Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,

The Great Taking: The Latest “Anti-Mainstream” Conspiracy

A new book has exploded on the alternative / conspiracy / fringe landscape over the past few weeks – I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense. Zerohedge, Bombthrower Media, et al, we all occupy this space. Let’s call it, “anti-mainstream”.

The book is called “The Great Taking” and there is now a YouTube video documentary of it here. You can’t actually find it on Amazon (deliberate choice by author, I presume); I bought my copy via Lulu, but you can download the PDF for free here.

At the risk of oversimplifying it: The Great Taking puts forth a warning that a virtually unknown entity called “The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation” (DTCC) is effectively the “owner” of all the publicly traded companies in the world, and in fact all debt-based assets of any kind:

“It is about the taking of collateral (all of it), the end game of the current globally synchronous debt accumulation super cycle. This scheme is being executed by long-planned, intelligent design, the audacity and scope of which is difficult for the mind to encompass.

Included are all financial assets and bank deposits, all stocks and bonds; and hence, all underlying property of all public corporations, including all inventories, plant and equipment; land, mineral deposits, inventions and intellectual property. Privately owned personal and real property financed with any amount of debt will likewise be taken, as will the assets of privately owned businesses which have been financed with debt.”

Over the course of the book, the author describes a 50-year process by which ownership of shares in public companies, and all debt collateral has been “dematerialized”.

In the olden days, you invested in a company – they gave you physical share certificates – and you were now part owner of the company. This is still how many value investors including me think of stock ownership.

We’re not invested in all of these companies in The Bitcoin Capitalist Portfolio simply because we’re trying to time the oscillations in the price movements. We think of ourselves as partial owners of these businesses.

Michael Saylor, Brian Armstrong, Mike Novogratz, Frank Holmes, Jamie Leverton et al, aren’t just celebrity CEOs in this space (Bitcoin)… they’re our partners. Granted, we’re the minority partners, silent ones, betting the jockeys and just along for the ride; but we don’t think of these positions as just stock charts and price gyrations – we think of them as businesses in which we are part owners.

At least I do.

According to The Great Taking, author David Rogers Webb, this is not true. We don’t own small pieces of these companies, we own claims on those pieces, because – over the course of decades, through the exigencies of ever-increasing trading volumes, combined with the machinations behind the scenes of diabolical manipulators – stock ownership has been supplanted by “security entitlements”.

Webb posits that when the debt super-cycle culminates in its ultimate blow up; the trap will be sprung, and actual ownership over all these companies and assets will be subsumed by the clearing houses. An infinitesimal cadre of elites will effectively own everything, and the masses of the world will be reduced to serfdom.

Which sounds familiar; it seems to be the common theme from The Great Taking to the WEF’s Great Reset (or Stakeholder Capitalism, or whatever they’re calling it these days).

It’s the mother of all wealth transfers, one that makes the ongoing wealth transfer of inflation and the Cantillon Effect – or the sharp shock heists that occur during every crisis from the dot-com bust through the GFC to the Covid Panic (the last of which saw an overt war on small business as those deemed “non-essential” were shut down while the megacorps were propped up by the central banks) – seem tame.

Here’s my thoughts on The Great Taking:

Modernity could be described as humanity’s accelerating pace of technological advancement. Part of that advancement is the ever increasing level of intellectual abstraction.

If you’ve been a member or following my writings long enough, you’ll have heard me talk about the W R Clement book, Quantum Jump; written in 1998, it ascribed the entire scientific revolution from the Enlightenment onwards, to the discovery of perspective (then called “God’s space”), in art:

Brunelleschi and the re-discovery of Linear Perspective circa 1400’s

That “quantum leap” began the process of rewiring all our brains for ever higher levels of intellectual abstraction. It enabled us to go from ownership of a coal mine, for example, being ascribed to whomever physically occupied the space – including militarily – to people, and even corporatized entities like pension funds or investment clubs, owning fractional pieces of that mine, from far off places, even other countries.

Initially we did this using physical pieces of paper to represent that ownership. There is a scene in an Agatha Christie “Miss Marple” mystery, “The Moving Finger”, where a man of leisure (played by William D’Arcy) takes to convalesce in a small cottage in a country town, and he visits the local barrister to register his securities with him, reaching into the inside pocket of his sport jacket and handing him the physical share certificates.

Today, he’d just handle everything from a smart phone he carries around in his jeans.

That’s increasing abstraction.

What The Great Taking is warning us about, is that this increasing level of abstraction comes with a price – that we’re no longer really fractional owners of these businesses, we’re owners of claims on these businesses.

And he may be right.

Webb is a former high level financier and an expert in the legislation and regulatory framework that governs the space. The book looks to be meticulously documented and the legalities well researched.

This is no different, I might add, from our mantra: “Not your keys, not your coins”.

In fact as I read through The Great Taking, I found myself marvelling at how closely everything Webb was describing resembled what happened during the crypto carnage of 2022-23, when hapless users who had deposited their crypto with exchanges found their assets rehypothecated, collaterized – even appropriated from under them.

It drove home the lesson, hard.

Holding shares of Amazon in your E*Trade account may, when the chips are down, be no different from keeping your stack of BTC on an exchange (please don’t).

The businesses to survive an event like The Great Taking, may end up being privately held ones. The assets you keep may be the ones with no counter-party risk – sound familiar? It’s only a core tenet of the entire Bitcoin philosophy.

It is possible that in the event of an even larger financial crisis than we’ve seen prior (and in case you haven’t noticed, each one is typically an order of magnitude larger than the previous), everybody holding publicly traded stocks on platforms gets rug-pulled – and some mysterious and shadowy entity winds up with all the marbles.

Should that occur, I would expect it to signify the end of the global financial system as we know it, and not in a way wherein the society simply continues as a world of penniless serfs, subservient to about 0.001% of the elites.

It would be more of a “last gasp of Globalism” than a final takeover of the world.

Some closing thoughts from the book’s author seems to concur:

I will make a startling assertion. This is not because the power to control is increasing. It is because this power is indeed collapsing. The “control system” has entered collapse.

Their power has been based on deception. Their two great powers of deception, money and media, have been extremely energy-efficient means of control. But these powers are now in rampant collapse.

This is why they have moved urgently to institute physical control measures. However, physical control is difficult, dangerous and energy-intensive. And so, they are risking all. They are risking being seen. Is this not a sign of desperation?

