The Origin
On October 11, 2024, we were in a head-on collision on I-15 Southbound in San Bernardino County. It was a Freightliner semi truck. Dead stop. We should have died.
We didn't. Jessica and I survived. And then the real fight began.
What followed was systematic. Insurance companies denied claims. Agencies stalled. Attorneys stonewalled. Government officials ignored us. Every institution we approached treated us like we didn't exist — or worse, like we were a problem to be buried.
But we documented everything. Every email. Every call. Every lie. Every procedural trick. We built a forensic record so detailed that anyone reading it could understand exactly how institutional capture works — and how it gets deployed against ordinary people.
Why These Tools Exist
We realized: if someone had given us these tools before that accident, we might have avoided half the suffering that followed.
A deadline calculator would have told us: you have 6 months to file a notice of tort claim with the government entity, or your §1983 claim is dead forever. We learned that the hard way.
A record-sealing tool would have helped us understand our own eligibility and given us the documents we needed. Instead, we paid for it. Thousands of people don't.
An insurance playbook would have taught us what bad faith means, how to recognize it, what evidence to preserve. Instead, we figured it out by getting destroyed.
These tools exist because we lived without them. And because we believe that no one should have to pay thousands of dollars for clarity they deserve to have for free.
What We Believe
The Mission
No matter your wealth or poverty, certain things have to exist.
Some tools can't be monetized because the people who need them most can't afford them. You don't charge for a second chance. You don't charge for the law. You don't charge for clarity.
This platform exists because someone believed in us when we had nothing. Now we believe in you too.
We believe that people are systematically being ground down by a system they don't understand. Not because they're stupid. Because the system is deliberately obscure. Deadlines are buried. Rules are hidden. Leverage is asymmetric.
We believe that if you have an idea that solves a real problem, and you have the ability to give it away for free, you should. Just because you *can* charge doesn't mean you *should*. Some things just have to exist.
We believe in paying it forward. Someone gave us a second chance once. That second chance led to everything good in our lives. We're not forgetting that. We're building tools so others get their second chance too.
Who Built This
Josh Markle (also known as Ronan Ashcroft) — founder of Ashcroft & Vale Investigative Media LLC and architect of Project Black Phoenix. Numismatist. Forensic documentarian. Someone who survived what was supposed to kill him.
Jessica — the person who was in that car. The person we're fighting for. The person who deserves a world where institutions don't get to just destroy your life and call it business.
These tools were built with Claude, an AI assistant created by Anthropic. The code is open-source. The logic is transparent. The architecture is designed so nothing you do here is ever stored, tracked, or transmitted anywhere.
How You Can Help
Use these tools. Share them. Tell people about them. Every person who uses one of these tools is one fewer person trapped in the machine.
If you can afford it, buy our books. Not because we need the money (we don't), but because the books tell the story. They show *how* institutional capture happens. They document *what* we lived through. Reading them might protect you or someone you care about from making the same mistakes we did.
Document your own experience. If you're being treated unjustly by an insurance company, a government agency, or a corporation, document it. Take screenshots. Keep records. Record calls (where legal). Build your own forensic archive. Don't let them bury you silently.
Tell people about this platform. Not because we're trying to build a brand. Because people need these tools, and they're not going to find them through traditional marketing. Word of mouth is how this spreads.
What's Next
The Deadline Calculator and Record Sealing tool are live now. These are the beginning.
We're building modules for insurance bad faith auditing, evidence preservation, spoliation detection, and public records requests. We're expanding to other states. We're creating pathways for citizens to understand their rights and act on them.
This might take years. We don't care. Some things just have to exist. And we're stubborn enough to make sure they do.
Contact
You can find Josh at:
joshmarkle.org — personal site and archive
projectblackphoenix.com — the investigation and documentation
ashcroftandvale.com — Ashcroft & Vale Investigative Media
This platform, Markle Justice, is the hub. Everything connects here.