Authored by J. Peder Zane via RealClear Politics,

He’s woke. She’s woke. So are they, them, ey, ze, and xeir.

Know what I mean?

Of course, you do. The dominant flashpoint word in today’s political lexicon – woke is here, there, everywhere. From Whoopi’s lips to your ears. I say it all the time – way too much, according to my wife – but never once has anybody asked: what the heck are you talking about?

The word is becoming a problem for woke-noscenti because the more people know about the alphabet soup movement – DEI, CRT, ESG, QIA+, etc. – the less they like it. What to do? Deny, deflect, and demonize, of course. Seizing on a conservative writer’s halting efforts to define the term during an interview, they are arguing that woke is a made-up, meaningless slurbrandished by the right to oppress minorities. Seeking to shut down all discussion of their movement, Touré outlawed it as the new “n-word.”

Never mind that all language is made up – words are just symbols we create so we can talk about things and ideas – and that the term “woke” was coined by African Americans to describe the road-to-Damascus moment when the scales fall from one’s eyes and society’s allegedly oppressive structures become clear.

Still, it can seem hard to precisely define this hydra-headed beast which seeks to redefine every aspect of human relations and understanding, from race, gender, and science, to politics, culture, family, and identity. Its tentacles are so far-reaching that even some writers who are critical of the movement are throwing up their lexicographic hands.

Honestly, it’s probably enough to apply Justice Potter Stewart’s understanding of pornography: “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material … but I know it when I see it.”

The current insistence that woke isn’t even a word, however, provides giving-up-the-game clarity. At root, wokism hinges on the power to command perception and language. That word you know and discuss all the time, it doesn’t exist. Full stop. The consequential policy debates that consume our attention – e.g., battles over critical race theory or gender affirming care for children – are mere skirmishes in the far broader effort to control thought; once that’s accomplished, anything is possible. Hence its core demand: are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?

To paraphrase Raymond Carver, what are we talking about when we talk about woke?

Woke describes the ongoing cultural revolution which defines reality by its usefulness in achieving left-wing goals.

The main weapon of the woke, who dominate society’s privileged channels of communication – academia, publishing, entertainment, and the media – is the article of faith that almost all reality is socially constructed, a creation of humanity rather than nature, to enable those in power to subjugate “the other.” Truth is not the goal of a never-ending quest to describe what is, but simply whatever they proclaim it to be. When there is no hard and fast truth, anything is possible. Facts are not stubborn things, but malleable building blocks which gain or lose authority based on their usefulness for constructing preferred narratives.

Thus, the woke incessantly offer versions of events that are at odds with the known record. They told us that the summer of 2020 riots were “mostly peaceful;” that antifa was only an idea; that the nation is overrun by white supremacists and Christian nationalists. They insist that women earn a fraction of the pay men get for performing the same work; that unarmed blacks are shot by the police at much higher rates than other Americans; that all disparities between blacks and whites in wealth, health, and education are completely due to racism. And they assert that critical race theory is only taught in some law school classes, that mathematics is racist and sexist, men can menstruate, climate change is an existential threat, and Gov. DeSantis wants to prevent teachers in Florida from saying the word “gay.”

The crucial dynamic is not just the assertion of fraught claims but the continued advancement of them after they have been debunked. The New York Times, for example, didn’t just declare in its “1619 Project” that the American Revolution was fought to preserve slavery, it pooh-poohed complaints from leading historians that this was false.

As TV’s Dr. House observed, “everybody lies.” But woke lies have a larger purpose beyond gaining a temporary advantage. They are a strategy aimed at defining reality. Yes, people have always argued over truth, but history shows that societies governed by rigid, facts-be-damned ideology crush freedom, human dignity, and progress in order to coerce submission.

This soul-crushing dynamic is inevitable because people aren’t blind – they can see they are being lied to. This is the chief reason why American politics has become so angry and divisive. The woke left is trying to impose a false world view. When people push back, they are silenced, demonized, and canceled. Dissent is not an option because the entire woke project depends on acceptance of their worldview.