This has also been my read on it from fairy early in the pandemic, and more so since – especially after the #FreedomConvoy. Official narrative aside, that event sounded the death knell for not only Covid Tyranny, but for WEF-inspired globalism itself.

Within a year of that happening, all Covid emergency measures had ended worldwide, vaccination uptake rates went into secular decline, and the mainstream media entered into a full-on death spiral.

Webb continues:

“We have entered a time in which their nature is being recognized. Knowledge of their existence has become unavoidable. Their grasping will come to an end, because all of humanity cannot allow it to continue.

Once it is recognized, humans will bond against a common existential threat.

People from all walks of life will join in common cause. We have witnessed this already.”

It follows a theme I’ve been developing for a few years now, one that I didn’t originally conceive but came across and feel is accurate:

That theme is that the next, worldwide conflict (“World War III”, in essence) will not be a geo-political struggle of the US vs China, or West vs East, or NATO vs China/Russia: it will be populations against their own governments.

When you think about it, it almost fits the historical definition of the Marxist “class struggle”, only we – hopefully – don’t get a Communist “utopia” at the end of it.

In fact, I think that’s what everybody will be rebelling against: the imposition of a technocratic socialism that attempts to hoover up the property rights of the rest of humanity.

Those attempting to capitalize on this, the elites and the technocrats, have only really had one superpower with which to build their position over time:

“They promote the belief that they are all-powerful. They are not. 

All they have had is the power to print money. 

The rest, they have usurped from humanity.”

Of course, Bitcoin is the kryptonite to this superpower, the one thing elites had which enabled them to rig the entire system in their favour is basically finished, and they know it.

At the risk of going on too long about it here, but wanting to do the topic some justice, The Great Taking scenario isn’t incompatible with what we’ve been calling The Great Bifurcation since the onset of the pandemic, encapsulated by my glib, cynical quip:

“In the future, there will only be one occupation: managing one’s wealth. And most people, are gonna be unemployed.”

We see The Great Bifurcation happening all around us already: tent cities from Burnaby to Toronto, fentanyl zombies roving San Francisco, increasing masses behaving like savages; this isn’t because of race, politics, religion or even a far-reaching global conspiracy to impoverish humanity or depopulate the earth (although there are almost certainly cells of elites who would wish that) – it’s because we’re using debt for money, we can’t stop, and the level of intellectual abstraction that is required to operate, let alone thrive, within a hyper-financialized world, is leaving larger and larger chunks of the population behind.

Anytown of the future.

It’s Alvin Toffler’s “Future Shock” (tl;dr: the rate of technological change will accelerate and compound) released in 1971, combined with Clement’ “Quantum Jump” (intellectual abstraction will become increasingly more complex) from 1998, writ large.

These two accelerating dynamics conspire to create a veritable “Breakaway society” where those who are positioned and have the cognitive ability to front run the technology live in the future, and the rest, who can’t, fall behind into the past.

The main difference that I see is Webb’s Great Taking is a deliberate conspiracy driven by successive generations of insular elites, whereas my concept of The Great Bifurcation is, as I always say, more the result of perverse incentives and dynamics than outright conspiracy.

The reality is probably elements of both.

Having said all that, we should be clear in our motivations and strategies for what we are holding in our equities portfolios:

We hold Bitcoin, in proper self-custody, so nobody can take it from us in the event of a catastrophic collapse of the financial system.

We may hold some physical gold, silver, junk silver for the same reasons, and we may have property somewhere, farmland, anything that we can lay physical claim to – although we may find ourselves in a situation where we have to somehow enforce those claims.

Stocks, ETFs, even Bitcoin stocks or weird crypto moonshots, we don’t hold these to survive the collapse of the system. We hold these to try and garner out-sized investment returns within the system so long as it continues to function.

I don’t know about you, but I actually don’t want the financial system to collapse. I don’t want society to go off the rails, I am not an accelerationist.

I’m not hoping for a hyper-inflationary flameout of the entire global economy. That would suck, and I’d prefer to be wrong about that.

In other words, were The Great Taking scenario to play out and come true, it would be a permutation of a catastrophic collapse we’ve been positioning for anyway – and we never really considered our equities portfolio (at least we shouldn’t) as part of our toolkit for navigating the collapse of the financial system.

One way or another, should the entire system collapse, I expect our stocks to be among the first casualties, via bail-ins, capital controls, forced conversions into government debt, recapitalizing zombie banks or after all those – if we’re unfortunate enough to have been wildly correct about our positions – “windfall taxes” taking much of what’s left. (I am not alone in thinking this; any of you who also read Mark Faber’s Gloom Boom Doom report know he expects to have upwards of 25% of his wealth confiscated by technocrats during some future, exigent crisis).

That’s why I said in the November letter, on this cycle (or the next) we will have to individually make our exits from the equities based on our own financial goals. While we keep our Bitcoin stack forever and make plans for inter-generational succession – and we may do that with some of our stocks (I could see *** and *** being legacy, dynastic holdings) – for the most part we’re in these to strategically profit within the existing system and cash out to meet our financial objectives.

Everybody knows I want my lake-house in the Muskokas, and you should know what it is that you want.

When he appeared on CNN last week, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was confronted with a video from one of his speeches — a video CNN clipped to convey a false impression that he had compared Covid restrictions to conditions in Nazi Germany. 

The dishonest ambush came on Dec. 15 as Kennedy was interviewed by former MSNBC anchor Kasie Hunt. Hunt showed a video of Kennedy speaking at a January 2022 rally in Washington, which includes a passage in which he said…

“Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.

Today, the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run and none of us can hide.”  

Hunt had framed the clip to suggest Kennedy was specifically comparing Covid mandates to Hitler’s Germany.

As we’ll soon show, that was false.

In the passage from which the above excerpt was drawn, Kennedy was broadly addressing the rise of technology that threatens to enable a “turnkey totalitarianism” that would wildly surpass the capabilities of Hitler’s Nazi regime.   

To spice things up, Hunt next displayed a tweet from Kennedy’s own wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines, which came a few days after the speech. 

