Running the Big Con

By JD Rhoades
The Pilot Newspaper: Opinion

A man and a woman sat across the table from one another in a nondescript diner off the main highway. The man was older and grizzled-looking, while the woman was young and blonde, with the fresh-faced, innocent look of a high school cheerleader.

“I’ve been watching you, kid,” the man said. He saw her alarmed look and raised a hand. “Not like that. But I’ve seen you work. You’ve got instincts. You’ve got a real feel for what it takes to be a grifter, to work the big con. Once I teach you a few basic techniques, you could make a lot of money in this business. You interested?”
She leaned back in her chair, her eyes narrowed. “I’m listening,” she said.
The man ignored her cautious tone. “First,” he said, “You’ve got to show authority. People will believe anything if they think it’s coming from someone who knows. You can be wrong, dead wrong, but you can never look like you’re unsure. Never back down, never apologize, and make anyone who questions you seem like they’re the idiot. Get some guys on your crew with fancy degrees or some former military guys. Doesn’t matter if they have any idea what they’re talking about, as long as they can spin a good line of patter that supports your con.”
“Sounds expensive. And I don’t know if I want to cut that many people in on the job.”
“Kid,” the man said, “this is the big time. You can’t think small.”
The woman nodded. “OK. I guess you’re right.”
“Well, I am, but even if I wasn’t, you see how quick you were to agree with me? That’s because the key to being a confidence man — or woman — is, well, confidence.”
The woman laughed. The man noticed she was beginning to relax and smiled to himself. He was the best, and he knew what worked.
“Second,” he said, “you’ve got to use fear.”
“Fear?”
“Fear,” he said. “You’ve got to know how to scare the rubes. Make them think that someone’s getting an advantage that they’re not getting. Or that someone’s going to get what’s theirs. Fortunately for you, it’s really easy. Most people live their lives terrified of just that. They’re like that squirrel-rat creature in those “Ice Age” movies, trying to hang on to his acorn. There’s a lot of money in fear for folks like us. Which brings me to my third point.”
He held up three fingers.
“Make the mark feel like he’s something special,” he said. “Make him feel like he’s getting information from you that no one else has. Stuff that anyone but the two of you is too dumb to know or too scared to talk about. You make the mark feel like he’s part of this special group. Combine that with the whole fear thing I just talked about, and pretty soon he’ll believe it’s the two of you against everyone else.”
“Yeah,” the woman said. “I get it. Make them seem like you’re their real friend and it’s everybody else who’s the con man. Then isolate them so that your voice is the only one they hear.”
“Exactly,” the man said. “You do that right, you can get the mark to turn against his own family if he thinks they’re trying to talk him out of listening to you. If all else fails, don’t be afraid to be a bully. Anyone tries to tell the rubes something different from what you want them to hear, cut them off. Don’t let them talk.”
“Wow,” she said. “That sounds kind of … I don’t know …”
“Kid,” the man said impatiently, “what did I tell you about thinking small? This is high stakes, big-money grifting we’re talking about here. You can’t afford to be soft. Don’t tell me I was wrong about you.”
The woman thought for a long moment. In his mind’s eye, the man could almost see the wheels turning in her head until all the windows in her mental slot machine came up in dollar signs.
“So,” the man said finally. “Whaddya think?”
The blonde woman smiled. “I’m in.”
“Great,” the man said. “I think you and me are going to make a lot of money in this business, kid.”
He stood up and extended a hand.

“Welcome to Fox News.”

Via: J.D. Rhoades

    

Devils and Dust -Cover and Jacket Copy

By JD Rhoades



“You bring death,” the voice said, “and Hell follows with you.”

Relentless bounty hunter Jack Keller returns in DEVILS AND DUST, the long-awaited fourth installment of the critically acclaimed series.

Keller’s been in exile, living a quiet life in the desert, since his disappearance after the cataclysmic events of 2008’s award-winning SAFE AND SOUND. Now his old friend and former employer Angela has tracked him down and needs his help. Oscar Sanchez, Angela’s husband and Keller’s best friend, has disappeared while investigating what happened to the sons he was trying to bring to America. If anyone can find Oscar, Keller can, but along the way, he has to confront his own demons and his unresolved feelings for Angela—now his best friend’s wife.

