Mourning the Loss of Charlie Kirk

Since Wednesday afternoon, 9/10, I've been going through the same cycles of shock, denial, anger, and  grief that many millions of others around the world have been going through since hearing the news of Charlie's demise, then witnessing the visuals a short time later.

I get up in the morning, and when I reach full consciousness, my spirit sighs, "Oh, no..." I have thoughts like, "This is such a horrible week. Can't we roll things back to Monday and start over, this time with something happening that delays the shooter - a car breakdown, a debilitating accident, the gun chamber jamming, or his weapon stolen? This is so out of context with what the world needs. You are taking him far too soon."

Charlie's podcast has been airing for several years now on Liberty & Justice 1640 from 9-11 PM weekdays. Over time, I've come to appreciate his sophisticated but clear, direct thought process. Even though I never met him, he felt like an old friend. He was wise and a very, very good man in every way.   

I know this is a giant leap for most of my former colleagues in the overwhelmingly leftist/Marxist folk music world. Those of you in that cult of weirdness, absurdity, and non-reality cannot bring yourselves to appreciate Charlie's integrity, intellect, compassion, faith, humor, and ability to inspire millions of young people to consider a different direction for their lives. I pray some day your eyes will be opened and you come to appreciate this giant among influencers who lived one of cleanest, most purposeful lives imaginable. He accomplished more in his brief 31 years than most people do in 100.

In a very unlikely place - MSNBC - I found an interview with a journalist who had interviewed Charlie two weeks before his death. Here is my summary of what he gleaned from it:

Charlie Kirk's business model was not primarily political. It's number one objective was convincing as many young people as possible to abandon their university conditioning and live a conservative lifestyle: find a good mate, get married, have children, and stay married. And, especially for men, have business or career aspirations, work hard, build value in the world, and be as honest and as fair in your business affairs as possible.

Yes, he hated wokeness, LGBT, and perpetual sex work, but he hated them because they waste time and resources. It is the Christian conservative life that satisfies long term. He also realized that politics is downstream from culture and when we get the culture fixed, politics corrects itself rather quickly.

My tributes to Charlie will start Saturday, 9/13 at 10 pm and Sunday 9/14 at 9 PM and continue through the entire overnight both days. I will be replaying Charlie's two appearances on the Whatever Podcast (Feb. and June 2024) in their entirety. His conversations and debates with two porn stars is featured on the earlier one, I believe. I will also be featuring hosts Brian Atlas and Andrew Wilson parsing through developments as they came in during two long segments that will air through the Saturday into Sunday overnight.

Rest in peace, Charlie. I hope to meet you on the other side.   
 

 

    

FCC Docket 25-133: "Delete, Delete, Delete"- My Submitted Comments

From March 12th through April 11th, the Federal Communications Commission, under the direction of  Brendan Carr, offered a rare opportunity for the public to comment on outdated, excessively restrictive, and cumbersome rules and practices of the agency that need to be eliminated or changed. The solicitation of comments was a response to a series of Executive Orders from President Trump calling on administrative agencies to unleash prosperity through deregulation and ensure that they are efficiently delivering great results for the American people.

Needless to say, I had a lot to suggest in that regard. The biggest reason I have remained a Part 15 broadcaster and not obtained commercial licenses is due to the FCC's poor management of resources, their restrictive rules and paperwork, and the associated expense this causes.

On March 19th, I submitted my comments and they were disseminated through the FCC's website. Anyone wishing to reply to my comments has until April 28th to do so.

Here is a brief summary of my suggestions:

1) Eliminate the current filing window system and revert to the original first come, first served, apply-when-you-are-ready policy.

2) Completely eliminate nonsensical, time wasting EOE requirements for radio stations.

3) Get the FCC out of the business of promoting certain parts of the media spectrum over
others (i.e. FM over AM and shortwave).

4) Put all dark and deleted AM stations into a pool where they can be claimed by new applicants rather than permanently deleting the license.

5) End the pre-internet restriction against new, daytime-only AM stations.

6) End all digital broadcasting in the AM band, promote analog AM stereo, and explore the possibility of using the now empty long wave band for digital-only simulcasting of AM stations.

7) Raise the current license-free, Part 15 power restrictions in the expanded AM band (1610-1710 kHz) from 100 milliwatts to 1 watt and designate the frequency of 1710 kHz for Part 15 broadcasting only.

8) Ease enforcement of language restrictions for all broadcasters to enable on-the-fly use of internet

program sources.

9) Explore the possibility of domestic broadcast use for parts of the shortwave spectrum with a license-free option of power up to 10 watts.

10) Promote and publicize the Media Bureau's Incubator Program for Radio Broadcasters, which was instituted in 2018.

You can read my full comments as a PDF at the following link:

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10318280823916/1

Severe Financial Crisis Due to Delinquent Investments

Since late September of last year, I have been grappling with a financial crisis that's nothing short of epic for a person with my income history. From last May through July, I was able to create, with the help of a business specializing in this, a total line of credit on business credit cards in excess of $145,000. Most of the cards had a 0% interest rate through July 2024. I had my choice to use this for my own business purposes, or to invest in one or more of approximately 20 companies with which they had an affiliation. I opted to invest in two of the affiliated companies because dividends are real money, not credit that has to be paid back, eventually with interest.

