U.S. Most & Least Educated States

Posted on May 30, 2026 by Professor Taboo

Every year I like to keep track of how the United States’ levels of education obtained in all fifty states are ranked by comparison to other states in the Union. Why? Because it is an indicator of just how well (or poorly) the Stars and Stripes are performing with the rest of the world. I feel this is important not just from an competitive academic stand point, but critically important when compared to our foreign adversaries like China, Russia, and some Middle Eastern countries. I’d like to think readers and my followers feel the same way.

Some Americans consider an Associate degree or a Bachelor’s degree to be worthless, a waste of time, or at best far too expensive for the end result in career opportunities. However, despite that false thinking and perspective the numbers, simply put, don’t lie. Decade after decade after decade Americans 21–25 or older who have an under-grad degree and more so a post-grad degree land higher paying wages and a slew of further career paths beyond in the highly competitive U.S. job market. This is an indisputable fact.

Furthermore, there is another highly valuable ‘advantage’ to young Americans and 30-something Americans that is more subtle and beneficial for life: recognizing more quickly the covert motives and actions of the corrupt and powerful. Considering that often the upper most corrupt and powerful in the U.S. are typically highly educated, experienced, and spoiled brats because of their parents wealth, their circle of acquaintances, family inheritance, or gifted access/ownership to valuable mineral-rights or geological resources such as oil, natural gas, diamonds, or gold, to name only four, if you are not considered one of the aforementioned lucky ones but instead more disadvantaged due to your birth, then an under-grad or post-grad degree greatly levels the playing field in the U.S. job market.

By the way, another huge gain is in character: having come from a humble background at birth up to your latter teens typically makes one broader minded and respectful of equality; that is, equality for all Americans without prejudice. Better character, better integrity, selflessness, and compassion for America’s disadvantaged at birth. Usually, not always, but usually these factors turn into better ethical and moral decisions as an adult. Why? For the simple reason that with a broader, higher education, above an associate’s degree, better equips one to avoid the many complex economic trappings of the country’s upper advantaged 1%–10% who did not come from humble beginnings. The stats and numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau bear this out.

BusinessInsider.com took the data from the U.S. Census Bureau and analyzed it for the percentage of 25-years and older who attained a Bachelor’s degree or higher in all 50 states and ranked them according to those percentages from least educated states to the most educated states. Here is that 2025 ranking below. If you’re interested in a detailed explanation for the ranking, click the above link to Business Insider.

West Virginia — Share of adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 24.4%
Mississippi — Share of adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 27.0%
Arkansas — Share of adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 27.1%
Louisiana — Share of adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 27.8%
Kentucky — 27.9%
Nevada — 28.5%
Oklahoma — 29.3%
Alabama — 29.9%
Indiana — 30.7%
New Mexico — 31.8%
Iowa — 32.1%
Wyoming — 32.3%
(tie @ 37th) Ohio — 32.4%
(tie @ 37th) Tennessee — 32.4%
Alaska — 32.8%
Idaho — 33.0%
(tie @ 33rd) South Carolina — 33.3%
(tie @ 33rd) Michigan — 33.3%
Missouri — 33.5%
North Dakota — 34.0%
South Dakota — 34.2%
Wisconsin — 34.6%
Arizona — 34.7%
Texas — 35.2% (my home state, bottom half for over 35-yrs)
Nebraska — 35.4%
Florida — 35.8%
(tie @ 23rd) Delaware — 36.0%
(tie @ 23rd) Kansas — 36.0%
(tie @ 21st) Montana — 36.3%
(tie @ 21st) Georgia — 36.3%
Pennsylvania — 36.4%
(tie @ 18th) Maine — 37.1%
(tie @ 18th) North Carolina — 37.1%
(tie @ 16th) Oregon — 37.8%
(tie @ 16th) Hawaii — 37.8%
California — 38.1%
Rhode Island — 39.0%
Utah — 39.1%
Illinois — 39.2%
Minnesota — 40.0%
Washington — 41.0%
New York — 41.2%
New Hampshire — 41.5%
Connecticut — 42.6%
Virginia — 43.3%
New Jersey — 44.5%
Maryland — 44.7%
Vermont — 45.1%
Colorado — 47.8%
Massachusetts — 48.3%

The national average percentage of all Americans with a Bachelor’s or higher degree is 36% to 40%. Compared to nations in Europe, Asia, and parts of the Near and Middle East, this percentage is noticeably lower than those countries. Good or bad?

