Tim Wilbur

When the music’s over…

Hello everyone. I'm just posting to let you know that my writer's journey is coming to an end. I won't be continuing The Nexus Chronicles. Thank you all very much for the support, the encouragement, and the reading- it has meant more to me than I like to let on. I will have a non-fictional work I'm doing for a friend but, that aside, it's time to turn out the lights on this path. I wish you all the best in your pursuits, and thank you so very much for supporting mine.

When the music’s over… Hello everyone. I’m just posting to let you know that my writer’s journey is coming to an end. I won’t be continuing The Nexus Chronicles. Thank you all very much for the support,…

For three years, a bronze plaque honoring the police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol during the January 6th insurrection sat in a basement storage room -- waiting for House Speaker Mike Johnson to do something his office called "not implementable": hang it on a wall.

This morning, at 4 a.m., two workers finally did after 100 House Democrats forced the issue by mounting replicas outside their offices and turning Johnson's obstruction into a public scandal. With no fanfare and no ceremony, the memorial plaque was finally bolted to a wall near the west front entrance -- the same ground where nearly 140 officers were assaulted by violent rioters five years ago.

The plaque's message is simple yet profound, a long overdue recognition of the officers' courage and sacrifice: "On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on Jan. 6, 2021. Their heroism will never be forgotten."

Next to the plaque, workers affixed a QR code linking to a list of the officers who responded that day. The list runs 45 pages.

The memorial plaque's creation was an official act of Congress, passed as part of the 2022 government funding bill and signed into law on March 15, 2022. It was due to be installed by March 2023. The Acting Architect of the Capitol had testified that the plaque was complete and ready. The installation never happened.

Rep. Joe Morelle of New York eventually hunted the plaque down last May -- finding it shoved into a Capitol basement room alongside a mini-fridge, a scooter, and old lockers. It had been sitting there for two years, waiting for Johnson's approval. When asked about the long delay, his office offered the vague excuse that hanging it is "not implementable." Johnson also failed to personally recognize the insurrection's fifth anniversary last January or organize any bipartisan memorial for the House.

His actions were not surprising given that he was a central figure in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Johnson organized an amicus brief signed by over 100 House Republicans supporting a lawsuit to throw out election results in four swing states. And on the night of January 6th itself -- after the riot was quelled and the blood was mopped from the Capitol floors -- he voted to object to certifying the electoral votes.

In response to Johnson's defiance of the law in failing to install the memorial plaque, two officers who fought the mob that day -- former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges -- filed a lawsuit last summer. Their complaint was damning: "By refusing to follow the law and honor officers as it is required to do, Congress encourages this rewriting of history. It suggests that the officers are not worthy of being recognized, because Congress refuses to recognize them." Trump's Department of Justice had been seeking to have the officers' case dismissed.

Disgusted by Johnson's block on even a simple memorial plaque, Reps. Joe Morelle, Jamie Raskin (MD), and Jim McGovern (MA) circulated a letter in June to their colleagues announcing the replica effort. They did not mince words: "If you're frustrated, like we are, with this embarrassing violation of law and spectacular disregard for the valor, honor and sacrifice of our police officers who responded on that day, please join us by displaying a poster replica of the plaque outside of your office."

Over 100 House Democrats answered the call. The Capitol complex was soon awash with replicas of the memorial plaque, a testament to both the officers' heroism and the Republican party's shameful refusal to acknowledge it. As Rep. Morelle observed: "I guess that's the irony -- that it's displayed far more because of [Johnson's] reluctance to follow the law than it would have been had he just done the right thing." Instead of one plaque, he wryly noted, they've "now got 100."

Among the House members who displayed replicas honoring these courageous officers was Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, pictured here, who wrote: "Congress voted to honor the brave officers who defended our democracy on January 6th with a memorial plaque in the U.S. Capitol. Speaker Johnson is refusing to install it, so I'm hanging a replica outside my office. We won't let their heroism be erased."

In January, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) -- the latter having grown more critical of the administration since announcing he won't seek re-election -- passed a resolution by unanimous consent ordering the display of the plaque on the Senate side of the Capitol "until the plaque can be placed in its permanent location." The 2022 law specifies the plaque should be installed on the west front of the Capitol, where some of the most violent fighting took place. The parliamentary move essentially dared any Republican to block it -- and none did.

That it took three years and a parliamentary maneuver to honor these officers is a scandal in itself. The January 6th insurrection was one of the greatest acts of political violence in modern American history. The law enforcement officers on the front line -- defending democracy and protecting members of Congress -- paid the greatest cost.

Violent rioters assaulted 138 police officers that day. Fifteen were injured so severely they had to be hospitalized. Officers suffered concussions, cracked ribs, and wounds from being beaten with pipes and crushed in doorways. Officer Brian Sicknick was assaulted by rioters, suffered two strokes, and died the following day. Four other officers later died by su***de.

And yet, as one of his first acts after being inaugurated on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump granted full pardons to all those convicted in the January 6th attack -- over 1,500 rioters in total. That includes the 123 individuals charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to a police officer. It includes those convicted of seditious conspiracy, the gravest charge against the republic.

