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July 12, 2025 82 mins
A “SLIDE SHOW STORY” published by The Telegraph in 2009 told a grim story of a coordinated series of terror attacks that resulted in martial law and a new Union of North America.

Operation Blackjack trended again on social media a few weeks ago because of the dates in the story, which begins on June 20. We revisit the original account, which (spoilers) laid out a scenario in which horrific false flag attacks are blamed on “Islamists and Christian doomsday cultists” (as if violent Muslims and so-called Christians would work together, but whatever). The remnant of government steps in, cracks down on civil liberties and forms a new government.

The story went viral in 2009, but would get even more traction today because social media plays a much larger role in society today than it did sixteen years ago. Add to this volatile social engineering experiment the role of artificial intelligence to manipulate the content we consume (and our growing reliance on AI to tell us whether what we see online is true), and we have a recipe for deception on a global scale.

At the time, we wondered about the purpose of a respected legacy media outlet like The Telegraph in publishing something like Operation Blackjack. We asked whether it was a viral marketing campaign for a movie or TV program, a poorly drawn web comic, or a PSYOP. In the years since, we’ve settled on PSYOP.

Here’s the link to our 2009 program on Operation Blackjack: https://pidradio.com/2009/06/18/pid-radio-61809-blackjack/. And here’s a link to a YouTube video with all five parts of the Operation Blackjack slide show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvd91OU_Jbo

We also discuss Elon Musk’s AI, Grok, going full-on fascist this week; the recent deadly crash of an Air India airliner and a report that fuel to the engines was cut shortly after takeoff; and conspiracies about the deadly flash floods in Texas on July 4th (there’s a reason the Texas hill country is called Flash Flood Alley).

Here’s the link to the YouTube channel of Captain Steve, a good source for solid analysis of air disasters: https://www.youtube.com/@CaptainSteeeve. And for good analysis of what’s going on behind the scenes in Washington, D.C., go to https://theconservativetreehouse.com.

Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible!

Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible!

Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah

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