Students Seek To AI-Proof Their Careers With Trades Over College

 by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times,

For years, students were told the future belonged to college graduates with a four-year degree. Now, some of the fastest-growing opportunities are in skilled trades, where there is an escalating demand for labor and a higher level of job security amid the rise of artificial intelligence.

An instructor teaches a student about brazing—a metal joining process used in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems—at a construction trade school in Homestead, Fla., on May 9, 2026. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Vocational schools and specialized training programs are seeing a surge of interest among Gen Z students and younger workers who are considering options beyond traditional higher education.

And the timing couldn't be better. Major infrastructure projects and the rapid buildout of AI-related facilities are fueling demand for workers with hands-on technical skills. Workforce experts say the convergence of these trends could reshape how Americans think about education and career pathways going forward.

"The past couple of years, people have been flocking to things that are considered safe from AI, but then this tailwind came in where there's also a lot of need for these roles to support the labor movement," said Brady Colby, head of market research at Validated Insights, which analyzes trends in higher education and trade school.

He told The Epoch Times that while interest in vocational studies had seen slow, steady growth in recent years, it "really took off" in the past six months.

"It's harder to recruit for some of these skilled trades than it is for computer programmers now," he said.

Validated Insights noted in its June report that trade school revenue surpassed all expected growth in 2025, expanding 11.4 percent and surpassing $19 billion. That's nearly double the original growth forecast.

The Philadelphia Technician Training Institute states on its website that many Gen Z members are choosing vocational colleges "because these institutions provide quick applied education that leads directly to rewarding professions with reliable salaries."

Mike Nager, author of The Smart Student's Guide to Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, told The Epoch Times: "For decades, four-year degrees were seen as the only path for a safe future. Trades were seen as a fallback for those who couldn't or wouldn't go to college and get a degree."

But now when it comes to choosing a four-year degree path as the default, "the payback just isn't there anymore in many cases," he said.

He also believes an interest in education alone won't be enough to replenish the widening gap in America's skilled talent pool.

"Kids have to be shown what the trades are, get some firsthand experience. This is where the industry needs to step up, create outreach programs to address the 'awareness gap' for trades," he said.

The "awareness gap" is the disconnect between rising demand for skilled professionals and the public's perception of these careers. For years, some say it fostered the societal stigma that vocational career paths led to either overly physical or just low-paying work. On the flip side, this perception created a favorable atmosphere for standard university education.

Changing the Narrative

Cyrus Kennedy, a behavioral analyst and CEO of The Ad Firm, said attitudes toward vocational careers are definitely changing.

"It's a mix of a math problem and a psychological shift," he told The Epoch Times. "Gen Z has watched older millennials drown in six-figure student debt for degrees that don't guarantee a job."

Kennedy said this trend toward vocational studies as higher education is happening at a time when there's "growing fatigue with purely digital, screen-bound work."

"Young people are realizing that specialized trades offer immediate earning potential, job security that AI can't easily displace, and a clear path to entrepreneurship without the financial chokehold of a four-year degree," he said.

Kennedy said another assumption being reexamined about working in skilled trades is the alleged cap on career growth and the risk of physical burnout.

"In reality, the trades are one of the fastest pipelines to business ownership," he said. "An apprentice plumber or electrician doesn't just learn how to fix a pipe; they learn a business model. Many transition into project managers, estimators, or business owners. It requires high-level cognitive problem-solving, customer psychology, and financial literacy."

Steven Morgan, a licensed master plumber and certified HVAC technician at 24hr.Supply, agreed. However, he said there's still a serious physical element involved in many trade professions that shouldn't be taken lightly.

"The body takes a beating. You're in attics in August, and the real money comes after years of licensing and hard experience," he said. "What students overlook most is the ceiling - field tech, foreman, estimator, then running your own shop. The ones who see that from day one go furthest."

He also doesn't find the surge in interest surprising.

"Young people watched a generation take on serious debt for degrees that didn't guarantee much, and they did the math," he said. "An apprentice earns while learning instead of paying to learn. The work also can't be shipped overseas or handed to software.

"Nobody's replacing a licensed plumber with an app."

Industries that have reported the highest number of skilled worker shortages in 2026 include electricians, welders, HVAC technicians, plumbers, and heavy equipment mechanics.

