How Ideological Purity Tests Are Poisoning America’s Professional Class
How Ideological Purity Tests Are Poisoning America’s Professional Class
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man) November 10, 2026
By medieval standards, the Danish-Hanseatic War was fast. It took just three years for King Valedmar IV of Denmark to be vanquished. And on May 24, 1370, he was forced into one of the most humiliating peace treaties of all time.
Poor Valdemar wasn’t humiliated because the peace terms were onerous or expensive. It’s because his enemy wasn’t even a real country.
There’s a Different Way
There’s a Different Way
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man) November 6, 2026
A friend of mine got legal residency in New Zealand a couple of years ago as global tensions rose around wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. He was only half joking about why. His reasoning is that if WW3 breaks out and the nukes start flying, he would want to be in New Zealand.
But he’s not picking up his life, abandoning all caution, and permanently moving to a new country. He just has a plan, and the basics in place.
Now What?
Now What?
Notes From the Field By James Hockman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man) November 5, 2026
Let’s take a deep breath think clearly for a bit.
My mind usually tracks to history and seeking wisdom from the past. But we don’t have to go back very far to see a pattern.
It was only six years ago that the entire world was in the throes of the Covid insanity. In the US, lockdowns, media hysteria, mask mandates, business closures, etc. had everyone stressed to the max.
Tomorrow’s Election Changes Nothing About The National Debt
Tomorrow’s Election Changes Nothing About The National Debt
Notes From the Field By james Hickman (Simon Black/Sovereign Man) November 2, 2026
Johnny Moon was homeless and unemployed in the early 2000s. A high school dropout with a bad drug habit, Moon was hardly someone that banks would consider creditworthy.
And yet, over the course of a single year, he was able to borrow more than $600,000 to buy five different investment properties.
It’s Hard To Reform A Country That No Longer Shares Values
It’s Hard To Reform A Country That No Longer Shares Values
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man) October 30, 2026
On September 17, 1787, 81 year old Benjamin Franklin sat in a room in Philadelphia with a speech in his hand that he was too weak to deliver.
A fellow delegate read it to the Constitutional Convention for him.
Franklin had reservations about the draft Constitution. His speech admitted there were “several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve.”
Brazil’s Massive Crash Is A Sign Of Things To Come In The West
Brazil’s Massive Crash Is A Sign Of Things To Come In The West
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man) October 29, 2026
On Sunday night, Brazil re-elected its left-wing president, Lula da Silva. On Monday morning the São Paulo stock market fell so hard at the open that the exchange halted trading for the first time since the pandemic. When trading resumed, Brazil’s stock market kept falling.
Plan B Options for folks on Social Security
Plan B Options for folks on Social Security
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man) October 27, 2026
In the early morning hours of February 7, 1937, a young American named Stirling Dickinson got off a train in central Mexico and rode into San Miguel de Allende on a mule-drawn cart.
He and a Princeton classmate were months into a trip around Mexico looking for a quiet place to write, and a Mexican opera singer had told them to try San Miguel.
America to its Lenders: We Can’t Protect You. Also, Keep Buying Our Bonds.
America to its Lenders: We Can’t Protect You. Also, Keep Buying Our Bonds.
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man) October 23, 2026
In July 1974, a former bond trader turned politician named William Simon boarded a private plane out of Andrews Air Force Base for a two-week tour of Europe and the Middle East. Simon had been Treasury Secretary for all of two months, and the government had a problem.
Three years earlier Nixon had cut the dollar loose from gold. Then came the Arab oil embargo, led by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia after the 1973 war, and the price of oil roughly quadrupled.
A Condo in this Ghost City Gets You Ten Years Residency
A Condo in this Ghost City Gets You Ten Years Residency
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man) October 22, 2026
On March 6, 2016, Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, turned up for the grand opening of a city that did not exist yet, two kilometers off the coast from Singapore.
It was called Forest City, and the plan was enormous. One of the largest property developers in the world came in to build four artificial islands in the strait and put a “smart, green” city of 700,000 people on them, at a cost of roughly $100 billion.
The Iran War Will End. Expensive Diesel Won’t
The Iran War Will End. Expensive Diesel Won’t
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / sovereign Man) October 20, 2026
There’s a college degree that pays about $100,000 right out of school, which is pretty good money for a 22-year old. Within a few years, that pay could easily double.
Yet hardly any young person wants the job.
It’s not dangerous, it’s not dirty, and it doesn’t require superhuman work hours. The only reason young people aren’t interested is because Greta Thunberg told them it wasn’t cool.
The FY 2026 Deficit Was $2 Trillion... And No One Cares
The FY 2026 Deficit Was $2 Trillion... And No One Cares
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man) October 19, 2026
On Friday afternoon the Treasury Department released its final numbers for fiscal year 2026, which just ended on September 30, and the results are pretty much what you’d expect: horrible, appalling, inexcusable.
Treasury reported a total budget deficit of $2 trillion, $220 billion worse than the year before.