Opus Dei, Leonard Leo, and Project2025 | a strategy of division

[Music] so this is a bit of an emergency broadcast this is not the video that I was planning on posting next I actually have a separate outline prepared for a top that dovetails into the ongoing discussion about Opus day that I've been engaging with here uh but within the last week or so some information has come to light that is pretty relevant not only to me and to the work that I've been doing but also to the country that I call home if you're tuning in from outside the United States what I'm discussing today probably won't seem very relevant however I do think that this situation could potentially have Global implications unless something changes so I hope you'll stick around anyway for those of us living on American soil the times are strange indeed and we are not all right so let's not belor the point anymore please like this video And subscribe if you haven't already uh more than 80% of my viewers are not subscribed so if you would consider doing that it would mean a lot and it would help my channel out my social media and ways to support me I.E by buying me a coffee for $5 and all the rest are all linked down in the description of this video uh you can go and check those out whenever uh with all that said let's get into it welcome to the Deep dive project so this entire story and at this point I actually want to call it a crisis because I think it has evolved well past just being an interesting story began with a question what is Opus day doing in St Helen California it wasn't even a question that I came up with myself it was posed To Me by the mayor of that town upon his discovering that the religious organization had found a foothold within a number of crucial operations in his beloved Town specifically education and politics this was during the fall of 2020 and I was still trying to wrap my brain around exactly what Opus day was I had only published my first video on them back in May of that year I didn't have an answer for the mayor why would Opus day be popping up in a sleepy idyllic little town in California wine country why would they need to be subversive about the fact that they were there I couldn't answer that question so I offered the only thing that I had at the time which was a new and very fresh familiarity with post World War II Europe and the birth of NATO as well as the 20th century history of politics in South and Central America and the role Opus day played or has been alleged of playing in each and every instance those familiar with South and Central America's Rocky political history will no doubt recall the fact that time and again Revolution was not waged headon but rather subversively through the use of propaganda coup and brute force and usually in that order time and time again Opa day has continued to pop up on the sidelines of such massive events as operation gladio and Operation Condor events which should have no need for a small Spanish Catholic Grassroots organization focused on glorifying God through daily work right wrong and we all know it For Better or For Worse whenever Opus Days shows up it seems to mean that strange and troubling things are a foot back in 2020 I was still too new to this world to realize that but I recognized the chill finger of fate brushing my cheek as I ended the phone call that day I knew this wasn't just going to go away and if it was happening in St Helen California it was probably happening where too the why and wherefore of it all really started to nag at me I have been unable to escape the feeling that I am sitting on something massive and the further I have dug the more that feeling has grown as I have tried to answer that original question I have been forced to cast a wider and wider net in search of answers as I've done so the list of questions I have has grown within the last couple of weeks the puzzle pieces have begun to click into place and the picture that emerges should be enough to curdle the blood of any freedom loving American conservative and liberal alike because while the world has been embroiled in one disaster after the other starting with the 2020 pandemic and dovetailing into the Israel Gaza crisis in the Middle East a network of influential and Wealthy individuals have been quietly constructing a multi-pronged plan to bring the Western World fully to heal under a Christian nationalist agenda that is at the very least the worst aspects of corporate democracy organized into a 900 page document that agenda is known as project 2025 today I'm going to present the information that I have found over the last four years of research I firmly believe that what we are going to discuss today merely scratches the surface this is about Opus day yes but in truth only tangentially it's actually about Freedom due process and what it means when we go to the polling booths this coming November I would ask ask that you take the information presented here today and run with it do your own research get educated start having conversations and engaging with people around you don't fall for the US versus them narrative that is being shoved in our faces 24/7 I would also like to speak specifically to any self-proclaimed conservatives watching this right now I want to ask that you try to set your political ideologies aside which might align with some of the talking points espoused by project 2025 and critically examine whether this is Democratic or in keeping with the vision our founding fathers had when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution and established the Federal Government as a government for the People by the people try to step back and look at the forest rather than just one or two trees even if you are in favor of some of the goals espoused in Project 2025 ask yourself if this is the way you want our country to inv and Implement change so what is Project 2025 it's been in the news and in social media a lot lately so there's a really good chance