Feds for Freedom Board Update
Mandatory Reading on the Vaccine Mandate Anniversary!
Happy Mandate Anniversary from Feds for Freedom!
It is that time of year again, where we take stock and count our blessings. As we roll into another dangerous sniffle season, having survived three “Winters of Death” without the aid of life saving COVID injections and the obligatory booster subscription service to jump start our immune systems, we clearly have God on our side.
Feds for Freedom (F4F) has been blessed with a small but active volunteer base and the support of thousands of federal government employees that sought our assistance after President Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate on 9 September 2021. It would be unfair to not also point out… Military personnel celebrate the anniversary on 24 August 2021. Same holiday, different denomination of the refusnik faith.
Before jumping into our accomplishments and failures, and a detailed look into our finances, social media, litigation, and legislative efforts, I want to share a story from The Feds podcast host, Stephanie Weidle.
Hardest Working Soldier Gets “More Work” Award.
In case you aren’t aware, Steph has been working tirelessly behind the scenes making sure our message is disseminated widely. I can confidently state, she is our most active volunteer.
You read that correctly.
Every minute of her time she has spent on behalf of our members is volunteer time. If any of you have any idea how hard it is to host, direct, and produce a podcast, which includes lining up all of our guests… You will know that these tasks are typically accomplished by a team.
She also met with a marketing and advertising expert on the board’s behalf, seeking out advice on how we expand our support base. This individual provided Steph with a lot of quality, easy-to-quickly-execute substance. Once again, she leveraged her personal network to keep our team’s professional development needs completely… free-of-charge.
The details of his advice, which we have happily implemented, is less important than the sole question he posed.
What do I get as a member of F4F?
… Give me your two minute elevator speech.
Her answer was more than adequate, but he advised her to make sure everyone in F4F knew what they were getting for their charitable donations. Those details, more than anything else, will drive our organization’s growth, and it will influence others to help us make real change in our sprawling federal bureaucracy.
I am going to give you the long answer… And, it is worth the time.
This is a charitable organization, so we have to assume that everyone who donates to F4F fully understands that the proceeds are going to be spent on advancing our shared charitable goals, and in the interest of informed consent, the members need to explicitly know those goals. Now that we have narrowed the focus of our efforts, it makes understanding the direction of our non-profit vitally important.
You might be scratching your head and wondering what we mean by… narrowing. Aren’t we pursuing a mandated pronoun lawsuit? Haven’t we discussed everything from the State of Union to food security and national readiness in our Podcast and publications? How is that a narrowing of focus?
Symptoms, not the cause.
The mandate that the world accepted with little resistance and even less curiosity was a symptom of the problem and not the root cause of the disease. Our members came for the mandate fight and all of us wanted to keep our jobs. We weren’t left unscathed, but we all went to battle and won. It wasn’t a clean, outright victory, but our organization stopped executive orders 14042 and 14043 from causing further damage to the institutions in which we have invested our lives.
Mission accomplished, right?
No.
Come for the COVID, stay for the accountability.
Our byline is …
Read this slow and with emphasis…
Accountability encircles integrity and reform with a white hot cleansing fire. That is why it is at the top of our list. It is very hard for integrity and reform to stand on their own without accountability. Integrity might be an example others could follow, but without action, it rarely leads directly to accountability. On its own, integrity may make a martyr of someone.
… Anyone who stood up to the mandates intimately understands.
Reform without accountability is merely change without a deliberate reason. We have zeroed our rifle’s optics with deliberate purpose. F4F will move forward attacking the fundamental causes that led to our government’s deleterious actions. What caused the mainspring to malfunction?
Violations of freedom of speech
Disregard for religious rights
Failure of moral leadership
Free speech is in the crosshairs.
Almost every member of F4F experienced free speech violations. Some were indirectly coerced into silence, while others were directly advised against sharing their dissident views. It’s like they wrapped us in masks, slipped us behind protective barriers, and distanced us out of earshot. We were disallowed the fundamental right to communicate, while in stark contrast, many government agencies were offering the services of a psychologist for those who were suffering from pandemic anxiety.
Anxiety is not quite the right diagnosis…
They were suffering from government directed psychological operations. It was a direct attack on free speech. If you haven’t been following the work of Matt Taibbi and his publication Racket News, as well as Michael Shellenberger and his publication Public you need to quickly get up to speed. They broke the Twitter Files story and can provide you with the most up-to-date picture of our nation’s declining support for free speech. Paid subscribers to Taibbi’s Substack are gifted a weekly Podcast, America This Week, with a curmudgeon of a national treasure and cohost, Walter Kirn. This is a must see and they have expertly detailed the institutional speech violations occurring in the federal government. Expect a near-term Substack from F4F, detailing the long list of federal government violations, some of which are being litigated in court.
Religious violations are plentiful.
We have Christians, Jews, and Muslims in our organization. Matching the demographics in our country, a majority of our members are Christians. Our organization grew quickly after we began disseminating religious accommodation templates for the COVID-19 injection, as well as weekly ZOOM meetings to call our members to action starting in the fall of 2021. Our planned litigation against mandated pronouns has been another religiously unifying issue that all sons of Abraham can agree upon.
Our government has systematically, by hook or by crook, tried to remove religion as a protected class. Some members have reported that agencies and departments have repeatedly failed to include mention of religious protections in their internal DEI messaging and when reminded, corrections for the record were rarely made.
Almost all of our members were subject to religious discrimination, and violations of Title VII and the Religious Freedom Reformation Act. Despite an end to the pandemic, the names of government employees with deeply held beliefs are listed in databases and distributed without consent. The Public Records Act does not allow for illegally collected personal data, but despite winning a nationwide injunction, the Biden regime successfully played the catch-me-if-you-can game. Plaintiffs race to have the merits of their case heard in court, before the government voluntarily and administratively terminates their unconstitutional actions. The cessation of illegal acts permits the judiciary to moot any temporary legal advances that might prevent the whole mess from happening again.
Fun game, huh?
