Carnival Cruise Ship degenerates rapidly

February 14, 2013

Writer

A Carnival Cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico lost power, causing passengers to go into somewhat of a ‘roughing it’ mode. Power went out Sunday night - how long did it take for people to start fighting over food? Glenn explains and shows how dangerous things can get when access to our normal lives are cut off.

TheBlaze reported:

The stranded Carnival cruise ship and its more than 4,000 passengers enter day five without power after a fire in the engine room disabled the ship Sunday. Although the ship is currently being towed into an Alabama port and could arrive late Thursday or early Friday, conditions are still worsening.
Since the initial incident, many passengers have been living on deck in conditions that include feces and urine on the floor with some cases of food poisoning occurring. Recent footage of the ship shows passengers holding signs made with bedsheets and a deck that looked like “a shanty town, with sheets, almost like tents,” one father of a stranded passenger recounted.

Glenn said, "There's a story on the 3,000 passengers on the cruise ship off the coast of Mexico. They have no power, they have been forced to sleep on deck in tents, that you had the toilets are not working, meaning the passengers have to make do with bags and buckets. Now help is on the way. I don't know why it takes this long, but help is on the way. It's not like it's in the ‑‑ it's not like it's at the North Pole. It's in the Gulf of ‑‑ it's off the coast of Mexico, for the love of Pete."

"So here's this giant Carnival cruise ship and on Sunday the power went out. They can't cook any food, and it's all because they have engine problems. Okay. Now, I've been telling you for a while, what happens to us if our lifestyle dramatically changes? I want you to ‑‑ I want you to think about, Sunday, where were you on Sunday? How long would it take for you to go into complete and total chaos and become somebody described as a savage? Where you are fighting people for food? How long would it take?"

"Sunday, I was in my kitchen on Sunday. It was my birthday. And we were having birthday pie because my sister came down and she ‑‑ even though she is on a piatus, she is ‑‑ she's an unbelievable chef and she's a pie chef. And she has this ‑‑ her own business where she makes pies, and she ‑‑ I mean, I don't know how many hundreds of people, actually every month they get a pie from her and they're delicious. And so she came down and she just made an apple pie for me and a lemon meringue pie. My doctor came over and he made a strawberry rhubarb pie. And she made a banana cream pie and a coconut pie. But anyway, so she made some pies."

"So anyway, I was standing in my kitchen with my family on Sunday eating pie. Now, what would it take ‑‑ where were you on Sunday? What were you doing? What would it take for you to be described by somebody who met you yesterday to describe you as a savage? For these 3,000 people, it took living in a tent on a cruise ship with very little food, but food, and no toilets. But you can take it in a bucket and they can clean the bucket out. I mean, I know this is not ideal, but they, you know, you can throw it overboard. I mean, you can still ‑‑ you know, you don't have to keep the filth there in the ship. But they did. The carpets are soaked with urine, and people are fighting each other for food."

"It took them Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before they were savages. Now here's the amazing thing, to me at least. It's not like they're in the middle of Africa. They're in the Gulf of Mexico. They know help is coming. They know the Coast Guard cutters are coming. They can still ‑‑ they can still have outside communication. They knew that everybody was aware, there's got to be some backup generator, something that's at least enough for communication on that ship. So at least the captain and the crew can say, "We've alerted the authorities, they're on their way, it's going to be a few days." So they know they're getting off. They have to get off, and they will, you know, what do you call it, deboard the ship, what, tomorrow, the next day? And they have to ‑‑ they know they are going to have to live with themselves for the rest of their life and how they behaved. Because they were on a vacation cruise that went bad. And all of a sudden it's become, what is that, Lord of the Flies. All of a sudden it's Lord of the Flies. But in Lord of the Flies, I never read it, but those were kids that were ‑‑ and it ‑‑ and there was no hope of rescue. If I understand Lord of the Flies enough from memory, there was no hope of rescue. And there were kids that were raised as savages fending for themselves. That's not what this is. It's three days on a Carnival cruise ship, with the Coast Guard cutters coming."

