How to FIGHT Tyranny and the NWO | Guest: Ian Smith | Ep 302
After only two years, it seems that most people have all but forgotten the destruction that the Covid-19 lockdowns caused to all, especially small businesses. Ian Smith is the owner of Atilis Gym. During the lockdowns, Smith refused to close his doors and the found himself the target of multiple lawsuits and government organizations.
Today, Ian joins Elijah to tell his story...
________________________________________________________________
I'm now fully INDEPENDENT so JOIN the mission at https://elijahschaffer.locals.com/ You won't regret it!
________________________________________________________________
⇩ SUPPORT THE SPONSORS ⇩
GOLDCO: Don't wait until it's too late! Protect your savings and retirement by investing in Gold & Silver with my friends at Goldco by calling 855-242-4758 today and see how they can help you prepare the future & if you use this link https://link.goldco.com/Elijah you can GET up to $10,000 in FREE silver
DOG FOOD EXPOSED: Don't feed your dog shredded rotten meat and trash. This will kill your dog and make their lives far less than what they could be. To bring out your dog's healthy and energetic potential, visit: https://dogfoodexposed.com/OFFENSIVE
NOOTOPIA: Nootopia was created to help high achievers like you break through barriers and achieve more faster than they thought humanly possible. This is the LIMITLESS pill you are missing in your life! I use them to increase my productivity, crush it in my career, and you can get the same results or better. Go to https://nootopia.com/offensive for 25% their entire store right now. You won't regret it!
________________________________________________________________
⇩ FOLLOW IAN ⇩
INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/iansmithfitness/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/iansmithfitness
________________________________________________________________
Slightly Offens*ve Merch: https://slightlyoffensive.com/shop/
________________________________________________________________
DOWNLOAD AUDIO PODCAST & GIVE A 5 STAR RATING!:
APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/7jbVobn...
(also available Google Podcasts & wherever else podcasts are streamed)
_________________________________________________________________
⇩ SOCIAL MEDIA ⇩
➤ INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/slightlyoff...
➤ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ElijahSchaffer
➤ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/officialslig...
_________________________________________________________________
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqSJzI0EGg8
Uploader: Slightly Offens*ve
After we re-entered the building on Saturday, Governor Murphy brought ongoing contempt charges against us.
This time, he is asking Judge Robert Lugie to fine us $10,000 per day for every day that we're in operation.
That seems pretty reasonable.
In addition to that, he's looking for long-term incarceration.
He's asking for us to be jailed so that we don't open our business.
Seems also pretty reasonable considering you were just letting criminals from county jail doing longer sentences in state prison out of jail because of COVID.
But you want to lock up two small business owners.
unidentified
Yo, Keith, we're in a gym.
Why aren't you wearing a mask?
You know, I've never really worn a mask, but now I found out from the doc of my doctor the other day.
Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction and plan deception all day long.
But I, like a deaf man, do not hear, and I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
Thus I am like a man who does not hear and in whose mouth is no response.
For in you, O Lord, I hope you will hear, oh my Lord, Psalm 38, 12 through 15.
Today's podcast is important and covers the story of a man, Ian Smith, who was wrongfully robbed by the United States government and demonized by the media as a murderer.
The mob came after him, shut him down, took all of his money and even his livelihood, yet he resisted, persisted, has continued to shine as a beacon of hope.
My name is Elijah Schaefer.
I am your top 17 host here at Slightly Offensive.
This is the best worst show on the internet.
Don't forget to subscribe right now on YouTube if you're watching there and hit the like button.
But also don't forget, we're now on Rumble.
That's pretty important.
And you can download the full show on podcasts, Spotify, wherever else that you can find the audio.
It's so important that you leave that five-star review.
It is free.
It doesn't cost you anything.
And you might get your review read at the end of the show, which is amazing.
Before we get into today's story, don't forget, guys, that I was just reading the other day how the previous owner of FTX, SBF, he was arrested, right, for money laundering, conspiracy charges.
He lost billions of investors' money, basically just wiped out in crypto.
And so with the stock market losing trillions of dollars and our dollar just completely losing value due to inflation, right?
Losing up to like 90% of its value, I think, just in the last hundred years.
You got to wonder where you can actually put your hard-earned savings, your investments, your 401k, your retirement.
Well, let me tell you, my friends at Goldco have a specific offer for slightly offensive backers right now.
If you click the link in my description or call 855-242-4758, my friends at Goldco have a special offer where you can invest in gold and silver and get up to $10,000 of free silver when you call today.
Don't wait until it's too late.
