Funding constraints and investor caution, not regulation, are delaying crypto IPOs, according to Cohen & Company Capital Markets’ Christian Lopez.

The market for crypto initial public offerings has slowed sharply as investors rotate capital into other sectors and growing macroeconomic uncertainty dampens appetite for risk assets, according to Christian Lopez, head of blockchain and digital assets at investment bank Cohen & Company Capital Markets.

“The IPO market is a bit slower in the crypto space for obvious reasons,” Lopez told CoinDesk in an interview, pointing to last October’s liquidity event as a turning point that drained capital from the digital asset ecosystem.

Retail investors who once fueled crypto markets have largely shifted their attention to artificial intelligence, he says, before expanding into other areas of the technology sector, including the so-called Mag 7 stocks. More recently, however, even AI-related equities have experienced sharp pullbacks, suggesting capital is rotating once again.

Macro headwinds

Crypto firms entered 2026 expecting a banner year for IPOs after successful listings by Circle (CRCL) and Bullish (BLSH), CoinDesk’s parent company.

But weaker market conditions, softer trading volumes and disappointing post-listing performances, including BitGo’s (BTGO), have since cooled enthusiasm for new offerings. Several major crypto firms, including Kraken parent Payward, Ethereum app builder Consensys, wallet provider Ledger and asset manager Grayscale, have all delayed IPO plans while waiting for markets to improve. Others are still moving ahead. Blockchain.com said in May it confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CoinDesk reported in May that crypto trading platform FalconX had also filed a draft S-1 registration with the SEC, the initial step toward a potential public listing.

Broader macro backdrop are weighing on sentiment, Lopez says. Uncertainty over interest rates has made investors particularly cautious toward high-beta assets such as crypto. While signals from the Federal Reserve and the Trump administration point toward a more deflationary environment that could eventually support rate cuts, global markets continue to face pressure from central bank actions and deleveraging, including recent moves by the Bank of Japan to defend the yen.

“Investors are hesitant to back a stock in an IPO because they’re worried about whether there will be support in the aftermarket,” according to Lopez.

He says the market may not meaningfully reopen for crypto listings until next year, citing expectations that bitcoin’s market cycle could bottom around October, noting that the broader crypto market has tended to follow the world’s largest cryptocurrency’s performance.

Despite these headwinds Lopez says regulatory clarity is no longer the primary obstacle for companies considering public listings.

“That’s less relevant than before. Companies went public before there was regulatory clarity,” he said. “For companies like Bullish, Circle or BitGo, it’s more about access to capital than regulation.”

Kraken’s reported plans to pursue a public listing illustrate how crypto firms are adapting, Lopez says. The exchange has sought to diversify beyond crypto trading, a strategy he believes better positions companies for public markets.

“The right thing to do is become more diversified rather than being just a crypto trading business,” he says.

Institutional adoption

Despite near-term weakness in crypto funding markets, Lopez says blockchain technology continues to gain traction across traditional finance. Major financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley (MS), Nasdaq (NDAQ) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), are building blockchain-based infrastructure and preparing for tokenized settlement.

The industry is moving toward near-instant settlement, shifting from T+1 to T+0, while initiatives such as the OpenUSD network are bringing together more than 140 financial institutions and payments companies around stablecoin infrastructure, he says.

Lopez expects the long-term winners to be blockchain infrastructure providers rather than businesses built solely around individual cryptocurrencies.

“A lot of crypto companies trying to raise capital in the private markets are finding it difficult because of their singular focus on one product offering,” he says.

While Lopez expects bitcoin, ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) along with a handful of other major tokens to remain important assets, he predicts that thousands of smaller cryptocurrencies are unlikely to survive.

“We’ll probably see the long tail of cryptocurrencies tighten over the next three to five years,” he added.

Read more: Wall Street’s IPO revival hasn’t reached dot-com euphoria levels, Goldman Sachs says

The post Crypto IPO market stalls as capital rotates to AI and macro uncertainty weighs appeared first on Activist Post.

Sure, as long as we are conscious of their true origins. And even if not, sometimes we can trust, other times no. Feelings are odd things. They can come out of nowhere, or they can be highly circumstantial—like the rush of extreme fear when a bear jumps aggressively from behind a tree. They can also be mysterious “gut feelings.”

Usually, we have some awareness of their unconscious underpinnings. We sense whether a feeling is a solid “gut” instinct, something “creepy,” or simply “good”—as in, “I just liked that guy; there was something about him that made me feel comfortable and trusting.”

But…and it’s a big “but,” we know we have to be careful. The guy or gal who sweeps us off our feet on a first date needs further scrutiny. We have all fallen into that pit, haven’t we? It is a deep, dark chasm, and usually very difficult to climb out of. Did you ever wonder why, back in the day, marriage engagements often lasted what seemed an eternity? There were many social and cultural underpinnings, but one major reason was simply to get past the “swept off your feet” syndrome—to make what was largely unconscious, conscious.

So, what’s the big deal? If our impressions of things and people rely too heavily on feelings—especially when we are not conscious of their origins—we can end up in serious trouble. Most of the time, it doesn’t really matter what our feelings are about other people. We see an actor we like or meet someone in the grocery store we immediately dislike. Actors don’t matter much in our daily lives; their entire craft is built on creating impressions based on unsubstantiated feelings.

Most strangers we encounter don’t matter much either. But people like our lawyer, our doctor, or our lover, do. With the exception of the latter, we usually have some objective basis for our assessments—what are their credentials? What is their reputation? Has the state licensed them? (As I clear my throat on that one.) We may still have a gut feeling, which remains important given their role in our lives, but we temper the emotional response with at least some objective evaluation.

We run into an odd situation with politicians. They are (or most people think they are) important, yet their persona and presentation are wholly geared toward generating a “feeling” with voters choosing among options. More often than not, they want that feeling to outweigh any objective facts. A lot of effort goes into this charade. Intellectually, many people may agree it’s a game, but most still fall for the ruse.

I see this often with celebrities, too. People worship movie stars or sports figures regardless of whether they are decent human beings. They reach worship status quickly. Sports stars at least have to have a exceptional physical skill. And oddly enough, most totally untalented actors seldom become celebrities. Hating these types (actors and athletes) is less common, but when someone is set up for hate for whatever reason, it flows effortlessly.

Guess who I am going to use as an example of this sort of hate? Donald J. Trump, of course. He is probably the most hated man in modern times next to Adolf Hitler (we could cite others like Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, or Saddam Hussein, but Trump is the most current). Was he set up for hate? Absolutely, although not entirely. He can be rather despicable at times, making it easy to dislike him. Add a little media salt to his own formula, and you have one of the juiciest targets for hate projection imaginable.

To start with, Trump does not have a conventionally likable personality. He comes across as arrogant, impulsive, boastful, and low on agreeableness and emotional stability—traits like rudeness, grandiosity, and a lack of empathy that many find off-putting. He is blunt, disruptive, and often vulgar in a way that violates traditional political norms. Not much there for broad appeal.

Yet some of these brazen attributes are exactly what his supporters adore. His maverick, no-nonsense approach—telling it like he sees it with little filter, rejecting political correctness, and fighting the establishment—resonates deeply. Supporters value his authenticity, pragmatism, and willingness to shake up the system rather than play the polished insider game. What critics call arrogance or bullying, fans see as strength, decisiveness, and refreshing honesty. Which set of attributes do you think make a better leader? Sadly, the ugly ones probably do.

What about the “real” good and bad things? Haters rarely focus on substantive presidential shortcomings. Instead, they attack his personality: he’s mean, ugly, makes fun of people, has weird hair, is fat, and has an ugly mouth.

They label him a misogynist, a racist, and a felon. Defenders note that many accusations stem from selective outrage, legal warfare perceived as political persecution, or misrepresentations of his record on issues like criminal justice reform (First Step Act), opportunity zones for minority communities, and strong support from diverse groups in elections.

Supporters argue his blunt style gets twisted into “-isms” while ignoring policy outcomes or context. Of course, as of this writing, Trump haters probably have more substantive reasons to hate him, but at the beginning of the hate campaign, not as much. The point I am making about “feelings” is not confined to the Trump phenomenon.

Many of the Trump haters adore figures like Biden, Harris, Obama, or (for Canadians) Carney. Why? For mostly the same superficial reasons—personality, looks, media framing—rather than deep substance. They were told to love these figures and hate Trump (and his team). Although personality and appearance play a role, the press drives most of it. Most people don’t look beyond that.

So, they treat politicians like movie stars or sports figures. Their gut tells them one thing, looks and personality another, and the press fills in the rest. Then they retreat into echo chambers where their bias is confirmed endlessly by social media, friends, family, the dog—and maybe a cat or two (cats are primarily liberal).

