Friday 15 August 2025 10:53:14 PM CST





Friday 15 August 2025 10:53:10 PM CST

Just ordered the first one. Amazon had only one left or so they said so I clicked fast. Ordered a new computer for the media server so will probably put a big screen to watch the DVDs. That one has their first album cover - dunno what it's supposed to be. For a first effort it was pretty good - both Then Came the Last Days of May and Cities on Flame were on it. That was about 1972 so I have the vinyl in pristine condition as I never played the vinyl more than a few times before putting in on cassette. Just about all records would fit on one side of a 90-minute and I just recorded it on both sides so I didn't need to rewind or have an auto-reverse deck. The high-dollar rigs (and tape) I used you couldn't tell the difference.

Hot until Saturday and I had a few acres of tall grass on the back forty. Ran the new Kubota over it with the deck raised and chopped it off so it'll be easy to do a clean cut when it cools off. Thinking about buying another one with no mower and just use it to ride around - I don't like ATVs and don't need to go fast - but I'd have to buy another for Jessica so we could ride around together. And is one of them got stuck or disabled we'd have one to ride back on. We have a pair of Silverwings we like to ride around town on and they were near 8K apiece so a couple of little Kubota 1880s at 14K each isn't bad and they have some utility besides riding around. Actually without the mowing deck they more like 12K and you don't want a mower unless you're gonna cut grass.

What, Chris?

No, here in the undisclosed location. We have another pair at the place in Jonestown but we don't ride bikes much up there. Too dangerous. And you can't just drive little tractors around town.

Let's get the whiskey of the day out of the way first. Sampling a new jug of Maker's Mark regular grade. Runs $40-50 most places, about 42 at the county line about forty miles north of the undisclosed location. Pretty good but I mainly keep a bottle or two around in case somebody is particular about what they want. If they drink a lot of the expensive stuff they don't get invited back. If they drink a lot of anything they don't get invited back. And nobody drinks unless they have a designated driver or is staying over. And if they drink a lot they ain't staying.

Seegars are still the 4x30 Swishers but there's a case of 4K French Vanilla that I ain't used up yet so occasionally one of those. Classic movie is Where Eagles Dare from 1968 or thereabouts. Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood together is hard to beat for coolness. Maybe if Steve McQueen had lived long enough to make a movie with Patrick Swayze? I read all the Alistair Maclean books back in the day and most was pretty good. WED is probably the best movies made from one although The Guns of Navarone was pretty good (the sequel would have sucked diseased donkey testicles if not for Robert Shaw) and Ice Station Zebra was pretty good but what movie with Charles Bronson isn't pretty good?

What, Chris?

Mainly because Harrison Ford. And the clumsy insertion of the token African American into a WWII film when the units were segregated. Why bother? Because it was 1978 and that was the thing to do.

Classic pulp novel of the day is The Skeleton Coast Contrct by the guy what wrote the Joe Gall novels. I was proofing it after digitizing it into the library and got to going and read it all. All the Joe Gall books are some kind of contract since he's a free-lancer. He lives in a remote part of Arkansas and has some pet tigers and whenever he isn't contracting he usually has a hot chick with him doing whatever. Cutty Sark seems to be his favorite whiskey but he'll drink bourbon as he does in this adventure. He gets buried up to the neck in sand with honey poured over his head so the ants will eat him but he manages to convince the bushmen who sold him out and got him in the fix to dig him out for the gold and money he had on him when they buried him. And he kills a few people but I didn't keep track - probably not as many as Nick Carter and for sure not as many as Mack Bolan. The Exectioner will blow away that many in the first chapter. And Nick will bang more women than Joe who usually does one or two and usually one of them is the one he was with when he got the call for a job.

This is somewhere past the middle of nowhere. Another hour I'll be on the fringes of some kind of civilization.

A small rise was ahead. He intended to stop on the other side for a smoke and to call Ed. Then he saw the town.

This ain't the desert so that ain't no mirage.

He stopped and got out, lit a cigarette. When he finished it he took out the Commpad and tapped HQ.

"What's up sweetie?"

Miranda? What's she doing there?

"Wish you were here," Steve replied. "Or I was there."

"Me too. Sorry I didn't get to see you before you left."

"Same here. Could you have changed Ed's mind?"

"Not likely," Miranda replied. "What you're doing is important. Important enough to ask for you."

"How much do you know?"

Before the Storm (2022)

Okey-dokey, let's get down to business. This one is just because we ain't had any Dodge Charger stories lately. This one from Jonestown had a Charger too. Had two malefactors from Marion and one from Left Memphis and one from Crawfordsville. They all close together with Crawfordsville being a little town about 500 peoples about 20 miles from Left Memphis. Wouldn't want to live in any of those places but if I had to it would be Marion and I wouldn't care much for it.

Woman fron Kennett, Misery took her kid in a store and had the kids help her try to steal some stuff in Paragould and got arrested. Didn't say what business it was but seemed like maybe a place that had shopping carts. Paragould is probably a better place to find stuff to steal than Kennett is but not a good place to get caught doing it. Some drug dealing arrests and some with shooting. A fatal shooting. And a nekkid guy from California sexually assaulted somebody in Jonestown. Noteworthy because it wasn't a Florida man.