On the fifth anniversary of the attack, the White House launched an official propaganda website that not only rewrote the history of January 6th but directly blamed the Capitol Police for the violence -- accusing officers of "deliberately escalating tensions" with "provocative tactics" that "turned a peaceful demonstration into chaos." The site falsely asserted that "zero law enforcement officers lost their lives." Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it what it was: "a manifesto of lies."

So this is where we were: The officers who defended the Capitol couldn't get a simple memorial plaque hung in their honor. The rioters who attacked them had received presidential pardons, public praise, and a revisionist history website. Johnson still hadn't acted. Trump still called January 6th a "day of love."

And then, at 4 a.m. this morning, two workers quietly bolted the plaque to the wall. The three-year saga to reach this point would be absurd if it weren't so revealing. As Dunn, the former Capitol Police officer, reflected, "I never thought honoring police officers would be this controversial."

For the vast majority of Americans, it never was. It was only controversial to those bent on rewriting the history of that shameful day -- the ones who wanted these officers' stories to gather dust in a basement storage room. Thanks to those who refused to be silenced, they failed. The plaque is now on the wall. The officers' heroism will not be forgotten -- no matter how hard some try to erase it.

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For its fifth anniversary, NPR created an extensive video archive of the January 6th insurrection that recounts the events of the day moment by moment at https://apps.npr.org/jan-6-archive/

For a disturbing video showing just how violent the insurrection against the U.S. Capitol was on January 6, you can watch footage released by the Jan. 6 Congressional Committee at https://tinyurl.com/mrxjjtfz

For a first-hand account by Michael Fanone, another police officer who was assaulted that day, we recommend "Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul" at https://bookshop.org/a/8011/9781668007211 (Bookshop) and https://amzn.to/4mWOHY5 (Amazon)

For an excellent book for kids about the events of January 6th and the importance of respecting the electoral process, we recommend "Losing is Democratic: How to Talk to Kids About January 6th" for ages 7 and up at https://bookshop.org/a/8011/9798989493449 (Bookshop) and https://amzn.to/4e6KFbB (Amazon)

For powerful books for tweens and teens about girls living in real-life oppressive societies throughout history where rulers didn't respect the rule of law, visit our blog post "The Fragility of Freedom: Mighty Girl Books About Life Under Authoritarianism" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=32426

For an inspiring book that looks at the long history of women in law enforcement through the stories of 16 real-life trailblazers, we recommend "Women in Blue" for teens and adults, ages 13 and up, at https://www.amightygirl.com/women-in-blue

To read about the long-delayed installation of the memorial plaque in The Washington Post, visit https://wapo.st/4aYkbco

"The richest man in America had a deep secret. Before he became the world's greatest philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie was a poor immigrant boy who discovered the power of books—and never forgot the man who opened that door."
In 1848, a 12-year-old Scottish immigrant named Andrew Carnegie arrived in Pittsburgh with his family, fleeing poverty and starvation in their homeland.
His first job was as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill, working 12-hour days, six days a week, for $1.20 per week. He had dropped out of school. His future looked bleak.
Then something remarkable happened.
A local businessman named Colonel James Anderson announced he would open his personal library of 400 books to the "working boys" of the community. Every Saturday, young Carnegie could borrow a book and exchange it for another the following week.
Carnegie later wrote that those Saturday afternoons opened "the windows in the walls of my dungeon through which the light of knowledge streamed in."
Every day's toil and even the long hours of night service were lightened by the book he carried and read in stolen intervals. The future was made bright by the thought that when Saturday came, a new volume could be obtained.
Through Colonel Anderson's generosity, Carnegie educated himself. He read Macaulay's essays and history, Bancroft's "History of the United States," Charles Lamb's essays. He borrowed books on everything he could find.
And he made a promise to himself: "If ever wealth came to me, I would use it to establish free libraries, so that other poor boys might receive opportunities similar to those for which we were indebted to that noble man."
Wealth did come.
Through hard work, shrewd investments, and revolutionizing the steel industry, Carnegie became one of the richest men in history. When he sold Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $480 million, his personal fortune was worth nearly $400 billion in today's dollars.
And then he did something extraordinary.
He gave away almost 90% of it.
His first major philanthropy? Libraries. The very thing that had transformed his life as a working boy in Pittsburgh.
Between 1883 and 1929, Carnegie funded the construction of 2,509 libraries across the English-speaking world—from small American towns to Scotland, Canada, Australia, and beyond.
But this wasn't just charity. Carnegie understood something profound about sustainable giving.
He required each community to commit to supporting the library through public funds—specifically, to provide 10% of the construction cost annually for operations and maintenance. The community had to donate the land. They had to agree to keep it free and open to everyone.
Carnegie would build the library. The community had to cherish it.
This "Carnegie formula" ensured these weren't temporary gifts but permanent institutions that communities valued and maintained for generations.
The impact was revolutionary.
In thousands of small towns across America, the Carnegie library became the most imposing and beautiful building—often grander than the courthouse or church. These weren't just book repositories. They became intellectual and cultural centers that transformed millions of lives.
Farm boys who couldn't afford school educated themselves in Carnegie libraries. Immigrants learned English. Future scientists, writers, entrepreneurs, and leaders discovered worlds beyond their circumstances.
All because a Scottish immigrant boy never forgot a Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh when Colonel Anderson lent him a book.
Carnegie built a monument to Anderson that still stands in front of the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh. The inscription reads:
"TO COLONEL JAMES ANDERSON—FOUNDER OF FREE LIBRARIES IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. HE OPENED HIS LIBRARY TO 'WORKING BOYS' AND UPON SATURDAY AFTERNOONS ACTED AS LIBRARIAN... THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE BY ANDREW CARNEGIE ONE OF THE WORKING BOYS TO WHOM WERE THUS OPENED THE PRECIOUS TREASURES OF KNOWLEDGE."
Today, more than a century later, over half of those original Carnegie libraries in the United States still serve their communities—still opening windows, still streaming light into dungeons, still changing lives.
Andrew Carnegie wrote: "For if one boy in each library district, by having access to one of these libraries, is half as much benefited as I was by having access to Colonel Anderson's four hundred well-worn volumes, I shall consider they have not been established in vain."
Think about that.
The richest man in America, at the peak of his power, measured the success of his greatest philanthropic achievement not in buildings constructed or dollars spent—but in whether even one poor boy in each town might discover what he discovered on those Saturday afternoons.
The power of a book. The gift of knowledge. The opportunity to rise.
Andrew Carnegie didn't just remember who helped him.
He spent his entire fortune making sure that millions of others would have the same chance he'd been given.
That's not just philanthropy. That's gratitude on a scale that built nations.

