be the ultimate weapon against terrorists, yet it allowed unprecedented abuses of American citizens without due process. This bill allowed among other things (<a href="https://www.cato.org/commentary/patriot-act-has-threatened-freedom-20-years">here</a>, <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/ten-years-later-look-three-scariest-provisions-usa-patriot-act">here</a>, and <a href="https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1878&amp;context=honors#:~:text=As%20a%20consequence%2C%20the%20USA,citizens%20without%20warrant%20or%20consent.">here</a>):</p><p><strong>Section 215:</strong></p><p>Allowed the FBI to obtain secret court orders for "tangible things" like driver's licenses, credit records, and internet history without a warrant based on &#8220;probable cause&#8221;. We all know what kind of flimsy nothing evidence was needed for these secret kangaroo courts to issue warrants. Most notably, one of these warrants was the basis for the Trump Russia hoax.</p><p>Enabled the FBI to demand various records, including phone, bank, and internet data, from businesses without a court order, effectively creating secret, court-approved records requests.</p><p>Prohibited librarians and other record holders from disclosing that they had been compelled to provide records under Section 215.</p><p><strong>Section 411:</strong></p><p>Allows the government to exclude non-citizens who used their position to endorse or espouse terrorist activity, potentially chilling legitimate speech by Americans.</p><p>Due Process was destroyed with provisions, like the ability to conduct secret "sneak and peek" searches. This evidence couldn&#8217;t be used in court, but could be used as probable cause to get a warrant. Horribly eroding Fourth Amendment protections, which require probable cause for any search.</p><p>The law granted sweeping powers to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, allowing access to sensitive personal information, which critics argued treated ordinary citizens as suspects.</p><p>This horrendous law was then followed by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 on 11/05/2022. That expanded the abuses of the Patriot Act by (<a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/dismantle-the-department-of-homeland-security-its-tactics-are-fearsome#:~:text=Nearly%2020%20years%20of%20abuse,attractive%20to%20top%2Dnotch%20professionals.">here</a>, <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2009/06/the-problems-with-the-department-of-homeland-security/#:~:text=Clearly%2C%20some%20oversight%20is%20still,force%2C%20as%20it%20does%20now.">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/holding-homeland-security-accountable#:~:text=footnote1_aFtvwCMPHDPo6FaP2PSbCzsYLlmFZ36zgeag2G97rc_j3S2e1Rlk3Ym-,1,Justice%2C%20December%2015%2C%202022%2C">here</a>):</p><p><strong>Erosion of privacy and civil liberties:</strong></p><p>Expansion of government surveillance: Title II of the HSA supported the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, which sought to collect and analyze vast amounts of data that enabled broad-scale government surveillance and severely infringed on personal privacy. The Hero Edward Snowden is still in exile for showing us that the government was collecting copies of all of our electronic communications.</p><p>Creation of Fusion Centers: The Act encouraged the establishment of over 70 "fusion centers," where federal, state, and local agencies could share information. These centers exist for gathering intelligence on Americans and for monitoring lawful political activities.</p><p>This bill allows for unconstrained monitoring of entire communities of people based on any number of possible connections including but not limited to religion, race, apparent friends group.</p><p><strong>Reduced government transparency and oversight:</strong></p><p>New information disclosure exemption: The Act created a new category of information, "critical infrastructure information," that is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This prevented public awareness of the fusion centers under the guise of protecting power lines, and other infrastructure.</p><p>Criminalization of unauthorized disclosure: The HSA made it a criminal offense for federal employees to "knowingly" disclose critical infrastructure information without proper authorization. This provision was widely seen as a "gag order" that could prevent whistleblowers from revealing government misconduct.</p><p><strong>Liability protections for corporations:</strong></p><p>Immunity for anti-terrorism technology sellers: The Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act, passed as part of the HSA, provides liability protection to sellers of "qualified anti-terrorism technologies". We can&#8217;t have the fascinators of the police state sued out of existence even when their technology is misused.</p><p><strong>Consolidation of immigration functions:</strong></p><p>Overhaul of immigration services: The HSA disbanded the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and transferred its functions to the new DHS, merging immigration services with enforcement and border security under a single department. This consolidation led to a dramatic expansion of funding and authority for immigration enforcement and removals. This also made it much easier for the Biden Administration to shut down enforcement and tracking of the flood of illegal migrants than it would have otherwise been.</p><p>After this, we got the Real ID act in 2005. This law established a traceable national identification designed to allow the tracking of all your financial, travel, and communications activity (<a href="https://www.culawreview.org/journal/the-unconstitutionality-of-real-id-legislation-and-its-effects-on-undocumented-immigrants-in-the-us#:~:text=These%20issues%20take%20on%20a,the%20intricacy%20of%20immigration%20regulations.">here</a>, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy-technology/national-id/real-id#:~:text=What's%20at%20Stake,the%20repeal%20of%20the%20law.">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2009/07/15/secretary-napolitanos-testimony-identification-security-reevaluating-real-id-act#:~:text=Inadequate%20privacy%20protections,part%20of%20a%20national%20system.">here</a>). The states did an excellent job resisting, even through the lies of national and local news. As of 2015, ten years after the law was passed, there were still 28 states that refused to fall in line and produce a traceable national identification (<a href="https://abcnews4.com/news/auto-matters/28-states-use-outdated-drivers-license-format-dont-get-stranded-at-the-airport">here</a>). Prior to this the deadline was extended over and over because it was impossible to enforce flight prohibitions, and the entering of federal buildings based on Real ID, when most of the country was non-compliant and resisting. However, at this time there was a media blitz designed to instill fear by acting like people wouldn&#8217;t be able to fly or go into federal buildings after the deadline, without pointing out that over half the country was not complying (<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=oklahoma+city+tv+news+2015+real+ID&amp;newwindow=1&amp;sca_esv=cb1e697b99ad7555&amp;udm=7&amp;biw=1920&amp;bih=911&amp;sxsrf=AE3TifMVScnfErt6mwCDNnXEo_yCemOUow%3A1757622533876&amp;source=lnt&amp;tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F2015%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F2018&amp;tbm=#fpstate=ive&amp;ip=1&amp;vld=cid:d53bac14,vid:BuVbOymvQX4,st:0">here</a>). While some states now offer a regular driver&#8217;s license or a Real ID drivers license (I have a regular and will never have a real ID one) at this time all states now offer a Real ID compliant identification, allowing for your face and other biometric information to be uploaded for facial recognition cameras and tracking. The last extension to the law expired on May 7<sup>th</sup> 2025, after the states gave up the fight 20 years after the original law (<a href="https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification#:~:text=As%20of%20May%207%2C%202025,through%20their%20state%20DMV%20offices.">here</a>).