Jack Manassas and Company

 Unexpected Visitor  1.  The Oval Office “The price is up?  Good.  Sell 100,000 Trump coins....I don’t care if it drives the price down...Yes, follow the usual procedure.  If it goes to 50% or less, buy the 100,000 back at discount....  If it goes up high enough, do it again.  Pump and dump, my friend.  Pump and dump.” Donald hung up the phone, then straightened up.  The oval office was empty, but Donald felt that someone was staring at his back.   He whirled his chair around, and stared out the window.  It was an overcast day, though whether through the accumulation of storm clouds or wisps of smoke from Canadian wildfires, he could not say, and did not care.  His gaze wandered from the trees near the White House, across the South lawn, past the fountain.  On the other side of the iron fence, he could make out the figure of a tall, thin man, dressed in black, that appeared to be staring intently through the fenc...

 This photo, recently released, reveals the identity of the mysterious Reflecting Pool Slasher: Yes, that's a boxcutter in his right hand.  He knows he's breaking the law, and just doesn't care.... NEVER GIVE A BOX CUTTER TO A BIGFOOT!

 Today is July 4th, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the USA!  It reminds me, somehow, of the last time I was in New York City.  My wife had to go there for a national convention of Poison Control Centers, where she learned about Anthrax, and other global risks of Terrorism.  My son and I came along to see the sights of NYC, including the Statue of Liberty: I thought that the Shadow of Liberty was kind of interesting...,  and I got a good picture of the front of the Statue of Liberty on that March day: But my favorite picture was this one:  My take on it changes from time to time.  At first, I thought it represented the United States of America as holding up a light in a dark time.  It was not many years after the attack on the Twin Towers changed so many things in the USA, and globally.   Today, looking at the picture again, I see it as America going through a dark time, still trying to hold up the torch, and hopefully rea...

I really shouldn’t be telling you about this.  It’s probably top secret--But since it’s probably some other government’s secret, I guess it will be OK.   You know where the Donkey Hotel* is?  That place where old donkeys go to eat grass and live out their retirement years in peace?  That’s where it started, almost a month ago.  Bob Livingston* was taking the donkeys out to pasture that Sunday morning, when a black limo appeared, a black horse trailer in tow.  I say ‘appeared’ because Bob didn’t hear it drive up.  He was forking hay or something, looked down for a while, and when he looked up, there it was.  The trailer had some sort of gold emblem on the front.  Bob couldn’t quite make it out, and was squinting at it when he noticed three men in dark suits and sunglasses, standing a couple of meters away from him.   How they got there without him noticing, he couldn’t say, but there they were, just looking at him with their han...

In the darkening twilight, a lone individual  presses onward, ever onward, in a relentless search for fresh talent that has not been fired yet, nor driven into retirement.   He pauses for reflection, he pools his resources.  He knows he has a lot of green somewhere, but this can't be it.  He is hungry for something, on a never-ending search for...

 Generally, the new planter box was a big success!  The soil depth (about 18 inches) caused no problems, and even though the wire hardware-cloth lining the bottom was only overlapped with the sides, there was no evidence of moles or voles inside the planter box.  Deer stayed out-- Even the raccoons left it alone!   The tomatoes really took off, but they crowded into the front left corner of the planter box.  There are two fir trees to the South of the planter box-- I will have to see if I can get them removed before Spring.   Even with shading at the back of the box, I still got a fair yield of green beans, lettuce and kale, and a lot of Tulsi Basil! Time to stew the tomatoes-- Gotta go! ;-)