Well You Called Down the Thunder

Over an extended period of time, since the beginning of 2023, my student and his 12-year-old daughter have been subjected to persistent online harassment, intimidation, and actions that rise to the level of terroristic threats by multiple individuals. These behaviors are not only morally unacceptable but criminal—especially considering the repeated targeting of a minor.

This campaign was initiated and escalated due to a single individual’s hatred and jealousy toward me and my contributions within the martial arts community. Rather than address his "issues" directly with me, this individual got others to help exact his revenge on me by acting maliciously against an innocent family. Simply because one of that family's members was a former student.

Both myself and law enforcement officials made it clear—first through requests, then warnings—that their behavior must stop. That it was criminal. These warnings were ignored. Instead, those involved expanded their actions, using multiple platforms and methods to continue their campaign.

Recently their attacks have occurred on two coordinated fronts: 

1.) One has made recent efforts to defame and slander my martial arts background, making accusations of being convicted of violent crimes to sabotage my standing in the martial arts and judo communities and organizations and  my ranks and accredited certifications stripped.

 2.) Simultaneously the other involved again targeted my student and his minor daughter through threats and intimidation, continuing their pattern of abuse, stalking and harassment.

Importantly, they are fully aware of their actions. They have admitted their involvement during police inquiry, and in doing so, attempted to shift blame onto one another. Their participation has been clearly established and they have been told so recently by the Magistrate and the Chief of Police. 

All incidents are documented and preserved. Evidence has been gathered and investigated by law enforcement. All were involved. 

The case is now advancing through criminal channels. This not a empty statement. This is no bluff. 

Let it be unequivocally understood, I am not seeking any sort of civil litigation. I am seeking arrests and convictions. PERIOD. They will face criminal charges and consequences. 

They were told not to fuck with me or mine. They did.  

I will see the ones here in Florida that were involved arrested here on warrants from Alabama, extradited to Alabama and in jail.  Their attorney's wont be able to get them released. There will be no getting out of jail until they stand before a Judge in the state of Alabama. Lastly, there is absolutely no guarantee that an Alabama judge will release them until they stand trial. 

I'm coming and Hell is coming with me. 

The Inevitable Fall of a martial arts organzation without the Founder

When a martial arts administration challenges the legitimacy of the founder, especially by claiming his signature, authority, or decisions are invalid, they inadvertently set into motion a reversal of power that they cannot win. History, tradition, and cultural precedent overwhelmingly favor the founder in such conflicts. As a result, the founder loses nothing, while the administration loses credibility, legitimacy, and historical standing.

1. The Founder Is the Source — His Authority Is Permanent

In Japanese and Okinawan martial traditions, the founder (Shodai Kaicho, Soke) holds a non-transferable, lifelong authority. Even if he steps away from administrative duties, he never loses:

a.) The right to issue rank and licenses

b.) The authority to define curriculum and standards

c.) The ability to validate lineage and legitimacy

d.) His historical, experiential, and technical seniority

The founder of the organization is the root of the tree. Paperwork cannot override the root.

2. The Administration’s Power Originally Came From the Founder

Every president, chairman, committee member, and senior instructor in the organization was appointed, ranked, or endorsed by the founder. If they argue that his signature or authority is invalid, they are indirectly stating that their own ranks are invalid and they no longer hold any real authority regarding the founder his history or lineage. Their entire legitimacy collapses 

3. The Founder Can Continue — The Administration Cannot

The Founder can teach anywhere. He can issue rank. He holds lineage authority and can form new branches. 

The administration, however, is restricted by organizational politics, can no longer issue ranks in the founders system with any legitimacy. They become an isolated faction and loses respect from the community. 

True practitioners follow the lineage, not the administration. 

4. The Founder Gains Support

Practitioners who value authenticity stay with the lineage. Traditionalists, historians, and technical experts back the founder. The founder is free from internal politics and his authority increases as a result of unjust opposition. 

The administration, on the other hand, becomes tied to instability and their motivations are questioned. Their decisions carry little weight beyond their circle.

