David And Goliath (Death Star, Five.)

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.  Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

“Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. ~1 Samuel 17:4-51

I saw this on Saturday night.

Apparently, these fucking Trump people tried to do some kind of backdoor annexation of Canada using a "Trade deal."

Seriously, I used to be a conservative Republican. Who the fuck thinks you can dictate *Checks Notes* another country's culture, defense, language or trade??

You just don't do this bullshit!

Other countries are other countries, they get to make their own choices, and we might get to have an opinion about that (or we might not) but fundamentally it's not up to us.

Also have these fucking idiots even heard the story of David and Goliath??

How would *Checks Notes Again* these same fucking people react if China or the EU tried to dictate Gun Control to the United States??

Or Israel, for that matter, since Israel seems to be trying to dictate everything to just about everybody lately...and if you haven't noticed the whole damn world is turning against them even faster than they are against us.

Naturally, Canada's collective response was "Eh, No."

The reason Canada is bilingual has to do with our own history too. This is not myths and legends.

[As the four newly-revealed Cylons aboard Galactica struggle to deal with the information, the call to action stations sounds]

Lieutenant Felix Gaeta: [over the loudspeaker] ...Inbound Cylon fleet! I repeat: action stations, action stations. Set Condition One throughout the ship. This is not a drill.

Tory Foster: Oh gods... what're we going to do?

Saul Tigh: The ship is under attack. We do our jobs. Report to your stations!

Chief Galen Tyrol: Report to stations?

Saul Tigh: My name is Saul Tigh. I am an officer in the Colonial Fleet. Whatever else I am, whatever else it means, that's the man I want to be. And if I die today, that's the man I'll be. ~From Battlestar Galactica (2003) S3.E20 "Crossroads, Part 2."

And the precedent has been set for somebody else to pull that shit on us. 

Israel will probably be the one to do it, and I have no doubt what they demand will be a bridge too far for most Americans.

Just like most Americans outside of the Republican Party and Democratic leadership have had it up to *Here* with Israel and their genocidal leadership. No, they aren't concerned for their own people, they're trying to see what they can get away with and they think Trump will protect them.

You know who hasn't pissed away all their missiles and precision-guided munitions in a bullshit war that doesn't even have any clear objectives??? Countries like Canada, or Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan and Turkiye for that matter. I'm a veteran. Logistics is the Lord Of War.

At this point, Republicans mouths are writing checks American bodies (let alone wallets) can't cash.

That's what happens when you let criminal ass-clowns who live on credit, lies and scamming run your shit.

These idiots start a war with Canada? We'll lose that one too!

[Luke's X-wing is in the trench, and Darth Vader is having trouble getting a lock]

Darth Vader: [Gets a lock] I have you now. [Suddenly, one of Vader's escorts is destroyed.] What?!

Han Solo: YEAH-HOO!!! [The Millennium Falcon arrives on the scene.]

Vader's Escort: Look out! [Vader's surviving escort panics and crashes into the trench, and Vader's TIE Advanced is flung out into space]

Han: You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home! [Luke shoots at the exhaust port and with the help of the Force scores two direct hits.]

Imperial Officer: Stand by.

[The Rebels and the Millennium Falcon fly back to Yavin 4]

Officer: Stand by.

[Just as the Death Star is about to fire, it explodes]

Han: Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Remember... the Force will be with you, always.

~From Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.

They run it into the ground, every time somebody runs the damn experiment.

And I get it, some people will give some jackoff their last nickel for hate, and then have the balls to wonder why they can't afford to eat.

But I was taught that shit was wrong and to avoid people who were like that.

Seems like most of the rest of the civilized world at least tries to clamp down on this kind of bullshit, and does not include hatred of other people or the incitement of such in freedom of speech (or for that matter, social tolerance.) 

There's still some of it around, even a lot in some places, but most of the world doesn't consider that shit to be a good thing.

And I'm honestly sick of it.

Other people are Other People. This is America. Nobody has to obey your shitty interpretation of Christianity in which there are only three real "commandments" these being; Don't be LGBT, Don't have an Abortion, and Vote Republican, with a huge but mostly unspoken in mixed company Fourth command being "Hate Black People." 

None of that has a damn thing to do with the Bible.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free. ~Ronald Reagan

And these fucking idiots are all on a power trip when the truth is, they have nothing to back it up and 70% of us are sick and tired of this fucking garbage.