</p><p>Then in 2006, we got the Military Commissions Act (MCA), a particularly egregious piece of legislation. This provided the means of enforcement for previously legal things discovered by way of the Patriot Act or the Homeland Security Act that wasn&#8217;t possible before such as (<a href="https://www.dailyjournal.com/article/293229-military-commissions-act-shames-the-constitution-and-weakens-america#:~:text=Military%20Commissions%20Act%20Shames%20the%20Constitution%20and,not%20law%2C%20whatever%20shape%20it%20may%20assume.%22">here</a>, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/documents/fact-sheet-military-commissions-act#:~:text=Document%20Date:%20March%2022%2C%202007,hostilities%20against%20the%20United%20States.">here</a>, and <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/the-military-commissions-act-of-2006-a-short-primer#:~:text=Section%20950v%20of%20the,support%20for%20terrorism%2C%20and%20spying.">here</a>):</p><p><strong>Broad Definition of "Unlawful Enemy Combatant":</strong></p><p>The act created an overly broad definition of "unlawful enemy combatant," potentially subjecting any civilian who provided some level of support to an armed group to military detention and trial, even far from any battlefield. This included donating to charities that donated money to terrorist organizations unbeknownst to the contributor. All it takes is for the president to declare a group terrorists and then if you donated to them, even unknowingly, now you are an enemy combatant. It is left field, but the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is listed as a terrorist organization and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) isn&#8217;t (should be). PETA donates money to ELF (<a href="https://www.espn.com/outdoors/general/columns/story?columnist=guest_columnist&amp;page=g_col_PETA_ELF_NYPost">here</a>). Anyone who donated to a PETA funds drive that then gave money to ALF is subject to being declared an enemy combatant. They haven&#8217;t used it widely yet, but they could.</p><p><strong>Fair Trial Concerns:</strong></p><p>The military commissions established under the act do not adhere to the fair trial provisions required by the United States Constitution, international human rights laws, and the Geneva Conventions.</p><p><strong>Limited Discovery and Evidence:</strong></p><p>The act allowed the withholding of classified information, making it extremely difficult for a defendant's counsel to challenge evidence and build an effective defense. If you want to hide exculpatory evidence, this lets you, as it is secret or for national security. Ultimately allowing only for prosecution and no real defense.</p><p><strong>Use of Coercive Statements</strong>:</p><p>While prohibiting statements obtained through torture, concerns were raised that the MCA permitted the use of statements obtained through coercion and that the process for proving a statement was coerced was inadequate. Please note, most standard torture was also reclassified as enhanced interrogation including sleep deprivation, water boarding, and stress positions among other worse things (<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/12/09/usa-and-torture-history-hypocrisy">here</a> and <a href="https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/aided-mfia-fbi-agents-book-enhanced-interrogation-rereleased">here</a>).</p><p><strong>Command Influence</strong>:</p><p>The MCA did not provide sufficient protections against "command influence," where military leaders could improperly pressure proceedings to reach a desired outcome.</p><p><strong>Differing Standards for Non-Citizens:</strong></p><p>The Act set lower due process standards for non-citizens compared to U.S. citizens.</p><p><strong>Suspension of Habeas Corpus:</strong></p><p>Once anyone is declared an enemy combatant (this is an executive declaration), the MCA attempted to strip away the right to habeas corpus, which allows individuals to challenge the legality of their detention. To make matters worse, once declared an enemy combatant because you donated $5 to a girl selling cookies for PETA, you can be whisked away to secret prisons, tortured, or even executed with no due process. While they were probably bad people (we won&#8217;t know. There was no trial.), the MCA is how Obama justified executing American citizens by drone. So, the precedent is already established (<a href="https://mwi.westpoint.edu/ten-years-after-the-al-awlaki-killing-a-reckoning-for-the-united-states-drones-wars-awaits/#:~:text=In%20the%20years%20following%20al,making%20within%20the%20executive%20branch.">here</a>).</p><p>If we were really hated for our freedom, then by 2006 they shouldn&#8217;t have hated us anymore. The framework for total control was in place. The government could monitor everything you did, criminalize anything it wanted to, and then torture you until you confessed or just murder you because it was easier. While the provisions enabling torture, confinement, and death haven&#8217;t been widely adopted yet, they have been used. American citizens Abdulrahman Anwar al-Awlaki (a 16 year old kid) and his dad before that (<a href="https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/justice-memo-authorized-killing-of-al-awlaki/">here</a>) were executed without trial, and many January 6<sup>th</sup> protestors were held without bail in sub-human conditions for years on misdemeanor charges due to these laws (<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/10/dc-officials-jan-6-prisoners-jail-520707">here</a>).</p><p>So far, mostly these laws have been used by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to stage false terrorist threats and arrest dupes (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/with-friends-like-the-fbi">here</a>). I do think the only reason they haven&#8217;t been more aggressive with these laws, that essentially erase the constitution, is because there is some fear that the military won&#8217;t go along with widespread enforcement and the population has far far too many guns. So, they need an emergency so horrific that even some of the most stalwart bend the knee. Widespread civil unrest is the beginning. After Emperor Bush, second of his name, dodger of drafts, doer of cocaine, menace of the middle east, we got Obama, the drone king, divider of races. One might think &#8216;Cool. We elected a black guy president. The dream of a color-blind America is finally here.