Remember that gold and silver over the years, while they fluctuate like all investments, have gone up drastically in value.
And it's something that's physical that can't be deleted on a ledger.
Call Goldco today if you have savings or your retirement or any type of investments and you want to transfer some of them and actually secure your future.
Call 855-242-4758.
That's 855-242-4758 or click the link in the description.
Well, on our last show, we discussed just a few of the evil actions that Western governments took during the pandemic.
We also pointed out that the COVID regime has now faltered and is finally being held accountable, which is good.
Now, Jesse Johnson's story of battling the Canadian government's draconian policies is just one of thousands.
Today we'll be hearing from Ian Smith, who was a New Jersey gym owner who faced the wrath of his state's government.
Smith made headlines in the summer of 2020 for completely ignoring New Jersey's demand that all non-essential businesses close their doors, which is based.
It's awesome, but it comes with serious consequences.
Because he kept the gym open and did his best to comply with the CDC regulations at the time.
He made it open to members only.
He limited the number of people allowed in, and he even had them wear masks.
I mean, everybody in the first two weeks, unless you were absolutely retarded, at some point did try to comply because we were like, hey, maybe this is as deadly as they say.
But if it took you longer than two weeks, there might have been a problem.
And this wasn't enough, though, to satisfy the COVID overlords.
They wanted his gym closed for good, just as they'd commanded.
No science, no explanation.
Forget about Smith's livelihood.
Forget about the actual public health.
It's just too dangerous to have guys working out during a deadly virus, right?
Anything to make men weak.
Now, in response to this defiance, the local city council, who were all Democrats and likely received a phone call from the Democrat governor, went ahead and did what you'd expect Democrats to do.
They revoked Smith's business license.
Now, the gym stayed open in spite of this and began accuing summonses and violations or defying the closure order.
The fine for this amounted, guess what, to $15,000 for every single day the Atlas gym opened up.
Now, as one would imagine, this quickly racked up quite a hefty bill.
I mean, this was only the beginning, however, because we all know well, once you're in the government's crosshairs, good luck escaping.
I used to always say that the only people who never forget your past are a woman and the devil, but I got to change that to females, the devil, and the government.
And I got to say, between females, the devil, and the government, the devil's pretty bad, but the government is definitely, definitely in good competition there for people who never let you forget your past.
Now, Smith's plight eventually made its way to court.
Yeah, he allegedly alleged that the state and the local governments had violated his constitutional rights.
During all this, he naturally cured quite a following of supporters, which is really awesome.
And make sure you follow him in the description.
After all, Smith's, much like Johnson and Pulaski, were among the few willing to risk their lives and take a stand.
Many like-minded people showed up outside his gym to voice their support.
They also donated thousands of dollars towards Smith's legal fund.
That fund eventually grew to over $170,000.
And guess what the government did?
unidentified
They said, Ian, congratulations, you finally raised the money to fight us in court.
The money collected to defend Smith from the government was taken by that government.
It's amazing, huh?
You raise the money to fight a fine of the government, and then they take that money from you.
Now, despite being charged, eventually sentenced to probation, Smith was unrelenting.
And at one point, he and his co-owner literally removed the doors of the gym to prevent local law enforcement from locking the place up.
Now, he declared that he'd remain open at any cost.
And his co-owner echoed this saying, unless we are in jail, Atlas Gym Belmar will be open every day.
I don't know if he said it like that, but I'd like to think he did.
Now, even into the current year, Smith continued his adamant opposition to COVID tyranny by offering free gym memberships to people who refused to take the vaccine.
You can only imagine the anger that wrought.
While many social media users praised him, there was the typical weeping and gnashing of teeth from the usual suspects.
Smith's story is a perfect example of how brave patriots and dissidents can oppose the establishment.
We all know that the status quo must change.
Everything around us is deteriorating, even the bridges we drive on.
And it's no secret we are losing this country.
We also know that America's decline is being intentionally coordinated by corrupt elites.
As ye would say, who is they, though?
We can't say they is.
Yet, too few people are willing to stand up against it still because they know just how painful the consequences can be.
Believe me, the world does not let you go on and make a difference.
They don't let you speak out or try to stand up for anything without trying to destroy you and to take down your reputation, which they did for Smith.
Now, it meant months of legal battles, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fine.
The mainstream media smearing him, saying, Oh, he's killing grandma with his weightlifting.
And for others, it meant complete censorship.
It meant being banned from social media.
Not only is it the town square, it's also one of the greatest places to make money.
But even worse, he was banned from banking, from even flying.
These people have all been put in place.
Our government punishes those that stand in the way.