that if you clicked on this video you already are kind of in the loop with what's going on with this situation and what project 20125 is but just in case you're not let's give a little bit of background on it according to project 202.org the 2025 presidential transition project is quote building now for a conservative victory through policy personnel and training end quote the pitech goes on to say that it is not enough for conservatives to win elections if we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical left we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative Administration project 2025 will accomplish that goal through quote the effort of a broad Coalition of conservative organizations that have come together to ensure a successful Administration begins in January 2025 with the right conservative policy recommendations and properly vetted and trained Personnel to implement them we will take back our government end quote note that there is nothing in that statement about lawfully elected leaders or the voice of the people the American government was intended to be for the People by the people which is a fact that I will continue to stress throughout the remainder of this episode and those statements don't actually tell us anything about precisely what project 2025 will be trying to do that information is contained within the 900 pages of the project 2025 Manifesto it includes but is not limited to using religion to shape policy using the National Guard as a police force gutting the Environmental Protection Agency slashing funding for environmental programs and rolling back a host of environmental regulations along with ramping up oil drilling in places like the Arctic eliminating a number of federal agen including the FBI and Homeland Security ending marriage equality slashing Social Security and Medicare using tax dollars to fund private religious schools as well as implementing Christian dogma in public schools Banning contraceptives and abortion without exceptions and deregulating big business and the oil industry along with so much more if you would like to look through all of this information for yourself please refer to my references in the description of this episode project 2025 feels less like a political agenda and more like a hostile corporate takeover it has nothing to do with the American people and their interests and seems completely preoccupied with using fear-based messaging and dog whistles and an effort to appeal to conservative and independent Americans and while many Americans are single isue voters no one is able to vote on a single issue they want to see addressed without also inadvertently voting for everything else that has always been true but I think that this might be one of those rare times where it is so clearly Illustrated so who is behind project 2025 this is where we start to go down the rabbit hole according to their own website it is being organized by the Heritage Foundation and builds off of heritage's long-standing mandate for leadership which has been highly influential for presidential administrations since the rean era most recently the Trump Administration relied heavily on heritage's mandate for policy guidance embracing nearly 2third of heritage's proposals within just one year in office analysis that Heritage completed determined that 64% of the policy prescriptions were included in Trump's budget implemented through regulatory guidance or under consideration for Action in accordance with heritage's original proposals the influence that Heritage wields cannot be overstated other names attached to this agenda include Charles coach bear seed Kevin D Roberts Texas real estate magnet Haron Crow hedge fund billionaire Paul singer and a large and growing up by more than a 100 since mid-February list of conservative groups so what is the Heritage Foundation well I can tell you that it is not lawfully elected political leaders representing the interests of their constituents maybe the easiest way to think of them would be as a giant lobbyist machine it's also only the tip of the ice but we have to start somewhere the Heritage Foundation is an activist American conservative think tank based in Washington DC it was founded in 1973 and has taken a leading role in the conservative movement since the rean era in the 1980s Heritage has significant influence in US public policymaking and has historically been ranked among the most influential public policy organizations in the United States it is Heritage that is spearheading Project 2025 with the expansive plan to reshape the federal government and consolidate executive power and just to give some perspective on how incredibly influential Heritage has become a 2018 article published in the New York Times noted that quote today it is clear that for all the chaos in churn of the current Trump Administration Heritage has achieved a huge Victory those who worked on the project estimate that hundreds of people the think tank put forward landed jobs in just about every government agency heritage's recommendations included some of the most prominent members of Trump's cabinet Scott puit Betsy Davos whose in-laws endowed heritages Richard and Helen Davos Center for religion and Civil Society Mick mulany Rick Perry Jeff sessions and many more dozens of Heritage employees and alumni also joined the Trump administration at last count 66 of them according to Heritage with two more still awaiting Senate confirmation it is a kind of critical mass that Heritage has been working toward for nearly half a century this is just one Think Tank there are others which I will discuss later on but to think about this scale and scope of this situation and the immense impact that this has had on American policy up to present truly boggles the mind and we had no idea and also consider what the Uproar would be from the conservative right in this country If This Were a political left agenda if this was coming from the Democratic