Meanwhile, the median pay in many of these professions now matches or exceeds that of many that require four-year degrees, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Growing interest in technical careers is also reflected in public polls. A Resume Templates survey of 1,250 Gen Z adults in January found that six out of 10 respondents planned to pursue "blue collar" work in 2026. The main reason cited was better long-term job security against possible AI-related job loss.

In May, Challenger, Grey & Christmas published research showing there were 38,579 planned job cuts due to AI - the highest monthly total they'd ever recorded for that specific reason. AI-related downsizing accounted for 40 percent of all announced cuts, up from just 7 percent in January and 26 percent in April.

One-Two Punch

When it comes to rebuilding America's skilled labor force, there are two major factors converging. On one hand, there are millions of trade workers planning to retire through 2032.

On the other hand, there's the ongoing U.S. data center and infrastructure buildout, which is driving a technician talent crisis.

Between now and 2032, 18.4 million workers between the ages of 55 and 64 with post-secondary education plan to retire. This drastically outpaces the 13.8 million workers between the ages of 16 and 24 who will enter the labor market with the same qualifications, according to a Georgetown University analysis.

Concurrently, a Randstad analysis showed the need for skilled labor in the United States is escalating due to the data center boom. Demand for robotics technicians is up 107 percent, HVAC professionals up 67 percent, and construction-related roles up 30 percent.

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/students-seek-ai-proof-their-careers-trades-over-college

'Iran said to have US, Israel response plan ready'

 Iran regarded the potential United States and Israeli attacks targeting national infrastructure as "a form of recklessness", the country's semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported, citing a senior security official.

The official stated that Iran has finalized a comprehensive military counter-strategy to any potential strikes, asserting that armed forces are "fully ready" to target both Israeli critical infrastructure and regional US energy assets.

"Iran's armed forces have demonstrated ... that they possess both the capability and the resolve to carry out such an action," the statement concluded.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Iran-said-to-have-US-Israel-response-plan-ready/66829569

Cybercriminals already know what most Americans don’t

Most Americans finally got the message about passwords. After years of data breaches, identity theft, and nonstop warnings from banks and technology companies, people have slowly become familiar with two-factor or multi-factor authentication. Enter your password, grab your phone, approve the login, and move on. It isn’t perfect, but it became the closest thing to a universal security habit that everyday people actually adopted.

Unfortunately, cybercriminals have already moved on. One of the biggest cybersecurity stories this month exposed an unsettling trend. Rather than trying to bypass multi-factor authentication altogether, attackers are patiently waiting for victims to complete it themselves. The victim enters their password, approves the authentication request, and unknowingly hands criminals the keys to the kingdom.

The attack doesn’t defeat multi-factor authentication (MFA). It defeats the person using it. That distinction matters because millions of Americans barely understand why they’re approving those authentication requests in the first place. They were simply told, “Use MFA because it’s safer.” Now scammers are exploiting that limited understanding, creating fake login pages and convincing users they’re protecting their accounts when they’re actually surrendering them.

For older Americans, this is becoming an especially dangerous trap. Many seniors have embraced online banking, telehealth, social media, and digital communication later in life. They learned enough technology to participate, but they didn’t grow up recognizing sophisticated phishing attempts or fake authentication prompts. Criminal organizations know this. They understand who is most likely to hesitate, become confused, or assume that if a phone asks for approval, it must be legitimate.

Cybercrime has become less about breaking computers and more about manipulating people. That should concern everyone because even the federal government is acknowledging that the digital battlefield is changing faster than traditional defenses can keep up. The Trump administration recently announced new efforts to identify cybersecurity weaknesses created by artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. If Washington believes it needs to aggressively hunt for vulnerabilities before adversaries exploit them, imagine how exposed the average household really is.

Government agencies cannot protect every home computer, smartphone, or small business. They never could. Too many people still assume that buying a new laptop or switching from Windows to a Mac somehow places them outside the reach of hackers. That misconception has survived for years despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Mac malware has expanded dramatically. Information-stealing malware, adware, remote-access trojans, credential harvesters, and spyware now routinely target Apple’s ecosystem. Criminals follow the money and the users. As Apple’s market share has grown, so has its appeal to cybercriminals. Operating systems are no longer security strategies.