&#8217; Nope. The great divider introduced us to systemic racism and ushered in the age of intersectionality. This all eventually emerged as the WOKE culture of the twenty teens (<a href="https://www.heritage.org/political-process/commentary/obamas-legacy-weaker-and-more-divided-america">here</a>, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/01/10/how-america-changed-during-barack-obamas-presidency/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/barack-obama-race-relations-213493">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.heritage.org/civil-society/commentary/barack-obama-ever-the-racial-arsonist">here</a>). Obama tested on the fringes the new powers bestowed on America to &#8220;fight&#8221; the war on terror just on the edges, killing US citizens, using government power to monitor and suppress opposition (<a href="https://www.taxnotes.com/research/federal/legislative-documents/congressional-committee-reports/obama-pressured-irs-into-targeting-house-oversight-report-says/fh5m#:~:text=The%20President's%20rhetoric%20against%20Citizens,%2D%2D%20rooted%20in%20political%20machinations.">here</a> and <a href="https://www.cato.org/commentary/barack-obamas-war-free-press#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20its%20vendetta,Eric%20Holder%20about%20the%20raid.">here</a>). His greatest accomplishment was undoing 50 years of improvement in race relations and laying the framework for the race riots, child gender mutilation, and flood of aberrant sexual content in every media space including grade school libraries.</p><p>Just to make sure you are following along, climate fear was used to drive policies to enrich the few while weakening the middle class, making them more dependent and outsource our pollution. Then, the government used terrorism or the threat thereof to implement a series of laws that enable total police-state control. Please note, George W Bush and his father are tightly entwined with the WEF as well as the trilateral commission, and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) (<a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/05/20080518-6.html#:~:text=This%20is%20also%20a%20time,the%20food%20supply%20more%20secure.">here</a>, <a href="https://publicintegrity.org/politics/right-on-the-money-the-george-w-bush-profile/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/19810501_IP0092_2d3ea09e2c6068af730f41d315f4ea490bc91878.pdf">here</a>, and <a href="https://thirdworldtraveler.com/Foreign_Policy_Institutions/Council_Foreign_Relations.html">here</a>), all entities that have espoused similar views on depopulation, socialism rebranded as Stakeholder Capitalism, and expansions of government power. It may be a conspiracy, but I do find it odd that someone who has lived their entire life pushing for global polices and top-down models of control suddenly passes a bunch of laws that give the government that power. It is interesting to note in recent history who were members of the CFR before being elected president (<a href="https://en.unav.edu/web/global-affairs/council-for-foreign-relations-el-mayor-influencer-en-la-politica-exterior-de-eeuu">here</a>):</p><p><strong>Richard Nixon</strong></p><p><strong>Gerald Ford</strong></p><p><strong>Jimmy Carter</strong></p><p><strong>George H. W. Bush</strong></p><p><strong>Bill Clinton</strong></p><p><strong>George W. Bush</strong></p><p><strong>Barack Obama</strong></p><p><strong>Joe Biden</strong></p><p>Notice a pattern to modern elections? Going back to its founding, more CFR members were president than non-members, and often both mainstream candidates were members. I do think it is interesting that at the time of the 2016 election Hillary Clinton was a member of the CFR (still is) and Trump wasn&#8217;t (still isn&#8217;t). I think Trump, who Clinton actually helped win the nomination because she thought he would be an easy opponent (<a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/hillary-clinton-2016-donald-trump-214428/">here</a>), I think she was supposed to move the plan forward the next step. I am not sure how, but a false flag with a compliant media seems to be a popular method of operation for our government (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/all-the-news">here</a>). Remember the news reporting leading up to the election with 80- or 90-point leads for Clinton. The election was just a formality. I think she was intended to use the division and policy framework to bring America home (so we could be like Europe: disarmed, jailed for memes, and under the boot). Do you remember the shock of that upset? The wailing and gnashing of teeth. I didn&#8217;t vote for him as I didn&#8217;t trust him (still don&#8217;t) but it was clear he wasn&#8217;t the plan. So what do you do when plan A doesn&#8217;t work? You go to plan B, and Trump went from being just another rich guy who palled around with the elite (Clintons included), with Donald going so far as to defend Clinton during the Lewinski scandal (<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/history-donald-trump-bill-clinton-friendship-464360">here</a> and <a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/we-dont-need-russian-disinformation">here</a>), to being literally Hitler, the most racist, fascist, evil man that ever lived. The media ran with it (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/if-they-hate-trump-this-much">here</a>). The entire time we had elected officials calling for violence against conservatives, and emphasizing imagined slights, driving division (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/they-violent-extremist">here</a> and <a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/gaslights-and-lies-of-the-5th-generation">here</a>). The lies were so transparent that CNN essentially destroyed itself (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ash_EPRijT0">here</a>). Then, we got COVID. Was it intended to be the vessel for Hillary to advance the agenda? I don&#8217;t know, but I do know that while Trump went along in the beginning, very quickly he refused to use Federal authority to force sates to comply with anything (<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/trump-talks-less-about-virus-states-look-inward-for-answers">here</a> and <a href="https://www.kff.org/covid-19/comparing-trump-and-biden-on-covid-19/">here</a>). This was used to ferment more division among the American people while they lied and spun, turning COVID into the killer-plague it was not, going so far as to falsify death records to push the narrative (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/no-more-lies-no-more-compliance">here</a>, <a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/covid-and-the-lies">here</a>, <a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/covid-death-toll">here</a>, and <a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.substack.com/p/putting-the-fear-porn-into-perspective">here</a>). All through the COVID experience it becomes rapidly clear who will and who will not comply with the nonsense and the divisions essentially across liberal and conservative lines. With California, New York, Illinois, and other blue states going full totalitarian dictatorship and Florida, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, and other red states being over the entire thing and getting back to normal after just a few months.</p><p>Then, after the sketchiest election in American history, we have the CFR back in the White House and we get mandates, discharged service members, and unemployed nurses, all for a vaccine that doesn&#8217;t work and can kill you. Whoever is running things (it wasn&#8217;t Biden) continues to spread fear and tries to bring back all the climate hysteria. They do this because they NEED the division and the hate. All over they talk about non-existent genocide, and oppression that hasn&#8217;t happened and won&#8217;t because it is completely made up. To the point the least stable are either rendered disabled by fear or they become violent.