They seem to think that Congress and the Media and various corporate liars are somehow the same as how the general population acts. 

Never mind that current media, upper management, and way too much of our government is populated by rich fail-sons who are basically there as an audition for a podcast or some shit, to be determined later, and honestly that kind of attention-economy crap is becoming the only way to really make it in today's world.

And the only way to succeed there is to bicker and backbite and do ever more outrageous bullshit like high school morons trapped in some kind of escalating Idiocracy loop.

Oww, my balls!

Here's the thing, though, nobody...and I mean this, nobody with even one functioning braincell considers "Internet Content" to be authoritative at this point.

Turning government into content honestly undermines the entire concept.

The United States currently has all the gravitas of one of the minor off-season WWE specials.

We're basically the United States Of Summer Slam, with the current shitty roster. And these Muggs be acting like it's the good old days of Andre The Giant and Hulkamania.

Never mind that all the serious wrestling fans I know switched to AEW as soon as that became a thing. 

Also never mind how MAGA Hulk Hogan turned out, and via the Princess Bride, Andre is still a cultural icon.

Inigo: That Vizzini, he can fuss.

Fezzik: Fuss, fuss...I think he like to scream at us.

Inigo: Probably, he means no harm.

Fezzik: He's really very short on charm.

Inigo: You have a great gift for rhyme.

Fezzik: Yes, yes, some of the time.

Vizzini: Enough of that!

Inigo: Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?

Fezzik: If there are, we all be dead.

Vizzini: No more rhymes now, I mean it!

Fezzik: [pauses] Anybody want a peanut? [holding up a peanut]

Vizzini: GAAAAHHH!

~From the film The Princess Bride.

There's a lesson there, I think.

And we've pissed away all of our soft power in two years and most of our firepower in less than six months, while these Trump administration Jabronis go around making all type of demands like they think they built the Death Star already.

Yeah, how'd that work out for the Empire??

Fun fact and look not only at Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope but also most of the in-universe commentary about the events therein and you'll find that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, the writers of the original West End Games Star Wars RPG was based rather explicitly on stories like *Wait For It* David And Goliath!

See, These Fucking People have it all wrong. Knowledge is Power. Knowledge can be Narrative.

Bullshit falls apart the second one guy reads what you were hoping they wouldn't...which was literally what happened with this Canada thing.

You either believe in Freedom or you don't.

And if you don't believe everybody should have it, what you believe in ain't Freedom.

Remember this.

It's going to be on the test.

This will come down to a fight.

Soon.

Слава Україна!

You don’t understand what it was like. The town was on its last legs. It started after we got news of the Death Star blowing up. The second one, that is. [flashes back to one particular night at the Mos Pelgo Cantina] The Empire was pullin’ outta Tattooine. There was blaster fire over Mos Eisley. The occupation was over. We didn’t even have time to celebrate. That very night, the Mining Collective moved in. Power hates a vacuum and Mos Pelgo became a slave camp overnight. I lit out. Took what I could from the invaders. Grabbed a camtono. I had no idea it was full of silicax crystals. I guess every once in a while, both suns shine on a womp rat’s tail. I wandered for days. No food, no water. [image of Vanth being rescued by the Jawas] And then... I was saved. [Inside Sandcrawler] The Jawas wanted the crystals. They offered their finest in exchange. [remembers pointing to what is actually Boba Fett's armor] And my treasure bought me more than a full water-skin. It bought my freedom. 

~Cobb Vanth, from The Mandalorian S2.E1 "The Marshal."

Four

During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug) -- while praying to the same God -- with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the "white" Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana. We were truly all the same (brothers) -- because their belief in one God had removed the "white" from their minds, the 'white' from their behavior, and the 'white' from their attitude. I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man -- and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their "differences" in color.

With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called "Christian" white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster -- the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.

They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most. . . . I said, "The brotherhood! The people of all races, color, from all over the world coming together as one! It has proved to me the power of the One God. . . . All ate as one, and slept as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the Oneness of Man under One God. 

~Malcolm X, Letter following the Hajj.

A Mari Usque Ad Mare

~Canadian National Motto

"From Sea To Sea."

Hero (Death Star, Four.)

