In the late 1900s, I was spending a significant amount of time on the road, driving nearly 1,000 miles a week. Back then, I lived in Houston, a city notorious for its unpredictable weather and sprawling roadways. One of the most well-known highways in Houston is Loop 610, a giant ring encircling the city. It was (and still is) a requirement that hazardous material trucks use the loop instead of cutting through the downtown area. This rule made sense, given the risks involved in transporting dangerous substances through such a densely populated area. But one particular day on the loop changed the trajectory of my life in the most unexpected way.
A Rainstorm, a Leaky Truck, and a Spark of Curiosity
Houston weather is nothing if not unpredictable. You can be driving under sunny skies one minute and find yourself in the middle of a torrential downpour the next, and that’s exactly what happened on this day. As I made my way around Loop 610, following a chemical transport truck, the skies opened up. The rain poured down, and visibility became challenging. Yet, something about that truck caught my attention.There was an unusual amount of water draining from the back of the vehicle…far more than seemed normal, even during a rainstorm this heavy. My curiosity got the better of me. Why was there so much water spilling from this truck? Was it just rain runoff, or was there something else going on?Instead of continuing on my usual route through town via Highway 59, I decided to follow the truck, keeping a safe distance. I watched as the rain let up and the sun came out again. But here’s the strange part: the water draining from the truck didn’t stop. It kept flowing as if the storm had never ended.
A Suspicious Pattern and a Moment of Realization
The truck didn’t return to Highway 59 after completing its loop around the city. Instead, it kept circling. I followed it for a while, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. Was something leaking? Was the truck dispersing something intentionally? After completing more than one full loop around the city, I realized I’d wasted enough time, and likely exposed myself to who-knows-what. I decided to let it go and head home.But the experience stuck with me. Long after I stopped following that truck, I couldn’t shake the questions from my mind. What could have been leaking from that vehicle? Was it an accident, or something more sinister? The idea kept nagging at me, and before I knew it, a story began to form in my imagination. That day, the seed for my novel Gods and Insects was planted.
From a Leaky Truck to a Novel 30 Years Later
It took over three decades for the story to fully come to life. Gods and Insects, like my previous novel The Corrected City, sat in the proverbial file cabinet for years, stored away on an old hard drive while life moved on. But writing has always been my craft, my passion. With over 100,000,000 words written (yes, that’s with an M!), my skills have sharpened over time, and I finally felt ready to breathe new life into this story.The result? A novel born from a real-life moment of curiosity, suspense, and a little bit of danger. Gods and Insects is now available, and for the next 90 days, it’s free to read on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
Sometimes, inspiration strikes in the most unexpected ways. For me, it was a mysterious chemical truck, a rainstorm, and a moment of curiosity that I couldn’t ignore. The resulting novel dives into themes of mystery, danger, and the unknown…born from a real-life experience that could have ended very differently.If you’re a fan of suspenseful, thought-provoking stories, I think you’ll find Gods and Insects well worth your time. Plus, it’s free on KDP right now, so there’s no excuse not to dive in and experience the tale for yourself.Enjoy the read, and remember, inspiration can strike when you least expect it. Sometimes, all it takes is a leaky truck on a rainy day to spark a story worth telling.
Your Turn: Join the Conversation and Dive Into Gods and Insects
Now that you’ve heard the story behind the story, I’d love to hear from you!
💬 Drop a Comment Below
Have you ever had a moment of curiosity that stuck with you for years? Maybe an unusual encounter, a strange sight, or a “what if” question that wouldn’t leave your mind? Share your story in the comments. I read every single one, and who knows, your experience might just inspire my next novel! I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this piece. Did the mystery of that leaky chemical truck grab your attention? What do you think was really going on?
Ready to see where that rainy day in Houston led? For the next 90 days, Gods and Insects is completely FREE on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). That’s right: zero cost, all suspense. Whether you’re a longtime sci-fi fan, a lover of mystery and intrigue, or someone who enjoys a story with real-world roots, this novel has something for you.👉 [Click here to download your free copy today!] (Insert your KDP link)Don’t wait. This free offer won’t last forever. Once the 90 days are up, the opportunity is gone.
⭐ Loved It? Leave a Review!
Here’s the thing about being an indie author: reviews are our lifeblood. They help other readers discover the book, they boost visibility on Amazon, and honestly? They mean the world to writers like me who’ve poured decades into their craft.So if you read Gods and Insects and enjoy it (or even if you have constructive thoughts to share), please take just two minutes to leave an honest review on Amazon. It doesn’t have to be long. Even a sentence or two makes a huge difference. Your words could be the reason another reader picks up this book and gets pulled into the mystery.
To recap:
💬 Comment below with your thoughts or your own “curious moment” story.
Thank you for being part of this journey. Every reader, every comment, and every review helps keep the stories coming. Now go grab that book, and happy reading! 🚚💧📚
The Day Everything Changed: How 9/11’s Shadow Still Follows Us 25 Years Later
I still remember exactly where I was.Sitting at a traffic light, engine idling, phone pressed to my ear. I was mid-conversation with our New York office when something on the other end shifted. A pause. An apology. Then that familiar click as I was placed on hold.But instead of the usual generic elevator music, the line piped in a live feed from a New York radio station. And in that surreal moment, trapped between a red light and a phone call that would never resume the same way, I heard the news that would carve itself into the memory of a generation.
The towers were falling.
Six Weeks That Rewrote America
Just six weeks later, the Patriot Act arrived like an uninvited houseguest who never left. Signed, sealed, and delivered, it quietly stripped away layers of privacy we didn’t even realize we had. Suddenly, virtual strip searches at airports became the new normal. We shuffled through security lines in our socks, arms raised, being scanned by machines that saw everything.We told ourselves it was temporary. Necessary. A brief inconvenience for the greater good.Twenty-five years later, almost to the day, the Patriot Act is still very much alive.
The Surveillance Web We Live In Now
Today, the conversation has evolved, but the trajectory hasn’t changed. Now we’re hearing about Flock Cameras, automated license plate readers stitching together a dragnet that tracks your movements even when you’re just taking a peaceful walk through the park. Many of these units come equipped with microphones. For our safety, of course.Seriously, do they expect anyone to believe that anymore?And Flock is just the beginning. Consider the surveillance apparatus we’ve voluntarily installed in our own homes:
Alexa devices perched on kitchen counters, always listening for their wake word (and who knows what else)
Smart TVs watching us watch them
Ring doorbells creating neighborhood-wide camera networks
Security cameras we bought, installed, and connected to the cloud with our own two hands
But all of that? It pales in comparison to the Swiss Army knife of surveillance technology sitting in your pocket right now.You can’t sit in a coffee shop, dine at a fancy restaurant, or have a private conversation anywhere without your smartphone perched on the table, listening, recording, cataloging. Not just your words. Everyone’s words. Every conversation in earshot becomes potential data.We didn’t drift into this world. We sprinted toward it, credit cards in hand.