Keller’s quest takes him from a corrupt Mexican border town to a prison camp in the swamps of South Carolina and pits him against human traffickers, violent drug lords, and a vicious group of white supremacists perpetuating an evil as old as civilization itself in the name of God. All of them are about to learn a hard lesson: if Jack Keller’s after you, he’s bringing Hell with him.

Via: J.D. Rhoades

    

Another Benghazi Fizzle

By JD Rhoades
The Pilot Newspaper: Opinion
Another month, another Benghazi fizzle.

It seems that the Raging Republican Right is trying once again to create an administration-destroying scandal by politicizing the tragic deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, during an attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.
Problem is, every new “bombshell revelation” they come up with turns out to be a dud.
The most famous one was the “60 Minutes” story by correspondent Lara Logan, in which a supposed eyewitness with a tale of personal derring-do and betrayal on that night was revealed within days to have been a fraud who’d told an entirely different story to his employers.
After that, you’d think the Benghazi Cult would be too embarrassed to even bring it up again. But that would assume that these people have the capacity for embarrassment. Caught spreading a lie, their reflex is to just yell the lie louder and look for a new one to spread.
They thought they’d found another “smoking gun” in the testimony of retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Lovell, who testified before Rep. Darrell Issa’s Kangaroo Court (aka the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee) that we “should have done more” to rescue the embattled ambassador and his staffers.
When questioned about what forces exactly were in place that could have reached the scene in time to save lives, Lovell took the Way of the Weasel: “The discussion is not in the ‘could or could not’ in relation to time, space and capability; the point is we should have tried.”
In other words, we should have tried something, even if we knew it wouldn’t work.
Nevertheless, Fox News immediately touted Lovell’s testimony as “incredibly damning.” At least until later in the day, when Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, specifically asked if Lovell was saying that “we could have, should have done a lot more than we did because we had capabilities we simply didn’t utilize.”
At that point, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, a California Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, had to try to save the “Obama left them to die” narrative by throwing Lovell under the bus and impeaching the Republicans’ own witness.
“General Lovell did not serve in a capacity that gave him reliable insight into operational options available to commanders during the attack, nor did he offer specific courses of action not taken,” McKeon said.
On the heels of that failure came another supposed bombshell, an email released by the White House from Ben Rhodes (no relation), whose job title is “deputy national security adviser for strategic communication.” In other words, he’s a spin doctor.
His job, like the job of such PR guys in every single administration, is to try to put the most positive face on things for the president he works for. So his email suggested doing just that. He suggested several goals for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s upcoming appearances on Sunday morning talk shows, one of which was “to underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy.”
We now know that this assessment of the attacker’s motivations was incorrect, or at least incomplete. But we also know that the “attack as a reaction to the video” theory was based on actual assessments the CIA had sent the White House nine hours before the Rhodes memo. It wasn’t just made up out of whole cloth. It was wrong, but that’s the information they had at the time.
If your idea of a Great Scandal That Will Bring Down the Mighty is the revelation that a mid-level White House PR guy tried to do PR for Sunday morning shows that almost nobody watches anymore, using the information available at the time that came from the CIA — well, then, scandals just ain’t what they used to be.
What’s truly baffling and infuriating about all this that there’s plenty to criticize about what led to the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi. There are legitimate criticisms about our lack of preparation and our failure to have more assets within striking distance to deal with a sudden attack in a volatile region. There’s also the excellent question of whether we should have even been in Libya in the first place (something, you may remember, that I wasn’t in favor of).
But that’s not sexy or dramatic enough for the Benghazi Cult. They’re twisting themselves in knots trying to find some kind of base betrayal on the night of the attacks themselves or some kind of cover-up afterward.
Once again, their Obama Derangement Syndrome blinds them to a legitimate problem, which is why their Benghazi narrative never gains any traction outside the right-wing bubble.

