Mississippi, Goddamn (Great Men, Five.)

 My black face fades,

hiding inside the black granite.
I said I wouldn't
dammit: No tears.
I'm stone. I'm flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night slanted against morning. 

I turn this way—the stone lets me go.
I turn that way—I'm inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke. 

I touch the name Andrew Johnson; 

I see the booby trap's white flash.
Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.
A white vet's image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I'm a window.
He's lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black mirror
a woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair.

~Facing It, by Yusef Komunyakaa, US Army Veteran

...

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.

It's Veteran's day.

Scott Colom won in Mississippi.

The (Latest) Ole Miss racist idiot quit school, after issuing a non-apology "Apology." But at least she's gone.

The shit will continue until Racism is not only criminalized but treated as heresy and Sin, which it should be; You think you know better than God who is a person deserving of equality and respect? Fuck you, bitch. I hope you enjoy working at McDonald's. May you be the only White person on the crew, bitch, and I say that as a white dude. 

And honestly, this was on track to be the third year in a row that I, as a veteran, didn't feel much like celebrating anything but then those things happened. I ended up crashing out for most of the day 'cause I was still exhausted from work but I did get a lot of World of Warcraft in today so I can't complain.

Overall it wasn't a bad day.

In fact, I'm thinking "Mississippi, goddamn" but for a whole other reason.

A lot of small wins are adding up.

I don't preach a social Gospel I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, "Now is that political or social?" He said, "I feed you." Because the good news to a hungry person is bread. ~Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Maybe, hopefully, enough that we can start to reverse some of the ongoing national idiocy in January.

I mean, somebody apparently is gonna have to go around with a shotgun and make sure all the old-guard elected Democrats show the fuck up. But at least if we push them hard enough I think most of them will.

And when I say "Ongoing national idiocy" I mean stuff like vaccination rates for kids falling.

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.

There is NO excuse for this. 

None. Zero.

Not only does education need to be massively revamped, but there needs to be criminal penalties for Antivax woo woo...and if you ask me, for lying in general. The Right is trying to kill people with this garbage and they don't much care if it's mostly their own future voters who die, apparently.

At the level of elected and appointed officials and "elites" the Republican Party certainly is a death cult.

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

I wonder if Republicans get that bad policy and self-destructive stupidity is killing their own people, who they actually need if they ever think they're gonna do anything?

But more to the point, and I think more necessarily; We The People need to stop socially tolerating stupid and motherfucking Tar-and-Feather any asshole that glorifies stupidity or calls basic intelligence "elitism" or "liberal."

I mean among other things it's hard to practice any political philosophy when you're dead. 

I am the way into the city of woe.

I am the way to a forsaken people.
I am the way into eternal sorrow.
Sacred justice moved my architect.
I was raised here by divine omnipotence, primordial love and ultimate intellect
Only those elements time cannot wear are beyond me,
and beyond time I stand.
Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.'
~Sign above the gates of hell (variant translation) Canto III, Dante's Inferno, the Divine Comedy.

I mean, I get it, bad people and stupid people vote Republican. Therefore Republicans encourage this shit. It ain't the same Republican Party as it was in the 1980's/early 1990's with Reagan and Bush 41 or even in the Aughts with Bush 43, nor what McCain or Romney would have done.

Yes, yes, I remember the arguments K and I had about whether or not Sarah Palin would have been a good VP. Good times, compared to now.

And again, even a lot of Tea Party idiots (and for that matter, half of MAGA) weren't willing to go as far as Trump has pushed things.

Of course, then These Fucking People doubled down and picked Jim Jordan as House Minority Leader.

The guy who was so bad that John Boehner of all people referred to him as a "Legislative Terrorist."

There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die. Who knows? If there is in fact, a heaven and a hell, all we know for sure is that hell will be a viciously overcrowded version of Phoenix — a clean well lighted place full of sunshine and bromides and fast cars where almost everybody seems vaguely happy, except those who know in their hearts what is missing... And being driven slowly and quietly into the kind of terminal craziness that comes with finally understanding that the one thing you want is not there. Missing. Back-ordered. No tengo. Vaya con dios. Grow up! Small is better. Take what you can get. ~Hunter S. Thompson, Generation Of Swine.