At the time, Hines had been repeatedly nagged by NBC News reporter Ben Collins and others on social media asking if she stood by Kennedy’s remarks. She eventually folded and posted a tweet in which she threw her own husband under the bus, embracing the ridiculous, politically-correct notion — propped up by the likes of the Anti-Defamation League — that nobody’s allowed to compare anything to the Holocaust:

My husband’s reference to Anne Frank at a mandate rally in D.C. was reprehensible and insensitive. The atrocities that millions endured during the Holocaust should never be compared to anyone or anything. His opinions are not a reflection of my own.

— Cheryl Hines (@CherylHines) January 25, 2022

“Is she right?” Hunt asked Kennedy. “No, she’s not right,” replied Kennedy, noting that Hines felt compelled to issue the tweet because, at the time, CNN’s Jake Tapper had similarly distorted Kennedy’s remarks and used them to contrive a bogus controversy.  

Kennedy asked Hunt to play the full clip of his remarks. Exasperatingly, Hunt asked the producers to play the same cropped passage again, prompting Kennedy to interject and reiterate that he wanted CNN viewers to see the full context. Hunt replied, “We do not have a longer version of the clip,” condescendingly concluding, “I do think that the clip that we have is very clear.” 

“What you’re doing is misleading the public right now,” said Kennedy.  

Here’s a nice breakdown that first shows CNN’s framing of RFK’s speech, and then the full passage that contained RFK Jr’s allusion to Nazi Germany — not as mirroring the then-current state of affairs in America, but as a contrast to a looming menace around the globe, as governments are poised to obtain powers over individuals never before available: 

Wow!
CNN caught red-handed lying about Robert Kennedy’s record by selectively editing a clip.
RFK Jr.’s campaign put out this video showing the full context of his statement next to the version CNN aired, which mischaracterises part of his speech to mean something he didn’t say. pic.twitter.com/vzRq2vAcPR

— Christian (@ChristianM_74) December 22, 2023

…and here’s a transcript of the key passage from that January 23, 2022 speech: 

What we’re seeing today is what I call turnkey totalitarianism. They are putting in place all of these technological mechanisms for control that we’ve never seen before. It’s been the ambition of every totalitarian state from the beginning of mankind, to control every aspect of behavior, of conduct, of thought, and to obliterate dissent. 

None of them have been able to do it. They didn’t have the technological capacity. Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did. I visited, in 1962, East Germany with my father and met people who had climbed the wall and escaped. So, it was possible. Many died trying, but it was possible. Today, the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run and none of us can hide. 

Within five years, we’re going to see 415,000 low-orbit satellites. Bill Gates says his 65,000 satellites alone will be able to look at every square inch of the planet, 24 hours a day. They’re putting in 5G to harvest our data and control our behavior. Digital currency, that will allow them to punish us from a distance and cut off our food supply.

Vaccine passports…you have a series of rights. As flawed as our government is, you can still go out and go to a bar, you can go to a sporting event, you can get on a bus or an airplane and you can travel. You have certain freedoms, you can get educated, et cetera. The minute they hand you that vaccine passport, every right that you have is transformed into a privilege contingent upon your obedience to arbitrary government dictates. It will make you a slave. And what do we do about this? What do we do? We resist.” 

When she told Kennedy that CNN didn’t have the full context available, Hunt promised, “I will make sure that we look at the further remarks as well.” However, there’s no indication of that promised follow-up. Indeed, in a CNN article summarizing Hunt’s interview, the network doubled down on the deception, flatly declaring that Kennedy “compared the Covid lockdowns to Nazi Germany, arguing that ‘even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland’.”  

The mistreatment of Kennedy comes as he continues to hold substantial support among voters desperate for something other than a Biden or Trump re-run:

• A new Quinnipiac University nationwide poll has Biden leading Trump by one point in a head-to-head contest, and by two in a three-way contest with Kennedy — with RFK Jr grabbing a substantial 22% share. 

• A Monmouth University poll found a comparably balanced impact of Kennedy’s presence, but with Kennedy drawing a little more from Biden than Trump. 

• In the Quinnipiac poll, Kennedy is the top choice of independents — 36% prefer Kennedy to 32% for Biden and 26% for Trump. 

Of course, the rubber really meets the road in individual state races, and some are hoping Kennedy can throw a wrench in the Red-Blue duopoly that’s steering America to ruin.

“With the right electoral college vote strategy, he could pick off one or more states, thereby throwing the election into the US House of Representatives for the first time since 1824,” writes David Stockman.  

While Kennedy’s ultimate impact on the major party candidates is still uncertain and evolving, one thing is clear: CNN and the entire establishment badly want the Kennedy wild card out of the 2024 deck. 

Authored by Sam Bourgi via CreditNews.com,

Americans should be in a better financial position heading into the holidays, according to a famous formula developed in the 1960s under President Lyndon Johnson.

The sum of U.S. unemployment and inflation – known as the “misery index” – fell to 6.8% in November from 7.5% the previous month. That’s the lowest since the summer and fast approaching pre-Covid levels.

The misery index is calculated by adding up the current unemployment rate (3.7%) and the inflation rate (3.1%). The formula provides a simple way to gauge whether the well-being of Americans is improving or not.

Misery peaked in April 2020 when the index spiked to 15%, the highest since 1982. Conditions have improved since the early onset of Covid, but it hasn’t been smooth sailing.

After falling back to 7.7% in January 2021, the index re-accelerated over the next two years as inflation surged. The misery index was 12.5% in June 2022—the same month that annual inflation hit 9.1%.

The unemployment component of the index has been faring well since Covid emergency measures were lifted back in 2021. The unemployment rate has remained below 4% for nearly two years—even as the economy begins to slow.

But economists warn that the misery index doesn’t offer a complete picture of how the average American is doing.

You can tell just by asking them how they feel about the economy and personal finances.

How do Americans really feel?

Economist Greg Ip, who heads economic commentary at The Wall Street Journal, compared the misery index to the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index—one of the most closely-watched consumer surveys.

“Based on historic correlations, sentiment has been more depressed this year than you would expect given the level of economic misery,” Ip wrote, arguing that consumers are more pessimistic than the misery index would suggest.

A deeper dive into the sentiment data reveals that Americans are still frustrated about inflation and the impact of high interest rates on their finances. And while the consumer sentiment index rose in December—breaking a four-month skid—some economists attributed it to a temporary holiday boost ahead of Christmas.

“Consumer spirits are perking up for the holiday season which is a sign Christmas is still coming this year,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS, a New York-based financial research company.