Woke isn’t just a word, it’s a revolution.

An off-duty pilot on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Columbus, Ohio entered the cockpit to help after one of the on-duty pilots suffered a medical emergency mid-flight.

“The captain became incapacitated while enroute. He’s in the back of the aircraft right now with a flight attendant, but we need to get him on an ambulance immediately,” said a crew member in a communication to air traffic control, according to LiveATC.net.

“A credentialed Pilot from another airline, who was on board, entered the Flight Deck and assisted with radio communication while our Southwest Pilot flew the aircraft,” said a airline spokesman Chris Perry, CNN reports. “We greatly appreciate their support and assistance.”

A nurse who happened to also be onboard helped care for the pilot, the airline said, adding “It’s standard procedure for our Flight Crews to request assistance from traveling medical personnel during in-flight medical events involving Customers, this situation just so happened to involve one of our Employees.”

According to FlightAware.com, the plane was in the air for around one hour and 17 minutes. After returning to the Las Vegas airport, a backup crew boarded the plane and continued to Columbus as planned.

The FAA is investigating the incident.

Via The Libertarian Institute, 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress at a Thursday hearing that the Pentagon’s 2024 budget request will help the country prepare for a future war with China.

Milley insisted the Pentagon’s massive $842 billion budget request is meant to deter war but said it will also prepare the US military to fight one. He told the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense that deterring and preparing for a conflict “is extraordinarily expensive, but it’s not as expensive as fighting a war. And this budget prevents war and prepares us to fight it if necessary.”

The Pentagon identified China as the “most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security strategy” in the 2022 National Defense Strategy, and lately, US military leaders have been speaking more explicitly about how they’re preparing for a direct war with China despite the risk of nuclear war. President Biden has also vowed to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.

Milley said China’s actions “are moving it down the path toward confrontation and potential conflict with its neighbors and possibly the United States,” echoing similar warnings made by Chinese officials.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned earlier this month that if the US doesn’t change course on its military buildup in the Asia Pacific and other policies aimed at China, it will lead to “conflict and confrontation.” The Pentagon’s budget request will further expand the US military footprint in the region by funding a buildup plan known as the Pacific Deterrence Initiative.

“This budget includes a 40 percent increase over last year’s for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative to an all-time high of $9.1 billion,” Austin said at the hearing.

“That will fund a stronger force posture, better defenses for Hawaii and Guam, and deeper cooperation with our allies and partners,” the top general added.

For China hawks in Congress, what the Pentagon has asked to spend in 2024 is not enough. Including funding for other agencies, President Biden’s military spending request totals $886.4 billion. Congress is expected to add tens of billions more as it did with Biden’s 2022 and 2023 requests.

Authored by Mark Pellin via Headline USA,

Ray Epps’s new attorney, who is demanding on behalf of his client a public apology from Tucker Carlson under threat of a defamation lawsuit, is the director of a radical anti-Trump organization, a close associate of Media Matters Democrat attack dog David Brock and a former employee of Perkins Coie, the lawfare firm behind Russiagate and the Steele dossier.

Epps’s attorney, Michael Teter, sent a letter on Thursday to Carlson, demanding the Fox News host retract what Teter called “false and defamatory statements” that Epps was a J6 government plant.

“Letters seeking retractions and apologies are often sent when lawyers are preparing to file a defamation lawsuit,” writes @alanfeuer

— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) March 23, 2023

Carlson and myriad media outlets have reported on Epps’s suspect actions connected to the J6 uprising, his dubious testimony to the J6 Inquisition and his connections to federal agents.

Teter — Epps’s new lawyer — is a former employee of Perkins Coie, the firm notorious for the grunt work and disinformation campaigns it ran for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The Democrat-connected law firm helped hatch the Steele dossier and actively collaborated with the FBI to push the bogus Russia collusion narrative. In the run-up to the 2016 tilt, Perkins Coie had furnished the FBI with office space.