Via: J.D. Rhoades

    

7 Minutes with . . . Jennifer Brooks

By JT Ellison

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I’m so delighted to have Jennifer Brooks here today! Jennifer has been my first editor for many years, and she has just released her latest novel, WHISPER OF DARKNESS, a wonderful contemporary romantic suspense that you must add to your reading list. Her first book, NO EVIL LOST, was a winner as well. It’s as exciting for me to see her books for sale as it is for her, I think.

Without further ado, I give you my adorable sister from another mister, Jennifer Brooks!

Set your music to shuffle and hit play. What’s the first song that comes up?

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel). Can I just comment on this? Since we’re talking about writing, it’s too perfect an allegory to let slide—it’s a story within a story: Two old friends who haven’t seen each other in a while meet for dinner, order a bottle of wine; the POV character catches his friend up on what’s been going on in his life, tells her how great she looks; they reminisce about old times, old friends; and then it’s time to go and it’s sad to see the evening end, knowing that it may be years before they see each other again, even though they agree to try to get together more often . . . all within the setting of Joel’s brilliant musical style, varying tempos, killer piano licks. One of my favorites. Sigh.

Now that we’ve set the mood, what are you working on today?

The next book! It’s a contemporary romance, a fish out of water tale about a young Chicago attorney, orphaned at a very young age, who finds the key to his past—and his future—on a Texas ranch. I wrote the original manuscript a few years ago, so it really just needs some dusting off and a bit of upgrading/tweaking/polishing. And a new title (to be revealed at a later date).

What’s your latest book about?

WHISPER OF DARKNESS is a romantic suspense about widowed author CJ Moore, who leaves her quiet life in Vermont for the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to help a private production company adapt her most cherished book to the silver screen—and the psychotic fan who follows her there, intent on making sure the film is never made. It’s been called Nora Roberts meets Agatha Christie, and it has a bit of everything—intrigue, sex, humor, and a whole lot of tension, both romantic and suspenseful.

Where do you write, and what tools do you use?

Ten years ago my husband and I were very fortunate to find a house that would accommodate our family of five so that each of us had our own “space”—mine is a 10 by 12 office, full of everything you’d expect a writer’s den to have: bookcases crammed to the hilt with all kinds of books, a couple of filing cabinets, a recliner, and two desks. This is my workshop, and these are my tools. The recliner is my reading space (when the kitten’s not sleeping in it). I use one desk for writing, on my laptop. The other desk has more books, mostly a collection of how-to’s on writing, reference books and such, as well as my CD player and music collection. (I have to have some kind of orchestral music playing while I write, always, or the Muse deserts me.) I generally write in Word, just because it’s been my friend and my crutch for about 25 years, although I do occasionally use Scrivener, which is the coolest program on the planet for getting your thoughts organized.

What was your favorite book as a child?

Oh my goodness I read everything when I was a kid—but my favorites were mysteries, mostly anything Nancy Drew or Agatha Christie. It seems funny to say a ten-year-old’s favorite book was And Then There Were None, but I thought it was the most brilliantly written thing I’d ever read in my life. If we’re going back further than that, my favorite children’s book was probably Ferdinand, the story of the bull who didn’t want to fight matadors but was more content to sit under his favorite cork tree and smell the flowers. Or Angus and the Cat. So precious.

What’s your favorite bit of writing advice?

I think Stephen King came up with the most sound advice I’ve ever heard, even if it is the most simple—“Read a lot. Write a lot.” (I may be paraphrasing, but that was the gist.) I try to do at least a little of both every day, and would encourage other writers to do the same.

What do you do if the words aren’t flowing?

I have to take a break when that happens, and do something that stimulates and recharges my brain. Puzzles—of both the word and jigsaw variety—are my favorite vice. And hidden object games. But I read, too, to keep my finger on the pulse of the creative process. Once my cerebral palate is cleansed, I go back to the writing, and generally spot right away what the problem was in the first place. A very wise friend of mine (I won’t tell you her name, but her initials are J.T.) once said, “Writer’s block is your story’s way of telling you something’s wrong.” (Again, paraphrased.) But I’ve found that staring at the words on the page doesn’t give me the perspective I need to solve the issues.

What would you like to be remembered for?

Having raised my children well. And being the kind of woman that when my feet hit the floor each morning, the Devil said, “Oh crap, she’s up.”

