FiveMemeFri – The Biggest Zionist Lies of All Time
+ Etienne’s Interview with the Ultimate Venezuelan Oil Industry Insider: The Former CEO of CITGO held hostage by Maduro for 5 yearsDear Subscribers,The top story is my interview with Jose Pereira, the former US-based CEO of Venezuelan oil company CITGO with over 6,000 locations in the US. Jose and his entire US-based management team were kidnapped and held hostage for 5 years by Nicolas Maduro and then traded for two of Maduros nephews that had been arrested by the DEA for cocaine smuggling.Jose is the ultimate Venezuelan oil industry insider to help dissect and understand what is REALLY going on in Venezuela!We discuss:How the Invasion of Venezuela props up the US petro-dollar system that forces oil importing countries to buy and hold US dollars to purchase oil allowing money center banks and the US Fed to continue creating dollars out of thin air in an inflationary process that steals the purchasing power from those who earn and save dollars.How Maduro joins the ranks of other oil rich leaders that defied the US dollar regime and sold oil in currencies other than the dollarSaddam Hussein – Iraq, 3rd Largest Proven Reserves – Swaps $26 Billion in USD for Euros in his US “Oil-for-Food” program account and begins selling oil in Euros in October of 2000 – Invaded by the US in early 2003 and where the USD is mandated for oil purchases.Muammar Gaddafi – Libya, 8th Largest Proven Reserves – 2009 Gaddafi elected Chairman of the African Union, proposes a gold-backed pan-regional currency called the Gold Dinar backed by Libya’s gold 144 tons of gold reserves to replace the USD and French CFA Franc system. Killed by NATO-backed rebels after a NATO airstrike on his convoy on October 20th, 2011. Libya’s gold reserves disappeared shortly thereafter.How Chavez “Nationalized” (Stole) the assets of hundreds of foreign exploration, refining, and oil service companies operating in Venezuela and destroyed the assets through mismanagement.How many Venezuelans today have to drive to Columbia to get quality gasoline for their automobiles because the domestic gas is of such poor quality.Which US Oil Companies are set to profit from the US control and reassignment of oil resources? Who is set to lose?Was Maduro really connected to the drug trade?Check out the interview here: https://artofliberty.substack.com/p/former-ceo-of-venezuelan-oil-companyThe interview is free BUT “Go Paid” on Substack to get a free copy of either of my books AND access to the interview transcript which I have illustrated with visualizations, infographics, references, and links to accelerate and improve your understanding of the situation!Personal Note: The last couple of issues I have mentioned that I just finished an 8 day water fast + 2 day dry fast. So… Some folks have asked what do you eat once you break the fast. The key is NOT to revert back to the Standard American Diet (SAD) as the body will soak up anything negative put into it (I.E. glyphosated wheat, cheese, sugar, rBGH, aspartame, BPA/BPS, etc.)So Julie and I have been optimizing our nutrition for the past week. We broke the fast with fresh squeezed OJ, grapes, and guacamole to bring the digestive system back online gently. Then, we have been utilizing a program developed by Joe Cross, the Australian bloke from the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, called a Reboot.The idea is that every once and a while your body needs to reset from meat, cheese, sugar, and other foods that cause inflammation and mucous in the system. You spend 1-8 weeks (depending on how bad you need it) optimizing your nutrition with juice and plant-based, non-inflammatory raw superfoods. He has a really cool 15 day program that has been one the hidden jewels in The Liberator, our flashdrive (and Free Dropboxes!) of Liberty resources, for years.The first week is solid foods designed to ween you (+1… the meals are designed for 2 people) off the sugar, wheat, caffeine, etc. to prep the body for 10 days of juice. There is a shopping list for the week, easy to follow delicious recipes, (Roasted Acorn Squash with sautéed portobello mushrooms, sweet potato and roasted carrot fries, Kale and Avocado salad, amazing soups, and juices. At the end of week one, you have used all the ingredients, and there is a new shopping list and easy-to-follow juice recipes for a juice feast for week 2. Same for week three with new juice recipes/shopping list.If you are considering doing a water fast/dry fast then I would suggest starting out with the 15 day reboot plan and then shifting into the water fast from the juice. If you finish with a dry fast then I would suggest timing it for 1-2 days over a weekend and plan on devoting that time to meditation, prayer and solitude. You aren’t going to want to go out!Top Stories of the WeekFormer CEO of Venezuelan Oil Company Citgo Held Hostage by Nicolas Maduro for Five Years Breaks Down with Etienne What Is REALLY Going On in VenezuelaThe Ultimate Venezuelan Oil Industry Insider Explains Who Wins, Who Loses, and What is Really Going on in the Country + How This Extends the US Petrodollar.Jose Pereira was the US-based CEO of Venezuelan oil company Citgo Petroleum and after a Thanksgiving Day meeting in Caracas in 2017, he and five other Citgo executives were arrested and charged with bribery, corruption and other false charges related to a business deal that someone in the the Venezuelan government felt was disadvantageous.They became known as the Citgo 6. Jose was held in solitary confinement for 10 months and ultimately held for 5 years before he was released in a prisoner exchange on October 1st 2022 where the five remaining Citgo Six hostages were flown hooded to the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.They were met by another plane with Delcy Rodriguez, Vice President of Venezuela and now acting President and another plane flown by the US Drug Enforcement Administration where they were swapped for two nephews of Nicolas Maduro, Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas, who had been arrested by the US DEA for drug smuggling in an operation that came to be called the Narcosobrinos affair.The Ultimate Venezuelan Oil Industry Insider Explains Who Wins, Who Loses, and What is Really Going on in the Country + How This Extends the US Petrodollar.Continue reading…Videos of the WeekThe Corbett Report – New World Next Week – The Fraud 1000x BIGGER Than Somali Day CareWelcome to New World Next Week – the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news.“Government”, Media and AcademiaCriminality ExposedThese articles also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_ScamsDOJ admits it has still not released 99% of Epstein files, violating lawEtienne Note: This article also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_Scamsby Judd Legum and Rebecca CrosbyIn an extraordinary letter sent to a federal judge Monday evening, Attorney General Pam Bondi admitted that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not disclosed more than 99% of the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — despite a federal law that required full disclosure by December 19, 2025.According to the letter, the DOJ “has now posted to the DOJ Epstein Library webpage approximately 12,285 documents (comprising approximately 125,575 pages).” Meanwhile, “there are more than 2 million documents potentially responsive to the Act that are in various phases of review.” The number of undisclosed documents has nearly doubled since the last DOJ statement, on December 24, which claimed that one million Epstein-related documents had not been released.Continue readingFBI shuts down Minnesota’s investigation into ICE shooting and blocks access to evidenceEtienne Note: This article also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_ScamsEtienne Note: The FBI is going to ensure that nothing happens to the ICE agent to create a precedent and embolden their goon squad that they are above the law and will be protected for anything they do. Complete organized crime “government” in DC protecting cold blooded murders to ensure they have people willing to commit cold blooded murder.By Steve FrankMinnesota investigators say they have hit a roadblock in the probe of a fatal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shooting after the FBI declined to participate in a joint investigation, officials said Wednesday.Continue readingTrump says the U.S. government may reimburse oil companies for rebuilding Venezuela’s infrastructureEtienne Note: Evidently the organized crime “government” is so corrupt and they think the population is so economically illiterate and stupid that they think they can trick us into paying for the oil company investments in infrastructure to process and refine the oil we just stole for themEtienne Note: This article also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_ScamsBy Kristen Welker and Steve KopackPresident Donald Trump said he believes the U.S. oil industry could get expanded operations in Venezuela “up and running” in fewer than 18 months.Continue readingThe REAL Political Spectrum… Around the WorldEtienne Note: I have some folks who have promised me some new countries but they did’t get their homework to me before we went to publication. Please e-mail me at Etienne(at)ArtOfLiberty.org to help create a version for YOUR countryI am adding a new recurring feature to Five Meme Friday: The REAL Political Spectrum… Around the World! A couple of weeks ago I did an article: The Fake Left-Right Paradigm – What is the REAL Political Spectrum the Monopoly Media is Hiding? where I broke down WHY the monopoly media misrepresents the REAL political spectrum and what the actual political spectrum looks like in the US. That meme went viral so now I am duplicating it for other countries.Can you help? Please e-mail me at Etienne(at)ArtOfLiberty.org to help create a version for YOUR country OR suggest changes for a version we already have circulating. Donate to support this project at ArtOfLiberty.org/sponsorship-program/The REAL Political Spectrum in: USA, Australia, Canada, Estonia (English), Estonia (Estonian), United Kingdom, Venezuela (English), Venezuela (Espanol)Shift the Political Spectrum in: USA, Australia, Canada, Estonia (English), Estonia (Estonian), United Kingdom, Venezuela (English), Venezuela (Espanol)“Daily News of The Week”What Everyone Needs to Know About Antidepressantsby A Midwestern DoctorStory at a Glance:•SSRI antidepressants are one of the most harmful medications on the market, and because of just how many people they are given to (often for no good reason as only a minority of patients benefit from SSRIs) they have had a profound effect on the consciousness of our entire society.•This article will review some of the more common side effects of SSRIs (and SNRIs), such as becoming numb to life, becoming severely agitated and imbalanced (sometimes to the point one becomes violently psychotic), losing your mind, losing the ability to have sex, and the development of birth defects.•Unfortunately, due to widespread denial in psychiatry about the issues with their drugs the common SSRI side effects are often misinterpreted as a sign the individual had a pre-existing mental illness and needs more of the drug—which all too often then leads to catastrophic events for the over-medicated patient.•Like many other stimulant drugs (e.g., cocaine) SSRIs can be highly addictive. Because of this, patients frequently get severely ill when they attempt to stop them (withdrawals affect roughly half of SSRI users) and it is often extremely difficult to withdraw from them and very few doctors know how to safely facilitate this.Continue readingPushback of the Week Slovenia Protects Cashby Solari Report“Recent crises have exposed the shortcomings of digital systems, which speaks in favour of cash.”~ Meira Hot, Social Democrats coalitionPushback of the Week, December 21, 2025In our December 10 story on “The Top Cash Acceptance Laws of 2025,” one of the countries we highlighted was Slovenia, which passed a constitutional amendment to protect cash as legal tender on December 1.The National Assembly passed the amendment into law in a unanimous cross-partisan vote, though it was not legislators but Slovenian citizens who got the cash ball rolling with a social media campaign and grassroots petition in 2023. The government initially opposed the initiative, stating that it would prefer to defer to the EU, but the 56,000 petition signatures in favor of a constitutional amendment forced legislators’ hand.Continue readingSimplicius – Big Surprise: Legal Story Changes as Maduro Brought to Courtby SimpliciusWhat do you know? Today in court the Justice Department officially dropped the fake claim that Maduro was ringleader of the fictitious ‘Cartel of the Suns’, which never existed. The theater is not required anymore, you see, now that he’s captured! Convenient how that works, no?The Justice Department has backed off a dubious claim about President Nicolás Maduro that the Trump administration promoted last year in laying the groundwork to remove him from power in Venezuela: accusing him of leading a drug cartel called Cartel de los Soles.Can this administration and Justice Department in particular stoop any lower? After their Epstein docs “shell games” it was hard to believe that they could or would.That’s all not to mention the fact that the indictment itself now strikes a bit different compared to the accusations levied against Maduro in lead up to his capture, which were used to build him up as the world’s greatest crime boss:Continue readingRevolutionary Overhaul: CDC Slashes Childhood Vaccine Schedule, While California Remains in Dark Agesby Alix MayerBREAKING — January 5, 2026 — Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a dramatic revision of its recommended childhood immunization schedule, removing recommendations for targeted infections by about one-third – from 17 infections down to 11.Since vaccines typically require multiple doses, the dose reduction is even more dramatic – cutting vaccine doses in half. In early 2025, the CDC-recommended schedule included about 90 doses by age 18, compared to about 44 doses under the new guidelines.California, on the other hand, passed legislation in 2025 (AB144) locking our recommended children’s vaccine schedule to the CDC’s January 2025 schedule with 17 vaccines, and about 90 doses. This is a California-only full vaccination schedule.A third version of a recommended vaccine schedule is California’s required school vaccine schedule – it is a subset of 10 vaccines with more than 30 doses, as explained below.Continue readingDoctors Will No Longer Receive Financial Rewards for Vaccinating KidsThis article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website.by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. The DefenderThe federal government will stop paying physicians based on the number of patients they vaccinate, and is urging state health agencies to stop using similar financial incentives.In a Dec. 30, 2025, memo to state health officials, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said it “does not tie payment to performance on immunization quality measures in Medicaid and CHIP [Childhood Health Insurance Program] at the federal level.”Under the new policies, CMS will no longer require states to report how many children are vaccinated, but states may continue to voluntarily provide the data.CMS stated it will explore options to more strongly encourage informed consent before vaccination and “will also explore how religious exemptions for vaccinations can be accounted for in the data and the subsequent measures.”Continue readingBREAKING: Study Identifies Over 300 Peer-Reviewed COVID-19 “Vaccine” Cancer Cases Across 27 Countries — Journal Hit With CyberattacksBy Nicolas Hulscher, MPHFor several years now, clinicians, pathologists, and independent researchers have been documenting turbo cancers following COVID-19 vaccination: sudden relapses, explosive disease acceleration, rare malignancies appearing out of nowhere, and tumors localizing to injection sites or draining lymph nodes. These signals have been visible for some time — but deliberately fragmented, dismissed as coincidence, or buried under claims that “case reports don’t count.”That excuse has now completely collapsed.A newly published peer-reviewed systematic review in Oncotarget — authored by Charlotte Kuperwasser, PhD, and Wafik S. El-Deiry, MD, PhD — is the first to formally assemble and analyze the entire published literature on cancer temporally associated with COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection.Continue readingScientists create robots smaller than a grain of salt that can thinkby Science NewsResearchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan have built the smallest fully programmable autonomous robots ever created. These microscopic machines can swim through liquid, sense their surroundings, respond on their own, operate for months at a time, and cost about one penny each to produce.Each robot is barely visible without magnification, measuring roughly 200 by 300 by 50 micrometers. That makes them smaller than a grain of salt. Because they function at the same scale as many living microorganisms, the robots could one day help doctors monitor individual cells or assist engineers in assembling tiny devices used in advanced manufacturing.Powered entirely by light, the robots contain microscopic computers that allow them to follow programmed paths, detect local temperature changes, and adjust their movement in response.Continue readingGLP-1 ‘Skinny Jabs’: Rapid Weight Loss, But at What Cost?By Chimnonso Onyekwelu, The DefenderThis article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website.By the year 2030, more than 40% of adults in the U.K. are predicted to be obese, with the figure in the U.S. rising to nearly 50%. While these numbers are startling, projections also show that by this same time, the global population of obese adults will exceed one billion.As the single biggest risk factor for Type 2 diabetes — and a major contributor to heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, as well as digestive, liver and kidney conditions — addressing obesity is critical for optimal health.It was against this backdrop that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of liraglutide (Saxenda) in December 2014 as a weight-loss treatment was celebrated as a major milestone.Continue readingThe Biggest Zionist Lies of All Timeby Robert RosenthalZionism has always relied on myths, distortions, and falsehoods to maintain support among Western audiences. ZBS (Zionist bullshit) has kept generations of Jewish Zionists and goyishe backers of that racist project thoroughly misinformed.After two years of live‑streamed genocide on smartphones, we’ve seen what happens when Jews with open minds and hearts that Zionism hasn’t hardened finally confront the reality of that dishonest, racist, violent, and morally bankrupt movement: they tend to walk away. And once they leave, they rarely come back.I was brought into Zionism at a young age, when I generally believed what authority figures told me. As a Baby Boom Jew, I didn’t have easy access to quality information about Palestine–Israel. We never heard Palestinian voices, and I don’t recall ever speaking with an anti-Zionist Jew. The story I received was entirely biased, one-sided, and, in retrospect, deeply offensive.Continue readingPOSITIVE NEWS: CDC Childhood Vaccine Schedule Reduced to 9 Vaccines Across 22 Dosesby Karen KingstonJanuary 5, 2026: I’m happy to share with you some good news! After an exhaustive review of childhood vaccine protocols from 20 other nations, the CDC has reduced the number of recommended doses from the childhood vaccine schedule from more than 80 doses to just 22 doses across 9 vaccines and 12 pathogens.Some vaccines contain more than one pathogen, i.e. Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR).Some vaccines have up to 4 recommended doses between 2-months and 17 years of age.Per the HHS press release:“President Trump directed us to examine how other developed nations protect their children and to take action if they are doing better,” Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said. “After an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent. This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health.”Continue readingCreativity Can Be a ‘Fountain of Youth’ for Your Brainby Dr. Joseph MercolaEngaging in creative activities like music, dance, art, or gaming helps your brain stay up to seven years biologically younger than your actual ageEven short periods of creative learning, such as 30 hours of focused practice, improve brain function and reduce biological brain age by about three yearsCreativity strengthens communication between brain regions responsible for attention, coordination, and problem-solving, helping maintain clarity and focus as you ageYou don’t need to be an artist to benefit — everyday creative choices like journaling, cooking intuitively, or designing your space keep your brain flexible and resilientRegular creative engagement supports better mood, stronger memory, and faster thinking, offering one of the simplest and most enjoyable ways to preserve long-term brain healthContinue readingThe Statism of Donald Trumpby Mises Wire • Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. • Memes by EtienneMany libertarians hope that Donald Trump would favor many free market policies. The claim by these libertarians was that, aside from obvious exceptions like eminent domain and tariffs, he was basically sympathetic to the free market. Unfortunately, these hopes have not been fulfilled, and in this week’s article, I’ll try to show this. Before going ahead, though, I’d like to avert a possible misunderstanding. The issue we have to deal with is Trump’s policy, not whether he was a marginally more acceptable choice for president than his Democratic Party opponent, the “woke” Kamala Harris. Many people regarded her as a repellent figure; but, to reiterate, this isn’t our topic.Continue reading2.7 million Spanish children and teenagers. ZERO Covid deaths.by Alex BerensonAnother slow news day, huh?Contrary to what my critics like to think, I try not to weigh in just for the fun of it. (When I do, I often regret it later.) I prefer having expertise, new facts, or ideally both.So I’ll skip writing about the arrest of Venezuela’s president Nicholas Maduro, except to note: in grabbing the leader of a nation of 30 million people so quickly, the American military has again proven its tactical brilliance. But what happens next is what will decide the success or failure of this strike. I don’t want to guess on that front.Instead of speculation, here’s some news from Spanish researchers: contrary to what American health bureaucrats said for years to justify the increasingly insane mRNA “vaccine” experiment, Covid doesn’t kill kids.—(More facts, fewer guesses. For pennies a day.)Continue readingMusic you can taste, Lego smart bricks and chore robots: The coolest gadgets from CES 2026 Day 1by Shawn Chen & Rio YamatCES is a huge opportunity annually for companies both large and small to parade products they plan to put on shelves this year.Nvidia, AMD and Intel all had important chip and AI platform announcements on the first day of CES 2026, but all audiences wanted to see more of was Star Wars and Jensen Huang’s little robot buddies.And as predicted, artificial intelligence was anchored in nearly everything as tech firms continue to look for AI products that will attract customers.The biggest buzzword in the air at CES is “physical AI,” Nvidia’s term for AI models that are trained in a virtual environment using computer generated, “synthetic” data, then deployed as physical machines once they’ve mastered their purpose.The biggest buzzword in the air at CES is “physical AI,” Nvidia’s term for AI models that are trained in a virtual environment using computer generated, “synthetic” data, then deployed as physical machines once they’ve mastered their purpose.Continue readingUS forces dramatically seize Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlanticby Gergana KrastevaAn oil tanker linked to both Russia and Venezuela has been seized by US forces in the Atlantic.The US European Command, headquartered in Germany, confirmed today the seizure of the Marinera for ‘violations of US sanctions’.It said in a statement on X: ‘The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro.’This comes as part of Donald Trump’s aggressive push to dictate oil flows in America’s backyard.Marinera, formerly called Bella-1, is under US sanctions, and has spent at least two weeks attempting to evade a US blockade near Venezuela.Ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the tanker nearing Iceland’s exclusive economic zone today.It holds such importance to the Kremlin that it deployed a submarine and other vessels to escort it across the Atlantic.Continue readingIsrael’s Links to the Seizure of Maduro in Venezuela and Division of Resourcesby James Li, Jimmy Dore Show, Hats Off, Global Inssight Journal and E. Michael JonesVarious commentators point out Israel’s link to the capture of Maduro from Venezuela. Zionist Billionaire Paul Singer bought Citgo and stands to make large profits from Venezuela’s oil supply. Max Blumenthal revealed that it will take years to rebuild Venezuela’s oil infrastructure. Exxon Mobil seeks to restore control over its oil fields. Elon Musk published fake AI videos of Venezuelans celebrating because Musk wants access to Venezuela’s lithium and other minerals.James Li revealed that investor and Zionist supporter Paul Singer bought Citgo, the US subsidiary of Venezuela’s state run oil company, for $5.9 billion, and stands to benefit greatly from the capture of Venezuela. He said that American citizens’ money will be directed toward Zionist billionaires and corporations.Continue readingStarlink Digitally Controlling the Skies for Military SupremacyBy Paul A. PhilipsStarlink can be explained using two different descriptions.The first description, the official glossy effrontery, describes it as a technologically innovative engineering civilian project: With its vast world-wide network of space satellites, Starlink is a revolutionary communications infrastructure designed to give digital equality, promising internet access to everyone even those living in the remotest areas, as it continues developing…(Note: Notice the deliberate omission that it’s also used as a spying network in conjunction with other sinister technology).Further, SpaceX’s Starlink with its CEO Elon Musk is touted as a visionary, having a revolutionary communications company boldly democratizing the skies, providing internet services to the public where governmental bodies have failed to duly deliver…Continue readingIs the Fed Injecting Money Due to Silver? Or Is there a Different Crisis?by Martin ArmstrongQUESTION: Marty, you have been silent on the rumors that the Fed is bailing out JP Morgan who they claim was short silver. If there is anyone who has been behind the curtain and confronted the banks, that is you. Would you please comment on this topic.ELANSWER: JP Morgan is on our site. It is due for new highs in 2026. We do have a Panic Cycle in 2027. The real crisis appears to be 2027 into 2028. I am aware that everyone seems to be freaking out about the injections into the REPO market. The global recession will spread starting here in 2026 but accelerate in 2027 int0 2028.The implication is that something is wrong. However, this is a complex issue and as always the linear analysis always seeks to reduce this to a single cause and effect – i.e. silver short. However, what I rarely ever hear anyone mention is the real Shadow Dollar System: Repo and FX Swaps, both form the True Pillars of Global Liquidity. The global financial system operates on two largely invisible markets that dwarf traditional banking in scale and systemic importance: the repurchase agreement (repo) market and the foreign exchange swap market. Together, these markets circulate tens of trillions of dollars daily, providing the essential liquidity that keeps the modern financial system functioning.Continue readingIain Davis: UK’s Operation Talia – Unconstitutional and Unlawfulby Iain DavisOn the 20th December 2021 a group of concerned citizens presented evidence to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) alleging “serious indictable offences arising from the manufacture, promotion, and administration of the COVID-19 vaccines.” As a consequence of Operation Talla, those allegations were not investigated by the MPS. Many similar allegations submitted to other police forces around the country were not investigated either, for the same reason.The evidence given to the police, in December 2021, comprised of more than 400 victim, witness, qualified expert and industry whistleblower statements. The evidence provided included detailed scientific analyses and multiple documentary exhibits.The concerned citizens were given the Crime Reference Number CRN-6029679/21 by the Metropolitan Police. Upon issuing the CRN the police were duty bound to investigate the allegation of criminality.Continue readingKawasaki’s four-legged robot-horse vehicle is going into productionby Bronwyn ThompsonWhat was announced as a 2050 pipe dream by Kawasaki, the company’s hydrogen-powered, four-hooved, all-terrain robot horse vehicle Corleo is actually going into production and is now expected to be commercially available decades earlier – with the first model to debut in just four years.We first wrote about this mountain-climbing monster in April last year, when it was merely a concept with some bad CGI video. But it seems Kawasaki is now getting serious about its futuristic mechanical quadruped, setting up a dedicated operation – known as the Safe Adventure Business Development Team – and aiming to have the robo-horse up and galloping for visitor use at Expo 2030 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Following that, the plan is to have the mobility vehicles on sale for consumers by 2035.Continue readingBLUETTI Debuts Charger 2, the Industry’s First Unified Car & Solar Smart Energy Hubby newatlas.comSydney, Australia – 7 January 2026 — At CES 2026, BLUETTI unveiled Charger 2, the industry’s first unified car and solar smart energy hub, designed for modern touring, 4WD travel, RV road trips, overlanding, and off-grid adventures. The Charger 2 combines high-speed alternator charging with solar input in a single, intelligent system, delivering faster, smarter power for overlanders, van travelers, and anyone leading an on-the-road lifestyle.From long-distance outback touring to coastal van life, Australian travelers rely on consistent power for fridges, lighting, and essential electronics. Yet traditional 12V cigarette-lighter charging can take over 10 hours to recharge a 1kWh battery, while current chargers let users choose between alternator charging while driving or solar charging while parked. This “either-or” approach wastes daylight hours and slows energy recovery.Continue readingLenders & Homebuilders Jump After Trump Unveils QE-Style $200B Mortgage Bond Buying Plan To Unfreeze Housing Marketby Tyler DurdenUpate (0710ET):Shares of LoanDepot, Rocket Companies, and Opendoor Technologies surged in premarket trading after President Trump signaled plans to push Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to purchase $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities, a move aimed at driving down mortgage rates and improving affordability ahead of the midterm election cycle.If the QE-style program is implemented, it would represent a direct government intervention to lower lending costs, providing near-term relief to a housing market effectively paralyzed by years of high prices and elevated borrowing costs, producing some of the worst affordability conditions in a generation.The prospect of lower rates could act as a positive tailwind for mortgage originators, realtors, and adjacent real estate services that have endured several years of depressed transaction volumes, with some realtors forced to return to their previous bartending jobs.Continue readingWhy Statism Attracts the Worst People—Every Timeby ironcountynews.orgStatism does not merely corrupt good people after the fact. More dangerously, it selects for a particular type of person at the outset—and then reshapes everyone who remains inside it. This is not ideological speculation or partisan rhetoric. It is a pattern that repeats across centuries, cultures, flags, and slogans. Different regimes promise different futures, yet the outcomes are strikingly similar.At its core, statism concentrates coercive power. Any system built on coercion—rather than consent—inevitably attracts those who are comfortable using force, distance, and enforcement as organizing principles. Once coercion becomes the foundation of legitimacy, persuasion no longer matters. Moral character becomes secondary. Compatibility with power replaces conscience as the primary filter.Continue readingMapped: Global Inflation by Country in 2025Etienne Note: The inflation rate in the US is Waaay higher than 2.7%. Check out Shadow Stats or the Chapwood Index to understand the real inflation rate.By Dorothy NeufeldGlobal inflation averaged 4.2% in 2025, with many countries showing resilience in the face of historic U.S. tariffs.In the U.S., inflation declined from 3% in 2024 to 2.7% in 2025.Inflation was highest in Venezuela, at 269.9% for the year.Global inflation fell moderately to 4.2% in 2025, in spite of U.S. tariffs hitting century highs.For 2026, the IMF projects inflation to decline even further to 3.7% in 2026, even as tariff impacts continue to materialize. This is being driven by weak price growth in China and below-target inflation in many European countries.This graphic shows inflation by country in 2025, based on data from the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook.Below, we show the inflation rates of 191 countries and territories worldwide in 2025:Venezuela faces the highest inflation on the planet, at 269.9% in 2025, and this is set to jump to 682% in 2026.Continue readingArtificial intelligence begins prescribing medications in UtahBy Yasmin Khorram and Ruth ReaderIn a first for the U.S., Utah is letting artificial intelligence — not a doctor — renew certain medical prescriptions. No human involved.The state has launched a pilot program with health-tech startup Doctronic that allows an AI system to handle routine prescription renewals for patients with chronic conditions. The initiative, which kicked off quietly last month, is a high-stakes test of whether AI can safely take on one of health care’s most sensitive tasks and how far that could spread beyond one AI-friendly red state.It also serves as an early check on how far policymakers and patients are willing to trust AI over trained doctors in decision-making. By inserting algorithms into one of medicine’s most fundamental relationships, Utah’s initiative could represent the first step in upending how care is delivered in the U.S.Continue readingUpcoming Liberty EventsProspera World Tour – San Francisco, January 21stThe People’s Reset – Morelia, Mexico – Jan 28th-Feb 1st 2026Principled Business Summit- Prospera, Roatán, Honduras, February 5–9, 2026MONEROTOPIA 2026-Roma, Mexico City, February 12TH-15TH 2026Entrepreneurship Beyond Politics: Mises Circle in Oklahoma City – Feb 21st, OKC, OKFreedom Under Natural Law Conference – February 21st & 22nd 2026, On-lineThe Liberty Forum (NH Free State Project Conference) – March 5th-8th – Concord, NHMises Institute Libertarian Scholars Conference – March 19, 2026, at our Auburn, ALAustrian Economic Research Conference 2026 – March 19-21, 2026, Auburn, ALConfluence – April 23rd-26th – Bandera, TexasRothbard University-May 14-16, 2026, Auburn, ALLibertarian Scholars Conference 2026- March 19, 2026 – March 19, 2026 – Auburn, Alabama.Free Cities Foundation Conference – September 3–6, 2026 – Prospera, Roatan, HondurasMemes BonanzaWhite Rose Sticker Bonanza – What is the White Rose?The White Rose is an international group of activists that make pro-liberty, anti-lockdown, anti-Digital ID stickers available globally for gas pumps, bathroom doors, airports, and police cars. The campaigners make a file of stickers available for free, and anyone with a low-cost Brother QL 800 label printer (~$100 new or $40-$60 used on E-bay) can print cool, hard-hitting stickers at a very low cost. They also distribute free stickers worldwide via postal mail (follow the directions on their Telegram page to get yours). The stickers are distributed in bulk at liberty events like Porcupine Freedom Festival, FreedomFest, The Rainbow Gathering, and others!Find Out More at: https://artofliberty.org/white-rose/Truth Music of the WeekYou and I – Remix – J Brave & Sol RisingMore Truth Music from: The Liberator – J Brave and Sol Rising… https://youtu.be/ZcwU05G4u8wlibertarian Intentional Community RoundupAaron Day Announces Exploratory Committee for NH Senate RunI usually don’t cover politics as a voluntaryist but I am adding this to libertarian Intentional Community Watch as part of our coverage of the Free State Project. Check out my article: New Hampshire’s Free State Project – How Freeing a Single State from “Government” Could Free Us All here: https://artofliberty.substack.com/p/new-hampshires-free-state-projectNew Hampshire legislators are one step closer to loosening regulations on the state’s meat industry.House Bill 396, which would permit the in-state sale of certain meat products processed at non-U.S. Department of Agriculture facilities, including cuts of beef and pork, passed the House, 214-119, on Wednesday.Such sales would go against federal law, which calls for meat sold commercially in the United States to be inspected and approved by the USDA, or by a state agency partnered with the department. In New Hampshire, which does not have a state inspection program, meat for commercial sale must be processed at a USDA-approved facility with a federal inspector present during the slaughter.There are four such USDA facilities in the state, but proponents of the bill said wait times for slaughter appointments are long and difficult to secure for small farmers. This bill, they said, was an important step to help those farms compete in the state’s meat market.