INTERVIEW

Hope in the Face of Mandates

We the Patriots USA Co-founder and Vice President Brian Festa is Helping Americans Get Exemptions

This interview by SHF Director and Co-Founder Leah Wilson, with civil rights attorney Brian Festa is a must see! In it you’ll hear about:

  • How to secure effective exemptions in your workplace or school
  • Success stories of hope in the face of mandates
  • How to stay in touch with the Health Freedom Movement

Brian Festa, Executive Director of We the Patriots USA is a civil rights attorney and parent to a vaccine injured child. His organization supports fundamental rights for citizens across the country. He is responding to the outcry for help protecting bodily autonomy through vaccine exemptions. We the Patriots connects people with local attorneys and helps with legal expenses. Listen to the interview to find out what Attorney Festa means when he says,

“We are trying to make a litigation machine to fight back against this tyranny.”

Click below to find out more!

Vaccine mandates are rolling out fast from employers and schools. Blanket assertions ae being made prohibiting exemptions from the jab. Attorney Festa is in a position to know it is happening everywhere. “There is something else driving the bus here. This isn’t about public health.”

In this interview you will learn more about how to protect your legal rights, and the rights of your children. Attorney Festa discusses:

  • Which exemption is the most legally sound?
  • What should you say (or not!) when claiming an exemption?
  • Do you have to be a member of organized religion to claim an exemption?

You will also hear about how We the Patriots USA helped a Fordham student who was denied a religious exemption, and a Yale nursing student who ultimately affected school-wide change to vaccination policy.

Watch the Interview and then…

Step One: Add your voice to the thousands who are standing for our right to work and attend school free from forced medical mandates.

Step Two: The simple step of adding your email to the We the Patriots USA list is HUGE in keeping our Health Freedom Community strong. If you can, consider donating a one time amount, or joining their Commit to $10 monthly club, so they can continue to bring lawsuits protecting your health rights.

Step Three: Watch the free Vaccine Safety Marathon available wherever you are, online the weekend of September 18, hosted by We the Patriots USA.

Brian Festa Interview Transcription

The entire interview between Leah Wilson and Brian Festa has been transcribed and is available below, with permission to quote and source material from, so long as an original attribution link to this article is used as a citation for the original interview.

TRANSCRIPT

Leah Wilson: Hello, hello! Leah Wilson with Stand for Health Freedom. I am the Co-founder and Executive Director here. We are fighting for your human rights, parental rights and constitutional rights.

The good news is you are not alone. We are a voting bloc of a quarter-million and growing daily.

I have tonight with me, Brian Festa, a special guest who can talk to us about your burning questions of how do I secure effective exemptions in my workplace or in school. Brian is the Co-founder and Vice President of We the Patriots USA. He founded this organization to bring you the help and the action that you’re looking for. He is a civil rights attorney and a parent of a vaccine-injured child.

Thank you so much, Brian, for being with us tonight.

Brian Festa: Thanks, Leah. Thank you for having me.

Leah Wilson: I would love to start with just hearing a little bit about you got involved in fighting for our freedoms, especially in this space with bodily sovereignty and having control over our medical decisions.

Brian Festa:  As you mentioned in your intro, I am, unfortunately, the parent of a vaccine-injured child. He’s wonderful, he’s everything, he’s my joy, but this never should have happened to him. This shouldn’t have happened to him. His story is not unlike so many other stories that you heard thousands of time now, that I’ve heard thousands of times now from people all over the world, really, who woke up too late, who had to experience an injury to a very close loved one, if not to themselves, before they realize the truth about vaccines.

So my son was harmed by the flu shot some years ago, believe it or not, and he is nine years old now.

[01:57]

He has multiple disabilities related to that injury, which his immunologist even admits. And this is not some fringe immunologist. This is an immunologist working for a mainstream health care system. She admits that it was likely caused by the flu shot—his autoimmune disorder, his autoimmune encephalitis, [hands], autism, he has multiple disabilities and severe mitochondrial disorder—all at the hands of a shot that was not only quite less dangerous, but not anywhere near as dangerous as what we’re dealing with today, with this COVID shot.

What we’re dealing with now, as you know, is unlike anything we’ve seen. And I am grateful for that. So although my son did suffer, it got me involved in this, it opened my eyes, it helped me to bring awareness to other people.

And now, obviously, I didn’t know what was come a few years ago when I got involved in this. Like you, I’ve been involved in Medical Freedom Movement for much longer than just the last 18 months, but I see now that everything that I experienced was preparing me, just preparing all of us, for what we’re going through now, which is really, nightmarish.

It’s hard to believe that we’re living through this. And sometimes, don’t you just wake up and think that this is just a really, really bad dream, and you’re going to wake up, and it’s going to be 2019 all over?

Leah Wilson: How could we have prepared better for this? But recognizing, I think you and I both share the belief that we were born for such a time as this. And when we fear for our children and for ourselves, we have to remind ourselves of that—that we’re here, during this time, for a reason.

[03:48]

And thank you so much for sharing your personal story with us. I know that it’s not easy to put ourselves out there especially when it comes to naysayers that want our stories be minimized.

But hearing that and recognizing that we cannot deny personal experience. People can tell you, you don’t have science behind this. People can tell you that we don’t have the law behind this, which you and I both believe we have both, however, personal experience is extremely powerful.