The Novel That Waited 25 Years
In the aftermath of 9/11 and the passage of the Patriot Act, I did what writers do when the world feels off its axis. I wrote about it. I penned a novel called The Corrected City, a story shaped by the anxieties of a nation that had just traded pieces of itself for the illusion of safety.Then life happened. The manuscript got shelved. Files moved from one computer to the next, then to storage drives, then to forgotten corners of hard drives destined for the recycling bin.Recently, while sorting through old computer parts before finally letting them go, I stumbled across it. There it was, that story, patiently waiting through a quarter-century of exactly the kind of world it had warned about.I dusted it off. Polished it up. And today, I’m thrilled to announce that The Corrected City is now available on Amazon.Even better, I’ve enrolled it in KDP Select, which means if you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can read it absolutely free.
A Small Favor
If you pick it up, read it, and find it worthwhile, please leave a review. In an age where algorithms decide what stories rise to the surface, reader reviews are the single most powerful boost an independent author can get.Grab your copy. Settle in. And maybe, just maybe, turn your phone face-down on the table while you read.Thanks for coming along on this journey with me.
Twenty years after the Year of Fires, the city is safe. Assault is down eighty percent. Nobody has been murdered in eleven years. The screens say good morning by name, the clinics answer in minutes, and the past is kept tidy by people like Mara Venn, who has spent eleven years at the Ministry of Public Memory correcting the record so that no citizen ever has to live inside a contradiction. Then a corrupted file comes across her desk, and she is very good at her job, and she restores it.
What surfaces is four minutes of footage the official history cannot survive, a wind reading nobody bothered to falsify, twenty-seven names missing from a memorial roll, and a photographer in a government coat who tipped his head to the right exactly the way her sister does.
She can prove it. She cannot prove it to anybody who would still be alive afterward, starting with her sister, who reads the names of the dead on air to four hundred thousand people and believes every word.
A near-future thriller about surveillance that arrives as kindness, history that is corrected rather than censored, and the quiet, decades-long work of putting the truth somewhere it can be found.
September 9, 2011, started like any other day. While stuck at a traffic light, I was on the phone with our New York office. Something happened; they put me on hold, and as I drove to the Dallas office, I listened to the world change. We can argue about the rumors that still surround Building 7, but suffice it to say, the world changed.
My normal way of dealing with grief is not to drone on about it with friends or family. My way is to write about it. If you follow me at all, you have no doubt read my blog post about writing letters or emails to people who are, let’s say, less than congenial. I use expletives and what have you to get the anger out of me and into the digital ethos, and of course, as much as I want to, I never send it. Burning bridges and being known as a hothead will get you nowhere.
Fast-forward six weeks after 9/11 and at least 3,000 deaths by “some people who did some things.” Bush and his administration enacted the Patriot Act, which is still alive and well today. The things those people did allowed our government to strip away some of our rights, trading them for safety. “Do you feel safe?”
Fast-forward to the Flock cameras, data centers, Alexa devices, smartphones, and, of course, drones. Do you feel safe?
Those Flock cameras, I learned, have microphones.
So, while spending these summer months of 100-plus-degree days clearing out old computer hardware, I found that file from 2011. I had started a book about a fictional city where a horrible event occurred, and much like the Patriot Act, what we see today closely resembles what I put into my book. Being a fan of Orwell, I wrote a dystopian near-future novel that is all but ready for one last edit.
Stay tuned for more updates and for when the book drops.
I am thinking about putting it on KDP Unlimited for those of you who can read it for free. Follow, hit that like button, and comment below if you have ideas you would like to share.Best,
Why We’re Obsessing Over License Plate Readers While the Real Surveillance Happens in Our Pockets
The Big Idea: Flock Safety cameras have become the villain of countless town hall meetings and Reddit threads. But while we argue about license plate readers on lampposts, we voluntarily carry the most sophisticated surveillance apparatus in human history, and feed it our lives, minute by minute. Flock is the magician’s waving hand. The real trick is happening elsewhere.
The Flock Panic
If you’ve driven through an American suburb recently, you’ve probably passed one: a small black camera on a slim pole, quietly logging your license plate, the make and color of your car, and the exact time you passed. These are Flock Safety cameras. Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) that have spread across thousands of U.S. communities, often installed by police departments or even neighborhood associations.And people are furious, understandably so. The concerns are real:
Persistent tracking of vehicle movements across networked jurisdictions
Data retention for weeks or months, searchable by law enforcement and private industy without warrant.
Minimal oversight and murky data-sharing agreements
Function creep, where a tool sold for “finding stolen cars” becomes a general dragnet
These are legitimate grievances. But here’s the uncomfortable question:
Why are we so fixated on the camera we can see, when the ones we can’t are infinitely more powerful?
The Sleight of Hand
Flock cameras are visible. They’re physical. You can point at one, photograph it, demand a city council remove it. That tangibility makes them a perfect target for outrage, and a perfect distraction.Consider what a Flock camera actually knows about you:
Your car passed a fixed point at a specific time.
Now consider what the smartphone in your pocket knows:
Data Source
What It Reveals
GPS / location services
Every place you go, how long you stay, patterns over years
Accelerometer
How you walk, drive, sleep—even your gait signature
Microphone permissions
Ambient audio, keywords, environment
App telemetry
Who you talk to, what you buy, what you desire at 2 AM
Purchase history
Health conditions, financial stress, life events
Social graph
Your relationships, affiliations, and influences
A Flock camera sees a car. Your phone sees a soul. And unlike the camera on the pole, you paid $1,000 for the privilege of carrying it.
A Brief History of Watching
Surveillance isn’t new. What’s new is its invisibility and predictive power.
The Panopticon (1791): Jeremy Bentham designed a prison where a single guard could watch any inmate at any time, but inmates could never tell when. The genius wasn’t constant observation; it was the possibility of it.
The Stasi (East Germany): At its peak, one informant for roughly every 6.5 citizens. Labor-intensive, human-driven, and yet still incomplete.
CCTV Britain (1990s–2000s): Cameras everywhere, but requiring humans to review footage…analog eyes on analog tape.
Today: No guards needed. No informants. No tape to review. Algorithms watch everything, and more importantly, they predict.
The evolution isn’t just more surveillance. It’s a shift from observation to anticipation.
Foucault Saw This Coming
The French philosopher Michel Foucault, in Discipline and Punish (1975), used Bentham’s Panopticon as a metaphor for modern power. His key insight:
When you believe you might be watched at any moment, you begin to watch yourself. You self-censor. You conform. Surveillance becomes internalized until the watcher is no longer needed.
This is the profound difference between Flock and your phone. A Flock camera exerts external control…it catches you after the fact. But algorithmic surveillance achieves the Panopticon’s true goal: it shapes behavior before it happens.You hesitate before searching a controversial term. You think twice before texting a joke. You curate your digital self, knowing it’s all logged.
The prison has moved inside your head—and you built the cell yourself.
The Double-Edged Sword
Here’s the maddening part: the same technology that surveils us is genuinely useful.
Your maps app predicts traffic because it’s tracking millions of people, including you.
Your health app catches an irregular heartbeat because it monitors your body 24/7.
Your assistant answers instantly because it’s learned your habits.
Convenience is the currency we use to purchase our own surveillance.This is what Shoshana Zuboff calls surveillance capitalism: a system where human experience is the raw material, and the product is prediction. Not just predicting what you’ll buy…but nudging what you’ll do, think, and feel. Elections, moods, movements, and markets can be shaped by whoever holds the data.Social engineering at scale no longer requires a Stasi officer. It requires an A/B test.
