Government Shutdown is Government Failure

 By CE Marshall

                                                                The Parties Must Go 

     Once again, we see the two parties are incapable of coming to any sort of agreement.  They are like petulant children that need a very good spanking.  This most current shutdown is the longest in history, so now it becomes one more example of how bad government has gotten and the fact that it's not getting better.  I throw my hands up on this one, but I must say that the people voted for Trump and the Republicans so if we are truly living in a Democratic Republic then the Democrats need to plead their case to the people in the next round of elections not by stalling the process of legislation.  They seem to be at the will of their more extreme supporters who are focused only on hating Trump and it is working somewhat as the recent elections have shown.  It pays to block the other party, and that is at the core of our most current shutdown.  Anyway, once again the people "all the people" are the last of anyone's concern and it's all about posturing and politics.  The parties need to go- I'm not sure how that would look or how this could be maneuvered, but I believe that's the only solution.  Their only reason for existing is to stop each other, which means they're stopping half the population from being governed at the consent of the people.  Government shutdown is not the consent of the people it's the consent of obstructionists.    

In My Humble Opinion.....      

Great Article on Climate Change from the Free Press

Posted by CE Marshall from.....

The Free Press

I post this article by Ted Nordhaus because it's the first clear and calm explanation regarding climate change that has kept my attention with facts and addresses the hyperbole behind climate change.  It also delves somewhat into how the Silent Tyrants have been using it to control and dictate to the masses how they should live and what they should be concerned about.  The article is somewhat tedious as most academics tend to be, but there are several nuggets of truth that we all need to read. Enjoy!  

CE Marshall 

I Thought Climate Change Would End the World. I Was Wrong. My worldview was built on apocalyptic models sprung from faulty assumptions.  

By Ted Nordhaus 

 I used to argue that if the world kept burning fossil fuels at current rates, catastrophe was virtually assured. “The heating of the earth,” Michael Shellenberger and I wrote in our 2007 book, Break Through, “will cause the sea levels to rise and the Amazon to collapse and, according to scenarios commissioned by the Pentagon, will trigger a series of wars over the basic resources like food and water.” I no longer believe this hyperbole. 

      At the time, I, like most climate experts, thought that business-as-usual emissions would lead to around five degrees of warming by the end of this century. That assumption was never plausible. It assumed high population growth, high economic growth, and slow technological change. But fertility rates have been falling, global economic growth slowing, and the global economy decarbonizing for decades. Nor is there good reason to think that the combination of these three trends could possibly be sustained in concert. High economic growth is strongly associated with falling fertility rates. Technological change is the primary driver of long-term economic growth. A future with low rates of technological change is not consistent with high economic growth. And a future characterized by high rates of economic growth is not consistent with high rates of population growth. READ Steven Koonin: The Truth About Climate Change ‘Lies Somewhere in the Middle’ 

      As a result, most estimates of worst-case warming by the end of the century now suggest three degrees or less. But as the consensus has shifted, the reaction among much of the climate science and advocacy community has not been to become less catastrophic. Rather, it has five to three degrees been simply to shift the locus of catastrophe from of warming. This is all the more confounding given that the good news extends well beyond projections of long-term warming. Despite close to 1.5 degrees of warming over the last century, global mortality from climate and weather extremes has fallen by more than 96 percent on a per-capita basis. The world is on track this year for what is almost certainly the lowest level of climate-related mortality in recorded human history. Yes, the economic costs of climate extremes continue to rise, but this is almost entirely due to affluence, population growth, and the migration of global populations toward climate hazards: mainly cities in coastal regions and floodplains. So the far more interesting question is not why my colleagues and I at the Breakthrough Institute have revised our priors about climate risk, but why so many progressive environmentalists have not. 

      In the late 2000s, the climate advocacy community figured out that framing climate change as a future risk would not prove politically sufficient to transform the U.S. and global energy systems in the way that most believed necessary. And so the movement set about attempting to move the locus of climate catastrophe from the future to the present, framing extreme weather events not only as harbingers for future catastrophes, but as fueled by current climate change. But this narrative conflicts with existing evidence, including data collected by political scientist and former environmental studies professor Roger Pielke Jr. His work, going back to the mid-1990s, showed again and again that the normalized economic costs of climate related disasters, when adjusted for wealth and economic growth, weren’t increasing, despite the documented warming of the climate. 

     The reason for my shift in opinion wasn’t only that Pielke had produced strong evidence that undermined a key claim of the climate advocacy community. It wasn’t even witnessing Pielke’s cancellation, which was brutal. It was, rather, that I came to understand why you couldn’t find a climate change signal in the disaster loss data, despite close to 1.5 degrees of warming over the last century. There are two linked factors. First, what determines the cost of a climate-related disaster is not just how extreme the weather is. It is also how many people and how much wealth is affected by the extreme weather event, and how vulnerable they are to that event. Over the same period that the climate has warmed by 1.5 degrees, the global population has more than quadrupled, per-capita income has increased by a factor of 10, and the scale of infrastructure, social services, and technology that protects people and wealth from climate extremes has expanded massively. These latter factors overwhelm the climate signal. The amount of warming that is conceivable even in plausible worst-case scenarios is not remotely consistent with the sorts of catastrophic outcomes that I once believed in. Second, anthropogenic climate change is a much smaller factor at the local and regional scale than natural climate variability. Some climate scientists have pointed to anomalously high surface and ocean temperatures as evidence that warming may be accelerating, perhaps even faster than models have suggested. But even in the case where climate sensitivity proves to be relatively high, additional anthropogenic warming is an order of magnitude less than the oscillations of natural variability. The absence of an anthropogenic climate signal in most climate and weather phenomena is not paradoxical. It is simply not possible given the small amount of anthropogenic warming the planet has experienced.