The Holy Quran says it, "Pilgrimage to the House [of God built by the prophet Abraham] is a duty men owe to God; those who are able, make the journey." (3:97) Allah said: "And proclaim the pilgrimage among men; they will come to you on foot and upon each lean camel, they will come from every deep ravine" (22:27). Every one of the thousands at the airport, about to leave for Jeddah, was dressed this way. You could be a king or a peasant and no one would know. Some powerful personages, who were discreetly pointed out to me, had on the same thing I had on. Once thus dressed, we all had begun intermittently calling out "Labbayka! (Allahumma) Labbayka!" (Here I come, O Lord!) Packed in the plane were white, black, brown, red, and yellow people, blue eyes and blond hair, and my kinky red hair -- all together, brothers! All honoring the same God, all in turn giving equal honor to each other. . . .That is when I first began to reappraise the "white man." It was when I first began to perceive that "white man," as commonly used, means complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and actions. In America, "white man" meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. But in the Muslim world, I had seen that men with white complexions were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been. That morning was the start of a radical alteration in my whole outlook about "white" men. ~Malcolm X.

...

[Luke is in Yoda's hut. Yoda is pacing back and forth. Luke is looking at him with a mixture of sadness and pity]

Yoda: That face, you make. Look I so old to young eyes?

Luke Skywalker: [hurriedly] No. Of course not.

Yoda: [chuckles good-naturedly] I do. Yes, I do. Hmm, sick, have I become. Old and weak. [points at Luke] When 900 years old, you reach, look as good, you will not, hmm? [laughs again, coughs, walks over to his bed]. Soon, will I rest, yes. Forever sleep. Earned it, I have. [climbs into his bed and Luke covers him up with his blanket]

Luke: Master Yoda, you can't die.

Yoda: Strong, am I, with The Force... but not that strong. Twilight is upon me, and soon, night must fall. That is the way of things... the way of The Force.

Luke: But I need your help. I've come back to complete the training.

Yoda: No more training, do you require. Already know you that which you need.

Luke: Then I am a Jedi.

Yoda: [coughs trying to speak] Not yet. One thing remains: Vader. You must...confront...Vader. Then, only then, a Jedi, will you be. And confront him, you will.

Luke: [visibly in agony] Master Yoda... is Darth Vader my father?

Yoda: [turns away from Luke] Rest, I need. Yes, rest.

Luke: [pleading] Yoda, I must know.

Yoda: Your father, he is. [Luke looks away] Told you, did he?

Luke: Yes.

Yoda: Unexpected, this is, and unfortunate.

Luke: [surprised] Unfortunate that I know the truth?

Yoda: No. [turns to face Luke] Unfortunate that you rushed to face him. That incomplete, was your training. That not ready for the burden, were you.

Luke: I'm sorry.

Yoda: [strains to speak as voice gradually grows softer] Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from The Force. But beware: anger, fear, aggression - the dark side, are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. [whispering now] Luke... Luke... do not... [struggles to speak] Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor... or suffer your father's fate, you will. Luke... [Luke leans in close] when gone, am I, the last of the Jedi, will you be. Luke... the Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned. Luke... [with great effort] ...There... is... another... Sk... Sky... walker. [Yoda dies, then disappears into thin air]

~From Star Wars Episode VI, Return Of The Jedi.

...

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free. ~Ronald Reagan

I saw this a couple days ago.

The Trump administration wants to rename the USS Doris Miller (named for the first Black war hero of WWII) for Donald Trump.

Mind you, the ship hasn't even started construction, the keel hasn't been laid yet. It's like ten years out from launching, a couple more out from being commissioned, because repairs to the Gerald Ford have the supply line all fucked up it could be longer. If These Fucking People follow through with reversion to steam catapults it'll be more because that will entail a complete redesign of the ship from the keel up. It's a hell of a bet that subsequent administrations don't just change the name back, or change it to something else altogether.

It's a motherfucker of a bet that the ship gets built at all, which is a goddamned shame because it'd be a hell of a way to honor the contributions of African Americans to the US Navy.

And what the fuck has Donald Trump ever done for anybody that wasn't Donald Trump??

Of course, none of that matters to These Fucking People because current Republicans are nothing the fuck more than a claque of miserable bastards who want to shit all over other people for no better reason than they're miserable bastards.

No, people that are even a little happy about life do not go around with a look like that on their face.

And then they have the balls to wonder why the rest of us are getting sick of this crap, and I say that as a former Republican.