The same false confidence extends into business environments. Small business owners often believe antivirus software checks a compliance box and the problem is solved. Today’s attacks don’t politely announce themselves with flashing warning messages. They quietly establish persistence, steal credentials, spread laterally across networks, and wait.

That is where Endpoint Protection Platforms, or EPP, have become essential. Modern endpoint protection goes well beyond signature-based antivirus by identifying suspicious behavior, isolating compromised systems, and giving organizations centralized visibility into what is happening across every connected device. Businesses also need centralized monitoring so they aren’t discovering breaches weeks after customer information has already left the building.

Visibility has become as important as prevention. Another overlooked threat is the return of computer worms. Many people remember hearing about worms years ago and assume they disappeared with dial-up internet. They didn’t.

A worm is malicious software capable of spreading from one system to another without requiring users to manually install it. Once inside a network, worms can rapidly infect additional computers, steal information, install ransomware, or create backdoors for future attacks. Recent threats have shown that this decades-old technique remains remarkably effective because organizations continue to underestimate how quickly malware can propagate across poorly monitored networks.

Even cybersecurity professionals are questioning whether long-standing defensive philosophies remain sufficient. Zero Trust architecture, which assumes no user or device should automatically be trusted, remains one of the strongest frameworks organizations can adopt. But frameworks alone don’t stop criminals who successfully convince legitimate users to hand over their credentials or approve malicious login requests.

Technology cannot compensate for human deception forever. The cybersecurity conversation has reached a point where awareness needs to catch up with reality. Passwords were never enough. Multi-factor authentication remains important, but it is no longer the finish line. Buying a Mac instead of a PC is not a security plan. Installing antivirus and forgetting about it is not a strategy. Assuming someone else is watching your network is wishful thinking.

Cybercriminals have become remarkably patient. They study behavior, exploit routine, and manipulate trust better than ever before.

That means ordinary Americans have to stop thinking about cybersecurity as something reserved for IT departments or Fortune 500 companies. Every smartphone, every family computer, every small business, and every online account now represents a potential target.

The criminals already understand that. The question is whether the rest of us can catch up before they get there first.

Julio Rivera is a business and political strategist, cybersecurity researcher, founder of ItFunk.org and ReactionaryTimes.com, and a political commentator and columnist. His writing, focused on cybersecurity and politics, has appeared in major publications around the world.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/07/cybercriminals-already-know-what-most-americans-don-t/

Spain invaded at noon, Africans breaking and entering by midnight

 by Olivia Murray

It took mere hours for them to start sacking civilization.

Yesterday, in the span of mere hours, more than 60,000 third world foreigners poured into Ceuta, Spain. For context, this is an area of just seven square miles, an autonomous Spanish jurisdiction on Morocco’s coast—so it is off the mainland, though it’s likely only a matter of time before these people are transferred to Europe proper as “refugees” and “asylum seekers,” since the leftist prime minister is quite welcoming of these “newcomers.”

For more of an in-depth dive on the situation and the politics, check out a brand new podcast from Andrea Widburg titled, “Spain invaded!” at AT’s “Watch Now” section.

It literally looks like Thomas Cole’s Destruction, the fourth painting in his “Course of Empire” series.

Now, I’m not exactly sure what time this all happened yesterday morning/afternoon, but mere hours into the invasion, this is how it was going for the local grocery stores:

And then, by midnight, the barbarians had commandeered ladders, and were breaking into the locals’ homes:

We always hear from the left how the third-worlders are coming “for a better life,” as if that is a reasonable and rational justification to permit total lawlessness and the erasure of borders and national sovereignty.

But isn’t that almost every criminal’s motivation? Doesn’t the rapist often rape because he wants a “better” lay? Doesn’t the burglar break into your home and take your stuff because it’s “better” than what he has? Doesn’t the pickpocket take your wallet because it’ll be “better” to have more money as opposed to less?

Sure, it’s obvious that it’s better for them to come to an established and functioning nation (no thanks to them), but it’s better for us when they don’t.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/07/spain-invaded-at-noon-africans-breaking-and-entering-by-midnight/

'CBS: Judge sentences peptide vendor to nearly 6 years in prison for "an incredible trail of harm"'

 A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the owner of a peptide company to nearly six years in prison after finding he built a massive business by deceiving customers and selling products that were adulterated with steroids.

