American Fraud -- Redo

The first family has been at the center of controversy since Obama appeared out of nowhere on the national scene in 2008 when he ran for President of the United States (POTUS). In spite of recent memes claiming that the first family is the epitome of class and style, the claim that it is nice not having the first family beset by constant scandals.

Uh, what!?

Scandal has marked every step of Obama's two terms in office. Obama has stated on camera that he knew about Fast & Furious and a revolving door of scandals when everyone else found out -- on the news. Despite being disingenuous, lying straight faced has been the hallmark of Obama's legacy and not the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare) that Pelosi famously jammed down congressional throats when she told lawmakers they would have to pass the bill to find out what was in it, a complete turnaround to Obama's promise that he "... [would] not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity review and comment on the White House website for five days." The 1500+ page Affordable Care Act was not posted online for the American public to review and comment on and was signed into law on March 23, 2009, barely two months after Obama took office. So much for transparency right out of the gate.

There is no need to go into all the scandals that have rocked the United States during Obama's term in office. I'll concentrate on the scandal that surrounds the First Family. Obama has yet, as far as I now, commented on this because it has not hit the mainstream media or the public at large yet, so how could Obama know? Get ready for the obligatory "I found out when everyone else found out about it in the news" statement from Obama that sounds as ubiquitous as Bill and Hillary Clinton claiming the scandal is the result of Republicans out to get them. Same drivel, different day.

While the public has lined up on both sides of the birther conspiracy that claims Obama was born in Kenya, no Hawaii, no Kenya, etc., Obama pointed to his long form Hawaiian birth certificate posted on the White House website as proof he was born in Hawaii.

Hawaii became a state in August 1959. There are many ways to obtain a Certificate of Live Birth in Hawaii, including having a notice published in the newspaper by a relative and having a birth certificate issued based on the relatives' statement. In fact, let me count the ways.

Obama was born August 4, 1961. The name on the birth certificate published online is Barack Hussein Obama II. The online version of the birth certificate is a fake, as is Obama's social security number, which was issued in 1924 to Jean Paul Ludwig who was born in France in 1890 and emigrated to the USA when he was issued his social security number, the same number that Obama has used (?) since on or about March 1977. There was no record of Ludwig's death and he collected no benefits, so the social security number was active and anyone with access to the information could borrow Ludwig's Connecticut issued social security number. The birther story goes . . . "Ludwig spent the final months of his life in Hawaii, where he died.  

Conveniently, Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, worked part-time in the Probate Office in the Honolulu Hawaii Courthouse, and therefore had access to the SSNs of deceased individuals.  

The Social Security Administration was never informed of Ludwig’s death, and because he never received Social Security benefits there were no benefits to stop and therefore, no questions were ever raised.  

The suspicion, of course, is that Dunham, knowing her grandson was not a U.S. citizen, either because he was born in Kenya or became a citizen of Indonesia upon his adoption by Lolo Soetoro, simply scoured the probate records until she found someone who died who was not receiving Social Security benefits, and selected Mr. Ludwig's Connecticut SSN for Obama.  

Though there is certainly more to the story, and definitely more to the obvious fraud, where Obama was born is not really the issue. I believe that Obama was born in Washington State where Stanley Ann Dunham was attending the university there, but in 1960 and not 1961 as claimed on the forgery posted on the WhiteHouse.gov website. Both of Obama's parents were American citizens, but Obama was not legitimate and that is where history becomes very interesting. The fiction of Obama's "father" was meant to keep the American public divided and focused on a non-issue so they missed what was really going on. Are you ready for some sleuthing? 

Over the past 8 years, I have followed the birther controversy, changing my views several times as I read and researched more. The most outlandish version claimed that Stanley Ann Dunham got pregnant with Malcolm X's love child, was reluctant to reveal the child's father's name and chose Kenyan exchange student, Barack Hussein Obama, to marry her and give Malcolm X's unborn child his name. Obama, Sr. would get in return a visa that would allow him to remain in the US longer as the husband of an American citizen. The story appealed to me on several levels, but I quickly dismissed it because why would anyone hide being the son of Malcolm X? Both parents were American citizens, though Malcolm X would disagree that he was a citizen since he was still the victim of having Plymouth Rock land on him. 

Malcolm X married Betty Sanders in Lansing, Michigan on January 14, 1958 and so was unavailable to give Dunham's illegitimate child his name. However Dunham and Malcolm X might have met, I doubt Malcolm X would have been so promiscuous as to get involved with an 18-year-old ingenue from Hawaii and allow her to have his child without being involved, except as a sperm donor. Then again, maybe I am giving Malcolm X too much credit for being an honorable and moral man. As far as I was concerned, the story had too much Harlequin Romance and not enough evidence, long on circumstantial gossip and short on verifiable facts. I did, however, not discount the unwed mother angle barely escaped a similar fate. 

The back and forth of the birthers and Obama Choir (born in Hawaii vs. born in Kenya) didn't really interest me as much as the historical implications of Dunham's marriage to the Kenyan Obama. In 1961, Kenya was still a British colony until 1963 and Obama was a British citizen. The US Constitution states that only a natural born citizen could run for president, much to Alexander Hamilton's distress since he was not born on American soil. 

John McCain had to supply his birth certificate to the Secretary of State and Congress because he was born in Panama, specifically at Coco Solo Naval Base in the Canal Zone, which was a U. S. protectorate. Both of McCain's parents were born in America and his father served in the U. S. Navy. Though born on American soil to American parents, there was still an issue of whether the treaty with Panama and being born in the Canal Zone gave McCain natural born status. There was the question of whether McCain would be considered legally a "natural born citizen," a point which has come up several times in the last century with other presidential candidates, like Goldwater who was born in the Arizona territory (not a state) and Romney who was born in Mexico. Since neither won the point is moot. McCain's situation was different, the child of a naval officer stationed in US territory, which was deemed sufficient evidence of being a natural born citizen. 

Less time and attention was given to Obama over this same issue and thus the controversy of where Obama was born, in Hawaii or in Kenya. I read a legal argument that put Obama out of the running because Obama, Sr. was a British citizen and therefore ineligible because of the War of 1812 when British naval officers were press ganging American citizens into the British navy because Great Britain still considered the colonists of the once British Empire British citizens and not citizens of the newly fledged United States of America. Obama, Sr.'s status as a British citizen ruled his son out no matter Dunham's status as a US Citizen as a natural born citizen. In fact, Hillary Clinton took a little trip to the United Kingdom to check out their historical records as to Obama, Sr.'s citizenship. She would have discovered as I did that Obama, Sr. was a British citizen and that made Obama, Jr. ineligible by the 1812 legal precedent. 

To be honest, since the U. S. courts cannot figure out the meaning of "natural born citizen" as stated in the U. S. Constitution, far be it for me to define what has tied up legal scholars for decades. 

In the end, it does not really matter what Obama, Sr.'s citizenship is because Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. is not Obama's biological father, and we are right back to the illegitimate question of Obama's birth. As with everything related to Obama's past history and legal documentation, I will have to rely on educated guesses since no DNA evidence has ever been collected and likely will not be collected at this late date. As an artist and a student of history and medicine, I will rely on the evidence of my eyes and background to guide me here. 

One of the Dunhams' close friends was well known communist, Frank Davis Marshall. Obama mentions spending summers with Marshall as a teenager. The Dunhams were also communists and Stanley Ann knew Marshall very well since he was a frequent visitor in their home in Hawaii. 

If we go back to Washington State to when Dunham attended university after graduation, it is quite possible she was indeed pregnant, but not with Malcolm X's child. She was pregnant by Frank Davis Marshall and her pregnancy was covered up, as pregnancies in the 1960s invariably were, by sending Stanley Ann to Washington to have her illegitimate baby. She returned to Hawaii and enrolled in college where she met Obama, Sr. and married him on February 4, 1961, supposedly three months pregnant, giving birth to Obama, Jr. August 4, 1961. The other possibility is that Stanley Ann met Obama, Sr. in college but was already three months pregnant and made a deal with Obama, Sr. to marry her and give her child, Marshall's child, a name. In return, he would gain citizenship through his marriage and be able to stay in the US longer as the spouse of an American citizen and the father of her child. Being a communist at that point (Obama's political views were determined by which politics would benefit him the most), he would have been grateful for the association. There is also the possibility that, as has been suggested, Marshall raped the under aged Stanley Ann, and asked Obama, Sr. to help her out. 