We've got to take the neighborhood back. We've got to go in there. Just forget telling your child to go to the Peace Corps. It's right around the corner. It's standing on the corner. It can't speak English. It doesn't want to speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk. "Why you ain't where you is go." I don't know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. Then I heard the father talk. This is all in the house. You used to talk a certain way on the corner and you got into the house and switched to English. Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't land a plane with "why you ain't…". You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. There is no Bible that has that kind of language. Where did these people get the idea that they're moving ahead on this? Well, they know they're not, they're just hanging out in the same place, five or six generations sitting in the projects when you're just supposed to stay there long enough to get a job and move out. ~Bill Cosby, the "Pound Cake" speech.

My best friend in the Air Force was an African American convert (or "revert" in proper terminology) to Islam.

And, I mean, honestly he fit handily within the mainstream of 1990's African-American culture, with the possible exception (mostly given where he was from) that he didn't like rap music that had a lot of profanity or was about drugs or sexual excesses, so if he was around I'd have to put on MC Hammer or Snap! instead of Snoop Dog or Tupac. 

That wasn't that hard.

Needless to say, I've been to Dearborn many times (Not because of my buddy, who lived in Detroit, but for other reasons) and everybody I've ever met there spoke English just fine and seemed pretty well, er, "Assimilated" to American or Arab-American culture. I mean, if we're being serious Dearborn has a large Arab population and Arab American culture has been around long enough to be distinct because of *Checks Notes* Henry Ford.

Ford brought a bunch of Arabs from places like Lebanon and Syria over here...Christian and Muslim alike...because he felt they would counter the influence of the Jews.

They didn't, really, but that was his rationale.

Let's clear a few things up: 

#1 Current Republicans hate America. Get this through your head. It's not the Reagan/Bush GOP anymore.

#2 Republicans hate Regular People. I'm pretty sure if the Doris Miller hadn't been named after Dorie Miller, regular Sailor...but was instead named after Colin Powell, Republican Sellout, we wouldn't be having this discussion at all. It's not just Blackness that's the issue, it's social class, too.

#3 Republicans think Rich People in general...and Billionaires in particular...are the real heroes here. 

The only reason they don't call Elon Musk "god" is because that would offend Trump who thinks that's his bit.

They've been this way since Texas oil millionaires became a thing and Ayn Rand pretty much came right out and said it in Atlas Shrugged, written in *Checks Notes* 1957.

#4 Republicans think you're stupid...and they'd like you or especially your kids to get worse.

#5 And this is a big one. Republicans hate the future, that's why they're kicking it into overdrive trying to trash America before they lose the midterms.

And connected to that is #6 Republicans hate kids. Why? Because Bro podcasts aside, there are damned few kids out there that are good little Nazi Youth like Republicans want.

And they mad about it.

I don't think that's gonna work out the way they think it will, but then my kid just put a sticker on her laptop that said "Keep the Immigrants, Deport the Fascists."

And she posted it on Facebook.

I think the kids are gonna be alright, or at least the ones who don't buy into all this current "Conservative" horseshit will be.

What Paul doesn't realize is, it'll be his kids that have to ask AI how to spell things, 'cause people like him only value education (or anything else) if they're the only ones who get to have any of it.

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. ~Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)

And since that's not the case and most people who aren't CHUDs HATE AI, it's almost certain that These Fucking People will not mysteriously start valuing education.

In fact they're the ones who seem to want AI to do increasing amounts of their thinking for them.

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. ~George Orwell, 1984.

My kid already reads actual books. 

My partner wouldn't allow anything less. 

Fuck you, bro.

Like I said, I think a hell of a lot of the kids are gonna be alright.

You have to be an adult to sell out every damn thing you are for this current "Republican" crap.

And I don't feel sorry for anybody who does that, because if ya'll that fuckin' stupid you deserve what you're gonna get.

I've been saying it since November of 2024: FAFO is the only medication that will cure a lot of These Fucking People.

But of course, I think a lot of these sons of bitches, even having brought the wrath of GOD on this country, would try to deny even that. Yes, just like they were in denial about COVID-19.

Politics is a hell of a drug, or something.

And some of these people, I don't give a damn, they're like motherfucking crackheads from back in the day. I mean, it seems like absolutely everything I hear about this whole Natalie Harp thing gets even weirder and more disgusting.

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ~Umberto Eco

There's something going on there, and it must be pretty damn far outside the realm of "Normal" or even tolerably abnormal relationships or sexuality or these assholes wouldn't be freaking out that it's in the news.

