Ahoy, crew! I have extra fish! My friend Lily has extra apples! We're gonna trade! Nice! Fair trade, everyone wins! But WAIT. A captain walked up and said: "You can't trade with each other. You have to trade through ME." Uh oh. The Middleman! He took my fish. Took Lily's apples. Then he gave me THREE apples and gave her TWO fish. But we BOTH had five! What happened to the rest? HE kept them! He said it's his "fee" for helping us! But you didn't NEED help! You two were doing just fine! Exactly! We WANTED to trade. We were RIGHT next to each other. Why do we need HIM? You don't! But HE wants a cut. So he makes a rule: "Go through me!" Now he gets YOUR stuff for doing NOTHING! Liberty Lesson: If two people want to trade, they don't need a middleman. When someone FORCES you to use them, ask: Why? What do THEY get? Jab: If you wanna give your friend a cookie, do you need a grown-up to hand it over? NO! You just give it! Same thing! We could trade OURSELVES. The middleman just wanted our stuff! Quest: If someone says "You have to go through ME," ask: Why? What's YOUR cut? What happens if I just... don't? Trade free, crew! Liberty Pirates don't need middlemen! #LibertyPirates #TradeFree #NoMiddleman

Ahoy, crew! Salty Sam told a HUGE lie today. He said there's a MONSTER under the ship! Everyone freaked out! Is there a monster? NO! I looked! Nothing there! So why did everyone believe him? It was SO big and crazy—nobody thought he'd make up something THAT wild! That's the Big Lie Trick! Little lies get caught easy. "I didn't eat the cookie"—Mom checks your face, sees crumbs, BUSTED! But a lie SO big, SO crazy? People think "Nobody would make THAT up!" So they believe it because it's TOO big to be a lie? Yup! Small lie = small trick. Big lie = people can't even imagine someone would fib that hard! Liberty Lesson: Just because something sounds BIG and scary doesn't mean it's true. Big lies work BECAUSE they're big! Jab: If I said "I was five minutes late," you'd check. If I said "A WHALE flew over my house!" you might think... wait, is that real?! The crazier it sounds, the MORE you should check it! Quest: When you hear something really wild and scary, don't just panic. Ask: Is this real? Who told me? Can I check? Big lies are still lies! Liberty Pirates stay calm and check the facts! #LibertyPirates #CheckTheFacts #BigLies

Ahoy, crew! A fancy pirate came to our ship. Everyone called him "The Expert." He said eating coconuts is BAD for you! Did he say WHY? He said "Trust me, I'm an expert!" But who PAID this expert to come talk? Captain Banana. He sells bananas. OHHHHH! So the banana guy paid an expert to say coconuts are bad? And now everyone buys MORE bananas? That's sneaky! That's the Expert Trick! Find a smart-sounding pirate. Pay him coins. Now HE says what YOU want—and everyone believes him! But he sounded SO smart! Sounding smart and BEING right aren't the same thing! Smart pirates can still say wrong stuff—especially if someone's paying them! Liberty Lesson: When someone says "The expert says," ask: Who's PAYING the expert? Does the expert get something if you believe him? Jab: If someone paid ME to say "Archer is the best pirate ever!"—would you believe it? I HOPE not! Same thing! Paid experts say what they're PAID to say! Quest: Next time you hear "the expert says," ask: Who is this expert? Who pays them? Do THEY win if I believe this? Experts can be wrong—or bought! Liberty Pirates think for themselves! #LibertyPirates #ThinkForYourself #FollowTheMoney