Tuesday 28 May 2024 13:28:21 1716488901

Jonestown paper fixed a couple of goofs, got another dumb Trump-basher cartoon and a link to a syndicated nutjob. Whatever. Lessee, Jonesbororightnow has an amusing bit about a guy who seems to think the way I do.

What else? Well, the telly folks don't have this one yet and may not, ya never know. I look in on the Memphis scene occasionally since they write about Left Memphis a lot. Helena-West-Helena is in NEA so here we go:

...it states that the city council determined that Mayor Franklin has recorded, published and disseminated a derogatory Facebook Live video in which he tells his adult daughter and adult niece to 'Eat his **** and made other foul-mouthed statements using what they describe as a 'litany of profanity and antagonistic language.'

It adds that the video of Mayor Franklin is 'prurient, grotesque, misogynistic, narcissistic, nauseating and in no wise expressive of all the people of our city (Helena-West Helena).' (WREG-TV)

Mmm, OK. Helena-West Helena is the result of Helena and West Helena merging some years ago... hang on. OK, was looking at some stats, I see now. Left Memphis wanted to merge with Marion some years ago, seems to have failed for some reason... hang on... hmmmm, yeah, got it.

OK, you small town newspapers, seems most of you got your paywalls up these days. You got a newspaper in a city of 5K and you only want paid subscribers to read it? Most small cities are declining in population these days and you figure the people that leave still wanna read your newspaper - if they were before? I know how to get the info I want - even if I have to google it and and find it elsewhere but most people just go away or they really want to know they'll use the google thing. You do a little research and you can figure out how to to make it all free and actually make some money (having made a few millions myself for some nice folks) or you can just milk it for as long as it keeps the lights on. The local paper in one of the little towns nearest the undisclosed location of my main residence got smacked by a tornado a while back and no more paper. They put up a nice site like Jonesbororightnow - being part of the same company that owns some radio stations - but they don't know how to exploit it. Radio will probably survive longer that television and newspapers (print can be quite lucrative in the right market) but there's no growth in it unless you figure out how.

So here's the deal - if you're big enough (big-city papers and targeted social media sites) make most stuff free and have subscriptions/memberships for 'premium content'. That way visitors don't immediately click away when the see the paywall and never see your ads, which is where you make money. Even small cities like Jonestown and Paragould are getting peanuts on subscriptions compared to what they can get in ad revenue from a well-done site and Jonestown at least is probably big enough to have paid access for some content - if there actually is something there worth paying for.

The bottom line is you not only have to have people find you, you need to give them a reason to stick around for a while. One way is to have comments on most articles. It may take a while to get a good base but once you do you'll get a LOT of clicks that way and you'll get a lot of regular visitors that check in once or more a day. You can limit comments to registered users to control spam and other annoyances. Yeah, you have to moderate but that's fairly trivial if you know how.

OK, where was I? Mayor over in Helena-West Helena sez he ain't leaving, fine with me. Believe both the Jonestown paper and the TV folks reported on this. I have some personal knowledge and won't comment beyond saying that those folks are hooked up with a certain hospital in Jonestown and if you want someone dead get them in there. They almost killed me (not that a couple of the 'real' hospitals didn't already try) so if you're ever in a hospital (in hospital as the Brits say) and you look at those doctors and nurses remember they may have been cranked out in some jackleg outfit like that.

OK, Marion is close to Left Memphis but escaped the attempt to merge them some years back, which is a good thing but apparently they do have their problems. Marion used to be where some folks I knew moved to because they had jobs in Memphis (back when there were good-paying jobs in Memphis) and didn't to live in Memphis or Left Memphis. It grew a fair bit in those years and continues to grow a little bit but Memphis is no longer an incentive - in fact Marion is a little close for my comfort. Anyway Marion still in decent shape - barely - to be able to deal with things. It's close though.

Tomorrow's the end of May, lessee, year soon be half over. Should I stop the occasional hick talk? I just thought I was backwoods until I met Baer Creighton. There's a backwoods philosopher for our times. Act educated? Nah, plenty of people doing that. Think on it some.

As if I didn't have plenty of reasons to avoid public swimming facilities (there are some private ones I don't care to visit) you have things like this from Jonesbororightnow:

Occupants of the pool told the uniformed officer that a 20-year old patron had a gun in his backpack, and that he had cocked it in the bathroom of the facility. The officer asked dispatch for backup, and when other officers arrived, they made contact with the suspect.

Officers asked the suspect if the backpack where the firearm was allegedly located belonged to him and he said yes. He also confirmed to officers that he had a handgun in his bag due to recent issues he'd been having with other males at the pool. ~ (Jonesbororightnow.com)

There's more than one reason for me not to comment on that, and it's a long story. Okey-dokey. AYBOTFYA pieces are de rigueur lately and the former professor they dig up occasionally contributed. Unless you're homo parasitis or filthy rich or part of the problem you're not better off. I'm retired and did well when I worked and prepared for everything - including the inevitable collapse - and I have no financial worries but I am definitely not BETTER off, just less worse off than most. I suppose Arkansas will render unto the dims - Joetato or whoever - the usual 30-something percent. Interestingly there was very little change from 2016 to 2020 but then Arkansas has pretty clean elections and no major fraud operation was implemented here.

I noticed the telly station got the kangaroo court results up real quick and big and red. Yeah well, they are the state-run media. Someone commented that what is happening in this country is far beyond communism. For all its many flaws and horrors, communism didn't destroy any of the nations it infested. Pretty much, even if Trump wins and serves another term it will at best hold back the darkness for a few more years and even that may not be possible. The national debt sits at 35 trillion, by the end of 2025 it will be 38 trillion, a year after that 41. Where the breaking point is not easily predictable but I would guess it will be in the next four years, less with another dim president.

Alright, we'll see if anything comes over the transom in the next few hours, if not see ya next week.