Thanks for being here today, sweetie! Good luck with WHISPER OF DARKNESS!

________

Jennifer Brooks was born in Tucson, Arizona, the “quintessential Air Force brat” of a USAF fighter pilot and a stay-at-home mom who to this day is never seen without a book in her hand. An insatiable reader with an overactive imagination, Jennifer’s passion for literature manifested itself early in her youth, and she discovered her talent for writing during high school. In a career spanning 20+ years, Jennifer has written, edited and/or published a fairly lengthy list of books, novellas, short stories, essays, articles, interviews, and book and movie reviews, covering a wide range of genres, authors and topics in both the fiction and non-fiction realms.

Jennifer holds a B.A. in Criminal Justice from Indiana University. After a brief stint as a paralegal, she began working in the healthcare field and has now been there for almost 25 years. A bona fide Yankee transplanted to the South, she lives near Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and a small menagerie of cats and dogs. They have three adult children.

About WHISPER OF DARKNESS: Acclaimed mystery author CJ Moore has strayed out of her regular genre and written a gripping love story based loosely on her own life. After six years, CJ is still grieving the loss of her husband, and unlike her novel’s heroine, she has yet to find someone to mend her shattered heart. Now one of Hollywood’s biggest stars wants to turn her most cherished book into a blockbuster film, and their whirlwind romance is at the heart of the deal.

Unfortunately, CJ has an overzealous fan who believes they are ruining her story, and his obsession drives him to eliminate those he feels responsible. When heartbreaking truths from the past come to light, CJ’s emotional strength is pushed to its limits—until she learns to let go of the past, embrace the present, and find her happily ever after in the most unexpected of places.

    

Bookings close soon

By PD Martin

Bookings close soon for my May master class at the inspiring Abbotsford Convent. The course is designed for new and emerging writers of all genres.

My goal is simple: to help get you published, sooner.

19-23 May, 9.30-3.30pm

Book now

Bookings close soon for my May master class at the inspiring Abbotsford Convent. The course is designed for new and emerging writers of all genres – to help take your writing to the next level. My goal is simple: to help get you published, sooner.

Book now

“By the time I completed Phillipa’s writing course, I had a solid first draft; the year after finishing my manuscript, I was signed to a great agent and publisher. Phillipa’s courses are a wonderful resource for writers – highly recommended!” Ellie Marney, 2011 student and author of Every Breath (Allen & Unwin 2013 & 2014)

And last week yet another of my past students received a publishing deal for the manuscript he was working on in my class.

19-23 May, 9.30-3.30pm.

More information and testimonials.

Via: P.D. Martin

    

If Both Sides Do It, Why Do I Never Get E-mail Like This From Liberals?

By JD Rhoades
From todays’ e-mail, proving once again the point of todays’ column: “What the average person does not realize is that North Carolina government for at least the last 100 if not 125 years has been under the thumb of nigra democratic rule. This year, the first time in over one century, the Republicans control both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office It is great. russ”

Via: J.D. Rhoades

    

Wingnut Media Fails Once Again

By JD Rhoades
The Pilot Newspaper: Opinion

By now, we’ve all heard of the egregiously racist things spouted by L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling to his trophy girlfriend in a recorded phone conversation that was recently released to every media outlet, with the possible exception of the “Sesame Street News Flash.”