And with that in mind, we American patriots who believe in freedom, in liberty, and in God must take a stand.
We must support people like Smith who are willing to take the first volley of bullets for us.
When we unite together for righteous reasons, we are truly an unstoppable force.
The COVID years represent the worst government overreaches of our lifetime, but it is up to us to ensure nothing worse ever materializes.
Just because the COVID regime is crumbling does not mean that it can't return.
The saying goes, never let a good crisis go to waste.
You best believe that the elites, the establishment, and the experts haven't forgotten that.
Neither should we.
We're going to talk to Ian in a second, but guys, a huge shout out to our sponsor.
You never knowingly feed your pup Mystery Meat or spoiled grocery food.
Ian Smith is all about the all-protein diet.
And you know that it's important to eat healthy.
And he did.
And he was pushing that.
Why would you give your pet anything less?
However, there's one dangerous food that you need to stop feeding your dog immediately.
Even if you don't own a dog, you've got to tell your friend, you know, a family member, maybe a mom, a mom-in-law, she's going to love you for this.
Listen, the food that's in your dog's eating habits is actually one of the worst foods that you can give it.
And many dog manufacturers include this ingredient in the dog foods.
And it's one of the most, one that most dogs consume on a daily basis.
This is disgusting.
And I don't know why this is a common protein source in Kibble today, but the dog food ingredient is called meatmeal, and it can be made of spoiled supermarket meat and packing plant scraps, which is gross.
And it turns out the dog foods, even the ones labeled healthy, contain this mysterious meatmeal, which is essentially causing more harm than good.
We all love our dogs.
And if you don't love dogs, you're weird, anyways.
But you know someone who does love their dog and they're going to love you if you help their dog live longer.
So consider this to be a PSA and a warning for you.
A lot of us even treat them better than our own family members because, well, you lock your wife and your dog in the car on a hot day and open it up after hour and see which one is happy to see you.
But your dog needs a high meat diet and what's critical to their healthy lifespan.
That's why Dr. Marty, which is a world-renowned veterinarian, decided to make his own dog food to combat against these harmful issues.
Right now, click the link in the description below to find out more about the dangerous foods and what you can do to help.
Do not forget that if your dog is tired, lethargic, not acting the same, it is very possible that your dog is eating this meal and that you need to change that.
Now, click the link in the description.
I'd like to get back right now and introduce to Slightly Offensive for the first time, Ian Smith.
Ian Smith, the owner of Attila's Gym, welcome to Slightly Offensive for the first time.
Yeah, so I have been so worried about you over the last couple of years, and it's amazing to see you doing so well because you have been hit from every single front when it comes to being attacked, not only being called a killer, a murderer, a serial killer, but they went after your family.
They went after your business, your ability to provide for your family, and even the money you already made.
They went after your bank accounts with fine after fine.
And yet here you are, excited, happy about life.
You've got a schedule.
You haven't killed yourself.
What's the secret?
Because people have gone through less and they've done much worse to themselves.
But like the way that you're handling this, I mean, this is a model approach.
You know, I've always been an easy target for people to criticize.
You know, when I was younger, As the internet found out on site, my business and people needed a reason to attack me.
You know, I've done plenty of stuff that makes people want to criticize me.
So I've gotten used to it through the years.
This by far, opening the gym and becoming a notable figure was a little bit different of experience.
But you get used to it over time.
You realize that, you know, most of these people who come at you, especially the ones on the internet, it's all smoke and mirrors.
And as far as the government coming at you, it's not my first time I've been in trouble.
And I look at it as a small sacrifice.
We did something that we thought was right.
We were looking around back in 2020 when all these businesses were closed and these lockdowns were like widely accepted by people.
And we said, this isn't right.
And we knew we were going to get punished for it.
We didn't know what we were stepping into exactly, but we knew that we would be punished.
And the way that we looked at it was, you know, it's a small sacrifice to pay.
There's people who give their life for this country and have for decades and generations.
And if I got to deal with the cops harassing me and, you know, Twitter being upset with me and the government taking some of my money to stand up for what's right, I think that's a small price to pay for making sure that this country stays intact.
And I like how you say too that the internet isn't real and these people are not real, because I think that's what the media gives an illusion of, right?
Because they have, you know, millions of people or hundreds of thousands of people.
And quite frankly, and I've been at the center of many of controversies throughout my life.
People can just say whatever the hell they want about you.
And truly, truly, what they're looking for is they're looking to demoralize you.
And I think that, you know, when I saw that, what people said about your gym, I kind of want to break the silence here.
They said that you were murdering people, that you were a serial killer.
