I was in high school walking back to class from a restroom break when I heard the news of the twin towers being struck. The day went from being normal to surreal in a matter of moments.
Learning the rest of the day was going to be out of the question.
At one of the computer classes I was in at a vocational school that was partnered with my high school, we watched the news. We were in awe and terrified as the twin towers came down.
I was emotionally numb about the event for several days.
When the numbness began to wear off, I became uneasy as the Patriot Act was passed into law. The next thing I knew, talks of Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction entered the news cycle.
Today is a reminder of the thing that we have forgotten.
We must not let fear prevent ourselves from speaking up. Traditional media has had too many failures in the past, which is why there is so much distrust now. Crying wolf one time too many has its price.
Due to circumstances in my life and too much negativity, I stepped away from this project as the motivation was just not there.
I’ve concluded that the time has come to bring back The *Nixed Report.
There will be plenty of discussion of things that are not always for the faint of heart. At the same time, I’ve learned that a hard price is paid for taking things too seriously. When people say they get four hours of sleep a night or less as they grow less and less sane, it should be obvious that they are about to crack.
While not everything in life is a joke, being able to laugh is important; even if it’s at ourselves occasionally.
The magazine will be returning next week and will be on sale. The first issue will be free for everyone, and copying will be encouraged. I want the word to get out.
The idea will be to sell copies as well.
They can either be purchased off the website directly or through various crowdfunding platforms such as Patreon. Since choice is important when it comes to media consumption, multiple platforms will be available as well.
Publishing again for the sake of it isn’t a part of the mission statement.
The website, the magazine, and other media published will also serve as teaching tools as well so that others who want to know how to build an independent media venue will have a place to start. A store front with tools, supplies, and learning materials will also be provided as well in the future to help fund this project and help others learn about media creation.
Finally, having fun will be of the utmost importance.
If I don’t enjoy doing this, then there won’t be any point to it. I’m looking forward to rebuilding this brand into something better. Stay tuned.
As can be seen by looking at this site, there hasn’t really been much in the way of activity for some time. The reason why was life in and of itself. It happens. I won’t go into details, but I had to take a break from the site.
While I was thinking about finding ways to revive the site yet again, something occurred to me.
I wasn’t having fun with it. Combine that with the fact that we’re in a political environment in which we aren’t as willing to think outside the box, and we have what’s called a no win situation.
Then we have individuals who are Revolution for Sale®.
The funny thing is, there are plenty of things to hit a certain radio talk show host in the head with, yet people are going with things that are so weak that it makes me virtually face palm and head desk myself. There are legitimate things that can be used to expose this individual for the person he really is.
Case in point:
I can try to point these things out, but the audience may not be in the mood to listen, and who can blame them? We’re in an environment where we’ve been yelling at each other for so long that we can’t see the forest from the trees.
The perspective of there only being things that are Black and White is what has been hurting us more than anything, and I don’t want to be in that environment at the moment.
I want to have fun again, and give people something to smile about.
What better way to do that than to do something that is actually fun? That is why I started RetroX86. I have been looking at the history of personal computers for some time, and was excited for the first time for some time.
So this isn’t goodbye or see you later.
I’m just setting this site aside for the time being. You’ll still be able to access past content, including the podcasts and magazine issues. The part that said, “Entertain Yourself….” is something I take seriously.
If your heart isn’t in it, don’t do it. My heart is somewhere else at the moment, so I will be doing that.
Thank you for visiting, and please check out the new site.
She was a radio talk show host based in Versailles, Missouri.
Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report
Versailles, Missouri based radio talk show host Joyce Riley will no longer be able to host The Power Hour radio broadcast. According to their official Facebook Fan Page:
It is with the greatest of sadness that we deliver to you today the heartbreaking news of the death of our friend and fellow patriot Joyce Riley. Joyce died peacefully on June 25, 2017.
Sent with love and remembrance,
The Power Hour
I have no doubt he either killed himself or has a new FBI ID…ROT in Hell asshole. –Jack Blood
I want to start by apologizing to everyone. I know it’s been a long time since I published anything here. The podcast is still going, but due to the election year, I haven’t put out a new episode in a while. Ironically, it’s with the subject matter at hand that jolted me back to life so to speak.
Last week, I saw the posts spreading on Facebook regarding the death of Victor Thorn, including from some popular fan pages. One of the primary links is from the American Free Press, a controversial alternative media site.
He died of a self inflicted gun shot wound.
Due to the fact that 2016 is a Presidential Election year and that Hillary Clinton is running for President, speculation was naturally going to occur. Thorn had written books and articles critical of the Democratic nominee, so this comes as no surprise.
