Michael Ruppert facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michael C. Ruppert
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Michael Craig Ruppert
February 3, 1951 Washington, D.C., US
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| Died | April 13, 2014 (aged 63) |
| Other names | Tracker of Truth |
| Education | B.A., UCLA, 1973 |
| Occupation | Investigative journalist Publisher Talk show host LAPD Police officer |
| Employer | Los Angeles Police Department (1973–1978) |
| Known for | Whistleblower and author of Crossing The Rubicon |
Michael Craig Ruppert (February 3, 1951 – April 13, 2014) was an American writer and musician, Los Angeles Police Department officer, investigative journalist, political activist, and peak oil awareness advocate known for his 2004 book Crossing The Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.
From 1999 until 2006, Ruppert edited and published From The Wilderness, a newsletter and website covering a range of topics including international politics, the CIA, peak oil, civil liberties, economics, corruption and the nature of the 9/11 conspiracy. It attracted 22,000 subscribers.
Ruppert was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Collapse, which is based on his book A Presidential Energy Policy and received The New York Times' "critics pick". He served as president of Collapse Network, Inc. from early 2010 until he resigned in May 2012. He also hosted The Lifeboat Hour on Progressive Radio Network until his death in 2014.
In 2014, Vice featured Ruppert in a 6-part series titled Apocalypse, Man.
Contents
Early life and education
Michael Ruppert was born on February 3, 1951, in Washington, D.C. According to Ruppert, his father, Ernest Charles Edward Ruppert III, had been a pilot in the US Air Force during World War II and later worked for Martin Marietta, functioning as a liaison between the company, the CIA, and the Air Force. He said that his mother, Madelyn, was a cryptanalyst at the National Security Agency, working in a unit that cracked Soviet codes in order to track their nuclear physicists.
The family moved fourteen times, living in seven different states, eventually settling in Los Angeles where Ruppert attended Venice High School, graduating in 1969. He then attended UCLA, earning a B.A. in Political Science in 1973. Ruppert said that during his senior year, he applied and interviewed for a position with the CIA but ended up turning down the subsequent offer, instead accepting a position with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Los Angeles Police Department (1973–1978)
Ruppert joined the LAPD in 1973. He resigned from the force in November 1978.
Activism
He went on to become an investigative journalist and established the publication From The Wilderness, a watchdog publication that exposed governmental corruption.
Ruppert is the author of Crossing The Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, published in September 2004. Crossing The Rubicon suggests that Vice President Dick Cheney, the US government, and Wall Street had a well-developed awareness of and colluded with the perpetrators of 9/11.
Ruppert correctly predicted the 2008 financial crisis in the US three years before it happened.
From The Wilderness
From The Wilderness was a newsletter published from 1998 to 2006 by the media company, From The Wilderness Publications. The newsletter covered political and governmental issues. It was published eleven times per year but featured weekly updates online.
The end of From The Wilderness was announced in a post at the website on November 7, 2006. Reasons for the closure were detailed in the article. Ruppert claimed his bad health, glitches that disabled their web store, "problems of human origin" and his departure to Venezuela had led to the demise of From The Wilderness. After shutting down, From the Wilderness was sued by their landlord for unpaid rent owed on their Ashland office space. Later that year, Ruppert flew to Toronto, Canada, for medical treatment. The following statement was posted on the From The Wilderness website on November 26, 2006:
Personally, I am through forever with investigative journalism and public lecturing. I am leaving public life. It is my hope that by continuing to repeat this sincere position that many of the inexplicable difficulties which have dominated my life over the past months will ease. It is time to move on. I spent twenty-seven years as a dedicated public activist and that is something which I am no longer able or inclined to do. The price was ultimately too great.
Collapse and the Collapse Network
Ruppert and his theories on peak oil were the subject of the 2009 documentary film Collapse, which was based on his book A Presidential Energy Policy and received The New York Times' "critics pick". The book, Confronting Collapse: The Crisis of Energy and Money in a Post Peak Oil World was released in December 2009.
Peak oil, an event based on M. King Hubbert's theory, is the point in time when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum is reached, after which the rate of production is expected to enter terminal decline. Peak oil theory is based on the observed rise, peak, (sometimes rapid) fall, and depletion of aggregate production rate in oil fields over time.
In early 2010, Ruppert launched the Collapse Network to build sustainable communities across the world. In 2011 he announced on his Lifeboat Hour radio show that he was relocating to Sonoma County, California, because he thought that it would be a safer location in the event of societal collapse. He left the Collapse Network in May 2012, leaving it in the hands of former From the Wilderness associate and longtime friend, Jenna Orkin. Ruppert continued to occasionally contribute to the Collapse Network news desk.
Musical projects
After leaving CollapseNet, Ruppert moved to Crestone, Colorado, and pursued Native American and indigenous teachings (adopting the name "Tracker of Truth") and started putting more time into music, recording with the band New White ..., described as a "downtempo acoustic rock outfit".
Death
On April 13, 2014, Ruppert was found dead in Napa County at home just outside the Calistoga, California, city limits.