Of course there are other minor factors involved in these percentages such as population density, land-mass of the state, and the number of large metropolitan cities in a state; example New York, California, and Illinois. For less densely populated states the percentage will reflect the low number of people, e.g. New Mexico and the Dakotas. These factors also indicate other components involved, such as state history and background. Examples? The former Confederate states of the American Civil War have had from their past large numbers of slaves as well as segregation and Jim Crowe Laws that made it extremely difficult for non-whites to obtain under-grad degrees. That also explains in part why several lower educated states are located in the South and Deep South.

What other factors are you able to deduce that contribute to your home state and other states in the Union? In the comments below briefly explain (or not) why the low or higher ranking exists. What are those state’s modern history, i.e. 1800’s to the present, that contribute to the state’s ranking?

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

America’s 250th Birthday

Posted on May 24, 2026 by Professor Taboo

As this once great nation called the United States of America celebrates its upcoming 250^th birthday, over the last decade our country has been struggling and fighting within itself to hold fast to its core values as engineered by its famed 18^th-century Core Founding Fathers and its treasured Charters of Freedom were spelled out on parchment.

But this weekend with Monday, May 25th, 2026, bookends the Memorial Weekend, we remember all of our fallen soldiers since 1776 to the present-day who made the ultimate sacrifice for this land, its citizens, their families, and everything this country is supposed to stand for… we face an uncertain, tumultuous next two years and beyond. We Americans are not only memorializing our fallen heroes this weekend and Monday, but we are also literally fighting for this democracy’s survival against an unprecedented, tyrannical King and his regime of sycophants!

*The proposed Arch de Trump on Columbia Island off the Potomac River will stand 250-feet tall and 165-feet wide*

During Memorial Day weekend up until July 4^th, Independence Day, ironically celebrating the break-away 250-years ago from another King and empire abusing its power and authority without representation from its colonists in the “New World,” we should also be remembering today the sacrifices so many soldiers, men then women, their families and closest friends as well as their fellow soldiers gave when it counted most. But very soon this will all be diminished, tainted, and obscured by a gross and gaudy monstrosity blocking the view of Arlington Memorial Cemetery as seen from the Lincoln Memorial and all other war memorials surrounding the National Mall. This construction of a self-imposed triumphal arch known as Arch de Trump will be a classless eye-sore and slap in the face for all veterans living and deceased by nothing less than a sitting President.

*A rendering of the planned arch as seen from Arlington National Cemetery toward Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, and Washington Monument*

Does this hideous, self-aggrandizing, Caesar-esque waste of taxpayer dollars demonstrate any level of reverence, patriotism, gratitude, and symbolism of a people’s democracy protected and won by our nation’s soldiers in blood? No, not even close. It is pure and simple one man’s deluded self-perception of unproven, empty greatness. Nothing more. It demonstrates the exact same arrogance all dictators, emperors, and kings throughout history built in their own image and a man’s disregard for his subjects, his people, and the enormous, selfless sacrifices made in their own lives and those to follow. Nothing about this repulsive arch speaks to any of those core values this nation has stood for and fought for in blood. This current mentally-ill president is and has been a shameful disgrace to us, to our foreign allies, and to true American history.

Therefore, let us remember what this Memorial Day weekend is really about: the true heroes who gave the highest price for our freedom, liberty, equality for one and all (E Pluribus Unum) and generations to follow, and who didn’t need or want Roman statues of gold, large glittering pools, flashy currency and coins, an Apian Way, museums and coliseums named after them, massive gold ballrooms, or worse, their face carved into Mount Rushmore. No, all these past, ordinary American men and women wanted was to be remembered for their sacrifice. That’s it.

Today, May 24th on CNN.com and again May 25th at 8pm EST/7pm CST, on normal CNN they are airing a special documentary called Why We Dream. It will be a vivid and intimate reflection by living WWII veterans exploring the power of memory and the quiet persistence of trauma and hope experienced in combat. It blends in rare wartime footage, 16mm home movies, cinematic portraiture, and classic film excerpts all directed by Meredith Danluck who created this emotionally driven examination of war’s lasting imprint. Here is a short trailer:

That is what celebrating 250-years means, or should mean. That is what a spectacular, sobering, unobstructed view of Arlington National Cemetery from the National Mall means to all this country’s veterans, living and passed, and their descendants. Let us not forget them and how humble, willing, and honored they fought and died to win, and then protect what it means to be one of many. I repeat, one of many. As the famous U.S. Army Major Richard “Dick” Winters of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles told his grandson who had asked him if he was a hero in the war, Winters answered:

“No… but I served in a company of heroes.”

