It’s every woman’s dream that a man will take her in his arms, toss her in bed — then clean her house as she sleeps.

After amending the first 12 pages of the 34 page AB291 and posting it to the state’s website less than an hour before a supposed public hearing, the Nevada Senate voted in favor of a firearms preemption bill that allows different jurisdictions to have different laws and also creates a Red Flag law. First off, the addition is in violation of the Nevada Constitution that says bills must be of a single subject nature.

The addition to AB291 also takes away a person’s lawful right to bear arms without due process, leaving them unable to defend themselves in court and allows a court to authorize law enforcement to seize a firearm if the person doesn’t surrender it by letting police or family members seek an order requiring a person to surrender any firearms if they ‘appear to pose a danger’ to themselves or others. This legislation also bans bump stocks at the state level, lowers the legal blood alcohol level to carry a firearm outside a home, and creates a criminal penalty for those who negligently store a firearm where a child could access it.

Recently, former New York Governor Michael Bloomberg has flooded the Nevada Legislature with funding and lobbyists, actively pressuring the Senate Judiciary Committee to add the “red flag” law. Bloomberg donated $12,400,000 between October 2014 and October 2016 to ‘Everytown for Gun Safety’ and ‘Nevadans for Background Checks,’ the main proponents behind Question 1 from the 2016 Election – the Nevada Background Checks for Gun Purchase Initiative.

During the 2016 Election Cycle, ‘Everytown for Gun Safety’ donated $750,000 to the Nevada State Democrat Party and another $13,850,000 going to ‘Nevadans for Background Checks.’ Furthermore, filings show that ‘Everytown for Gun Safety’ donated an additional $3.1 million to Democrat campaigns and its related PACs during Nevada’s 2018 election cycle.

The combined money raised by the 63 members of the Nevada Assembly was $11.7 million for the entire 2017-2018 election cycle and $10.8 million for the 2015-2016 election cycle, a four-year total of $22.5 million. These two groups spent a total of $21.8 million in the four-year period from 2014 to 2018 – nearly the same amount as was donated to all 63 of Nevada’s legislators during the last four years.

In summation: AB291 and its “Red flag” law is a danger to civil liberties in that due process is automatically waived and gun owners are guilty until proven innocent, allowing the police and judges to confiscate firearms without due process and without the ‘accused’ even being aware of it until the police execute a warrant and demand them. Sadly, there has been no public hearings on any “red flag” laws in Nevada.

My childhood friend and published poet, Jeanie French is in Scotland on vacation. She posted this photograph and my imagination sprang into action. So I wrote this story…

Jeanie strolled closer to Scotland’s old Castle Kilchurn, with its collapsing walls and missing roof, wanting a better photograph. Rumor is that the castle was home to a giant, who often scared tourists, and when hungry enough, snatched them up for a mid-morning snack.

Jeanie saw the giant’s hand reaching from the dungeon through a gap in the foundation, and with her pen and a well placed verse of poetry:

“Giant, Giant, go away now!
Not to eat am I, being mostly skin and bone.
I have warned you, so pow!
A wave of my quill — poof — you are stone!”

I wish everything in life were as easy as getting fat.

The note reads: ‘Go fuck yourself.’ Damn, another do-it-yourself project.

After reading the Nevada State Equal Right Amendment or SJR8, and aside from the fact that it is being pushed last minute (three days left of the 2019 Nevada State Legislature as of this writing) without public input, Section 24 of the bill is the most concerning and reads: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be  denied or abridged by this State or any of its political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.”

“Coffee!” my brain screamed, “I need coffee.” Generally, I don’t do Starbucks, but I couldn’t find a 7-11 or any other coffee shop nearby, so I told myself that it would have to do.

“Yes, nothing fancy – straight black, the largest you got,” I told the barista before she asked my name.

Since it was a simple order, it took no time to prepare. Once in hand, I started for the front door with the idea of sitting in my truck and enjoying a caffeine rush, but then I saw the over-stuffed couch and it looked far more comfortable than a bucket seat.