“We have learned that since March 2012, the FBI approved and facilitated a Secure Work Environment at Perkins Coie’s Washington, D.C. office, which continues to be operational,” lawmakers wrote to FBI chief Christopher Wray.

And now one of Perkins Coie’s alumni is helping Ray Epps shut down Tucker Carlson.

Perkins Coie represented Hillary Clinton and David Brock wrote the David Brock memo after Hillary lost that launched the plan to take down Pres Trump backed by big Democrat donors.

I’m paying very close attention. I always have.

The American people deserve the truth. https://t.co/kzW19BKlQZ

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 24, 2023

After leaving Perkins Coie, Ray Epps’ new attorney hooked up with Media Matters founder and TDS fabulist David Brock. While not threatening Tucker Carlson with lawsuits on behalf of suspected J6 fed plant Ray Epps, Teter manages The 65 Project, where Brock is a senior advisor.

The 65 Project was launched to punish lawyers who supported President Trump and to dissuade future attempts to overturn elections on illegitimate grounds.

Via FactsFirstUSA, disgraced Dem operative David Brock joins Adam Kinzinger, the New York Times, and others as an unlikely defender of Ray Epps…

Watch this video compilation and let that sink in…https://t.co/e6p2VVZ0A3

— Darren J. Beattie 🌐 (@DarrenJBeattie) March 23, 2023

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the recall of a commonly used stroke medication after the company discovered the presence of a potentially cancer-causing impurity.

In an FDA-issued recall notice on March 22, Ascend Laboratories LLC said it is recalling Dabigatran Etcxilate Capsules at the consumer level after nitrosamine, a carcinogenic substance, was found about the “acceptable daily intake level.” The company said it hasn’t received any reports of adverse events or health problems in connection to the recall.

“Nitrosamines are common in water and foods, including cured and grilled meats, dairy products, and vegetables. Everyone is exposed to some level of nitrosamines. These impurities may increase the risk of cancer if people are exposed to them above acceptable levels over long periods of time,” the FDA said. “The product is used as an oral anticoagulant to lower the risk of stroke and blood clots.”

Dabigatran etexilate is a prescription medication that is used to lower the risk of stroke and blood clots in some individuals, according to the National Libraries of Medicine. Specifically, the drug is used to treat deep vein thrombosis, to prevent strokes or serious blood clots in individuals with atrial fibrillation, and pulmonary embolism in both children and adults.

The company said that the recalled medication was distributed around the United States between June 2022 and October 2022. Lot numbers and other information about the recalled product are available on the FDA’s website.

“Patients who have received impacted lots of Dabigatran Etexilate Capsules, USP 75 mg and 150 mg are advised to continue taking their medication and contact their physician for advice regarding an alternative treatment,” the notice said. “Consumers with questions regarding this recall can contact Ascend Laboratories LLC. using the below information.”

But consumers should contact their doctor if they’ve experienced any adverse health events associated with the medication, the notice said.

Other Recalls

In October, Aurobindo Pharma USA announced the voluntary recall of two lots of blood pressure medication because of high levels of nitrosamine, according to an FDA notice. Two months later, Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc. stated that it is voluntarily recalling four lots of Quinapril tablets due to the presence of nitrosamine.

Read more here…

The Florida chapter of the NAACP is asking its national organization to issue a travel advisory urging black people not to visit or move to the Sunshine State. 

The proposal was put forth at the chapter’s state conference on Saturday, and members voted unanimously in favor of it. 

The move is seen as a response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’s education policies, including his having pressured The College Board to remove critical race theory tenets from its advanced placement (AP) African American studies course.  

“We are going to educate the people about Florida and what Florida is doing to black peoples, that no black person should want to voluntarily come and be subjected to,” said James Muwakkil president of Lee County’s NAACP chapter. “Don’t come into racism. Stay away from it.”