A separate sentiment survey from LSEG/Ipsos paints an even less enthusiastic picture of the average consumer.

The December primary consumer sentiment index—which measures Americans’ attitudes toward jobs, investments, the economy, and personal finances—declined from November and was only up slightly compared to 12 months earlier.

According to the survey, attitudes toward the current situation, investments, and jobs “showed significant declines this month.”

The impact of cumulative inflation

As Creditnews Research reported in a recent study, Americans aren’t celebrating the slowdown in inflation because they’re still reeling from the cumulative price increases of the past three years.

While inflation has fallen to 3.1%, consumer prices have increased by a cumulative 19% since the start of 2020. Food prices are up a whopping 25% over that period.

Americans spent the better part of two years—April 2021 to January 2023—seeing inflation grow faster than their paychecks. That trend reversed in February of this year.

But even with stronger purchasing power this year, the vast majority of Americans (92%) said they reduced their spending in the six months through September, according to a Morning Consult survey for CNBC.

A majority of respondents across all wage brackets said current economic conditions negatively impacted their finances.

As Julian Assange approaches his ‘final’ appeal against extradition to the United States, where he faces some 18 counts related to the release of vast troves of damning and embarrassing evidence against the US government, the 52-year-old WikiLeaks founder received a visit from Tucker Carlson to discuss his situation.

Carlson describes Assange as “one of the greatest journalists of our age,” who has “spent his adult life bringing previously concealed facts to the public about what our leaders are doing.”

Perhaps most notably, Assange published internal emails from the Democratic National Committee, revealing among other things that the Hillary Clinton campaign conspired to cheat against rival Bernie Sanders. These leaks, claimed by Democrats to be Russian hacks, were actually internal leaks, according to Carlson.

What’s more, Carlson noted how a fabricated, media-amplified sexual assault charge in Sweden was used against Assange, who spent more than seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. And when he exposed the CIA’s spying apparatus, former CIA Director Mike Pompeo discussed kidnapping or assassinating him while not being charged with any crime in the US at the time.

Watch below as Carlson lays out the Assange situation…

TC Shorts: Julian Assange pic.twitter.com/usckyGH9B2

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 22, 2023

Subscribers to the Tucker Carlson Network (which of course, everyone should be) can watch the rest of the segment, in which Carlson describes sitting down with Assange for around an hour (no cameras allowed). He also discusses the situation with Assange’s wife, Stella.

Highlights:

• “We talked about why he is in prison, and my first question to him was: ‘what do you think this is actually about?’,” to which Assange replied that he “first became famous when WikiLeaks published documents and videos that the US government had kept secret from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were politically embarrassing to the Pentagon – but that wasn’t the red line. The red line was several years later, when WikiLeaks published information about surveillance by the CIA.“

• “It’s a total outrage that they’re holding him, and he hasn’t even committed or been charged with a crime in this country.”

• “The inmates are treated like animals. And he’s not an animal, he’s a journalist who has committed no crime. And so, anyone who’s in favor of that, anyone who supports his continued torture, is your enemy.”

• “Assange looks like press photographs of him, maybe older, pale, he hasn’t been outside in 13 years…”

As Paul Craig Roberts notes, the Assange situation “shows conclusively that Washington regards truth as its most dangerous enemy.”

A country without a media cannot be free or have an accountable government.  Americans who think that they live in a free country are completely deluded. They are pathetic.

We encourage you to jump over to Tucker’s site and watch the rest here.

Authore3d by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Fearing backlash, some black people feel they can only whisper, “I’m voting for Trump.”

But others are becoming louder and prouder in voicing support for former President Donald Trump.

Mark Fisher, co-founder of a Black Lives Matter (BLM) group in Rhode Island, made waves recently with his endorsement of the former president.

“I knew I was going to pay a price for it,” Mr. Fisher told The Epoch Times, “but I felt like the benefit of doing it far outweighed the cost of me playing it safe.”

Mr. Fisher said he felt obligated “to clear a path” for those who think the way he does.

He and other pro-Trump black people are considered renegades.

THE NIGGAS FOR TRUMP MOVEMENT HAS BEGUN BABY!

🙌🏾 THANK YOU JOE BIDEN, WHAT A BIG WIN FOR TRUMP.#FJB #blackout #Blacks4Trump pic.twitter.com/IFLbsJuWdm

— Omarr Shabazz (@OmarrShabazz) August 26, 2023

That’s partly because President Trump’s foes have tried to brand him as a racist unworthy of votes from black Americans. But it’s also because he’s a Republican.

For generations, black leaders and churches have encouraged black people to vote for Democrats, including President Joe Biden.

But the tide seems to be turning. Opinion polls are showing that more black people are willing to break rank, as Mr. Fisher did.

Since President Trump’s win in 2016, black support for him has more than tripled, now exceeding 20 percent in some surveys.

Polling suggests that black people and other minorities who once spurned President Trump now appear willing to give his candidacy a fresh look—a trend that could help spell the difference between victory and defeat in the 2024 election.

The Biden campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Three main factors appear to be spurring black people to pivot toward President Trump, according to Mr. Fisher and others who spoke to The Epoch Times: the economy, the criminal justice system, and the influence of other black people going public with their support.

Blacks for Trump are on fire outside the Fulton County Jail.pic.twitter.com/vRanvDZ8wC

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) August 24, 2023

Americans are continuing to feel the pinch of economic conditions under President Biden. Just about everyone, regardless of skin color, feels the weight of higher prices for groceries, gasoline, housing, and other essentials; for months, polls have been showing that a vast majority of citizens disapprove of the president’s economic policies, dubbed “Bidenomics.”

People are also noticing the justice system’s seemingly unjust treatment of President Trump—a fate many black people have experienced.

“They’re saying to themselves: ‘Now wait a minute; this looks very familiar,'” Mr. Fisher said. “Subconsciously, that’s a powerful thing.”

Black people also lament that authorities are letting violent crime and illegal immigrants run amok, while they’re targeting President Trump and others for alleged nonviolent offenses.

Having prominent black people, including musicians, revealing pro-Trump opinions, has emboldened others to do the same.

Mr. Fisher said these endorsements made him feel he wasn’t alone; those trailblazers inspired him to come out of the shadows.

“I saw other black people expressing themselves, displaying courage and independent thought, not being afraid of what other people think about them,” he said. “And I felt that my community needed me to do that too.”

