Kevin Trudeau: keeping a low profile since release from prison, but still grifting, begging, cult-building (and yes, enabling fascism)

 

Earlier this month, someone wrote to this blog asking me if I'd seen a recent-ish video of formerly imprisoned and newly released serial scammer Kevin Trudeau, aka KT, aka Katie on this Whirled. Here's the link to the vid in question, which shows a July 16, 2022 interview on a show called "All Things Rex Worldwide," hosted by one Rex Sikes. Sikes, whom, I confess, I'd never heard of prior to the heads-up from my reader about this video, is self-billed as an "NLP Trainer and Authority on the Law of Attraction." (His Twitter handle is I'mRexcellent. Modest fellow.)

Rex may be an NLP trainer and an "authority" on the Law of Attraction, but his bread and butter, the area in which he truly appears to Rexcel, seems to be making videos of himself kissing up to far more successful Scamworld luminaries that people have actually heard of, such as mega-hustler "Dr." Joe Vitale, one of this blog's former favorite subjects. I say "former" because even I, who am so easily amused, get bored after a while. But clearly, Rex is not bored at all with Vitale. Quite the opposite: he seems utterly enamored.

He appears equally enamored with Kevin Trudeau, as you'll quickly see if you watch his interview with Katie. Here's that link again, but I warn you, as I often do with such offal offerings, that it will be time that you'll never get back, in this case, 1:20:52. Rex is in full-blown hero-worship mode on this one, beginning his intro by listing all of Katie's many "achievements" -- acclaimed best-selling author; worldwide media star; widely revered marketing genius; one of the foremost authorities on success and goal-setting and the Law of Attraction; and to top it off...

Today he is known as an enlightened spiritual leader, helping people attain a state of joy and happiness in addition to manifesting material success...

Rex fails to mention a few of Kevin's other major achievements, most notably: lifelong grifter who has scammed thousands of people out of millions of dollars; notorious liar; and several-times-convicted felon who recently completed a ten-year(ish) federal prison sentence.

The long conversation between Rex and Kev focuses mainly on "spiritual" stuff, in keeping with Kevin's efforts over the past few years to rebrand himself as "GuruKev," which I first wrote about back in December of 2019. It's also congruent with Kevin's apparent and reported longtime desire, and ongoing efforts, to become a true cult leader in the manner of the late L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the evil cult Scientology. I've mentioned that several times over the years, one of the more recent offerings being this March 2021 post, which links to previous Whirled posts on the topic.

In any case, I'm glad my anonymous commenter wrote to me about the video, which was also announced on a September 22, 2022 post on Katie's public Facebook page, The Official Kevin Trudeau Fan Club. I hadn't posted about Trudeau in several months, in large part because I've been busy with other matters, such as concentrating on a very challenging book manuscript. Any energy I've had left over for blogging and social media engagement has been devoted more or less to political issues, particularly the very serious threats presented by the rise of fascism in various and insidious forms, in America and other parts of the world .

But I've certainly not forgotten Kevin Trudeau. For that matter, concerns about the rising tide of authoritarianism and fascism are not irrelevant to Trudeau and scads of other grifters who prey on gullible and unhappy people who are desperate not only for scapegoats, but for heroes. More about that momentarily.

We've detected a blockage in your social media pipeline
Anyone who still cares enough to follow the saga of Kevin Trudeau has probably noticed that he seems to be keeping a very low profile these days. This is likely because the terms of his release/probation dictate what he can and cannot do in order to avoid being thrown back in the clink. But he is still hustling, though in most cases making it appear that others are doing the hustling on his behalf while he occupies himself with humbly serving humanity. It's all in the service of lining Kevin's pockets so he can resume his formerly gaudy lifestyle as quickly as possible.

Trudeau has apparently been quite active on Telegram, that haven for scammers and far-right wingnuts, and no telling what all he's doing there. Sure, there's The Official Kevin Trudeau Fan Club Channel, which is more or less publicly accessible, but he is reportedly on several other Telegram channels that aren't so accessible, as well as using deeply encrypted email services that are all but untouchable by US or any other authorities. I would assume that the judges who presided over both his criminal and civil cases are paying attention.

Previously, when I wanted to get an idea of what Trudeau was up to, I would check the aforementioned public Facebook page, The Official Kevin Trudeau Fan Club. That's a little more difficult now, though, because it appears that I have finally been thoroughly blocked from the page. It no longer shows up as an option for me in the Facebook search field, and when I click the link to the URL, I get a "content not available" message. I know that the site is still up there, and that the posts are still listed as "public," because I checked via another route. So it's still available to the public generally, just not my part of the public specifically.

I suppose that blocking me was the next logical step in the process of isolating the cult from the nefarious influence of what one faithful KT ally warned the fans is "that nasty woman" (according to another former KT ally, who told me as much on the phone a couple of years ago). Earlier this year the admins of the fan page blocked me from commenting or responding or doing anything but share posts from that page, but now it appears that I have been completely locked out. The blocking happened very recently, occurring only this month, which I thought was rather odd timing, as I hadn't even blogged about Fearless Leader since June 12. But maybe the admins are simply procrastinators.

Of course, they have every right to block anyone they want to block, and as I've noted previously, I can be rather annoying when trying to make or belabor a point, particularly points about scammers and grifters. But in this case, I suspect that something more than mere annoyance led to the blocking. I have to ask a largely rhetorical question I've asked before: what are Katie and the minions so afraid of?

Trudeau's fans (and Trudeau himself) are always talking about how brave and bold he is, how completely unafraid he is to face government tyranny and whatnot. But one little blogger, whose blog is read by almost no one... what threat am I? After all, I'm just one of those "rats in your head" that Kev has been warning the cult followers about for years. Or, to put it in other terms, I'm a "Suppressive Person."

Who, apparently, has to be suppressed.

