1865: Wide Awakes

LegalEagle (21:53) - The Insane Story of How the Onion Bought InfoWars (and How Alex Jones Is Trying to Steal It Back)

WHCD shooter Cole Tomas Allen — 31yo Caltech grad, Torrance CA teacher — manifesto targeting "pedophile rapist traitor Trump." MSM convention says assassins get THREE names (Lee Harvey Oswald, James Earl Ray, Mark David Chapman, Thomas Matthew Crooks). Within 48 hours, the convention BROKE — every major outlet dropped the middle name. Adam-original observation: when MSM drops middle name fast, that's a tell — soft coverage, de-historicization, narrative protection. Cole Allen identified as Wide Awakes / No Kings / Sunrise Movement — modern far-left fringe. The Wide Awakes themselves date to 1860 — abolitionist anti-slavery shock troops who became Union Army soldiers. Pattern with Luigi Mangione (UHC CEO) + Tyler Robinson (Charlie Kirk) per MS NOW Ken Delaney = "world of unreality bombarded by conspiracy theories." Obama in Christina Aguayo's Dallas reporting: "no one knows the motive" — despite the public 1,000-word manifesto. The denial IS the tell.

KUTV2: MANIFESTO — Suspect in Correspondents' Dinner shooting vowed to target Trump officials

Christina Aguayo: Obama Claims No-One Knows Motive Of Cole Allen, For The Attempted Assassination Of Trump

NewsNation Rich McHugh - Who Are The Wide Awakes (URL TBD — Sam to scout)

MS NOW Ken Delaney - Cole Allen Path Of Radicalization / Mangione + Robinson Pattern (URL TBD — Sam to scout)

Wide Awakes (1860 Republican shock troops) - Wikipedia

<i>Adam closer: That's the show opener. The supercut is the Adam-original observation. The pattern is named on MSNBC. The denial is on tape. We're not opening with Iran. We're opening with the tell.</i>

Hot news: Jeffrey Epstein's suicide note from after his FIRST attempt (July 2019) was recovered — found by his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione (convicted of quadruple homicide), inside a graphic novel, and is currently SEALED by a federal judge as part of Tartaglione's criminal case. Note ended with "Time to say goodbye" with a smiley face. Cellmate burst out in tears. Veracity questions remain — but the cover-up posture is the story.

<i>Adam closer: Suicide note recovered from a quadruple-murderer cellmate, sealed by a federal judge, ends with a smiley face. Choose your own adventure.</i>

PBS NewsHour Friday political-pundits David Brooks + Jonathan Capehart on the WHCD shooting aftermath. Brooks: sense of foreboding for 2028, "two-and-a-half times more progressives say violence justified," names "almost flippant half-thought-through lighthearted nihilism." Capehart pushes back: bigger issue is GUN VIOLENCE SCOURGE (he was AT the dinner, heard five bangs, walked through magnetometers). Two voices, on tape, on PBS, naming the moment from opposite ends.

<i>Adam closer: PBS naming the mood — Brooks calls it nihilism, Capehart calls it gun violence. Both right. Both on PBS. The disagreement is the show.</i>

Rep Anna Paulina Luna (House Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets — same body running JFK / MLK / Epstein) announces next hearing is MK Ultra. May 13 2026. Daily Mail: declassified CIA Project Artichoke (1951-56) files reveal "chilling blueprint to manipulate Americans' minds through covert drugging with vaccines." Then SSRI back-catalog: Hartmann + Dr Peter Breggin (Sep 2013) — SSRI family (Paxil/Prozac/Zoloft) all have suicide-or-homicide associations, "most mass shootings we can track are SSRI-related." Dr David Healy: Reserpine 1950s — cheap generic caused homicidal thoughts, no pharma defended it. SSRIs = same effect, billions of dollars defending. CCHR documentary (Douglas Kennedy, Fox): roll call of school shooters on antidepressants — Kip Kinkel, Elizabeth Bush, Eric Harris on Luvox at Columbine.