“We need to be cognizant that our consumers and our farmers want this. They don’t have to do it, but they want it, and it gives more security to our state by giving more options,” said Rep. Barbara Comtois, a Barnstead Republican and the bill’s prime sponsor.The language is still being worked out, and the NH Senate will have to pass itThe LiberatorThe Liberator– Our archive of “government” and media criminalityImportant Note: New additions are added to the authoritative Liberator Dropboxes regularly but will not appear in the physical credit card-sized flash drive until we launch the next version. Anyone can download the current contents of the Liberator FOR FREE including all the primary sources and evidence from our investigation into “The Covid”.Liberator #1 – Companion media to “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History. Exposed! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s01ey167cszv1xa/AABwg9HPJMnWw1y1QzZE5LiYa?dl=0Liberator #2 – Evidence of False Flag terror for police state and hoax shootings for gun control: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f8vwa29bg8wpp0r/AAByoYT8XcVsbgUYFmrVPLxia?dl=0Liberator #3 – Evidence that “The Covid” has been a scam and the vaccines are killing people: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tbdhlxb8z27ktyv/AAB2JDYZGHLrC-YRbC6p8OH2a?dl=0Liberator #4 – Voluntaryism and more evidence of “Government” corruption: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/smh30vmbafpo8dn/AACEpgLV4P8D18AV-9Rtfp3Pa?dl=0Liberator #5 – Prepping and Self-Sufficiency – Hundreds of resources: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ow588jfgvq0y40r/AABXTfrhNaVBN4ZpmxSwliAra?dl=0How to Support the Art of Liberty Foundation1. Become an Art of Liberty Foundation Sponsor at ArtOfLiberty.org/Sponsor – The best way to support us is to become a sponsor of the foundation. We have some great perks to say Thank You! including copies of “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed!, Liberator Flash Drives, Signed Hard Copies, calls with Etienne, and even the ability to have an Art of Liberty Foundation event with tier one Liberty speakers in your City or Town for your friends, family and neighbors!2. Go Paid on Substack! – We simply couldn’t do what we do without the support of our sponsors and paid subscribers on Substack! If you are enjoying the Daily News, Important News, or Five Meme Friday on Substack we hope you will consider “Going Paid” on Substack. All it takes is a click and we have some great premiums to say: Thank You!3. Buy Us a Coffee… Err Juice! at https://ko-fi.com/artofliberty – Support us for as little as $5… We really, really appreciate it! OR Buy Us a Coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/etienne2 BTW, right now coffee and juice are tied!4. Get a Pop Up Guerrilla Bookstore and Earn Profit from Distributing Copies of “Government” in Your Town / City – Do you (or a friend) have a retail location? Open up a Pop Up Guerrilla Bookstore and share in the profits. We have everything you need to attractively merchandise “Government” and Liberators in a small footprint. Details here: https://government-scam.com/bookstore5. Buy Books and Merchandise at ArtOfLiberty.org/store – Our store has become one of the biggest distributors of Voluntaryist and peaceful anarchist titles. Especially popular is our “Everything Bundle” – The Sampler of Liberty!To See the Cage Is to Leave It – 25 Techniques the Few Use to Control the Many is now IN-STOCK and shipping from our distribution center. Order OR get a free teaser copy where you can see a list of all 25 techniques and the Table of Contents at https://SeeTheCage.com/Thanks for joining us for Five Meme Friday. Please feel free to forward this email to friends and colleagues.Sincerely,Etienne de la Boetie2Executive Director,The Art of Liberty FoundationAuthor of: To See the Cage is to Leave It & “Government” The Biggest Scam in History … Exposed!!Five Meme Friday is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Former CEO of Venezuelan Oil Company Citgo Held Hostage by Nicolas Maduro for Five Years Breaks Down with Etienne What Is REALLY Going On in Venezuela
The Ultimate Venezuelan Oil Industry Insider Explains Who Wins, Who Loses, and What is Really Going on in the Country + How This Extends the US Petrodollar. Jose Pereira was the US-based CEO of Venezuelan oil company Citgo Petroleum and after a Thanksgiving Day meeting in Caracas in 2017, he and five other Citgo executives were arrested and charged with bribery, corruption and other false charges related to a business deal that someone in the the Venezuelan government felt was disadvantageous.They became known as the Citgo 6. Jose was held in solitary confinement for 10 months and ultimately held for 5 years before he was released in a prisoner exchange on October 1st 2022 where the five remaining Citgo Six hostages were flown hooded to the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.Jose was ultimately swapped for two nephews of Nicolas Maduro convicted of drug dealing by the DEA in a prisoner swap on a remote island in the CaribbeanThey were met by another plane with Delcy Rodriguez, Vice President of Venezuela and now acting President and another plane flown by the US Drug Enforcement Administration where they were swapped for two nephews of Nicolas Maduro, Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas, who had been arrested by the US DEA for drug smuggling in an operation that came to be called the Narcosobrinos affair.In an amazingly fortuitous twist of fate, I had been scheduled for over a month to be interviewed by Jose on his podcast Building Resilience about my new book: To See the Cage is to Leave It – 25 Techniques the Few Use to Control the Many. With the US having seized Maduro and Trump promising to reimburse American oil companies for the astronomical costs of rebuilding the Venezuelan oil sector, I flipped the script on Jose and took the opportunity to interview the ultimate Venezuelan oil industry insider with a deep understanding of the connections of Maduro to the drug trade, on what is REALLY going on with the US Invasion of Venezuela. We discuss:How the Invasion of Venezuela props up the US petro-dollar system that forces oil importing countries to buy and hold US dollars to purchase oil allowing money center banks and the US Fed to continue creating dollars out of thin air in an inflationary process that steals the purchasing power from those who earn and save dollars.How Maduro joins the ranks of other oil rich leaders that defied the US dollar regime and sold oil in currencies other than the dollarSaddam Hussein – Iraq, 3rd Largest Proven Reserves – Swaps $26 Billion in USD for Euros in his US “Oil-for-Food” program account and begins selling oil in Euros in October of 2000 – Invaded by the US in early 2003 and where the USD is mandated for oil purchases. Muammar Gaddafi – Libya, 8th Largest Proven Reserves – 2009 Gaddafi elected Chairman of the African Union, proposes a gold-backed pan-regional currency called the Gold Dinar backed by Libya’s gold 144 tons of gold reserves to replace the USD and French CFA Franc system. Killed by NATO-backed rebels after a NATO airstrike on his convoy on October 20th, 2011. Libya’s gold reserves disappeared shortly thereafter. How Chavez “Nationalized” (Stole) the assets of hundreds of foreign exploration, refining, and oil service companies operating in Venezuela and destroyed the assets through mismanagement. How many Venezuelans today have to drive to Columbia to get quality gasoline for their automobiles because the domestic gas is of such poor quality. Which US Oil Companies are set to profit from the US control and reassignment of oil resources? Who is set to lose?Was Maduro really connected to the drug trade? For Paid Subscribers, get the complete transcript of the interview value added with visualizations, HTML links to references and evidence, and help support our authentic journalism from a principled voluntaryist perspective that “government” is illegitimate and the US “government” is being run as a criminal enterprise. You can also get a ePub copy of my new book for becoming a $5 monthly subscriber, a paperback copy of the new book for becoming a $50 yearly subscriber, and signed high-resolution hard copies of both books for becoming a $250 Founding Member, The Best “Go Paid” Deal on Substack! 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FiveMemeFri -Trump Kidnaps Maduro to Steal Venezuelan Oil
Was Bombing “Drug Boats” Public Relations for Planned Invasion? Dear Subscribers,Happy New Year! Well it didn’t take long for the US “government” to be right back on-track to be the most overtly criminal and corrupt in history. As I type these words the US has initiated what appears to be one of the largest thefts of natural resources the world has ever seen brazenly invading oil-rich Venezuela without a declaration of war.It has become abundantly clear that the campaign of bombing “drug boats” was a murderous public relations campaign to implant in the public consciousness the idea that the Maduro government was running drugs into the US as justification for a long planned invasion.This issue is dedicated to exposing the criminality of this invasion and resource theft. ReallyGraceful has a superb 12 minute explainer video that breaks down the background as our featured video this week.Simplicius has a great article breaking down the geopolitical escalations and the odds that the Maduro military and acting President were paid off/threatened to turn over Maduro to the US.Multiple authors breakdown how this extends the petro-dollar system after Maduro began selling oil in anything but the US Dollar. Reminder: Saddam Hussein was invaded and deposed after he transferred his oil-for-food earnings out of the US dollar into Euros. Libya’s Qaddafi was deposed after he backed the Gold Dinar as a competitor to the US Dollar.The organized crime bankers that we are exposing at the Art of Liberty Foundation, will kill anyone and invade any country to ensure that they get to keep creating little paper tickets and digital dollars to buy up the world. They have plenty of puppet politicians like Donald Trump and shave-headed cult members who will violate the law and a monopoly media system that will pretend the whole thing is legitimate on every single channel and screen.The Flock Camera story in the Daily News section has popped to one of our most shared stories ever. You won’t believe how easy it is to hack into Flock cameras and follow people around… I included a link to a website that let’s you find and report Flock cameras in your neighborhood.Personal Note – Julie and I finished our fast this week. I did eight days of water and the last two days as a dry fast aka The Hard Fast aka The Hebrew Fast. It was intense but I ended up shedding 20 lbs in 10 days and feel absolutely amazing. Was back in the hot room for 5:45AM yoga this AM and just hit the gym for power lifting. 2026 is already off to an amazing start!Top Stories of the WeekSimplicius – Major Questions Finally Answered About Trump’s Venezuelan Adventureby SimpliciusThe questions we raised in yesterday’s piece have finally been answered by the Trump administration itself. The main and most important was what exactly is the real situation in Venezuela vis-a-vis US control? Was the Maduro grab an isolated event, with the US not actually in control of anything on the ground and in the Venezuelan government?Continue reading…Venezuela: Will the Capture of Maduro Save the US Petrodollar?by Ricardo on X/TwitterRicardo, a commenter on the X/ Twitter platform, received 3 million views on his explanation of why the US dollar is the reason for Trump’s overthrow of Venezuelan President Maduro: the US economy is based on the US ‘petrodollar’. In 2018, Venezuela announced it would “free itself from the dollar” and it started accepting yuan, euros, rubles, anything BUT dollars for oil. The petrodollar is dying as BRICS countries are trading in other currencies.China is Venezuela’s biggest oil customer. China built CIPS, their own alternative to SWIFT with 4,800 banks in 185 countries to trade outside of the US dollar.The attack on Maduro is an admission that the US dollar can no longer compete on its own merits. When you have to bomb countries to keep them using your currency, the currency is already dying.Continue readingVenezuelan Acting President Blames “Zionists” For Maduro’s Captureby theyeshivaworld.comDelcy Rodríguez, the vice president of Venezuela who is now serving as acting president, accused Israel of orchestrating the U.S. operation that led to the capture of former leader Nicolás Maduro.Speaking in a televised address alongside senior figures from Maduro’s inner circle, Rodríguez blamed “the Zionists” for the events surrounding his arrest, echoing familiar rhetoric long used by Venezuela’s Chavista leadership to fault Israel and its allies for international pressure on the regime.“The attack on Venezuela has an undoubtedly Zionist character,” Rodríguez declared, offering no evidence to support the claim. She reiterated that Nicolás Maduro “is the only president of Venezuela,” despite his transfer to U.S. custody and a ruling by Venezuela’s constitutional court appointing her interim president during his absence.Continue readingTrump kidnaps Venezuela’s president to steal the country’s oilby Aaron MatéIn announcing the US military’s attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of president Nicolás Maduro, an operation that reportedly killed at least 80 people, President Trump laid bare his real motive.Invoking the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which has underpinned decades of US aggression against Latin American governments, Trump bragged that “they now call it the Donroe Doctrine… American dominance in the Western Hemisphere won’t be questioned again.” The main target of that dominance is Venezuela’s oil reserves, the world’s largest. With US oil companies leading the way, Trump vowed, “we’re going to get back our oil… the money coming out of the ground is substantial.”While Trump intends it as a riff on his first name, his signature doctrine is additionally fitting for mirroring the behavior of a Mafia Don: using violence, threats, and theft to obtain wealth.Continue readingVideos of the WeekReally Graceful: What the Media Won’t Tell You About VenezuelaBest 12 Minute Explainer Video on What is Behind the Theft of Venezuelan Oilby reallygraceful“Government”, Media and AcademiaCriminality ExposedThese articles also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_ScamsNewsom’s Massive Fraud Scandal No One Is Talking AboutEtienne Note: This article also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_Scamsby Tyler DurdenAuthored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com,Everybody’s buzzing about that Minnesota Medicaid mess with Gov. Tim Walz. Some are even calling it the largest fraud scandal ever. If only.Blue-state fraud is undoubtedly a problem, and Walz should be held accountable if he did indeed look the other way. But what happened in the land of 10,000 lakes is tiny compared to the fraud in California under Gavin Newsom.Heck, it makes Minnesota look like pocket change.Continue readingThe REAL Political Spectrum… Around the WorldEtienne Note: I have some folks who have promised me some new countries but they did’t get their homework to me before we went to publication. Please e-mail me at Etienne(at)ArtOfLiberty.org to help create a version for YOUR countryI am adding a new recurring feature to Five Meme Friday: The REAL Political Spectrum… Around the World! A couple of weeks ago I did an article: The Fake Left-Right Paradigm – What is the REAL Political Spectrum the Monopoly Media is Hiding? where I broke down WHY the monopoly media misrepresents the REAL political spectrum and what the actual political spectrum looks like in the US. That meme went viral so now I am duplicating it for other countries.Can you help? Please e-mail me at Etienne(at)ArtOfLiberty.org to help create a version for YOUR country OR suggest changes for a version we already have circulating. Donate to support this project at ArtOfLiberty.org/sponsorship-program/The REAL Political Spectrum in: USA, Australia, Canada, Estonia (English), Estonia (Estonian), United Kingdom, Venezuela (English), Venezuela (Espanol)Shift the Political Spectrum in: USA, Australia, Canada, Estonia (English), Estonia (Estonian), United Kingdom, Venezuela (English), Venezuela (Espanol)“Daily News of The Week”Many Have Married for the Wrong Reasons; No One Has Divorced for the Wrong Reasonsby Sotiris RexThe divorce rate is not an indicator of a degenerate society. It is a sign of freedom. A low divorce rate does not necessarily mean happy marriages; it means people are unable to escape the hellish ones. Take cultures with forced marriages and an insanely difficult — if not impossible — avenue toward divorce, and tell me how their low divorce rate is an indicator of a “healthy” society.Imagine punishing a man or a woman for wanting to escape a marriage they were forced into by authoritarian regimes or families. Or imagine punishing someone for changing their mind after having grown beyond their bad decision-making.Yes, we are all responsible for our bad choices, because someone has to pay the price, but no arbitrary government should get to decide that punishment for you. A bad choice in a romantic partner is not a crime since both are responsible. Wrong choices and your personal consequences are punishment enough. And what about the children who are innocent in this arrangement? Keep reading further.Continue readingAI Isn’t Taking Your Job — H-1B Is. And That’s the Cover Story No One Wants to Talk About.by Georgia Patriot InsiderThere’s a lie quietly spreading through corporate America, Silicon Valley, and Washington at the same time.It goes like this:“AI is replacing workers. Automation is inevitable. We have no choice.”But the data tells a very different story.Continue readingThis Flock Camera Leak is like Netflix For StalkersEtienne Note: The website to track where Flock cameras are in your area is: https://deflock.me/map#map=4/29.878755/-74.750977by Jason KoeblerI am standing on the corner of Harris Road and Young Street outside of the Crossroads Business Park in Bakersfield, California, looking up at a Flock surveillance camera bolted high above a traffic