Matthew Kawa, who ran Paradigm Peptides, pleaded guilty last year to selling unapproved drugs and illegally importing them from abroad. His sentence marks a rare criminal penalty for a seller of peptides that are labeled "for research use," a largely unregulated marketplace that has become a go-to source for many people who look beyond established medical channels for ways to boost their health.

"You focused on what you wanted to build instead of thinking about the people," U.S. District Court Judge Cristal Brisco said in sentencing Kawa to 70 months in prison, adding that Kawa ignored "numerous warnings" from regulators and left "an incredible trail of harm."

Prosecutors estimated that Paradigm had 54,000 unique customers in all 50 U.S. states and in 80 countries. Kawa, 48, agreed to forfeit $5 million in proceeds from the business.

Kawa, wearing a gray suit, acknowledged that Paradigm's customers relied on his false statements about the company's products. 

"I'm deeply sorry I betrayed that trust," he told the court. "I should have asked harder questions and made sure what we did followed the law." Kawa declined to comment to CBS News after the sentencing.

Matthew Kawa, who ran Paradigm Peptides, pleaded guilty to selling unapproved drugs and illegally importing them from abroad. CBS News

Before it was shut down in March 2024, Paradigm Peptides looked like many vendors on the internet today: advertising its offerings as made in America, of 99% purity, tested by third-party labs — and with the disclaimer that they were "for research use only." But its business, prosecutors say, was built on lies.

Paradigm imported its products from China, India and other countries, court filings show. Kawa admitted they forged laboratory certificates to lend credibility to their peptides. And when the government tested six compounds designed to mimic the effects of testosterone, prosecutors said that all of them contained actual testosterone — a steroid hormone subject to strict regulation because of the risks involved in taking it.

For years, Paradigm maintained that its products were only for research use, but Kawa admitted in his guilty plea that this was false. "I knew that Paradigm's products were being marketed and sold for human consumption," his plea deal states.

Brisco also sentenced Jennifer Stechkober, Kawa's 32-year-old sister and main employee at Paradigm, to 16 months in prison after she too pleaded guilty. The judge found she was "not the mastermind" but "played an integral role" in Paradigm's business and false statements.

"These individuals are taken out of circulation," Adam Mildred, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, said in an interview. "Hopefully this sends a deterrent message that this sort of behavior is not acceptable, to be lying to the American public."

Peptides are chains of amino acids that deliver a set of instructions to the body — to store or burn energy, or to release more of a hormone — that have become wildly popular with people hoping to lose weight, gain muscle or even live longer. Such compounds are increasingly migrating into mainstream use despite a lack of FDA approval, with licensed physicians prescribing them and even New York bodegas getting in on the action.

"I would hope it's a wake-up call for a lot of the other research-use-only companies out there because this is actual prison time, not just maybe a cease-and-desist or slap on the wrist," said David Holt, an attorney who founded a boutique healthcare law practice. "That's a whole different world."

A life disrupted

In addition to peptides, Paradigm also sold products known as SARMs — or selective androgen receptor modulators — which can help build muscle but also come with a range of dangerous side effects, from elevating the risk of heart attacks to psychosis, the FDA has warned.

Paradigm labeled its SARMs as dietary supplements, and that made some customers, like Dan Murphy, comfortable that they must be safe.

"It'd be no different than taking vitamin D," Murphy, a 32-year-old marketing consultant, said in an interview.

Murphy started taking SARMs from Paradigm in 2023. He was a believer in alternative, holistic medicine and comfortable with the biohacking ethos promoted by peptide vendors that, like Paradigm, tacked on a research-use disclaimer to their products. He had recently lost a lot of weight and was looking for a supplement to help build muscle.

"When I started taking the product, right away I felt an increase in energy," he said. "I was really happy with that."

Murphy found he could push his body more than ever before and began working out obsessively, he recalled. But as he took more SARMs from Paradigm over several months, he began having trouble sleeping. His sense of his business acumen became grandiose. He developed cystic acne on his back so acute that it was painful to put on a shirt.

He began suspecting his wife was conspiring to hold him back, and became paranoid that his mother-in-law was going to kill him, he said. Murphy had never before experienced mental illness and testified he didn't recognize what was happening as he lost touch with reality and repeatedly thought about killing himself, he said.

"I lost friends, family, colleagues, clients and almost lost my life," Murphy said. "I had gotten so detached from reality that I could not make any connection to the supplements as the cause."