It's starting to show just how deviant this whole mess is, and honestly always has been. I've been trying to tell people how fucked up this bullshit was for what, eleven years now? 

And people are just catching on?

That's willful stupidity, in my opinion.

Like I said last night, I think that as the consequences of Trump's and These Fucking People's own actions continue to pile up and both events and the narrative spiral further and further out of their control...especially if the midterms turn out as bad as they look like they will for Republicans and if Trump thinks he's gonna be Impeached and go to prison? Yeah, you bet; The motherfucker's gonna "Find The Lord."

Especially with Bunny Boiler nut Nastily Harp whispering poison into his ear the whole time. My ex-wife is a Pentecostal religious nut with a personality disorder. I'm too damn familiar with the type.

She will try to convert Trump to *Whatever* simply as a matter of course.

I'm almost afraid of how insufferable the Evangelicals are gonna be if it goes that way. Those fucking people will absolutely anoint Nastily Harp as their "Hero" just the same as they call Trump their "god."

And whatever deviant sexual bullshit (probably not a conventional sexual relationship, though) is going on there will be part and parcel of the whole fucking mess. Weird sexual bullshit is part of MAGA's freaking vibe at this point.

There is something. And no, I really don't want to know what it is.

At this point, you either believe in freedom or you don't.

And you're either willing to fight for it, or you're not.

America, you need better heroes.

Start with people like Doris Miller.

Or if you have to do the Republican thing there's always guys like USAF General Daniel "Chappie" James.

This ain't that hard.

So get after it.

Слава Україна! For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ~Matthew 24:27
Three

[Luke's X-wing is in the trench, and Darth Vader is having trouble getting a lock]

Darth Vader: [Gets a lock] I have you now. [Suddenly, one of Vader's escorts is destroyed.] What?!

Han Solo: YEAH-HOO!!! [The Millennium Falcon arrives on the scene.]

Vader's Escort: Look out! [Vader's surviving escort panics and crashes into the trench, and Vader's TIE Advanced is flung out into space]

Han: You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home! [Luke shoots at the exhaust port and with the help of the Force scores two direct hits.]

Imperial Officer: Stand by.

[The Rebels and the Millennium Falcon fly back to Yavin 4]

Officer: Stand by.

[Just as the Death Star is about to fire, it explodes]

Han: Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Remember... the Force will be with you, always.

~From Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.

What's Even The Damn Point?? (Death Star, Three.)

[Darth Vader is choking a Rebel Officer]

Stormtrooper: [to Vader] The Death Star plans are not in the main computer.
Darth Vader: [to Rebel] Where are those transmissions you intercepted? What have you done with those plans?
Rebel Captain: [Gasping for breath] We intercepted no transmissions. This is a consular ship. We're on a diplomatic mission...
Darth Vader: If this is a consular ship, where is the Ambassador? [crushes the officer's neck, then throws him against the wall] Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans, and bring me the passengers. I want them alive!

~From Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

...

When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

~Leviticus 19:33-34, New International Version.

...

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. ~James 1:27

I saw this earlier today.

Seriously, fuck these motherfuckers and their false religion.

If you don't want to welcome the stranger...

If you think elderly women should starve to death...

If you don't value life?

Why are you a Christian??

What's even the fucking point??

What the hell are you doing it for??

Because if you're trying to just get money or political power or impress Man with your bullshit, I can think of a lot of ways to do so that won't automatically land your ass in Hell when you die. But this?? This will.

I don't know what Joel Webbon believes in but it ain't Jesus or the God of the Bible.

These are basic commandments not only of Christianity, but of almost any religion, and owing to the desert origins and Middle Eastern culture from which the Abrahamic faiths originated, this stuff is spelled out with rather more specificity in that particular context.

Because if you didn't offer hospitality to the stranger that showed up at your camp, pretty often, they died.

And at least at some point, that mattered to people.

Now?? 

These fucking people are trying to strip Christianity down to the studs like the Imperials trying to find the Death Star Plans in the Tantive IV, not to go back to some hyper-Christian First Century Ideal...but to get Christ OUT of Christianity so they can replace Him with themselves.

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. ~Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)

This is NOT the Way.

The Truth matters.

It mattered enough to God, that whole cities were destroyed because of failure to follow these Laws.

There's a reason Evangelicals try to tell you Sodom and Gomorrah was all about Booty Stuff.

And both the fact of it and the reason is; They're lying.