When disagreement arises, the founder can always move forward, continuing his lineage, refining his art, create a new organization guiding those who choose authentic learning. 

The administration faces decline if it attempts to separate from the founder while still holding onto his legacy. To cut ties with the founder is to lose the right to claim his art. To cling to his lineage and history without his acknowledgment or endorsement is to expose the administration's lack of authenticity.

5. Claiming lineage Without the Founder Is Committing Fraud

For the administration or organization to publicly claim continued lineage or authority after stating the founder’s signature is invalid is not just misleading it is fraudulent representation.

Such a claim implies:

a.) Using the founder’s name or his history and lineage without his permission.

b.) Benefiting from technical and historical legitimacy that one no longer possesses.

c.) Misrepresenting affiliation to students, officials, and the martial arts community

d.) Profiting (financially or politically) from the founder’s reputation after denying his authority

To declare separation from the founder but still claim his lineage and history is to take what one is not entitled to. In martial ethics, this is not only politically illegitimate—it is ethically dishonest.

Conclusion

When disagreement arises, the founder can always move forward, continuing his lineage, refining his art, and guiding those who choose authentic learning. The administration, however, faces decline if it attempts to separate from the founder while still holding onto his legacy.

To cut ties with the founder is to lose the right to claim any ties his art.  To cling to his lineage and history without his acknowledgment exposes one’s lack of authenticity and credibility.....it is fraud.  

The founder can move forward freely, undeterred with no interference. For the administration, it is left desperately clinging to what it no longer truly has. 

Broken Honor: Assessing the Trustworthiness of an Administration That Rejects the Founder’s Signature

In traditional Japanese and Okinawan martial arts, legitimacy is inherited, not elected. Rank, authority, and curriculum descend directly from the founder (Shodai Soke / Shodai Kaicho). The founder represents the source from which the organization’s history, standards, and rank validation arise.

When an administration publicly claims that the founder’s signature is invalid, the issue extends far beyond disagreement. It calls into question the administration’s integrity, legitimacy, and relationship to martial tradition. Such a statement is not only culturally unacceptable but organizationally self-destructive. 

Here’s why.

Every title an administrator holds, President, Director, Kaicho, Shihan, etc, originates from the founder. Their rank, instructor license, and leadership position were issued, endorsed, or inherited through the founder’s organizational structure.

If they declare the founder’s signature invalid, they logically declare their own certifications invalid,  their own administrative appointment invalid, the organization’s founding principles invalid. To invalidate the founder is to literally invalidate themselves by their own hand.

It Signals political motivation over martial integrity. In Japanese budo culture, challenging the founder’s authority is viewed as a power grab, not a legitimate decision. A trustworthy leader protects the lineage. A political leader manipulates it.

If an administration is willing to rewrite history or authority to suit present objectives, it demonstrates a willingness to distort or reinterpret tradition. A capability to alter curriculum, titles, and organizational decisions. A prioritization of personal or political gain over lineage principles.  If they can invalidate the founder’s signature today, they can invalidate your rank tomorrow.

In classical martial arts, legitimacy is defined by connection to lineage. By rejecting the founder’s authority, they detach themselves from the source and are regarded as no longer representing the founder’s art and being unrecognized in traditional circles. Once lineage is broken, trust is lost.

If the administration attempts to remove the founder’s presence or authority, the founder remains valid the administration does not. An administration that declares the founder’s signature invalid cannot be trusted or believed, because their claim directly contradicts the very foundation of legitimacy they themselves rely on.

Can This Administration’s Word Be Trusted or Believed?

No…..here’s why:

They contradict their own origin - All of their rank, titles, and authority come from the founder. If they now say the founder’s signature is invalid, then logically their own credentials are equally invalid, since the founder issued or authorized them. If they deny the source that created them, how can they claim authenticity for themselves?

Rejecting the founder is not a technical or historical decision. It’s a political maneuver. In traditional budo, this is considered a power play, not an act of honesty. This raises serious doubts about intention and ethics. An honorable leader protects lineage; a political leader revises it for convenience.