Since Obama, Sr. was already married, his marriage to Dunham was not legal and may have been the reason Obama, Sr. returned to Kenya. Photos of Marshall show a marked resemblance to Obama, Jr. 

Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. and Jr.

Obama and Frank Davis Marshall






Whether Marshall raped Dunham (or was guilty of statutory rape) or not, it was necessary to hide Obama's parentage. If Dunham's parents were aware of the deception before or after the fact, the truth is and has been hidden. If Marshall is indeed Obama's biological father, his status as a US citizen is no longer in question, as long as you don't count being adopted by Lolo Soetoro (Dunham's second husband) and being a citizen of Indonesia as relevant. Whatever the case, Obama returned to the US as a foreign student and received aid as a foreign student long enough to satisfy the residence status requirements.

The next fraud perpetrated by Obama is whether or not Malia and Sasha are his biological children. If conspiracy theorists are to be believed, and as Joan Rivers claimed shortly before her death, Michelle is transgender, born a man and underwent sexual reassignment surgery to become a woman, and therefore unable to bear children as she would not have a uterus or ovaries. Her biology would have come with a penis and testes, which would have made her unable to give birth, though would have been ideal to satisfy her husband's same sex tendencies. The Obama marriage under those conditions, same sex union, would have not been legal in Illinois until June 1, 2014, which would make Malia and Sasha, if the biological progeny of either Obama or Michelle by a surrogate mother, illegitimate.

Michelle said her obstetrician in Chicago was Dr. Anita Blanchard, though no record of either Malia or Sasha's birth can be found with or without Dr. Blanchard's signature as the doctor of record who delivered them. I am not convinced that Michelle is a transgender female, but after seeing photos of Dr. Blanchard and her husband, I am convinced that they are the biological parents of both girls.











Dr. Anita Blanchard and Martin Nesbitt are close friends of the Obamas.

The surprising part is not how close the Nesbitts are to the Obamas, but how much they resemble the Obama girls: Malia and Sasha.

You can really which couple the girls look like in this most recent picture. It's not Barack or Michelle. (click to resize)

It is obvious to me that Malia resembles Martin Nesbitt and Sasha looks very much like Dr. Blanchard. I suppose it is possible that Michelle gave birth to Malia after getting pregnant by Nesbitt and that Dr. Blanchard gave birth to Sasha after having an affair with Obama, but I seriously doubt that even the Obamas would have considered that option when they dreamed up their stories.

What it all boils down to is that the Obamas, for whatever reason, have perpetrated the greatest American Fraud in history, bigger than J. Edgar Hoover trolling the streets dressed as a woman, a very ugly woman in my estimation. This is bigger than Franklin Delano Roosevelt hiding the fact that he had been crippled by polio by getting around New York City by a specially built subway system so no one would see him in his wheelchair. FDR wanted people to think of him as still a healthy and vibrant man and not a cripple whereas the Obamas' only motive is to bilk the United States and the American public with their 8-year-old comedy of errors as they parade around the world portraying the perfect First Family while Obama guts the United States and brings the US to its knees financially, politically, and strength-wise, fulfilling Barack Obama, Sr.'s dream of bringing down the biggest and most powerful country in the world.

Forget the international apology tour that Obama went on during his 8 years in office or that he has been selling the man-made climate change policy while stalling oil drilling and transportation in the United States to keep the Arab countries which rely on oil to keep their countries and their wealth intact. Forget the abortion of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and forget the myriad ways Obama has divided the country, aided and abetted illegal immigration, bypassed Congress by the artful flourish of his Executive Pen, and beggared the American taxpayer with his socialist/communist agenda. Focus on what is right in front of your eyes and what DNA tests would reveal . . . Obama and his family are frauds, the greatest American Fraud ever perpetrated.

It has been proven by experts in court that Obama's birth certificate displayed on the WhiteHouse.gov website is a forgery created online and does not exist in any legal sense. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how that fraud will be explained to the American people when it becomes widespread public knowledge when the Mainstream Media is allowed to report it. Obama didn't know anything about it until he heard it on the news. Since he didn't know about it or forge the document himself, he will walk away unscathed. The Obama Choir will sing the song of how Obama has been targeted by Republicans. He learned the song from the Clintons who have been singing the same song since 1992. Don't expect the truth. You won't find it from the Obamas or anyone else connected with the Obamas. All you have to rely on is what you see right in front of you.

Talk to an artist and s/he will explain in detail how Malia and Sasha resemble the Nesbitts and not the Obamas. Search the public geneaological records as so many before you have done and you will find no record of either girl's birth certificate. The Hawaiian official who died tragically in a helicopter accident might have explained how there is no record of Obama's birth in the archives because he wasn't born in Hawaii in 1961. You might find Obama's birth certificate in Washington State if you knew what name Stanley Ann Dunham had given as her own and what she had named her illegitimate son, but you can be sure it was not Barack Hussein Obama until Obama, Sr. agreed to the deal he made with the Dunhams to hide the truth.

Whatever you choose to believe, keep looking for the truth and don't accept the stories you have been told. They are all lies. Figure it out for yourself. Refuse to fall in line with the Democratic party line. Wake up and smell the burning coffee, but do not drink the Kool-Aid. That is your only hope. You asked for change and you got it. Too bad it wasn't the change you expected.

That's is all. Disperse.

Review: The Bastard's Grimoire

An evil wizard turns Casper Namlos into the hell version of a father of bastards. In short, the ill favored runt uses his bull-sized propagator to fill prostitutes with babies that burst their way out of the mothers' bodies moments after being plowed in much the same way the movie Alien far before movies or John Hurt's encounter with a predatory alien on some far flung planet in search of the next corporate payday. Joseph Hirsch begins his tale of raising Satan and his minions with a bloody battle between pirates and the defenders of a zollschloss (Bavarian castle) full of every bit of research the author gleaned in preparing for this fantasy. Like many authors unwilling to waste hours of research about the architecture of medieval castles, Hirsch sends an avalanche of the tiniest architectural feature of the castle on top of the avalanche of the technical aspects of pirate attacks without so much as a clue about how that fits into the advertised story.

After three chapters of information overload without a nod in the direction of the story of the bastard, Casper Namlos's connection with the murderous and greedy pirates, how Namlos ended up imprisoned in a barrel lined up to have his head chopped off by a giant, dipped in Greek fire, and flung into the castle courtyard, or how a mermaid came to be part of the cargo imprisoned in barrels, Hirsch finally ends up in a house of prostitution run by the mother inferior (Mother Superior), which puts the whole "Get thee to a nunnery" line from Hamlet into perspective, where the eldest bastard lusts after one of the prostitutes candle girls with big breasts and not much else to call an asset.

Once the story finally gets moving, the bastard, who hunts moss to caulk the leaking ships in port on his off hours and dreams of the dwarf who will be his future master and take him sailing the fjords and oceans, protects the bawdy house and watches the girls, Lyudmilla the object of his lust, from between the daub and wattle walls. Casper Namlos arrives at the door and pays the Abbess in silver ingots for one of the candle girls' time as long as it is in the basement, fills the girl with his abundant seed, and slips away as a demon bursts from her body to be killed by the bastard with one of the Abbess's dead husband's magic sword, saving the bawdy house, the girls, and the other younger bastards from death or worse.

The Bastard's Grimoire is a disjointed, confusing, and sometimes interesting tale of evil and magic and eventually love, though what the reader would consider the main characters make brief surprise appearances with few connections to each other -- or to the reader. What story there is -- and that is very slow going and sparse -- is readable, but only just. Without sufficient backstory, Hirsch's novel is one step above an unconnected collection of anecdotes that are somehow connected. Being written partially in German and that German not part of the mainstream canon slows the book farther and muddies the narrative waters.