      When scientists, journalists, and activists say that climate change made a given extreme event far more likely, what they are actually saying is that an event that is somewhat more intense than it would have been absent climate change could have been made so by climate change. To take the simplest example, a heat wave that is 1.5 degrees warmer than it would have been without climate change was made vastly more likely to occur due to climate change. The claim is tautological. Put these two factors together—the outsize influence that exposure and vulnerability have on the cost of extreme climate and weather phenomena, and the very modest intensification that climate change contributes to these events, when it plays any role at all—and what should be clear is that climate change is contributing very little to present-day disasters. This also means that the scale of anthropogenic climate change that would be necessary to very dramatically intensify those hazards is implausibly large. The amount of warming that is conceivable even in plausible worst-case scenarios, in other words, is not remotely consistent with the sorts of catastrophic outcomes that I once believed in. 

      For a long time, even after I came to this conclusion, I held on to the possibility of catastrophic climate futures based upon uncertainty. There might be tipping points: low-probability, high-consequence scenarios that aren’t factored into central estimates. The ice sheets could collapse much faster than we understand, or the Gulf Stream might shut down, bringing frigid temperatures to Western Europe, or permafrost and methane hydrates frozen in the seafloor might rapidly melt, accelerating warming. But once you look more closely at these risks, they don’t add up to catastrophic outcomes for humanity. While sensationalist news stories frequently refer to the collapse of the Gulf Stream, what they are really referring to is the slowing of the Atlantic Meridianol Overturning Circulation AMOC. The AMOC helps transport warm water to the North Atlantic and moderates winter temperatures across Western Europe. But its collapse, much less its slowing, would not result in a hard freeze across Europe. Indeed, under plausible conditions in which it might significantly slow, it would act as a negative feedback, counterbalancing warming, which is happening faster across the European continent than almost any place else in the world. Permafrost and methane hydrate thawing, meanwhile, are slow processes, not fast ones. Even irreversible melting would occur over millennial timescales—fast in geological terms but very slow in human terms. Likewise, even very accelerated scenarios for rapid melting of ice sheets would unfold over many centuries, not decades. Moreover, the problem with grounding strong precautionary claims in these known unknowns is that doing so demands strong remedies in the present in response to future risks that are unquantifiable, unfalsifiable, and low probability. 

      Why do so many smart people—scientists, engineers, lawyers, and public policy experts, all of whom will tell you that they “believe in science”—get the science of climate risk so badly wrong? The first reason is that highly educated people with high levels of science literacy are no less likely to get basic scientific issues wrong than anyone else when the facts conflict with their social identities and ideological commitments. Yale Law professor Dan Kahan has shown that people who are highly concerned about climate change actually have less accurate views about climate change overall than climate skeptics, and that this remains true even among partisans with high levels of education and general science literacy. Elsewhere, Kahan and others have demonstrated that on many issues, highly educated people are often more likely to hold stubbornly onto erroneous beliefs because they are adept at rationalizing their ideological commitments. The second reason is that there are strong incentives to overestimate climate risk if you make a living doing left-of-center climate and energy policy. The capture of Democratic and progressive politics by environmentalism over the last generation has been close to total. Meanwhile, the climate movement has effectively conflated consensus science about the reality and anthropogenic origins of climate change with catastrophist claims about climate risk, for which there is no consensus whatsoever. READ How China Hijacked America’s Climate Fears 

      Whether you are an academic researcher, a think-tank policy wonk, a program officer at an environmental or liberal philanthropy, or a Democratic congressional staffer, there is simply no incentive to challenge the central notion that climate change is an existential threat to the human future. And so everyone falls in line. Finally, there is a widespread belief that one can’t make a strong case for clean energy and technological innovation absent the catastrophic specter of climate change. This view ignores the entire history of modern energy innovation. Over the last two centuries, the world has moved inexorably from dirtier and more carbon-intensive technologies to cleaner ones. Burning coal, despite its significant environmental impacts, is cleaner than burning wood and dung. Burning gas is cleaner than coal. And, of course, producing energy with wind, solar, and nuclear is cleaner than doing so with fossil fuels. 

      There is no evidence whatsoever that 35 years of increasingly dire rhetoric and claims about climate change have had any effect on the rate at which the global energy system has decarbonized. In fact, by some measures, the world decarbonized more quickly over the 35 years prior to climate change’s emergence as a global concern than it has in the 35 years since. There are lots of good reasons to support cleaner energy without threatening the public with climate catastrophe. But the climate movement is actually after something different than that—a rapid and complete reorganization of the global energy economy over the course of a few decades. And there is no good reason to do that absent the specter of catastrophic climate change. And so that is what the climate movement and its supporters in academia, the media, and center-left political parties have offered for a generation. The insular climate discourse on the left may be cleverer than right-wing dismissals of climate change, but it is no less prone to issuing misleading claims, ignoring countervailing evidence, and demonizing dissent. What has resulted is a contemporary climate movement that is deeply out of touch with popular sentiment. 

 A version of this piece was originally published in The Ecomodernist. The Free Press earns a commission from any purchases made through all book links in this 

No Kings Protest: It's all about control

 By CE Marshall

             King George III - A real king, a real tyrant 

     From work to politics- the "wrench in the works" of a prosperous society is the need for one person or a small group of people to control another group of people.  I cannot relate to this peculiar obsession but I'm understanding as I get older that it's at the core of what makes a tyrant or even a bad boss.  The leader of any situation in which he or she wants to control everyone is at the heart of tyranny.  