"How long will it take for our society to break down? You're all having fun, but then the TVs stop working and the toilets won't flush. All of a sudden I have to eat cold food. All of a sudden I have food that was brought onto the ship in freezers and it's shrimp and so they can't get it to the right temperature. I'm going to have to eat ‑‑ I'm going to have to eat some cold veg ‑‑ you know they have enough food that they don't have to cook. There's enough food on that. It's not like anybody's going to starve to death. And it's not like, 'That's the last coconut! I'm going to kill you for it!' Quite honestly have you seen the American people? We could all stand to lose a few lbs. I'm just sayin'. Go to Disneyland. Look at us walking around. Look at us waddle around. You can the people who are from America because we're all like, 'Yeah, I've got to get an ice cream cone but first I've got to stop and get a corn dog.' We're not exactly the most in‑shape people."

"I wonder, I wonder ‑‑ we'll hear the stories of the savages but I wonder if anybody is looking for the stories of the pockets. Because out of 3,000 people, you know there have to be pockets of people. Because they will attract. Light attract light; dark attracts darkness. There has to be somewhere on that ship a pocket of light to where the people on board will become forever friends. They will probably vacation together, not on a cruise ship, but they will probably vacation together many times in their life even though they didn't know each other. But they will become lifelong friends. There will be a group of people that get off that ship that the captain or the crew members sincerely with tears in their eyes say, 'It was a pleasure to have you on board. Thank you.'"

"Are we going to hear the stories of those guys? I challenge the writers at TheBlaze to find those stories because somewhere on that ship out of 3,000 people, there was somebody, and most likely not a preacher like it was in the Poseidon Adventure where the preacher was leading the way out to the light. Most likely it was somebody that is pretty much a nobody that had perspective on the Carnival cruise line from hell. Just yet one of the other 150,000 reasons I ain't getting onto a cruise line ship. 'Here's a bucket for you to pee in." Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. It's been a great holiday.' How many of these people are going to get off the ship and sue?"

"Carnival cruise lines is in trouble because the lawsuits ‑‑ that's what everybody ‑‑ instead of making the best out of it, and I mean, I know this is horrible. I don't want to live like that, I don't want to be on that vacation, and believe me, I'd be pissed. Because I've worked hard for my vacation and I'm going to take this and then I'm going to go right back to work. It will be crazy. I'd be pissed. But somebody in my family, if it wasn't me and if it wasn't my family, if I was alone on the Carnival cruise lines, I'd be trying, 'Where's your 3‑D printer because I'm going to print a gun.' I would probably go crazy but if my family was there, I would be leading, for my wife and my children, I would be leading and saying ‑‑ because you know you're like this, at least I am. When everything else is burning down and the kids are crying and everything, there is a time that I just go, all of you, shut up. Shut it. And there is a time that you then after that say, 'Let's make the best of this. It doesn't have to be this way. Let's make the best of it.'"

"I told you last hour about a pocketknife that my daughter gave me. And if I were on that ship, I would hope that I would have this in there because at some point I would reach into my pocket and I would be saying to my family, 'Hard times make us.' How many people up in Connecticut with 40 inches of snow and they can't get out, that are complaining right now, 'It's been four days and the city hasn't cleared any of the streets.' Yep. Yep, sure is. How many are complaining? How many have their families, you know, falling into fights and everything else? And then how many families in that same situation are experiencing it? I think this is why the Lord said 'Come to me as a child,' are experiencing it like children experience. That they have done enough preparation so they have the food or they have whatever they need. They know they're not going to starve to death. And, yeah, we're going to ‑‑ you know, if you're at Pat's ‑‑ or Stu's house, you're going to ‑‑ you know, you're going to have sweet‑and‑sour sauce and pickles. But how many families have weathered that storm up in New England and now will come out the other end and they will talk about it for a few years and say, 'You know what? That was hard, but that was one of the best times of our life. Brought the family together. We sat and we played games, we read books, we told stories, we were cold, we were ‑‑ remember we were all bundled up, we all had to sleep in one bed and we had get extra blankets, we were all sleeping on the floor by the fireplace?'"