The bastard -- and there is no clear indication if that is Namlos or Martin Stolzer the virgin bastard of the bawdy house -- possesses no grimoire and, other than the prodigious propagator on Namlos and Martin's relationship with Lyudmilla and the dwarf (a rock head who got away from the endless toil of hewing and shaping rock for the town cathedral to become an illuminator of religious texts in a monastery) little more is known. There is Martin's penchant for unter dem pantoffel (under the slipper which is German for the more modern pussy whipped), his virginity, and his friendship with the dwarf that render him moderately interesting. Not much more can be said for the novel or Hirsch.

Though I give The Bastard's Grimoire 3/5 stars for the few readable parts of the fantasy, I would suggest reading the novel for yourself and judge accordingly. One reader's dissatisfaction is another reader's potential favorite -- or might be in any case. Keep a German to English (or whatever language) dictionary at hand. You'll need it to understand much of the story, which is long on mystery and information dumps on zollschloss architecture and short on everything else that makes a good story, including characters, motivations, and grimoires, though full of bastards.

That is all. Disperse.

Review: Wolf Hollow

I read a sneak preview of Wolf Hollow and I was not impressed. Even so, something about the book stayed with me, nagging at the edge of my thoughts, until I bought a copy and finished reading it yesterday. I was impressed by the book.

Annabelle and her brothers travel from their grandparents' farm where she and her family live through the woods surrounding Wolf Hollow where previous generations of farmers in the area dug pits and baited them with poison to kill the wolves plaguing the region. The woods around the path are dark and full of shadows, the shadow of wolves prowling long ago and the shadow of an incorrigible girl sent to live with her grandparents nearby. Wolves come in the four-legged and the two-legged variety and Betty was a two-legged wolf.

Incorrigible is a pale word, a safe word to describe a predator and predator may be a little too strong to describe a girl who delights in bullying anyone -- and everyone -- she considers vulnerable. Betty thought she rendered Annabelle vulnerable by threatening Henry and James, Annabelle's younger brothers. That worked for a while. Annabelle offered Betty a penny that Betty threw away because a penny was not good enough. Betty expected more from someone who had as much as Annabelle did. Betty demanded something more, something substantial, and Annabelle would get it or her brothers would suffer.

Betty made good on her threat by seducing Henry and James close to her to pet the bunny she found. The boys were delighted, petting the wild bunny in Betty's life, a bunny she controlled with her fingers around its fragile neck. Annabelle shooed the boys off to school and faced the bully who responded by slowly squeezing the life from the bunny and throwing it down at Annabelle's feet. There was no doubt that Betty would hurt Henry and James if Annabelle didn't find something to placate Betty.

Every lie Annabelle told her parents about her day from the first encounter with Betty demonstrated how far off the path she had wandered. Betty got worse with each day. Annabelle wasn't alone, not since Tobias told her he'd seen everything when he gave the tossed aside penny back. When Ruth, Annabelle's best friend, was blinded by a rock thrown at a local German farmer Betty blamed Tobias and Tobias took the blame for the wire stretched across the path that could have killed Annabelle's brother instead of cutting his forehead open. The lies and the danger increased, not only to Annabelle, but to Toby because he was alone, a casualty of World War I wandering about the area carrying three rifles strapped to his back, taking photos with a camera that belonged to Annabelle's mother, and living rough in a converted smokehouse. Betty claimed she was afraid of Toby and Toby was following her, and then Betty goes missing.

Wolf Hollow is as much about the power of lies as it is about the courage of a 12-year-old girl in standing up for a neighbor when the adults have already judged someone guilty. Lauren Wolk takes her time building the background for her coming of age story, illuminating the times and the characters in shadows and light, giving the reader time to get invested in the outcome. Even when Betty's guilt is apparent, Wolk allows Annabelle's feelings for Betty change and mature as Annabelle steps in to protect Toby. It is not only Betty's bullying that takes center stage, but Annabelle's strength and her relationships with her family and her friends that truly stand at the heart of a childish conflict that quickly escalates to affect the world where Wolf Hollow's history and presence remains. Wolf Hollow is a complex and deeply texture tale of truth and lies and how lies can quickly become a truth that can destroy as well as explain. 5/5 stars. Don't let the slow beginning fool you; there is plentiful meat on these bones.

That is all. Disperse.

Serious Leaks

 Huma's Sep 3, 2016, Emailed Letter to her brother, Hassan

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Presumedly, Huma's emailed letter was part of the 650,000. Per SuperStation95, this is a "leak" by the NYPD.

This is not a WikiLeaks release -- and nor has it been shown on mainstream news outlets, such as CNN or any other Mainstream Media news outlet ().

So I don't vouch for its reliability. That doesn't mean it's not reliable, but it does mean there is no confirmation yet. It is what it is, as they say.

Here's the relevant portion of the SuperStation95 article:

----------------------------------

NYPD Won't Abide FBI/DOJ Corruption

Acting on a complaint, the New York Police Department began investigating former US Congressman Anthony Weiner on alelgations he was "sexting" a 15 year old girl in North Carolina. Weiner is the estranged husband of close Hillary Clinton aide, Huma Abedin.

The Special Victims Unit (SVU) obtained a search warrant and seized Weiner's laptop computer.

Upon examination NYPD found a trove of 662,000 e-mails showing Weiner engaged in all sorts of sexual activities via the Internet.

Within that pile of e-mails were about 11,000 which bore the addresses of "state.gov" meaning the US State Department. Among those State Dept. e-mails were some items marked "Classified" and others marked "Top Secret." The NYPD then contacted the FBI, concerning these State.gov emails and the Bureau has since re-opened its investigation into Hillary Clinton.

The emails were forwarded by Huma Abedin from her secure US State Department e-mail address, to her non-secure Yahoo.com email address. But unknown to Abedin, her un-secure Yahoo account and other personal email accounts, were programmed to "synch" to computers at home. One of the computers at home which was part of that synch process was Anthony Weiner's laptop. So Weiner's laptop got all the state department emails, and all the emails his wife Huma sent / received involving anyone else!
NYPD made clear they would not sit-idly-by and allow the information in these emails to be "buried." They made clear there were terrible crimes evidenced in those emails, and the Department expected very prompt action by the FBI in securing Indictments of Hillary Clinton and others. NYPD warned the federal government that if timely Indictments of Hillary Clinton and here co-conspirators were not forthcoming, the NYPD would release information on its own about some of the things contained on that Laptop.

NYPD gave the laptop to the FBI on October 3. Today is November 6 and the feds have now announced they will not charge Hillary Clinton.

It seems the NYPD appears to be proceeding with "leaks" of its own.

According to SuperStation95 sources in New York, below is purported to be an e-mail from Huma Abedin to her brother, from less than two months ago, seized from Anthony Weiner's laptop:

>> ON SEPTEMBER 03, 2016 AT 8:57 PM. HUMA ABEDIN @YAHOO.COM WROTE:
>> SORRY FOR MY LATE REPLY, HASSAN. YES, LET ME
>> TELL YOU ABOUT HER. THE WOMAN IS SO ODD, SO STARVED FOR
>> VALIDATION, SO TORMENTED AND VAIN IT IS A CONSTANT
>> SURPRISE TO ME THAT ANYONE TAKES HER SERIOUSLY.
>> EVERYONE ON THE TEAM KNOWS HOW UNWELL SHE IS, BUT
>> THEY’RE MORE DETERMINED THAN EVER TO SEE HER WIN. THIS
>> WOMAN THAT HAS A DOZEN SEIZURES A DAY. THIS GODLESS
>> SHRIEKING MALCONTENT PASSED OUT IN HER MEDICAL VAN.
>> THIS WALKING CADAVER. SHE’S NONFUNCTIONAL. HASSAN,
>> NOBODY CARES. WE SOBER HER UP FOR SPEECHES AND
>> INDULGE THE PRESS CORPS WITH CHEAP SENTIMENT. THE FIRST
>> FEMALE PRESIDENT. THE LAST GLASS CEILING, ETC. THEY TRIP
>> OVER THEMSELVES LINING UP BEHIND HER. SURELY THEY KNOW
>> IT IS NOT HER THEY’RE GETTING. IT’S THE ONE IN THE CORNER,>> THE QUIET HELPER, YOUR SISTER HUMA. YOU ASKED ME ONCE
>> HOW I DID IT. HOW DID I TAKE THE CASTLE? HASSAN, I DIDN’T
>> TAKE IT, THEY GAVE IT TO ME. YES, THERE WAS A COST. I WILL
>> ADMIT, SUBJECTING MYSELF TO AW AND WJC
>> IS MORTAL TORTURE. BUT I DO IT
>> GLADLY, BROTHER, EVERYTHING THEY ASK OF ME, HOWEVER
>> SICK AND DEPRAVED. I DO IT, AND I SMILE, REJOICING AT THE
>> THOUGHT OF WHOSE GLORY I SERVE.