How many people ended up dying at your gym from COVID during the pandemic?
We counted all the way up, I think, to over half a million visits.
We were close to 600,000 visits, and there wasn't one recorded even outbreak linked to the gym, let alone a fatality of any kind.
So yeah, and I don't think what we knew, of course, all along.
You know, people came and the only thing that happened was people were happy and smiling and living their lives as they should be allowed to.
But yeah, they said that, especially in the beginning, people were calling us, threatening us, leaving bad reviews, writing nasty letters, sending threats saying that they were going to come burn the gym down, saying that they were going to come hurt our family just for opening the gym because they were 100% sure that we were going to kill people.
Well, I was going to say what's remarkable is, I saw this article from you, and it says the co-owner of Atlas Gym from Fox Business says, despite the New Jersey government seizing his company's funds amid a coronavirus restrictions battle, they're going to continue to fight by any means necessary.
And it quotes you saying, Frank and I are prepared to fight this until the very end.
And I got to ask you, has this ended or where are you at in your fight against these restrictions that they're now trying to shove under the rug and pretend like they never happened?
So, you know, we knew going into this thing that it was going to be like a 12-round fight.
You know, anytime you take on something big, like, you know, big money, corporation, government, these people will willingly do knowing that in order for you to even remotely have the possibility of any type of vindication, that you are going to have to fight a very long and very, very costly battle.
And it's costly financially, emotionally.
You know, it takes a toll on your family.
And they know that.
They know that they can drag you through the courts for as long as they want and they have the wallet to do it.
You know, so we knew we knew that this was going to be long once we got into it.
And we wound up in five different courts.
We were in state court for a contempt of court order.
We had about 90 municipal charges.
We were in a state court against the township after they revoked our business license.
And, you know, when we opened, we weren't charging members.
It wasn't about making the money.
It was about the point.
And before they reopened gyms, one week before they reopened, they took our business license.
So they took the ability for us to be able to provide once they opened gyms as a way to punish us.
So we wound up in five different courts: three state courts, a municipal court, and a federal court.
And today, there are still some litigations ongoing for the appeal of the fines.
And these things just drag on.
You know, it's 30 days for a motion, it's 30 days for a reply, 30 days for a brief, 30 days for the judge to look at it, 30 days for the date to get set.
And next thing you know, you're four to six months between court dates, you know, just kind of with the bill going up.
So the most important thing is that in May of 2020, right as I was running for Congress, the township, which was probably the most important legal battle of all, because the township was the one that took our business license.
We sued them and lost them and lost over and over and over again.
And eventually the mayor contacted our attorneys and basically said, How long are these guys going to keep this up for?
And our attorneys said, as long as they have to until they get their business license back.
And one week later, our business licenses came in the mail.
So it was apparent that the township could no longer justify the cost to the taxpayers.
You know, it costs $30,000 or so every time you go to court.
And I don't think that they could justify that expense anymore.
I don't think it's something that they wanted to do in the first place.
I think it was pressure from Murphy because it was such a hasty decision.
They just sent us a letter and said, Hey, come to this meeting next week.
We're going to talk about your business license.
And they just took it.
You know, it was one of those hasty decisions in the middle of coronavirus where people were just listening to the people above them.
You know, I don't think the people, the town council, as much as I disagree with what they did, I don't think they really meant it.
These guys are just following orders.
So their hearts aren't in the fight.
So we got the business license back in May.
We resumed normal business operations.
That was a huge relief because for two years, we ran off of donations and contributions and t-shirt sales.
You know, and that's that's an incredible thing.
People were so generous to us over and over and over again.
Not only did we were we able to pay our normal overhead, but the increased cost of business with all of the safety protocols and the cleaning and all the stuff that we did, as well as well over a $500,000.
You know, I think we're, I think we were at about $650,000 in legal fees altogether.
We were able to afford all that and people allowed us to do that.
But it's nice to be able to get back to business and actually just charge customers and like normal business for once in two and a half years.
And I think what's the crazy part is they took your money though out of your account while you were in the middle of the process.
Like people do not understand when people want, when there are individuals set out to destroy other individuals, they will go to very nasty lengths to do that.
And it's disgusting.
But the government has a length they can go to that's further than most people, which is this eminent domain legal acquisition that one day you can wake up and your money can be gone.
And a good example of that is Nick Fuentes.
People can think what they want, but one day that guy woke up, 500 grand of his money was gone because they said he was a terrorist.
No, no evidence, nothing like that.
And in America, that shouldn't be the case.
You can have bad humor.
You should be able to have your gym open.
