Our long-running series of long explorations into past ATF activities finally makes it to current day! And what may surprise you are the ways that bad laws, bad assumptions, and deep ignorance continue to cause tension and resentment... in and out of the Bureau. We also finally address the question of what happens to good ATF agents trying to do their duty.

After the horror of Ruby Ridge and the brutality of Waco, you might expect the newly elected Clinton Administration to blame their predecessors and walk back some of the abuses of the ATF. Instead, they launched an comprehensive coverup campaign, commended the Waco commanders, and rammed through a new Assault Weapons Ban. How did they get away with it?

Our last video made the case that the ATF, while built to crack down on criminals, was actually set on a collision course with regular Americans. In this video, we document 50 years of its trajectory from Prohibition to the deadly sieges at Ruby Ridge and Waco.

Drones are hot right now, and David Han Jr. joins us to describe his business startup, which designs and builds robust drone platforms for the American citizenry. Our conversation covers not just UAV technology and uses, but also the manufacturing and design mindsets needed to develop for a more resilient Citizen Defense Industry.

https://www.k9defense.tech/

https://x.com/K9DefenseTech

This is a video on the T-Rex lab channel, but due to the number of requests, we're also posting it here for easier listening.

The actions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives don't get as much attention as they should, but most people are generally aware of their recent history. However, to get a better understanding of how they developed as an enforcement agency, we have to go back to their first assignment. This will be a multi-part examination of where the ATF came from, and where they should go.

Sources: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Call-Rise-Fall-Prohibition/dp/074327704X

https://www.amazon.com/History-American-People-Paul-Johnson/dp/0060930349/

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Times-Revised-Twenties-Perennial/dp/0060935502

https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=DFwWAAAAIAAJ&pg=GBS.PP6&hl=en

https://www.thecornellreview.org/well-regulated-the-nfa-hearings-1-6-an-unforgivable-betrayal/

Isaac sits down with our COO Bryan to talk about Christmas, and Bryan brings an interesting topic to the table. Merry Christmas from all of us at T.REX to you and your families! 

We've been talking a lot about American manufacturing tools and technologies over on the T.REX LABS channel, but there's a lot more to it than just the hardware. How do you get a new generation of folks involved in making stuff? How do you inspire them to pursue this as a discipline and a career. Today we've got an international guest giving us his perspective on our manufacturing strengths and weaknesses.

Creativity in film, television, and other fictional media seems to be at a pretty low ebb in the 21st century. Isaac and Ryan talk about their experiences in the film industry, and why some of the trends are not mere laziness but hostile ideologies at work. In some ways this is more dramatically visible and consequential in the video game space.

As the year is wrapping up, we have a lot to be grateful for. Whatever your circumstances, whenever your situation, you have things to be grateful for, even if that gratitude is hard work. Here's a short podcast episode about only a few of the things we are thankful for this year.

New Zealand has been in the news last week, as protests against equal rights produced many viral video clips. To discuss this, we called on Will Spencer, who has traveled the world, spending four years on the road and some of the world's most remote cultures and communities, in search of religious truth. Today, we talk talk not only about Maori culture, but other nations, religions, the death of the manosphere, and podcasting itself.

Our favorite tech-centered gun rights organization (and newsletter, thinktank, VC group, etc) has just started a podcast to interview folks who are at the crossover of weapons, technology, and business. Kareem joins us to talk about it, and how the group wants to get deeper into the future of self-defense.

https://opensourcedefense.com/