     In the media you also see a form of control, but much to their alarm, that control seems to be slipping through their fingers.  People who read and take a few moments to understand a given situation and then think for themselves will see things for what they are.  The media once had full control over what the public saw and then would use that power to "spoon feed" the narrative they wanted.  It worked for many years.  One could say it's been working since the Kennedy presidency when his murder was covered up and muddled by our government with the help of the media utilizing conspiracy theories and inuendo to prevent the truth from being known.   X and other social media platforms have removed "control" from the media and given more to the individual.  "You are the media now" is one of Elon Musk's favorite tag lines and I think he's correct.  It really doesn't take that long to understand a situation if you try thinking for yourself and asking questions.  The "No Kings" protests of this past weekend with all its angst and pronounced worries that we are losing our Democracy is an obvious "straw man" whereby they (and by "they" I mean the "Silent Tyrants" of our society.  The ruling elite.) create a boogeyman that doesn't exist and then orchestrate protests against that boogeyman.  This works on a lot of people from the ditch diggers to college professors suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome" so it's not hard to fill the streets with rabid lunatics.  What's missing is any explanation as to what they protest about.  During all conversations in the street with the old hippies and the blue haired girls a clear explanation was completely missing.  Not once did I hear a reasonable, coherent answer to the question "What are you protesting?" or "In what way has Trump behaved as a King or tyrant?".  It was like they were protesting just to protest- like window shopping or strolling through a park.  A stroll of sanctimonious screeching old fools and malcontents that cannot accept the consequences of an election they lost.   

     I will tell you what they were protesting, though.  They were protesting their inability to control the narrative of public policy through full control of the media and news.  The left has had this luxury for a long time, and it is slipping away very quickly.  They have no alternative but violence and feigned outrage over nothing.  May this be the beginning of the end for them and the beginning of the rights of mankind as individuals in society being given the respect and dignity they deserve.  

     The No Kings protesters need not demand the head of the king and an end to the tyranny they've imagined.   The Tyrant is right under their nose.  It is them.  

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Pope Leo & the rich & poor

By CE Marshall

The American Pope

   There was an article in the paper last week regarding Pope Leo. In the article he is said to be criticizing the rich for "living in a bubble".  (This was dated October 10, 2025). In his comments the headline leads the reader to understand the Pope is being critical of rich people. So, my question is “was he critical of the rich in general or a specific group of rich people?” I have a problem when somebody criticizes wealthy people for being wealthy.  I think that form of criticism is a form of envy and is coveting you neighbor's possession.  I do, however, agree that rich people can be selfish. So, should that money be taken away from them and redistributed?  This is often the next step in this conversation and  is the favorite talking point of the leaders of the left, that the rich are somehow innately bad people and should therefore have a lot of it taken away in the form of taxation. The hypocrisy is more than apparent.  The pope himself lives in a palace. Shouldn't the Catholic church hand all that over to the poor if that's where their heart lays?  I suppose that’s an instruction only to the "Other" rich people. Most of the major leftists of the ruling elite are very wealthy but they feel entitled to dictate to all of us how money should be equalized. Capitalism creates business which creates jobs which creates wealth. The left doesn’t want to look at that because it’s contrary to their belief that the government should be the source of all things. This is especially true for those whose wealth came from entertaining where they seem to have a great deal of guilt over their wealth (although they wouldn't dream of giving it all up). They'd rather force everyone to give their money up so then they can say they're "doing something" to help the poor. If government is a truly wise government, it acts as an instrument of the individual to enable us all to strive and succeed.  The government is never effective at distributing wealth, in fact, it’s absolutely horrible at distributing wealth.  So, while I agree, rich people can be selfish, I do not agree that that should somehow justify taking more of their money away.  That is a form of the "always envious" communist philosophy, and it has been shown to be a failure for a long time. Look at Cuba look at North Korea look at the Soviet Union. That is what you get with communism. Abject poverty.  

    So that brings up the issue of my original point that there is envy on the part of the Pope regarding other people’s possessions.  If he was referring to them as a bad group in general- that they are bad because they're rich- then I see this as being a sin.  It could be that he didn't mean that so I am not accusing him of that, I'm only referring to the tone of the headline from the leftist- mainstream media.  

     So in what way should we help the poor according to scripture?  Often, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, Joshua is quoted as saying "give to the poor" and He did, but He was typically referring to the spiritually poor, not necessarily the fiscally poor. He Himself was poor!  God came to earth as Yeshua the Messiah to teach us to be wealthy in our spirit not that we needed to have things. He did not teach that poor people who don’t support themselves should be handed everything because "don’t you feel sorry for them?" Giving people money to do nothing is not helping them. I sincerely believe the worst thing you can do to a person is to give them stuff so they don't have to earn it themselves. It's demeaning and condescending and ultimately yields a sense of helplessness and a lack of purpose.  Of course, we should have sympathy for the poor, but one should not be forced to give up money earned in order to help them.  All charity for the poor must come from the heart and voluntarily. Forced taxation to equalize the "doers" with the "non-doers" is an abomination and should never be a part of conversation with anyone interested in the betterment of mankind.  The men and women who build a product and/or a business that serves a need in society should be celebrated and imitated not maligned and criticized. Click your tongues and nod your head at their garish lifestyle and lack of taste all you want, but their money is not your money, and they owe you nothing, but the job given to you if you earn the place.  So, with all due respect to the new "American" pope, I have a problem with this insinuation that a group of people- in this case the rich- is all guilty of something without regard to the good they also do.  That sort of talk foments jealousy and envy and does nothing to advance mankind, including the poor.  

     One last remark on the poor.  It should go without saying that I'm not referring to the elderly or the physically incapable, or vulnerable children or the mentally ill citizens of our society.  That is an entirely different category where people are unable to help themselves and I do see society as responsible, through taxation if it's necessary, to help them. BUT- that does not mean the rich pay more.  I'm opposed to progressive taxation.  We should all have flesh in the game of protecting and taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves.  

In my humble opinion.  

