Overheard at the Counter: Some Scribbles

 Scribbles

2025-0504
#Erotica280 #1212 Response
    She wrote a poem
    and he wrote a reponse
    
    Their words danced
    and swayed

    back and forth
    step by step

    hand in hand
    across the room

    of negative space
    infinite wireless
    connections
    
#Erotica280 #1218 Xanadu

On her couch, some clothes unbuttoned,
she asked me what I thought of Xanadu.

So I told her of her pleasure domes
and fertile grounds,
to be watered by sacred rivers
blossom those incense bearing trees!

and she
said, “I mean the Olivia Newton-John movie.
I’m in an 80s mood.”

Well, I thought,
as I looked for it on Prime,
at least she wasn’t talking about
that god-awful Rush song.






#horrorprompt 1812 Game

“It’s just a GAME!” Artichokie said
as he brought the bat down on the man’s head.
“Why do you keep shouting at Aiden?”

“I’m … I’m sorry!” said the man,
holding up a hand,
begging him to stop.

Another crack, across the jaw.
Teeth flew against the basement wall.

“Every game!  You tell  your son
to run.  Run here!  Run there!  What the hell
Aiden, you scream, Get your head in the game!

Well, Carver, is YOUR head in the game NOW?”

The bat came down
again
and again

but Carver didn’t respond.
He didn’t hold up a hand
begging to stop.
Carver was out.

He would never yell at Aiden
again






#horrorprompt 1811 Bone Cracker

At Fort McCoy, they were getting ready
for the orders to move on Chicago.

Clear out the sanctuary city.

They knew they’d face some pushback,
so they painted names on their tanks,
names like:

Tianenmen
Bone Cracker
Matamojados







#horrorprompt 1810 Electrode

As they put the electrodes on my skull,
I knew that they were going to change my
brainwaves.  They said they were just going
to test my sleep patters, but I knew they were
up to much, much more, but still
my wife held my hand and said it was going to be
ok and I wanted to make her happy and now
I’m awake and she’s not around and they are
telling me that she died years ago but
they were wrong she was
JUST
HERE



#horrorprompt 1809 Drill

The last thing I remember was them putting the drill against my kneecap but I didn’t have anything to tell them that I hadn’t already told them but now I know that it was never about knowledge or information it was only about pain and they destroyed me for no other reason that that they could

Overheard at Booth 2: Notes from my Interview with Artichokie

Notes:

 

He didn't look like I had expected him to look.  Yes, I know he has a passing resemblance to Jackie Earle Haley, and that the actor has already been approached for a biopic loosely based on the killings committed by Arthur James Choake, and I had also reviewed all the recordings of the trial, seen every picture taken of him online, and still, he was a surprise.  

He is, in his own way, I suppose you would say, charming.  Not the sort of thing you'd expect from a man who is on Oklahoma's Death Row for the brutal murder of 13 people ... and possibly 34 others.  He had a smile that didn't seem one meant to impress or disarm, but one that genuinely seemed to be happy to have someone to talk to.  

I have talked with others who have interviewed serial killers and other murderers, who tell me that often these people want to talk, but always want to control the conversation.  Even though they have been rightfully convicted of their crimes, they always know details that no one else knows, and they hold on to that knowledge because it gives them a sense of power.  At the same time, they want you to know that they have this, because they know that the public (you/me/all of us) want to know their hidden secrets, however mundane.

While Choake, who also goes by the nickname Artichokie, definitely has that (I mean, he has only hinted at the additional 34 but has not given any concrete evidence) but he also seemed to genuinely want to talk to me.   He said he'd heard my podcast "Deacon" (I don't know how he'd heard it, being on Oklahoma's Death Row, and I don't want to ask any deeper because frankly I don't want him to have that access stopped).  Apparently that's why he wanted to do an interview with me.

...

Of course, I'm not going to jump right in to the murders (although I probably could have, because he's already well-known for liking to talk about the ones he's already been found guilty of). Having that as the first round of questions just seemed kind of vulgar, and part of my reason for being here is because we are told by God to visit those in prison, and that's what I was doing here.  So, was visiting Artichokie in a way, selfish of me?  I suppose it might be.  But then, aren't we all selfish in a way?  Such as the way that he won't talk about the 34 plus murders that we know he's probably committed?

But I started off with, of all things, current events.  The big one for March of 2025.

"So, what do you think of Trump and Musk and Making America Great Again?"

To be honest, the instant it left my lips, I thought it sounded stupid.  But it was too late.  It was out there.

He said, "Revelation 13 seems like a good possibility."