Feelings have their place. A strong gut instinct can protect us or guide us toward what feels right. But when it comes to high-stakes decisions—especially about leaders who shape laws, economies, and societies—we owe it to ourselves to dig deeper. Scrutinize records, policies, and results alongside the vibe. Conscious awareness of where our feelings come from turns raw emotion into informed judgment. Without that, we’re just another audience member swept up in the performance.

As I revisit this concept in our modern time, the divide feels even starker. The “feeling-based” politics hasn’t faded; if anything, it has intensified. Trump remains a lightning rod—loved or loathed largely on emotional and media-primed grounds rather than calm analysis (although that has changed a bit since the Iran conflict). The lesson holds: question the origins of your feelings, especially when the stakes are this high. Let’s all continue to stay sharp by balancing heart and head.

*

Todd’s newest book The View of the Shrew: Unmasking the Truth in a Confused World 2025, has just launched on Amazon.

You can claim a FREE advanced reader e-copy in exchange for leaving an honest review! Click HERE to sign-up. Offer open until August 6th.

The post Can We Really Trust Our Feelings? appeared first on Activist Post.

Here is an extract from my speech at the Freedom Fest in Las Vegas when lots of Jones Plantation slaves walked out when I asked some simple questions about American Independence and how that’s going for them… For example: 

Name one thing that has gone well. Wars? The border? Ah, the border. All right.

Remember when he said he was going to put people like “Fraud-see” (Fauci) and “Kill Gates” in jail for the coronavirus pandemic? Yeah, he didn’t do that either. He actually helped implement it anyway with Operation Warp Speed, attempting to give everyone in the US lethal injections. I guess everyone is okay with that. 

Oh, and remember when he was going to balance the budget and pay off all the debt? Remember that one? Check your watch… is the debt over $40 trillion right now? It is about to be. He actually increased the national debt by almost 25% of all accumulated US government debt in just five years. Pretty incredible.

They really didn’t like it when I said this new war was largely a deflection from the Epstein files. Donald Trump was Jeffrey Epstein’s best friend for about 10 years, as Jeffrey Epstein himself said. Trump’s friend Howard Buttlick was Epstein’s neighbor. Trump’s wife was Epstein’s… well… you know. 

See, here is the thing that you might not understand: I’m not for the other side. I hate all sides. Government itself is mind control. The root of the word comes from the Latin gubernare, which means “to control,” and mente, which means “mind.” Mind control.

Anyway, what is the purpose of this discussion? The purpose is actually quite positive. It is to first let you know that most people in the world are under generational mind control. It has been a very long-standing, centuries-old affair. Now, they use television programming. (Which is called “programming” for a reason and is “broadcast” because it operates basically like magic). Combined with Hollywood movies, most people are under mind control and have fallen for this operation called government.

The thing is, you don’t even know what you truly are. Most people don’t realize that they are all that has ever existed and all that ever will exist. By having this experience inside this matrix, you can wake up to that reality and achieve true freedom. Freedom will never come from voting for anyone, supporting politicians, or relying on any sort of government.

If you wake up to what is going on, we can all walk away from these systems very easily. It is just a matter of realizing what is happening and stopping giving them your energy. 

You have the power to change everything, but it only happens one way, and it isn’t by walking behind a shower curtain to vote for a donkey or an elephant.

The way we all escape this is to wake up individually. Realize who you truly are, do the work, meditate, pray, connect with the source, and start remembering your actual purpose in this 3D video game. Step outside their system, stop using their currency, stop using their banks, and the entire world will change dramatically. You will never hear this on your television programming because they don’t want you to know it.

The Dollar Vigilante

To stay ahead of the chaos and profit from it, you need actionable intel, real-time analysis, and the guidance of analysts who have been front-running the system for more than a decade. That is what The Dollar Vigilante delivers. Visit DollarVigilante.com/FreeTrial now for your 15-day free trial and a 30-day, no-questions-asked guarantee.

Liberpulco 2026 

Imagine three unforgettable days surrounded by bold ideas, inspiring talks, and passionate freedom lovers from around the world. This August, join us in Apatin, Serbia for Liberpulco 2026, the ultimate gathering for those who believe in liberty, innovation, and building a thriving future.

From August 13th to 15th, experience powerful talks, hands-on workshops, meaningful community connections, and a special comedy-music performance by Dominic Frisby:

“Govern me harder, tell me what to do,

Give me your guidelines and an income tax review.

Regulate me, give me some welfare, educate me…”

On August 16th, take part in special excursions, including an optional visit to Liberland. Then, for the true adventurers, stay on for the Floating Man experience—a decentralized, build-your-own-adventure festival inspired by Agora Forko running from August 17th to 23rd.

Whether you come for a few days or the full experience from August 12th to 23rd, Liberpulco is where visionaries connect, learn, and live the free life they dream of. This is more than an event; it is the freedom revolution in motion. Don’t miss your chance to be a part of it. Grab your tickets now and secure your spot at Liberpulco.com today.

Watch on:
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The post Berwick Boo’d In Las Vegas For Challenging American “Independence” appeared first on Activist Post.

Earlier this week, I shared a tweet entitled “8 Ways To Take Down Flock Without A Sawzall.” It was a follow-up to a viral FOIA thread I posted on X earlier in the year, giving people a template file for a records request about Flock cameras in their own communities. (If you’re interested, you can find it here.)

But filing a FOIA request is only one tool.

There are many other ways ordinary people can legally challenge the expansion of automated license plate reader systems. Knowledge without strategy changes very little. But when informed people act with purpose, even the most entrenched systems can be challenged.

Personally, I think we’re well beyond the denial stage. The surveillance state isn’t coming—it’s already here. Because of that, I don’t spend much time judging how other people choose to push back. Some people protest. Some organize. Some file lawsuits. Some file public records requests. Some use Sawzalls.

This article isn’t about any of that.

This is for the people who want to use lawful, public channels to challenge Flock’s expansion in their own communities.

Will it take longer? Usually.

But it also tends to have a much longer shelf life. Cameras that are physically removed are often replaced within a few days, usually at the expense of the taxpayer. However, cameras that lose funding, contracts, or public support often stay gone for good.

I should also mention that part of what motivated me to put this list together was a recent interaction I had with Flock’s CEO, Garrett Langley.

I asked him a sincere question on X. Flock says “safety is a fundamental right,” so I asked, “But what if the company is actually building one of the largest surveillance infrastructures ever deployed in American neighborhoods? What if this technology slowly transforms our cities into a digital architecture of control rather than simply making them safer?” Instead of answering, he blocked me.

Silence isn’t an answer, especially from someone whose company asks the public to trust a surveillance network spanning thousands of communities. So, if those answers aren’t coming from Flock, then it’s up to us to start asking the questions ourselves.

Here are eight ways to do exactly that.

1. Ask Your City to Prove Flock Works

One of the simplest questions is often the hardest for officials to answer.

Has Flock actually reduced violent crime?

Not crime somewhere else.

Not what the company claims.

Your town.

Many cities renew surveillance contracts year after year without ever conducting an independent review of whether the cameras accomplished what they promised.

Ask city council members for the evidence. Ask for reports. Ask for crime data. Ask whether anyone ever evaluated whether taxpayers are getting what they paid for.

You might be surprised how often nobody has.

2. Find the Contract Before Renewal

Timing matters.

Most people don’t learn about Flock until the cameras are already installed.

By then, the fight becomes much harder.

Every contract has an expiration date. File a public records request asking for the original agreement, any amendments, renewal dates, and termination clauses.

Knowing when that contract expires gives your community time to organize before another vote takes place instead of scrambling afterward.

3. Ask for the Privacy Review

When governments spend public money on surveillance technology, they should be asking more than one question:

Does it work?

They should also ask:

What does it do to privacy?

What are the risks?

How is the data protected?

Were civil liberties considered?

Ask your city whether a Privacy Impact Assessment or similar constitutional review was ever conducted.

If the answer is no, ask why not.

4. Show Up Before the Decision Is Made

Most surveillance systems don’t appear overnight.

They usually go through committee meetings, budget discussions, contract approvals, and council votes.

Those meetings are public.

Many cities also let residents subscribe to meeting notifications so you know when surveillance contracts appear on an agenda.

Showing up before the vote is almost always more effective than protesting afterward.

5. Follow the Money

Surveillance often expands because someone else offers to pay for it.

Federal grants from agencies like DHS or the Department of Justice can make expensive surveillance systems look “free” to local governments.

Of course, taxpayers still pay.