Do you still listen to the NAACP? pic.twitter.com/LNZZnfdXc9

— Boyce Watkins, PhD – Wealth is Power (@drboycewatkins1) March 23, 2023

“What a joke,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis. “Just remember, during COVID, these people would be on CNN, all this stuff, slamming Florida, saying we were so bad, don’t go to Florida. And then they would end up being spotted on the beach somewhere vacationing in Florida.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) responds to the Florida NAACP chapter asking for a travel advisory against Black Americans coming to the state since Florida initially rejected the teaching of an AP African American Studies course:

“What a joke.” pic.twitter.com/iKSXybwRIj

— The Recount (@therecount) March 23, 2023

“We are an organization that protects people’s civil rights, and this is a first step to doing that,” Hillsborough County NAACP President Yvette Lewis told the Tampa Bay Times. “People are seeing what’s happening in Florida. They’re paying attention, and I hope that help is coming.”

Lewis said Florida’s efforts to strip blacks of their rights goes beyond education policy, and pointed to voting fraud arrests and redistricting that has split black voting blocks. She said the travel-advisory vote also reflected anger over proposed abortion limits and legislation narrowing the use of preferred pronouns in Florida schools. 

It’s worth noting that, scouring the many interviews of Florida NAACP leaders, ZeroHedge found no indication that any of them actually plan to flee the purported bastion of racism.  

The NAACP just told Black folk not to come to Florida because it’s not safe for us.

Well, I’m Black and I been Black all my life.

I been living in Florida for thirty years.

I’ve done well for myself and lifted up my community.

So that is some FOOLISHNESS if I ever heard it!

— Lavern Spicer 🇺🇸 (@lavern_spicer) March 23, 2023

Tourism contributed $102 billion to Florida’s economy in 2021 — however, as even the Miami Herald recently noted, not all black travel in Florida is a net positive. After the latest vandalism and two more murders amidst spring break partying, the Herald editorial staff called for Miami to “drive a stake through spring break’s heart,” noting that “complicating matters is that many of the spring breakers are black.”

Interestingly, that editorial no longer appears in searches of the Herald website, but is still visible where it was republished at Yahoo. 

🚨#BREAKING: Reports of out control Spring Breakers jumping on occupied cars with fights breaking out
⁰📌#Miami | #Florida

Police are responding to Numerous reports of unmanageable crowds of Spring Breakers in Miami Beach, which have resulted in altercations and instances of… pic.twitter.com/zHaR6dbw3u

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) March 20, 2023

Authored by Guy Ciarrocchi via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

In recent election cycles, the Philadelphia suburbs have been moving further into the Democratic column. To add to the challenge for Pennsylvania Republicans, more areas are resembling these communities as the state becomes more suburban. It’s a common trend in Rust Belt and East Coast states.

Some analysts have argued that the answer for Republicans is to run “moderate” candidates. Admittedly, this approach is preferable to some others – either ignoring the suburban trend altogether or trying to compensate by building up super-majorities in rural Pennsylvania. Still, a moderate strategy may be too simplistic, and even misguided.

My personal observations as a congressional candidate and former chief of staff, and as CEO of the Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry, have led me to conclude that a more important factor for Republican candidates is whether they strike the right tone and have the right temperament – and if they focus on kitchen-table issues, the ones that matter most to voters.

Is a candidate seen as a “fighter,” for instance, as opposed to being perceived as “angry” or confrontational? There is a difference. It matters what the candidate fights for and against.

In the suburbs, swing-voters’ default setting currently is to vote for Democrats. Fairly or not, Republicans are perceived as angry or confrontational.

The suburbs are the most politically, culturally, and ideologically diverse segment of American society. Even in Chester County – Pennsylvania’s wealthiest county, with the most college graduates – it’s not easy to strike a balance. There are Whole Foods and gun clubs, hot-yoga studios and pro-life prayer vigils. And all these exist among registered Republicans and Independents, without even taking Democrats into account. 