As I sat down and leaned back, a woman entered the shop; a woman with long, wavy red hair, alabaster skin, blue eyes, light makeup and sky-blue stiletto heels. I heard her order a ‘Cinnamon Cloud Macchiato,’ whatever the hell that is.

She sauntered over to the couch and looking at the other end, asked, “Is this seat taken?”

“No, ma’am,” I answered, “help yourself.”

I couldn’t help noticing her perfectly shaped body in her form fitted Azure-colored dress, as she removed her calf-length coat.

A silence filled the space between us. It came with the strange knowledge that these coffee shops are supposed to be very popular, however, aside from a staff of three, she and I were the only two customers in the place.

“Been traveling long?” she asked without looking up from her coffee.

A little take aback, I was slow to answer, “About 20 hours.”

“Are you heading any place in particular?”

“No. Simply driving from one place to the next.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do that. I have kids at home.”

“Really? How many?”

“Eight at the moment. Hopefully nine by this afternoon.”

“Wow?”

“Yes, and all adopted.”

“Good on you! Not enough good folks are willing to adopt children it seems these days.”

“I know, right, especially the older ones?”

This was followed by a short silence, which she finally broke, with “Lilith Grigori, Christian,” as she stuck out her hand.

As I started to reach, “Wait! How in the hell do you know my…?”

“Relax, silly. It’s written on your cup,” she said, adding from out of the blue, “so what are you looking for as you travel?”

“Nothing,” I answered to her odd question, wondering if this was her way of coming on to me.

“Be honest, now – a man doesn’t wander aimlessly for no reason.”

“Well, I do.”

She looked at me, then nodded at my jacket pocket and the small note book that poked out of it, “You’re a writer, you look for stories, you explore and want to know, don’t you?”

“Never thought of it like that — so I guess — yes.”

“Humble. I like that in a man.”

I smiled, not understanding the context of her compliment.

“Want to hear a wild story?”

“Sure,” I answered, taking a gulp of my quickly cooling coffee.

“I work for the Devil,” she said as she watched for my reaction.

“Nut job,” I thought, as I answered aloud, “You do? Why would anyone want to work for him?”

“Who said he was a he?”

“What?”

“She’s a she.”

It was time for me to go and Lilith sensed it, “What — does this scare you?”

“Not what — you — you’re scaring me,” I responded, “I don’t know you, but you’re coming off as bat-shit crazy.”

“Bat-shit, I’ve always wondered who in the fuck it was that decided bat-shit is the craziest,” she laughed, adding, “So you don’t want to hear my story?”

Taking a deep breath, I answered, “Only if you promise to stay on your end of the couch.”

“Okay – but I don’t bite – I promise,” she chuckled.

She sipped her coffee and stated, “I was created for Adam, but I didn’t want marry him or have his babies. In fact, being new to the world at the time, I didn’t want children at all. And because of this, I was called disobedient and my womb cursed.”

“I’ve heard all this before.”

“Well, they got it wrong, I never slept with the archangel Samael,” she announced, as a touch of anger flared in her eyes, “In fact, I’ve never been penetrated by an penis. Anyway, Luci took me in after I was kicked out of Eden and we got married. Over time, we realized that we wanted children and since Luci and I couldn’t have a child of our own, we decided to adopt the unwanted ones.”

“So, what do you do with these unwanted children, turn them into your little evil minions?” I played along.

“Do I look like that sort of person to you, Christian?” she retorted.

“I’ve seen evil and it’s usually unrecognizable,” I returned, feeling perturbed at the way she insisted on saying my name.

“We’re not talking the same thing,” she said.

“Then, explain – because bad is bad to me.”

“First off, Luci has always followed her Father’s rules and secondly, she doesn’t create sin, man’s free will does that. And while her Father issues the grace, she gets stuck carrying out the sentence and she does it all in the hope that He’ll love her again, like He once did.”

“So what’s does this have to do with the two of you adopting children.”

“You see, sinning is more generic than the Bible says. There’s a lot of specific sins in that book, but really, sin is just an act carried out with malicious or selfish intent.”