You might get into a fight, but taking your money is a sign that we want you to starve.
How did you survive that?
I mean, I know you mentioned that the t-shirts and stuff, but it's like they went into your account and took your money because you didn't want to follow COVID restrictions that you knew were unscientific.
Well, this interview is inspiring.
I got to remind you guys that not only is your body important to keep in shape and to maximize, but many of us know no matter how in shape we get, we feel that lethargy in the middle of the day, or you have those long hours at work.
You're getting older, you just don't have the energy that you would want.
Maybe you're a college student or a stay-at-home mom and you just get exhausted by the teaching, the learning, the repetition, which is why you've got to learn how to unlock the full potential of your brain with nootropics from nootopia.com slash offensive.
Guys, nootropics are a non-addictive, non-prescription way to get energy, to get focus, and also even sometimes to calm yourself down if you're jittery.
Nothing else can do this for you in the way that nootropics can help you.
I got to tell you, I use their upbeat.
It is amazing.
It gives you the energy, like you're drinking coffee with the focus of Adderall, without the addiction, without the jitters.
And guys, it could get you through so much of the day, girls, too.
Check out nootopia.com/slash offensive, n-o-o-t-op-ia-a.com slash o-f-f-e-s-i-v-e for 25% off right now on their Christmas sale.
Remember, these advertisers are so amazing.
They help the show continue.
They keep the show on the air and they want to keep your brain running at 110%.
Let's say even 150%.
Check out what nootropics can do for you, including the Xaminer juice.
I highly recommend.
Get their sampler box, get whatever you need, unlock your potential, get it for your friends and your family.
It makes a great Christmas grift.
Gift nootopia.com slash offensive right now.
N-O-T-O-P-I-C-O-S-A-S-A-S-O-Fensive.
I said Nutopia, I mean Christmas Grift, and it's true, because maybe you need to grift for Christmas because you don't know your family members that well and you don't know anybody and you're not sure what to get them.
Get them a better brain.
Just grift off this ad and get them a better brain at utopia.com slash offensive, 25% off.
Yeah, we were following the science that was clearly available.
You know, everything that we did, we did according to research and we spent a lot of time sort of reading all the studies that the news wouldn't talk about, but that was available on PubMed.gov.
And the safety protocol that we put in place went so far above and beyond what anybody even had to do in the first place that it was ludicrous.
But it's absolutely terrifying when you walk into your business one day, you know, and my partner looked at me and it was early in the morning and he said they took it all.
And I was like, what do you mean?
And our business bank account, you know, had, I think, I think that morning it had $173,000 in it.
And they zeroed it out and they zeroed it out so much that a check bounced and we were actually like negative a couple thousand dollars.
And then they came after some accounts later.
And then they tried to do it to our personal stuff too.
And thankfully, you know, it never got that far.
We were able to block that much.
But yeah, it's a terrifying thing to realize that at the snap of a finger, these people were able to just access our business account and completely destroy.
I mean, if it had not been for the generosity of Americans all over, that would have been the end of it for us.
Any normal business would never be able to sustain that, especially a small business.
We're a gym that bills about a thousand people a month at $30 a month.
So for somebody to walk in and take $200,000 in the middle of an ongoing legal battle in the middle of an appeals process, just because they don't want you to be able to survive and because you've proven them wrong and you've sort of made them look stupid publicly.
And we had so much momentum at the time.
The whole world was watching what we were doing.
And for the government's solution was, hey, you know what?
Maybe it wasn't, I'm sorry, the government solution wasn't say, you know what?
Hey, maybe we should check out what these guys are doing.
You know, we've been going back and forth for a couple of months now.
You know, maybe we should, maybe we should go in there and take a look at their program because people are there every day and people support them and nobody's getting sick.
And it wasn't, there wasn't even an option for a compromise.
You know, we told them we were going to open.
We told them, you know, ahead of time, hey, listen, we're going to open.
This is our safety plan.
Take a look at it.
Guys, but for them to have to do that when they disagree with you and when you're clearly in the right is absolutely terrifying.
You know, we caused nobody any harm.
It's not as if people were walking out of the gym into the parking lot and face planning and, you know, sudden adult death syndrome or anything like that.
Yeah, it's a terrifying thing.
And you start to realize like, wow, you know, we knew that these people necessarily didn't have our best interest in mind, you know, going into this.
We knew that, you know, politicians can be selfish and they can be sort of self-serving and greedy.
That shows how malicious and dangerous these people can be when you give them that type of authority and that type of power because they'll go to any extent.