And remember that Boner (and Paul Ryan) quit because the House Republicans were getting too crazy to manage.

Again, maybe Republicans are the fucking problem?? Note: I say this as a former Republican!

Look, there is no excuse for the degree to which national Democrats have *Not* shown up, either in terms of not supporting candidates like Angie Nixon in Florida or Scott Colom in Mississippi (Or, for that matter, their half-assed support for Abdul Al-Sayed here in Michigan) or in terms of their just plain not showing up to VOTE for important shit or not standing up for stated policy goals this week.

When I say that White, secular "liberalism" has not met the moment, that is exactly what I mean. These fucking people are more afraid of not getting invited to parties by the Epstein class than that they will be *Checks Notes Again* killed and eaten by the same.

I'm guessing Scott won't be like that, tho.

Shit like this is why we need term limits, votes of No Confidence and strict-as-hell non-partisan oversight of elected officials. Like seriously, assign these guys a point system like they have at my old job. Call it one point for not showing up for work without a valid reason, two for missing a vote. Rack up twelve points and you're automatically fired, instant special election to replace you.

No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten. ~Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

And then throw in that about every weird narcissist imaginable is running for President...as a Republican, specifically. I'm beyond tired of this shit.

You wanted to get elected. You took this job. You bought the ticket, now take the ride. Why Liz Warren is one of the few people that seems to get what needs to be done I don't know.

For way the fuck too many people, a political career has become nothing more than an audition for a podcast or some kind of media talking-headship, or a permanent grift in or out of office.

If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. ~Ronald Reagan

I mean, fuck, I saw Rick Santorum on CNN the other day. What the fuck are we even doing here??

The thing is, these damn Republicans will pretty much make shit up to be afraid of, in order to justify their jackbooted fantasies.

I mean, among other things they're the ones constantly breaking Grindr and being caught in bed with the Russians or the Saudis. I mean, I get it, the prejudiced idiot base and the Republican political class are violently not the same thing; The problem is that the idiot base willfully tolerates people who shit all over them and even what they allegedly stand for.

And they're all allegedly afraid gay people and Leftists are gonna put them in reeducation camps? (With Trump yet to be impeached and removed? How??)

Also, How the hell do you re-educate somebody that willfully managed to avoid being educated in the first damn place??

These people can't stop contradicting themselves.

Hell, I'm pretty well convinced that they don't want to.

Even these fucking people's fear is dishonest, beyond a deep general conviction that everybody is secretly just as evil and self-serving and generally the same as they are.

Seems like a hell of way to live, and yes I get that for some people this justifies how they are in their minds. But, I couldn't do it. Somebody has to believe in something, and cynicism doesn't qualify. Otherwise, what's the damn point??

"Fuck You, I've got mine" or "I'm White" isn't an answer either.

And these are the Republican idea of "Great Men?"

Hard Pass.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

Слава Україна!

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American. Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion, and character. America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness. Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small. ~George W. Bush

Four

Remember when your High School History teacher said "The course of human events changes because of the deeds of great men"?. Well the bitch was lying. Fuck Julius Caesar, fuck Abe Lincoln, fuck Mahatma Gandhi. The world keeps moving because of you and me: the anonymous. Revolutions get started because people don't have enough bread. Wars start over a game of checkers. ~Augustus Hill, from the HBO Series "Oz" S1, E8 "A Game Of Checkers."

Joyless (Great Men, Four.)

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

...

Joe: For the last time, I'm pretty sure what's killing the crops is this Brawndo stuff.

Secretary of State: But Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes.

Attorney General: "So wait a minute. What you're saying is that you want us to put water on the crops.

Joe: Yes.

Attorney General: Water. Like out the toilet?

Joe: Well, I mean, it doesn't have to be out of the toilet, but, yeah, that's the idea.