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the email above "AW" is likely meaning Anthony Weiner, and "WJC" is likely meaning William Jefferson Clinton

FBI Announces NO CHARGES for Hillary in "new" E-mail Investigation! Now E-mail "Leaks" from Anthony Weiner Laptop begin from NYC

Review: The Bear and the Nightingale

Russian fairy/folk tales are not all about Baba Yaga. The Russian steppes are full of spirits and beings at peace with the people and waiting for the right opportunity to feed on fear and repay with fire and ice.

Vasilisa Petrovna is the last child born of a line that began with a ragged commoner who appeared out of the woods and ended up in the royal family. One of her daughters became the wife of a northern boyar and gave him three strong sons and a beautiful daughter who had none of the gifts their grandmother passed on, at least not until the winter when she tells her husband she is determined to give birth to the child she carries, the last child. Vasilisa's mother fulfills her promise to her beloved husband that she will see the child born, entrusting her other children to her old nurse, Dunya, and to her husband.

It takes Vladmirivich four years of Vasya's wildness before he travels to Moscow to marry once again. Anna Ivanovna is a fearful, and some say mad, wisp of a wife who gives her husband a pale but beautiful daughter and brings a proud monk determined to make his mark in the northern wilderness. Instead, the monk, a gifted artist dedicated to God and painting icons, brings fear and sows the seeds that will bring fire and death.

Vasya sees and knows the domovoi, the household spirits that protect her father's home, land, and animals. Anna Ivanovna sees the spirits as well. She is after all a child of the wild, ragged commoner that was mother to Vasya's mother as well. Anna, however, is a devout Christian and has always been afraid of the demons she sees while Vasya, an ugly frog of a child, feeds and cares for the household spirits. It is Vasilisa Petrovna's gifts that make the people under the monk's control believe she is a witch and haunts the monk's dreams and will lead to a confrontation with the Midwinter King, Frost, and the bear that feeds on fear and brings fire and death.

The tales of Baba Yaga were some of my favorite stories growing up, so it was with relish I dove into Katherine Arden's novel rooted in Russian folk tales. The Bear and the Nightingale is a departure from western fairy tales and rooted in traditions that few westerners know or have heard. That does not diminish their power or their magical fascination. The frozen reaches of northern Russia are full of magic and conflict that have yet to be thoroughly plumbed, let alone scratched. Arden's story of upyry, domovoi, and the life of early Rus' while still under Mongol control is bright and magical. The landscape is a world of the seen and unseen, a world far from the centers of power where new gods struggle to replace the old golds and where the old gods still inhabit the minds and hearts of the people.

The Bear and the Nightingale is as much a tale of magic as it is a treatise on the clash of beliefs, the magician offering change in much the same way as the magician offered new lamps for old to capture the power of Aladdin's lamp. Vasya shares her food and her strength with the fading household spirits to stand on the side of tradition. The Midwinter King foresaw Vasilisa Petrovna's importance in the coming struggle when he made her father promise to give her the amulet, his bride gift. Arden's novel is the discovery of the Arkenstone among a dragon's hoard easily worth 5/5 stars.

That is all. Disperse.

Review: The Return of Sir Percival

The legends of King Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, and the knights of the round table have all been written. The cast of characters was set long ago and so has their rise and their fall. The promise that King Arthur will come again when there is great need is a promise as old as the legends of Merlin and his powers until now. Camlann was not the end of Arthur or his knights or the enduring legacy of chivalry and adventure nor are the legends entombed with Arthur on the Blessed Isle or with Merlin locked away in the tree where Nimue bound him at Morgana le Fey's behest. There is more yet to be told.

We are all familiar with the story of how Mordred broke the fellowship of the Round Table and how Guinevere took her vows and remains a nun in the service of God while Lancelot roams the world in search of the Holy Grail ever out of his reach as he does eternal penance. The table was broken and all that remains are legends about the nine ladies who escorted King Arthur to rest on the Isle of Avalon and bright Excalibur returned to the Lady of the Lake. All that remains is shadow and the dream of Camelot and, according to S. Alexander O'Keefe, The Return of Sir Percival who was sent on a quest to find the Holy Grail.

In O'Keefe's version of the end of Albion, Sir Percival returns to England after ten years a man seeking the peace and comfort of home without the Grail. Sir Percival knows that the Round Table and King Arthur are no more. All is gone and he missed his chance to fight alongside King Arthur and die protecting his king. He failed his king and returns a changed man, scarred in pursuit of his quest and even more devout in his faith than when he left.

Sir Percival brings a companion, a black warrior, Capussa, the likes of which no one in Albion has ever seen. Expecting peace and quiet, Sir Percival instead finds Saxon and Norse raiders preying on the people and peace and quiet must be won by force of arms even as they cross the channel. Sir Percival's battle is not yet over. He must free the land of invaders and Queen Guinevere in exile in the Abbey Cwm Hir and restore the queen to her throne. The journey he intended to finish in quiet retirement still has long to go before he lays down his arms.

It didn't take long to put aside all I thought I knew of the Arthurian legends set in stone as I began to follow O'Keefe's vision of life after Camelot. At first I was disconcerted and unwilling to accept this new version of the gilded dream of Camelot, Arthur, and Guinevere. Disappointment quickly gave way to growing excitement as I followed Sir Percival's path. I enjoyed Capussa's bluff and ready wit and Sir Percival's economic dispatch of the Saxon marauders. Morgana, I soon learned, was not Arthur's half sister, but a Roman sorceress from Constantinople sent to plunder Albion of its silver for Roman coffers and the people to feed the slave markets of the Empire. Merlin, also of Rome, had disappeared and Morgana was not the only one intent on discover where he had gone to ground after Camlann.

One knight remained, Sir Gawain, hidden by black armor and in forced service to Morgana, her war master. How had a knight of Arthur's round table come to ally himself with the king's greatest enemy? So much was changed, and not for the worse.

O'Keefe's vision of Albion after the fall of Camelot is truly unique, not only in the retelling, but in what happens after the fall of the Once and Future King and his company. Guinevere is no longer the unfaithful wife of Arthur nor Lancelot her lover, having betrayed Arthur and forfeiting his honor. The tragic tale of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot is quite different from what has been accepted as the thread of truth in the legend and rendered in new colors with a very different and promising future.

Guinevere is a queen in exile attended by two women, a wild young noblewoman not too shy to speak her mind and an aging nun. She rules her kingdom through a bishop stealing from her to enrich himself. King Arthur's wife died in childbirth and the king's marriage to Guinevere was a political alliance. Lancelot is a proud knight jealous of his fame, a bit of a taskmaster and Gawain a handsome womanizer often drunk. Only Percival seems true to the legends but only because not much was written about him. He is young, a proven general, who taught the peasants to fight in the Roman manner, and who it turns out is secretly in love with Guinevere, as was Gawain.

The battles and character of the rest of Camelot's denizens take on a wholly different aspect and are richly described in this new version and may more closely resemble the history of the time and place where the man who becomes the Arthur of legend actually lived. The Return of Sir Percival gives new life and a brighter prospect to the legend that is a delight for romantics and students of battle tactics and warfare. O'Keefe has even imagined a greater destiny for the Grail and a story that adds texture and depth. The Return of Sir Percival is well written and well imagined, peopled with nuanced characters and set squarely within the history of the struggle for Britain's identity. A solid effort that adds luster to the Arthurian legends to delight a whole new generation of followers, 5/5 stars.

That is all. Disperse.