Don’t lose hope. There have been several key wins for religious freedom, and a couple that have made their way to the supreme court. Up until very recently, F4F financially supported 14 class action lawsuits working their way through EEOC and federal court, and we still hope we can get a strategic win for federal government employees and the military. There are several F4F class action EEO complaints that have been completely self-funded through Federal Practice Group (FPG), the same firm that filed two nationwide lawsuits on our behalf. These class actions are also inching their way towards federal court, and the members involved in those administrative actions intend to push them forward regardless of time or cost.
Moral Leadership is in decline.
Without question, COVID revealed almost everyone in a position of power will fail a test of their humanity when challenged by evil. At best, many of our political leaders, public health professionals, doctors, lawyers, judges, and the bureaucratic leadership were engaged in willful ignorance. At worst, Western Democracies and Five Eyes partners were complicit in the most insidious crimes we have seen committed since WWII, maybe ever. The reasons for this failure are important, and they are discussed in previous articles. There is always a middle ground explanation, but the center of those two extremes still leaves little room for forgiveness and grace.
Regardless, we must navigate a path towards reconciliation. Moral leadership demands it. Every single individual who stood up to these mandates, no matter how insignificant one may consider oneself, is a moral leader. As one of our Podcast guests and author of Declaration of Military Accountability (DMA), Rob Green, has wisely stated…
We must treat everyone like future allies.
Like it not, you have become leaders. Maybe you are a reluctant leader, but please keep in mind that the best commanders rose through the ranks predicated on how they cared for their subordinates and peers. You did that in spades.
Somewhere along the way, the advancement incentives were inverted. Leaders in our government institutions were promoted based how they took care of their supervisors. There has always been the quisling class of bureaucratic bottom-feeders, more than happy to feed off the detritus left behind. Your actions showed them a better way and shined a righteous light on the path of integrity and compassion, guiding others toward a more just and empathetic world.
You never sought a leader’s role, but you now have a responsibility to raise the standards. It can only be accomplished from the inside and that is why your active membership is so vital to this organization.
We are insiders.
The American people deserve a Republic that reflects the values of average Americans. Citizens peering into the murky swamp waters under which our institutions have been submerged have grown desperate for some indication that our freedoms can be salvaged. These outsiders also wonder if we have civil servants willing to admit when their institutional ship is taking on water and ready for decommissioning… At some point, we must admit when an agency or department needs repair or retirement.
That requires moral leaders.
That requires insiders.
Why not just call it Constitutional violations?
Speech and religion are Constitutional violations in a broad sense. Poor leadership allowed for these Republic-wide legal abominations. Why aren’t we describing our narrowed focus as Constitutional in nature?
Describing every fight as a Constitutional fight implies our tool belt is limited to litigation. We aren’t just the “sue-them-until-they-cry” crew, regardless of how satisfying that result might seem. We’ll drag them to court if we have to, but there is real talent in our ranks and we have more to offer…
Deliverables.
Took a while to get here, but this is what you get when you are a member.
Litigation.
Education.
Community.
Accountability.
Charity.
Litigation is a key deliverable and we successfully executed the primary goal laid out when we formed Feds for Medical Freedom (F4MF) on 9 September 2021. We stopped the mandate and saved the jobs of hundreds of thousands federal employees. We staved off our government’s gene therapy subscription service, vaccine passports, and the possibility that our Republic might cross the proverbial authoritarian event horizon.
Unfortunately for our fragile economy, the federal government is our nation’s largest employer. When we look at the scope of government contracting, we can draw only one conclusion. If the federal government had surrendered to these immoral executive orders, the private sector would have been lined up for their toxic shot next. In a real sense, your refusal to obey has staved off this administration’s attempt to goose step into a technocratic biosurveillance state.
Up until recently, F4F was financially supporting 14 Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) class action lawsuits. We moved that litigation as far forward as our finances permitted. One thing to keep in mind, our organization is unique. Employment law is not the sexy kind of litigation… There is no glory at the end of a long legal battle and there is rarely a huge payout for the legal teams. The process is onerous for complainant and lawyer. No other organization funds class action EEOs. We did the best we could and all of our choices focused on which cases would produce the best outcome for every member. We have asked our members to self-fund these cases for at least the next six months, while we replenish our war chest. We will reevaluate in January 2025.
Education was one of the most important elements of our success. I recently spoke at Children Health Defense (CHD) Military Chapter’s event. It was a closed, ticket only event, but please expect to receive a full read-out in the very near future. I was one of the last speakers and wanted to end the event with a little bit of optimism.
We are winning.
There is a cabal of unseen actors that have been training decades to ruthlessly take our liberties. Event 201, Dark Winter, and a number of other oddly timed tabletop exercises gave us a glimpse into their strategies and intent. Whoever is plotting is up to no good, but you need not worry.
These losers couldn’t stop a motley crew of lowly paid government employees, who built the F4F car as it stuttered out of the garage, leaking fluids and announcing itself in puffs of thick exhaust fumes. Sure, there were other comrades-at-arms being censored by the federal government, driven out of their careers, and ostracized. They brought some firepower in other arenas of American daily life, but our attackers had the full weight of the USG, media, cultural icons, academia, and the bureaucratic class propping up their coup… and they still failed.
Clowns, all of them.
That is what happens when you worry too much about cow farts and subsist on a steady diet of chitinous bugs and fluoridated water. Perhaps some of these over-educated midwits really need to take a good hard look at their quality of their help, you know… the useful idiots… and rethink their personnel training and retention program. They suck.
We successfully ran a campaign of bureaucratic guerrilla warfare and thwarted the misguided intentions of the most powerful elected official in the world. This was our training ground and we dominated.
We filled our tool box and know how to go to work on the toughest problems. F4F offers educational products and advice that avoids the need to go to court. The COVID lessons have wide application. Let’s take masking and testing as an example.
A colleague alerted me to an individual, Christian Zwileneff, who was a member of a sister organization called, We Hold Rights. I put him on the spot and asked that he hold a few informational sessions on how everyone should approach the masking and testing issue.
Without providing the blow-by-blow, Christian’s approach was methodical and data driven. It was not just a specific list of actions, it was a methodology for solving highly administrative problems. They were the type of problems one might find in a large organization, and his methods allowed for ease of use in different agencies and departments, and it was transferable to different problem sets.