Dan Murphy, seen here with his wife Laura, is suing Paradigm Peptides over SARMs that he says tested positive for testosterone.Courtesy of Murphy family

He was at a low point when, in February of 2025, he received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice with the subject line: "Federal Investigation of paradigmpeptides.com." Investigators had determined that many of Paradigm's products that were marketed as SARMs "in fact contained testosterone."

Initially Murphy thought it might be a scam. But soon, it became his Rosetta stone for understanding what had happened to him: He wasn't a monster, he thought. He was a victim.

"It was this lightning rod of clarity," Murphy said.

Murphy and his wife, Laura, found a bottle of a SARM he had ordered and had it tested by an independent lab. It came back positive for testosterone, according to Murphy and court records.

In his guilty plea, Kawa said he "did not test the SARM products that my business sold to customers." He didn't know that they contained testosterone, according to a memo by prosecutors, who argued that the lack of testing "demonstrates the recklessness" of his actions.

Murphy was ultimately evaluated by a medical expert, Erik Messamore, who diagnosed him with "steroid-induced psychosis." Murphy hired a lawyer and is suing Paradigm Peptides, which Kawa is contesting.

"A game of whack-a-mole"

Prosecutors hope that the sentence will deter others involved in the booming peptide industry from similar conduct, but legal experts say the impact remains to be seen. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation's top health official, has talked up the benefits of peptides and urged the FDA to make them more widely available to consumers.

Just last week, an independent advisory committee to the agency recommended — over the objections of agency staff — to broaden access to six peptides. One of them, BPC-157, was among the unapproved drugs that Kawa was charged with selling.

"You go on these podcasts and listen to the secretary of [Health and Human Services] talk about peptides and wanting to expand availability to consumers," George Karavetsos, a former FDA lawyer and federal prosecutor, said. Prosecuting bad actors, he said, is "a game of whack-a-mole."

Even after Paradigm's website went offline, similarly named websites have sprung up to offer the same products, sometimes with the same labels. One such site, paradigmpeptides.is, also promotes "research-grade peptides in the USA" that are "independently verified to 99%+" purity. The bottles featured on its site use what appears to be the same font, colors and design as Kawa's company.

"We would like to clarify that we have no affiliation whatsoever with the previous Paradigm Peptides website, its former owner Matthew Kawa, or any related business," the company said in an emailed response. The email stated that the company was "not aware that certain design elements could be perceived as resembling those used by the previous Paradigm Peptides," adding "if any aspect of our labels or branding creates concern, we are fully willing to redesign and replace them."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/peptides-seller-prison-sentence-unapproved-drugs/

The New Way for Conservatives to Win Elections

 The socialistas are taking over the Democrat party, and the establishment Democrats are so addicted to power and corruption that they just don’t care.  They will say or do anything to save their seats (and stay out of prison).

Their only strategy is to demonize President Trump and oppose everything he does, even when he helps their own constituents.  If the Democrats win the midterms, the radical socialistas will run the show.

First and foremost, election integrity is everything.  Anyone who says fraud isn’t rampant is living on another planet.  President Trump’s explosive revelations last Thursday may finally force the RINO Senate to pass the SAVE America Act and secure our ballots.

To win as many seats as possible, we have to pick America First candidates in the remaining primaries and support them with everything we’ve got.

But the old way of running political campaigns is no longer effective.

Every election cycle, grassroots candidates for Congress, state house, and county seats are handed the same playbook by high-priced establishment consultants: “Raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, hand them over to a media firm, and generate polarizing TV ads and glossy mail pieces.”

Voters are completely sick of it.  They don’t trust focus-grouped political ads, they change the channel, and they throw glossy campaign mail straight into the recycling.  As one voter put it, “they send me flyers I will never read, asking for money I can’t afford, so they can send me more flyers I will never read.”

When candidates buy a polished, million-dollar ad campaign, they instantly signal to voters that they are part of the very establishment that has failed to fix their family’s critical pocketbook issues.

To win against well funded incumbent machines and the liberal media, conservative candidates must change how they talk to the people.

The answer is a new approach: The Un-Campaign.

Grassroots candidates can flip the script on the establishment by using a strategy first mastered in the entertainment world.  This is the approach that propelled Spencer Pratt to massive success in über-liberal California — before his second-place finish was stolen.