✨️ Indie Author Award Winner✨️

Sunday: A day of reflection and gratefulness.

✨️ Give me something good that happened this past week. A 6 star read. A new job. You're still here. It's all worth celebrating.

Here's mine. YOU believed in me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'll wear this badge with honor. You can only go up from here.

Have a great week.

It's been a month since Dark Intentions dropped. I hope if you've read it, you'll give a review!

It's a southern noir, crime drama with twists that you may not see coming.

Dark Intentions
https://amzn.to/4qPFrGH

Hello again! For those paying attention, I have been knocked out of the SPFBO (Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off) early and, though the review is not flattering, I didn’t want to be the guy who omitted less-than-favorable insights. So, here’s what the Fantasy Book Critic (a blogging group for fantasy literature) had to say:

“Legacy of the Crown follows Aislynn, an immortal tired of her eternity, on a quest to end both the world and her own existence. The story is about her, the hunter Wraith she encounters by chance, the relationship they build between them, and how their quest fits into the prophecy devised by the titular undead Crown, the world’s last wizard.

This book was entertaining enough, but nothing really wowed me. The worldbuilding is what I think of as “DnD style” – many worlds, races of people, and types of magic, all of which coexist without a unifying conceptual foundation. Two of the novel’s primary settings (Wraith's village and the city of Keshet) feel a little generic. We get a broad outline of politics in Keshet and a glimpse of the city's underworld, but what about their economy, religious and cultural practices, local foods and music, style of architecture, and so on? For the setting to feel properly real instead of fantasy-standard, I think we needed more of those little details that differentiate one culture and location from another. And frankly, Aislynn’s POV isn’t nearly as bleak as it would need to be to justify her rather unheroic goal of ending the world.

My favorite parts of the book were the prologue and the chapters spent in The Beyond. Wilbur is at his best when he’s going for atmospheric eeriness, I think, since the story hits those notes quite effectively. Unfortunately, this is just a fraction of the book. Much of the story instead focuses on (1) a romance storyline and (2) a political intrigue storyline. The former didn't give me the sense of chemistry I wanted and didn't feel emotionally powerful until the In-Between. The latter crammed a book's worth of machinations into just a few chapters, so it all felt much too simple, as though major political change is just sitting there for the asking.”

**CLOSED**

Last month was Snowmageddon. This month Mother Nature is plain psychotic. We've had 70°F. We've had 20°F. We've had snow. We've had some thunderstorms.

What better way to start the last week of February but with choices for next month's Club Read. Let me have it.

🦇⚔️🔥❤️🌶🤯⁉️🐉🐺🍷👠🏒😱😈🤓🔪👀☠️

WELCOME TO THE REAPING!

CALLING ALL AUTHORS AND READERS!

Authors: Please share the cover of your book or your neighbors book. Any vibe works. We read anything.

Readers: Do you have a favorite Indie Author? Is there an Indie book on your shelf that you are eager to read?

Post your options below. If you see one you like, please react to it. Maybe we can get it on the Book Club Poll this month.

⁉️This month's book club pick will be featured at Saturday with Momma T at The Readers Depot, LLC on March 28, 2026.⁉️

SHARE, LIKE, LOVE, ENGAGE

Choices will close TUESDAY. I'll put the Poll up same day.