The Official Substack Of Brandon Richey Podcast

Brandon Richey
  • 4.0 (2)
  • Health & Fitness

A map for helping you and those around you to be a zenith during chaotic times. brandonrichey.substack.com

  1. 6d ago

    The Unmooring of the Occident

    “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” ― George Orwell The Father of Modern Experimental Optics, Sir David Brewster, invented the kaleidoscope in 1816. A kaleidoscope is an instrument that reflects images of designed colored glass that forms symmetrical patterns that one can observe through a viewer. The kaleidoscope illustrates image-forming properties of a series of combined inclined mirrors reflecting the properties of an object that is positioned inside the instrument in order to form the symmetrical patterns. Essentially, the visual product formed by the kaleidoscope functions off the reflections of reflections of the object that’s placed inside. The word kaleidoscope is Greek in origin and the translated meaning is the observation of beautiful forms. What defines a reflection? A reflection is essentially an exact copy of the object being reflected that’s facing the wrong direction. Understanding this principle it’s easy to see how a kaleidoscope leverages its use of reflection in the same way as a hall of mirrors. In short, a kaleidoscope is essentially a miniature hall of mirrors offering the reflection of an object that is actually facing the opposite direction than it really is. The Dark Studio will come back to address this concept a bit later on in this briefing as a reminder that reality isn’t always what it seems. In the current societal environment even a casual observer has been able to look across the cultural and political landscape and understand that there’s a sickness that has gradually infected society over the last several years. If the casual observer happens to be a part of Generation X, then that observer has lived long enough to see the degradation of talent, loss of beauty, and the slow rot of creative content in recent years. As an example, until recently, the Gen X casual observer could look across the cultural landscape of mainstream films and wonder how many more superhero movies Hollywood could possibly make. The same casual observer could also easily question how many more old movies the Hollywood machine could remake. Additionally, in terms of the music industry, casual observers could question how many more so-called musical artists could Auto-Tune a low quality melody or include the blend of older songs into the production of new music. The overarching point is that the status of being an operational zenith wasn’t a necessary requirement for the casual observer and the societal midwit to take notice of the obvious content and creativity void that society has experienced for the last several years. More specifically, whether that Gen X observer is a zenith operator or not, this generation has lived long enough to remember the relevance of their original culture while witnessing its obvious decline firsthand. However, while most can spot cultural rot, the difference is that Gen X sovereign operators actually possess the ability to diagnose why that rot occurred in the first place. In short, the growing signs of cultural rot are clear symptoms of Marxist infiltration. The Dark Studio is focusing its cultural case study on Gen X because during the 1980s, this generation experienced an explosion of Americana deeply embedded into the films and music of their childhood. As a result, this cultural footprint uniquely positions Gen X into this current study and examination to pinpoint the cause of the decay of the current cultural landscape. When diagnosing the downgraded shift in American culture, a zenith operator understands that while the decline is widespread, the underlying institutional rot is driven strictly by the infestation of Marxist ideals. Marxists understand the power of influence through culture, therefore it’s no mistake that the cultural influence of music, film, and television were firmly placed into the crosshairs by these nefarious activists. This is why the role of examining Gen X in today’s discussion is so vital as Gen X experienced a heightened culture of Americanism throughout their childhood development that was in complete opposition to the slow cultural rot that American society has experienced now for the last several years. Marxists have always embraced the playbook of infiltration. As a fundamental law of this ideology, the central tenet involving the psychological belief structure of these radicals directly hinges on the deadly sins of envy and pride. Because these radicals are trapped inside their own worship of self-arrogance, they are incapable of any flexibility in terms of establishing reasonable parameters of how other individuals, or a society in opposition to them, should live their lives. Pride and envy serve as the core psychological tenets of this ideological framework. This is the case since advocates of this ideology are completely incapable of producing organic value or capturing hearts and minds within a free marketplace of ideas. As a result, the movement inevitably resorts to systemic force and coercion. Driven by envy and pride, they gain support from others who share their worship of self-arrogance and suffer from those very same vices. “How do you tell a Communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.” ― Ronald Reagan The result of such a belief structure is what drives the Marxist to engage in the act of infiltrating the institutions of society. Such institutional infiltration occurs in education, media, and public office. Granted, the main target of infiltration concerning the Marxist infiltrator occurs inside the classroom. However, despite traditional Marxist efforts to infiltrate classrooms, the inevitable degeneration of their applied philosophy always manifests as symptoms of rot throughout the culture first. When the symptoms of this rot advance to a severe enough stage, this is when even the casual Gen X observer is able to take notice. There’s a significant reason that the Marxist infiltrator chooses to pursue institutional dominance and that reason for the Marxist is to destroy the heartbeat that’s central to the survival of the United States. The metaphorical gun that they use to place that heartbeat into their crosshairs is the classroom, the media, and the culture, but the bullet that they fire at the heart for the kill shot is the act of demoralization. Decay The Marxist infiltrator understands that the survival of the Republic is built on a foundation of faith. Therefore, in order to destroy the Republic, the Marxist infiltrator understands that they must act to destroy that faith. The Dark Studio previously noted how the symptoms of Marxist rot will begin to show up in the culture before that rot starts to migrate from the classroom and manifest throughout the business and economic environment of everyday life. In studying the lived documented human experience through the vertical lens of history, one can observe that systemic rot typically occurs gradually until it reaches the stage of critical mass, where from this point it happens virtually overnight. This timeframe was well documented in The Age of the Zenith Patriot. Even though the symptoms of this rot can be noticed in the culture by the casual observer, what most fail to realize at this stage is that the deep infiltration is already very present in the theater of academia. The reason for the Marxist infiltration throughout academia is multi-faceted, but the main reason is to revise, destroy, and lie about the history of the nation. Once again, remember that the central psychological tenet of the Marxist ideology is driven by pride and envy. Therefore, since the Marxist infiltrator is driven solely by self-pride, they cannot win over hearts and minds; instead, they must engage in demoralizing them. The Marxist actions of demoralization are prevalent throughout much of history. Speaking of history, this is the first target that Marxist infiltrators place into their crosshairs. Marxists always attack the foundational history of a nation because they understand that if they can revise the history to suit their narrative that the public will come to reject the very nation that they live in. Marxists understand that the history of a civilization is what connects and grounds its citizens to everything they hold sacred in their homeland. Therefore, they understand that if they can create a rift between the native citizen and their history that this will detach that citizen from their beloved civilization. If the demoralization campaign is successful, the Marxist understands this detachment will unmoor the citizenry from everything they loved and previously held sacred about their home. This is the current dilemma facing the Occident (the West) right now, but ironically enough much of this rot is something that can be learned from the Orient (the East), and, in fact, is actually being driven by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Dark Studio has previously covered the fact that prior to the box office hit Top Gun: Maverick hitting theaters back on May 27th, 2022, that there was a financial disturbance that occurred between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) tech giant Tencent and Paramount. When the initial trailer for Maverick was released in 2019, keen observers noticed that Maverick’s bomber jacket no longer bore the Taiwan and Japan flags and were replaced with some ambiguous symbols that contained similar colors. Given the fact that Tencent initially had a 12.5% stake in the film, many commentators regarded this as a direct act of censorship. The fact remains that Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province and denies acknowledging them as a legitimate state while seeking to deny them this recognition throughout the rest of the international community. Ultimately, the flags on Maverick’s jacket were restored in the final version after Tencent de