Secretary of State: But Brawndo's got what plants crave.

Attorney General: It's got electrolytes.

Joe: Okay, look. The plants aren't growing, so I'm pretty sure that the Brawndo's not working. Now, I'm no botanist, but I do know that if you put water on plants, they grow.

Secretary of Energy: Well, I've never seen no plants grow out of no toilet.

Secretary of State: Hey, that's good. You sure you ain't the smartest guy in the world?

Joe: Okay, look. You want to solve this problem. I want to get my pardon. So why don't we just try it, okay, and not worry about what plants crave?

Attorney General: Brawndo's got what plants crave.

Secretary of Energy: Yeah, it's got electrolytes.

Joe: What are electrolytes? Do you even know?

Secretary of State: It's what they use to make Brawndo.

~From the film Idiocracy.

...

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.

I saw this a couple days ago.

Jake Lang showed up to harass the people at a cat convention because he thought it was some kind of "Furry" meetup. I mean, What?

Seriously, my partner is a Vet Tech and is in the process as of last week of starting a small business on the side. She was at one of these kind of events a couple weeks ago.

Meeting her would not go well for Jake. Bothering her at an event her work sent her to that had her up way early on a Saturday morning when she doesn't really want to be there would be even worse. And God help him if I get ahold of what's left of him after, but it won't be much. It's a running joke between us that K is a werewolf for a freaking reason.

But, you ever notice these motherfuckers never try this kind of harassing bullshit with things that are imagined to be macho or male-dominated.

Let alone "Christian" or "Republican."

Nobody ever shows up at a Christian convention or at CPAC screaming about sexual immorality even though it's a documented fact at this point, that These Fucking People crash Grindr everywhere they go.

Nobody ever shows up at a gun show or a tractor pull ranting about sexual immorality and Sin. And I've seen some shit in those kind of events, Oh yes.

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 then you have shit like Doug Wilson getting up there and saying the Apostle Paul would want a woman to make a sandwich. No, Beard-o, make your own goddamned sandwich and shut the fuck up.

I am quite tired of These Fucking People and their bullshit, and they've been starting shit, or messing with shit that directly impacts people like me and my partner for awhile now.

And then the vote to impeach Pete Keg-Breath failed today specifically because *11* Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi of all fucking people apparently, couldn't be bothered to show up.

Lead, follow, or get the fuck out of the way, people.

Service before self, Integrity above all, Excellence in all that we do. ~United States Air Force core values.

I'm tired of people being in office for whom the effectiveness of our military, my freedom or that of my partner and kid, is less important than some bullshit AIPAC-sponsored social event.

I'm going to suggest, and not for the first time, that we start holding Congress to standards and making these idiots do their jobs. If that means we have to make them stand in formation, memorize slogans and shout them back at screaming TI's, so that when something happens, a switch flips in their brains and says "Oh shit, maybe I better do something" so fucking be it.

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.

And the funny part here is you can compare and contrast the energy and seriousness of newer Democrats with the old guard and the new people want to work where the people who have been there too long are gonna fail every fucking time. And honestly?? I think they do it on purpose. Call it weaponized incompetence if you want to. I'm Sorry but half the motherfucking problem with all these Republicans having gotten way too big for their britches is because Nancy fucking Pelosi spent 40 years just mailing her shit in.

Remember when your High School History teacher said "The course of human events changes because of the deeds of great men"?. Well the bitch was lying. Fuck Julius Caesar, fuck Abe Lincoln, fuck Mahatma Gandhi. The world keeps moving because of you and me: the anonymous. Revolutions get started because people don't have enough bread. Wars start over a game of checkers. ~Augustus Hill, from the HBO Series "Oz" S1, E8 "A Game Of Checkers."

And I'll note, to hear Republicans talk over the last week, it's us down here in the voting booth they're afraid of, not Hakeem Jeffries.

Trust me, Republicans will gladly weaponize the incompetence of our legislative branch or the rest of our government as long as it's there.

