I am very pleased to announce that we have decided on the villain in His Stretch of Texas Ground, Draven Denisen. He is going to be played by George Welder. 

George has played opposite Jeff Weber before, and that was in A Deadly Charter. There, he played an assassin whom Jeff's character was hiring, and George came across as tough as nails. I liked the intensity between them.  I like the parity between them in size, both height and weight. And I like the sharp contrast between them in their faces and hair. 

So, at the same time, there is an equality between them, but also a polarity between them, which I think is going to stir up people's imagination. The face-off between these two men is going to be visually dramatic and compelling all by itself. 

We had other candidates who were eager, and I apologize to them. But, I truly believe that this is the right choice for the project, and I am absolutely sure that George Welder is going to soar as Draven Denisen. 

George is joining a cast now consisting of Jeff Weber, Mike Gassaway, and Jeff Caperton. We also have some exciting prospects for the female roles (Carey, Becky, and Sarah)  brought to us mostly by Mike Gassaway and Jeff Weber, whom I thank.  All in all, we are well on our way to making an exciting and engrossing film.

 I don't know how Lovelady's shirt could look the way it does on the left, unless it was something Lovelady did with an iron. But, if he ironed the shirt, why didn't he iron the bottom part of it?  One thing is for sure: shirts don't come out of the drier looking and laying like that. According to Mrs. Lovelady, the shirt was bought used at a thrift store. And he was going to work at a warehouse that morning where he was going to be laying plywood flooring. So, why would he iron his shirt? What a pretense. What a pretend. That is not the shirt he wore on 11/22/63. This is:

I don't know whether this guy is just plain stupid or if he's one of the many Ops working the JFK cover-up. But, he claims that the collage below supports Lovelady as Doorman. 

 If you look closely, you can see that the faces match between Doorman and Oswald. The t-shirts definitely match between Doorman and Oswald. And Doorman's shirt pattern matches to Oswald too because it's not plaid like Lovelady's. The highly contrasting pattern is due to photographic haze and distrotion due to the gross enlargement not the pattern. Then, they etched that ridiculous hand in there as if the black guy was doing a Heil Hitler. That black guy wasn't even there. Therewas a black guy there, but he was largely or wholly obscured by Altgens' camera angle which obscured the west side of the doorway. Notice how Doorman's right shoulder is obscured. You can't see it, right? Do younotice how you can see Oswald's right shoulder in its entirety but you can't see Doorman's? Well the black guy was further west than Oswald's right shoulder. 

 This was taken about the same time as the Algens photo. You can see that the black man was nowhere near Doorman. And since Doorman's right shoulder got cut off by the parallax in the Altgens photo due to the angle from which Altgens was shooting,  then there was no way that the black man was visible to Altgens at all. 

Reality:

Fakery:

Reality:

So, they put that black guy in there, having taken the image from a Phil Willis frame, and then they carved that ridiculous hand.

This is all so bad, wickedly bad. They didn't give the hand the correct anatomical orientation. And it's all to cover up what Oswald was doing in the doorway, which was clasping his hands, as you can see him doing on the right, except there he's doing it right over left whereas in the doorway, he was doing it left over right. 

And look how well the lay of the shirt matches between Oswald and Doorman, with the little furl on the right and the long thick lapel on the left. What we see on Lovelady is weird and impossible, as I'll explain. But, suffice it to say for now that it is definitely Oswald on the left and right, and there isn't a shadow of a doubt. 

I have mentioned before that one benefit of the Covid pandemic (or plandemic, depending on how you see it), is that war fever has been quenched. It wasn't that long ago that we were on the brink of war with Iran, and night after night, the war-relishing mainstream media foamed at the mouth in their delight over the prospect of yet another war. And it culminated in January of this year with the brutal and savage killing of General Soleimani and 9 Iraqis who had gone to Baghdad Airport to meet him and escort him to the Prime Minister of Iraq for scheduled talks. Are you getting it? This wasn't just a message to Iran; it was a message to Iraq to dash any thoughts of getting chummy with Iran. It was a monstrous, terrorist act for which I will never forgive Trump.  Here we couldn't even beat the ragtag Taliban in Afghanistan, which has no Air Force, no Navy, and no Army either, not a single tank, rather just guerrilla fighters; yet, they still drove us to say "no mas, no mas." Yet, the reality of that defeat did nothing to quench our desire and bravado to go to war with Iran.

But, Covid has taken war off the table, it not being practical to wage a war wearing masks and practicing social distancing. You see: you can't have everything. If you want your pandemic, you can't have your war. Sorry.  

But, it is nice that the airways are currently free of Iran-bashing and war fever, and the only war we're hearing about now is the war against Covid. 

I said the other day that the Taliban website is down. 

 Actually, it isn't. It's just the home page that's down.