“A rather simplified definition — but I get what you’re trying to say. However, I’m still not understanding where adopting children comes in.”

“It’s simple really, they work for me. I use them to lure pedophiles.”

“Okay – fuck this,” I said sternly, “You’re taking this shit way too far for…”

“But,” she cooed in a sad little voice, “I haven’t gotten to the best part and it’s not as sick as you think.”

She waited for me to sit back down.

“I run a little site on the dark web and when a pedophile purchases one of my children, I send them to where ever and they kill the buyer — the pedophile.”

“Wrong, wrong, wrong,” I protested, “That’s not how God operates. You can’t break His laws. You can’t earn God’s grace. Besides that’s not acting with love!

“I know, but I get to have children, Luci gets to feel like she’s pleasing her Father by ridding the world of pedophiles and we make a lot of money to donate to political campaigns and local charities.”

“Still wrong. And what happens to the kid’s when they’re too old for pedophiles, I suppose you turn them out as prostitutes?”

“You really don’t think very much of me, do you, Christian? I’m really not that heartless,” Lilith smiled as she looked at the three barista’s as they lined the counter.

Each smiled and waved. It was than that I realized I’d found the portals to Hell.

They told me to follow my passion. I did. We got lost.

She wished her mother could come back to life. The daughter should have been clearer though; the deceased woman’s screams from the urn in which her ashes rest is unnerving.

Night times are the worst.

Former News Talk 780-KOH radio talk show host and 2005 Nevada Broadcast Association Hall of Fame inductee, Bill Manders passed away on May 27, 2019, (Memorial Day) at the age of only 68. He was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 22, 1950.

Reflecting back, it was a very warm Memorial Day 2006 that I first met Bill, during the dedication of the Freedom Memorial located at Powning Park in downtown Reno, Nevada. Bill, whose last name is really Mandelaris, was the driving force behind establishing the memorial, which on that day held the names of 38 Nevada military personnel who had died in Afghanistan and Iraq.

(I have the actual architectural plans, most of the documentation for the memorial and his show-opener that featured Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers singing ‘I Won’t Back Down,’ which were left behind when the powers-that-be canned him and that Bill told me to keep.)

Less than a year later, I found myself working with him. While he could come across gruff on the air, in person he was one of the most kind and genuine people I’d ever come to know in broadcasting.

It came as a shock to me when the management of KKOH let him go from the station mid-contract. But, true to his nature, he landed like a cat on his feet, doing Conservative talk radio in central California.

Bill also received the life-saving transplant of a kidney from 17-year-old Lexi Morris, a senior at Clovis East High School, in Clovis, California, who committed suicide.

Bill was working at Power 96.7 in Fresno, California at the time and often talked about his kidney dialysis and the need for a kidney on his program. Lexi’s father, Jason, listening to Bill’s show decided, along with his wife, Amy, that Bill should be the recipient, which turned out to be a perfect match.

“You know I’ve talked extensively on this program about having to go to dialysis, and that I was looking for a kidney so I didn’t have to do that anymore,” said Bill told listeners. “Well guess what? I don’t have to do that anymore; I got a new kidney. I got a kidney from a 17-year-old girl.”

Later, he spoke with ABC7 saying, “I was in tears when I heard [Lexi’s’] story, but I would rather concentrate on the pluses in her life. She was smart, athletic, she has a great family, and I know she’s up there looking down on me, so I’ve got to honor her.”

He hosted afternoons at KMJ in 2000-03 before his stint at KKOH in 2003-12, returning to Fresno at Power Talk in 2012-14. Bill also co-authored a book in 1999 with Lorita Hubbard, titled “A Clash of Values: Are the Media and Other Outside Influences Undermining Our Family Principles?”

Once Bill’s active radio career ended, he had time for what he really loved – being a grandfather and family man. He semi-retired to Lehi, Utah to be closer to his daughter and grandchildren.

Thank you Bill, for being a good friend, having an ear ready when needed, for following your convictions and and remaining honest and humble to those around you. I will truly miss you.