So I know that you are working for informed consent for the people like we are, especially in the workplace and for education—the informed consent that so many of us wished we would have had long before now. What work are you doing and what kind of victories have you seen over the past couple of months?

Brian Festa: So We the Patriots USA, the organization I co-founded with my good friend, dear friend and amazing business partner, Dawn Jolly, we deal a variety of things. Like you mentioned, the organization does as well protecting constitutional rights—everything from the first amendment rights, free speech, religious freedom, obviously, the second amendment rights—everything.

We believe in protecting all of it—food safety, environmental safety. We’ve done work on 5G, stuff like that. There are so many issues out there. We have a looming very, very, very dangerous food shortage coming in this country. If you listen to people like Mike Adams, you’ll know that, that there is something very dangerous right around the horizon.

[05:31]

So there’s a lot more to be done than just medical freedom, but right now, that is the hot button issue. That is the issue of the day. That is the issue we are contacted most about. I would say our inbox is flooded with hundreds of messages a week, as I’m sure yours is, of people looking for help.

“What do I do? I’ve been mandated at work or school. I’m not going to finish my education. I’m not going to support my family. I have until August 20th. I have until September 1st,” is a very common date for some reason, and we can speculate as to that. September is really the big place to get this into everybody’s arms by then.

And so what we do, what we do as a non-profit, we are a charitable organization—we’re not a law firm, but we’re connected. We have a network of attorneys across the United States, not just in the northeast where we’re based, but across the United States. So we try to pair each individual with an attorney who can assist them if they’re in need of legal help, if they’re at that stage. And I’ll talk about that in a second.

But if they’re in need of legal help, we pair them with an attorney, and then as funds allow, we will make a donation to support, to get them off their feet with the legal expenses. As you know, these lawsuits are extremely expensive. Even one lawsuit, you could be talking $50,000.00 to $100,000.00 very easily.

So if I’m talking about dozens and dozens and dozens of lawsuits across the United States and every circuit court in the United States, you could be talking about seven figures very easily several times over to fund out this litigation.

[07:06]

That’s what we’re trying to do—we’re trying to create a litigation machine to fight back against this tyranny because let’s face it, look who we’re up against, Leah? We’re up against the likes of Bill Gates, George Soros, Big Tech, the pharmaceutical industry, the US government, State governments.

Collectively, how many trillions of dollars did I just name there? And you have people like us, you and I, scraping together maybe thousands of dollars just to try to fight that machine. It seems nearly impossible. And that’s why we’re going to need much broader support. We’ll talk about that in a little bit.

But when people first contact me, a lot of times, they haven’t been denied an exemption yet. They want to know, “How do I apply for an exemption? How do I get a religious exemption, a medical exemption?”

If you’d like, I can talk a little bit about what our general thinking is on the best practices for that.

Leah Wilson: Yes, of course. People are wanting to right know exactly what steps they should take. I think a lot of times they haven’t even asked for the policy yet. Just getting intel into their hands and say step number one—ask for a written policy, so you know whether this is bullying or a policy that’s going to be enforced.

So yes, what would you tell people to do, if they’re up against the mandate when it’s against their religious beliefs or their medical needs or informed consent?

Brian Festa: So yes, it’s happening everywhere, first off. I had someone contact me yesterday and say, “Oh, I’m a health care, I’m a frontline worker, I’m a nurse. But I fear soon, it won’t just be health care, it’ll be everywhere.” Well, I wrote back, I said, “It already is everywhere.”

[08:44]

It’s not just health care. I don’t care if you’re a teacher, I don’t care if you’re a firefighter or a police officer, a lawyer—it’s being mandated on a lot of law firms too. It’s everywhere.

So here’s the thing. This is not official or legal advice. As you know, I put that disclaimer. Obviously, we can’t give that [unintelligible 00:09:04]. We connect you with an attorney’s representative. But in general, it is much, much easier to obtain a religious exemption than a medical exemption. There’s a few reasons for that.

First of all, the main reason is that the contraindications that were listed by the CDC are almost none basically. They make it out to be like it’s almost impossible to have an adverse reaction from the shot, which of course, is ridiculous because like I said, it’s the most dangerous shot that’s ever been produced. That is, I won’t say the “v” word. I’m very careful not to call it that. And that’s not just because of censorship.

Leah Wilson: Right. It’s a shot. It’s a jab.

Brian Festa: It’s a shot. It’s a jab.

So “v” is extremely dangerous, but I had one young woman contact me who literally had a heart surgery just last year or something, and she was on a heart monitor for 21 days. They said, “Nope. That’s not a contraindication. You still need to get it.”

And that was for employment at a very prominent university.

[10:07]

I had another young lady who was a student at a university and is a leukemia survivor. She’s in remission. She had leukemia just a few years ago when she was a teenager, and now, she’s in college.

She went to her oncologist. And you know, her oncologist, he’s followed her all these years because when you’ve been treated at a children’s hospital, they follow you even when you’re an adult.

So she went to her pediatric oncologist and said, “Can I get an exemption?”

He said, “Absolutely not. The university health system is mandated that no patient whether they’re actively in cancer treatment, on chemo, or they’re in remission, no one shall get an exemption for this.”