Winston and Julia, 2026
Recall 1984. Winston Smith and Julia flee to a quiet field in the countryside to escape the telescreens, to find one unwatched moment of intimacy and freedom.Now transplant them to today.They leave their phones behind (good…that defeats the location tracking, the microphones, the app telemetry). They drive to the countryside. But:
Their license plates are logged by Flock cameras on the way out of town.
Satellites image the open field from orbit.
Their absence from the network is itself a data point, an anomaly worth flagging.
The purchase of gas, the toll on the highway, the cell tower ping from a phone one of them forgot to fully power down.
The countryside offered Winston a blind spot because Oceania’s surveillance was physical and fixed…telescreens on walls. Today’s surveillance is ambient and predictive. There is no field far enough.But here’s the twist Orwell didn’t fully anticipate: Winston wouldn’t need to be forced. He’d carry the telescreen willingly, in his pocket, and check it 96 times a day. Julia would tag their location in a photo. The Party wouldn’t have to install anything. We volunteer.
So, What the Flock?
Flock cameras deserve scrutiny. Fight them, regulate them, demand transparency. But recognize the disproportion:
Fighting Flock cameras while ignoring your data footprint is like installing a deadbolt on a house with no walls.
The cameras on the poles are the surveillance we’re allowed to see, the acceptable target, the visible outrage, the distraction that lets the real machinery hum along quietly. The genuine architecture of prediction and control isn’t bolted to a lamppost. It’s in the cloud, in the algorithm, in the terms of service you scrolled past.The most effective surveillance state isn’t one that watches you against your will.It’s one you happily fund, feed, and carry everywhere, while pointing angrily at the camera on the corner.
If there is enough interest, I will divulge other ways and places you are “observed.” Or you can just ask Alexa.
On a completely different note, I have released a new book that asks the question, “Are You a Witch?” The link will take you to my author page, where you can browse a multitude of books on a variety of subjects. There is something for almost everyone.Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to comment below.
So the next time you see a Flock camera and feel that flash of indignation, ask yourself: what’s in my pocket, and what does it already know?That’s what the flock we should really be talking about.
BTW does FLOCK mean (For the Love Of Cats?) Probabaly not… More like flock of birds, or cars…or people..
I have been giving a lot of thought to the recent criminal trials in this country. Consider the Charlie Kirk trial, in which the defendant sits laughing in court with his lawyers, or the case of the child who killed another child at a track meet. Then I see the news, where we are trying to fix the world’s problems, and I note that we have brought in twenty million people from third-world countries who were unvetted. Something needs to be done, but what?
Walk through any high-crime neighborhood and you’ll find the same story repeated. A boy grows up with no father, a stressed or absent mother, a school that’s given up on him, and a street corner that hasn’t. The gang doesn’t recruit him with force. It recruits him with belonging, protection, status, and money — the very things every human being needs and that we failed to give him. Researchers point to the same root causes again and again: poverty, social isolation, discrimination, limited educational opportunity, and low parental monitoring.
These aren’t mysteries. They are the predictable results of communities we chose not to invest in.Here is the hard truth about how we’ve responded: we spend a fortune on the back end — after the damage is done. Locking up a young person can cost well over a hundred thousand dollars a year, often producing worse outcomes than community programs at a fraction of the price. We are paying premium rates for failure. As one blunt observer put it, there is no purely legal solution to gang violence — the only way to end it is to disincentivize the gang money and offer something better.
So let’s offer something better. And let’s pay for it by looking honestly at where our dollars already go.
The argument writes itself. We send billions overseas to prop up other nations’ security and development. Meanwhile, our own veterans sleep in doorways, our own addicts wait six months for a treatment bed, and our own kids are left with idle summers that gangs are happy to fill. As Americans debating this very question.
Op-Ed: Bring the Money Home — Rebuild Our Kids, Redeem Our Lost
We keep exporting stability to the world while our own communities burn. It’s time to invest in our people first.
Every year, America sends tens of billions of dollars overseas — to shore up foreign governments, fund distant development projects, and manage crises on other continents. Meanwhile, a fourteen-year-old three miles from my house is being recruited into a gang because it’s the only place offering him belonging, protection, and a paycheck. We have our priorities exactly backward.This isn’t a call to abandon the world. It’s a call to finally do right by our own — the wayward kids drifting toward crime, and the adults our system already lost decades ago. The money exists. It’s just pointed in the wrong direction.
The Failure We’re Paying Premium Prices For
Here’s the uncomfortable math. We spend roughly $80 billion a year incarcerating people, and a single juvenile detention bed can run $100,000 to $200,000 annually — often producing worse outcomes than community programs costing a fraction as much. We are paying luxury prices for failure.And it is failure. Research consistently shows the roots of gang membership are predictable: poverty, social isolation, discrimination, drug use, limited educational opportunities, and low parental monitoring.
And this figure does not include those with LEARING CENTERS scamming those who see a problem and toss tax dollars at it with zero audits or accountability.
We know the warning signs. We watch kids fall through the cracks in slow motion. Then we act shocked and reach for handcuffs.Even ordinary Americans see the connection. As one online commenter bluntly put it, we could fund real solutions “if we didn’t send all of our money to Ukraine and Israel and Palestine” — money that could instead go toward “better funding of education and funding of mental health programs” and “tackling the root cause(s) of why people join gangs in the first place.”
.
Why Gangs Win — and How We Beat Them
Gangs don’t recruit through force. They recruit by offering what we’ve stopped providing: family, status, protection, and money. The evidence is clear that there is no purely legal solution to gang violence — you can’t arrest your way out of it. As even blunt online debates concede, “the only way to end gang violence is to disincentivize gang money.”
That means offering something better. It works when we try. Structured activities and sports “keep children out of trouble and also give them something to work for,” though they require “extra resources and teachers willing to coach/mentor teams.”
It means encouraging kids to create positive goals — helping them build “realistic and attainable personal, educational, and career goals outside of gang involvement.”
And it starts at home: experts across law enforcement, schools, and community groups agree that educating and equipping parents with real skills “is necessary and critical if the growth of gangs is to be curbed.”
The framework already exists. Federal research distinguishes between prevention programs that “target youth at risk of gang involvement” and intervention programs that “provide sanctions and services” to pull kids already involved back out. We know what to build. We just refuse to fund it at scale.
The Group Everyone Forgets: The Lost Adults
Here’s what most policy debates skip entirely. The at-risk kid of today is almost always the child of the lost adult of yesterday — the one who never got the mentor, the trade, or the second chance twenty years ago, and who now cycles through prison, addiction, and unemployment. You cannot save the child while ignoring the broken adult raising him. Fix both, or fix neither.So a domestic-first agenda must do two things at once:
For the lost adults: fair-chance hiring, trade certification in fields that can’t be outsourced — welding, HVAC, trucking, electrical — and addiction and mental-health treatment available now, not after a six-month waitlist.
For the kids: full after-school and summer programming in every high-poverty zip code, family support, and credible-messenger mentors.
And here is the beautiful symmetry: the redeemed adult becomes the mentor for the next kid. The man who did his time, got clean, and rebuilt his life is the single most credible voice a drifting teenager will ever hear. He isn’t a lecture — he’s living proof. Foreign aid builds roads in other countries. This builds people in ours, and each rebuilt person rebuilds the next.