Moving too close to the center poses as many risks for Republicans as moving too far right; being too bland is as risky as it is to be too fiery. On Election Day 2022, shaking hands outside at a polling place in Chester County for over 13 hours, I was challenged by multiple moderate to right-of-center voters on a variety of issues. They were testing me to see if I would stand up for them. I didn’t for a moment think that any of them were going to vote for my Democratic opponent, an incumbent who had voted with Speaker Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time. But it was clear that many were considering whether they should bother voting at all.

That’s the challenge for Republicans, who are already outnumbered and usually outspent by their Democratic opponents. If the GOP nominee is perceived as too far out on the fringe or too angry, swing voters will vote for the Democrat. If the nominee is perceived as too moderate or lacking conviction – lacking “fight” – some voters who are now part of the GOP base will not vote in that race.

Let’s address the elephant in the room, on the heels of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. There is little doubt that a GOP candidate who bases his/her campaign on abortion will likely fall short. But abortion as an issue – and being “pro-life” – is more complicated than that. Pro-life candidates have had relative success in the suburbs, such as former U.S. Senator Pat Toomey and former Reps. Jim Gerlach and Patrick Meehan; Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who rates an 80% from the National Right to Life Committee, continues to win. Candidates who are pro-life have had relative success in suburban communities in purple and blue states like New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, and Florida. And then there are Govs. Glenn Youngkin and Ron DeSantis, of Virginia and Florida, respectively. Not only did they win; so did their colleagues on the GOP tickets.

This is why I believe tone, temperament, and priorities are more important for success than being “moderate.” Yes, Youngkin seemed at home in his sweater-vest, looking like a dad at a soccer game. But he talked passionately about school choice, parents’ rights, and common sense. He jumped into issues that many in the GOP would have seen as politically radioactive. In Virginia’s Loudon County, which resembles our Chester County, Youngkin lost by only 11 points. This is an impressive performance compared with that of the prior Republican candidate for governor, who lost by 20 points, and Donald Trump, who lost by 25 points in 2020. 

Gov. DeSantis found success with an edgier tone. He has not shied away from campaigning against mask and vaccine mandates, critical race theory, and even the Disney corporation. His nearly 20% reelection victory margin included success in the suburbs and in minority communities, too.

Both Youngkin and DeSantis made progress in the suburbs. Neither are considered moderate. Both have confronted hot-button battles of today. They are fighters, yes – but their fights have been on behalf of kids, parents, and the quality of day-to-day life.

Most swing voters are looking for a clear, positive message. GOP candidates must build a coalition: they need to reach out to voters who want a candidate who shares their priorities and opposes radical “woke” policies. This is especially true among first- and second-generation Asian and Hispanic voters. Swing voters will tolerate and even applaud a “fighting” tone in a candidate if they sense that it’s genuine and policy-driven. If, by contrast, they perceive it as mean-spirited or reflexively partisan, they will look elsewhere.                                                                                          

Put all those voters together, and that makes a pretty strong coalition and partnership. There’s a path forward to electoral success for Republicans. The choice is ours.

The coronal mass ejection we warned readers about days ago just blasted the Earth with solar plasma from the sun, unleashing one of the most intense geomagnetic storms in years. 

According to the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center, the CME pounded Earth’s atmosphere last night with solar plasma in a G4 (Severe) geomagnetic storm. A G3 Warning was in effect until early Friday morning. 

“A severe disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field,” an SWPC warned, calling the solar storm “severe.” This caused stunning auroras in the US as far south as the Midwest. 

People shared stunning photos of the auroras on Twitter. 

Lynette Keeshan shared with us a beautiful photo of the northern lights as seen from Genoa last night! Did anyone else manage to see the northern lights? It was quite the solar storm last night! #NEwx pic.twitter.com/CCZJ5IxXKU

— NWS Hastings (@NWSHastings) March 24, 2023

The dazzling Northern Lights over Lake George. Thanks for the great pics, Adam Pense.