And trust me, it's not cuz they actually believe in Christ, or Christian Nationalism, or any other damn thing. What they believe in is cruelty, hierarchy and patriarchy, preferably for power or profit but if they actually lose authority or money in the course of hurting people, they're fine with it.

Hate and Malice are actually more important to them than all that other stuff. These Fucking People would rather crap all over somebody else's day and scream in somebody's face than let kids adopt kittens or Vet Techs learn how to do their jobs a little better, let alone allow anybody to have a good time unless it's in spite of them.

And then these motherfuckers be mad about that, too.

No one will catch more hate from these assholes than anybody with a little joy in their life. Their stated problem with Kamala Harris, remember, was that she laughed too much.

And god forbid that person with joy be (naturally) a person of Color, a woman, or (especially) both.

Which should tell you everything about their actual motivations.

Cassian Andor: Kino. Tell them what to do. It has to be you. Come on, Kino. You do this every day. Tell them what to do.

Kino Loy: [presses PA system] My name is Kino Loy. I'm the day shift manager on Level Five. I'm speaking to you from the command center on Level Eight. We are, at this moment, in control of the facility.

Andor: Is that the best you got?

Loy: How long we hang on, how far we get, how many of us make it out, all of that is now up to us. We have deactivated every floor in the facility. All floors are cold. Wherever you are right now, get up, stop the work. Get out of your cells, take charge and start climbing. They don't have enough guards and they know it. If we wait until they figure that out, it'll be too late. We will never have a better chance than this and [looks at Cassian, knowing he said it] "I would rather die trying to take them down than giving them what they want." We know they fried a hundred men on Level Two. We know that they are making up our sentences as we go along. We know that no one outside here knows what's happening. And now we know, that when they say we are being released, we are being transferred to some other prison to go and die, and that ends today! There is one way out. Right now, the building is ours. You need to run, climb, kill! You need to help each other. You see someone who's confused, someone who is lost, you get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this place behind us. There are 5,000 of us. If we can fight half as hard as we've been working, we will be home in no time. One way out!

[repeats it multiple times as he leaves the command center]

Andor: Come on! Let's get out of here!

~From the series "Andor" S1 E10 "One Way Out."

But tell me, when was the last time you saw an Old Republican White Man genuinely laugh or smile about anything either?

"Christianity" is just a pretty word that helps them get what they want.

Nothing is sacred to These Fucking People except misery inflicted on the undeserving.

And now apparently, thanks to the damn Billionaires, they get to crap all over superhero movies too.

Not that the genre has been doing itself any favors for awhile, but I really don't think putting some Christian Nationalist Hack in charge of DC Studios is gonna do much for the brand. I'm just sayin' maybe we should stop letting these assholes buy shit. 

I suppose if there's anything good here it's that they likely won't get whatever Bibleman bullshit they want to do done and released before Trump goes down and this crap becomes even less popular.

Unless they just decide to AI-generate the whole thing and then nobody who's actually a fan of any of this stuff or has a brain in their head goes and watches it.

But again, making money or even accomplishing anything isn't the goal here; preventing somebody else from doing anything is.

If they can't have the world the way they want it, they don't want to do anything; The catch is, they don't want anybody else to do anything either.

I don't preach a social Gospel I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, "Now is that political or social?" He said, "I feed you." Because the good news to a hungry person is bread. ~Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

And they do want everybody (including themselves) to be as miserable as possible.

These are the fucking people who start ranting about "Satan" whenever somebody says kids in schools should be adequately fed regardless of social status.

The entire job, the entire point of useless Congress-critters like Jim Jordan is to jam up the works and prevent anything like that (or much of anything else) from happening and spin the idea that living with excessive costs and suffering is somehow "good."

And this is what modern Republicans call "Righteousness."

Fuck that.