Trump blames stuff on others? How's that? He exposes what others do as is happening with the Russigate stuff. Not that much will come of it beyond exposure and the limited audience of the legacy media will keep in the dark those who choose to remain in the dark. Maybe some little guys like Brennan and Jack Smith will go down but if it looks like the might it will probably be a plea deal. We'll have to be content with Ovomit and the Clintons and others being exposed to an ever-growing population.
Haven't watched any of the Superman or other comic book movies. Some said the latest one had less woke garbage and some said it was no improvement. Made a lot of money but you hafta be pretty bad not to make a good bit. Some was saying the latest Fantastic Four wasn't as bad but it doesn't seem to have done especially well moneywise. I watched one of those way back and lost interest before halfway and don't remember if the guy with the stretchy body did his thing with the ear. Or maybe that was the DC guy that stretched. Kinda weird. Anyway the tide in the culture war seems to be turning.

CDC sez something and "some experts" question what CDC said. People shouda been questioning the CDC a long time ago and quite a few have been since the Plandemic. Whether 33.3333333333333333% of American utes have pre-diabetes I have no idea. They way they eat and drink and as many are fat it wouldn't surprise me. Lessee if stopping their parents from using food stamps to buy junk food and drink makes any difference.

The MAGA rebellion if there was one didn't last long. A few loud ones and then the Democrats got in on it and they've started dribbing stuff out and anyway now we got Russiagate going. Should have been handled better than it was but there you are. As for "autopen claims" it's a fact that the autopen got used a lot after Biden wasn't capable of saying yea or nay about it. I suspect that if the dates on some of those could be verified it would be confirmed that he wasn't even in DC when they were done. They got pretty sloppy.

Whatever the two former economoists think Powell - who looks like Merrick Gollum every time I see him - is desperately trying to slow the economy. Even the board is beginning to rebel.

As for the "shadow docket" I expect that the end of the Department of Education was the best but anything that gets more illegals out of the country is good. The main thing in killing the DOE and other stuff is to maintain control of the presidency for the next 12-16 years. With Congress so close a president could veto pretty much any bad stuff they cook up.

"What you know. Unless you need to know something I don't."

"Probably not. I don't believe there's anything new. Ed's on his way down."

"Steve. About time you got there."

Ed. Edward Morris Stevens the third. Mantis chief.

"There being a couple of miles from the middle of nowhere?" Steve asked.

"You're about a quarter of a a mile from there," Ed replied.

"That bunch of buildings is the middle of nowhere? How'd it get there?"

"Affirmative. You're covered by a Mantis squad and your contact is expecting you. He'll be in the square."

Somebody stuck a little town in the middle of nowhere, gotta have a square. I guess.

"Mike Charlie," Stevens said. "It's a Mantis installation but your contact is need-to-know and only a few in there need to know."

"Gotcha."

He lit a red band cigarette. A modest shot of cannabis wouldn't hurt - whatever was up Stevens wouldn't have sent him if it was gonna be a cakewalk.

The smoke done he dropped the butt and stepped on it. There wasn't much to burn as far as he could see and anyway it was all wet.

Before the Storm (2022)

In Wynne the prom night shooting trial is off until November. A guy on the Left Memphis city council died. The name was familiar but that about it. Seems there was what they call a prominent family by that name over there or somewhere around Memphis. That that "whites only" thing I dunno. Could be some crazies like they usually are or maybe some people just want to be exclusively around people like them. If it's all private property there was no need to make a big deal of it - just don't invite people you don't like and don't talk about it.

It could be one of those government setups. Like the fake nazi marches they had that were so ridiculous. I suppose some weak-minded people (most racists are weak-minded) might try to join up and put themselves on the radar. I don't have a problem with weak-minded people having someone keeping tabs on them the the government is more likely to recruit them for things like the fake kidnapping of that governor. Whether something this big and expensive would be such a thing I have no idea. It would be pretty expensive and probably would be exposed before long. So probably some nuts wanting attention.

Nikki@MyndCryme
I'll go with the nuts theory. Fortunately I haven't known many people like that - there aren't very many - but sometimes they can be scary since they're by nature unstable and unpredictable. Why the Black Legislative Caucus thinks they need to get involved who knows? The neighbors can report any funny-looking stuff and the law can investigate if necessary. No need to make it political but some people just gonna. The Black Legislative Caucus isn't very big in Arkansas.

The smoke done he dropped the butt and stepped on it. There wasn't much to burn as far as he could see and anyway it was all wet.

As far as he could see the town was one street about two hundred yards long. Metal buildings of various sizes on both sides, an occasional side street. The square was just that - an empty space a hundred or so feet on a side.

As he entered the square a door in one of the buildings opened and a man came out. Steve lowered the window and stopped as the man approached. He held the big Glock 24 across his knees ready but out of sight.

The man was wearing a black commando sweater and didn't let his hands get close to his body. When he was close enough Steve saw the shield on the left breast side. The four-quartered shield with M in the upper left and a C in the lower right.

"Que pasa, Mongoose?" he said.