  2. Jul 7

    The Age of the Zenith Patriot

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit brandonrichey.substack.com Keep in mind that today's Dark Studio production will only be available in full length if you are a member of the Zenith Vanguard. However, you will get a preview today if you haven't accessed the vault just yet. To access today's episode in full length and to Upgrade To Zenith Status, make sure that you go to brandonrichey.substack.com if you haven't already. There you can access my Exclusive Zenith Catalog, which is a superior navigational tool that quickly and easily allows you to access and prioritize four years of my most powerful tactical insights with ease. This is the cognitive hardware that will help you to excel in every arena of your life! “Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.” –Luke 8:35 Nature is both a brutal and fascinating teacher. When examining a major storm such as a hurricane or typhoon the anatomy of such a phenomenon is something to behold. Whenever one is able to successfully endure the first phase of the storm the mysterious introduction of an eerie calm is exposed with what is recognized as the eye of the storm. When a hurricane hits landfall the eye can be a more pleasant experience compared to one that encounters this portion of the storm at sea. Given that the storm draws its energy from the warm ocean water, the land starts to bleed energy off from the storm the further it moves inland. When making a functional comparison of the eye of the storm on stable land compared to the eye of the storm at sea one could say that the presence of land serves to be a source of stability in terms of calming the turbulent waters. The Dark Studio will return to analyze this phenomenon a bit more later in this briefing. Reality doesn’t solely deal in measures of applied theory when it comes to the sound function of a society. The reason for this is due to the unpredictable element of human nature. No matter the greatness of a battle plan, institutional collapse doesn’t happen overnight from a single catastrophic failure, but rather through the slow, incremental compounding actions of minor moral and operational compromises. The failure of a plan, a political party, or an ideology isn’t solely determined by the plan itself but, rather, is determined by the actors who are in position to execute that plan. To inject some clarity, today The Dark Studio is going to demonstrate why certain economic and social theories never work unless the correct people are injected into the formula for the desired chemical reaction to occur. The significance of the MAGA populist movement is that it goes beyond the surface-level diagnosis involved with recognizing widespread global institutional corruption. The central tenet of the MAGA coalition is that it’s the most intellectual, the most informed, and the most engaged political movement in world history. Given the pandemic of global institutional rot, MAGA understands that governments, ideologies, and plans will completely succeed or fail solely based on the individuals that exist and work within those institutions. True MAGA understands how the evidence of history clearly details this by demonstrating how small unified group minorities have managed to consistently overthrow the majorities who have held power within various governmental systems over time. The evidence of this was clearly demonstrated by the Bolsheviks who did this by overthrowing the Russian Provisional Government in 1917. In 1933 the Nazis demonstrated this when they took power and dismantled Germany’s democratic, constitutional Weimar Republic. In 1966, Mao’s Red Guard demonstrated this with the overthrow of the entrenched, moderate bureaucracy of the Chinese Communist Party after successfully mobilizing a significant number of radical youths. An operational zenith understands how dangerous a concentrated and relentless minority can be to an established ruling majority based on the evidence of history outlined here. An operational zenith also recognizes the failures of those ruling majorities when examining the comparative metrics of those circumstances compared to the circumstances that exist across the political landscape of the nation today. MAGA was once that governmental minority tasked with infiltrating an established system already ruined by Marxist corruption creep and longstanding established political grifters. However, the goal of MAGA has always been a goal of restoration, whereas the goals of those other minorities outlined in history were all about destructionism. Upon a closer dissection of the nefarious elements concerning the Bolsheviks, the Nazis, and Mao’s Red Guard, there’s a common denominator that surfaces to reveal the secret to their success. Granted, there was a manifestation of events that certainly cultivated an environmental architecture that allowed these movements to get a foothold, but the real reason they were able to persist hinged on another factor that will be revealed in today’s briefing. Andrew Breitbart famously stated that “Politics is downstream from culture.” Given the prophetic accuracy of this statement, what was the real cause of the rise of the Bolsheviks, the Nazis, and Mao’s Red Guard? Furthermore, what impact could the cataclysmic diffusion of support have had during the historic rise of these regimes, along with society’s current entanglement with the battles associated with institutional capture? If you are a free-tier spectator attempting to test-drive this architecture from the sidelines, you are actively denying yourself the raw cognitive acceleration that’s currently fueling the Zenith Vanguard. If you have spent weeks white-knuckling the free tier and building up a mountain of instructional debt, then you’ve been behaving more like a talker than a doer. Overcoming institutional capture and fast-tracking the problem-solving outcomes that impact your sovereignty requires an immediate, intentional financial investment in peak strategic intelligence. Deliberation is valuable up to a point, but deliberating your way out of access to daily applied intelligence is an act of self-sabotage. You’re never going to maintain your sovereignty as a Zenith Patriot by relying on a Wal-Mart budget and leaving a peak intelligence asset locked behind the gate. Stop trying to hold onto the pattern of stasis and upgrade to the annual membership now for a $50 or $210 commitment.