Now, how in the world can you make a blanket assertion—we always talk about there’s no such thing as one size fits all health care, except when it comes to the “v” word. So you’re going to tell me that you can just make a blanket policy that all of your patients, no matter what conditions they may have, no matter what kind of cancer they have, how serious it is, you’re going to say you will write no exemptions for any of that?

There’s something else, Leah, driving the bus here. This isn’t about public health. I can’t believe how anyone with half a brain could believe that this is about public health, when you have employers mandating this and are subjecting their company to way, way, way, way more liability than if they didn’t mandate it.

[11:36]

Think about it. I wrote a blogpost on my other organization’s website. I don’t have one up and running for We the Patriots yet, but on the CTFreedomAlliance.org, because Dawn and I originally founded a company called the CT Freedom Alliance, which is still an active company. That’s a local, regional company here in Connecticut.

CTFreedomAlliance.org, you can find the blog there. I wrote a blogpost called “Lies and Liability,” just about a week ago, where I talk about there’s no way any employer is doing this just out of the goodness of their heart or for public health reasons because they really want to protect their employees because they’re taking on way more liability.

If you mandate the job, you know you’re going to get religious discrimination lawsuits, disability discrimination lawsuits, adverse side effects actions through workers’ comp. You can’t really sue your employer for workplace-related injury directly in court. In most states, it has to go through the workers’ comp commission, so the liability is limited. But still, there’s a liability there, and your workers’ comp insurance claims will go way up.

There’s loss productivity because you’re going to lose these employees out of the workplace.

You add up all the costs, especially for a large company, a very large company, it’s many, many, many, many millions of dollars that they’re going to face in potential litigation.

[12:55]

As opposed to not mandating it, where they’d face almost no liability. Because if they don’t mandate it and somebody gets sick with COVID, and even if they die—let’s say they get sick with COVID and die, how in the world are you going to prove that they got it in the workplace?

People don’t just go to work. They go to restaurants, they go to grocery stores, they go to malls, they go to movie theaters. They go everywhere. They go to parks, amusement parks—they go everywhere.

Leah Wilson: And there’s a burden of proof in the court of law. You can’t just walk in and claim something.

Brian Festa: Exactly. How would you ever, ever, ever be able to prove, even by the minimal standard, even by preponderance of the evidence standard, and it probably wouldn’t be, it would probably be clear and convincing setting. But let’s say it was a preponderance standard, which is more likely than not. How can you even say that it’s more likely than not than it happened in the workplace, unless everyone in the workplace was coughing and had COVID, which isn’t going to happen? And they’re all coughing all over each other every day.

But that’s not going to happen because you still have your other protocols in place even if you didn’t mandate the shots. You wouldn’t let people in with a fever, you probably do temperature checks, you probably do social distancing, you probably still have mask mandates everywhere, not that I advocate for all of those things, but what I’m saying is the reality is more workplaces have all of that in place.

[14:04]

So they’ve already done that to limit their liability, and then there’s no way to prove proximate cause, as you well know, we have to prove this is the direct cause of the injury, when you’re filing a tort action, a negligence action, you have to prove direct cause, the proximate cause, not like, “Oh, it’s possible that through this change of events, the workplace could have somehow caused it.”

No. It has to be the direct cause.

You’re not going to ever be able to prove that in the court of law, in my opinion.

So there’s almost zero liability to not mandating it, but a mountain of liability, financially speaking for the company, to mandating it. So why would you do it?

Well, the answer is, there’s another incentive. I don’t have the evidence yet, so I’d refrain from saying it in my blog, and I’m going to refrain from saying it here. But all I can say is you can speculate. I’m sure you have some ideas.

There are other incentives that are driving the bus here because, from a strictly liability standpoint, I don’t see how any lawyer [unintelligible 00:14:56] could look at his client, his business client, and say, “It’s a good idea for you to mandate this. You’re protecting your financial interests.”

Because that’s a lie. You’re not. You’re absolutely subjecting your client to way more financial risks by mandating this than by not mandating it.

It only makes sense if someone else is footing the bill.

[15:15]

Leah Wilson: If someone else is footing the bill—it’s a good clue right there. And it’s fascinating to watch employers be so ready and willing to establish a doctor/patient relationship with their employees.

We’re talking about one size fits all medicine, to say that, “If you work in this workplace, you must care for your body in this way.” That’s medical advice. That’s medical directive. And with medical ethics, we know that the patient and the doctor/patient relationship always has the option to accept or decline the recommended path of care.

But yet here, we’re going to have an employer that doesn’t have a medical license look at every single employee, no matter what shape, size, color or socioeconomic class, and say, “Here’s how you must care for your body.”

I found that fascinating. I’m a business owner and I can’t imagine taking that on, psychologically even. Forget the financial aspect of it. But to psychologically say, “I am willing to affect your health in this way.”

So okay, let’s talk about, as you’re helping people with the exemption process, you have connected some with attorneys, you all have been involved in some lawsuits, can you share some hope with us about some wins that had happened recently?