If they will rewrite history, then they will rewrite truth. 

By selectively invalidating the founder when convenient, they demonstrate they can alter rules, rewrite lineage, manipulate documents and change standards to suit political goals. If they can deny the founder today, they can deny anyone or anything tomorrow.

They have already broken trust by breaking lineage. 

Once the founder is dismissed, they no longer represent his art or authority. A leadership that abandons its own foundation forfeits its moral right to be followed. Such an administration’s word cannot be trusted or believed in matters of legitimacy, rank, history, or authority. Their actions show a willingness to reject lineage, place political interests above the truth, undermine martial arts tradition and contradict their own origins.

Conclusion 

When an administration dismisses the founder’s signature as invalid, any statement they make own lose any and all credibility. By denouncing the very source of their legitimacy, they demonstrate that:

a.) Their words are not to be believed,

b.) Their claims are not to be considered genuine, and

c.) Their actions their statements cannot be regarded as honorable.

In traditional martial arts, honor is inseparable from loyalty to one’s lineage. To undermine the founder is to act without integrity. Therefore, any statements made by such an administration regarding rank, authority, history, representation or discussion cannot be viewed as authentic, genuine or trustworthy.

When an Administration Rejects the Founder’s Signature, It Undermines Its Own Legitimacy

In traditional Japanese and Okinawan martial arts, legitimacy is not an abstract concept.....it is lineage, authority, and technical inheritance. Everything within a martial arts organization, from rank structure to curriculum, ultimately flows from one source: the founder. For this reason, the founder’s signature, seal, and authority are not symbolic; they are the core of the system’s legitimacy.

When a modern administration declares that the founder’s signature is “invalid,” they are not merely challenging a piece of paper. Whether they realize it or not, they are severing their own lineage to the founder and invalidating the foundation upon which their own rank, authority, and positions were built. This is a serious break historically, technically, and ethically.

1. The Founder Is the Point of Origin for All Legitimacy

No matter the size or age of an organization, all ranks, titles, licenses, and governing structures originate with the founder. Rejecting that authority is a rejection of the lineage itself.

2. An Administration’s Authority Exists Only Through the Founder

Presidents, directors, councils, boards, and committees do not inherently possess martial authority. They receive their position from the founder:

a.) Their rank is granted by the founder.

b.) Their teaching license traces back to the founder.

c.) Their seat on any governing council exists because the founder created the structure.

d.) Their decisions are legitimate only because they operate under the founder’s mandate.

Without that connection, an administration becomes nothing more than a self-appointed group acting outside the traditions of budo!

3. Declaring the Founder’s Signature Invalid Is a Declaration of Independence (Whether They Admit It or Not)

In Japanese budo culture, to deny the founder’s signature is to deny, his authority, his lineage, his legitimacy and his right to issue rank or validate curriculum. This means the administration’s own credentials, signed or issued by the founder, are simultaneously rendered invalid by the same logic. You cannot claim; “His signature is invalid on certificates…but valid on my rank. Invalid on others…but valid on appointing me.”

This is internally contradictory and unacceptable in budo. If the founder is not qualified to sign one certificate, he was never qualified to sign any certificate, including theirs.

4. Severing the Founder Means Severing Their Own Lineage

Once the administration declares that the founder’s signature has no authority, their own ranks become self-referential rather than lineage-based. Their positions (President, Vice President, Director, etc.) collapse because the founder created those posts. All authority they wield becomes illegitimate from a traditional standpoint. The organization becomes a breakaway group, no longer representing the founder’s system. In effect, they have announced a schism, intentionally or unintentionally.

5. Historical and Cultural Consequences

Traditional martial culture treats lineage with utmost seriousness. When a group rejects the founder, they cannot claim to be the original organization. They cannot claim to preserve the founder’s art. They cannot claim to represent the founder's curriculum. They become a new organization with no direct historical legitimacy. This is why in every major Japanese/Okinawan system, administrations never invalidate the founder’s authority, even after the founder steps down, retires, or passes away. Because doing so collapses the foundation on which they stand. 