Pratt gave a master class on how to beat the system and talk directly to the people.  He bypassed traditional media gatekeepers and rejected expensive, polished public relations campaigns.  Instead, he used his cell phone to create raw, high-frequency, unscripted videos and encouraged his supporters to share his message.  He didn’t spend a dime on paid advertising.

By using free, vertical-video platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts along with local digital channels, down-ballot candidates can get more reach, real authenticity, and deeper voter trust.  They can replace fake, focus-group talking points with a raw look at real-world issues that matter to voters.

A successful low-cost, organic campaign doesn’t broadcast the same generic message to the whole district.  Instead, the candidate uses daily, smartphone-shot videos to speak directly to the real-life pressure points of three specific voter groups we need for a conservative victory.

1. The Wary Conservative (“The Turnout Risk”)

Every midterm race has reliable, right-leaning voters who just stay home.  They aren’t unpatriotic; their main frustration is watching their local and state government become a black hole for their hard earned tax dollars.  They feel that their vote will do nothing to end government waste and broken promises.

Candidates can reach these voters by acting as a citizen-journalist, pulling back the curtain on incompetent government taking their smartphone directly to local examples of government failure — like an abandoned municipal project or a wasteful county building.  By exposing these failures in unedited videos, the campaign converts voter frustration into a strong motivation to show up.

2. The Disaffected Democrat (“The Defector”)

Across the country, millions of traditional working-class Democrats feel left behind by their party’s insane shift toward hyper-liberal policies and progressive social engineering.  But they won’t vote for a conservative if they see only aggressive, multimillion-dollar partisan attack ads funded by national PACs.

To win them over, the Un-Campaign focuses on kitchen-table economic realities, the rising costs of basic survival at the grocery store, sky-high utility bills, and the ever rising cost of local child care.  Candidates can reach the Disaffected Democrat with real empathy and clear, commonsense solutions.  This gives lifelong Democrats the cultural permission they need to cross over and vote for a local conservative.

3. The Pure Independent (“The Outsider”)

Suburban independent voters are the fastest growing and most unpredictable part of the electorate.  They despise both major political parties and tune out anything that sounds like standard political talking points.

Independents are laser-focused on real local infrastructure and immediate public safety.  They worry about suburban property crime, regional drug-trafficking, and whether their local water lines and power grids are going to hold up.  The candidates must be seen as a practical, commonsense outsiders who don’t care about national culture wars and share their no-holds-barred message through hyper-local digital communities.

The Un-Campaign must generate video content on a daily basis and commit to a strict schedule, putting out real-time local observations every single day.

Candidates must deploy distinct content strategies tailored directly to where each voter group hangs out online.  For Wary Conservatives, the candidate will focus on government incompetence and waste by broadcasting unedited, on-site project analyses directly into closed civic groups and localized online forums.  To reach Disaffected Democrats, the message shifts toward the everyday cost of living and basic survival, utilizing high-empathy, kitchen-table economic discussions shared in non-political community spaces.  Finally, to win over Pure Independents, the content will highlight physical safety and local infrastructure through practical structural breakdowns, distributed across hyper-local social media networks.

Because this approach relies on free social media algorithms and authenticity, the absolute best weapon is surprise.  Traditional campaigns are slow, bureaucratic, and restricted by rigid ad schedules.  When a conservative candidate deploys a high-frequency, unscripted Un-Campaign, the opposition’s highly paid consultants do not know how to respond.  They are trained to fight traditional TV ads, not a fast-moving, organic network powered by real people.

To keep this advantage, the exact operational tactics, targets of exposés, specific video scripts, and local distribution channels must be kept confidential.

If the opposition find out about this methodology early in the race, they will change their own media buys or coordinate counter-narratives to block the candidate’s organic reach.  By keeping strict operational security about how content is built and where it is posted, a down-ballot Un-Campaign ensures that by the time the establishment realize they are losing, the bond with the voters is already unbreakable.

Run Different. Win Lean.

By using the Un-Campaign approach, conservative candidates can reduce the financial barriers to running for public office.  By turning themselves into an unscripted, high-frequency media channel using a smartphone, they can build an unshakeable bond with voters without wasting money on traditional political agencies.

This approach simply requires a candidate who is willing to show up, film the truth, and deploy a hyper-targeted, confidential digital strategy.