Brian Festa: Absolutely. Now, I realize that I got so carried away there, Leah, that I forgot to mention—if I may briefly, before I answer that question, just mention some of the tips that we generally share. Again, not as a legal advice, but religious exemptions are much, usually, easier to obtain. They’re not always granted, but then medical—medical, like I said, people who have more serious conditions don’t get them, and even when they do, often, they’re temporary. They’ll be re-evaluated every 90 days.

[16:57]

I talked to someone today who was 32 weeks pregnant, and they said, “Okay, you can have the exemption, but after you come back from your maternity leave, you’re going to get the full series.”

So it’s really good for nothing. It’s temporary.

Religious freedom is firmly [ensconced] not only in our Constitution, for those who are public employees, of course, and who attend public universities, but also, in a state and federal discrimination law. Religious discrimination is prohibited.

So it’s firmly [ensconced] in the law. There’s a lot more protection there. But I always say, keep it short and sweet. Don’t write a novel when you’re writing an exemption letter. Don’t attach all these documents and links and quotes from scripture and the [cataclysm] and all this.

That’s going to get you into more trouble than it’s worth because anything you say can be used against you and will be used against you. The more you say, the more they can use against you.

Very short and sweet, and you don’t owe them a novel of explanations. You are not beholden to them to defend your religious beliefs and prove to them all of your religious beliefs and your deeply personal beliefs, and prove that they are legitimate. You have these beliefs that are deeply personal. They are allowed to ask what your beliefs are, what is the basis, they can ask for a clergy letter, but if you don’t have it, if you don’t belong to a church, or if your beliefs are personal and don’t necessarily align with even the church you attend, that’s fine.

[18:23]

The Supreme Court of the United States has never said that you only get religious freedom, you only get protection for your religious belief if you are a member of an organized religion. The law says the opposite. There are conscientious objective cases, all this stuff I can talk about that says quite the opposite.

So you have protection. State your belief, state it firmly, stick to religion. Don’t get into all these arguments about science and [Eway] and the toxins that are in it, and it’s dangerous, and the medical, the adverse effects because now, you’re going into a health argument. And that’s not going to help you for religious freedom.

So I just wanted to give sort of those little pointers, again, not official advise, talk to an attorney for official advice, but I just like to throw those out there.

Now, you ask for stories of hope. So we were able to assist Kendall Cote, who is a Yale nurse practitioner student, who was told initially that she was not even eligible for an exemption, who was denied because Yale had a policy right up on their intranet for the students that said health science, religious exemption, it says, there are different kinds of exemptions that we get—religious, medical. But under religious, it says, “Not available for health sciences students.”

[19:35]

So anyone who is in the medical school, the nursing school, dental school could not apply for a religious exemption. It’s not even an option.

That’s illegal, as you know, because we can ask for religious accommodation regardless of what kind of student you are. There’s no exception in the law that says, “But if you are attending nursing school, you don’t have religious protection.”

So we challenged that. We helped her challenge that.

We assisted her with not only getting an exemption approved, but reversing their policy. They pulled that down from their website. And within two days of that happening, or three days of that happening, she was featured on Fox News with Judge Jeanine, who was filling in for Laura Ingraham and [unintelligible 00:20:12] Primetime Fox News, along with our attorney, [unintelligible 00:20:17] representatives of counsel for We the Patriots USA.

They were on Fox together, and that was a really big victory for us to announce that we were able to help get a Yale policy change, not just to get an exemption, which is huge in and of itself for her. And she now does volunteer work us. She’s a great spokesperson for us. She does some PR stuff for us. She’s an amazing, young woman. She’s very bright. Obviously, she’s at Yale, and she’s done great things to inspire a lot of other people.

[20:45]

So her story has gotten out there. It’s on our website. Just go to WeThePatriotsUSA.org, you’ll be able to see that clip from Fox News.

Another recent victory is just on Friday, we were informed that a student that we’ve been fighting for at Fordham—now, get this—Fordham is a Catholic university. They told this young man that he was not eligible for an exemption. His exemption request was denied because the Pope says that you should get it and actually quoted the Pope as saying you’re suicidal somehow if you don’t get this.

Now, just between you, me and everyone watching, I think you’re suicidal if you do get it, but that’s just me. Again, not medical advice, but it’s so dangerous. But they actually quoted the Pope saying you’re suicidal if you don’t get this vaccine—this shot. Excuse me. Even I slip sometimes.

So that was used as a reason. This Catholic student at a Catholic university, just because the Pope says it that you should get, and we’re going to deny your exemption.

Well again, that’s not how the law works. Your religious belief is deeply personal. Number one—what the Pope says is not an official teaching of the church. The Pope does not speak infallibly unless he speaks ex cathedra from the Chair, from the Chair of Peter, and it’s on matters of faith and morals.

Yes, I’m a Catholic myself.

That is the only time the Pope speaks infallibly. Everything else he says to reporters and all of this other stuff, the extraneous stuff. Sometimes he’s made a lot of news, making remarks about gay marriage or about priests marrying, and divorce and remarry.

[22:25]

All of that stuff he’s saying has nothing. It is not official church teaching and no Catholic needs to follow it.

But again, unfortunately, they know that a lot of Catholics don’t understand that and they try to tell them, “Well, what the Pope said it, you have to follow it.”

So they try to trick people into this.