That answer is what most great ~~Commander-in-Chiefs~~ leaders give. They do not take all the credit and glory for themselves. They fully realize that in order to lead a platoon, a company, a regiment, a division… a nation, a true leader takes little to no credit for himself and humbly gives praise to those around him and the people he serves.

Remember Our “True” Heroes

Iran & Nuclear Weapons?

Posted on May 5, 2026 by Professor Taboo

Americans have heard a lot recently about how “Iran was 2-3 months away from getting a nuclear bomb/weapon.” And despite the POTUS and his top cabinet members, along with his Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and DoD Pete Hegseth, the American people/taxpayers have been repeatedly told lies by tRump, Leavitt, and Hegseth that Iran was about to gain a nuclear bomb(s) to attack the United States. They credit Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) for the “intelligence” (we now know was bait) for justifying an all out war against Iran in March 2026 on their military and possibly Iran’s infrastructure. After being wrongfully attacked by the U.S. and Israeli militaries, based on intentionally bad, inaccurate intelligence from Israel, our POTUS and his administration have spun the war on the American people in all kinds of false misdirection and narratives.

What is more poignant, profound, and telling about this baseless costly tRump war with Iran was that the issue/problem of Iranian nuclear weapons against the West was factually dealt with already and was being successfully managed back in 2015-2016 with President Barack Obama along with our European allies, as well as with China and Russia, in a landmark treaty called the JCPOA championed by President Obama. Watch this 13-min video-clip:

In other words, everything that our current POTUS, Press Secretary Leavitt, and DoD Hegseth keep repeating ad nauseum about Iran’s perceived nuclear capability… is bogus hogwash, flatly wrong within the verified historical context ignored by today’s presidential administration. The Iran nuclear threat to Israel and the U.S. and its European allies was already resolved and working eleven years ago. Period. No debate.

But sadly and very costly to the U.S., our POTUS and his administration completely “obliterated” that deal, the JCPOA, to use one of tRump’s favorite words: obliterated. Iran was complying with the deal, until our current POTUS effed it all up and caused the drastic ripple-effects of self-arrogance and military bullying for all the world to suffer through. Now we are much worse off, no thanks to tRump’s gullibility and his cult-members of MAGA and all their hardline supporters in America.

Here is how well the Iran Nuclear Deal was working. Iran had:

Shipped 25,000 pounds of enriched uranium out of the country
Dismantled and removed two-thirds of its centrifuges
Removed the calandria from its heavy water reactor and filled it with concrete
Provided unprecedented access to its nuclear facilities and supply chain

Because Iran had completed these steps in 2016, the U.S. and international community could have begun the next phase under the JCPOA, which meant the U.S. would begin lifting its nuclear-related sanctions on Iran. However, a number of U.S. sanctions authorities and designations would have continued to remain in place. And along with the above successful deal-points, these six sanctions were to remain in place under Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran:

Sanctions on missile technologies and conventional weapons
Terror-List Sanctions that identify Iran as a state sponsor of terro
Targeted sanctions on anyone connected with Iran’s support of terror
Authority to target Iran’s development of ballistic missiles
Authority to target Iran’s human rights abuses and censorship
Authority to sanction Iran’s destabilizing regional activities, including in Syria and Yemen

*It could be argued that tRump and his Administration intended, planned all along to create a “without a deal” Iranian condition just to start an unnecessary war*

Therefore Americans, remember that back in 2015-2016 everything that tRump and his administration are spewing out of their lying mouths had already been successfully achieved against Iran to secure our safety and of foreign interests. There was no need whatsoever for the current childish POTUS to trash this historic nuclear deal by Obama with Iran, which was achieved and succeeding. Everything that the tRump administration has now royally fucked up was already resolved and working!

This begs the question, was tRump’s trashing and killing of the JCPOA deal of 2015 merely a personal vendetta against Barack Obama? Of course it was. And now look what the baby toddler tRump has caused on ordinary Americans and he has no off-ramp to end it without losing face and consequently making everything much, much worse for the entire globe. So he and his MAGA loyalists continue to lie, redirect, and scramble like Keystone Cops for any approval ratings with the primaries looming in Oct/Nov 2026.