Answering the Critics — and Winning
Defenders of foreign spending will say aid is a small slice of the budget that buys strategic stability. Fine. Then find the money in the other 99 percent — the point stands that prevention at home is starved relative to its proven return. This was never about isolationism. It’s about a simple principle: put our own house in order first, and lead the world by example rather than by check.Public safety and human redemption aren’t opposing goals. Policymakers should prioritize public safety by curbing gang activity and restoring order to communities — for the sake of families “still living in fear” — precisely by investing in the opportunity that makes gangs obsolete.
The Bottom Line
We have the resources. We have the research. We have millions of Americans — kids and adults alike — waiting for someone to bet on them instead of writing them off. Bring the money home. Rebuild the kids. Redeem the lost. And watch the redeemed turn around and save the next generation.That’s not charity. That’s the smartest investment this country could possibly make.
I am not going to lie, these reports from the UK disturbed me to my core. How did this happen? What are we going to do about it now? Yes, I have given it some thought instead of sleeping. You might wish to share this…Our officials in this country need to respond.
Protecting Young Minds: Screen Time, Mental Health, and the Case for Comprehensive Education
Introduction
The digital age has brought unprecedented access to information, connection, and, unfortunately, content that poses serious risks to developing minds. From violent pornography to influencer misinformation, children today face threats that previous generations never encountered at such scale. These are not abstract concerns. They are urgent public health issues demanding thoughtful, evidence-based responses.This post examines the interconnected problems of harmful screen time, online exploitation, and mental health deterioration among young people, while proposing education-centered solutions that respect constitutional freedoms and empower the next generation.
The Scope of the Problem: Sexual Violence and Online Exploitation
Recent revelations from the United Kingdom have exposed a horrific reality: more than 250,000 vulnerable girls were groomed and gang-raped over the course of a decade or longer, while authorities, including police and social workers, failed to intervene despite having knowledge of the abuse . A whistleblower finally brought these atrocities to light, and the accounts are deeply disturbing.The United States is not immune to sexual violence. According to recent statistics, 127,527 rape cases were reported in 2024, at a rate of 37.5 per 100,000 inhabitants . The FBI reported an estimated 139,815 rapes in 2019, a figure 2.7 percent lower than 2018 but 10.8 percent higher than the 2015 estimate . One analysis indicates that reported rape cases have risen over the last decade at an annual rate of approximately 2.9 percent .Research suggests that pornography, especially violent content, plays a role in shaping attitudes and behaviors that contribute to sexual violence. However, it is likely one factor among many, including childhood experiences, peer influences, mental health, and substance use .
Why Age Matters: The Developing Brain
The prefrontal cortex, responsible for judgment, impulse control, and understanding consequences, is the last brain region to fully develop . This biological reality carries significant implications:
Children and teens are more susceptible to normalizing what they see.
They lack the cognitive tools to contextualize violent or degrading sexual acts.
Neural pathways formed during exposure can have lasting effects on attitudes and behaviors.
Effects on Children Ages Five and Up
The research on early childhood exposure to pornography is particularly alarming .
Immediate Emotional Responses: Children report feelings of disgust, shock, embarrassment, anger, fear, and sadness after viewing pornography. Exposure at young ages often results in anxiety, and these children can suffer all the symptoms of anxiety and depression .
Behavioral Consequences: Children may become obsessed with acting out adult sexual acts they have witnessed, which can be highly disruptive . One comparative analysis found that youth who committed sexual offenses had earlier exposure (between ages five and eight) to pornographic material compared to other delinquent youth. Notably, youth who offended against other children were exposed to this material most frequently .
Long-Term Developmental Harm: Exposure to pornography at a young age may lead to poor mental health, sexism, objectification, sexual violence, and other negative outcomes. When children view pornography portraying abusive and misogynistic acts, they may come to view such behavior as normal and acceptable .
General Mental Health Effects of Screen Time
Research demonstrates that excessive screen time carries significant mental health implications. A U.S. study found that teens who spent more than three hours per day on social media faced almost double the risk for mental health challenges, particularly symptoms of depression and anxiety . Regular social media use has been linked to feelings of anxiety, depression, and lower self-esteem in vulnerable youth .For children and adolescents specifically, over-digitalization can trigger a chain of negative physiological effects, including dysregulation of neural circuitry related to serotonin and dopamine, key neurotransmitters involved in mood regulation .
The Influencer Effect and Misinformation
Constant exposure to idealized versions of influencers can take a powerful toll on self-esteem and create unrealistic expectations that no one can achieve . What proves particularly troubling is how we process influencer content: even highly informed, alert individuals who know factually that they are not seeing every aspect of an influencer’s life do not process that information emotionally in the same way . When influencers present opinions as facts, especially incorrect ones, this creates a compounded problem :
Emotional processing overrides critical thinking: Viewers tend to absorb information emotionally rather than analytically.
Trust dynamics: Followers often develop parasocial relationships with influencers, making them more susceptible to accepting claims without verification.
Self-esteem damage: When incorrect advice about health, success, or relationships does not work, individuals may blame themselves rather than questioning the source.
Congressional Approaches That Respect Rights
Congress faces the challenge of balancing efforts to combat harmful misinformation while respecting First Amendment protections . Several constitutionally sound approaches have been proposed or could be expanded.
Promoting Media Literacy Education: The Educating Against Misinformation and Disinformation Act (H.R. 6971) provides a strong model. This legislation directs the Department of Education to study and promote media literacy, including methods to identify misinformation, evaluate context for information from different sources, detect manipulation of images or information on digital platforms, and understand how influencers target and manipulate audiences . The bill also authorizes competitive grants to nonprofits and institutions of higher education to develop educational materials and public awareness campaigns .
Funding Research and Developing National Strategy: Congress could mandate a national strategy for information and media literacy along with required reports containing recommendations for legislative or administrative action . This approach keeps the focus on empowering citizens rather than restricting speech.
Transparency Requirements: Legislation like the Honest Ads Act focuses on transparency in political advertising online, a model that could extend to requiring clearer disclosure when influencers are paid or incentivized .The education-first approach appears to be the most rights-respecting path forward, empowering people to think critically rather than deciding what they can or cannot see .
The Case for Tailored Mental Health Education in Schools
The evidence is clear: schools are uniquely positioned to serve as primary settings for mental health promotion for students in grades K through 12 . With the near-universal exposure of young people to harmful online content, social media pressures, and real-world threats, a comprehensive and tailored approach to mental health education is no longer optional; it is a public health imperative .
Why Tailored Education Matters
A one-size-fits-all approach fails children. Schools in different environments face distinct challenges: urban schools may need to address gang violence or drug abuse, while rural schools might focus on social isolation or limited access to mental health services . Similarly, age and developmental stage must determine what content is appropriate and how it is delivered.Young people themselves have indicated they believe educational institutions should provide information and raise awareness of mental health issues . This is their expressed need, and we should listen.Curricula must include medically accurate and developmentally appropriate information that addresses different health experiences and behaviors for youth of all ages and abilities . A tiered approach might include:
Ages 5 to 10: Foundational concepts about emotions, personal boundaries, trusted adults, and recognizing uncomfortable situations
Ages 11 to 14: Expanded education on online safety, manipulation tactics, healthy versus unhealthy relationships, and early warning signs of exploitation
Ages 15 to 18 and beyond: Comprehensive discussions including real-world case studies, digital literacy, consent, and understanding how predators operate
Should Education Include Difficult Real-World Examples?