  3. Jun 23

    Peril

    Remember that today's episode is highlighting the problem associated with how large-scale institutions leverage the diffusion of responsibility. However, my next hardware drop The Age of the Zenith Patriot will include the cognitive solution you need to accelerate through your environment as an operational zenith. In order to gain access to this episode once it goes live, along with four years of my tactical knowledge, make sure you go to brandonrichey.substack.com if you haven't already. There you can Upgrade To Zenith Status and take advantage of my Exclusive Zenith Catalog, which is a superior navigational tool that enables you to easily and rapidly search and prioritize all of my tactical insights with ease. “One day the last portrait of Rembrandt and the last bar of Mozart will have ceased to be — though possibly a colored canvas and a sheet of notes will remain — because the last eye and the last ear accessible to their message will have gone.” ― Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, Vol 1: Form and Actuality When examining a recent Quinnipiac University poll there’s a clear divide that’s expanding throughout the nation. The poll covered many topics, but examining the area concerning national pride is where the divide within the country starts to become glaringly apparent. When investigating the question concerning whether Americans consider themselves to be proud Americans, the first sample of participants in the poll involving the breakdown of young adults signals a big flashing red problem. For example, of 18 to 34 year olds: 56 percent say yes, where a staggering 37 percent say no. This is the group that signals the biggest flashing red problem. When examining 35 to 49 year olds: 71 percent say yes, where 23 percent say no. The 50 to 64 year olds: 80 percent say yes, while 17 percent say no. Finally, when examining ages 65 and over: 91 percent say yes, while 7 percent say no. A Zenith Operator looks at this poll and immediately sees this growing divide as a clear symptom of the existing tug-of-war that’s going on with the current competing revolutions that are aggressively trying to establish a foothold on power within the country. In examining the numbers from the poll, the one metric that highlights where that divide is at its greatest directly identifies the younger adult sample from 18-to-34-year-olds, where 37 percent say they are not proud to be Americans. This concerning number flashes caution while the reason must be investigated to accurately pinpoint the cause behind this statistical alarm to be accurately diagnosed. Aside from the heavy indoctrination that this age group has been subjected to for most of their lives, the other diagnosable pattern concerning the development of this sentiment among this age group can be directly attributed to cultural, economic, and political stagnation. How does stagnation factor into this? The Dark Studio will initiate the investigation to answer this by first examining the younger demographic from the Quinnipiac University poll. To begin, the oldest segment of that group was born as early as 1992. Therefore, this segment spent the 1990s and 2000s in the childhood stage of development before entering the workforce. Notably, the 9/11 terrorist attack occurred right as the oldest of this segment reached the age of nine. Therefore, in the years of childhood development, this oldest segment of the population was immediately faced with incoming war and the prospect of financial calamity. Furthermore, the events kicking off this generation resulted in ongoing war. In just seven short years following 9/11, these young families also endured the housing bubble burst and the devastating financial headwinds of the Great Recession. As an observation of reality, the national prospect of accelerated decline was set into motion as this age demographic was entering their 16th year of existence into a rapidly changing world. Granted, at age 16, this future workforce was just a few short years from pursuing careers and wealth inside an economic paradigm already sliding towards decline—a system steadily plagued by diminishing opportunities for those seeking financial reward through merit. Given the reality of what has been learned in recent years concerning Bush and Obama’s participation in the controlled decline of the nation, this segment of the population has been largely subjected to higher costs of living, advanced Marxist social engineering, and a significant spike in divorce rates since 2008 according to the PEW Research Center. Where exactly does the prospect of stagnation fit into this arena? The origin of the stagnation can be blamed on a variety of political and cultural issues that have been the direct result of stagnant and counterproductive leadership. The Dark Studio has already established part of this with the mention of the role of Obama and Bush in the managed decline of the nation. The only thing productive associated with the act of managed decline is the success of inviting peril. The aiding of the act of managing decline is not a productive act, but rather a counterproductive act in the context of this architecture concerning the preservation of liberty. Stagnation from leadership is defined as any policy or action that fails to advance the strength of a nation and the security of liberty. The antithesis of this is leadership participating in the managed decline of the nation while referring to such action as duty. Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same. –Job 4:8 The Battle of Athens The parameters of human performance are necessary to examine before understanding the baseline motivations for why certain outcomes manifest throughout society due to the actions and inactions of participants that live, work, and play within the confines of a given society. Given that previous statement, in the realm of fitness and human performance a plyometric is a form of exercise that conditions the muscles to produce maximum power output in the shortest amount of time. This physical training modality—often referred to as jump training—is mechanically leveraged by a trainee by engaging in explosive athletic movements. Such movements are necessary for the purpose of initiating a rapid muscular contraction known as the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC). In examining the mechanical phase of the SSC, maximum contractile force is achieved by first forcing the muscle into its stretching phase (eccentric phase) and then rapidly shortening it (concentric phase), immediately triggering a natural reflex that maximizes force output. Sound execution of the SSC is central for achieving explosive muscular output. However, when engaging in the SSC, forceful muscular contraction can be diminished, or even compromised, if a trainee fails to properly perform the SSC. Numerous factors can be considered when evaluating the failure of a plyometric movement. However, a common culprit in the failure of a trainee’s attempt to perform the SSC can often point to the bleeding of force output during the amortization phase of the SSC. What is involved with the amortization phase of a plyometric exercise? It’s already been established that the key muscular contractions involved during the stretch-shortening cycle include the eccentric phase (stretching) and the concentric phase (shortening). This analysis of the SSC is accurate, but is structurally incomplete. In dissecting the SSC, a closer examination reveals a brief transitional phase that exists between the stretching and shortening phase of the muscle during the contraction cycle. This brief transitional phase is what is known as the amortization phase. This brief phase is a critical component of the SSC because the length of time that is involved within this phase determines the level of force output for a given plyometric event. To achieve maximal force output the amortization phase must be as brief as possible. The greater amount of time that is spent in the amortization phase directly results in diminishing power output, rendering the plyometric attempt useless. In short, an extended amortization phase is the functional, real-world equivalent to hesitation, and hesitation is merely a form of stasis, or stagnation, in the context of overall performance. Looking at the current zeitgeist, all the problems associated with society are the result of human nature. Logically, such a highlighted assessment is apparent to the majority of analytical thinkers. Yet, civilizational devastation doesn’t solely manifest at the hands of ignorant, or nefarious actors. Historically, peril is also invited to walk through the front door due to the inactive state of those who comprehend the dangers, but remain static by resting on their laurels. At times, inaction is as hazardous as action itself. Just like a plyometric event, too long of pause or period of inaction leads to a compromised attempt to produce force for the purpose of achieving an intended outcome. Just as an extended amortization phase bleeds out force production while attempting to execute a plyometric event, the extended state of pause, or stasis, concerning well-informed citizens bleeds out force production for meaningful social change when faced with the prospect of societal ruin. The Dark Studio is now going to highlight the danger of prolonged stasis. Just recently the Los Angeles mayoral race just took place with the apparently less popular top two candidates allegedly winning out over the more popular and reasonable reality TV star, Spencer Pratt. This occurred after late mail-in ballots continued to be counted for about a week after the election took place, while showing virtually none of the late count breaking in favor of the fresh new challenger Spencer Pratt. This prolonged stasis in Los Angeles stems from traditional inaction and a lack of civic acumen, allowing a large-scale corruption creep to facilitate