What a royal fuck-up this president has been… in both of his presidential terms! There is no other way to paint this presidential political tragedy and catastrophe created by DJT and his hardline MAGA cult-members.

There was NEVER a real threat from Iran to gain a nuclear weapon any time soon. Fact. But now it is a lot more real BECAUSE OF our current POTUS and his sycophant cult-members. Fact.

To read all the details of the landmark Iran Deal by former President Barack Obama and our allies, along with China and Russia participating, click here.

Not So American History

Posted on April 19, 2026 by Professor Taboo

Back in August 2018 I wrote about more well-rounded, more objective, and more even-handed American history of the late 19^th-century that often is overlooked, intentionally or not, by our modern media, 2-5 minute fast-paced journalism, and in our educational curriculums; curriculums from middle school up to private university standards. What history is that you ask?

It is the shared history, or lack of, our nation’s infancy, growth and expansion by Manifest Destiny and the Dawes Act of 1887, to name just two. It all but ignores a very human side of the cultures and Native American tribes which had already inhabited all of North America, including within the modern borders of the USA, for well over 15- to about 30-millennia before the white man of Europe arrived. Should this portion of authentic American history be stamped in glory and hubris or by some degrees shame and genocide? I know exactly what I label that time in American history. What, why, and how do you or will you label it?

I revisited my blog-post Authentic American History because of Netflix’s new release this past week entitled “Sitting Bull.” As I stated in the August 2018 post:

“I am a big enthusiast of history and personal stories of the past from various perspectives. Why you ask? Because they allow ME to choose where more of the truth and reality of events can be deciphered rather than hearing or reading only one version of those stories and events.”

Normally, I do not care for the History Channel’s overly hyped-up, overly dramatic cinema of actual historical events as they played out. The Channel and its parent corporation, A+E Global Media often go overboard and willingly admit that in order to capture younger audiences—with attention spans of maybe 10-minutes—executives, producers, directors, and actors must hype-up key points of the plot and narrative, sometimes sacrificing the context of historical events. The top corporate executives are fine with “some” cinematic license, or slack-on-facts, to juice-up, fancy-up, grab the younger modern audiences short attention with modern Euro-American music and graphic, bloody battle scenes and not let them rest. Whether it is all pristine, historical, verified facts doesn’t matter so much.

But this particular two-part series had Leonardo DiCaprio as executive director, an A+E Global choice that I would give a long, fair chance and consideration. I was pleasantly surprised.

On top of this fine docu-drama were acclaimed scholars of the American West Era such as Dr. Elizabeth Rule, PhD from Brown and Yale Universities, and none other than Guy Jones whose great-great-grandfather, Chief Gall, fought with Sitting Bull at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Guy Jones shared all of his vast knowledge about Chief Gall, and the Hunkpapa band of Lakota Indians who stood up to and fought against aggressive U.S. westward expansion and the U.S. Army’s atrocities and war-crimes against his ancestors and people.

The entire cast of Sitting Bull is packed with great contributing historians as well, such as Christy S. Coleman, MA – Hampton University, Dr. Douglas Brinkley, PhD – Georgetown University, and Dr. Edward T. O’Donnell, PhD – Columbia University, all providing perspectives surrounding Sitting Bull and the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota tribes. Also featured in the two-part series was Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and others that played significant roles in the fate of the Sioux nations. I recommend watching this docu-drama series if for no other reason than it tells the true history of these chiefs and peoples of the Great Plains from their perspective and personal, firsthand accounts passed down from generation to generation. They still “live” today along with their traditional customs and beliefs.

*Sitting Bull in Dakota Territory, c. 1883 – photo D.F. Barry, Bismarck, ND*

∼ ∼ ∼ § ∼ ∼ ∼

However, there was another recognition I gained from watching this excellent docudrama series. It was disturbing to me because the series showed how much appalling history we (white) Americans are repeating or allowing to repeat since the 1850’s and into the 21^st-century today. What is it? Why haven’t we learned once and for all the worst times of human history, the clear behaviors of war-crimes, genocide, and atrocities on non-combatant civilians, even on children?

I hope you will watch the series Sitting Bull because in between the lines I couldn’t help but recognize the similarities, in some cases the identical behaviors, of crimes against humanity committed against the Native Americans. More poignantly I realized how indistinguishable our American white ancestors treated (removed, exterminated) those people they labelled as “savages” and “blood-thirsty barbarians” under the guise of “Divine Ordination” and those behaviors and treatment by the Nazis and SS under the Third Reich.