party or the political liberal sphere the attitude and outrage would be off the charts but because this is a conservative thing conservative Americans are just supposed to fall in line and agree with it what many people don't know is that the Heritage Foundation has deeply rooted ties to the Catholic organization Opus day the Heritage Foundation was created by a man named Paul Michael we we passed away in 2008 but during his lifetime he served as an American religious conservative political activist and commentator and although the information is very hard to find several sources alleg that we was a member of Opus day that doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch because to this day Heritage shares a close relationship with opa's Catholic information center also in Washington DC Tax records revealed that Heritage received three infusions of money from the donor's trust a nonprofit controlled by an extremely influential Opa daybed individual that we will get into in a moment in 2022 including over $400,000 for General operating funds and $50,000 for an oversight project Heritage gave out big grants to many project 2025 groups that year some for almost $1 million a recent New Republic investigation found that Heritage funding of groups behind project 20125 made up 58% of its 2022 gift giving and there is a web of individuals and organizations tying Opus day and Heritage together and connecting them with a host of other ambitious and power hungry players and that point takes us into the second part of this situation it's time to talk about Opus day and Leonard Leo long time viewers and listeners of my channel will probably be familiar with the name Leonard Leo this is not the first time that I have talked about him according to the Christian right Observer weekly Leonard Leo is an ultraconservative Catholic lawyer an activist with a $1.6 billion War chest Leo was instrumental in shaping the conservative political landscape we live with today he is in essence a very very powerful conservative lobbyist and has been credited with unparalleled influence in shaping the federal courts including the US Supreme Court the American public may have believed that President Trump chose his Supreme Court nominees unilaterally but the reality is that the decision was influenced by a small secretive network of extremely conservative Catholic activists Leonard Leo and his Federalist society which is an Association of Legal professionals acted as the pipeline for nearly all of Trump's judicial nominees and an interesting side note about the Federalist Society is that it has been accused of being a large right-wing Network that Grooms conservative law students still in Law School links them together mentors them finds them jobs and eventually places them in courts and in government it's like a large scale fraternity knitted together by ideological conformity in 2018 its network was estimated to include over 70,000 people in 2016 they reported $25 million in assets and there's no reason to think that those numbers aren't even bigger now in 2024 so consider the implications of this Federalist society which makes it their business to gather like-minded people together and then shoor them into various positions within our government and then consider the role that Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society had to play and the people who have ended up on the US Supreme Court everything is connected during Trump's presidency Leo took a leave of absence from the Federalist Society to personally assist Trump and picking a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy what a guy this is a matter of public record and easily verified in an article published by The Daily Beast a former associate of Leo named Tom Carter referred to Leo as a Visionary stating quote he figured out 20 years ago that conservatives had lost the culture War conservatives didn't have a chance if public opinion prevailed so they needed to stack the courts Carter goes on to note that the Christian right has been written about a lot but hardly anyone talks about the Catholic right Leo is the figurehead of that Catholic political identity not only is Leo closely connected to Opus day serving on the board of opis day's Catholic information center he has also served as the president of the National Catholic breakfast a known Opus recruiting playground additionally he is allegedly a member of the extremely conservative Catholic order nights of Malta which was founded in the 12th century and functions as a quasi independent Sovereign Nation with its own diplomatic core separate from the Vatican enjoying United Nations status and a tremendous amount of money and land as an American I am heavily questioning why a quasi Sovereign Nation has its fingers in US politics and policy but regardless when when it comes to understanding the motivations Leo has and the kind of person that he is it would be silly to think that those extremely conservative Catholic organizations and their dogmas aren't heavily influencing him The Daily Beast article the secrets of Leonard Leo The Man Behind Trump's Supreme Court pick defines these dogmas as the Notions that human life begins at conception and that homosexuality is immoral the reason is that the moral natural law is as much a part of the fabric of the universe as the laws of nature and it trumps in secular that humans or legislators might dream up as developed by St Thomas aquinus and a millennium of subsequent philosophers everything has its natural function and its unnatural misuse food is for nourishment not gustatory Delight sex is for procreation not pleasure sensual enjoyment is luxuria a sinful diversion of pleasure from its intended purpose of reproduction in my opinion this perspective is very narrow and it takes a very dim view of the world life and What Makes Us unique and human it demands that all pegs be round and fit into round holes and it is not above using pummeling Force