[Cassian Andor and a number of men are sent to the Narkina Five prison complex]

Prison officer: Welcome to Narkina Five. This is an Imperial factory facility. You've all been assessed as labor-worthy. Now, following this introduction, you'll be transferred to your level assignment and workroom, where your floor manager will explain the details of our schedule and expectations. Your length of stay has been predetermined. The quality of that time will be up to you. Now, those who've been incarcerated before will be surprised by the calm, sanitary conditions, and our minimally invasive enforcement techniques. Well, I'm sure some, if not all of you, are wondering, how we risk standing before you without weapons? It's a potent question. And hopefully, one you won't need to have answered very often, but... [activates electric floor and the new prisoners are shocked to floor before he turns it off] You may stand. That was level one of three. Our floors are Tunqstoid steel. Do your time productively, keep to your lane, and this needn't be more than a memory. Good luck to you.

~From the Star Wars series Andor S1.E8 "Narkina 5."

We The People took our country back a week ago, and Republicans are still fighting over who gets to be the guy in the Imperial prison that goes around screaming "On Program!" at the other prisoners.

That's what their idea of "Authority" even is.

And it's all so people like *Checks Notes* Donald Trump can have more money?

Yep.

I want you to stop and think about that for a second.

It's all bullshit.

I am the way into the city of woe.

I am the way to a forsaken people.
I am the way into eternal sorrow.
Sacred justice moved my architect.
I was raised here by divine omnipotence, primordial love and ultimate intellect
Only those elements time cannot wear are beyond me,
and beyond time I stand.
Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.'
~Sign above the gates of hell (variant translation) Canto III, Dante's Inferno, the Divine Comedy.

And, perversely, the biggest public calling-out of this fucking garbage that I saw this week was from conservative columnist (and apparently 60 Minutes guy now) Ross Douthat.

Ross is Catholic, and he said straight-up he thinks Donald Trump is going to Purgatory, i.e. the Catholic version of the ancient Underworld, at best a place of repentance and suffering, at worst a holding area where the Unrepentant spend Eternity.

And Trump didn't say shit back.

I want you to stop and think about that, too.

There is a reason I say the secular liberalism of too many of these old-school Democrats has not met the moment.

It's not even that they don't call shit out. It's that they actively worry that Republicans will yell at them if they do.

And all that Republican "men" like Donald Trump and Jim Jordan functionally know how to do is yell.

This isn't governance, it's abuse.

Reporter: Mr. Said, how do you feel?

Kareem Said: How do I feel? I feel joyless. My brothers remain behind. Imprisoned, suppressed. I don't just mean my Muslim brothers, I mean every single man that will sleep in here tonight, that was cut off from everything that he loves. Cut off from his own self. You know, as the word went around that the Governor was gonna give somebody clemency, I saw a rift develop as each inmate wished himself to be the chosen one. The longing to be free became as palpable as the food that we eat. But it is a meal that I am being served right now. And I am Muslim. And Allah does not allow me to swallow certain things. Allah does not allow me to take scraps from the hands of a man such as this. A man who is corrupt and immoral. A man who denigrates the gift of clemency just as he violates the principles of justice. A man that gave the order that caused the death of eight people. And so, Governor Devlin, because even the cost of freedom can be too high, I refuse your pardon!

 ~Kareem Said, from the HBO series Oz, Season 2, Episode 8 "Escape From Oz."

And this is who Republicans call "Great Men?"

There's a reason that the Republican ideal looks more and more like an Americanized version of Putin's Russia...complete with everything being on fire, a losing war, and at least a million dead.

Mordor. The Republican ideal is Mordor.

Think about that.

You shouldn't need somebody like me to tell you this isn't a healthy situation either for the country or for individual people.

At least we, the voters, finally decided to hit back, and wouldn't you know it? We totally threw Republicans for a loop, for at least a week.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

Слава Україна!

My black face fades,
hiding inside the black granite.
I said I wouldn't
dammit: No tears.
I'm stone. I'm flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night slanted against morning. 

I turn this way—the stone lets me go.
I turn that way—I'm inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke. 

I touch the name Andrew Johnson; 

I see the booby trap's white flash.
Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.
A white vet's image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I'm a window.
He's lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black mirror
a woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair.