But today, August 9, a traditional grand assembly of Afghans known as the Loya Jirga, demanded that the rest of the Taliban prisoners be released by the Afghan government. and President Ghani responded immediately by signing the order to release them. Again, the Loya Jirga is a traditional, historic gathering that long precedes the existence of the Afghan government. Yet, the Afghan government is the one that called for it to assemble, and the Taliban responded with derision. Yet, despite that, the Loya Jirga called on the government to release the prisoners. In other words, for Ghani, calling up the Loya Jirga backfired. 

So now, the intra-Afghan talks are presumably going to happen. And I think it is going to be more of the same, crowned by the demand that Ghani, and other high officials in the Afghan government, step down. Will he do it? I don't know, but let's hope that he does. In the end, Afghanistan is going to have a non-Western government, with a strong religious bent, that is not a puppet to anyone. For the most part, it is going back to how it was 2001 before the war, but hopefully with some improved elements, such as girls being allowed to attend school. For us, it will go down as another Vietnam- a war that we lost. 

 With Covid dominating the news and our lives, it's not surprising that Afghanistan has disappeared from the news. I read tonight that 40 million Americans are on the brink of being evicted for not paying rent. Such people cannot be expected to worry about what is going on in Afghanistan. 

But, I continue to have a keen interest in it. The Taliban website was hacked again and has yet to resurface.  So, I don't know what they are saying. But, other reports are saying that the intra-Afghan talks, between the Taliban and the Afghan government, are about to begin once the prisoner releases are fulfilled by both sides, as per the agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban. It is amazing that the U.S., apparently, committed the Afghan government to doing something without telling them. 

The Taliban agreed to talk to the Afghan government, which is something that they refused to do for a long time. So, why did they agree to do it, to talk to the "puppets"? I think it's because it got them what they wanted: for the U.S.government to agree to get out of Afghanistan completely, which is something we refused to do for a long time. 

But, the Taliban got the better of that deal because, as the saying goes, talk is cheap. They can meet and say, "What we want is a government run by Sharia law. We don't want a Western-style democracy. And anyone who was a Quisling during the occupation has got to go. That means you, Ghani."

There may be some give and take, but if so, it will mostly be the Taliban taking and the other side giving. And if that doesn't happen, it is just going to be war.

Americans are an evasive people. We evade reality. For instance, we don't admit it when we lose a war. For instance, we lost the Vietnam War, and we've never admitted it. We have the Vietnam War Memorial, and I have visited it. To the extent that its purpose is to mourn the Americans who died in the war, I say fine. But, I hope it's not to celebrate their actions or to thank them for protecting us and keeping us free. Because: they didn't protect us, and they didn't keep us free. They weren't free themselves. Look how many of them were drafted. 

What's going to happen in the future? Are they going to build an Afghanistan War memorial? Please don't. The war was a complete catastrophe. It was 100% tragedy and without the tiniest speck of glory. The bravest Americans involved were the ones who refused to deploy there, and the same goes for the Iraq War. The wars of George W. Bush were complete, unmitigated disasters for all the people involved on both sides.  God, is it ever unjust that he walks around a free man after what he did. He killed so many people.

Will there be peace in Afghanistan? I don't know. I hope so. But, the sad truth is that, at this point in time, peace there is as elusive as ever. There is nothing to grasp onto as a foundation for peace. I can't think of any theoretical basis for an accord between the Taliban and the Afghan government. I'd love for it to happen, but I just can't see it.

Today was a big day because we signed our third actor to the cast of His Stretch of Texas Ground, which is the sequel to My Stretch of Texas Ground. That actor is Jeff Caperton who will be taking over the role of Nelson, Sheriff Joe's top deputy. 

Jeff Caperton has a long and honored career as an actor in movies and on television, and he is also a film producer. Jeff has played a lawman before, and the role of Nelson in this sequel is huge. 

This follows our signing of Mike Gassaway who will be playing retired Sheriff Clint Haladin, Joe's father, who is a spunky, straight-talking old lawman. And the truth is that this role was written for Mike, in the same way that the role of Jake Gittis in Chinatown was written for Jack Nicholson. And I'll tell you as the writer, that it is a very different writing experience when you build a character around an actor. 

And that brings me to Jeff Weber whom we sought and signed first and for good reason because I would not have proceeded without Jeff Weber. I was NOT going recast Sheriff Joe Haladin because Jeff Weber and Sheriff Joe are inseparable. Jeff Weber IS Sheriff Joe, and if we couldn't get him, I would have let Sheriff Joe pass into oblivion to take his rightful place in the pantheon of legendary screen lawmen of old. But fortunately, Jeff Weber can do it, and therefore, Sheriff Joe shall ride again, and it is going to be great to have him back.  

