Listen to this article on Alix Mayer’s Substack (on mobile only, click arrow in circle on top right).
As someone who saw through the lockdown hysteria as soon as the media came out with the bat soup narrative and steered clear of COVID shots—knowing full well the risks of myocarditis, blood clots, and other side effects they’ve caused—I’m deeply alarmed by Governor Gavin Newsom’s latest power grab.
On January 23, 2026, just one day after the United States officially exited the World Health Organization (WHO) under President Trump’s directive, Newsom announced that California has joined the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN).
This may be a juvenile and petty move to position himself against Trump and against MAHA as the presumed Democratic Presidential candidate. Certainly the rest of the left-leaning states in the West Coast Health Alliance, the Northeast Public Health Collaborative and the Governor’s Public Health Alliance will follow suit – about 15 to 18 states in all.
It also appears to be a calculated end-run around the federal government. With the U.S. pulling out of the WHO to reclaim sovereignty and avoid funding what many see as a bloated, China-influenced bureaucracy, Newsom rushed in to fill the void, positioning California as a pseudo-independent actor on the global stage.
By aligning with GOARN right after the federal withdrawal, he’s bypassing Washington’s oversight, potentially allowing him to import international “expertise” to California from the WHO without federal checks.
We all remember how lockdowns wrecked economies, mental health, and freedoms: GOARN smells like a setup for future top-down control.
GOARN is not full WHO membership—that’s reserved for nations and The Gates Foundation—but it’s a backdoor partnership that lets California tap into a global network of more than 250 institutions for outbreak response.
GOARN pools resources for detecting, verifying, and tackling health threats with cross-border potential. Let’s call it what it is: a supplier of public health emergency supplies, data, and—most concerningly—experts who can act as on-the-ground enforcers.
During crises, GOARN deploys teams of epidemiologists, lab specialists, and logisticians to “assist” with containment, often at the host’s expense. Think of it as WHO’s rapid-response arm, shipping in foreign advisors who push standardized protocols, from contact tracing to quarantine setups.
For a state like California, this means Newsom could invite these outsiders to bolster his decisions, all while claiming it’s “global best practices.” No binding treaties here, but the voluntary nature hides the real risk: it gives him political cover to escalate measures without accountability.
This opens the door again to public health tyranny.
Here are three plausible public health scenarios where Newsom could lean on GOARN for rhetorical shield. WHO guidance could easily be used to justify draconian policies that echo the COVID nightmare orchestrated by unelected public health officials who were deputized to run and wreck the economy in California counties.
First, imagine a new flu sparks the WHO to declare a PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern)—those dreaded six words that triggered global panic before. Newsom announces collaboration with GOARN, deploying international experts to California hospitals. He could then mandate widespread testing or school closures, citing WHO’s “strong recommendations” for containment as the rationale. “We’re following expert advice to save lives,” he’d say, passing the buck to faceless global bureaucrats while ignoring local data. This dodges blame for economic fallout, much like how he extended lockdowns in 2020 despite evidence they disproportionately harmed small businesses and kids.
Second, in a vaccine rollout gone wrong—say, for a rushed shot against some new infection—GOARN supplies could include diagnostic kits or even advisory teams pushing vaccination drives. Newsom might impose workplace mandates or travel restrictions, framing them as aligned with WHO’s equity-focused guidance. “Global experts advise this to protect vulnerable communities,” he’d argue, using the partnership to deflect from the shots’ potential dangers.
Third, since the WHO has their One Health program equating human, animal and environmental health, they could declare a climate-linked outbreak, or simply a climate change global emergency. GOARN experts might recommend environmental lockdowns—restricting carbon-consuming activities like driving or eating steak, or mandating home quarantines. This could be combined with the carbon usage data we now see on credit card statements or airline reservations – those handy carbon calculators could be combined with the REAL ID when it’s digitized in a couple years, and our carbon usage could be used to geofence us and assign us social credit points based on carbon usage. Newsom could blame WHO for the necessity while advancing his green agenda. It’s perfect cover: “The world body’s data demands bold action,” he’d proclaim, sidestepping accountability for overreach that crushes freedoms without proven efficacy.
These scenarios are patterned on past PHEICs where WHO advice fueled heavy-handed responses worldwide.
But there’s hope in pushback. Free Now Foundation, which evolved from the California chapter of Children’s Health Defense, is battle-tested in fighting mandates. While we don’t have official plans to file a lawsuit right now – funds need to be raised – we can see a need for lawsuits challenging California’s GOARN membership or the West Coast Health Alliance on several angles.
- Constitutional violation: It forms an unauthorized interstate/international compact without congressional consent, breaching the Compact Clause and encroaching on federal foreign affairs powers.
- Sovereignty infringement: It subjects residents to foreign-influenced policies without due process, violating 14th Amendment rights—especially if enforcing unproven or restrictive measures.
- Misuse of public funds: Taxpayer money spent on alliance-related costs (e.g., hosting experts) lacks proper legislative approval, making it an unlawful expenditure.
A win could block or dismantle the alliance, signaling to Governor Newsom that Californians reject “imported authoritarianism.”