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America's Silent Tyrant

 By CE Marshall 

                       

                Hero of the Individual's Right to Live Unhindered by Government

                                                            Charlie Kirk 

     As I consider the frustrations regarding our government today, the daunting obstacles to restoring the American individual's voice keep surfacing in my mind. These obstacles are what have come to be like major parts of a snake or even snakes themselves, a silent tyranny, each of the snakes of this tyrant are dependent on one another as they slither their way around our Democratic Republic- constricting and rendering the ordinary citizens powerless.   The snakes are as follows;  

  

Snake Number One- Of all the parts, this is most logically described as the "head" of all the snakes. The Federal Agencies who hold centralized power without being elected. This is very much to the advantage of Leftists because they are in favor of more government control.  Federal agencies are, well.... them!   Government control is their modus operandi.  This explains why DC is 95% Democrat.    

Snake Number two- The Lobbyists who use money to direct the nation’s law to their own specific need.  This is the biggest advantage to corporations who often require laws to do a lot of what they do at the expense of free competition in the marketplace. It is "freedom to petition the government" on steroids.  In their defense though, the government allows it and takes advantage of the relationship in many different ways.  I don't see how it benefits the people though. To petition the government should be from individual citizens or private groups not corporations and political action committees.     

Snake Number three- The Elections, which require enormous amounts of money to render any candidate capable of being elected. This naturally encourages the parties to throw enormous amounts of money towards the individual they think can win the election, never mind if they are or are not qualified.  The end result is a candidate that the party wants but not necessarily one that is good for the country.  That aspect is of very little concern, especially to the Leftists because their “reason for being” is it to subjugate the individual anyway. Why would they care what the American people actually want or need?       

Snake Number four- The political parties being the critical aspect of elections render two camps of thought in government – one always ruling over the other according to which party won.  This results in elected officials being in a position of tyranny in that the rights of the other side are ignored or subjugated.   Elected officials are supposed to be leading us all, not just those that agree with them, aren’t they?    This is much more terrifying under the Democrats because their willingness and glee to silence the individual is much easier with federal agencies and an army supporting them.      

Snake Number five - The media and their tendency towards the left.  Why?  The virtue signaling of journalists is irresistible.  Also, the money is very good if you're at the top of the media pecking order.  In their mind they're saving the poor pathetic victims from the big bad rich people even though they are often the rich ones being discussed.   Of course, there are many different versions of this "we're the saviors" ideal, but you get the point.   They get to play "superman" for their audience no matter how untrue that might be.    Conservatives are becoming more alert to the situation, though.  Cable TV has Fox News and Newsmax, which are both conservative.  Online X, podcasts and other online news sources tend to be more moderate and/or conservative.   Newspapers?  They are becoming relegated to the ash heap of history because they’re nearly 100% to the left.   Most major newspapers such as the NYT and the Washington Post are so biased as to be laughable.  I only read the newspaper to get the jest of the liberal opinions on whatever topic is running through society this week.   For the media, the money and the need to feel virtuous is a lifelong addiction for the collective.  They are emotional parasites.  The Leftists still rule in this category although their power is waning.     

Snake Number six - The court system ruling on matters of crime and punishment where the judge takes it upon himself to divvy up justice or lack of justice according to his or her emotions and his or her perception of social justice and inequality rather than the rule of law. They often favor the parasites over people who actually accomplish things and work hard.  Guess which party tends to rule in favor of social justice and sees the criminal as a victim and the victim as a villain?  The court system is the Leftist’s tool for enacting laws that the Republicans do not want by having a court rule something as a "law" such as was the case with the legalization of abortion.  No election required.  In addition, by not enforcing laws that Republicans support, they still get their way whether they were elected or not.  It’s also a wonderful source for the Leftists to feel virtuous for their “liberal” leanings- a lifelong addiction as mentioned above.  They get their way, one way or another.  It is the truest form of dictatorship in that it seeks to control justice in order for the dictators to feel better about themselves.  

  Snake Number seven- Academia and its tendency towards the left – partly due to its dependency on a generous government and partly due to its allegiance to all thing's science – usually pitting “serious” matters to science and spiritual matters to being of no importance.  (Ironically most higher levels of education such as Harvard were begun as a type of seminary for studying God and His influence on science, not "Science as the God" where it lies today.) Academia is enshrined as the government’s lifelong lapdog because it is a fountainhead of cash and they are unlikely to disagree with anything the government dictates (by that I mean agencies not the elected officials). One very convenient example is global warming or climate change.  This is a tool for more government control.  So, for example, if you’re studying climate change you will find out quickly there is no money to test IF “climate change” is real but there’s plenty of money to prove it IS real and better yet, to elaborate on how the calamity is hovering over all of us unless we obey their latest edict.       

       As you can see, at the root of all of these snake parts there is one very common denominator, the Leftists or people who gain from government relations- "cronyism".  The Leftists' aim is to get the government more power which quite naturally diminishes the power of the individual.  Money supports the head of the snake, the federal agencies, and that money comes from the American people and businesses.  It is their sly form of reallocation of wealth.  They then use the media to trumpet their philosophy.  At the same time corporations are beholden to federal agencies to stay in business so they play the game lest they get left out. The only topic that’s not totally the fault of the Leftists is, ironically, the political parties.  The Republicans are as guilty of abusing the power of the party as the Democrats.  The difference is the Republicans do work to instill personal rights of the individual such as speech, religion, and personal thought itself- the right to think for yourself and live a life you choose.  The pursuit of happiness.  Republicans can play dirty and flex their power, but they are much more tied to the reason for the existence of our country - the power of the individual and his or her absolute sanctity. We the People.  We are the sovereign of the United States just as King Charles is the sovereign of the United Kingdom.  Much to the chagrin of any pro-government philosophy, the individual is the ruler of America.  This is the secret of its power.  May it reign forever.  