  4. Jun 9

    The Forensic Assassin of Ideology

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit brandonrichey.substack.com Keep in mind that today's Dark Studio production will only be available in full length if you are a member of the Zenith Vanguard. However, you will get a preview today if you haven't accessed the vault just yet. To access today's episode in full length and to Upgrade To Zenith Status, make sure that you go to brandonrichey.substack.com if you're not already there. There you can access my Exclusive Zenith Catalog, which is a superior navigational tool that quickly and easily allows you to access and prioritize four years of my most powerful and tactical insights with ease. This is the cognitive hardware that will help you to excel in every arena of your life! And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. –Exodus 3:2 The rise of the MAGA populist movement has not been an accident. When looking at the consistent repetition of failed policies over the course of the last half-century from both Democrats and Republicans, it’s obvious that the decline of the country hasn’t solely been the result of incompetence but, rather, it’s been intentional. The range of issues involving the destruction of sovereignty, the devaluation of the currency, the endless wars, election fraud, and the erosion of benefits concerning what it means to be a United States citizen, all point to a well-planned and intentional effort to destroy the United States of America. A big part involving this strategy of destructionism points directly to a sociological plan known as the Cloward-Piven Strategy. This strategy was previously discussed in an older episode. The excerpt from that briefing is included here below and covers the three steps that are involved with this strategy. * Mass mobilization: This part of the strategy basically encourages a large number of eligible individuals to all simultaneously apply for welfare benefits in an attempt to create an overwhelming systemic overload. * Crisis creation: By engaging in the process of an across-the-board effort to overwhelm the welfare system this part of the strategy is aimed at causing a fiscal and operational crisis which would demonstrate the inadequate nature of existing social policies. * Policy change: The thought process here is that by causing enough chaos with the existing institutions, it would lead the government into a position where they are forced to address the crisis through significant policy reforms. This would ultimately result in a more centralized communist type of control over the system involving a larger social safety net. Isolating this mechanism concerning the Cloward-Piven Strategy means to reveal the primary operational framework that’s fueling this systemic destructionism. The widespread grift embedded within the political class cannot be observed as mere transactional corruption—it functions as the explicit fuel source for this issue of administrative capture. The permanent survival of this administrative rot across both federal and state architectures relies entirely on the mechanics of the Panopticon Effect. The philosophical application of this architecture defines the exact psychological matrix that allows the modern surveillance state to function. The panopticon effect does not bargain with passive observation. If you are a free-tier spectator attempting to test-drive this architecture from the sidelines, you are actively denying yourself the raw cognitive acceleration currently fueling the Zenith Vanguard. You have spent weeks rolling this intelligence around the parking lot like a casual golf cart, while the uniformed operators inside the inner room are out on the open intellectual highway—forcefully putting the raw, fire-breathing horsepower of this high-performance machine to the absolute test. To remain a bystander is to choose personal stasis within the panopticon. To place yourself directly in the driver’s seat of this information warfare apparatus requires a definitive structural commitment. Bypassing the paywall gate requires an annual $50 standard investment or an unyielding $210 premium upgrade to unlock the full, restricted architecture of the Exclusive Zenith Catalog. Secure your station below. Clear your deficit.