Ask your city whether outside grants funded the purchase.

Request grant applications, award letters, and communications related to funding.

Money usually tells the story.

6. Ask Who Can Search the Database

Many people assume only their local police department can access Flock.

That’s rarely the whole picture.

Ask which agencies have permission to search your city’s license plate database.

Request memorandums of understanding, data-sharing agreements, participating agencies, and any policies governing outside access.

People deserve to know who can access information collected in their own neighborhoods.

7. Request the Audit Logs

Flock records searches.

That means there is often a record showing who searched the system, when they searched it, and sometimes why.

Those logs can reveal misuse long before it becomes a news story.

Request audit logs, dates, users, reasons for searches, and associated case numbers whenever possible.

Transparency discourages abuse.

8. Compare Crime Before and After

If officials claim the cameras are working, ask them to show you.

Many cities publish crime statistics online.

Compare crime before installation and after installation.

If there’s a measurable improvement, great.

If there isn’t, taxpayers deserve to know why they’re still funding the program.

Claims should be backed by evidence, not marketing.

Helpful Tools

Fortunately, you don’t have to start from scratch. Several excellent tools already exist to help map Flock cameras, research contracts, file public records requests, and better understand the expanding surveillance network. Here are five of the best:

DontGetFlocked.com lets you enter a starting point and destination, then estimates how many Flock cameras you’ll encounter while suggesting routes that reduce your exposure.

EyesOnFlock.com is a crowdsourced project tracking camera locations, contracts, and deployments around the country.

Deflock.me maintains a nationwide map showing Flock deployments, removals, and community resistance efforts.

HaveIBeenFlocked.com allows users to quickly check whether Flock cameras operate in their area and what information may be collected.

ALPR.wtf maintains one of the most comprehensive databases of automated license plate reader deployments in the country, including guidance for submitting public records requests.

Each offers a different piece of the puzzle, whether it’s locating cameras, reviewing contracts, avoiding surveillance routes, or learning how to file records requests.

The Road Ahead

Ultimately, this conversation isn’t really about cameras or surveillance. It’s about what kind of society we want to leave behind for future generations. If constant automated surveillance becomes the norm for today’s children, what will seem ordinary to the next generation?

The most effective surveillance systems don’t succeed because people are forced to accept them. They succeed when people eventually stop noticing them.

That’s why this conversation matters now, not five years from now.

That future isn’t inevitable.

Communities still have a voice. Contracts can be challenged. Public officials can be questioned. Policies can be changed.

History is full of ordinary people who decided enough was enough.

There’s no reason this can’t be one of those moments too

The post 8 Ways To Take Down Flock Without A Sawzall appeared first on Activist Post.

Afriend and I got into it recently. He’s smart, freedom-minded, and totally gets the danger of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). Expiring money, programmable control, carbon budgets – he sees most of the expanding tyranny clearly. And yet he dismisses Digital ID as a distraction. When I try to make the case that digital ID is the gateway to the gulag in the metaverse, he demands I name ONE thing Digital ID gives the government that they can’t already do.

My answer: it enables CBDC.

Of course, governments have already encroached on our privacy and freedoms in ways our forefathers couldn’t have imagined. But even with the creeping surveillance state, the government can’t fully implement programmable currency without authenticated identity on every transaction. They’re components of the same beast. Digital ID is the authentication layer, while CBDC is the currency that runs on top of it.

Stop Digital ID and you prevent CBDC from being built at any scale that matters.

The institutions driving this, the usual suspects including the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and the United Nations, are quite explicit about their intentions. Their own documentation spells it out: digital identity is a requirement for centralized digital currency. And in case the documents aren’t clear enough, Agustín Carstens, the former GM of the BIS couldn’t have been more explicit about their goals:

“A key difference with the CBDC is that central banks will have absolute control on the rules and regulations that will determine the use of that expression of central bank liability, and also we will have the technology to enforce that.”

Perhaps we should take these institutions at their word?

When Enforcement Goes on Autopilot

What my friend is missing isn’t really about capability. The game has never been about what the government can do. It’s about the cost of doing it. 

Right now, controlling what you buy, where you go, what you read – all of that requires boots on the ground. Investigations, warrants, real people making decisions. The friction is the protection.

Digital ID eliminates that friction entirely. What was once selective tyranny becomes universal tyranny. Code restricts transactions based on compliance status. No human oversight required.

Here’s an easy way to think about it: police can break into your home right now. Most people don’t lose sleep over that. Would they feel the same about automated drones entering every home simultaneously based on AI-triggered criteria? The capability itself isn’t the threat…the automation at scale is.

And for anyone thinking “the government already has my Social Security number and my phone tracks my GPS” – you’re missing the difference. Right now those systems are siloed – your bank doesn’t know what your doctor said, your DMV doesn’t know your browser history, etc. Digital ID is the interoperability layer – one key someone else controls – and can revoke. Five keys for five doors means losing one is manageable. One master key for everything means someone else decides whether you get in at all.

In 2021, getting into my own taproom legally required a vaccine card. New York City had rolled out some half-baked digital pass, but for the most part it was still paper back then. Still, it was obvious where this was headed. When I started warning friends, co-workers, the guy in the coffee shop – really, anyone who’d listen – that this was a dry run for digital identity infrastructure, that the compliance checkpoint they’d just accepted would eventually become programmable and permanent, most thought I was insane.

After getting tired of long emails and late-night rants, I started publicly documenting what I thought was coming. It was painfully obvious that centralized digital money meant rations, expiring savings, compliance-based access to daily life. A sort of digital cage. A few people in my life perked up, but most still scoffed.

Fast forward a few years and what’s being rolled out right now is exactly what I described – except ultimately, this system won’t just cover vaccines, it will define and govern all acceptable behavior.

So when I hear smart people wave away Digital ID because “the government can already track you,” it’s maddening. You’re stuck on what they can already do. They’re building something entirely new. It’s like watching speed cameras being installed on every block and saying “Well, they could already give me a ticket.” Sure, one decision at a time. Now imagine no human involved on any blocks, ever. The marginal cost drops to zero and the decision isn’t made by a person but by a line of code.

That’s a profoundly different category of power entirely. And after what we all lived through in 2021 – watching our neighbors accept a digital pass as the price of participation without blinking – we saw the compliance muscle is already trained. Covid was the Milgram experiment, the Stanford Prison experiment, and the Asch conformity test rolled into one and our species failed all three. The only thing missing then was the infrastructure at societal scale.

The Cover Story May Change. The Agenda Doesn’t.

Most Americans assume they’re exempt from this kind of thing. A few years ago, the majority of people I knew had no idea there were massive protests happening all over the world. It was partly because our media couldn’t be bothered to cover it, but also because we’re that insulated. And maybe that’s by design – because America was built on individual liberty in a way most countries weren’t, and that cultural resistance is exactly why they’re normalizing the infrastructure everywhere else first, then importing it here as “international best practice.” And we’ll sleepwalk right into it.

Make no mistake: if America accepts the authentication layer, the rest of the world loses its last permission structure to resist. Not to beat a dead horse, but we watched a trial run during Covid.

That’s why paying attention to what’s happening abroad isn’t paranoid, it may give us signal for what’s coming.

The UK’s Online Safety Act 2023 mandates age verification for social media platforms using “ID checks, AI, or age assurance technologies.” Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fast-tracking implementation – writing clauses into the children’s well-being bill to “enforce a ban quickly.” Leaked Cabinet Office meetings revealed ministers discussing Digital ID for every baby at birth registration. A parliamentary petition against mandatory Digital ID gathered nearly 3 million signatures. They’re building it anyway. Just a few days ago, Apple rolled out age verification for all UK users – ID scans or credit card checks to access certain features.

Brits tried to route around it with VPNs: usage more than doubled – from 650,000 daily users to over 1.4 million, according to a UK government report. The government’s response? Not to reconsider the ruling but to start discussing restrictions on VPNs. The ratchet only turns one way. Mandate identity verification. When people evade it, they restrict the evasion tools. Each “solution” requires more control.

One of my best friends, a police sergeant who lost his job after 24 years without missing a single day (the Cal Ripken of the NYPD), for refusing to comply with vax mandates – told me years ago that whenever we’re being told something is being done for our safety, alarm bells should ring. He was right. Remember “nobody’s safe until everybody’s safe?”

The cover story is always about protection. Protect the children, protect women from online misogyny. Lately it’s been all about protecting us from anti-Semitism and protecting us from Islamophobia. Scroll the news on any given day and both are being amplified in the same cycle.

