YO! Happy Birthday to Me!“
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Marquardt: Education or Indoctrination? It’s Now or Never – You Choose!
Okay, parents, how many of you have gone to your local city hall, county commission meeting and petitioned that they work with you to get all schoolbooks removed until proven innocent of brainwashing your children?
Lopping off the head of the Department of Education in D.C. was a great token, but it did nothing to remove the lies, brainwashing, and dumbing-down of our children. This can only be done locally! That means YOU. It is time (past time, really) to get yourself active in your local politics – all the way up to the state. And NOW! Continue reading
Did One of the Greatest Movies of 1976 Predict Our Broken Present?
Network turns 50 — and somehow feels more shocking, more sobering, and more timely than ever!
It doesn’t happen until the halfway mark. You may remember the single most famous scene in Network, Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet’s take on television news, tabloid culture, corporate takeovers, and the shape of things to come, happening closer to the beginning of the movie. We don’t need to tell you which one we mean: A newscaster named Howard Beale, drunk on prophecy and clarity, rises from his anchor’s desk. Having run down everything that’s wrong with the world outside our windows — unemployment, crime, pollution, a failing economy — the gentleman now has a favor to ask of his viewers. He demands them to temporarily remove themselves from their state of perpetual isolation and become part of the collective chorus, to open their windows and scream into the void. Say it with us. “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this any more!” Continue reading
Smith: Echoes of the Human Struggle ~ Truth That Lives and Truth That Dies
In the dim glow of my easy chair, beneath the spell of classic rock anthems, jazz riffs, and soulful blues, my mind drifts through the labyrinth of a life forged in fire. Sixty-nine years on this spinning rock, and a profound sorrow grips me – not for myself, but for America, for humanity’s squandered promise. We enter this world as innocents, brimming with potential, yet too often we descend into baseness, immorality, and outright evil. What does it mean to be human in a world where the Golden Rule is trampled underfoot, where man’s eternal battle against his fellow man and the merciless forces of nature reveals our deepest flaws and rarest triumphs?
I was taught the Golden Rule before I knew it had a name. Treat others as you wish to be treated. It was given to me not as philosophy but as law. My parents assured me that if I did this, the world would answer in kind.
The world did not.
Dickens: Keep the Loonies on the Path! Rorschach Tests for Public Office?
An intensive psych-eval politicians; now that has real possibilities…
Try as I might, I can’t put my finger on what causes the lunacy we call politics, particularly partisan politics. It’s best defined as performance rather than governance. I used to think no one’s that f-ing stupid, but I’ve been wrong before. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been redefining common words and phrases I’ve been watching for at least 55 years, and probably well before that, to justify and rationalize their misleading and deceptive language.
We bought their lie, hook, line, and sinker… We have been completely fooled, deceived, and tricked, but not everything is a lie. Deception is so plentiful and the truth so rare that we don’t recognize it as it floats by. Politicians lie because their ends justify their means. You haven’t heard that phrase in a while… and although it’s a supposition, it does explain their tendency to deceive us.
Truth in politics is a unicorn.
Snyder: Has America Reached Peak Idiocracy?
We live in a lowest common denominator society. For the last several decades, virtually every major institution in our society has become less civilized, and that is because our entire population has become less civilized. 20 years ago, a film entitled “Idiocracy” was released. It was about an average American that was selected for “a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he’s easily the most intelligent person alive”. It was an incredibly stupid movie, but the truth is that we are living it right now. Did you see the Super Bowl halftime show?
The FCC has ruled that it didn’t violate any federal decency regulations. Of course we might as well not have any decency regulations at all, because our television shows and our movies are filled with some of the raunchiest material imaginable and nobody ever seems to get in trouble for it. Of course that is only part of the equation. Most of the “programming” that we constantly consume also seems to be specifically designed for people of extremely low intelligence.
Sadly, this is not a coincidence. It has been said that art imitates life, and that is certainly accurate in this case. Continue reading
Dickens: The Ad Hominem Harangue
Congress, the opposite of progress, and the art of the Gotcha.
Let The Boisterous Beatings & Bullshit Begin!