Strong Reactions

Although Mr. Fisher said he “took a lot of heat” for endorsing President Trump, he also got “a lot of powerful, impactful, and profound messages from people all around the world,” along with interview requests from as far away as Japan.

President Trump thanked Mr. Fisher with a surprise phone call and a dinner invitation. Some people excoriated the former president for doing so, considering Mr. Fisher’s history with BLM.

President Trump and BLM have accused each other of sowing seeds of hatred and violence.

“I feel like the white racists hate me and the black racists hate me,” Mr. Fisher said. “But what I’m doing is separating the wheat from the chaff. I’m creating a safe space for all those who want to be on the right side of history, who want to come together for the betterment of America and improvement of the people of America.

“People are welcome to join in on that vision, or walk away from it. It’s that simple.”

This fall, before Mr. Fisher revealed his support for President Trump, black rapper Waka Flocka Flame posted a profile picture of himself alongside President Trump on X, formerly Twitter. Separately, he posted: “TRUMP2024.”

The photo attracted at least 13.5 million views. It also sparked controversy for the rapper, who had previously made derogatory remarks about the former president.

Top Trump adviser Bruce LeVell told The Epoch Times that the musical artist had quietly begun shifting toward the former president some time ago; Mr. LeVell and Waka Flocka Flame met in 2022 and posed for a photo together.

Being Informed

Other black people, whether prominent or not, are starting to realize that Big Tech companies and government agencies worked together to suppress and twist information about President Trump, other political figures, and many hot-button issues in society, Mr. LeVell said.

“This is, as I call it, ‘The Season of Exposure,’” he said. “And the great lies are being exposed.”

A woman who goes by the name McKayla Rose on X agrees. Ms. Rose, 36, of Dallas, spoke to The Epoch Times on condition that her real name not be used because she wants to avoid repercussions.

Ms. Rose said she initially “fell into the propaganda of Trump being bad.”

🔥🚨 Trump’s arrest is only making him more popular in the black community!!

“Trump is a brother now.”

“They f**ks with people that been to jail.”

MUST WATCH & SHARE!! 🔥👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/LctpGLZzAf

— TONY™️ (@TONYxTWO) August 25, 2023

“I was like, ‘Man, if everybody hates Trump, he must be a bad guy,'” she said.

But things started to change for her about four years ago. As a mother of two, Ms. Rose became increasingly concerned about issues affecting her children. So she started spending more time researching government policies and politics.

Originally from Tampa, Ms. Rose grew up amid a mix of white people, Hispanics, and Asians. That real-life experience convinced her that “America is not a racist country,” countering leftists’ claims that it is.

“I know the majority of people aren’t racist, and I had more faith that people wouldn’t vote for such a blatantly ‘racist’ person,” she said, referring to how mainstream media tended to portray President Trump.

Ms. Rose started seeking unfiltered sources of information. She began following President Trump’s Twitter account and listening to his public speeches.

She started to see a pattern. After watching one of President Trump’s speeches, Ms. Rose would see leftists and news media outlets “completely, like, twist his words,” she said.

Ms. Rose said she thinks other black people have started to similarly inform themselves.

“I think Trump has overcome a lot of what has happened to him, and I really believe a lot more people are with him now, more than ever, especially black folks,” she said.

Still, black Trump supporters can expect to be ostracized, Ms. Rose said, as she has been.

After revealing her pro-Trump stance, Ms. Rose said she lost many of her black friends; she has been called a “coon,” “an Uncle Tom,” and “the ‘N-word.'”

But the opposition from white liberals is the worst, she said, because “they’re just so condescending.”

She said they ask her: “How could you vote for someone that hates you? You know he hates your people, right?”

And they tell her: “You’re so dumb; you don’t know any better.”

“And I’ve basically had them telling me that, because I’m black, I’m obligated to be Democrat—and that I must hate myself because I’m black and I’m a Trump supporter,” Ms. Rose said.

Knowing they would face similar reactions for voicing support for President Trump, “a lot of black folks are still in hiding,” she said.

“They stay silent because they want to get invited to the barbecue,” she said. “If you are black and you support Trump, you really kind of get disowned—not just in your own family but also in the black community.”

Neither Biden nor Trump?

Marv Neal, a 52-year-old black man who hosts a weekly radio show on Boston’s “Urban Heat” radio station, 98.1 FM, agreed that black people are reluctant to admit they dislike President Joe Biden or his policies—and therefore might consider casting a ballot for President Trump.

But Mr. Neal told The Epoch Times that he and others have been disenchanted with both major parties’ candidates.

This impression fits with findings of a new survey. A GenForward survey reported on Dec. 12 that about 20 percent to 25 percent of most minorities would have voted for “someone other than” President Trump or President Biden if the election had been held last month.

Mr. Neal, a registered Democrat, said, “Just because you’re a Democrat doesn’t mean you’re going to get my vote.”

He hasn’t always felt that way.

“I was raised Democrat and it was just like, everything was Democrat … you got to vote Democrat, Democrat, Democrat, Democrat,” he said.

But Mr. Neal said another black broadcaster at the same radio station, Larry Higginbottom, changed his perspective.

“Like Larry says: ‘Vote your interest or whoever speaks to your interest. It doesn’t matter if they’re Democrat or Republican.'”

Thus far, President Biden’s policies seem to lack benefits for “average, everyday citizens,” Mr. Neal said.

Homeless shelters in Boston are “at capacity,” and legal residents can’t get the help they need because money is being spent to help immigrants and foreign nations, he said. Hotel rooms are being used to house immigrants, so the rates for any unused rooms have gone up for everyone else, he said.

Mr. Neal said he initially disliked President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. “I was like: ‘Why you have to act like that, man? Why can’t you just help these people?'”

But he said that now he sees that those border security policies benefited U.S. citizens.

Read the rest here…

Australia is the latest country to reject a request from the United States to send warships to the Red Sea under the command of the Pentagon’s Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect commercial vessels along the critical maritime trade route from Iran-backed Houthi. 

Defense Minister Richard Marles told Sky News that Australia’s military would not send a “ship or a plane” to the Red Sea but would triple the number of troops for the US-led maritime force. 

“We need to be really clear around our strategic focus and our strategic focus is our region,” Marles said.

The Australian Government continues to work with the United States and other partners in support of the international rules-based order in the Middle East and surrounding region.

