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Monday, May 6, 2013

BRAND NEW DAY.........

There was a certain rush I got when JM landed in Miami.  We had traveled so far with him...... invested ourselves somehow in his safe return to America, and it felt like a huge win.  I've been waiting to feel that rush again.   It didn't happen immediately upon reading that George Jung would be writing John's biography, No Domain, but a bit of research on George, and another viewing of Blow made me realize it's amazing potential...... I'm excited now.

In a strange 'six degrees' twist of fate, these two men; both belonging to the crazy money club, from the same generation, traveling paths that may never have crossed, but certainly ran parallel on many levels, have been brought together.  The irony is not lost on me.  I found myself thinking of the completely different ways they chose to amass similar size fortunes....... both having great success in their 'fields',  each raking in 100 million (or more?).  George being the first major importer of Colombian cocaine, and JM being the first major anti-virus programmer.   Totally opposite ends of the spectrum with regards to earning styles, side by side with the distorted life that money created.  Living large....... excessive houses, cars, boats, parties, drugs and women. Rubbing elbows with the rich and famous.  Daughters who remain dear in their hearts, although we have no idea of their actual relationships (but do hope they are close).  Lives that have ended up much differently than they expected.   And the blow......did anyone else consider that JM's (admitted) cocaine habit was likely supplied indirectly by George?  I did, and I got quite a chuckle too.

I know there are people who aren't happy about this decision, with comments like " why would they pick an ex cocaine dealer to write JM's biography?", or "isn't he in jail?" and some going on to question George's overall integrity.  If you're someone who lost a loved one to cocaine, nothing will change your view, and it's understandable.  If you haven't,  your opinion might be more like mine.... great expectations for a sweet collaboration between two like minds.  My opinion of George Jung may surprise some, but anyone who knows me understands completely.  First of all, if it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else, so I don't see him as the evil inventor of the cocaine boom of the late 70's......it was going to happen anyway.  Then if  you factor in his loyalty and character traits, and take the cocaine out of the equation, you are left with a good man, who wanted to love and care for his family.  I've actually read the same words used to describe both George and John........'likable guy, very charismatic, charming, and kind'.

This is from Johnny Depp's Introduction for Ted Demme's book, Blow by Blow , found on the World of Johnny Depp blog:  "For the next several hours we talked intensely.....him doing most of it.  I listened and watched him like a hawk spewing tale after tale, esoteric analogies, fact after fact, each one topping the previous.  He was generous, he was gentle, he was hilarious, he was heartbreaking, he was all too human - a kind of outcast Zen Master who'd grabbed hold of life by the short and curlies and swung it around for all it was worth.  Life,  then, snuck up on him, and bit him hard on the ass."  (be sure to read it all).  Johnny Depp's portrayal of George Jung in Blow was amazing, showing him as a man.... a human being.......a heart.   But not just a smuggler. Bravo Mr. Depp.

So yes, I'm really looking forward to the book....my expectation of an exciting, twist-filled read created by these two men is huge.  I imagine they will start talking and countless hours later will realize they haven't stopped once......I would love to be a fly on the wall for that meeting.  Trading stories, some horrifying, some side-splitting, some tragic and heartbreaking..... each one bringing them closer, and forming the bond that will bring about the story of John McAfee that we WIM fans have all been waiting for.  So Welcome George, we're glad you've hopped on board the JM (crazy) train with us.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This quote comes from George......Blow fans will recognize the last line as one from his father.  You can find the whole article here.
"I've lived the life of the biggest rock stars or film stars.  There was nothing I couldn't do.  But I didn't have many friends," George said.  "Life was my gamble, luck was my art form.  I've lived ten lives in one and now I'm the rend where illusion meets reality.  All that I know finally comes to meaning, all the deserted lands, sandy beaches I ever walked in ribbons of desperado moonlight, all the secret cargoes carried on pirate winds, all the curtained faces that watched me pass through, like a great hunter who now sees a light of his campfire realizing at long last after having come so far, exactly why I'm here on this planet at this time.  May the wind always be at your back and the sun on your face and the winds of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars."





©WEB..2013



14 comments:

  1. Dancing With a Madman

    http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201305/dancing-madman

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    1. Well hello Jeff Wise....... thanks for stopping by.
      I enjoyed your article ~ it's clear JM is a mystery that you are still trying to figure out...... and I don't think you're alone. There are a couple of points I would like to make. Regardless of the subject or topic, I have a problem with accusations from un-named sources..... no chance of rebuttal from the accused, or ability to see if perhaps that person just has an ax to grind. It would be the same thing for me to write here on this blog that an un-named source had told me that you abuse your wife on a regular basis. Now that the words are out there, the sheeple will blindly follow along.... making it irresponsible journalism in my eyes.