 Final Analysis

Modern administrations may misunderstand budo precedent or overlook the implications of their claims, but the truth remains. To reject the founder’s authority is to reject the source of their own authority. This principle is universal across legitimate martial traditions. Once an organization denies the founder’s signature, they are no longer connected to the founder’s lineage and can no longer claim the legitimacy that lineage provides.

Severed Roots: How Rejecting the Founder Undermines an Organization’s Authority

In traditional Japanese and Okinawan martial arts systems and organizations, all legitimacy, authority, and rank flow directly from the founder. The founder (Shodai Soke / Shodai Kaicho) is the source of the curriculum, lineage, and organizational authority.

When an administration claims that the founder’s signature is invalid, they are not simply disputing a signature. They are severing their own connection to the founder and undermining their own authority, rank, and positions, whether they realize it or not. This is why such claims are self-defeating and contrary to martial arts tradition.

1. All Administrative Authority Comes FROM the Founder

Every president, chairman, board member, and senior instructor derives their position from the founder. If an administration declares the founder’s signature invalid, the logical consequences are:

The founder’s appointments are then invalid - The founder’s rank promotions are invalid - The founder’s endorsements are invalid - The founder’s formation of the organization is invalid. But all their own ranks and positions were granted through those founder-issued decisions. To invalidate the founder is to invalidate themselves.

2. If the Founder’s Signature Is “Invalid,” Then So Are Everything They Hold

Black belts - Instructor licenses - Teaching certificates - Board positions - Titles (President, Kaicho, Director, Shihan, etc.) - The organization’s founding charter - The curriculum the founder created - The organization’s very legitimacy. Everything they possess traces directly to the founder. You cannot cut the root and pretend the tree still stands.

3. By Denying the Founder, They Break Lineage

Lineage is the lifeblood of Japanese and Okinawan martial arts. It encompasses authority, curriculum, tradition and technical legitimacy.

When an administration rejects the founder’s signature they no longer represent the founder’s art. They represent only themselves

To the broader martial arts community, they become a breakaway group, a splinter organization, an unrecognized faction, a political offshoot with no lineage support.

Meanwhile, the founder remains the true line, even if he steps aside or withdraws support. 

4. They Lose the Right to Use the Founder’s Name, Art, Property, History or Lineage

If the founder’s signature is “invalid,” the organization cannot legitimately claim the founder’s style, the curriculum, the founder’s lineage, his title history or authority. By rejecting the founder, they have effectively declared themselves independent, whether or not they intend to.

5. Japanese Budo Culture Interprets This as a Rebellion (造反 — zōhan)

In traditional Japanese martial arts culture, attempting to overthrow or nullify the founder is viewed as:

a.) Betrayal

b.) Dishonor

c.) Power-grabbing

d.) Politically motivated

An administrator who denies the founder’s authority is culturally regarded as having left the founder’s house (ie) a student who rejects their instructor is no longer a student. Any administrator who rejects the founder or the founder's signature is no longer legitimate. 

6. The Founder Loses Nothing—They Lose Everything

Even if the founder is pushed aside or an administration attempts to override him the founder’s authority remains, the founder’s rank remains, his lineage remains, his ability to issue rank remains. The founder’s curriculum remains valid.

For the administration, however their authority evaporates the moment they deny the founder’s legitimacy. They can no longer claim founder-given rank, titles, or endorsements. They have severed themselves from the source

Conclusion

When an administration declares the founder’s signature invalid, they automatically undermine and invalidate their own ranks, titles, and authority. They break lineage - Lose legitimacy - Sever themselves from the source - Become a splinter group - Retain no traditional authority

The founder remains the highest authority. The administration becomes, at best, a political faction with no foundation in tradition.

In martial arts, the source of authority cannot be bypassed, revoked, or replaced—the founder is permanent, and all else flows from them.