"Buenas tardes, Viper," Steve replied.

"Call me Ishmael for now," the man said. "Park anywhere."

There were a handful of vehicles, mostly four-wheel-drive trucks like Jenny but not as old. He'd been driving her the day Gordon Williams called him and told him to get himself out of where he was. The only certain viable destination was where Gordon was so there he went. Jenny was a 1976 Chevy Scottsdale on her third engine and second tranny. The latest engine was a diesel and with a third fuel tank gave it an impressive range. He parked near the entrance where Ishmael was waiting and climbed down.

Ishmael held the door while he entered. The room appeared to occupy most of the interior of the building with doors along the sides and back indicating individual rooms. A large conference table occupied the center, a dozen or so high-dollar chairs parked around it. A couple of large digital whiteboards and a very large monitor surrounded by a group of smaller ones were present.

He didn't notice when Ishmael departed because he was looking at the group at the end of the table. A young woman rose and came to greet him.

Before the Storm (2022)

Two shootings on the same street about the same time in Jonestown. That's over north of Johnson - the bad end of Johnson - a pretty dodgy area. South of Johnson in that area is ASU and I haven't been there in a while but it used to be nothing but miles of apartments. People called it Apartment City and wasn't generally a good place to live.

Another jumper on the Memphis bridge. The one back in February was a woman and this one was reportedly a man. The body hasn't been recovered so maybe someone witnessed it? The woman was fised out alive and sent to be examined. Mentally as well as physically. If they don't find the guy he could end up anywhere downstream I guess or not be found at all. That's one big river.

She was wearing the common khaki - cargo pants and military-styled long-sleeved shirt. She was carrying what looked like a Beretta Brigadier in a crossdraw holster. The only likely indicators of status were an enamel pin above the left shirt pocket and possibly the bracelet occasionally visible as she moved. The Emerald Serpents were a subtle bunch and he was apparently in one of their lairs.

"Welcome, Steve. I'm Bonnie Carver, come over and I'll introduce you."

The grey-bearded guy wouldn't need any introduction, he thought. The explanation might be interesting though. He followed her to the table and both men rose to greet him.

"J. R. MacDonald," Bonnie said indicating the non-gray-bearded man, "Steve Houston." J.R. MacDonald looked about forty-something, early forties. Good-looking healthy outdoors type but clean and well-dressed in the paramilitary khaki. The name rang a bell.

"Meridian?"

MacDonald grinned.

"Heard you were in the area. Surprised we didn't bump into you."

"I was an observer," Steve replied. "I observed. You guys got the job done."

"We did that. Good to see you in person at last."

"Ed said I would be enlightened upon arrival," Steve said. "I now know the who - how about the why?"

"Grab a seat," Bonnie said. "I'll whistle up some refreshments. Any special requests?"

Before the Storm (2022)



The lefties or whatever they are got right nasty about the Texas flood. Like being happy people died because they were probably mostly white and Republican MAGA. Quite a few of them were children and some of those were with their parents who also perished. These are some pretty sick people. Or evil. ~~ Student loans get worse because they gonna hafta be paid after Biden promised they wouldn't. ~~ Probably fewer people rural America listen to NPR than any other kind. Most are well-off city people having their itching ears scratched. People want to know what the bad weather is doing listen to their local AM radio station. ~~ I agree that President Trump screwed up royally by (a) hiring Pam Bondi and (b) not having someone to supervise her. Having a watcher for a cabinet-level position might seem strange and shouldn't be necessary but she is one case where he should have. ~~ What President Trump has said about Jeffrey Epstein is pretty well documented and we hardly need Rolling Stone - which joined the tabloids and celebutard mags by the supermarket checkout long ago - to tell us what we already know. Or that they want us to believe. ~~ They got that right but probably don't know why. Russia is so isolated that it's pretty much self-sufficient when you include China and other allies. Not much that can be done there. How it ends I wouldn't care to guess but it may be that at some point Zelensky(y) gets the boot and someone reasonable comes in and makes a deal. ~~ The fact is some people screwed up and some people died and the climate wackos claim we're gonna have hundred-year floods every other year because carbon and Republicans. ~~ Another report suggests thousands may die because illegals are taken off Medicaid and SNAP and HUD? Imagine that. Girlfriend just called and said how about Mexican for lunch. I'd been thinking pizza but OK, es bueno.

Do a bit of opinion stuff from the Jonestown paper. Four people are dead in New York because a guy somehow got a rifle into a place were guns aren't allowed except for cops and security and shot four people. Why doesn't Neil Young write a song about these four dead? I forget which dimwitted congresscritter it was - maybe the Cockroach - that said voter ID and other methods of eliminating election fraud cost them big. What is it about LGBTQ health that's different from normal people? Do they have different diseases or do some diseases affect them different? Or is nutrition and exercise different? This enquring mind doesn't really want to know. You got illegals being picked up for deportation that been in the country for years and can't habla a bit of English. As far as I know most schools teach Spanish and that's the main big one in the western hemisphere so people can learn it it they want. If they bring kids here that can't habla teach them. If they have to spend six months to a year learning before they start school too bad.

Check with you in a few days.