I shall continue to make postings as we make cast acquisitions. And there are some exciting prospects for the roles of Draven Denisen the villain, also Sarah who is Draven's ex-wife, and also Becky, the Sheriff's daughter. There are quite a few more, and we need to get hopping because the first day of filming is less than two months away. But in the words of the vernacular: so far, so good. My heartfelt thanks to the two Jeffs and Mike, and it's onward and upward, full speed ahead.

They have released another body cam of the George Floyd disaster, and it is incredible, as in: I can't understand it. This was about a phony $20 bill, but counterfeit money is designed to be good enough to circulate for a while. So, the person who spent it at the place where it was recognized isn't necessarily the forger. And police know this, right? So, what reason was there to start off by being so belligerent to George Floyd? Did they really think that he was the counterfeiter? Apparently, he wasn't because they have never followed up with any evidence that he was involved with counterfeiting. And if he knowingly passed off a phony $20 bill, why would he just sit in his car? Why wouldn't he get out of there? 

So, there was no evidence that he was guilty, and his behavior wasn't consistent with his being guilty, since he didn't flee.

So, the two cops get to the car and tap  on the window. The window and all the windows were up all the way. George would say later that he was claustrophobic, but you would think that, if so, he would have lowered the window to let some air in. There were three people in the car. That's three people - all of whom had to breathe -sitting in a parked car with the windows up.

 I realize that a window may have been down on the passenger side; it's possible; but, I am not going to assume that it was. 

So, the cop taps on the window, and says, belligerently:"let's see your hands." Then, when Floyd opened the door, the cop said, "stay in the car; let me see your other hand." So, he's being treated like a violent criminal from the start. 

Then, while they're arguing about Floyd's hands, we see that the other cop has his gun drawn.

And he must have had it drawn all along. But why? Do cops draw a gun to question someone about the origin of a $20 bill? 

Reportedly, the ink was wet and running on the phony $20. That implies that George must have made it and recently. How long does it take for ink to dry? But, we don't have a picture of the bill. All we have is a picture of bills that were found crumpled in Floyd's car, and they all look fine to me. 

So, we haven't seen the bill with the ink running, and it's hard to believe that George Floyd had anything to do with such a bill. And surely if he was involved in counterfeiting, police would have gotten to the bottom of it by now. 

But, back to the video. So, they're still arguing about his hands, and the cop is using the F-word. First, he tells him to put his hands on the wheel, but then he tells him to put his hands on top of his head. But why? Hands clasping the steering wheel is more immobilizing than hands atop the head. 

Then, the officer tells him to get out of the car. Then, why did he tell him to put his hands on top of his head? People use their hands to get out of a car. Don't they? So, Floyd gets out, and the officer takes his arm as he's getting out, and then he cuffs him.

The officer who led Floyd away was a black man; a light-skinned black man, Alex Kueng. The mistreatment of George Floyd has been characterized as racially-motivated, but it can't be true of Alex Kueng, right?

But, why was this happening at all? What had Floyd done? They had no certainty nor any strong suspicion that he had done anything.  They didn't even ask him about the $20 bill. I thought that when cops place you under arrest, they tell you what you are being arrested for. "You're under arrest for DWI." What was he under arrest for? For counterfeiting? For resisting arrest? But, you can't call what he did resisting arrest. He begged them not to shoot him, but that's not resisting arrest. 

The other officer was busy talking to the two passengers, male and female. He was more civil to them than he was to Floyd. But, he didn't ask them about the counterfeit money either. He asked them why George was acting so weird and whether he was on something, and they said that he had  problems, and I presume they meant: mental problems. 

The audio fades in and out, but very clearly you can hear the officer ask George if he's on something, and George says no. They cross the street with him and get him to the police cruiser. First, they try to get him in from the sidewalk side. Then they walk around to the street side and do the same. He repeats that he is claustrophobic. Then he says: "I can't choke. I can't breathe, rather."

They left out the "rather." Then, he says repeatedly that he wants to lay down on the ground.

So, it was his idea to go to the ground. Then after that is when the horrific kneeling took place, with Chauven's knee on his neck. 

I am a screenwriter. I won a screenwriting award for the screenplay to My Stretch of Texas Ground, among many awards that the film has won. But, if someone presented this to me as a screenplay, I would say that it stinks, that it is totally implausible.  It makes no sense. The cops' behavior makes no sense; Floyd's behavior makes no sense; and the whole circumstance with the phony, wet, ink-running $20 bill makes no sense. 

We need to hear from those cops. We need to hear from Chauven to learn why he knelt on the man's neck. Why didn't he kneel on the ground and just use his hands to contain the man? He obviously wasn't going anywhere. 

The whole thing is bizarre, and I don't see how you can attribute it to racism when there was a black and an Asian officer involved. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPSwqp5fdIw