It's 2025, and the literacy rate for Native-Born U.S. citizens is barely over 70%, with 27% adults scoring at the lowest level of literacy. In 1925, Native-Born U.S. citizens had a literacy rate that hovered between 90 and 95%.

Well, it looks like I might have to take work off on Friday the 12th of June...because I don't want to miss this...and I'd definitely be missing out on much-needed sleep if I attended it while still having to work at 2 AM. edgefieldconcerts.com/event/the-de...

The mountain was out and she was brilliantly clear this afternoon when I left the gym. I decided to stop at the Washougal Waterfront Park to take some photos on my way home. I'd been meaning to capture some photos with the eagle statue in the foreground. I only wish it was angled better.

There were a whole lot of rather spectacular mushrooms growing in the lawn at work the other day...so I stopped and took some photos on the way to my car.

My new novel, The Temporalist, is still undergoing editing prior to publication. The thoroughly revised/re-edited/rewritten edition of my debut novel, Unspoken, is still on the horizon.

Instead of at The Hague, can we hold the trial in the Epstein Ballroom so that something worthwhile actually happens in there?

Fucking hell! Solicitor General D. John Sauer sounds like a Muppet version of RFK Jr. It's totally distracting while listening to this Supreme Court session.

Hell has gained new aristocracy...Dick Cheney is dead.

You know what they say, everything looks like a butthole to a butt plug.

While I only have one title, You Will Be Consumed, available in audiobook format, I do have a few short stories, samples of larger pieces, and random pieces of poetry available for your listening pleasure on YouTube. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

I have a very bad feeling about this...

Portland At Night. Doesn't look like a war zone, burning to the ground to me.

Just once...when Trump starts in with his, "No one knows more than I do about...whatever," bullshit, I want one of the reporters in the room to interject with, "What you know about anything could fit into a thimble and still leave room for a thumb, you magnificent fucking gas bag."

Well, I'm a Domestic Terrorist, I guess. I suppose that'll be my excuse from now on, when I disappoint the people in my life. "Come on, what more would you expect from me? I'm a domestic terrorist."

This was from 2020. I wonder how much worse it will get this time. The irrational fear spread like wildfire back in 2020, and we're seeing clear evidence that the same people who were whipped up into a fervor then are just as gullible five years later.

Here we have Turning Point Terrorists showing us precisely why anti-fascist movements exist. If these people hate being called fascists so much, maybe they should learn what fascism is, and stop doing their best to emulate it. apnews.com/article/anti...

Listening to the audiobook for Clay McLeod Chapman's Whisper Down the Lane as the nation descends into the 21st Century's answer to McCarthyism and Satanic Panic...in the form of ANTIFA Hysteria makes for a far more surreal experience. I don't know if I recommend the combo or not. It's unsettling.

The Satanic Panic of decades ago has returned as the ANTIFA Hysteria. It's just as stupid, just as divorced from reality, and potentially way more harmful.

It’s Complicated… Assuming you haven't been living somewhere off the grid and blissfully disconnected from the world at large until this very moment, you've been hearing a lot of heavy-handed talk from certain sectors that anyone who doesn't wholeheartedly embrace and endorse the Trump…

If Portland was actually the war-ravaged hellhole Trump claims it is, Kristi Noem wouldn't step foot anywhere near the city, and she sure as hell wouldn't be at the under seige ICE Facility right now.

30 Bob Ross paintings are being auctioned off to help rural PBS stations that are struggling. That's great, but it shouldn't be necessary.

My name is Legion, for we are many.

I hope Puffy enjoys his time in prison, the piece of shit! Four years and two months is hardly enough, but it's something.

My thoughts on the situation in Portland, the fearmongering associated with it, and how it needs to be addressed. meltdownmessiah.com/2025/10/03/w...

We Need To Talk About Portland… We need to address some serious misconceptions and outright lies that are circulating regarding Portland, OR, and the allegedly embattled Department of Homeland Security. I've heard this city referred to as a "War Zone," "Under siege from attack by ANTIFA, and other…

"I’ll be all around in the dark–I’ll be everywhere. Wherever you can look–wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there."