  5. May 26

    Friction

    Remember that today’s episode is highlighting the problem, but my next hardware drop, The Forensic Assassin of Ideology, will contain the cognitive solution you need to accelerate through your environment as an Operational Zenith.  In order to gain immediate access to this episode once it goes live, along with 4 years of my tactical knowledge, make sure you Upgrade To Zenith Status Here.  Once you’ve made the upgrade you can take advantage of my Exclusive Zenith Catalog, which is a superior navigational tool that enables you to easily and rapidly search and prioritize all of my premium tactical insights with ease.  Join the rest of the Zenith Vanguard Now to gain full access. “A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.” ― Seneca Human nature is a very strange phenomenon. Between life experience and stories from the past, there’s certainly no shortage of intrigue and insanity surrounding the experience that we normally refer to as human nature. After all, the whole concept of human nature is a mystery because the entirety of the human race in which this concept references often serves to be a constant contradiction. I mean on one hand, people are unpredictable while simultaneously being very predictable. As an example, people can react to one situation with a surprisingly positive deference, but when faced with the same scenario again at a different time, they can demonstrate complete defiance. However, as strange as this sounds, people are generally fairly predictable up until the point that they aren’t. So, with that being said, what typically causes people to be unpredictable? Generally speaking, I believe one good explanation for this can be chalked up to what I would usually recognize as the concept of friction. I say this because when people are faced with hardship, that adversity will either stall out their momentum in life by causing them to implode, rather than choosing to face and overcome the resistance they encounter concerning that initial friction. Granted, friction can also change variables, and variables can, at times, present different challenges depending on the time that they are introduced. You see, in physics the only thing that can overcome friction is the increase of an externally applied force. If force is not applied then the friction will always slow down an object and eventually bring that object to a stop. This is true in physics, as well as across an array of other decisions when overcoming the friction of adversity in life, when wrestling with whether to make certain key investments, and with always involving other big important life decisions. I know you know this to be true. I want you to hold onto this for the moment while I shift gears to talk about how the friction of life can cause people to engage in some of the most insane behavior. Granted, if you’re a regular to this show then you’re no stranger to understanding just how insane life can get as a result of human nature. After all, when speaking to the oddities of human nature, you and I are both old enough to remember seeing people out at public restaurants lifting and lowering their masks between bites to eat a sandwich. We both know that we don’t have to look any further than the pandemic to understand that a potential level of strange behavior definitely exists. Two Tales of Friction In the world of human interaction, friction can cause some people to not follow through on action, while it ends up driving others directly into action. Granted, some friction is necessary to avoid, but there are other types of life friction that simply cannot be ignored. I want to begin by highlighting two different tales involving the friction of life and show you how that friction can derive two totally different responses and outcomes from people. The key component here is to keep in mind that none of us are immune to the friction of life. Now, I want to take you back in time to examine an unusual case concerning an individual that was faced with significant friction, but allowed that friction to slow him down and stall him out in the most bizarre and shocking kind of way. In August of 1392, a 23-year-old King Charles VI rode out ahead of his army on an expedition. At this point, the young king was already feeling the presence of friction as he was paranoid about traitors within his circle. To make matters even worse, the purpose of this expedition was to try and track down an individual who had attacked and nearly killed his close friend. Revenge was weighing on Charles VI, so friction was already present in the young man’s mind. As his army rode along and finally exited the forest an exhausted page boy accidentally dropped his steel lance and the loud clanking startled the hyper-vigilant king. At this point Charles drew his sword and entered into a blind frenzy resulting in him brutally slaughtering four of his own knights. By the time it was over Charles had fallen into a multi-day coma. He psychologically never recovered from the guilt and horror of his actions on that day. However, as bad as that was for the young king, the friction of life was still not finished with him. It was only about five months later when another violent trauma occurred during a masquerade celebration. At this event Charles and five other of his high ranking nobles dressed as “wild men” donning highly flammable linen costumes that were soaked in pitch and flax. During this event an onlooker with a torch got too close to the men and the costumes instantly ignited. Charles only survived the catastrophe because his aunt, the Duchess of Berry, threw her heavy skirts over him to smother the flames before they could spread any further. However, Charles had to watch in total horror as four of his closest companions burned to death directly in front of him at the center of the gathering. Sadly, these two back-to-back catastrophes ended up permanently fracturing the king’s psyche. It was at this point that something unusual took place with the king as his severe paranoia developed into what is now referred to as the famous glass delusion. If you’re not familiar with this condition, it relates to how the king believed that he was made of glass. It has been said that the condition was so real to the king that he even had his royal tailor sew iron rods into the lining of his clothes. Even though the king obviously felt there was no escape from this, he apparently only ended up in this predicament due to his deficit of intuition. Historians and psychologists have pointed out that this condition of glass delusion was essentially a coping mechanism in order to protect his deeply traumatized, “fragile” sense of self. In short, King Charles VI tragically surrendered his sovereignty over to the life friction of fear. It was bad enough that the young king had experienced trauma, but the fact that he surrendered his mind and identity over to the glass delusion added another layer of tragedy to the story of his life. Looking at the life of King Charles VI there’s no doubt that the friction of fear was the ultimate symptom of destructionism. Now, I want to take a moment to shift to a different story to address another case where the friction of life showed up to try and grind another man’s momentum to a halt. It was the year 1095 and the rapid conquest and expansion of the Seljuk Turkish forces into Anatolia was successful in shattering the Byzantine defenses. The goal of this Islamic conquest under the Seljuk Turks was to strip Christendom of vast territories, which, in turn, prompted Pope Urban II to issue a historic call to arms at the Council of Clermont. On the heels of the Pope’s call to arms, and with the Islamic conquests engaging in severe and violent brutality across the Holy Land, a tall blonde Norman giant with Viking blood, heard the Pope’s rallying cry and he viewed it as his personal call to divine destiny. This blonde giant’s name was Bohemond I, and he immediately decided to journey east to create some friction of his own by engaging the Seljuk Turks, aiming to grind their violent conquest to a screeching halt. As it turns out, Bohemond was driven by a fierce, militant Christian devotion. This was significant because after engaging the Seljuk Turkish forces in eight grueling months of wall warfare, Bohemond’s will and his faith would be put to the test. The friction of life was very present here for Bohemond and his men. The suffering was immense as Bohemond and his forces had to endure the harshest conditions involving severe weather, disease, and death. The walls would prove to be too difficult to breach, but what Bohemond was unable to overcome by force, he managed to accomplish through his cunning. Late in the evening around midnight of June 2, 1098 Bohemond was successful in enacting a secret pact with Firouz, a disgruntled tower commander from within the city. As a result of this pact, Bohemond was able to convince Firouz to drop a rope over the side of the wall allowing the Crusaders to finally scale it. Once Bohemond’s Norman knights were inside they slit the throats of the guards and they were able to quickly sling open the city gates from within. The Crusader army rushed inside like a tsunami and conquered the Muslim garrison by dawn. However, the victory celebration on this mission would be short-lived as a massive Muslim relief army under the command of Kerbogha surrounded the city managing to trap the exhausted Crusaders inside. It appeared that the build up of more friction was facing the Crusaders once again. However, the strong-willed Christian viking Bohemond would not be denied. In a single bold decision, Bohemond ordered a desperate, all-or-nothing attack charging his men out of the gates. Bohemond himself was clad in iron and riding ahead of the vanguard. His towering frame and leadership was essential in rallying his starving knights straight to victor