Christian started by examining the internal regulations in his department and work unit. Then he developed targeted questions that forced specific answers related to the administrative processing and third party vendor requirements. He was able to look closely at inflection points, lapses in policy, and contractual issues that offered opportunities for respectful pushback. No need to litigate if you can scare bureaucrats with the bureaucracy of what they were doing.
We were able to shut down testing in two agencies, without going to court.
In his own humble words….
Objective, Quality, Evidence… It is literally my job.
We have written educational materials for COVID using Christian’s methodology. There is other material we have drafted and sent to Alliance Defending Freedom related to Freedom of Speech and pronoun mandates employing these same methods.
Some of our products have been drafted and adjusted as our numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests have become available. To be clear, the FOIA process is broken, and one must have patience, but we have had some very interesting results. In terms of educating our members, they have offered litigation pathways, insight into failures of policy, and built a body of knowledge we have leveraged on behalf of our members.
We are confident we have the necessary insider expertise to provide materials quickly when and if we are confronted with another manmade disaster meant to steal our sovereignty. We have a community of experts ready to help educate our members.
Community ties have strengthened our resolve, built coalitions, and provided relief when many of us felt at our most alone. The mandates divided us from our colleagues and destroyed relationships. Early in the pandemic, censorship limited our ability to quickly build relationships with like-minded individuals. Now that we have a community, it is vitally important we nurture the growth of our network. Why?
The previously mentioned cabal of unseen actors, political elites, and hapless midwit bureaucrats will do it again. There will be another disaster and it won’t necessarily be a pandemic. It could be any number of things: a cyber attack, destruction of our infrastructure, election meddling, communism hiding under a cloak of climate change, implementation of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), or even high energy weapons burning anything not sitting comfortably under a blue roof. It doesn’t really matter the type of disaster dropped on the public, there is really only one question you must answer.
Do you really want to have to build an organization again?
When we talk about community, we aren’t referring to the informal chat groups where we exchange saucy memes, medical research, and homesteading tips. We need an organization that will slap on face paint and gather just before dawn.
“Just before dawn,” being the key phrase. If our organization existed before the mandates, we might have been able to move quicker with more precise intelligence on what was being plotted. We could have generated better outcomes for our members, federal government employees, and the American public.
We have the right people, an organization with an active support base, and a network of sister organizations with whom we have built coalitions.
The unions failed you, but we didn’t and if you are still paying dues, we suggest you drop your support for these feckless boot lickers and redirect those funds to F4F. Let’s ensure there is an organization that federal government employees, the military, and the American public can turn to when it happens again and we have a need for swift accountability.
Accountability is a righteous path and it takes time, but it is worth your patience. Litigation can offer accountability, and the federal lawsuits and class action EEOs have been just one of the many avenues we have employed. Again, pending the status of fund-raising, F4F will be able to reinitiate financial support in the future for the class action EEOs.
We are still looking for other litigation opportunities where appropriate and funds dependent. Our plans to litigate the forced speech and the mandated pronoun issue is one such example. We found pro-bono legal support for pronoun litigation through the Alliance Defending Freedom.
But, that is just one small part of F4F’s accountability plan.
We have met with individual legislators and oversight bodies on behalf of our members This includes a list of of about 60 legislative offices. Not all legislators are as helpful as others, but most have been receptive to what we have had to say. Congressman Thomas Massie chatted with me for over 30 minutes after having a chance encounter with him outside his office. Senator Rand Paul’s office has offered concrete support for one of our FOIA litigation efforts, among other offers of much needed assistance.
It is important to remember that Legislators are not going to solve all of our problems. Many claim the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) helped military members who were unfairly removed from service. I am not going to go into the numerous gotcha items that were included in that legislation, but even though it allowed for the return of service members, it did not offer to compensate these soldiers for lost rank, opportunities, and pay. Nor was there any accountability for those responsible. Currently, there is no similar legislation for federal government employees similarly effected. Perhaps, we dodged a bullet and we can engineer better outcomes.
One F4F member took it upon herself to offer a better solution. She wrote proposed legislation to help make federal government employees whole.
We happily support her effort to sally forth and encourage you all to do the same. Our team can help ensure we coordinate these proposals for maximum effect and we have set the conditions for key Congressman and Senators on the right committees to assist.
Our bicameral Congressional system - alone - is not going to make us whole. Sometimes, there are significant disincentives to do so. Many times, the complaints being made are something our legislators already passed into law… Sometimes, legislators in oversight committees are fully aware of the activity, have been briefed repeatedly in closed door hearings, and distance themselves only when these activities become public. The national Security Agency (NSA) used § 215 of the Patriot Act in court proceedings to justify the mass collection of American Call Data Records. The courts ruled in 2015 that no such justification exists. This is a matter of public record.
We hold that the text of § 215 cannot bear the weight the government asks us to assign to it, and that it does not authorize the telephone metadata program... We do so comfortably in the full understanding that if Congress chooses to authorize such a far-reaching and unprecedented program, it has every opportunity to do so, and to do so unambiguously. Until such time as it does so, however, we decline to deviate from widely accepted interpretations of well‐established legal standards.
It is just my opinion and no one with whom I am associated sat in NSA oversight hearings, but following passage of the Patriot Act and as collection of metadata began, Congress was perfectly willing to accept legal interpretations from NSA regarding the scope of their authorities in private closed door settings. Only when things were brought to the American public, did they clutch their pearls and call for investigations.
Let me be clear… I am vehemently opposed to spying on Americans with tools that violate our rights en masse. You know… like collecting everyone’s phone records for the just-in-case, rainy day event one might encounter when the government decides there is a need to poke into your private communications.
The National Security Council (NSC) certainly understood what was going on when this collection program was ongoing, and they remained silent. That is all too typical, but they report to the executive branch and we shouldn’t be surprised. The President doesn’t want to take ownership of the political risk. NSA falls under the Director of National Intelligence and the executive branch and they bear blame as well, but so do the cowards in Congress who were perfectly willing to transfer risk from oversight bodies to an Agency charged with protecting Americans.
… And yes, I still believe 99.99% of our federal workforce take their responsibility to the American public very seriously, especially for those who joined the ranks because of 9/11. We joined to protect our nation.
I don’t hold the same view towards most elected officials. Why put a controversial issue up for vote and codify it into law, when it can be a mutually understood arrangement that allows those same slimy politicians to protect their careers and introduce federal government employees to the underside of a bus?
