Monday 24 February 2025 12:35:54 PM CST





Thursday 20 February 2025 10:19:02 PM CST

Cassandra is one of the added tracks on the deluxe edition of The Visitors. I sometimes why anyone would name a girl Cassandra being as it is the epitome of tragedy. Sure, it's a sexy name that evokes beauty and charm and niceness and Cassie is a cool diminutive and all but the original owner came to a bad end. I know it's mythology but does a girl with that name ever worry about it occasionally? The mythological Cassie lived a little longer than her sister and got on the ship and went go Greece as a war trophy before tragically dying. Those Greeks could be blood-thirsty but Odysseus takes the gold for carnage. That part is well worth reading as you get the feeling the writer is having a bit of fun and if Telemachus serving the handmaidens their just deserts may seem a little over the top but there you are. Cassandra remind me a bit of Fernando. Other than seeming to have something to do with one of Las revoluciones Mexicanas or other. Hope I got that right with the Spanish lingo. Not real sure what happened to Fernando - whether he died tragically or survived and became a bartender or something.

A kinda tragic Cassandra makes an appearance in Balance of Power but after a bad start gets a better deal.

Close to where I live the Wynne School enrollment continues to decline. Probably some due to the tornado and doesn't say how many went to Cross County 7 or went into homeschool or private. The population of Wynne is decreasing and that will probably affect it some. And they you have things like this. School choice laws in places like Arkansas has brought in more of that in recent years. Every kid that escapes the government schools is a good thing for humanity and the Republic.

Most local news is about the snow. I suppose weather could affect crime some. Jonestown paper got an opinion from Bloomberg and one by the professor guy. The Bloomberg guy seems like the usual combination of everything either going over his head or going in but not being comprenended. The article was dated 17 February so if he was paying attention he would know that Panama quickly conceded and seems ready to get its act together and Denmark is actually talking about offloading Greenland. As for Canada the probability of a sane government taking charge seems pretty good and the sane Middle East states are talking about putting together something to manage Gaza. Then we get this:

And as Walt's theory predicts, countries do seem to be accelerating their efforts to find alternative arrangements in trade and security that exclude the U.S. The European Union is talking to countries in Latin America and Asia; more nations are joining BRICS, a club that sees itself as an alternative to the U.S.-led Group of Seven; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is linking up with the Gulf Cooperation Council in the Middle East; and so forth.

Andreas Kluth - Bloomberg
So many countries had already joined BRICS that they represent over a third of the world economy and the prospect of an alternative to the dollar (internally some of them were already trading in other currencies) was close to being a thing. India - one of the largest - is already moving back closer to the U.S. after being on the edge and ready to jump if things got much worse. The end of the Ukraine war could be as close as a month depending on how stupid Zelenskyy wants to be. The professor referred to Ronald Reagan as the author of leftist misfortunes and indeed he did pull us back from the brink but Trump is Reagan on steroids and the Democrat party is falling apart.

Believe the Jonestown paper and an unfunny toon or so, lessee....












Friday 21 February 2025 11:25:12 PM CST

Water in Earle is supposed to be safe now. Or was that Parkin? Hang on.... yeah, Earle. And they're gonna improve infrastructure as soon as they can get someone to pay for it. Ain't been there in a while and don't see any reason to go but wondering if a place with 1800 peoples and used to have almost twice that many could make do with half the infrastructure if people lived in the right places. Just a thought. The 1800 population is four years ago so expect maybe 1500-1600 next census.

Electric airplane landed at Walnut Ridge the other day - no word on whether it left. Have to recharge and don't say how long that takes. Or how far it flew but does say it was hauling 600 pounds of something. Looks like a pilot and maybe another people - or two pilots or whatever. Sez there's two charging stations in Arkansas - airplanes have special chargers? Said the stations were installed at no cost to local taxpayers. Depending on where the money came from (federal?) it started out in the pockets of local taxpayers somewhere - Arkansas or New Jersey or California or Florida or wherever. Or at least they earned it - it wouldn't be in their pocket but a number on their W2.

KJNB had a somewhat positive article about President Trump. Which is to say it was accurate. Okey-dokey. Jonestown paper putting up new toons pretty regular, lemme see what we got.












Saturday 22 February 2025 09:34:10 PM CST

Greek literature was pretty gruesome a lot of the time. For Penelope's handmaids - some of them anyway - it was probably over relatively quickly as they dangled and strangled. Philomela and Actaeon and such kinda messy. Of course catching a 'goddess' skinny-dipping probably won't end well anytime but what do you do?