I signed contracts with these companies. One of them promised the first dividend of $4,000 within 60 days. Furthermore, the contract said if they went 90 days without a payment, they would be in default by their own terms and also liable for any legal expenses. The second company guaranteed a full payback on investment within two years, with a 50-50 revenue split thereafter, but verbally promised several times that I would almost certainly be making money after 5 months.

As of late March 2024, I have not received a single red cent from either company. I am now in debt to the tune of $120,000. Furthermore, interest on most of the cards begins in July.

This is a dilemma I cannot get out of without serious help. I have set up a support page on GiveSendGo with more details. In addition to outright contributions, there are several options from buying out my investments in these firms, to financing my enrollment in proven investment or contracting programs averaging an income of $75K a year or more. That income level I consider a bare minimum for any hope of getting out of this mess.

Right now, I am at the point where without assistance, I have to chose between paying my mobile home park fee and paying the monthly minimum on the card with the highest balance. Not both.

Please visit my support page at givesendgo.com/jeffs_bad_investments. If you are part of the business or investing community please spread the word about this campaign. Thank you.

Oliver Anthony and the Future Orientation of Folk Music

As a folk and Americana DJ who dates back to 1978, conventional wisdom would dictate that you can't predict the life expectancy of a new trend when it is only a week old. But it may already be safe to declare that the days of folk music being dominated by leftists, Communists, and atheists has officially ended.

For decades, the dismal impact folk music was having on American culture and media, and its corresponding financial returns, inspired the late Utah Phillips to rhetorically ask, "How do you make a million dollars in folk music?" His answer: "Spend two million." 

I think the reason for such futility is now obvious. The ability of leftists, Communists, and atheists to truly connect with the struggles, joys, and values of average Americans has always been quite limited.

The incubation of this dominant folk music orientation could not have been more odious and inorganic. When you really trace it back, it would not have existed without the University experience of the late 1950's and '60's. A large number of Marxist professors infiltrated these institutions after World War II, joined by their patriarch-hating, feminist counterparts in the 1970's. They determined the curriculum, the culture, and the policies.

As any adult knows, university life is a far cry from real life. Until our youth get out of the classroom, pay their own bills, and experience how the world really works, they are very impressionable, and to a large degree, believe everything they are taught. King Solomon and Vladimir Lenin didn't have much in common. But both realized the importance of training up a child in the way he should go so that when he is old, he will not depart from it. Furthermore, who financed these professors and their activist groups? Often, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the CIA's MK Ultra. Hardly the prime demographic of folk music, wouldn't you say?

Fast forward to earlier this month, August 2023. An independent artist suddenly emerges, not out of the most bureaucratic, privileged, collectivist, over-priced, and wealthy institution in western society. This artist, an aspiring farmer living off the grid, emerged from a remote part of Virginia, eking out a living on his own. He is not a Communist. He believes strongly in American free enterprise and meritocracy. He is not an atheist. He's a Bible believing Christian with traditional values. And yes, he is a male. And it's just him and his dobro guitar.

When Oliver Anthony performed at his local farmer's market back in June, twenty patrons shuffled by to watch him. A few days ago, he returned for a repeat performance. It caused a traffic jam with well over a thousand descending on the market. Back in the '80's and 90's, it took a lot of work to get a thousand people to show up for a folk concert. But for this gentleman, it was no work at all because he was a true, overnight sensation.  
 
At this post-covid point in history, people are waking up. The red pill realities of who we truly are, and the reason the rulers of this world want us weak, deceived, and prematurely dead, is hitting many quite hard. 

The struggles of the working class in 2023 are far more MAGA than Marx. With Oliver Anthony, folk music is finally reflecting it. This turning point is long overdue.

Jeff's Election Season Editorials

Editorial - Comrade Healey
Editorial - Democrat for Diehl
Editorial - No Forgive and Forget

Folk Image Site Restored and Integrated into t1700.net

The entire vintage Folk Image website (1997-2004) has been restored and integrated into t1700.net. Around one and a half years ago, I decided to let the folkimage.com domain name expire to save an annual expense for a website that had not been active in well over a decade. But a little more than a week ago, I became enamored with the idea of restoring the whole thing and integrating it into the t1700.net domain.

The work took three days. The longest, most tedious part was changing perhaps more than a thousand links from folkimage.com to t1700.net/folkimage.com. I also updated to a currently functioning search engine and removed links to software that was no longer relevant.

You can now find a link to Folk Image on every page of t1700.net. All available two hour shows, specials, live events, and artist interviews are there for your enjoyment.     

Workarounds discovered: Liberty & Justice 1640 should return to its regular program schedule Tues. night 9/6

I thought of a workaround and after considering it for a couple days, I have decided to go with it. My personal desktop computer uses the same motherboard model that the Liberty & Justice automation computer uses. I can install it in the Liberty & Justice computer along with all the other hardware that was originally there. With that there should be no issues with activation or having to re-register the automation software.

This will cause some inconvenience as I will need to temporarily reshuffle the functions I normally do on my personal computer to other devices. But I'll live with it for a few weeks.

Expect the internet stream, normal audio processing, and regularly scheduled programming to return by 6 AM Eastern on September 7th.