Review: Shadows of the Stone Benders

Anlon Cully is a scientist who, with his partners, turned environmental science into a fortune, retiring to the quiet and relative anonymity of a small community at Lake Tahoe. His peaceful retirement will end shortly when his archaeologist uncle dies and Anlon must go back when he is made executor of his uncle's will. He inherits his uncle's home, his collection of artifacts, and the opportunity to follow his uncle in death.

This first book of the Anlon Cully Chronicles outlines a reality that is far outside of the accepted history and archaeological proof of mankind. If that isn't shock enough to the academic view of humanity's evolution, following the trail of greed and murder will keep you off balance.

As an adherent of forbidden archaeology, I found the premise of K. Patrick Donoghue's new series seductive. I was not disappointed . . . mostly. Donoghue's pace is almost glacial at times even with new revelations in most of the chapters, but a foundation must be laid first. At least, that is how I consoled myself as I soldiered on. For me, the tantalizing trail was littered with too many speed bumps, a problem that was solved, at least in part, as the book neared completion. All the clues came together at last and so many dangling threads were connected. Good thing since I was almost ready to give up and delete the book from my Kindle. The conclusion of the story was not as satisfying as I had hoped as more unsolved mysteries were revealed. All good series must have a central theme to connect all the books, but are usually handled more deftly than Donoghue did.

Maybe that is my unsatisfied curiosity talking as much as my irritation at being left hanging until the next book is released.

Another problem with Shadows of the Stone Benders is grammar. I would suggest Donoghue brush up on the basics of sentence structure in order to keep readers from stumbling so frequently. A good copy editor is a necessary expense. The writing would be clearer for a start.

In spite of the technical issues, the characters in the book are well crafted, complex, and entertaining on so many levels. My issues with the way the book proceeds may not be someone else's as I have more background and experience in alternative history and archaeology than the average reader. I enjoyed sharing Anlon's story and his mystery and look forward to the next book. Definitely 4/5 stars. There is room for improvement.

That is all. Disperse.

Review: The Populist Explosion

Like many of you I thought when a new President of the United States was elected that would be the end of the constant barrage of campaign news and the recriminations, back biting, and attack ads. I was wrong.

Hillary's loss has become every United States citizen's problem because we failed to elect a woman, because we failed to hand the country over to the Democrats and their agenda lock, stock, and barrel, and because politicians of Republican and Democratic stripe do not understand why Donald Trump won. The mainstream media keep their corporate microscopes trained on Trump and Obama and the rioting and unrest while the public outcry of racists, xenophobes, anti-Muslim, anti-gay, anti-Hillary echo day and night. Protesters scream that Trump is not their President, the election was rigged, Hillary was robbed and reporters hype their anguish and rage, determinedly throwing gasoline and napalm on the fires where Trump is burned in effigy. None of them realize what has happened or why and most give in to their fear -- and their jubilation -- of the return of fascism and Nazi rule. Nothing could be further from the reality of what ended with Trump's election.

Had they read John B. Judis's The Populist Explosion they would know what happened and what is currently happening all over Europe as candidates like Trump step to the forefront of the rising tide of a populist movement that started around 1928 and has grown with greater force with every passing year.

Whatever your political affiliations, I recommend The Populist Explosion not only for its detailed examination of the rising populism but also because Populism and Fascism are not even close cousins in the political arena here in the United States or in Europe as Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders, and other populist leaders repudiate their roots and embrace the 21st century embodiment of the politics of the disenfranchised, dispossessed, nationalist middle class.

Hitler's brand of nationalism was colonialism, fascism with the ultimate goal of expanding Germany's borders, digging out from under the war reparations demanded of Germany at the end of World War I, and bringing back a sense of dignity and hope in the wake of the rising tide of communism. Franco in Spain and Mussolini in Italy followed suit determined to stamp out the communist menace that threatened their countries and their people. Since the Russian revolution, communism was spreading like a poisonous weed through Europe and Hitler was determined to halt the spread. Judis details the roots of populism and its spread from the United States, South America, and throughout Europe. The Populist Explosion answers all the questions of how and why Nationalism is gaining support and spreading into the enlightened, politically correct world of the European Union and the stated goal of a world with no borders and one government under one leader. Populism, and the modern version of Nationalism, is not Fascism nor do populist leaders want to expand their influence or their borders. What Le Pen, Wilders, and Trump want, and what their growing number of followers, the members of the ever shrinking middle class, is sovereignty, to maintain their countries' social, cultural, and economic identities and protect their borders from the massive immigration of aliens determined to destroy national identity and remake host countries in their own image, an image that is bent on destroying the cultural and social identity of the host governments.

Judis's clear prose and carefully researched history make The Populist Movement a must-read resource that will open your eyes and delineate not a return to the old world of intolerance and hate, but a new world where national pride and a stable, productive economy is the goal where the middle class is resurrected, revitalized, and renewed. I give the book 5/5 stars and suggest you read it twice and share it with everyone you meet.

That is all. Disperse.

The Rise of Nationalism

What we have here is a failure to communicate. We are speaking the same language, but the need to keep from falling into the PC pit to get an important point across has resulted in mental and verbal contortions that would try the abilities of the best acrobat -- and politician.

The point is the growing populist movement, a movement that is equated with nationalism, xenophobia, religious intolerance, and fascism. That is where language fails us as it will always fail us after being filtered through the fine mesh of Political Correctness. Every word is suspect. Every motive a leap backward to the bad old days of Hitler, Stalin, Il Duce, and Franco of Spain. The Left points fingers at the Conservative Right who are busily distancing themselves from the painful onus of the Ku Klux Klan and the segregationist and racist policies of the Good Old South. Just a hint of the return to the bloody burning old days and the politically correct neo-progressive left wing riot, burn, loot, and crawl into their safe spaces to hug a puppy and while away the unthinkable hours with Play-Doh and coloring books while Barney videos sing a happy inclusive song in the background.

The National Front and Marine Le Pen of France, Nigel Farage of Britain, and Donald Trump have one thing in common and it isn't xenophobia, religious intolerance, or fascism. What they have in common is their nationalism, their strong feelings for the middle and lower classes and the protection of their national identity. And that is where the conversation ends. The neo-progressive Left, the socialist and communist factions, and the conservative religious Right begin howling for Nationalist Blood, having worked so hard to come this far only to be destroyed, undermined, and sold for a return to a forgotten bloody age.

That is what happens when the ruling classes from all ideologies refuse to listen and do not -- cannot -- understand when large numbers of their constituencies follow these nationalists like rats following the Pied Piper.

There are economic issues to consider, but at the heart of the economic meltdown and defection is the immigrant problem. Pointing to the hordes of Muslim immigrants only brings out the blinders and ear plugs while the entrenched political parties try to drown out the sound of xenophobia and religious intolerance by singing lalalalalalalalalalala at the top of their voices, making it impossible to listen, let alone hear, what these nationalists are saying.

The world equates nationalism with fascism and could not be farther from the truth. Nationalism, and populism, has nothing to do with the expansionist goals of fascism still doing their best to extend their borders and influence. Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage, and Donald J. Trump don't want more land or more power. They want to keep their borders strong and their sense of identity as French, British, and American intact. The immigration of Muslims is the problem, not because of their religion as such, but because of their refusal to integrate into the host countries.

It was easy to assimilate the Amish and the Mennonites. They were religious separatists who wanted nothing to do with the outside world, the English as the Amish term all those who are not part of the Amish beliefs and practices. The Amish and Mennonites deal with outsiders, but they do so in a peaceful manner. Neither the Amish nor the Mennonites want the rest of the country, or the world, to convert to their beliefs. The Amish and Mennonites want to practice their religious beliefs in peace away from the world.

Secular Jews assimilated into their host countries, going to temple and mingling with host countries where they immigrated, having been driven out or voluntarily leaving one step ahead of the latest Progrom or train ride to a concentration camp to either work until they died or were gassed, robbed, and burned. The workers were piled into mass graves after everything of value was stripped from them, dead and alive. Secular Jews kept a low profile to avoid further depredations.