      There also seems to be a huge conflict for many people with the timing and words in your Gizmodo articles. 1. You posted a story on 11/8/2012, just days before GF's murder, yet the information comes from an April 2012 visit, before the Orange Walk raid. Why the delay? 2. How is it you had a "Wanted for Murder" poster up before JM became even a person of interest ..... actually just someone they wanted to talk to? 3. Why have you embellished your original story in this new compilation you've just linked?
      Compare this, written 11/8/12: "At the time, he was in residence not at his compound in the interior, near the town of Orange Walk, but at his beachfront property on the tourist-friendly island of Ambergris Caye. I pulled up in a golf cart to the rear entrance to his home and found him sitting by a pool overlooking the ocean—trim, tanned, and relaxed in flip-flops, cargo shorts, and frosted hair. As usual, he wore a goatee and a sleeveless T-shirt that showed off the tattoos that ran up his arms and over his back, with sunglasses on Croakies around his neck. He invited me to sit with him in a screened-in porch. Two young Belizean women lounged in the adjacent living room". "It was a pretty palatial setup, but his only companions these days, he told me, were the locals who work for him. Out on the patio, a dark-skinned man appeared and began cleaning the pool. Another man wearing a crisp uniform positioned himself nearby. He carried a holstered pistol awkwardly in front of him. I intuited that the gun was being brandished for my benefit, and I told McAfee that it made me nervous".

      To this most recent - from the above article you posted: "I arrive at McAfee's compound and find him sitting on the patio overlooking the sea. He greets me warmly and invites me inside, where he introduces me to two young local women lounging by the kitchen. McAfee disappears and reemerges with a man holding a holstered pistol. McAfee tells me the man's name and says, "He's a security guard". "I'm stunned. And very afraid. The moment hangs. I think: If this can go in a different direction, I'd better get it moving now. I ask: "Do you want to sit and talk?" McAfee ushers me into a screened-in porch. To my boundless relief, the man with the gun vanishes".

      Seeing you wrote them both, I have to ask why you wouldn't go back to your original article to assure continuity? Your most recent account skews the events......like the body guard just being part of the scenery in the first story, and then deliberately being brought out by JM in this new one...as though he tried intimidating you. Why would you want to do that?

      Please don't take any of my questions as an attack on you, they aren't, but are in fact genuine queries. You are obviously accomplished as a writer, having been published in multiple places. I just wonder what motivation you could possibly have to jeopardize your own integrity and that of journalism in general by altering information you yourself wrote. Is it your hope that people are just too dense to realize they are being fed a story constructed to favor your current opinion of John?
      What has happened to journalistic integrity?

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    2. Journalistic Integrity and Jeff Wise do not belong in the same sentence.

      That little story is mildly amusing if it was meant to be fiction. Sadly, this is what passes for "news" these days. There is just far too many inconsistencies, half-truths, insinuations and lies in this latest attempt by Jeff Wise to smear John McAfee for me to do a full factcheck on it.

      I don't know what has prompted Jeff Wise to come out from the shadows now to tell this tale. I do find it telling that even though Gizmodo has an entire section now devoted to John McAfee, this article is not among them. In fact, Pretty much all of the articles which were written for Gizmodo after Jeff "screwed the pooch" on declaring John McAfee a murder suspect were written by other authors. Though they have the same tone as anything Jeff Wise has written about JM and some were accompanied by that childish picture that Jeff Wise seems to love.

      Childish is a good word to describe him actually. This isn't Watergate and the mystery woman is not Deep Throat. She tells a hair-raising story of abuse. What abuse? The next paragraph then goes on to say that JM has a long standing standing interest in drugs that when given to women will increase their willingness for sexual intercourse. WTF? So JM abuses mystery woman by giving her Love Potion No. 9? Jeff Wise does not wear the color green (with envy) very well. A Journalist's mission is to report on events and people, not become the story themselves.

      Jeff Wise is well aware that even though John McAfee is a practical joker of the highest order, one thing he is serious about is his sobriety. The thread on bluelight was not magically discovered by Jeff's alert readership, zombies and sheeple are not that alert, it was found because of a stolen journal of JM's where he used the moniker "stuffmonger" which matches the name on bluelight.

      I have come to expect fantasy accusations from the troll, but from someone who calls themselves a journalist? I think I must have missed the section in the AP style book where it says it's OK to make shit up. In a polite society, it is not OK to just make shit up and call it facts.

      You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. To accuse John McAfee of abuse and drugging women to get sex is not only irresponsible, it is disgusting, pathetic, rude and yes, libelous. Jeff Wise needs to grow up and get over his man-crush on John.