The political class likes to ensure any political risks are displaced as far away from their future political career as possible, and it is a lot easier to say an agency went rogue, than to admit that they were complicit in the interpretation of authority granted by the Patriot Act or any other vaguely worded, easily misinterpreted word salad coming out of the committees.
Conversely, federal government Senior Executive Service (SES) employees also know they are rarely held accountable when those situations arise. They have the dirt on the the other side. Each participant knows they are playing a game of mutually assured kompromat destruction. Even in the rare case an SES or other senior officer is forced to resign, they often are well compensated and find themselves working in a highly paid private sector gig. What happened to Peter Strozk? Why do you think Former Director of National Intelligence Clapper was never held responsible for lying to Congress?
This is a dangerous for our Republic.
Craven political leaders directly contribute to an erosion of trust in our federal government institutions, and that has second order effects. Why would a whistleblower (WB) ever come forward, when it is obvious the institutional mechanisms are broken, and there is little hope the political class will risk their careers on controversial issues?
Wrong-doing will be left untouched and immoral leadership will continue to flourish. We need WBs to come forward, but the disincentives are profound. There is no upside to reporting wrong doing, except as a measure of one’s personal integrity. Families, careers, and future plans are destroyed. Former colleagues will consider you a pariah. People lose security clearances, reputation, and suffer.
You know what happened when F4F formed? WBs began contacting our organization seeking assistance. Some of them are the same people you’ve recently seen in media reporting. They were members of F4F from the very beginning, and they weren’t only fed up with COVID-related crimes.
One of the most important services F4F offers is assistance and advice on how to properly handle delicate WB claims. We have never received, nor do we want to receive classified information. Let me foot stomp that point…
Do not send us classified information.
Please do reach out if you need expert advice. We have helped multiple WBs seek legal assistance, and understand the processes needed to properly report wrong-doing. We have identified lawyers who specialize in this type of litigation, and some have offered pro bono legal support. We have also arranged introductions with Congressional oversight bodies, and interested representatives.
Aren’t there employee outlets for reporting wrong-doing at every agency and department? Why did they seek out the assistance of F4F?
Many have come to the conclusion that their employers have no intention of protecting their rights. Regardless of the validity of that assumption, our goal is to help protect the employee, limit damage to institutions already suffering from historic levels of distrust, and properly pursue accountability.
I know what some people are going to say about the phrase “limit damage to institutions,” and before we are accused of being an op… We aren’t, but we do generally hold conservative views and conservatives generally respect institutions. We are perfectly willing to have a calm and reasoned discussion about why an institution needs to be razed to the ground. I personally think there are large swaths of the federal bureaucracy that needs to be shuttered.
COVID shut down large portions of the federal government for the better part of two years. What more proof do you need?
We know the WB process is broken. It is designed to protect institutions and not employees, but adhering to the process offers the most protection for WBs and ensures the valuable aspects of institutions aren’t accidentally harmed. When we tear down an institution, we had better know what will replace it or if it even needs a replacement. Unlike the WB process, F4F’s goal is to protect the employee first, and if the institution must suffer, it does so with as little damage to the WB as possible.
WBs are a potent weapon combatting the corruption that has putrified our most powerful institutions, and we have helped many of them make internal government reform. This is why the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the Chevron Doctrine is so important, it opens the door for reluctant WBs, who are reporting on issues in the legislative grey area. Many of the worst government excesses were never legislated, bureaucrats misinterpreted their authorities, where none were meant to exist.
Where litigation, legislation, and formal complaints fail, we leverage the educational materials we provide every member and seek accountability with our most powerful resource… You.
Real accountability starts when a well-informed, morally sound leader acts. You have a proven record of success, and if you are part of our organization we know you can accomplish great things. Many of you have acted and that is the most charitable deed one can pursue.
Charity is the act of giving without an expectation you will get something in return. F4F is a charity. It is a non-profit, but we still try really hard to ensure you get a return on investment.
Charitable donations will always be applied to our most pressing charitable needs. If that is litigation, then we will let you know. If it is educational material, we will make it available. Whatever your motive is for donating to a charity, we are hopeful it satisfies your desire to donate to a good cause, and we will use your money wisely.
This is a deliverable we must emphasize. We have had a number of individuals ask us to detail how much was spent on which lawsuits and subsequently pulled their support because they felt as though their class action should have received more attention. There are a couple really important issues we ask that you keep in mind.
We accomplished the primary task our members requested. The mandate ended and we set a course towards accountability. There are a number of class action EEO complaints made up entirely of donating F4F members, and their class actions are completely self-funded. They have been self-funded for the last three years. How do we explain to these members that we aren’t in a position to provide any financial assistance when they have continued to donate to our organization? We don’t. They know our charity is pursuing a shared goal.
They view it as a worthy charitable cause and believe that a win with any of the EEO class actions could drag the rest of the federal class complaints forward. We would also ask our members to remember, full funding for EEO complaints and employment litigation is a rarity.
Last, we are a unique organization for another reason. Nonprofits have boards and those boards are staffed by full-time board members, sometimes salaried with benefits. Your board consisted of full-time federal government employees, managing the day-to-day operations in an unpaid capacity on the edges of all our other daily responsibilities.
We are happy warriors and glad to be a part of this organization. Our gratitude for your financial support for our shared causes cannot be stated strongly enough, and even if there have been many late nights, this has been a labor of love. We believe in the organizations goals. Many hands make for light work, and we have identified a few more people who share our goals.
Board Member Announcements
I would like to introduce you to our new board members.
Cameron Hamilton will be taking on the role of Vice President of F4F.
Cameron has been a member and supporter of F4F since its inception. He just ended his bid for Congress in Virginia’s 7th District in a hotly contested primary race. Virginia’s loss was our gain when he agreed to join our board of directors in an executive role.
Cameron was in the U.S. Navy for 10 years as a Naval Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) and Special Operations Combat Medic/Special Operations Independent Duty Corpsman with four deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Subsequent to his exemplary service, he joined U.S. Department of State (DOS), Directorate of Operational Medicine as a Supervisory Emergency Management Specialist. He served as a rapidly deployable protective medical resource directly supporting Diplomatic Security Service crisis response teams as well as other U.S. Governmental elements. Prior to his bid for Congress, he joined Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the Director of the Emergency Medical Services Division. You can see his full bio here.