Governor Murphy was willing to go to almost any extent to make sure our gym was closed with absolutely no reason to do so other than he told us not to open it.
Well, but you struck back, I thought it was funny that while they were giving out Krispy Kreme donuts to people to get vaccinated, you guys actually apparently give out memberships to people not to get vaccinated and to have a healthy lifestyle and to die and to exercise, take vitamin D, zinc, et cetera, get sunlight.
I mean, you got to feel stupid when you're a fat loser and you're telling the fit guy who's telling people, hey, my path to getting out of being sick is being a healthy person to begin with.
Your path is to shut people down from being healthy.
So, like I said, we weren't charging members anyway.
That was more of a joke.
You know, like we were sitting there and, you know, we're in the gym 12, 16 hours a day, seven days a week at this point.
We basically live at the gym.
You know, we're there all hours of the day, all hours of the night for the most part.
And we're making sure that we're up on the news because we're fighting this political/slash legal battle.
And we're seeing these other businesses and places like RetroFitness, right?
So this is a gym.
This is a gym that is its purpose in business is to make people healthier and happier.
And they were giving out free memberships to people who would get vaccinated.
And it was the absurdity of all of it.
I can remember watching De Blasio eat french fries on television and try to like coerce people, or was it Cuomo, whichever idiot it was in New York City was eating french fries, trying to coerce people to get vaccinated, telling them that they could go get a free happy meal or whatever it was.
And we saw a Krispy Kreme one and we just put the tweet out there and the absolutely like ballistic with it.
They thought it was the most horrifying thing that anybody could ever do.
That how dare we give free memberships to unvaccinated people and not offer that same thing to vaccinated people.
And I think the humor was very much lost on them at the time when you had to show a vaccine passport to sit in some indoor dining or to go to a gym in the first place.
So there's this article from Fox Business that says that, you know, a gym owner who defied COVID-19 regulations calls probation sentence an absolute joke.
So two New Jersey gym owners who kept their business open despite COVID-19 lockdown orders from Democratic Governor Phil Murphy have been sentenced to one year of probation.
Being sentenced to probation for taking the doors off of our own building while criminals are being let go is an absolute joke.
And so you got probation for taking the doors off of your own gym.
So along the, you know, the story, the whole, the whole saga is just a story of escalation.
You know, they started out with municipal citations and then, you know, we were just taking them and, you know, continuing on our business.
And we were, then we were, there was a health department shutdown and we just kind of like read it and we just like left it right there and just, you know, the gym opened anyway.
And then they came and locked our doors.
That was the next escalation.
And then we eventually got back inside.
We picked the locks.
We went back in.
For a little while, we were moving 40,000 pounds worth of equipment outside every day, machines, barbells, dumbbells, bait, plates, everything, benches, you name it.
The whole gym was outside in the parking lot.
And then we said, screw this, we're going back inside.
And that's when they started fining us that $15,000 a day fine.
They started taking our money.
And then another court order came down from this judge who said that they were to come and arrest us and they were to board our doors up.
So we said, no, I'm sorry, they were going to chain or they would change the locks once again.
So the alternative to that was, you know, if there's no doors, you guys can't lock us out.
So we said, we're open 24 hours a day.
And we took the doors off and we drove them off to somebody's house.
And we were open for 40 days and 40 nights.
And they arrested us and all this good stuff.
And then we finally put the doors back on once we declared ourselves a political, we were a fundraising location for a senator who was who was running.
So they then left us alone, but they hit us with contempt of court charges.
They charged us four times for criminal contempt of court for that period of time.
Each one carried up to 18 months in prison.
Like a $10,000 fine or something like that.
It's a felony offense.
And that was just a way to, that was just another way to sort of demoralize us.
You know, we're already fighting all these other legal battles.
And then now all of a sudden we're potentially jailed for four years.
So we just pled guilty.
We struck a deal.
And it's a joke.
It's like, all right, you're going to put me on probation.
Like, okay, I mean, go ahead, put me on probation.
I'm going to go back to work now and be a productive running business that you've tried to shut down for two years.
And I'm going to go back to just living a normal life.
And, you know, a pee in a cup for the next 12 months, then that's fine.
They don't even question, you know, weed's legal here in New Jersey, so they test you for all like the stuff that obviously I'm not gonna be doing.
Like, that was a joke, you know what I mean?
It was just a way another way for them to flex their muscles, another way for them to intimidate people not to act against them because people see stuff like that.
Oh, I don't want to go to jail, you know.
And it's like these people are all professional bullshitters.
You know, they flex their muscles, and sometimes they will hit you with some real punishment.
Most of the time, it's just threats.