(Right-wing) politix and Scamworld: more than ever, a match made in hell
Earlier in this post I mentioned a connection between Scamworld grifters such as Kevin Trudeau, and the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in America and other parts of the world. Notwithstanding the fact that Kevin has spent decades presenting himself as a fearless fighter for freedom and individuality, and against tyranny, his brand of hustle is actually taken from the propaganda playbooks of any number of historical and contemporary tyrants (and wannabe tyrants).

Over the years I have written many posts about the alliance of politics (mainly right-wing American politics) and Scamworld. In a September 2021 Whirled post titled Scamworld & politix: Eric Trump set to join alt-health/conspiranoid scammers in Nashville in October, one point I made was that the strengthening bond between alt-health hucksters and the American right is not only spreading misinformation that endangers public health, but is also endangering democracy. While Trudeau wasn't featured at the event discussed in this post, a couple of his alt-health/conspiracy-mongering/right-wing brothers-in-arms were, such as Mike "The Health Ranger" Adams.

Two of my original and most significant points of reference for the Scamworld/politix theme on this blog have been Kevin Trudeau and #NeverWasMyPresident Donald John Trump, for good reason. First off, the two have much in common, even down to a mutual disdain for "Mexicans" -- here's Trudeau, and here's Trump. As well, for years Trudeau expressed a fawning admiration for Trump, using that as a basis for unsuccessfully begging Trump to commute his sentence and pardon him.

All of which provided rich fodder for numerous blog posts. It wasn't long before I discovered that these posts had alienated a substantial base of my former readers who had been screwed to a greater or lesser degree by Trudeau's mega-scam the Global Information Network (GIN) and enthusiastically supported my endless critical posts about him -- but who turned out to be ardent Trump supporters, and were totally put off by my critical posts about Trump. This came out during the 2016 US presidential campaign, and I wrote about it in this October 2016 post, in which I pondered the curious fact that so many who had seen Trudeau's true colors seemed so blind to Trump's. I had come to realize that for many, their liberation from the KT/GIN delusion did not inoculate them against similar, or even worse, delusions.

It appears to me that these good ex-GINfolk simply cannot see that Donald J. Trump is an even worse -- and potentially more dangerous -- scammer than Trudeau ever could be (although granted, Trump and Trudeau have a few things in common). Though a few people have acknowledged that Trump is far from an ideal candidate, they insist that all of his shortcomings, wrongdoings, and deep character flaws pale in comparison to Clinton's alleged "life of crime."...

...None of this is really surprising, though. As my pal Salty Droid has both documented on his blog and has mentioned in private correspondence, quitting one manipulative scam or scammer doesn't cure one of the thinking pattern errors that got them sucked in in the first place. "Manipulation causes susceptibility to manipulation as a side effect," sez Salty. I know he's right, but I am still capable of being surprised by the phenomenon, especially when it occurs among folks whom I'd thought were friends, or at least allies.

But I digress. One of many examples, and a relatively recent one, of ruminations on the Trump-Trudeau connection, is a July 2021 post in which I compared Kevin's ridiculous narrative about the many sacrifices he had voluntarily and selflessly made in order to serve humanity; and the Trump crime family's equally ridiculous narrative about how they had voluntarily and selflessly sacrificed nearly everything in order to serve the American people. In both cases, the narratives owe their success and longevity to the support of various dodgy allies and a zealous fan base. I wrote:

None of these grifters could effectively spread their myths without the ready assistance of their respective armies of faithful enablers. Matter of fact, Trump and Trudeau share a significant fan base -- which is not surprising since the two inveterate hucksters have a lot in common.

And that brings me to a question that some may be pondering, and which I've actually been asked: why am I still going on and on about Kevin Trudeau after all these years? Isn't he kind of passe? Haven't I made the point, over and over, that he's a huckster? Can't we just move on? The simple answer to that has to do with the aforementioned point that Trudeau has so much in common with Trump, and that their respective and mutual fan bases are veering more and more towards existing in a universe of "alternative facts." In both cases, there's a big cult mentality going on. Trump is Trudeau, writ large, and while many of us may wish that both would just go away, that seems unlikely to happen any time soon. With Trudeau, the appeal to alt-reality may just mean that more people will get snookered out of their hard-earned money, to greater or lesser degrees. With Trump... well, as [the January 6, 2021] insurrection/day of rage demonstrated, those "alternative facts" -- and cult mentality -- could spell the death of American democracy.

Trump, unfortunately, is far from the only political figure threatening American democracy, as noted, among many other sources, in a July 2022 Brookings blog post.

One of the problems we have now is the rise of copycat candidates who parrot Trump’s moves and endorse his anti-democratic tactics. Possible presidential candidates Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley as well as dozens of congressional candidates spread the Big Lie about 2020 election fraud and some Republicans show a willingness to have electors chosen who do not respect the popular vote winner within particular states.

One of the worst things Trump has done is to show many other aspirants how to engage in power politics using unethical steps. Between his unorthodox behaviors challenging the legitimacy of the 2020 results and his continuing efforts to push Republicans in illiberal directions, he has become a role model for many candidates around the country. Rather than seeing Trump as a dangerous demagogue who threatens our democratic system, many Republican candidates are mimicking his tactics and pushing the country down the road towards illiberalism.

"Illiberalism?" Why mince words? Maybe a better word is "fascism." On the larger world stage, fascism and other forms of totalitarianism, both historical and contemporary, are built upon many of the same tactics used by the contemporary American right (or reich, as the case may be). Perhaps political philosopher and Holocaust survivor Hannah Arendt's 1951 work, The Origins of Totalitarianism, is worth a revisit. From a September 2019 liberalarts.org.uk piece that discusses this work:

Fake news, people versus elected officials, trashing of democracy, ridicule of truth, relativism of values, nationalism with its love of loyalty and oaths and its aesthetic of self-sacrifice and violence, the hatred of internationalism and its humanist liberal values, accusations of international (Jewish) conspiracies, charismatic malevolent leaders shunning accountability and saying whatever would be popular one day, only to be reversed the next day, and supporters who don’t care at all about the behaviour of their leaders. These were fascisms then. Are they also fascisms now?