      It occurred to me while I was writing this that maybe Jeff is all butt-hurt because George Jung is going to write John's book. That's the only big thing that has happened in the McAfee world lately.

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  2. Good. Now that we've gotten that straightened out, let's get back to celebrating George and John turning out one hell of a biography.

    ヽ(•‿•)ノ

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  3. Slashdot Interview

    http://features.slashdot.org/story/13/05/07/2017203/interview-john-mcafee-answers-your-questions?utm_source=slashdot&utm_medium=twitter

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    1. McAfee: ...the fact that from 1971 to 1982, 99% of my income came from smuggling and selling drugs. It's a well documented feature of my past life. I was also taking more drugs weekly than most of you will do in a lifetime, and I was a totally indiscriminate user. Whatever came across my desk went up my nose, down my throat, in my veins or up the nether region. I never reached the notoriety of George and my writing, in comparison to him, did not merit writing books about my exploits, but we were not so totally different, he and I. I had my right testicle shattered by a hammer in 1974 when I ran afoul of some local drug barons in Oaxaca. Its the size of a grape now and shaped like a small frisbee. I have been in Mexican jails on three separate occasions and, frankly, I cannot recommend them. I was arrested in Bristol Tennessee in 1971 and charged with felony possession of a dangerous narcotic. A good lawyer got me of.

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    2. Thanks for sharing the link, I wish we had known about this question/answer session before the fact......it would have been great fun to participate. I can think of all kinds of questions for JM....maybe someday.

      I guess you weren't following the blog and John's admitting to drug abuse is shocking, but for us it's old news (except for the part about his right nut.....I'm sure I would remember that). LOL WhoisMcafee is a great read, but start at the beginning, and be sure to click all the links....some amazing newspaper articles too.

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    3. I've been here from the beginning, and have followed most if not all links, and more. I'm not as able as you to assign "good" motives to John, I see them as "John's" motives. I have the added handicap of being a member of the so-called media. This doubtless makes me cynical and able to see why the more responsible (?) steered away from the story. John valiantly fired up the yellow impression press, but that leaves questions. What happened to them? Were threats thrown at them? What threats? they're a pretty ferocious horde. Why did join see the need for this sudden Q&A?

      It fired up some of the yellow horde anyway. The scurrilous Daily Mail zipped back into action by re-upping its January 'Meet the harem of SEVEN women who lived with fugitive software tycoon John McAfee before he fled Belize' story. (A rewrite and repic of John's 'The Girls' blog.)

      But also see Wednesday's: http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/05/08/57447.htm

      Interesting times...

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    4. Yes I read that too.

      I am sorry for her loss, but the widow's attorney is using a shotgun approach. If you look at the actual lawsuit, she is suijng anyone and everyone associated to the the accident and aerotrekking including the manufacturer. John is just the most colorful, and probably the high profile.

      So the lawsuit is not just against him. He did not flee to Belize to escape the lawsuit. Why would he? A judgement is a judgement. He would be harder to get to but not impossible. We all see the world through our special brand of rose colored glasses. Of course they are John's motives, just like your motives are yours. Very few people are truly altruistic. That doesn't make it bad. JM is just more honest than most people. Maybe at times too candid and forthcoming.

      And yeah, 5 different sites reported on the slashdot interview. It's like at the beginning when they all were citing and quoting each other. It's called an echo chamber and sadly it is what passes for journalism these days.

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  4. I wish we had known about it too.
    That info about the squished nut? TMI, really TMI.

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    1. Yes, that was like owwwwwwwwieeeeeeeee.

      The slashdot community came up with some really stupid questions. I was pleased that the editors chose some pretty good ones.

      I thought JM was refreshingly candid. And yes, we all know about his drug use. It is why so many of us believe him when he says he does not do drugs or alcohol now. The Wired story by Josh Davis devotes an entire section to JM's drug use.

      I thoroughly enjoyed the little story about the Vice reporters. JM used a helluva lot of words to tell an amusing anecdote and then, not really answer the question :) I can picture in my mind Samantha whacking him upside his head with an ashtray Hahahahahah. So maybe he isn't the abuser, he is the abused? (just kidding guys....)

      JM has proven himself to be a charming southern gentleman, once again. It brightened my day after having read that crap from Jeff "not so" Wise.

      His explanation of why George Jung is the perfect choice to write his story really made sense. Who better to understand the transformation in JMs life from drugs to clean and sober. I'm looking forward to reading it once it is finished. I hope that they pre-post a chapter or three to satiate our hunger.

      OK, so what do you think? If JM doesn't do his own audio book...then Patrick Stewart?

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