It should go without saying – my intention isn’t to diminish anyone’s real feelings. Just last week I wrote about this at length in The Enemy Is Not Each Other. The fear is real, and the people experiencing it aren’t wrong to feel it. My argument is that the infrastructure being built to address those feelings is the cage. Every emotional trigger – real or not – becomes the justification for another identity checkpoint.

Australia passed its own age verification law. Kids are already bypassing it with fake birthdays and unregulated apps. Of course, this law won’t protect kids in any meaningful way, but it sure does build a new gatekeeper.

In Africa, Gates Foundation-funded biometric ID systems are rolling out under the banner of financial inclusion. The cover story changes by region – in this case, aid vs. protection. TikTok requires a government ID in Europe. Discord requires facial age estimation globally. As Fenigson put it: “It’s exactly the same. The only difference is that in the West, they just have to make more excuses so that people can swallow it easily.”

And America?

California signed AB 1043 into law – effective January 1, 2027, every operating system provider in the state must implement age verification. Not a bill. Signed law. Operating System-level identity verification baked into every device.

And that’s exactly what Mark Zuckerberg proposed under oath during his Congressional testimony on child safety. His “fix” was astonishing: have Apple and Google verify the identity of every smartphone user at the OS level, for every app. “Doing it at the level of the phone is just a lot cleaner,” he said. In plain terms: he deflects Meta’s legal liability while two companies already under antitrust scrutiny get deputized as identity gatekeepers for the entire internet.

Congress is writing the laws, while the tech CEOs are designing the system. Worth noting: just last week, a jury found Meta and YouTube negligent for harm to children in a landmark lawsuit, and in a separate case, Meta was ordered to pay $375 million for misleading users on child safety. So, the company that just lost two massive lawsuits for harming kids is now advising Congress on how to build the identity infrastructure for the entire internet. What could go wrong?

A bipartisan “Kids on Social Media Act” is moving through Congress. Florida introduced an App Store accountability bill that would force Apple and Google to verify the ages of all users and collect identifying data.

As Derrick Broze pointed out, the White House’s own National Policy Framework for AI, released in March 2026, leads with “Protecting Children” and calls on Congress to establish age-assurance requirements for AI platforms. The language is soft. The infrastructure it enables is the same. This isn’t a partisan project. Both “sides” are building it.

And in March 2026, more than 400 computer scientists from around the world signed an open letter warning that age-verification mandates enable censorship, centralized power, and loss of privacy – and that the systems could cause more harm than good. They’re describing the authentication layer. They just don’t call it that.

It’s Not Just Governments

You actually don’t need government mandates when corporations normalize biometric collection on their own. And increasingly, you don’t need to choose – the mandates are converging with initiatives from Big Tech and Big Banking, all built on the same infrastructure.

I’ve been making this point to friends who have insisted CBDC was off the table once the President said he wouldn’t build it. Sure, the US government might not – but what about JPMorgan Chase? Through public-private partnerships, private institutions can be steered into building the exact infrastructure the government just promised not to touch. What’s the word for that again?

In November 2025, Apple launched Digital ID in Apple Wallet enabling the ability for people to scan their passports, take selfies, complete “facial and head movements” for verification – and then their identities live on their phone. It has TSA acceptance at 250+ airports and can be used as driver’s licenses in 12 states and growing. Apple’s press release promises “additional Digital ID acceptance use cases to come in the future.” The scope is unlimited by design.

Recently, Discord announced “teen-by-default settings” rolling out globally to its 200 million users. To access age-restricted content or modify safety settings, users must complete “age assurance” – facial age estimation or government ID submission, of course. Discord launched this in the UK and Australia first, delayed the global rollout after backlash – not because they reconsidered their plan, but because users pushed back on implementation. It’s still coming, even if the timeline shifted.

The framing is always the same:

Apple: “security and privacy.” Discord: “teen safety.” Zuckerberg: “protecting kids.” 

I’ve watched this play out in my own life. Friends who laughed at the idea of a social credit score in 2020 are now paying for Clear and TSA PreCheck – voluntarily handing over biometrics for the privilege of skipping a line. I don’t recall a public discussion about the ethical ramifications of this. It just became normal. That’s the compliance muscle doing its job.

And here’s the punchline: the databases don’t stay separate. They get sold, merged, subpoenaed, hacked. Discord’s age verification system already leaked 70,000 government IDs in a single breach. Unlike a password, you can’t reset your face. Once the infrastructure exists, there’s no doubt “if” it will connect to government systems – just “when.”

I’d argue there may be a second motive here that nobody in Congress bothered to examine during Zuckerberg’s testimony. As a student of online advertising for 30 years, I find this one fascinating: In a move that actually helped users for once, Apple blocked third-party tracking, letting users opt out of being followed across apps – which most did. Advertisers have been flying blind ever since, operating on educated guesses about who you are. Remember, Zuckerberg’s proposal puts identity verification right back at that same OS-level.

Identity verification at the operating system level fixes the ad industry’s problem overnight. Your real identity, confirmed at the device level, is attached to everything you do on the device. That means every data broker, every advertiser, every platform that currently operates on probabilistic identity matching gets handed a verified identity graph – courtesy of federal law. Lovely.

Zuck is hardly proposing a solution to surveillance capitalism…he’s proposing its next infrastructure upgrade. The kicker is that he’s asking Congress to mandate it.

And for anyone who thinks there’s a freedom-friendly version of this, look at Sam Altman’s Worldcoin, now rebranded as “World.” As an aside, I can’t think of a better name for this character than Alt-Man.

Worldcoin’s pitch is “Proof of Human” – a decentralized, privacy-preserving answer to AI-generated fakes. Legendary tech investor Marc Andreessen is endorsing it. On paper, it could even sound libertarian. The mechanism is iris scanning. You stare into a corporate-owned orb, it captures your biometric data, and you get a cryptographic ID that proves you’re human. They say the image isn’t stored – just a mathematical hash. But a unique identifier derived from your body is a biometric, regardless of what format it’s saved in.

Thirty-three million people have already scanned. The app now stores government-issued IDs too. And the recruitment started in the Global South – the same places MOSIP (a Gates Foundation-funded digital ID platform) is being installed. The entry point is AI safety. The infrastructure is the same.

But Who’s Building It?

Anyone in my orbit knows I’ve been yelling about the danger of CBDC for the last few years. Once they understood the components – programmable money, expiration dates on savings, control over what you buy and when – some people got it right away. But, most just brushed it off. As per usual, convenience for privacy. No big deal.

Now you’ve seen the infrastructure being installed across every continent and every sector. But who designed this? Gee, I wonder.

A few months ago, Bill Gates went on camera and told us. The stack: digital identity systems combined with digital financial switches. He named the components – MOSIP for identity, Mojaloop for payments. Called them both “necessary tools” for the future they’re building. Not two separate things. One integrated system.

Perhaps most disturbingly, the blueprint for this plan predates the crisis that normalized it. Texts from the recently released Epstein files show private discussions about digital identity infrastructure going back to as early as 2017. The correspondent? Dr. Melanie Walker – neurotechnology adviser to Gates, World Bank director, Gates Foundation deputy director, WHO adviser, and co-chair of the WEF’s Global Future Council on Neurotechnology. She was texting Jeffrey Epstein about creating “a new type of social security number, used for all types of identity, with health as a single use case.” Sayer Ji has documented the full DARPA connection in detail. 

The strategy: “Start with health.” The vision: “The magic is to make all the systems communicate.”

In those same texts, Walker mentions that DARPA’s Geoff Ling and Raj Shah (USAID, now Rockefeller) both recommended her for Surgeon General. She tells Epstein that the heads of MGH, Cleveland Clinic, Hopkins, and Mayo are “all working together” – and that she told them about him. Epstein’s response? “Are they doing digital idea already? Do they have a lead or a strategy?”

This was 2017. Three years before vaccine passports made ‘showing your papers’ a daily reality for billions. The plan being deployed now was being privately discussed by people embedded in the Gates, World Bank, and DARPA networks years before any public health crisis made it politically viable.

Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, published their framework for global digital platform regulation in January 2024. Whitney Webb has documented how the WEF’s Partnership Against Cybercrime pushes the same framework from the cybersecurity angle – tying every person’s internet access to a digital ID. The logic is simple: manufacture consent through crisis. The entry points consistently multiply and the destination never changes, no matter who is in power.

Remember what I said about international best practices? Well, the White House is promoting the SAVE Act – framed as election security – by pointing to India and Brazil’s biometric voter databases as the standard America should meet. Naturally, the bill lists REAL ID as the first accepted proof of citizenship. The entry point here may be voting, however, the infrastructure remains the same.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Christine Lagarde announced the European Central Bank’s timeline: pilot in 2027, full rollout by 2029. That’s not speculation, it’s their stated plan. And it’s not some long-term dystopian vision – we’re at the crossroads right now.