Spoiler alert: Yep.

Masses of people succumb to fascism, without realizing what is happening, due to a combination of factors, including gullibility, cynicism, dissatisfaction with their lives, a desire to find someone or something to blame for their unhappiness, and a longing for a hero.

And these are precisely the factors exploited by skillful hucksters such as Kevin Trudeau, whose longtime ticket to riches has been the scapegoating of an amorphous enemy he has repeatedly referred to as "They," while painting himself as the white knight who rushes in with the life-changing, life-saving information that "They" don't want you to know.

But Kevin Trudeau is no hero, no white knight. At the time of his sentencing in March of 2014, the sentencing judge, Ronald Guzman, noted that since at least the age of 25, Trudeau "has attempted to cheat others for his own personal gain." And prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo that Trudeau was...

...an unrepentant, untiring, and uncontrollable huckster who has defrauded the unsuspecting for 30 years. He is the type of person the Court should expect to defraud his fellow inmates while in custody, and to continue to commit fraud into old age. He appears capable of nothing else.

That just about says it all.

And Trump? Like Kevin, he has mastered the art of the neverending grift. Kevin is mainly doing it these days through his proxies, who are constantly begging for money on Kevin's behalf, using the false narrative (or outrageous lie, if you prefer) of Kevin as the self-sacrificing hero/martyr who has risked life and limb for all of us, despite the forces of evil that are out to get him. (Of course, Kevin is directing all of these propaganda campaigns, and very likely is writing a lot of the copy himself.) And Trump is currently doing it through his PACs, mainly in the form of relentless, aggressive fundraising emails that use pretty much the same false narrative (or outrageous lie, if you prefer).

And apparently that strategy is working, for both of these craven grifters.

But... fascism? Isn't that carrying things a bit too far?
Perhaps you're thinking that I'm being a bit histrionic (or hysterical), and that I exaggerate the threats to cherished freedoms posed by Trudeau and other scammers. Possibly you even think I'm overstating the threat of Trump and Trumpism. I'm not. Both Trumpism and "Trudeau-ism" feed into, and are fed by, many of the same base aspects of human nature, particularly the aforementioned need for scapegoats and the yearning for a hero.

And both Trumpism and Trudeau-ism rely -- and I can't state this often enough or forcefully enough -- upon the cult of personality: Kevin with the laughably transparent GuruKev shtick, among several other longer-standing ruses; and Trump with a Messiah-ish scam that has sucked in millions of gullibles. As progressive talk show host Thom Hartmann wrote in a September 23, 2022 opinion piece in Daily Kos:

Donald Trump has built a cult around himself. This is dangerous to America and dangerous to democracy.

Cults of personality in governance are broadly incompatible with democracy. They usually erupt in dictatorships where the Great Leader’s face and sayings are splashed all over public places. Think Mao’s China, Stalin’s USSR, Hitler’s Germany, Kim’s North Korea...

...Rational people know that messiahs don’t molest women and brag about it, don’t fleece people with a phony school who just want a college education, don’t encourage racial hatred, and don’t get crowds to try to overturn democracy and kill a policeman.

But Trump isn’t after the rational people. He’s a predator, and his prey are the psychologically and emotionally vulnerable, people crushed by 40 years of Reagan’s neoliberalism, now desperate for simple answers to complex problems.

We should have known when Trump said, in a Charles Manson moment, that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and his followers would still support him.

Charismatic con men can make some people believe anything.

For example, nearly a third of all registered Republicans believe that top-level Democrats are running international child trafficking rings to torture and abuse kids before draining their blood...

Again, Trump is just Trudeau, writ large. Or, for anyone who needs to have the point hammered home, Trudeau is just Trump, writ smaller. Both are ruthlessly exploiting, and profiting from, the inherent irrationality of humans.

And ultimately, that's not good for freedom or democracy.

Is Alex Jones finally getting his karm-uppance?

Over the past few years I've posted more than a few words about far-right conspiranoia-porn peddler Alex Jones, who, like most of his ilk, is an irascible ranter, atrocious bully, or pathetic whiner as it suits his needs. More often than not, he is all three at once.

Unless you've been totally unplugged from the news (which actually doesn't seem to be such a bad idea, even if I can't bring myself to do it), you're probably aware that Jones has been both in whiny and irascible-rant modes lately because his defamation trial in Texas has not been going his way at all. And his misfortune in court is a good thing, because Jones has been getting away with spreading his poison, without suffering any personal consequences, for too many years. (Don't get me wrong; I generally support anyone's right to spout off and make a fool of himself or herself in public, but if that spouting off causes harm to others, then the spouter should suffer all appropriate legal and moral consequences.)

One of the high points of the Jones trial, and one that launched a thousand social-media memes, was when it was revealed in open court that Jones' lawyers had "accidentally" sent the entire contents of his phone to the plaintiffs' lawyers -- rendering him not only liable to perjury charges but also shining a spotlight on his possible (probable) role in the January 6 insurrection.

Jones' initial reaction to the news of the phone glitch was a reminder that this is truly the type of situation for which the word Schadenfreude was invented. And let's hope that things continue to not go his way. Punishment via the courts won't bring back the innocent schoolchildren and adult staff members who were slaughtered at Sandy Hook, the mass shooting which Jones crapitalized on for so many years by claiming that it was a hoax, but at least there will be some measure of justice for those who lost loved ones.

True, Jones will no doubt continue to use the court rulings to expand upon his longstanding hero/martyr shtick. It's a shtick that, unsurprisingly, has been reinforced by some of his fellow right-wing conspiranoia peddlers, e.g., Mike "The Health Ranger" Adams, who recently published a piece on his Natural News site about Jones being the canary in the coal mine and a bellwether for all "anti-establishment" press.