Immediately, right-wing media leapt into action, their crack investigative teams digging hard for the answer to the most important question of all: How do we turn this into an attack on the Democrats?
“Racist Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Is a Democrat,” blared a blog post on the National Review website. “Report: Clippers Owner Caught In Racist Rant Is a Democratic Donor,” said Fox Nation. Right-wing icon Matt Drudge and his Drudge Report told us that “NBA Sterling is a Democrat,” while Tucker Carlson’s vanity project The Daily Caller claimed “Race Hate Spewing Clippers Owner Is Democratic Donor.”
All of this, it seems, was based on the fact that, as The Daily Caller put it, “Between 1990 and 1992 Donald Sterling made a $2,000 donation to former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, a $1,000 donation to current Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, as well as a $1,000 donation to the recalled former governor of California, Gray Davis.”
Got that? A multibillionaire makes donations of his pocket change to three Democrats 22 years ago, and suddenly he’s a “Democratic donor,” for purposes of right-wing smear campaigns.
I suppose they were desperate for something to latch onto after the debacle in which rising star Cliven Bundy turned out to be not only a freeloading welfare rancher and domestic terrorist, but a racist nutball as well — but only after he was embraced by the likes of Sean Hannity and Rand Paul.
Now, of course, they’re backpedaling on their support for Bundy faster than Wile E. Coyote when he realizes he’s gone over the edge of the cliff, while the wingnut media scramble desperately to find someone to take the heat off. I guess Donald Sterling looked like the perfect target.
Problem with the Sterling-as-Democrat charge is that, according to California’s voter registration rolls, it turns out that the creepy old dude’s a registered Republican and has been since 1998. Oops. Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to make an issue of Sterling’s party affiliation — huh, guys?
Once again, members of the right-wing media have fallen flat on their faces in their desperate attempt to support one of the most absurd Republican tropes: “We’re not racist. Democrats are the real racists, because of Robert Byrd. So there.”
Apparently, the party whose supporters wave signs showing President Obama as an African witch doctor with a bone through his nose, a party that courts the support of a washed-up rock star who calls that president a “subhuman mongrel,” a party that has no problem with its most prominent talk show host referring to the first lady as “uppity” and playing songs about “Barack the Magic Negro,” a party that embraced a candidate who told Iowa primary voters, “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money” (even though there are more white than black welfare recipients) — apparently it’s very important to that party to distract from the pervasive racism in its own current ranks by convincing the American people that it’s the Democrats who are the real racists because Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, Southern Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act 50 years ago (although most Northern Democrats supported it), and Sen. Robert Byrd was in the KKK before most of us were born.
Forgive me if I don’t find this argument convincing, especially after the years since 1964 — those years that brought us the GOP’s race-baiting “Southern Strategy,” giving us gems like Bush the Elder’s Willie Horton ad (AHHH! SCARY BLACK MAN!) and Jesse Helms’ infamous “White Hands” spot (“You needed that job, but the government said it had to go to a minority”).
I’m not saying that all Republicans are racists or that there are no racists in the Democratic Party. Clearly neither of those is true. I’m saying that an awful lot more racists seem to find a welcoming home in the GOP, and that the first step to solving your problem is to admit that you have one. It’s a simple truth the Raging Republican Right doesn’t seem to have learned.

Donald Sterling is now banned from the NBA for life. It’s a pity that the GOP doesn’t have the same backbone to deal with its virulent racist wing.

Via: J.D. Rhoades

    

Win Naming Rights to a JT Ellison Character!

By JT Ellison

It’s that time of year again, when the indomitable Brenda Novak hosts her annual Diabetes Auction. And I am so excited to be included!

I’m giving away a chance to win naming rights for a character in my upcoming Samantha Owens novel, WHAT LIES BEHIND, plus a signed set of Samantha Owens novels! Bidding starts today – so hop on over to the site and support a fabulous cause.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER

Entries must be made on the auction site.

A message from From Brenda Novak About the Auction

Join me help my son and all the others out there who suffer from diabetes, which is the 5th deadliest killer.

This year, the money from my efforts will be donated to The Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami.

The Diabetes Research Institute (DRI)is a recognized world leader in cure-focused research. Since its inception in the early 1970s, the DRI has made significant contributions to the field of diabetes research, pioneering many of the techniques used in islet cell transplantation. From innovations in islet isolation and transplant procedures to advances in cell biology and immunology, the Diabetes Research Institute is now harnessing the power of emerging technologies to develop new cell-based therapies to restore insulin production.

By bidding you will not only win some exciting and unique items and/or opportunities, you’ll be supporting a very worthy research-based organization. To find out more about the Diabetes Research Institute, visit their website at www.DiabetesResearch.org.

    

Composite photography and creating cover art…

By Toni About 3 months ago, my friend, CJ Lyons, asked me to create a piece of art for her cover for her new book (coming out soon), titled Farewell to Dreams. She then interviewed me about the process, and that interview is up live on USA Today’s blog. The photo/image is completely composited–I shot the violinist here in […]