Orthodox Jews were also hounded out of their homes by Pogroms and gassed with their secular brethren and sisters, worked to death, and fled to wherever they could find space. Orthodox Jews also maintain their religious identities separate from their host countries, refusing to assimilate, gathering together in separate communities. Though Orthodox Jews are also separatists, they have no desire to interfere with the laws and customs of host countries keeping themselves to themselves and doing so peacefully.

Muslims fall into two categories: the ones that assimilate and the separatists gathering in closed communities and refusing to assimilate. Islamic refusal to assimilate is rooted in jihad and the goal, like the New World Order, of a global Caliphate where Shari'a law is the only rule and all apostates and unbelievers either convert or die. And therein lies the problem -- the refusal to assimilate and their demand that they be given all the protections and social perks of the host country. Call it what you will -- religious extremism, jihad, separatism, ghettoism -- these immigrant hordes look more like locusts than migrants looking for a new home, a new country where they will belong. Their only agenda is the same as it has been since the 7th century: expand the global Caliphate and convert or behead all infidels and apostates.

In Spain, secular Muslims, migrated up from the Middle East and Africa and Turkey. There were the inevitable fiery and bloody clashes between Muslims and Christians determined to maintain their way of life and their religious national identity, but secular Muslims did become part of Spain and the Spanish identity, sharing their knowledge and architecture, enriching the indigenous culture. Secular Muslims came together with the Spanish people under the banner of Don Diego de Bivar, El Cid, when marauding Islamic jihadists swarmed into Spain from Africa intent on beheading the peaceful Muslims and the Christians. Neither were acceptable as they cut a bloody swath through Africa and into Spain. The jihadist's one rule was convert or die. The Spanish Muslims and the Spaniard forces under the leadership of El Cid beat back the jihadists together.

It is no different today. Islamic jihadists like a marauding horde of locusts swarm throughout Europe demanding to remain separate in their communities and over burdening social programs with further demands that they be given their share of the social pie while maintaining Shari'a law and terrorizing the people of their host countries. Like week-old fish and guests that stay too long, the Muslim immigrants who refuse to assimilate and become French or Dutch or German, etc., they have outstayed their welcome. The presence is a constant reminder of the danger they pose, not only to the collapse of social programs, but to the lives, well being, and safety of the people of their host countries. Islamic separatists do not want to become a part of the host country, they want what they have always wanted . . . to convert or destroy everything and everyone around them just like locusts. Their expansionist agenda is the danger, not the desire of the people put at risk by their ravenous appetite for more, more, and even more.

Unemployment rates continue to rise. Economies are melting down. The people feel less safe and secure. Social programs are stretched far beyond their capacity. Health care is deteriorating. The global Caliphate must be made a reality and no one, no government, no laws, no national identity, nothing must stand in the way of the sweeping Islamic jihad. But how can we tell the Islamic jihadists, the religious extremists from the peaceful secular Muslims?

We cannot.

Even though the current neo-progressive left agenda is the New World Order, a global government under one leader with one religion and one monetary system of exchange, the Left's agenda is not compatible with the global Caliphate. The agendas are the same, but the end result is diametrically opposed and their methods are vastly different. The NWO has worked in secret, infiltrating countries slowly as the doctrine of One World-One Government-No Borders worms its way into the minds and hearts of the people through their leaders. Socialism was the first step. The European Union was the next step. The NWO's plans for the abolishment of borders and national identities have hit a snag as nationalist/populist leaders push back with the force of an awakened dragon aware of what their sleep has cost them and continues to cost.

Something has to go. The destruction of what it means to be French or American or Italian, Greek, and British will not be taken lying down. The people are pushing back. The people will not go quietly into that oblivion. Le Pen, Farage, Wilders, and Trump rose from the background to stand up and give the people a voice and the people are flocking to them in ever rising numbers, and even against their own distaste for the perceived negative views of nationalism, which is still too close to fascism for them. The people are not xenophobic or intolerant, but the are tired of watching their future go up in smoke or die in a hail of Islamic jihadist bullets while they gasp out their last breath. The people could see the need for affordable and universal health care, the safety net of social programs that grew out of the end of World War II, and the possibility of a better life, a better future for their children, but not at the expense of marauding hordes of Muslims that drive the minimum wage down, take away jobs, demand their share of the social safety net, and destroy the freedom and safety of their towns, cities, and country in their ghettos.

America isn't the only country facing illegal immigration nor is it the only country suffering the wholesale abandonment of wealthy corporations and jobs drip, drip, dripping away. Granted, Muslim immigration, and illegal immigration, have crippled America and many European countries, but they are only a part of the problem. Their determination to take over and eradicate all opposition is a big part of the problem, but the real problem is much more complex and far reaching.

Securing national borders and rebuilding infrastructure and bringing back jobs, stemming the rising tide of unemployment, must begin somewhere, so why not begin with the obvious obvious problem first and end Muslim integration and the violence they bring with them?

If Islamic jihadists refuse to assimilate their host country and be part of the solution, then Islamic jihadists must be stopped and must go. National identities must be preserved and protected first, politically correct neo-progressives be damned. Let them howl at the perceptions of xenophobia, religious intolerance, and fascism. It was the neo-progressives that helped create the problem and they can muck in with the rest of their disenfranchised brothers and sisters and help fix the problem. If they won't help, then they can get out of the way. Nationalists want to protect their national identity. They do not want to expand their borders and take over anywhere but at home. That is what Le Pen, Wilders, Farage, Trump and every other populist leader have been saying and why the people are willing to ignore what they think they know nationalism is and embrace the people willing to listen to their concerns and do something about it.

We have more to worry about with Islamic Nationalism because it is fascism, invasion and expansion of Shari'a Law and the Islamic religion at the cost of everyone, everything, and every country in its wake. That is the fascism the neo-progressives should be paying attention to instead of pandering to.

That is all. Disperse.

She Asked For It

It's not always about what you see, it's about what you do about it that counts. 

Follow the link and read it for yourself. It's important to know what's behind the words and what really matters when push comes to shove. Then make your decision.

That is all. Disperse.

Review: The Jekyll Revelation

The title drew me first, as I am sure it seduces everyone who has read or knows story of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There is also the added draw, for me as well as others, of a link between Whitechapel, Jack the Ripper, Jekyll, and Hyde. Who has not imagined Robert Louis Stevenson's tale of the heights and depths of which man is capable is a direct link to the murders that continue to horrify us? The detectives of the newly formed Scotland Yard considered Stevenson and the American actor, Richard Mansfield, as suspects. Only a mind so deranged and lost to decency could conjure the fiend, Edward Hyde, and a man steeped in vice like Mansfield could believably portray a doctor willing to severe his soul's evil. If only Bram Stoker, the theater manager where Mansfield became Mr. Hyde every night, had written Dracula around the time of Jack's bloody rampage through Whitechapel in 1888 then Inspector Abberline would have had yet another opportunity to unmask Jack and end the brutal murders. All these machinations and connections are features of a journey into the abyss in Robert Masello's hands.

The Jekyll Revelation has more to offer than speculations about Jack the Ripper and Robert Louis Stevenson's part during those dark times in London. Man's evil is not confined to Whitechapel or the waning days of the 19th century. Evil continues and keeps pace in Topanga Canyon in California where Rafe tags and studies coyotes and their habits during the continuing drought devastating the land. From the rapidly disappearing waters of a lake in the canyon, an old green steamer trunk emerges and inside among the moldering remains of a gentleman's clothes, Rafe finds a diary, the ink faded and barely readable, and a flask in a locked box. The memories are those of Robert Louis Stevenson and tell the story of Stevenson's illness, trek to the snow-bound Alps in Switzerland where he sought a cure for his weak lungs, and the emergence of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson documented some of his works (Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Master of Ballantrae) as well as the brownies that inhabited his sleeping mind.

Life often mirrors art, yet seldom in the exact same manner. Chapter by chapter, Rafe follows where the trail leads, in the past and the present, where he finds clues to unmasking a century-old serial killer and sets the stage for his own nightmare of meth, a motorcycle gang, and a coward ready to tear his life apart.