So what we did is we had our attorneys, after he was denied, write a very strongly-worded letter that that’s illegal, and you need to reconsider your decision and give him his exemption. And on Friday morning, we received news that he did get his exemption.

So now, he will be able to attend Fordham, which I believe he is an incoming freshman. So this was a really big deal for him to be—this was his dream, and he was going to have that ripped away from him.

And so that’s another note of hope.

So we are there to help you—now, the next thing you’re going to ask me about as we close probably is how can we help you—how can people help us and support us. And so I’ll talk about that, unless you have another question for me.

Leah Wilson: No, that’s great. I think that those two examples of your recent work inspire a lot of people to make those challenges. We are in a season where if you notice things in your own life that don’t feel right, that you think need to be challenged, it’s time to stand up and challenge.

[23:48]

Take for example your client at Yale. Yale is a huge elite institution, and you think, what can one person do change this? What can a student do? Because the power structures are still upside down. We have seen students be intimidated left and right by the universities. Take heart in knowing that universities are being challenged, you are not alone, and that there are people there to help you make those challenges like We the Patriots USA.

So yes, please let us know, Brian, how can we best follow your work with We the Patriots USA, and how can our viewers support your work financially?

Brian Festa: So I want to first direct people to our website, which is again, WeThePatriotsUSA.org. That has a lot of information on it. It’s always a work in progress, as you know, any website is, where I was adding more content and trying to tweak it.

But that’s the first place you can go.

We also have an amazing news source, which is our Telegram channel, which is We The Patriots USA on telegram.me/WeThePatriotsUSA. If you are on Telegram, and most of you should be, all of you should be really, please join that because that’s another way for us to stay in touch other than that e-mail list. So if you go to WeThePatriotsUSA.org, please also sign up for our e-mail list because as you know, Leah, staying in touch with our members is so, so, so important.

[25:11]

If we get shut down in all sorts of media, because we do have a Facebook page, We the Patriots USA, we do have Twitter, @WeThePatriotsUS, we have TikTok and Instagram too, WeThePatriotsUSA at both of those.

We have all the regular social media. We have a YouTube channel, we have a [unintelligible 00:25:28] channel, we have a Rumble channel—We the Patriots USA. We’re everywhere, but especially those big tech ones, or big censorship platforms, I should say. You know, it’s only a matter of time before we start losing one after the other or all of them together. And then if we don’t have an effective way to stay in touch with each other and give updates, and talk to people about what they can do legally to fight back against this, we’re not going to be able to do any work.

So the e-mail list is really, really critical. The Telegram channel is really, really critical. So again, We the Patriots USA on Telegram, as well as going to our website, WeThePatriotsUSA.org, and signing up for our e-mail list.

The last thing you mentioned, which is really the most important thing right now is funding. As you know, you run an organization. It runs on blood, sweat and tears, but it’s more than a wing and a prayer. It takes actual cold, hard tasks to get stuff done.

These attorneys, while they do a lot of the work, pro bono, they do as much as they can actually. Our attorneys give people very, very steep discounts actually, and very often, flat rates. So this is what is going to cost you for this litigation. We’re not going to charge you a dime over that, even if it goes all the way to the Supreme Court.

[26:37]

Not many attorneys do that. They usually bill you hourly. That’s usually the way it works. And then those bills can rack up very, very quickly.

Our attorneys give people very steep discounts. But even with that, when you’re talking about, again, thousands of people across the country reaching out for help, we are in dire need of funding and we want to not just keep the lights on, but we want to create, as I mentioned before, a litigation machine to fight back this tyranny, all of this COVID fascism.

So we created something, what we thought was the most powerful way to get people to contribute because listen, let’s face it. These are hard times. Most people don’t have thousands of dollars to contribute or even hundreds of dollars to contribute. We get that.

So we launched what we call the Commit to Ten Campaign which is we’re just asking anyone who sees this, anyone who’s listening, who supports this kind of work, who wants to help us in some way, to commit to just $10.00 a month, and you’ll find that right on our homepage at WeThePatriotsUSA.org. There’s a link to the Commit to Ten in more than one place right there prominently on the homepage.

And then tell ten people to do the same. So there are two parts to Commit to Ten. It’s $10.00, ten people. Tell ten other people—maybe I should call it Commit to 20, because ten and ten is 20. I wasn’t that good at math, as you can see. That’s why I became a lawyer.

But telling ten people and donating $10.00 a month. And if we got thousands—think about it. Let’s do the math here. I said I wasn’t good at math but I’m going to try to do a little quick math.

[28:05]

But if we got even 5,000 people across the whole United States, and I know there are more than 5,000 people in this country that oppose what’s going on right now, and want to stand up and want to fight back. There’s way more than 5,000.

But let’s just say, at a minimum, we got 5,000 people coast to coast. You get $10.00 a month. That would be $50,000.00 a month to fund this litigation. So that could be one court case a month. We could start a new lawsuit every single month with that kind of money.

Now, obviously, there are other costs to running the organization. It can’t all go to litigation. But still, a huge chunk of it could go to litigation. That would send us flying. If we have that kind of money—and that’s not even that much. Really, you think of 5,000 people. If 10,000 people from across the country donated, you’d have $100,000.00 a month.