signal. On my phone, I am watching myself in real time as the camera records and livestreams me—without any password or login—to the open internet. I wander into the intersection, stare at the camera and wave. On the livestream, I can see myself clearly. Hundreds of miles away, my colleagues are remotely watching me too through the exposed feed.Flock left livestreams and administrator control panels for at least 60 of its AI-enabled Condor cameras around the country exposed to the open internet, where anyone could watch them, download 30 days worth of video archive, and change settings, see log files, and run diagnostics.Continue readingDoug Casey on Anarchy and VoluntaryismBy Doug Casey International ManYou’re likely aware that I’m a libertarian. But I’m actually more than a libertarian. I don’t believe in the right of the State to exist. The reason is that anything that has a monopoly of force is extremely dangerous. As Mao Tse-tung, lately one of the world’s leading experts on government, said: “The power of the state comes out of a barrel of a gun.”There are two possible ways for people to relate to each other, either voluntarily or coercively. And the State is pure institutionalized coercion. It’s not just unnecessary, but antithetical, for a civilized society. And that’s increasingly true as technology advances. It was never moral, but at least it was possible, in oxcart days, for bureaucrats to order things around. Today it’s ridiculous.Everything that needs doing can and will be done by the market, by entrepreneurs who fill the needs of other people for a profit. The State is a dead hand that imposes itself on society. That belief makes me, of course, an anarchist.Continue readingTHIS WEEK: Pesticides are about to get a liability shield similar to the one for vaccines–unless there is a miracle or two. Could Bayer’s $Billions Take Over Every Branch of Government?by Meryl NassBayer is throwing everything they have at this challenge, because it is a threat to the company’s very survival. Below is from Bayer’s Roundup litigation website.The information below was written by me as a Fact Sheet on this subject.If you are harmed or killed by a pesticide, your family will not be able to sue for damages or receive compensationThere will be no incentive for manufacturers to make safer productsAnd manufacturers do not even need to list all the ingredients in their products, if they claim they are “inert” or inactive ingredients, despite their toxicity–so you can’t even know what you are buying.What is going on?Monsanto made the herbicide (a pesticide) Roundup, which was paired with “Roundup-ready” GMO seeds. Roundup allowed the GMO crops to grow unimpeded, while reducing most other weeds. It soon became the largest-selling pesticide in the world.Continue readingSilver: Dept. of War to Build Metals Refinery in Blow to Chinaby VBLAuthored by GoldFix for Scottsdale MintUnder the plan, the U.S. Department of Defense will hold a 40% stake in the JPM Financed smelter joint-venture.GFN – WASHINGTON: Korea Zinc plans a $7.4 billion investment to construct a large-scale non-ferrous metals smelter in Clarksville, Tennessee, a project U.S. officials say will materially expand domestic critical minerals processing capacity and strengthen supply chain security.1The project, known as the “U.S. Smelter,” is expected to require approximately $6.6 billion in capital expenditures, with total investment reaching $7.4 billion including financing costs. It is being developed in coordination with the U.S. Department of War and the U.S. Department of Commerce, according to project materials and government statements.Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg said the investment reflects a strategic shift in U.S. industrial and defense priorities.Continue readingUpcoming Liberty EventsProspera World Tour – Berlin, January 7th 2026Prospera World Tour – London, January 9th 2026Prospera World Tour – San Francisco, January 21stThe People’s Reset – Morelia, Mexico – Jan 28th-Feb 1st 2026Principled Business Summit- Prospera, Roatán, Honduras, February 5–9, 2026MONEROTOPIA 2026-Roma, Mexico City, February 12TH-15TH 2026Entrepreneurship Beyond Politics: Mises Circle in Oklahoma City – Feb 21st, OKC, OKFreedom Under Natural Law Conference – February 21st & 22nd 2026, On-lineMises Institute Libertarian Scholars Conference – March 19, 2026, at our Auburn, ALAustrian Economic Research Conference 2026 – March 19-21, 2026, Auburn, ALRothbard University-May 14-16, 2026, Auburn, ALLibertarian Scholars Conference 2026- March 19, 2026 – March 19, 2026 – Auburn, Alabama.Free Cities Foundation Conference – September 3–6, 2026 – Prospera, Roatan, HondurasMemes BonanzaTruth Music of the WeekPrezence – Ours for the TakingAnother hit from the Truth Music Folder in The Liberator.libertarian Intentional Community RoundupThursday, March 5 – Sunday, March 8, 2026Concord, NHJoin the Free State Project at Liberty Forum 2026, where liberty-minded thinkers and activists from around the world come together to share ideas, forge connections, and turn the principles of freedom into action.The LiberatorThe Liberator– Our archive of “government” and media criminalityImportant Note: New additions are added to the authoritative Liberator Dropboxes regularly but will not appear in the physical credit card-sized flash drive until we launch the next version. Anyone can download the current contents of the Liberator FOR FREE including all the primary sources and evidence from our investigation into “The Covid”.Liberator #1 – Companion media to “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History. Exposed! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s01ey167cszv1xa/AABwg9HPJMnWw1y1QzZE5LiYa?dl=0Liberator #2 – Evidence of False Flag terror for police state and hoax shootings for gun control: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f8vwa29bg8wpp0r/AAByoYT8XcVsbgUYFmrVPLxia?dl=0Liberator #3 – Evidence that “The Covid” has been a scam and the vaccines are killing people: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tbdhlxb8z27ktyv/AAB2JDYZGHLrC-YRbC6p8OH2a?dl=0Liberator #4 – Voluntaryism and more evidence of “Government” corruption: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/smh30vmbafpo8dn/AACEpgLV4P8D18AV-9Rtfp3Pa?dl=0Liberator #5 – Prepping and Self-Sufficiency – Hundreds of resources: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ow588jfgvq0y40r/AABXTfrhNaVBN4ZpmxSwliAra?dl=0How to Support the Art of Liberty Foundation1. Become an Art of Liberty Foundation Sponsor at ArtOfLiberty.org/Sponsor – The best way to support us is to become a sponsor of the foundation. We have some great perks to say Thank You! including copies of “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed!, Liberator Flash Drives, Signed Hard Copies, calls with Etienne, and even the ability to have an Art of Liberty Foundation event with tier one Liberty speakers in your City or Town for your friends, family and neighbors!2. Go Paid on Substack! – We simply couldn’t do what we do without the support of our sponsors and paid subscribers on Substack! If you are enjoying the Daily News, Important News, or Five Meme Friday on Substack we hope you will consider “Going Paid” on Substack. All it takes is a click and we have some great premiums to say: Thank You!3. Buy Us a Coffee… Err Juice! at https://ko-fi.com/artofliberty – Support us for as little as $5… We really, really appreciate it! OR Buy Us a Coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/etienne2 BTW, right now coffee and juice are tied!4. Get a Pop Up Guerrilla Bookstore and Earn Profit from Distributing Copies of “Government” in Your Town / City – Do you (or a friend) have a retail location? Open up a Pop Up Guerrilla Bookstore and share in the profits. We have everything you need to attractively merchandise “Government” and Liberators in a small footprint. Details here: https://government-scam.com/bookstore5. Buy Books and Merchandise at ArtOfLiberty.org/store – Our store has become one of the biggest distributors of Voluntaryist and peaceful anarchist titles. Especially popular is our “Everything Bundle” – The Sampler of Liberty!To See the Cage Is to Leave It – 25 Techniques the Few Use to Control the Many is now IN-STOCK and shipping from our distribution center. Order OR get a free teaser copy where you can see a list of all 25 techniques and the Table of Contents at https://SeeTheCage.com/Thanks for joining us for Five Meme Friday. Please feel free to forward this email to friends and colleagues.Sincerely,Etienne de la Boetie2Executive Director,The Art of Liberty FoundationAuthor of: To See the Cage is to Leave It & “Government” The Biggest Scam in History … Exposed!!Five Meme Friday is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
FiveMemeFri – The 60 Minutes Piece on CECOT that Bari Weiss Didn’t Want You to See
My Update to the Corbett Report + More Details..Dear Subscribers,Happy New Year!Julie and I got the seasonal detox that many call “the flu” after several days of dinners and drinks with her family and friends in Chicago… I call it Affluenza… (Root word: Affluent) It has been my first time being sick in over a decade… I forgot what it was like… I slept for two days straight (24th & 25th) and am still recovering… Since I (and Julie) didn’t eat during the worst of it, we decided to keep going with a water fast so we haven’t had any food since the 23rd.. Not really hungry… occasionally… but for the most part we have a hot tea with fresh squeezed lemons, honey or maple syrup, and cayenne or cinnamon a couple of times a day… I’m down 15 pounds and feel great! It’s such a superb way to clean up the system after the feasting and celebrations of the holidays! I’ll probably go another couple of days and break it over the weekend with some guacamole to begin to bring my digestive system back on-line so I can be frosty by next Monday.Thanks again to everyone who supported our work in 2025! We simply couldn’t do it without our friends and supporters! The top story is an update I gave to the Corbett Report with more details.https://artofliberty.org/sponsorship-program/Top Stories of the WeekThe Art of Liberty Foundation Updates the Corbett Report in the Solutions Watch 2025 Year in ReviewFolks Are Using Our Books and Liberators to Widely Expose the Organized Crime “Government” and It is Starting to Pick Up Steam!James Corbett invited us to present an update on what has been happening at the Art of Liberty Foundation since our July 30th, 2025, appearance on #SolutionsWatch for Etienne’s new book: To See the Cage is to Leave It – 25 Techniques that the Few Use to Control the Many. Our update starts at 1:10:04.The basics of the summary are that after appearing on the show, Corbett Report “Corbett-eers” responded by buying 500+ books that we shipped to over 20 countries.Even more exciting was that we received offers to translate the book into various languages, including from Spanish political activist Josefina Fraile, who helped organize other translators in Greece and Spain. Josefina also translated the most important book in the world right now, The Great Taking by David Rogers Webb into Spanish as well.We are finalizing two Spanish translations for Latin American Spanish and the Castilian Spanish of Josefina’s native Spain, and we should send them to the printer next week! We have Greek, German, and French translations in the pipeline. but wait… there is even more!Continue ReadingVideos of the WeekWATCH: The 60 Minutes CECOT Segmentby Allison GillThe segment apparently aired on Canada’s Global TV app and was shared by this Bluesky user jasonparis.bsky.social. You can watch the entire segment below! Please share widely!Bari Weiss at CBS claims this segment was spiked for editorial reasons and not political reasons, however, there are portions of this video that would indicate otherwise.Continue reading…Contractor Uses AI to Fake Finished Work!You won’t believe this scam. A contractor used AI to edit a photo of a job site to make it look finished so he could get paid. Real estate investors: Stop accepting photos as proof of work! Demand live video.Continue reading“Government”, Media and AcademiaCriminality ExposedThese articles also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_ScamsUS Steals Panamanian-Flagged, Chinese Oil Tanker Full of Venezuelan Oil and is Sailing It to Galveston to Complete the TheftEtienne Note: This article also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_Scamsby Tyler DurdenUpdate:Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem confirmed that the U.S. Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, has seized another oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela.“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil used to fund narco-terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you,” Noem wrote in a post on X.Reuters reported earlier about the operation.Continue readingPentagon watchdog criticizes Lockheed Martin for F-35’s lack of flight readiness due to maintenance issuesEtienne Note: This article also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_ScamsBy Diyar GuldoganWASHINGTONUS F-35 fighter jets were mission-ready roughly half the time in 2024 because of maintenance issues with Lockheed Martin, a Pentagon watchdog said in a report.The report, from the Defense Department’s Office of the Inspector General issued on Dec. 19, said the Defense Department did not adequately oversee contractor performance on the June 2024 air vehicle sustainment contract.“Although the F‑35 JPO (Joint Program Office) monitored Lockheed Martin’s performance, it did not always hold Lockheed Martin accountable for poor performance related to F‑35 sustainment.Continue readingThe REAL Political Spectrum… Around the WorldEtienne Note: I have some folks who have promised me some new countries but they did’t get their homework to me before we went to publication. Please e-mail me at Etienne(at)ArtOfLiberty.org to help create a version for YOUR countryI am adding a new recurring feature to Five Meme Friday: The REAL Political Spectrum… Around the World! A couple of weeks ago I did an article: The Fake Left-Right Paradigm – What is the REAL Political Spectrum the Monopoly Media is Hiding? where I broke down WHY the monopoly media misrepresents the REAL political spectrum and what the actual political spectrum looks like in the US. That meme went viral so now I am duplicating it for other countries.Can you help? Please e-mail me at Etienne(at)ArtOfLiberty.org to help create a version for YOUR country OR suggest changes for a version we already have circulating. Donate to support this project at ArtOfLiberty.org/sponsorship-program/The REAL Political Spectrum in: USA, Australia, Canada, Estonia (English), Estonia (Estonian), United Kingdom, Venezuela (English), Venezuela (Espanol)Shift the Political Spectrum in: USA, Australia, Canada, Estonia (English), Estonia (Estonian), United Kingdom, Venezuela (English), Venezuela (Espanol)“Daily News of The Week”Urgent Medical Need – Brenda “Granny Smith” – The Renegade Midwife Needs Our HelpBrenda “Granny” Smith has been a renegade midwife for over 30 years, defying “authorities” to attend home births denied by state licensure. She has three grown sons, numerous grandchildren, and a bevy of other children who call her “Granny.”She and her husband, Shawn, had moved to Mexico to “retire”.Shawn is having serious health issues…He has an enlarged heart with severe aortic stenosis, and his cardiologist is recommending a procedure called TAVI – Trans-aortic valve implant – to remedy the blockage. The alternative would be open-heart surgery, which would be much riskier, and require a much longer recovery period.Medicare and supplemental insurance are balking. They may eventually cover it, since it is urgent care, but for now we will need to come up with the entire $30,000 to pay up front.Continue readingWhy Trump Should Pardon The Developers of Bitcoins Non Custodial Samourai Walletby Juan GaltOn December 18th, days before Christmas, Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder of the Bitcoin Samourai Wallet, will have to surrender to prison. His crime? Creating a software tool that gave Bitcoin users comparable privacy to that which banks are expected to provide. Samourai Wallet, the brand and technology stack built by Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, was shut down by the U.S. Government in April 2024 on a variety of charges, including money laundering, but only one charge stuck after a high-profile trial, the weakest charge of all, “unlicensed money transmission”.What does it mean to transmit money? According to prosecutors, custodial control over user funds is no longer a requirement to need an MSB license; “a USB cable transfers data from one device to another, and a frying pan transfers heat from a stove to the contents of the pan, although neither situation involves exercising ‘control’ over what is being transferred.” If the DoJ can indict a frying pan, then USB manufacturers better lawyer up!Continue readingJAMMED UP Passengers ‘trapped in cars’ in middle of road as self-driving Waymo vehicles stall during San Francisco power outageby Emma CrabtreeBIZARRE footage shows the moment driver less vehicles stalled in the middle of the road during a power outage, leaving passengers stranded.Autonomous vehicle service Waymo was forced to suspend operations in San Francisco for safety when almost a third of the city was left without power on Saturday night.As the power outage plunged areas of the tech capital into darkness, traffic signals failed and the driverless vehicles abruptly shut down, causing traffic jams throughout the city.“We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the widespread power outage,” Suzanne Philion, a Waymo spokesperson told The U.S. Sun.