  6. May 12

    The Apex of the Universal Man

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit brandonrichey.substack.com Keep in mind that today's episode will only be available in full length if you are a member of the Zenith Vanguard. However, you will get a preview today if you haven't accessed the vault just yet. To access today's episode in full length and to Upgrade to Zenith Status, make sure you go to brandonrichey.substack.com if you're not already there. If you're listening on Spotify or Apple make sure you click here to uniform up. Once you're on my Substack you can access my Exclusive Zenith Catalog, which is a superior navigational tool that quickly and easily allows you to access and prioritize four years of my most powerful and tactical insights with ease. This is the cognitive hardware that will help you to excel in every arena of your life! “The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.” ― William Francis Butler, Biography-Charles George Gordon The 15th century brought about a rebirth throughout Europe where art, science, and literature were pursued and reborn into the zeitgeist of the time. This period of time involved an energetic pursuit of knowledge and a widespread revival of learning throughout the region, particularly in Italy. This energetic movement produced a series of personalities and their works that we commonly cite today, ranging from the art of Leonardo da Vinci to the drama of William Shakespeare and the exploration of Christopher Columbus. This time period involving the rebirth of knowledge has been commonly referred to as the Renaissance. Given this descriptive moniker, this is also the reason why, not that long ago, it wasn’t uncommon to hear others refer to a man that possessed a wide knowledge base as a Renaissance man. In this modern day, the idea of a Renaissance man has largely been forgotten in society due to the social construct surrounding indoctrination over education, the hard push for specialization, and the labels of victimhood status due to the social engineering efforts of the cultural Marxists. However, there is another revival taking place these days with about a third of the population, concerning the pursuit of wisdom, knowledge, and, most importantly, with many that are in a pursuit to develop a relationship with the greatest Renaissance man of all, Jesus. When looking at the life of the son of God, there’s nobody anywhere in any history book that compares to the overwhelming knowledge and wisdom of Jesus. Granted, King Solomon was impressive in his knowledge during the peak of his rule over the kingdom of Israel, but even he never possessed the level of wisdom that Jesus had brought to earth while also sustaining the honor of God’s statutes throughout his entire life. After all, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) You see, the difference with Jesus is that He is the metric of where the truth is anchored and that is literally what makes all the difference. Given the current times, this is the most critical metric because in our postmodern society, truth is said to be relative. After all, when the truth is viewed as something that’s relative, society starts to fracture on agreement with everything due to the fact that there’s no agreement on anything. This is because nothing is accepted as a universal explanation across every spectrum. As a result, in this type of world, deception settles in and absurd beliefs take hold, such as the belief that the earth is flat, that men can become women, and that women can become men. For the postmodern victim, every narrative is questioned as objective truth, but the problem is that this traps the postmodern victim into a paradox where they are questioning every narrative of objective truth while expecting their own assertions to be understood as true. So, aside from his miracles, what was it that made Jesus stand out regarding his wisdom during his time here on earth with his disciples? Well, there are many examples, but for the purpose of today’s discussion I want to point out how the Lord taught by speaking in parables. He did this because a parable enabled him to more accurately convey a message to his people in a way that was relatable through life experience. However, for him to have been able to do this he would have had to have a wide range of knowledge and skills in order to effectively convey the meaning behind the stories that he told because those stories had to be relatable. Effectively conveying impactful meaning requires wisdom, which stems from applied knowledge anchored in diverse life experiences and a deep understanding of those experiences. This is the level of wisdom that Jesus has and it’s the only place to develop a discerning heart and mind to decipher truth from fiction. This is why Jesus is the greatest Renaissance man of all, because aside from being the son of God, he also had a vast set of knowledge and skills from carpentry, philosophy, theology, and his ability to captivate an audience with his edifying gift of speech. However, whenever you and I need to acquire understanding and discernment in order to navigate the current arena of information for the purpose of safeguarding our lives and the lives of those we care about the most, we cannot afford to be lacking in the Organizational Hierarchy of Thought. So, what is involved in the Organizational Hierarchy of Thought and what did Jesus understand about this cognitive process when communicating to the people in the New Testament? Furthermore, how does the Organizational Hierarchy of Thought work to help you to see through the proscenium of deception when you hear something that just doesn’t seem truthful and honest? “Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.” ― Aristotle To discover how this cognitive process works bypass the paywall now and uniform up with the $50 annual commitment. Settle your debt and join the Zenith Vanguard Now!