So we would have the lawsuits, the really big lawsuits that we want to file that we’re, sort of, waiting because we don’t really have the resources yet. There are things waiting in the wings against some very prominent companies, and I don’t want to mention them yet because it’s pending litigation. That very, very, very big multinational corporations that are pushing this, and that we are poised to challenge, but we’re going to need funding to do it. We can’t run this, like I said, just on hope.

Prayer goes a long way. I’m a very strong believer, so please pray. Pray for us for those of you who pray. Please give us your prayers and your support. But it’s going to take people actually putting those prayers into action.

[29:35]

Leah Wilson: It’s so good. And like you said, if you can commit to ten, and ten of your friends can commit to ten, together, we are so much stronger. You yourself can make a difference by taking a stand. And that is one of our firm beliefs at Stand for Health Freedom, is that we participate in our own freedom, but together, we are even stronger.

So in closing, please do two things for us. If you need representation or you need encouragement, go to WeThePatriotsUSA.org, sign up for the e-mail list, participate in the Commit to Ten, and also, one other thing that We the Patriots USA have coming up is the Second Annual Vaccine Safety Awareness Marathon on Saturday, September 18th, and it goes until Sunday, September 19th. That’s 24 hours with 32 amazing speakers.

Brian Festa: With you.

Leah Wilson: Yes, I will be there.

Brian Festa: Including you. Leah will be there. I got to remember what time you’re coming on.

Leah Wilson: It’s noon, on Saturday.

Brian Festa: Noon on Saturday. Hey, that’s a time that people will actually be up from coast to coast. So you’re going to have one of the prime spots, and I can’t wait. I get to interview you this time.

Leah Wilson: That will be fun. Switching seats will be great. And it’ll be Saturday, September 18th at noon. You can see me there. There will be so many other speakers. There will be someone that has a message for you within that 24-hour period.

So tune in to that. We’ll be streaming live on Facebook, on Twitter, We the Patriots USA.

[31:01]

Brian Festa: As well as the [Pete’s TV] page. Polly Tommey, my good friend, is nice enough to allow me to broadcast on that page. So I do also want to just give a shout out to her as well. She’s got a great network and a great Telegram channel as well, Pete’s TV.

So it will be on Pete’s TV. Unfortunately, her Vaxxed page, We are Vaxxed, was shut down. She had a huge worldwide following on that page, and they just completely destroyed it.

It is what it is. But she’s rebuilding, she’s doing great, and we look forward to seeing everybody there. We’re going to have huge guests there, including the one and only Leah Wilson, Dr. Simone Gold, Dr. Stella Immanuel. We will have Mary Hollands from Children’s Health.

The list goes on and on and on and on. We’re going to have a great line-up, and Dr. James Leinsweiler, and I don’t want to leave anybody out, so I better stop naming names. But it’s going to be a phenomenal event, and I hope to see you all there.

And it’s a fundraiser too. It’s a joint fundraiser. So what we do is we not only try to raise funds during the 24 hours for We the Patriots USA, but for our guest organizations. So Leah, when you come on, and I’ll even say it right now, everybody should be supporting Stand for Health Freedom as well because they are doing amazing work, and they’ve been at this for a long time. I know Leah has been at this for a very long time, so I’m going to definitely promote your organization as well because people need to take whatever you have and divide it in as many places as you can because we all need to be doing this together.

[32:23]

No one organization is going to be able to win this all by themselves. It’s impossible. We need to all be working together.

Leah Wilson: That’s right. And that’s why it’s a pleasure to speak with you tonight, Brian, and introduced our audience to We the Patriots USA, to get them just another tool, another resource, another source of courage and hope, which I know that you are providing to people. So thank you so much for doing that.

Don’t forget to sing up for We the Patriots USA newsletter and Telegram channel.

And then also, I want to invite everyone who is listening to take action tonight. At StandForHealthFreedom.com, we make it easy for you to click to act, to send quality messages to your policy makers in a language that they can understand with a clear ask from them with what, we the people, want right now.

So if you can take out your phone and text the word, “stand,” so you just open your texting app, text the word S-T-A-N-D to 50457, and you can take action right there on that campaign saying we do not want a two-class society, we don’t want discrimination based on vaccine status or immune status.

And that goes for the public and the private sphere. We want clear civil rights codes that protect vaccine status and immune status.

 [33:31]

So our strength is in our numbers, take action tonight, and we will see you all soon. Thank you so much.

Brian Festa: Thanks, Leah.

← back to Interviews

Jill Hines

Directory of Advocacy
A former banker turned homeschool mom, Jill Hines began researching alternatives to conventional medicine in 2010 and what she discovered changed the trajectory of her life. She corrected a worrisome health issue, and embraced a natural approach to wellness. Advocating for informed consent and parental rights became a full-time mission when she joined the board of the Georgia Coalition for Vaccine Choice and later became the co-director of Health Freedom Louisiana. Due to her advocacy efforts during the COVID crisis, Jill was one of 25 Louisianans selected by Central City News as “a hero of the constitutional crisis.” She was also presented the Impact Award for Outstanding Public Service from the government watchdog organization Citizens for a New Louisiana. Jill now represents hundreds of millions of Americans who experienced censorship due to the Biden administration's efforts to suppress disfavored speech as a plaintiff in the landmark lawsuit Missouri v. Biden. Jill holds a marketing degree from Louisiana Tech University and now passionately “sells” health freedom full-time. Serving as Stand for Health Freedom’s advocacy director provides an incredible opportunity to advance the growing movement to preserve the sacred right to refuse unwanted medical interventions for ourselves and our children without fear of retribution.
“We have lived through a terrifying societal, psychological, and medical experiment which afforded us a knowledge that our forefathers tried to impart and we can no longer ignore: Our freedom is tenuous. For our children’s sake, the time is now to take a stand for health freedom.”