“Our teams are working diligently and in close coordination with city officials to monitor infrastructure stability, and we are hopeful to bring our services back online soon.”Continue readingBREAKING: Our CENSORED Study Showing mRNA Injections Induce Severe Genetic Disruption Linked to Cancer and Chronic Disease Is Now Peer-Reviewed and Publishedby Nicolas Hulscher, MPHFinally, we declare a major victory against the Academic Journal Cartel and their PubPeer Mob enforcement apparatus.Earlier this year, our landmark study—“Synthetic mRNA Vaccines and Transcriptomic Dysregulation: Evidence from New-Onset Adverse Events and Cancers Post-Vaccination”— became one of the most-read and most-downloaded preprints in the world.Shortly thereafter, it was abruptly withdrawn by MDPI for a vague and unexplained reason:It was also wiped from ResearchGate, leaving no trace of this important study behind.We identified that this unethical removal was likely the result of coordinated Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex pressure and PubPeer mob attacks, intended to shield the deadly mRNA platform.Their efforts have failed miserably.Now, our landmark study — Synthetic messenger RNA vaccines and transcriptomic dysregulation: Evidence from new-onset adverse events and cancers post-vaccination — documenting severe, long-lasting transcriptomic disruption following COVID-19 mRNA injections has been officially peer-reviewed and published in the World Journal of Experimental Medicine, a PubMed.gov indexed journal.Continue readingThe Corbett Report – New World Next Year 2026by CorbettWelcome to New World Next Year, the annual wrap up of the New World Next Week video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news. What was the story of 2025? What will be the trend for 2026? Grab your Christmas sweaters and hot chocolate and find out!Continue readingLeaf-scan tells farmers when fruit is ripe – without destroying itBy Ben CoxworthIt’s ironic … in order for farmers to know if their fruit is ripe, they regularly have to pick and analyze pieces of that fruit, reducing their yields. Utilizing a new technique, however, they could soon leave all the fruit intact, analyzing the leaves beside it instead.The process is currently being developed by scientists at Spain’s Universitat Rovira i Virgili, and was tested over the course of 11 weeks on 12 nectarine trees in a commercial orchard.In its present form, the technology utilizes two spectrometers to perform near-infrared and mid-infrared scans of the top surfaces and undersides of leaves immediately adjacent to the fruits. The manner in which the leaves absorb or reflect light emitted by each spectrometer reliably indicates the current ripeness of the fruit.“The leaves undergo physiological and biochemical changes as the fruit ripens, due to the direct connection between the metabolism of the leaves and that of the fruit,” says team member Dr. Daniel Schorn. “These changes are reflected in their spectral fingerprint.”Continue readingPastor Spent Millions of ‘Embezzled’ BLM OKC Money on Properties and Caribbean TripsEtienne Note: The organized crime banksters were spending so much money to divide and conquer that milllions were being siphoned off by the lower level criminals involved in the scheme.By Marty Vergel BaesThe former leader of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City has been federally indicted for allegedly diverting more than £2.5 million ($3.15 million) in donations into a personal slush fund used to purchase property and finance a lavish lifestyle.The case against Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, details a multi-year scheme in which bail funds intended for protesters were allegedly siphoned into private accounts, sending shockwaves through the activist community and raising urgent questions about financial oversight in decentralised social movements.Dickerson, 52, was charged with 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering by a federal grand jury in Oklahoma City. As outlined in the US Department of Justice announcement, the alleged scheme unfolded between June 2020 and October 2025, spanning the height of fundraising efforts following the 2020 racial justice protests.Continue readingRussia expands biometric ID system (again)by Edward SlavsquatThe commercial enterprise that controls Russians’ biometric data has introduced new ways to use your face as a form of ID, resulting in unprecedented levels of safety and convenience in the Russian Federation. Russians young and old are already reaping the benefits of their country’s “digital transformation”—including very, very young Russians.The Russian government is working on amending federal legislation to allow schools across the country to monitor and identify students using biometrics, Kommersant reported on December 3. Plans for a standardized “biometric turnstile system” for Russian schools are already being tested in Tatarstan.Authorities have stressed that schools will be able to choose whether or not to switch to biometric identification, adding that parents must first consent before their childrens’ faces are scanned and entered into Russia’s Unified Biometric System (UBS).Continue readingDOJ Releases Damning Epstein Files Implicating Trump Right Before Christmasby Peter Chappell, Tom Witherow, George Grylls, Washington Correspondent, Andrea Blanco, US ReporterThousands more documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein have been releasedGhislaine Maxwell sought to procure “intelligent, pretty and fun” women “from good families” for her friend “Andrew”The files relate to federal investigations into Epstein’s sex-trafficking operations in Florida and New York. Inclusion in the files is no indication of wrongdoingThe Department of Justice said the files included “untrue and sensationalist claims” about President TrumpListen to live updates through the day on Times RadioThe FBI filed a formal request in 2020 to interview Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor about his links to a second millionaire sex offender.Investigators in the US wanted to interrogate the then-prince’s ties to the Canadian fashion tycoon Peter Nygard, 84, who has been accused of raping girls as young as 14 in a group action civil case.Continue readingTattoo ink may cause prolonged changes to the immune systemBy Jay KakadeTattoos have gained widespread popularity, with nearly one in three Americans having at least one. But beneath the colorful designs lurks a hidden journey. According to a new study, tattoo ink doesn’t stay in the skin; it travels and accumulates in the lymph nodes, potentially causing lifelong changes to the immune system. The findings offer no conclusion as to whether these changes are positive or negative, but suggest that pigment retention in lymph nodes can persistently alter local immunity.“Tattoos are not only a cosmetic treatment, but they are also associated with some important problems like the presence of some inflammation in the immune system, which we need further study [of] in the future,” the first author of the study, Santiago F. Gonzalez, told New Atlas.A complex admixture of the ink that is insoluble in bodily fluids grants durability to tattoos. While previous studies have linked tattoo ink ingredients to various health issues, research on the interaction of ink components with the immune response is scarce. To evaluate how tattooing affects the immune response, Santiago and his colleagues set up a mouse model.Continue readingWatch: T800 humanoid kung fu kicks its way to mass productionBy Stefan IonescuIt’s hard not to think of ‘T800’ without “The Terminator“ and “Skynet” coming to mind. However, EngineAI has created a robot with that exact name. This isn’t Hollywood science fiction; it’s an acrobatic, combat-ready machine that will soon be mass-produced for industrial applications, and is backed by a billion yuan in financing.EngineAI, a Shenzhen-based robotics company founded in 2023, has recently become the talk of the robotics industry, thanks to the T800’s tagline “Born to subvert.” Indeed, the robot’s demo showcased a high degree of mobility, as it demonstrated its ability to perform high-flying kicks and kung fu moves with ease. The machine could even spar with humans.EngineAI T800: Born to Disrupt! #EngineAI #robotics #newtechnology #newproductIn fact, the demo looked so slick that the company had to release a behind-the-scenes video to counter online allegations that the demo was created using CGI. Even the EngineAI CEO, Zhao Tongyang – a veteran in the robotics field – posted an Instagram video where the T800 kicked him across the room. Extraordinary commitment to his product!Continue readingThinking About Going to IRL Netflix House – Better Read the Terms and Conditionsby The Drey DossierThe subtitle of “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! is: How Inter-Generational Organized Crime Runs the “Government”, Media and Academia. This short video by Greg Reese breaks down the inter-generational family and hidden curriculum of Netflix while only touch on a few of the propaganda techniques. Other techniques include the “government” is legitimate, the “government” is always saving the day, product placement of the American flag at moments of high positive emotion (anchoring), and other propaganda crimes. Get the full story at Government-Scam.comContinue readingMicro RGB TVs are coming: Should you get excited about them in 2026?By Abhimanyu GhoshalMicro RGB for TVs is a thing now, and it promises to be the next major display tech for home entertainment. We’ve already seen a couple of models from the likes of Samsung and Hisense, and it looks like more brands are getting in on the action next year. Whether it should feature in your checklist while shopping for a TV in 2026 depends largely on whether you’re really an early adopter, and if money is no object.Let’s quickly go over what Micro RGB technology is all about first. A conventional backlit LCD TV uses an array of white or blue LEDs to shine through an LCD panel and color filters to illuminate pixels on its screen. That’s great, and it’s worked for several years now. But this isn’t without its compromises on brightness, vibrance, contrast, and color accuracy.With Micro RGB, you’ve got microscopic individual LEDs – measuring just tens of microns in size – that each shine in primary colors. They’re something like four times smaller than those used in mini-LED TVs, which are today’s top-of-the-line category.Continue readingZero-pilot eVTOL pushes to achieve feat never done beforeBy David SzondyBoeing subsidiary Wisk Aero’s Generation 6 eVTOL aircraft has completed its historic maiden flight. On December 16, 2025 at 12:26 pm PST, the autonomous passenger carrier lifted off from the Wisk flight test facility at Hollister, California.First flights of eVTOLs are so common these days that they’re about as newsworthy as the announcement of a new flavor of potato chip. However, the Wisk flight is different because it is a Gen-6 certification model that’s claimed to be the first-ever candidate for FAA type certification of an autonomous, passenger-carrying eVTOL in the United States.Wisk has been developing its eVTOL for over a decade, with five previous iterations – each one signifying a distinct generation of development from proof-of-concept to pre-production prototype for FAA certification.Continue readingJunk-food Bans for SNAP Users To Begin in Januaryby Raw Egg NationalistAmericans using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in some states will be prohibited from purchasing certain kinds of junk food.Beginning in January, 18 states will restrict the purchase of certain foods.The ban is being carried out under the aegis of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. Participating states have had to submit a waiver to the Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees SNAP.Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and West Virginia will implement purchase restrictions on 1 January, 2026. Idaho, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado, Texas, Virginia, and Florida have starting dates from February to April. Arkansas, Tennessee, Hawaii, South Carolina, North Dakota, and Missouri will begin their bans between July and October.Continue readingIsraeli health officials discuss vaccine mandates because only 17% of Israelis got a flu shot!I was not able to find reports on deaths or comparisons with prior years—Iguess those data probably would not support the current narrative. Hopefully the flu will fizzle out soon, as it seems to have done in the UK, before things get really crazy.Continue readingThe Hidden Connection Between Glyphosate and Kidney Diseaseby IRT News TeamChronic kidney disease now affects approximately 37 million Americans—about 1 in 7 adults—and many don’t even know they have it. While conventional medicine points to diabetes and high blood pressure as primary causes, emerging research suggests another culprit may be hiding in plain sight: glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide that’s sprayed on much of our food supply.Dr. Michelle Perro, an integrative pediatrician with nearly 40 years of clinical experience, doesn’t mince words: “Glyphosate-based herbicides are kidney toxic.” This isn’t just speculation—it’s an observation supported by toxicology literature and increasingly recognized by researchers studying agricultural communities where glyphosate exposure is highest.Your kidneys perform over 400 vital functions every single day, filtering about 200 quarts of blood to remove waste and excess water. They regulate blood pressure, maintain mineral balance, and activate vitamin D for bone health. When kidneys fail, the consequences are devastating—and often irreversible.Continue readingFront Companies? Bombshell Report Exposes Network Of Somali-Linked “Empty” Daycares Across Minnesotaby Tyler DurdenLeft-wing Governor Tim Walz, under intensifying federal pressure, faces a widening Somali-linked fraud scandal in Minnesota. Federal prosecutors state that the scheme currently totals at least $9 billion, with the final figure potentially much higher. Recent reporting by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo alleges that some welfare funds were funneled into an overseas terrorist organization. Now, a bombshell video from a citizen journalist suggests the fraud extends beyond Medicaid into the state’s daycare system.Shirley claims his team uncovered more than $110 million in questionable payments to Somali-owned businesses on just the first day of their investigation, as part of a broader welfare fraud scandal totaling upwards of $9 billion.Continue readingUpcoming Liberty EventsProspera World Tour – Berlin, January 7th 2026Prospera World Tour – London, January 9th 2026Prospera World Tour – San Francisco, January 21stThe People’s Reset – Morelia, Mexico – Jan 28th-Feb 1st 2026Principled Business Summit- Prospera, Roatán, Honduras, February 5–9, 2026MONEROTOPIA 2026-Roma, Mexico City, February 12TH-15TH 2026Entrepreneurship Beyond Politics: Mises Circle in Oklahoma City – Feb 21st, OKC, OKFreedom Under Natural Law Conference – February 21st & 22nd 2026, On-lineMises Institute Libertarian Scholars Conference – March 19, 2026, at our Auburn, ALAustrian Economic Research Conference 2026 – March 19-21, 2026, Auburn, ALRothbard University-May 14-16, 2026, Auburn, ALLibertarian Scholars Conference 2026- March 19, 2026 – March 19, 2026 – Auburn, Alabama.Free Cities Foundation Conference – September 3–6, 2026 – Prospera, Roatan, HondurasMemes BonanzaTruth Music of the WeekRed Pill Friends by The Red Pill FriendsIt looks like the Red Pill Friends might be doing a tour in April on their way to the confluence conference in Austin. I am helping them to find some venues. I have Asheville, NC and Richmond, VA working.libertarian Intentional Community RoundupProspera is on a World Tour In JanuaryProspera – The Low-Tax, Low-Regulation, Pro-Freedom Charter City on Roatan Island off Honduras, is on world tour in January.Their core team will visit London, Berlin and San Francisco to cover:What Próspera is; the latest developments, and plans aheadWhy for-profit governance will save the worldEverything the US Founders got right, and what they got wrongInsurance companies as market regulatorsHow to get involved with Próspera; both in our Roatan hub and beyondBerlin – January 7 – Berlin Event London – January 9 – London EventSan Francisco – January 21 – SF EventThe LiberatorThe Liberator– Our archive of “government” and media criminalityImportant Note: New additions are added to the authoritative Liberator Dropboxes regularly but will not appear in the physical credit card-sized flash drive until we launch the next version. Anyone can download the current contents of the Liberator FOR FREE including all the primary sources and evidence from our investigation into “The Covid”.Liberator #1 – Companion media to “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History. Exposed! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s01ey167cszv1xa/AABwg9HPJMnWw1y1QzZE5LiYa?dl=0Liberator #2 – Evidence of False Flag terror for police state and hoax shootings for gun control: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f8vwa29bg8wpp0r/AAByoYT8XcVsbgUYFmrVPLxia?dl=0Liberator #3 – Evidence that “The Covid” has been a scam and the vaccines are killing people: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tbdhlxb8z27ktyv/AAB2JDYZGHLrC-YRbC6p8OH2a?dl=0Liberator #4 – Voluntaryism and more evidence of “Government” corruption: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/smh30vmbafpo8dn/AACEpgLV4P8D18AV-9Rtfp3Pa?dl=0Liberator #5 – Prepping and Self-Sufficiency – Hundreds of resources: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ow588jfgvq0y40r/AABXTfrhNaVBN4ZpmxSwliAra?dl=0How to Support the Art of Liberty Foundation1. Become an Art of Liberty Foundation Sponsor at ArtOfLiberty.org/Sponsor – The best way to support us is to become a sponsor of the foundation. We have some great perks to say Thank You! including copies of “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed!, Liberator Flash Drives, Signed Hard Copies, calls with Etienne, and even the ability to have an Art of Liberty Foundation event with tier one Liberty speakers in your City or Town for your friends, family and neighbors!2. Go Paid on Substack! – We simply couldn’t do what we do without the support of our sponsors and paid subscribers on Substack! If you are enjoying the Daily News, Important News, or Five Meme Friday on Substack we hope you will consider “Going Paid” on Substack. All it takes is a click and we have some great premiums to say: Thank You!3. Buy Us a Coffee… Err Juice! at https://ko-fi.com/artofliberty – Support us for as little as $5… We really, really appreciate it! OR Buy Us a Coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/etienne2 BTW, right now coffee and juice are tied!4. Get a Pop Up Guerrilla Bookstore and Earn Profit from Distributing Copies of “Government” in Your Town / City – Do you (or a friend) have a retail location? Open up a Pop Up Guerrilla Bookstore and share in the profits. We have everything you need to attractively merchandise “Government” and Liberators in a small footprint. Details here: https://government-scam.com/bookstore5. Buy Books and Merchandise at ArtOfLiberty.org/store – Our store has become one of the biggest distributors of Voluntaryist and peaceful anarchist titles. Especially popular is our “Everything Bundle” – The Sampler of Liberty!To See the Cage Is to Leave It – 25 Techniques the Few Use to Control the Many is now IN-STOCK and shipping from our distribution center. Order OR get a free teaser copy where you can see a list of all 25 techniques and the Table of Contents at https://SeeTheCage.com/Thanks for joining us for Five Meme Friday. Please feel free to forward this email to friends and colleagues.Sincerely,Etienne de la Boetie2Executive Director,The Art of Liberty FoundationAuthor of: To See the Cage is to Leave It & “Government” The Biggest Scam in History … Exposed!!