I quickly thought over that.  I didn't have my phone with me.  That had been left at the front desk.  All I had was a paper and pen.  He wouldn't even see me with a recorder, he said, on this meeting.

So I fought back through memory.  "The woman and the dragon?"

"Close," he said.  "That's Chapter 12.   I'm talking about the Beast and the Dragon.   They are both now in control of America."

"That's weird.  For some reason I wouldn't have thought you'd call Trump the Beast."

"Why wouldn't you think that?"

 "Well, I mean ... you're a Christian."

 "I don't follow false prophets.  And being a true Christian means you know how to spot the AntiChrist."

"So," I said, because I honestly hadn't thought of this before, "are you a Democrat or a Republican?"

"Son," he said, "that's like asking me if I'm a Moabite or an Ammonite.  Both are enemies of the People of God and both were born of the sin of incest."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overheard at Booth 2: Cutting Costs

How is he getting away with all this?

Because in America, we have been taught to bow to the rich.

 

 

 

https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-power-tested-accomplished-last-week-cut-costs-2035106 

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/federal-workers-confront-mass-confusion-musks-deadline-list-119113319?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

 https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-power-tested-accomplished-last-week-cut-costs-2035106 

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/13/g-s1-48571/trump-administration-order-400-million-worth-of-armored-teslas

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/24/nx-s1-5305269/tesla-state-department-elon-musk-trump?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

 

Overheard at Table 1: The Purge of America

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5109360-doj-fires-prosecutors-who-worked-on-trump-criminal-cases/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/us/politics/justice-department-firings-trump-jack-smith.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/27/trump-justice-department-jack-smith-officials-fired/77978912007/

Overheard at Booth 1: Muzzling the Medicals

M: Did you hear that they're cutting funding to NIH?

C: Good!

M: How can you say that?

C: You don't know!  I know!  I work at the University and you don't know what they do to the animals there ... they have dogs in cages, monkeys that they separate from their mothers just to see how they'll react, rabbits that they pour chemicals in their eyes just to study what medicines they can make.  All that is from Federal grant money, but YOU!  You think that it's all about cancer research.  Well, they already have a cure for cancer but they won't let anybody know because cancer is such a big industry, so yeah, they SHOULD cut off all the funding to ALL scientists until they can figure out what's really helpful and what's not.

M: Wow.  That's a lot to unpack there.

C: You should pay more attention to what's happening instead of being such a Leftist with your head in the sand thinking everyone is so goody-goody!

https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-hits-nih-devastating-freezes-meetings-travel-communications-and-hiring

 

https://www.statnews.com/2025/01/22/trump-administration-orders-health-communications-pause-cdc-hhs-fda/ 

https://www.statnews.com/2025/01/23/ice-hospitals-citizenship-status-undocumented-workers-health-care/

Overheard at Table 3: Well, Now ...

Well, they now have the White House, SCOTUS, and both houses of Congress.  How will they ever blame their failure on the Democrats?

Oh I'm sure they'll find a way.

Overheard at Table 3: Today's News

Some chatter on social media is saying that other states are sending their militias to Texas' southern border to fight against the Feds.

Unconfirmed, but most likely true in some fashion or other.

Heard on NPR that Mitch McConnell has told the Senate Republicans not to vote on any resolution for funding the government that Trump doesn't approve of.

This means no aid to Ukraine unless more funding for the Border.

Interesting to note several items:

1) Trump is not in government.  There is ZERO reason to kowtow to him.

2) McConnell, in 2008, the moment Obama won the election, brought together a group of Republicans and stated that the Senate's only goal was to make Obama a one-term President.  Therefore, McConnell knows full well that the Senate (and indeed, all Congress) has the power to stop the President at every turn.  There is ZERO reason to kowtow to Trump.  No logical reason whatsoever.

 The only reason that makes any sense is that they are not really working for Trump, but for the powers that are behind Trump.

 

Overheard at Table 1: 2024 - American Purge

Going to call this year "American Purge"

As of this date, 23rd of January, Texas Governor Greg Abbott told the Texas Military to deny the US Border Patrol access to the region.

the Supreme Court ruled that it is Constitutional Law that the the Border Patrol have access to the region to cut the wire.

Today, Abbott ordered the Texas Military to defy the SCOTUS ruling and continue to put up razor wire.

In defiance of Constitutional authority.

So ... in short - the argument against immigrants is that "they are coming here illegally and we are a nation of laws"

Yet, when the third co-equal branch of government rules that THIS is the law, because anti-immigrants don't LIKE the law, they will IGNORE the law.

The only logical conclusion is that this is NOT about legality.

It is about humanity.

It is about who we consider "worthy" and who we do not consider "worthy"