The question of whether to include difficult real-world examples, such as the organized grooming gangs documented in the United Kingdom, deserves careful consideration.
The argument for inclusion (delivered in age-appropriate ways): These are not abstract threats. The UK grooming gang scandals, spanning cities like Rotherham, Rochdale, Telford, and others, involved the systematic exploitation of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children over decades . Similar patterns exist globally. Children deserve to understand that such threats are real, not hypothetical.
Knowledge is protection. Many victims of grooming gangs have described not recognizing the signs of manipulation because no one had taught them what exploitation looks like . Education that includes real patterns of predatory behavior, such as being “befriended,” given gifts, isolated from family, or introduced to substances, can help children identify danger before it escalates.Such education also combats normalization. As discussed, exposure to violent pornography leads some children to view abusive behavior as normal . Counter-education using real cases demonstrates that such behavior is criminal, harmful, and absolutely unacceptable, regardless of how it may be portrayed online.
Responsible implementation requires:
Age-appropriate framing: Younger children do not need graphic details; they need to understand boundaries, trusted adults, and that some people try to trick children. Older students can handle more specific case studies.
Trained educators: Teachers should receive professional development workshops led by mental health professionals to recognize early signs of issues and deliver sensitive content appropriately .
Support systems in place: Any education on difficult topics must be paired with access to counseling and reporting mechanisms. School-based mental health support needs to be fully funded .
Empowerment, not fear: The goal is to build resilience and recognition skills, not to traumatize. Framing should emphasize that adults failed to protect these children and that systems are being improved to prevent future harm .
Integrating Mental Health with Safety Education
Effective programs combine classroom-level and student-level interventions to sustain educational, health, and mental health improvements . This means incorporating anti-bullying programs and socioemotional learning as core components, teaching children to communicate about mental health with trusted adults, addressing the impact of social media and digital platforms on mental health, and creating mental health champions within schools.The connection between online exploitation, pornography exposure, mental health deterioration, and real-world sexual violence must be taught as an interconnected reality, not as isolated topics .
Conclusion
Protecting children in the digital age requires acknowledging uncomfortable truths about the threats they face and responding with comprehensive, evidence-based education. By investing in media literacy, tailored mental health curricula, and trauma-informed teaching practices, we can empower young people to recognize danger, build resilience, and develop the critical thinking skills necessary to navigate an increasingly complex world.Our children are our greatest treasure. It is time our policies and educational systems reflected that truth.
I realize that this is not my normal material on this site. I usually showcase my writing via some short story or perhaps offer writing or publishing advice. This news brought tears, anger, and disgust. The prime minister resigned, and so should that worthless mayor, he knew. Anyone that looked the other way should face consequences. Comment below if you care to discuss this.-Best
An Opinion Piece on Transparency, Pharmaceutical Interests, and the Curious Timing of Hemp Industry Regulations
Donald Trump has always prided himself on being a dealmaker. His book, The Art of the Deal, famously acknowledges that not everyone walks away happy when the ink dries. That’s the nature of negotiation—someone wins, someone loses, and often, the details remain hidden from those most affected by the outcome.I’ve been paying close attention to the deals coming out of this administration, and I find it troubling that the American public rarely learns what’s actually in them. We hear the headlines. We see the press conferences. But the fine print? That stays behind closed doors.
The Lower Drug Prices Announcement
Let’s take the recent announcement on lower drug prices. On the surface, it sounds like a win for consumers. Who wouldn’t want more affordable medications?But here’s the question no one seems to be asking: What did the pharmaceutical industry get in return?Deals are, by definition, exchanges. If drug companies agreed to lower their prices, what incentive did they receive? What concession was made on their behalf?
A Curious Coincidence: The Federal Crackdown on Hemp
Shortly after the lower drug prices were announced, federal agencies turned their attention to the hemp industry with surprising intensity. For those who follow both markets, the timing raised eyebrows.Was this a coincidence? Perhaps. But consider this: hemp and CBD products have emerged as direct competitors to a wide range of pharmaceutical drugs—often at a fraction of the cost and without requiring a prescription or doctor’s visit.Could restricting the hemp industry have been part of the deal?
What Hemp and CBD Offer Consumers
To understand why pharmaceutical companies might view the hemp industry as a threat, consider the health benefits these products claim to provide:CBD (Cannabidiol) Benefits:
Pain Relief – Interacts with the endocannabinoid system to reduce inflammation
Anxiety and Stress Reduction – Helps alleviate symptoms of anxiety disorders
Sleep Improvement – Promotes relaxation and reduces insomnia
Epilepsy Treatment – FDA-approved (Epidiolex) for rare seizure disorders
Neuroprotective Properties – Potential benefits for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and MS
Anti-inflammatory Effects – May benefit arthritis and autoimmune conditions
Addiction Management – May help reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms
Heart Health – Could lower blood pressure and improve cardiovascular function
Skin Conditions – Topical applications for acne, eczema, and psoriasis
Hemp Seeds, Oil, and Protein Benefits:
Nutrient-Rich – High in vitamins E, D, and A, plus essential minerals
Complete Protein – Contains all 9 essential amino acids
Heart Health – Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids improve cholesterol levels
Digestive Health – High fiber supports gut health
Hormonal Balance – GLA may reduce PMS and menopause symptoms
Energy and Weight Management – Promotes sustained energy and satiety
Note: While these benefits are promising, more research is needed, and individual results may vary.
The Competition: Pharmaceutical Alternatives
Now consider the pharmaceutical drugs that treat these same conditions—and the prices attached to them:
These medications require prescriptions, doctor visits, and often expensive medical tests. They generate billions in revenue for pharmaceutical companies—and for the broader healthcare system.
Who Wins and Who Loses?
Here’s the central question: If you can walk into a local vape shop and try hemp products—much like visiting GNC for supplements—who benefits, and who loses?When consumers can self-select affordable, over-the-counter alternatives to treat common symptoms, the following parties see reduced revenue:
Imaging centers and hospitals – Fewer diagnostic tests
Pharmacies – Lower prescription volume
Conversely, if hemp products are restricted or banned, consumers are funneled back into the traditional healthcare pipeline—often seeing a PA or NP instead of a physician, cycling through multiple medications to find one that works, and paying significantly more in the process.
The Call for Transparency
Here’s my bottom line: There needs to be full transparency in these deals.After recent revelations about mismanaged funds in learning centers and other federally funded programs, it’s clear we need stronger oversight mechanisms. We have the IRS to track tax compliance—why don’t we have an equivalent agency to track where our tax dollars actually go and to provide public accountability for these high-stakes agreements?The American people deserve to know:
What concessions were made in the drug pricing deal?
Why did the federal crackdown on hemp follow so closely?
Who benefits from these arrangements—and at whose expense?
Until we get answers, we’re left speculating about deals made in our name but without our knowledge.
What do you think? Is there a connection between lower drug prices and the hemp crackdown, or is it just coincidence? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
In nearly every profession, accountability is non-negotiable. Engineers who design faulty equipment face consequences. Pharmaceutical companies that release harmful drugs are held liable. Employees who perform negligently lose their jobs.Yet when decisions within our criminal justice system lead directly to preventable deaths, accountability remains elusive. The question we must ask: When dangerous individuals are released and kill again, who is responsible?