She’s not hiding the model. As Efrat Fenigson noted: “Christine Lagarde and the ECB say that China is the blueprint for their digital euro. They’re copying the ECNY, the Chinese central bank digital currency.” And what does China’s system require? Authenticated identity on every transaction. The blueprint is the authentication layer. It always was.

The West used to be the antidote. Now it’s copying the surveillance state’s homework.

There is no CBDC without Digital ID – not at any meaningful scale, not with enforcement features, not as a system of control. Every transaction requires authenticated identity. Every rule requires someone to apply it to. The authentication layer isn’t a convenience feature – it’s the control mechanism.

And yes, theoretically privacy-preserving alternatives exist. But stuff like zero-knowledge proofs and decentralized ID aren’t what’s being built, funded, or legislated. In fact, quite the opposite. What’s being rolled out is centralized, biometric, and state-adjacent.

Once built, it doesn’t get unbuilt. When in human history have those in power gained a capability and voluntarily given it back?

Anyone who has been paying attention over the last few years understands what I’m outlining isn’t science fiction. Canada famously froze bank accounts of truckers who protested vaccine mandates, as well as those who donated to their cause. China’s social credit system already restricts travel for people with low scores. PayPal published a policy allowing fines for “misinformation” – at their sole discretion – and only retracted it after backlash, claiming it was an error. The fine mechanism for intolerance stayed, naturally.

Those were manual, clumsy, one-off interventions that required human decisions, but imagine all of that happening automatically, instantly, attached to everything – your electric car, your kid’s ability to go to school, even your ability to buy a morning coffee.

Nobody targets you, nobody makes a decision, the transaction just doesn’t go through.

And there’s no one to appeal to, because there was no person involved in the first place.

If you want to see what the full stack looks like deployed on cleared ground with no legacy systems, there’s already a working model. The Substack writer esc – for my money, one of the more important voices around right now – has been documenting Gaza’s reconstruction in extraordinary detail. The GREAT Trust plan issues digital tokens to Palestinian landowners in exchange for land rights – ownership converted into conditional access on a programmable ledger. Kushner presented AI-powered smart cities at Davos: six to eight planned cities where, according to the trust’s own slides, all services and economy will be run through ID-based AI-powered digital systems. E-wallets have already been distributed to over 245,000 recipients – before the reconstruction has even formally begun. No cash. No anonymity. No interaction outside the system.

The architecture I’m describing in this essay isn’t theoretical. Gaza appears to be the laboratory. Unless it’s stopped, I suspect we can expect strategic deployment all over the world in the coming months and years.

What You Can Do

The system requires your participation to work. The catch is that this may also be its biggest weakness. It only becomes a cage when adoption is near-universal. In other words, when opting out means you can’t participate in daily life. When cash still works, and analog alternatives survive, resistance may be inconvenient but still livable. That’s why they need you to volunteer.

Don’t give it.

Use your passport to fly, pay cash wherever you can. Most importantly, resist Real ID compliance at all costs. They’re trying to eliminate friction so the more we can slow them down by adding it, the harder their plan becomes to implement.

For the detailed practical playbook – how to navigate banking, travel, and daily life outside the system – I’d point you to the work Catherine Austin Fitts and the Solari team have been doing for years. They’ve been busy mapping the resistance infrastructure while most normies are still debating whether any of this was real.

If we value the ability to live outside the reach of a technocratic government – one that takes elements of cancel culture, ESG, and surveillance and parlays them into a programmable monetary system controlled by the state – this is the hill to die on. Not because we’ll win every battle after – I’m pretty sure we won’t. However, losing this one makes everything else exponentially harder. Once the authentication layer is everywhere, every other control mechanism merely becomes a software update.

The cage isn’t locked. Not yet. My friend still thinks Digital ID is a distraction. I’m not sure I’ve convinced him yet. But I’m also not sure he’ll have the luxury of being wrong about this much longer.

Don’t help them build it.

Republished from the author’s Substack

The post The Authentication Layer appeared first on Activist Post.

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Josh Sigurdson reports on the brainwashing of the masses via social media, television and social constructs, utilizing algorithms and repetitive conversation. We are witnessing mass social engineering and absolutely every single person on earth who has access to electronics is being manipulated no matter how awake they think they are.

While X is criticized for manipulating users with the algorithm which it certainly is (not just right, but also to the left and center), Facebook has faced severe scrutiny in the past over their mind control programs, similar to MK Ultra.

Facebook manipulated user news feeds in order to create compliance to issues, cause depression or cause elation.

In 2014, Facebook faced controversy after it was revealed in a PNAS article titled “Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks” that the social media network used data to plant stories and ideas on timelines to make people either sad or happy based on psychological surveys on certain demographics. This experiment led to depression among some and elation among others. Facebook claimed their data use policies allowed them to do this, though they actually changed it weeks after the experiment to include “research” in their data policy.

In this video, we delve into X, Facebook, mainstream media, mainstream alternative media, MK Ultra, The Tavistock Institute, culture wars and the establishment’s goals.

The Limited Hangouts we are witnessing in culture and media today mimic many other the experiments we saw between the 1950s and 1970s. However, today it is far more severe and the implications are far more dire as the establishment approaches the reset utilizing the new narrative. They are creating a “hive mind.” Researchers and authors like David Icke have been warning about this for decades and yet most continue to fall into paradigms without a second thought because the group think feels comfortable vs “being alone” in your mindsets. Most don’t want solutions. They want whatever comes easiest.

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The post MUST WATCH: THE TRUTH ABOUT SOCIAL ENGINEERING! – How Algorithms Brainwash The Masses! appeared first on Activist Post.

Rep. French Hill urged the Senate to vote on the CLARITY Act before the August recess, arguing the bill would establish a transparent crypto market framework that addresses ethics concerns surrounding President Trump’s digital asset ventures.

Rep. French Hill wants a deadline. 

One year after the House passed the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, the Arkansas Republican who chairs the House Financial Services Committee used a Fox Business interview with anchor Maria Bartiromo to press Senate leaders for a floor vote before the August recess.

“I’ve encouraged Senate leadership to put it on the floor,” Hill said. “I think if you schedule a floor date here in the month of July, that will cause these final meetings, these final discussions to take place. You’ve got to have a deadline in Congress to get people to move and find consensus.” 

Hill thanked Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Cynthia Lummis, John Boozman and Tim Scott for working toward a deal, and pointed to the 78 Democrats who backed the House measure a year ago.

Hill’s central argument is that the CLARITY Act would resolve the ethics concerns now used to block it, rather than deepen them. 

Critics point to President Trump’s crypto ventures, including $TRUMP meme coin licensing and World Liberty Financial token sales, which a July 1 financial disclosure tied to about $1.4 billion in 2025 income. 

Hill contends a market framework offers the transparency those critics want. 

“If we passed the CLARITY Act last summer, many of the things that people are expressing concern about — meme coin issuance, co-investment, use of exchange, investing in exchanges — all that would be under a market framework of regulation with clarity, no pun intended, and that would provide a lot of transparency to people that are concerned about the Trump family’s investments,” he said.

Clarity Act pairs with the GENIUS Act

Hill framed the bill as the missing half of a system that pairs it with the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law enacted last year. 

“Stablecoin is like a cell phone not connected to a cell phone network,” he said, “and the market framework is in fact that network that we need.” To keep the pressure on, Hill plans a field hearing in New York next week, led by digital assets subcommittee chair Rep. Bryan Steil, to make the case for a market structure.

His push drew support from two other voices in the same Bartiromo appearance. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig warned of “mission creep beyond what’s really critical here” and cautioned that a stalled bill leaves the rules to regulators. 

Coinbase Vice Chair Ryan VanGrack, a former SEC official, described the measure as “on the one-yard line,” with senators from both parties “working around the clock to get this across the finish line.”

The Senate returns July 13 with about three weeks before recess. Prediction market Polymarket prices Clarity Act 2026 passage near 39%, a fall from the prior month’s 74%.

The post U.S. Representatives Urge Senate to Vote on CLARITY Act in July, Address Ethics Concerns appeared first on Activist Post.

Green Tea Consumption and Liver Function: An Overview

Green tea, derived from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, is consumed daily by millions of people worldwide.

According to an article on Mercola.com, tea and coffee are leading sources of antioxidant polyphenols, substances linked to lower risks of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease [1]. A 2026 report from NaturalNews.com noted that for the millions of Americans dealing with liver disease, “the daily cup of tea may offer more than warmth and comfort” [2].