to achieve that that is the dogma and philosophy motivating individuals like Leo and everyone else that we're going to be discussing and for what it's worth I want to make sure that I say this now because of the country that I live in and the Amendments protecting freedom of religion and freedom of speech there is nothing prohibiting anyone from having those beliefs and I do support those rights even if I find the beliefs themselves abhorent but it is one thing to espouse a belief it is quite another to attempt to deceive an entire nation of people into cow Towing to those beliefs along with you I will never support that type of behavior and that is exactly what is happening here it is clearly evident in the agenda project 2025 details if our nation is truly a Melting Pot e plos Unum one out of many placing our nation under dogmatic author Aran rigid control is the antithesis to that identity the two cannot exist side by side where do we think all of this will ultimately lead now this is not where opa's involvement in this affair ends no no no after all Leo is just one man and while he is wealthy he does not single-handedly have the ability to move these types of political actions alone enter an and Neil corkery and their dark money group The Wellspring Committee of which Ann is President and Neil is the sole board member according to the Daily Beast Wellspring was founded out of the coach network in 2008 and has funded other coach groups like Americans for Prosperity often in a lathian way that involves passing millions of dollars from one organization to another to evade accountability Wellspring raised $24 million from 2008 to 2011 as revealed by the center for responsive politics and distributed over $17 million largely to other shell organizations yet because it is defined by the IRS as a social welfare organization it is impossible to know where the money is coming from or going Wellspring received 90% of its Revenue nearly $28.5 million from a single Anonymous donor in 2016 it gave a grant to the judicial crisis Network one of Leo's organizations that that accounted for 83% of the group's total revenue in 2016 the cores have been staff members or directors at the extreme right Catholic League the anti-gay National Organization for marriage and Leo Affiliated organizations like the Becket fund and again the judicial crisis Network the corkies themselves are members of Opus day although according to a 1990 interview Neil introduced Anne to the sect and then he later dropped out and she remained the current status of their involvement in the preure is currently unknown Wellspring came into existence largely thanks to the support of Robin arkley California's foreclosure King who also funded Leo's work at the judicial crisis Network and the Federalist Society but wait there's more Leo and the network of people orchestrating project 2025 are also linked to Kevin Roberts a rapidly partisan fundamentalist Catholic activist who has served as president of Heritage since 2021 in 2020 Roberts had been featured on the resources page of where you are which calls itself quote a collaboration of people in touch with centers of Opus day in Texas additionally Leo sits on the board of directors of a faith-based organization called the Napa legal Institute and is a donor to that organization's sister the Napa Institute these two organizations might mean nothing to you if you're hearing about them for the first time but they along with their founder Timothy Bush are integral to project 2025 and that fact brings us from the East Coast all the way to the West Coast and well within Striking Distance of a picturesque town in California's Wine Country so Switching gears for a moment let's discuss the Napa Institute and Timothy Bush Timothy bush is a Napa Valley lawyer real estate entrepreneur and Catholic philanthropist he is the founder of the Bush firm which specializes in high-end Estate Planning and multi-million dollar real estate projects and business transactions he and his wife Steph own a Vineyard in Napa Valley called Trinitas sellers they also founded the bush Family Foundation which is a private philanthropic organization dedicated to promoting Pro Catholic efforts especially those with an emphasis on the sanctity of all human life and the defense of straight marriage it donated $15 million to the board of the Catholic University of America on which bush is a board member the foundation has funded quite a few Catholic projects not the least of which are a number of churches and chapels schools legatus the Magis Center the Boys and Girls Club of Napa Valley the ethics and public policy Center and of course the Napa Institute now the ethics and public policy Center is described as a conservative Washington DC based Think Tank and advocacy group as per its own website eppc operates numerous programs that mix politics with religion so so much for the separation of church and state and remember that because that's going to come back up later a public connection between opae and eppc exists in the person of former Attorney General Bill bar as well as through the Napa institute via the bush Family Foundation a man named George Weagle served as a distinguished senior fellow of the EPC he is a conservative Catholic American Author political an analyst and social activist who attended the ninth annual conference at the Napa Institute bush is a member of legatus ambassadors for Christ in the marketplace which is an organization that top tier Catholic CEOs use to hobnob and network and won that Opus day in The Institute go AG Gaga over it was founded by the same man who owns Domino's Pizza Tom monigan who established his own town a Maria in Florida bush has been a member since 1990 and was named legatus ambassador of the year in 1994 and 09 Bush's EWTN familiar and co-founder of the Napa Institute Father Robert Spitzer has served as the international chaplain for legatus as well bush is the founder and CEO of the Pacific