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.