~Facing It, by Yusef Komunyakaa, US Army Veteran

Three

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

It's Got Electrolytes (Great Men, Three.)

Joe: For the last time, I'm pretty sure what's killing the crops is this Brawndo stuff.

Secretary of State: But Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes.

Attorney General: "So wait a minute. What you're saying is that you want us to put water on the crops.

Joe: Yes.

Attorney General: Water. Like out the toilet?

Joe: Well, I mean, it doesn't have to be out of the toilet, but, yeah, that's the idea.

Secretary of State: But Brawndo's got what plants crave.

Attorney General: It's got electrolytes.

Joe: Okay, look. The plants aren't growing, so I'm pretty sure that the Brawndo's not working. Now, I'm no botanist, but I do know that if you put water on plants, they grow.

Secretary of Energy: Well, I've never seen no plants grow out of no toilet.

Secretary of State: Hey, that's good. You sure you ain't the smartest guy in the world?

Joe: Okay, look. You want to solve this problem. I want to get my pardon. So why don't we just try it, okay, and not worry about what plants crave?

Attorney General: Brawndo's got what plants crave.

Secretary of Energy: Yeah, it's got electrolytes.

Joe: What are electrolytes? Do you even know?

Secretary of State: It's what they use to make Brawndo.

~From the film Idiocracy.

...

Tonight the Negro plantation worker in the Delta knows from his radio and television what happened today all over the world. He knows what Black people are doing and he knows what white people are doing. He can see on the 6:00 o’clock news screen the picture of a 3:00 o’clock bite by a police dog. He knows about the new free nations in Africa and knows that a Congo native can be a locomotive engineer, but in Jackson he cannot even drive a garbage truck. ~Medgar Evers, Speech on WLBT, May 20th 1963.

I saw this last night.

Trump apparently offered Dana White...the UFC guy...the job of White House press secretary.

It's got Electrolytes...Hey, wait a minute, this isn't...or isn't supposed to be, Idiocracy.

Well then I saw the last ad that Scott Colom did, right before the election where he walked through Medgar Evers' house and talked about the man.

Sorry, but from what I can see here, it's the Black folks, Democrats, Liberals, Muslims like El-Sayed, and a whole bunch of other people that been on the outside of things for the past couple years that are being serious, getting shit right and putting in the work.

And White Evangelical Republicans?

Not even rising to the level of the people in the Mike Judge film Idiocracy. Or rather, being far more stupid and entirely malicious about it. Call it weaponized incompetence on a national scale.

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.

They basically want to have all the power for no better...for no other...reason than they had it before.

Decent white people...we've got to take the neighborhood back. I'm serious.

A wife-beating fight promoter as press secretary? What are you, fucking nuts??

These motherfuckers lost their ass. I'd argue at this point that Republicans deserved to lose their ass given that they've been doing a shit job not just the last couple years but pretty much as long as I can remember anything specific at this point.

And their response? Something Something Gazpacho try to take the vote away from women.

From the bottom of my heart; No, Fuck these motherfuckers.

And honestly, I didn't think it was possible to get 3/4 of America to agree on anything (especially not in this political climate) but damned near 3/4 of America just stood up and voted Republicans out, so good luck with that bullshit.

Fuck You.

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

Don't tread on me with this shit, and leave my partner and kid alone, too.

I'm sick of this fucking bullshit. 

I'm sick of these creepy Theo-Bro beard-o's. Get the fuck out of my face with this crap, and I say that as a Christian.

People got enough problems without these ass-clowns putting bricks in everybody else's backpacks.

I'm sick of all these wannabe "Crusaders" who couldn't tell you who Balian of Ibelin, Baldwin IV, Richard the Lionheart or Saladin was without asking ChatGPT first...and that's after they used ChatGPT to make the images for their bullshit posts. If you wanna be some kind of "Crusader" it might help if you showed any knowledge of Christianity or the Lord's Word first.

All "Religion" (or anything else) is to these CHUDs is an excuse to go out and fight somebody.