A Pattern of Preventable Tragedy
The year 2025 alone produced numerous cases that expose systemic failures:
Case
Background
Release Mechanism
Outcome
Eddie Duncan (Minneapolis, MN)
Arrested for police pursuit, illegal firearm possession
Posted $35,000 bail
Killed two cousins (ages 14 and 23) within three hours of release
Colorado Parolee
Prior violent convictions; assessed as “very high” risk
Released on parole
Accused of four murders across three counties
Roybal-Smith (Colorado)
On parole for violent offenses including murder; risk level downgraded from “very high” to “moderate”
Parole
Murdered three people
Virginia Case
30+ prior arrests; known violent offender
Prosecutor repeatedly declined or reduced charges
Killed a mother in violent attack
These are not isolated incidents. They represent a systemic pattern.
Case Study: Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr.
Perhaps no case illustrates institutional failure more starkly than that of Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., who murdered Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail in August 2025.Brown’s criminal history spans nearly two decades:
2011–2014: Convicted of felony breaking and entering; received 30 days jail and probation
2013–2014: Convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon and felon in possession of a firearm; sentenced to six years
2020: Released on parole after just over five years; subsequently arrested for assaulting his sister
2022–2024: Three additional arrests for assault and property crimes—no corresponding court records
January 2025: Arrested for repeated misuse of 911; released without bond on written promise to appear
July 2025: Court-ordered forensic evaluation never completed; remained free
August 2025: Murdered Iryna Zarutska
Critical questions remain unanswered:
Why were early charges repeatedly dismissed?
Who supervised his probation, and how was his progress evaluated?
Why did three arrests between 2022–2024 produce no court records?
Who was responsible for ensuring completion of his court-ordered mental health evaluation?
Brown had a documented schizophrenia diagnosis. His record shows clear escalation from misdemeanors to violent felonies. Yet at every juncture, the system failed to intervene meaningfully.
The Deeper Failure
Beyond the institutional breakdowns, the circumstances of Iryna Zarutska’s death reveal something equally troubling: bystanders on the train reportedly walked past her as she bled out. Audio captured Brown’s words as he exited: “I killed the white bitch.”This indifference compounds the tragedy.
A Call for Systemic Accountability
The path forward requires honest examination:
Mental health intervention must be prioritized and actually enforced—court-ordered evaluations cannot remain incomplete without consequence
Risk assessments must carry weight; downgrading a “very high” risk offender to “moderate” demands rigorous justification
Decision-makers must answer when their choices directly enable preventable violence
Transparency is essential—dismissed charges, incomplete evaluations, and missing court records must be explained
What You Can Do
Don’t let these stories disappear. Systemic change begins with sustained attention. These cases deserve public debate focused on identifying root causes—not political posturing, but genuine analysis of where and why interventions failed.The current status quo protects no one.
What are your thoughts? How should we balance rehabilitation with public safety? Who should be accountable when the system fails?
Imagine this: running a full-blown election campaign… to be a juror. Yes, I’m talking about knocking on doors, kissing babies, raising funds, and making promises you absolutely have no intention of keeping. “Vote for me, I swear to be impartial! I’ll fight for justice! Free snacks in the deliberation room!” All for the privilege of sitting on a jury destined to end in a hung verdict. Truly, the dream. And let’s not forget the “committees.” Oh, the committees! If elected, you’ll join a room full of people who prove that the phrase “common sense” is anything but common. It’s a front-row seat to humanity’s greatest hits of idiocy. If you’ve ever wondered where the dumbest people on Earth gather, I have your answer: jury duty.
My Time in the Hot Seat (A.K.A. Jury Duty)
Take this gem of an experience I had. We were deliberating a case where a man raped and murdered a young woman. Grim, I know. But the evidence? Rock solid. Open-and-shut case. Even with all the lawyer shenanigans—objections flying like confetti and attempts to suppress evidence because, get this, one of the investigators once knew someone who had once been raped (a friend of a friend of a friend situation)—we still managed to find the guy guilty. Victory for justice, right? But wait, there’s more! When it came time for sentencing, I thought, “Surely this is the easy part.” Nope. One juror decided the defendant reminded her of her grandson. And wouldn’t you know it, the lawyers played that angle like they were auditioning for the Oscars. Suddenly, we’re in a stalemate. I’m over here advocating for hanging the bastard (figuratively speaking, of course), while Grandma-of-the-Year is suggesting we let him off with a pat on the back and time served. Now, here’s the worst part: on a jury, you can’t just stand up and call someone a “stupid ass.” Oh, no. That’s “frowned upon.” Instead, you have to carefully craft arguments within the confines of what the judge deems “appropriate,” all while refraining from saying what you’re really thinking, which is, “Are you serious right now? Are we even on the same planet?”
Why Bother?
Act I: The Sacred Ritual of Jury Duty
So why would any sentient human voluntarily endure this exquisite form of psychological waterboarding? Picture it: you, a marginally functioning adult, trapped in a room with twelve strangers who were specifically selected because neither lawyer thought they were clever enough to be dangerous. These are the “peers” the Constitution promised you—people who list “breathing” as a hobby and whose critical thinking skills peaked when they successfully operated a revolving door on the third try. But I digress. You didn’t come here to read about the jury box. You came because of the title. So let’s pivot, shall we?
Act II: The $19 Million Question
Ask yourself this delightful riddle: Why would a grown adult spend $19 million of their own money to secure a position that pays $174,000 a year? At that rate of return, they’d make their money back in roughly… checks notes …109 years. Clearly, these are not people motivated by the paycheck printed on paper. No, no. They’re motivated by the paycheck printed on offshore account statements. If you’ve ever had the distinct displeasure of watching Congress “work”—and I use that word with the same enthusiasm one uses to describe a sloth “sprinting”—you’ll notice something remarkable. Half of them speak to the press with the intellectual firepower of a wet match in a dark cave. Three neurons? That’s generous. Some of these folks would lose a debate to an automated customer service line. And yet, somehow, they retire with more money than a dragon sitting on a pile of gold in a fantasy novel. Curious, isn’t it?
Act III: The Alchemy of Public Service
Follow the money, dear reader, and you’ll find it leads to a magical kingdom where laws are written by the people they conveniently don’t apply to. Take, for example, the estimated $278 million net worth of one Nancy Pelosi—a woman whose stock portfolio performs with the uncanny precision of someone who definitely doesn’t have access to classified briefings before making trades. If you traded stocks on insider information, you’d get a lovely pair of matching bracelets and a rent-free room with bars on the windows. But when they do it? It’s called “savvy investing” and featured admiringly in financial magazines. And when Hillary Clinton solemnly declares that “no one is above the law,” one can only assume she’s performing avant-garde comedy at this point. A truly bold artistic choice. Because obviously, when they say “no one,” they mean “no one who matters less than us.” You see, in the fine print of American democracy—written in ink visible only to those earning above a certain tax bracket—there’s a small but important clause: “Laws apply to citizens. Congress members, however, have ascended to a higher plane of existence where laws are merely suggestions, ethics are optional, and accountability is a word that only appears in dictionaries owned by peasants.”