“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
The introductory quote is by Alexander Pope (1711), from his essay on criticism. Pope wrote it to criticize those who pose as experts in subjects they do not understand, particularly literary critics. It describes how inexperienced or reckless people often enter dangerous or complex situations that wiser, more cautious individuals avoid. The phrase is often used to warn against acting without proper thought. It aptly describes the mainstream media and our government, doesn’t it… or does it? Continue reading
Johnson: Will AI Become Betsy Wetsy 2.0 or Chucky 2.0
Yuval Harari’s Fantasy WEF AI Presentation
Transhumanist Yuval Noah Harari delivered a deeply unsettling speech at the World Economic Forum. While his remarks contained numerous points that warrant serious examination, for the sake of brevity I will focus on summarizing his overarching philosophy and then directly addressing the section of his speech where he advances a case for eventually granting personhood to AI. Continue reading
Dickens: And Another Thing… and I’m Only Getting Started!
Burs Under My Saddle Blanket… aka…
Charlie’s New Year’s Bitch List
“Burs under my saddle blanket” is an idiom for a persistent source of irritation, annoyance, or trouble that agitates someone, much like a prickly burr makes a horse act up. It describes something small that causes significant, ongoing pain or mental distress.
A saddle blanket is a piece of horse tack (specialized equipment and accessories), traditionally a thick, woven wool cloth placed under a saddle to provide cushioning, absorb sweat, prevent chafing, and protect the horse’s back from friction. It often features colorful patterns and designs, especially in Western riding. While modern saddle pads offer a more customized, tailored fit and padding, blankets provide a traditional layer, sometimes used decoratively over a performance pad.
I have a few of these burs under my saddle blanket, and it’s time to remove them. Each of these burs could easily be a full commentary on its own, and I’ve used parts of them in past articles. This is an abbreviation, a synopsis of each gripe, and, for what it’s worth, my opinion. Stay tuned… Continue reading
So Much for Abolishing the Department of Education
The Department of Education is getting a bigger budget, less than a year after President Donald Trump ordered the department’s closure.
On the campaign trail in 2024, Donald Trump repeatedly pledged to close the Department of Education and return oversight of public schooling to the states.
Trump has a habit of throwing undercooked ideas around, but this wasn’t one of them. Abolishing the Department of Education was part of the Republican Party’s platform for the 2024 election, and was included in the goals of “Project 2025,” the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a conservative-controlled federal government in the wake of that election. That effort seemingly culminated with a March 2025 executive order signed by Trump that ordered Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take steps to close the department and return its functions to the states. Continue reading
After Years of Border Crisis, Small Texas Town ‘Back to Mayberry‘
BRACKETTVILLE, Texas — The chaos caused by millions of illegal immigrants flooding across the southwest border under the Biden administration left scars on this border town.
The constant high-speed chases, buzzing helicopters, screaming emergency sirens, hurried school lockdowns, torn barbed-wire fences, and decomposing bodies on ranches and along the Rio Grande all took their toll on Texas towns near the Mexican border. Continue reading
GOP Rep: ICE Agents Are Cleaning Up Mess Left Behind by Biden Admin
Under political pressure to punish Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its agents, a Republican lawmaker says the Trump administration is enforcing immigration laws that were trampled on by the open-borders Biden administration.
U.S. Rep. Josh Breechen (R-OK), who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, was interviewed on the “Washington Watch” program Wednesday after participating in a contentious committee hearing. The hearing featured Democrats grilling and lecturing ICE Director Todd Lyons after two anti-ICE activists, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis with phone cameras recording the incidents. Continue reading
Hickman: When Government Subsidies Stopped – Doritos Got 15% Cheaper
PepsiCo spent $2.8 million last year lobbying to keep junk food eligible for food stamps.
But last week – after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got 18 states to ban SNAP purchases of products like soda, candy, and processed snacks – PepsiCo announced price cuts of up to 15% on Doritos, Lay’s, Tostitos, and other Frito-Lay products.
The company’s official explanation was “affordability.” CEO Ramon Laguarta cited low-income consumers are switching to store brands.
But the timing tells the real story. Continue reading
Dickens: American Epitaph
Out of Control…
The intro music was released the year I enlisted in the USAF – I left for training in February 1972. There were several reasons I volunteered, and someday I may regale you with that story. Let’s just say the decision confirmed my commitment to America and made me the vexed patriot who writes these commentaries and holds this Republic to account; if I don’t, who will? I give you my opinion on what I see and how I feel, and, like it or not, it’s who I am… and I will not apologize.