Cameron will help shape the future direction of F4F, serving as a spokesperson and advocate. He will also be taking on the herculean task of donor engagement and outreach.
Carolyn Rocco will be taking on the role of Secretary of F4F.
Carolyn is a two-time Office of Special Investigations (OSI) commander and was an Air Force ROTC instructor in the Pacific Northwest when the DoD vaccine mandate was implemented. She was unable to immediately return to OSI after she declined the Covid-19 shot. Carolyn was denied a medical and religious exemption, even after showing a high level of Covid antibodies post natural infection. In August 2022, Ohio Judge McFarland issued a preliminary injunction for Air and Space Force members, which protected her from being removed from service. She served as a ROTC instructor in the PNW during the time of the Covid vaccine mandate, and while her instructor assignment was a two-year tour, Carolyn was forced to remain in place for a third year. After the DoD rescinded its mandate in Jan 2023, Carolyn was subsequently able to promote to Lieutenant Colonel and later moved, in June 2023, to Virginia for her next OSI tour. Carolyn served 20 years of active military service in November 2023 and while she is scheduled to retire on July 1, 2025, she would be honored to stay in uniform, if requested by a new administration. You can read her full bio here.
One of the key deficiencies F4F identified was our ability to help active duty military members. UCMJ has a whole different set of complications and even though we have many active duty supporters, it was often difficult to get them the expert assistance they needed. Carolyn will help us support existing and new active duty F4F members, while taking on an equally difficult task: networking with sister organizations to ensure we have complimentary and coordinated support to as many people as possible. Her ties with the Declaration of Military Accountability (DMA) signatories and Children’s Health Defense, Military Chapter will reinforce the overlapping goals of coordinated support to the military.
Kevin Biro will be taking on a board member role.
Kevin Biro is a 20-yr Intelligence Community professional, having served in the US Navy as a Cryptologic Technician and as an Industrial Contractor supporting various Intelligence Community elements. As a devout Christian and former ministry director, Kevin has spent the past year navigating constitutionally protected religious free speech and practice in the intelligence workspace regarding the transgender and gender identity-affirming policies.
Kevin will be taking on a role supporting financial management of the organization’s charitable donations and direct our counter-DEI litigation goals.
Marcus Thornton will continue in his role as President, Melissa Bruckner will continue in her role as Treasurer, and Ron Severson will continue to serve as a board member. I am taking on a volunteer duties supporting the board leading our communication and operations team. I will also continue to lead a small, dedicated research team focused on support to our Operation Warp Speed (OWS) FOIA currently being litigated. Brian is leaving the board and will continue to provide volunteer support, while he takes a well-deserved break.
Speaking of litigation.
I just spent 20 minutes explaining why we aren’t just a “sue-them-until-they-cry” organization, but I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t provide a full read-out of where stand vis-a-vis our litigation.
Feds for Medical Freedom v. Biden. It may be hard to believe, but even though the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ordered the dismissal of our case in the 5th circuit, as well as an order to vacate our lower court wins, the 5th circuit has still not completed that task. So, we are all still enjoying the benefits of a nationwide injunction against the COVID-19 injection mandate. At this point, it is really hard to know why the 5th circuit is dragging their feet. It could be a matter of bureaucracy moving at the pace of bureaucracy, or maybe the 5th circuit got tired of SCOTUS overturning all their rulings… Regardless, the man-child in me is giggling. We owe Boyden , Gray, and Associates for the expert handling of the case.
Altschuld v. Raimondo and Doe v. Austin. Our two lawsuits filed in DC and and Florida, through Federal Practice Group (FPG), have since been mooted.
Class Action EEOs.
Some litigants have still failed to pay their fee to BGA for Feds for Medical Freedom v. Biden; as I just mentioned, it was the litigation that made it all the way to the Supreme Court. They are solely responsible for that bill and BGA has a right to seek collections.
Part of our financial calculus when we first formed Feds for Medical Freedom in September of 2021, and part of the reason we did not demand that every supporter pay a monthly fee, was related to the cost of our three lawsuits. Many members were involved in BGA and one of the other FPG lawsuits. We worried our supporters would not be able to afford the fees for those lawsuits and pay a monthly fee to be a member.
If we had charged a monthly fee from the very beginning, our financial status would be significantly improved today. So, it is extraordinarily irritating to know that we made a decision out of empathy for federal government employees that were potentially on the verge of being fired, that allowed them to save as much money as possible during an extraordinarily difficult time, and then some of those same people never paid their fees to BGA. That decision has a direct effect on our current financial position.
Please don’t be a deadbeat and pay your bills.
As mentioned earlier, we have asked that all our class action EEOs be self-funded for a period of at least six months, while we fill our war chests and replenish the dwindling coffers.
Each of the cases that are moving forward in federal court either bring advantages in terms of arguments, court locations, or opportunities to press unique claims that advance everyone’s cases. For example, the DOD case is situated in a favorable court, the FBI case has strong claims, and the NASA case has an opportunity to push arguments in a court that may offer leverage. The benefit of having NASA litigation in DC is that it is untested on the issues relevant in the complaint. Even if unsuccessful at the District Court phase, having this complaint working through the DC Circuit while F4F's other complaints are working through the 5th Circuit, and other locales, and they could help us get review by the Supreme Court. Some of the cases are in holding patterns, while other cases play out. It is the best way to preserve accountability for as many people as possible.
Continuing the NASA litigation will keep Feds for Freedom's vision for a national litigation strategy alive. If NASA is not able to continue as a class, however, those who are still committed to the cause can contribute donations to other EEO litigation.
If there are individuals looking to provide near-term, direct support to one of the class action lawsuits, the NASA lawsuit has a filing date of 17 September 2024 and needs to raise an additional $18,000. If you would like to provide direct funding to one or more of the below mentioned specific Class Action Lawsuits, please contact me at jim@fedsforfreedom.org and I will direct you to the class agent.
Please see details below.
Arzamendi/ Orloff v. DoD
We filed the original complaint on July 24, 2023.
We filed amended complaint on January 31, 2024.
We removed official capacity defendants Hicks and Cisneros, as only Austin is an appropriate defendant under Title VII.
We clarified that we are suing Austin, Hicks, and Cisneros in both their official and individual capacity under Religious Freedom Reformation Act.1
The amended complaint removed the First Amendment claim but clarifies that the Fifth Amendment claim will continue.2 (Bivens).
We are drafting a Motion for Class Certification in the case. It will be filed along with the amended complaint.
We filed a 26(f) Report with Court on January 19, 2024, requesting that it schedule discovery after the Defendants’ motions to dismiss.
Defendants filed their Motion to Dismiss on February 16, 2024.
We filed our Response to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss on March 15, 2024.
We filed a Motion for Class Certification on March 22, 2024.
Judge Pittman dismissed the case without prejudice3 on April 16, 2024.
We appealed to the 5th Circuit and submitted our opening brief on August 20, 2024.
Etzenhouser v. USDA (inactive)
We filed the original complaint on November 27, 2023.
We served all parties effective February 23, 2024.
Asked Plaintiffs to provide updated affidavits to support the Motion for Class Certification. Few were forwarded.
We filed a motion for class certification on February 26, 2024.
USDA filed its opposition to our motion for class certification on March 11, 20024.
We responded on April 1, 2024.
This group is not able to go forward.
Jeffers v. GSA (inactive)
We filed the original complaint on January 3, 2024.
Defendants’ Answer or Motion to Dismiss was due 60 days after service of process, which can take up to three months depending on how quickly the Department of Justice staffs the case.
Service must occur before April 2, 2024.
The class decided not to continue pursuing its claims because of a lack of harm on the part of the class members.
Soliday v. Austin (inactive)
We filed the class complaint on October 24, 2023, and have served all Defendants.
Judge Estudillo held a conference to assess whether to combine Soliday v. Austin with LeBret v. Austin given similarity in complaints and parties.
The Court scheduled a Follow-up conference to discuss consolidating the case with Soliday v. Austin on February 9, 2024.
We filed a joint status update on February 8 with DOJ suggesting a consolidation of the cases, as there is no reason not to consolidate.
The court officially consolidated the classes on February 9, 2024
The Court dismissed our case on June 10, 2024.
The group could not get a group of litigants to commit and the deadline for appeal passed.
Thornton v. State (inactive)
The Eastern District of Virginia dismissed the case on November 16, 2023.
We filed a notice of appeal on January 16, 2024.
We filed a Docketing Statement and Disclosure Forms February 6, 2024.
Our Opening Brief on appeal was due March 27, 2024, but we moved for an extension, which opposing counsel consented to and the Court granted.
We did not pursue an appeal in this case.
Villela v. FBI
Kyle Seraphin (Seraphim? you decide) has kindly offered to use his platform to raise funds for the FBI class action. If you aren’t aware, he was with F4F from the very beginning and has successfully launched his own platform. He is an FBI whistleblower and a stand-up guy. Follow him on rumble or on X.
Filed the original complaint on May 17, 2023, and an amended complaint on July 11, 2023.
Defense filed Motions to Dismiss most claims and some parties in their official capacity on November 10, 2024, and November 17, 2024.4
We filed our response to the Motions to Dismiss on December 1, 2023, and December 8, 2023, and are asking the judge for a hearing on oral arguments.
Individual Defendants filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority in Support of their Motion to Dismiss.
Judge Ellis called for oral arguments on April 22, which he held in the Southern District of Texas Houston Division.
He dismissed some claims but kept several significant ones: Failure to accommodate claims for six plaintiffs, Constructive discharge claims for three plaintiffs (one overlapping with the first group)
From the decision: § In sum, the following claims may proceed against Defendant Garland in his official capacity: (i) Title VII failure to accommodate, with respect to the above-named Plaintiffs, all of whom allegedly requested a religious exemption to the masking, distancing, and testing requirements; (ii) Title VII disparate impact; (iii) Title VII constructive discharge, with respect to the above-named Plaintiffs, all of whom allegedly resigned from their FBI positions.
We can now file for class certification for classes based on these individuals.
He dismissed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on jurisdictional grounds without prejudice, meaning that we are able to file the same claims in a different court with jurisdiction. In this case, it would be the District of DC.
DOJ’s has filed an answer to the remaining issues.
We filed a motion for class certification and have agreed to a scheduling order. Trial is in November of 2025.
Claims with the EEOC follow.
Degenkolb v. DIA: Degenkolb/DIA is in a holding pattern. There is no motion for class certification, just individual complainants at EEOC.
Duffy v. Dept of Homeland Security
Filed Agency EEO charge November 23, 2021.
Agency transferred class complaint to EEOC on December 30, 2021.
We responded to the AJ’s Notice of Intent to Dismiss on February 3, 2023.
We are waiting for a decision from the EEOC.
Flagg-Duque v. DEA
EEOC issued a request for more information on April 4, 2022.
The AJ allowed for discovery and briefing on class certification issue; we submitted class certification brief on October 24, 2022.
EEOC issued dismissal on September 26, 2023.
DOJ issued a Final Order on October 30, 2023.
January 19, 2024, we decided not to pursue federal lawsuit because class agents prefer to reserve F4F funding for classes that suffered more harm and have greater chance of success on the merits.
Kraus v. Dept. of Commerce
Filed EEOC Complaint on March 23, 2022, with a request for class certification on October 13, 2022.
We filed a response to the AJ’s Notice Clarifying Claims ordered by EEOC on July 2, 2023.
EEOC sent Notice of Intent to Dismiss Claims on December 11, 2023.
The Agency filed its Opposition to Class Certification of Claim 1(b) on January 8, 2024.
We filed Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and Opposition to Class Certification on January 18, 2024.
The Agency filed its Reply to our support of Class Certification of Claim 1(b) on January 23, 2024.
The EEOC dismissed the final claim on March 14, 2024. The Agency had 40 days from this date to decide whether to implement the EEOC’s decision, after which we had 30 days to appeal or 90-days to file an action in federal court.
The class was dismissed, but two claims were sent back to the EEOC for adjudication.
McGee v. NGA
McGee filed an EEOC Class Claim on May 6, 2021.
The EEOC dismissed the class claim on November 11, 2022.