Compounds in green tea, particularly catechins such as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), interact with liver enzymes and may influence organ function. The book “Tea in Health and Disease Prevention” states that “there is convincing evidence to show that green tea is hepatoprotective” and that some of these effects are due to its antioxidant activity [3]. However, the same source also cautions that tea may be hepatotoxic in some circumstances, indicating a need for balanced intake [3].

Potential Benefits: Lower Liver Fat and Inflammation

Observational studies and clinical trials have associated regular green tea consumption with improved markers of liver health. The NaturalNews.com report described green tea as “a tangible, accessible tool for supporting vital organ function,” particularly for those affected by nonalcoholic fatty liver disease [2]. The hepatoprotective effects are attributed largely to the antioxidant capacity of catechins, as explained in “Tea in Health and Disease Prevention” [3].

Long-term consumption of green tea has also been linked to a reduced risk of liver cancer, according to epidemiological research summarized in the book “Tea Polyphenols Oxidative Stress and Health Effects” [4]. The same volume discusses how hepatitis C infection, a major cause of liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, may be mitigated by dietary factors including green tea polyphenols [4]. While the exact mechanisms require further study, the consistent association with lower liver fat and inflammation is noted across multiple sources.

Risks of High-Dose or Concentrated Green Tea

High doses of green tea extract, especially in concentrated supplement form, have been linked to acute liver injury. According to a 2009 study published in the journal Toxicology, “reports of human toxicity led to restrictions on marketing of these products in Spain and France” [5]. The book “Flavonoid Pharmacokinetics” reports that “hepatocytes treated with green tea extracts demonstrated necrosis and leakage of lactate dehydrogenase” when exposed to high concentrations [6].

Toxicity appears to be dose-dependent and may be influenced by factors such as fasting state. Research on dogs published in Toxicology found that animals dosed with green tea polyphenols while fasting showed higher plasma levels of EGCG and more severe clinical signs compared to fed animals [5].

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has documented cases of liver injury from green tea supplements, according to “Flavonoid Pharmacokinetics” [6]. These findings underscore the importance of distinguishing between moderate beverage consumption and high-dose extracts.

Mechanisms of Action and Individual Variability

Catechins are metabolized primarily by the liver’s cytochrome P450 enzyme system, according to the “Handbook of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods” [7]. Genetic polymorphisms in enzymes such as catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) affect the rate at which EGCG is degraded, leading to significant inter-individual variability in systemic exposure [7].

The timing of consumption may also modify effects. Drinking green tea on an empty stomach could increase the risk of elevated liver enzymes, as noted in case-control studies referenced in “Tea in Health and Disease Prevention” [3]. Additionally, interactions with other substances – such as grapefruit juice, which inhibits CYP3A4 – can raise plasma EGCG levels and potentially heighten toxicity, according to clinical research discussed in the same handbook [7].

Recommendations and Ongoing Research

Current guidelines from major liver associations do not specifically recommend green tea as a treatment for liver disease, according to the NaturalNews.com report, but they acknowledge its safety at dietary doses [2]. “Tea in Health and Disease Prevention” emphasizes that moderate consumption – as a brewed beverage – is associated with favorable liver outcomes and a low risk of adverse events [3].

Ongoing research continues to explore the therapeutic potential of standardized green tea extracts. The article “Nature’s Pharmacy: The Scientific Pursuit of Herbal Liver Protectors” notes a “growing body of research” investigating how traditional herbs, including green tea, may support liver function [8]. Further trials are needed to clarify optimal dosing, genetic risk factors, and potential drug interactions.

Conclusion: Balanced Perspective from Current Evidence

Multiple sources indicate that daily green tea consumption at moderate levels correlates with improved liver enzyme profiles and a lower risk of fatty liver disease [3][2]. Conversely, high-dose supplements have been linked to case reports of liver injury, leading to regulatory warnings [5][6]. The available evidence suggests that for most individuals, drinking green tea as a beverage is safe and may offer hepatoprotective benefits.

Individuals with pre-existing liver conditions should consult a healthcare provider before using concentrated extracts, as recommended in “Tea in Health and Disease Prevention” [3]. Future research will help clarify the optimal balance between benefit and risk, but the current literature supports green tea as part of a balanced diet rather than as a high-dose therapeutic agent.

References

1. Mercola.com. “Tea Drinkers Shown To Be More Healthy”. Mercola.com. January 20, 2020.
2. NaturalNews.com. “Beyond the comfort: The quiet power of tea in America’s liver health crisis”. May 9, 2026.
3. Elsevier. “Tea in Health and Disease Prevention”.
4. Baolu Zhao. “Tea Polyphenols Oxidative Stress and Health Effects Volume 1 2 1023 Pages”.
5. Elsevier. “Exposure and toxicity of green tea polyphenols in fasted and non-fasted dogs”. Toxicology.
6. Neal M Davies and Jaime A Yáñez. “Flavonoid Pharmacokinetics Methods of Analysis Preclinical and Clinical Pharmacokinetics”.
7. Robert E C Wildman. “Handbook of nutraceuticals and functional foods”.
8. NaturalNews.com. “Nature’s pharmacy: The scientific pursuit of herbal liver protectors”. March 3, 2026.

Explainer Infographic

The post Study Documents Liver Effects of Daily Green Tea Consumption appeared first on Activist Post.

We’re all in this race, whether we realize it or not. We’d better pick up the pace.

Reading by Tim Foley:

John F Kennedy was correct when he said “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

That’s why police robots are being aggressively normalized today. The empire managers want to make sure violent revolution is impossible, too.

The New York Times’ sports department The Athletic has a creepy new article out titled “The ‘Robodogs’ on World Cup patrol in Mexico” about how wonderful and awesome it is that the international soccer tournament is being patrolled by surveillance robots.

The article is functionally a PR piece for police robots, gushing about how “cute” and “cool” onlookers find the dystopian technology.

The piece opens with the cheery paragraph, “A group of police officers patrolling a stadium with three dogs on a World Cup matchday wouldn’t usually raise eyebrows. But when those three dogs are high-tech robots equipped with video cameras that can sustain speeds of 20kmph, you can understand the fuss.”

“The K9-Xs are made of aluminium and high-strength plastic,” The Athletic writes. “They have facial recognition and behavioural analysis systems installed, which means they detect when a group of people become agitated and send video to the police force’s centre for command, control, communication and computers.”

In a video segment accompanying the article, The Athletic’s Tomás Hill López-Menchero refers to the robots as “creatures” and says the robots “went down a treat with the public” in the World Cup audience.

It’s little things like this that help normalize police robots in public consciousness. Calling them “dogs”, giving them the name “K9”, calling them “creatures” instead of machines. It’s pretty clearly designed to evoke the image of something normal that westerners are familiar and comfortable with.

But westerners should not feel familiar and comfortable with these things, and we should not see them as normal. The fact that we’re seeing more and more use of police robots around the world should frighten us all, and the fact that popular institutions like the World Cup and the New York Times are being used to normalize them should freak us the hell out.

Our rulers are always acutely aware that there are a whole lot more of us than there are of them, and that we could turn on them at any time. This has been the case for as long as there have been rulers. History is full of examples of the masses turning against their government and establishing a new order, and the oligarchs and empire managers have long been preoccupied with the task of ensuring that this never happens to them.

Autonomous killing machines nullify many of the problems presented by human security forces. You don’t have to worry about the robot army siding with the people, or refusing to fire upon their fellow citizens. An army of militarized police robots would provide the oligarchs and empire managers of the western empire with a perpetually obedient force of bulletproof trigger-pullers who can shut down any uprising when the time comes.

The increasing ubiquitousness of police robots is not separate from the exploding prevalence of surveillance cameras and AI facial recognition, the push for digital IDs and the eradication of online anonymity, or the increasing instances of online censorship and Silicon Valley algorithm manipulation. A technological cage is being constructed around the public to ensure that we can be stopped from turning against our masters.

The story of humanity in the 21st century is the story of a race between revolution and the technologies designed to prevent it. A race between the awakening of collective consciousness to the urgent need for revolutionary change on one hand, and the technological ability to quash a people’s rebellion on the other.

We’re all in this race, whether we realize it or not. We’d better pick up the pace.