</p><p>COVID became a test and it showed America wasn&#8217;t ready. So, to have the people gladly accept the same kind of controls we see running rampant in Europe and Canada they need more conflict. They learned with MK Ultra (it is absolutely a real thing) (<a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-files-hearings-95mkultra.pdf">here</a>) how to push the unstable towards violence and how to direct that violence both in general and specifically. What we have seen with all the fear and rhetoric since at least 2016 is a push towards violence of a political nature. This push is reaching critical mass among the least stable. We see it in a Catholic school shooting and the death of Charlie Kirk. How long will it be before the least stable on the other side sees weekly, biweekly, or monthly shooting of conservatives by leftists before they go View hunting, or tracking CNN personalities in the wild? It doesn&#8217;t take many, just 1-2% on the fringes of either side and we have a few dozen assassinations or attacks a week. It spirals from there. I don&#8217;t think they want state actors. They just want blood in the streets and an ever-escalating problem. Once it spills over to even the normal folks having to shoot it out with the crazies over a bumper sticker or hat. This will set the stage for European-style population controls and full enforcement of the laws they put in place 20 years ago. If you don&#8217;t think this is where we are going or what is happening, I hope you are correct, but I don&#8217;t think you are. Meet the crazy with truth in kindness and walk boldly in the truth of Christ. It is all we can do, and if enough of us do, we can maybe de-escalate this ever-growing problem.</p><p>Matthew 5:9</p><p>9 &#8220;Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.</p><p>God bless you!</p><p>-Sam</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-cultivators-of-fear-and-hate?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-cultivators-of-fear-and-hate?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Cause and Effect]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Three Great Inflations]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/cause-and-effect</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/cause-and-effect</guid><pubDate>Fri, 29 Aug 2025 05:11:13 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0b54734d-a8e5-4329-808b-8262fc08d6fb_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome once again, my dear readers, to the asylum. This week, we will be grateful that while times are hard, they are hard only by the American standard of what constitutes hard times, and not by the standards of other countries. In my 49 years of life and 31 years as an adult, nominally out on my own, I think I have had 9 or 10 good years economically, and the rest have been hard. Sometimes, it's due to self-inflicted wounds, and sometimes it's due to situations beyond my control. In truth, at the time, almost all of it seemed situational to me, but the older I get, the more I can see the self-sabotage. Before setting out on my own at 18, as far back as I can remember, I had 1 good year, and that was the year mom and dad split up (temporarily at the time). The rest is primarily fear, pain, and anger, trying to survive in an environment of madness. But that is neither here nor there and has nothing to do with economics. Today, we are discussing the current challenging times and how I am grateful that they are American hard times. While I will use myself and my family as a real-world example, talking to people reveals that we are not alone, and the issues covered apply to many people in the middle of the middle class.</p><p>To illustrate my point, from all sources, my household brings in just under $9,000 a month before deductions, and after deductions, it is around $6,000. In America, this is right at or slightly below the poverty line. Globally, the median annual household income after being adjusted to Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars (so they are equivalent to US Dollars) is right around $10,000 (<a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/166211/worldwide-median-household-income-000.aspx#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20D.C.%20%2D%2D%20The%20median,are%20in%20sub%2DSaharan%20Africa.">here</a>), with an average of around $18,000 PPP (<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17512040#:~:text=If%20there%20were%20no%20rich,is%20the%20world's%20average%20wage?%22">here</a>). The American poverty line is equivalent to the world median annual salary in a month (or nearly so) and the global average in two months, as those numbers appear to be gross as well.</p><p>Unfortunately, we are seeing the third Great Inflation in this country. The first instance occurred in 1934, when Franklin Roosevelt devalued the US dollar by 75% by declaring that an ounce of gold was no longer worth $20 but was now worth $35, to fund the government's spending. This was immediately after he had confiscated all privately held gold in 1933 at $20 an ounce (<a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/new-deal-recovery-part-7-fdr-gold">here</a>, <a href="https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/02/thomas-dilorenzo/how-fdrs-attack-on-the-gold-standard-spawned-an-age-of-inflation/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-6102-forbidding-the-hoarding-gold-coin-gold-bullion-and-gold-certificates">here</a>). This was odd, as the President doesn&#8217;t have the authority to set the value of money, determine weights and measures, or coin money, as per the Constitution, which is the job of Congress (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/the-government-was-great">here</a>). However, Roosevelt did it, and it was his only real option because to inflate or debase hard currency, you have to either mix it with base metals, reducing the actual precious content (this wouldn&#8217;t have flown), or, as Roosevelt did, declare it worth less in relation to the currency you are forcing people to use. Before 1933, one ounce of silver was $1 (that is why a dime was 1/10 ounce and a quarter &#188; ounce of silver until 1964), and one ounce of gold was $20. Paper currency was convenient, so it existed at the time, but it wasn&#8217;t the money; it was a certificate redeemable for gold or silver coins (the money).