Hospitality Group LLC which owns eight Meritage Resort and Spa hotels in in California he has also served or is currently serving on various other boards such as the Magis Center and the papal Foundation Timothy Bush and Leonard Leo are familiars bush is an opus day cooperator now in the past in past episodes I've not really discussed the role of Co-operators within the whole Opus day sphere if you are familiar with Opus day and you are already well versed in how their various tiers of membership work then you are probably already aware of what a cooperator is but for those who are tuning in for the first time and don't know I wanted to provide an overview so according to Opus day's own website as well as an explanation posted on the popular Catholic media site EWTN Cooperators are men and women who contribute to the educational and social undertakings promoted by the preure Via prayer work and of course monetary donations Cooperators are not members of Opus day but are usually linked to the work via family members friends and colleagues who are it is also important to point out that Cooperators do not need to be Catholic Christian or profess any religion at all this means that anyone who can contribute to and benefit from Opus day's Mission can become a cooperator although Cooperators are not required to take any vows opis day.org notes that they still renew out of devotion their commitments as Cooperators Cooperators are appointed by an opus Day official known as the regional vicer it seems that this is is a buy invite type of appointment meaning that a potential cooperator must be recommended by a member of Opus Day first upon appointment the new cooperator receives a card signed by the regional vicer with a date of appointment and an explanation of the indulgences available to Cooperators who are Catholic in return for whatever resource a cooperator brings to the table they receive the prayers of all members of Opus day as well as special masses offered for The Souls of deceased Cooperators and special indulgences which are distinctive feature of the penitential system of both the Western medieval and the Roman Catholic Church that grants full or partial remission of the punishment of sin by the Pope during certain times of the year and I'm also sure that professionally speaking there are many benefits to be gained by being a cooperator who is in touch with other influential wealthy members of the organization so now let's talk about the Napa Institute Timothy Bush's brainchild it was founded in September of 2010 by Bush and Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles chipot and Incorporated in October the following year it claims to be a nonprofit tax deductible entity which takes the form of an annual academic and spiritual Apostolic conference and Regional symposia designed to inspire wealthy Catholic leaders to defend and Advance the Catholic faith in the next America an homage to project 2025 the target population are members of the Catholic hierarchy Catholic professionals including diois and staff and leaders of Catholic apostolates and institutions and the wealthy and their families and for those who don't know it's worth noting that EWTN is a telecommunication Network overseen and funded at least in part by Opa day The Institute has no physical headquarters of its own the base of operations is located in the southern corporate office of the Bush firm in Irvine California its annual conference is held at Tim's Premier Meritage Resort and Spa in 2010 the Napa instit had a budget of $21,000 but by 2015 its grants and gross receipts had risen to 1.3 million that is an increase of over 6,000 per in just 5 years the Napa Institute support Foundation was incorporated by Bush in 2016 to financially support The Institute and its assets are over $4 million it is my opinion that the Napa Institute hopes to serve or has been serving as a Melting Pot for American conservative idealism on the west coast wherein is seasoned with a number of unsavory ingredients not the least of which is a healthy dose of Us Versus Them ISM to further alienate Rich conservative American Catholics from everyone else this theory is strengthened by the fact that bush himself has identified the theme of these conferences as in yourface Catholicism a sentiment that was reinforced by statements made by his crony Bishop Vasa who has stated that quote this is not dmat Christianity people want Christians to listen passively and never say a word back no we have rights end quote which no one is disputing the fact that Christians have rights I mean there's an entire Amendment protecting Christian rights but go off I guess because of the fact that this opest day thread is running through so much of this entire situation and because of the fact that so many people that are involved in this project 2025 thing including the Heritage Foundation have ties to this organization I wanted to dig into the Napa Institute a bit further so that I can try to flesh out the institute's connections with the world of Opus day and ultimately project 2025 the Napa institute's ecclesiastical Advisory Board have members who are also associated with Opus day's Rome experience program inspired by the spirituality and teachings of Jose Maria esraa Arch Bishop Jose Gomez holds the distinction of being the first numerary member of Opus day to be consecrated a bishop in the US he is the principal consecrator of Bishop William Van who also sits on the Napa institute's ecclesiastical Advisory Board van is on an Advisory Board of Opus day's Rome experience program which provides Opus day spiritual formation for diois and Priests other people who share connection with both the Vatican and the Rome experience program are Bishop Robert Morino who is the head of the Madison dases Reverend Ronald catney from the arch dicese of Denver and Archbishop Samuel Aila open day has also been a presence at the institute's annual Retreats via speakers like Leo and