Saturday, November 26, 2016

Fidel Castro's Death Reveals A Lot in the USA

By Chuck Marshall
   



After a bruising year of elections here in the United States,  the death of Fidel Castro somehow seems to clarify the state of American politics and media here in 2016.  It's like putting on new reading glasses and marveling at how clear a page seems now.

     First I must confess a personal slant.  I am  more acquainted with Cuba than most Americans being a Floridian with its massive population of Cuban-Americans.  Also, my wife is Cuban-American.  I've heard many stories of  Fidel Castro that most Americans might not have heard before.  My wife's family left after waiting many years to emigrate to the  US.  Her family left with not much more than the shirts on their back.  They left an apartment, furniture, personal photos, books, friends, and the comfort of what's familiar.  They didn't sell it to leave, they had to leave it all for the government to confiscate.    Their desire to leave Cuba was a well kept secret lest their neighbors scorn them.  My wife would have to sneak into church.   There was no Christmas.  There was no Easter.  Religious freedom was nonexistent.   All human individuality was removed from society for the good of the state.  It is a historical fact that Fidel had many innocent people executed for refusing to bow to his power.  Usually it was by firing squad.  Many people vanished into the night.  People drowned in the ocean by the thousands because they were so desperate to leave Cuba.  It was and still is a hell hole of Communist dictatorship with absolutely no human rights, freedoms or liberties.

     Keep all that in mind as you can imagine my wife and her family watching as President Obama extended his condolences to the "family of Fidel Castro" and mentions that "history will judge Fidel Castro".  There was no mention of his brutal dictatorship or the millions of Cubans displaced and oppressed for the last 60 years.   Why did he not mention it?    I can only suppose because President Obama admired Fidel's accomplishments at  "redistribution of wealth".   I can also only assume that President Obama along with the leftist media secretly admired his ability to silence all of those who don't think like him.  He silenced contrary thought., and they yearn for such an ability.   They are the "thought police" (as in George Orwell's novel 1984)  without the power to enforce their ambitions and Fidel Castro was their patron saint.  It is a sad day for them.

     This is all very revealing as Trump condemns Fidel Castro as a dead tyrant who brutalized his people while Obama offers condolences to the Castro family and looks to history to "judge" Castro.  Many people are concerned with  Donald Trump becoming a dictator of some sort, but in reality we've been living on the edge of a communist regime for 8 years now.   If not for a Republican congress and Senate, we very well could have been  there now as the liberals and Barack Obama would slowly choke our liberty and freedom of thought  quietly and "oh so very eloquently" into submission.  Let history judge ?  I think it's safe to go ahead and judge right now, Mr. President,  and I'm thinking it's already safe to judge you too.










Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Media Should Look in the Mirror to Understand Trump Victory


   



     One of the more aggravating aspects of the election this year, to me, was how totally biased the Media was in favor of Hillary Clinton.  A massive 75% in a USA Today poll stated they believed the media was biased in favor of Hillary, and only 7% thought they favored Trump.  Even handed reporting, huh ?  I think this had a lot to do with Trump's victory.  Americans like an underdog, and boy was Trump the underdog in this election.   With the exception of Fox News, all of the media piled on Trump - tearing and smearing his every action.  He was treated with open contempt and offered almost no respect so much so that the first debate dwindled into an argument between the moderator and Trump.   Clinton won all three debates, but there was a surprise in all that.  It didn't matter.  I believe people thought the entire event was unfair and they ended up pulling for Trump because he kept on fighting.  He never let up.  He never wavered.  They might not like him, but by God the man has gumption and temerity and fight.   

     In addition, it was obvious that the media not only were pulling for Clinton, they were also self assured that all the masses out in the vast wasteland of middle America would certainly put down their corn cobs and vote logically, as the elite media had instructed them.  This did not happen, and you could visibly see the talking heads waver and  shake in their Italian shoes the night of the election returns.  After all  the negative attention towards Donald Trump they were in shock that their instructions weren’t followed by the people !    