Act IV: Gods Among Us
Perhaps this is the real revelation. Our elected officials don’t consider themselves people in the traditional, law-abiding sense. They are demigods—mortal enough to need campaign donations but divine enough to be exempt from the rules they impose on the rest of us. Laws are for the little people. Insider trading restrictions are for the little people. Consequences are for the little people. And the little people? Well, they’re too busy sitting in jury duty, debating with flat-earthers about reasonable doubt, to notice.
Behold, the magnificent spectrum of “public service” in America—a system so beautifully designed that it makes feudalism look like a fair-trade agreement. On one end, we have Jury Duty: the sacred civic obligation where you, the humble taxpayer, are graciously compensated six whole American dollars for a full day of your rapidly depleting lifespan. Six dollars. Not per hour. Per day. That’s less than a footlong sandwich. That’s less than two gallons of gas. That is the republic looking you dead in the eye and saying, “We value your service the way we value a vending machine coffee—barely, and only because nothing better was available. “You will sit. You will deliberate. You will miss work. And for this noble sacrifice, the government will hand you a check so small that your bank will laugh when you try to deposit it. The Founding Fathers wept tears of pride. On the other end, we have Congress: the other sacred civic obligation where elected officials are compensated in a currency far more sophisticated than mere dollars. They deal in favors—a shadow economy so elaborate it makes cryptocurrency look transparent. A favor here, a favor there, a mysterious consulting gig for a spouse, a book deal nobody asked for, a speaking fee that costs more than your house, a stock tip whispered in a hallway that technically wasn’t a hallway so it technically doesn’t count.
The Unforgivable Crime of Curing Cancer: A Media Response Simulation
Breaking News: Orange Man Does Thing. Nation in Crisis.
Let us engage in a thought experiment so absurd it might actually happen. Imagine—just imagine—that Donald J. Trump walked up to a podium tomorrow, slapped a glowing vial on the lectern, and announced: “I have cured cancer. All of it. Every kind. You’re welcome. “Now, a rational species might respond with cautious optimism. Perhaps even gratitude. Maybe a polite golf clap. Not us. Not this timeline.
The Headlines Write Themselves
Within approximately 0.003 seconds, every major news network would erupt like a volcano of righteous indignation:
CNN:“Trump’s Reckless Cancer Cure Threatens Millions of Healthcare Jobs—Here’s Why That’s Dangerous”
MSNBC:“Oncologists React With Horror as Trump Dismantles an Entire Medical Field Without Congressional Approval”
The Washington Post:“Democracy Dies in Darkness, and Apparently So Does Chemotherapy: How Trump’s Cure Undermines Institutional Norms”
The New York Times:“Opinion: I’m a Tumor, and I Deserve to Live—How Trump’s Cure Is an Attack on Biodiversity”
A somber Anderson Cooper would turn to the camera with the gravity of a man announcing an asteroid impact: “Tonight, we ask the hard questions. Yes, cancer is gone. But at what COST?”
Cut to a panel of four experts, three of whom are openly weeping: Expert 1 (Pharmaceutical Lobbyist):“Do you have ANY idea how much revenue chemotherapy generates? We’re talking about a $200 billion industry. Trump didn’t cure a disease—he committed an act of ECONOMIC TERRORISM against hardworking pharmaceutical shareholders. “Expert 2 (Hospital Administrator):“Our oncology wings are the crown jewels of our revenue model. Without cancer patients hooked up to IV drips filled with chemicals that cost $47,000 per session and make you feel like you’ve been run over by a freight train hauling more chemicals—how are we supposed to afford our fourth administrative building? “Expert 3 (Unnamed Source Familiar With the Matter):“This cure was developed without peer review, without FDA approval, and most importantly, without consulting the people who were making an EXCELLENT living off the disease. This is a direct attack on the established order of profiting from human suffering. “Expert 4 (Political Analyst):“The real question isn’t whether the cure works. The real question is: what are Trump’s MOTIVATIONS? Nobody just cures cancer out of the goodness of their heart. This is clearly a distraction from [gestures vaguely] …something.”
Big Pharma Issues a Statement
“We at MegaChem Therapeutics™ are deeply concerned by this so-called ‘cure.’ For decades, we have been committed to providing patients with a carefully calibrated treatment experience—one that manages symptoms just enough to keep you alive, but not so much that you stop needing us. This is called SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE. Trump’s ‘cure’ is reckless, untested, and worst of all—it’s FREE. How are we supposed to monetize FREE? This man is a menace to quarterly earnings.”
The Inevitable Fact-Check
PolitiFact Rating: MOSTLY FALSE
“While Trump claims to have ‘cured cancer,’ our analysis shows that cancer was already declining at a rate of 0.003% per decade, meaning it would have eventually cured itself in approximately 47,000 years. Trump is taking credit for something that was already happening. We rate this claim: Pants on Fire.”
The Moral of the Story
In the grand theater of modern media, the disease was never the villain. The disease was the business model. And anyone who threatens the business model—be they saint, scientist, or spray-tanned former president—must be destroyed with the full fury of a 24-hour news cycle that hasn’t had a good ratings week since the last time something was on fire. Because in America, we don’t cure diseases. We subscribe to them. And canceling your subscription is an act of insurrection.
“First, do no harm—unless harm is billable, in which case, do a LOT of it and file it under ‘treatment.'” — The Hippocratic Suggestion, Revised Edition, Sponsored by Pfizer™
The Great Meme Wars: Where Civics Goes to Die
A Final Dispatch from the Frontlines of Electoral Stupidity
Ah, election season. That magical time of year when the air is thick with yard signs, attack ads, and the unmistakable aroma of people who haven’t cracked open a civics textbook since the Clinton administration—the first one. The ritual is simple: find the least politically corrupt candidate—which is a bit like shopping for the freshest item in a dumpster—vote them in, and then watch in slow-motion horror as they proceed to loot the treasury with the efficiency of a raccoon who found an unlocked Costco. You must act fast, of course, because the incumbent raccoons are already in there filling their tiny raccoon pockets, and if you don’t get YOUR raccoon in soon, there won’t be anything left to steal. Democracy. Beautiful, isn’t it?
Enter: The Meme
But tonight, dear reader, I must address a cultural artifact of staggering intellectual bankruptcy. A meme. Shared with the confidence of a man who brings a calculator to a spelling bee. This particular meme—posted, shared, liked, and reshared by an army of people whose understanding of government structure could fit comfortably inside a thimble with room left over for their attention span—targets Governor Greg Abbott of Texas. The accusation? Republicans want your vote to “fix” taxes! The evidence? A screenshot of a property tax bill. The problem? Oh, where to begin.
A Brief Civics Lesson for People Who Apparently Slept Through All of Them
Let us walk through this slowly, the way one explains object permanence to a toddler:
Level of Government
Who Runs It
What They Tax
Who to Yell At
Federal
Congress & the President
Income, capital gains, your will to live
Washington, D.C.
State
Governor & State Legislature
Sales tax, some fees, your patience
Austin, in this case
County/City
Local officials & city councils
PROPERTY TAXES, local fees, your sanity
Your local courthouse, Karen
You see that? That third row? The one labeled County/City? That’s where property taxes live. Not in the Governor’s mansion. Not in the state capitol. In your local government—which, in the case of most major Texas cities, is run by… drumroll …Democrats. That’s right. The meme-posting intellectual titan is screaming at the state Republican governor about a tax bill set by their local Democratic county officials. This is the governmental equivalent of calling your landlord to complain about the weather. It is the civic literacy equivalent of suing McDonald’s because Burger King gave you the wrong order.