<i>Adam closer: The hearing is May 13. The pattern is documented from the 1950s through Columbine through last week. The program has a name. The drugs have names. We named them.</i>

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent walks through Operation Economic Fury — Trump ordered max-pressure last March, Iran currency crisis, secondary sanctions sprinting to the finish line. The Squeeze: $450M IRGC crypto seized, Karg Island standstill, cap wells permanent damage, can't pay proxies — "47 years coming to a STOP." UAE swap-line / dollar-block formation: UAE leaving OPEC, forward crude lower, Venezuela / Ecuador / Nigeria may follow, Abraham Accords adjacent. Sen Coons (D-DE) pushback at hearing: "where does the $14 billion come from?" Bessent: sanctions relief kept gas at $100 not $150, Russia gets a 20% discount.

<i>Adam closer: That's the financial spine. Treasury says 47 years coming to a stop. UAE in the dollar block. Coons asks where the money comes from. The Squeeze is the answer.</i>

Bessent (Larry Kudlow on Fox kicking the question) calls Powell staying on the Board after his Chairmanship a NORM VIOLATION — "insult to Warsh / Bowman / Waller" — worst inflation in 50 years backdrop. Warsh cleared committee, new Fed Chair May 15-16. Then How Money Works explainer on FOMC voting structure (12 voting parties — 7 Governors + 5 of 12 Regional Fed Presidents — Chairman first amongst equals, can be outvoted 11). PBS Wessel (Brookings): board makeup will disagree with Warsh — three Reserve Bank presidents fired shot across the bow. CNBC Roger Ferguson (former Fed VC): MOST DISSENT ON BOARD IN 30 YEARS — three unprecedented dissents on guidance not policy — Warsh "does not have the votes for lowering rates near term."

<i>Adam closer: Powell stays on the board. Warsh confirmed but doesn't have the votes. Most board dissent in 30 years. The Fed succession is happening but the Fed isn't going where the White House wants it.</i>

Iran sends 14-point peace plan via Pakistan in response to US 9-point. Trump on Truth Social: "I cannot imagine the plan will be acceptable" + "they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they've done to humanity." War passes 60-day War Powers Act mark — Trump tells Congress hostilities terminated, deadline DOES NOT APPLY. Trump CONFESSING on tape: "they don't like the word war, and they call it a military operation. Because that way you don't have a war, you don't have legal problems." Sen Susan Collins (R): "the President's authority as Commander-in-Chief is not without limits. That deadline is not a suggestion. It is a requirement." Acting AG Blanche: "completely wrong, not appropriate to say that." Axios: 14-point sets 1-month Hormuz deadline, permanently end war in Iran AND IN LEBANON, then 2nd month for nuclear. ABC/WaPo/Ipsos poll: 62% disapproval (record), MAJORITY say Iran war was a mistake.

<i>Adam closer: Trump confessed on tape. Susan Collins called it. Blanche denied it. Axios put Lebanon in the plan. The poll shows the public is with us. That's the segment.</i>

Trump in Oval Office presser to Forbes-via-Doocy: "Two options on Iran — blast hell out of them, or make a deal. I prefer not. But that's the option." Then: "Iran disjointed. No Navy. No Air Force. No anti-aircraft. No nothing." Adam-validated 0:59 cut. Direct Trump quote spine.

<i>Adam closer: Trump direct. "I prefer not. But that's the option."</i>

Spirit Airlines (FL budget carrier) shut down ALL flights effective immediately Sat May 2 after failing to secure $500M government bailout. Cited soaring fuel costs from Hormuz closure. Trump tried to bail them out — opposed by both Republicans AND Democrats. Sec Sean Duffy at Newark presser: "we don't have a half a billion dollars laying around in a spare account." Then CBS gives the Trump-admin Hegelian deflection: Duffy blames Biden admin for blocking the JetBlue merger in 2024. With midterms approaching, Trump dismisses Iran's diplomatic offer + downplays the rising prices: "going to come crashing down as soon as this war is over."