— Richard Marles (@RichardMarlesMP) December 21, 2023

The Pentagon’s formation of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a new task force to protect shipping from Houthi drone and missile attacks in the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea, requires increased warship patrols by the US and allies. This will create a security umbrella over commercial vessels to defend from attacks. 

Reuters said about twenty countries have signed up for the Pentagon’s new operation. However, several countries, including Australia, Spain, Italy, and France, have rejected the Pentagon’s request to participate in the operation. 

Spain’s Defence Ministry said it would only participate in NATO-led missions or European-coordinated operations – not ones commanded by the Pentagon: 

“We will not participate unilaterally in the Red Sea operation.” 

Italy’s Defence Ministry voiced similar concerns, indicating it would send naval frigate Virginio Fasan to the Red Sea but only respond to requests by Italian shipowners. 

“Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea has practically Collapsed as France, Spain, and Italy have all announced their Withdrawal from the US Command Structure for the Operation, with the Three Nations stating they will only conduct further Maritime Operations under the Command of NATO and/or the European Union and not the United States,” X account OSINTdefender wrote. 

Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea has practically Collapsed as France, Spain, and Italy have all announced their Withdrawal from the U.S. Command Structure for the Operation, with the Three Nations stating they will only conduct further Maritime Operations under the… pic.twitter.com/zhfih2XpTa

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 23, 2023

Another X user wrote: 

“France, Spain, and Italy aren’t withdrawing because they don’t want to escalate the conflict. On the contrary, they’re withdrawing because they don’t believe the operation coordinated by Biden regime will protect their vessels. This is the result of a weak ‘President’ / lack of leadership.” 

France, Spain, and Italy aren’t withdrawing because they don’t want to escalate the conflict. On the contrary, they’re withdrawing because they don’t believe the operation coordinated by Biden regime will protect their vessels. This is the result of a weak ‘President’ / lack of…

— Marc 🇺🇸 (@gopher_marc) December 23, 2023

The number of warships around the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait has increased this week. 

We reminded readers of Zoltan Poszar’s prediction of central-bank-analogized ‘military protection’ and said it’s soon to become a reality… and just like that, it has:

Protection is a conceptual counterpart to par. When you decide to take money out of a sight deposit, you expect the same amount back that you put in (par).

When you sail foreign cargo from port A to port B, you expect to unload the same amount of cargo that you onloaded.

Banks can deliver par on deposits most of the time. When not, central banks step in to help.

Commodity traders can deliver foreign cargo from port A to port B most of the time, but when not, the state intervenes again: not the monetary arm, but the military arm of the state.

What central banks are to the protection of par promises, the military branch is to the protection of shipments: foreign cargo needs to sail on sea routes and through choke points like the Strait of Hormuz, and “par” in this context

As of Saturday morning, the number of container ships in the Red Sea with destinations to Asia, Europe, and the US is less than five. 

This once-busy waterway that connects to the Suez Canal has seen a plunge in container ship activity this week. 

Remember, this critical waterway is responsible for 10-12% of the world’s maritime freight. Vessels are now being diverted around the Cape of Good Hope, adding 1-2 weeks in travel time. Plus, container rates are soaring. 

Red Sea is now largely closed to traffic. That’s 8.8 million bpd of daily oil transit, and nearly 380 million tons of daily cargo transit.

Global traffic now will be rerouted around Cape of Good Hope, adding 40% to voyage distance (and even more to cost) pic.twitter.com/Xct7x03tFI

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 18, 2023

The fact that seven major shipping companies, including Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen and Belgian tanker owner Euronav, have halted sails through the Red Sea shows their lack of confidence in the US protecting the critical waterway. 

Authored by Eric Lendrum via American Greatness,

A new analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reveals that almost 60% of all illegal aliens households in the United States are benefiting from at least one form of taxpayer-funded welfare benefits.

Breitbart reports that the study, written by CIS’ Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler, found that illegal aliens households, as well as legal immigrants, use “significantly more” welfare than actual American citizens. Of illegal aliens currently occupying land in the U.S., 59% are on welfare that is funded by legal American citizens; 52% of legal immigrants are also using welfare. Meanwhile, less than 40% of American citizens use welfare.

Among the most common forms of welfare for illegals are food stamps, Medicaid, and the Earned Income Tax Credit.

“This is primarily because the American welfare system is designed in large part to help low-income families with children, which describes a large share of immigrants,” the study explains.

“Compared to households headed by the United States-born, immigrant-headed households have especially high use of food programs (36 percent vs. 25 percent for the U.S.-born), Medicaid (37 percent vs. 25 percent for the U.S.-born), and the Earned Income Tax Credit (16 percent vs. 12 percent for the U.S.-born),” CIS continues.

The problem of illegals increasingly stealing welfare programs meant for American citizens will only get worse as the illegal population continues to surge to destabilizing levels. Now, after three years of Joe Biden’s open-borders policy, there are at least 49.5 million foreign-born individuals living in the United States, which is by far the largest amount ever recorded in American history. Under Biden, that total increased by about 4.5 million. If the trends remain the same, then the foreign-born population will surpass 70 million by the year 2060.

While on the campaign trail in 2020, Biden and all other Democratic candidates pledged during the primary debates that they would support giving taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal aliens, alongside other forms of welfare.

Authored by Joe Buccino via RealClear Wire,

In the eleventh week of its war with Hamas, Israel, undeterred by U.S. admonitions, continues to demolish an already-shattered Gaza. As senior American officials come in and out of Tel Aviv to meet with Netanyahu’s government, a glaring question looms unanswered: How much influence does America gain from its ardent, often unquestioning support for Israel? With more than $300 billion in military aid since World War II, the U.S. commitment to Israel is not just a matter of foreign policy, but a reflection of our national values and strategic interests. As Israel renders Gaza a dystopian hellscape in the face of international outrage, it is crucial to scrutinize this flow of funds, not only in dollars but in terms of international standing and moral authority.

Since its 1948 foundation, the U.S. has given Israel far more in military aid than any other nation. Uncritical U.S. support for Israel began with America’s 33rd president, Harry Truman publicly recognizing the state 11 minutes after its creation and continued through the successive 13 American presidencies. For most of the intervening 75 years, a country smaller than Massachusetts and roughly one-fifth the size of Kentucky has been the top recipient of financial American military assistance.