The auroras are a result of the interaction between charged particles from the Sun – a solar storm – and the Earth’s atmosphere near the Poles. @WTEN pic.twitter.com/xWl0bKm2IF

— Jill Szwed (@JillSzwedWx) March 24, 2023

Hello northern lights 😍 we don’t often get to see them in Iowa, but there’s a strong solar storm and they’re quite visible! This was taken with an iPhone, so it’s fairly visible even to the naked eye! #northernlights pic.twitter.com/Q7QYfMHxmt

— Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) March 24, 2023

Geomagnetic storm news blog Space Weather said the severe G4 storm was the “most intense in nearly six years.” 

This solar cycle, Solar Cycle 25, has already been active, exceeding the past cycle. 

Well, it’s official folks, solar cycle 25 is stronger than it’s previous cycle of 24. Solar maximum has not been recognised yet.
(Based off yearly AVG SS numbers). pic.twitter.com/2pMjPknf5k

— David I Birch (@Climate_Earth20) March 24, 2023

Even though auroras look stunning, these CMEs have a tremendous impact on modern society. 

Recall the federal government started to prepare the nation for a space weather disaster in 2016 with the executive order signed by the Obama administration titled “Coordinating Efforts to Prepare the Nation for Space Weather Events.”  

Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via Brownstone Institute,

An enduring mystery for three years is how Donald Trump came to be the president who shut down American society for what turned out to be a manageable respiratory virus, setting off an unspeakable crisis with waves of destructive fallout that continue to this day. 

Let’s review the timeline and offer some well-founded speculations about what happened. 

On March 9, 2020, Trump was still of the opinion that the virus could be handled by normal means. 

So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020

Two days later, he changed his tune. He was ready to use the full power of the federal government in a war on the virus. 

I am fully prepared to use the full power of the Federal Government to deal with our current challenge of the CoronaVirus!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2020

What changed? Deborah Birx reports in her book that Trump had a friend die in a New York hospital and this is what shifted his opinion. Jared Kushner reports that he simply listened to reason. Mike Pence says he was persuaded that his staff would respect him more. No question (and based on all existing reports) that he found himself surrounded by “trusted advisors” amounting to about 5 or so people (including Mike Pence and Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb)

It was only a week later when Trump issued the edict to close all “indoor and outdoor venues where people congregate,” initiating the biggest regime change in US history that flew in the face of all rights and liberties Americans had previously taken for granted. It was the ultimate in political triangulation: as John F. Kennedy cut taxes, Nixon opened China, and Clinton reformed welfare, Trump shut down the economy he promised to revive. This action confounded critics on all sides. 

A month later, Trump said his decision to have “turned off” the economy saved millions of lives, later even claiming to have saved billions. He has yet to admit error. 

….My Administration and I built the greatest economy in history, of any country, turned it off, saved millions of lives, and now am building an even greater economy than it was before. Jobs are flowing, NASDAQ is already at a record high, the rest to follow. Sit back & watch!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2020

Even as late as June 23rd of that year, Trump was demanding credit for having followed all of Fauci’s recommendations. Why do they love him and hate me, he wanted to know. 

We did a great job on CoronaVirus, including the very early ban on China, Ventilator production, and Testing, which is by far the most, and best, in the World. We saved millions of U.S. lives.! Yet the Fake News refuses to acknowledge this in a positive way. But they do give….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020

Something about this story has never really added up. How could one person have been so persuaded by a handful of others such as Fauci, Birx, Pence, and Kushner and his friends? He surely had other sources of information – some other scenario or intelligence – that fed into his disastrous decision. 

In one version of events, his advisors simply pointed to the supposed success of Xi Jinping in enacting lockdowns in Wuhan, which the World Health Organization claimed had stopped infections and brought the virus under control. Perhaps his advisors flattered Trump with the observation that he is at least as great as the president of China so he should be bold and enact the same policies here. 