No Precedent for Overriding a Founder: A Statement on Budo Authority

In Japanese and Okinawan martial arts, the founder of a system or organization is recognized as the Shodai Kaicho / Soke / Founding Kaicho. This is a permanent and non-transferable position. The founder remains the original source of the organization’s legitimacy, history, and curriculum.

Even if the founder steps back from daily administration, he never relinquishes the authority to validate and issue rank, publish or authorize official statements, produce certificates and other formal documents.

Only the founder possesses the historical, experiential, and technical lineage required to perform these functions. This unique authority originates from the founder’s creation of the system or organization and cannot pass to any successor, board, or committee.

In every major Japanese and Okinawan martial arts organization including Shito-Ryu Seishin-Kai, Motobu-Ha Shito-Ryu, Seibukan, the Japan Karate Association (JKA), and comparable bodies the founder (Shodai Kaicho / Soke) always retains ultimate authority unless the organization is formally dissolved, or the founder is deceased. 

The founder's  authority includes, but is not limited to:

      1.)  The right to validate or confirm rank

      2.)The right to issue official certificates

      3.)  The right to define curriculum, lineage, and technical standards

      4.) The right to publish or approve formal statements on behalf of the system 

Across all major systems, the founder (Shodai Soke / Shodai Kaicho) remains the highest and original authority in matters of:

     1.) Rank recognition and certification

     2.) Technical standards and curriculum

     3.)  Lineage verification

     4.) Official statements and organizational legitimacy

A key question sometimes arises in modern disputes. Can a founder’s rank certification or signature ever be considered invalid by a current president or board?

According to all established budo precedent the answer is…..No. There is no precedent within traditional Japanese or Okinawan martial arts organizations in which a founder’s signature is considered invalid, or a current president, kaicho, or administrative leader possesses rank authority that exceeds that of the founder.

Administrative roles, such as president, chairman, or acting kaicho, may handle operations, but they do not supersede the founder’s ultimate authority unless the founder is formally deceased or the organization itself is dissolved. In traditional budo, the founder is the permanent source of legitimacy, and no successor or administrative officer can overrule, invalidate, or exceed his signature, rank authority, or lineage rights.

There is no historical precedent in Japanese or Okinawan martial arts where a founder’s signature is invalidated, or a successor in an administrative role supersedes the founder’s authority in rank or lineage matters. 

A founder’s certification remains valid, during his lifetime, after stepping down from daily leadership, and even if new officers are elected or appointed by the founder himself. Only the founder’s death or dissolution of the organization ends the founder’s direct authority. The founder of a organization's role is permanent, not subject to vote, replacement, or override.

Why Frauds Thrive in the Martial Arts

Frauds persist and thrive in the martial arts not only because they exploit the idealism, trust, and institutional respect among legitimate martially enlightened practitioners, but also because these practitioners are often slow to confront or too cordial toward such individuals. This hesitation creates a protective buffer for frauds, allowing them to embed themselves deeper within martial arts communities.​

Reluctance to Act

Legitimate martial artists, invested in etiquette and harmony, may avoid direct confrontation with suspected frauds to maintain community peace or out of respect for perceived seniority and tradition. This cultural tendenicy toward politeness or non-confrontation allows fraudulent instructors and schools to avoid scrutiny and public accountability, sometimes for years.​

Cordiality as a Shield

Respectful engagement, even with clear red flags present, can be misconstrued by outsiders as endorsement—thus lending fraudulent figures further legitimacy. When respected practitioners remain cordial or neutral, frauds often capitalize on these interactions to bolster their own image and credibility in the eyes of less experienced students.​

Community Impact

Frauds exploit slow or hesitant responses by legitimate peers, continuing to recruit and mislead students unchallenged.​

Shunning or discouraging whistleblowers creates a climate where frauds persist even after being exposed, as loyalty to community or harmony outweighs the will to address unethical behavior directly.​

Fraudulent instructors often become skilled at manipulating reputation and suppressing dissent, further reducing the likelihood that their actions will be promptly or forcefully confronted by legitimate leaders.​

This cycle underscores the need for robust, transparent standards and the courage to name and address fraudulent behavior promptly within martial arts communities.