We appealed the EEOC decision on January 17, 2022.
The Agency filed a brief on appeal on March 15, 2023.
We’re waiting for EEOC decision.
Menges v. DOL
Menges filed her EEOC Complaint on February 8, 2022.
The EEOC issued a Request for More Information on April 14, 2022.
We responded on May 9, 2022.
We filed an amended EEOC complaint on July 12, 2022.
AJ dismissed the class complaint on January 30.
The Agency filed its Final Agency Decision on March 6, 2024.
We did not file a complaint in federal court on June 4 because of a lack of interest from the class. Most responded affirmatively that they did not want to be named in a suit.
Rice v. Social Security Administration
Filed EEOC claim on (or before) July 18, 2022 .
We filed a Response to the EEOC’s Order to Provide Specificity and Detail Regarding Class Allegations on May 10, 2023.
Per EEOC order, the parties engaged in discovery between August 21, 2023, and November 20, 2023, including defending a deposition.
We filed Motion for Class Certification on December 11, 2023.
We received the Defendant’s Opposition to Motion for Class Certification on January 12, 2024 after receiving an extension from the EEOC.
We replied to the Agency’s Opposition to Motion for Class Certification on January 22, 2024.
They filed a reply on Feb. 1; briefing is complete.
Rather than issue a decision on the class certification issue, the AJ accepted the Agency’s request to file a motion to dismiss.
Because of a confluence of deadlines, we requested and received an extension.
We filed a response and are awaiting a decision.
Thomas / Lee v. NASA
Thomas filed her EEOC charge on June 21, 2022 and Lee filed his on June 28, 2022.
On May 18, 2023, the EEOC issued a Request for Information on Class Certification.
We filed a response on June 19, 2023.
NASA filed its reply on July 20, 2023.
We received EEOC’s Order of Dismissal of both Class Complaints on February 8, 2024.
We received the Final Agency Decision on March 4, 2024.
We filed a complaint in federal court on June 3, 2024 to allow time for the class to determine whether there is any interest remaining in pursuing a claim.
17 September 2024 deadline to file in court.
Class action EEO complaints aren’t the only thing we do…
Suing the DOD!
We are currently litigating an incredibly important Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request with DOD. You can download the filings here and here. DOD is sitting on 1.2 gigabytes of information related to Operation Warp Speed (OWS), with an initial search yielding over 26,000 pages on the conservative end of the spectrum. Senator Rand Paul’s office sent the DOD a letter in support of FOIA request, and should it move to further appeals, we will be seeking amicus briefs in support of our effort.
F4F members… I know your lives were tuned upside down by poor leaders, idiotic mandates, the shut down of schools, and the threat of employment termination, but that wasn’t the real cause of your pain. DOD ran a military operation against its own citizens and it was called OWS. We need these documents released and unfortunately FOIA is broken. We had to resort to litigation. Stay tuned, when we start getting the results there are going to be bombshells in there.
Pronoun lawsuit.
As many of you are aware, we have been methodically moving towards a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s mandated use of pronouns. Alliance Defending Freedom is providing pro bono legal support and we have lined up about 80-100 potential plaintiffs. For more details and if you are interested in participating, you can read our previous Substacks detailing our planned litigation. Email me at jim@fedsforfreedom.org.
If we had additional funding, we would probably be litigating other FOIAs. Ideally, we would pursue a lawsuit related to Privacy Act violations. We have the receipts, just not the money.
We have a few other FOIA requests lined up to support our litigation when finances loosen up, but let me provide a broad overview of our FOIA program.
The FOIA process is broken.
Many of you have seen a number of our more recent Substacks discussing FOIAs that have finally been released in part or in full. We have been pursuing some of these requests for over two years.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to F4F FOIA exploits. We have a separate email dedicated to FOIAs and if you have an interest in volunteering for our FOIA team, we would love your assistance. Email us at F4MF-Lawfare-FOIA@proton.me.
Additional details related to our specific FOIA requests will be included in a future Substack, but let me provide a broad overview.
The FOIAs listed above have all been submitted and we are still following their progress. There are a couple hundred others that are no longer being pursued, have been answered, or did not yield results. The blue columns indicate the number of FOIAs submitted to that particular government office. We are currently only submitting a few new targeted FOIAs until we finish processing the remainder of the ones we already filed. We are litigating one DOD FOIA and may decide to litigate a few VA and Department of State (DOS) FOIAs when finances permit.
Litigation is expensive, let’s talk about the money.
Finances, bills, donations, and need.
Currently Feds for Freedom has $8826.77 in our general funds bank account. We have a separate bank account dedicated to our Heritage Foundation grant which has $61,909.43 available. Heritage funds are specifically for our DEI and pronoun litigation, and expenses that support those endeavors.
Bank Accounts:
Heritage DEI account: $61,909.43
SM Business Optima: $2500
BB Checking: $88.92
Comm High Rewards: $8826.77
Total: $73,325.12
Donation totals:
2023 Quarter 3: $12,953.44
2023 Quarter 4: $39,210.00
2024 Quarter 1: $64,972.22
2024 Quarter 2: $58,542.00
2024 Quarter 3: $25,107.30
Total: $200,785.20
Recurring donations: We currently bring in ~12,000 every month.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Donations.
We are awaiting another CFC payment; they are not distributed in a lump sum. We raised $73,581.90 but will only receive about $55,623.48 of that money this year. Why?
CFC takes about 24% of the total donations. In order to be an approved charity we had to keep overhead costs below an 8% threshold, but CFC takes a 24% cut… That is government run charity in action.
What does that mean for future fund-raising through CFC?
CFC is for your normie friends! If you want to support F4F, donate directly. What we need you to do is to gently advise your normie colleagues at work about our important work. Most people choose CFC out of convenience, help your lazy peers to make wise charity choices. But you… You need to donate directly to the organization.
Bills 2023 Q3 - 2024 Q3:
AmPhil - Consulting fees: $34,000.005
AmPhil - Software Consulting: $26, 137.50
CFC Application fee: $434
Accounting: $1500
Annual Charitable Registration: $5445
Registered Agent Fees: $297
Podcast editing: $23206
Lawsuits: $169.790.53
Social Media Content: $5079.957
Direct mailer: $6153.41
Virtuous software: $14,427
Total bills: $265,584.39
Amber Integrated: F4F owes Amber Integrated special thanks. They were a PR firm that provided much of our early content used on social media and other media outlets. They delivered top-notch support and were kind enough to donate $18,000 worth of services on behalf of organization.