Little early for criminality reports to be coming in and the serious mayhem seems to either not be happening as much or not being talked about as much. Leftover from last week was a drug bust in Cross County that finally made the news. Still getting a perv or three and some assaults and such.

Might as well weigh in (170 today - summer come I'll be down to 160 before long) on the school legislation stuff. This was the cellphone and breakfast thing. Should be a no-brainer but some people maybe have less than no brains. Anyway now it done and there some other states done it too, kinda like school choice, maybe some things are improving. The breakfast thing in government schools you got people of types - economically and mentally (the parents) - and maybe some kids don't get breakfast. Near 20K a year per pupil I figure - and I'm a taxpayer - we can afford some eggs and pop-tarts and whatnot for the younguns. Back in my day we had to take a dollar ever Monday and there was few didn't have it and they'd work in the lunchroom cleaning up and stuff. Never forget how bad them lunchrooms smelled, even in the new school that was only a year old when I went there. I hope most of the bad smell was stuff they cleaned with. Anyhow back then (this was the 1960s) they took us all to the lunchroom first thing and made us drink a glass of milk. Now milk makes me puke and I tried to drink it and couldn't and finally had to get Mom to write a note explaining that it made me sick and they let me not drink it) but it was near where I's about to hurl all over the place if I tried to drink it. Put chocolate in and I can get it down but the fact is human beins is the only animal that drinks milk after it's able to eat something else ain't natural.

What, Chris?

Third grade. Teacher Miss Carter. Real pretty real nice probably under thirty. Had a red Chevy Impala 2-door hardtop. Had a phone. Dunno what it cost to have a car phone in 1964 but it probably weren't cheap. I assumed her family had money or she had a rich boyfriend or something. That was the year Anthony just out of the blue during some class announced that the Aztecs used to dig the hearts out of people. Andy (what we called him) was brighter than usual and we in the same class from third until we graduated on account of how they put the smartest all together was always a bit odd but by college he was a goner and got committed. The drugs he was doing didn't help and once he was committed the chemicals they used finished him off by the time he was thirty.

What?

Alright already. Like I said you spend that much to not educate them the least you can do is feed them. Maybe Jadarius can't read but he can install a Glock switch and burn a key fob and he won't be malnourished while he thuggin'.

Somebody gonna call me a racist. Go ahead - I'm not a racist I'm a realist. What color or sex a person is - or religion or sexual behavior - don't matter to me if you behavin' like and decent human being and observe Matthew 7:12. OK?

National stuff Jonestown paper gone about all propaganda. Dunno what war on LGBTQ+QWERTY she (presuming she because there a pic but with these people who can say?) is referring to - must be the one in her head. As the election of President Trump shows people are finally waking up and that's part of her problem with this piece. She seems to believe that social media (as if it is a single entity) should continue to censor common sense and decency and promote perversion. She laments Zuckerberg's back-pedaling and doesn't even mention X which is the center of the universe of socio-political discourse.












Sunday 23 February 2025 10:14:13 PM CST

I suspect everbody whether they admit it or not likes revenge stories real or fictional. Thing about fictional you can anything happen, kinda like comic books could have people with superpowers and magic and create all kinds of worlds just by being able to draw pictures. Revenge is something you need to be careful with though - carrying out retribution on people what hurt or kilt nice people ain't done them no harm ain't so much revenge as it it is retribution. Or justice. Bad people getting revenge on the people who justly put them away for thir crimes ain't so pretty and of course you glad when it fails. Funny how John Macdonald wrote both of those. OMWKTA is better than you might expect from the title. The blurb might have been written by John himself (dunno if it was): In just six days McAran tore apart the quiet world of Brook City. On the seventh he rested, waiting for the carnage that morning would bring.

Maybe I should have a weird news item occasionally. Rarely is there a shortage of material. Of course there's weird and then there's evil. Weird is killing people and eating them or parts of them and evil is letting them run loose afterwards. The name of the author caught my eye.

This is local. Yet another book about the West Memphis Three case. Guy was a lawyer for one of the three. I knew one of the other lawyers, guy about my age. Saw him on Jonestown TV (they had the trials in Jonestown) but haven't heard anything about him in a long time. Maybe he got run over by an ambulance that backed up suddenly. Gotta have at least a little respect for lawyers that can laugh at themselves.