The Art of Liberty Foundation Updates the Corbett Report in the Solutions Watch 2025 Year in Review
Folks Are Using Our Books and Liberators to Widely Expose the Organized Crime “Government” and It is Starting to Pick Up Steam! James Corbett invited us to present an update on what has been happening at the Art of Liberty Foundation since our July 30th, 2025, appearance on #SolutionsWatch for Etienne’s new book: To See the Cage is to Leave It – 25 Techniques that the Few Use to Control the Many. Our update starts at 1:10:04.The basics of the summary are that after appearing on the show, Corbett Report “Corbett-eers” responded by buying 500+ books that we shipped to over 20 countries.Even more exciting was that we received offers to translate the book into various languages, including from Spanish political activist Josefina Fraile, who helped organize other translators in Greece and Spain. Josefina also translated the most important book in the world right now, The Great Taking by David Rogers Webb into Spanish as well. We are finalizing two Spanish translations for Latin American Spanish and the Castilian Spanish of Josefina’s native Spain, and we should send them to the printer next week! We have Greek, German, and French translations in the pipeline. Thank you, Josefina, ΒΟΔΑΣ ΚΟΡΑΗΣ/ Vodas Korais, Beatrice, and Berni, for your service! Our Largest “Friends Bundle” Order EverIn the update, I mentioned that both “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History Exposed! AND To See the Cage is to Leave It – 25 Techniques the Few Use to Control the Many have become the very rare (0.0001%?) books people are buying in bulk and distributing to their friends, family, and colleagues. Over 10% of our sales are in five- and ten-copy “Friends Bundles,” and we have dozens of supporters who have distributed over 10 copies, with a dozen or so who have distributed over 20+. What is Going On? Folks are realizing that our books are both: “Striking the Root,” i.e., exposing the REAL way that inter-generational organized crime is robbing and controlling society, and we are proposing and exposing THE ONLY solution that is fair for everyone: Voluntaryism. No one gets the “ring of power” because there isn’t one. So.. Once you realize what is going on.. What is your/our strongest play?Widely exposing the scam in a practical and effective way that gets around the algorithmic censorship of the DARPA Internet. Low-cost “picture books” (that expand the number of people who will engage with any book) and help bring your loved ones to that “Moment of Insight.” Low-cost Liberator flash drives that get around the censorship of the DARPA Internet while allowing anyone to copy for the cost of bulk 64GB flash drives on eBay, roughly $3 a pop when you buy 5-10. I mentioned that we received our most significant “Friends Bundle” order ever for $2,000 worth of Art of Liberty Foundation publications, which would have mailed to 41 NC Sheriffs in the 1st wave. That has been changed and expanded to 250+ copies of To See the Cage is to Leave It that will begin to be distributed to NC Sheriffs, Police Chiefs, and VIPs in a couple of weeks. This is very similar to what we want to do in New Hampshire in support of the Free State Project, in an effort that we call: The Pre-State Project. What is cool is that this is already going on around the world and starting to pick up steam… The final update we gave James is that we are starting to ship bulk copies of books and Liberator drives to Amazon (A Mason?) to leverage their distribution network. We are getting the cost out of acquiring bulk copies and making them available through Amazon, which makes it easier to order and expands the number of people who discover us in the world’s largest online marketplace. We should be shipping through Amazon (A Mason?) by the end of January, and until then, you can get your own deeply discounted “Friends Bundles” at ArtOfLiberty.org/StoreTHICKREDLINE RebootedThe final update is that we received a $2,000 donation to (partially) reboot our THICKREDLINE Project, where our domain name was stolen in a dirty tricks campaign. We have a new domain and will get an abbreviated version of the old website back up, with an updated Handbook for Sheriffs, Police, and ICE. Stay tuned for more info… We have a lot on our plate and can use all the help we can get: https://artofliberty.org/sponsorship-programAbout the AuthorEtienne de la Boetie2 is the founder of the Art of Liberty Foundation, and the editor of the Art of Liberty Daily News on Substack and Five Meme Friday, which delivers hard-hitting voluntaryist memes and the best of the alternative media. He is an internationally recognized expert and speaker on voluntaryism and government illegitimacy, criminality and corruption. His original writings and research can be found at ArtOfLiberty.org and ArtOfLiberty.Substack.comHe is the author of To See the Cage Is to Leave It – 25 Techniques the Few Use to Control the Many which exposes an inter-generational psychological operation by the “government,” Hollywood, and the monopoly media to indoctrinate the population with the pseudo-religion of Statism using dozens of unethically manipulative techniques ranging from subliminal content in television programming to a hidden curriculum in the mandatory “government” schools, scouting, and police/military training.He has also authored: “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! which breaks down how inter-generational organized crime centered around banking and central banking is robbing and controlling the population using the technique of “government” with puppet politicians and monopoly media/academia. His upcoming book: Voluntaryism – How the Only “ISM” Fair for Everyone Leads to Harmony, Prosperity and Good Karma for All! explains how REAL freedom (voluntaryism) can provide all the legitimate non-redistributive services provided by “government” without the waste, fraud, abuse, indoctrination and extortion. He was also the author and principal investigator for the monographs: The Covid-19 Suspects and Their Ties to Eugenics and Population Control/Reduction and Solving Covid – The Covid 19, Eugenics, and Vaccine/Drug Scam TimelineAbout the Art of Liberty FoundationA start-up public policy organization: Voluntaryist crime fighters exposing inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “government,” media and academia. The foundation is the publisher of “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed!- How Inter-Generational Organized Crime Runs the “Government,” Media and Academia.We publish The Daily News, a free survey of the best of the alternative media, censored videos, and documentaries, and the Daily News Digest, a once-per-day-summary of the Daily News as a premium service for paid subscribers of any Art of Liberty Foundation Substack and Five Meme Friday- a free weekly e-mail or Telegram summary of the best of the alternative media, censored truth videos, and at least five hot, fresh, dank liberty memes every week, and “Government,” Media, and Academia Exposed!- A Telegram summary of the best mainstream and alternative news stories proving our thesis that all three are being hierarchically controlled by inter-generational organized crime interests. You can read our 2023 Annual Report here.
The Idolatry of Statism – Why Christians Should Oppose Nationalism
Our Friends at the Libertarian Christian Institute Break it Down… Chapter & Verse! Etienne Note: The Art of Liberty Foundation has been distributing this pamphlet from the Libertarian Christian Institute for years as a PDF in our credit card-sized, uncensorable flashdrive o’ freedom, The Liberator and in its free Dropboxes. For Christmas I am republishing it in its entirety where I “value-added” it with memes and visualizations. We have struck a deal with the Libertarian Christian Institute to reprint the pamphlet (without the memes) and add it to our on-line store at ArtOfLiberty.org/Store. The printing order has been placed and we are now accepting pre-orders that are scheduled to arrive and begin shipping on January 12th. Order a Single Copy for $4.95 here: https://artofliberty.org/product/the-idolatry-of-statism/Order a Five Copy “Friends Bundle” for $20 here: https://artofliberty.org/product/5-copies-of-what-anarchy-isnt-the-idolatry-of-statism/The Idolatry of Statism – Why Christians Should Oppose Nationalism Contributors: Cody Cook Matthew Curtis Fleischer Paul Maitrejean Laurence Vance Jeff WrightTHE IDOLATRY OF STATISMContentsJesus was an Anti-Nationalist ………………………………..……………………… 4The American Sacrament that Denies Allegiance to Christ ………. 9The Idolatry of Statism ……………………………..…………………………………… 13The Astonishing Power of a Faithful Mustard Seed Revolution …. 18Is America the Last, Best Hope of the World? ……………..……………… 24Should Christians Cite the Pledge of Allegiance? ……………………….. 30Are You an Imperial Christian? ……………………..…………………………….. 34JESUS WAS AN ANTI-NATIONALISTBy Matthew Curtis FleischerOne of the more overlooked ways in which Jesus brought God’s ethical ideal into full bloom — or as Matthew 5:17 puts it, one way he “fulfilled” the Old Testament law and prophets — was by reorganizing God’s followers from a nation into a church. He denationalized them, transforming them from a typical earthly kingdom into the transnational, interethnic, nongovernmental, nonviolent, geographically dispersed organization we call the universal church. For these reasons, Jesus was an anti-nationalist which makes Christian Nationalism antithetical to the Christian faith.Originally, God formed his followers into the uniquely theocratic, demilitarized, morally advanced nation of Israel. A nation for sure, but by today’s standards, a largely non-nationalistic one. Eventually, the Israelites tired of being different and asked God for a king “such as all the other nations have” (1 Sam. 8:5), one “to go out before us and fight our battles” (8:20). So God, in one of his many Old Testament concessions, lovingly accommodated them.But God also allowed such human-led nationalism to run its naturally destructive course. For the next seven centuries, the Israelites found themselves entangled in typical nationalistic struggles — political exile, a return home, rebuilding efforts, struggles for independence, and additional defeats. When Jesus arrived, Israel was under Roman occupation and struggling to keep its national identity alive. It was this nationalistic context that shaped the Israelites’ expectations for God’s promised Messiah, whom they hoped would resuscitate their national sovereignty.Jesus was opposed to nationalism But when Jesus arrived, he would have none of it. He didn’t gather God’s followers and take back territory, militarily or otherwise. Instead, he repeatedly declined to adopt any and every aspect of nationalism. He unequivocally rejected typical kingship, declining the devil’s offer of control over all the kingdoms of the world, refusing to use his supernatural powers for political gain, running from a crowd that wanted to enthrone him, waiting to announce his messiahship until he could redefine it to exclude nationalism, choosing to ride on a donkey instead of a war horse during his inauguration parade, and eventually declaring himself king of all people and all nations, not just Israel.¹ Likewise, he shunned all political power and commanded his followers to do the same, instructing them not to “lord it over” others, sending them into the world as sheep among wolves (not as a well-organized army), scattering them across the globe as foreigners, exiles, and sojourners whose primary citizenship is in heaven, and ordering them to put their swords away instead of defend him (let alone a nation), while also definitively proclaiming to the Romans that his followers do not fight.²Jesus’ anti-nationalism was most evident in his open inclusion of GentilesSince the start of God’s direct intervention into human history, membership in his kingdom had been tied to Israelite ethnicity/ citizenship. Israel alone was God’s chosen people. Then Jesus began welcoming anyone who believed in God and sought to do his will. He made membership available to everyone. In fact, not only did he welcome gentile believers, he actively sought them out (Romans 1:6). He then commanded his apostles to do the same, instructing them to preach the gospel to all peoples and ordering them to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19), which they did.³Such inclusivity was always God’s goal. He simply used one group of people (Israel) to forge a path to all people. From the beginning, the Bible frequently tells us God chose Israel and set it apart not as an end in itself but as a means of blessing all people and all nations. Paul called God’s use of Israel for such a purpose 4 “the gospel in advance” (Gal. 3:8).That’s why Jesus dissolved the political barriers that typically divide people and erased the morally arbitrary lines we call national borders. To paraphrase Paul, Jesus united Jew and Gentile. He “made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility … to create in himself one new humanity out of the two … and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross” (Eph. 2:14-16). For in God’s fellowship, “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).⁵Jesus’ command to love our enemies had the same effect. It was 6 the ultimate border destroyer. Because of it, there are no longer neighbors and non-neighbors. There are only neighbors. There are no longer natives and foreigners. There are only natives. There are no longer insiders and outsiders. There are only insiders. There is no longer an “us” and a “them.” There is only “us.”Jesus wasn’t merely non-nationalistic; he was anti-nationalistic. He didn’t merely fail to meet Israel’s nationalistic expectations; he theologically terminated them. Jesus made a conscious, concerted effort to forever erase nationalistic divisions from among God’s followers. He definitively declared statehood to be inappropriate for his followers. According to Jesus, God doesn’t want his followers to make America into a Christian nation. He wants us to be the church. Hence the Bible doesn’t merely fail to support Christian nationalism, it warns against it.Jesus didn’t merely reorganize God’s followersHe reconfigured their entire identity. Before Jesus, they were identifiable primarily by their unique nationalistic characteristics — the worship of only one God, a slightly advanced moral code, unusual ceremonial laws, different religious rituals, a restrained warfare policy, etc. After Jesus, they were set apart by their uniquely non-nationalistic characteristics — their border/race/ ethnicity-transcending inclusiveness and self-sacrificial love of everyone, even enemies. Therefore, what was once productive is now counterproductive. The nationalism that previously contributed to the distinctiveness of God’s followers now negates that distinctiveness.Advancing God’s kingdom on earth today requires transcending political power struggles and nationalistic entanglements, Trumplike or otherwise, to express God’s equal and unconditional love for all people. In the way of Jesus, it means refusing to allow our love to be limited by national boundaries. It means living as a setapart people whose existence bears witness to a wholly different type of kingdom, an all-inclusive one.Christian nationalism is backslidingAny Christian nationalism today — any Christian-related favoring of one nation’s citizens over another’s — is ethical backsliding. It reverses what Jesus accomplished by reintroducing ethnic and political membership criteria, by resurrecting the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, and by turning neighbors back into enemies. Just as Old Testament Israel rebelled against God by demanding a king “like the other nations,” Christians today rebel against God by prioritizing their national interests above universal love “like the other nations.”Christians are principally citizens of a higher kingdom, and we must act like it.THE AMERICAN SACRAMENT THAT DENIES ALLEGIANCE TO CHRISTBy Cody CookThere’s an antebellum African-American spiritual song called “Down by the Riverside.” The song reflects upon being baptized and what it means for the one who receives the sacrament. Lines like “gonna try on my long white robe” and “gonna lay down my heavy load” are paired with “gonna lay down my sword and shield” and “ain’t gonna study war no more.”This connection between being baptized and giving up violence is one that wouldn’t occur to many Christians. You can draw a path between the two from Scripture in a couple steps—from baptism as the sacrament that brings us into that faith, to Jesus’ exhortation that living that faith out requires nonviolence—but there is a more concrete relationship in the history of the early church.Here’s what the second century church father Tertullian had to say about the relationship between Christianity and going to war:“Inquiry is made about this point, whether a believer may turn himself unto military service… There is no agreement between the divine and the human sacrament, the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot be due to two masters—God and Cæsar” (Tertullian, On Idolatry, ch. 19).Did you catch that reference to sacraments? Tertullian says that no one can take both a divine and human sacrament. Nowadays, sacrament is a church-y word that Christians use to describe a religious rite, such as baptism or the Lord’s Supper. Was Tertullian taking this Christian word and applying it metaphorically to serving Caesar as if it were some kind of counterfeit religious rite? Actually, it was the opposite. The word “sacrament” was a pagan word which later took on a religious meaning for Christians.In ancient Roman law and religious practice, a sacramentum was an oath or vow. In the first century B.C., Julius Caesar used the word to describe a military oath which recitation initiates the oath taker into the Roman militaryAccording to Daniel G. Van Slyke’s 2007 article, “The Changing Meanings of Sacramentum: Historical Sketches,” this military usage “soon became the primary referent of sacramentum in non Christian authors” (p. 247, Antiphon 11.3, 2007). It became primarily associated with the sacramentum militare, and this was the oath that Tertullian had in mind. The sacramentum, which functioned as a solemn, religious rite, was taken by soldiers as a loyalty pledge to the emperor.Loyalty pledge to the emperorAccording to the Roman military author Vegetius, in this sacrament, “the soldiers swear that they shall faithfully execute all that the Emperor commands, that they shall never desert the service, and that they shall not seek to avoid death for the Roman republic!” One not only had to be willing to die for Caesar on the 7 field of battle, but the penalty for abdicating one’s responsibilities could be death.The parallels with baptism seem obvious. A Christian who is baptized dies to self and former allegiances, joining the body of Christ to do Christ’s will. When Jesus asks his disciples in Mark 10:38-39 whether they are able to be baptized with the baptism that He will be baptized, the baptism is a baptism of death. The one who is baptized makes an oath of complete allegiance to Christ, even to the point of death.R. Alan Streett, in his book Caesar and the Sacrament: Baptism: A Rite of Resistance, summarizes Tertullian’s argument in this way:“Tertullian… identified the act of baptism as the Christian sacramentum and contrasted it to a Roman soldier’s pledge of loyalty to the emperor and Empire. By analogy, he makes the case that just as a soldier, upon his oath of allegiance, was inducted into Caesar’s army, so a believer was initiated by the sacrament (oath) of baptism into God’s kingdom. Each vowed faithful service to his god and kingdom.”Tertullian’s argument was that one has to make a choice between which of the two sacraments they will take: will they pledge themselves to Caesar and keep studying war, or will they pledge themselves to Christ and commit to study war no more?This is some interesting historical background about early Christianity perhaps, but what does it tell us about living in the world today? America in particular is said to be a Christian nation where God and military service don’t conflict. American soldiers don’t swear loyalty oaths to put the state above all other allegiances, do they?Loyalty pledge to empireAs a matter of fact, they do. In the United States military, enlisted members are required to make this oath:“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”But