Hunter S. Thompson (In Memoriam)

On this day twenty-one years ago, Hunter S. Thompson passed away. In honor of the Good Doctor's memory, I suggest checking out this April 16, 1975 interview in which Thompson discusses the origins of "Gonzo Journalism":

Hunter S. Thompson Interview on Gonzo Journalism (April 16, 1975):

Marjorie Taylor Greene: "Trump ‘Fought the Hardest’ To Block Epstein Files"

From Zachary Leeman's 2-14-26 MEDIAITE article entitled "Marjorie Taylor Greene Warns MAGA Trump ‘Fought the Hardest’ To Block Epstein Files: ‘A Lot of People Have a Hard Time With That’":

Marjorie Taylor Greene pointed to President Donald Trump as the person who “fought the hardest” to block the Epstein files from being released.

Greene joined former InfoWars host Owen Shroyer on his podcast on Friday where she argued Trump’s “biggest political miscalculation” was ever referring to the Epstein files as a “hoax.” Trump repeatedly referred to talk of Epstein files, which are documents related to the case of convicted child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, as a “Democratic hoax.”

Greene was one of the Republicans to support legislation that forced a release of the files by the Department of Justice. She suggested Attorney General Pam Bondi is still under the direction of the president when it comes to the files and the DOJ’s handling of any potential criminal activity as they continue to release batches of files...

To read the entire article, click HERE. 

Epstein’s Post Mortem

From Iona Cleave's 2-13-26 TELEGRAPH article entitled "I Witnessed Epstein’s Post Mortem. His Death Must Be Reinvestigated":

Jeffrey Epstein’s cause of death should be reinvestigated, a doctor present at the paedophile’s post mortem examination has said.

Dr Michael Baden is unconvinced by the finding of the New York Medical Examiner’s Office that the financier took his own life while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019.

“My opinion is that his death was most likely caused by strangulation pressure rather than hanging,” the pathologist, who was hired by Epstein’s estate, told The Telegraph.

He said: “Given all the information now available, further investigation into the cause and manner of death is warranted.”

Dr Baden did not carry out the post mortem but was present during the examination, acting as an observer on behalf of Epstein’s family.

“At the time that the autopsy was done by the medical examiner, we both agreed that, on the basis of the autopsy report and the information available, more information was needed to determine the cause and manner of death,” Dr Baden said.

To read the entire article, click HERE. 

Political Reporter Roger Sollenberger on New Epstein File Revelations

From Roger Sollenberger's 2-15-26 SUBSTACK article entitled "FBI Interviewed Trump Accuser, Epstein Files Show":

The FBI spoke to a victim of Jeffrey Epstein who also accused Donald Trump of sexually and violently assaulting her, according to records in the Justice Department’s publicly searchable Epstein database.

The records don’t show what became of the DOJ’s investigation into the allegations, but the documents indicate the government found her to be a credible accuser. Records elsewhere in the files reveal that a woman with matching biographical details sued Epstein’s estate and won a settlement in 2021.

The allegations and FBI interview are landmark revelations, undermining the White House’s protestations that Trump hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing and showing instead that the U.S. government has been aware of a credible Trump accuser in the Epstein files.

The DOJ included the woman’s allegation in a comprehensive 21-page internal slideshow presentation about the government’s investigations into Epstein and convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as in an internal email chain collecting information for the presentation. Her accusation is one of two about Trump that the FBI’s child sex trafficking and violent crimes task forces noted on the slide, which listed a number of then-nonpublic accusations involving prominent figures.

“[REDACTED] stated Epstein introduced her to Trump who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit,” the presentation says. “In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out.” The victim would have been “approximately 13-15 years old when this occurred,” according to the presentation. The alleged assault took place in the early-mid 1980s, and the same woman also claimed to be an Epstein victim.

 The second Trump claim on the slide — that Epstein introduced a victim to Trump when she was 14 years old, saying, “This is a good one, right?”, to which Trump agreed — carries immense credibility within the DOJ: That claim, about an incident at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in 1994, came from a key government witness whose testimony at trial helped DOJ prosecutors convict Maxwell, the files reveal.

To read the entire article, click HERE.

NBC News on Child Molester Pardoned By Trump

From Ryan J. Reilly's 2-11-26 NBC News report entitled "Jan. 6 Rioter Pardoned by Trump Is Convicted of Child Molestation":

A Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by President Donald Trump has been convicted of child molestation and other crimes after he tried to use an anticipated payout from the Trump administration to silence one victim, according to a Florida prosecutor's office.

A jury in Hernando County found Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, guilty by of five charges, including molesting a child under 12 and another under 16, as well as lewd and lascivious exhibition and transmitting harmful materials by electronic device to a minor, according to Walter Forgie of the Fifth Judicial Circuit’s state attorney’s office.

Johnson faces life in prison when he is sentenced in March, the state attorney's office said. His defense attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Johnson pleaded guilty in 2024 to nonviolent charges after he entered the U.S. Capitol through a broken window during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot. Court documents say Johnson, who referred to himself as “American Terrorist” and “Proud j6er,” engaged in “disorderly and disruptive conduct” for more than four hours.

He was among more than 1,500 people who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted by Trump after he was re-elected in 2024. It was among his first acts as president.

 

To read the entire article, click HERE.

RAW STORY: "Republican Accuses Kash Patel of Lying to Congress"

From Travis Gettys' 2-10-26 RAW STORY article entitled: "Republican Accuses Kash Patel of Lying to Congress: 'This Is Significant'":

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has accused FBI Director Kash Patel of lying to Congress about the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The Kentucky Republican made the allegation in a social media exchange with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, whom Massie prodded to unredact the names of potential co-conspirators to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

"In response to my posts on X today, DOJ 1) unredacted an FBI file that LABELS two individuals as co-conspirators 2) unredacted a file that lists several men who might be implicated 3) tacitly admitted that Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem was the sender of the torture video," Massie posted.