Monday 24 February 2025 10:32:53 PM CST















































So in the morning your ship will be sailing Now that your father and sister are gone There is no reason for you to linger You're grieving deeply but still moving on You know the future is casting a shadow No one else sees it, but you know your fate Packing your bags, being slow and thorough Knowing, though you're late, that ship is sure to wait

Cassandra   Last name unknown. Age fourteen when rescued by Alex from the Zulu-6 detention facility. Does not speak, has no signs of physical injuries that would make speech impossible, it is believed mental trauma is the cause. Imprisoned, chained to a wall, repeatedly raped, beaten, and starved she was nearly insane when rescued. Refusing to be separated from Alex she accompanies him on all his missions. Has become proficient with firearms and knives and readily uses improvised weapons when necessary. Described as being able to kill without batting an eye and has done so on numerous occasions. Fiercely loyal to and protective of Alex. Five feet five inches, about 110 pounds. Slim, long black hair. May have some Hispanic ancestry. Favors small-framed .40 caliber pistols and 20-gauge shotguns. While capable of accurately shooting a 12-gauge from the hip due to the weight and recoil she prefers the lighter guns. Proficient at throwing knives, has had knife fighting training with noted League weapons masters.

Goldry Bluszco 1 hour ago He gets it exactly backward. Trump is putting the pieces back together and some people aren't gonna like what happens next. It was pittie one so wittie malcontent, leaving reason should to treason so be bent. Reply 994 [-) MAGA Hurtz 1 hour ago A realistic depiction would have Biden running away. Or stumbling away. @ "I should know better, but where's the fun in that?!" Reply #304] -) DePloraBelle 49 minutes ago Or Obama or Clinton. All three used the DOJ to suppress political dissent and hobble opponents. This time it failed bigly. What difference, at this point, does it make? Reply 834] -) Jessica Atreides Marshall 33 minutes ago If he's mad now wait until the investigations and prosecutions start. Even with all the pardons it's a target-rich environment. We have entered the time when all will turn against us and seek our lives. Reply 1 [-) Dotar Sojat 21 minutes ago The pardons have a positive side - the little fish that didn't get them will cheerfully squeal on their bosses. Jam a citizen of two worlds; Captain John Carter of Virginia, Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium Reply +104] -) Civil Whites 15 minutes ago L always ask are these jokers really that dumb and/or ill-informed or it just hate for conservatives? You have to be selectively blind or maybe they're just paid to product propaganda. I Would Rather Be Governed By the First 2,000 People in the Telephone Directory than by the Harvard University Faculty. — William F. Buckley Jr. Reply oGl-)

0502. Two hours? Wet out, take Scotty. Take it easy. Check the bag. M10 and a half dozen mags, ten M67s. Need more than that you screwed up somewhere. Put on the rig - pair of seven-inch 10mm Korsairs in vertical shoulder holsters with a pair of spare mags for each. A Stan Barkley kobun hanging upside down on the left side - a tanto with eight inches of hand- forged Damascus. What else? Pack of smokes, the gold tips. Might want to burn one of those before leaving. The two regular phones and a couple of throwaways. Commpad. Probably forgetting something but time to go. Scotty is a 1975 Chevy Scottsdale pickup, a lower trim level back then. Dad bought three of them, one for himself and one for Roger and one for the foreman. He bought a Caprice for Mom and a Camaro for kid sister Callie. Five or more got you a good deal buying and insuring. Thinking of Caroline still hurt. Mom too but it happens to some of us, Mom not yet fifty there some kinds of cancer they hadn't figured out much. But Callie wasn't even thirty when a drunk came out of the Number One Club outside of Hornerville at exactly the wrong time. It was easy to hate the drunk and be glad he died too but doesn't do anything for the pain. Lot of darkness in my life before I signed on for this. Maybe it's why I did. Time to go. Grab the bag and lock up. Call Angie. Hi lover, what's up?" Not something you'l like. I know I don't. "Charlie?" "Yep." Silence. She understands, maybe better than I do. Before the Storm (2022)

Reply + (G[-) Mandroid 58 minutes ago D@)ceE Does he know that DOGE isn't looking at citizens? Maybe, these people aren't very well informed and may believe whatever the state-run media tells them. It's the transactions between government agencies (something the public is entitled to see) and the various foreign and domestic enemies being financed with our taxes. Electric eye, in the sky, Feel my stare, always there, There's nothing you can do about it, Develop and expose, I feed upon your every thought, And so my power grows. Reply 1G Civil Whites 44 minutes ago Maybe he does and maybe he doesn't - as you say they're remarkably ignorant of facts. But what do facts matter when they don't advance the agenda? I Would Rather Be Governed By the First 2,000 People in the Telephone Directory than by the Harvard University Faculty. — William F. Buckley Jr. Reply +3 (4+ ]-) Jessica Atreides Marshall 32 minutes ago The knowledge of these types is pretty shallow. I suspect that however much or little they understand the only thing that matters is that their vision of the way things ought to be is in danger of being dismantled. We have entered the time when all will turn against us and seek our lives. Reply +4 Chemical Youth 24 minutes ago Actually there are some citizens involved - the politicians and their cronies benefiting from the graft. @ Some people are like Slinkies -- not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs. Reply HG Dotar Sojat 11 minutes ago They know they're in there and they're terrified. Jam a citizen of two worlds; Captain John Carter of Virginia, Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium Reply oG