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Truth Has Stumbled in the Public Square

 

It's been a week since Charlie Kirk was killed. I’m always giving my opinion - whether it’s wanted or not - but what to say? What do I say that reflects my thoughts on the matter at hand, the tragic murder of a brother in Christ who epitomized what I see as a good person- honest, brave, intelligent, and open minded? Then I came across this meme on social media & I thought - that’s what I’m feeling - when someone’s only crime is to speak their mind & to have an opinion & they’re killed for it & their political enemies celebrate it - then this is the same evil that killed Lincoln & Kennedy & MLK & yes even the Lord himself. Such courage. They all debated against those that hated them with passion, wit, intelligence all mixed with kindness and willingness to listen. They were speaking their opinion & questioning other opinions.

Open dialog. Debate. That’s what’s missing from media, corporate, government, entertainment & ESPECIALLY academia - there is no room for the other opinion. They hold the cards. Beating them at their game by questioning their lack of truth & logic is very dangerous. How can they say that climate change is "settled science" when it's not? How do I know it's not? Because anyone that questions it is silenced or ostracized. Your truth is not truth if it requires any disagreement to be refused the microphone. How can they say vaccines are totally safe when they're not. How do I know they're not? Because we have a government "by agency" that is for sale to the highest bidder and truth belongs to the deepest pockets. If there had always been open debate and discussion regarding the dangers of vaccinations instead of clandestine "studies" supported by the pharmaceuticals then I would think otherwise. How can they say the theory of evolution is not up for debate when it's still a theory and proving it is impossible given that mankind is incapable of time travel. How could you possibly "prove" it? In other words, any topic isn't "settled science" if questions regarding its veracity are refused or stifled. Such questions are not had in the public square because the left holds the microphone and has held if for a long time.

I really admire the courage Charlie Kirk had to speak up in these dark days of lies and deception. I will strive to be more like him. I will strive to speak without fear but only with certainty that I do not want to live a safe life while I watch my country dominated by silent tyrants dictating to all of us what truth is. "So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no intervention" Isaiah 59: Verse 14-16 NIV

Thank you, Charles James Kirk for being the one to intervene and Rest in Peace knowing that you fought the good fight for truth and justice in the public square.

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Vaccine Debate is Welcome Relief

 By CE Marshall

     This past few week there has been more chatter than normal regarding the safety and necessity of vaccines.  I am not going to posture my position regarding the issue except to say it's a welcome sign of some civility in society that it's being debated at all.   Big Pharmaceuticals and their lapdog scientists have long feigned that "there is no debate" as if they and their way of thinking are the great "untouchables".  Are they incapable of making mistakes or errors in their functioning as corporations?  

     I am not leaping into the details of the safety of vaccines because I don't know.  I do know that until Secretary Kennedy became the Director of Health and Human Services there was no debate at all allowed regarding vaccines.  It was not even on the radar- and yet it's well known that a lot of people have died or become sick after taking vaccines, especially the COVID vaccines.  It's also a well-known fact that autism has taken a frightening increase over the last 30 years and the reason is not clear.  One factor that has changed is the injection of vaccines for infants that cover a multitude of diseases all at once.  Is that really safe?   I used to trust that our leaders and Doctors and scientists had our best interests at heart.  That is no longer true because money has become more important in their minds than the individual and his or her rights.  The collective of large government and large corporations are the priority today.  Is it wise to hand over a 100% of all disease prevention to a small group of Big Pharmaceuticals whose incentives and morality are suspect by anyone not involved?  Is it wise for our government agencies to have given "Carte Blanche" to these corporations to do whatever they please, that is, as long as they continue to "fund" government research studies and the politicians supporting their way of thinking? 

     Today Secretary Kennedy posted a "tweet" on X that stated the following:  

"Under this administration, vaccine injuries will be reported and studied. Individuals who suffer them will not be denied, marginalized, vilified or gaslit. They will be welcomed and we will learn everything that we can about them so that we can improve the safety of these products."

How can anyone argue with such a statement? It boggles my mind that Democrats- the "so-called" opponents of "big business" are so opposed to such measures that would scrutinize large corporations! It boggles my mind that their Senators and Representatives are so opposed to open debate regarding something all of us have been directed to have injected into our bodies and our children's bodies.

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On Lies and Victimhood

                                                                 Fyodor Dostoevsky

Every once in a while, I'll run across a quote from a historic character that just bangs me over the head with its truth.  I'm reading "Crime and Punishment" by the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky.  The quote is not from that book, but I allude to the fact because he is on my mind and in my thoughts these days.  I really like his writing, it's descriptive and engaging and there's a wisdom there that's rarely found in modern literature, though maybe we will get back to such wisdom.  He lived from 1821 to 1881.  In this quote he speaks of men who lie to themselves and he elaborates on the pleasure of being insulted or "offended" as we would say today.  It's such a vapid, empty headed, egotistical thing to do.  There is no merit in it.  It reminds of the image of pigs wallowing in the mud, or a dog rolling around in it's own shit.  

"And above all, do not be so ashamed of yourself, for that is at the root of it all… You have known for a long time what you must do. You have sense enough: don't give way to drunkenness and incontinence of speech; don't give way to sensual lust; and, above all, to the love of money. And close your taverns. If you can't close all, at least two or three. And, above all—don't lie... Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself.  The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offense, isn't it? A man may know that nobody has insulted him, but that he has invented the insult for himself, has lied and exaggerated to make it picturesque, has caught at a word and made a mountain out of a molehill—he knows that himself, yet he will be the first to take offense, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it, and so pass to genuine vindictiveness."