It's like these motherfuckers have never even read the Bible. Oh, wait, no. From what I hear...from what I've observed directly with my own eyes, too...it's exactly that.

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American. Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion, and character. America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness. Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small. ~George W. Bush

Like apparently there's a massive surge of hate from the far-right against Indian people. I've personally seen this online, much of it directed at *Checks Notes* Vivek Ramaswamy by other Republicans in Ohio.

Which is really weird to me because I happen to know there's a lot of Indian Christians, not only here or in India but around the world. In college I was really close online friends with a Guyanese Canadian lady who was of Indian heritage and very much a Charismatic Christian of some kind. It never quite gelled into a romantic relationship but it got pretty close to the point where I really can't say it didn't either. We met for coffee once on the Canadian side of Sault Ste. Marie when she was there for work once, and since I bought us lunch I ended up getting a kiss out of it. 

I was newly divorced and skittish about getting involved with somebody that was religious. For her part she understood. We were Facebook friends for a long time until she quit that platform.

But also I know that the history of Christianity in India literally dates back to Thomas the Apostle, who was Martyred there for spreading the Word of Jesus...not "As Written" but as he'd heard it with his own ears. 

Actually, most of the Indian people that I've known personally either were Christians to start with or became Christians at some point. 

The guy who owned the Christian bookstore that was in town here for literally decades was a psychologist, from India, who became a Christian. He was also the doctor at my Mom's work. I met him and his wife (who ran the bookstore) once not long after I came back up here. Plenty of those people still observe Diwali or whatever, in the same way that most secular folks in America and even many non-Christian religious types observe Christmas in some way. It's a cultural thing. In other words, there's no excuse for this shit.

Remember when your High School History teacher said "The course of human events changes because of the deeds of great men"?. Well the bitch was lying. Fuck Julius Caesar, fuck Abe Lincoln, fuck Mahatma Gandhi. The world keeps moving because of you and me: the anonymous. Revolutions get started because people don't have enough bread. Wars start over a game of checkers. ~Augustus Hill, from the HBO Series "Oz" S1, E8 "A Game Of Checkers."

But the actual Truth is, These Fucking People don't care if a non-White person is a Christian. They've been murdering and shitting all over Black and Latino Christians forever. Christianity isn't the point, it isn't a common value: For one thing, I'd argue that These Fucking People don't actually have it.

And you know, maybe it's just me but I was pretty much raised with the idea that bigotry demonstrates a lack of intelligence, prejudice is stupid, therefore if you're prejudiced, you're stupid.

And the people who taught me this were all Christians and conservatives, back when those words meant something other than that you were a monster.

I mean, according to what I was taught and as far as I'm concerned even now, if you think you know better than God, the Creator of the Infinite Universe, what makes a whole person...you deserve to go to Hell. And while I'm at it, racism tends to go hand in hand with making one's race or skin color into an Idol.

It's generally a safe bet that God knows more than you do.

There's a reason Freedom requires a bit of intelligence, and thus people who believe in Slavery want everybody to be stupid.

Trump offers people a goddamn circus show.

That's Trump's idea of being a "Great Man."

Scott Colom gives us a history lesson.

Think about that for a second.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

Слава Україна!

[Kuiil and Mando have successfully repaired the Razor Crest with the parts recovered from the Jawas]

The Mandalorian: I can't thank you enough. Please allow me to give you a portion of the reward.

Kuiil: I cannot accept. You are my guest, and I am therefore in your service.

The Mandalorian: I could use a crew member of your ability. And I can pay handsomely.

Kuiil: I am honored. But I have worked a lifetime to finally be free of servitude.

The Mandalorian: I understand. Then... all I can offer is my thanks.

Kuiil: And I offer mine. Thank you for bringing peace to my valley. [leaves the ship and mounts his Blurrg; to Mando] And good luck with the Child. May it survive and bring you a handsome reward. I have spoken.

~From the Star Wars series; The Mandalorian, S1.E2 "The Child."

Two

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.