</p><p>While Roosevelt ended public possession of gold and limited people to using paper currency, the dollar was still nominally backed by gold, as the government had to pay its debts to other countries in gold, which served as a check on the government's ability to print money and spend. The second Great Inflation occurred as the cost of funding Johnson&#8217;s Great Society social welfare programs and executing the war in Vietnam mounted, America went from a creditor nation to a debtor nation, squandering the advantages it ended WWII with in 36 years. To the point that paying America&#8217;s debts to other countries was depleting our supply of gold. How do you fix a problem with overspending? If you are the American Government, you redefine the terms of your loans. That is essentially what Richard Nixon did on August 15<sup>th,</sup> 1971. In defiance of the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944, Nixon &#8220;temporarily&#8221; closed the gold window by declaring that America wasn&#8217;t living up to its word and would no longer pay its debts in gold as promised. Instead, the government would print new bills out of thin air to cover our debts (<a href="https://mises.org/mises-wire/today-1971-president-nixon-closes-gold-window">here</a> and <a href="https://dokumen.pub/the-tragedy-of-us-foreign-policy-how-americas-civil-religion-betrayed-the-national-interest-9780300224511.html">here</a>). This led to the massive inflation seen in the latter part of the 1970s, as more and more dollars were printed to cover increasing debt, including unwinding bonds that had been backed by gold, which had been printed to cover the Vietnam War and the rapidly growing welfare system. This existing debt, coupled with unprecedented growth in government with the advent of more agencies than any other decade, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1970, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 1974, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1973. Carter, while not a great president, was in office at the height of the inflationary cycle and took most of the blame, but in truth, unless drastic action had been taken to remove fiat dollars from existence and stop the massive spending increases, it wouldn&#8217;t have mattered who was elected; the outcome was inevitable.</p><p>The second significant inflation slowed after Reagan took office. This was mainly due to Federal Reserve (FED) Chairman Paul Volcker raising the Federal Reserve's interest rate to 20%. This caused a contraction of credit and slowed the multiplicative effect of fractional reserve banking. At the same time, Reagan cut taxes and implemented significant deregulation policies, lifting controls on oil prices, reducing environmental regulations, and easing restrictions on industries such as broadcasting and savings and loans. By 1986, nearly half of the federal regulations that existed in 1981 had been eliminated, making deregulation a core component of his economic program (<a href="https://www.reaganfoundation.org/ronald-reagan/the-presidency/economic-policy">here</a> and <a href="https://itep.org/a-surprising-idea-from-the-era-of-reaganomics/">here</a>). This allowed for businesses to boom, and as companies competed for labor, wages increased faster than inflation. Reagan also pledged to make significant cuts in the Federal Government. That rhetoric went away shortly after the assassination attempt in 1981. That is a topic for another time, probably on a Tuesday. While Reagan did cut regulations and taxes, he didn&#8217;t cut spending, and the deficit, as well as the national debt, soared to new highs on his watch. The 1980s were so good, predominantly because of deregulation and tax cuts, which allowed businesses to start and expand. High interest rates also kept inflation lower than the rate of wage growth. Unfortunately, the 1980s were also the era when many of the more problematic investment instruments emerged, setting the stage for the market manipulation and disconnect between the real Main Street economy and the paper Wall Street economy we see today. Things like junk bonds and many derivatives (all of which are simply ways to sell the same shares multiple times), as well as others, would have been seen as fraudulent before this period in American history (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aN1Lzt0SYo&amp;t=241s">here</a>). Ultimately, without the cuts to federal spending to match the deregulation and tax cuts, Reagan&#8217;s economic policy set the stage for the massive spending and debt of the next thirty years.</p><p>We are currently experiencing the third Great Inflation, which has been ongoing. Arguments can be made that it started with the 1999-2000 dotcom bust, the 2007 housing bubble bust, or the 2020 COVID-19 bailout, all of which involved significant money printing. I would argue it is a cumulative product of the fact that the core issues that caused the problems in 1999 and 2007 were never addressed, setting the stage like fine kindling for a fire, and that the boundless money printing of 2020 was the spark that lit the conflagration. Followed by baby steps, half measures, and cooked economic data (<a href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/a-tale-of-two-economies">here</a>) that have only prolonged and exacerbated the problems.</p><p>Rather than allowing the malinvestments in companies that never turned a profit to unwind, and investors to take their lumps in 1999-2000, the government artificially lowered interest rates. It repealed parts of the Glass-Steagall Act in an effort to stimulate growth through banking deregulation, artificially. This differed significantly from previous government stimulus policies, which typically cut taxes and reduced production regulations, allowing for more organic growth, especially in light of interest rates remaining the same or increasing (<a href="https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/david-stockman/the-greatest-bubble-ever-why-you-better-believe-it-part-1/">here</a>). Then, the government doubled down on backing home loans, equal opportunity quotas, and other policies. This resulted in record-low interest rates by 2001, when we purchased our first home at 6.3%. All of our family and friends were amazed at how low the interest rates were. Historically, before that, the average home interest rate had been nearly 11% and the record low was just over 8%. The reduced interest, combined with government backing and relaxed lending standards, led to a significant increase in demand for homeownership. These policies turned lots of should-be renters into buyers. It was further exacerbated when the lenders found they could mitigate the risk of adhering to all the new government policies by exploiting the changes to Glass-Steagall and combining commercial products in the form of mortgages with investment products by securitizing the mortgages. They did this by bundling some high-risk loans with some low-risk loans and then selling the package to recoup the money lent.</p><p>I am not particularly sympathetic to banks, large or small, but mortgage-backed securities were a solution to a problem. Equal opportunity laws are frequently enforced by ratios. Once a case goes to court, if a protected demographic makes up x% of the population, and a bank is sued for violation of equal opportunity laws, the fact that they have issued less than x% of loans to the protected demographic can be used as proof that the bank is not abiding by the law. There is a risk that it won&#8217;t matter even if they can show evidence of fewer applicants or that applicants from that demographic don&#8217;t meet the minimum criteria. Then if you lose one, the floodgates are open (<a href="https://www.ncontracts.com/nsight-blog/reputation-risk-consequences-lending-discrimination#:~:text=Vendor%20Contract%20Assistant-,Reputation%20Risk%20&amp;%20the%20Consequences%20of%20Lending%20Discrimination:%20A%20True%20Story,violate%20the%20Fair%20Housing%20Act.">here</a>). This resulted in constant downward pressure on mortgage qualifications. It got to the point before the bust that if anyone could fog a mirror, they could buy a house in late 2007 (<a href="https://www.heritage.org/report/the-subprime-mortgage-market-collapse-primer-the-causes-and-possible-solutions#:~:text=Negative%20amortizing%20mortgages%20(NegAms)%20allow,on%20market%20conditions.