what about when an allegiance to the Constitution or an order from a superior contradicts one’s allegiance and orders from Christ?The oath makes no exceptions for conscience or for allegiances outside of the United States system—God is only called on to be a witness to one’s commitment to the state—though a scrupulous soldier might risk disobeying what she deems to be an unlawful or unconstitutional order and hope to not be punished for it later–an improvement upon Caesar’s sacramentum to be sure, but has the Christian who takes this modern sacramentum truly freed themself from the impossible task of trying to serve two masters?While Tertullian is concerned about Christians disobeying Christ’s commands of nonviolence, it is allegiance which he is most concerned about here. He writes that even where “there is no necessity for taking part in sacrifices or capital punishments,” there is still “no agreement between the divine and the human sacrament.” One’s allegiance must be to Christ.THE IDOLATRY OF STATISMBy Paul MaitrejeanMany Christians today are quick to leap to the defense of the current American regime. They will go to any length to defend its actions, particularly in the case of foreign policy and “culture” wars. On both sides of the aisle, Christians will throw their support behind virtually any politician of their particular political leaning regardless of their record, his words, or his current actions. Supporting without question the activities of the American government, particularly in foreign matters, has nearly become an unwritten prerequisite for being a ChristianAmazingly, these Christians are supporting and swearing allegiance to among the most godless, cruel, greedy, murderous governments in history. When this is pointed out, though, the supporters of the State will cite Scripture in their defense—usually the oft-heard and badly-twisted Romans 13:1—and they fall upon the dissenter like wolves. Is this the sort of mindset Jesus came among us to promote?The government which they so ardently support is guilty of violating every God-given right. God gave us the right to life (Exodus 20:13)—but the American government is guilty of murder on every scale through assassination programs, unjust wars, taxpayer-funded abortion, drone strikes, and attacks on citizens (such as Waco and Ruby Ridge). God gave us the right to liberty (1 Peter 4:15)—but the American government has taken upon itself to tell us what we must and must not do, own, buy, sell, consume, and so on. It also imprisons people for nonviolent crimes and even arrests and incarcerates without evidence or trial. God has given us the right to property (Exodus 20:15) – but the American government imposes coercive taxes, confiscates possessions, and tells us what we can and cannot own. God gave us the right to privacy (I Peter 4:15) – but the American government gives itself license to spy on us through our computers, our telephones, our records, and by means of cameras, drones, and even our own neighbors.If God grants these rights to life, liberty, property, and privacy and safeguards them through His divine law, then it logically follows that man has no authority to take them away. Man, however, through his fabrication known as The State, has given himself the perceived right to do exactly that – to define and even take away the rights of other men. In taking this gross license, man thus attempts to dethrone God and replace Him with the stateShould Christians not be outraged at this blatant usurpation? Should they not recognize blasphemy when they see it? Should they not call out Caesar for declaring himself to be god?The vast majority of people who identify themselves as Christians not only disregard the blasphemy but even argue in favor of it. How dare you question the legitimacy of the innumerable wars we wage around the globe? How dare you suggest that the state is evil? How dare you advocate throwing off the yoke of human rule? Modern Christians are overwhelmingly in favor of the American state despite its trail of theft, enslavement, and murder over the past one hundred fifty years. They wave their flags, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and repeat their statist mantras of “Support the troops!” “Land of the free!” “We’re a Christian nation!” “Love it or leave it!” “God bless America!” and so on.The fact that they so willingly turn a blind eye to the state’s blasphemous and tyrannical nature and so enthusiastically give it their unwavering and unquestioning support, despite its ungodly nature, should make us wonder who their true god is.In Daniel 2, the prophet explains Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, in which he saw great image “whose brightness was excellent . . . and the form thereof was terrible” (Daniel 2:31). This same image was composed of gold, silver, brass, and iron, which respectively represented the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires – kingdoms of men.Throughout Scripture, “graven images” are most often associated with the pagan practice of idol worship (Leviticus 26:1). Human government is a fabrication of man. God never designed it. It is a concept that began exclusively in the minds of men, as early as the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the lure of becoming “as gods” (Genesis 3:5). The Tower of Babel was but one culmination of man’s desire to rise to, if not beyond, God’s level (Genesis 11:4). Since then, man has raised himself up to rule over his peers, forming monarchies, dictatorships, democracies, oligarchies, republics, and many other forms of rule. Man has always been the one to manufacture systems of human rule. He makes his own graven image in the form of the state, sets it up in a place of prominence – a “high place”, if you will – and bows down to it, even punishing those who do not. Nebuchadnezzar took it to a literal level in Daniel 3 by creating a golden image which he commanded his subjects to worship. But in Daniel 4, we see that this was only an outward expression of his worship of self and the state he had forged into mighty Babylon:“The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” – Daniel 4:30The state does not rise into power without the people first setting it in place themselves. They choose whether it will be a monarchy or republic, a democracy or an oligarchy. They create their image, their god, and when it takes power and begins to rule over them, they bow before it. Caesar would never have become regarded as a deity had the Roman people not set him there. Napoleon Bonaparte would not have become emperor had the French people not put in him a position to become so. Adolf Hitler would never have become der Fürher had the German people not recognized him in that capacity. The people of a nation create their graven image – the state, in whatever form it might take – and will always worship the work of their own hands.The ancient Israelites were ruled directly by God through the judges up until the days of the prophet Samuel. When they became dissatisfied, they sought to have a king “like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5). They wanted to be like the pagan nations who were godless and lawless. They wanted to do away with the rule of God (1 Samuel 8:7) and set up their own state, their own graven image to worship, despite God’s many warnings against falling for the other nations’ idolatry (Joshua 23:6-8). God, frustrated with their rebellion, allowed them to make their graven image, and Israel fell prey to the nationalism, statism, and oppression that comes with human rule.American Christians worship their own graven image. They reason, “We forged a union out of the thirteen colonies. We wrote a Constitution. We founded the three branches of the government. We elect our leaders.” This government is an image of their own making, and they would far rather bow down to it in adoration than admit that their false god is a god of wickedness.Looking back at Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2, notice that the “graven image” is struck down and crushed by a stone that “was cut out without hands” (Daniel 2:34). This stone is, as we now know, representative of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. This stone “became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35). The absolute opposite of a graven image is an uncut stone. (Deuteronomy 27:5-6). God’s government is not created through the schemes and labors of men, but by the will of God. And that stone, the Messianic kingdom, did fill the entire earth, as we read in Matthew 28:18-19. He has triumphed over principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15). Jesus is King, and has overcome the kingdoms of men, rendering them to so much chaff on the wind – irrelevant, meaningless, void.Then why do statist Christians, while claiming to follow “the stone cut without hands,” continue to bow down to the stone-cut images of men? Simply, they do not recognize the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Like the ancient people before them, they insist upon worshiping the work of their own hands, which has turned into a beast that tramples them underfoot like insects, demanding more sacrifice, more devotion, more service. They have refused to tear down their high places, clinging to the idolatry of statism. They worship in awe and adulation (Revelation 13:4) while spurning the invitation of Jesus to invest themselves fully in the love and liberty of His magnificent kingdom.“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30THE ASTONISHING POWER OF A FAITHFUL MUSTARD SEED REVOLUTIONBy Cody CookTucked away in one of Jesus’ short, unassuming parables is a hidden subversive message that pronounces coming judgment upon mankind’s systems of power.It all starts with a little mustard seed… While there are plenty of passages in the Bible which explicitly contradict the tenets of Christian nationalism and pronounce impending judgment upon the kingdoms of men, it’s become increasingly apparent to me that this opposition is so thoroughly ingrained into the biblical worldview that it can be implicitly found in many places where you wouldn’t expect it.For example—the parable of the mustard seed. It’s familiar to many Christians, but I’ll reproduce it here since it’s so short:He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES” – Matthew 13:31-32 (NASB)Mustard seed as an anti-state metaphorHow does this passage oppose the present political order? You might have noticed that a handful of words are capitalized in this translation. That’s one way that some Bible translations alert their readers that the Old Testament is being quoted in the New.These quotations can be hugely important, shedding light on the meaning of the New Testament author who quotes them. If we’re good Bible readers, we’ll want to know what passage is being quoted here.But that’s where things get a little complicated. Technically, this language occurs more than once in the Old Testament, though the most relevant passage is from Ezekiel 17.The prophet Ezekiel speaks of how Judah’s king, Zedekiah, had sought to make an alliance with Egypt to protect his kingdom from Babylonian occupation. This move may have made some tactical sense, but it was also against the command of God. As a result of this disobedience, God promised that Zedekiah’s plan would fail, his troops would be smashed, and he would die in Babylon.But Ezekiel didn’t just say this plainly. Like Jesus, he used a parable. Zedekiah was like a branch from a large tree that was plucked by a great eagle—the king of Babylon—and brought to his city.When the shoot was planted, it became a low vine spreading out to entangle itself with another great eagle—Egypt. But despite its attempt at self-preservation, the vine was destined to wither in the soil.That was the bad news. But Ezekiel also promised good news for the future:Thus says the Lord GOD, “I will also take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and set it out; I will pluck from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit and become a stately cedar.And birds of every kind will nest under it; they will nest in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD; I bring down the high tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will perform it” – Ezekiel 17:22-24 (NASB)Careful readers of the New Testament may be surprised to see Ezekiel using themes and concepts more closely associated with Jesus’ teaching about Himself and His kingdom. The small branch —a future king—will be planted on a high mountain and eventually become a large tree that provides for all the world’s living things. This closely parallels not only Jesus’ image of the tiny mustard seed, but it also suggests the surprising reversals that come in its wake.The seemingly insignificant branch becomes a tree that the others learn they must bow down to. The trees that are now high and flourishing (the kingdoms of men) will die when God performs this miraculous reversal of fortunes.As the New Testament scholar Craig Keener wrote in his commentary on Matthew:Jesus insists that the kingdom, though present in a hidden way in the ministry of Jesus and his followers, is the glorious anticipated kingdom of God (13:31-33). These parables most clearly declare that God’s kingdom had arrived in some sense in Jesus’ ministry, in a hidden and anticipatory way… Far from baptizing the wicked in fire and overthrowing nations at his first coming, Jesus had come as a meek servant (12:18-20), wandering around Galilee with a group of obscure disciples, healing some sick people…Jesus’ initial arrival as a meek and politically inconspicuous servant rendered his mission as opaque as his parables, except to disciples bearing the insight of faith. Only those who press into Jesus’ circle truly understand his identity.⁸Against confusing the kingdom of God with political movementsIn other words, the kingdom of God does not look like earthly kingdoms. Keener’s claim that “only those who press into Jesus’ circle truly understand his identity” suggests that if we confuse the kingdom of God with a contemporary political movement, we are missing who Jesus is and our claim to being His disciples is questionable.As mentioned above, this isn’t the only place in the Old Testament where this kind of language is used. Perhaps Jesus had one of the other passages in mind and did not mean to make such subversive claims about the state? Possibly, except the other places where this language occurs in the Old Testament communicate the same basic principles about the kingdoms of men that Ezekiel 17 does.For instance, when Daniel was in exile in Babylon, he interpreted the meaning of a dream that king Nebuchadnezzar had of an enormous and fruitful tree whose branches were visible to the ends of the earth.This tree was so imposing that “the beasts of the field found shade under it, And the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, and all living creatures fed themselves from it” (Daniel 4:12, NASB).Suddenly, unexpectedly, judgment was proclaimed against the tree and it was ordered to be chopped down. This is what would happen to Nebuchadnezzar until he learned “that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes” (Daniel 4:17, NASB)The rest of Daniel has no better news for the kingdoms of men, which are compared to wild beasts that are fit to be slain at the coming of God and then thrown into a lake of fire (Daniel 7, see also Daniel 2).Finally, this language also occurs in Ezekiel 31:3-14, this time of the Assyrian empire. I’ll bet you can’t guess what Ezekiel predicted would happen to it:Behold, Assyria was a cedar in LebanonWith beautiful branches and forest shade,And very high,And its top was among the clouds…All the birds of the heavens nested in its boughs,And under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth,And all great nations lived under its shade…Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Because it is high in stature and has set its top among the clouds, and its heart is haughty in its loftiness, therefore I will give it into the hand of a despot of the nations; he will thoroughly deal with it. According to its wickedness I have driven it away…On its ruin all the birds of the heavens will dwell, and all the beasts of the field will be on its fallen branches so that all the trees by the waters may not be exalted in their stature, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand erect in their height.For they have all been given over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit.” – Ezekiel 31:3-14 (NASB)Like much of what Jesus told His disciples, this short little parable really packs a wallop. While you might be able to guess from the broader context of Jesus’ mission and teaching that the mustard seed-like Kingdom of God is surprising and maybe even subversive, the contours of its meaning really become visible when we read it in light of the Old Testament passages which inspired it and gave it its meaning.And that meaning becomes increasingly clear the more we dig in —the kingdoms of men will be destroyed by God and the kingdom of God will replace them. Since we know this to be true, we had better join the mustard seed revolution while we can.IS AMERICA THE LAST, BEST HOPE OF THE WORLD?By Jeff WrightThe idea that America is the last, best hope of the world is the spirit that animates a great deal of political activity in our country. The “last, best hope” is one of the most enduring rallying cries preached to garner support and enthusiasm for major government initiatives throughout American history. It has become such a widely accepted notion that its veracity and relevance for lawmaking and executive action is simply assumed, even among Christians.In his first inaugural address in 1801, Thomas Jefferson reasoned, “I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world’s best hope, may by possibility want [lack] energy to preserve itself? I trust not.” Jefferson lifted America’s republican form of government up as the world’s best hope. Abraham Lincoln returned to the theme six decades later while the world’s best hope, as embodied by the Union, was in danger of dissolving. Speaking in his Second Annual Message to Congress in 1862, Lincoln movingly declared, “Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.” For Lincoln, an intact Union personified the cause of freedom in the world. The freedom provided by a united America was the last best hope of the earth.Ronald Reagan famously revived the theme in 1964 in an effort to strengthen Barry Goldwater’s presidential candidacy during his nationally-televised “A Time for Choosing” speech: “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.” Reagan persuasively championed “the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order.” He exposed governmental force, coercion, and control of the people and warned against a path that would lead to “the ant heap of totalitarianism.” For Reagan, the destiny of the nation and therefore the entire world rested upon the outcome of this presidential election.On the campaign trail in 2008, Barack Obama carried the theme to new heights preaching, “The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth.”A bipartisan foursome worthy of their own Mount Rushmore – the author of the Declaration of Independence, the Great Emancipator, the Great Communicator, and the personification of Hope and Change – all upheld the United States of America, its form of government, its influence for freedom, and even its ability to heal the very planet itself as the last, best hope of humankind.While Barack Obama represents a leftist vision of America as the last best hope, conservatives have their versions of the theme as well. Conservative thinker Bill Bennett responded to what he perceived to be a decline in young Americans’ understanding of what makes America so great, despite its imperfections, with his three-volume set: America – The Last Best Hope. Fellow conservative sage, Dennis Prager, recently offered his contribution, Still the Best Hope, in which he contrasts the competing visions of “Leftism,” “Islamism,” and, what he calls, “Americanism”: a “trinity” of core values – “Liberty,” “In God We Trust,” and “E Pluribus Unum.” While there may be competing ideas as to which values best represent the American ideal, it is widely held across the political spectrum that America is the last, best hope on earth.The question for American evangelicals is this: is America truly the last, best hope of the world? Let me begin to respond to this question by first asking, are there any alternatives that ought to come to mind when Christians begin to consider this question? Is there anything else Christ-followers might believe is the hope of the world? Do we as “little Christs” have a competing theory? Any “good news” on the topic? What’s that? The gospel of Jesus Christ, you say? Yes, I think that may be it!