Masello's prose is tight and clean, but, like many writers, he gives too little space to the women that share the tale. The female characters are written well enough, but seem less substantial than the men who create and perpetuate the murder and mayhem in 1888 and the present. Rafe's guilt is as superficial as the inclusion of the female characters. Even Rafe's outrage is about as believable as Constance Wooldridge's fall from grace. In short, the actions fall short of the mark. The emotions of the villains and the heroes pale in comparison to the rich and varied nuances of the twinned stories as a whole. I imagine a list of the elements of storytelling Masello ticks off one by one, superficially grazing the surface of what could have and should have been a tale to stand proudly alongside the classics. Even though the depth mirrors the level of the shrinking mountain lake, The Jekyll Revelation is riveting and memorable, worth 4/5 stars in my estimation. Masello is a writer worth following.

Review: Day Shift by Charlaine Harris

Manfred Bernardo, Midnight resident psychic, has gone to Dallas for a few days to do personal readings. He has a suite in a pricey hotel. One of his favorite clients, Rachel, a wealthy woman who comes to Manfred to connect with her recently dead husband, Morton, dies just as Morton comes through and touches his wife's fingertips. Manfred sees Rachel let go of her earthly form gladly follow. Could the day get any worse?

Not unless you consider the murder and suicide of the couple Manfred saw in the dining room the night before with Olivia. Three deaths in the same hotel in the same day will not look good to the police -- and it doesn't.

Reporters lay siege to Manfred's house, disturbing the usually quiet Midnight. Now that the old hotel has been renovated and 4 senior citizens are living their full time, supposedly waiting for a spot to open up in a nearby senior community.  The Rev takes in a young boy of about 8 whose appearance changes daily.  His rapid maturation has not gone unnoticed as one of the new residents from the Midnight Hotel stops by Fiji's to let her know he and the ladies noticed. Joe Strong tells Fiji someone needs to get rid of the extra attention before the next full moon.

After Barry the Bellhop arrives in town, he brings the solution, but not without the promise of more trouble.  His grandfather, Shorty, was moved from his Las Vegas to the hotel with the other three senior citizens. As always, nothing remains quiet for long in Midnight and Fiji, Olivia, and Manfred will have to sort it out.

The Midnight series has three books in the series so far. Day Shift is the second in Charlaine Harris's latest supernatural series. It seldom takes long before Charlaine drops a series and moves on to the next supernatural venue, I don't hold out much hope anything will change, not even with the new NBC series, Midnight, Texas debuting in 2017. At least, Barry the Bellhop and Quinn, characters from the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries, add a bit of spice to the life in Midnight with a promise of more trouble to follow.

Once again, I have been drawn in Charlaine's storytelling and her ability to show how easy it is to slip over the line into the supernatural with her. Although the NBC series will be bloodier and scarier, there is no end to the mysteries found in Midnight. The only denizen of this haven not present is resident vampire, Lemuel Bridger, who is tracking down someone to help him translate some of the books Bobo Winthrop stored away. No doubt Lemuel will be back in time for the Night Shift.  

Charlaine Harris's cozy mysteries spins a nepotistic web between all of her supernatural southern stories. The storytelling shares the seductive quality of many southern tales, treating the strange and supernatural as nothing out of the ordinary. The veil between the mundane and the special is thinnest the South. Manfred mentions Sookie Stackhouse when Olivia discovers Barry is reading her mind. Midnight, Texas it seems is not so far removed from Bon Temps, Louisiana after all. In the end, Midnight's denizens welcomes a new resident who adds a special touch to the neighborhood. Definitely 4/5 stars for Day Shift because I know I won't get to visit Midnight for long. At least I have another piece to the puzzle that is Olivia.

Where is Obama Now?

Obama has been selling man-made climate change for the past 8 years and claiming climate change is behind the fighting in Syria and the reason for hordes of Syrian immigrants (most of whom are not from Syria or women and children) rampaging across Europe. In the 7th century and during the Dark Ages, the immigrants raging throughout Europe were Muslim jihadists as the Ottoman Empire spread death and chaos in order to convert Christians, Jews, and pagans to Islam. The same force still spreads death and war throughout the war, not for the Ottoman Empire, but in the name of the Islamic State and for the same reason: Death to infidels. The infidels are everyone who refuses to bow to Allah and the Islamic jihad.

Climate change is the boondoggle Obama, as the front man for the Global Elite, has been selling for the New World Order, a world with no boundaries governed by one man, one religion, and one world. Even Pope Francis has been selling a world without boundaries, but Pope Francis believes the one religion will be the Roman Catholic Church while Obama may be pushing Islam. There's no telling with Obama since he lies with pathologic regularity -- about everything, especially climate change.

There is climate change, and some of it is man made, but it is not the result of SUVs and cars and buses and planes. The Pacific Ocean is dying and heating up because of the 9.0 earthquake that rocked Fukushima, Japan and caused a nuclear meltdown from the power plants along the fault line that have been spilling radioactive waste into the ocean and killing marine life every day for the past 4 years.

In what has been called an extinction level accident that includes the entire Pacific Ocean in the Ring of Fire, radioactive waste from Fukushima has killed, and keeps killing, everything from plankton and krill to the larger animals that depend on both for food. The tuna and salmon wild caught from the Pacific are full of radioactive waste and the unexplained deaths of walrus and seal communities up and down the west coast of the Americas are a direct result of thousands of tons of radioactive waste spewing from Fukushima that are also heating up the oceans.

The most I've seen and heard about this disaster and its implications for the planet are in brief side notes in the mainstream media, which is why I go to the alternative media for the facts and honest reporting.

While Obama continues touring with his man-made climate change as a result of too many cars and fossil fuels, he seems to have left out the Fukushima disaster that has been destroying the Pacific Ocean and killing all life within it's reach, and the radioactive waste has a very wide reach as can be seen in the above diagram.

The worst part of this news isn't that the facts have been somehow missed in the mainstream media reports over the past 4 years and from Obama's climate change spiel is that the Japanese government knows that it does not have the technology to repair the damage to the power plants or to this planet's oceans and the lives lost. And no one is talking about it. Not Obama. Not the prime ministers of the world's governments. Not the European Union. Not Pope Francis. Not anyone except for the report linked above.

The continuing Fukushima disaster affects every government, every country, and every person, plant, and life on this planet and no one has the tools to repair the damage. By the time the tools and technology are available, there won't be a planet or a life left to save and no one to laugh at Obama and the man-made climate change scientists that continue to blame the undocumented and unproven rise in global temperatures.

Don't worry about World War III and who will drop the nuclear bomb that will begin a nuclear holocaust. We're dying now and have been dying by inches for 4 years as raw radioactive waste has daily poured into the Pacific Ocean.

That is all. Disperse.

Review: Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris

After the disappointing and out of character ending of the Sookie Stackhouse series and being left hanging with Charlaine Harris's other two short-lived series, I swore would never read another Harris book. Then I saw the trailer for a new series set in Midnight, Texas and was hooked. Maybe, I thought, this time the series will last longer than 3 books.

That is the problem with Charlaine Harris. She draws me in with complex characters, hooks me with interesting relationships, and leaves me hanging when she moves on to new characters, new situations, and the same provocative come hither sideshow buildup only to be let down again and again. Sookie Stackhouse was different in that the series had a much longer and more fascinating life. Charlaine let me down (let all her readers down) when it became clear she was no longer interested in Sookie, the vampires, or the were creatures and was only phoning it in. The ending to Sookie's story was a let down and the last couple of books the characters were not acting like themselves like a lover hot one minute and frigid in the end.

Here I am into the second book in the Midnight Texas series, Midnight Crossroad and I can already see the hook and know without doubt that I will be left hanging again. Maybe not since the books have sparked a new TV series that feels different from the life of Manfred Bernardo and his new neighbors on Witch Light Road. There is a vampire working the night shift at the local pawn shop who has a mysterious girlfriend who might be a high class traveling hooker or a mercenary assassin and a tall, blonde, and handsome guy left in the lurch when his new girlfriend walked out on him 2 months ago. A witch and her marmalade cat live across the road next door to a dark and silent reverend who tends to the burials of pets in his back yard and performs a 3 or 4 weddings a year in his bare living room chapel. A father, daughter, and son own the Gas 'n Go down the road near the diner where a statuesque beauty, her handyman husband, and baby son offer home-cooked meals. Chuy and Joe Strong own the antique store and beauty salon where they live with their dog.