And now today, inside our own national borders and abroad, what is happening in Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran, or what happened in the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela, or how I.C.E. and our current DHS is treating normal U.S. citizens as well as well-behaved legal immigrants in detention and in their court hearings! Are we going backwards toward the Wannsee Conference and A Final Solution, so to speak, of atrocities against humanity all the way back to Sitting Bull, the Sioux nations, and all other Native Americans wiped out? Are we back to that point or nearing it? …

So Americans… it must be asked, have we really evolved for the better after only 150-years and Sitting Bull? If you never learn the painful lessons of deep regret done in history, then how will you avoid repeating them in the future? Have we really progressed past those previous times and eras of sheer brutality, massacres, genocide, and depravation of societal values for other “different” peoples and cultures? I know what my answer is and has been for some time. What is your answer?

MeerKAT Telescope Array, SA

Posted on April 16, 2026 by Professor Taboo

Yes, Earth has received a laser-beam signal from 8-billion light-years away! Who sent it? Or what sent the signal? How did it hit the MeerKAT Telescope array at the North Cape in South Africa and more astonishing it stayed needle-sharp for 4.7 hours!? That signal was with such extreme clarity from a hyper-extreme range that it puzzled scientists hinting that something else unusual was involved. It had to be because when the laser-signal originated at that distance, Earth was not even in existence! What was going on? What had gone on that long ago? Has extra-terrestrial life made contact with us?

*The mega-maser coming from HATLAS J142935.3–002836 was detected by the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa, which is made up of 64 linked radar dishes. Credit: CSARAO/MeerKAT*

Don’t jump to any conclusions yet. The Cosmos is our endless treasure trove of splendid weirdness and mind-boggling phenomena. It always challenges us and/or rewrites what we once thought was understood. Were we contacted, or was it something else?

After more extensive examination scientists determined that it was a hydroxyl megamaser which is a natural microwave amplifier triggered by two galaxies slamming together. Imagine our own Milky Way slamming into Andromeda, the nearest galaxy to us. In fact, cosmologists, astrophysicists, astronomers, etc., want to rename or make a new category for the phenomena called gigamaser. What is a megamaser or gigamaser?

“The word maser stands for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. It works like a laser but sends out radio waves instead of visible light. When galaxies collide, they crush vast clouds of gas into tight, turbulent pockets. Inside those pockets, molecules called hydroxyl—simple oxygen-hydrogen pairs—soak up energy from the crash.

As radiation passes through this excited gas, the hydroxyl molecules release additional photons at exactly the same wavelength and direction. The beam gets stronger. For this system, designated HATLAS J142935.3–002836, the signal arrived at roughly 18 centimeters in wavelength, near 1667 and 1665 MHz. Those are the standard lines astronomers search for when hunting hydroxyl masers.”

HATLAS J142935.3–002836 is only visible to us thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. These 2014 images, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope (right), show a partial “Einstein ring” of magnified light from the distant galaxy merger. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/NASA/ESA/W. M. Keck Observatory

What happens when a host galaxy looks distorted and stretched to astronomers and other scientists?

“That is the telltale mark of gravitational lensing. A massive foreground galaxy sits almost exactly between Earth and the distant merger. Its gravity bends the fabric of space, acting like a natural magnifying glass that redirects more of the background signal toward us.

This effect does not create new light. It simply focuses what is already there. The lensing boost explains why a source at redshift z = 1.027 stayed detectable. Previous hydroxyl surveys had only reached redshifts around z = 0.25, much closer to Earth in cosmic terms.“

Illustration of the distant galaxy 8 billion light-years away (red), magnified by an unrelated foreground disk galaxy, resulting in a red ring. Credit: Inter-University Institute for Data-Intensive Astronomy (IDIA).

“The crash itself supplies the raw power. Smashing galaxies churn gas into dense regions where molecules build up and collide. Those conditions energize the hydroxyl into the state required for maser action. Earlier studies of the same system show signs of rapid star formation, exactly what you would expect from a merger burning through its fuel.”

In some 4.5 billion years our Milky Way galaxy will indeed collide, crash into the Andromeda galaxy—the gravitational pull is too great for us to escape it. It is already happening. When they do crash together it will form a new, giant elliptical galaxy, often nicknamed by scientists “Milkdromeda“. Here is a computer simulation of what that collision might look like from the outside of both galaxies… perhaps to another distant civilization monitoring their outer-space with highly advanced instruments: