Why I Have Been Ghost For Awhile

Or The Next Chapter for The Lonely Ronin

Hello all,

Please pardon my resumption of posting content without a bit more of an update. Without turning my Substack into a diary, I wanted to at least give readers a 2023 Q3 update, given that we are past the halfway point of this year.

In addition to dealing with spies upon spies, and being spied upon (and believe you me, the two things are not mutually inclusive), I also had to first and foremost improve my financial circumstances.

I’ve done independent media for more than three years now. This includes not just video broadcasting, video editing, and livestreaming hundreds of videos, but also writing multiple books, hundreds of articles, and meeting hundreds of people whilst covering an array of topics across multiple states, countries, and continents.

And I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that one cannot make a living solely through telling the truth via the medium of journalism.

After being on the receiving end of a blackmail attempt from Project Veritas coup plotter, Matthew Tyrmand, via information he received from Emerald Robinson (married name: Davis), seeing Steve Bannon completely ignore my Jason Bourne-esque reportage whilst on-the-ground in Brasilia, Brasil (after getting into a barfight with the CIA), having my former publisher, Noel Fritsch (who apparently works at DeMatha High School Basketball program), partial owner of the National File, take down a story I did on HDI-Epstein-Ukraine (Hey, Congressman Nehls!) and give credit to one of his sycophants, who he then proceeded to put on Bannon’s “War Room” show (after he refused to pay me and left me stranded in Brazil), a reasonable human being, even of low intelligence and virtue theshold, could see why I feel disenfranchised with the state of not just the Big Con, or “conservative media,” but the field of journalism at large.

Do not get me wrong.

Knowing that I am perhaps (some would say probably) the most talented young journalist of my generation, and that even more impressive to me, I have done this completely outside the scope of the mainstream media (MSM) machine, is not something which I take for granted.

When discouraged, I have tried to remind myself that there are probably 10,000 bland, forgettable Yuppies who may have earned a lot of money and financial status who cannot say the same thing about their own work in their respective fields. More important to me is its effect on the course of American history.

10,000 financial speculators could have a heart attack today and the world would be no worse off, but a man with honor and courage is irreplaceable.

I am trying to communicate this with humility. To put the proverbial “blood, sweat and tears” into something pioneering which demands a kind of provincial courage I now realize few possess, and to see very little financial remuneration as a result, is deflating. In hindsight, I am a bit surprised that I made it as long as I did.

Another way to put it is like this: On a long enough timeline, if someone is not fairly paid for their work, both the quality and quantity of the work will eventually decrease.

Let's switch quickly from economics to physics. Everything is understood through one’s own frame of reference (FOR), and understanding one's frame of reference (FOR) is fundamental to understanding the dynamics and kinetics of a situation, as my brilliant freshman physics teacher taught me.

People have argued, debated, and reasoned with me that there must be a way to make enough money online covering the news. If they can do it, then you must be able to as well.

This is a very lucid and well-reasoned notion, however, there is a reason that they can make money covering the news, and unfortunately it has neither to do with merit nor the desire to tell the truth.

There are still figures within the independent media space who I cannot point to as nefarious or otherwise, and of course there are diamonds in the rough who are exceptions to the rule, however, these people are supported by other sources of income, usually their (often wealthy) family members (Whitney Webb, Ann Vandersteel, etc.).

What is the rule? In the political media you are a suspected fed until proven otherwise.

This rule, called Addy’s PUBINT Media Rule, is based on my personal experiences working in political media over the past several years, which includes first-hand, secondhand, and thirdhand experiences.

Back to financials.

Within the last couple years I also learned that if one can take advantage of you because of your financial situation, more often than not they will. Whether it is your “Catholic” publisher texting “Not my problem.” to your associate regarding your flight home from a foreign country after your life was threatened by the CIA, or your “Catholic” girlfriend leaving you stranded at a train station long enough such that you want her to abusively knock you almost unconscious with her gigantic chest again, one’s ability to be financially independent is a core power principle.

((By the way, I don’t have an issue with Catholics; y’all just make it too easy. You have to admit that.)

An uber-wealthy woman I was once close with once remarked how difficult it was to get paid in journalism, even for work you have already done, based off of what she saw me experience.

At the end of the day, there is no money to be made in media. Why would there be? Nothing of physical value is produced. There is no entry fee or startup cost and the winners are chosen before the race is run. It is all smoke and mirrors. Conmen and puppets, financed by figures known and unknown, controlled by puppeteers whose names are likely different still.

Alas, this is partially why I spent some time this summer delivering pizzas, something which paid okay but which was not commensurate with the wear-and-tear incurred on my relatively new vehicle, an asset I hope to take good care of.

I now view the craft of journalism in a different light, with a different FOR.

It is something entirely unique unto itself. Like schools of philosophy and religion it can be open to interpretation, but similarly, the best journalism is not. It is also the best way to fight The Deep State, and in that sense, it is more similar at this point in time to a Lone Ronin or Gray Jedi, which is the ways in which I identify myself in those manifstations of journalism.

The reason I say that is because of the lack of, or perhaps more precisely said, failed attempt at, a cohesive team in the independent political media.

It can be done, but nobody has yet achieved this. It takes a degree of leadership and therefore, selflessness, which few humans possess. Combine that with the fact that the field is an essential money pit, it should not be surprising that no one has accomplished this.

These things are all related. As I said to my friend a few weeks ago, “If people were making money in the indie media, a lot of this (in)fighting would not be happening.”

My friend told me this was a wise thing to observe. To me it was common sense, and something which to a certain degree I foresaw, albeit if only by several months.

Recently, I saw another friend in person we had a similar discussion. He told me from a viewer’s perspective it was evident that creators were bleeding financially. He could see it in the visual subtext onscreen.

Former attorney-at-law and forensic historian, John OLoughlin, compared journalism to musicianship in the sense that people will not make money from it unless they sell part of themselves to the machine. I see the analogy and think it is a good one, but not a great one.

Journalism is different because it is necessary for the survival of the United States of America and more importantly, liberty. If music is outlawed, the people will suffer, but people will still find a way to make music and all in all, things would not be as bad were journalism to be fully outlawed.

In a similar vein, perhaps I could have just taken one note on the current status of Julian Assange to learn all of this.

Shoot, I could have saved myself a few years of my life by doing so.

But, at the cost of all of these adventures I had over the past three years?

Support the best to do it. Support the quest for truth.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/addyadds

Addy Adds is a 100% independent author, writer, investigative journalist, independent video producer, radio talk show host, and editor. His work has been stolen by hundreds and viewed/read by millions. Once called the “best young mind in political journalism,” with his work also described as “genius,” Addy Adds turned down an in-field recruitment from the CIA during his coverage of Brazil in 2022, the first known instance of such an event to be caught on video.