%5B2%5D">here</a>). This also created a new class of non-lender brokers that would &#8220;issue a loan&#8221; then sell it before it even closed to fund the loan and make their money. Then that loan would be bundled with others and sold, leaving investors on the hook. They often use adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) to make a home affordable for traditionally unqualified buyers. Oftentimes, these traditionally unqualified buyers didn&#8217;t understand the terms of the loan and just saw the initial payments. All of this acted to drive home prices higher faster than at any other time in history. The rapidly rising home values gave rise to the commercial flipper that would buy up properties, renovate them, and then sell them 30 or 60 days later for a profit again, driving up prices even higher.</p><p>This continued with the mortgage qualifications declining and home prices rising steadily from 1999 until the bust almost a decade later. Due to the number of traditionally unqualified buyers who could only afford a home with an ARM, the moment interest rates were raised by a very modest quarter of a percentage point in 2006, the ARM reset the following year, and began a spiral of carnage that would persist until at least 2010. Sadly, rather than let the malinvestment unravel, investors take their lumps, and banks that got too fast and loose fail, the government and the Federal Reserve began a program of market intervention not seen since Roosevelt's New (bad) Deal. They did everything from giving banks tons of cash, allowing the Federal Reserve to buy busted mortgage-backed securities at pre-bust market value (even after they busted to no value), brokered deals for banks to buy each other, and much more, so that by 2011, they had dumped 29 trillion into the total bailout both here and of course abroad (<a href="https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_698.pdf">here</a>). To avoid immediate severe inflation, the Fed, for the first time in history, paid banks interest on their excess reserves held at the FED (<a href="https://www.cato.org/cato-journal/spring/summer-2019/interest-reserves-history-rationale-complications-risks">here</a> and <a href="https://www.lewrockwell.com/2009/04/michael-s-rozeff/credit-welfare/">here</a>). This &#8220;clever&#8221; accounting trick enables banks to appear solvent on paper without increasing the amount of money in circulation. Much of the excess reserve money was paid to banks to purchase their bad mortgage securities, thereby removing them from the banks' balance sheets and making the banks appear healthier than they actually were.</p><p>Unfortunately, sixteen years later, many of the temporary measures implemented during the housing crash remain in place. It has, however, fueled inflation much higher than reported, as those funds slowly worked their way out of excess reserves and into the economy over the last decade or so. In addition to bailing out banks, the Fed also continued to suppress interest rates artificially. While lending standards tightened temporarily, by 2012 they had already begun to relax again, and housing prices started to climb once more. Then, we had the scamdemic of 2020, and the gates opened. With interest rates near zero and thousands of free government dollars being handed out like candy on Halloween, the housing market exploded, and demand went up as much as 20% a year. Previously, commercial real estate was typically only interested in multifamily units, such as apartment buildings, because they offered a better return on investment with less risk than single-family homes. With property values skyrocketing and free money to buy, big commercial investors looking for rental income entered the single-family home market, bidding home prices up higher and often offering more than the asking price to shut out regular homebuyers (<a href="https://archives.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/winter23/highlight1.html#:~:text=Because%20institutional%20investors%20buy%20with,homebuyers%20to%20purchase%20available%20homes.">here</a> and <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/03/10/covid-home-prices-trends">here</a>). We are at a place in 2025 where the average household income cannot buy the average house, even at still historically low interest rates under 7% (<a href="https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/mortgage-rates/">here</a>). This has created a situation where the rental market is exceptionally competitive, driving up the cost of renting, and the housing market hasn&#8217;t cooled due to cheap money and institutional investors seeking rental income.</p><p>All of the free COVID-19 money and very cheap credit that have been circulating since 2020 have contributed to an explosion of inflation. Shadow stats using the inflation calculation method used before 1980 (in my opinion, a more honest </p><div class="paywall-jump" data-component-name="PaywallToDOM"></div><p>representation) show inflation over 8% a year since 2021 (<a href="https://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts">here</a>). Over this period, we have seen wild fluctuations in the price of everything, from fuel to groceries and everything else.</p><p>I will admit I am more fortunate than most people, as my wife and I did Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey in 2002, and worked to clean up our debt. The effect of this was that when we first started seriously looking to buy a new house in early 2020, our credit reports were blank. The report the mortgage guy pulled stated that there was insufficient information to score. So, I made what, in retrospect, was a mistake. After 17 years of no car payment and only driving what I could buy with cash, I purchased the second new car of my lifetime. I got a good deal in November 2020, as car dealerships were desperate to sell cars. This, coupled with a Veterans Administration guarantee on the loan, allowed us to buy our home.</p><p>Unlike many people, we don&#8217;t have much debt; we carry the car note and the mortgage. Everything should be fine, right? It was when we moved in that the mortgage payment was $1,635, taxes and insurance included, and we were spending around $1,200-$1,300 a month to feed ourselves and the nine children who were still at home. So, out the door, around $2,800 a month, or about half of our take-home pay. There was money for insurance, phone, electric, internet, and whatever else. Unfortunately, prices started to rise in 2022. So, today our mortgage is $2120 a month, thank you property taxes, and insurance (we haven&#8217;t had a claim, and I have changed carriers twice or it would be higher) and groceries with only 6 children at home run around $2200 a month (we spend more than $100 just on milk) bringing the total for room and board to around $4300 a month. I point this out to illustrate how what we see in the real world differs from what the government publishes, as it attempts to conceal the currency debasement. </p><p>So, without taking on new debt or making any changes, our mortgage, including taxes/ insurance, and groceries, has increased from half to two-thirds of our monthly budget. Don&#8217;t take this wrong, we're all still eating, and no one is naked. I am blessed beyond measure because people who love my wife and me sent us to the financial peace course years ago. I know many people in a similar situation, but they also have credit cards and other loans. This results in them being much worse off. While money is tight, or I have to tell my kids &#8216;no&#8217; far too often, everything else is fantastic. My God, my wife, my kids, and my job are all great.  