I want to preface this next part by saying that I have no intention of speaking ill of the dead. Other than a minor rant on the YouTube channel, I haven’t publicly talked about it. I understand that there are family and friends who are grieving, and death is not known for being pleasant.
To Scott Makufka’s immediate family, you have my sincere condolences. The rest of this article is not aimed at any of you, for this is something that none of you were involved in. What I am about to say is not something I’m going to enjoy.
The truth must be told
Like with Steve Jobs of Apple, Thorn is already being given that mythic status, but reality must prevail. Before anybody places him on a pedestal, there’s some things you need to know.
Things like the fact that he is no martyr, let alone a hero.
In the beginning of my foray into the alternative media, I actually interviewed both him and Lisa Guliani on WING TV, an online television show that predates the existence of online streaming sites such as YouTube. Granted, the videos used RealMedia for encoding, but it was fairly cutting edge for the time.
Thorn and Guliani would have been what others referred to as conspiracy theorists. They questioned the official narrative of 9/11 and also viewed the state of politics in the early 2000’s with suspicion. That aspect of both of them was not the most controversial part of this duo.
They even did a satirical episode where they pulled Masonic symbols out of Art Bell’s ass. Keep that in mind for later.
One of the major figures they also criticized was Alex Jones of Infowars.com. They stopped doing so for a while until they went to Oklahoma City to talk about the Oklahoma City Bombing with others who questioned the government’s official narrative.
I actually spoke to Guliani, Thorn’s co-host, over the telephone on a regular basis. They both bragged about the results on Whalen’s show; threats were called in, a former associate of Jones cut off a micro-broadcasting station, and more.
Had I been more experienced back then, the fact that they were excited about those things would have raised a red flag.
They eventually made the claim that since GCN was renting satellite time from ABC, they were an affiliate of ABC’s. That’s like referring to me as an affiliate of Charter Communications because they happen to by my ISP at this time. In other words, confirmation bias is what caused them to look for anything proving that GCN, the very network that broadcasts The Alex Jones Show, was nothing more than a corporate sellout.
That was before I had a better understanding of the broadcasting world.
Enter Revere Radio Network. This was a network that both had initially supported until Sonny Crack, one of the show hosts who had an understanding of the broadcasting media world, called out Guliani for her inaccuracy (albeit in a not so diplomatic manner).
He would go on to create an adult themed satire aimed at her.
So what did two alternative media personalities based out of State College, Pennsylvania do about said satire recorded by a host who was based out of Tampa Bay, Florida?
More importantly, if two people claim that they are anti-establishment, what is the best course of action if they wanted to torpedo their own credibility?
At the time, they told me that based on advice from local law enforcement, they contacted the Cyber Crimes Division of the FBI. Robb Revere, the head of the network in question, would receive a friendly call from a special agent.
Fortunately for Revere, since it was a civil matter as opposed to a criminal matter, he wouldn’t have to worry about the FBI knocking on his door.
I was inexperienced and I certainly found that piece of satire to be in poor taste. Still, as the months went on, the worm would begin to turn
Revere himself interviewed him, and eventually wound up realizing that I was no enemy of his. My thoughts at the time was that if he really cared about the news and the truth, he would pursue it. He did.
He decided to put me through a test as well and offered me a spot on his radio network. My initial plan was to torture them and even have the two co-hosts from WING TV on as guests, but both saw this as an act of betrayal.
The magic of Internet drama.
To top it off, I was informed that some things were going to go down in the future and that I wouldn’t be privy to them because of what I did. They would continue attacking and criticizing other alternative media personalities, thus creating more of a divide.
The two individuals were so polarizing that they eventually had a falling out with one another, resulting in Guliani leaving the show. Not long after that, WING TV would transform into a glorified online bookstore.
According to Bill Makufka, Scott Makufka was a complicated individual; Victor Thorn wasn’t just a pseudonym, but a separate identity.
He would tailor the conversation for each individual that he talked to, a description of a trait that sounds all too familiar, but that’s a story for another day.
What you need to know is that he along with his then-cohort did more criticizing than original content creation. They did some original work, such as protesting at Ground Zero on 9/11 a couple of times and Thorn/Makufka would put already existing material into an original format (9/11 On Trial), but they also built long list of people in their so called “Hall of Shame.”
When people are focused on more than ideas, there’s a problem. This holds true regardless of point of view. One can’t claim to be against “The Man” when they go to “The Man” to solve a perceived problem in the first place, especially when it’s a civil matter.
Scott “Victor Thorn” Makufka is no martyr, no hero, no deity. He was human, and in the past he along with a former co-host made a few mistakes (some more egregious than others) and ironically generated negativity, the very thing Makufka disdained.
So please don’t put him on top of a pedestal or argue that Hillary Clinton had anything to do with his death.