You know, at the end of the day, they were going to ruin our business regardless.
And if we didn't, if we didn't have the, if we didn't address the elephant in the room early on that we were not going to survive being shut down until September after they shut us down in March, because that's they were, it was September shut down and March was or uh, I'm sorry, uh, March shutdown, and September was the time that we reopened, uh, legally reopened.
You know, our business wasn't going to survive that, and many businesses in the United States did not.
Um, and even more businesses that were able to survive it struggle to make ends meet now, um, and struggle to be able to uh to make up for all that lost time, you know.
So, we just we saw the truth early on, like they're going to crush us.
So, anything that you do beyond that doesn't matter.
You know, if if I'm going to lose my business anyway, I'm going to at least fight you for it, and you're going to have to pry it from my hands because it's mine, I built it, um, it's how I feed my family, and I'm not going to let some punk in a suit who was, you know, who sits around and pushes paper all day tell me what to do.
It's just not going to happen.
I know I'm not hurting people, you know, and uh, it was what it was.
All those punishments were they were laughable.
I mean, we were when we were locked up, we uh we were having such a good time because it was it was such a joke, you know, it was like a nice break.
We were we were thanking them because you know it gave us a break from being away from the gym and we had our cell phones.
I was going on Instagram Live, you know, clowning on the cops for arresting us.
And it's just you know, you make these people look as stupid as they really are.
You know, don't take anything that they say seriously, you have to treat them like the clowns that they really are.
Yeah, and I love the I love that approach too, that was the boldness that was lacking.
What the hell was that?
That was lacking for so many months.
I have found that people are so quick to forget how much pressure there was to not be bold, and that's why I'm not talking smack on people who weren't.
I know that the pressure was on, and it was very easy to fold, it was extremely easy to cave because whenever the pressure is high, caving becomes more about being the guy who complies rather than denies what's happening.
But I, you were one of the guys, I know that I was, I tracked, I had my list of like 30 people in this country that were just outspoken from day one that were like, no, we're not going to take this.
Why were you so confident?
Were you a pompous asshole?
Do you just do you do this on every mode?
Um, are like, you know, I mean, or, or was this something that you felt was different?
Was this like what led you to take this sort of position?
Um, you know, I think it's a mix of certain things.
You know, one of one of the big things, and I'm writing about this as I'm as I'm finishing up the book I'm writing right now.
Um, you know, I spent five years in prison in my 20s, and I got to experience what it was like to have your freedom completely stripped away, you know, and I deserve that.
There's no question about that.
But I got to experience what it's like to have no rights, to not be able to make your own decisions.
Um, and when I got out, I, you know, I learned to appreciate, you know, all of the things that make this country great.
The opportunities that we have, the freedoms that we have, you know, the just the possibilities that you can, you, you know, you can come to this country and this is the greatest country in the world and you can do anything you want here.
Um, so when it came time that somebody was like threatening something that I built, um, you know, I don't, like, I come from regular America.
You know, I got a single mom who worked her ass off to give me, you know, what I needed, but you know, I don't, I don't come from Silver Spoon sort of culture.
You know, I've worked at everything I've gotten and it took me a long time to get to where I was.
And I was very proud of what we built.
You know, we bought a dumpster fire of a gym and turned it in nine months to a really, really awesome community.
And then people came around and told us, hey, you know what?
You don't fucking matter.
You know, you're just going to close your business and you're going to shut up and be happy about it, you know, because it's for your safety.
And that just never sat well with me.
It didn't sit well with my partner.
And we didn't, you know, we didn't, we didn't open with our with our chests out.
You know, we really thought that these people had just kind of got it wrong.
But when we saw their actions, it was very clear that these people are the enemy.
They're not mistaken.
You know, these aren't like stupid people.
You know, they didn't, they didn't fumble their way through COVID.
They had marching orders and they knew exactly what we were doing.
And the more that we educated ourselves outside of mainstream messaging and really kind of learned the history of what government is capable of, it was very clear that these people are not our friends.
They're not here to help us.
They're not making mistakes.
That it is their goal to crush small businesses and it's their goal to put Americans under the thumb of bigger government.
And, you know what?
I don't consider myself to be like a hero or to do heroic things, but these people aren't going to push me around.
Not now, not ever.
You know, it's just, it was something where once I saw, like, once I was able to peek behind the veil and see like the inner workings of who these people really are and what they really stand for, the courage to stand against them is almost automatic, you know, because they lie, they cheat, and they steal.
And they do it from regular, hardworking Americans on both sides, you know, of the political spectrum all the time.