<i>Adam closer: Spirit said fuel killed them. Trump said the prices crash when the war ends — but rejected the deal. Read between those lines.</i>

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly criticized the Trump admin's Iran-war handling — "the Americans clearly have no strategy and the U.S. is being humiliated by Iranian negotiators." Trump responded by ordering the Pentagon to withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany over the next 6-12 months — down to 2022 levels. NBC Hallie Jackson + Courtney Kube give the Pentagon detail + Trump's "We don't have to be NATO" + "Europe hasn't stepped up — one-way street" Truth Social context.

<i>Adam closer: Merz mouths off, Trump pulls troops. Cause and effect. NATO at 2022 levels.</i>

Right after the Trump-Merz NATO troop pullout: Trump Truth Social posts 25% tariff on EU cars + trucks (USA plants exempt). SCOTUS already struck down unilateral authority — needs Section 301. EU 27 governments must sign off. CNBC Eamon Javers walks through the trade architecture. Then Eamon on the holding pattern — no trade deal yet, EU-US decoupling, Iran war is "symptom number one." Merz erodes Germany / Italy. Whiskey tariff relief from the King's State Visit. "Send the royal families over."

<i>Adam closer: 25% on EU cars. Merz already mouthed off. The royals had to come fix the whiskey. EU-US decoupling is the spine.</i>

Reuters: Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Narges Mohammadi rushed to hospital after cardiac crisis in prison. 7.5 year sentence on national security + propaganda charges. Family demands all sentences unconditionally annulled.

<i>Adam closer: Counterpoint on the Iran arc. Narges Mohammadi — Nobel Peace Laureate — having a cardiac crisis in an Iranian prison. The regime hasn't changed.</i>

Japan Ministry of Finance intervened in FX markets to prop up the yen on Thu April 30 — first official intervention in nearly 2 years. Spent ~$34.5B in a single day. Top FX diplomat Atsushi Mimura warned Friday May 1 that Tokyo is ready to intervene AGAIN. Yen jumped 3% on his comments. USD dropped as much as 0.66%. Finance Minister Katayama confirmed she held close consultations with Bessent BEFORE acting — Treasury blessed the intervention. Trump publicly complains about currency manipulators while Treasury greenlights friendly devaluations. The 160 line is policy. Then Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya (FX analyst) calls it an "easy trade" — the pattern is so predictable, traders pre-position for "quick gains."

<i>Adam closer: Japan asks Bessent's permission. Treasury blesses it. Trump complains about currency manipulators. The traders know the script. Mar-a-Lago Accord in the open.</i>

Reuters: Google joins Pentagon classified AI deal alongside OpenAI + xAI — mission planning, weapons targeting. $200M agreements last year (including Anthropic). Adjusting safety settings at government request. DoD renamed Department of War by Trump. Anthropic LABELED supply chain risk for refusing to relax guardrails. Then CNBC Kate Rooney: Anthropic in talks for $900B raise past OpenAI's $850B. Run rate $35B up from $10B/year. Claude Code = the driver. Mythos cybersecurity allure.

<i>Adam closer: Pentagon picks Google + OpenAI + xAI. Anthropic excluded for refusing to drop guardrails — and raises past OpenAI anyway. The market disagrees with the Pentagon.</i>

SDNY unsealed indictment of sitting Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya (Morena party — Sheinbaum's party) + 9 other current/former Sinaloa officials including an active Senator. Aiding the Chapitos faction (sons of El Chapo) — police force working as cartel sicarios — kidnapped DEA informant + 13yo boy — fentanyl pipeline = 100k overdose deaths in some years (70% fentanyl). Then El Chapo's lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman accuses Sheinbaum of being "in cahoots with the cartels" — cartels "paid off the Mexican military and the Mexican government to the top" — Sheinbaum threatens defamation lawsuit — but the lawsuit "apparently hasn't even been seen in public." NBC5 Telemundo bureau confirms.

