...And Shineth even unto the West (Republican Judgment Day, Part 2)

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

I wrote the first part of this essay the other day, and then not long after that I went to bed. I woke up around nine on Monday night needing to use the bathroom, to find a huge and especially flashy and loud thunderstorm in progress. As the lightning flashed through my bathroom window, this verse came to mind again. That extra sense for vibes that I sometimes have was firing on all cylinders.

I feel a sense of foreboding. Something is coming...and it's not going to be what Evangelicals want it to be, either. We're due for a kick in the ass. We, as a people, have officially fucked up in allowing this situation-both Trump and more specifically the bloodshed in Gaza-to come to pass.

Reports indicate up to 61 dead and as many as 2700 injured in the brutal repression of Monday's protests, with no Israeli casualties or even known injuries. American Evangelicals are thrilled, and consider both the Embassy move and the resulting conflict signs of Biblical prophecy.

My Facebook and Twitter feeds on the other hand, bipartisan and global in nature as they tend to be, are still, after several days now, aflame with the condemnation of the world. That includes the condemnation even of many, if not most Americans and more than a few Jews...both Democrats and even some Republicans. It's important to remember, that on a global scale, White Evangelical Christians who ascribe to the hard-right politically-motivated End Times Theology that American Evangelicals do are an extreme minority. Even my Ugandan Facebook friend...who in many respects would be considered an extreme Fundamentalist here in America...holds a very socialistic view of politics and many aspects of life. Ugandans don't often have the money to be assholes for no reson. Given the vicious feedback loop between our current government, Israel's current government and the Evangelicals...many of whom, by the way, only support Israel because of its imagined role in the End Times. So, to be quite honest, most of the rest of the world just plain thinks we've lost our damned minds.

I've had to un-follow exactly one person on Twitter...and I think that speaks well of the people-both conservative and liberal-that I follow. I will say, though, that I've blocked and reported numerous bots and even a few actual, live trolls. Though regarding that last...I have to say, it's getting hard to tell the damned difference. I've also noticed one other troubling point. The Right seems to be getting its various claims about the casualties...specifically that all or almost all of those killed on Monday were members of Hamas...from Hamas itself. Now, I'll remind you that whenever a claim made by an organization like Hamas isn't convenient to whatever they're trying to claim, conservatives are the people who will question it if it's Midnight and somebody from Hamas tells them that it's dark outside.

Could it possibly be that Republicans don't really care about any of this shit and will just go with whatever sounds good (regardless of where it came from) then lie their asses off and make the rest up as they go along?

Sure looks like it to me. Hey John, do you hear a bus coming?

...No...

*Shove*

If these people will throw John McCain of all the people under the damn bus, where do you think that leaves you or me? I'll tell you one thing, I don't ever want to hear that Republicans support Veterans ever again. Hell, they can't even be bothered to support Republicans when one of their own is in need. Do you really think they're going to give a damn about some poor schmuck who spent four years as a Rifleman in the Marine Corps 50 years ago before spending 30 years working at His Way Lawn Care and another 10 working at Wal-Mart, who's old and in need of health care now? They cannot now be bothered to support the very man that they anointed (damned near literally, or maybe that was just his Vice-Presidential pick) as fit for the very highest Office in the country! What makes anybody think they're going to give a shit about you?

Then this happened. Trump called immigrants "Animals." Note that this was...as such things often are these days...a completely unqualified statement. That, of course suggests that there are dog-whistles that the base was meant to hear. If that's the case it's par for the course with this son of a bitch. The comment seems to be aimed at Latinos, which seems stupid to me for quite a few reasons...not least that if they were being treated decently by Republicans, Latino people (who are usually religious and often conservative in some ways) would be a natural demographic for Republicans. But of course they're not, because the Republicans at this point really seem to only want white people in their party.

There's just two problems here, #1 America as a nation is dependent on immigrants for everything from picking vegetables to serving as our doctors and #2 Demographics are already changing. If Republicans don't want to become a permanent minority themselves, it might be a damned good idea to ditch the hard-Right crap and be a little more inclusive.

Standing in the way of the tides of history and demographic & social change seems stupid to me. It's a bad strategy, especially when rolling with it and adapting to the changes in question would honestly not take very much...Americans have notoriously low standards.

...And that needs to change. If you want to have a better country you have to be better citizens. This country was founded on the ideal of government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and we need to start living up to that or the Republicans and their Opioid-addled rage-monkey base will succeed at burning this country down around their ears. These people hate government, science and even diplomacy and they have no business being allowed anywhere near any of the above.

This damn "Sanctuary city" conference? Getting the US out of the Iran Deal? The Jerusalem Embassy thing?

This isn't governance, this is a bunch of idiots playing with matches in a lake of gasoline because they think their God will like the pretty fire and come check it out.

We as a people really need to stop tolerating this bullshit.

Part One