Freedom Summit 2014 in Phoenix went both as advertised and as expected in the sense that it was tight-knit and not a lot of observers. It was all activist leaders. It's a reminder that even in our age of video conferences and instant communication, we still have to sit together, to eat together, shake hands, hug and do the hang to really gain that insight and confidence into who we are as individuals. As far as the resultant trust factor in immediate terms, a really sneaky thief could have made off with dozens of pricey electronic devices (we all just left our stuff pretty much wherever somebody was last using it) but they would have to have been sneaky indeed. The very subtle security of us verifying who we are and our history was reinforced by some of our brothers taking it on themselves to open-carry and kinda reassure us against extreme trouble.

No way to recount all of the speakers and fortunately I think it's gonna be up on Youtube soon. Tons of highlights, the Will Grigg vs. Larken Rose debate was classic. Judge Buttrick was deeply profound. Patrick Byrne in the same room was like...WOW MAN. Got a minute with him. Cody Wilson, holy cow ok the guy is smart but, no, actually he's BRILLIANT, many others but if you want the boil down it's as such:

Some of the elders had some blunt news: we are growing faster, stronger and better than ever but our opposition is growing tools and new capabilities faster than we can keep up. The deduction: conflict is coming. Conflict is here. This was received by grassroots (fringe, you know the guys Jesse Benton hates, us in other words) elements that basically returned grit, conviction and determination. On top of this was the bitcoin thing which returned a sort of YES WE CAN and YES WE ARE and YES WE'RE GONNA.

In short, Freedom Summit organizer Ernest Hancock promised TOMORROW'S SOLUTIONS HAPPENING TODAY and this was the dialogue and all levels from whales to us up to our elbows in the soil of this land were represented. In a very tribal type of environment I would say but the terms community and family work just as well.

To throw my personal views in there, I was happy to have a lot of interest in South American alternatives for relocation/expatriation, backup plans, medical care, asset protection and in general saying we have alternatives, stand and fight/die is not the only or inevitable course, it need not be our destiny. Some will stand and fight but others must find ways to preserve our values and promulgate them in new settings. This means going above, around and under conflict. Our opposition seems all powerful but our creativity is breaking convention too. We keep coming up with solutions. And the emphasis we're placing on youth-leadership is paying off right now.

I imagine the best place to see some of the media that will come out will be Ernie's banner site FreedomsPhoenix.com. I'll have some more specific debriefings to follow, escpecially where we're going with medical care. Our response to Obamacare is we care.

Eyes now shift to Texas Bitcoin Conference to see where that whole ride leads. Quick heads up on that? Say calving ground for whales.