What Jake Lang, Joel Webbon, Josh Hawley and Lorenzo Sewell are preaching isn't Jesus, it's a political movement. It has nothing to do with anything in terms of Christianity and if it did, why do these guys keep getting caught with male prostitutes??

But I remember being very specifically told when I was a kid that politics ain't what gets you into Heaven.

And in any case, These Fucking People are lying.

Question is: Why do people wanna be lied to??

To what end is it for them?? Narcissism?? That's how you go to Hell.

Freedom requires Truth.

It's all going to come out eventually anyway, and everyone will know;

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ~Matthew 24:27

Truth is the only floor most people have to stand on to push back against Power.

In terms of faith, that applies to spiritual truth also.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

And you're either willing to fight for it, or you're not.

Make your choice.

Слава Україна!

[Princess Leia Organa is being brought to Darth Vader by a squad of Imperial stormtroopers. Darth Vader and Daine Jir arrive and stand in front of Leia and the stormtroopers]

Princess Leia Organa: Darth Vader. Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this! When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic–

Vader: Don't act so surprised, Your Highness. You weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you.

Leia: I don't know what you're talking about. I am a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.

Vader: You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor! [to the stormtroopers] Take her away!

[The stormtroopers escort Leia off in one direction while Vader and Jir walk down the corridor in another direction]

Daine Jir: Holding her is dangerous. If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the Rebellion and the Senate.

Vader: I have traced the Rebel spies to her. Now she is my only link to finding their secret base.

Daine Jir: She'll die before she'll tell you anything!

Vader: Leave that to me. In the meantime, send a distress signal. And then inform the Senate that all aboard were killed.

[Jir walks away to do his duty while Commander Praji arrives with some bad news for Darth Vader]

Commander Praji: Lord Vader, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship. And no transmissions were made. An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting, but no life forms were aboard.

Vader: She must've hidden the plans in the escape pod. Send a detachment down to retrieve them and see to it personally, Commander. There will be no one to stop us this time!

Praji: Yes, sir.

~From Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Two

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house comes, at evening, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning, ~Mark 13:35

"Is" (Death Star, Two.)

 [The Mandalorian and Cara Dune board an Imperial Shuttle carrying Dr. Pershing]

Shuttle Pilot: Easy, pal. Okay? I’m not with him. We can work something out - [co-pilot kills him]

Cara Dune: Drop your weapon.

Shuttle Co-Pilot: [holds Dr Pershing hostage] No. No, you listen to me. This is a top-tier target of the New Republic. This is a clone engineer. And if they find out that he’s dead because of you, you’re gonna wish you never left Alderaan. [notices Dune's face] I saw the tear. You wanna know what else I saw? I saw your planet destroyed. I was on the Death Star.

Dune: Which one?

Shuttle Co-Pilot: You think you’re funny? Do you know how many millions were killed on those bases?

Dune: Drop your blaster.

Shuttle Co-Pilot: As the galaxy cheered?

Dune: [coldly] Last chance.

Shuttle Co-Pilot: Destroying your planet was a small price to pay to rid the galaxy of terrorism. [Dune shoots him in the face. Dr. Pershing reels from the close hit, clutching at his ear]

~The Mandalorian, Episode 2, Chapter Eight, "The Rescue."

...

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. ~Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)

...

And so tomorrow, as we take the campaign South and West, as we learn that the struggles of the textile workers in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas; that the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of L.A.; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people, we are one nation. And, together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: Yes, we can. ~Barack Obama

I keep seeing this shit.

Republicans losing their shit because somebody *Checks Notes* mentioned Trump diaper-changer Natalie Harp in public.

And then they started calling comments about little miss Nastily Harp "Attacks on women's rights."

Hold on, No. Fuck You.

First off, she has the right to do whatever she wants. As a public figure (She used to be on News Max) she doesn't have the right to do it without public opinion.

I support women's rights all day, my partner wouldn't tolerate anything less.

But I still get to have an opinion.

I mean for fuck's sake I remember when if somebody did a crime or had a scandal or even did something shady or that even a significant plurality of people regarded as immoral or questionable, it could be front page news!

Anybody remember the Monica Lewinsky scandal??

Second, how is anything of the sort "Liberated?" or emblematic of "Freedom?"

I'm very, very tired of the idea that freedom or rights depend on *Checks Notes Again* Proximity To Donald Trump.

And, I mean, I get it, hypocrisy.

Republicans love all that "Woke" shit, Women's Lib and Women's Rights, but only for themselves.