We have seriously considered selling our place, but looking around, I don&#8217;t think it would be less to rent an acceptable property. So, if the property taxes and insurance increase by another couple of hundred dollars, I don&#8217;t know what we will do. As I see others with significantly more debt, I am grateful to be as well-off as I am. We are far better off than many others.</p><p>To make matters worse, wages have been less than static when compared even to the government's cooked inflation rate. Having received good reviews and standard or better raises on par with my peers in inflation-adjusted dollars, I make around $ 10,000 less now than I did 10 years ago, when, in truth, I have had almost $ 12,000 in raises since then.  Another way to look at it is that I make nearly double what I did in 2001; however, even using the government's inflation calculator, I have about $ 3,000 less buying power than I did then. While I am using my real numbers, I am not alone. This is the case for most people (<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/">here</a>), while the costs of everything have increased far in excess of the official inflation figures.</p><p>If you examine credit card delinquencies, they are at record rates (<a href="https://www.pymnts.com/debt/2025/federal-reserve-data-shows-card-balances-decline-q1-90-day-delinquencies-surge/">here</a>), mortgage delinquencies are also increasing (<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/mortgage-delinquencies-rise-faster-than-other-loans-11765607#:~:text=KEY%20TAKEAWAYS,3">here</a>), and car loan delinquencies are reaching record levels (<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/03/07/car-loan-payment-delinquencies-record-high">here</a>). Something is going to break. Ultimately, my point, using myself as an example, is that things are not improving and are still deteriorating on many fronts. Wall Street is all but disconnected from the real economy. I am just glad we are American broke because, according to the county assessor, our property has appreciated over $100,000 since we purchased it in 2021. I have significant funds in retirement accounts, so if we liquidated everything and came close to what the county wants to tax me for, the wife and I would still have a positive net worth, even if our day-to-day finances are rough. In most of the rest of the world, being broke means living in mud huts and going hungry.</p><p>The only way it really improves is to halt currency debasement. The more money they make out of nothing, the worse it will get, and as long as the debasement continues, no amount of economic policy will save the middle class. I fear for my children.</p><p>Numbers 6:24-26</p><p>The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.</p><p>God bless you!</p><p>-Sam</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/cause-and-effect?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/cause-and-effect?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Lai of the Blue Haired Land Whale]]></title><description><![CDATA[Incoherent Shrieking at Nothing]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/lai-of-the-blue-haired-land-whale</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/lai-of-the-blue-haired-land-whale</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 22 Aug 2025 05:00:48 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7da26ce8-8844-4c00-95fa-d06a18799e1a_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome once again to the Asylum, my dear readers. In case you hadn&#8217;t heard the latest gibbering nonsense from the blue-haired land whales, Trump has once again proven beyond doubt his Nazi bona fides to the point we should expect him to sport a very tightly trimmed toothbrush moustache any day now.</p><p>How could anyone doubt the absolute evil of Trump's policy to round up criminals who are in our country illegally, detain them, and then send them out of our country, per our laws? How could anyone not see that it is precisely the same as Hitler rounding up German citizens who had committed no crime based only on their ethnicity, faith, or group membership? Then Hitler imprisoned them in camps and ghettos where they were starved, worked to death, tortured, experimented on, and murdered by the millions. Rounding up criminals and then flying them to another country that wants them, where they are released, or returning them to a country, where they left to escape prison sentences, to face the justice they fled from is the same thing. Why can&#8217;t the MAGA cult see this?</p><p>Trump even set up a concentration camp in Florida where they feed these peaceful MS-13 migrants to alligators. It is right in the name &#8216;Allegator Alcatraz.&#8217; This is about taking our government&#8217;s crimes out of public view and has nothing to do with land already owned, with utility access already in place, in an out-of-the-way location, perfect for a detention center that would save taxpayers millions by setting up in a new place (<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyrnrnxy7yo">here</a>). Its out-of-the-way location makes it difficult for the detainees to have 24/7 access to counsel (<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-hearing-arguments-alligator-alcatraz-detainees-deprived-due/story?id=124740698">here</a>). Unless they want to hide something, there is no reason for the detention center to be so far out in the middle of nowhere. We all know how much people like to have prisons built next to more populated areas, just like Californians like low-income housing built next to their neighborhoods (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTcj4Z56bPk">here</a>, <a href="https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2024-12-16/residents-voice-opposition-to-planned-charleston-prison">here</a>, and <a href="https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-residents-win-fight-to-stop-housing-project/">here</a>). Lawmakers report inhumane temperatures of 85 degrees inside this internment camp (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGxbmQ7eouw">here</a>). Its not like the structures used are similar to those that housed United States military members all throughout the War on Terror (<a href="https://www.mahaffeyusa.com/industries/military-government">here</a> and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/what-to-know-about-alligator-alcatraz-floridas-immigration-detention-site/">here</a>).