By Joshua Kaplan

John Williams spent over two years infiltrating America's most prominent militias as a lone-wolf vigilante. After watching the January 6 Capitol riot, he recognized a patch from American Patriots Three Percent, a group he'd once trained in wilderness survival. Consumed by shame and rage, he decided to go undercover without telling law enforcement, friends, or family.

He rose to command AP3's entire Utah chapter while simultaneously penetrating the Oath Keepers. He slept in the home of Bobby Kinch, a retired Las Vegas detective who became the Oath Keepers' national director after Stewart Rhodes went to prison. Williams secretly recorded meetings, photographed weapons, and documented connections between militia leaders and active law enforcement officials.

The work destroyed him. He developed insomnia, vomited blood, and circled grocery stores checking for surveillance. When he warned a journalist about a violent threat, the reporter published his anonymous message verbatim. Williams grabbed his go-bag—cash, disguises, encrypted thumb drives—and fled to the Utah desert.

By Brendan Koerner

Aaron Colvin met a bodybuilder at the gym who promised he could make $20,000 a month selling solar panels door-to-door. The 18-year-old was working double shifts at Chipotle and Pet Supplies Plus, trying to save money for college while dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur like his idols Grant Cardone and Alex Hormozi. Solar seemed like the shortcut he needed.

He dropped out of Niagara University and drove to Florida to join Seal Team Six, a crew of young men who knocked on doors until 9 pm promising homeowners they could save thousands by installing panels. The work destroyed him. He faced constant rejection, performed punishment push-ups when he logged zero appointments, and slept in overcrowded houses with other recruits. His first closed deal netted him $180 instead of the promised $3,500. His friend Connor Dougherty tore his knee on a Segway and received $600 instead of $6,000.

The industry runs on cult tactics: obsessive self-improvement routines, motivational mantras, solar bro influencers flashing commission checks online. Colvin kept going anyway, moving from Florida to Illinois, convinced suffering would transform him. He earned almost nothing across two months. When he finally quit and returned to school, he owed Freedom Pros $1,500 for unpaid hotel bills.

By Emily Bratt

Emily Bratt left England in 2022 to work as a freelance writer while pet-sitting around the world. She could either pay £1,000 monthly rent or chase sunshine for free, saving for a house deposit. The choice seemed obvious. She worked from beach bars in southeast Asia, hopped on scooters at sunset, sipped from coconuts with new friends. It felt wonderfully freeing; until it didn’t.

Digital nomadism has exploded since 2019. About 18 million Americans now describe themselves as digital nomads, up 147% in five years. But Bratt discovered she had conflated nomadism with holidaying. Working in a cafe remained working in a cafe whether in Swindon or Bali. She resented having to work when there was so much to explore.

Other nomads told similar stories. Matt visited 12 countries in 90 days and felt lonely and exhausted at every new place. Corina spent six months in Venezuela feeling wild and free until the difficulty exhausted her: unreliable power, no currency, constant uncertainty. Caterina and her partner got sick repeatedly, never fully recovering because they lacked a comfortable environment to heal in.

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By Lorena O’Neil

Luigi Mangione grew up wealthy in Baltimore, graduated valedictorian from elite Gilman School, and earned honors degrees from Penn. He moved to Hawaii after college, working remotely while battling chronic back pain. After spinal fusion surgery in July 2023, he claimed he was pain-free. Then he vanished.

He backpacked through Asia for months, posting about minimalist living. He read the Unabomber's manifesto, writing it was "impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions turned out." He complained tech companies were polarizing society for profit. By spring 2024, he stopped responding to everyone. His mother filed a missing persons report in November.

On December 4, a masked gunman shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. Bullet casings read "delay," "deny," "depose." Five days later, police arrested Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald's with a 3D-printed gun, fake ID, and a letter calling insurance executives "parasites" who "had it coming."

The reaction split instantly. Some saw a murderer. Others made him a folk hero, selling St. Luigi merchandise, organizing protests, flooding his prison cell with fan mail. He faces murder charges including terrorism counts and potentially the death penalty.

By Forrest Wickman

A scene in the 2000 film Charlie's Angels features what might be the wrongest bird in cinema history. Cameron Diaz's character identifies a bird as a pygmy nuthatch that "only lives in one place: Carmel!" This identification saves the day. Except the bird shown is a Venezuelan troupial, six times larger and neon orange instead of tiny and gray. The bird heard is neither species but an unidentified third creature that stumped ornithologists for 25 years.

Author Forrest Wickman spent a year investigating how this happened. He interviewed 17 screenwriters who worked on the script. The original draft featured an 'i'iwi from Hawaii, which was actually accurate. But locations kept changing, so writers swapped in different birds. Someone eventually picked "pygmy nuthatch" because it had the word "nut" in it and sounded funny.

The animal handler couldn't use a real pygmy nuthatch because the Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes casting native North American birds illegal. So she brought Venezuelan troupials named Jack and Jill with "real star quality." The sound editor needed something dramatic that matched Cameron Diaz whistling through her hands, so he used a 1990 recording of a thick-billed fox sparrow from Oregon, looped and edited.

Really hope you enjoyed the selection of stories today. I am always interested in hearing from you. If you have thoughts on how I can make this email even better, do not hesitate to reach out.

Brett

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