In a state that’s already endured enough, this GOARN move feels like lockdown 2.0 in disguise. Stay vigilant—our freedoms depend on it.
In 1996, Ms. Mayer was running a worldwide research group for Apple Inc., when she got 6 vaccines for a vacation and became disabled, brain damaged and lost her career. Now substantially recovered, she is Board Chair & President of Free Now Foundation, the leading medical freedom law non-profit in California.
Ms. Mayer is an in-demand speaker, and her lively presentations on 1/ The Measles Manipulation of RFK Jr., 2/ REAL ID: Weaponized Architecture, 3/ ABV: Anything But Vaccines and 4/ The Legal Howdunit of COVID have earned her recognition and accolades. "I know women in VP positions who do not hold a candle to this woman's sunlight," stated a commenter on a recent interview with Mike Adams, "She gives me hope that humanity still lives."
Ms. Mayer formerly served on the Children's Health Defense (CHD) board, co-founded & served as Chairman of CHD’s most successful Chapter in California, helping raise in excess of $5M, and served on RFK Jr’s Presidential campaign finance committee, raising hundreds of thousands for the campaign.
In 2022, she won the Golden Bear Award and a presentation she gave to Dr. Mercola was named a "Best of" interview. Her favorite award is her "Freedominator" Rock given by Marin Freedom Rising in 2023. Ms. Mayer grew up in the Oscar Mayer family, and has degrees from Duke (BA) and Northwestern (MBA.)
Alix Mayer
We connected recently by phone.
Newsom imports authoritarianism.
The Fourth Turning is Here, Neil Howe, describes: looking back at the last 500 years, a distinct pattern: modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting roughly eighty to one hundred years, the length of a long human life, with each cycle composed of four eras—or “turnings”—that always arrive in the same order and each last about twenty years. The last of these eras—the fourth turning—was always the most perilous, a period of civic upheaval and national mobilization as traumatic and transformative as the New Deal and World War II, the Civil War, or the American Revolution.
In terms of political polarization, Public Health and Human Rights has become the new ‘slavery,’, as divisive as events leading up to the Civil War. As you know, Newsom is fanning the flames of this divide for personal gain. It was a dramatic, bold and historic act for Kennedy/Trump to withdraw from WHO, nearly castrating WHO’s global thirst for power and control. Newsom has been on WHO’s team for decades.
Is it possible to use the Logan Act against Newsom for this?
I don’t even have to agree with every line to say: this is fierce, clear, and important. You’re speaking for a lot of people still carrying scars from 2020, and you’re doing it without flinching. The writing’s strong. The message hits. Don’t let up—but maybe drop in a source or two so they can’t poke holes in the foundation.
Newsom needs to be watched very closely as he is a mandate guy.
I want no part of any of this. We need to be able to have due process. Sick of being controlled by oligarchs.
Newsome must be stopped! Health conscious people don’t want his authoritarian vaccine mandates nor do they want people from the WHO calling the shots here in California. The West Coast Alliance must be dismantled. Newsomes policies regarding health are ignorant ( giving covid shots to 6 month olds and pregnant women) and so corrupt there must be big money behind this. Don’t forget Newsome was trained by WEF as a young Global Leader. Perhaps the Federal government or some legal action from here can put him in his place.
Should California actually elect a common sense governor in November can he or she reverse this alignment with GOARN?
This is a terrific, well written article. Thank you for keeping us informed.
We must work hard to get Sheriff Chad Bianco elected.
It is somehow curious—how Gavin Newsom can act so freely, crossing over legal and constitutional boundaries, negatively impacting so many lives, while completely avoiding being held personally accountable.
We read daily of illegal activities of people and see no criminal indictments, nor trials, nor verdicts, nor sentences. From where does such privilege of immunity and isolation come?
You and your team are engaged deep inside the system—in the gear-works—with great passion, determination and success. Many of us pray that some civil or legal action from elsewhere may cut the ignition circuit and thus killing the engine, so the gears are stopped altogether.
The beauty in your work is that you are using love forces, in STRIVING FOR something good- – -health. The fact that you stand for transformation brings a completely different energy. FNF’s vector brings hope, determination and action from others, where so many other entities are lost in endlessly-looping polarization.
Really appreciate and support your efforts Alix. Keep up the fantastic work you’re doing!
We don’t need foreigners to dictate our daily lives. It seems as if Newsom hates Trump so much that he wants to “Trump-proof” California by carving out a stronger medical tyranny all in the name of fake health. We don’t need Newsom’s experts or global experts. I am a local expert. I’m a licensed healthcare professional. We do not need to comply with unelected public health dictators and public tyrants. The power lies within the people. Remember when 1000s of high school students refused to comply with Newsom’s 22-months long mask mandate? He ended the mandate because he could no longer enforce it. Now he wants federal agents to be maskless. See his hypocrisy? We don’t need to obey anyone who violates our constitutional rights. Whatever happened to my body, my choice? Bodily autonomy is still a basic a human right. No more lockdowns. No more school closures or business closures all in the name of fake science. No more fake emergency powers for the executive branch. No more jab mandates that maim and kill. Enough is enough.