And after Jones was hit with a $45.2 million verdict for punitive damages (on top of the $4.1 mil in compensatory damages handed down on the previous day), vile Trumpster and frequent Infowars guest Roger Stone called for contributions to support Jones, saying, "Alex Jones is a good and decent man. He is a God-fearing Christian...and right now he needs our support." (Sandy Hook family attorney Mark Bankston said that Jones' phone record leak revealed, among other things, "intimate messages" with Stone, so that should prove interesting. Stone, for his part, is urging Jones to sue his own lawyer because of the leaked messages.) In any case, Jones is apparently not just a hero/martyr, but a Christian one at that. Praise the Lard.

But if Jones is a financially ruined faux-Christian hero/martyr, that, in my book, will still be justice.

This post has been updated to add the information on the punitive damages verdict and Roger Stone's appeal to Jones' fans and followers for monetary support, as well as Stone's urging Jones to sue his own attorney.

Related on this Whirled:

• September 2021: Scamworld & politix: Eric Trump set to join alt-health/conspiranoid scammers in Nashville in October
  The strengthening alliance between alt-health hucksters (such as Jones) and the American right is not only spreading misinformation that endangers public health, but is also endangering democracy. While Jones himself wasn't featured at the event discussed in this post, a couple of his more notorious allies were: Mike "The Health Ranger" Adams and Roger Stone.
• November 2018 -- Randazzled: hail the free-screech hero of [alleged] rapists and Nazis and trolls
  Notorious free-speech attorney Marc Randazza has made some bank defending loathsome characters, including Alex Jones. He can't claim any moral high ground in this matter, though he has tried to do so.
• August 2018: Alex Jones and the usual whiners: censor-y deprivation?
  Jones has long been one of the right-wing whiners claiming that he is being "censored" and his First Amendment rights being grievously violated. But even though his defamation trial has been relevant to First Amendment rights, his de-platforming by privately owned companies such as Facebook and YouTube are not First Amendment issues per se. This post covers that point, plus some of the nuances in the "censorship" issue that are often overlooked by both the left and the right.

Related Off-Whirled:

• From New York Intelligencer: The Alex Jones Trial Is As Messy As You'd Expect
  Of course, its messiness is what made it so entertaining (at Jones' expense), while at the same time grueling (for the plaintiffs).
• From Variety: 'Alex's War' Review: A Gripping and Disturbing Look at Alex Jones and the Politics of Unreality
  Insightful background on Jones' rise to stardom and his mass appeal.

  ...it wasn’t all conspiracy. Jones was like a preacher, and what he was preaching was a religion — “stop the dehumanization.” And really, who doesn’t think contemporary America is dehumanized and only growing more so? Who doesn’t feel at times, in this society, overly controlled — by technology, by the corporatization that rules the technology, by the government that works hand in glove with the corporations, by not one but two political parties that seem increasingly out-of-touch with the needs of average people? Jones, like Trump, tapped into all that. But what gave it meaning was the way that Jones, a political carny barker, used conspiracy to reverse-engineer history. To him, every disaster, every predicament, everything about our world you don’t like had been planned and caused. By whom? By them. The globalists. The pedophiles. The technocrat corporatists who want to use vaccines to sterilize the population...

• From Ken White (aka @Popehat): Alex Jones At The Tower of Babel
  White, an attorney, makes some good points about the reasons that legal accountability for Jones might not have much of an effect on the larger problem, which is the public's hunger for the kind of slop for which Jones has become obscenely rich by dishing out.

The point is that courts are ill-equipped to deal with people like Alex Jones, and people like Alex Jones are ill-equipped to deal with courts. Jones’ catastrophic testimony in his own defense illustrates this. Jones struggled to fit his bombast within the framework of the law, within the distinction between fact and opinion. It’s a bad fit because that’s not how he uses words...

...It’s fit that Alex Jones is held accountable for the impact of his words. He used false statements of fact to paint his picture, and those false statements of fact caused harm. But I suspect that a vast judgment against Jones won’t have much value as a deterrent or proclamation of truth. Jones is loathsomely rich because people want to consume his art. His landscapes of hate and fear and mistrust resonate with a frightening number of Americans... The plodding technicalities of law are probably inadequate to change their minds...

Sweet 16? Well, maybe not so sweet, but 16, anyway

Today is the 16th blogaversary of Whirled Musings, which first saw the blight of day on July 27, 2006. I want to thank my small group of regular readers for your continued reading over the years, even when I got redundant and obsessive and boring, which, as I noted on last year's blogaversary post, is is probably more often than even I am willing to admit. I especially want to thank everyone who posted comments over the years, even the ones blasting me for any number of real or imaginary sins.

I most especially want to thank those of you who have made monetary donations to this blog. They're always appreciated, even more so now. If you'd like to help Whirled Musings celebrate its 16th birthday, here's a handy link to do just that. Whether you donate or not, thank you for visiting. I'll have more soon.

Colleen Conaway: thirteen years since her death at a James Arthur Ray event

 

Never forget. In case you have forgotten, or you didn't know in the first place, here's the story of Colleen Conaway's death, with links to further information.

The person responsible for the death of Colleen Conaway in July 2009, as well as the deaths of three other people at a subsequent event in October 2009 -- and the physical injuries and emotional traumas/spiritual crises of numerous others -- is James Arthur Ray.

Ray is still struggling to recreate his glory daze as an A-list selfish-help huckster, promoting his shticks on Twitter, among other platforms. But although he currently has more than 96,000 followers on Twitter, his posts get very few "likes" or retweets. That must be a real burn for an egomaniacal sociopath such as Ray. But clearly he is not giving up, which is why I will continue to post warnings about him as long as he remains in the selfish-help/McSpirituality/motivational biz.

Overturning Roe: The Handmaid's Tale takes another giant step towards reality

With the not-unexpected but nevertheless disastrous United States Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade on June 24, 2022, Margaret Atwood's famous dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale, just took another giant step towards being art imitated by life.

And the late great singer/songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen was wrong: it's theocracy, not democracy, that's coming to the USA.