</p><p>These racist MAGA people act like there is a problem with the 8-15 million people (no one knows for sure), mostly military-aged men from all over the world, who crossed the border from 2021 to 2024 seeking a better life, is a problem. Other than racism, there is no reason to rush all these deportations or detain these people before their day in court. Only a third don&#8217;t show up for their court dates when let go into our country (<a href="https://cis.org/Arthur/GAO-OneThird-Immigration-Court-Aliens-are-NoShows">here</a>), and why can&#8217;t we just keep the compassionate Biden policy of letting almost everyone stay, even those the court ordered to leave (<a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/new-report-unveils-nonpublic-data-detailing-severity-biden-border-crisis-and">here</a>). It isn&#8217;t like there were over 300,000 minor children lost and whistleblowers reporting the government knowingly turned them over to traffickers (<a href="https://homeland.house.gov/2024/11/21/hhs-whistleblower-retired-border-patrol-agent-counter-trafficking-expert-testify-on-biden-harris-refusal-to-protect-unaccompanied-alien-children/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/new-hhs-data-confirms-biden-harris-admin-placed-tens-of-thousands-of-migrant-children-with-unvetted-sponsors-declined-recommended-home-studies">here</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/11/19/us-news/trafficking-expert-recounts-migrant-girls-abuse-under-biden-harris-policies-that-lost-track-of-300k-kids-not-an-isolated-case/">here</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj0jlre7mymo">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp9E5nkr-wQ">here</a>). All these migrants want is a better life; it isn&#8217;t like they have increased crime, taken over apartments, killed and raped innocents (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM1zd_efHLE">here</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dxxddqqz5o#:~:text=Migrant%20sentenced%20to%20life%20for%20murdering%20Maryland%20mum%20in%20case,month%20manhunt%20in%20Tulsa%2C%20Oklahoma.">here</a>, <a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_6919d75a-bf2c-11ef-98c4-afc0632146b5.html#:~:text=They%20fought%20back:%20Cases%20of,with%20the%20MS%2D13%20gang.&amp;text=Angel%20moms%20describe%20the%20impact,Nungaray%2C%20was%20murdered%20in%20Houston.&amp;text=A%20vigil%20on%20Monday%2C%20Feb,The%20other%20was%20Wyatt%20Banks.&amp;text=Angel%20mom%20Alexis%20Nungaray%20of,men%20illegally%20in%20the%20country.">here</a>, <a href="https://homeland.house.gov/2024/06/21/house-homeland-analysis-4-hard-truths-for-the-biden-administration-about-jocelyn-nungarays-murder-recent-illegal-alien-crime-and-americas-open-borders/#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20D.C.%20%E2%80%93%20Today%2C%20the,have%20to%20be%20this%20way.">here</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/laken-riley-dad-today-interview-rcna143742">here</a>, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116734/witnesses/HHRG-118-HM00-Wstate-NoblesT-20240118.pdf">here</a>, and <a href="https://bush.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Engel_Spring2009.pdf">here</a>).</p><p>Then there are Trump&#8217;s masked goons from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), hiding their identities so they can be the totalitarian shock troops of Trump&#8217;s private Schutzstaffel (SS), rounding up the criminals. It isn&#8217;t like Democratic politicians and leftists have threatened their lives, families, and homes, or attacked, doxed, and accosted their families (<a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/07/14/ice-employee-attacked-rioters-after-congressman-doxes-him-mob-california-marijuana">here</a>, <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/07/11/anarchists-and-rioters-portland-illegally-dox-ice-officers-and-federal-law">here</a>, <a href="https://www.kptv.com/2025/07/11/homeland-security-reports-ice-officers-are-being-doxed-threatened-portland/">here</a>, and <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/another-democrat-calls-violence-time-220016525.html">here</a>). There is no reason these MAGA SS cowards in ICE would wear masks except to spread fear; it is obvious.</p><p>Now, with no authority and no reason other than power, the capital has fallen, and Trump has claimed it for his permanent seat of power. There was no reason to federalize law enforcement in the Federal District of Colombia. It isn&#8217;t like the District of Columbia hasn&#8217;t seen a decrease in crime lately, to a murder rate of 27.5 per hundred thousand. That doesn&#8217;t make it less safe than Bogota, Colombia, Mexico City, or Islamabad, Pakistan, which had murder rates of 15.1, 10.6, and 9.2 per hundred thousand people (<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/12/americas/trump-washington-bogota-dc-mexico-city-crime-intl-latam">here</a>). The way Trump took over, you would think that section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act allowed the president to take over for 48 hours without notifying anyone. 30 days if he tells Congress, and as much over 30 days as Congress will allow (<a href="https://dccouncil.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Home%20Rule%20Act%202013%20(2-11-14).pdf">here</a>). The MAGA cult acts as if police commanders are </p><div class="paywall-jump" data-component-name="PaywallToDOM"></div><p>fudging crime statistics to make Washington look safer, and still being 7<sup>th</sup> in the nation for violent crime is a special condition of an emergency, as crime has been extremely high in Washington D.C. for a long time; this isn&#8217;t special (<a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime">here</a>, <a href="https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/how-does-crime-in-dc-compare-to-other">here</a>, <a href="https://counciloncj.org/crime-in-washington-dc-what-you-need-to-know/">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/19/washington-dc-crime-stats-investigation">here</a>). Seriously, it isn&#8217;t like they have arrested more than 500 criminals or recovered hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs; you would think that crime had significantly dropped since Trump declared Washington, D.C., his personal capital (<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scoop-white-house-touts-guns-drug-haul-removed-from-dc-streets-trumps-crime-blitz-nets-550-arrests">here</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q72ElIB8H0c">here</a>).</p><p>I hope you have enjoyed this dose of sarcasm, because seriously, these insane liberals think this way. As was the case last time Trump was in office, there are plenty of things to dislike about the guy, like the new AI facial recognition and tracking built into his bigger, better bill that lays the groundwork for a social credit system and increases the ever-present deep state surveillance state, his spending, his bombastic communication style, his bombing, and so many other valid complaints. I don&#8217;t understand why the left chooses to make up easily disprovable claims as their criticism of Trump. They did the same thing last time; it's almost like they don&#8217;t want to be taken seriously.</p><p>Proverbs 3:5-6</p><p>5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.</p><p>6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.</p><p>God bless you,</p><p>-Sam</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/lai-of-the-blue-haired-land-whale?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/lai-of-the-blue-haired-land-whale?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Read this please]]></title><description><![CDATA[I have been saying this for a long time.]]></description><link>https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/read-this-please</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://thoughtsfromtheasylum.info/p/read-this-please</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Brunson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 18 Aug 2025 21:08:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3df8e560-cc74-4c4c-814b-00d5c30e2d3a_1024x1024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As I get back into the swing of things, I am reading and researching more again. I came across this (<a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/political/august-15-1971-beginning-end-us-hegemony">here</a>), and I found it informative. I hope you will, too.<br></p>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>