The Department of Justice unredacted the name of billionaire Les Wexner in a document that Massie said also contained the names of numerous victims, and he said the retail magnate's name already appeared thousands of times in documents that have been released.

Massie said the document directly contradicted testimony that Patel had given to Congress.

"This is significant because Kash Patel testified to Congress that FBI had no evidence of other sex traffickers," Massie added. "This is FBI’s own 2019 document listing [Les] Wexner as coconspirator in child sex trafficking. It wasn’t unredacted until tonight."

To read the entire article, click HERE. 

Christine Morgan Reviews CRYPTOPOLIS & OTHER STORIES!

Multiple award-winning novelist Christine Morgan has just reviewed my short story collection, CRYPTOPOLIS & OTHER STORIES. Here's an excerpt:

People often ask “what IS bizarro?” as if there’s a single handy definition, but there isn’t. Indeed, even within the category of bizarro itself, multiple sub-genres thrive, from the sheer comedic wackadoo to the elevated philosophical.

As I write this review, Robert Guffey’s delightfully wackadoo previous work, The Expectant Mother Disinformation Handbook, recently received the Wonderland Award, yet here I am looking at Cryptopolis, which is well to the other end of the spectrum. Proving, not that proof is necessary, he’s a talented multi-threat who should be watched very closely.

Wait, that sounds like a threat. Oh well; you get the gist. Cryptopolis, a collection of interconnected and cleverly interwoven short stories, is simply beautiful, while at the same time exceedingly surreal.

To read Morgan's entire review, click HERE.

FYI: One of the tales in CRYPTOPOLIS, "Initiation," was recently adapted by StarShipSofa! If you want to hear Doni Nicoll-Duir's evocative reading of "Initiation," click HERE!

And you can hear me talking about the secret origins of CRYPTOPOLIS & OTHER STORIES on several different podcasts and radio shows including Tarek Al-Ubaidi's CROPfm, Seriah Azkath's WHERE DID THE ROAD GO?, Solaris Blueraven's HYPERSPACE, Matthew Hopewell's THE AP STRANGE SHOW, and Chris Mathieu's FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE NEWS.

PRAISE FOR CRYPTOPOLIS & OTHER STORIES: 

"The stories in Cryptopolis feel like the bloody, star-filled lovechildren of Burroughs and Delany, with each tale ostensibly one part of a greater whole; abstract limbs and organs tethered together by strained flesh. Cryptopolis will take readers on a hallucinogenic journey through worlds fractured by time and place—slipping through liminal dimensions with seamless abandon to unveil unsettling illusions and heartbreaking realities—and totally worth the trip."

--Philip Fracassi, author of Boys in the Valley

 

"If you're tired of the same wines and you're curious about the vintage only just whispered about, have a deep draught of Robert Guffey's Cryptopolis. You don't have to descend with Fortunato to the deepest cellars to find this bottle of Amontillado. Here it is! If Poe collaborated with Robert Anton Wilson...if Borges had a lovechild with Lovecraft, which was subsequently adopted by Kafka...you might get Cryptopolis. I think too that Clark Ashton Smith would admire this collection. Written with the obsessive precision of a mysterious staircase descending into the abyss, Cryptopolis will take you to strange epiphanies..."  

 

--John Shirley, author of The Feverish Stars

 

"Once upon a time, weird and speculative fiction had an underground full of stories that were not written as calling cards or as film treatments or as extended internet memes. Guffey's tales resist genre gentrification; they move into your mind to turn it into a punk house squat!" 

--Nick Mamatas, author of Move Under Ground and The Second Shooter

 

 "In Cryptopolis & Other Stories, Guffey's free-ranging intellect meshes wonderfully with his command of the language."

 

--John Oakes, author of The Fast

 

"Guffey brings together 25 horror shorts that swing wildly between terrifying mindtrips and gritty realism. Throughout, Guffey’s blunt prose lends a sense of normalcy to the fantastic as his cast of losers from all walks of life face the cruelties of their existence—sexual violence, drugs, war, parenthood, and poverty [...]. Though not for the faint of heart, this bizarre and over-the-top collection is sure to thrill devotees of weird fiction."

--Publishers Weekly   

"Cryptopolis may end up being a gateway drug into Robert Guffey’s work. I don’t use that term spuriously. So many of Guffey’s stories in Cryptopolis have a hard-bitten edge and gritty feel to them that I could see him crafting a metatext about an author whose books are physically addictive. Across the collection’s twenty-five stories and vignettes, Guffey displays a range of interests and foci with such depth and heart that I wouldn’t be surprised if he became one of my favorite modern writers [...].

"Affect, the experience of emotional response, seems to be at issue in every one of Guffey’s offerings. From the opening eponymous story (which is the only outright Lovecraftian story in the collection), with its resonances of love as a torturous paralytic, to the last, 'Esthra, Shadows, Glass, Silence,' a parable of alternate lives and lost possibilities, the emotional response drawn from the reader appears to be the crux of every piece. These stories are engines designed to make the reader feel."

--Géza A. G. Reilly, Dead Reckonings

 "If you want a walk on the wild side, and I mean WILD, Robert Guffey’s fiction delivers that and more. It’s as if you’re lying in the grass in a park on a calm summer afternoon, you look up, and a creature you can’t even describe is looking at you. He starts talking in an even voice. But his words are chopping reality to pieces, and when he puts the pieces back together again, and you see the new picture, you feel a need to call the police. But then you realize you’re in a new place where the last people you want to talk to are the cops. What do you do now? You’re on your own. You better have strong resources. Very strong." 

 --Jon Rappoport, author of The Secret Behind Secret Societies