I don't believe that any thinking person on either side of the abortion issue thinks that the theocrats and Christo-fascists are going to stop at Roe, despite implied assurances within the majority opinion that the June 24 decision is solely about the constitutional right, or lack thereof, to abortion. Senior SCOTUS fascist Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion to the decision, has called for the overturning of other precedents that are founded in principles such as the right to privacy: specifically, decisions protecting the right to contraception, to same-sex intimate relationships, and to same-sex marriage.

Notably, in his opinion Thomas apparently did not mention the Loving v Virginia SCOTUS decision that, in June of 1967, finally legitimized interracial marriages. A few wags on Twitter have suggested that he add the Loving decision to his list of cases to be reconsidered/overturned, since it would most likely be cheaper than a divorce, should Thomas be considering a break from his seditionist, bat-crap crazy wife Ginni. But I digress.

In their dissenting opinion, Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan made the significance and utter gravity of the SCOTUS decision on abortion very clear:

For half a century, Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833 (1992), have protected the liberty and equality of women. Roe held, and Casey reaffirmed, that the Constitution safeguards a woman’s right to decide for herself whether to bear a child. Roe held, and Casey reaffirmed, that in the first stages of pregnancy, the government could not make that choice for women. The government could not control a woman’s body or the course of a woman’s life: It could not determine what the woman’s future would be... Respecting a woman as an autonomous being, and granting her full equality, meant giving her substantial choice over this most personal and most consequential of all life decisions....

The dissenting Justices also made it clear that the abortion decision is almost certainly not the end of the line for the theocrats. They're just getting started.

...no one should be confident that this majority is done with its work. The right Roe and Casey recognized does not stand alone. To the contrary, the Court has linked it for decades to other settled freedoms involving bodily integrity, familial relationships, and procreation. Most obviously, the right to terminate a pregnancy arose straight out of the right to purchase and use contraception. See Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479 (1965); Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972). In turn, those rights led, more recently to rights of same-sex intimacy and marriage. See Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U. S. 558 (2003); Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015). They are all part of the same constitutional fabric, protecting autonomous decisionmaking over the most personal of life decisions.

In a statement sent to People magazine, Jim Obergefell, one of the plaintiffs in the historic Obergefell v. Hodge case that legitimized same-sex marriage, wrote:

"Clarence Thomas is a Supreme Court justice appointed by humans, he is not the Supreme Deity. The millions of loving couples who have the right to marriage equality to form their own families do not need Clarence Thomas imposing his individual twisted morality upon them. If you want to see an error in judgment, Clarence Thomas, look in the mirror."

Indeed.

All in all, things are looking pretty grim, and on track to get even grimmer. So hold on to your white wimples, Handmaids; it's going to be quite a ride -- and the fight is far from over.

Addendum, June 25, 2022: SCOTUS wrecking ball targeted other issues besides Roe
Unfortunately, Roe wasn't the only matter this past week in which the high court managed to do significant damage to more than a half century of progress. Here are its other major achievements for the week:

June 21, 2022: Kicking another big hole in the wall between church and state (and thumbing its nose at LGBTQ rights)

In a 6-3 vote, the court ruled Tuesday that Maine could not prohibit parents from using a state-funded tuition assistance program to pay for their children to attend private religious schools while permitting them to do so in private secular schools. The two schools cited in the case have a history of homophobic and transphobic policies.

The ruling in Carson v. Makin is a continuation of the conservative-majority court’s recent willingness to poke holes in the barrier between church and state. A number of LGBTQ advocacy organizations and other supporters of queer rights are sounding the  alarm about what the decision signals about the court’s direction, especially when it comes to reconciling religious freedom with safeguarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people from discrimination. 

June 23, 2022: Seriously weakening states' rights to impose their own gun control laws

For anyone concerned with the havoc associated with guns in this country, Thursday was a day of highs and lows. The Senate, after decades of inaction, passed a bipartisan gun-safety bill by a vote of 65–33. And the Supreme Court, in its biggest gun ruling in more than a decade, struck down a New York law by a vote of 6the case, New York State Rifle & Pistol –3. The majority opinion in Association v. Bruen, was written by and joined by the Court’s Clarence Thomas five other conservatives, and it is broad and reckless. It will expose any number of well-established laws to similar challenges, and rattle efforts to arrive at a national consensus on guns. If the Senate was the scene of a true breakthrough, the Court was the site of a major breakdown.

June 23, 2022: Kneecapping Miranda

Today, in Vega v. Tekoh, the court backtracked substantially on its Miranda promise. In Vega, the court held 6-3 (over an excellent dissent by Justice Elena Kagan) that an individual who is denied Miranda warnings and whose compelled statements are introduced against them in a criminal trial cannot sue the police officer who violated their rights, even where a criminal jury finds them not guilty of any crime. By denying people whose rights are violated the ability to seek redress under our country’s most important civil rights statute, the court has further widened the gap between the guarantees found in the Bill of Rights and the people’s ability to hold government officials accountable for violating them.

As someone on Twitter wrote, "I went to bed in 2022 and woke up in 1950." If the current SCOTUS majority and the fascist political infrastructure that supports them continue to prevail, the US is going to be plummeted even further back than 1950.

Addendum, July 12, 2022: The worst may be yet to come
The cases above are just a few examples of the destruction SCOTUS wreaked in their latest session. For a more complete review of their "accomplishments," see this.

And the worst may be yet to come when SCOTUS hears and rules on Moore v. Harper, a North Carolina case that is potentially the biggest threat to American democracy since January 6. The case, which will be heard in October 2022, involves independent state legislature doctrine and gerrymandering. If SCOTUS rules in North Carolina's favor, that could seriously impact the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, not to mention numerous local and state elections across the US. In practical terms, it could put the rethuglican party in power in the US indefinitely, regardless of actual popular vote or Electoral College outcomes. And regardless of your party affiliation, that should bother you. A lot. If it doesn't, you are definitely part of a very big problem.