Roberts and EWTN coverage the op day Presence at the institute's annual conferences has grown exponentially every year in an article I found titled The Strange Case of Archbishop John Clayton ninat part two it states that at the seventh annual conference held from July 26th to 30th 2017 Opus day members and supporters and founders of Opus Day related apostolates were openly working the crowd these included Archbishop Gomez Scott Han Rick Santorum and George Weagle father Luke ma the Vicor of Opus day in California said mass at Our Lady of grapes chapel and offered spiritual Direction Opus day's presence will be even stronger at the July 11th through July 15th 2018 8th annual conference based on the theme the magisterium of Pope St John Paul II this will be a private reception with Alicia and Opus day media Outlet father Juan rvz a priest of Opus day who prides in Chicago will talk on John Henry Newman father Luke ma a priest of Opus day will say mass at Our Lady of the grapes Chapel Scott Han will give a talk on biblical Theology and Katherine Jean Lopez of Catholic voices USA and op day apostolate will moderate the panel on John Paul 2 The Institute has hosted an annual exclusive event with tickets that go for upwards of two grand for the last 12 years the conference has traditionally been held at one of Bush's Meritage resorts in Spa hotels each conference features a panel of speakers presenting on a variety of topics deemed to be of pressing concern to American Catholics in 2022 former US attorney general Bill bar delivered the keynote address discussing Strangers In a Strange Land how do Catholics live as resident aliens and faithful citizens at the T same time a title which hints at all that's to come from the implementation of project 2025 in more recent news Bush announced in December of 2022 that the Napa Institute would open an office near the US capital within the headquarters of EWTN there has been a slow but intentional March towards consolidating these powerful authoritarian type players and organizations within our nation's capital so how does all of this tie back into project 2025 at this point it should be evident that it isn't a purely political agenda it intends to disrupt every aspect of American society in order to bring it to heal under a religious nationalist identity we have already covered some of the overt connections that the Catholic church in Opus day specifically have to project 2025 but there are more the Watchdog site stopthe coup 2025. org notes that quote religion and Faith institutions link many groups people and dark money backing project 2025 many are run by staunch Catholic activists Opus day features heavily in that list due to the fact that quote at least two project 2025 authors and ex-trump officials are confirmed Opus day members given the fact that Opus day members and Cooperators are not required to divulge their membership there are probably more Opus people involved in this than one might think the majority of Americans are probably unaware of the fact that the Constitutional separation of church and state has come under increasingly heavy fire and it's coming from the conservative right this is a key facet of project 2025 and to be perfectly Frank I find it terrifying in December of last year Politico featur day story titled public Christian Schools Leonard Leo's allies Advance a new cause the article outlined a conservative legal movement with Leo as the financial architect attempting to create a test case to change the Supreme Court's interpretation of the first amendments separation of church and state they wrote at issue is the Roman Catholic arch dases of Oklahoma's pushed to create the St Isidor of Seville Catholic virtual school which would be the nation's first religious school entirely funded by taxpayers the school received preliminary approval from the state's Charter School Board in June if it survives legal challenges it would open the door for State legislatures across the country to direct taxpayer funding to the creation of Christian or other sectarian schools Brett Farley executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma acknowledges that Public Funding of St Isidor is is at odds with over 150 years of Supreme Court decisions he said the justices have misunderstood Thomas Jefferson's intent when he said there should be a wall separating church and state but that the current conservative dominated Court seems prepared to change course quote Jefferson didn't mean that the government shouldn't be giving public benefits to religious communities toward a common goal he said the court rightly over the last decade or so has been saying no look we've got this wrong and we're going to write the ship here the Christian conservative legal movement which has its fingerprints all over what's going on in Oklahoma is a pretty small tight-knit group of individuals said Paul Collins a legal studies and politics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst they recognized the opportunity to get a state to fund a religious institution is a watershed moment said Collins author of friends of the Supreme Court interest groups and judicial decision making adding that they have a very very sympathetic audience at the Supreme Court when you have that on the Supreme Court you're going to put a lot of resources into bringing these cases quickly now since that article was written the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the concept of a taxpayer funded Christian School is unconstitutional but to think that we have heard the last of this type of initiative would be foolish I also think the fact that these people believe that they have the true intention behind the separation of church and state all figured out 150 years of Supreme Court decisions be damned absolutely insane but this would not be the first time that an aspect of the US Constitution and its Amendments have come under Fire it's a little bit wild to me though that it's