Into this tight knit community comes psychic, Manfred Bernardo, who conducts his business online and fits right into the neighborhood. The background and characters are pure Charlaine Harris and seductively readable. If Charlaine's past series are anything to go by, I have already been set up and will once again find myself down when she moves on to a new neighborhood and denizens with their own affinity for living on the boundary between reality and the supernatural.

The mystery that drives Midnight Crossroad is Bobo's missing girlfriend. Aubrey walked away one day and never came back. She left all her things 2 months ago. Bobo boxed everything up and stacked them in the pawn shop's store room and still grieves for her. No one has come looking for her, although Bobo reported her missing to the police a week after she disappeared. She was still missing until the day of the neighborhood picnic up at Cold Rock when Fiji follows her nose to the remains of the girlfriend still wearing her expensive sneakers.

The police are called and the local militia group, Stronghold, come to Midnight to serve their own brand of justice for the death of one of their own. Bobo was already in their crosshairs because his grandfather's cache of weapons, ammunition, and bombs should not be left to a left wing liberal not willing to put all that firepower to use for the coming redneck revolution. In the coming months when Texas secedes from the United States, the members of Stronghold will fire the first shot and lead the charge.

On thing I have learned over the years is that you cannot escape your true nature -- or your past. Nature is inherent and the past always comes back to haunt you no matter where or how far you run. I hope Charlaine will find a neighborhood on the edge of the supernatural that appeals to her long enough to keep her interested and that she will not walk away and leave with nothing but an occasional mention in another new town. I hope Charlaine Harris hangs around Midnight, Texas for a while and does not get too bored with Manfred and his new supernatural friendly neighbors.

I give Midnight Crossroad 4/5 stars for well written prose and a fascinating story that kept me guessing almost to the end. I took off 1 star because I already see the writing on the wall.

Check out the book trailer and keep an eye out for the new TV series.  And, yes, Francois Arnaud, who played Cesare Borgia on the Showtime series, The Borgias, was part of the reason I gave Charlaine Harris one more chance. I'm a sucker for a good story and Charlaine writes memorable stories.

Review: Forsaken Skies by D. Nolan Clark

Forget what you know about science fiction writing. Do not expect the usual tropes. What hides within the pages of Forsaken Skies is not what you have come to expect of science fiction stories. D. Nolan Clark gives you an exciting chase at the beginning and then drops you onto a poly space station servicing the usual travelers, freight, and soldiers on their way to wars or stopping on their way from a war. That is where the story stalls and where I almost gave up on Clark's tale.

The chase was exciting -- a battle hardened pilot chasing down a kid fleeing from a murder in an expensive racing yacht nearly colliding with an automated container ship hauling . . . passengers? From that point the story gets weirder and boring. What could I expect from the commander of a space station who never gets out of his space suit or lowers his helmet? Or an elder from a breakaway group and her aspirant coming to meet a con man intending to fleece them of four years of improvements for their desolate planet? Or a marine who used to be a pilot afraid to fly? Or even an ace turned con man to pay off his debts? Forget about the rich kid in the pricey yacht or the 300-year-old pilot turned rich man's bodyguard and his ex-second in command who redirects a wing of Navy planes for a fool's errand. You won't get the real story unless you can get through the sketchy details about characters who seem to be cut from substandard literary cloth. Clark has buried the lead so far down the wormhole it will take determination and curiosity greater than Pandora's to get to the whole point of Forsaken Skies so why bother?

I bothered because not because I enjoy the minute details of hard science fiction, but because I wanted to give Clark a chance to show me something worth my time.

And he did.

It took two-thirds of the book to get to it. It was almost worth plodding through the dross to find the Arkenstone of Clark's series.

Forsaken Skies earned 4/5 stars for taking so long to get to the meat. The other four stars are because the meat was worth the trek as the characters earn their salt in their corporate monopoly (hence poly) control by reducing humanity to the bottom line of a balance sheet. Even heroism counts only if it is profitable. An old campaigner like Aleister Lanoe had to fight for a cause he finally believed in by riding to the rescue of an impoverished elder of a barren planet nearly killed by a wealthy kid fleeing the murder of his father in Daddy's private racing yacht.

D. Nolan Clark may start a trend with his storytelling. All told, Forsaken Skies was worth digging to the heart of the mountain for the payoff. In the end, I liked Lanoe's worthy cause. At least it didn't take me 300 years to share it with Lanoe.

Review: Deadlight Jack by Mark Onspaugh

From the Pacific Northwest to the Louisiana bayou, Mark Onspaugh's latest tale begins with 4-year-old George Watters and ends with Tlingit-Inuit Shaman Jimmy Kalmaku, ghosts, revenants, and all the horrors that Professor Foxfire musters against the 70-year-old Jimmy and George. Professor Foxfire is only one of the many names of the nightmare that is Deadlight Jack who lures children away from their families to feed the swamp lights and Jack.

George Watters lost his father in World War II and then very soon after lost his grandfather. That was when Deadlight Jack first appeared to lure 4-year-old Georgie Porgie pudding and pie away from his family and into the swamps of bayou. If not for George's grandfather, George would have been lost to his mother and brother to provide a tasty meal for Jack. George's mother and his aunt got in Jack's way and, with George's grandfather, drove Jack and his green and yellow will o' the wisp lights back into the shadows. Jack would not be held off forever, not with such a one as Georgie Porgie nearly within his grasp.

Seventy-year-old George Watters is a wise-cracking, smart-mouthed jokester given to teasing Jimmy Kalmaku with every Indian reference he can remember -- and George remembers a lot. For all the ribbing and jokes, George and Jimmy are close friends. They have already defeated the Faceless One who nearly destroyed a family and dragged Jimmy and George into the abyss for good measure. Jimmy has a wild talent and is a favorite of the Trickster, Raven of Tlingit legends. Being a favorite of the gods is a heavy burden to bear, one Jimmy is used to. George is no unwelcome passenger on the journey into the darkness and neither are strangers to the unseen world. George and Jimmy are friends and comrades in arms, though neither are ready for the journey that will lead them into George's forgotten and tumultuous family troubles when George's grandson, Donny, disappears while on a camping trip in Louisiana.

Jimmy prepares to visit his son's family to celebrate his granddaughter Molly's birthday in Boston when the calls come. Donny reaches out and shatters George's dreams with his terror and fear. Jimmy is visited by Dabo Muu, another messenger from the unseen world, in a vision that sends both friends far from their home on 152nd Street. When Jimmy calls Molly to explain he will not be there for her birthday, Molly tells her grandfather he will need to help George and that she will help as she can. Molly shares the wild talent with her grandfather, unknown to her parents, and Raven has also enlisted Molly in his service.

The journey into George's past and his family troubles is no picnic, but neither is the task of finding Donny and defeating Deadlight Jack, especially when the energies that Jimmy knows best will be of little help so far from his cooler northwestern home. The real journey is still ahead as George is confronted with a past he cannot remember and a daughter who is still angry that George was never there for her.

In creating a world where two men of different backgrounds and cultures become so intimately entangled, Mark Onspaugh illuminates the good and the bad in his characters. The world George and Jimmy inhabit is as rich and complex as the Louisiana bayous where much of the action takes place. The cover of Deadlight Jack is a pleasant fantasy beside the horror and evil unleashed on an unsuspecting world going back centuries and rooted in the myths and legends of a much darker past than the average person realizes or is willing to see. All of the characters, from George's bitter eldest daughter to delightfully precocious Molly are revelations. Jimmy's shamanic heritage and George's amazing gifts are the heart of gold at the core of this dark and bloody tale of the world that marches beside the reality most people are willing and able to see. Strength and magic blossom in the most wonderful and unexpected ways. I cannot wait to read what else Onspaugh has written and has yet in store for the future of this mismatched and ultimately wonderful pair of modern wizards.

5 stars and I only with the scale went up to 10. A rich and satisfying journey that awakens an unforgettable magic in all of us to follow an unlikely pair of friends into the shadows where evil dwells.