In this episode, we explore Cory Doctorow's "enshittification", which is what happens when a company gets you hooked, then makes the product worse, adds fees, and calls it innovation. From TVs to GPS to printers to smartphones, the pattern is always the same: pay more, own less.

Thirteen Minus 250 Years: The Good, the Bad, and the Possibilities

Which president did General George Washington actually report to? In this D‑Minus Diaries episode, I walk the road from the Continental Congress to Washington’s presidency, from Kings Mountain and Yorktown to the Treaty of Paris, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Then I connect that history to today: what government was supposed to do, what it was never meant to control, and how debt, contracts, and comfort are slowly training us to outsource our own freedom.

As America marks 250 years, I ask a simple question: if it took about thirteen years to go from king to president, how many years of trading responsibility for promises would it take to drift back toward being ruled? Let’s explore the price of freedom at the beginning, and what we are paying now.

A Memorial Day reflection on who our wars really claim: service members, civil servants, contractors, and the families who live with the knock at the door. A day off is a gift of their sacrifice. This piece explores the cost and the people we too easily forget.

This is what my friends call a "Jones Story". What starts as pulling weeds can quickly turn into a full-scale war against chaos. In this episode of D-Minus Diaries, I explore how thermodynamics, homeownership, faith, and one very expensive tractor all reveal the same truth: left alone, everything falls apart. From clogged gutters to personal discipline, “Mechanical Things Don’t Fix Themselves” is a humorous but practical look at entropy, self-reliance, and why preserving order in life always requires sweat, effort, and purpose.

A little 888‑square‑foot starter home in Elizabethton just got treated like a mini McMansion by Tennessee’s new CAMA/IMPACT tax software. In this D‑Minus Diaries, I walk through how a $120,000 house becomes a $180,000 “asset” on a screen, why that means a 50% jump in your property tax bill, and how city and county budgets quietly ride those numbers. More importantly, I show you how to appeal your own assessment, what questions to ask about the software, and what reforms we should be demanding before rising valuations tax us right out of our homes.

D-Minus Diaries Episode 25: The Great Migration dives into why so many Americans are packing up and heading to Tennessee in search of lower taxes, greater freedom, and a different way of life. From Tennessee’s frontier roots and fierce independence to modern migration, politics, culture shock, and the growing tension between preserving tradition and managing explosive growth, this piece explores what happens when people flee one system only to risk rebuilding it somewhere new. If you’ve ever wondered why Tennessee is booming, and what newcomers should understand before arriving, this one’s for you.

In this D‑Minus Diary, I start in the back of an MH‑53 on a dark training night and end in an old church pew. Along the way, I look at stress, loss, childhood faith, and why sometimes being grounded is better than falling apart.

As we approach the midterm elections, I use storytelling to show why elections matter and why they often feel confusing by design. Between primaries, media noise, and now AI-driven influence, most voters never get a clear picture of what’s really at stake. In this piece, I break down how the system works, why local races matter more than you think, and how to cut through the noise to understand who is really asking for power over your life. Because in the end, it all comes down to one vote… and whether you show up.

What happens when the tools we create start to look, think, and act like us? In Part 2 of Created in Our Image, Jim Jones moves from a simple Appalachian conversation about distance into a much bigger question about identity, technology, and purpose. From the early days of robotics to today’s rapidly evolving AI, this piece explores the moment when machines stop being tools and start becoming reflections. As comfort increases and responsibility fades, we are left with a deeper question: are we building something to serve us, or something that may one day replace what makes us human?

Created in Our Image (Part 1) by Jim Jones, D-Minus Diaries. What started as an argument about whether something was “over by” Krispy Kreme turned into something much bigger. Somewhere between donut shop directions and a simple AI question, my wife and I realized something has changed. We are no longer just using technology, we are starting to relate to it. We name it, we talk to it, and we trust it. And maybe, without even realizing it, we are beginning to replace something human with something easier. This is Part 1 of a series exploring where AI is today, how we got here, and why it already feels more real than most people think. Part 2 asks the harder question… what happens when it gets a body? If this makes you think, follow D-Minus Diaries.