coming from the conservative right and really maybe calling these people and this whole project 2025 a conservative initiative is a misnomer because I really do not believe that anything about this actually represents the interests and the concerns of conservative Americans it's something else entirely not to say that there aren't conservative Americans who would be in line with these types of initiatives with using their tax dollars to fund private Christian schools and and all of the rest that comes along with this but I don't think that they're the majority and unfortunately this entire thing continues to just devolve in January of 2024 an article published on NCR titled Leonard Leo architect of conservative Supreme Court takes on wider culture author Heidi schlump wrote that in October of 2022 the Opus day Affiliated Catholic information center in Washington DC bestowed its highest honor the John Paul 2 new evangelization award on the conservative legal activist Leonard Leo six months later he received an honorary doctorate from Benedictine College in Atcheson Kansas both events provided an opportunity for the self-described introvert to give a public speech which real quick just before we go any further this is the second time just within the last few months that Benedictine College in Kansas has come up and the second time that I have seen them platform somebody kind of questionable and it really makes me wonder what's going on at that school and who's choosing the speakers for these graduation commencements and everything else but at any rate in the two presentations Leo used the same language to describe a trio of frightening forces quote barbarians secularists and bigots that he said represent nothing less than a war with the devil Leo's primary conviction is that democracy will not deliver the kind of conservative value-based government that he believes America must have he is therefore committed to building an oligarchy of the religious and the wealthy that involves amazing vast sums of dark money and using it to put right thinking people on the courts and elsewhere in government let that sink in Leonard Leo has gone on the record admitting that the Democratic process that we have in this country will not be advantageous to him implementing the kind of future that he believes is the correct future for this country and he has no problem with completely disregarding due process and the voice of the people and the Democratic process as a whole in order to achieve that goal that is scary that's terrifying it doesn't matter it wouldn't matter if this was coming from someone on the left or someone on the right it's not okay in any regard and it completely usurps the authority of the Constitution which was intended to place the power with the American people the United States government per our founding fathers was intended to be a government for the People by the people not a government strung out and controlled by one or two powerful organizations and a couple of individuals with way too much money and so with that in mind the project 2025 blueprint not only calls for realigning us domestic and foreign policy to reflect a pro- family values agenda but to OTE specific legal doctrines that reflect a traditionalist reading of the US Constitution project 2025 seeks to replace secular public education with Conservative Christian education and erase the Constitutional separation between church and state but some project 2025 authors would go further putting the church above the state they view Divine Law God's words or the literal words printed in the Bible as the supreme authority in Earthly matters in a word project 2025 is a blueprint for a future American theocracy or as some view it a fusion of wealth and Christian nationalist ideology a Pluto theocracy I personally think that that is a terrible idea and all you really need to do to confirm that fact is take a quick look at history at world history at what brought the original settlers to the United States in the first place at the kinds of things that were happening over in the UK and England during that period of time with religion to know that this cannot end well and this kind of ideology it's already been done and it has not gone well but in this we find ourselves at the Crux of the issue well project 2025 would have the public believe that it is simply about protecting conservative values and ideals the reality is that it is a stepbystep guide to replacing every aspect of American life from the food that we eat to the air that we breathe to the activities that we engage in within the privacy of our homes and bedrooms under the control of a relatively small but extremely powerful group of people and organizations and note there is nothing in that plan about returning power to the people or restoring and protecting important Democratic processes and in my opinion that fact alone exposes project 20125 for what it actually is so to Circle back once again to St Helen California in light of the individuals connected to project 2025 and the types of initiatives they are spearheading be that in terms of political action educational Endeavors or religious ideology it seems pretty clear to me that the tactics that that mayor of St Helen became aware were playing out in his Town's culture are a symptom of a much bigger and pernicious agenda that is already well underway and Gathering momentum as I speak I think that that if I had the ability to connect with other American towns I would find a similar set of circumstances playing out there as well especially if those towns are in close proximity to Major hubs of economic interest like Silicon Valley in hindsight knowing what I know now about Leo and Bush Opus day and project 2025 it all makes sense and I also want to say that I personally feel that in an open and honest conversation about the state of our country and the social and cultural issues we all contending with I would be among the first to