And I just, you know, I just, I had had enough, you know, when I, when, when the situation just kept escalating, um, it just kept pissing me off more.
But one of the things I wanted to make sure we did was not act crazy, you know, make them look crazy where, you know, we would provoke them to do stuff to us and we would call their BS and we would willingly stand out in front of, you know, the whole world and take these punches as long as we could show everybody, like, look, this is what, this is the extent that these people are going to go to in order to ensure our compliance, even though nobody's getting sick,
even though we've put these safety protocols in place, even though there's 50 different double standards that they have and favorites that they were playing.
So the boldness just kind of came naturally.
You know, it wasn't something I put a whole lot of thought into.
I think I was really angry.
And the boldness was just me channeling that anger.
And instead of going off the deep end and being a screaming lunatic, which I probably felt like doing most of the time, it was just, you know what?
Ian, honestly, when looking at this and the fact you've continued to defy everything that's going on and you have not given up, it really does give me hope, you know, just for the world, because there's so many distractions.
And I always want the SOBs, the slightly offensive backers, to know that, you know, there's constantly going to be noise and there's always going to be people that are trying to make you look bad or wrong or tell you you're a horrible person.
And you know what?
They can lie, they can slander, they can do whatever they want.
They can even take the money from your bank account.
How you react to that and how you respond is what matters.
It's what you do have control over.
And sometimes being quiet is the best option.
Sometimes ignoring is the best option.
But then there are times where you realize that my family's life is on the line and the well-being of my entire generation, my country, and you have to fight back.
And Ian understood the assignment.
That's all I got to say.
He understood the assignment and knew what to do.
And sometimes with strength, that is.
It requires self-control most of the time, but power is about having the ability to fight when you need to actually fight, which is rare.
but does happen.
Ian, thank you so much for coming on.
I really appreciate it.
If you people want to find you, if they want to follow you, continue to support your message and what you're standing for, how can they keep up with your journey?
So I am the loudest on Instagram, but my handle is the same everywhere.
And that's just Ian SmithFitness.
There's a link in my bio.
It's got all my social media on there.
It's got a link to my new book that's coming out as soon as I stop driving myself crazy, editing and editing and editing it.
So that should be done by the end of the week.
And then they're all going out to the printer.
So I'm very excited about that.
It's the story of Attilas.
And it's also the story of kind of what put me in the position to become a gym owner, some of the things I went through in my earlier life, like I had mentioned.
And then my decision to run for Congress and what that was like being a regular person running a grassroots campaign against rhinos and the DNC.
So that's an interesting story.
So if you're interested in that, you can find that book.
Obviously, if you have been living under a rock, you don't know I'm traveling and I'm enjoying myself and visiting family right now, but I got this temporary podcast studio set up.
Yes, my equipment's here.
I sent it on a plane.
It got lost.
I've been replacing parts.
They returned most of it to me.
Some of it broke in transit.
But anyway, that's also why the live stream hasn't been going.
But Kez and I will be back soon with Nightly Offensive.
And by next week, our show should be back up and running with full speed ahead.
We are so excited to continue to tackle everything.
Don't forget, you can support the show directly on locals at elijahschafer.locals.com, where you usually will always get a fully offensive segment.
It's too hot for the interwebs.
That begins again next week as well as I'm just getting my shit in order.
And I appreciate you guys being patient in all of the madness.
Do not forget to leave that five-star review as this is an audio-only podcast.
You might get it read on the show.
We have one from Barefoot Pregnant Trad wife.
Oh, nice.
Here for the confetti.
Do we even, do we have the confetti?
I think we do.
Wait, where, where's, I think I forgot the confetti for a couple episodes.
That's totally, totally my fault.
Yes.
Here for the confetti, aka graphics.
It's still coming.
It looks really nice in the black, huh?
It looks really nice.
It looks nice.
I've been a fan of Elijah's of 2018.
He's never failed to bring the truth and a sense of humor.
This show is a good reminder that good laughs.
The gospel is offensive, and so is the show.
I love it.
And we love you too.
I'm feeling healthy, wealthy, and good because I got the joy of the Lord as my strength, and you should keep it too.
Do not forget to support the advertisers today, Goldco, and of course, the Mystery Meat Exterminator who wants to help your dog, Dr. Marty, and utopia.
Guys, have a great rest of the week.
I will see you next week with our full upload as well.
And then you watch this on Friday when it comes out.
We are going to be having a live stream on Saturday because our parts don't come in, but I'm going to be having a live stream Saturday night to kick off the week.
And then we'll be back Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 9 p.m. Central, 10 p.m. Eastern.