<i>Adam closer: Active governor indicted. Active senator indicted. 9 officials. El Chapo's lawyer says cartels paid the Mexican government to the top — Sheinbaum sues for defamation but the lawsuit doesn't exist. Three arms: legal, diplomatic, lawfare. All pointing the same direction.</i>

SCOTUS (Alito majority) struck down a "major pillar" of the Voting Rights Act — federal protection for minority voters. Alito quote: "the nation had made great strides in ending entrenched racial discrimination." Acting AG Blanche on Meet The Press defends — "got it right" + "existing system was not consistent with our Constitution." DOJ argued the case. Anchor pushes back with Gallup polling: 83% of Black Americans + 61% of White Americans believe racism is widespread. Blanche dodges: "SCOTUS doesn't make decisions on a Gallup poll." Then immediate pivot: voter ID push — "every time you walk into a restaurant or a club, you have to show your ID. How about you have to show your ID to vote?"

<i>Adam closer: SCOTUS removes federal protection. DOJ pivots to voter ID. The constitutional decision is the door. Voter ID is the ride-through.</i>

Trump pulls Casey Means SG nomination — RFK "pretty disappointed and upset" — accuses Bill Cassidy of "sabotaging" the appointment. Cassidy "did the dirty work for entrenched interests seeking to STALL THE MAHA MOVEMENT." Saphier (Fox radiologist) named replacement. Closing RFK Truth Social quote: "...protect the very status quo that has made AMERICA THE SICKEST NATION ON EARTH."

<i>Adam closer: Casey Means out. Saphier in. Cassidy did the dirty work. RFK quote: America the sickest nation on earth.</i>

CNBC + Accenture / Novo Nordisk / Eli Lilly: GLP-1 hair-loss side effect creates billion-dollar hair-treatment industry reset. 25M Americans by 2030 up from 5M in 2023. New downstream industries forming around drug-induced side effects.

<i>Adam closer: Drug causes hair loss. Hair-loss industry booms. Pharma vertical integration in side-effects.</i>

NBC4 LA Macy Jenkins: SAG-AFTRA tentative deal with Hollywood studios. AI getting "smarter every minute." Brad Pitt + Tom Cruise AI video viral. Chuck Slavin (image-likeness rights advocate): scanning + royalties is the major threat. Avoids the 2023 strike rerun.

<i>Adam closer: Hollywood deal. AI image-likeness royalties. The 2023 strike doesn't happen again — this time.</i>

Oscars / Academy bans AI-generated content from awards eligibility. Industry response.

<i>Adam closer: Hollywood draws the line.</i>

Trump (NY Post): "Releasing much of the UFO files in the near future. I've interviewed solid people who saw things you wouldn't believe."

<i>Adam closer: UFO files in the near future. Solid people. Things you wouldn't believe.</i>

Trump (NY Post): "Somalia has nothing but crime. Ilhan Omar comes here, demands rights — get the hell out, what a phony. I believe she married her brother. Goodnight brother, let's go to bed."

<i>Adam closer: Trump direct on Ilhan Omar. (JD Vance frauds follow-up clip not found in prep — Sam to scout if needed in show.)</i>

Trump (NY Post): Architect from Cuba — "which we're taking over almost immediately on the way back from Iran. USS Abraham Lincoln 100 yards offshore — they say thank you, we give up."

<i>Adam closer: Trump opportunism. USS Abraham Lincoln 100 yards off Cuba.</i>

CBS LA Nicole Comstock: 81yo Vietnam vet teacher Ed Ashman killed by 14yo on e-motorcycle in California. Mother Tammy Jo Mayher charged with manslaughter + accessory. DA Spitzer: she "handed her son a deadly weapon" + let him illegally ride. The accountability moment for parental enablement of e-motorcycle culture.

<i>Adam closer: Mother charged. DA Spitzer naming it. The accountability moment for the e-motorcycle culture.</i>

ABC News AU + London BOTGs: Banksy statue — man in a suit walking off a precipice blinded by a flag. Waterloo Place, St. James, near Edward VII + Florence Nightingale Crimean War Memorial. Theme: blind patriotism + rise in nationalism.

<i>Adam closer: Banksy puts the man-in-a-suit walking off a precipice blinded by a flag. London. Waterloo Place. King's Week.</i>