Thank you Amber Integratd!
Other bills.
A number of our bills our paid through direct debit and those include Canva, Constant Contact, Survey Monkey, and email renewal. A majority of what is still owed includes legal fees for the Class Action EEO complaints. Our bank accounts have more funds than the total of our bills; however, since a majority of our funds are fenced for a specific purpose, as outlined in our grant agreement, we need to raise funds quickly.
F4F still owes: $32,288.80
How much does F4F need to raise?
This board update will go out to 11,801 people. If we wanted to immediately right our ship, we would need 100 supporters to join F4F at the Presidential tier level. That would pay off our bills, ensure our podcast and social media would run for one year, and likely permit resumption of support for our class actions on an almost immediate basis.
That would be .8% of the total email list. We have about a 40% open rate, but I suspect our members will respond favorably to my call for mandatory reading… We love mandates right! The open rate might be higher for this email, but let’s pretend there’s only 40% opening the email.
That means that 2.1% of the readers would need to join at the Presidential Tier level.
If we can’t get 2.1% of the readers to respond at that rate of support, it will have to be some combination of lower level support, requiring a greater response from more of the subscriber list. I prefer the latter. We need people engaged and invested if we are going to seek out accountability, integrity, and reform.
We also need to increase the rate of recurring donations to about $30,000 per month. That monthly influx of cash ensures we pay overhead and continue to advance our other goals.
How else do we advance our goals?
Social Media, Podcasting, and Substack.
Our goal is to remake our Social Media profile over the next year. The people who linked up with us when we first formed Feds for Medical Freedom on 9 September 2021, fell in love with our organization because we were warriors willing to go to battle in defense of principle. We were like a band of mad berserkers refusing to bend the knee. There was a lot of energy behind our movement.
We are a grassroots movement and that has real attraction, because it screams authenticity and vitality. We accomplished our primary goal, and stopped the injection mandate, saving a lot of jobs in the process… We probably saved folks from some seriously deleterious health outcomes as well.
Our board decided it was important we address the fundamental causes that led to our government’s poor handling of the mandate, and we had to build more structure into everything we were doing. Structure is a great way to achieve goals and build something permanent. Too much… and it is a sure fire way to look like a square.
I am talking to you Marcus… all buttoned up in your three piece suit.
Our team wants you to keep that fire in your belly, while showcasing how we can tackle the strategic problems facing our Republic. We are working to ensure our social media reflects the refusnik instincts that brought us together, while showing how our organization has grown into a mature group of strategists. We will never be dry, bureaucratic, and stuffy. Being different is in your DNA.
Our Podcast, The Feds, has been our Social Media north star.
The Feds gives a platform to Americans to share their stories, expose corruption, and enlighten the public about what’s happening behind the scenes so that, we can fight for a government that is more accountable, expose corruption, and empower Americans to take a stand.
Stephanie Weidle has killed it as our podcast host. It has been consistent, timely messaging and content, brought to you every week. We want to make our podcast self sustaining, and we have begun reaching out to potential advertisers to achieve that goal. One of those advertisers is Triple E Farms. Please show your support and order fresh healthy products.
Use the coupon code FEDSFREEDOM for 10% off your first order.
Expect more advertisers in the near future.
Our Substack will be our primary means of weekly communication. We have enlisted the help of a number of writers, researchers, and FOIA veterans to help provide engaging content. Please let us know how we are doing in the comments.
Please also consider becoming a paid subscriber to F4F’s Substack. All the proceeds go towards our charitable work. 100 new founding members would more than adequately support an entire year of continued podcasts, social media, and communication outreach.
Before you read any further, please like and subscribe all of the following social media links. Then find a post you like and repost it…
Instagram: www.instagram.com/feds4freedomusa/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Feds4FreedomUSA
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@feds4freedomusa
We have 11,801 on this email list. Let’s pump those follower numbers up.
Social Media Overview:
Facebook: More than 4,500 followers, almost 65% are women in the 35 to 55 age range who live in the
U.S. The total reach is about 12K. It would be optimal to post 3 to 4 times a week to this platform. Fridays at 10 a.m. are the best time to share.
Instagram: More than 10K followers, more than 65% women in the 35 to 45 age range and live in the U.S. The total reach is over 34K.
LinkedIn: Has 30 followers. This platform has not been utilized to its fullest capability and could grow with careful content curation and posts.
X: Appears to be your most active platform with more than 6K followers and some content has more than 10K views.
Facebook snapshot from last week:
Facebook Overview for the last six months.
Instagram snapshot over last six months.
LinkedIn: This platform has had a couple fits and starts over the last two years, and only recently had activity. We intend to change the profile and amount of activity drastically. Many federal government employees have decided to leave government service and we must actively work to support each other in the job market. Despite the lack of activity, there was considerable interest with just one post.
X: This is the analytics for the last year.
Here was one of our more popular posts in the last few months.
Youtube analytics for the last year.
Wix website analytics show a drastic decrease in our website traffic. We intend to update quite a few sections in the next month.
DEI Petition: If you have made it this far through the F4F Board Update, you are a real trooper. There is only one more thing I mandate…
Sign our DEI petition. We are urging every American to defund this nonsense.
Thank you for your support to our organization!
Sally Forth!
5th Circuit has not expressly prohibited RFRA claims against agencies and officials in their official capacity, as some other jurisdiction have done.
This permits the possibility of future Bivens claims.
Allows for appeal.
Even if the court grants Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss we will still have some claims move forward to the discovery which the FBI did not challenge.
AmPhil and Virtuous provide data processing and security services, they also provide consulting services to drive growth and identify large dollar donors.
An individual directly donated $2450 directly to the podcast, greatly reducing recent expenditures.
Social media content, $2031.98 paid from general funds, 3047.97 paid from Heritage Foundation account.
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Of course they did. If you can screen shot it… sounds like fund raising material… FB hates it! We are over the target!
Hey! Give us your comments!