Yeah, as a former Republican and current non-Republican, fuck all that.

No one's rights or level of societal empathy should depend on Which Political Party They Belong To. Period.

Much less on all the other shit these hypocritical assholes want to attach to all that. No. Fuck You.

Again, you either believe in freedom or you don't.

I'm not a lawyer or a social worker, so I reserve the right to make value judgments. It's a basic component of morality and society. There has to be a baseline.

Sorry, I used to be a conservative Republican myself. Apparently what I was taught is different from what it is now.

And as a self-identified conservative Democrat, yes, I absolutely stand by what I said about this Natalie Harp thing. I don't give a fuck if Trump is having an affair. I think it's disgusting, and I wouldn't approve of that anymore than I approved of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (and for the same reason.) But it's his business. 

Personally, I don't need or want to know the details. Because Ew.

That said, Either your vows, your Word, is good or it isn't.

Fundamentally that's what shit like this is about, to me.

Period.

I know beliefs like that aren't popular anymore. I don't care.

And yes, I absolutely reserve the right to mock the shit out of Nancy Mace for the apparent start of her OnlyFans phase.

Again, whatever, it's not my thing. 

Personally, Ew.

We've got to take the neighborhood back. We've got to go in there. Just forget telling your child to go to the Peace Corps. It's right around the corner. It's standing on the corner. It can't speak English. It doesn't want to speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk. "Why you ain't where you is go." I don't know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. Then I heard the father talk. This is all in the house. You used to talk a certain way on the corner and you got into the house and switched to English. Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't land a plane with "why you ain't…". You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. There is no Bible that has that kind of language. Where did these people get the idea that they're moving ahead on this? Well, they know they're not, they're just hanging out in the same place, five or six generations sitting in the projects when you're just supposed to stay there long enough to get a job and move out. ~Bill Cosby, the "Pound Cake" speech.

But I don't think even a newly-former member of Congress should be taking photos like that and I can remember when something like this would have been a scandal by itself.

She can do what she wants.

I have the right to be disgusted.

I have the right to not like you.

I have the right to not wanna see that.

I have the right to stand by what I said just the other day about Nancy Mace being willing to do literally whatever it takes to get herself in front of a camera, standards be damned.

And if you don't like my opinion, you have the right to say so, and I have the right to tell you to fuck off.

Or you have the right to just ignore it.

And I'll note that if AOC or one of the Obama daughters was taking pictures like that, the same people encouraging Nancy Mace or Nastily Harp would be flipping a bitch about it.

Actual morality doesn't give a fuck about your fake outrage and partisanship and doesn't approve of XYZ when you do it either.

As a 1990's Republican, I used up a lot of ink and electrons and time being against moral relativism and situational ethics.

I remember being pissed off for days about Democrats basically constantly trying to redefine the word "Is" so that if she wasn't under Slick Willie's podium like the streetwalker in Police Academy when Commandant Lassarde was giving his speech, nothing happened.

30-35 years later the biggest practitioners of such things are *Looks Around. Yep* Republicans.

Why is it OK when Republicans do it??

And that pisses me off.

You don't get to do the wrong, and then demand sympathy for having done it.

I'm so tired of this bullshit.

The question is, why aren't you??

Слава Україна!

The Holy Quran says it, "Pilgrimage to the House [of God built by the prophet Abraham] is a duty men owe to God; those who are able, make the journey." (3:97) Allah said: "And proclaim the pilgrimage among men; they will come to you on foot and upon each lean camel, they will come from every deep ravine" (22:27). Every one of the thousands at the airport, about to leave for Jeddah, was dressed this way. You could be a king or a peasant and no one would know. Some powerful personages, who were discreetly pointed out to me, had on the same thing I had on. Once thus dressed, we all had begun intermittently calling out "Labbayka! (Allahumma) Labbayka!" (Here I come, O Lord!) Packed in the plane were white, black, brown, red, and yellow people, blue eyes and blond hair, and my kinky red hair -- all together, brothers! All honoring the same God, all in turn giving equal honor to each other. . . .That is when I first began to reappraise the "white man." It was when I first began to perceive that "white man," as commonly used, means complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and actions. In America, "white man" meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. But in the Muslim world, I had seen that men with white complexions were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been. That morning was the start of a radical alteration in my whole outlook about "white" men. ~Malcolm X.

One

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

~Revelation 6, KJV.