A Programmer in Shock

Recall that President Andrew Jackson flouted the Supreme Court in the 1830s, thus producing the Trail of Tears. Will political muscle again thwart a SCOTUS decision? Or will our nation rise to the occasion and protect the precious gains of the McGirt Decision, perhaps the most significant legal victory for Native America in the history of our nation?

    Memories of my experience with “Town Meeting on Phone Tape” have enabled me to arrive at plans to protect the gains from McGirt and also help those without computers or cell phones get through the pandemic.

    Along with many other C programmers, I bought telecom boards and wrote a C switch that answered the phone, took messages, and dial out automatically. I also put political content on touchtone menus. I created “Town Meeting on Phone Tape “- I went around recording political meetings from both parties in three contexts: local, state, and federal – during the 1990s. The project ended after two years. Curated audio was dialed out to every number in the Maplewood NJ & vicinity phone book, tens of thousands of calls per year over two years. About 35% of respondents listened to the entire message before hanging up - it was something of a novelty at the time. Some politicians didn’t want the presence of a tape recorder, likewise they didn’t want a broadcast out of their control. Although Democrats and Republicans were both sometimes receptive. a) Democratic audiences generated more audience noise in the form of laughter, clapping, hoots and hollers, etc. b) Republicans dwelt more on financial matters than Democrats. 

Well, I am in shock that this same technology, available since the 1990s, isn't in use to save lives by spreading Covid health information, and isn't is use to spread information about the McGirt decision.

In hopes of addressing these concerns, I am devoting Jacmel Enterprises LLC to providing the needed crucial functionality. 'Jacmel' is a name invented by initials of family members. I have three sons,  - JAC. MEL are my mother's initials: Mary Ellen Longley. Turns out Jacmel is a city in Haiti, sheer coincidence. I hail from dirt poor farmers in Upstate New York.

Alan Longley,

President Jacmel Enterprises LLC