One problem with this scenario is timing. The Oval Office meetings that preceded his March 16, 2020, edict took place the weekend of the 14th and 15th, Friday and Saturday. It was already clear by the 11th that Trump was ready for lockdowns. This was the same day as Fauci’s deliberately misleading testimony to the House Oversight Committee in which he rattled the room with predictions of Hollywood-style carnage. 

On the 12th, Trump shut all travel from Europe, the UK, and Australia, causing huge human pile-ups at international airports. On the 13th, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a classified document that transferred control of pandemic policy from the CDC to the National Security Council and eventually the Department of Homeland Security. By the time that Trump met with Fauci and Birx in that legendary weekend, the country was already under quasi-martial law. 

Isolating the date in the trajectory here, it is apparent that whatever happened to change Trump occurred on March 10, 2020, the day after his Tweet saying there should be no shutdowns and one day before Fauci’s testimony. 

That something very likely revolves around the most substantial discovery we’ve made in three years of investigations. It was Debbie Lerman who first cracked the code: Covid policy was forged not by the public-health bureaucracies but by the national-security sector of the administrative state. She has further explained that this occurred because of two critical features of the response: 1) the belief that this virus came from a lab leak, and 2) the vaccine was the biosecurity countermeasure pushed by the same people as the fix. 

Knowing this, we gain greater insight into 1) why Trump changed his mind, 2) why he has never explained this momentous decision and otherwise completely avoids the topic, and 3) why it has been so unbearably difficult to find out any information about these mysterious few days other than the pablum served up in books designed to earn royalties for authors like Birx, Pence, and Kushner. 

Based on a number of second-hand reports, all available clues we have assembled, and the context of the times, the following scenario seems most likely. On March 10, and in response to Trump’s dismissive tweet the day before, some trusted sources within and around the National Security Council (Matthew Pottinger and Michael Callahan, for example), and probably involving some from military command and others, came to Trump to let him know a highly classified secret. 

Imagine a scene from Get Smart with the Cone of Silence, for example. These are the events in the life of statecraft that infuse powerful people with a sense of their personal awesomeness. The fate of all of society rests on their shoulders and the decisions they make at this point. Of course they are sworn to intense secrecy following the great reveal. 

The revelation was that the virus was not a textbook virus but something far more threatening and terrible. It came from a research lab in Wuhan. It might in fact be a bioweapon. This is why Xi had to do extreme things to protect his people. The US should do the same, they said, and there is a fix available too and it is being carefully guarded by the military. 

It seems that the virus had already been mapped in order to make a vaccine to protect the population. Thanks to 20 years of research on mRNA platforms, they told him,  this vaccine can be rolled out in months, not years. That means that Trump can lock down and distribute vaccines to save everyone from the China virus, all in time for the election. Doing this would not only assure his reelection but guarantee that he would go down in history as one of the greatest US presidents of all time. 

This meeting might only have lasted an hour or two – and might have included a parade of people with the highest-level security clearances – but it was enough to convince Trump. After all, he had battled China for two previous years, imposing tariffs and making all sorts of threats. It was easy to believe at that point that China might have initiated biological warfare as retaliation. That’s why he made the decision to use all the power of the presidency to push a lockdown under emergency rule. 

To be sure, the Constitution does not allow him to override the discretion of the states but with the weight of the office complete with enough funding and persuasion, he could make it happen. And thus did he make the fateful decision that not only wrecked his presidency but the country too, imposing harms that will last a generation. 

It only took a few weeks for Trump to become suspicious about what happened. For weeks and months, he toggled between believing that he was tricked and believing that he did the right thing. He had already approved another 30 days of lockdowns and even inveighed against Georgia and later Florida for opening. He went so far as to claim that no state could open without his approval. 

For the purpose of creating conflict and confusion, some in the Fake News Media are saying that it is the Governors decision to open up the states, not that of the President of the United States & the Federal Government. Let it be fully understood that this is incorrect….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2020

He did not fully change his mind until August, when Scott Atlas revealed the whole con to him. 