 

Kevin Trudeau and the re-re-branding of GIN: everything old is new again

 

The latest iteration of the web site for serial scammer/fraudster/recently-released convict Kevin Trudeau's mega-scheme GIN (the Global Information Network) has been launched -- and it's looking a lot like vintage GIN. But this "exclusive" and "secret" club is now more exclusive and secret than ever, if we're to believe the hype on the new site, though it remains glaringly transparent for anyone who has even a rudimentary knowledge about scammers and the way they operate.

Currently the top priority for GIN seems to be the revival of the grandiose Utopian visions that suckered so many people into GIN 13 years ago, but what it all boils down to is that Trudeau is intent on getting as many marks as possible to give him as much money as possible as rapidly as possible so he can recreate the lavish lifestyle of his dreams.

Not that Trudeau is necessarily begging directly at this point. It appears that he is still remaining more or less in the background for now, at least on the publicly accessible pages; it's possible that it's a court-order/parole issue and that he's trying, for now at least, to comply with the terms. I'm not sure about the details there, since I don't have any recent court documents, but I'll welcome any input or additional information on this matter. In any case, Kevin Trudeau is clearly guiding the communications, which seem orchestrated to make it appear that his grateful minions are doing all of that mundane fundraising stuff while he devotes himself to (pretending that he is) Humbly Serving Humanity. Optics aside, however, make no mistake: this is the same old grift in a tawdry new suit.

In other words: Caveat emptor.

The launch of the new old GIN site was announced on the official Kevin Trudeau Fan Club page on Facebook on June 7, 2022.

From Kevin: We just launched this today https://globalinformationnetwork.com
Introductory limited time cost of joining is just $10.Read the site and it will answer all your questions. Join and see for yourself the value of membership.

Granted, $10 doesn't sound like much -- until you consider the fact that once upon a time you could join GIN for free for one full year as an "Associate Member." These daze, your "Associate Membership" will cost you $10 up front, and $8.95 a month thereafter. But I suppose inflation has hit the scam market too, so it's going to take more of your hard-earned bucks to get Kevin Trudeau sitting in the lap of luxury again. Suck it up, Buttercup, and remind yourself that it will be well worth the expenditure if Kevin can start wearing $12,500 cuff links again while he is Humbly Serving Humanity.

You may wonder what you get for your Associate Membership. You get this, according to the Membership Levels page:

• Access to the associate Membership sections of the GIN website
• Access to all GIN events
• Other benefits are CLASSIFIED

But what if you want to be more than a mere Associate? You become a Member, of course. As far as I know, there are still only seven extant levels of GIN membership, with Level 8 on the verge of being launched, though the goal, as it has been since GIN began, is to ultimately have 12 levels. Be that as it may, here you go with the (utter lack of) details:

Membership Levels	Qualifications	Benefits	Cash Bonuses “Perks” Rewards
Associate Member	• $10 Initiation Fee • $8.95 Monthly Dues	Access to the associate Membership sections of the GIN website Access to all GIN events Other benefits are CLASSIFIED	None
Level 1 Member	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 2 Member	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 3 Member	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 4 Member	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 5 Member	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 6 Executive Member	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 7 Senior Officer	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 8 Director	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 9 Presidents Club	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 10 Chairman’s Club	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 11 Inner Circle	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED
Level 12 Partner	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED	CLASSIFIED

No doubt, the "Classified" info becomes "Unclassified" as you pay your way up (and up and up and up).

History repeats itself, and so do I
As you know if you've been following this blog regularly, since very early in 2009, I've published hundreds of pages about Kevin Trudeau, aka KT, aka Katie on this Whirled. I first posted at length about GIN in December 2009 (with numerous updates that stretched into subsequent years).

In its heyday, GIN was not only an "exclusive" and "secret" club for success-oriented, like-minded suckers people, but also, and very importantly for Kevin's bottom line, a very expensive MLM (multi-level marketing) scheme. GIN never called its MLM an MLM, but instead dubbed it an "Affiliate" program. But clearly it was an MLM, and a pyramid scheme to boot, although to my knowledge the courts never specifically ruled on whether or not it was an illegal pyramid scheme. The product being MLM-ed was not a tangible physical item such as overpriced laundry products or vitamins; rather, it was an overpriced "Level 1" GIN membership, which cost $1,000.00 for the initiation fee (or, for a while, $1,500.00 if paid over time), with a $150.00 monthly membership fee for as long as one remained a GIN member.

Trudeau's mega-scam machine also offered numerous other "opportunities" for people to give him their money, such as his "Inner Circle" program that cost $50,000 or $75,000 or more, cash upfront, without the bother of working one's way up through the membership "levels." Over the years there were also all sorts of "bonus" and "incentive" schemes that turned out to be scams orchestrated to put money directly into Trudeau's pockets to cover his legal expenses and support his lavish lifestyle.

In case you're wondering, I am not including links here to information about the individual GINcentive programs, or for that matter to sources on some of the other GIN background info I've recapped here, because most of the relevant links were wiped long ago. But if you want more details from a former true believer and "Inner Circle" member who eventually realized he'd been snookered, check out John Foster's self-published book, Kevin Trudeau's Road-Kill Victims He Doesn't Want You To Know About: The $100 Million Pyramid Scheme.

For those who couldn't afford to buy their way into the upper echelons outright, there were of course GIN membership levels beyond Level 1; as I noted above, the original plan, and one that still seems in place though yet to be realized, was for there to be 12 levels. The actual cost for these higher levels, however, was generally kept a deep dark seekrit -- in other words, "CLASSIFIED." However, according to John Foster in the above-cited Road-Kill book (page 50), the upfront costs for the first six levels were:

• Level I: $1,000
• Level II: $1,500
• Level III: $1,500
• Level IV: $3,000
• Level V: $10,000
• Level VI: $25,000

What members were supposedly paying for were, in essence, ascending levels of "Success Mastery" training: a curriculum created/curated by Trudeau, with a lot of help from selfish-help/McSpirituality/motivational material generated over the past century or so. Members presumably had to study the material for each level, and were then required to take a test in order to pass from one level to the next. (There was also a shipload of Scientology-like indoctrination involved.)