Chrissy Scott

Executive Assistant and Social Media Manager

A labor and delivery nurse with a lifelong passion for maternal and fetal health, Chrissy Scott left her job of 19 years after learning the truth about the harms caused by the medical system. In 2009, she was mandated by her employer to receive the H1N1 vaccine during her first trimester of pregnancy with her second child. She was assured that the vaccine was “safe and effective” for pregnant women, but her son was born with a kidney defect that could have been fatal. She didn’t connect the dots to vaccine injury until several years later when the declining health of her oldest son drove her to seek answers outside of allopathic medicine.

This personal journey ignited in her a new passion for truth and transparency in health care. As SHF’s Executive Assistant, Chrissy facilitates communication and local advocacy initiatives alongside Leah Wilson for their home state of Indiana. She also manages and creates graphics for SHF’s social media accounts and the website’s swag shop.

Chrissy earned her nursing degree from Anderson University and served her entire career at her local hospital. While she’s no longer a floor nurse, her five very active boys frequently test her nursing skills! She homeschools her children and has been co-owner of a successful home décor sign business with her sister.

“Parents, being the experts on their own children, are best suited to make decisions for the well-being of their family. To do this properly, they must be given full and accurate information and be free from force or coercion.”

Ellen Chappelle

Writer/Editor

Ellen Chappelle serves as SHF’s resident wordsmith. A seasoned writer and editor, she’s enthusiastic about ensuring that our content is clear, concise, and inspiring.

Ellen is most energized by working on projects that transform lives. A truth seeker as well as a journalist, she’s disturbed by the lack of accuracy in today’s media and determined to help share fact rather than fiction. And having found greater healing with alternative approaches, she’s also passionate about preserving our freedom to make informed health choices.

Past projects include serving as regional editor of a dog magazine, color and trend specialist for a small cosmetics company, arts columnist, newspaper reporter, ghostwriter, and creator of website content for artists and small businesses.

With a degree in journalism and theatre, Ellen is also a performer. She enjoyed singing and dancing on a cruise ship and traveling with a national musical theatre tour, as well as recording industrial videos, television commercials, and radio voiceovers. She also creates handcrafted jewelry in wire, chain maille, and fused glass.

“Despite what some would have us believe, the fact remains that this nation was founded on biblical principles by people who wanted freedom to worship God and live their lives without government involvement. It’s never been more critical to fight for those rights.”

LEAH WILSON

Executive Director and Co-founder

An attorney with a background in complex litigation and advocacy, Leah Wilson is passionate about children’s health and has researched and worked on child welfare issues for more than a decade.

The overmedication of children in foster care as a form of behavior management is what compelled Leah to become an advocate and foster parent. During her time as a court-appointed special advocate for abused and neglected children, Leah witnessed the rampant use of psychiatric drugs among foster kids. She also discovered that, in addition to many extensive requirements, the state had a policy that all foster children and foster families be fully vaccinated, without exception. Through her involvement in law, health and the foster care system, it became abundantly clear to Leah that the single most important issue affecting child welfare in the United States is the practice of one-size-fits-all medicine via medical mandates. This motivated Leah to expand her advocacy beyond foster care to all children nationwide and to start Stand for Health Freedom (SHF) in 2019.

A graduate of the Saint Louis University School of Law, Leah holds dual bachelor degrees in political science and Spanish from Indiana University. In addition to her advocacy work with SHF, Leah is the owner and former operations director of MaxLiving Indy, one of the largest natural health centers in the Midwest. She is also an educator on holistic health as well as a sought-after speaker on issues ranging from religious rights to greening your home.

“Parental rights and religious freedom are God-given natural rights that cannot arbitrarily be taken away by government authorities. Parents are the single most important factor in a child’s success; I stand in full support of this sacred relationship.”

Sayer JI

Director and Co-founder

Sayer Ji is a widely recognized researcher, author, lecturer, activist, and educator on natural health modalities. Among his many roles, he is an advisor to Stand for Health Freedom, a reviewer and editor of the International Journal of Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine, an advisory board member of the National Health Federation, a steering committee member of the Global GMO Free Coalition, and the co-founder and CEO of Systome Biomed Inc., a revolutionary scientific validation framework.

Most notably, Sayer is the founder of Greenmedinfo.com, the world’s most widely referenced, evidence-based natural health resource of its kind. He founded the platform in 2008 to provide an open access, evidence-based resource supporting natural and integrative modalities. Today, Greenmedinfo.com has more than a million visits per month, serving as a trusted resource on myriad health and wellness topics to physicians, healthcare practitioners, clinicians, researchers and consumers worldwide.