  7. May 1

    The Destruction of Human Agency

    “Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.” ― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty It was October 30, 1938 when Orson Welles took to the airways to broadcast a radio program that would cause widespread local panic. The broadcast involved a radio drama based off of the book by H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. The show sent a harrowing signal across the airways that alien monsters from Mars had landed in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey and had commenced an invasion of the countryside. According to the broadcast the Martians had deployed their gigantic tripods in order to wage an otherworldly form of military attack on innocent civilians. The episode reportedly caused a panic among a significant portion of the population. One account involved some listeners a long way from New Jersey at the opposite end of the country in Concrete, Washington, who felt the need to literally run for the hills on horseback in order to hide in the nearby mountains due to the frightening program. Granted, there are some questions as to just how much hysteria the radio drama caused as some say the 1938 panic was a bit over exaggerated by the newspaper headlines. Now, keep in mind that radio was a new and rising phenomenon itself back during that time. Therefore, some suggest that the newspaper companies had deliberately played up the irresponsibility of the radio broadcasters in an attempt to discredit this new medium, which was already threatening the longstanding monopoly of the printed newspaper. Regardless of the amount of panic that took place as a result of the drama, Welles managed to successfully leverage a significant enough amount of power with his story that the response captured enough attention for the newspapers to fill their headlines—whether that was due to significant panic or for the purpose of attempting to slander Orson Welles. The point here is that the message that was flowing across the airways was obviously effective in terms of producing the intended emotional response. You see, I want you to think about this in terms of the differences in the delivery of the broadcast from that time compared to today. In other words, during that time in 1938 there were fewer broadcasts that were blasted out over the airways, but there was a more focused listening audience concerning the public. Conversely, today the circumstances are reversed; whereas nowadays there are tons of broadcasts blasted out over the airways while there is a much less focused listening and viewing audience concerning the public. Additionally, during The War of the Worlds radio event many of the listeners tuned in right as the main part of the show was starting, but the 1938 panic occurred because many of those people tuned in too late to hear the opening disclaimer. To make matters even worse, because many of those people were late to the show, they allowed the fear of the message to strip away their ability to discern what was really happening, placing them into a reactive state of hysteria due to The Phantom of Wisdom. I wanted to point this out to illustrate how effectively the proscenium can paint a picture inside the mind of a respective listener, or viewer. This is especially true today as the information war that is raging on is at an all time high as the domestic cultural Marxists and globalists are doing their best to stall out President Trump and the MAGA movement. This is especially obvious with recent woke right podcasters that have come out against the president over this war with Iran. The Current Alien Invaders If you’ve been a consistent reader or listener to this show then you have regularly heard me reference the significance of human agency. I frequently talk about this concept as human agency is part of the central thesis that drives this very Substack. Regardless, I want to take a moment and reiterate the meaning and significance of this phrase before progressing through the rest of this episode. For clarity, human agency involves the capacity of individuals to act independently, to possess the ability to freely make their own choices, and, most importantly, to intentionally influence their own lives and their surrounding environment. In short, your agency requires you to act on your choices. Now, keeping that in mind, I want you to think about our society and ask yourself who is more in favor of advocating for your ability to exercise your human agency, and who is advocating to eliminate it. I want you to keep those two questions in mind as you look at the actions of those who are most critical of the president, the Iran war, and their criticisms of the MAGA movement. Additionally, I want you to recognize that you currently live in a society where you are able to exercise your agency, at least for the time being. Understanding this, I want to shift gears here to point out a common trend that you must be aware of if you care anything about maintaining, or achieving, the status of a high-level operational zenith. The trend that I want to point out to you involves a collection of actions that all detract from any plan that is designed to advance the United States as a leading power in the world. Allow me to begin by pointing to this past week where there was a special election held in the state of Virginia involving the Democrat redistricting referendum that narrowly passed. With this election the Democrats were looking to shift the current 6-5 Democratic edge to a 10-1 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation. Thankfully, for the moment, Virginia Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley slapped an injunction on certifying this election due to the fact that it is unconstitutional. Now, keeping that in mind, you have to understand that whether or not the courts rightfully maintain the position of the unconstitutionality of the procedures surrounding this special election, and even if the election was most likely rigged, the reality is that there were still many Virginia voters that voted in favor of taking away nearly half of the voices of the state. In short, the Virginia voters that voted in favor of this 10-1 redistricting map, just openly advocated for eliminating the ability of others to exercise their agency. Simply put, these voters basically want totalitarianism. So why would they do this? Well, I would argue that these Democrat voters would do this for the same exact reason as those types of Democrat voters would also donate to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). After all, some of the biggest and wealthiest donors to this organization involve names such as George Soros, George Clooney, and Tim Cook. Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past week, a Montgomery, Alabama Grand Jury charged the SPLC with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to conceal money laundering. “The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. The SPLC allegedly used donor money coming into their organization to fund the very hate groups that they espoused to condemn. According to the Office of Public Affairs, between the years of 2014-2023 the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were directly associated with various violent extremist groups. The list of those groups that they funneled money to involved the following: -Klu Klux Klan -United Klans of America -Unite the Right -National Alliance -National Socialist Movement -Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club -National Socialist Party of America (Nazi Party) -American Front Given the state of the world, when you look at the current political environment you just can’t make up this level of insanity. After all, the SPLC had also targeted Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA, labeling them as white supremacists with a report back in May 2025 that was labeled as “The Year in Hate and Extremism.” They included Charlie Kirk in this ‘Hate and Extremism’ report before Kirk was brutally assassinated and afterwards pathetically tried to act as if they were against political violence. Meanwhile, this organization is the perfect example of the firemen that start the fires, given how they run their operation. Just to be clear, that last statement is obviously not meant to be a dig at my firemen. So why would these donors anchor their morals to such a corrupt grifting organization while funneling their dollars to that organization to actually fund the very hate groups that they espouse to despise? Well, if I had to guess, the majority of the SPLC donors are most likely Democrat voters, and even if that isn’t the case, I’ve already established that their biggest donors are Democrat voters. I would surmise that they would be more likely to blindly transform the SPLC into their moral anchor in the same way that Cole Tomas Allen apparently wanted to rationalize his insanely upside-down view of morality by making his attempt at assassinating President Trump his moral anchor. After all, he outlined this in his own manifesto. That’s right, in case you missed it there was another assassination attempt on President Trump this past week at the White House Correspondence Dinner. Given that this was the third attempt on President Trump’s life you’d think that the left would realize that they have a problem with political rhetoric that leads to political violence, but it’s obvious that these Marxists do not care about that, especially when Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about how the First Lady Melania Trump ‘had a glow like an expected widow.’ Of course, Kimmel defended his quote after the first lady publicly came out to call for his firing, claiming that the joke was intended to be a light roast in reference to the president’s age, compared to that of the first lady. Whether Kimmel is telling the truth about this or not is irrelevant. It’s irrelevant because the rhetoric coming from people