Fyodor Dostoevsky- From "The Brothers Karamazov"

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God Demands Justice

 By CE Marshall 

                                                                  Lady Justice 

Full disclosure- this is taken from an original blog I posted in February- it is a variation on a theme.  I re-read it and I realized there has still not been justice served in our capital.   The whole thing seems to be ignored and forgotten.  Readers, don't forget what's been done for the last 60 years, since Kennedy was murdered by our own government - the "Deep State" has grown and grown - more money,  more power and more oppression.  Much of it has sprung from the Democrat party and its addiction to power and control.  As I said in another blog- "they should not be allowed to get back up and breathe".   The legacy media participates with their partisan and specious reporting.  Academia with their bloated bank accounts and demands for full compliance to their opinions and all of our money.  Scientific refusal to allow open debate that questions "accepted science" of their own making and profit- whether regarding vaccines, climate change, pharmaceutical drugs, or wars.  Have you noticed that after a few years "accepted science" comes into question ?   Their minions in the ranks- the useful idiots- a gaggle of Trump haters who prefer crime riddled streets,  trillions squandered on an unproven and undebated climate crisis, a wasteful idiotic government that is more than generous with OUR money.  They piss it away on absurd programs and social experiments of the left.  Always there is sympathy and support for the criminals at the expense of the innocent.  Always there is support for the insane and addicted at the expense of safe and clean cities for the people to enjoy.  We have a government in opposition to its own people.   

 I have been writing this blog for quite a while- I guess around 14 years or so.  I was once an avowed centrist because I saw the importance of viewing both opinions as being intelligent and healthy.  The idea to agree to disagree was very important to me.  I still have those values,  however it has become clear that this is not about seeing things from both sides anymore.  It has now become about right versus wrong.  Truth versus lies.  Decency versus demonic thought.  Control versus independent thought.  The oppressors vs the oppressed.  The state VS the person.  

     Our leadership does not seem to be what we thought for a while now.  It has been a masquerade with lies upon lies heaped upon us like loads of dirty clothes on top of a struggling mule.  Now as the Trump administration is digging into the belly of what we all suspected, I find myself sickened that so many people in our leadership have been so crooked for so many years.  I had always hoped that it was just a rumor, that not so many people would be working against the values of our American forefathers.  It is beginning to seem that all the rumors are true and that they may yet be far worse than we had thought.  Not only is it worse than we thought, but it goes back further than we thought !   

     I've just been reading up on details regarding the JFK assassination., and although nothing is really ever settled regarding that horrible day in Dallas of 1963, it does seem this murder was born out of the American government itself.   We all know the name of the "secret" groups in our government so there's no sense in me waving a red flag as to the suspected guilty parties, however the need to silence a President because he was not cooperating with the "Deep State" (for lack of a better term- I actually hate that term) is a form of murder that did not only remove Kennedy but it also removed the people from holding the steering wheel of the American government.   The control has been exposed to be that of shadowy figures in the background of American life that dictate to our leadership and the media what and how we should be thinking.  That, at the end of the day, is the most significant crime.  They're trying to end rule by the people and cement it in the hands of the few, the powerful, the wealthy, the elite,  and the well connected.  The "thought police" are very much alive and well in today's world.  

"So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance;  truth has stumbled in the streets and honesty cannot enter.  Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes prey.  The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.  He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no intervention"  Isaiah 59: 14-16 

     Although we are daily seeing the lies for what they are, the work is not even close to being finished and the group that Elon Musk ran- DOGE- is still working on exposing the truth for all to see.  I pray for their safety.  May God have mercy on the souls of these individuals that have been operating to rob us of our liberty, but may God also expose them for what they are to mankind.  

"According to what they have done, so He will repay wrath to His enemies and retribution to His foes;  He will repay the islands their due.  From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere His glory.  For He will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives forward.  Isaiah 59: 18-19

The left loves to grovel over the latest victim so they can virtue signal and slobber all over the most pathetic of society.  A never ending pity party.  The Democrats ARE the pity party- but that is the extent of their "doing" because they don't actually do or fix anything.  Consider this to pity- "The most abused, mistreated and ignored minority in society is the individual."   No pity here, though please, but realize that  when the individual is finally left alone to live and work and support themselves and their family without the government interrupting it with preferential treatment to specific groups, through obscene income taxes and spiritual shackles of rules and regulations - with virtue signalling opposition to what is good and decent because of their own guilty racist thoughts - only then we can all sing halleluiah and rejoice together with joy and prosperity.  That is self- earned prosperity and accomplishment and fulfillment through the content of one's character.  Then in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King - we can sing "Free at last, free at last, praise God almighty we are free at last".     

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Gerrymandering and its Real Victims

 By CE Marshall 

                                              The Abomination of Gerrymandering in living color 

     I've been itching to write a blog regarding gerrymandering for quite a while, but then I thought to myself- "I wonder if I've written a blog already on gerrymandering?"- so a quick search reveals that I have indeed.  All the way back in 2013 !  Reading it reminds me that here in Florida we voted to stop gerrymandering but the "status quo" of the state government resisted it.  So, I'm posting a link to the blog- which was actually from a letter that the Orlando Sentinel printed from myself.  Before I go there I do want to make a few comments.  How is this Democracy to gerrymander at all?  You're taking away the people's right to representation so that your political party gets the advantage.  What about the people?  I know that sounds cliche but it's true.  It is for the individual that I write and when the people's right to be heard through representative government is withheld then I get really, really mad.  Both parties are guilty of it, but the Democrats truly wrote the book.  All Democrat or "blue" states are gerrymandered to the highest degree possible to the point that if you're Republican and living in a Democrat controlled state then you are not being represented in Washington, DC.  There's no other way to look at it.  

Stealing Democracy?  Yes, you are Democrats, and you've been doing it for a long- long time.   

In my humble opinion. 

Gerrymandering Blog 2013

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A Lady to the End: Juanita Menendez

 By CE Marshall 

   Sad news in my personal life as we lay my mother in law to rest next week. She passed away on August 1. She was an inspiring person who went through great struggle in life with both determination and grace. She was meek as the Bible refers to the word - the correct translation of that being "a gentle force".  Juanita and I never had a full conversation - I am not fluent in Spanish and she was not fluent in English. We did, however, speak to each other through our gestures and eyes, and behavior and mutual admiration. She had a silent strength that shined through to the week she passed away.  Always gentle, always graceful, always with a kind welcoming nature underlined with a sadness reflecting her life's experiences.  She was a beautiful woman who was always careful how she presented herself to the world.  A classy lady to the end. Rest in peace sweet Juanita- we miss you. Finally, rest in peace and be sad no more.  