Sayer attended Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he studied under the notable American philosopher Dr. Bruce W. Wilshire. He received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1995, with a focus on the philosophy of science. His new book, Regenerate: Unlocking Your Body’s Radical Resilience through the New Biology, was released in March 2020 and is an Amazon bestseller.

“I truly believe that education will be our greatest shield against accelerating the erosion of civil liberties, including the right to bodily sovereignty, as well as the greatest catalyst for positive change on this planet moving forward.”

Bailey Kuykendoll

Associate Director

Designer and visual marketer Bailey Kuykendoll began advocating for health and religious freedom and parental rights in 2014 after learning she was pregnant. A self-described skeptic, she’s not afraid to ask questions and do copious amounts of research to reach her own conclusions.

She’s also not afraid of hard work. As SHF’s Relationship Manager, Bailey truly keeps the organizational boat afloat. Working closely with health freedom advocates in each state, she ensures that SHF has campaigns for health-freedom-related bills and petitions on our website and across social media, spreading the word to encourage people to contact their legislators. She builds campaigns, graphics, website pages, and relationships.

Bailey earned a design degree from Harrington Institute of Design in 2008. She then served as a production assistant on several shows for HGTV, followed by working behind the scenes on the X Factor, small indie films, music videos, and documentaries. Bailey joined Health Freedom Florida after moving to the East Coast, becoming co-president of the grassroots organization in 2019. While at Health Freedom Florida, she successfully filed a state bill designed to stop discrimination based on your health status. She joined SHF in the fall of 2020.

“God placed a calling on my heart back in 2008 to be a part of something bigger for Him. Twelve years later, the opportunity came knocking to help others lean into their natural-born rights and take a stand for themselves and their families. I knew this is where I was called to be, and I have never looked back.”

Valerie Borek

POLICY ANALYST

Valerie Borek is a passionate advocate for health rights and family privacy. A mother of two with degrees in law and biochemistry, she is perfectly positioned to lead SHF advocates through complex health-rights policy. Her work is guided by a love for American values, uncovering truth, and a passion for empowering others. Valerie has served as SHF’s policy analyst since 2021.

Valerie’s understanding of the value of freedom to make one’s own health care choices is not just academic. Health freedom has kept her boys alive and thriving. Her choice to have home births jump-started her advocacy for health privacy. Her eldest son survived a rare and deadly cancer because her family was able to navigate medical care while holding onto values that were sometimes at odds with recommendations.

Before joining SHF, Valerie specialized in health and parenting rights at her boutique law firm, especially surrounding birth and vaccine rights. She advocated for informed consent in health care and transparent food labeling in her state. She helped found the Birth Rights Bar Association and was honored to present their argument to the Delaware Supreme Court that midwifery is not the practice of medicine, in support of a trailblazing midwife.

“Health is the foundation of how we show up in this world to love, serve, and create. Americans are blessed to live in a country that gets stronger the more we protect fundamental rights, like informed consent and privacy, so individuals and families can thrive.”

Mary Katherine LaCroix

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND NONPROFIT ADMINISTRATION

Mary Katherine LaCroix became involved with SHF as a volunteer in 2019 when the religious exemption for childhood vaccines was at risk in her home state of New Jersey. She believes strongly that parents have the responsibility for their children’s health, education, and faith formation and that only they have the right to make medical decisions and manage their care.

She has worked in fundraising for more than 25 years at various educational, cultural, human services, and political organizations. A graduate of the University of Scranton, she holds a degree in History and English Literature.

Mary Katherine is thrilled to have this opportunity to work with and help grow SHF, believing that together we can achieve even greater impact in protecting our rights and caring for our loved ones. She enjoys spending time with her husband, two children and large extended family, as well as volunteering to support the special needs community.

“Parents are taught that they must trust the experts. That’s what we did, until we learned that the experts can be wrong and don’t always know what is best for your child. Parents should instead feel empowered by their natural, God-given ability to advocate and care for their children. SHF is here to give them the tools to do just that.”

Sheila Ealey

Political Analyst

Dr. Sheila Lewis Ealey is the founder and former director of the Creative Learning Center of Louisiana, a therapeutic day school for children who are on the autism spectrum or struggling with other nonverbal intellectual disabilities. The wife of a former U.S. Coast Guard Officer, she is also the mother of four children. Her son was diagnosed with severe autism spectrum disorder at 18 months. He is now a young man and considered moderate and emerging.

Sheila and her twins were featured in the documentary “Vaxxed.” She has traveled extensively, advocating for medical freedom. She continues to educate disenfranchised parents about their fundamental rights to religious and philosophical exemptions, their ability to live sustainably on a limited budget, and the importance of nutrition and biomedical interventions for optimum health with autism. She also writes individual homeschool curriculums for parents of children with autism or intellectual disorders. Sheila is a trustee for the Autism Trust, USA, and on the board of directors of Children’s Health Defense.

Over the past 20 years, she has educated herself to use natural healing modalities for the body and brain. Her formal education includes degrees in communication, special education curriculum, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership in Special Education. Sheila serves as an assistant content advisor and political analyst for SHF.

“It is not the Constitution’s job to protect our liberties, as it is not a philosophical document but a legal one. Its purpose is to limit the powers and authority of our federal government in hopes of preventing an intrusion upon our unalienable rights. We are obliged to maintain our government within its limits.”

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