Apart from the "Success Mastery" training, members were promised numerous other "benefits," much of which apparently consisted of little more than nebulous promises of exciting things to come, including lots of secret information that just wasn't available anywhere else, such as life-saving info about what would happen when the world ended, or failed to end, in December of 2012. You could find out more details about these exciting things, and you could learn more exclusive life-saving information, if you paid more money so you could be promised yet more details and information if you would pay yet more money... and so forth, and so on. As well, there were all sorts of pricey "tools," aggressively promoted by Trudeau cronies such as Blaine Athorn and Chris McGarahan, that were supposed to help you build your own GIN MLM business rapidly and achieve wealth and bliss beyond your wildest dreams.

If you didn't want to commit any money to GIN at the outset, there was, as I also indicated near the beginning of this post, an option to sign up as a free Associate Member, a membership that was only good for twelve months, and would be automatically canceled when the time was up. If you desired more GIN but couldn't afford the initiation fee, for a while there was a deal that allowed Associate Members to join GIN for free (at least free initiation -- they'd still have to pay the $150 monthly membership fee) if they could successfully sucker four paying members into joining under their personal Information Code. But even or especially if they did nothing, Associate Members could count on being continually pressure-marketed to upgrade to a Level 1 membership. And regardless of how little they paid to get to Level 1, they would pay through the nose to climb to more advanced levels.

On the origin of feces
GIN -- not to be confused (though apparently it often is) with a much older, and legitimate, nonprofit news organization by the same name -- was officially launched in the latter part of 2009, though it had apparently been years in the planning. A blurb on the home page of the new site claims:

The Global Information Network was conceived in Istanbul Turkey at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in 2003 by over 15 global luminaries and formally established in 2009. We currently have Members in over 160 countries.

Not surprisingly, those "over 15 global luminaries" are not named, which is part of that whole "secret and exclusive" appeal, which apparently worked so well in 2009 that it is enjoying new life. Shades of the infamous though nonexistent "GIN Council" that drew in so many gullibles back in the day...

In the years after its launch, GIN continued to grow, raking in many millions of dollars for Kevin and a very few of his very close buddies, though for everyone else... not so much. But the wild party continued, on land and on sea, until in 2013, when the legal sh-t started really hitting the fan for Kevin regarding a longstanding civil-turned-criminal case not related to GIN (the case that eventually led to his being sentenced to a ten-year Federal prison term). GIN was taken over by a receivership, after which the MLM was discontinued for a while. Eventually, in May of 2014, GIN was sold to a group of Trudeau's longtime associates.

The lineup of owners changed over the years, with the most recent group that I know of being Blaine Athorn and chiropractors Ted and Tom Morter, as announced on the Morters' web site in February 2018. In light of Trudeau's apparent release and the rather significant changes to the GIN site, it's possible that ownership has changed yet again, and I'll report that when/if I find out any new information.

The sale of GIN led to a bit of re-branding for the club, including a new web site and a brand new logo consisting of an ultra-modernistic rendering of the letters "GIN." Frankly, I kind of liked the more modern look of that initial redesign, but I've heard buzz that the folks responsible for all of that were fired once Kevin was more free to dictate things from the shadows. I suspect that Trudeau never really cared for the new logo, no doubt preferring the original mock-US-government seal, but while he was cooped up in prison he may not have had full artistic control. (Not that he didn't remain a distinct presence in GIN throughout his sentence; more on that momentarily.)

Following the sale of GIN to Katie's buddies, the MLM remained dormant for a while, though the hustling for members continued. At some point, the MLM was restored, though assertively branded as a "referral" program, and the costs for membership at all levels was significantly reduced.

Though no longer the owner of GIN on paper, Kevin Trudeau continued to run schemes and scams of his own from prison, and he kept in very close touch with his buds who "officially" owned GIN. Towards the end of his prison term, while he was on "home release," it became increasingly obvious that he was, at the very least, shadow-running GIN. And as his release date neared (supposedly the official date was May 9, 2022), the KT fraud machine appeared to be revving up to full speed again.

The new old GIN and its new old secrets
And now here we are. It's a brand new day with the same old same old, with Kevin apparently back at the helm again full time as if he'd never really left. (And, as indicated above, he never really did.) At least the question that I first raised back in December 2019 and then asked again in January 2020 has seemingly been answered for the moment. Those Whirled posts referred to extensive content on some new-at-the-time pro-Kevin sites that had described, in great detail, Kevin's magnificent visions for "The Club," and "The Ship" and whatnot.

The question I raised was whether the un-named Club was GIN, or if Kevin had plans to form his own new club once he was released. It appeared then that he was keeping his options open, and I speculated that he was prepared to stab his stalwart buddies in the back and poach the GIN membership if the cronies didn't do his bidding once he got out. For now, at least. it appears that those grandiose visions are invested in GIN. Why reinvent the wheel?

But the question remains: where are the last-known "official" owners, Athorn and the Morters? The FAQ page on the new site isn't exactly forthcoming about GIN ownership.

Q) Who owns, runs, and manages GIN as an entity?
A) The Club is owned by a small group of “Stewards” all of who have been Members of the Club since its inception. Several are also Founders of GIN. The Club has a number of full-time staff members, all who were high-level members of our Club for many years before they were brought on as full-time staff. We also have over 150 GIN Members who are part of the Volunteer Service Corps. The full-time staff and part-time volunteers, all who have been long-time GIN Members, “run” and manage the Club under the direction of the “Stewards” and the main “Founder” of GIN.

Oooo... more seekrits! "Stewards"... my goodness, that does sound mysterious and important. The main "Founder" of GIN is Kevin himself, of course, though his name is only mentioned on two of the site's public pages.