Reply 43(4]-) Phantasm Lord of the Dead 1 hour ago What do tariffs have to do with affordable housing? Assuming there ever are any tariffs - these people should know Trump well enough by now to know he's just negotiating but grasp any straw. You play a good game, boy, but the game is finished. Now you die. Reply +9(+]-) Jessica Atreides Marshall + hour ago Affordable housing to Democrats is Section 8. The taxpayers are paying for it so who cares? Besides us doing the taxpaying. ® We have entered the time when all will turn against us and seek our lives. Reply +3 (4+]-) Belushi Speedball 49 minutes ago Might as well add afforable food (SNAP) and affordable medical care (Medicaid). Those who are inclined to suffer fools gladly should plan to spend a lot of time suffering. Reply 43(4]-) Terminus Est 33 minutes ago Losing is hard on these guys. Too clever is dumb. ~ Ogden Nash Reply 1Gl-)

Oscar moused and clicked for a few moments, opened a window showing a screenshot of the Knoxville News Sentinel website. 'Parkside Mall homicide victim was ISD agent', it proclaimed. "Amarillo called me not an hour after they found the body," said Oscar. "It probably would have waited until a decent hour if a security guard hadn't got curious about the car. Then, before it got into the regular news, we find out somebody decided to play Dirty Harry. You're both a little young to remember that. "Let me guess," he continued, "one or the other of you picked him up in a bar, like in the movie, got him to a good place to kill him. Not that a shopping center parking lot is a good place. Is that about it?" "Where would a good place be?" Sarah asked "A back street or a restaurant?" "You've got a point. And probably not knowing your way around Knoxville... you both live in Jonesboro?" They both nodded. Oscar moused and clicked and scrolled. "It was your brother, Sarah. And Alexis - Jeremy Hendrix was your significant other. They're running all that through their computers now, and their names will turn up. And yours. And since they're both dead, they'll be looking at next of kin. And significant others. "In fact they'll be looking at anyone even remotely likely to take umbrage at their little killing spree. But you two are very close. I'm surprised they're not already after you. "Or maybe they are. I'm going to alert Felix in Amarillo, have him put some eyes on you. It's likely you're on their radar. And forget about Crawford." Sarah and Alexis stood up. "No way," they both said at once. "Sit down," said Oscar. "Now isn't the right time." "They killed my brother," Sarah said. "And Alexis' fiance." "Hold on," said Oscar. "I said it isn't time...now. Let me finish.

Mack Bolan 1 hour ago As always facts don't matter. Trump never said Zelenskyy started it. Still an accurate depiction of the situation - Zelenskyy is out of options. How long it takes him to reach the acceptance stage depends but the end is near. For every action there is a reaction, for every good an evil, for every strength a weakness, and for every injustice there is somewhere a final justice. Reply 194 [-) Remo Williams 1 hour ago You could say (Trump didn't) that Z started it when he took the ticket and and was installed as boss. He was probably assured that with the NATO cabal backing him nothing could go wrong. It's gone seriously wrong now. That's the biz sweetheart. Reply +5(+]-) Civil Whites 52 minutes ago They tried to put a NATO state on his border - what did they expect? And then they used it for money laundering, arms trafficking, not to mention drugs and humans. Putin isn't a nice guy but he isn't that kind of evil. I Would Rather Be Governed By the First 2,000 People in the Telephone Directory than by the Harvard University Faculty. — William F. Buckley Jr. Reply +4 DePloraBelle 43 minutes ago The only possible fly in the ointment is the RINO senators who are benefiting financially. So far Trump has been able to keep them in line except the two wacko women from Maine and Alaska (they better be clean as a preacher's sheets) suggesting that he has them under control and they won't continue aid to Ukraine. With that gone it's over on whatever terms Trump and Putin come up with. What difference, at this point, does it make? Reply 2G[-) Rosetta Stoned 32 minutes ago Zelensky's future always depended upon the U.S. regime remaining in power. Assessments of his intelligence put him somewhere in the range as the Biden crew - average on a good day. In any case he should know by now even if only by Trump's track record that the war is about to end. How it ends for him depends on how soon he accepts reality. Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim. ~ George Santayana Reply HG