  8. Apr 21

    The Dog That Wags the Tail

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit brandonrichey.substack.com Today's episode will only be available in full if you are a member of the Zenith Vanguard, however, you will get a preview so stay tuned. To access today's episode in full length make sure you Upgrade To Zenith Status by going to brandonrichey.substack.com if you're not already there. There you can access my Exclusive Zenith Catalog, which is a superior navigation tool that allows you to quickly and easily access and prioritize four years of my most powerful and tactical insights with surgical ease. This is the Cognitive Hardware that you will help you to excel in every arena of your life! “For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense. But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.” –Ecclesiastes 7:12 As a member of Generation X, I have to take a moment to jump back in time to talk about an epic ‘80s teen action movie that hit the big screen back on June 22, 1984. The popular film that I want to discuss involves a powerful coming-of-age story about a young teenage boy named Daniel LaRusso (played by Ralph Macchio) in the movie The Karate Kid. Now, I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that you’ve seen this movie, but just in case you haven’t I’m going to highlight and summarize the most profound moment of this film here. In the movie, The Karate Kid, Daniel LaRusso is a teenage boy that moves to a new town with his single mom. In the process of moving into their new apartment Daniel meets an interesting old man downstairs named Mr. Miyagi (played by Pat Morita). As it turns out, Mr. Miyagi happens to be the maintenance man that works at the apartment complex where Daniel and his mother move in. As Daniel tries his best to settle into an unfamiliar town and school as the new kid, he immediately starts to encounter problems. For Daniel, these problems manifest with some local kids who end up bullying him; to make matters worse, they also happen to be a part of the Cobra Kai karate dojo. One night Daniel ends up getting chased by these bullies from a Halloween party. Luckily, Mr. Miyagi ends up intervening and having to demonstrate his own elite martial arts skills in order to save Daniel from Johnny Lawrence and the other Cobra Kai students. After this encounter, Daniel is amazed with Mr. Miyagi’s ability to fight off the group. This is when Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi if he can train him so that he can defend himself against the Cobra Kai students. Initially, Mr. Miyagi refuses to train Daniel, but is eventually convinced to do so, agreeing to help Daniel settle the matter by training him to face his bullies at the All Valley Karate Tournament. It’s at this point that Daniel thinks Mr. Miyagi is a bit crazy for agreeing to enroll him in the tournament, but, at the same time, he’s excited that Mr. Miyagi has agreed to train him in the discipline of Okinawan karate. When it’s time for Daniel to show up at Mr. Miyagi’s house to start his training, he’s caught off guard when Mr. Miyagi hands him a couple of sponges and two pails of water while instructing him to wash and wax all of his classic cars. In the process, Mr. Miyagi demonstrates to Daniel how to wax on and wax off by performing an outside in circular motion with his hands to properly do the chore. Once Daniel completed waxing Mr. Miyagi’s cars he was then instructed to sand the floor of Mr. Miyagi’s deck. Again, Daniel’s disappointment clearly shows as Mr. Miyagi demonstrates to him how to perform the opposite movement of wax on, wax off by instead performing an inside-out circular motion with his hands in order to sand the floor of his deck. As Daniel finishes sanding the deck, he’s then asked to paint the tall wooden fence that surrounds Mr. Miyagi’s property. Once again, there’s a very specific technique involved with performing the chore where Daniel is expected to maintain a wrist up, wrist down motion when performing the long paint strokes. Finally, after finishing the fence Daniel is then instructed by Mr. Miyagi to paint his house. Again, the technique was very specific in this chore and involved long side-to-side brush strokes to perform the task. It was clear at this stage of the work Daniel was extremely frustrated and when he sees Mr. Miyagi, preparing to go fishing, Daniel finally snaps and confronts him accusing him of using him for slave labor. It’s at this point that Mr. Miyagi transforms Daniel’s effort in performing these tasks into a demonstration revealing to him that his muscle memory had developed from the work without him even realizing it. In a stunning moment of truth Mr. Miyagi then asks Daniel to show him each movement involved with each of the chores that he had used to perform the tasks around his house. Mr. Miyagi initially gives Daniel a small reminder involved with each technique before asking him to put the movements together in a way that a fighter would perform in a standing ready position. Mr. Miyagi then asks Daniel to show him wax on, wax off, but it’s at this moment that he throws a punch at Daniel after making the request. This results in Daniel quickly reacting to block the punch with the wax on, wax off hand motion involved in the movement. Mr. Miyagi then goes on to demonstrate the same thing to Daniel with the ‘wrist up, wrist down’ paint-the-fence movement, the ‘side-to-side’ paint-the-house movement, and the ‘big circles’ with the sand-the-floor movement. In each demonstration Mr. Miyagi throws a different strike at Daniel with Daniel successfully blocking every strike that Mr. Miyagi throws his way. Mr. Miyagi, having assigned these tasks, ensured that Daniel had mastered the exact neuromuscular motor skills that he needed to subconsciously train the ability to parry the strikes. The power of this was that Daniel had mastered these tasks without the “interference” of conscious thought. The payoff is the result of one of film’s most powerful revelations. When Daniel finally erupts in anger, Miyagi launches a series of strikes in Daniel’s direction. Instinctively, Daniels hands fly into motion successfully deflecting every strike due to the physical movements he had developed from his labor. The stunning look of disbelief that is left on Daniel’s face says it all as he realizes his “chores” were the result of his newly developed skill. This testament of Miyagi’s wisdom leaves Daniel completely astounded as true mastery begins when you don’t even realize that you’re learning. So, what does Daniel’s profound experience with Mr. Miyagi have to do with the Maximalist Strategy, President Trump’s main thesis, and the dominos of falling proxies in today’s big episode reveal? Daniel never realized the profound power of Mr. Miyagi’s wisdom until he had endured the challenge of discipline in carrying out the chores that were placed in front of him. Like Daniel, the chores for you acquiring your wisdom must involve your own discipline of action. If the ‘Wax On, Wax Off’ of the last four years has been your subconscious training, then this is the moment you can finally deflect all the strikes that are flying in your direction. To bypass the Rehoboam Drift and secure the full hardware of the Maximalist Strategy, you must now Uniform Up with an annual $50 commitment. Join the Zenith Vanguard today to authorize your seat and witness exactly how the proxies fall.

See All (138)

Ratings & Reviews

4
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

A map for helping you and those around you to be a zenith during chaotic times. brandonrichey.substack.com

Information