The Stewards are apparently taking great care to distance themselves from GIN's past MLM scam. From the FAQ page again:

Q) Is this Multi-Level, or are there any “commissions” or some kind of compensation plan for recruiting new members?
A) We are not Multi-Level, nor do we have any “affiliate” program or recruiting bonuses. We do not pay to “recruit”. In fact, we do not recruit. Members do not earn any commissions under any circumstances. Those who want to join our Club must apply for Membership. Not all applications are accepted. Additionally, we have high standards, and a strong Code of Conduct that must be adhered to. Memberships are sometimes cancelled due to violations of our Code of Conduct.

But we outsiders really don't know for sure if any of that is true, because all of those "Benefits" and "Cash Bonuses/Perks/Rewards" and such are "Classified." I would assume that Judges Robert Gettleman and Ronald Guzman -- who presided over Trudeau's civil and criminal cases, respectively -- are paying close attention, though.

The "Kevin Factor" and other bullship visions
As I mentioned above, there are only two pages on the entire publicly accessible GIN site that actually mention Kevin by name -- and it's only his first name. The first is the "Club Vision" page, which, among many other pipe dreams, envisions a global chain of ideal "villages" built by and for GIN members only.

...The whole community will be built using sacred geometry and infused with energy and attractor fields that will make this village “magical”. This will be an “organic” community who respects the Earth.

Everything will be run by renewable energy and “free energy”.

This will be the “greenest” and most environmentally friendly village on earth; a model for the world.

This community is the epicenter of The Club on land (The Club Flagship, Freedom is the epicenter for The Club on the Seas).

Everything will be the best of the best.

Kevin lives in a “Shangri-La” village (and on the ship), and everything will be better than world class!

All the “Shangri-la” villages are “connected” and regular “rallies” are organized between Members of each village to share different view-point, be together in energy and create a “world-connected” community sharing the same vision and ideals.

And the second area where Kevin's name is mentioned is the page devoted to the vision of a floating garbage barge luxury cruise ship, to be named "Freewinds" "Freedom," designed to house Kevin and potentially thousands of minions in splendid opulence. The page features a stock photo of a cruise ship with the name "FREEDOM" and the new old GIN logo photoshopped on. (And yes, I realize my own Photoshopping (or, actually, Corel Photo-Painting) job is even cruder, but the icons for various retouching and blending tools disappeared from my tool bar, and I can't figure out how to get them back, and I don't want to bother my husband Ron because he is busy.)

Some highlights from the bullship page:

Kevin’s New Residence
The Founder of the CLUB and Visionary of this idea of a ship named “FREEDOM” is Kevin.“Freedom” would be Kevin’s main residence and his “Home”.

“A Better Life” for everyone on board.

As a Member of The CLUB, you’ve earned the privilege to live the life you once dreamed you would. FREEDOM could be a multipurpose large ocean liner providing you the opportunity to live the life you deserve.

A “Floating Clubhouse” and World Headquarters for the CLUB.

When in port, FREEDOM could be open to all CLUB Members and their guests to come onboard and enjoy all the amenities on the SHIP including dining, entertainment, seminars, workshops, exclusive “SHIP ONLY TRAINING”, Upper Level CLUB training, meetings, and events...

As I've noted on several previous posts, being on board a world-cruisin' ship full time would certainly make it easier for Kevin to skirt US laws. I'm just saying. Law-skirting aside, the bullship "vision" is a little too close for comfort to Scientology and that whole Sea Org/slave ship thing, given that the big boat will require a sizeable crew to cater to the wishes of Himself and His minions. The current presentation of that part of the "vision" has been softened quite a bit from the way it was back when I first wrote about it, see under the sub-head, "Kevin's big dream: life on a cruise ship..." etc. (Then again, I've been told by more than one person who knows Trudeau personally that he has El-Ron-ish aspirations.)

But wait, there's more -- there's the "Kevin Factor!"

Why is living and working on FREEDOM “A Better Life”?

The SHIP could provide a living, working and vacationing environment that is “better” than anything you have ever dreamed of or imagined.

Everyone on the SHIP could work, live or vacation with Kevin, just like Kevin. Those who have seen first hand how Kevin has lived can imagine the lifestyle you would enjoy with him in the future.

 The “Kevin Factor” means everything in Kevin’s “world” is better than the best, and more glorious than one could ever imagine.

• Everything is better than First Class.
• Everything is grander than Grand Class.
• Everything is finer and more opulent than World Class.
• Everything is even beyond Royal Class.
• FREEDOM could be the world where the “Kevin Factor” reigns supreme.

The “Kevin Factor” mostly means that everything is FUN and that life truly has meaning and purpose.

The “Kevin Factor” means that life is fulfilling and satisfying, and that one has inner peace, joy and bliss.

The “Kevin Factor” is living “A Better Life” than you have ever experienced or imagined. And it COULD be yours!

On the SHIP you might sleep on the finest mattress, on the most luxurious sheets, with the world’s greatest pillow, all that have been cleaned and pressed by your personal maid.

You might wake with the programmed sounds of chirping birds and a special full spectrum lighting system that slowly brings the room into full brightness, just like the rising sun. It is the perfect healthiest way to be awakened from the best sleep of your life.

Your personally selected affirmations play automatically as you are still in your Alpha brain wave state, “programming you for success, health, and happiness”.

You shower in the cleanest, purest filtered, energized water that can be produced....

But this, and all of the other Utopian wet dreams laid out in garish detail on the web site, can only become a reality if you start pumping money into GIN, as soon as possible and as much as possible.

By the way, in case your vibes are so low that you encounter a significant problem with GIN and Kevin and the Stewards, and you decide that you want to take any of them to court, good luck. From the Terms of Use page:

These Terms of Use will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the country of Nevis, without regard to its choice of law provisions.

Nevis...why, yes, of course. It was Nevis from the beginning, and Nevis now. And for good reason.

Some things never change.