The U.S.-Israel partnership is rooted in several geopolitical and domestic considerations, among them the identification with a democracy – though recently Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition threatens notation. Dwight Eisenhower, replacing Truman in the White House in 1953, saw the Jewish State as a nation that largely shares American social values in a part of the world that primarily does not. Ike clung tight to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and the halls of American power followed.

Lyndon Johnson, ascending to the role of America’s 36th president following JFK’s assassination in 1963, held perhaps the strongest emotional attachment to Israel of any American president. A deep-rooted historical and religious conviction in the rights of the Jewish people to establish a state in their ancestral territories animated LBJ. Israel served as a central plank in Nixon’s foreign policy when he assumed office in 1969. Nixon’s National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger established Israel as an anchor of American power in the Middle East, an ally with a cutting-edge military force in the world’s most volatile region.

The majority of U.S. support is provided through military equipment grants, and from 1950 to 2020, the United States sourced the overwhelming majority of all IDF equipment. The Pentagon and State Department grant Israel access to the world’s most sophisticated military technology, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Israel is the only Middle Eastern state to purchase the fifth-generation fighter jet. Israel has a fleet of 50 F-35s, purchased with U.S. assistance, with 25 more on the way.

Another factor in America’s tie with Israel – a critically important one among D.C. decision-makers – is the decades-long outsized influence of pro-Israel lobby groups. Such groups funnel far more funds to congressional candidates than any other group – more than six times that of the gun rights lobby.

For decades, American presidents have declared our tie to Israel “unshakeable,” D.C.’s commitment to the Jewish state “ironclad,” and American support to Israel as long-term. Israel has served as the beneficiary of all this unwavering assistance: without U.S. weapons, Arab nations would have long ago carved Israel up.

The flow of money continued without ebb In the face of significant settlement expansion in the West Bank. The American spigot continued to pour billions in the face of Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul bill that limited the power of Israel’s High Court and plunged the country into division and chaos. Unblinking American support for Israel is clear. What’s less clear is how all this support advances American interests.

Such significant support over such a lengthy period would presumably have offered the D.C. the ability to influence Israel. That does not seem to be the case. President Biden criticized Israel over its indiscriminate bombing that has thus far flattened large swaths of Gaza. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan publicly called on the IDF to shift to a more precise, targeted phase of fighting. Israel has thus far resisted this pressure, continuing with the aerial bombardments versus intelligence-driven ground assaults. As the international community laments the devastation in Gaza, the war threatens to damage American standing in the world.

Netanyahu also refuses to accept a role for any Palestinian body in the governance or security of Gaza after Hamas, insisting instead that Israel will exert control over the enclave. This places Israel at odds with the Biden administration which wants Palestinians to govern Gazans. The White House hopes a Palestinian-led arrangement will eventually lead to an improvement in political and economic conditions. Israel refuses. Despite these stark contrasts, U.S. administration officials publicly downplay any rift with the Netanyahu government on this or any other issue.

In the months ahead, America’s hug of Israel will likely harm U.S. standing in the Arab world. The gruesome images of wounded Gazan children destroyed hospitals, and broken wasteland will grow etched in the psyche of the region. Meanwhile, Netanyahu will likely continue leading administration officials around by the nose.

After the protests in American streets die down and college campuses move on, the Arab streets will remember. The long-term harm to American interests in the region is unknowable. One casualty may be the efforts, begun under the Trump administration and beginning to show great promise just this past September, to build a regional security architecture of Sunni Arab militaries that will allow the Pentagon to shift assets to the Indo-Pacific, the priority region for American national security resourcing.

The United States’ longstanding and unquestioning support for Israel, exemplified through extensive military aid and political backing, demands a thorough reevaluation. While this partnership has historical and geopolitical roots, the adjudication of the war in Gaza raises questions about the alignment of American interests and values with the actions and policies of the Israeli government. The imperviousness of Israel to U.S. influence risks America’s standing in the international community, particularly in the Middle East. The time has come for the United States to demand more accountability and alignment with its principles in exchange for its support, redefining a relationship that is respectful of Israel’s sovereignty and mindful of the broader implications for U.S. foreign policy and international reputation.

Joe Buccino is a retired U.S. Army colonel who served as U.S. Central Command communications director from 2021 until September 2023. He deployed to combat in the Middle East five times in his career. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Defense or any other organization.

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday denied being an “insurrectionist” while labeling President Joe Biden as one, while citing as proof factors like the “open” border and accusing the president of “destroying” America with radical anti-fossil fuel policies.

“I’m not an insurrectionist (‘PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY’), Crooked Joe Biden is,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social, with the words “peacefully & patriotically” in reference to a fragment of his Jan. 6 speech in which he told members of the crowd to head to the Capitol building “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the former president’s claim.

President Trump’s remarks came two days after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled to bar him from the state’s presidential primary ballot on the basis of a section of the 14th Amendment that blocks anyone from running for office who engaged in an “insurrection.”

The former president called the Colorado court’s ruling a politically motivated decision and a “shame for our country,” while his attorneys vowed to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Biden declined to comment on the Colorado Supreme Court decision but told reporters there was “no question” that the former president was an insurrectionist.

“Is Trump an insurrectionist, sir?” one reporter called out, prompting President Biden to walk closer to the cameras, asking the reporter to repeat the question.

“I think that’s certainly self-evident, you saw it all,” President Biden answered.

“Now, whether the 14th Amendment applies, I’ll let the court make that decision,” he added. “But he certainly supported insurrection, no question about it, none, zero. And he seems to be doubling down on everything.”

‘Insurrectionist’ Tit-for-Tat

President Trump accused President Biden of being an “insurrectionist” once again on Thursday, this time laying out a more extensive rationale.

“Crooked Joe Biden is the Insurrectionist because he let millions of unknown people come recklessly and unchecked through our insane ‘Open’ Border, let a war begin in the Middle East and Ukraine, Weaponized our DOJ & FBI, SURRENDERED in Afghanistan when we could have left with dignity and strength—the most embarrassing event in the history of our Country, and is destroying America with the GREEN NEW SCAM!!!” the former president said in a post on Truth Social.

The former president has repeatedly criticized President Biden for his lax border policies, which he says are responsible for an illegal immigration crisis of historic proportions. President Trump has also accused the president of pulling strings to get the Justice Department to launch various investigations and charges against him to undermine his 2024 presidential campaign—claims President Biden has denied.