There is another fascinating feature to this entirely plausible scenario. Even as Trump’s advisors were telling him that this could be a bioweapon leaked from the lab in China, we had Anthony Fauci and his cronies going to great lengths to deny it was a lab leak (even if they believed that it was). This created an interesting situation. The NIH and those surrounding Fauci were publicly insisting that the virus was of zoonotic origin, even as Trump’s circle was telling the president that it should be regarded as a bioweapon. 

Fauci belonged to both camps, which suggests that Trump very likely knew of Fauci’s deception all along: the “noble lie” to protect the public from knowing the truth. Trump had to be fine with that. 

Gradually following the lockdown edicts and the takeover by the Department of Homeland Security, in cooperation with a very hostile CDC, Trump lost power and influence over his own government, which is why his later Tweets urging a reopening fell on deaf ears. To top it off, the vaccine failed to arrive in time for the election. This is because Fauci himself delayed the rollout until after the election, claiming that the trials were not racially diverse enough. Thus Trump’s gambit completely failed, despite all the promises of those around him that it was a guaranteed way to win reelection.

To be sure, this scenario cannot be proven because the entire event – certainly the most dramatic political move in at least a generation and one with unspeakable costs for the country – remains cloaked in secrecy. Not even Senator Rand Paul can get the information he needs because it remains classified. If anyone thinks the Biden approval of releasing documents will show what we need, that person is naive. Still, the above scenario fits all available facts and it is confirmed by second-hand reports from inside the White House. 

It’s enough for a great movie or a play of Shakespearean levels of tragedy. And to this day, none of the main players are speaking openly about it. 

Jeffrey A. Tucker is Founder and President of the Brownstone Institute. He is also Senior Economics Columnist for Epoch Times, author of 10 books, including Liberty or Lockdown, and thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press. He speaks widely on topics of economics, technology, social philosophy, and culture.

Authored by Michael Shellenberger and Leighton Woodhouse via ‘Public’ Substack,

Since he first announced last Saturday that he would be arrested by New York City police the following Tuesday, millions of Trump-obsessed Americans have now waited nearly a week for the big day to arrive. 

This may be the only chance in a lifetime for so-called journalists like us to write ledes like:

“The former president may be perp-walked for paying hush money to a porn star.”

But even before the big day arrived, the overproduction of elites had created an overproduction of “deep fakes,” made by A.I., of Trump being arrested.

Deep fake by Eliot Higgins

Naturally, Trump supporters were having none of it. 

“As per sources on the ground,” tweeted another deep faker, @MadMikeOfficial, “Trump has taken command of the NYPD and has become the undisputed warlord of Manhattan.”

Deep fake by @MadMikeOfficial

Wait, Wait It’s Even Weirder Than That

The people who have taken upon themselves the great burden of spying on and censoring their fellow citizens for wrongthink — the hall monitors within the Censorship Industrial Complex — have been warning for years that deep fakes like the Trump images above would result in “disinformation” campaigns and “influence operations” by “malign actors.”

Funny, then, that it was one of the leading members of the Censorship Industrial Complex, Eliot Higgins of the creepy Bellingcat, who was the first to create and tweet out the Trump deep fakes.

Here’s his best one:

Another deep fake by Eliot Higgins

“Making pictures of Trump getting arrested while waiting for Trump’s arrest,” tweeted Higgins cheerily.

“This blew up etc, so donate to Bellingcat so we can catch bad guys and make scenes like this real.”

Higgins’ Bellingcat has been funded by the U.S. government’s National Endowment for Democracy, a widely-acknowledged C.I.A. front group, that is supposed to act nonpartisan, at least in public. 

Watching Higgins use deep fake disinformation to attack his political enemies was a bit like learning the homophobic preacher was caught with a choir boy. 

“Ironic,” responded a Twitter user to Higgins, “that YOU’RE the bad guy, in this case (fake pictures, spread across the internet..yeah, you said it was “AI created”, but you KNEW, people would believe it!”

“Well,” responded Higgins, “I can’t help stupid.” 

Read more here…