say that clearly things are not all hunky dory and that the time to do something about it all was yesterday we have a very serious need to address a plethora of grave issues here on us soil to say nothing of our relationship with foreign Nations and the position that the United States occupies in those territories we have a worsening mental health crisis with nearly one in four American adults having a diagnosable mental health condition we have a severe and rapidly deteriorating obesity epidemic plagg More than 70% of Americans with one in two people being obese we have a humanitarian crisis playing out Across the Nation stemming from the waves of migrants and refugees flooding our Southern border which even if you are supportive and understanding of has led to an ethical nightmare due to the fact that US cities are woefully unprepared to house feed and support these people and we have a culture war that is being actively stoked by an Us Versus Them narrative ative that comes from within the highest echelons of our government educational and cultural institutions we are not okay but it will be a cold day in Hell before I would support or advocate for those problems to be put into the hand of authoritarian leaders who for all their spouting of so-called American moral ideals seem far more interested in lining their own Pockets with taxpayer dollars project 2025 is not the answer and it never will be a quick study of world history will immediately make that evident a couple of years ago I made a video talking about Opus day's activities in South America during the 20th century seeing what is playing out here in North America makes my blood run cold because it Bears a striking resemblance to what happen in countries like Chile and Argentina I do not want those things to happen here on American soil and yet I cannot escape the growing certainty that that is exactly what is happening and once again Opus day has positioned itself to help facilitate and ultimately benefit from that agenda at the end of the day this isn't about conservative ideals this isn't about the right versus the left this isn't about supporting and trying to elect a candidate who you feel is the best for the job there is a right way and a wrong way to go about facilitating change in this country and this is not it in many ways I feel like the Earth has kind of Fallen away from from underneath of me because I have been working on trying to piece together all of these various different moving parts and different people and organizations trying to figure out what was actually going on trying to figure out what the end goal was I started digging into all of this three and a half 4 years ago I got to a point where I didn't know where to go I didn't know how to make everything connect and make it all make sense but knowing about project 2025 blows the whole thing wide open and it's a very strange feeling to have all of these disconnected dots that I've been staring at for years now finally all link up and form a cohesive picture and I just wish that the picture wasn't quite as horrifying as it is I sincerely hope that people will begin seriously engaging with this situation and working on Solutions and pushing back against this whole project 2025 agenda I sincerely hope that the American people will find a way to rally and to reach across party lines because for all that project 2025 is a conservative initiative as I said previously I don't really think that that is the case I think that it is something else something a whole lot worse um maybe a word that starts with an F but I won't get into that here regardless this is going to affect everybody if it goes through and it's a really really big deal so I didn't want to end this episode without leaving you with some options for next steps because I know that this is a really heavy subject and kind of daunting and overwhelming and potentially very frightening so my biggest piece of advice going forward would be to avoid falling prey to Panic or fear um neither of those emotions will be useful here and they can Cloud your judgment additionally I'd recommend that you read through the information that I used to create this episode including project 202's own landing page and make sure that you are registered to vote this coming November in addition to that I've left a couple other resources down below including a community on Reddit called defeat project 2025 that has calls to action and other steps that American citizens can take before all of this is said and done I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions on this situation do you think that project 2025 is a threat or do you think it's being overblown what are your thoughts on the separation of church and state how do you feel about your tax dollars being used to fund religious schools what are your thoughts on people like Leonard Leo and Timothy Bush do you think that religion specifically the Roman Catholic Church should be involved in American politics do you have any thoughts or opinions on how we as a society should go about tackling the Myriad issues facing our country right now should we just lie back and hand those decisions over to a powerful few I think that these are really really important questions that we need to be thinking through very carefully asking ourselves asking our friends and family and engaging with as much as we possibly can so I look forward to hearing any thoughts that you might have let me know down below please subscribe and give this video a thumbs up if you're watching on rumble or YouTube if you're tuning in from a podcasting platform form please remember to leave a rating and review if you're interested in supporting me and my work in a monetary way you can buy me a coffee for $5 the link for that and all my socials and contact information are down in the description of this video thank you for being here and remember noite T bastardes caror and doram don't let the bastards drag you down [Music]