I’d intended this piece as a fourth chapter in my last commentary, but on counsel’s advice, I’m adapting it to reflect his opinion and repurposing it as American Epitaph. I try hard to be optimistic, to see the good in things, and to look for alternatives and possibilities. I see them, but they’re slipping away as I watch. My fear is that we’ve crossed the Rubicon and there’s no going back. We’re writing America’s Epitaph.
“Old Charlie stole the handle…
And the train it won’t stop…
Oh no way to slow down…”
Symbolism: Old Charlie is often interpreted as a metaphor for fate, the devil, or an indifferent creator, leaving the train (life, society, this republic) to run out of control. More precisely, this republic is out of control as the two primary political parties contend for control of the United States of America, Our Republic, while the third watches from the sidelines, committed not to commit through Active Inaction… a deliberate effort to avoid taking action. Think of finding fault, bitching about it incessantly, and doing absolutely nothing productive to change it.
I was searching for an appropriate musical selection to open this commentary when this Jethro Tull song popped up – there are no coincidences. Continue reading
Smith: The Measure of a Man
“How many things are now called the worst evil, which are only twelve feet wide and three months long! But some day greater dragons will come into the world” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, ‘Thus Spoke Zarasthustra‘ [January 1st 1883]
I’m an old man now, by some folks’ reckoning, and I don’t scare easy.
That ain’t bravado – just mileage. When you’ve watched the Clinch River flood and pull whole trees out by the roots, buried friends younger than you, and gone hungry in a way that don’t make the papers, fear starts to sort itself into piles. Some of it’s loud. Most of it ain’t worth giving a moment of your time.
I’ve been thinking lately about all the things I was once told were the worst evils a man could face. Funny thing is, every one of them had a size to it and a season attached. Continue reading
The Silent Land Grab: Why China is Buying US Farmland“
…and this has been going on in America for the last THREE Presidents – in addition to the FACT that they are also acquiring farm land surrounding US Military Bases! ~ Editor
Congress needs to act to prevent this land grab from happening. Sheep people need to wake up before it’s too late. The CCP is evil not perpetrated by the citizens but the government. From human rights to an act of pure barbarism to outs own citizens. The world including the US needs to hold this evil entity responsible from the devastation.caused by the CCP. Covid being the biggest killer to humanity. Foreign greed money to purchase of our farmland needs to be stopped now. GMOs are just the start and now our farmland wake up sheep people!!!! – Mitchell Cagle
Garrison: Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the Untouchables
For many months the Clintons have not complied with subpoenas from House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer. The Clintons have refused to testify on matters involving Jeffrey Epstein, claiming the subpoenas was invalid.
In other words, the Clintons are above the law. Continue reading
Garrison: The Off Switches
Many of us suspect the protests in Minnesota are by no means grass-root. The protestors are well-organized, carry slickly-printed signs, and uniformly shout the same messages. They used a cell phone message program called ‘Signal’ to implement their movements around town to counter ICE agents. They are getting paid by billionaire agitators such as George Soros and his son. Continue reading
Hickman: Does America Still Have the Tools to Solve Its Problems?
Two days ago I wrote to you about How Elizabeth Warren Destroyed an American Technology Company headquartered in her home state.
She killed a deal for Amazon to buy iRobot – maker of the popular Roomba robot vacuum cleaner. And as a result, iRobot filed for bankruptcy and got scooped up for peanuts by a Chinese rival.
All of that US intellectual property, not to mention mountains of personal data on iRobot’s US consumers, was handed over to the Chinese… courtesy of America’s favorite Cherokee warrior. Continue reading
Ross: Are You Prepared?
Do you think that God cares about what you look like? Do you think He cares if you are rich/poor; if you are a Democrat or a Republican; if you are a famous actor or just some working stiff trying to make ends meet? All God cares about is what is in your heart; whether or not you believe what John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Yet there is more to being a Christian than simply believing that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God; He who offered His life as a sacrifice for our sins; dying on the cross and rising on the third day into glory. Satan not only believes that, he knows that to be true; yet he is still condemned to eternal damnation for seeking to elevate himself above the Most High. Continue reading