Matthew 5:5  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  

I was given the honor of writing Juanita's Obituary which is below. 

   Juana Menendez Sept 17 1932- August 1 2025   

   Juanita Menendez was born Juana Portal on September 17, 1932 to Santiago Portal and Orosia Adelina Delgado Miranda in Santa Clara, Cuba. One of twelve children, Juanita was a twin to a brother, named Santiago after their father. He and she were the last two survivors of the 12 children. Juanita’s family was a farming family, so much of her youth was spent working the farm with her brothers and sisters. As a young woman Juanita had an interest in poetry (Jose Marti being her favorite poet) literature (Don Quixote, Les Miserables, and the Count of Monte Cristo being her favorite books) and music- (her favorite musician being Armando Manzanero). Blessed with a beautiful singing voice she came close to a career as a singer having been a finalist in a national singing contest.  She met and fell in love with Candido Menendez and married him on November 29, 1958. They lived in Habana and she worked at her family’s dry-cleaning business until the Communist revolution ultimately removed all private business in Cuba. They went on to have two children, Tony and Janet. Tony born on September 22, 1960 and Janet July 8, 1972. 

    Surviving the anguish of a collapsing country to the tyranny of Fidel Castro was the biggest challenge of Juanita’s life.  With grit and determination, she managed to keep her family fed by working as a seamstress and other odd jobs to get extra money. She skipped meals and did without so her children could eat more. Hunger was ever- present. 

    She and Candido refused to become members of the Communist party which brought great hardship, struggle and anguish. Juanita never let that keep her down. Such a kind person but also with such great courage, Juanita took her daughter, Janet, to the Catholic church- a very risky thing to do in Communist Cuba – this brought even more scrutiny from the government. But, nevertheless, through her fierce determination she managed to get her son, Tony, a rare “good” job in a Soviet TV factory helping him to get started in a career as an electrician – a highly sought after skill in communist Cuba and to this day- here in the USA- Tony works in electronics as an engineer.   

    This determination served the family well as she and Candido managed to escape Cuba on May 20, 1985. This through a negotiated agreement between Reagan and Castro to allow political opponents of the Communist government to leave Cuba. (The agreement ended right after the family’s flight to Miami)

    Starting a new life in her 50’s, and not speaking English was another challenge to Juanita and she once again rose to the challenge. Working a factory job along with Candido the two managed to finish raising Janet (who was 12 at the time). Once again, through her support and encouragement, Juanita helped Janet get into one of the best high schools in South Florida- Nova High School- a magnet school that helped immerse Janet into English much more rapidly than would have been possible in a regular high school. 

    Although seen as kind and thoughtful by all around her throughout her life- which she was- Juanita was also intelligent and full of determination to take care of her family through some very challenging times. Overcoming other great personal obstacles with faith in Jesus Christ- seeing Him as the example to live by- she was truly a remarkable human being – one of the silent warriors that makes this world livable.

    Juanita passed away on August 1, 2025 in Winter Garden, Fla. She is survived by two children, two grandchildren and one great- grandchild- Hazel born just four months ago. Seeing Hazel and holding her in her arms was the highlight of Juanita’s last year and this thought, that part of her would still go on, gave her great joy as she lived the last months of her life.  

Juanita will be greatly missed. 

Obama's Russia Collusion Hoax: The Untouchables

 By CE Marshall 

    The Epstein files.  Obama’s “Russian Collusion Hoax”.  Hunter Biden and his laptop.  Hillary Clinton destroying evidence.  Congressmen making mysteriously large amounts of money but nobody seems to know how.  There is a long list of alleged “bad guys and gals” at the top of  our ruling political elite suspected of breaking the law these past few years.  None of them ever seem to face any consequences. What will it take for the American people to see justice ?   The Director of National Intelligence- Tulsi Gabbard - has sent evidence to the DOJ for review regarding the “Russian Collusion Hoax” that Obama and his cohorts used to try to bring down Donald Trump.  President Obama and his group of cronies (it's a long list that I won't bore you with) along with Hillary Clinton and the Democrat party decided it was their responsibility to "correct" the American voters' mistake.  They believed they knew better than the American people and that they could subvert the will of the people with no consequences.  This was treason, pure and simple.   If there are no consequences to this Deep State Hoax, we can rest assured it will happen again, only more brazenly.  I sincerely dislike the idea of a former President being arrested, but somebody’s head needs to roll over this one – someone high up the power chain- or we have a serious breach of the people’s trust and their voice here in the United States.  This will have world-wide and long- term consequences.  As the Dems are so famous for saying—“no one is above the law”.  This time it really matters and our Democracy truly IS in danger.  

      I wrote a letter to the Orlando Sentinel regarding the Russian Collusion Scandal back in 2018 and they did publish it- which I used as one of my blogs.  The entire thing was absolutely ludicrous and dragged on for two years complete with the Left- wing media frothing at the mouth.  Remember the "Mueller hearings'?  Two impeachments over almost nothing.   "Russia, Russia, Russia".   I just thought it was so ridiculous on so many levels.  How exactly could the Russians have tampered with our elections ?   By convincing the American people to vote for Trump - as if we don't have a mind of our own ?  Why would the Russians be more effective than Democrat advertisements along with their lapdogs in the media ?  

Anyway, here is a link to the blog on Russian collusion if the reader is interested:  

Blog on Russia from 2018

I also wrote a blog regarding the Mueller hearings, which I found to be as ludicrous as the  allegation.  