     As offensive as some of Donald's  comments were to me,  I watched with glee as the mainstream media and the party system (both parties) took a punch in the mouth.   Donald Trump won on  a promise to clean up Washington, DC and for pushing against the establishment which not only includes the political parties and multinational corporations but also the massive media organizations that have deemed themselves "king makers".    Biased headlines directing Americans how they should think smacks of Soviet Communism and their puppet newspaper "Pravda".   They should all be ashamed of themselves as their yellow journalism is a bigger danger to American liberty than Donald Trump.

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Why You Might Vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump


By Chuck Marshall



After a terribly contentious election year,  which is now drawing to a close,  I've decided to write a positive blog elaborating on the good in both candidates-- to help anyone who is feeling so flustered or concerned about their selection.  Don't fret too much about the whole thing.  We still live in a free society where the fact of the matter is, whoever is elected will have their power checked by the other branches of government and the press. In fact, that's one of the keys to my complaints about the election process is the candidates are never engaged with questions as to what they would do to work with Congress.  President Obama was, in my humble opinion, a failure in this endeavor.  

Why you might vote for Hillary Clinton:

1)  Hillary has a great degree of experience having served 30 years in various forms of the government.   Most importantly, as Secretary of State for 4 years.   An essential aspect of the American President is diplomacy and foreign affairs.   There is no learning curve here.

2)  Hillary served as a US Senator.  This experience should prove invaluable in her quickly getting to work,  in cooperation  with Congress,  to accomplishing  things done at the top level.   Can you imagine a government that actually gets things done ?  Again, there is no learning curve here.

3)  Having been married to the President of the United States for 8 years, surely she learned quite a lot, and with all due acknowledgement to Bill Clinton's problems, the 90's were a very prosperous decade.  As she learns the process, her husband should be an enormous asset for her and for the country.

4)  I think Hillary is (underneath all the rhetoric)  a moderate Democrat not a left wing Democrat like Obama., therefor she's more likely to work with Congress.  Again, one of the most important aspects of being President is working with Congress.  She has the knowledge and ability and political wisdom to get things done no matter which party is running Congress.

5)  She's obviously very intelligent.  I think we all want our President to be as highly intelligent as is possible.  The stakes are so very high.

6)   People say "she's not likable".   Not being "likable" is not a reason to dismiss a candidate.  As Oprah Winfrey put it;  "She's not gong to be coming over to your house".   In addition, she seems to be a good mother to Chelsea., and Chelsea seems to be a fine and successful young woman.  You can't fake good kids.


Why you might vote for Donald Trump;

1)  Donald has been an important part of raising his children, despite being divorced from their mother (except for the youngest, of course).   All of his kids seem to be very bright and successful and happy.  That takes a lot of doing, commitment and love.  Again, you can't fake good kids.

2) A successful businessman,  Donald understands how to negotiate and deal with situations in the best interest of his business and his family.   As the President he will be negotiating and dealing in the best interest of the American people.  I'm not sure we've ever had a good  negotiator as President, so this could yield even more than anyone thinks.

3)  Donald is unpredictable, which I know Wall Street hates, but our enemies also hate it.  I feel like ISIS  is far less  likely to attack our country when  President Trump has openly questioned why we don't use nuclear weapons "since we have them".  That will jolt them  awake from their sleep during any of their barbaric plans to harm our country.

4)  Tireless.  I am very, very impressed with his work ethic.  The man does not stop, and he is more determined than I've ever seen anyone to succeed.   That sort of determination is what we need in a President, and on the side of the American people.

5)  Although Republican, I think everybody knows the Republican hierarchy see Trump as a highly unfortunate nominee.  A political nightmare.   They have demonstrated this by not lifting a finger to help the man out.  Because of this, I think Trump will be in a prime position to be one of the least partisan Presidents we've had in a long time.  The government must get back to "doing things"., and stop arguing about everything.  Perhaps Trump, of all people, could be the one to do that. Can you imagine the irony ?

6) Trump owes nothing to anyone, he self financed his election and is already financially successful.  It's  nice  to consider there aren't little "deals" going on after he's elected to help wealthy interests get what they want ahead of the American citizen.  We come first, and that has been one of the more convincing mantras coming from the Trump camp;  "I am going to be working for you".

Finally, I say a prayer for  our country;  "God please direct our nation to the best outcome for all considered"    Amen.