“C’mon, that goes without saying!” you might reply. Does it? Early Christians promulgated the New Testament creed that is commonplace and almost boring today: “Jesus is Lord!” Yes, we say, Jesus is Lord of my life. He’s the Lord of my heart. This may be what “Jesus is Lord” means to many Christians today but in the 1st century it was a competing pledge of allegiance that directly contradicted the loyalty oath of the Roman empire: “Caesar is lord.” Jesus came to establish his own kingdom, the kingdom of God. When a Christian declared “Jesus is Lord,” the obvious and deliberate implication was, “Caesar is not.”Just as a Christian in the first century would never make the claim that Caesar or the Roman Empire is the last, best hope of the earth, Christians today make a mistake by elevating any kingdom of this world to the status of “the hope of mankind.” When we slip into the mindset that America is the best hope of the world along with the assumption that we must do something to preserve this status, we will eventually find ourselves supporting acts by the government that are contrary to the kingdom that deserves our first and ultimate allegiance, the kingdom of God.The kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God offer radically different visions for the world. American evangelicals along with all Christians ought to reject the idea that America is the last, best hope of earth because this is a form of idolatry. It is giving a status that ought to be reserved for God to someone or something else. If America is the best hope of the world then the good news of Jesus Christ and his kingdom is not.Unless we strongly affirm the earliest of Christian creeds, Jesus is Lord, we will tend to give the agendas of earthly kingdoms undue importance. Unless we me make it clear that our ultimate allegiance is to Jesus Christ and his kingdom, we will tend to look to the State rather than the church for the solutions to life’s challenges. If America is the hope of the world then the State ought to export this hope to the world and Christians should enlist in that cause. However, if Jesus Christ is the hope of the world then the church ought to be about the business of the kingdom of God.America as the last, best hope of the world was chosen as a “myth of American evangelicalism” because it is one of the underlying assumptions of both conservative and progressive evangelicals. Both camps believe that if they can just gain control of the State then they can use its powers for good. They just differ on what “good” looks like. And when they’re implementing their version of good, they’re “restoring” America’s status as the last, best hope of the world as Barack Obama put it.Preserving a grip on the reins of governmental power causes evangelicals to embrace or overlook what was “evil” when their opponents held the reins of power. Progressive evangelicals who howled in righteous indignation over the war in Iraq and American imperialism under President Bush fell silent when their preferred “Peace President” bombed seven different nations. In November of 2011, President Obama boasted to troops returning from Iraq, “That’s part of what makes us special as Americans. Unlike the old empires, we don’t make these sacrifices for territory or for resources. We do it because it’s right.” Same means, just the “right” ends (and notice the language of “empire”). On the other hand, many of the conservative evangelicals who applauded the civil liberties violations of the Patriot Act under President Bush are now decrying the Obama Administration’s use and expansion of these same policies as a “police state.” Contradictions such as these are tolerated because of the larger aim of controlling the do-gooder powers of the last, best hope of the world.Liberty-minded evangelicals support the furtherance of peace and the preservation of civil liberties during all administrations. We don’t need the State to coerce others into doing good. We have the superior resources of the kingdom of God. The State, American or otherwise, is not the last, best hope of the world, Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ is Lord and therefore all other Caesars are not.SHOULD CHRISTIANS CITE THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE?By Laurence Vance“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.”There are three holidays that cause otherwise sound-in-the-faith evangelical, conservative, and fundamentalist Christians to lose their religion.I am referring to Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Veterans DayOne of these holidays doesn’t even have to fall on a Sunday for some churches to go wild with celebration.Memorial Day, of course, is always observed on a Monday. The other two holidays only fall on a Sunday every seven or so years. But if one of them doesn’t happen to fall on a Sunday, the Sunday before the holiday will do just as well. In some years, like when the Fourth of July or Veterans Day occurs late in the week, the Sunday after the holiday is reserved by some churches for observation.As if the blind nationalism, hymns to the state, and exaltation of the military that occurs in some churches on these Sundays isn’t bad enough, sometimes the festivities also include the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, in church, by the congregation, facing the flag on the platform. The Pledge is usually led by the pastor or a boy scout or veteran, sometimes in uniform.This is not only unfortunate; it is an anti-biblical disgrace.There are several reasons why no one that treasures liberty, is familiar with American history, and knows the history behind the Pledge (an ad campaign to sell magazines) would waste his time saying the Pledge. I want to focus on one of them.There are also several reasons why Christians that treasure liberty, are familiar with American history, and know the history behind the Pledge (written by a socialist minister) would waste his time saying the Pledge. Again, I want to focus on one of them.In 2000, an atheist sued his daughter’s school district because he said that the words “under God” in the Pledge amounted to an unconstitutional establishment of religion. He lost.After an appeal by the atheist parent, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2002 that the phrase in question was unconstitutional.After an appeal by the school district, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that the father of the child lacked standing to file the lawsuit because his daughter’s mother had sole legal custody of her and that she was not opposed to her daughter reciting the Pledge. The ruling of the appeals court was then reversed.In 2010, the same federal appeals court upheld the words “under God” in the Pledge in another case, ruling that the phrase does not constitute an establishment of religion.The idea that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is ludicrous. As stated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in its 2010 ruling:Not every mention of God or religion by our government or at the government’s direction is a violation of the Establishment Clause…We hold that the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the Establishment Clause because Congress’ ostensible and predominant purpose was to inspire patriotism and that the context of the Pledge – its wording as a whole, the preamble to the statute, and this nation’s history – demonstrate that it is a predominantly patriotic exercise. For these reasons, the phrase “one Nation under God” does not turn this patriotic exercise into a religious activity.¹¹However, just because the phrase “under God” in the Pledge doesn’t violate the Constitution doesn’t mean that it belongs in the Pledge or, more importantly, that Christians should recite the Pledge.One reason why Christians should not recite the Pledge is a simple one, and one that has nothing to do with patriotism or religion.The United States is not a nation “under God.”The United States is in fact about as far from being “under God” as any country on the planet.The United States leads the world in the incarceration rate, the total prison population, the divorce rate, car thefts, rapes, total crimes, illegal drug use, legal drug use, and Internet pornography production.At least the United States is second to Russia when it comes to abortions.According to the Guttmacher Institute, “nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and about four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion” and “twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.” There are over 1,700 abortion providers in the United States. And even worse, 37 percent of women obtaining abortions identify as Protestant and 28 percent as Catholic.Only a madman would say that the United States is a nation “under God.” “Oh, but the Pledge is just some words,” some say, the reciting of which doesn’t really mean anything. Then why say it? If the Pledge is just some words that don’t really mean anything, then it makes more sense not to say it than to say it.The Pledge doesn’t say that the United States used to be one nation under God. It doesn’t say that the United States should be one nation under God. It says that the United States is one nation under God.That is a lie. Christians are not supposed to lie:“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds” (Colossians 3:9). “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25). “Thou shalt not bear false witness” (Romans 13:9).Is it unpatriotic to not say the Pledge? It may be. But it is certainly right, Christian, and biblical not to.ARE YOU AN IMPERIAL CHRISTIAN?By Laurence VanceThe tenets of imperial Christianity include things like blind nationalism, belief in American exceptionalism, willful ignorance of U.S. foreign policy, childish devotion to the military, cheerleading for the Republican Party, acceptance of the U.S. empire, and support for a perpetual war on terror – all, of course, with a Christian twist for effect. In other words, the views of Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann or Rick PerryI have some simple yet pointed questions for Christians who subscribe to, or can be characterized by, the above things:Is the president of the United States God?Is America the nation of Israel?Is the United States the chosen state of God?Is the U.S. military the Lord’s army?Does the United States enjoy a special relationship with God that other nations don’t have?Is the Christian’s sword anything but the word of God?Does the Bible command any Christian to kill any adherent of a false religion?Does the Bible command any Christian to go on a crusade against Muslims?Does “obeying the powers that be” mean that Christians should always do anything and everything the government says?Does the Bible say that anyone other than God should receive unconditional obedience?Is it okay for Christians to participate in U.S. government wars just because God commanded the Jews in the Old Testament to go to war?Does the Lord approve of everything the U.S. government does?Does the Lord approve of everything the government of Israel does?Is being patriotic more important than being biblical?Is the Republican Party the party of God?Is it more scriptural for a Christian to be in the military than in the ministry?Does God need America’s help to protect Israel?Does God need the U.S. military to maintain order throughout the world?Is the U.S. military a godly institution?Is the CIA a godly institution?Did God command the United States to build over 1,000 foreign military bases?Did God command the United States to station troops in over 150 countries?Does God always approve of U.S. foreign policy?Is it biblical that churches send more soldiers to the Middle East than missionaries?Did God appoint the United States to be the world’s policeman?Does the New Testament command churches to hold special military appreciation days?Does the New Testament command churches to glorify the military on the Sunday before national holidays?Have U.S. wars always been just, right, and good?Are all Muslims terrorists?Was every Iraqi and Afghan killed by the U.S. military a terrorist?Does the New Testament encourage Christians to wage war against anyone or anything but the world, the flesh, and the devil?If you are a Christian and answered in the affirmative to one or more of these questions, then I understand why you are an imperial Christian. Repent.But if you are a Christian and answered in the negative to all of these questions, then why are you an imperial Christian? Why do you make apologies for the state, its leaders, its military, its wars, its imperialism, and its interventionism? Why are you so devoted to the Republican Party? Why do you sing songs to the state in church on the Sunday before national holidays? Why do you encourage Christian young people to join the military? Why do you recite meaningless prayers for God to bless U.S. troops engaged in unjust wars?Think about these things. Pray about them. Meditate on them. Just don’t be an imperial Christian.ABOUT THE LIBERTARIAN CHRISTIAN INSTITUTEThe Libertarian Christian Institute is a federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt educational and religious nonprofit organization that promotes libertarianism from a Christian point of view. We are convinced that libertarianism is the most consistent expression of Christian political thought. LCI is ecumenical in nature, welcoming all those who confess the traditional creeds of the universal church.Our goals are to persuade our fellow Christians through online programs, physical publications, in-person conferences, regional small group meetups, and to love our fellow libertarians as Jesus would have us do. Our online presence is unmatched in the libertarian community, with hundreds of articles, book reviews, videos, podcasts, news reports, and much more. Dr. Horn is regularly sought after for a Christian libertarian perspective on a variety of political and cultural topics. Most recently, our Christians For Liberty Conferences have brought hundreds of Christian Libertarians together to share and to learn from great speakers in Austin, Texas.As the Libertarian Christian Institute grows, we are actively seeking out donors who desire to see an organization such as this make a positive difference in the church and in the world today for liberty and for Christ. Learn how to participate in our mission to equip the church to make the Christian case for a free society by visiting LibertarianChristians.com.Our Vision: Christians Embracing a Free SocietyThe Libertarian Christian Institute envisions a world where Christians promote the values and principles of a free society as the most consistent expression of Christian political thought. We see a world where, instead of polarizing to the left or right, Christians demonstrate that individual liberty is a force for the common good. We aim to persuade Christians that the political expression of our faith inclines us toward the principles of individual liberty and free markets.Our Mission: Equipping Christians to Spread the Message of Individual LibertyWe seek to create quality resources to equip Christians to promote individual liberty among their families, friends, ministries, and churches. We view ourselves as a contributor to the vast resources of libertarian content online by making the Christian case for a free society. We resist the assumption that the default political position of Christianity is domination and control, and we combat this by employing studies in history, theology, and biblical exegesis in a variety of venues.THE CORE VALUES OF A LIBERTARIAN CHRISTIANChristian Political Philosophy Should be Informed by a Holistic View of Scripture, Reason, and Historical TheologyA comprehensive view of the biblical narrative indicates that the Church’s proclamation of Jesus’ lordship is not a mere personal statement of allegiance; it is also an anti-imperial declaration that the way of peace comes through Christ’s counter-cultural kingdom of love and service. Followers of Christ are called to be a prophetic voice against the powers of domination and violence. The State — the monopolized institution of force in society — is never to be confused with the Kingdom of God, and when the power of the state grows, the rightful influence of churches, families, and local communities is diminished.A Free And Civil Society Depends Upon Respect For The Non Aggression PrincipleThe ethics modeled by Christ and the early Church call us to change the world and build the Kingdom of God through service rather than force; through persuasion rather than coercion. The use of political force to compel ethical behavior cannot change hearts and only antagonizes our struggle against sin, death, and evil. Christians must call for repentance from sin in humility and never with violence. As such, a consistently Christian ethic always embodies non-aggression.Individual Liberty and the Common Good are not at OddsAs God is intrinsically relational within the Trinity, so also human beings are created to live in community. Sin has marred the communal relationships for which we were created by pitting individuals against God, against one another, and against the earth for which we are called to be wise stewards. Affirming the dignity, worth, and rights of the individual as an image-bearer of God is a first step toward restoring authentic, Christ-centered community among diverse individuals. Because society is comprised of individuals, a healthy society requires healthy individuals. Through voluntary cooperation and respect for freedom, people can join together to trade, innovate, create, collaborate, share, and build a world that simultaneously respects the individual and betters our neighbor.Social Institutions Matter for Human FlourishingHumans are created to be social beings, and God’s design is that we work together to develop institutions which promote human flourishing. Insofar as these institutions are voluntary, peaceful, and non-coercive, human beings possess the God-given capacity to solve the worst of problems in the best of ways. Social institutions founded upon mutual cooperation — such as marriage, family, church, organizations, and businesses — are vital for authentic humanityChristian Theology Affirms the Essential Tenets of Free Market EconomicsRespect for private property, voluntary exchange, condemnation of theft, and the value of cooperation and service towards achieving common goals flow naturally from Christian thought and habit. This is what defines “capitalism” in the libertarian view.Wealth is a tool given by God, and all who possess such wealth are expected to utilize it for God’s Kingdom and the good of our neighbor. Taxation and regulation tend to destroy wealth, discourage innovation, and centralize power, and therefore hamper our ability to fulfill the calling of God. Where free markets are allowed to flourish, human beings will prosper both materially and spiritually. Additionally, Christian ethics helps equip our economies for service toward God and neighbor.Even if you don’t call yourself a libertarian, if you share our affinity for these core values, we count you among our ranks. We hope that you will want to partner with us to help spread the message of liberty by making the Christian case for a free society. You can help us keep the message alive and growing at LibertarianChristians.comGet the Hardcopy Booklet from the Art of Liberty FoundationThe Art of Liberty Foundation has been distributing this pamphlet from the Libertarian Christian Institute for years as a PDF in our credit card-sized, uncensorable flashdrive o freedom, The Liberator and in its free Dropboxes. This year we have struck a deal with the Libertarian Christian Institute to reprint the pamphlet (without Etienne’s memes) and add it to our on-line store at ArtOfLiberty.org/Store. The printing order has been placed and we are now accepting pre-orders that are scheduled to arrive and begin shipping on January 12th. Order a Single Copy for $4.95 here: https://artofliberty.org/product/the-idolatry-of-statism/Order a Five Copy “Friends Bundle” for $20 here: https://artofliberty.org/product/5-copies-of-what-anarchy-isnt-the-idolatry-of-statism/