_________________

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Story at-a-glance

• Chronic kidney disease often develops silently for years, but even early kidney damage sharply increases your risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and dangerous heart rhythm problems
• Two common tests called eGFR and UACR reveal hidden kidney stress long before symptoms appear and provide an early warning sign that your cardiovascular system is already under strain
• Researchers discovered that damaged kidneys release microscopic particles into the bloodstream that directly injure heart muscle cells, weaken heart contractions, and disrupt the electrical timing of the heartbeat
• Chronic inflammation, fluid overload, high blood sugar, excess sodium retention and overactivation of the nervous system create a destructive cycle that damages both the kidneys and the heart simultaneously
• Daily habits that improve metabolic health, including stable blood sugar, regular movement, lower intake of seed oils, restorative sleep, and healthy circulation, help reduce long-term stress on both organs before irreversible damage develops

Your kidneys do far more than filter waste. They shape your blood pressure, your circulation, your fluid balance, and even the rhythm of your heartbeat. When they start to falter, the damage rarely announces itself. There’s no chest pain, no dramatic warning sign, no clear moment when something feels wrong. Instead, kidney function slips downward year after year while you continue to feel mostly fine, which is exactly what makes chronic kidney disease so dangerous.

Here’s what most people don’t realize: when kidneys start failing, the first organ to suffer often isn’t the kidneys. It’s the heart. Long before dialysis ever enters the conversation, injured kidneys begin reshaping the cardiovascular system. Most adults can recite their cholesterol number from memory, yet very few could tell you whether their kidneys are filtering normally or already under stress.

The tests that would reveal the answer are inexpensive, widely available, and often already sitting inside routine bloodwork, but the results rarely get explained in a way that connects them to heart attack, stroke, or heart failure risk. Recent research has uncovered something startling: damaged kidneys actively release particles into the bloodstream that travel to the heart and injure cardiac muscle cells directly.

The kidneys aren’t just failing alongside the heart; they’re actively damaging it. Understanding this connection gives you something powerful: the chance to intervene while the damage is still reversible.

2 Simple Kidney Tests Reveal Hidden Heart Danger

Harvard Health Publishing examined the growing evidence linking chronic kidney disease to cardiovascular disease and explained why doctors now view the kidneys and heart as deeply connected systems rather than separate organs.¹ Dr. John Ostrominski from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital stressed that chronic kidney disease often goes unnoticed even though it affects about 1 in 7 U.S. adults.

Early chronic kidney disease often develops silently because the kidneys compensate for damage over long periods. You might feel normal while kidney function steadily declines. Once symptoms finally appear, they often include swelling in the legs or ankles, fatigue, trouble breathing, exercise intolerance, and changes in urination. By that stage, substantial damage has already occurred. This is exactly why early testing changes outcomes.

You gain a chance to slow progression before the disease starts affecting circulation, fluid balance, and heart function.

•Two screening tests give an early warning long before a medical emergency develops — The first test is estimated glomerular filtration rate, called eGFR, which measures how effectively your kidneys filter waste from your blood. A score of 90 or higher is considered normal, while values below 60 signal impaired kidney function.

The second test is the urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, called UACR, which checks whether protein leaks into your urine. Healthy kidneys keep protein inside your bloodstream. Once albumin starts leaking into urine, it signals structural kidney damage.

•Protein leakage in urine strongly predicts future heart problems — Ostrominski explained that elevated UACR levels reveal cardiovascular strain and future heart risk. According to the report, both low eGFR scores and high UACR values are strongly linked with greater risk of heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation, which is an irregular heartbeat rhythm. That means a simple urine test gives you an early look at whether your blood vessels and circulation are already under stress.

•High blood pressure and diabetes damage the kidneys through direct physical strain — Elevated blood pressure forces the body to hold onto more sodium and fluid, increasing pressure inside the tiny blood vessels within the kidneys. Over time, this chronic stress damages the filtration system itself.

Diabetes creates a second layer of injury because prolonged exposure to high blood sugar thickens and damages microscopic kidney blood vessels called capillaries. Once those delicate filters stiffen and narrow, waste removal slows and inflammation rises.

•The kidneys and heart create a feedback loop that worsens both diseases together — Healthy kidneys help regulate blood pressure, fluid levels, and mineral balance, all of which directly affect heart function. When kidney function declines, fluid builds up more easily, blood pressure rises further, and the heart works harder to move blood throughout your body.

That extra strain increases the likelihood of heart enlargement, rhythm disturbances, and heart failure. At the same time, weakened heart function reduces blood flow back to the kidneys, which accelerates additional kidney damage.

•Metabolic dysfunction sits at the center of this entire process — Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome, often shortened to CKM syndrome, links obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease together because they share the same underlying metabolic drivers.² Excess body fat, poor blood sugar regulation, chronic inflammation, and impaired energy production damage multiple organ systems simultaneously.

Tiny Kidney Particles Damage the Heart Directly

Research published in Circulation investigated why so many people with chronic kidney disease develop heart failure even when doctors aggressively manage blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol.³ Researchers studied blood samples from 35 patients with moderate to advanced kidney disease and compared them to healthy controls.

Instead of focusing only on conventional risk factors, the team examined microscopic particles called extracellular vesicles, tiny membrane-covered packages released by cells into the bloodstream.

Think of extracellular vesicles as microscopic mail packages sealed in membrane envelopes. Cells normally use them to send routine messages to other cells. But when kidneys are damaged, they start mailing toxic cargo — genetic instructions and stress signals — that travel through the bloodstream and get opened by heart muscle cells, which then begin shutting down.

These extracellular vesicles carried genetic material and stress signals from injured kidney tissue directly into circulation. Once these particles reached heart muscle cells, they triggered cell death and interfered with the heart’s ability to contract normally. Researchers repeatedly described the kidney-derived vesicles as “cardiotoxic,” meaning directly harmful to heart tissue itself. That changes the entire understanding of kidney disease because the kidneys actively send damaging signals throughout the body.

•The study found direct evidence of heart muscle injury — Researchers exposed healthy heart muscle cells to extracellular vesicles taken from patients with kidney disease. Those cells rapidly showed increased apoptosis, which is programmed cell death. The heart cells began shutting themselves down after exposure to these kidney-derived particles.

Healthy control vesicles didn’t create the same damage. That confirmed the harmful effect came specifically from the diseased kidneys rather than from normal circulation.

•Heart contraction strength also weakened significantly — The study examined how well heart muscle cells squeezed and relaxed after exposure to kidney-derived vesicles. Researchers found impaired contractility, meaning the heart cells struggled to pump efficiently.

Calcium handling inside the cells also became disrupted. Calcium acts like an electrical timing signal that tells heart muscle when to contract and relax. Once calcium balance breaks down, the heartbeat loses efficiency and stability. Over time, this creates the conditions for heart failure and rhythm disturbances.

•The harmful particles carried specific microRNAs linked to tissue damage — MicroRNAs are tiny genetic regulators that switch certain cellular programs on or off. They work like dimmer switches on your genes. Each one can turn down specific cellular activities, including the genes that tell heart muscle how to contract properly. When the wrong microRNAs flood into heart cells, they essentially dim the lights on the machinery that keeps your heartbeat strong.

The researchers identified distinct microRNAs inside the extracellular vesicles that directly interfered with genes responsible for healthy heart contraction. When researchers inserted these microRNAs into laboratory-grown human heart cells, the cells showed the same toxic effects seen earlier in the study. This gave scientists a clearer explanation for how kidney disease physically alters heart tissue at the molecular level.

•The kidney itself appeared to be the source of these toxic signals — Researchers traced the microRNAs back to injured kidney tissue rather than the liver, heart, or immune cells. The strongest signals came from specific kidney cells damaged during chronic disease progression.

That finding reinforced the idea that chronic kidney disease acts as an active driver of heart failure instead of simply existing alongside it. The more severe the kidney dysfunction became, the stronger the cardiovascular injury markers appeared.

•Removing these harmful particles improved heart function in early animal research — Researchers used mice with chronic kidney disease and pharmacologically reduced circulating extracellular vesicles. Heart function improved significantly after the vesicles were depleted. Researchers also observed improvement in heart failure progression. This suggests that reducing the biological stress signals released by damaged kidneys directly lowers strain on the heart.

Researchers described these kidney-derived microRNAs as promising biomarkers for earlier disease detection and future therapies. These microscopic signals could eventually help identify cardiovascular damage years before a major cardiac event occurs.

Tracking kidney function, improving metabolic health, lowering inflammation, and reducing long-term stress on circulation become much more meaningful once you understand that silent kidney injury physically reshapes heart tissue over time.

Kidney Disease Changes Your Entire Cardiovascular System

A 2023 review published in Cardiovascular Research by the European Renal and Cardiovascular Medicine Working Group examined the growing cardiovascular burden inside chronic kidney disease across all stages.⁴ Researchers explained that cardiovascular complications become the leading cause of death in people with advanced kidney disease and regular dialysis treatment.