The Ludicrous Mueller Investigation

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Goals for American Government and Society

By CE Marshall 

   

    In order to have a truly wise and effective government for all the people I think it's at first important that we establish goals for the accomplishment of that government.  The government, even a limited one, is the driving force behind society because it has the power to change laws and enforce laws. Here in the United States, there are some very important details of governing that need to be adjusted, but the bones of the United States government are as solid as ever. The problem is all the baggage we've tacked on for the last 150 years. If we could just tweak the engine we'll have a Maserati on our hands that will inspire the world, not a model T that just chugs along barely satisfying anyone even here in the United States. The good news is most of the world is still using horses and buggies.

   My goal is to draw out ideas and come to conclusions without all the partisan bickering, naysaying, doubting, tongue clicking, eye rolling, and "that will never happen because...." comments that always come when an idea is proposed.  (Was it Albert Einstein that said "Stay away from negative people, they've never seen a solution they didn't see a problem for"?). My thinking is if we don't set a real goal then we'll never work towards a solution. Just because it doesn't look possible on the surface doesn't mean it will "never happen", after all we put a man on the moon didn't we ? (Soon we may get to Mars !)  With that amazing engineering feat - in 1969, no less, then surely we are capable of something so pedantic as getting humans to come together for the betterment of all societies here on earth.

   

We all have similar goals but the underlying sentence that encompasses that springs from the Declaration of Independence;  

"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"

So, what does that look like ?  

1) Opportunity for all.

2) Efficient government.

3) Effective government.

4) Justice.

5) Prosperity.

6) Peace.

7) Security.

8) Clean Air.

9) Clean Water.

10) Preservation of natural areas.

11) Effective Schools.

12) Honest Information from all sources. 

13) Free and Open Dialogue.

14) Citizenry Free of Addictions.

15) Affordable Food, shelter, and medical care

16) Safe and clean streets 

17) A happy and fulfilling life. 

18) Liveable and safe towns and cities 

In My Humble Opinion......

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Independence Day 2025

 By Chuck Marshall 

    

The signing of the Declaration of Independence - July 1776 

Note to my loyal readers-- I posted this in 2017 but reading it is like I wrote it yesterday - So.... the sentiments are certainly the same.   God Bless America and God Bless the men that risked everything for its founding  

     Happy Independence Day,  everybody !  I always like to consider the fact that every man in this picture was committing treason against the Crown and risked hanging for signing that document.   It was not a casual, "glad to be here" thing.  We owe it to our children to teach them well the sacrifice and courage as well as a thorough understanding of what was done. They risked it all to pull power from the King and deliver it to the people.  We owe it to these men that we speak up and fight when we feel what's going on in the public domain is wrong.  We owe it to them that we protect basic freedom and liberty from the "flavor of the day" as is common in our world.  We owe it to them that we're proud of our country-- not for its wealth or its military might but for this great precedence that our founders established for us;   Power to the people and our posterity that no person shall infringe on another person's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness whatever that might entail.  We must be vigilant, passionate, and  compassionate in our endeavor to protect what these brave men gifted to us 249 years ago today.  

In My Humble Opinion.

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The Silent Tyrants

 By CE Marshall or Chuck Marshall or Charles Marshall or Charles Eldridge Marshall....  etc... 

                                              Me by the Cheers Bar in Boston December 2023

 Dear Loyal Readers, 

     So, I have a thing for names and phrases.  That's why I chose the picture above with me in front of the very successful business named for the sitcom from the 1980's.  I loved that show and I really like the effectiveness of the name.  It really fits !  It's short and to the point and with one syllable you get the "jest" of the show and/or the actual bar in Boston.   

       As I mentioned in my blog before last "Mad King George Protests an Elected President" (here's the link if you feel so inclined  Mad King George Protests an Elected President   I struggle with names regarding the tyranny that lords over us here in the 21st century.  I came up with Mad King George for various reasons including as a historical reference to the founding of the United States.  I am a history "buff" and am especially interested in American history.   I still am concerned that Mad King George is a little too "light".  There's "Marxists" but is that too dramatic ?  Communists ?  Same thing - maybe too dramatic and not totally true but it's certainly close.  The difference is, of course the tyranny and control doesn't just come from government,  it also comes from corporations and other actors.  So, I look more closely at The Sylent Tyrants as it reveals what's really going on.  This tyranny is quiet and subtle.  It's not loud and alarming like Hitler and the Nazis.  It's not obvious with a monstrous personality demanding the "removal" of an entire race of people as Hitler demanded.  It's not puffing out its chest and strutting around Rome like Mussolini.  It's not starving entire countries like Stalin.  It's just slowly, quietly, dividing the American people and suggesting the founding of our country is not such an impressive thing.  It diminishes our history by throwing doubt into the public discussion and the education of our children.  The United States is the only country founded and built on the concept of free men doing as they wish to do and building a new country with a marvel of inventions and prosperity that the world has never seen.  There is no other country in the world like it.  It is a threat to tyrants because they need all men to feel small and incapable.   That is why I steer towards "Silent Tyrants".  

     So, from now on I will typically refer to the enemies of the people- of the United States and all free thinking individuals - no matter the country they live in- as the "Silent Tyrants".  I'm not saying I will stop with all the other adjectives if I feel compelled in a given sentence,  such as "Marxists" when referring to the Democrats, but what I am saying is from now on as a general reference to ALL those opposed to the common man- Government, Corporations, political parties, the media, entertainment,  academia, and any lobbyists working for any of these listed.   They are Silent Tyrants working against the people and against what our founding fathers established through great risk.  All of those men risked hanging for even suggesting what they aimed to do.  If there is a group of men to be marveled at such as the Avengers or any of the cartoon movies of today- it is these men who risked death and brought so much to the world through intelligence and passion and grit.  Our children should learn all of their names and be able to recite their words and deeds before leaving middle school.  Nothing less is acceptable in my humble opinion.  

"The Silent Tyrants" -  May the lash of my words fall upon their pitiful shoulders.  

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