Jack Gleason is a conservative, commonsense political consultant at the municipal, state, House, Senate, and presidential level since 2009.  His email is JackGleason9@protonmail.com, and his always-free Substack is jackgleason.substack.com.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/07/the-new-way-for-conservatives-to-win-elections/

Cash is a fundamental freedom

 by George P. Brooks

There is a certain kind of progress that always seems harmless right before it becomes mandatory.

At first, it is merely more convenient to use a card. Then it is easier to tap a phone. Then the restaurant places a little sign near the register announcing that it no longer accepts cash. Before long, the ability to purchase a sandwich, medicine, gasoline, or a bus ticket depends upon having a bank account, an approved card, a charged phone, a functioning app, a stable internet connection, and the continued permission of several institutions that may not know you and certainly do not love you.

We are told this is modernization, but I call it surrendering freedom for convenience.

I am not against technology. I use electronic payments. Most Americans do. Digital banking, debit cards, payment apps, and direct deposit have made financial transactions faster and easier. But there is a difference between offering a convenient option and abolishing every alternative.

Cash is the only common form of payment that allows two people to conduct a lawful transaction without asking a third party for permission. It does not require a password, a corporate policy, a data connection, a credit score, or an algorithmic judgment. It simply works, and is precisely why cash still matters. Cash serves a function no digital system can fully replace—it is direct, immediate, and resilient.

And, perhaps most importantly, it leaves ordinary people with at least one area of economic life that is not automatically recorded, categorized, monetized, or subject to institutional veto.

Privacy is not the same thing as criminality.

A person should not have to explain why he bought a Bible, a political book, medication, dinner for someone, or any other lawful item. Every purchase may not be admirable, but it does not mean it’s criminal. Should every lawful purchase become a permanent data point controlled by banks, technology companies, payment processors, advertisers, and potentially the government?

Americans used to understand that a private life was not evidence of a secret crime but today, privacy itself is increasingly treated as suspicious. The person who says he does not want every transaction tracked is immediately asked what he is trying to hide. That question reverses the proper relationship between the citizen and the institutions serving him. Free people should not have to prove their innocence before being permitted a zone of ordinary privacy—cash creates that zone.

It is also a matter of economic access.

Millions of Americans remain unbanked or underbanked, particularly lower-income households, minorities, and many people living with disabilities. For them, cash is not nostalgic—it is necessary. Those people do not disappear because a coffee shop decides cash is inconvenient, but they do become excluded. An affluent customer sees a cashless sign and taps a watch. The poor customer sees the same sign and discovers that he can’t buy what he came to buy. Is this technological advancement, or economic discrimination dressed in minimalist branding?

Another major consideration is that the cashless movement also assumes an ideal world in which every system works all the time. But…

Phones die.

Networks fail.

Accounts are frozen.

Cards are declined.

Passwords are forgotten.

Payment applications experience outages.

Cash does not need a software update.

That may sound simplistic until a hurricane, cyberattack, electrical outage, frozen account, or damaged phone turns simplicity into survival. When every form of money depends upon the same technological and institutional ecosystem, one failure can become total exclusion. A cash option is not hostility toward innovation, but it is a great measure of independence.

We often say we oppose concentrated power. Yet a fully cashless society would concentrate enormous practical authority in banks, payment networks, technology companies, and government regulators.

We defend the right to speak without permission, worship without permission, own property without permission, and travel without permission.

Why would we casually create a system in which buying food requires institutional permission?

Money is more than an accounting instrument. It is the mechanism through which a person converts labor into choices. Whoever controls access to those choices exercises tremendous power over him. Cash limits that power.

It allows a father to place twenty dollars in his son’s hand.

It allows a church member to help a struggling family quietly.

It allows a homeless man to buy a meal.

It allows someone escaping an abusive home to keep emergency funds outside an account another person controls.

It allows Americans to participate in economic life when technology fails or institutions reject them.

Cash may be old-fashioned, but freedom is old-fashioned too.

We should be careful about discarding either one.

A cashless society does not eliminate money. It transforms money from something a person possesses into something an institution permits him to access. Every citizen can become one accusation, one error, one outage, or one policy change away from economic paralysis.

Cash is not merely paper, but truly, a fundamental freedom.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/07/cash-is-a-fundamental-freedom/