The review also highlighted a striking reality: many people with progressive kidney disease die from heart complications before their kidneys fail completely. That means protecting your cardiovascular system early becomes just as important as preserving kidney function.

•Cardiovascular danger rises step-by-step as kidney function declines — Researchers cited a meta-analysis involving more than 1 million individuals showing that death risk climbed sharply as kidney filtration rates worsened.⁵ Compared to a healthy reference filtration rate, mortality risk increased 18% at moderate kidney impairment, 57% at more advanced decline, and more than tripled in severe kidney dysfunction. Protein leakage into urine independently raised cardiovascular death risk too.

•Heart enlargement begins surprisingly early in kidney disease — The review discussed left ventricular hypertrophy, often shortened to LVH, which means the main pumping chamber of the heart becomes enlarged and thickened from chronic strain. Researchers found LVH already appears in earlier kidney disease stages and affects roughly 70% to 80% of patients with kidney failure on dialysis.

An enlarged heart muscle becomes stiffer, less efficient, and more vulnerable to heart failure and rhythm problems over time.

•Fluid overload places continuous stress on the heart and blood vessels — Damaged kidneys struggle to remove excess sodium and water efficiently. As fluid accumulates, blood pressure rises and the heart must pump harder against greater resistance. Researchers emphasized that volume overload alone doubles death risk in dialysis patients, even independent of other cardiovascular risk factors.

•Inflammation emerged as one of the strongest hidden drivers of damage — The review explained that chronic low-grade inflammation becomes almost universal in advanced kidney disease. Oxidative stress, gut microbiome disruption, metabolic acidosis, and retained waste compounds called uremic toxins all fuel inflammatory signaling. Uremic toxins are waste products the kidneys normally remove.

Once these compounds accumulate, they damage blood vessels, impair nitric oxide production, and increase oxidative injury throughout the cardiovascular system. Researchers noted that inflammation predicted cardiovascular death more strongly than LDL cholesterol in some kidney disease populations.

•The nervous system also becomes trapped in a chronic stress state — Researchers found sympathetic nervous system activity rises dramatically in kidney disease patients and becomes extremely elevated during dialysis treatment. Your sympathetic nervous system controls your “fight-or-flight” response.

Once chronically activated, it raises heart rate, constricts blood vessels, and increases blood pressure around the clock. The review linked this excessive sympathetic activation to higher rates of heart enlargement, arrhythmias, and cardiovascular death.

•Anemia further weakens oxygen delivery and strains the heart — Failing kidneys produce less of a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production. As anemia develops, oxygen delivery throughout the body drops. To compensate, the heart works harder and pumps faster, gradually increasing workload and accelerating structural heart changes. Researchers linked anemia directly to left ventricular hypertrophy and cardiovascular hospitalization risk in kidney disease patients.

•Sedentary behavior sharply increased cardiovascular risk — The review found limited physical activity was extremely common in both kidney disease and dialysis populations because of fatigue, illness burden, and reduced exercise tolerance.

Yet researchers consistently observed that higher physical activity levels strongly associated with lower cardiovascular mortality and fewer hospitalizations. One walking-based intervention reduced hospitalization risk by 29% over 36 months in dialysis patients.⁶ Movement improves circulation, blood pressure regulation, metabolic health, and mitochondrial energy production all at once.

Lower the Stress Load on Your Kidneys and Heart

Your kidneys and heart respond to the environment you create every single day. Years of metabolic dysfunction, high blood pressure, excess blood sugar, inflammatory foods, poor circulation, and chronic stress gradually damage the tiny blood vessels that keep both organs alive.

Once kidney tissue becomes injured, the research showed those damaged kidneys begin sending harmful signals directly into the bloodstream that weaken heart function too. That means the earlier you reduce the stress load on your body, the better your chances of slowing this cycle before it gains momentum.

1.Track your kidney numbers like a personal health score — Many people track weight or cholesterol but ignore the numbers that reveal silent kidney stress. It’s important to keep track of your eGFR and UACR values the same way you do your blood pressure. Those two markers often change years before symptoms appear.

Create a simple habit tracker on your phone or calendar and record your blood pressure and kidney labs whenever you get bloodwork done. Watching those numbers improve gives you direct feedback that your daily habits are reducing strain on your circulation and filtration system instead of damaging them further.

2.Lower blood sugar spikes before they injure tiny blood vessels — Chronic high blood sugar acts like fine sandpaper on the microscopic blood vessels inside your kidneys, gradually scarring the delicate filters they depend on. That same damage weakens circulation throughout your entire cardiovascular system. Your body runs far more efficiently when blood sugar stays stable.

Build meals around high-quality protein, collagen-rich foods, fruit, root vegetables, and other healthy carbohydrates instead of ultraprocessed foods, like seed oils, and sugary snacks.

If your digestion is compromised, with regular bloating or irregular bowel movements, begin with easier-to-digest carb sources like whole fruit and white rice before introducing harder-to-digest starches. Most adults need about 250 grams of carbohydrates per day from whole-food sources. This steady fuel supply turns your mitochondria back on and keeps your metabolism resilient.

3.Remove the inflammatory oils that damage cellular energy production — Seed oils, including soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower, and canola oils, are high in the polyunsaturated fat linoleic acid (LA), which places enormous oxidative stress on blood vessels, mitochondria, and kidney tissue when consumed in excess. Restaurant foods, packaged snacks, salad dressings, sauces, and processed convenience meals flood your body with these unstable fats that accumulate in tissues over time.

Replace those oils with grass fed butter, ghee, or tallow. If you eat animal protein, prioritize lower-PUFA ruminant meats instead of conventionally raised chicken or pork. Small daily swaps create a measurable reduction in inflammatory stress over months and years.

4.Use movement to improve circulation and metabolic function every day — Both organs run on the same fuel: steady, healthy blood flow. Every hour you spend sitting, that flow slows — and both kidneys and heart pay the price. Focus less on exhausting workouts and more on daily movement consistency because your body responds best to repetition.

Start with 20 minutes of walking daily and build toward an hour, along with resistance training twice a week. Also work in regular daily activity, like yardwork and frequent standing instead of sitting.

5.Restore your circadian rhythm to reduce chronic stress signals — Poor sleep and artificial light exposure raise stress hormones, worsen blood sugar regulation, and increase blood pressure strain on your kidneys and heart. Morning sunlight exposure helps reset your body clock and improves cellular energy production. I recommend getting outside shortly after sunrise and again near solar noon when possible.

However, if your diet has been high in seed oils, avoid peak sun exposure (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) until you have removed them for at least six months, as excess LA stored in tissues increases susceptibility to sunburn and oxidative stress. At night, lower blue light exposure from phones, tablets, and televisions to support melatonin production inside your mitochondria.

FAQs About Kidney Disease and Your Heart

Q: How do I know if my kidneys are affecting my heart?

A: Most people don’t feel symptoms early on. Hidden kidney stress often shows up first through abnormal eGFR and UACR test results, which reveal declining filtration function and protein leakage into urine. Research showed these changes strongly predict higher risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and irregular heartbeat rhythms long before severe symptoms appear.

Q: What causes chronic kidney disease to damage the heart?

A: Damaged kidneys increase fluid retention, raise blood pressure, disrupt mineral balance, and trigger chronic inflammation. Research also found injured kidneys release microscopic particles into the bloodstream that directly damage heart muscle cells and weaken your heart’s ability to contract efficiently. Over time, this creates a feedback loop where kidney dysfunction and heart strain worsen each other simultaneously.

Q: What are the early warning signs of chronic kidney disease?

A: Early chronic kidney disease often stays silent for years. As damage progresses, common symptoms include swelling in the ankles or legs, fatigue, shortness of breath, exercise intolerance, muscle cramps, fluid retention, and changes in urination patterns. Many people discover kidney dysfunction only after routine blood or urine testing.

Q: What lifestyle changes help protect both the kidneys and the heart?

A: The most effective strategies focus on reducing the root causes driving metabolic and vascular stress. Stable blood sugar, lower blood pressure, regular movement, restorative sleep, and reducing inflammatory processed foods all lower strain on both organs. Daily walking, resistance training, whole-food carbohydrates, adequate protein, and avoiding seed oils help improve circulation, mitochondrial energy production, and long-term cardiovascular resilience.

Q: Why does inflammation matter so much in kidney disease?

A: Inflammation damages blood vessels, stiffens arteries, and increases oxidative stress throughout the cardiovascular system. Researchers found inflammation becomes extremely common as kidney function declines because waste compounds, called uremic toxins, begin accumulating in the bloodstream. Chronic inflammation also increases sympathetic nervous system activity, raises blood pressure, and accelerates heart enlargement and heart failure risk.

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