President Trump has also repeatedly criticized the incumbent for his anti-fossil fuel policies that he says are undermining America’s energy independence and national security. He, by contrast, has vowed to reverse President Biden’s policies if elected and “drill, drill, drill.”

The former president also railed against the various “fake political indictments” against him, claiming that the White House is behind every case that the Justice Department has brought against him and that he’s fighting.

“Crooked Joe Biden is a threat to democracy,” President Trump said in another post, while accusing him of election interference.

The Ruling

The Colorado Supreme Court’s Dec. 19 ruling centered on a section of the 14th Amendment that bars officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.

Specifically, it’s based on an interpretation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which is known as the disqualification clause, which states that no person shall hold office if they have “previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States” and engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution.

The left-leaning group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sued the Colorado secretary of state to block President Trump from appearing on the ballot, arguing that “officer of the United States” would surely cover the highest office in the federal government, and so the 14th Amendment’s disqualification clause should apply.

However, Colorado 2nd District Court Judge Sarah Wallace said in a 100-plus page ruling that there was “scant evidence” that was the case, noting that the authors of the 14th Amendment specifically listed offices, with the presidency not among them.

Judge Wallace did, however, find that President Trump engaged in an “insurrection,” and, on appeal, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. president is a public “officer,” and so the 14th Amendment’s disqualification clause does apply.

The unprecedented ruling makes Colorado the first and only state to disqualify President Trump from appearing on a state primary ballot. It also makes President Trump the first candidate in U.S. history to be declared ineligible to run for the White House.

Jan. 6 Backdrop

President Trump held a rally near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, in which he made statements encouraging his supporters to march to the Capitol, where Congress was in the process of certifying the results of the presidential election.

While President Trump called for the day’s events to be peaceful, a group of people breached the Capitol, leading to a violent confrontation with law enforcement.

The events of that day have been the subject of widespread scrutiny and debate, with President Trump’s political opponents accusing him of inciting an “insurrection.”

The “insurrection” allegations underpin several legal efforts by President Trump’s opponents to block him from being listed on ballots in the 2024 presidential race on 14th Amendment grounds, seeking to portray him as the instigator of the Jan. 6 incident.

These cases basically argued that the former president took part in an “insurrection” by giving an impassioned speech on Jan. 6 before the Capitol breach occurred.

Even though President Trump said in his Jan. 6 speech that protesters should “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” his critics have seized on a portion of his remarks where he said “we fight like hell” and “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore” as a call for violence.

The former president has, on numerous occasions, denied calling for violent protests while insisting he meant his remarks about fighting like hell metaphorically.

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A controversial California law that would ban licensed gun holders from carrying their firearms in multiple locations across the state was temporarily blocked by a federal judge on Dec. 20, meaning the legislation will not go into full effect as planned next year.

Senate Bill 2 was part of a string of new gun restrictions introduced in California this year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in June of 2022 that found a New York law requiring a license to carry a concealed weapon in public was unconstitutional and that carrying a pistol in public was a constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

Under California’s legislation, private citizens who hold concealed carry weapons permits would be prohibited from carrying concealed guns in 26 locations, including public parks and playgrounds, churches, banks, medical facilities, and any other privately owned commercial establishments that are open to the public.

The ban would apply regardless of whether the person has a permit to carry a concealed weapon or not, although the measure includes exceptions for privately owned businesses that “clearly and conspicuously” put up signs at the entrance of the building or on the premises indicating that license holders are permitted to carry firearms on the property.

Senate Bill 2 was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September and was set to take effect on Jan. 1, despite opposition from gun rights advocates and groups, including the California Rifle and Pistol Association, who filed a lawsuit against California state, county, and local law enforcement agencies and officials earlier this month.

In their lawsuit, the groups argued the measure violates both the U.S. Constitution and state law.

‘Repugnant to the 2nd Amendment’

In his decision to block the law Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney sided with the plaintiffs, writing that the law went too far and would “unconstitutionally deprive” concealed carry permit holders “of their constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.”

Furthermore, the California law “is sweeping, repugnant to the Second Amendment, and openly defiant of the Supreme Court,” Judge Carney, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote.

“For many years, the right to bear arms, and so necessarily the right to self-defense, was relegated to second-class status,” the judge wrote. “But the United States Supreme Court made clear in its landmark decisions District of Columbia v. Heller, McDonald v. City of Chicago, and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Incorporated v. Bruen that relegation could no longer be permitted—individuals must be able to effectuate their right to self-defense by, if they so choose, responsibly bearing arms.”

“SB2 turns nearly every public place in California into a ‘sensitive place,’ effectively abolishing the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding and exceptionally qualified citizens to be armed and to defend themselves in public,” he added.

The judge further stated the preliminary injunction was warranted because plaintiffs suing the state would suffer “irreparable harm” without it.

He also noted the measure did not make complete sense, given that it focused predominantly on law-abiding gun owners.

“Although the government may have some valid safety concerns, legislation regulating [concealed carry] permitholders—the most responsible of law-abiding citizens seeking to exercise their Second Amendment rights—seems an odd and misguided place to focus to address those safety concerns,” Judge Carney wrote.

Gun owners with concealed carry weapons permits “have been through a vigorous vetting and training process following their application to carry a concealed handgun,” he wrote. “The challenged SB2 provisions unconstitutionally deprive this group of their constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.”

Newsom Condemns Ruling

In a statement to multiple media outlets on Wednesday, Mr. Newsom said Judge Carney’s ruling “outrageously calls California’s data-backed gun safety efforts ‘repugnant.'”

“What is repugnant is this ruling, which greenlights the proliferation of guns in our hospitals, libraries, and children’s playgrounds — spaces, which should be safe for all,” he said.

The Democrat added that he “will keep fighting” for gun restrictions because “the lives of our kids depend on it.”

Elsewhere, Chuck Michel, president of the California Rifle and Pistol Association, praised Judge Carney’s ruling on Wednesday.

“California progressive politicians refuse to accept the Supreme Court’s mandate from the Bruen case and are trying every creative ploy they can imagine to get around it,” he said. “The Court saw through the State’s gambit.”

Mr. Michel added that Senate Bill 2 would have meant gun permit holders “wouldn’t be able to drive across town without passing through a prohibited area and breaking the law” and that the latest decision makes Californians safer.