"This pocketknife that my daughter gave me just says four words: Hard times made us. The people on the cruise ship will say the same thing. But instead, instead of looking at that and really realizing that those hard times did make them in their case a savage, instead of doing self‑reflection on that and saying, gee, the hard times I could have gone a different way, instead they will call an attorney because it stops them from looking at the choices that they failed to make, and they'll sue because they'll say the Carnival cruise line made me into that."

URGENT: Supreme Court case could redefine religious liberty

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

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What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

When did Americans start cheering for chaos?

MATHIEU LEWIS-ROLLAND / Contributor | Getty Images

Every time we look away from lawlessness, we tell the next mob it can go a little further.

Chicago, Portland, and other American cities are showing us what happens when the rule of law breaks down. These cities have become openly lawless — and that’s not hyperbole.

When a governor declares she doesn’t believe federal agents about a credible threat to their lives, when Chicago orders its police not to assist federal officers, and when cartels print wanted posters offering bounties for the deaths of U.S. immigration agents, you’re looking at a country flirting with anarchy.

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic.

This isn’t a matter of partisan politics. The struggle we’re watching now is not between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between good and evil, right and wrong, self‑government and chaos.

Moral erosion

For generations, Americans have inherited a republic based on law, liberty, and moral responsibility. That legacy is now under assault by extremists who openly seek to collapse the system and replace it with something darker.

Antifa, well‑financed by the left, isn’t an isolated fringe any more than Occupy Wall Street was. As with Occupy, big money and global interests are quietly aligned with “anti‑establishment” radicals. The goal is disruption, not reform.

And they’ve learned how to condition us. Twenty‑five years ago, few Americans would have supported drag shows in elementary schools, biological males in women’s sports, forced vaccinations, or government partnerships with mega‑corporations to decide which businesses live or die. Few would have tolerated cartels threatening federal agents or tolerated mobs doxxing political opponents. Yet today, many shrug — or cheer.

How did we get here? What evidence convinced so many people to reverse themselves on fundamental questions of morality, liberty, and law? Those long laboring to disrupt our republic have sought to condition people to believe that the ends justify the means.

Promoting “tolerance” justifies women losing to biological men in sports. “Compassion” justifies harboring illegal immigrants, even violent criminals. Whatever deluded ideals Antifa espouses is supposed to somehow justify targeting federal agents and overturning the rule of law. Our culture has been conditioned for this moment.

The buck stops with us

That’s why the debate over using troops to restore order in American cities matters so much. I’ve never supported soldiers executing civilian law, and I still don’t. But we need to speak honestly about what the Constitution allows and why. The Posse Comitatus Act sharply limits the use of the military for domestic policing. The Insurrection Act, however, exists for rare emergencies — when federal law truly can’t be enforced by ordinary means and when mobs, cartels, or coordinated violence block the courts.

Even then, the Constitution demands limits: a public proclamation ordering offenders to disperse, transparency about the mission, a narrow scope, temporary duration, and judicial oversight.

Soldiers fight wars. Cops enforce laws. We blur that line at our peril.

But we also cannot allow intimidation of federal officers or tolerate local officials who openly obstruct federal enforcement. Both extremes — lawlessness on one side and militarization on the other — endanger the republic.

The only way out is the Constitution itself. Protect civil liberty. Enforce the rule of law. Demand transparency. Reject the temptation to justify any tactic because “our side” is winning. We’ve already seen how fear after 9/11 led to the Patriot Act and years of surveillance.

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor | Getty Images

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic. The left cannot be allowed to shut down enforcement, and the right cannot be allowed to abandon constitutional restraint.

The real threat to the republic isn’t just the mobs or the cartels. It’s us — citizens who stop caring about truth and constitutional limits. Anything can be justified when fear takes over. Everything collapses when enough people decide “the ends justify the means.”

We must choose differently. Uphold the rule of law. Guard civil liberties. And remember that the only way to preserve a government of, by, and for the people is to act like the people still want it.