I have to admit, even if I had the option to pick the Founding Father I'm related to, Benjamin Rush really wouldn't have been a bad choice. There were plenty of worse options out there.

You know what, he's right. I think I've developed PTSD from all the time I spend in the war zone. It's gotten so bad that I don't even notice all of the fighting and death surrounding me every day. Literally, I just don't even see it. I must be blocking it out.

I very much doubt it will work, but I would love to put it to the test...and I need your help to do so. FanExpo Portland has a form on their website that allows people to "Suggest a Guest." I think you know where I'm going with this. fanexpohq.com/fanexpoportl...

And now Nexstar has ended their blackout of Kimmel as well.

Sinclair is backing down on the media blackout of Kimmel on the ABC stations they run, probably because his ratings for this week's return (despite being available on a fraction of the stations thanks to Nexstar & Sinclair boycotting him) were damn near record-setting for a late night talk show.

There's word from Cuba that Assata Shakur has died at the age of 78. She had been in Cuba since at least 1984, after escaping prison & seeking asylum. She was a member of the Black Liberation Army. You may not know who she was, but everyone from Public Enemy to Jay Z has written songs about her.

What I have to say about Political Violence and those who want to selectively narrow the definition. youtube.com/watch?v=xEGh...

Discussing some of the more obvious and unsettling parallels between 1930's Germany and America today...because too few people paid attention to history. youtube.com/watch?v=sL-J...

Assuming I haven't found myself at a labor camp, a re-education facility, or executed as a member of a domestic terror organization between now and the following dates...you will for sure be able to find me at these three conventions next year:

The Hazards Associated With Hate Speech A recent back-and-forth with an old friend led me to believe that some clarification on the topic of Hate Speech might be in order. I like to think that other people might also benefit from this. First of all, there is no clear or concise definition as far…

Though I don't honestly expect people to learn anything here, I always naively hope that will be the case. This is my admittedly futile attempt to counter the insidious propaganda I see wherever I look. meltdownmessiah.com/2025/09/13/w...

When Assessing Authoritarianism: Compare and Contrast Critically Altogether too few of the people opposing the steady slide to the right in the U.S. have taken the time to read Mein Kampf or Goebbels' later extrapolation on many of its premises. This is especially disheartening because it's clear…

I wanted to break down precisely why I feel the way I do about Charlie Kirk and others like him, and why his specific manner of demise wouldn't have made a difference in how little I care that he's gone. meltdownmessiah.com/2025/09/11/p...

Political Violence and the Selective Acknowledgment of It Political Violence comes in more shapes and sizes than Pokémon. And yet, it's only ever a specific variety that most people seem willing to acknowledge, and then only when it suits the narrative they prefer to frame. When someone is killed…

My argument for why we need to excise the concept of Race from our collective consciousness altogether. meltdownmessiah.com/2025/09/07/f...

Fiction Treated As Fact: The Myth of Race To bring an end to Racism, we need to successfully deconstruct the 17th-century notion of "Race" as a thing. Race, as we commonly think of it, is nothing more than a relatively modern and simplistic categorization based on conveniently visible markers that…

The view of the Columbia River from the Northbound side of 205 on the Glenn Jackson Bridge.

Looking West, toward downtown from SE Portland.

I heard about this new David Lynch mural in SE Portland, and I absolutely had to check it out. It's fucking fantastic! I'm sure he would have loved it, though he'd have probably been humble about seeing his face on the side of the building.

It's been a little while since I felt like sitting down and putting a sociopolitical piece out, but it really felt like a good time to toss all this together in one place. Looking around, it seems like it's obviously a little bit late. meltdownmessiah.com?p=3948

The Nazi Narratives Helping Conservatives Sleep At Night Conservatives sure do have a knack for claiming (accurate) accusations of Nazi parallels in their policies are hyperbolic while distorting historical facts to make (flimsy) accusations of Nazi comparisons with their opponents. What's truly…

This seems increasingly appropriate. "Let the bad vibes roll 'Cause you know they're coming. Let the good times go 'Cause you know they're gonna. It's a world wide woe What's the use in running? Let the good times go. Let the bad vibes roll." youtube.com/watch?v=Mx6Y...