The Anatomy of a Meme Scholar
Let’s profile this brave digital warrior, shall we?
Can they name their county commissioner? Absolutely not.
Do they know what a county commissioner does? They think it’s a type of kitchen appliance.
Can they distinguish between state and local taxes? About as well as they can distinguish between astronomy and astrology.
Did they Google anything before posting? Google is for the weak. Memes are peer-reviewed by vibes.
Are they registered to vote in local elections? LOL. They didn’t even know local elections existed. They thought government was just the President and “the other ones.”
This person saw a tax bill, felt an emotion, found a meme that confirmed the emotion, and launched it into the digital void with the righteous fury of someone who has never once attended a city council meeting but has VERY strong opinions about governance.
The Beautiful Irony
Here’s the chef’s kiss: these are the same people who will passionately argue about “holding politicians accountable” while being constitutionally incapable of identifying which politician is responsible for what. They want to drain the swamp but can’t tell you which level of government the swamp is in. Federal swamp? State swamp? County swamp? It’s all just… swamp.
“I don’t need to know how government works to know it’s broken!” — Every meme poster, confidently, while blaming the wrong person for the wrong thing at the wrong level of government
The Takeaway
So the next time someone shares a meme about taxes, please—please—ask them one simple question: “Which level of government sets that tax? “Then sit back and watch the loading screen behind their eyes buffer for eternity like a 2004 Dell laptop trying to run Crysis. Because in America, we don’t need to understand government to have loud opinions about it. Understanding is for nerds. We have memes. And memes don’t need citations, context, or a basic understanding of federalism. They just need a font that looks angry and a share button.
“Give a man a civics education and he’ll understand government for a lifetime. Give a man a meme and he’ll misunderstand government loudly, daily, and with absolute conviction.” — Benjamin Franklin, probably, if he’d had Wi-Fi and a migraine.
My last bit of advice as far as Texas goes. If you can look at New York and think it is just swell and Texas is terrible, well they need you in New York. Move…
For the rest of you, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on things. I really am practicing Satire for my book…The Big Beautiful Book of Stupid Shit… Coming soon.
In my latest literary masterpiece, The Big Beautiful Book of Stupid Shit (yes, that’s the real title, and no, I don’t regret it), I dive headfirst into some of the most baffling, infuriating, and downright idiotic aspects of the human condition. Spoiler alert: humanity is weird, and I’m here to talk about it.For example, let’s chat about lawyers. Specifically, the ones willing to defend the absolute worst people among us—the ones who make you pause mid-sandwich and say, “Wait, why are they even trying?” You know the type. They’re the ones standing up in court for murderers, war criminals, and people who willingly put pineapple on pizza.Take Charlie Kirk, for instance. Imagine defending that walking, talking Facebook comment section. The guy could probably strangle a basket of kittens on live TV, and some lawyer would still show up in court, briefcase in hand, ready to argue that “the kittens provoked him.” It makes you wonder—why? Why do these people do it? Are they just morally bankrupt? Are they paid in gold bars? Is there some kind of secret lawyer cult that demands sacrifices to the God of Loopholes?
The O.J. Trial: A Masterclass in Legal Shenanigans
Let’s rewind to the O.J. Simpson trial, that glorious dumpster fire of the 90s that had the whole world glued to their TVs. I’m pretty sure I taped it, but who knows—I might’ve just blacked out from secondhand embarrassment. Everyone and their dog knew O.J. was guilty. The man practically left a bloody trail to his living room. But did that stop his “Dream Team” of lawyers from turning the trial into the Super Bowl of legal theatrics? Hell no.And then came the moment that will live in infamy: the glove. You know the one. The leather glove soaked in blood that obviously shrank because, fun fact, wet leather shrinks. It’s science, people. But when O.J. tried it on and did his little “oops, doesn’t fit” dance, the jury collectively nodded and said, “Well, if the glove doesn’t fit, we must acquit.” I mean, come on. That’s like saying, “If the shoes don’t tie, the guy didn’t die.”By the way, did you know Native Americans used wet leather as a weapon of torture? True story. They’d bury their enemies up to their necks, tie a wet leather strap around their heads, and let the desert sun do the rest. The leather would dry, shrink, and slowly crush their skulls. Brutal, right? Now imagine some modern lawyer defending that. “Your honor, my clients were simply engaging in culturally significant headgear practices. They’re innocent.”
The T. Cullen Davis Shitshow
Speaking of Texas-sized legal disasters, let’s talk about T. Cullen Davis. If you’ve never heard of him, congrats—you have a healthy brain that hasn’t been poisoned by true crime rabbit holes. This guy was a millionaire accused of, among other things, murder. And who was his lawyer? Racehorse Haynes, a man with a name so Texas it might as well be wearing spurs. Haynes was so good at his job that you have to wonder if he made some kind of Faustian deal with the Devil himself. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Haynes and Satan are currently doing laps together in the lake of fire, swapping war stories about all the guilty people they got off the hook.
So, Why Do Lawyers Defend These People?
Here’s the kicker: defense attorneys don’t take these cases because they’re evil or because they secretly enjoy high-fiving serial killers in the breakroom. Nope. They do it because the justice system, as gloriously messy and flawed as it is, only works if everyone gets a fair trial. That means even the scumbags, the psychos, and yes, even the pineapple-on-pizza people deserve someone in their corner.These lawyers aren’t there to say, “Hey, my client is a great guy who accidentally stabbed 14 people.” They’re there to make sure the system doesn’t screw it up. Because if the system can railroad the guilty, it can definitely railroad the innocent. And that’s when things go from “mildly horrifying” to “full-on dystopia.”
How the Hell Do They Sleep at Night?
You’re probably wondering how these lawyers manage to sleep at night after defending, say, a guy who stole candy from babies or a hedge fund manager who tanked the economy. The answer? Compartmentalization. That’s therapist-speak for “shoving all your guilt and moral dilemmas into a mental closet and slamming the door shut.”Defense attorneys also lean on professional ethics, peer support, and the occasional stiff drink to get through it. They convince themselves that they’re not defending the crime—they’re defending the process. And honestly? They’re not wrong. The legal system doesn’t work without them. Just don’t expect them to win any popularity contests.
Final Thoughts: The Big, Stupid Picture
At the end of the day, defending the indefensible is a thankless job, but somebody’s gotta do it. Without defense attorneys, the justice system would be about as fair as a rigged carnival game. Sure, it’s frustrating to watch some smirking sociopath walk free because of a technicality, but the alternative—living in a world where justice is arbitrary and rights are optional—is way worse.So, the next time you’re shaking your head at some lawyer defending a guy who obviously did it, just remember: they’re not sleeping peacefully because they condone the crime. They’re sleeping peacefully because they know they’re upholding the system. Or maybe they’re just really good at compartmentalizing. Either way, they’re doing their job—and, like it or not, we all benefit from it.Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to write my next chapter: “Why People Still Put Up With Reality TV.” Spoiler: I have no idea.
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